Barbed Wire
Artifact
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, this artifact deals 1 damage to that player.
: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt by this artifact this turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Mercadian Masques
- Price
- $2.24
- EDHREC rank
- #13131
Barbed Wire pings every opponent for 1 damage at the start of each of their untap steps — three separate damage triggers per table rotation in a four-player game — and the only cost is one mana per turn to keep it live. It's a narrow card that earns its seat in decks that convert that self-pain or opponent-pain into resources, and dead weight everywhere else.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Darien, King of Kjeldor
Darien, King of Kjeldor turns every point of damage you take into a 1/1 Soldier token, so Barbed Wire's upkeep cost flips from a tax into a token factory you control entirely — pay one mana, take one damage, make a Soldier, repeat every turn.
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 |
Barbed Wire is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but the only format where it sees real play is Commander. In Legacy and Vintage, a three-mana artifact that deals one damage per opponent turn is far too slow against the threats those formats present. Commander is where cumulative attrition effects have time to matter, and where the self-damage rider is worth engineering around — Darien, King of Kjeldor being the clearest example. In Oathbreaker it's legal but the compressed game length works against it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.24 cheap tier
At $2.24, Barbed Wire sits in the budget tier — low enough that it's a free inclusion if the synergy is there, not a card you're weighing against a better option on price alone. It's a niche piece with a narrow home, so the price reflects demand rather than power level.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.