While pretty much every MTG set feels like a Commander set nowadays, there was a time when the format only got occasional support in dedicated precons. These decks, and the legends that helmed them, defined the early face of the format, before it exploded into a phenomenon. Though a lot of these Commander founding fathers have faded over time, some still retain their killer edge today. Sydri, Galvanic Genius is one such legend, bringing a ton of flexibility and combo potential to your MTG games.
Sydri, Galvanic Genius MTG
At a baseline, Sydri’s first ability is a great way of creating board presence in decks that lean heavily on utility artifacts. With Sydri, you can spend your turns developing engines like The One Ring and Repurposing Bay, then turn them into creatures to block, and avoid getting run over by opponents.
Turning artifacts into creatures also opens up a ton of synergies, particularly with untappers like Kelpie Guide and Intruder Alarm. These let you get double value out of your artifact abilities, opening up ramp lines with mana rocks and multiple extra turn potential with Time Sieve. You can also animate artifacts with powerful enters abilities, like Portal to Phyrexia or Ichor Wellspring, and blink them with Conjurer’s Closet for grindy value.
Sydri’s first ability is also notable for being able to target opponents’ artifacts, which opens up a load of extra options. If you’re having trouble dealing with a key engine like a Birthing Pod or a protection piece like Lightning Greaves, Sydri can simply turn it into a creature, and you can remove it as normal. Since you can do this at instant speed, it makes a great hedge against board wipes from artifact-heavy opponents, too.
While far less flexible, it’s important to keep Sydris’s second ability in mind, as it lets you mess with combat in really fun ways. As long as you have an untapped artifact and WUB available, you can spring a Deathtouch blocker on opponents at any time. This is particularly good with incidentally Indestructible artifacts, like Darksteel Ingot.
Killer Combos
You can get plenty of mileage out of Sydri by playing fair, but it works even better when you start working in some combo lines. The scariest of these combos is a two-card instant kill using Sydri and Aetherflux Reservoir, which also requires you to have over 50 life. Simply use both of Sydris’s abilities on Reservoir, making it a creature and giving it Lifelink, then pay 50 life to dish out 50 damage to an opponent with Reservoir. This will gain you 50 life back, letting you rinse and repeat to blow everyone at the table away.
Another great way to pop off with Sydri is to animate mana-producing artifacts like Gilded Lotus and use them to create untap loops. Pair an animated Lotus with Voltaic Construct or Freed from the Real, for example, and you can easily generate infinite mana. This also works with any artifact that produces three or more mana, including Basalt Monolith and Chromatic Orrery.
For something a bit different, you can use Sydri with Salvaging Station and Seat of the Synod for infinite enters and dies triggers. By tapping Seat for blue mana, you can then use that to pay for Sydri’s ability and animate it. Seat will go to the graveyard immediately due to gaining 0/0 stats, untapping Salvaging Station as it dies. At this point, you can tap Salvaging Station to bring Seat right back in, and repeat the loop for an instant win with any Blood Artist effect.
If you want to get really nasty, Sydri is also capable of wiping out every opposing land in a single turn with Mycosynth Lattice and Dross Scorpion. Lattice makes every land an artifact, which lets you essentially remove them for a single blue mana with Sydri. Dross Scorpion lets you untap your blue source every time you do this, which means you can repeat it for every land your opponents have. This combo won’t win you many friends, but it will win you games.
An Artifact Unto Itself
While it seems simple on the surface, Sydri, Galvanic Genius is an MTG legend with hidden depths aplenty, and a lot of applications beyond those we’ve outlined here. Pair those great abilities with its excellent Esper color identity and low casting cost, and you have a Commander that can head up a ton of different lists. Whether you’re going standard Artifacts, a funky Vehicles build, or draw-go Control, Sydri has you covered.
Despite this sheer flexibility, Sydri has been a bit lost to time in Commander over the years.By EDHREC numbers, just 2,833 players run Sydri in the command zone, which feels incredibly low given its power level. It fares even worse in the 99, with only around 2,320 players including Sydri there.
Though these stats are unfortunate, as hardly anyone is enjoying what this Commander classic has to offer, one upside is that Sydri is very cheap as a result. Whether you want the 2013 or 2016 printing, you’ll only pay around $0.90 for this Esper icon right now. At that price, Sydris is an absolute steal and a great foundation for a fresh budget Commander brew.
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