Cryogen Relic
Artifact
When this artifact enters or leaves the battlefield, draw a card.
, Sacrifice this artifact: Put a stun counter on up to one target tapped creature. (If a permanent with a stun counter would become untapped, remove one from it instead.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Edge of Eternities
- Price
- $0.30
- EDHREC rank
- #4845
Cryogen Relic puts a cumulative freeze effect on the board — each counter it accumulates tightens the lock, and opponents can't easily ignore it. The cost is real: it does nothing the turn it lands, and decks that can't blink or reset it are paying for a slow clock that faster tables will race through. Mishra, Eminent One sidesteps that drawback by copying it as a noncreature artifact token, doubling the counter pressure without waiting.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Mishra, Eminent One
Mishra, Eminent One creates a tapped token copy of Cryogen Relic during combat, meaning both copies accumulate freeze counters independently and the lock scales twice as fast without any additional investment.
Yorion, Sky Nomad
Yorion, Sky Nomad blinks Cryogen Relic to reset its counters back to zero, letting you retarget the effect and continually reapply the freeze rather than watching it expire on a single permanent.
Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward // Candlekeep Sage
Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward // Candlekeep Sage exiles and returns permanents en masse, which resets Cryogen Relic and lets the deck weaponize the re-entry trigger repeatedly across multiple targets.
Brago, King Eternal
Brago, King Eternal's combat trigger blinks Cryogen Relic every attack, resetting it for a fresh freeze each turn and turning a one-shot stax piece into a recurring engine that locks a new threat every combat step.
Mm'menon, the Right Hand
Mm'menon, the Right Hand rewards artifact interaction and value loops, and Cryogen Relic fits cleanly as a repeatable disruption piece that accumulates pressure while the deck builds toward its end game.
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 |
Cryogen Relic is legal across every major format but its home is Commander, where the cumulative freeze effect has time to matter and blink enablers like Brago, King Eternal and Yorion, Sky Nomad are plentiful. In competitive 60-card formats it's too slow — Modern and Pioneer games end before the counter count becomes meaningful, and there's no shortage of more efficient stax or removal options. Pauper could theoretically use Cryogen Relic in a flicker shell, but the format's fast aggro and efficient answers make a three-mana do-nothing-immediately artifact a liability. Stick to Commander, specifically in blink or artifact-matters builds where the reset loop transforms it from a stall tactic into a genuine lock piece.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.30 bulk tier
At $0.30, Cryogen Relic is firmly bulk — you're not paying a premium for the effect, and picking up copies costs less than a sleeve. Bulk rares at this price point rarely spike unless a new commander pushes the archetype hard, so treat it as a cheap role-player rather than a spec target.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Mishra, Eminent One
- Yorion, Sky Nomad
- Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward // Candlekeep Sage
- Brago, King Eternal
- Mm'menon, the Right Hand
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.