Diversion Unit
Artifact Creature — Robot
Flying
, Sacrifice this creature: Counter target instant or sorcery spell unless its controller pays 
.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Aetherdrift
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #7623
Diversion Unit lands on the board and immediately redirects a threat — tapping an opponent's creature and keeping it locked down as long as the Unit stays in play. The cost is card and mana investment in a permanent that dies to any removal spell, which is the ceiling on how much work Diversion Unit can do in a powered pod.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Mendicant Core, Guidelight
Mendicant Core, Guidelight builds around artifacts entering and activating, and Diversion Unit slots into that engine as both a repeatable tap effect and a body that triggers artifact-matters payoffs on arrival.
Dr. Eggman
Dr. Eggman wants a board full of artifact creatures to fuel his plans, and Diversion Unit contributes a cheap, functional body while its tap ability buys the time needed to assemble the combo pieces Eggman is hunting for.
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 |
In Commander, Diversion Unit is a role-player in artifact-creature strategies — not a staple, but a clean fit in decks that want to stall combat while synergizing with artifact payoffs. In competitive 1v1 formats like Modern and Pioneer, a three-mana tapper with no immediate card advantage is too slow and too fragile to earn a slot, and Legacy isn't interested either. Standard is where Diversion Unit is most likely to see fringe play, since the card pool is shallow enough that a repeatable tap effect on a relevant body can actually matter. Oathbreaker follows the Commander logic: fine in the right artifact shell, invisible everywhere else.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Diversion Unit is deep bulk — the kind of card you pull from a box rather than buy. It won't appreciate unless a future artifact commander dramatically spikes its inclusion rate, so treat it as a free inclusion, not an acquisition target.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.