Whirling Dervish
Creature — Human Monk
Protection from black
At the beginning of each end step, if this creature dealt damage to an opponent this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Japan Junior Tournament
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #28051
Whirling Dervish is a two-mana green creature that grows every end step it dealt damage to a black creature — solid in the right metagame, irrelevant in the wrong one. The protection from black is real upside, but the +1/+1 counter trigger is too conditional to rely on in most pods.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Whirling Dervish is a fringe card — the counter trigger requires attacking into a black creature and surviving, which is unreliable across a four-player table where blocking patterns are unpredictable. In Legacy and Vintage it's outclassed by essentially every other two-drop option; protection from black was more relevant in older metas with heavy Hymn to Tourach and Black Knight play, but those formats have moved on. Modern is legal but this card sees zero meaningful play there. Whirling Dervish has a narrow home in Commander pods where black is dominant and you're already building around +1/+1 counters — outside that specific context, it's a nostalgia pick.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Whirling Dervish isn't available here, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for current copies. Given its limited competitive application, it tends to sit in bulk-rare or low-demand territory — pick it up cheaply for a counters build or skip it without regret.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.