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Salvager of Ruin

Artifact Creature — Construct

Sacrifice this creature: Choose target permanent card in your graveyard that was put there from the battlefield this turn. Return it to your hand.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{3}
Color identity
C
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Core Set 2020
Price
$0.20
EDHREC rank
#14673
Buy on TCGplayer
Salvager of Ruin card art
Salvager of Ruin gives you a free, on-board sacrifice outlet that returns an artifact from your graveyard the moment it dies — no mana, no timing restriction, just a trigger that fires once. The cost is real: it's a one-shot effect stapled to a 2/2 with no protection, so decks that can't loop it, like those built around Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle or Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender, get far more mileage than lists that treat it as a generic value piece.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender

Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender

10.9% of decks · synergy 0.10

Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender wants artifacts sacrificed on a loop, and Salvager of Ruin doubles as both a sac outlet and a recursion piece — once Salvager hits the yard, it pulls back whatever artifact you need to keep the engine spinning.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Salvager of Ruin is legal across Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but constructed formats have almost no interest in it — a 2/2 that recurs one artifact on death doesn't clear the power bar in Legacy or Modern. Commander is where it actually earns a slot, specifically in artifact-heavy decks that can sacrifice and recur creatures repeatedly, turning Salvager's death trigger into a repeatable loop rather than a one-time consolation prize. Outside those dedicated artifact grind decks, it's too slow and fragile to make the cut in any competitive 60-card context.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.20 bulk tier

At $0.20, Salvager of Ruin is bulk — cheap enough to throw into any artifact list without a second thought. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to climb unless a new commander creates a high-volume loop around it.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.