pie chart

Time to Build an Engine (Primer)!

Commander / EDH Artifact Combo Infinite Combo UR (Izzet)

Seraphim7

Upvote 0
0

Artifact (28)

Enchantment (3)

Planeswalker (1)

Creature (24)

Instant (8)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Saheeli, the Gifted

Land (28)

Sorcery (7)

Sideboard

Sorcery (2)

Creature (1)

Instant (1)

Maybeboard

Enchantment (4)

Creature (2)

Artifact (1)

This deck is meant to be a deck capable of competing in border cEDH pods, yet not so oppressive as to be the archenemy in more casual groups. In play, it can potentially combo off turn 3-4 (god hand) but usually goes off turns 6-7, or 8-9 if your opponents are holding a lot of interaction.

When you play this deck, you have one goal: put together an engine and combo out. That is your sole focus. When you’re putting together your engine, you should follow a few rules so that you aren’t left behind while your opponents soar to victory.

1: Never put an essential combo piece into play without protection.

Cards like Ashnod's Altar , Krark-Clan Ironworks , and Scrap Trawler are vital pieces for multiple combos. While the Altar and the Ironworks are very useful for ramping, if they are removed early your ramping will be useless.

2: Never put all your eggs in one basket.

This seems rather self-explanatory. Never expend all your tutors and protection trying to keep one specific combo alive. Hold reserves, and never overcommit to one battle.

3: Never draw attention to yourself.

Saheeli unfortunately has a nasty reputation for doing Stax while cheating Eldrazi into play, which we can’t really do anything about… but other than always trying to get your commander out as quickly as possible, fly under the radar. Use Saheeli to generate incremental value, playing 3 and 4 drops for free, and generally try to look innocent. I’ve noticed in the past that even if your opponents know what your deck can do, if you aren’t being obviously threatening then they tend to ignore you in favor of more flashy players.

4: Never strike before you are certain of victory.

This last rule is somewhat similar to #2, above. Essentially: don’t make your move until you’re certain that it will be the last move of the game. All the pieces must be in place before checkmate can be declared.

Abbreviated Terms: Retriever Any artifact creature that recurs an artifact when it dies, i.e. Myr Retriever .

Engine A source of infinite resources, i.e. Paradox Engine .

Philosophies The two game philosophies this deck subscribes to are as follows.

Contingency (Proactive) The more ways you have to do something, the more likely you are to be able to do it. This principle is key to victory with this deck.

Variability (Reactive) The more options you have, the more likely it is that one of them will be the one you need. Variability mirrors Contingency, because both value having choices, but for different reasons.

With all that out of the way, let’s get going. These engines aren’t going to build themselves!

2 piece combos: Chroma Sages Chromatic Orrery combined with Filigree Sages is infinite mana. Note: this combo can generate infinite self-mill if an opponent controls a Mesmeric Orb .

Nexus Portal Ugin's Nexus combined with Prototype Portal and any artifact sacrifice outlet is infinite turns.

3-4 piece combos: Note: these combos require either Krark-Clan Ironworks or Ashnod's Altar to go infinite, and so assume that they are necessary unless otherwise instructed.

Retriever Combo Our first combo is the easiest to assemble, and the most complicated, unfortunately. Requires... Two Retrievers ( Scrap Trawler , Myr Retriever , Workshop Assistant , or Junk Diver )... One of either Etherium Sculptor , Foundry Inspector , Mirrodin Besieged (Mirran), Efficient Construction , or Sai, Master Thopterist .

Colossus Combo This combo has an additional requirement of noncreature artifacts with a total combined CMC of 11. Basic Combo: Metalwork Colossus , and two of either Mirrodin Besieged (Mirran), Efficient Construction , or Sai, Master Thopterist . This generates infinite mana and cast triggers. Retriever Combo: Switch out one of the token creators for a Retriever (note: if Scrap Trawler is chosen, you will also need an artifact with CMC 1 or less to go infinite).

There are more potential combos, but the four listed above are the most likely to appear in-game, and provide a clear enough vision of our strategy.

Once an engine is brought online, we win the game with one of these cards.

Aetherflux Reservoir Wins with all engines except Portal Nexus and Chroma Sages.

Reckless Fireweaver Wins with all engines except Chroma Sages.

Walking Ballista Wins with all engines.

Retrofitter Foundry Wins with all engines.

Saheeli's Directive Wins with all engines (by putting every artifact in your deck on the board).

Following the principles of Contingency and Variability, this deck runs the following non-infinite combo, mainly focused on artifact tokens.

Engineer-Lattice Ult

Controlling Mycosynth Lattice when you ult Saheeli will double your boardstate. Adding Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer lets you turn all those tokens into Metalwork Colossus i, Aetherflux Reservoir s, or Sharding Sphinx s for a blowout victory.

Saheeli functions as a ramp piece, a token generator, and a secondary wincon. While we will occasionally use her to cheat big spells into play, her main use will be either casting a free spell every turn, or generating a Servo.
The sideboard is divided into two groups: cards that may or may not get mileage based on your playgroup and budget, and cards that I haven’t tested fully but show promise.
Some of these cards aren’t exactly EDH staples. I’ve tested and enjoyed playing with these cards, however.

Renegade Map I consider this a budget alternative to Wayfarer's Bauble that in some ways works even better. Though it comes in tapped and can only tutor basics, it costs no mana to activate, in a 2 color deck I almost never need a nonbasic, and it is just fine sitting on the field adding to Saheeli’s artifact count until I really need another land.

Quicksmith Genius This untapped gem triggers off any artifact, not just nontoken ones. In addition, I personally prefer rummaging to looting. It just feels safer.

Mizzium Transreliquat It’s a budget Mirage Mirror that can copy artifacts permanently. Need I say more?

This was my first primer, and this remains one of my favorite decks. If you liked it, please upvote and share any comments you might have below!

Suggestions

Updates Add

Strixhaven Release — May 14, 2021
Edit

With the release of Strixhaven (which I love, by the way), I've made a few edits to the deck. The first addition is Ingenious Mastery. What's that, you say? Isn't that one of the bad Masteries? Well... no. I really like this card because of it's versatility. If I need card draw early, it's three mana for three cards (at the price of helping an opponent). But in the late game, it's pretty much exactly what I need.

As for my other edits, I finally made the leap and added in Sensei's Divining Top. With the release of Strixhaven, my meta has been shifting to run more interaction, so I added Pyroblast and Counterspell, though I'm planning to switch out the latter for a better counterspell as soon as I get it.

Comments

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Become a supporter of TappedOut and hide ads for only $3/month!

Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

Please login to comment

93% Casual

Competitive