How They Brew It - Incubation Station

Michael Celani • October 17, 2023

Deckbuilding
Norn's Inquisitor
 | Illustrated by Denis Zhbankov

I'm just going to preface this article by saying that it's amazing that this deck is more Phyrexian than my actual Elesh Norn deck.

Galvanting Around

It's New Phyrexia's hottest fashion show: you're watching Compleat Makeover, the life-changing experience that helps even the ugliest guys and gals you know literally reinvent themselves. I'm your host, Michael Celani, and I'm taking it as a compliment that I don't look at all out of place here. Nobody takes more pride in their appearance than the Phyrexians; just watch all those metal models running around with nothing but bikinis on! Yes, it takes effort to appear that grotesque and terrifying, but just because you weren't born beautiful doesn't mean you can't be. Just like the real world, you've got so many options in invasive plastic surgery! And let me tell you, as the person who pioneered metal hip replacements for aesthetic reasons, for our next makeover, I'm going to have to pull out the big scalpel.

Our case today is Sydri, Galvanic Genius

! This frumpy grandma of an artificer looks like a portrait painted by someone who has a terrible and outdated definition of what constitutes a woman. For just , Sydri
 can turn any noncreature artifact into a creature with power and toughness equal to its mana value, and for an additional , she gives them a loaded gun and tells them to play in the street. You're almost there, Sydri
, but let's make you shine by adding a hellish coat of Phyrexian metal to your outfit!

Makeover, Makeover

You might be asking the question: what would New Phyrexia want with a frumpy old artificer

, anyway? Well, the Phyrexians can incubate, which creates a transforming Incubator artifact token with a specific amount of counters on them. Normally, you'd have to pay to transform these Incubator tokens into full-fledged Phyrexian creatures, but since Incubator tokens are noncreature artifacts, Sydri
 can temporarily animate them and swing for just . Not only does this keep them safe from removal such as board wipes and Murder
, there's a few additional tricks you can try if you keep the tokens as Incubators instead of paying full price. Let's meet the specialists!

Circle of Life

To get started, we'll need to play some permanents that can actually incubate, and luckily, Esper colors are in this season. Let's take a look at a basic example with Norn's Inquisitor

; when it enters the battlefield, we incubate 2, meaning we create an Incubator token with two +1/+1 counters on it. From there, you can either permanently transform that token into a creature with its ability or temporarily animate it via Sydri
. Knowing when to go for a permanent transformation versus a temporary one is an important distinction; try building up permanent defenses via transformation until you feel relatively safe and then use Sydri
's ability on any further tokens to attack without leaving behind vulnerable creatures. If you find yourself holding a board wipe like Sunfall
, do your best to transform as few Incubators as possible until you can remove everyone else's blockers.

As for the others Incubators, Chrome Host Seedshark

incubates every time you cast a noncreature spell, and since we've got tons of regular artifacts in the deck, you'll be seeing more of this skyshark than you would in any given Sharknado film. Compleated Huntmaster
 sacrifices your other creatures or artifacts to create new life, and you can even feed a lower-power Incubator to him to recycle it into one that's bigger. Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos
 triggers each time you cast another Phyrexian creature spell, while Essence of Orthodoxy
 triggers when those Phyrexians enter the battlefield, making an excellent duo. And lastly, Tiller of Flesh
 incubates every time you target a permanent with a spell, which conveniently includes all your removal as well as a couple utility instants and sorceries we'll get to later.

A Fairy Tale with a Bad Ending

Don't forget that there's a couple enchantments that incubate, too. This cycle here, comprised of Phyrexian Awakening

, Corruption of Towashi
, and Gift of Compleation
, each create their own Incubator token and give a slight benefit to either Phyrexians or the process of transforming into them. Of these, clearly Corruption of Towashi
 is the best hit, since it gives you free card draw for as long as it's out, but don't count out the other two either.

Praetor's Grasp

And introducing our Fab Five, the Praetors! Two of them couldn't attend because they were busy being Gruul. Elesh Norn

is a protective powerhouse, making basically all your opponents' blocks even worse than they already are given Sydri
's second ability, and it follows this up by being a repeatable board wipe that leaves you with five extra creatures on the field. Jin-Gitaxias
 turns most of your artifacts into card draw, then eventually doubles the number of cards in your hand and lets you cast from it for free. It also happens to be a repeatable board wipe. And Sheoldred
? Not quite a repeatable board wipe, but it does remove a ton of cards from both the battlefield and your opponents' hands, leaving them inaccessible in their graveyards until the final chapter on the Saga puts them all onto the battlefield under your control. If any one of these Praetors transform, the game is practically over.

Accessories for Murder

As our surgeons prep for compleation, we have to talk about the other aspect of looking pretty: accessories. Seriously, you could even wear cargo shorts and look attractive so long as you have a neat looking pin or earring distracting others, but having a wide variety of accessories can be expensive, so why not just use what you've got around the house? Oh, look at all these Incubator tokens! We can surely find a use for them other than just turning them into beat-face-creatures, right?

Card-Carrying Villains

Let's turn 'em into cards! Sage of Lat-Nam

gives you a one-to-one exchange rate between drawing a card and an artifact. Braids, Arisen Nightmare
 might give you a three-to-one rate, since people are unlikely to sacrifice any artifacts they own unless they happen to be playing an artifact token strategy like you. You can also use these tokens to pay any additional costs for tutor spells that need them; some examples are Anchor to Reality
 and Diabolic Intent
.

Cheater Cheater

It wouldn't be Commander if you're not cheating on mana at least a little, and that's why we put in a few affinity for artifacts spells, which become cheaper for each artifact you control when you cast it. Thoughtcast

and Thought Monitor
 both draw you cards, which you'll need to not run out of cards after you play them. Urza, Lord High Artificer
 is here because not only is he a well known supporter of Phyrexia an engine that turns Incubator tokens into Mox Sapphires
, he also can spin your deck and get a permanent off the top for only five mana!

Thorough Transformation

For a makeover this intense, I've brought in the entire fashion team and the entire surgical team. It takes a village, and it's especially helpful if that village is also already converted by the glorious Phyrexian onslaught. Now, the idea of plastic surgery might be a little bit scary, but when those bandages come off, we're going to have a completely different person on our hands. Literally. Because this is our scalpel:

Whenever a creature equips Blade of Shared Souls

, you can have that creature become a copy of any other creature you control. Sydri, Galvanic Genius
 can turn any noncreature artifact we control into a creature. That means we can turn any artifact we control into any other artifact. One more thing: some artifacts transform.

Invasion of Ixalan

The play pattern is simple: using Sydri, Galvanic Genius

, animate an Incubator token, animate one of these transforming artifacts such as Azor's Gateway
, equip the animated Azor's Gateway
 with Blade of Shared Souls
, and have it become a copy of the Incubator token. You may have several questions, all of which I'll answer now.

  • Shouldn't Azor's Gateway
     become a noncreature permanent now? It became a copy of a noncreature permanent.
    • That would be the case if there wasn't a continuous type-changing effect applying in Layer 4. In English, this means that just because it turned into something else, Sydri
      's effect doesn't cease to exist. That only happens at the end of the turn.
  • Why doesn't this immediately kill the animated Azor's Gateway
    ? It turned into a permanent with mana value 0. Shouldn't its power and toughness switch to 0?
    • Not quite. Sydri
      's effect doesn't create some sort of ability setting the power and toughness of the permanent to its mana value at all times. It "locks in" the power and toughness at the moment of animation, meaning it remains a 2/2.
  • Why?

Well, notice that Azor's Gateway

is a transforming double-faced card, or TDFC. TDFCs are the only cards in the game capable of transforming, and Incubator tokens happen to be the only transforming double-faced token in the game. By turning Azor's Gateway
 into an Incubator token, we can then hijack its transform ability to transform Azor's Gateway
 to its backside without going through the usual, much slower hoops of exiling five different cards. Now you might be excited to immediately activate that land's ability to make thirty mana, but hold on: that continuous copy effect applying in Layer 1 from Blade of Shared Souls
 means it's still an Incubator token, even though it's transformed. You have to move Blade of Shared Souls
 off it first. Alternatively, just let the turn end, causing Sydri
's animation to fall off, making Blade of Shared Souls
 attached to a noncreature permanent, forcing it to unattach thanks to state-based actions.

This trick works with all transforming double-faced artifacts, which in this deck includes Azor's Gateway

, Thaumatic Compass
, Chalice of Life
, Cryptolith Fragment
, Mysterious Tome
, and Primal Amulet
, though if you're using Mysterious Tome
, you should use that in place of the Incubator token instead of trying to transform it through this trick.

Through the Backdoor

Transforming artifacts is great, but what if there was an entire new type of permanent entirely made up of transforming double-faced cards?

Yup, we're transforming battles this way, too. Using tricks like Liquimetal Coating

, Liquimetal Torque
, and Encroaching Mycosynth
, your battles can become artifacts too, meaning that they can be animated and equipped just like the rest of them. This lets you transform battles without removing all their defense counters, which is great if your opponents love bunkering up in their fort like the Cold War's in full swing.

Praetor's Grasp

Oh, all the Praetors transform, too. Unfortunately, we can't get away with the same trick as the artifacts, because, as creatures, they're incapable of being animated with Sydri

. There will be no continuous effect making them into creatures, which means if you try to turn it into an Incubator via Blade of Shared Souls
, it'll actually become a noncreature Incubator, which causes the Blade to unattach. It's a bit of a catch-22, but we can solve this a couple ways.

Method one is to make your Praetors into Incubator tokens using a spell like Mirrorweave

. Then, even though they turn into noncreature Incubators, they're still Incubators, so you have until the end of the turn to pay the mana to transform them.

Method two is to use Blade of Shared Souls

to make your Praetors into something else that can transform, like Heir of Falkenrath
 or Elusive Tormentor
, which have similarly cheap transform costs and no hangups about creature types. Remember, you still have to remove the Blade of Shared Souls
 afterwards.

Platinum Award

And if you just want to win, or more accurately to not lose, use Blade of Shared Souls

to turn one of your transforming permanents into an Enduring Angel
. If you'd die, Enduring Angel
 saves you and transforms into its backside. However, if you have a transforming double-faced card become a copy of Enduring Angel
 via Blade of Shared Souls
, running out of life does cause that copy to transform... but because Blade of Shared Souls
's copy effect continues to apply, that creature remains a copy of Enduring Angel
, making it impossible to kill you via damage.

This combo is well known with Ludevic, Necrogenius

, but in theory works with any transforming double-faced card that becomes a copy
 of another transforming double-faced card. A word of warning, though: you have to make specifically a transforming double-faced card into a copy of Enduring Angel
, otherwise it won't transform and will instead be subject to Enduring Angel
's lawyer-mandated no-fun you-lose-the-game clause.

Make, Over

Another satisfied customer. Tune in next week, when we turn Melira, the Living Cure into a corpse for being antithetical to the Phyrexian cause. Remember that no matter if you love your body or hate it, it's eventually going to be morphed into whatever Mommy Norn wants!

If you enjoy How They Brew It, please check out the Discord and my other projects at my website. You can vote on what article you want to see next, or just check out the other cool stuff I do! This article was actually polled as Simic Transform, but then this happened after a bunch of ridiculous rules questions. So come on by, and punish me for my hubris! Hope to see you there!


[Commander]
1 Sydri, Galvanic Genius
[/Commander]
[Planeswalkers]
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
[/Planeswalkers]
[Battles]
1 Invasion of Belenon // Belenon War Anthem
1 Invasion of Vryn // Overloaded Mage-Ring
1 Invasion of Arcavios // Invocation of the Founders
1 Invasion of Tolvada // The Broken Sky
[/Battles]
[Creatures]
1 Drafna, Founder of Lat-Nam
1 Heir of Falkenrath // Heir to the Night
1 Norn's Inquisitor
1 Sage of Lat-Nam
1 Braids, Arisen Nightmare
1 Chrome Host Seedshark
1 Compleated Huntmaster
1 Cryptolith Fragment // Aurora of Emrakul
1 Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos
1 Elesh Norn // The Argent Etchings
1 Elusive Tormenter // Insidious Mist
1 Heliod, the Radiant Dawn // Heliod, the Warped Eclipse
1 Tiller of Flesh
1 Urza, Lord High Artificer
1 Enduring Angel // Angelic Enforcer
1 Essence of Orthodoxy
1 Jin-Gitaxias // The Great Synthesis
1 Sheoldred // The True Scriptures
1 Thought Monitor
[/Creatures]
[Sorceries]
1 Chart a Course
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Rise and Shine
1 Grim Tutor
1 Anchor to Reality
1 Nanogene Conversion
1 One with the Machine
1 Sunfall
1 Thoughtcast
[/Sorceries]
[Instants]
1 Dispatch
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Dovin's Veto
1 Excise the Imperfect
1 Generous Gift
1 Mirrorweave
[/Instants]
[Artifacts]
1 Sol Ring
1 Agatha's Soul Cauldron
1 Arcane Signet
1 Azor's Gateway // Sanctum of the Sun
1 Azorius Signet
1 Dimir Signet
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Liquimetal Torque
1 Moonsilver Key
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Hierarchy
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Thaumatic Compass // Spires of Orazca
1 Blade of Shared Souls
1 Chalice of Life // Chalice of Death
1 Mysterious Tome // Chilling Chronicle
1 Encroaching Mycosynth
1 Primal Amulet // Primal Wellspring
1 Trading Post
[/Artifacts]
[Enchantments]
1 Arguel's Blood Fast // Temple of Aclazotz
1 Gift of Compleation
1 Phyrexian Awakening
1 Corruption of Towashi
[/Enchantments]
[Lands]
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Glimmervoid
1 High Market
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Path of Ancestry
1 Phyrexia's Core
1 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
1 Spire of Industry
1 Thriving Heath
1 Thriving Isle
1 Thriving Moor
1 Underground River
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Vivid Meadow
5 Island
5 Plains
5 Swamp
[/Lands]
[/Deck]


 

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Michael Celani

Michael Celani

Newly appointed member of the FDIC and insured up to $150,000 per account, Michael Celani is the member of your playgroup that makes you go "oh no, it's that guy again." He's made a Twitter account @GamesfreakSA as well as other mistakes, and his decks have been featured on places like MTGMuddstah. You can join his Discord at https://gamesfreaksa.info and vote on which decks you want to see next. In addition to writing, he has a job, other hobbies, and friends.