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Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade

Legendary Artifact Creature — Spider Hero

Vigilance
{T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on each artifact creature and/or Vehicle you control.
{2}, Remove two +1/+1 counters from among artifacts you control: Draw a card.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{3}
Color identity
C
Rarity
rare
Set
Through the Omenpaths
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#4494
Buy on TCGplayer
Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade card art
Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade lands as a +1/+1 counter engine and mana accelerant in one — it enters with counters, taps to make mana equal to those counters, and pairs with modular and proliferate payoffs to scale fast. The cost is real: it's competing for a slot against dedicated ramp pieces, and in any deck not built around counters, Crystalline Crawler does most of this more efficiently. In Aloy, Savior of Meridian shells, though, Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade pulls enough weight to justify the include every time.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Aloy, Savior of Meridian

Aloy, Savior of Meridian

54.1% of decks · synergy 0.52

Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade is one of the highest-inclusion artifacts in Aloy, Savior of Meridian decks for good reason — Aloy's Focus trigger rewards tapping artifacts, and the Spider's counter-based mana production feeds both the engine and the board.

02
Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate

Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate

37.0% of decks · synergy 0.29

Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate cares deeply about +1/+1 counters moving around the board, and Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade enters with counters already loaded and ready to be distributed or grown through Omarthis's proliferate triggers.

03
Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp

Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp

28.8% of decks · synergy 0.28

Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp turns every counter removal into a board-wide buff via modular, and Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade is a willing donor — when it dies, its counters redistribute and Zabaz magnifies the effect.

04
Alibou, Ancient Witness

Alibou, Ancient Witness

27.9% of decks · synergy 0.27

Alibou, Ancient Witness wants a wide artifact board that taps aggressively, and Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade checks both boxes: it's an artifact that taps for mana and grows large enough to trigger meaningful Alibou damage.

05
Balthier and Fran

Balthier and Fran

26.4% of decks · synergy 0.26

Balthier and Fran generate value off artifacts entering and leaving play, and Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade is a counter-loaded artifact that plays well with blink and flicker lines the deck naturally runs.

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

Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade is legal across Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but Commander is where it actually gets played. In 60-card formats, a three-mana artifact that taps for mana only when loaded with counters is too conditional to compete — dedicated ramp is faster and more reliable. Commander is the right home: the longer game rewards cards that scale over multiple turns, and the singleton constraint means counter-synergy decks want every piece they can find. In Oathbreaker, the same logic applies at a smaller table with faster clocks, so it fits there only in dedicated counter builds.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Pricing data for Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade isn't confirmed in the current market snapshot, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the live number before buying. Given that it's a niche synergy piece with strong but format-specific demand, copies tend to sit at a modest price point — but verify before assuming it's a budget pickup.

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Sources

Mentioned

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