Darksteel Mutation
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature is an Insect artifact creature with base power and toughness 0/1 and has indestructible, and it loses all other abilities, card types, and creature types.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Commander 2021
- Price
- $2.66
- EDHREC rank
- #572
Darksteel Mutation turns any creature — including an opponent's commander — into an indestructible 0/1 Insect with no abilities, permanently stranding it on the battlefield with no path back to the command zone unless the opponent spends a removal spell on their own permanent. At two mana, it's one of white's most efficient answers to problem commanders, and Killian, Decisive Mentor cuts that cost to one, making it nearly free.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Killian, Decisive Mentor
Killian, Decisive Mentor reduces Darksteel Mutation to a single white mana, and the spell's gameplan — locking down threats while progressing a go-wide or enchantment board — slots perfectly into Killian's cost-reduction shell.
Eriette of the Charmed Apple
Eriette of the Charmed Apple drains opponents for each Aura they control on their creatures, so Darksteel Mutation does double duty: it neutralizes an attacker and becomes a permanent drain trigger Eriette can exploit every upkeep.
Sythis, Harvest's Hand
Sythis, Harvest's Hand draws a card whenever an enchantment enters, so Darksteel Mutation is removal that replaces itself — exactly the kind of redundancy Sythis decks want when they're sculpting a dominant enchantment board.
Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice
Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice tutors an Aura onto the battlefield whenever an Aura targets it, and while Darksteel Mutation isn't usually targeting your own creatures, the deck's enchantment density makes it a natural fit for neutralizing whatever Light-Paws can't race.
Daxos the Returned
Daxos the Returned generates experience counters off enchantments entering the battlefield, and Darksteel Mutation contributes a counter while permanently neutralizing a commander that would otherwise stop Daxos from attacking.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Darksteel Mutation is a Commander card through and through — its value is almost entirely tied to the commander-damage and command-zone dynamics of multiplayer EDH, where locking down an opponent's commander creates a dilemma no other format replicates. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but sees no meaningful play; two mana for a conditional permanent answer is too slow and narrow when those formats have access to hard removal and counterspells that don't leave a 0/1 body around. Oathbreaker shares the planeswalker-commander dynamic, and there Darksteel Mutation has occasional niche use targeting opposing Oathbreakers, though enchantment removal is more accessible in that two-player context. The real home is Commander, full stop.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Anzrag, the Quake-MoleDarksteel Mutation
Infinite combat phases; Infinite untap of creatures you control; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Price Context
Current price
$2.66 cheap tier
At $2.66, Darksteel Mutation sits in the cheap tier and punches well above its price — it's a staple in Aura-heavy white decks and a near-universal commander-hate piece that sees enough demand to stay in print and hold a stable floor. It's not a card you'll regret buying multiples of.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.