My ROFL-Thopter go SAI SAI SAI SAI

Commander / EDH* Artifact Combo Theme/Gimmick Tokens

emester

Artifact (25)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Blasting Station
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Inspiring Statuary
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mishra's Bauble
• 1x Mox Amber
• 1x Mycosynth Lattice
• 1x Neurok Stealthsuit
• 1x Salvaging Station
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Tormod's Crypt
• 1x Vedalken Orrery
• 1x Voltaic Key

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Efficient Construction
• 1x The Antiquities War
• 1x Thopter Spy Network

Creature (24)

• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Battered Golem
• 1x Chief Engineer
• 1x Etherium Sculptor
• 1x Foundry Inspector
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Jhoira's Familiar
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Master of Etherium
• 1x Metalworker
• 1x Mirran Spy
• 1x Ornithopter
• 1x Padeem, Consul of Innovation
• 1x Palladium Myr
• 1x Riddlesmith
• 1x Scrap Trawler
• 1x Sharding Sphinx
• 1x Shimmer Myr
• 1x Silver Myr
• 1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
• 1x Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Trophy Mage
• 1x Walking Ballista

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Tezzeret, Artifice Master
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Merchant Scroll

Commander (1)

Instant (12)

• 1x AEtherize
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Banishing Knack
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Foil
• 1x High Tide
• 1x Hurkyl's Recall
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Negate
• 1x Retraction Helix
• 1x Thirst for Knowledge

Land (32)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 26x Island
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Tomb of the Spirit Dragon

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Maybeboard

Artifact (1)

• 1x Altar of the Brood

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Besides EDH, I’d would have to say that Pauper is the format I find the most interesting and fun to play/brew. Using an Eternal card pool consisting of everything printed at common, Pauper offers some of the best MTG gameplay at an affordable price. Even The Professor (TCC) has gone on record to say that Pauper is like a Legacy-lite.

Why do I bring this up? This Sai, Master Thopterist build being inspired by a famous Pauper legal combo: Battered Golem + Banishing Knack or Retraction Helix + Ornithopter + Reckless Fireweaver or Nettle Drone = Infinite Damage Triggers

Being Mono-Blue, Sai does not have access to Fireweaver or Nettle Drone. Instead, we will not only utilize some extremely powerful blue and colorless spells, but Sai, Master Thopterist himself.

By replacing those red spells in the pauper combo for Sai, you can see that we can generate an infinite number of Thopters by casting Banishing Knack or Retraction Helix targeting Battered Golem, casting a an artifact spell for zero mana, which will create a 1/1 Thopter token and then bouncing that artifact back to your hand, only to play it again and untap Battered Golem. Rinse, wash and repeat.

With a critical mass of Thopters now at your disposal, you have a variety of options to close out the game, be it through Aetherflux Reservoir blasting your foes in the face, accumulating enough mana to slam down an absurdly large Walking Ballista, abusing Blasting Station or simply overrunning your foes with your endless army of bloodthirsty helicopters.

Feel free to make suggestions and share this deck! IMO Sai is the most powerful Legendary Creature in Core 19, even more than the five Elder Dragons. Let’s give the guy some love!

Top Ranked	Achieved #1 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 0 Rares 25 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.69
Tokens	Emblem Tezzeret, Artifice Master, Thopter 1/1 C, Thopter 1/1 U
Folders	Current Deck Lineup, Interesting Commander Decks, Lists from others, EDH, Decks I like, Artifacts!, Decks