Price$0.61 – $2.85

Darksteel Mutation

Enchantment — Aura

LegalRank #574

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature is an Insect artifact creature with base power and toughness 0/1 and has indestructible, and it loses all other abilities, card types, and creature types.

KeywordsEnchant

Why is this card good?

Darksteel Mutation is white's premier answer to problematic commanders. For two mana, it neuters any creature into a harmless 0/1 indestructible Insect — stripping all abilities, triggered effects, and keywords without killing it. The key value is that it's commander-proof. Most removal sends a commander to the command zone, where it can recast for a small tax and keep menacing you. This aura keeps the threat permanently locked on the battlefield, doing nothing — no death/dies triggers, no ETB recursion, no recast. That makes it superb against indestructible commanders, recursion engines, and anything you can't profitably kill (Zur, Korvold, Atraxa, Skithiryx, etc.). Want it in: any white deck, especially control, stax, and pillowfort builds that need clean answers to commanders. Downsides: it's an aura, so it dies to enchantment removal or a bounce/blink that frees the creature. It also doesn't deal with the board long-term — it's a single answer, not a sweeper. Prefer it when the commander is the problem, not the wider battlefield.

Related cards

Imprisoned in the Moon

Turns commander into a do-nothing land, similar neutralization.

Song of the Dryads

Turns problematic permanent into a Forest, removing abilities.

Kenrith's Transformation

Strips abilities and makes creature a vanilla 3/3, plus draws a card.

Lignify

Makes creature a 0/4 Treefolk with no abilities.

Reduce to Dreams

Aura shrinking and neutralizing a creature.

Frogify

Turns creature into a 1/1 Frog losing all abilities.

Ossification

Cheap white removal exiling a creature or planeswalker.

Swords to Plowshares

Premier white single-target creature removal.

Printings (9)

socSecrets of Strixhaven Commander · #142U$0.61Buy

sldSecret Lair Drop · #1836U$2.39Buy

cmmCommander Masters · #21U$2.28Buy

cmmCommander Masters · #623U$2.26Buy

vocCrimson Vow Commander · #84U$2.36Buy

c21Commander 2021 · #87U$2.63Buy

plstThe List · #CMA-9U$2.46Buy

cmaCommander Anthology · #9U$2.33Buy

Show all 9 printings

c13Commander 2013 · #9U$2.85Buy

Played by these commanders

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician100% of 2

Go-Shintai of Life's Origin100% of 1

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic100% of 1

Killian, Decisive Mentor100% of 1

Millicent, Restless Revenant100% of 1

Osgir, the Reconstructor100% of 1

Marath, Will of the Wild100% of 1

Combos (2)

Anzrag, the Quake-Mole + Darksteel Mutation
→ Infinite combat phases, Infinite untap of creatures you control, Infinite mana creatures you control can produce
Medomai the Ageless + Capsize + Darksteel Mutation
→ Infinite turns, Lock

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