Imskir Iron-Eater Commander Deck Tech

Imskir Iron-Eater by Tyler Walpole

Somewhere in the deep recesses of Rakdos, there lives a rumbling rust-ridden robotic rascal. He has a certain affinity for marauding around scrapheaps, slinging iron shrapnel and molten monstrosities with what appears to be reckless abandon, but in reality is targeted tarfire. From, and made of, parts unknown, this dominating demon has one of the most dangerous abilities in the game, enabling him to ascend from the depths of hellfire far ahead of schedule, drawing as many cards and requiring as much of a life tribute as the reduction in cost he enjoyed.

Live fast, die young are not just the words of the Aetherborn, they're words that have been echoed throughout metal-rich planes since the first time Wizards made the mistake of making an artifact-based set. And, ever since those halcyon days, they've been partying like a Bosh, Iron Golem, who, coincidentally, has the same converted mana cost and the same activated ability as the inimitable Imskir Iron-Eater.

Core Synergy

Imskir Iron-Eater loves to throw big pieces of metal, so we need to give him an arsenal. Artifacts with large converted mana costs that can be cast far earlier are worth their weight in molten scrap iron to eat and turn to belched fireballs, so affinity is an important word. Metalwork Colossus pulls double duty as an artifact with a huge cost that's easily reduced, as well as an artifact that can be easily recovered from the grave by popping some rocks. 10 points per molten burp seems like an impressive rate!

Mycosynth Golem might be the single strongest card in the deck. If it were just a big creature with a high converted mana cost and affinity, that'd be plenty. If it just gave affinity to other artifacts, that'd be plenty. If it was just a big artifact with a generic cost reduction, that'd be plenty. But it's all of these things, and way more than the sum of its parts, acting as a linchpin for the deck and freeing up mana to chuck metal.

Dross Golem and Oxidda Golem provide a different kind of affinity. Instead of affinity for artifacts, they have affinity for each of our basic land types. Once again, they reward us for things we're already doing. Unlike affinity for artifacts, though, they reward us for playing more basics, which I usually do when building a new deck, or for playing nonbasics with relevant basic land types, which is getting easier and easier as more and more dual land with basic land types get printed.

There are other ways to get big artifacts onto the battlefield besides cost reductions. Quite a few Necrons are black artifacts with unearth, such as the devastating Hexmark Destroyer. Bolas's Citadel is a ubiquitous black finisher, providing cards of the top at the expense of life as well as a late-game use for the permanents we have left over. People tend to forget about the life loss ability, but, in a deck with big bang shots like this, we can make good use of that burst of damage, including belching an artifact that was tapped to activate it.

Win Conditions

Our primary win con is our commander chucking huge artifacts, but we do need to be prepared for what happens if he's not available. While affinity does apply to commander tax, making it easier to recast our commander, like Emry, Lurker of the Loch before him, we do need alternative ways to deal damage, like Combustible Gearhulk. We can also capitalize on artifacts coming and going with Reckless Fireweaver and Marionette Master and Apprentice.

Monumental Corruption is a great example of a flexible win condition that masquerades as a political draw spell. We can target ourselves if we need cards, enemies if we have a wide enough board, or allies if we want to make a deal, or if someone is really far behind. Whip of Erebos and Grafted Exoskeleton give powerful abilities to our commander, either gaining life when we shoot artifacts or one-shotting opponents with that same ability.

Mana Rocks

While not glamorous, mana rocks pull double duty in a deck like this. They reduce costs simply by existing, then tap for mana to double the acceleration. They can even be fired off for the last few points of damage in a pinch.

With too many mana rocks, however, we do run the risk of drawing air. That's where specialized rocks come in. If you're going to make a deck that is heavy on ramp, working in Hedron Archive and Commander's Sphere can help dig further into the deck when we run out of things to do. Thought Vessel also helps us hold onto the deluge of cards our commander draws.

Mind Stone and Orazca Relic are solid additional sources of draw, and the city's blessing shouldn't be too hard to attain. Guardian Idol can provide a solid chump blocker, especially after a board wipe. There are few more delicious moments than catching an opponent with a surprise blocker, only to untap and polish them off with a burst of damage!

Not all of our ramp is in the form of mana rocks. With big spells coming in cheap, we can Sacrifice them for mana. Burnt Offering is a rare card to get to use, but it's far better at guiding us to victory than it was for Stannis Baratheon (RIP Shireen). Illuminor Szeras is the most recent functional reprint of this effect, adding a Necron flavor to the ability.

Card Draw

What do you do with a high-CMC commander? Bask in its Imposing Grandeur! Grandeur draws cards equal to our commander's CMC, so eight cards a pop is pretty nice. Each player gets to do this, but it's very unlikely anyone's getting a better deal.

There are a variety of cards that enable players to sacrifice artifacts to draw cards, but Fanatical Offering is probably the best. For three mana, the card scales with the size of what we sacrifice, providing a similar burst of draw to Grandeur or Stinging Study, both of whom dig deeper depending on the CMC of the commander.

As a whole, the deck is looking to ramp large artifacts out quickly, then chew them up and spit them out with our commander. It's a Rakdos big mana deck, capable of drawing lots of cards and chucking around lots of damage. While the amount of ramp and functional reprints can lead to games feeling similar, the momentum swings make it all worth it. After all, big, splashy players are part of why people love Commander!