Rufus Shinra
Legendary Creature — Human Noble
Whenever Rufus Shinra attacks, if you don't control a creature named Darkstar, create Darkstar, a legendary 2/2 white and black Dog creature token.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BW
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Final Fantasy
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #13195
Rufus Shinra taxes your opponents every time a nontoken creature dies — theirs or yours — which adds up fast in a format where board wipes and combat are constant. The cost is that the effect is purely incremental; it won't close a game on its own, and a table that ignores it long enough will outpace the drain.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ardbert, Warrior of Darkness
Ardbert, Warrior of Darkness cares about creatures dying across all players, and Rufus Shinra converts every one of those deaths into a life-loss trigger that stacks with Ardbert's own pressure — the two cards are reading from the same script.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Rufus Shinra is a passive engine that rewards you for doing what creature-heavy decks already want to do — the multiplayer table multiplies the trigger count, so the drain accumulates from opponents' combat, sacrifice outlets, and your own removal. In 1v1 formats like Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer, the effect is slower than dedicated death-trigger payoffs and competes for a slot against cards that win faster; it's legal in all of them but unlikely to earn a maindeck spot. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander case in miniature — playable if your signature spell fuels a sacrifice theme, speculative otherwise.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Rufus Shinra sits firmly in bulk territory — it's an easy inclusion that costs nothing to test and nothing to cut. Bulk rares with narrow synergy profiles rarely climb without a breakout tournament moment, so treat this as a cheap enabler, not a spec.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.