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Artificial Evolution

Instant

Change the text of target spell or permanent by replacing all instances of one creature type with another. The new creature type can't be Wall. (This effect lasts indefinitely.)

CMC
1
Mana cost
{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
Onslaught
Price
$4.77
EDHREC rank
#11999
Buy on TCGplayer
Artificial Evolution card art
Artificial Evolution rewrites a creature type anywhere on the stack or battlefield for a single blue mana — a one-mana instant that can lock opponents out of their own tribal synergies, supercharge yours, or pull off degenerate combo lines. In Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator decks it reclassifies blockers as Pirates mid-combat; in Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist builds it redirects Salamander tokens to opponents' creature types, turning a forced-gift engine into a one-sided political weapon.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist

Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist

60.0% of decks · synergy 0.60

Gor Muldrak, Amphinologist forces each player without a Salamander to create one at end of turn — Artificial Evolution changes the creature type on Gor Muldrak's own text to something opponents already have in play, so they eat the token burden while you opt out entirely.

02
Kediss, Emberclaw FamiliarMalcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator

Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator

36.3% of decks · synergy 0.36

Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator triggers off Pirates connecting with any player, and Artificial Evolution converts an entire board of non-Pirates into Pirates before attackers hit — turning a single combat step into a treasure avalanche that fuels whatever finish the deck is running.

03
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed NavigatorVial Smasher the Fierce

Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce

33.1% of decks · synergy 0.33

Same core logic applies: Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce leans hard on maximizing Pirate triggers each turn, and Artificial Evolution is the cheapest way to type-shift a wall of blockers into free treasure fodder with no additional setup.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Artificial Evolution is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, and that's basically the whole story — it's too narrow and too parasitic on tribal density to matter in non-Commander contexts where the card pool is deep but singleton restrictions don't concentrate types the way a 99-card tribal build does. In Legacy and Vintage it sees no meaningful play; the formats move too fast for a one-mana do-nothing that requires an existing board state to exploit. Commander is where Artificial Evolution earns its slot, specifically in dedicated tribal decks that either want to steal opposing synergies, protect their own creatures from type-based removal, or complete a combo that hinges on a creature having the right type at the right moment.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$4.77 cheap tier

At $4.77, Artificial Evolution sits at the high end of the cheap tier — reasonable given that it's a one-of-a-kind effect with no functional reprint and a hard ceiling on demand from being playable in only a narrow slice of Commander builds. The price is fair for what it does in the decks that want it, but don't expect it to climb; the card's power is real and its audience is not.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.