Darksteel Colossus
Artifact Creature — Golem
Trample (This creature can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.)
Indestructible (Damage and effects that say "destroy" don't destroy this creature.)
If Darksteel Colossus would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Darksteel Colossus and shuffle it into its owner's library instead.
- CMC
- 11
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Darksteel
- Price
- $5.15
- EDHREC rank
- #2671
Darksteel Colossus puts an indestructible 11/11 trample on the table that shuffles itself back into your library when it would hit the graveyard — the removal answers that kill everything else largely bounce off it. Eleven mana is a real cost, but commanders like Aloy, Savior of Meridian cheat it into play for free, and Atla Palani, Nest Tender has been doing the same trick for years.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Aloy, Savior of Meridian
Aloy, Savior of Meridian's ability to copy and reanimate artifacts makes Darksteel Colossus a natural inclusion — the indestructible clause means it survives the battlefield long enough to generate multiple triggers and copies.
Oviya, Automech Artisan
Oviya, Automech Artisan cares about artifacts with high mana values, and Darksteel Colossus at eleven is about as high as it gets — it both fuels her synergies and closes games on its own once it lands.
Karn, Legacy Reforged
Karn, Legacy Reforged generates mana based on the highest mana value among your artifacts, and Darksteel Colossus sits at eleven — it effectively turns every subsequent activation into a massive mana burst while doubling as the deck's primary finisher.
Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor
Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor rewards you for casting expensive artifacts, and Darksteel Colossus triggers that payoff harder than almost anything else in the format — indestructible means the investment rarely goes to waste.
Tannuk, Steadfast Second
Tannuk, Steadfast Second cares about artifact creatures with high power, and Darksteel Colossus at 11/11 indestructible is exactly the kind of threat that rewards his support effects — it turns Tannuk's buffs into a game-ending clock.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Darksteel Colossus is legal across every major format but makes its home in Commander, where the slower pace and cheat-into-play effects let it shine without paying eleven mana fairly. In Legacy and Vintage, it has seen fringe play as an Tinker target — an instant-speed 11/11 indestructible that shuffles itself on death is hard to answer cleanly — but dedicated reanimator and combo strategies have mostly moved past it. Modern and Pioneer lack the density of free-cast enablers to make Darksteel Colossus competitively viable, so it stays a casual or Commander card in those pools. In Commander specifically, any deck that cheats artifacts or creatures into play — through Sneak Attack effects, reanimation, or scramble-egg commanders — treats it as one of the highest-ceiling payoffs available at its price point.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Atla Palani, Nest TenderMirror EntityDarksteel Colossus
Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Blightsteel Colossus does the same job for more money and closes faster with infect, but if you want something cheaper, Darksteel Colossus itself is already budget-friendly at this price point — the real competition comes from Inkwell Leviathan, which trades indestructible for islandwalk and shroud at a lower cost, making it harder to target but easier to kill in combat. Impervious Greatwurm offers a comparable size for much less if you only need the indestructible body and can live without the library-shuffle clause.
Price Context
Current price
$5.15 mid tier
At $5.15, Darksteel Colossus sits comfortably in the mid tier — it's accessible enough that budget artifact decks can include it without a second thought. It's a multi-printing card with stable, broad demand, so the price is unlikely to spike dramatically, but it also has enough Commander presence to hold its floor.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.