Cards Any Good Gentleman Should Play: Artifacts

Hey ladies and gents,



Happy Monday! So I finally got all of the card links into the Hanna article if you were wishing for those over the weekend and I wanted to start off this week right. I also want to apologize if you are having trouble viewing the aformentioned deck right now as the site is busy integrating the new set, Avacyn Restored.



Humor me for a minute. When I was starting out I wanted to build my deck to win but, I also wanted to put the best backup cards I coud find into the deck. So I went online and looked up "staple EDH cards". I found list after list that were usually 25-50 cards long. I eventually used these and experience to find out what cards were best but, I found that many of those lists were misleading or just too broad.


For me a staple card is a card that is nearly auto-included in almost every single deck that can run it. A player is not running 25 staples in a deck let alone 50. That is why I am going to attempt my own list of staples starting with artifacts then going around the color wheel (W,U,B,R,G in that order) and ending with colorless utility lands. These 10 card lists will have no particular order since you should at least consider for a moment running these cards in every deck they could be run in.

For those new players aquiring these cards will help you in setting up a solid foundaion no matter the deck you want to build.

So lets start it off...

1. Sol Ring $6.00

One ring to rule them all...

Sol Ring is a classic card. Every single game that I start out Turn 1 Sol Ring has been a good game. Playing this card puts you so far ahead of everyone that else everyone has to play it or risk always being behind. This means Turn 2 you are putting down a 4 drop with Sol Ring and a colorless 2 drop already in play. Thats a mana rock I can get behind. Cards in the same vein are Mana Crypt and Mana Vault. They didn't make it on the list because there are some deck where the extra damage you take is just not worth it, Sol Ring is painless. I would say this card is fighting for the title of #1 Trinket Mage target with...



2. Sensei's Divining Top $15.00

Top, go.

Top, top, top. Known for being banned in Modern, not for its raw power, but for making games go far too long. Commander players have learned over the years to Top on their own turns to save people the hassle but still tends to be a game-slower particularly if in the hands of a blue player. This card is just so cheap and so useful. What color deck doesn't want to smooth out their draws? I'll tell you: not a single one. Missed a land drop? Top for a land! Need a bomb? Top might just find ya one! DO NOT be that guy that combos this with Counterbalance. I will sit with my monocle and shake my head all game long. A similar card that almost made the list is Scroll Rack. I personally run both in almost all of my decks but Scroll Rack can be less useful in some decks.


3. Solemn Simulacrum $7.00

Sad robot is sad.

This guy is just 4 mana-worth of value! Not only do you get a colorless Rampant Growth on a dude but when he does die (hopefully after inflicting mild damage) you get to draw a card. He becomes a "2 drop" if used with #1 on the list. Add in some reanimation (#6 on the list) or flicker (Venser, the Sojourner) shenanigans and this guy is an all-star in basically every deck he is put in. It's a rare deck that has him cut from the lineup.

4. Lightning Greaves $2.00

Shoes...

So generals tend to be big tatgets when they hit the board. If I had a dime for everytime Hanna ate a removal spell the minute I cast her well, I wouldn't be in college right now. I'd be playing Commander casting Hanna against seven mono black opponents. That however is beside the point. Greaves has been saving commanders for 0 mana since Mirrodin block. Not only does it give your most prized creature the inability to be targeted but it also allows you to attack or activate the sweet ability of said creature the minute it comes on the the battlefield. Also sweet to put out Turn 1 with Sol Ring (it's almost like that card is good or something). Generals are never safe. If this forces your opponents to waste a "wrath" effect to get rid of your general, Greaves has done its job. Bonus it probably stuck around and two turns later when you recast your general it will still protect your main man (or woman). Honorable mentions go out to Swiftfoot Boots and Darksteel Plate, the trifecta of general protecting equipment.

5. Oblivion Stone $2.50

Boom.

A colorless wrath effect that can miss one or even multiple cards on your side of the board. It's a permanent on top of all that. A permanent that happens to be of one of the most recurrable types in Magic! Wrath effects are so good in Commander! I cannot stress that enough. If board sweepers are good enough to see Standard play (and those are 1v1) think about wiping 8 boards. The beauty of this card is that it can go in any deck. This is incredibly significant for a decks like mono green or mono blue which don't have many reliable sweepers in their colors. This time I want to shoutout to Nevinyrral's Disk the first colorless sweeper. While Disk is more aggressively costed, this card can save your stuff and hits planeswalkers which is not insignificant. Often times I will put both in my decks but if I'm going to choose one I will always grab O-Stone.

6. Mimic Vat $2.50

 

Put Fleshbag Maurader under? I think so!

A rather new addition to a "staples" list this card follows the pattern of giving an effect not usually avalible to all colors and making it colorless. In Commander creatures will die. It is a fact of the game. There has not been a real game of EDH that has not seen the death of at least one creature. This card gives recursion to your guys while allowing you to steal your opponents fatties at a huge discount. At the same time this gives you an awesome way to abuse those 187 (enter the battlefield) creatures like Woodfall Primus, Fleshbag Marauder, and Mulldrifter. Just throwing it out there but Reveillark plus this thing and a bunch of small dudes in your graveyard is bonkers. Bonus points for pictures!

7.  Sword of Fire and Ice $40.00

Hey at least it's not being held by a Hawk!

Obviously all five of the swords (Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Feast and Famine, Sword of Light and Shadow, Sword of Body and Mind, and Sword of War and Peace) are amazing and if I could put all of them on the list I would but, that wouldn't be very interesting now would it? The truth is that in more decks than not at least one sword is present. These cards are amazing! For five mana you can make one of your dudes possibly unblockable, bigger, and give him two sweet abilities if he does connect give free value. Then when someone does finally answer your beasty if they didn't kill the sword every single guy you play from then on out is two mana away from being just as much a problem. This is one of those cards that is laid down and screams answer me or die. Amazing equipment that did not make the list include Umezawa's Jitte, Batterskull, and Loxodon Warhammer


8. Crucible of Worlds $25.00

Why you gotta be so good Strip Mine?

Alright now if you have read some of my other articles you know that I generally disapprove of this card but, the fact of the matter is, this card is AMAZING. Like it or not there is going to be land destruction, either from the sadist with the other Crucible and a Strip Mine or from some DB running Obliterate. This card helps you out. Everytime I play this artifact I try to play it fairly only getting back fetchlands or only getting Tectonic Edge if someone lays down Cabal Coffers or some other unfair land. The truth is this card is just insurance for your lands and produces an effect that would be unique to one color (Life from the Loam) or incredibly slow (Petrified Field) otherwise. Abusable but, played fairly, is still an amazing card with fetchlands.


9. Skullclamp $3.00

You use it for the +1 right?

I thought long and hard about adding this card to the list and I finally caved in because, no matter how much I don't want to admit it, this card is fantastic and could easily be run in every deck I have ever even thought about building. There is good, GOOD reason that this card was banned in Standard while it was legal, Modern AND Legacy. This card is banned in LEGACY! Only in Vintage and Commander is it considered even mildly fair. Spoiler alert for those of you that do not know the only thing you will likely use this for is as a 1 mana draw two with some sort of token engine or as a rattlesnake card that says don't kill this guy or I get a huge advantage. While this card is not douchebaggery and will often be destroyed the minute it hits the table, this card is just unfair if allowed to go off. I cannot morally tell you to run it in a deck but if you must be aware that it is often target #1 on a table.

10. Expedition Map $0.50

Grabbing Academy Ruins. Muah ha ha!

Okay so if there was a card on this list that someone was going to argue with, this would probably be the one. I have a soft spot for this particular artifact but it is just way too good to pass up. The ability for a deck to seach up any land at any time is top 10 material if I have ever seen it. I am a huge fan of utility lands to the point where I have ruined perfectly good mana bases by shoving in as many utility lands as I could think up. I know one of these days I'm gonna build a mono brown (all artifact) deck and be in heaven. I auto-include this card in every deck I have ever built, including mono green, and have never regretted it. Think about this card in your opening hand! Are you ever saying to yourself darn I wish this were X or Y? No you are saying "sweet Expedition Map now I can get a land and fix my mana or grab a utility land. Some of my favorite targets are Bojuka Bog, Academy Ruins, Mistveil Plains, and Mystifying Maze. For those of you that disagree with me (as I am by no means an expert) I have included a more traditional honorable mention that can be subbed in for # 10 if you would like.



Honorable Mention Caged Sun $1.00

Finally it's asymmetrical!

Caged Sun is the latest member in a long line of artifacts that are "mana doublers". Other cards that are often played in addition to Caged Sun are Gauntlet of Power, Extraplanar Lens and the original Gauntlet of Might. Caged Sun stands out from the rest of the pack as being the first of these artifacts to make the effect asymmetrical (only effecting your side of the board). There is not a single deck, not even a white weenies deck, that would not enjoy having their mana doubled and all of their dudes made bigger. This card is an autoinclude in any sort of mono colored deck and should definitely be considered in 2 color decks for its utility and raw power.



Well I hope this has been informative and will give you a good starting place for aquiring the artifacts you need to start or improve your Commander deck. I'm sure for those veteran players who are reading this, this list doesn't really have too many surprises but these articles are geared more towards the newer players.


I will be posting maybe one more article today but keep checking back here or on Facebook as I will be sharing my articles as I write them. If there is anything you specifically want me to write about message me on Facebook and I will see what I can do! All card prices are according to starcitygames.com so take them with a grain of salt.

The White staples will be coming tomorrow! Thanks for Reading!


Remember the deck is only as good as the Gentleman playing it!