Not all Artifact cards are created equal.
It’s important to note, though, that rarity and power are not tightly connected in Artifact. Besides the more expensive cards in the market right now, there are excellent common cards as well that you can do damage with. An example would be the Bronze Legionnaire that can be bought for a measly $0.03 on the Steam market right now, because players who open a lot of booster packs often have tens of them at least. Even uncommon cards are relatively inexpensive, like the Legion Commander, a red-colored hero that costs only about $0.52 on the market.
However, if you really want to unleash the full potential of your deck, you’ll need some rare cards. While not all of them are good, the highest priced of them are. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so valuable if they really weren’t getting played.
Do note that the prices of cards change in terms of demand as well, not just the rarity of the card. Overtime, the rankings of the most expensive cards change. An example would be Tinker who back then belonged in the Top 5 most expensive cards, but since then the price has gone down to a dollar. Check our price tracker tool to find out the latest top 10 Artifact cards with the highest price.
- 10th Place: Blink Dagger
The Blink Dagger is the most powerful item in the game, period. You can move the hero wielding it to another lane every other turn. Its mobility makes it easy to respond to threats or otherwise exploit your enemy’s weaknesses. It is by the far the most expensive uncommon card in the game.
- 9th Place: Horn of the Alpha
Horn of the Alpha is used in decks that are able to amass a lot of gold quickly; this is good for blacks that execute kills for a lot of gold. The card costs 25 gold from the shop, so getting one to your hero can prove to be quite the task due to its hefty price, but it allows a hero to summon a powerful Thunderhide Pack every other turn. This, in turn, puts immense pressure on your opponent’s tower.
- 8th Place: Unearthed Secrets
Unearthed Secrets is a supporting card that can be stuck on your weakest lane for an extra card draw. The card is seeing a good amount of play in red-green decks, and for good reason! It’s a rare card that can hopefully turn the tides of the player using it.
- 7th Place: Kanna
Kanna is perhaps the sturdiest blue hero in the game at 12 health points. Blue-colored heroes are equipped with some great spells that need its heroes to survive to cast them, and Kanna fits the bill perfectly. Her signature card, Prey on the Weak, can summon a large board when there are multiple damaged units in the lane, and making that happen with a blue deck is as easy as apple pie!
- 6th Place: Emissary of the Quorum
Emissary of the Quorum is a green creep that’s popular in ramp and combo decks. Its active ability permanently buffs all of your allies in the lane (+2 Attack and Health) and can be used every turn. This means that it can rapidly snowball out of control if not dealt with immediately. It will cost the player eight mana points which is pretty high, so one effective way to counter this is to win the game before this card can hit the board.
- 5th Place: At Any Cost
At Any Cost is the weaker one in terms of mana in the blue board clear spells. While it is currently less played compared to Annihilation, it’s still a key anti-aggro card nonetheless as it’s something to bring in whenever your opponent is on the aggressive side.
- 4th Place: Drow Ranger
Drow Ranger is a popular green hero card due to her passive effect that provides more attack for all of your units in all lanes. Plus, her signature card, Gust, prevents your opponent from casting spells in the lane for a turn. It’s difficult, and dare we say impossible, to find a green deck without Drow Ranger on it.
- 3rd Place: Annihilation
Annihilation is the supreme blue board clearer. The card condemns all units. Similar to Yu-Gi-Oh’s Black Hole, another popular card game, Annihilation wipes the entire lane with one big bang. Now that’s power!
- 2nd Place: Time of Triumph
Time of Triumph is perhaps a red deck’s ultimate finisher card. Essentially, what it does is that it turns all your heroes in the lane into stacked superheroes permanently. With a mana cost of 8, Time of Triumph modifies your allied heroes with +4 Attack, Armor, Health, Cleave, Retaliate, and Siege. If this card doesn’t win you the game on the spot, your opponent will have a difficult time dealing with your heroes during the upcoming turns.
- 1st Place: Axe
We all saw it coming. Red heroes are typically tough and burly, and Axe is no exception to that. Unlike other heroes, he also has two armor points, which makes him impervious to regular creeps. And while most red heroes have weak signature cards, Axe has the Berserker’s Call, which allows you to choose an allied hero and wipe out nearby enemies to clear the path and ultimately hit the tower.