Clockwork Beetle
Artifact Creature — Insect
This creature enters with two +1/+1 counters on it.
Whenever this creature attacks or blocks, remove a +1/+1 counter from it at end of combat.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Mirrodin
- Price
- $0.11
- EDHREC rank
- #19336
Clockwork Beetle enters as a 2/2 for one mana, then permanently shrinks by one counter each time it attacks — a stat line that degrades every combat until it disappears entirely. The rate looks appealing for a turn-one play, but a vanishing attacker is rarely worth a deck slot outside very specific counter-manipulation shells.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Clockwork Beetle is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but it sees meaningful play in almost none of them. In Commander, the only homes are dedicated artifact-creature or counter-manipulation decks — commanders like Otharri or Myrel that care about +1/+1 counters can reverse the clock, but even then Clockwork Beetle is deep into the 99. In Pauper, where one-mana 2/2s get scrutinized seriously, the self-degradation disqualifies it against creatures that simply stay 2/2s. Legacy and Vintage have no use for it whatsoever.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.11 bulk tier
At $0.11, Clockwork Beetle is bulk in every sense — easy to acquire, easy to trade away. There is no price pressure here, and nothing about its playability suggests that changes.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.