Mishra's Research Desk
Artifact
, 
, Sacrifice this artifact: Exile the top two cards of your library. Choose one of them. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.
Unearth 
(: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- The Brothers' War
- Price
- $0.23
- EDHREC rank
- #15331
Mishra's Research Desk gives you a repeatable loot — pay one mana, draw a card, discard a card — stapled to an artifact that costs nothing to put into play. The catch is that the effect requires mana each activation and replaces rather than adds, so it filters your hand rather than building card advantage; Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival decks run it specifically because discarding artifacts and casting from the graveyard turn that distinction into a feature.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival
Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival lets you cast artifact cards from your graveyard, so the discard on Mishra's Research Desk stops being a cost and starts being a resource — you loot away an artifact you'd rather play from the bin, then do exactly that.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Mishra's Research Desk occupies the low end of the artifact-synergy draw suite — fine in artifact-matters decks that want redundant looting and free artifacts to sacrifice or reanimate, forgettable everywhere else. Competitive Commander lists won't touch it when Skullclamp and Sensei's Divining Top exist at the same price point or cheaper. In Modern and Legacy, it has no meaningful presence; one mana to filter once per turn is nowhere near the bar those formats set for card selection. Pioneer and Oathbreaker follow the same logic — unless a specific graveyard or artifact combo demands this exact effect, Mishra's Research Desk is a Commander-only consideration, and even there it's a role-player rather than a staple.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.23 bulk tier
At $0.23, Mishra's Research Desk is deep bulk — you'll find it in bulk bins or as throw-in filler, and there's no pressure to buy it in advance. That price reflects its actual demand: narrow enough that only dedicated artifact-synergy Commander decks want it, and those decks rarely need more than one copy.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.