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Auton Soldier

Artifact Creature — Alien Soldier

You may have this creature enter as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except it isn't legendary, is an artifact in addition to its other types, and has myriad. (Whenever it attacks, for each opponent other than defending player, you may create a token copy that's tapped and attacking that player or a planeswalker they control. Exile the tokens at end of combat.)

CMC
6
Mana cost
{4}{U}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
Doctor Who
Price
$11.83
EDHREC rank
#2034
Buy on TCGplayer
Auton Soldier card art
Auton Soldier enters the battlefield as a copy of any nonlegendary creature you control, which means it plugs directly into every flicker, reanimate, and clone loop in the format — most notably as a redundant piece alongside Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. The four-mana cost is the only real friction; in Gyruda, Doom of Depths shells it's often hitting the table for free off a cascade trigger anyway.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Gyruda, Doom of Depths

Gyruda, Doom of Depths

65.1% of decks · synergy 0.61

Gyruda, Doom of Depths mills four cards and reanimates an even-mana-cost creature each time it enters, and Auton Soldier copying that creature restarts the chain — it's one of the core pieces that makes the Gyruda loop go infinite.

02
Davros, Dalek Creator

Davros, Dalek Creator

59.2% of decks · synergy 0.56

Davros, Dalek Creator cares about creating Dalek tokens and draining opponents when creatures die, and Auton Soldier copying a high-value Dalek or sacrifice payoff doubles the pressure without spending another card slot on redundancy.

03
The Celestial Toymaker

The Celestial Toymaker

40.5% of decks · synergy 0.39

The Celestial Toymaker rewards you for playing with your opponents' toys, and Auton Soldier copying whatever threat is most dangerous on board turns a reactive gameplan into an offensive one mid-combat.

04
Círdan the Shipwright

Círdan the Shipwright

35.4% of decks · synergy 0.33

Círdan the Shipwright draws cards when you attack with the equipped creature, and Auton Soldier copying Círdan's best attacker means another trigger source without diluting the equipment package.

05
Marvo, Deep Operative

Marvo, Deep Operative

36.2% of decks · synergy 0.32

Marvo, Deep Operative wants bodies that survive long enough to connect and trigger its manifest effects, and Auton Soldier copying a large evasive threat is an efficient way to threaten two angles of attack at once.

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

Auton Soldier is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but Commander is where it actually sees play. In Legacy and Vintage the four-mana cost is prohibitive — both formats have faster, cheaper clone effects that don't need a whole turn to resolve. Commander is the correct home: singleton pressure means having a second copy of your best creature is genuinely valuable, and the lack of a legendary restriction makes Auton Soldier more flexible than most clone effects at this price point. In Oathbreaker it's serviceable in any shell that curves into a powerful four-drop target, though the smaller deck size makes it marginally less consistent.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Clone effects that cost less tend to come with stricter targeting — cards like Phantasmal Image copy any creature but die to any targeting spell, and Stunt Double has flash but lacks the Soldier subtype that matters in some tribal shells. Auton Soldier's staying power as a non-legendary, non-enchantment permanent is the actual reason to pay the premium over cheaper imitations; if your deck doesn't care about the Soldier type and doesn't need the copy to stick around under interaction, those sub-$2 alternatives recoup most of the value.

Price Context

Current price

$11.83 mid tier

At $11.83, Auton Soldier sits in the mid tier — meaningfully more expensive than generic clone effects but not a budget-breaker for a staple slot. It's a Doctor Who set card with a narrower reprint window than a core-set staple, so the price reflects real demand from Gyruda and Davros players rather than speculation.

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Sources

Mentioned

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