Sludge Strider
Artifact Creature — Insect
Whenever another artifact you control enters or leaves the battlefield, you may pay 
. If you do, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BUW
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Conflux
- Price
- $0.13
- EDHREC rank
- #27704
Sludge Strider turns every artifact entering or leaving the battlefield into a drain trigger — which is exactly as punishing as it sounds in artifact-heavy shells. The cost is a four-mana 3/3 body with no evasion, so it earns its slot only when Ratchet, Field Medic // Ratchet, Rescue Racer or a similar artifact-cycling engine keeps the triggers flowing.
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 |
Sludge Strider is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it's a Commander card through and through. Competitive Legacy and Modern have faster, more redundant ways to drain opponents, and a four-mana 3/3 with no immediate board impact won't survive the cut. In Commander, artifact-matters decks with high artifact turnover — think Breya, Sharuum, or any Esper blink shell — can stack enough triggers off a single turn to close out the game.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Ratchet, Field Medic // Ratchet, Rescue RacerMysterious LimousineSludge StriderKrark-Clan Ironworks
Infinite colorless mana; Infinite ETB; Infinite lifegain; Infinite lifegain triggers; Infinite lifeloss; Infinite LTB
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.13 bulk tier
At $0.13, Sludge Strider is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not scarcity. Given its narrow home in artifact combo shells, that price is unlikely to move unless a new commander pushes artifact-drain strategies into the mainstream.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Ratchet, Field Medic // Ratchet, Rescue Racer
- Mysterious Limousine
- Krark-Clan Ironworks
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.