Budget Commander: Sydri, Galvanic Genius
Gears In Motion
The poll results are in and Sydri, Galvanic Genius is the clear winner. Thanks to everyone who voted! I'm very pleased with the results as the more I researched this new project, the more excited I became to playtest this amazing artificer.
I absolutely love Artifact decks and Sydri is no exception. Artifact decks are like a big pile of cogs and gears that you can assemble together in limitless ways, mixing and matching the pieces to assemble tons of killer machines. There's so much synergy, cool interactions, and game-winning combos to play with! Every hand, every board state feels like there's a bunch of cool new tricks to discover, making each game feel different than the last.
One of the most important puzzle pieces in the deck is Sydri, Galvanic Genius herself. This gorgeously illustrated commander synergizes with all the artifacts in your deck. Her most basic utility is to turn any random artifact on your board into a scary lifelink and deathtouch threat, allowing you to defend from attacks with your animated Clock of Omens or swing in with a 7/7 lifegain Spine of Ish Sah. But that's just the tip of the iceberg with this fascinating commander.
Version A: Combos For Days
Sydri works best as a multilayered combo deck and that is how I recommend building her. Instead of breaking the deck down into my usual Ramp, Disruption, Card Advantage, etc. I will instead showcase two budget lists and the combos you can assemble within them: that way you have a much better idea of what Sydri is all about and cool interactions to look out for.
First up is my cheapest budget list, something I feel works great as a first step into the wonders of Esper Artifacts:
Here is Version A, a starter deck under $60. Most of the cards have straightforward applications; Return to Dust is incredible removal, Dimir Signet is mana-fixing and ramp. But hidden in this list are layers upon layers of sweet interactions and combos that may not be easy to spot.
Let's start with Sydri, Galvanic Genius herself. Some sweet interactions are:
- Sydri + Caltrops = turn Caltrops into a deathtouch creature and it kills any attacking creature that it deals 1 damage to.
- Sydri + Staff of Nin = same as Caltrops; Staff becomes a lethal pinger.
- Sydri + Thornbite Staff = give the equipped creature deathtouch and it too becomes a lethal pinger; even better, turn Staff of Nin into a deathtouch creature and equip Thornbite Staff to it, and now you've got a machinegun pinger that can wipe the board! Wombo combo!
- Sydri + Voltaic Construct + any mana rock that produces 3+ mana = turn the mana rock into a creature, tap it for 3 mana, untap it with the Construct, rinse repeat for infinite mana. Use that mana to play out your hand, deck someone with Blue Sun's Zenith, and more.
- Sydri + Salvaging Station + Seat of the Synod + Disciple of the Vault = Tap Seat for Blue mana, spend the mana with Sydri to turn Seat into a 0/0 creature that immediately dies. Return Seat into play (untapped) with Station. Repeat the process infinitely, pinging everyone to death with Disciple.
- Sydri + Liquimetal Coating = turn an opponent's land into an artifact, turn the artifact land into a 0/0 creature that immediately dies.
- Sydri + Umbral Mantle + any mana rock that produces 3+ mana = turn the mana rock into a creature, equip Mantle to it, tap it for 3 mana, untap it with Mantle, rinse repeat for an infinitely large beater.
- Sydri + Time Sieve + Sharding Sphinx = attack with 5 artifacts, make 5 thopters to sacrifice to Sieve for an extra turn, rinse repeat for infinite turns
We've got a few combos without Sydri, too! Here's two that I've noticed:
- Grand Architect + Pili-Pala = turn Pili into a blue creature, tap it for mana using Architect, untap it for mana with Pili's ability, rinse repeat for infinite mana that you can use to wipe the board with Capsize or other silliness.
- Time Sieve + Thopter Assembly = sacrifice all the thopters to take an extra turn, recast Foundry, rinse repeat for infinite turns.
Version B: More Combos!
If you're digging the feel of the deck and are looking for more sweet combos to play with, here's the next upgrade in the budget deck:
This version has upgrades in the manabase, ramp, disruption, blahblah... and more combos! Sweet, delicious combos! Let's see what new things we can do:
- Sydri + Voltaic Construct + Gilded Lotus = same combo as before, except now we're producing Blue mana so we can wipe our opponents' boards with infinite Capsize!
- Sydri + Arcum Dagsson = turn noncreature artifacts into creatures with Sydri so Arcum can Tinker it away.
- Sydri + Mycosynth Lattice + Dross Scorpion = infinite land destruction: Lattice turns everything into an artifact, Sydri spend one Blue mana to turn an opponent's artifact land into a 0/0 creature killing it, Scorpion sees an artifact creature die and lets you untap a blue artifact land to pay for Sydri's ability, rinse repeat.
- Sharuum the Hegemon + Sculpting Steel / Phyrexian Metamorph + Disciple of the Vault = infinite loop: with Sharuum in play, cast Steel / Metamorph copying Sharuum, putting her ETB ability on the stack; the legend rule kicks in immediately and Sharuum dies; use the clone's ETB to bring back Sharuum; rinse repeat this cycle of death infinitely while Disciple pings everyone to death
- Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek + Krark-Clan Ironworks = infinite life, infinite colorless mana, infinite creatures: sacrifice Sword to the Foundry making a 1/1 thopter, which brings back Sword equipped to it; sacrifice the 1/1 to Ironworks to produce 2 mana; use 1 of that mana to sacrifice Sword to Foundry; rinse repeat to make infinite mana and then infinite creatures. Add Time Sieve to take infinite turns!
- Mycosynth Lattice + Executioner's Capsule / Dispeller's Capsule + Salvaging Station = blow up any permanent your opponents have with a Capsule, then bring back the Capsule with Station to keep doing it.
- Mycosynth Lattice + Darksteel Forge + Nevinyrral's Disk = blow up everyone's board except yours.
Further Upgrades:
Those are pretty much all the combos I can think of with Sydri — the pieces aren't all that expensive. The price tag really skyrockets once you start upgrading the manabase, ramp, tutors, disruption, basically the rest of the deck.
- Manabase: As usual, fetchlands and dual lands are cream of the crop. I recommend using Manabase Crafter to figure out how to upgrade your mana.
- Ramp: Chromatic Lantern, Chrome Mox, Mox Opal, Metalworker, Mishra's Workshop, Grim Monolith, Doubling Cube, Mana Vault, Mox Diamond, Worn Powerstone
- Utility / Combo: Power Artifact, Training Grounds, Unwinding Clock, Rings of Brighthearth
- Tutors: Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Transmute Artifact, Grim Tutor, Personal Tutor, Tezzeret the Seeker, Imperial Seal
- Draw / Recursion: Necropotence, Yawgmoth's Will
Vote For The Next Budget Commander!
Pick which commander will be the next topic by voting here! Since a lot of people voted for Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and Marchesa, the Black Rose last poll, I'm adding them again to this one.
Follow me on Twitter @BudgetCommander for notifications on when the next article is up, updates on future decks, and input for what to work on next. Thanks for reading!
