Glistening Sphere
Artifact
This artifact enters tapped.
When this artifact enters, proliferate.
: Add one mana of any color.
Corrupted — : Add three mana of any one color. Activate only if an opponent has three or more poison counters.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander
- Price
- $13.13
- EDHREC rank
- #2713
Glistening Sphere enters with three oil counters, taps for any color, and converts those counters into card draws — that's a mana rock and a draw engine stapled together for three mana. Proliferate commanders like Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa refuel it every turn, and token-spam strategies like Myojin of Cryptic Dreams can crack it for a burst of cards the moment it hits the table.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa
Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa proliferates on combat damage, which means Glistening Sphere gets its oil counters topped up automatically — turning a three-mana rock into a recurring draw engine without any extra investment.
Vishgraz, the Doomhive
Vishgraz, the Doomhive floods the board with Mite tokens that proliferate on attack, so Glistening Sphere sits back and accumulates counters while the tokens do the work — by mid-game you're drawing two or three cards off a single activation.
Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus
Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus doubles every proliferate trigger, so each combat step loads Glistening Sphere with two counters instead of one and makes the draw conversion absurdly efficient.
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon runs a tight black shell that wants colored mana and card velocity, and Glistening Sphere supplies both — the oil counters are a bonus that synergizes with any incidental proliferate the deck picks up.
Karumonix, the Rat King
Karumonix, the Rat King lists Glistening Sphere as a reliable mana fixer in a mono-black shell that occasionally splashes proliferate support, giving the deck a late-game draw outlet that doesn't cost card slots elsewhere.
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 |
Commander is where Glistening Sphere earns its slot — proliferate is a supported tribe in the format, and the combination of color-fixing and card draw on a single artifact fills two structural needs at once. In Oathbreaker the same logic applies at a smaller table, and the faster games mean you'll draw off it sooner. Legacy and Vintage are legal but irrelevant; three mana for a tap-for-one-color rock is far too slow for those formats, and no competitive shell there cares about oil counters. Glistening Sphere is, functionally, a Commander card.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Myojin of Cryptic DreamsGlistening Sphere
Infinite ETB; Infinite creature tokens; Infinite proliferate; Infinite copies of permanent spells you control
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Prophetic Prism costs a fraction of the price and replaces itself immediately, though it offers no ongoing draw beyond the initial cantrip. Mind Stone gives you a two-mana rock with a one-shot draw mode but lacks the color-fixing and the repeatable counter-based upside that makes Glistening Sphere worth the premium in dedicated proliferate builds.
Price Context
Current price
$13.13 mid tier
At $13.13, Glistening Sphere sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to feel in a budget build, but not so steep that it's out of reach for a focused proliferate deck. It's a role-player, not a staple across all Commander, so the price is justified only if your commander actually exploits the oil counters; otherwise cheaper rocks do the job.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.