The Infamous Cruelclaw
Legendary Creature — Weasel Mercenary
Menace
Whenever The Infamous Cruelclaw deals combat damage to a player, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card. You may cast that card by discarding a card rather than paying its mana cost.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BR
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Bloomburrow
- Price
- $2.30
- EDHREC rank
- #4870
The Infamous Cruelclaw hits the table and immediately locks an opponent's best creature into attacking its owner's face every combat — a repeatable political grenade on a 4/3 body. The four-mana cost is fair for that kind of continuous pressure, and Laughing Jasper Flint decks in particular treat it as a core piece rather than a flex slot.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Laughing Jasper Flint
Laughing Jasper Flint flings opponent's cards at opponents, and The Infamous Cruelclaw fits that predator-becomes-prey theme perfectly — forcing a stolen creature to attack its controller turns the board into a self-inflicted punishment engine every single turn.
Magar of the Magic Strings
Magar of the Magic Strings cares about instants and sorceries that become creatures, but The Infamous Cruelclaw slots in as the political muscle that keeps threats busy while Magar's spells-as-creatures plan develops.
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge
Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge builds around high-impact spells cast for free, and The Infamous Cruelclaw earns its slot by persistently neutralizing an opponent's strongest creature without spending a card or mana each turn.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the natural home for The Infamous Cruelclaw — three opponents means there's almost always a juicy target worth conscripting, and the political fallout of forcing attacks into the table creates chaos that longer games reward. In competitive 1v1 formats like Modern and Pioneer, a 4/3 for four that doesn't impact the board the turn it arrives is too slow against most linear strategies. Legacy and Vintage have the raw card quality to make The Infamous Cruelclaw look embarrassing by comparison. Standard is technically an option, but there the lack of evasion and the sorcery-speed vulnerability to removal make it a risky four-drop in a crowded slot.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.30 cheap tier
At $2.30, The Infamous Cruelclaw sits in the comfortable budget tier — cheap enough to slot into any brew without deliberation, but not so cheap that supply pressure will tank it further. It holds value reasonably well as a unique effect with no direct functional reprint, so the floor is probably close to where it sits now.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.