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Arty Shovelhead's Rube Goldberg Machine

Commander / EDH Artifact Combo Competitive Infinite Combo

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Now with 100% less color!

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Combos

There's a reason I call this deck a Rube Goldberg Machine; it comes packed with enough convoluted interactions to satisfy even the most hardcore Johnny. I've divided these combos up into the following three categories:

A lot of people seem to underestimate Karn's ability to turn artifacts into creatures. While at first this may seem like just a neat parlor trick, it actually has several useful applications, including (but not limited to):

  • Popping an equipment off a creature, as, according to section 301.5c of the comprehensive rules, "an equipment that's also a creature can't equip a creature"

  • Turning someone's mana rocks into creatures in response to their board wipe

  • Collecting a good salt harvest when you Staff of Nin someone's Sol Ring...

  • ...or just making their zero-CMC artifacts (Mana Crypt, Chalice of the Void, Darksteel Citadel) explode via state-based action

  • Finally, if you're feeling political, being able to turn someone's artifacts into extra blockers in a pinch can earn you a new ally

Once you start throwing other cards into the mix, though, the real fun begins:

One other important factor to keep in mind is that turning a non-creature artifact into a creature makes it susceptible to summoning sickness! The act of changing it from non-creature to creature doesn't make it sick, but once it's a creature it must follow the same rule of having to be continuously controlled by a player since the beginning of that player's last turn in order to attack or use tap/untap abilities.

Ways to make infinite mana:

  • Krark-Clan Ironworks + Nim Deathmantle + Wurmcoil Engine = When you sacrifice Wurmcoil to Ironworks, both it and Deathmantle's abilities go on the stack simultaneously. Choose to resolve Wurmcoil's ability first to get the tokens, then sac those to Ironworks as well. You can now pay the cost for Deathmantle's ability to get back Wurmcoil with a net gain of . Repeat this process to make (and get as many Wurm tokens as you want). A similar combo also exists with Myr Battlesphere in place of Wurmcoil

  • Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth + = Tap Monolith for then go to untap it and copy that untap ability with Rings. Let the copied ability resolve and, while the original untap ability is still on the stack, use Monolith to generate more mana. The original untap ability now resolves and you are left with an untapped Monolith and floating. Since it only costs in total to go through this cycle, you are left with a net gain of each time, letting you generate

  • Karn, Silver Golem + Mana Vault + Voltaic Construct = Turn Vault into a creature for , tap it for , untap it for with Construct, rinse and repeat for . This also works with Basalt Monolith, Dreamstone Hedron, Gilded Lotus, Grim Monolith, or Thran Dynamo

  • Metalworker + Voltaic Construct + 2 artifacts in hand = Reveal artifacts for , untap for , continue doing this for

Fun things to do with all that mana:

  • Karn, Silver Golem + Trading Post + Voltaic Construct + an artifact in hand + = Ridiculousness. Discard an artifact to gain 4 life, pay 1 life to get a token: 0/1 Goat, sacrifice that goat to get the artifact you discarded back, play that artifact, sacrifice that artifact to draw a card, pay another 1 life to get another goat, sacrifice that goat to get the artifact back, start the cycle over from the beginning. You can mess around with these interactions to: gain infinite life, get infinite goats, return every artifact back from your graveyard, and draw your entire deck. Trading Post is bonkers

  • Karn, Silver Golem + Voltaic Construct + = Way too many broken things to list. Seriously, being able to use the abilities of pretty much any card in your deck as many times as you want is pretty great. From drawing your deck with Planar Portal to making infinite token: 1/1 Myr (som) tokens with Myr Turbine to pinging everyone to death with Staff of Nin...the possibilities are endless

  • Staff of Domination + = You pretty much just win immediately

More fun stuff that doesn't fit in the other sections:

Suggestions

Updates Add

The list has changed quite a bit since the last update, including the addition of some of the more expensive cards I've been wanting to get for a long time. Shout out Eternal Masters for dropping the price of Mana Crypt so much. The deck is getting to the point where it's very difficult to make cuts, and a new card has to be really synergistic with the rest of the deck for me to consider adding it. Nim Deathmantle and Tawnos's Coffin have been added to the deck for maximum cuteness with Karn's ability.

Also, Paradox Engine is one of the most hilarious cards I've ever seen. Knowing the Rules Committee, it'll probably get banned eventually, but you can bet that I'll abuse it as much as I possibly can until that day comes.

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