MagicTheGathering.fyi

Containment Construct

Artifact Creature — Construct

Whenever you discard a card, you may exile that card from your graveyard. If you do, you may play that card this turn.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{2}
Color identity
C
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Secrets of Strixhaven Commander
Price
$0.31
EDHREC rank
#2017
Buy on TCGplayer
Containment Construct card art
Containment Construct turns every discard into a free cast — exile a card from your hand and you can play it this turn, which means any discard outlet stops being a cost and starts being an engine. Ketramose, the New Dawn and Quintorius, History Chaser both want it badly, and at two mana it slots in before you even hit your stride.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Quintorius, History Chaser

Quintorius, History Chaser

88.5% of decks · synergy 0.86

Quintorius, History Chaser exiles spells from graveyards constantly, and Containment Construct converts that exile zone into a second hand — every card Quintorius processes is now a potential free cast on the same turn. In 89% of Quintorius decks, this is table stakes.

02
Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald

Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald

53.8% of decks · synergy 0.53

Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald creates a Wolf token whenever you cast a spell from exile, and Containment Construct feeds that trigger directly by letting you cast discarded cards from exile. The two cards together turn any wheel or looting effect into a token flood.

03
Flubs, the Fool

Flubs, the Fool

50.1% of decks · synergy 0.46

Flubs, the Fool mills and impulse-draws constantly, putting cards into exile for later — Containment Construct extends that window by converting discards into additional exile-cast opportunities. Half of all Flubs decks run it because it doubles the effective hand size.

04
Queen Kayla bin-Kroog

Queen Kayla bin-Kroog

47.3% of decks · synergy 0.45

Queen Kayla bin-Kroog's activated ability discards your hand and deploys artifacts and creatures directly, but Containment Construct catches the overflow — anything you'd otherwise pitch can be cast from exile the same turn instead. It's a clean answer to the inherent card-disadvantage tension in Kayla's design.

05
Captain Howler, Sea Scourge

Captain Howler, Sea Scourge

45.4% of decks · synergy 0.44

Captain Howler, Sea Scourge's discard-to-activate pattern pairs with Containment Construct to ensure every discard is a lateral move rather than a loss. The combination lets you churn through your hand without losing resources, which is exactly what a pirate tempo deck needs.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is where Containment Construct does its best work — the format's abundance of wheel effects, looting outlets, and discard-matters commanders means it almost always has a home, and its two-mana cost makes it easy to include without warping your curve. In Modern and Pioneer, it sees fringe play in specific combo shells that want to convert discard into free casts, but the effect isn't broadly powerful enough to demand inclusion in fair decks. Legacy has the raw combo density to abuse it further, though the competition at two mana is fierce enough that it rarely makes the cut outside dedicated builds. Oathbreaker mirrors Commander's appeal given the same singleton discard-heavy strategies.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.31 bulk tier

At $0.31, Containment Construct is firmly bulk — high synergy, low buy-in, no reason to hesitate picking up a copy. Bulk rares with genuine combo upside tend to spike on a single breakout deck, but until then this is an easy include-at-any-time card.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

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