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Mindsplice Apparatus

Artifact

Flash
At the beginning of your upkeep, put an oil counter on this artifact.
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost {1} less to cast for each oil counter on this artifact.

CMC
4
Mana cost
{3}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
Phyrexia: All Will Be One Promos
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#2705
Buy on TCGplayer
Mindsplice Apparatus card art
Mindsplice Apparatus makes instant and sorcery spells cost less for each oil counter on it, and it accumulates those counters every upkeep — so by turn four or five it's routinely cutting two or three mana off everything you cast. Ghostly Flicker goes from a three-mana tempo play to a near-free engine piece, and in a Jin-Gitaxias shell where you're chaining spells every turn, the discount compounds fast enough to produce effectively free spell turns.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Jin-Gitaxias

43.6% of decks · synergy 0.39

Jin-Gitaxias rewards casting spells in rapid succession, and Mindsplice Apparatus turns that velocity into a self-reinforcing loop — the more you cast, the more counters accumulate, the cheaper the next spell gets, until your hand empties at zero cost.

02
Zevlor, Elturel Exile

Zevlor, Elturel Exile

39.5% of decks · synergy 0.37

Zevlor, Elturel Exile copies targeted instants and sorceries to every opponent, so even a modest discount from Mindsplice Apparatus multiplies in value across three targets simultaneously — a two-mana reduction on a copied spell is effectively six mana saved in one cast.

03
Gale, Waterdeep ProdigyScion of Halaster

Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy // Scion of Halaster

29.2% of decks · synergy 0.28

Gale, Waterdeep Prodigy // Scion of Halaster cares deeply about casting instants and sorceries from unusual zones, and Mindsplice Apparatus smooths the mana math enough that Gale can chain spells through multiple zones in a single turn without running dry.

04
Zethi, Arcane Blademaster

Zethi, Arcane Blademaster

22.3% of decks · synergy 0.21

Zethi, Arcane Blademaster imprints instants onto weapons and replays them repeatedly, and Mindsplice Apparatus turns those recurring casts into free or near-free triggers — the discount stacks with every weapon swing.

05
Mizzix of the Izmagnus

Mizzix of the Izmagnus

22.9% of decks · synergy 0.19

Mizzix of the Izmagnus already reduces spell costs through experience counters, and stacking Mindsplice Apparatus on top means high-CMC instants and sorceries frequently cost nothing at all, collapsing the mana floor of the entire deck.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Mindsplice Apparatus is a Commander card first — the oil counter accumulation is built around multiple upkeeps, and the payoff scales with the density of instants and sorceries a deck runs, both conditions that Commander naturally satisfies. In Modern and Pioneer, the four-mana artifact doesn't do anything the turn it enters, which is a disqualifying tempo deficit in formats where games end by turn four or five. Legacy and Vintage move too fast for a setup piece this slow, and Vintage already has access to cost-reduction effects that don't require waiting on upkeeps. Oathbreaker can support it in the right spell-heavy shell, but the same Commander synergies apply there in a compressed pod.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Current pricing data for Mindsplice Apparatus isn't available in this snapshot, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the live number. Given its narrow Commander-focused role and limited competitive presence, it typically sits in the budget-to-mid range — worth picking up for any spell-slinger build that expects games to go long.

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Sources

Mentioned

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