Building a Commander Deck with Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Creating a Commander deck around Mishra, Artificer Prodigy in Magic: The Gathering isn’t the usual approach. Initially, you might think that his ability, which involves generating extra copies of artifacts, doesn’t fit the singleton nature of Commander. However, that’s where Mishra’s uniqueness comes into play; he presents an intriguing challenge to construct around.
Over the years, the ability to turn your creatures into artifacts has significantly increased, alongside more cards that enable casting multiple copies of themselves. This evolution allows you to effectively leverage Mishra’s powerful effect in Commander.
Deck List
Commander: Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
| Card | Card | Card | Card | Card | Card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tezzeret the Seeker | Bruvac the Grandiloquent | Pattern Matcher | x30 Persistent Petitioners | Ruin Crab | Silent Arbiter |
| Steel Overseer | The Mindskinner | Urza, Lord High Artificer | Beseech the Mirror | Beseech the Queen | Blasphemous Act |
| Diabolic Tutor | Echoing Return | Fabricate | Ringsight | Tasha’s Hideous Laughter | Toxic Deluge |
| Whir of Invention | Arcane Signet | Crawlspace | Encroaching Mycosynth | Mycosynth Lattice | Riverchurn Monument |
| Sol Ring | Talisman of Creativity | Talisman of Dominance | Tamiyo’s Journal | Transmutation Font | Wishclaw Talisman |
| Biotransference | Black Market Connections | Court of Cunning | Forced Fruition | Mechanized Production | Propaganda |
| Academy Ruins | Buried Ruin | Command Tower | Drowned Catacomb | Exotic Orchard | Haunted Ridge |
| x8 Island | x3 Mountain | Mystic Sanctuary | Shipwreck Marsh | Shivan Reef | Smoldering Marsh |
| Spire of Industry | Stormcarved Coast | Sulfur Falls | Sulfurous Springs | Sunken Hollow | x7 Swamp |
| Underground River |
- The deck features 1 planeswalker, 37 creatures, 9 sorceries, 1 instant, 11 artifacts, 6 enchantments, and 34 lands. Utilizing the Persistent Petitioners as a pivotal card enables a potent mill strategy.
This deck primarily features the Persistent Petitioners, but if you prefer a more creature-centric approach, consider substituting them with Relentless Rats.
Key Cards
Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
As the commander of this deck, Mishra doesn’t shine on its own. You’ll need additional permanents that turn your creatures (and/or other permanents) into artifacts. Once that’s in place, you can harness Mishra’s abilities effectively.
Keep in mind that the terminology surrounding Mishra can be a bit outdated. His effect activates whenever you cast an artifact spell, meaning he can still trigger even if the original Persistent Petitioners spell is countered.
This deck particularly benefits from pairing Mishra with Persistent Petitioners. As long as you can cast one copy, you can retrieve all others from your deck. Because Mishra primarily relies on this combo, it’s best to hold off on casting him until you can also put out a copy of Persistent Petitioners.
Persistent Petitioners
Persistent Petitioners serve as the key card in this configuration, arguably even more important than the commander. They facilitate easy milling of your opponents either by tapping themselves or tapping a group of Advisors. With Mishra, you can deploy 30 copies of this card, leading to numerous milling triggers.
With all 30 Persistent Petitioners in play, you could mill an opponent for up to 84 cards since each opponent starts with seven. By the time your combo is active, you could quickly deplete another player’s library.
Biotransference
As a leading card that converts your creatures into artifacts, Biotransference works wonders. It transforms all creatures into artifacts, whether they’re being cast, on the battlefield, or still in the library. This makes it easier to bring all your copies of Persistent Petitioners into play.
Additionally, for every artifact spell you cast, you create a 2/2 token. So if your milling strategy falters, you can pivot to a strategy utilizing these artifact tokens, providing both offensive and defensive options.
Steel Overseer
While your main focus is on milling with Persistent Petitioners, Steel Overseer serves as a valuable backup. It can bolster your artifact creatures for combat, helping to make them effective threats. Steel Overseer’s primary function is to enhance your Persistent Petitioners, turning them into durable blockers.
The Mindskinner
The Mindskinner is an efficient way to finish off the last few cards needed to eliminate an opponent’s library. Since it can’t be blocked, you can count on it milling at least ten cards before an opponent reacts. If they lack blockers, you can use all your creatures to increase your milling capacity.
How to Play the Deck
The Mishra, Artificer Prodigy Commander deck revolves around the strategy of converting your creatures into artifacts and swiftly deploying multiple copies of Persistent Petitioners to mill opponents effectively.
Card interactions that allow you to make creatures artifacts are the backbone of this strategy, so always look for cards like Biotransference, Mycosynth Lattice, or Encroaching Mycosynth in your tutor searches.
Given that this is a mill deck, your defenses are likely to be less robust. However, the Grixis colors (blue, black, red) grant you access to some powerful stax pieces like Silent Arbiter, Propaganda, and Crawlspace to hinder your opponents’ attacks while you set up.
Your main win condition centers around milling. Once you establish the Mishra and Persistent Petitioners synergy, you can quickly eliminate one opponent and potentially another shortly after. If faced with a board wipe, you can utilize Echoing Return to retrieve all Persistent Petitioners back to your hand and recast them.
Alternatively, you can achieve victory through Mechanized Production, which grants a win condition if you have eight or more artifacts sharing the same name under your control, easily done with the Persistent Petitioners.
The primary drawback of this deck is its dependence on the Mishra-Persistent Petitioners combo. While it is a powerful strategy, building the entire deck around it makes you vulnerable in combat and susceptible to board wipes. Nevertheless, once you have your combo assembled, you can effectively control the game and eliminate your opponents rapidly.
