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Crime Novelist

Creature — Goblin Bard

Whenever you sacrifice an artifact, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and add {R}.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Murders at Karlov Manor
Price
$0.78
EDHREC rank
#1385
Buy on TCGplayer
Crime Novelist card art
Crime Novelist turns every sacrificed artifact into a red mana, which means sacrifice-heavy shells can chain through a turn in ways that would make Krark-Clan Ironworks jealous. The cost is real — the mana is colorless-adjacent red that can't be floated past the phase — but in the right deck, and especially alongside Jaws, Relentless Predator, this two-drop does serious work.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Jaws, Relentless Predator

Jaws, Relentless Predator

76.3% of decks · synergy 0.71

Jaws, Relentless Predator runs Crime Novelist in over 76% of builds because the commander's treasure-generating attacks feed directly into the Novelist's trigger, converting each sacrificed token into the red mana needed to keep the engine churning through a combat step. Together they form a self-reinforcing loop where attacking makes resources and Crime Novelist converts those resources into immediate action.

02
Jolene, the Plunder Queen

Jolene, the Plunder Queen

61.4% of decks · synergy 0.59

Jolene, the Plunder Queen lives on treasure production, and Crime Novelist gives that pile of tokens a second use — sacrifice them for red mana instead of generic mana whenever you need colored resources fast. Crime Novelist in a Jolene, the Plunder Queen deck is effectively a mana filter that rewards you for doing exactly what you were already doing.

03
Jenny FlintMadame Vastra

Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra

58.0% of decks · synergy 0.57

Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra rewards clue and artifact generation across the partnership, and Crime Novelist slots in as the payoff that turns those investigative tokens into colored mana before they go to the graveyard. The synergy score of 0.57 reflects how naturally Crime Novelist fits the artifact-sacrifice throughline that Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra decks are built around.

04
Ragost, Deft Gastronaut

Ragost, Deft Gastronaut

56.6% of decks · synergy 0.53

Ragost, Deft Gastronaut keys off food tokens, and sacrificing those artifacts to Crime Novelist converts each bite into red mana while simultaneously triggering whatever payoffs Ragost, Deft Gastronaut sets up for sacrifice events. With over 15,000 decks in the pool, the 56% inclusion rate confirms Crime Novelist is a core piece rather than a fringe inclusion.

05
Vazi, Keen Negotiator

Vazi, Keen Negotiator

57.2% of decks · synergy 0.53

Vazi, Keen Negotiator distributes treasure tokens to opponents and then reclaims value when those or your own tokens get sacrificed — Crime Novelist plugs into that loop by ensuring every artifact that exits the battlefield on your side pays a mana dividend. The pairing rewards political gameplay with real resource acceleration, which is exactly the axis Vazi, Keen Negotiator wants to operate on.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is where Crime Novelist does its best work — the format's abundance of artifact token producers (treasures, clues, food, blood) means the trigger fires constantly, and a two-mana 1/2 with consistent upside is easy to slot into any Rakdos or Grixis sacrifice shell. In competitive 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer, Crime Novelist is legal but rarely relevant — artifact sacrifice decks exist, but the body is too fragile and the mana production too conditional to compete with purpose-built pieces. Legacy and Vintage have the same access but no real incentive to run it over faster, more broken options. Standard legality gives it the broadest accessible audience at any given time, and if a treasure-matters or sacrifice-matters set is in rotation, Crime Novelist is worth watching. Pauper illegality is the one door closed to it, which is where a consistent two-drop engine might otherwise see the most play.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.78 bulk tier

At $0.78, Crime Novelist is firmly bulk — easy to pick up as a four-of or stuff into any Commander deck that wants it without a second thought. Given its role as a named combo piece in sacrifice shells, that price is unlikely to move significantly unless a high-profile Standard or Modern deck puts it on camera.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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