The best Artifact commanders can help you overwhelm your foes with huge constructs, an army of thopters, or just by constantly recurring everything you cast for the entire game. Artifact strategies are hugely varied, and use some of the most entertaining cards in MTG.
That means that figuring our who you want to use can be pretty tough, but it’s not impossible. To help inspire you a little bit though, we’ve made a little list of the best Artifact commanders to play with. Get stuck in and find your new favorite way to play.
The best Artifact commanders
As ever, we’re kicking off with an honorable mention, and today’s is Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain. This version of Jhoira is a four mana Blue and Red 3/3 that lets you draw a card whenever you cast a historic spell.
A historic spell is a card that’s either an Artifact, a legendary, or a Saga, so you’ll be getting a lot of extra cards from Jhoira. With that out of the way, let’s dive into the best Artifact commanders in MTG.
10 – Sai, Master Thopterist
First up, we have Sai, Master Thopterist. Sai is a three mana 1/4 that make a 1/1 Thopter with flying whenever you cast an Artifact spell. Because this includes all forms of Artifacts, it usually means you’ll end up with a powerful flying army too.
You can also pay two mana and sacrifice two Artifacts to draw a card. While this is trickier card advantage than Jhoira, we rate the ability to spit out tokens rather highly, so we think Sai belongs here.
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9 – Saheeli, the Gifted
Saheeli, the Gifted is a four mana Blue and Red Planeswalker. They come in with four loyalty, and you can gain one to either Create a 1/1 Servo token or make the next spell you cast that turn cost one less for every Artifact you control as you cast it.
You can also pay seven loyalty for this effect, “For each Artifact you control, create a token that’s a copy of it. Those tokens gain haste. Exile those tokens at the beginning of the next end step.” That’s probably going to be your win condition in most games, but it does mean you need to protect your army of Artifacts.
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8 – Daretti, Scrap Savant
We’ve got another four mana Planeswalker here, but this time its Daretti, Scrap Savant. Daretti comes in with three loyalty, and you can gain two to discard up to two cards and then draw that many, or lose two loyalty to sacrifice an Artifact to bring a different one back to the battlefield from the graveyard.
The real power comes from the ultimate though. For ten loyalty, you get an emblem that reads, “Whenever an Artifact is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, return that card to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.” Basically, it gives you a weird version of immortality for all of your Artifacts, and it’s an absurdly hard thing to beat.
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7 – Emry, Lurker of the Loch
Emry, Lurker of the Loch is a three mana Blue 1/2. They cost one less for each Artifact you control, which is great for avoiding Commander tax, and when they enter the battlefield, you mill yourself for four cards.
You can tap them to allow you to cast an Artifact from your graveyard. It’s useful, and the fact that you can cast them for free and then basically get to draw four more cards, if you’ve built the deck right, is excellent. They’re good in a few different builds, but they lack the survivability needed sometimes.
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6 – Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle
We’re finally moving away from Blue and Red, although only for a moment, to take our first foray into White. Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle is a four mana 2/2 with flying. Aside from being a cool Bird Cleric, the main thing about them is their ability.
“Whenever you cast a historic spell, return target creature card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.” You can basically make sure you use a lot of the sacrificial Artifacts time and time again by doing this, and it can be nearly impossible to beat with very little effort.
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5 – Alibou, Ancient Witness
We find ourselves amongst new and exciting legends now thanks to Alibou, Ancient Witness. Alibou is a five mana Red and White 4/5 that gives other Artifact Creatures you control haste. That’s not bad, but it’s only part of what makes Alibou such an excellent aggro Commander.
It also reads, “Whenever one or more Artifact Creatures you control attack, Alibou, Ancient Witness deals X damage to any target and you scry X, where X is the number of tapped artifacts you control.” The best part about this is that it includes any mana rocks or whatever else you have out. It highly encourages doing everything you can in main phase one, and it’s a huge amount of fun if you’re more interested in swinging in than playing combos.
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4 – Oswald Fiddlebender
Oswald Fiddlerbender is a powerhouse. There’s no way around it, they’re an absurdly powerful new card, and we’d probably be putting them higher if they’d been around for a little longer. For two mana, you get a White 2/2 that you can pay one mana and tap them to activate magical tinkering.
Magical tinkering is an ability that lets you “Sacrifice an Artifact: Search your library for an artifact card with mana value equal to 1 plus the sacrificed Artifact’s mana value. Put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle. Activate only as a sorcery.” Being able to pull out Artifact after Artifact is obscene, and you’re sure to find plenty of great ways to abuse this ability.
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3 – Osgir, the Reconstructor
Our last really new card here is Osgir, the Reconstructor. Osgir is a four mana Red and White 4/4 with vigilance. You can pay one mana to sacrifice an Artiface to give a Creature you control +2/+0 until end of turn, which is fun.
However, the real power comes from the other ability, which costs X, and has you Tap Osgir to exile an Artifact with a mana value of X from your graveyard, and then you get to create two copies of that card. You can only do this as a sorcery, but it allows you to do a huge amount of work, especially given how powerful most Artifacts are.
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2 – Urza, Lord High Artificer
Urza, Lord High Artificer is a four mana Blue 1/4. There is a lot of text on this card. “When Urza, Lord High Artificer enters the battlefield, create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with “This creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.””
You can also tap an untapped Artifact you control to add one Blue mana, and you can pay five to shuffle your library and then exile the top card of your library, then you can cast it for free until the end of the turn. This mix of abilities just makes Urza a little bit obnoxious, and we get the feeling they would be if you ever met them in real life too.
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1 – Breya, Etherium Shaper
Our final pick for the best Artifact commanders is Breya, Etherium Shaper. Breya is a four mana White, Blue, Black, and Red 4/4 that enters the battlefield and brings two 1/1 flying Thopter tokens with them. This mix of colors means you can have every other commander on this list.
You can also pay two and sacrifice two Artifacts to either deal three damage to a player or a Planeswalker, give a Creature -4/-4 until the end of the turn, or gain five life. It’s all very silly stuff, and you just can’t beat the access Breya offers.
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