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Voltaic Key

Artifact

{1}, {T}: Untap target artifact.

CMC
1
Mana cost
{1}
Color identity
C
Rarity
uncommon
Set
World Championship Decks 1999
Price
$1.06
EDHREC rank
#1838
Buy on TCGplayer
Voltaic Key card art
Voltaic Key untaps any artifact for one mana — that's the whole text, and in the right shell it's worth a card slot. Pair it with Rings of Brighthearth to copy the untap ability, or run it in Arcum Dagsson where untapping him mid-combat means a second tutor activation the same turn.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Arcum Dagsson

Arcum Dagsson

42.8% of decks · synergy 0.37

Arcum Dagsson taps as a cost to tutor, so Voltaic Key turns one activation per turn into two — finding Possessed Portal or Spine of Ish Sah a full turn faster and occasionally winning on the spot.

02
Oswald Fiddlebender

Oswald Fiddlebender

36.7% of decks · synergy 0.36

Oswald Fiddlebender's sacrifice-and-tutor ability also taps him, and Voltaic Key lets you cash in twice in the same turn, chaining up the artifact curve instead of waiting a full rotation.

03
Shorikai, Genesis Engine

Shorikai, Genesis Engine

35.7% of decks · synergy 0.32

Shorikai, Genesis Engine is itself an artifact, and Voltaic Key untapping it means two draw-and-create activations per turn for just one extra mana, accelerating the token and card-advantage engine dramatically.

04
Memnarch

Memnarch

35.9% of decks · synergy 0.30

Memnarch's steal ability costs seven mana and taps him, so Voltaic Key functions as a repeatable second activation each turn — stealing two permanents instead of one at the cost of a single colorless mana.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is the primary home for Voltaic Key — artifact-centric commanders with tap abilities treat it as a near-staple, and the format's slower pace gives the one-mana investment time to pay off. In Legacy and Vintage it sees fringe play in artifact combo shells, mostly as a redundant copy of Unwinding Clock effects or as part of Basalt Monolith loops, but it rarely makes the cut outside dedicated builds. Modern has the card legal but effectively ignored — the format moves too fast for a do-nothing-alone artifact that costs a card slot. Oathbreaker mirrors Commander in application: any signature spell or planeswalker-adjacent artifact engine can exploit it.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$1.06 cheap tier

At $1.06, Voltaic Key sits firmly in the throw-it-in tier — cheap enough that the opportunity cost of testing it is negligible. The price is stable given consistent demand from artifact Commander builds; don't expect it to move meaningfully in either direction.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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