Surveillance Monitor
Creature — Vedalken Detective
When this creature enters, you may collect evidence 4. (Exile cards with total mana value 4 or greater from your graveyard.)
Whenever you collect evidence, create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Murders at Karlov Manor
- Price
- $0.04
- EDHREC rank
- #27234
Surveillance Monitor enters the battlefield and immediately generates a Clue token, giving you a free artifact and a looming card draw for two mana. A 3/3 body for four mana is below rate, but the Clue staples an artifact-synergy trigger onto a creature that already replaces part of its own cost.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Surveillance Monitor slots into artifact-matters and clue-matters builds where every artifact entering the battlefield matters — think Breya, Etherium Shaper or Lonis, Cryptozoologist. The Clue token does real work: it feeds sacrifice outlets, triggers Marionette Master-style payoffs, and cracks for a card when you're in a top-deck situation. Outside Commander, Surveillance Monitor is too slow and too understatted to compete in Pioneer or Modern, where four mana demands an immediate board-warping effect. Standard is its only other realistic home, and only in a dedicated Clue or artifact-synergy shell where the token matters more than the body.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.04 bulk tier
At $0.04, Surveillance Monitor is deep bulk — you're essentially getting it for free in any order. Bulk artifacts with narrow synergy homes rarely climb in price, so treat it as a throw-in rather than a hold.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.