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Steel Overseer

Artifact Creature — Construct

{T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on each artifact creature you control.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{2}
Color identity
C
Rarity
rare
Set
Magic 2011
Price
$0.91
EDHREC rank
#828
Buy on TCGplayer
Steel Overseer card art
Steel Overseer puts a +1/+1 counter on every artifact creature you control at the cost of one tap — in any deck running a dozen or more artifacts, that's a board-wide clock that compounds fast. Crystalline Crawler and Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp both turn that repeating distribution into something genuinely threatening, making Overseer a staple rather than a role-player.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp

Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp

83.6% of decks · synergy 0.80

Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp doubles every +1/+1 counter placed on a creature, so Steel Overseer's tap ability effectively puts two counters on each artifact creature you control — the math accelerates in a hurry.

02
Aloy, Savior of Meridian

Aloy, Savior of Meridian

67.6% of decks · synergy 0.66

Aloy, Savior of Meridian generates artifact tokens and cares about counters on them, making Steel Overseer a natural engine piece that grows the board and triggers her abilities simultaneously.

04
Alibou, Ancient Witness

Alibou, Ancient Witness

65.6% of decks · synergy 0.62

Alibou, Ancient Witness wants tapped artifacts to deal damage, and Steel Overseer taps itself every turn — the damage trigger and the counter distribution come packaged together.

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

In Commander, Steel Overseer is a staple in any artifact-creature build — the baseline rate of one mana for a repeating board buff is strong enough that artifact commanders almost universally reach for it. In Modern, it saw its heaviest play in dedicated Affinity shells and still sees fringe use in Hardened Scales lists that want redundant counter distribution. Legacy relegates it to a role-player at best, where the artifact threats are so fast that a tap-down effect competes awkwardly with the pace of the format. Pioneer artifact aggro occasionally picks it up, though the format's creature removal density makes a summoning-sick one-toughness creature a real liability.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.91 bulk tier

At $0.91, Steel Overseer sits in bulk territory despite being a genuine staple in its home archetypes — wide artifact-creature demand across Commander keeps copies moving, but reprints have consistently held the price down. It's a safe pickup with no expectation of a spike.

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Sources

Mentioned

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