Sword of Hours
Artifact — Equipment
Whenever equipped creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage, roll a d12. If the result is greater than the damage dealt or the result is 12, double the number of +1/+1 counters on that creature.
Equip 
(: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Forgotten Realms Commander
- Price
- $7.89
- EDHREC rank
- #4776
Sword of Hours turns every combat connection into a +1/+1 counter snowball — equip a creature that already wants counters and it grows exponentially while the protection from white and blue keeps removal off it. At three mana to cast and two to equip, it's cheap enough to land early and threatening enough that opponents have to answer it immediately.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Wyll, Blade of Frontiers // Sword Coast Sailor
Wyll, Blade of Frontiers // Sword Coast Sailor triggers off rolling dice, and Sword of Hours is literally a dice-rolling engine strapped to a weapon — every hit rolls a die, every die result feeds Wyll's counters-matter ability, creating a compounding loop that scales out of control within two or three swings.
Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients
Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients cares about damage being dealt to it, and Sword of Hours doubles as both a counter accumulator and a protection layer, letting Vrondiss absorb hits, generate Spirit Dragon tokens, and grow simultaneously without folding to blue or white removal.
Mr. House, President and CEO
Mr. House, President and CEO rewards dice rolls with Treasure tokens, and Sword of Hours generates a die roll on every successful attack — equip it to any trampling creature and you're rolling dice, making Treasures, and stacking counters on the same combat step.
Kosei, Penitent Warlord
Kosei, Penitent Warlord needs three different kinds of counters to unlock its damage-doubling text, and Sword of Hours is a reliable +1/+1 counter engine that also provides the protection to keep Kosei alive long enough to meet that threshold.
Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate
Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate copies counters placed on colorless creatures, and Sword of Hours stacks +1/+1 counters fast enough that Omarthis's copy effect becomes a board-wide threat after just a few attacks.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Sword of Hours lives almost entirely in Commander, where the slower pace gives it time to accrue counters and the dice-rolling and counter-synergy themes have dedicated commanders built around them. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but never sees play — three-mana equipment that doesn't generate immediate card advantage can't compete with those formats' speed. Oathbreaker is the one other format where it occasionally shows up, again only in dice-roll-focused builds. Outside of dedicated +1/+1 counter or dice-rolling shells in Commander, it's a card without a home.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Sword of Hours sits in a niche that's hard to replicate cheaply because the dice-rolling clause is unique, but if you just want a counter-stacking equipment, Shadowspear ($4–5) gives trample and lifelink with a cheaper equip cost and a relevant activated ability. If the protection clause is the draw, Sword of Vengeance costs under $1 and provides a different protection-adjacent effect via trample and first strike, though it won't grow your creature the way Sword of Hours does.
Price Context
Current price
$7.89 mid tier
At $7.89, Sword of Hours sits in the mid tier — affordable enough that it's not a budget obstacle, expensive enough that you want a deck that actually uses the dice-rolling clause before slotting it in. It holds steady because demand is narrow but consistent across Wyll, Mr. House, and Vrondiss builds, so it's unlikely to crater.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Wyll, Blade of Frontiers // Sword Coast Sailor
- Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients
- Mr. House, President and CEO
- Kosei, Penitent Warlord
- Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.