Artifacts

T HERE ARE 25 NON-CREATURE ARTIFACTS AND 8 ARTIFACT CREATURES IN THE SET. HOWEVER,
one of the non-creature artifacts can become a creature and two others create token creatures.
Most of the new mechanics don’t show up in the artifacts. However, the artifact versions of the growing
enchantments—Barrin’s Codex (growing Jayemdae Tome), Lotus Blossom (growing Black Lotus), and
Smokestack (growing Nevinyrral’s Disk)—are three of the best artifacts in the set; much more playable
than most of the growing enchantments themselves.
Other artifact cards to watch include: Chimeric Staff, an activated, X/X creature; Grafted Skullcap, a per-
sonal Howling Mine; Karn, Silver Golem, a Legendary artifact creature with a reusable Animate Artifact
ability; Mishra’s Helix, a non-tapping land tapper; Thran Turbine, a non-land mana source for upkeep
effects; and Voltaic Key, which untaps any artifact (even Mana Vault).

B ARRIN ’ S C ODEX
Modeled after the growing enchantments,
Barrin’s Codex is a growing Jayemdae Tome,
trading time for mana. The Codex is perfect for
a blue/white control deck where you can let it sit
for a while, keeping mana in reserve to respond to
a Disenchant. When you need extra Counterspells,
sacrifice Barrin’s Codex at the end of your oppo-
nent’s turn to fill your hand up all at once.

C ATHODION
Cathodion is basically a mana battery you can
sometimes use as an attacker or blocker. Like
Su-Chi, if Cathodion dies in combat you will

Chimeric Staff by Michael Sutfin

take mana burn unless you can use the mana
on an instant spell or ability. However, when
combined with an ability that lets you sacrifice
creatures, Cathodion provides a mana boost for
big spells like Fireball and Living Death.
Voltaic Key by Henry G. Higgenbothham
C HIMERIC S TAFF
Although it can eat up a lot of mana, Chimeric
The key did not work Staff is a very versatile card. It can only be C ITANUL F LUTE
destroyed by instants unless you use it to block You’d better know your deck pretty well when
on a single lock, yet it and it combines well with Wrath of God. Plus, using Citanul Flute. This powerful artifact can
your opponent will never know how big Chimeric let you cast a creature every turn late in the
opened many doors. Staff will be when he or she blocks it because you game, making it useful in Sealed Deck as well
can make it a 1/1 creature and attack, then as Constructed games. Use the ability at the
remake it into a larger creature after your oppo- end of your opponent’s turn and cast your new
nent declares blockers. creature on your turn.
54 • T H E OFFICIAL GUIDE TO U R Z A’ S S AG A C A R D A N A LY S I S : A RT I FAC T S • 55

C LAWS OF G IX the time they can cast Skullcap. Plus, Grafted be used as a sideboard card against discard decks or
Claws of Gix allows you to get some final benefit Skullcap actually makes it easier to use Cursed as an offensive threat in a counter/control deck.
out of permanents you no longer need, like a Scroll. In a reanimation deck, Skullcap helps you
Necropotence that has outlived its usefulness. You find combination cards quickly and ensures you M ISHRA’ S H ELIX
can also use Claws of Gix to destroy creatures put a lot of creatures into the graveyard as well. An incredibly powerful card, Mishra’s Helix can
your opponent tries to steal with Legacy’s Allure help you lock down an opponent so he or she
or respond to a Wrath of God. Claws of Gix is H OPPING AUTOMATON can’t cast anything. Use it with artifact mana to
probably too narrow for Sealed Deck play. Any artifact creature with flight is a good Sealed tap all your opponent’s lands before casting
Deck card. Hopping Automaton can hop over Winter Orb. Prevent your opponent from doing
C OPPER G NOMES ground forces or jump up into the air to block anything by tapping him or her out during upkeep

Dragon Blood by Greg Simanson

Copper Gnomes provides an alternative casting an incoming flyer. If your opponent tries to steal every turn, or use it at the end of your opponent’s
cost for playing expensive artifacts like Phyrexian Automaton, you can activate its ability twice to turn to make sure you get a critical spell through
Colossus or Urza’s Armor. You don’t have to tap kill it. It doesn’t have much power for the cost, on your turn.
Copper Gnomes to use the ability. So, you can so Hopping Automaton won’t show up in
use the ability any time you have the mana, Constructed decks very often.
allowing you to surprise your opponent and
get around countermagic. K ARN , S ILVER G OLEM
D RAGON B LOOD This Legendary Artifact Creature makes a great
Dragon Blood will make a great addition to your defender that refuses to deal damage to creatures.
Chrystal Chimes by Donato Giancola

Spike deck, producing extra +1/+1 counters for
the little critters to move around. Also good in
Sealed Deck play, Dragon Blood can boost your
flyers or landwalkers and makes a great threat card
to use after your opponent declares blockers.
E NDOSKELETON
A variation on the Antiquities card Tawnos’s
Weaponry, Endoskeleton is a more defensive card.
While untapped, Endoskeleton can protect all
your creatures from a potential Incinerate, make
your blockers tougher to kill, or prevent your
opponent from blocking one of your attackers.
However, given an evasion ability or a clear path,
Karn can damage your opponent. Karn can also
be used as a temporary, reusable Animate Artifact,
turning all your non-creature artifacts into poten-
tial combat threats. Karn will see some
Constructed play in artifact-heavy decks.
L IFELINE
In a creature-heavy attacking deck, Lifeline can
provide protection against pinpoint destruction
effects. But, at five mana, Lifeline is more useful
as a combination card to be used with creatures
you sacrifice for some effect like Mogg Fanatics

Mobile Fort by Mark Tedin

Good in Sealed Deck games, Endoskeleton is
most powerful when it’s not being used.
F LUCTUATOR
In a deck filled with cycling cards, Fluctuator can
help you find combination cards by quickly
cycling through your library. In most other decks,
Thran Turbine is a better card, since it can provide
C RYSTAL C HIMES one free cycle per turn and can be used to pay for
This mass enchantment recycler works well in a other costs.
deck filled with enchantments that get sacrificed
for an effect, like Legacy’s Allure or the growing G RAFTED S KULLCAP
enchantments in this set. Crystal Chimes can be At first glance, the drawback on this personal
incredibly useful in the right deck, but is probably Howling Mine seems excessive. However, Grafted
too narrow for Sealed Deck play. Skullcap costs four mana, so most weenie horde
decks have already cast everything in their hand by
or Bottle Gnomes.
LOTUS B LOSSOM
A growing Black Lotus, Lotus Blossom should be
a popular Constructed card. Lotus Blossom helps
you play minor color spells requiring two colored
mana and trims the amount of time it takes to get
to lethal Fireball level. Like the growing enchant-
ments, Lotus Blossom is somewhat slow and
vulnerable to Disenchant, but the benefits of
multicolor mana outweigh these drawbacks.
M ETROGNOME
In Sealed Deck games, Metrognome is a decent
token generator you can use to establish creature
advantage. In Constructed play, Metrognome may
M OBILE F ORT
Mobile Fort is a repeat of the Ice Age card
Walking Wall. An excellent Sealed Deck card,
you can play Mobile Fort early enough to stave
off large attackers and use it offensively whenever
you don’t need a blocker or during your final
assault. As a blocker, Mobile Fort is a huge
threat to any creature with 3 toughness or less
(most creatures in the game).
56 • T H E OFFICIAL GUIDE TO U R Z A’ S S AG A C A R D A N A LY S I S : A RT I FAC T S • 57

N OETIC S CALES
Noetic Scales can be useful in both control decks
and discard decks to keep large creatures off the
board late in the game. In a dedicated discard
deck, Noetic Scales will completely shut down
creature-based threats. Big Blue style control play-
ers can keep their hands filled so their big
creatures will stay on the board putting extra pres-
sure on their opponents.
mana to deal X damage to yourself. With
Disenchant found in every white and multicolored
deck, Phyrexian Processor is dangerous to play in
Constructed decks.
P IT T RAP
Originally printed in Ice Age, Pit Trap is an excel-
lent deterrent in Sealed Deck play, where most
creatures attack on the ground. In addition, Pit
Trap gets around protection from color, so can be
a useful sideboard card in a mono-color deck that
can’t handle creatures with protection from its
color.
any ability you can use during upkeep. Use Thran
Turbine to cycle a card for free during upkeep,
pay half the cost of drawing an extra card with
Jayemdae Tome, or pay to have Voltaic Key
untap an artifact.
U MBILICUS
An odd taxing card, Umbilicus requires you to
deal with the effect as well, so you need a token
generator like Spirit Mirror or reusable life gain
like Silent Attendant to deal with the effect.
Obviously not for Sealed Deck play, Umbilicus
will need a deck built around it to make it work.

Whetstone by Greg Simanson

P URGING S CYTHE
This variation on Drop of Honey from Arabian
Nights works great in a creatureless deck or in a
deck devoted to high toughness creatures. Purging
Scythe gets very scary when you get more than
one into play. Fairly expensive for controlling
small creatures, Purging Scythe may see some play
in control decks to lock down an opponent late in
the game.
Phyrexian Colossus by Mark Tedin
U RZA’ S A RMOR
Urza’s Armor is great against multiple 1-point
damage dealers, practically shutting down a horde
of little creatures. Unfortunately, at six mana,
Urza’s Armor can’t be cast until two turns after a
Wrath of God. But, in a control deck, Urza’s
Armor could be played after Wrath of God to
minimize the damage from the next wave of W HETSTONE
attackers. It also combines well with Pestilence. This Millstone variant can help you run through
your opponent’s library more quickly, but at the

S MOKESTACK VOLTAIC K EY cost of affecting you as well. But, in a dedicated

P HYREXIAN C OLOSSUS
The Phyrexian Colossus is actually fairly inexpen-
sive for its size and can be scary when you get it
on the board. In a deck with a lot of non-land
mana and Voltaic Key to negate its disadvantage,
Colossus can quickly tear an opponent apart. You
might even use Colossus in Sealed Deck games as
a finisher or large blocker, but without Voltaic Key
you won’t attack more than once.
P HYREXIAN P ROCESSOR
The Phyrexian Processor can generate a lot of
large token creatures, making it fairly powerful in
Sealed Deck games. However, you pay the life
before getting any benefit from Processor, so a
quick Disenchant means you basically spend four
Smokestack is sort of a slow Nevinyrral’s Disk
that can be used to good effect in decks with
token generators. Plus, it will always affect your
opponent more than it affects you because you
can resolve Smokestack’s sacrifice ability before
adding another token. At worst, you can force an
opponent to destroy a single permanent and then
sacrifice Smokestack to itself.
T EMPORAL A PERTURE
This goofy variation on Elkin Bottle from
Ice Age doesn’t allow you to determine the card
before using it, but you can cast the card for free
after you reveal it. In a deck filled with really big
creatures, Temporal Aperture can produce some
card advantage. Combine it with an effect like
Mana Severance to limit the number of lands
you turn up.
T HRAN T URBINE
If you need help paying upkeep costs or echo
costs, Thran Turbine is the card for you. In addi-
tion, this versatile artifact can help pay the cost of
An incredibly versatile artifact, Voltaic Key is use-
ful with just about any artifact you tap for an
effect. Combine it with Icy Manipulator to quick-
ly lock down all of your opponent’s creatures or
lands. Untap Mana Vault for only one mana
instead of four, generating extra mana every turn.
With mana generating effects, this artifact has the
potential for abuse.
WALL OF J UNK
Wall of Junk is basically a cheap blocker with a o2
upkeep cost. It can help against an early big crea-
ture like Maro, but recasting it every turn ties up
your mana. However, Wall of Junk can be com-
bined with abilities that trigger on a creature
coming into play to great effect. With Wall of
Junk and Angelic Chorus in play, opponents won’t
want to attack and give you 7 life each turn.
library depletion deck, Whetstone isn’t that hard
to use. Even if you don’t have a larger deck than
your opponent, your opponent will die first if you
use Whetstone on your turn. Whetstone also is
interesting in Sealed Deck games where you often
have creature stalemates and smaller decks.
W IRECAT
Although a powerful creature, Wirecat will be
tough to play—especially in Sealed Deck games
due to the large number of enchantments in the
set. In a Constructed deck with plenty of Hushes
and Tranquilities, Wirecat might be able to provide
some extra power.
WORN P OWERSTONE
Another attempt to create a balanced version of
Sol Ring, Worn Powerstone is better than Sisay’s
Ring because it can be played one turn earlier,
giving you up to six mana on turn four. It won’t
help a pure speed deck like the mighty Sol Ring
but can help get big creatures out early—especially
in Sealed Deck games.