The Hive
Artifact
, 
: Create a 1/1 colorless Insect artifact creature token with flying named Wasp. (It can't be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Foreign Black Border
- Price
- $6.20
- EDHREC rank
- #24834
The Hive costs five mana to land and another five every turn just to make a single 1/1 flier — the rate is embarrassingly slow for any competitive table. It's a nostalgia piece that belongs in a very casual Insect tribal build and nowhere else.
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 |
The Hive is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but the only format where it realistically sees a table is Commander — and even there, only at the most casual end of the spectrum. In Legacy and Vintage, a five-mana artifact that demands another five mana per activation to produce a 1/1 is unplayable; those formats end before The Hive ever pays for itself. Modern is equally hostile: the efficiency bar is simply too high. Commander is its natural home, specifically in slow, multiplayer games where the cumulative air force eventually matters and no one is applying enough pressure to punish the investment.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Mobilization and Ant Queen both produce repeatable tokens at a comparable mana investment and either scale better or cost less per token. If you want flying tokens specifically, Moonsilver Spear and Nuisance Engine are similarly budget-friendly and arguably more efficient — The Hive's main claim is flavor and the artifact type, not raw production value.
Price Context
Current price
$6.20 mid tier
At $6.20, The Hive sits in a mid-tier price band that is hard to justify on power alone — this is entirely a collector and nostalgia price driven by its vintage pedigree. The price has held because casual players seek it out for old-school charm, not because it competes with modern token producers.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.