Cartographer's Companion
Artifact Creature — Gnome
When this creature enters, create a Map token. (It's an artifact with "
, 
, Sacrifice this token: Target creature you control explores. Activate only as a sorcery.")
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
- Price
- $0.10
- EDHREC rank
- #19581
Cartographer's Companion enters as a 1/1 flier and replaces itself with a basic land when it dies — a two-for-one stapled to a body, not a premium effect. It's fine in budget builds that need cheap evasion and incidental ramp, but it loses the roster spot to almost any dedicated two-mana ramp spell in a tuned list.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Cartographer's Companion occupies the low end of the ramp curve — it contributes a body to the board and guarantees a land when it dies, which matters in decks that want sacrifice fodder or exploit death triggers. Outside Commander, it's technically legal across every major format, but it never sees meaningful play — a 1/1 flier with a conditional death trigger doesn't clear the bar in competitive 60-card environments where ramp needs to be immediate. Pauper is its most plausible non-Commander home, where commons that generate two resources can find a niche, though even there it faces stiff competition from dedicated land-fetchers.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.10 bulk tier
At $0.10, Cartographer's Companion is pure bulk — the kind of card you pull from a common box rather than order. That price is stable by default; there's no demand pressure to push it higher, so pick it up freely if it fits a budget build and don't think twice about it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.