Hooting Mandrills is one of delve's simplest cards on paper, a 4/4 creature with trample for six mana, and one of its most effective in practice once the graveyard is doing its job. Green aggressive decks have leaned on it for years as a way to turn spent resources into a real clock.
Printed in Khans of Tarkir alongside Gurmag Angler and the rest of the mechanic's debut lineup, Hooting Mandrills gets less attention than its black counterpart, but it fills a nearly identical role in a different color.
This guide covers what makes Hooting Mandrills work, how it compares to Gurmag Angler, and why trample specifically matters so much for a delve creature.
For green aggro decks looking to add efficient, graveyard-fueled threats, Hooting Mandrills remains a strong and affordable option.
Hooting Mandrills is a creature with a base cost of five generic mana and one green mana, delve, trample, and stats of 4 power and 4 toughness. With a full graveyard, that cost collapses to as little as a single green mana, making it one of the cheapest ways to put a 4/4 on the battlefield in all of Magic.
Its Ape creature type is mostly flavor, but the trample keyword is doing real strategic work, ensuring the card threatens damage even when blocked by something smaller.
A 4/4 without trample can be chump-blocked indefinitely by any small creature, effectively neutralizing a card that cost real resources to cast cheaply. Trample removes that safety valve, forcing an opponent to either commit a real blocker or take significant damage regardless.
That single keyword is a major part of why Hooting Mandrills functions as a genuine aggressive finisher rather than just a big body that sits around doing nothing once blocked.
Gurmag Angler is a 5/5 for the same effective mana investment, giving it one more power and toughness than Hooting Mandrills at the same delve-discounted rate. Hooting Mandrills makes up the difference with trample, which Gurmag Angler doesn't have, making the two cards genuinely different strategic tools rather than simple reprints of each other in different colors.
Deckbuilders choosing between them usually base the decision on whether their deck's plan benefits more from raw size or guaranteed damage through blockers.
Green aggro decks running Hooting Mandrills typically pair it with fetch lands, cheap creatures, and efficient pump spells like Become Immense, all of which feed the graveyard as a natural byproduct of the deck's normal gameplay. This lets Hooting Mandrills come down cheaply without requiring any dedicated self-mill package.
Because it's a creature rather than a card-draw spell, it also plays nicely alongside graveyard-recursion strategies that a card-draw delve spell would compete with for resources.
Waiting even a turn or two before casting Hooting Mandrills, rather than jamming it at full price early, is almost always correct if the graveyard is close to being stocked enough for a real discount. A 4/4 trampler that comes down a turn later at a fraction of the cost is usually worth more than the same body on curve at full price.
Timing this well also keeps mana open for other plays, since a delve-discounted Hooting Mandrills frees up significant mana compared to hard-casting it.
Hooting Mandrills remains legal and unbanned in every format, and continues to show up in green aggressive decks in Legacy, Pauper, and casual constructed formats where its rate is still appreciated. It's never reached the same competitive ubiquity as Gurmag Angler, largely because green has more competition for its aggressive creature slots than black does.
Even so, it remains a reliable, affordable pickup for any green-based delve or graveyard-adjacent strategy.
Hooting Mandrills is simple to understand and doesn't require any complicated interactions to use effectively, making it an approachable entry point for players building their first delve deck. Its affordability compared to banned staples like Treasure Cruise also makes it accessible without a big financial investment.
That combination of simplicity and efficiency is exactly why it's remained a staple recommendation for budget-conscious green delve decks for a decade.
4 power and 4 toughness.
Yes, which is a key difference from Gurmag Angler.
Khans of Tarkir, in 2014.
No, it remains legal in every format.
A green aggro deck built around delve creatures needs sleeves that hold up through repeated shuffling and combat math. EVORETRO Matte Card Sleeves keep your Hooting Mandrills and the rest of your deck glare-free and game-ready.
A plastic deck box rounds out the setup for storing your aggro shell between matches.
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