Academy Researchers
Creature — Human Wizard
When this creature enters, you may put an Aura card from your hand onto the battlefield attached to this creature.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Urza's Saga
- Price
- $0.20
- EDHREC rank
- #25325
Academy Researchers puts an Aura directly onto the battlefield the moment it enters — no mana cost, no enchant restriction beyond legality — which turns any ETB setup into a free tutor-and-deploy for whatever enchantment you've built around. The cost is a 2/3 body that folds to a stiff breeze and a trigger that fires exactly once, so the entire plan depends on pairing it with something like Fool's Demise to keep the engine looping.
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 |
Academy Researchers is a Commander card through and through — the singleton format rewards the specific ETB loop it enables, and enchantress builds have the density of Auras to make the free attachment consistently matter. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but irrelevant; the power ceiling of those formats makes a 2/3 that cheats one Aura into play laughably underpowered next to the available alternatives. Modern sees it the same way — legal, unplayed, outclassed. Academy Researchers earns its slot only where the game is slow enough and the enchantment payoffs powerful enough that one free Aura deployment can define a game state.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Academy ResearchersFool's DemiseAshnod's Altar
Infinite colorless mana; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Academy ResearchersFool's DemisePhyrexian Altar
Infinite colored mana; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.20 bulk tier
At $0.20, Academy Researchers is deep bulk — the kind of card you pick out of a commons box rather than order. That price is stable by default; there's no competitive demand pulling it up, so it stays accessible indefinitely for the niche Commander builds that actually want it.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.