<p style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dr. Eggman" href="#" target="_blank">Dr. Eggman</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://nathaliefourdraine.crevado.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nathalie Fourdraine</a></span></i></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The <em><a href="https://edhrec.com/sets/tmt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</a></em> (TMNT) set brought a bevy of goods to a variety of creature types, some more subtle than others, as I noted in my <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/the-best-typal-cards-in-tmnt-for-commander" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Typal Set Review</a>. Last week, the focus was on <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-rat-typal-with-marrow-gnawer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rats</a>, but this week we’re shifting to another unsung creature type that starts with an R: Robots. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Robotics has long been a fascination in science fiction, especially with regards to the works of <a href="http://www.asimovonline.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Isaac Asimov</a>. He created the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Three-Laws-of-Robotics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Three Laws of Robotics</a>:</span></p>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400;">A robot may not injure a human or allow harm to come to one.</span></li>
<li>A robot must obey human orders unless they conflict with the first law.</li>
<li>A robot must protect its own existence unless it conflicts with the first or second laws.</li>
</ol>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We’ll see just how closely this <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dr. Eggman" href="#" target="_blank">Dr. Eggman</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Commander deck tech follows these laws.</span></p>
<h2>Robot History in <em>Magic</em></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Robots don’t have nearly the pedigree of Rats from last week, but they do tend to pop up when Science siction is invoked. <em>Unfinity</em> brought in Clown Robots, some of which were Legacy-legal without the mark of the acorn. <em>Edge of Eternities</em> brought Robots into a mainline in-universe set, as it was set in space, with the Robots largely acting like <a href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Droid" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Droids</a> in Star Wars.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Alchemax Slayer-Bots"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Arcee, Sharpshooter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Henchbots"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Spider-Man</em> then brought in Robots as tools of villains like Doctor Octopus. Our commander is also a villain from a non-<em>Magic</em> IP, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dr. Eggman" href="#" target="_blank">Dr. Eggman</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> from the <em>Sonic the Hedgehog</em> series, introduced to <em>Magic</em> via a Secret Lair.</span></p>
<h2>What Does <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dr. Eggman" href="#" target="_blank">Dr. Eggman</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Do?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dr. Eggman"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dr. Eggman is neither an artifact nor a Robot, but he is the only commander that references Robots and he provides access to Grixis <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-b" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-r" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> colors. This gives us a wide array of Robots, enabling us to make a proper Typal deck. He's a five-mana 3/6 with flying, which are solid defensive stats. He also draws a card a turn in the end step, so we get the card the first turn he’s out. The most powerful aspect of him, however, is that he gives our opponents a villainous choice every turn, to either discard a card or let us drop a Robot right onto the battlefield.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This ability gives us an interesting problem: Do we go wide with small Robots, or go big with huge ones? Because of the diverse roles Robots can serve, we can actually do both. And there are plenty of cards that offer generic win-cons for an artifact-based deck; <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/artifacts">Artifacts</a> is one of the more popular themes on EDHREC for a reason. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These give the deck incredible afterburners, blasting opponents out of our way. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">But how do the little mechanos do different jobs? And what jobs do we need them to do?</span></p>
<h2>Key Cards for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dr. Eggman" href="#" target="_blank">Dr. Eggman</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One of the rules of robotics is that Robots are supposed to serve Humans, and they do a great job of that, ironically even better than Servos. In general, the jobs commander decks usually do are:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400;">Draw cards</span></li>
<li>Ramp/fix mana</li>
<li>Remove threats</li>
</ul>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Survey Mechan"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Voidforged Titan"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Survey Mechan" href="#" target="_blank">Survey Mechan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does a little bit of everything, as it’s a protected evasive defensive creature that can pop itself for a load of cool effects if it can sit around on the battlefield long enough. We get a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lightning Bolt" href="#" target="_blank">Lightning Bolt</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Healing Salve" href="#" target="_blank">Healing Salve</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and an <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ancestral Recall" href="#" target="_blank">Ancestral Recall</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, all for the price of 10 mana, albeit reduced for each differently-named land we control.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Voidforged Titan" href="#" target="_blank">Voidforged Titan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> draws us a card a turn if a nonland permanent left the battlefield, which we can accommodate pretty easily. Whether sending a small creature to its death in combat or sacrificing a little guy for benefit, we should have ways to trigger it. And in the meantime, it’s still a 5/4 body.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Steelswarm Operator"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Guidelight Optimizer"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Operating and optimizing apparently both mean making mana for artifacts, because that’s what they both do. They might not fix our mana the way <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Arcane Signet" href="#" target="_blank">Arcane Signet</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> does, and they can’t help cast our commander, but we have plenty of big creatures to ramp into.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Metalhead"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Diversion Unit"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Metalhead" href="#" target="_blank">Metalhead</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is one of those big creatures, as a five-mana <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Unsummon" href="#" target="_blank">Unsummon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> attached to a powerful sacrifice ability, scrapping Robots to grow itself and gain haste and menace. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Diversion Unit" href="#" target="_blank">Diversion Unit</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a solid trick, being able to pop itself to <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Spell Pierce" href="#" target="_blank">Spell Pierce</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. If we can do this with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Voidforged Titan" href="#" target="_blank">Voidforged Titan</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> out, we can even draw cards off of the exchange!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But how do we get our mana’s worth out of our commander’s ability with all these small machines?</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bygone Colossus"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Relentless X-ATM092"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What’s better than warping in a 9/9 for three mana? Keeping it around for free! <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bygone Colossus" href="#" target="_blank">Bygone Colossus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is an absolute beating in a deck like this. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Relentless X-ATM092" href="#" target="_blank">Relentless X-ATM092</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a large, evasive threat with what is effectively super-menace. It can even come back from the grave, albeit only once.</span></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Silverbluff Bridge"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sulfur Falls"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Since we have three colors, we need to be able to cast our spells more than we need value out of our mana base. I generally make this distinction because adding more colors often means adding more options and more power, at the cost of the consistency of the mana base. There are exceptions, of course, but my typical rule is that one- and two-color decks get utility lands while three or more colors get mana-fixing.</span></p>
<h2>How Does This <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dr. Eggman" href="#" target="_blank">Dr. Eggman</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Commander Deck Win?</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cyberdrive Awakener"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Krang, Utrom Warlord"></div></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While not a proper Robot, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cyberdrive Awakener" href="#" target="_blank">Cyberdrive Awakener</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is the eminent win condition in <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/artifacts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Artifacts</a> decks. It gives all artifact creatures we control flying, and it turns noncreature artifacts, like our <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Arcane Signet" href="#" target="_blank">Arcane Signet</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Time Sieve" href="#" target="_blank">Time Sieve</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> into 4/4 creatures, which then get flying. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Krang, Utrom Warlord" href="#" target="_blank">Krang, Utrom Warlord</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is probably the best card in the deck, as it gives our artifact creatures flying, indestructible, trample, and haste in addition to being a 9/9 and a Robot we can drop into play with our commander!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In short, we’re looking to win by swarming the board with Robots of a range of sizes, using removal to interact with opposing boards and big, splashy board-growing effects to break parity and enable big swings.</span></p>
<h2>Dr. Eggman Commander Deck List</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Dr. Eggman Commander Deck Tech" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="&nbsp;
[Commander]
*1 Dr. Eggman
[/Commander]
&nbsp;
[Creatures]
*1 Alchemax Slayer-Bots
*1 Assaultron Dominator
*1 Behemoth of Vault 0
*1 Big Mother Mouser
*1 Buzz Bots
*1 Bygone Colossus
*1 Cryptothrall
*1 Curie, Emergent Intelligence
*1 Cyberdrive Awakener
*1 Cybermen Squadron
*1 Dauntless Scrapbot
*1 Depthshaker Titan
*1 Diversion Unit
*1 ED-E, Lonesome Eyebot
*1 Emissary Escort
*1 Flying Octobot
*1 Fugitive Droid
*1 Guidelight Optimizer
*1 Hullcarver
*1 Interceptor Mechan
*1 K-9, Mark I
*1 Kavaron Harrier
*1 Krang, Utrom Warlord
*1 Krang, the All-Powerful
*1 Mechan Assembler
*1 Mechan Navigator
*1 Mechanozoa
*1 Memory Guardian
*1 Metalhead
*1 Mister Gutsy
*1 Monoist Sentry
*1 Mouser Mark III
*1 Nanoform Sentinel
*1 Oreplate Pangolin
*1 Pinnacle Emissary
*1 Ravenous Robots
*1 Red Tiger Mechan
*1 Relentless X-ATM092
*1 Robobrain War Mind
*1 Rose, Cutthroat Raider
*1 Rust Harvester
*1 Selfcraft Mechan
*1 Slagdrill Scrapper
*1 Spider-Bot
*1 Steelswarm Operator
*1 Surge Conductor
*1 Survey Mechan
*1 The Motherlode, Excavator
*1 Utrom Scientists
*1 Virulent Silencer
*1 Voidforged Titan
*1 Zookeeper Mechan
[/Creatures]
&nbsp;
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Dimir Signet
*1 Izzet Signet
*1 Mind Stone
*1 Rakdos Signet
*1 Simulacrum Synthesizer
*1 Time Sieve
[/Artifacts]
&nbsp;
[Lands]
*1 Command Tower
*1 Dragonskull Summit
*1 Drossforge Bridge
*1 Drowned Catacomb
*1 Glimmervoid
*10 Island
*1 Mistvault Bridge
*10 Mountain
*1 Power Depot
*1 Silverbluff Bridge
*1 Spire of Industry
*1 Sulfur Falls
*10 Swamp
[/Lands]
&nbsp;"></span></div></span></p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Robots are an interesting and versatile creature type. There are a range of ways to build them, including our big bang shots, sacrificing and recycling them in an Izzet <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-u" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-r" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span> version of <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/aristocrats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aristocrats</a>, and delving deeper into the ramp aspect.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But how would you build Robots? And who would you have command the other variants?</span></p>


grixis artifacts

Building Robot Typal With Dr. Eggman