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Staff of Compleation

Artifact

{T}, Pay 1 life: Destroy target permanent you own.
{T}, Pay 2 life: Add one mana of any color.
{T}, Pay 3 life: Proliferate.
{T}, Pay 4 life: Draw a card.
{5}: Untap this artifact.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{3}
Color identity
C
Rarity
mythic
Set
Phyrexia: All Will Be One
Price
$4.17
EDHREC rank
#1342
Buy on TCGplayer
Staff of Compleation card art
Staff of Compleation does a lot of work for one card — proliferate, card draw, life drain, and counter removal all live on a single artifact, paid for in life rather than mana. The cost is real: every activation chips away at your total, so running it alongside something like Nefarious Lich, which converts life payment into card advantage, or Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus, which doubles every proliferate trigger, is the difference between grinding opponents out and grinding yourself out.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus

Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus

55.2% of decks · synergy 0.53

Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus turns every Staff of Compleation proliferate activation into two proliferates for the same life payment, effectively doubling the clock on any poison or loyalty counter strategy in the deck.

02
Betor, Ancestor's Voice

Betor, Ancestor's Voice

45.7% of decks · synergy 0.39

Betor, Ancestor's Voice cares about entering-the-battlefield triggers and value accumulation over a long game, and Staff of Compleation plugs in as a repeatable proliferate outlet that also keeps Betor's graveyard or counter synergies ticking between turns.

03
Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres

Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres

34.6% of decks · synergy 0.34

Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres draws a card whenever you proliferate, so each Staff of Compleation activation is simultaneously a proliferate trigger and a card drawn — the Staff becomes a mana-free draw engine limited only by your life total.

04

Elesh Norn

34.5% of decks · synergy 0.33

Elesh Norn's Phyrexian conversion plan leans on oil counters and proliferate density, and Staff of Compleation slots in as a flexible activatable source that advances that plan at instant speed while threatening life drain as a side mode.

05
Otharri, Suns' Glory

Otharri, Suns' Glory

31.5% of decks · synergy 0.30

Otharri, Suns' Glory generates experience counters and Rebel tokens tied to combat, and Staff of Compleation keeps those experience counters climbing on turns you aren't attacking, smoothing out the token production curve.

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

Staff of Compleation is legal across Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but its real home is Commander — the long game and prevalence of counter-based strategies make every mode on the card relevant by the time it matters. In Modern and Pioneer it's a fringe option in dedicated proliferate or poison shells, but the life payments accumulate faster in shorter games and the activated abilities compete with mana you'd rather spend on threats. Legacy and Vintage have faster and more efficient tools, so Staff of Compleation rarely makes the cut there. Commander is where the card earns its keep: four or five activations across a 10-turn game is a meaningful advantage, not a liability.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

9 decks
Staff of CompleationCryptic TrilobiteSpike FeederPrimal VigorDoubling Season

Staff of CompleationCryptic TrilobiteSpike FeederPrimal VigorDoubling Season

Infinite +1/+1 counters on most creatures you control; Infinite card draw; Infinite colored mana; Infinite colorless mana that can only be spent to activate abilities; Infinite draw triggers; Infinite lifegain; Infinite lifegain triggers; Infinite proliferate

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$4.17 cheap tier

At $4.17, Staff of Compleation sits in budget-friendly territory for a card that pulls this much weight in the right deck. The price reflects solid demand from Phyrexian and proliferate builds without the spike that combo centerpieces attract, so it's an easy include that's unlikely to feel like a waste if your deck grows around it.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

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