Watchful Automaton
Artifact Creature — Construct
: Scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Aether Revolt
- Price
- $0.07
- EDHREC rank
- #27838
Watchful Automaton trades a mana and two life to draw a card whenever it attacks — useful in artifact-matters and blink strategies that can trigger it repeatedly, but a 2/2 body for four mana is a steep rate in any powered environment. It earns a slot only in decks that can abuse the trigger; everywhere else, it's outclassed.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Watchful Automaton finds its niche in artifact-centric or blink-heavy decks where triggering it multiple times per turn cycle offsets the steep mana investment. Pauper is its most legitimate home — card draw stapled to a creature body is a real commodity at common, and slower artifact synergy decks can make the math work. In Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, and Vintage, four mana for a 2/2 with a conditional, pay-two-life draw trigger simply doesn't compete with the card-draw density those formats demand. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander: playable only in a shell built to abuse it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.07 bulk tier
At $0.07, Watchful Automaton is deep bulk — you'll find it in a commons box before you'd bother ordering it. That price is stable for the foreseeable future; nothing about its design profile pushes it out of bulk territory.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.