Silent Arbiter
Artifact Creature — Construct
No more than one creature can attack each combat.
No more than one creature can block each combat.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Duel Decks: Mirrodin Pure vs. New Phyrexia
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #1149
Silent Arbiter locks combat to one attacker and one blocker per player, which single-handedly dismantles go-wide strategies while letting a single powerful creature through unopposed. Four mana for a 1/5 is a real ask, but the effect is strong enough that shells built around one big threat — including Commodore Guff planeswalker builds that need their board protected — lean on it hard.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Commodore Guff
Commodore Guff wants his planeswalkers alive and his loyalty ticking up, and Silent Arbiter makes it nearly impossible for opponents to alpha-strike through a token blocker and still threaten the 'walkers — one attacker a turn is easy to absorb, which buys Guff the time to ultimate.
Rafiq of the Many
Rafiq of the Many puts all his eggs in one basket by design, and Silent Arbiter makes that basket untouchable — opponents can only send one creature back, so Rafiq's double-strike champion almost always gets through clean.
Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos
Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos wants to land one massive hit to copy the biggest threat at the table, and Silent Arbiter guarantees that one swing connects without a wall of chump blockers standing in the way.
Obeka, Splitter of Seconds
Obeka, Splitter of Seconds runs combat-damage triggers that she wants to fire reliably every turn, and Silent Arbiter ensures the path is never clogged — one attacker, uncontested, straight to the face.
Blim, Comedic Genius
Blim, Comedic Genius needs to connect with a player each turn to pass along cursed gifts, and Silent Arbiter collapses the threat of multi-blocker pile-ups that would otherwise strand Blim on the wrong side of the table.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Silent Arbiter earns its reputation — four-player tables mean three opponents' worth of creature attacks, and collapsing all of that to one swing per player per turn is a backbreaking political tool. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but essentially unplayed; those formats end before a 4-mana 1/5 with no immediate impact can stabilize anything. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander 60-card variant where Silent Arbiter occasionally shows up in controlling shells, since planeswalker-centric decks share the same logic as Guff builds in Commander. The bottom line: if you're not sleeving this for a Commander deck, there's almost no competitive context where it belongs.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Current pricing data for Silent Arbiter isn't available in this snapshot, so check Scryfall or your preferred retailer for up-to-date numbers. Given its Commander-only demand and multiple printings, it has historically sat in the $2–6 range — widely available and worth picking up if your deck wants the effect.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.