What's a Planeswalker to do without arcane trinkets to do his bidding? Sure, there are other permanent card types such as Creatures, Enchantments, and the like that make up a Commander deck. However, Artifacts are essential to most strategies in Commander.

Unlike most permanent types, Artifacts can fill practically any role your deck needs. They can ramp your mana, draw cards, make Creatures, remove permanents, recur things from the graveyard, Sacrifice themselves for value, and occasionally assemble some convoluted machine that makes the rest of the table ask you to explain exactly what you're doing for the third time. Oftentimes, Artifacts are colorless and can slot into any deck easily.

Naturally, that makes Artifact decks incredibly popular in Commander.

Top 10 Artifact Commanders

The best Artifact Commanders take advantage of the flexibility provided by Artifacts in different ways. Some turn your pile of metal into mana. Others Sacrifice and recur Artifacts repeatedly, build enormous armies of Artifact Creatures, or simply provide enough card advantage to ensure that your engine never runs out of fuel.

1. Osgir, the Reconstructor
2. Meria, Scholar of Antiquity
3. Mishra, Eminent One
4. Imskir Iron-Eater
5. Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
6. Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man
7. Iron Man, Titan of Innovation
8. Urza, Chief Artificer
9. Urza, Lord High Artificer
10. Breya, Etherium Shaper

So, if you're itching to get to tinkering, here are ten of the best Artifact Commanders you can build around.

10. Osgir, the Reconstructor

Osgir, the Reconstructor is a great example that Boros () doesn't just turn Creatures sideways.

This Giant Artificer wants you to Sacrifice Artifacts before eventually rebuilding them into two copies. His first ability even provides the Sacrifice outlet, letting you turn an expendable Artifact into +2/+0 for one of your Creatures. The real prize, however, is his second ability.

For mana, Osgir can Exile an Artifact from your graveyard and create two token copies of it. Two copies of Sol Ring? Sure, that can accelerate your mana quite well. Two copies of an Artifact that has a great ETB Trigger or a good compounding effect? Yes, please. Two Wurmcoil Engines? Now we're talking.

He sits at the bottom of the list because being restricted to Boros cuts him off from many of the best Artifact cards in Blue, while his Activated Ability requires a considerable mana investment. Still, Osgir offers an excellent combination of graveyard recursion and Artifact value.

Key Cards

• Wurmcoil Engine: provides an excellent Sacrifice target and is absolutely disgusting when Osgir turns one dead Wurmcoil into two new ones.
• Goblin Engineer: puts whatever Artifact you need directly into the graveyard while providing another way to recycle your smaller pieces.
• Triplicate Titan: gives Osgir another massive Artifact Creature that rewards you for Sacrificing it before Reconstructing it later.

9. Meria, Scholar of Antiquity

Meria, Scholar of Antiquity answers an important question: what if your random Artifacts were actually mana rocks? Which gets weirder when you realize that Meria is in Gruul () colors.

She lets you tap an untapped nontoken Artifact to produce Green mana, meaning everything from Equipment to Utility Artifacts can suddenly contribute toward casting your spells. Better yet, tapping two nontoken Artifacts lets you Exile the top card of your library and play it that turn.

Meria ranks lower because she specifically requires nontoken Artifacts, eliminating some of the Treasure and Clue shenanigans you could come up with. Still, turning Gruul into an Artifact value engine is enough to earn her a place here.

Key Cards

• Experimental Synthesizer: gives you another source of impulse draw while remaining cheap enough to fuel either of Meria's abilities.
• Ichor Wellspring: replaces itself immediately and becomes another piece of cardboard you can tap for mana afterward.
• Unwinding Clock: untaps your Artifacts during each opponent's untap step, dramatically increasing how much value you can squeeze out of your board.

8. Mishra, Eminent One

Mishra, Eminent One is one half of the original Artificers that all of us Magic: The Gathering players know and love.

At the beginning of combat, Mishra copies one of your noncreature Artifacts, except the copy becomes a 4/4 Artifact Creature named Mishra's Warform. It gains Haste and gets Sacrificed at the beginning of the next end step.

Obviously, you can copy Artifacts simply because you want another attacker. But let's think broader here. Artifacts with Enters-the-Battlefield Abilities, Attack Triggers, Sacrifice abilities, and other effects become repeatable value engines.

However, he requires more careful deck construction than some of the Commanders ranked higher than him. You can't simply jam every powerful Artifact you own into the deck and expect Mishra to maximize them. Build around his ability, however, and you get one of the most creative Artifact Commanders available.

Key Cards

• Master Transmuter: for a single mana you can bounce a Warform and replace it with any Artifact from your hand.
• Lithoform Engine: offers multiple useful abilities on its own while becoming a Hasty 4/4 whenever you want another body.
• Spine of Ish Sah: gives you repeatable permanent destruction while its graveyard ability helps keep the original available for future use.

7. Imskir Iron-Eater

Imskir Iron-Eater is a gigantic Rakdos () Demon who eats your Artifacts and throws them at people.

Imskir Iron-Eater has Affinity for Artifacts, so despite technically costing eight mana, he can enter the battlefield for considerably less. When he does, you draw cards and lose life equal to half the number of Artifacts you control, rounded down.

Imskir then gives you a way to turn your Artifacts into direct damage. Pay four mana, Sacrifice an Artifact, and Imskir deals damage equal to its mana value to any target. With Imskir Iron-Eater, your Artifacts aren't precious museum pieces. They're ammunition.

Key Cards

• Mycosynth Golem: reduces the cost of your Artifact Creatures and gives Imskir a massive 11-mana Artifact to eventually hurl at something.
• Metalwork Colossus: frequently costs very little in an Artifact-heavy deck while providing an enormous Sacrifice target for Imskir.
• Marionette Master: turns every Artifact you sacrifice into additional life loss, making Imskir's artillery considerably deadlier.

6. Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain

Card draw engines that can come out of the Command Zone are always a good thing. Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain is a simple Izzet () Legend. Cast a Historic spell. Draw a card. This encourages you to play plenty of cheap Artifacts and mana rocks, chaining one spell into another while constantly refilling your hand for the inevitable snowball.

A zero or one-mana Artifact replaces itself. That Artifact might generate mana, allowing you to cast another Artifact, which draws another card. Eventually you're cycling through enormous portions of your deck while everyone else wonders when exactly your turn is supposed to end.

Key Cards

• Aetherflux Reservoir: wants you to chain together cheap Artifacts and provides a straightforward way to eventually finish the game.
• Mishra's Bauble: and any other zero-cost Artifact can let you rifle through your deck on the quick.
• Mystic Forge: gives you another source of card advantage by letting you cast Artifacts directly from the top of your library.

5. Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man

Tony Stark // The Invincible Iron Man is a two-mana Commander that loves digging for Artifacts. Pay one mana and tap him to look at the top four cards of your library, reveal an Artifact, and put it into your hand. Good early drop card advantage engine.

But once you reach six mana, Tony transforms into The Invincible Iron Man, a 5/5 Flying, Hasty Artifact Creature that lets you put an Artifact from your hand directly onto the battlefield at the beginning of combat.

Tony spends the early game helping you find your biggest Artifacts before transforming and cheating them directly into play. This combination of low initial mana cost, card selection, and Artifact cheating earns Tony a spot in the top five.

Key Cards

• Portal to Phyrexia: this is exactly the sort of absurdly expensive Artifact you would much rather put directly onto the battlefield than pay nine mana for.
• Blightsteel Colossus: gives Tony a terrifying Artifact to cheat into play and can end games frighteningly quickly.
• Wizard's Staff: doubles The Invincible Iron Man's Triggered Ability very nicely.

4. Iron Man, Titan of Innovation

Whenever Iron Man, Titan of Innovation attacks, you create a Treasure. You can then Sacrifice a noncreature Artifact and search your library for an Artifact with mana value exactly one greater, putting it directly onto the battlefield tapped.

Iron Man ranks this highly because Tutoring directly from your library is inherently powerful, and he provides both the Treasure and Sacrifice engine necessary to get started. Flying and Haste also means he can activate his ability immediately the turn you cast him from the Command Zone.

Key Cards

• Phyrexian Metamorph: this is an easy grab when you sacrifice a three-mana Artifact because this can become virtually anything on the battlefield.
• Simulacrum Synthesizer: gives you an excellent three-mana target while rewarding you for continuing to cast larger Artifacts.
• Ugin's Nexus: stops other players from taking extra turns while giving you one after you Birthing Pod it away.

3. Urza, Chief Artificer

Urza, Chief Artificer follows a similar direction as his brother Mishra, Eminent One who creates one Mishra's Warform a turn. Much like in the Brother's War's story, this version of Urza wants to build an army.

He has Affinity for Artifact Creatures, making his six-mana cost easy to manage. More importantly, he gives every Artifact Creature that you control Menace. Then, at the beginning of each of your end steps, Urza creates a Construct whose power and toughness are each equal to the number of Artifacts you control.

The recipe is simple: play Artifact Creatures, develop your board, and receive a scaling threat every turn.

Key Cards

• Tempered Steel: gives your entire Artifact Creature army +2/+2, making even your smaller utility Creatures legitimate attackers.
• Steel Overseer: repeatedly adds +1/+1 Counters to every Artifact Creature you control and gets ridiculous with a sufficiently wide battlefield.
• Cyberdrive Awakener: turns a battlefield full of miscellaneous Artifacts into a Flying army to end the game.

2. Urza, Lord High Artificer

Yes, Urza made the list twice and this should surprise absolutely nobody.

Urza, Lord High Artificer has been one of the defining Artifact Commanders since his release in Modern Horizons (MH1). When he enters, he creates a Construct whose power and toughness scale with the number of Artifacts you control. Urza's real power comes from letting you tap any untapped Artifact you control to produce Blue mana much like Meria, Scholar of Antiquity, but without the nontoken restriction.

Once you have excessive amounts of mana, Urza's final ability gives you somewhere to spend it, allowing you to Exile and play cards from your library without paying their mana costs. The power is undeniable and is even respected in cEDH metas.

Urza misses to top spot largely because mono-Blue imposes some deckbuilding restrictions, but in terms of raw power, few Artifact Commanders can compete.

Key Cards

• Winter Orb: an obnoxious Stax piece that Urza can tap before your turn, allowing you to exploit its symmetrical restriction far better than your opponents.
• Sai, Master Thopterist: generates Artifact Creatures simply by casting Artifacts, giving Urza additional bodies and mana sources simultaneously.
• Sapphire Medallion: discounts all of your Blue spells. Simple yet effective.

1. Breya, Etherium Shaper

A decade after her debut, Breya, Etherium Shaper remains arguably the top pick for the best all-around Artifact Commander. Part of that comes from her colors.

White, Blue, Black, and Red gives Breya access to almost every major Artifact strategy in Magic. You get Blue's Artifact synergies, Black's recursion and Sacrifice tools, Red's Goblin Engineers and Artifact destruction, and White's growing collection of Artifact support. Aside from this, Breya is an engine by herself.

When Breya enters the battlefield, she creates two Thopters, immediately giving you three Artifact Creatures from one card. Her Activated Ability then lets you Sacrifice two Artifacts to deal three damage to a player or Planeswalker, give a Creature -4/-4, or gain five life. That means your Commander creates her own Sacrifice fodder, gives you removal, provides reach, and enables countless Artifact death and recursion synergies.

Breya can be built as Artifact Aristocrats, Combo, Thopter tokens, Reanimator, Control, or some horrifying mixture of all of them. That flexibility is ultimately what puts her ahead of Urza for the majority of Commander players.

Urza, Lord High Artificer might have the higher ceiling in a streamlined competitive shell, but Breya gives an Artifact player almost the entire toy box to play with.

Key Cards

• Ashnod's Altar: turns Breya and her Thopters into part of a powerful Sacrifice engine while generating the mana needed for more Artifact shenanigans.
• Nim Deathmantle: pairs well with Sacrifice outlets and Breya's ETB Ability, enabling some nasty loops.
• Time Sieve: gives Breya yet another use for expendable Artifact tokens and can turn a sufficiently productive Artifact engine into consecutive extra turns.

The Artifact Toolbox Never Stops Growing

Artifacts are one of those strategies that seem to get better almost every time a Magic: The Gathering set drops.

A new Treasure payoff? Artifact decks want it. A two-mana Utility Artifact? Somebody will break it. A giant twelve-mana monstrosity that is screaming to be copied or recurred? Urza, Breya, Mishra, and even Tony Stark will all want a piece of that.

Artifacts give Commander players an enormous toolbox, and the best Artifact Commanders give you different ways to start digging through it.