Kill Switch
Artifact
, 
: Tap all other artifacts. They don't untap during their controllers' untap steps for as long as this artifact remains tapped.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Nemesis
- Price
- $4.96
- EDHREC rank
- #15788
Kill Switch taps all artifacts your opponents control at the end of each turn — pair it with Mycosynth Lattice and every permanent on the board locks down, leaving your opponents unable to untap anything. The cost is real: you're running a three-mana artifact that does nothing the turn it enters and can lock out your own stuff if you're not building around it, but Ygra, Eater of All and other artifact-heavy strategies exploit it as a one-sided stranglehold.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ygra, Eater of All
Ygra, Eater of All turns food tokens into a sacrifice engine, and Kill Switch fits because Ygra decks often lean into artifact synergies where opponents are more exposed to the tap-lock than you are — especially once Mycosynth Lattice is on the table and the lock becomes total.
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 |
Kill Switch is a Commander card, full stop — the multiplayer table is exactly the environment where tapping down every opponent's artifacts generates compounding advantage over three or four players at once. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but almost never sees play; the formats are too fast and interactive for a three-mana do-nothing-on-entry artifact to compete. Commander is where Kill Switch earns its slot, specifically in artifact-matters builds that can either go wide on their own turn or use the lock to grind opponents into irrelevance over a long game.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Kill SwitchMycosynth LatticeUnwinding Clock
Permanents your opponents control do not untap; Lock; Mass Land Denial
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Kill SwitchMycosynth LatticeSeedborn Muse
Permanents your opponents control do not untap; Lock; Mass Land Denial
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$4.96 cheap tier
At $4.96, Kill Switch sits at the low end of niche-but-powerful artifact staples — cheap enough that you're not taking a risk, expensive enough that it hasn't been reprinted into bulk. Demand from artifact commanders keeps a floor under the price, so this isn't likely to crater, but it's also not a card with broad enough appeal to spike dramatically.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.