Kongming's Contraptions
Creature — Human Soldier
: This creature deals 2 damage to target attacking creature. Activate only during the declare attackers step and only if you've been attacked this step.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Portal Three Kingdoms
- Price
- $46.89
- EDHREC rank
- #30000
Kongming's Contraptions is a repeatable artifact token generator that turns each upkeep into incremental board presence — the kind of effect token and artifact decks will grind opponents out with over a long game. The cost is real: five mana for a do-nothing enchantment that produces 1/1s one at a time is slow enough that it needs a dedicated support structure to justify the slot.
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 |
Kongming's Contraptions is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but competitive Legacy and Vintage ignore it entirely — those formats have no patience for five-mana enchantments that don't win on the spot. Commander is where Kongming's Contraptions actually lives, specifically in token-doubler and artifact-synergy shells that turn each Construct into additional fodder for sacrifice outlets, anthem effects, or metalcraft triggers. Oathbreaker can support it in the right artifact-centric pairing, though the lower starting life total puts more pressure on the card to close games rather than grind them.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Mondrak, Glory Dominus and Parallel Lives do something adjacent by doubling token output rather than generating it, but the most direct budget replacement for Kongming's Contraptions as a recurring artifact-creature source is Efficient Construction, which triggers off your own artifact casts instead of a fixed upkeep schedule. Neither fully replicates the passive, upkeep-based stream that Kongming's Contraptions provides, but Efficient Construction in an artifact-heavy shell often produces more tokens per turn at a fraction of the price.
Price Context
Current price
$46.89 premium tier
At $46.89, Kongming's Contraptions sits in premium territory — a price driven by its Portal Three Kingdoms scarcity rather than raw power level. That scarcity isn't going away, so the price is stable, but you're paying a collector's tax on an effect that more recent sets have partially replicated for far less.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.