Nova Pentacle
Artifact
, 
: The next time a source of your choice would deal damage to you this turn, that damage is dealt to target creature of an opponent's choice instead.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Legends
- Price
- $29.71
- EDHREC rank
- #29247
Nova Pentacle redirects damage dealt to you and your permanents to a creature an opponent controls, turning every hit into a political weapon and a removal engine simultaneously. Four mana to cast and two to activate is real cost, but the threat of redirection changes how the table aims.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Nova Pentacle actually lives — multiplayer tables generate enough incoming damage and attack traffic to make the activation worth holding up, and the political dimension of choosing which opponent's creature eats the redirected damage adds genuine leverage. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but irrelevant; competitive decks end games before a four-mana artifact with a two-mana activated ability can recoup its investment. Oathbreaker is legal and theoretically interesting in a slower pod, but the smaller life totals compress the game too much for Nova Pentacle to shine consistently.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Nova Pentacle occupies a niche that few cards share cleanly — Pariah and Pariah's Shield redirect damage similarly but attach to a creature rather than an opponent's, which is a meaningful difference in how they interact with your board. If the goal is simply making yourself a less attractive target, Ghostly Prison and Propaganda achieve that at a lower mana investment and without requiring an activation.
Price Context
Current price
$29.71 premium tier
At $29.71, Nova Pentacle sits in premium territory for a card with narrow Commander applications and essentially no competitive demand propping up the price. That price is driven almost entirely by scarcity — it's an old, rarely reprinted card — so it holds value passively but isn't a snap-include at that number unless the effect is exactly what your deck needs.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.