MagicTheGathering.fyi

Mimic Vat

Artifact

Imprint — Whenever a nontoken creature dies, you may exile that card. If you do, return each other card exiled with this artifact to its owner's graveyard.
{3}, {T}: Create a token that's a copy of a card exiled with this artifact. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{3}
Color identity
C
Rarity
rare
Set
Commander 2018
Price
$0.52
EDHREC rank
#2202
Buy on TCGplayer
Mimic Vat card art
Mimic Vat turns the best creature that dies each game into a repeatable token factory — three mana to imprint, three mana per copy, and every token vanishes at end of turn so there's no cleanup problem. The cost is that it does nothing the turn it enters and needs a death trigger to fire, which means commanders like Disa the Restless who manufacture sacrifice fodder constantly get more out of it than low-interaction pods, while Brion Stoutarm uses the end-of-turn exile clause as a feature rather than a drawback.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Brion Stoutarm

Brion Stoutarm

61.9% of decks · synergy 0.61

Brion Stoutarm flings the Mimic Vat token at an opponent for lethal damage, then the end-of-turn exile clause triggers on its own — the creature was getting exiled either way, so Brion turns the downside into a clean loop that costs no extra resources.

02
Obeka, Brute Chronologist

Obeka, Brute Chronologist

60.0% of decks · synergy 0.58

Obeka, Brute Chronologist can end the turn before the Mimic Vat token exiles, keeping it on the battlefield indefinitely and turning what is normally a one-shot copy into a permanent threat.

03
Ghired, Conclave Exile

Ghired, Conclave Exile

47.8% of decks · synergy 0.47

Ghired, Conclave Exile populates tokens, and a Mimic Vat copy of a high-value creature gives Ghired's populate trigger a premium target to duplicate before the original token disappears.

04
The Master, Multiplied

The Master, Multiplied

46.2% of decks · synergy 0.45

The Master, Multiplied creates token copies of itself, so Mimic Vat imprinting a legendary creature from any player's graveyard effectively extends the range of board states The Master can manufacture each combat step.

05
Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer

Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer

41.9% of decks · synergy 0.41

Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer converts every token on the board into a copy of the same creature, so a Mimic Vat token of something enormous becomes the template that rewrites an entire token army into that threat the moment Brudiclad triggers.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is where Mimic Vat actually lives — multiplayer games generate a steady stream of high-value creatures dying, which means the imprint trigger fires early and often, and three mana per activation is easy to justify when the copy is someone else's Elesh Norn or Blightsteel Colossus. In Legacy and Vintage, Mimic Vat is legal but effectively unplayed; the formats move too fast for a three-mana artifact that needs setup and additional mana each turn to compete with the raw power of available options. Oathbreaker shares enough of Commander's slower, multiplayer dynamics that Mimic Vat can find a home there under the right signature spell shell, though the 20-life total compresses the window.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.52 bulk tier

At $0.52, Mimic Vat sits firmly in bulk territory despite consistent Commander demand across nearly every token and reanimator-adjacent strategy. That price has proven stable — broad playability in a low-rarity slot means supply keeps pace with demand, so there's no reason to expect volatility in either direction.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

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