Empyrial Plate
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each card in your hand.
Equip 
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander 2016
- Price
- $1.46
- EDHREC rank
- #9070
Empyrial Plate turns hand size into raw power — equip it to a commander who draws cards and you're swinging for 7+ before the table stabilizes. Three mana to cast, two to equip, and the bonus scales as the game goes long, making Empyrial Plate one of the cleanest payoffs for a full grip; Sergeant John Benton, who wants to keep cards in hand and hit hard, treats it as a finisher staple.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Sergeant John Benton
Sergeant John Benton's whole gameplan rewards holding a stocked hand, so Empyrial Plate converts that resource directly into a lethal clock — a commander already drawing extra cards can routinely hit for 8 or more off a single equipment.
Vnwxt, Verbose Host
Vnwxt, Verbose Host generates hand advantage through its triggered abilities, and Empyrial Plate translates that card density into a credible combat threat without requiring any additional setup.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Empyrial Plate is a legitimate role-player in any deck that plans to hold a healthy hand — it's especially punishing in card-draw-heavy builds where a full grip is the default rather than the exception. Legacy and Vintage have faster, more redundant routes to winning and no interest in a five-mana all-in setup, so Empyrial Plate sees essentially no competitive play there. Oathbreaker can reward it for the same reason Commander does — a Planeswalker that draws cards keeps the bonus high — though the smaller hand-size variance tightens the ceiling. Empyrial Plate is a Commander card at heart, and that's exactly the format where it earns its slot.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.46 cheap tier
At $1.46, Empyrial Plate sits firmly in the bulk-rare tier — you're paying almost nothing for a card with genuine game impact in the right shell. That price is unlikely to move much given its narrow audience, but for hand-size commanders it's one of the best dollar-per-damage ratios on the market.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.