Pithing Needle
Artifact
As this artifact enters, choose a card name.
Activated abilities of sources with the chosen name can't be activated unless they're mana abilities.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Magic 2010
- Price
- $0.63
- EDHREC rank
- #6266
Pithing Needle shuts down an activated ability the moment it resolves — for one mana, at any point in the game — and the effect is permanent until someone spends a removal spell to answer a 0/0 artifact. It's one of the most efficient hate pieces in Commander, capable of naming anything from a fetch land to Lethal Vapors to an opponent's Oswald Fiddlebender before he can sacrifice his way to a win.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Oswald Fiddlebender
Oswald Fiddlebender's engine is entirely activated abilities, which makes Pithing Needle both a natural include against opposing threats and the single most dangerous card an opponent can name against you — 34% of Oswald lists run it precisely because they know how backbreaking a named Needle can be.
Meria, Scholar of Antiquity
Meria, Scholar of Antiquity taps noncreature artifacts for mana and card advantage, and Pithing Needle slots in as cheap interaction that shuts down opposing combo pieces without taxing the artifact density the deck needs to function.
Urza, Lord High Artificer
Urza, Lord High Artificer wants redundant cheap artifacts to fuel his untap ability and the Construct token, and Pithing Needle fills that role at one mana while pulling double duty as a hate piece against anything from planeswalker ultimates to opposing combo commanders.
Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter
Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter rewards running low-cost artifacts at instant speed, and Pithing Needle is exactly the kind of one-mana artifact you flash in at end of turn to lock out an ability before your opponents can use it on their next turn.
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, Pithing Needle is a staple — one mana to name a commander's activated ability, a planeswalker, or a combo piece is an extraordinary rate, and the permanent nature of the effect means a single Needle can warp an entire game. In Legacy and Vintage, it's a sideboard fixture against fetch lands, Sensei's Divining Top, and other high-impact activated abilities that define those formats. Modern and Pioneer see it primarily in sideboards as targeted hate against specific combo and value engines. Pithing Needle is absent from Standard and Pauper, but wherever it's legal, it earns its slot.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Lethal VaporsPithing Needle
Destroy all creatures that enter the battlefield; Lock
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Price Context
Current price
$0.63 bulk tier
At $0.63, Pithing Needle is deep bulk for what is legitimately one of the most versatile pieces of interaction in the game. It's been reprinted often enough to stay accessible, and there's no reason to expect significant price movement given its reprint history — just buy it and run it.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.