Defiant Salvager
Creature — Aetherborn Artificer
Sacrifice an artifact or creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. Activate only as a sorcery.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Commander Legends
- Price
- $0.14
- EDHREC rank
- #18040
Defiant Salvager is a free, repeatable sac outlet on a 2/2 body — it turns any death trigger or persist/undying creature into a counters engine without spending a single mana to activate. The cost is that the payoff lives entirely on the Salvager itself, so it demands support to matter.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Defiant Salvager earns its slot in any aristocrats or sacrifice-matters build where a free sac outlet is the missing piece — Breya, Etherium Shaper and Meren of Clan Nel Toth shells both want exactly this. Outside Commander, Defiant Salvager is a Pauper-playable enabler in go-wide or sacrifice synergy decks where the low mana floor matters, though it rarely sees competitive tables in Modern or Pioneer where faster, more impactful sacrifice outlets dominate. In Legacy and Vintage it's strictly outclassed.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.14 bulk tier
At $0.14, Defiant Salvager is deep bulk — buy a playset for pocket change and don't think twice. Bulk commons and uncommons with narrow applications like this rarely move in price, so there's no urgency and no ceiling worth watching.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.