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Golbez, Crystal Collector

Legendary Creature — Human Wizard

Whenever an artifact you control enters, surveil 1.
At the beginning of your end step, if you control four or more artifacts, return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. Then if you control eight or more artifacts, each opponent loses life equal to that card's power.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{U}{B}
Color identity
BU
Rarity
rare
Set
Final Fantasy
Price
$1.37
EDHREC rank
#4652
Buy on TCGplayer
Golbez, Crystal Collector card art
Golbez, Crystal Collector puts a 4/4 flier into play the moment any permanent enters a graveyard from anywhere — including your opponents' boards — which means removal spells and wrath effects become free threat generation. The cost is the typical midrange trap: five mana and no immediate protection means it folds to the same removal it punishes, and without enablers like Thran Vigil or the chaotic board states Dr. Eggman manufactures, it sits as a vanilla threat more often than you'd like.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Dr. Eggman

Dr. Eggman

55.2% of decks · synergy 0.52

Dr. Eggman's constant stream of artifact tokens dying and being sacrificed means Golbez, Crystal Collector is triggering on nearly every turn cycle, burying opponents under 4/4 fliers before they can stabilize.

02
Noctis, Prince of Lucis

Noctis, Prince of Lucis

46.7% of decks · synergy 0.44

Noctis, Prince of Lucis generates value off equipment and combat, and Golbez, Crystal Collector converts every creature that trades in combat — yours or theirs — into an immediate 4/4 replacement, keeping Noctis's board perpetually threatening.

03
Basim Ibn Ishaq

Basim Ibn Ishaq

15.1% of decks · synergy 0.14

Basim Ibn Ishaq cares about connecting with evasive creatures, and Golbez, Crystal Collector supplies a steady drip of flying bodies whenever permanents hit the bin, giving Basim reliable aerial threats without dedicating slots to pure token producers.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Golbez, Crystal Collector actually earns its slot — four-player tables mean permanents hit the graveyard constantly, and each trigger puts a 4/4 flier into play without spending additional mana, snowballing quickly in longer games. In competitive constructed formats like Modern or Pioneer it's too slow and fragile for five mana with no immediate board impact, and the triggered ability requires opponents to cooperate by losing permanents, which disciplined pilots won't do. Legacy and Vintage have no interest in a five-mana do-nothing-the-turn-it-enters creature. Oathbreaker slots it into the same value-engine role as Commander, just with a smaller threat density — workable, but Commander remains the format where Golbez, Crystal Collector is genuinely strong.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$1.37 cheap tier

At $1.37, Golbez, Crystal Collector sits firmly in the budget-staple tier — cheap enough to throw into any deck that can use it without deliberation. Prices on video-game crossover cards can fluctuate with IP popularity, but the mechanical value is real enough that it's unlikely to crater below bulk.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.