Worry Beads
Artifact
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player mills a card.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Mercadian Masques
- Price
- $0.70
- EDHREC rank
- #22574
Worry Beads drains each opponent for 1 life at the start of their upkeep — no conditions, no triggers to manage, just a slow clock that compounds across four players. Three mana to deploy is fine; the problem is that one damage per turn is too weak to matter before you're already winning or already dead.
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 |
Worry Beads is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, and it's a Commander card through and through — the multiplayer headcount is the only context where draining each opponent for 1 per turn even registers. In a four-player pod it deals 3 life per round passively, which stacks quietly with other "at the beginning of each opponent's upkeep" effects but rarely closes games on its own. Legacy and Vintage have no interest: the effect is too slow and too small for one-on-one play where every card needs to pull serious weight.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.70 bulk tier
At $0.70, Worry Beads sits at the top edge of bulk — cheap enough to throw in without guilt, not cheap enough to call free. Demand is narrow and unlikely to spike, so the price reflects the card's modest Commander niche accurately.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.