Card/Deck Artifact Creatures

[japahn]

This is consistently the weakest section of my cube, and I really having a good number around to fill spot in decks that are short of creatures. That said, the pool of decent artifact creatures is really shallow. I currently run, and many of these are questionable:



Dabbling in phyrexian mana:


Adding non-creature artifacts that are de facto creatures:


What am I missing? No, Wurmcoil Engine two orders of magnitude too strong for my cube.

 

[japahn]

Wrong board again ._. Can someone please move to Cube Talk?

 

[Mondschwein]

I recently cut my last artifact creature, Solemn Simulacrum. I don't have the minor artifact theme, though, but I don't see any of those creatures as must-haves as they're often compromises in the fashion of 'every deck may play it, but it shouldn't be too strong in return'.

Scuttling Doom Engine got cut a while ago for being just too much of a finishing blow most defensive decks couldn't handle without getting too far behind. As I lowered the curve in my cube, I could think about it again. The other interesting card I see there is Soul of New Phyrexia. Never thought about adding it but it seems pretty cool and definitely has more play to it than the Doom Engine.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Yes. Twice.

 

[sigh]

Artifact two drops are really the sweet spot for utility and power, imo

I see in your cube list that you have quite a few more creatures than those that you mention in your OP. Your CT says 30, but not all of them belong to one module, it would seem.

I'm interested, on a tangentially related note, if there is overlap in modules (or how that works for you in general). 712 cards is a lot to have to find slots for, so you probably are dipping much deeper than many have to for artifact creatures.

There are definitely some that seem like less prudent includes:

Brass Man
Wall of Tanglecord
Cathodion
Darksteel Myr
Juggernaut
Pierce Strider
Manor Gargoyle

Spined Thopter
Vault Skirge

And some more from your list that you didn't include in your original list, namely
memnite

Even though it seems like your cube is singleton, I'd say that modules could easily dip into the same set of artifact creatures to achieve what they want to achieve.

EDIT: A 2 mana artifact defensive creature that I like a lot better than Wall of Tanglecord is

 

[japahn]

Yeah, you should filter for mod_main to see the main module, which is 320 cards (no lands, they are separate, so equivalente to 360). I don't really find it difficult to find cool cards to include in any section besides artifact creatures at the power level I am, that's why I'm asking for help in this thread

For the other modules I use additionally:

Enchantments/Spells
- None -

Tokens/Fliers/Sacrifice


Counters/Artifacts



Madness


Simple cards (this is recognizedly lower power)

Artifact two drops are really the sweet spot for utility and power, imo

There are definitely some that seem like less prudent includes:

Brass Man
Wall of Tanglecord
Cathodion
Darksteel Myr
Juggernaut
Pierce Strider
Manor Gargoyle

Spined Thopter
Vault Skirge

Brass Man and Wall of Tanglecord are better than they look. Vault Skirge is sweet. The rest really is not exciting at all (unless you played in 1995, when Juggernaut was a Bolt-check).

Spellskite is a nice idea, it's a bit too costly though (27 USD right now).

I'm literally going over every single artifact creature printed, found these up to M:

 

[sigh]

Brass man and wall of tanglecord might be fine as cards, but they seem like very blunt objects compared to cards that serve other purposes, like skite (price aside). I'd rather see the pair of perilous myr Onder mentioned, for instance. They can block and burn against agro, for instance, or pull all sorts of other duties.

 

[japahn]

Just completing the other ones I think are usable for the sake of documentation. Though I have tried all but Molten-Tail Masticore and Thraben Gargoyle in the past and they weren't great.

 

[Fulcrum]

• I'm always happy to draft and play Duplicant when I see it in a cube.
• I think Sundering Titan has a powerful effect that isn't broken if you're not cheating it out.
• Mortarpod isn't really a creature but it's like Bonehoard where it comes with a body and has some nice synergies.

 

[GiftsForgiven]

I'm a huge artifact-lover.

I really hope Kaladesh scratches that itch... for how prevalent artifact creatures have been over the years, there are surprisingly few that are cubable. I have an artifact theme in my cube, and currently run:

 

[genericco]

This is my current suite:

Spoiler

Staple. I'd put it in any non-aggro deck. Heartily recommend
Plenty of targets
Really like this one. Prefer it to Everflowing Chalice. Interacts.
Cute albeit low-power support for tribes
Too strong, too boring, might be coming out soon
Hatebear for decks with acceleration. Weak but I like it
Card is love card is life
Textbook generic value card I usually trash, but then again is a lot
Hilarious with or without Blasphemous Act & co.
aka Playable Kokusho. Vulnerable to exile & bounce of course
Not that strong, but design is awesome. I want Avengers Thopter tokens
Sneakily playable
Prefer this to platinum angel for reasons. Fetch first
Not really a fair card. One of my 'broken things'
A candidate for being cut - I'm souring on it
Fits my design principle "Life totals mostly go down, not up"
I've come to appreciate this pick for decks that want evasion
Very strong, but my red section should be able to punish it

At one point I was trying to do an artifact creature tokens theme with Chief of the Foundry and Steel Overseer as lords. But the token generators are all over the place in terms of power and without them there is no tribe.

As for the list in the OP, the one that seems most out of place is Brass Man, who might as well have defender. In a lot of singleton cubes he would end up being a solution to a problem that doesn't exist: needing a turn 1 blocker.

I might actually add Vault Skirge on second look. Aggro decks never have enough one drops. Equipment and auras will look quite natty on it.

 

[Fulcrum]

This is my current suite:

Spoiler

Staple. I'd put it in any non-aggro deck. Heartily recommend
Plenty of targets
Really like this one. Prefer it to Everflowing Chalice. Interacts.
Cute albeit low-power support for tribes
Too strong, too boring, might be coming out soon
Hatebear for decks with acceleration. Weak but I like it
Card is love card is life
Textbook generic value card I usually trash, but then again is a lot
Hilarious with or without Blasphemous Act & co.
aka Playable Kokusho. Vulnerable to exile & bounce of course
Not that strong, but design is awesome. I want Avengers Thopter tokens
Sneakily playable
Prefer this to platinum angel for reasons. Fetch first
Not really a fair card. One of my 'broken things'
A candidate for being cut - I'm souring on it
Fits my design principle "Life totals mostly go down, not up"
I've come to appreciate this pick for decks that want evasion
Very strong, but my red section should be able to punish it

At one point I was trying to do an artifact creature tokens theme with Chief of the Foundry and Steel Overseer as lords. But the token generators are all over the place in terms of power and without them there is no tribe.

As for the list in the OP, the one that seems most out of place is Brass Man, who might as well have defender. In a lot of singleton cubes he would end up being a solution to a problem that doesn't exist: needing a turn 1 blocker.

I might actually add Vault Skirge on second look. Aggro decks never have enough one drops. Equipment and auras will look quite natty on it.

Plague Myr is an interesting choice. Do you ever have any problems with drafters thinking infect is a theme? Does it mostly play as a mana rock that sometimes gives creatures -1/-1 counters?

 

[Diakonov]

Artifacts are an important part of my cube. Here's what I currently run for artifact creatures.



Plus a quad squad of Myr Servitor and four Mishra's Factories.

I've been considering adding Vault Skirge back in. I also like the idea of Thopter Assembly and Stuffy Doll. Although it's lower power by today's standards, I really miss Pentavus. It was so good when damage stacked.

 

[Fulcrum]

Artifacts are an important part of my cube. Here's what I currently run for artifact creatures.



Plus a quad squad of Myr Servitor and four Mishra's Factories.

I've been considering adding Vault Skirge back in. I also like the idea of Thopter Assembly and Stuffy Doll. Although it's lower power by today's standards, I really miss Pentavus. It was so good when damage stacked.

How does Cathodion play for you? I've only ever seen it played in MM2 drafts.

 

[Diakonov]

It's alright. Not great. It's mostly there for fun interactions with sacrifice themes and welder. It's tough to find good 3-cost artifact creatures that are interesting.

 

[Mondschwein]

Want to add to that section again.

Bigger targets that I'd love to reanimate with Daretti and that midrange/control decks want:

Did anybody already test the Assembly? I like getting tokens repeatedly, for going wide (hymn effects and such) or sac'ing them every turn.

Smaller threats:

I'd be interested in what you people think about every single one of those except the Myr, that one's obviously cool.

Which of those do you prefer?

Razormane does definitely look strongest, Masticore is fine if you're able to abuse some of the cards discarded somehow. Molten-Tail looks about right power level-wise. Don't know which one I should test, though.

 

[VincePendrell]

I came here to recommend against this guy:

This is about as disruptive for opposing aggro decks as Baleful Strix, and we all know strix is the best (and prettiest and coolest) creature in both blue, black, blue-black, and probably multicolor as well. If you are supporting any sort of low-mana aggro deck, a Perilous Myr on the curve on the opposing side just makes it so that attacking is always a losing proposition (unless all your aggro decks only run evasive creatures), while also being a pick that no aggro player will take, and the control player can table.

I have also stayed away from any of the three Masticores for a while now. They are powerful, yes, but whenever they hit the board, you are now playing the Masticore deck, and not whatever deck you had built previously.

An artifact creature that I'm playing in a pick-1-get-4 deal is this guy:

I don't have a lot of experience with it yet, but it does enable lots of shenanigans.

I also vouch for Phyrexian Revoker, and highly recommend Metallic Mimic if you have any sort of tribal support in your list.

And my favorite artifact creature that is never played as an artifact creature:

 

[RavebornMuse]

I'm a fan of Chronomaton, although I'm really not sure how high up the power level it can go It's a nice pick here, though.

Similar to Vince, I ran Perilous Myr for a while and didn't like it due to how easy of a value roadblock it is.

I also don't care much for Epochrasite; time counters seem to either induce this paranoid hypervigilance around them which makes for a distracted opponent or get forgotten and lead to bad feels, which I'm just not interested in adding to my environment for such marginal gains. YMMV but I have personally forgotten time counters often enough to be pretty disinterested in anything but Greater Gargadon and Aeon Chronicler.

For a thing that hasn't been mentioned yet (unsurprisingly), I do recommend this if you're in a lower-powered list utilizing contraptions:



1/1 fliers for 1 get in for a surprising amount of damage (I'm sure Siren Stormtamer is averaging between 2-4 damage in my list by now), and being colorless and having a repeated source of virtual card advantage like this is amazing.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I ran two Perilous Myrs for the longest time. I found that since I cut all two cmc mana rocks from my cube, control decks were looking for early drops that allowed the to not get overrun by aggro decks, and Perilous Myr fulfills that goal admirably. It's rough for the aggro player, but not unbeatable in my experience, depending on the removal and combat tricks in your cube (Pacifism effects are great). I since went back to one, not because I don't love the card, but because I found a worthy alternative. If you want to please your control players with an artifact two drop that doesn't generate mana and isn't a walking Shock:



It's actually legit! Try it, you won't be disappointed

Another one I really like is Walking Ballista. Just know it becomes overwhelming fast if you run snek effects.