Staff of Nin
Artifact
At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card.
: This artifact deals 1 damage to any target.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander 2017
- Price
- $0.85
- EDHREC rank
- #5539
Staff of Nin draws you a card every turn and doubles as a repeatable ping — two distinct forms of value stapled to one artifact for six mana. The cost is real: six is a lot to ask before you see a single card, and it does nothing the turn it lands, which makes it a liability in faster metas but a workhorse in grindy ones.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Belbe, Corrupted Observer
Belbe, Corrupted Observer cares about dealing damage to opponents before your end step, and Staff of Nin's one-damage ping is a zero-setup way to trigger her mana ability on demand — no attacks required. A 34% inclusion rate across Belbe decks reflects exactly how reliable that synergy is.
Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Sydri, Galvanic Genius can animate Staff of Nin into a creature, and at six mana the Staff enters as a 6/6 with lifelink and deathtouch — an immediate clock that also draws cards. It's one of the cleaner payoffs for Sydri's ability because the activated artifact is already doing work before it becomes a threat.
Horobi, Death's Wail
Horobi, Death's Wail turns any targeted ability into a destroy effect, which makes Staff of Nin's ping — a targeted one-damage ability — unconditional removal for any creature on the board. At six mana the Staff is essentially a slow but repeatable Murder factory in that deck.
Rona, Herald of Invasion
Rona, Herald of Invasion wants legendary artifacts to loot through her untap trigger, and Staff of Nin is a legendary artifact that also refills your hand on its own. Running both means you're drawing two cards a turn if Rona is live, which accelerates the combo-assembly speed that Rona decks depend on.
Karn, Legacy Reforged
Karn, Legacy Reforged generates mana equal to the highest mana value among your artifacts, so a six-mana artifact like Staff of Nin raises his floor while the card-draw keeps you finding more colorless pieces. In a deck already dense with high-value artifacts, Staff of Nin earns its slot by providing sustained hand advantage rather than just sitting as a mana anchor.
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 Staff of Nin actually belongs — longer games give it time to generate the two or three cards that justify the six-mana entry fee, and the ping matters more when you need incremental reach against players who aren't attacking you. In Legacy and Vintage it's theoretically legal but completely unplayable; those formats close out games before the Staff ever untaps, and there are strictly better draw engines at every price point. Modern has outgrown it for the same reason: six mana is a near-endgame investment, and you'd rather just run Outpost Siege or another effect that generates immediate value. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander format where Staff of Nin could see niche play in a controlling shell that reaches the late game, but even there it competes with cheaper options.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.85 bulk tier
At $0.85, Staff of Nin is bulk — you're not paying a premium for anything here, and picking one up is a rounding error on any deck budget. Bulk rares at this price floor tend to stay flat; it's not a card that spikes, but it also doesn't have far to fall.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Belbe, Corrupted Observer
- Sydri, Galvanic Genius
- Horobi, Death's Wail
- Rona, Herald of Invasion
- Karn, Legacy Reforged
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.