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Workshop Assistant

Artifact Creature — Construct

When this creature dies, return another target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{3}
Color identity
C
Rarity
common
Set
Commander Legends
Price
$0.36
EDHREC rank
#3796
Buy on TCGplayer
Workshop Assistant card art
Workshop Assistant exists for one reason: when it dies, you get an artifact back from your graveyard, and in Commander that recursion is nearly always worth the three mana to deploy it. Imotekh the Stormlord and Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender both treat it as a staple because it feeds artifact-death triggers while guaranteeing a second use on a key piece.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender

Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender

56.4% of decks · synergy 0.51

Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender wants artifacts dying constantly to pump her power and generate value, and Workshop Assistant delivers a death trigger on a body that also recovers whatever engine piece went to the graveyard before it.

02
Imotekh the Stormlord

Imotekh the Stormlord

51.7% of decks · synergy 0.50

Imotekh the Stormlord's necron tokens and artifact-matters payoffs create a loop where Workshop Assistant dying is a feature — it recurs a combo piece or key artifact while adding another artifact to the board count.

03
Gandalf the White

Gandalf the White

41.4% of decks · synergy 0.40

Gandalf the White decks lean on high-value artifacts they need to protect across multiple turns, and Workshop Assistant is the cheapest insurance policy for getting one back after a board wipe or targeted removal.

04
Oswald Fiddlebender

Oswald Fiddlebender

32.6% of decks · synergy 0.31

Oswald Fiddlebender sacrifices artifacts to tutor others, so Workshop Assistant fills the role of a sacrifice outlet target that pays you back by returning the artifact you most want to chain next.

05
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog

Traxos, Scourge of Kroog

31.6% of decks · synergy 0.26

Traxos, Scourge of Kroog decks run dense artifact counts and need ways to untap Traxos repeatedly; Workshop Assistant enters as an artifact itself, triggers artifact-enters effects, and keeps the graveyard from swallowing critical pieces.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Workshop Assistant is legal everywhere it could matter — Commander, Pauper, Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, and Vintage — but the only format where it sees real play is Commander. In Pauper it faces stiff competition from purpose-built recursion at the same or lower mana cost, and in Modern or Pioneer the bar for a three-mana 1/2 with a death trigger is simply too high when the payoff is a single artifact return. Commander is where the math works: singleton construction means your best artifact is always worth getting back, the slower pace makes a 1/2 body survivable, and the abundance of artifact-synergy commanders creates genuine demand for a recursive piece that counts as an artifact itself.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.36 bulk tier

At $0.36, Workshop Assistant is firmly bulk — you'll find it in a common box or grab a playset for under a dollar without thinking twice. Bulk commons with consistent Commander demand rarely spike, so don't expect movement up or down; treat it as a free slot to fill whenever you need artifact recursion on a budget.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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