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Spine of Ish Sah

Artifact

When this artifact enters, destroy target permanent.
When this artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return it to its owner's hand.

CMC
7
Mana cost
{7}
Color identity
C
Rarity
rare
Set
Commander 2014
Price
$0.37
EDHREC rank
#2427
Buy on TCGplayer
Spine of Ish Sah card art
Spine of Ish Sah destroys any permanent on entry — no targeting restrictions, no type limits — and the seven-mana price tag is the only real argument against it. In artifact-sacrifice shells like Krark-Clan Ironworks or under a commander like Megatron, Tyrant that rewards repeated artifact play, that cost becomes a feature you exploit rather than a drawback you swallow.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Megatron, Tyrant

68.3% of decks · synergy 0.67

Megatron, Tyrant converts artifacts entering the battlefield into damage and card advantage, and Spine of Ish Sah is the highest-impact artifact you can feed that engine — one permanent destroyed, one trigger generated, and the recursion loop keeps it coming back.

02
Mishra, Eminent One

Mishra, Eminent One

66.8% of decks · synergy 0.65

Mishra, Eminent One creates artifact copies of your noncreature artifacts at combat, so Spine of Ish Sah effectively fires on entry every turn you attack, wiping a problem permanent each combat step without consuming the original.

03
Daretti, Scrap Savant

Daretti, Scrap Savant

57.9% of decks · synergy 0.54

Daretti, Scrap Savant's minus ability recurs artifacts directly from the graveyard, turning Spine of Ish Sah into a repeatable unconditional removal spell — discard it early, rebuy it whenever a threat demands an answer.

04
Imskir Iron-Eater

Imskir Iron-Eater

46.8% of decks · synergy 0.46

Imskir Iron-Eater pays life to sacrifice artifacts and draws cards, so Spine of Ish Sah pulls double duty: it removes a permanent when it enters, then fuels Imskir's sacrifice outlet to replace itself in hand.

05
Gandalf the White

Gandalf the White

23.6% of decks · synergy 0.23

Gandalf the White flickers or recasts your legendary permanents, and while Spine of Ish Sah isn't legendary itself, it slots into the white artifact-blink packages that surround Gandalf — any bounce or flicker effect re-triggers the destruction clause on a fresh target.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is where Spine of Ish Sah actually lives — the format's slower pace absorbs the seven-mana cost, and artifact-recursion commanders turn it into a repeatable engine rather than a one-shot removal spell. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but never played; seven mana for a sorcery-speed removal effect is a non-starter in formats where games end on turn one or two. Oathbreaker shares enough of Commander's artifact-synergy space that niche builds can exploit Spine of Ish Sah similarly, though the smaller deck size and 20-life total compress the window. Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper are all off the table either by legality or by the format's speed making seven mana functionally unreachable for a removal spell.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.37 bulk tier

At $0.37, Spine of Ish Sah is deep bulk — a card you pick up in a trade binder or toss into a cart order without thinking about the cost. The price reflects its format irrelevance outside Commander, where demand is real but spread across casual tables rather than spikes, so it sits stable at the bottom of the pricing floor without much room to move in either direction.

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Sources

Mentioned

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