Nettlecyst
Artifact — Equipment
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters, create a 0/0 black Phyrexian Germ creature token, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact and/or enchantment you control.
Equip 
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Modern Horizons 2
- Price
- $3.69
- EDHREC rank
- #1005
Nettlecyst enters as a Living Weapon, immediately stapling a Germ token to itself, and its power scales with every artifact and creature you already control — making it a threat the moment it hits the table. Nahiri, Forged in Fury can recur and re-equip it for free, which means the Germ clock resets every time the board gets wiped.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Nahiri, Forged in Fury
Nahiri, Forged in Fury tutors equipment directly onto the battlefield and re-equips for free on attack, so Nettlecyst never sits idle in hand and its Germ token swings every combat with a power floor set by the whole board.
Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain
Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain copies equipment onto every attacking creature, which means a single Nettlecyst becomes multiple giant flying threats in the same turn — the Germ token is almost incidental.
Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant
Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant discounts artifacts and rewards artifact density, so Nettlecyst arrives cheap and immediately inflates from the pile of metalcraft fuel already in play.
Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms
Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms cares about equipping creatures repeatedly, and Nettlecyst's bonus scales with every artifact Gilgamesh accumulates — the two reward exactly the same game plan.
Morska, Undersea Sleuth
Morska, Undersea Sleuth builds a wide board of Clue tokens, which are artifacts, so Nettlecyst's power grows passively every turn the investigate engine runs.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Nettlecyst does its best work — artifact-heavy pods let the equipped Germ arrive as a double-digit threat by mid-game, and the Living Weapon text means you never need a separate creature to suit up. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but outclassed; Affinity and Hardened Scales shells want faster payoffs, and a three-mana equipment that doesn't immediately end the game rarely makes those cuts. Modern is theoretically on the table, but the same problem applies — Urza's Saga finds Cranial Plating for less mana and higher ceiling in dedicated artifact lists. Nettlecyst is a Commander card through and through, and the data bears that out.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$3.69 cheap tier
At $3.69, Nettlecyst sits at the low end of staple pricing — cheap enough to slot into any artifact build without budget friction. Its high inclusion rate across multiple commanders keeps steady demand on it, so the floor is unlikely to drop further.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Nahiri, Forged in Fury
- Arna Kennerüd, Skycaptain
- Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant
- Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms
- Morska, Undersea Sleuth
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.