Grinning Totem
Artifact
, 
, Sacrifice this artifact: Search target opponent's library for a card and exile it. Then that player shuffles. Until the beginning of your next upkeep, you may play that card. At the beginning of your next upkeep, if you haven't played it, put it into its owner's graveyard.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Mirage
- Price
- $0.74
- EDHREC rank
- #20946
Grinning Totem lets you steal any card from an opponent's library and cast it later — the catch is the six-mana total investment and the one-turn delay before you can use what you took. Dauthi Voidwalker does a version of this for two mana by exiling cards as they hit the graveyard, which is why Grinning Totem only earns its slot in decks that specifically want to name and extract a known threat rather than opportunistically grab whatever shows up.
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 |
Grinning Totem is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it only realistically sees play in Commander. The six-mana setup cost is prohibitive in any 60-card format where answers exist at instant speed and games end before you recoup the investment. In Commander, the political and strategic ceiling is higher — identifying a specific combo piece in an opponent's deck and extracting it before they can execute is a meaningful play in a pod, and the multiplayer pace gives you the turn to deploy what you've stolen.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Dauthi VoidwalkerTethmos High PriestLightning GreavesGrinning TotemForge Anew
Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite magecraft triggers; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite storm count
View combo details →
Dauthi VoidwalkerTethmos High PriestLightning GreavesGrinning TotemLeonin Shikari
Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite magecraft triggers; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite storm count
View combo details →Price Context
Current price
$0.74 bulk tier
At $0.74, Grinning Totem is firmly bulk — easy to pick up without thinking twice about the cost. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to climb without a reprint into a popular precon that spotlights this style of library theft.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.