Dawnsire, Sunstar DreadnoughtDawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought | Art by Jaime Jones

If you missed the announcement during MagicCon Las Vegas, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) revealed that, with the release of Edge of Eternities, legendary Vehicles and Spacecraft can be your commander once the set releases!

A couple weeks ago I did a deck tech with The SeriemaThe Seriema as commander. Since then, there have been previews for some really cool Spacecraft, and this week I'm doing another deck tech on one: Dawnsire, Sunstar DreadnoughtDawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought!

It was a lot of fun building a deck around this card, especially since there's no color in its color identity, so the 99 other cards don't have any colors either!

It used to be that colorless Commander decks were just a pile of artifacts with maybe a few Eldrazi at the top end, but in recent years we've gotten a fair amount of instant, sorcery, and even enchantment cards we can play in a colorless Commander deck, giving us more options for interaction.

What Does Dawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought Do?

Like other Spacecraft, Dawnsire has the station ability, which lets you tap creatures you control to add charge counters to itself.

Once you reach ten charge counters on Dawnsire, you unlock the ability "Whenever you attack, Dawnsire deals 100 damage to up to one target creature or planeswalker." What's awesome about this ability is that Dawnsire doesn't need to be the one attacking; in fact, once you hit 10 charge counters, you can attack with some lowly 1/1 creature you haven't tapped yet, and shoot that space laser from orbit to incinerate just about any threatening creature that might be on the battlefield.

Once you've reached twenty charge counters, you unlock the next ability, which makes Dawnsire a 20/20 creature with flying - which is just one point shy of being able to one-shot someone with commander damage. Still, 20/20 with evasion is no joke, especially when you're also dealing 100 points of damage to a potential blocker each time you attack!

What's so cool about this card as your commander is how novel it is, both having a Spacecraft as the commander and its collection of abilities.

It leaves me wondering how similar and different this deck is from what people might build around Weatherlight CompleatedWeatherlight Compleated and The RegaliaThe Regalia as commanders. Weatherlight has to accumulate counters on it to "turn on" as well, and has two "levels" of abilities too. The RegaliaThe Regalia is much easier to activate, and while its ability to ramp your mana is awesome, it's pretty much one-note, and can quickly get outclassed.

Playing the deck, you want to figure out a way to get ten charge counters on Dawnsire as soon as possible, and hopefully that same turn attack and get that laser beam blast to smoke the biggest threat on the table. To that end I've got a fair number of high power creatures and ways to untap them. I've also got cards that really take advantage of the absurd amount of damage that comes from that trigger.

I don't think you want to push to that twenty charge counters until later when you need a way to finish the game, since once that laser is online Dawnsire will have a big bullseye on it, and you'd hate to waste too many station activations only to have it destroyed before you get to attack.

Key Cards for Dawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought

Charge Counters

The first thing I looked for when building this deck was ways to add charge counters to Dawnsire outside of its station ability.

CoretapperCoretapper can remain untapped on your opponents' turns, and tap to add a charge counter at any time; it can even chump block something, tap, and then sacrifice to add three charge counters.

Power ConduitPower Conduit and Moxite RefineryMoxite Refinery can't add charge counters on their own, but rather they can be used in response to someone destroying Dawnsire, Sunstar DreadnoughtDawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought to "store" charge counters onto another artifact or creature as either charge counters or +1/+1 counters, and then later move back when you cast Dawnsire again.

Once there's at least one charge counter on Dawnsire you can tap into the proliferate ability to tick them up. The sweet new card Surge ConductorSurge Conductor and the old standby Karn's BastionKarn's Bastion are both excellent ways to do that.

Aetheric AmplifierAetheric Amplifier is a powerful way to double charge counters, which can quickly push you up to ten for Dawnsire, and then double it to reach that twenty threshold.

Big Creatures

Then I went looking for large power colorless creatures, and Metalwork ColossusMetalwork Colossus immediately jumped to mind for a deck that's going to have a lot of artifacts. One tap to station immediately unlocks your space laser, and another tap turns Dawnsire into the biggest creature in the skies.

Traxos, Scourge of KroogTraxos, Scourge of Kroog may look a little unintuitive since it enters the battlefield tapped and doesn't untap during your untap step, but each time you cast a historic spell, it untaps. While you'd normally want to attack with a 7/7 trample creature, you can chain together casting a few artifacts and quickly get Dawnsire fully stationed.

Summon: BahamutSummon: Bahamut is expensive, but I've got a good number of ways to ramp colorless mana and the utility built into the Saga Dragon is too good not to include. As a 9/9 it can nearly reach each station level of the commander.

Darksteel JuggernautDarksteel Juggernaut will take a while to get the size of the other creatures on this list, but being indestructible is very helpful in the wake of mass artifact destruction. It's a pretty good receptacle for moving counters on to use later.

The new card Anticausal VestigeAnticausal Vestige seems tailor-made for stationing Spacecraft (or Planets) since you can warp it out for just four mana and tap it to station before it gets exiled, and then you can cast it later for six mana. Its leave trigger is quite nifty as well!

Power Boosts

If I don't draw one of the big power creatures early, I've included ways to boost creatures' power to better able to station. There's NettlecystNettlecyst, which appreciates all the artifacts, and there's Steel OverseerSteel Overseer which can tap to grow all of your artifact creatures with +1/+1 counters. Spatial ContortionSpatial Contortion can be used as a removal spell on a small creature, or you can target one of your own creatures that has toughness four or more to make it more effective at stationing.

Adaptive OmnitoolAdaptive Omnitool gets better the more artifacts you have, and has an excellent attack trigger. Ghostfire BladeGhostfire Blade can easily get passed from one colorless creature to another after each is tapped to station for four or six or more extra charge counters.

Untapping

I filled out the deck with ways to untap artifacts.

Unwinding ClockUnwinding Clock is helpful to ensure the artifact creatures you tapped to station can also be untapped for blocking duties on other players' turns. Manifold KeyManifold Key can cheaply untap an artifact creature that stationed to station again, or to attack and set off that laser beam attack trigger. EndbringerEndbringer can station on your turn, and be available to block on your opponents' turns, or tap to use one of its three abilities.

Voltaic ConstructVoltaic Construct can turn each two mana into having a creature station again and again. Clock of OmensClock of Omens can do that without mana and instead tapping two artifacts to untap an artifact.

Equip a creature with Sting, the Glinting DaggerSting, the Glinting Dagger and you can station before combat, untap, and either attack or station again after your combat step. And then that creature will untap during each player's attack step so you can block with it.

Other Artifact Synergies

Automated ArtificerAutomated Artificer and Foundry InspectorFoundry Inspector help cast your artifact spells, while Chief of the FoundryChief of the Foundry helps make your other artifact creatures stronger station tappers.

Scrap TrawlerScrap Trawler provides some insurance against artifact removal by letting you retrieve artifacts from the graveyard, and Liberator, Urza's BattlethopterLiberator, Urza's Battlethopter lets you cast artifacts as though they had flash, helping to avoid sorcery speed artifact removal.

Mycosynth GolemMycosynth Golem giving all your artifacts affinity for artifacts should help you have a big turn to dump your hand, fully crew Dawnsire, and attack with your space laser-shooting behemoth flyer.

Even though Canoptek SpyderCanoptek Spyder won't draw you a card when Dawnsire is cast, it's still going to be a pretty potent card drawing engine so long as it lives. And even if it dies, you can pretty easily get it back with the awesome Trading PostTrading Post!

Fomori VaultFomori Vault and The Mycosynth GardensThe Mycosynth Gardens are two incredible lands to have in any artifact heavy deck, and thankfully they fit right into a colorless deck.

While artifact synergies are strong, I wanted to make use of some of the more powerful colorless synergies as well. The new Ultima, Origin of OblivionUltima, Origin of Oblivion will immediately double the mana from the lands, and when it attacks you can turn off special lands your opponents control by putting blight counters on them.

Forsaken MonumentForsaken Monument is another excellent way to both ramp your mana, and to increase the size of your creatures to make them more effective in stationing Dawnsire - and it just so happens to boost Dawnsire to be a 22/22 and capable of killing someone in one shot with commander damage!

All Is DustAll Is Dust is expensive but well worth being nearly a one-sided sweeper for non-colorless decks.

Mystic ForgeMystic Forge and Ugin, the IneffableUgin, the Ineffable provide much appreciated card advantage, and while opponents will gain some benefit from Zenith ChroniclerZenith Chronicler's triggers, its three power makes it an excellent station tapper.

I love how large Skittering CicadaSkittering Cicada can grow from colorless spells this deck casts, and can potentially station Dawnsire all on its own. And in just about any colorless Commander deck Echoes of EternityEchoes of Eternity is going to be an all-star, but I can't wait to get two space laser triggers when attacking.

How Does This Dawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought Commander Deck Win?

I built this deck to sit comfortably in Core (Bracket 2) pods where games have room to breathe and everyone has a chance to "do the thing." Usually it's going to take a little time to get Dawnsire deployed and stationed up, but once its got ten charge counters, things will get wild!

What's fun here is that Witch's ClinicWitch's Clinic doesn't care if your commander is a creature or not when it gives it lifelink, all it cares about is that Dawnsire's trigger is dealing 100 damage, and you'll gain 100 life! Do that a couple times and it will be very difficult for your opponents to stop your plans. I've got an Expedition MapExpedition Map in the deck specifically to go find that land.

Genji GloveGenji Glove is a cool way a colorless deck can get extra combat steps - and each combat gives another space laser trigger.

Stuffy DollStuffy Doll is one way you can turn that space laser 100 damage to a creature to an opponent's demise, though once the chosen opponent is dead you'll need a way to reset the Doll - which is why I'm also playing Conjurer's ClosetConjurer's Closet. Even without the Doll, the Closet offers nice utility for the deck.

Dawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought Commander Deck List

Conclusion

As a colorless deck, this is going to have some glaring weaknesses. For instance, mass artifact removal is going to be a big set back unless you draw one of few ways to help offset that. In Core (Bracket 2) Commander pods it should be a lot of fun, and while opponents will try and stop Dawnsire from reaching ten charge counters, if you pull it off most opponents will find that 100 damage a fun challenge to play around.

If you want to juice up the deck with some game changers to play in Upgraded (Bracket 3) pods Ancient TombAncient Tomb, Mana VaultMana Vault, and of course The One RingThe One Ring are excellent Game Changers to play at a higher level.

I think a deck looking to station a Spaceship is going to be too slow for a higher bracket Commander deck, so if that's where you play this might not be for you. But if you want to assemble a powerful space laser to mow down creatures, give it a whirl!

What other cards would you put in this deck? What other Spacecraft do you find intriguing for Commander?

Read More: