How to build Quark, Humble Proprietor

Quark hands you a Treasure in every upkeep at the table and then forbids you to sacrifice it. A Treasure that can't be sacrificed is still an artifact you can tap and count, and the day Quark leaves the battlefield the whole pile is mana again.

Inspiring Statuary is what turns a Treasure back into mana

Improvise lets you tap an artifact to pay of a spell's cost, and tapping is not sacrificing. Inspiring Statuary gives improvise to every nonartifact spell you cast, and thirty-seven of the nonland cards in this list are nonartifact spells, so once it is down the pile pays the generic part of nearly everything. It never pays a coloured pip. The on Comet Storm still has to come from a Mountain, but X is generic, which means Comet Storm, Fireball, Crackle with Power and Commune with Lava all grow with the number of untapped Treasures, and Khaaaaaaaaaaaannn! deals twice that number to a single creature.

Bottle-Cap Blast, Saheeli's Directive and Arc Reactor carry improvise themselves, so they can spend the pile before Statuary shows up. Arc Reactor is the useful oddity among them: five Treasures pay for an artifact that then taps for three colourless every turn. Statuary costs three, the same as Quark, so the natural opening is Quark on turn three and Statuary on turn four with four Treasures already waiting for it. Inventors' Fair fetches it once you control three artifacts.

Karn pays for the artifacts, as long as Quark's trigger resolves first

Statuary only discounts nonartifact spells, which leaves the twenty-seven artifact cards in this list without help. Karn, Legacy Reforged is their half. At the beginning of your upkeep he adds for each artifact you control, the mana stays until the turn ends, and it can be spent on anything except a nonartifact spell. Activated abilities are fair game, so it also pays for the 10/10 from Idol of Oblivion, the Constructs from Urza's Saga, Treasure Vault, and every Clue that Academy Manufactor leaves lying around.

Quark and Karn both trigger as your upkeep begins, and you decide the order. Put Karn's trigger on the stack first so that Quark's sits above it and resolves before it. The new Treasure is then already on the battlefield when Karn counts, which is one extra mana every single turn for remembering a stack order.

Clock of Omens trades two Treasures for another Gilded Lotus activation

Clock of Omens taps two untapped artifacts you control to untap one target artifact. Aim it at Gilded Lotus and two Treasures become three mana of a single colour, red included, which makes it the best way in this deck to turn the pile into coloured mana while Quark stays on the table. Thran Dynamo and Arc Reactor return three colourless the same way, and Sol Ring two.

The better target is Idol of Oblivion. It taps to draw a card on any turn in which you created a token, and Quark creates one in every upkeep, so that box is ticked on every turn of the game. Untapping the Idol costs two Treasures per card, at instant speed and on anybody's turn. Reckoner Bankbuster and Endless Atlas accept the same untap at two mana a card, and Endless Atlas only asks for three lands sharing a name, which twenty-seven Mountains make routine.

Unwinding Clock gives the pile a fresh untap on every other player's turn

A Treasure tapped for improvise on your turn would normally stay tapped until your next untap step. Unwinding Clock untaps every artifact you control during each other player's untap step too, so the pile, the rocks and the Idol all come back three more times a round. That makes Ghirapur Aether Grid the steadiest damage in the list. It deals 1 damage to any target for every two artifacts you tap, so ten untapped Treasures are five damage in each player's turn, and Unwinding Clock hands them back before the next turn starts. Sunshot Militia hits each opponent for 1 off the same two taps but only at sorcery speed, so it is the one to use on your own turn while the Grid waits for theirs.

Hellkite Tyrant needs the twentieth artifact before your upkeep begins

Hellkite Tyrant wins the game at the beginning of your upkeep if you control twenty or more artifacts. The condition is checked as the upkeep starts, so the Treasure Quark makes in that same upkeep turns up too late to help. Do the counting in the end step of the player before you. The list holds twenty-nine artifacts before any Treasure exists, and Quark adds four a round. Academy Manufactor makes each of his Treasures a Treasure, a Clue and a Food, Xorn adds an extra Treasure to each batch, Brass's Bounty makes one for every land you control, and Replicator copies whichever token you need, a Treasure for the count or an Urza's Saga Construct for the size.

The Tyrant can also borrow the count. When it deals combat damage to a player you gain control of every artifact that player has, Treasures included, and Quark's rule covers those the moment they are yours. Ancient Copper Dragon's combat damage rolls a d20 and makes that many Treasures, so either dragon connecting once can be most of the twenty.

Each Treasure that enters is a point of damage to every opponent

Reckless Fireweaver deals 1 damage to each opponent whenever an artifact enters under your control. Ingenious Artillerist deals as much as the number of artifacts that entered, Weftstalker Ardent counts creatures arriving as well as artifacts, and Hedron Detonator aims its 1 damage at a single opponent. Fed by Quark alone that is four triggers a round each. Academy Manufactor triples them, because a Treasure, a Clue and a Food enter together, and Brass's Bounty with eight lands out is eight damage to every opponent from Fireweaver and the same again from the Artillerist.

The Clues and Food are worth having for their own sake. Quark only stops you sacrificing Treasure tokens, so a Clue still cracks for a card and a Food still gains 3 life, and Hedron Detonator can sacrifice two of them to exile the top card of your library and play it.

Smaug hits for the size of the pile, and here the pile only grows

Smaug the Magnificent deals damage equal to the number of Treasures you control to any target whenever he attacks, and he makes a Treasure of his own in your upkeep. In most Treasure decks that number falls whenever someone needs mana. In this one nothing can spend them, so at a table of four it rises by at least five a round. The same count feeds the Constructs from Urza's Saga, which get +1/+1 for each artifact, and Craterclaw Colossus, which gives every creature you control trample and +X/+0 for each artifact as it enters. The Brothers' War ends by dealing X damage to two different targets, with X the same artifact count, and Brotherhood Vertibird and Darksteel Juggernaut read it too at a fraction of the price.

Sacrifice Quark himself and every Treasure is ordinary mana again

The rule lives on Quark, so it ends the moment he leaves the battlefield. Ashnod's Altar sacrifices him for , and from then on each Treasure taps and sacrifices for one mana of any colour like any other Treasure. Goblin Bombardment does the same for 1 damage. Do it in a main phase with a use for the mana that improvise cannot cover: red pips, activated abilities such as Furnace Hellkite's pump, a stack of Clues, or a second big spell after the first. Then recast Quark from the command zone last of all, at two more than before, because his rule comes back with him.

Blasphemous Act belongs to the same plan. It costs one less for each creature on the battlefield and kills Quark along with everything else, so the main phase that clears the board can also crack the pile and put him straight back. An opponent who removes Quark does you the same favour on their own turn, so keep an instant ready for it. Comet Storm and Unexpected Windfall both work at instant speed, and a released pile pays for either. That is why there are no Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots here. Losing Quark costs you the engine and pays you the vault, and those slots went to cards that use the pile.

The core list

Seventeen creatures, twenty-nine artifacts and thirty-five lands behind Quark. The dollar figure on each row belongs to that card's cheapest paper printing, and the hover shows you the same printing.

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Thirty-six red sources, because improvise never pays a pip

With Statuary out the generic half of each cost is covered, so the pressure lands on red. Twelve spells here want or more, Comet Storm, Hellkite Tyrant and Smaug among them, and that is why the land count is twenty-seven Mountains with only five lands that make colourless. Add the rocks that make red and the calculator finds 36 red sources, which puts one on the battlefield by turn two 97.7 percent of the time on the play and two by turn three 90.6 percent of the time. Quark's Bar is one of them, untapped once two other lands are out, and it can ping each opponent for 1 when it arrives that way. The Treasures are in neither figure, because while Quark lives they never make mana at all.

Bracket 2 gives up the fastest ways to grow the pile, and bracket 4 adds the monoliths Unwinding Clock was made for

The budget rung saves nearly four hundred dollars, and two thirds of that is four cards: Ancient Copper Dragon, Deflecting Swat, Jeska's Will and Urza's Saga. Inspiring Statuary, Clock of Omens, Ghirapur Aether Grid, Hellkite Tyrant and all four of the damage-on-arrival creatures stay, so the deck still does what it says. What it loses is pace toward twenty artifacts. Xorn, Smaug and the Copper Dragon were the quickest ways to add to the pile, and without Unwinding Clock the pile untaps once a round rather than four times. Maraxus of Keld and Dragonspark Reactor still read the pile, Daily Bugle Newspaper keeps adding to it, and Fling takes over from Ashnod's Altar as the way to sacrifice Quark, at instant speed and for 1 damage. Jeska's Will was the only Game Changer, and with it gone nothing in the rung holds the floor above 2.

Mana Vault and Basalt Monolith do not untap in your own untap step, and Unwinding Clock does not care about that. It untaps them in every opponent's untap step instead, so each taps for its full amount on every turn of the round, and Clock of Omens can untap either one again for two Treasures. Mox Opal's metalcraft is never off for long, because three Treasures switch it on. The One Ring draws, Gamble finds Statuary or the Tyrant, Ancient Tomb speeds up Quark himself, and Phyrexian Altar releases the pile with a mana of any colour instead of two colourless. The cuts are three slow rocks, War Room, Reckless Impulse, Welding Sparks and Fathom Fleet Swordjack. Five Game Changers put the floor at 4, and most of the extra money goes on three cards: Mox Opal, Ancient Tomb and The One Ring.

FAQ

Can you use Quark's Treasures for mana?

Not while Quark is on the battlefield. A Treasure makes mana by sacrificing itself, and Quark says you can't sacrifice Treasure tokens, so that ability can't be activated. You can still tap them for improvise or to pay a cost like the ones on Clock of Omens and Ghirapur Aether Grid, because tapping is not sacrificing. Once Quark leaves the battlefield, every Treasure you control works normally again.

How much does this Quark deck cost?

At least $493 for the core list, at least $100 for the budget rung and at least $1,112 for the bracket 4 rung, with every card priced at its cheapest paper copy. Quark and the three other new Star Trek cards have no price yet, so none of those figures includes them.

Does Quark make a Treasure on other players' turns?

Yes. He triggers at the beginning of each upkeep, not only yours, so at a four player table he makes four Treasures a round, and all of them are yours.

Why is this Quark list bracket 3 and not bracket 2?

Jeska's Will, the only Game Changer in the core list. The budget rung takes it out and nothing left in that hundred holds the floor above 2. The figure can still rise, because no Star Trek card has been considered for the Game Changer list yet.

Does Quark stop my opponents from sacrificing their Treasures?

No. The rule binds only the player who controls Quark, so opponents crack their own Treasures as usual. If Hellkite Tyrant takes an opponent's artifacts, though, their Treasures become yours and Quark's rule covers them from then on.

What happens to the Treasures when Quark dies?

They stay, and they turn back into ordinary Treasures. Each one can be sacrificed for one mana of any colour from the moment Quark leaves the battlefield until you cast him again, which is why this list sacrifices him on purpose with Ashnod's Altar and Goblin Bombardment.

When is Quark, Humble Proprietor legal in Commander?

On 13 November 2026, the day Star Trek is released. Replicator, Khaaaaaaaaaaaannn! and Quark's Bar from this list join the format with him that day, and every other card here is allowed already.