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Mindcrank

Artifact

Whenever an opponent loses life, that player mills that many cards. (Damage causes loss of life.)

CMC
2
Mana cost
{2}
Color identity
C
Rarity
uncommon
Set
New Phyrexia
Price
$11.40
EDHREC rank
#958
Buy on TCGplayer
Mindcrank card art
Mindcrank turns every point of damage dealt into mill and every mill into potential life loss, pressuring opponents on two axes simultaneously for just two mana. It wins games outright alongside Bloodchief Ascension, and in Captain N'ghathrod decks it's not a support piece — it's a primary engine.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Captain N'ghathrod

Captain N'ghathrod

83.1% of decks · synergy 0.71

Captain N'ghathrod mills on every combat damage trigger, and Mindcrank converts each milled card into additional damage — which mills more, which deals more damage, looping until someone is dead.

02
Syr Konrad, the Grim

Syr Konrad, the Grim

62.9% of decks · synergy 0.58

Syr Konrad, the Grim pings opponents whenever a creature hits a graveyard, and Mindcrank turns those pings into mill that fills graveyards with more creatures, creating a feedback loop that scales with any graveyard-filling effect in the deck.

03
The Wise Mothman

The Wise Mothman

62.8% of decks · synergy 0.55

The Wise Mothman distributes -1/-1 counters as opponents mill, and Mindcrank accelerates that mill off every point of damage those counters enable — each half of the engine feeds the other.

04
Phenax, God of Deception

Phenax, God of Deception

66.0% of decks · synergy 0.54

Phenax, God of Deception mills in large chunks using tapped creatures' toughness, and Mindcrank converts that bulk mill into direct damage that then triggers more milling, turning a slow attrition plan into a closing engine.

05
Bruvac the Grandiloquent

Bruvac the Grandiloquent

49.9% of decks · synergy 0.46

Bruvac the Grandiloquent doubles every mill trigger, so each Mindcrank activation hits twice as hard — a two-card combination that makes decking opponents a realistic mid-game threat rather than a late-game hope.

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 Mindcrank earns its reputation: the two-card lock with Bloodchief Ascension is one of the most consistent infinite combos in the format, and even without a combo partner the card applies real pressure in any mill or drain shell. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but sees essentially no play — constructed formats move too fast for a two-mana artifact that does nothing the turn it enters without another piece in place. Oathbreaker gives it a home in the same archetypes that want it in Commander, just compressed to 60 cards and a lower life total, which makes the combo faster to assemble.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

There is no true budget replacement for Mindcrank because no other card creates the same mill-damage feedback loop at any price point — the design is unique. If you want to spread damage-to-mill conversion across more cards, Ruin Crab and Altar of the Brood each generate mill off different triggers, but neither chains with Bloodchief Ascension the way Mindcrank does, so you're trading the combo for incremental pressure.

Price Context

Current price

$11.40 mid tier

At $11.40, Mindcrank sits in mid-tier pricing that reflects genuine demand rather than scarcity — it's a staple in multiple high-volume archetypes and has been reprinted enough to stay accessible. That price is stable; it's not a card you need to race to buy, but it's also not coming down significantly given how many mill and drain commanders actively want it.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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