Panacea
Artifact
, 
: Prevent the next X damage that would be dealt to any target this turn.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Mercadian Masques
- Price
- $0.19
- EDHREC rank
- #29618
Panacea gives you a repeatable life-gain outlet on a zero-mana artifact, which sounds better than it plays — the activation cost means you're trading mana for small incremental life totals rather than doing anything that affects the board state. It slots into dedicated life-gain payoff decks and almost nowhere else.
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 Panacea sees essentially all of its play, and even there it earns a slot only in decks that explicitly care about life-gain triggers or "whenever you gain life" payoffs. Legacy and Vintage both have access to it, but zero-mana artifacts in those formats compete with engines that actually affect the game on turn one, so Panacea doesn't make the cut. Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper are all off the table. In Oathbreaker it's legal but faces the same conditional-synergy ceiling as Commander — run it if your signature spell or planeswalker rewards life-gain, otherwise skip it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.19 bulk tier
At $0.19, Panacea is firmly bulk — it costs less than a sleeve and that price is unlikely to move in either direction given its narrow application. Pick it up freely if it fits your build; there's no financial case for sitting on copies.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.