Relic Retriever
Creature — Spirit Monkey
First strike
At the beginning of each end step, if a card left your graveyard this turn, create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "
, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.")
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven Commander
- Price
- $0.36
- EDHREC rank
- #13838
Relic Retriever enters the battlefield and immediately replaces itself with an artifact or enchantment from any graveyard — the card advantage is on-board, not conditional. The real cost is the two-card exile clause, but in a Quintorius, History Chaser deck that wants spells leaving exile, that's a feature.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Quintorius, History Chaser
Relic Retriever is an 84% inclusion in Quintorius, History Chaser decks because it does exactly what the engine wants: exile cards to trigger Quintorius, then recover an artifact or enchantment as a bonus. It's one of the most purpose-built cards in the archetype.
Syrix, Carrier of the Flame
Relic Retriever is a Phoenix, which means Syrix, Carrier of the Flame can return it from the graveyard whenever another Phoenix dies — giving you a repeatable artifact or enchantment retrieval engine stapled to a recursive body.
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
Relic Retriever has a power of 2, which puts it squarely in range of Grenzo, Dungeon Warden's activated ability — you can flip it off the bottom of your library and immediately cash in the enters-the-battlefield trigger for a graveyard artifact or enchantment.
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 |
Relic Retriever is a Commander card through and through — the graveyard retrieval is most valuable in a 100-card singleton format where recursion is scarce and opponents' graveyards are full of targets. In Legacy and Vintage, where it's technically legal, a three-mana 2/2 with a one-time ETB isn't close to competitive. Oathbreaker is the one other format where Relic Retriever can pull real weight, particularly in artifact- or enchantment-heavy builds that want redundancy on graveyard retrieval.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.36 bulk tier
At $0.36, Relic Retriever is firmly bulk — you're not paying a premium for it anywhere. It holds that floor comfortably given its near-universal inclusion in Quintorius, History Chaser lists, so don't expect it to drop further.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.