Word of Command #4 - Engines of Command

Word of Command

    Welcome to the fourth Word of Command! I hope everyone had an excellent holiday break; mine was especially busy! Jumping right in, after our usual news section this article will focus on lesser known or less popular methods to generate continual advantage during a game. Hopefully you'll be inspired to try out some new ideas in a deck this year!

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Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!




    Not quite this kind of engine...
    What is an engine? When playing a long, grindy game of Commander a lot of cards can add up in value of the course of several turns: Phyrexian Arena keeps clicking away for an extra card, Crucible of Worlds keeps you hitting your land drops with fetch lands in the graveyard, even Pristine Talisman's life gain can add up when taken for the long haul. While any card that gives consistent advantage can be termed an 'engine,' I prefer the term when applied to cards that both provide advantage and have the potential to escalate their effects by adding more pieces to the machine.

    For example, a card like Skullclamp gives great value in the long run of a game by default. However, when paired into a mini combo with Bloodghast or Reassembling Skeleton it turns into an on-demand card draw powerhouse. Likewise, a Birthing Pod will undoubtedly ramp up in value over the course of a game, upgrading your creatures at a low cost. Throwing in untapping effects to speed it up, or copying effects like Rings of Brighthearth or Riku of Two Reflections to generate board presence at the same time will help your little machine to pull far more weight.

    Today, we're going to be discussing some of the lesser known, or underplayed long term advantage-generating cards. I'll be starting off with Salvaging Station - a card that works well in many situations but will be an especially good fit for the red Commander 2014 deck: Built From Scratch.


Salvaging Station

    Salvaging Station is part of a set of four cards from Fifth Dawn that were built with various combos in mind - especially with each other. Each of the four stations has an activated ability, and a triggered ability to untap it so that you can activate the first ability more often. This immediately makes them ramp up in power in a multiplayer game, as they get more opportunities to trigger. Salvaging Station ends up being unique in two ways: the first has to do with the wide variety of effects that can be found on one-mana cost artifacts. While each of the other artifacts can do one thing fairly well, Salvaging Station brings a host of utility to the table. The second is that the Station untaps upon creatures dying, which ramps far more quickly in power with additional players compared to the other triggers.

    The biggest immediate effect to look at is card draw. There are a large number of one-cost artifacts that will cycle themselves: Spellbombs can sacrifice themselves for one mana to draw a card, baubles like Conjurer's Bauble and even Mishra's and Urza's will freely cycle for cards. A six-cost artifact used to simply draw cards may not seem impressive at first glance, but once you are able to draw a card for every single creature that dies on the field the power becomes much more apparent. Even a Chromatic Sphere or star will turn an opponent's Wrath of God into your personal Decree of Pain so long as you keep a single mana open.

    The next major thing I like to look at when evaluating a Salvaging Station package is graveyard hate. The graveyard is often an extended resource in Commander (which plays into Salvaging Station's hands), so shutting them down should be a top priority. Scrabbling Claws and Phyrexian Furnace tend to fit the role of early-game cleaning with single-problem removal later in the game - but once Salvaging Station enters the mix, the re-use of the targeted ability helps handle major problems like Glissa, the Traitor and Chainer, Dementia Master far more easily. If you're running black as a color, then Nihil Spellbomb makes a welcome addition to the lineup with its cantrip ability. Tormod's Crypt will work well in a pinch as well.

    Removal options will be widely dependent on your colors. The most popular option in black is Executioner's Capsule by far, as outright killing creatures at low opportunity costs is great. As an added benefit, it has synergy with Salvaging Station, as the creature you kill will let you untap the Station to do it all over again. Similarly, while Pyrite Spellbomb is often overlooked in red decks, the ability to double tap it on a turn even without an untap makes it a quick contender - especially considering that it's a colorless source of damage. Once some creatures die and you get the opportunity to really chain together the shocks, even large foes fall at little cost. Recurring an Æther Spellbomb in Blue is another way to quickly frustrate attackers. White gets Dispeller's Capsule - at first glance it seems a bit overcosted, but holding a rattlesnake on the board can have excellent effects, and buyback-able removal is typically not this cheap. Finally, Voyager Staff is a utilitarian effect that can go into any deck, blocking out potential combos and preventing attacks.

    Voyager Staff isn't just limited to stopping your opponent's shenanigans; it's one of the cards I primarily classify as protection. The staff is often quite useful for saving your own creatures from removal, or even re-using a blink effect such as Trinket Mage. Another great protection bauble is Glaring Spotlight. Being able to re-use both the protection and the alpha strike are exceptionally useful.

    In lines of protecting your belongings, Salvaging Station can also help recover them with the help of Codex Shredder. While expensive, having the option to recover any card opens up your options in the late game a lot. Codex Shredder also adds a layer of protection for the station, as you can return it when your station is about to be destroyed, and then recover your station afterwards. This is aside from simply returning powerful one-cost artifacts that have died, as returning a destroyed Skullclamp or Masterwork of Ingenuity is worthwhile in itself.

    Though you typically won't need too much more ramp once you get your Station out, having more mana is generally considered good in a longer game. The Station can return Wayfarer's Bauble, Horizon Spellbomb, and Expedition Map (among others) to help in moving the lands in your library onto the battlefield. Salvaging Station can also give bursts of mana during a board wipe by returning a Lotus Petal, Lotus Bloom, or Lion's Eye Diamond. These last few cards can add a combo touch to your engine as well.

    There is also a wider range of effects that have more niche applications - from life gain, to animating lands - that can fit into certain decks. Some more specific ones would be the use of Ashnod's Transmogrant in Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient - it allows you to double up your own activated abilities on powerful creatures like Goblin Welder, or use artifact destruction to remove opposing problems. Another would be the inclusion Chimeric Coils in Shattergang Brothers to have a creature that you can repeatedly sacrifice - which will then untap the Station even more.

    Salvaging Station also adds certain combo potential to any deck. The most obvious is the immediate pairing with Summoning Station, as the host of baubles you kill off also start assembling an army. Summoning Station is quite good on its own as well, and also pairs well with other artifacts such as Spawning Pit - the pit can also be used to fuel the Salvaging Station back up, serving as both sacrifice outlet and minion producer for even more sacrifices. Clock of Omens can be put to good use by tapping returned spellbombs to untap the Station even more, or in reverse by using the Station and another artifact in response to the Station's untap trigger to untap other powerful artifacts repeatedly.

    For a more silly combo, both Sydri, Galvanic Genius and Karn, Silver Golem can make use of this one: Use the corresponding artifact land (Seat of the Synod for Sydri, Darksteel Citadel for Karn) to activate their ability to turn the land itself into a creature. It will immediately die, but since it was a creature, it will untap the Station. The Station can then return the land untapped to do it again in an endless loop. Sydri gets the most value from this since Black gets to make use of things like Blood Artist, Disciple of the Vault or Grim Haruspex. Karn can use it to super-charge cards like Arcbound Crusher.

The Downsides of the Station

    The hardest thing to justify when looking at Salvaging Station is the amount of deck space the package takes up. In order to get some baubles and have the Station actually do something, you'll want to dedicate about ten card slots to one-drop artifacts. At first glance this seems like a lot, but the great part is that because they all cantrip, they really help streamline the rest of your deck.

    Salvaging Station is also extremely weak to graveyard removal. Rest in Peace will shut you down entirely, and mirror matches against an opposing Station often come down to who gets their graveyard removal piece first.

Deck Building Options - Where Does It Go?

    The great part about the Station is that it can be good in pretty much any deck, though certain colors or commanders can make even better use of it:
    • White and red decks are often starved for draw power, so they can make great use of the card draw aspect of the Station and baubles. Both have recovery options to use the baubles and to recover the Station. Red has Goblin Welder, Trash for Treasure and Daretti, Scrap Savant to help trade a bauble to get the Station back if it gets destroyed or used as a way to fuel their own recovery powers. White can use cards like Auriok Salvagers as a secondary Station effect, or cards like Razor Hippogriff and Salvage Scout to recover the Station.
    • Blue decks always synergize well with artifacts. Blue can not only return a downed Station with a plethora of effects, but also help tutor for pieces with Trinket Mage, Treasure Mage, and Artificer's Intuition.
    • Black obviously has raw tutoring power, but also owns some of the more powerful spellbombs. Pairing Black with Green allows the use of Glissa, the Traitor, who facilitates early re-use of the baubles and powerful late game recovery.

    A small collection of commanders who can be rather exciting with the Station:
    • Glissa, the Traitor, who has been mentioned a few times already, synergizes exceptionally well with both the Station as well as the baubles that you'll want to be running anyways.
    • Daretti, Scrap Savant/Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient. Daretti's filtration ability can be turned into better advantage by filtering out and returning the baubles. The baubles can also then be used to fuel his Welder ability. Kurkesh squeezes extra value from most baubles by turning the cantrips into straight draws, and can double charge each Station activation later on. Pyrite Spellbomb becomes even more explosive with him. Kurkesh also synergizes well with Spawning Pit, being able to keep it fueled quite handily.
    • The Shattergang Brothers can make great use of cheap artifact recursion to keep the board clear on that end. Their creature removal ability then also fuels multiple untaps on the Station.
    • Toshiro Umezawa is another commander who wants lots of things dying, a trait shared with Salvaging Station. The removal the deck packs is a great way to turbo-charge the Station, which will help to fuel you with the otherwise less-efficient spells the deck needs. Executioner's Capsule can then pull overtime in the deck as it will fuel Toshiro's flashback abilities without the need of wasting extra spells.


A Quick Example

    Captain Kurk and His Army of RedshirtsMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
    Commander
    4 Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient

    Baubles - 11
    1 Ashnod's Transmogrant
    1 Chromatic Star
    1 Conjurer's Bauble
    1 Glaring Spotlight
    1 Mishra's Bauble
    1 Phyrexian Furnace
    1 Pyrite Spellbomb
    1 Scrabbling Claws
    1 Tormod's Crypt
    1 Urza's Bauble
    1 Voyager Staff
    1 Wayfarer's Bauble

    		Other 1 cost artifacts
    1 Avarice Totem
    1 Sensei's Divining Top
    1 Skullclamp

    Stations
    2 Spawning Pit
    3 Sculpting Steel
    3 Serum Tank
    4 Trading Post
    6 Salvaging Station
    7 Summoning Station
    For a quick sample we'll look at one of my suggested commanders, Kurkesh, and see what type of Station package would work well with him. Off the bat we know that a lot of the color fixing artifacts won't be as good. We won't need the fixing since we're in a single color, and Kurkesh won't be able to copy their ability.

    We'll start with some easy card draw. The Mishra's and Urza's don't typically make my list, but in this case there is a concession given to being able to copy the ability with Kurkesh to draw extra cards. Usually these slots are better taken by cards like Chromatic Star or Sphere. Note that the Star's card draw ability is separate from the activated ability, which is why that one still makes the deck. This means that we can exchange the Star with something like Goblin Welder, or sacrifice it to Trading Post and benefit from extra card draw. We'll tie it up with a Conjurer's Bauble since it's free to use and is immediately beneficial.

    The next quick addition is the graveyard hate cards. I usually like to include at least three; Scrabbling Claws and Phyrexian Furnace are easy adds since they cantrip as well. Since we're not in black, Tormod's Crypt will take up the third slot for taking out an entire yard at once.

    Pyrite Spellbomb is decent removal, and pairs well with Kurkesh. Wayfarer's Bauble can help us by explosively ramping to ensure we have extra mana to play with. Voyager Staff is a pet favorite of mine, and will help protect Kurkesh along with Glaring Spotlight. The spotlight will help get our token army through in the late game.

    I opted to add in Summoning Station and Spawning Pit as win conditions to synergize with the deck. The Pit combos well with Kurkesh, as you can copy the sacrifice ability. This adds two counters to the pit, which makes it immediately active to create a minion. You can then copy that ability to make two minions, and lose one (copying again) to re-add two counters. This essentially gives the card the ability to make a 2/2 token for three mana, which isn't bad. Each iteration also gives you a death trigger to fuel the Salvaging Station.

    Even without Kurkesh, Spawning Pit pairs well with Summoning Station. Once you get it going, the two together help maintain a 2/2 chump blocker almost indefinitely. Assume the Spawning Pit already has one counter: Summoning Station makes a 2/2 creature. If it would die, you sacrifice it to the Pit, bringing you up to 2 counters. You can make a 2/2 Spawn to replace your recently lost Pincher. If the Spawn would die, you can sacrifice it to the Pit to bring it back to one counter. Since it's an artifact it'll untap the Summoning Station so you can replace it with a Pincher. If the Pincher would die, you then bring the Pit back up to two counters.

    If you ever manage to land all three on the board at the same time, proceed with caution. The potential amount of untaps gets out of hand quite quickly, and you're liable to draw a fair-sized chunk of your deck.

    Trading Post is highly useful across all modes, especially considering the discard option can drop baubles into your graveyard even if you draw them on an opponent's turn. The artifact recursion can help protect your stations, and minion creation is never bad as it will give more bodies to fuel the stations.

    Sensei's Divining Top and Serum Tank are both simply good draw effects in the deck. While it's easy to give in to temptation and bring in more powerful draw engines, the cost of these two will likely justify their inclusion. Serum Tank especially doesn't seem like anything special, but with the number of artifacts that are entering play you can essentially ignore the charge counter limitation on it. This essentially makes it draw a card for three mana, which is acceptable. Pairing it with Kurkesh though makes it easily worthwhile, even over bigger draw engines. Sensei's Divining Top also pairs well with Kurkesh as you can copy the card draw ability to turn the Top into a two-mana card draw effect. Avarice Totem is another one-cost artifact in a similar vein that's liable to end up being destroyed when paired with Kurkesh, so having the station able to recover it can give excellent value. For those who don't understand the interaction, you can target one of your own permanents with the totem, then respond with a second activation targeting an opponent's permanent. When the abilities resolve, you'll exchange the totem with you opponent, then you'll exchange it back, giving them the first permanent you targeted. While this form of theft is mana-intensive at ten mana, Kurkesh cuts that cost down to six by copying the ability. This makes it far more potent and viable as you then exchange your newly minted tokens for your opponents' most threatening permanents, or force them to maintain five mana open in order to combat the theft.

    From here, you can flesh out the deck in almost any way you want. I personally prefer a heavy token theme using cards like Hammer of Purphoros and Wand of the Elements, just to play off of Kurkesh's name with a small Star Trek joke. If instead you prefer a heavier combo feel, slot in Voltaic Key for infinite combos or Clock of Omens simply because the card really is that good.


Moderator Discussions:


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bobthefunny brings out River Kelpie, because one card isn't enough for me.



    Because it isn't abused enough.
    Grindy Commander games often feature a lot of graveyard manipulation, so it should really come at no surprise that River Kelpie can do some solid work in a game. Even with no support, its own persist ability will draw you a card to replace it, while also allowing it to return from a wrath effect.

    It's obviously quite good when anyone at the table is running reanimator - though you may need to fight to retain control of it in that situation - but there are a lot of other times its ability can trigger. Is the Azusa deck abusing fetchlands with Crucible of Worlds? Card City, here we come! Is the Blue deck using flashback spells? Joyful holidays of giving and joy! Is the goodstuff deck retracing that Spitting Image? Pure value! In fact, have you ever counted in a game how many times a Reassembling Skeleton or Bloodghast comes back from the dead? Imagine if each of those times could be a card for you.

    From flashback to Gravecrawler, retrace to Yawgmoth's Will, unearth to Spelltwine, persist/undying to Crucible of Worlds, and straight up reanimation to Spellweaver Volute, there are actually a lot of ways to cast spells or reanimate things from the graveyard. Building your own synergies around River Kelpie is actually quite easy, and may already be in a number of your decks. Adding this card may allow you to simply gain plenty of value from something you may have already been doing anyways. The best kind of engine.

    Karador is just sad that he can't get in on this action.


ISBPathfinder talks about comparing value engines:

    I recently built an Ephara, God of the Polis deck which is designed around hatebears, flickering / flashing creatures, and token generation. I have been pushing the deck around for a few weeks and another member of MTGSalvation (g1yph) asked me what the main difference in feel between Ephara and Brago, King Eternal was. It was an interesting question, as I had built the deck around Ephara and her own abilities. It made me sit back and consider the angle of having more of a strategy, then figuring out the commander from there.

    The commanders and their breakdown:

    Ephara, God of the Polis
    • More robust and harder to remove
    • Easier to tutor for if tucked
    • Difficult to disrupt outside of a few removal options

    Brago, King Eternal
    • Less dependent on creautres and/or tokens
    • More dependent on ETB effects (Torpor Orb concerns)
    • Higher potential for value generation
    • Easier to disrupt

    It is interesting to compare these two commanders for me. If you end up with using lots of ETB goodstuff in this case, there could be strong arguments to go for Brago, as he has the higher value potential. Both commanders can play goodstuff ETB, though, and there is the fact that Ephara is more robust and harder to disrupt. In this case, if you were looking for an ETB value deck, it would come down more to a player's personal preference in playstyle as well as metagame factors as to which commander is likely to work better. Ephara in this case would be the steady choice, whereas Brago is the more volatile but potentially back-breaking commander. It's a curious decision because of the fact that neither option in my mind is an objectively correct choice.

    In the end, I have a very Ephara-centric build, which makes my choice clear. The potential decision was an exercise worth reflecting upon, however. Sometimes commanders overlap a lot in how they can function, and it just comes down to personal preference as to which to play.


Wildfire393 talks about his Marchesa, the Black Rose arcbound deck:



Konda Wishes You'd Play More White This Winter...

    We hope this article has given you something to think about, and we can't wait to see what you get to building in this new year. Come in and tell us your engines of choice and what you've built with them! We'll see you back here at the beginning of February to go over the new offerings in Fate Reforged. Until then, we all wish you a Happy New Year!

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