Anvil of Bogardan
Artifact
Players have no maximum hand size.
At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player draws an additional card, then discards a card.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Visions
- Price
- $48.61
- EDHREC rank
- #5320
Anvil of Bogardan forces every player to draw an extra card each upkeep and discard down to maximum hand size at end of turn — a symmetrical engine that stops being symmetrical the moment your commander punishes empty hands. Tinybones, Trinket Thief turns that forced discard into a drain clock; Hive Mind turns the extra draw into a chaos multiplier. The cost is that you're helping opponents refuel, so run it only when your deck converts that discard trigger into a faster win than theirs.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Tinybones, Trinket Thief
Tinybones, Trinket Thief drains each opponent who discards their last card, and Anvil of Bogardan guarantees every player hits that trigger every single turn — it's the most reliable way to clock all three opponents simultaneously without waiting for them to run out of gas naturally.
Kami of the Crescent Moon
Kami of the Crescent Moon already draws opponents extra cards, and Anvil of Bogardan stacks a second mandatory draw on top — doubling the refuel rate while also enforcing the discard that group-slug and punishment effects need to fire.
Tinybones, Bauble Burglar
Tinybones, Bauble Burglar wants opponents discarding repeatedly to generate mana and accumulate card types, and Anvil of Bogardan delivers a clean, repeatable discard trigger every turn without requiring any additional setup.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Anvil of Bogardan actually lives — three opponents means three discard triggers per turn cycle, which collapses the symmetry argument fast when your commander monetizes each one. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but sees no meaningful play; a two-mana artifact with no immediate impact and a symmetrical effect is too slow and too risky against decks that can exploit the free draw immediately. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander at a smaller table, making it marginally weaker but still functional in discard-punisher builds. Outside those formats, Anvil of Bogardan is simply not in the card pool.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Hive MindEnter the InfiniteAnvil of Bogardan
Each opponent loses the game; Infinite card draw; Infinite card draw for each opponent; Infinite draw triggers; Infinite draw triggers for each opponent
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Otherworldly Gaze and similar cantrips aren't substitutes here — the closest functional replacement is Howling Mine, which costs under $1 and covers the group-draw half without the forced discard, making it better in pure group-hug shells and worse in discard-punishment ones. If the discard trigger is the point, Oppression is the honest replacement: it taxes every noncreature spell and generates more discard volume, though it costs political capital and can stall the game in ways Anvil of Bogardan does not.
Price Context
Current price
$48.61 premium tier
At $48.61, Anvil of Bogardan sits firmly in premium artifact territory — driven almost entirely by single-printing scarcity rather than competitive demand. It holds that price because supply is thin, not because it's irreplaceable, so if a reprint lands the floor drops hard.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.