Commander blueprint · Marvel Super Heroes

How to build Ultron, Artificial Malevolence

Ultron, Artificial Malevolence copies any nontoken artifact that enters under your control for two more mana, and the copy of a mana rock arrives as a creature that cannot tap until your next turn. This colorless list is built so every copy pays its two mana back, most of them on the turn they arrive.

Art by Nino Is

A copied mana rock is a creature, so it taps a turn late

This is the clause the list is built around. A copy of Thran Dynamo is still Thran Dynamo, but it is also a 2/2 creature, and a creature cannot use an ability with {T} in its cost until you have controlled it continuously since your most recent turn began. Pay for that copy on turn five and it adds from turn six onward. It is still a good trade, because three mana a turn for a single payment of two is ahead by the following turn. It just pays late.

Only the {T} abilities wait. A copy's static and triggered abilities work the moment it exists, so a copied Mind's Eye draws off the next card an opponent draws, a copied Coat of Arms pumps the board at once, and a copied Panharmonicon starts doubling straight away. When mana is short and you are choosing which artifacts to pay for, the ones with no {T} in their text are the copies that do something this turn.

Two cards remove the wait. Thousand-Year Elixir lets you activate the abilities of your creatures as though they had haste, and Akroma's Memorial gives them haste outright. With either one out, the copy of Thran Dynamo taps for three on the turn it is made, so paying for it puts you a mana up instead of two down. Gilded Lotus makes the same trade, and so does Coveted Jewel, whose copy also draws three cards as it enters. Even without them a rock can pay for its own copy. Thran Dynamo enters untapped, so tap it for while Ultron's trigger waits and spend two of that on the copy. Worn Powerstone is the exception, since its copy enters tapped exactly as the original does. And keep a creature back once you own two Jewels: each one changes hands to an opponent whose attackers reach you unblocked, so one unblocked attack takes both.

Mirrorworks makes the copy that is not a creature

Mirrorworks has Ultron's trigger almost word for word, without its last sentence. Whenever another nontoken artifact you control enters, you may pay for a token copy, and that copy stays exactly what the original was. A Mirrorworks copy of a mana rock is not a creature, so it taps the turn it arrives and survives a creature sweeper, and a Mirrorworks copy of Lightning Greaves can be attached like the real one. With both out, one artifact can be copied twice for , once as a body and once as a card that works today. When the mana runs short, pay Mirrorworks for the rock and Ultron for anything whose value is in its enter trigger.

Panharmonicon makes Ultron trigger twice, because an artifact entering is what sets Ultron off, and it doubles the enter trigger of every copy as well. Each instance asks for its own , so you decide copy by copy how many to pay for. It also counts its own arrival. Cast Panharmonicon with Ultron already out and spare and it comes down beside two copies of itself, and from then on every artifact you play triggers Ultron four times, since two Panharmonicons make three triggers rather than four and each one after that adds one more. Strionic Resonator is the smaller version of the same idea: and a tap copies Ultron's trigger once, or copies the enter trigger of whatever you just copied, three more cards from Coveted Jewel included.

Never pay for a copied Equipment or a copied Walking Ballista

The trigger is a may, and a few copies are worth nothing. A copy of an Equipment is an Equipment creature, and an Equipment that is also a creature cannot be attached to anything, so a copied Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots is a plain 2/2. Those two are in the list to protect Ultron and nothing else. A copy of Walking Ballista enters with no counters, because X is zero for anything that was not cast, and it dies at once as a 0/0. Triskelion is the opposite case. Its three counters are printed on the card rather than paid for, so its copy arrives with three of its own and pings for three more.

Legendary artifacts copy fine, and you keep one of the two. The copy's enter trigger has already fired by the time the legend rule sends one of them to the graveyard, so a copy of The Mightstone and Weakstone is for two more cards or a second -5/-5, and you keep whichever of the pair you prefer. A copy of Forsaken Monument or Akroma's Memorial gains you nothing, because everything those two do is static.

Ashnod's Altar hands the two mana back

Sacrifice one of Ultron's copies to Ashnod's Altar and it adds , which is exactly what the copy cost. Every copy is a creature and every copy is an artifact, so Krark-Clan Ironworks takes them at the same rate. With either altar out, the copy of anything with an enter trigger costs you nothing but the body, and the body was a 2/2 you did not need.

That is why the list carries artifacts that do something on the way in and again on the way out. A copy of Ichor Wellspring draws a card as it enters and another as it goes to the graveyard, so buys two cards, and the altar returns the . Filigree Familiar gains 2 life and then draws. Solemn Simulacrum puts a Wastes onto the battlefield and then draws. Mycosynth Wellspring puts a basic land card into your hand twice. Wurmcoil Engine's copy leaves two 3/3 Wurms behind. A token is put into the graveyard before it stops existing, so each of those leave triggers fires for a copy exactly as it does for the card.

Scrap Trawler turns the same sacrifices into recursion. Whenever another artifact you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, it returns an artifact card with a lower mana value from your graveyard to your hand. Feed the altar a copy of Duplicant and an artifact card costing five or less comes back. Eldrazi Monument eats a creature at every one of your upkeeps, and a copy is always the one to give it.

Kuldotha Forgemaster turns three copies into a Portal to Phyrexia

Kuldotha Forgemaster taps and sacrifices three artifacts to put any artifact card from your library onto the battlefield. Ultron's copies are the cheapest artifacts you will ever own, and whatever the Forgemaster finds enters under your control, so Ultron gets to copy that too. Find Portal to Phyrexia and pay : each opponent sacrifices three creatures and then three more, and at each of your upkeeps you get two triggers that each put a creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield for you. Myr Battlesphere is the other target, eight Myr tokens and two Battlespheres from one activation.

Two lands search as well. Inventors' Fair puts an artifact card into your hand once you control three artifacts, and the third chapter of Urza's Saga puts an artifact with a mana cost of or straight onto the battlefield. Here that is Sol Ring, Wayfarer's Bauble or Brittle Effigy, and Ultron copies whichever one arrives. The Saga's second chapter makes Construct tokens that count every artifact you control, copies included, and Ultron, Machine Overlord gives Constructs +2/+2 as well as Robots.

All Is Dust leaves every card of yours where it is

Every card in this deck is colorless, and so is every copy Ultron makes. All Is Dust makes each player sacrifice every permanent they control that is one or more colors, which at this table means everybody but you. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon's minus ability exiles each colored permanent up to the mana value you choose, with the same result. Ugin, Eye of the Storms goes further. When you cast it, and whenever you cast a colorless spell after that, it exiles a colored permanent, and in this list that is every spell you cast, Ultron from the command zone included. Mystic Forge works for the same reason: it lets you cast artifact and colorless spells from the top of your library, which here is every nonland card in the deck.

Your own sweepers never touch the copies. An opponent's creature sweeper does, and it takes Ultron with them, but it leaves every original rock, Panharmonicon and Mirrorworks where it was, because none of those is a creature. Ultron comes back from the command zone for , and the next artifact you cast is copied again.

Ugin, Eye of the Storms pays for copies as well. Its 0 ability adds , which is one copy with a mana to spare, so on the turn it lands it can act as a mana rock while every artifact you cast after it exiles a colored permanent on the way in.

Twenty one Wastes, because Command Tower makes nothing here

A colorless commander changes the mana base more than any color pair does. Command Tower, Arcane Signet and Path of Ancestry each add one mana of a color in your commander's color identity, and Ultron's identity has no colors, so all three tap for nothing at all. Every other basic land carries a color in its own color identity, which keeps it out of the deck. That leaves Wastes as the only basic land, and this list runs twenty one of them beside thirteen colorless utility lands.

Running that many copies of one land pays off. Extraplanar Lens exiles one of your Wastes as it enters, and from then on every Wastes you tap for mana adds an extra . Endless Atlas draws a card for once you control three lands with the same name. War Room charges life equal to the number of colors in your commander's identity, which is zero, so it draws a card for and nothing else. Forsaken Monument adds a whenever you tap a permanent for , so with the Lens out every Wastes taps for three. All five cards here that search for a basic land find a Wastes, and so do their copies.

Two of the lands are artifacts. Darksteel Citadel and Treasure Vault each trigger Ultron as they enter, and the copy is a land as well as a 2/2 creature, so buys a land that does not use your land drop. Like every copied rock it taps from your next turn. Shrine of the Forsaken Gods is the other oddity. Its can only cast colorless spells, which is every spell here, but it cannot pay for one of Ultron's copies, because that payment is not a spell.

Every copy is a Robot, and Ultron, Machine Overlord pays Robots

A copied rock, a copied Panharmonicon and a copied Darksteel Citadel all come out as colorless 2/2 Robot Villains, which makes them easy to pump together. Ultron, Machine Overlord gives your other Robots and Constructs +2/+2 and Forsaken Monument gives your colorless creatures +2/+2, so with both out each of those copies is a 6/6. Patchwork Banner adds +1/+1 more if you name Robot as it enters, and its own copy names a type too, so name Robot twice. Coat of Arms counts everything else: each creature gets +1/+1 for every other creature on the battlefield that shares a type with it, opposing Robots and Villains included.

Copies of artifact creatures are the exception. A copy of Solemn Simulacrum is a Golem and a copy of Wurmcoil Engine is a Phyrexian Wurm, because the Robot Villain clause only applies to a copy that is not a creature already. Machine Overlord misses those, which is why Forsaken Monument and Chief of the Foundry are here as well, since both pump your artifact creatures whatever their type.

Steel Overseer puts a +1/+1 counter on each artifact creature you control when it taps, and that is every creature in the list. Unwinding Clock untaps all of your artifacts during each other player's untap step, and the Overseer is an artifact, so in a four player game it taps once on every player's turn. Eldrazi Monument gives the whole board flying and indestructible and asks for a creature at each of your upkeeps, and the copies are what you give it.

The core list

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The budget rung keeps Ultron's whole engine, and bracket 4 adds Panoptic Mirror

Neither rung touches the copy engine. Thousand-Year Elixir, Mirrorworks, Panharmonicon, Strionic Resonator, Ashnod's Altar and Ultron, Machine Overlord are in all three versions, and so is All Is Dust. What the rungs change is how much else the copies have to work with.

The budget rung makes eleven swaps and brings the list from $415 down to $168. Its four dearest cuts are Portal to Phyrexia at $50.04, Ugin, Eye of the Storms at $41.17, Akroma's Memorial at $33.66 and Urza's Saga at $33.34. Losing the Memorial leaves Thousand-Year Elixir as the only card that lets all your copied rocks tap the turn they are made, so the budget deck's mana arrives a turn later more often. Kuldotha Forgemaster and Portal to Phyrexia both go, and the Forgemaster line goes with them. Extraplanar Lens and Krark-Clan Ironworks go too, which leaves Ashnod's Altar as the only refund. Endbringer and Bane of Bala Ged take the two Ugins' slots. They are colorless creatures but not artifacts, so Ultron never copies them, and All Is Dust becomes the only sweeper that spares your side.

The new cards lean on the engine that stays. Lithoform Engine copies one of Ultron's triggers for and a tap, as Strionic Resonator does, so the budget list has two of those. Ultron Drone is a Robot Villain that Machine Overlord pumps, and its power-up makes one more 2/2 Robot Villain. Myr Retriever goes to the Altar and brings back an artifact card as it dies. Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse take the place of Urza's Saga and Inventors' Fair and fetch a Wastes, so Endless Atlas keeps counting, but that Wastes enters tapped. No card in the core list or in this rung is a Game Changer, so neither sets a bracket floor.

Moving up to bracket 4 changes nine cards and brings the total to $864. Four of the nine adds are Game Changers, The One Ring, Mana Vault, Ancient Tomb and Panoptic Mirror, and four is one more than bracket 3 permits. The Mirror is the card the rung is built around. Pay and tap it to exile All Is Dust from your hand, and at the start of each of your upkeeps after that it lets you cast a copy for free. Every turn of yours then begins with every colored permanent your opponents control going to the graveyard while nothing of yours moves, and with Ugin, Eye of the Storms out each of those copies is a colorless spell cast, so it exiles one more colored permanent on top. That is a lock, and a table that agreed to bracket 4 agreed to it. A bracket 3 table did not, which is why the Mirror lives on this rung.

Basalt Monolith and Forsaken Monument make the second engine. Tap the Monolith for , the Monument adds a fourth, and three of those untap the Monolith, so each loop ends one mana ahead and you can repeat it as often as you like. Walking Ballista, already in the core list, turns that mana into damage, and Staff of Domination turns it into life and as many cards as your library holds. Roaming Throne, naming Robot, makes Ultron's trigger fire one more time on top of Panharmonicon. Mana Vault's copy taps for three on the turn it is made if Thousand-Year Elixir is out, and Voltaic Key untaps the original for . Sensei's Divining Top suits this deck more than most, because Mystic Forge lets you cast whatever it leaves on top. The cuts are the slow edges: Prophetic Prism and Golden Egg, which draw a single card each, Mazemind Tome, Pilgrim's Eye, Brittle Effigy, Foundry Inspector, Prismatic Lens, Fellwar Stone and Mishra's Factory.

FAQ

Do Ultron's copies have summoning sickness?

Yes. Every copy is a creature, because a copy of a noncreature artifact becomes a 2/2 Robot Villain, so it cannot attack or use an ability with {T} in its cost until you have controlled it continuously since your most recent turn began. Abilities without {T} work straight away. Thousand-Year Elixir and Akroma's Memorial both let a copied mana rock tap on the turn it is made.

Can an Equipment copied by Ultron be attached to a creature?

No. The copy becomes a 2/2 creature, and an Equipment that is also a creature cannot equip anything, so it stays on the battlefield as a Robot Villain with an equip ability it can never use. Mirrorworks makes the same copy without the creature clause, and a Mirrorworks copy of an Equipment can be attached normally.

Does Ultron, Artificial Malevolence copy Treasure tokens?

No. Ultron only triggers on a nontoken artifact, so a Treasure, Clue or Food you create never sets it off, and neither does one of its own copies. That is also why Ultron cannot loop on its own: every copy it makes is a token, and a token cannot trigger it. Treasure Vault, the land, is a nontoken artifact, so it does.

What happens when Ultron copies a legendary artifact?

The copy enters, its enter trigger fires, and then the legend rule makes you keep one of the two and put the other into the graveyard. The trigger still resolves, so a copy of The Mightstone and Weakstone is still for two cards. A legendary artifact whose abilities are all static, such as Forsaken Monument or Akroma's Memorial, gains nothing from being copied.

Can an Ultron deck use basic lands other than Wastes?

No. Every other basic land has a color in its color identity, and Ultron's identity is colorless, so Wastes is the only basic land the deck can run. This list runs twenty one. Command Tower and Arcane Signet are legal, but with a colorless commander they add no mana, so neither is here.

What bracket is an Ultron, Artificial Malevolence deck?

Bracket 3 by how it plays, and no floor by the rules. Not one of the 100 cards is a Game Changer, and there is no mass land denial and no extra turn, so a bracket checker sets no floor at all. Portal to Phyrexia, both Ugins and the Kuldotha Forgemaster line still belong at a table expecting bracket 3. The budget rung has no Game Changer either. The bracket 4 rung adds four, The One Ring, Mana Vault, Ancient Tomb and Panoptic Mirror, plus the Basalt Monolith loop with Forsaken Monument.

How much does an Ultron, Artificial Malevolence deck cost?

$415 for the core list, using the lowest paper price each card had on the date in the summary box. The commander is $7.78 of that. Portal to Phyrexia, Ugin, Eye of the Storms and Akroma's Memorial account for $124.87 between them, and all three are gone from the budget rung, which totals $168. The bracket 4 rung totals $864, and Ancient Tomb, The One Ring and Mana Vault are $322.79 of it.

Which Ultron card is this deck built around?

Ultron, Artificial Malevolence, number 252 in Marvel Super Heroes, the colorless three mana 2/4 that copies your artifacts. Two other colorless cards with the name can join it. Ultron, Machine Overlord is in the core list as a 4/4 flier that gives your other Robots and Constructs +2/+2, and Ultron Drone comes in on the budget rung. The legend rule only compares names, so the two legendary Ultrons sit side by side. Ultron the Annihilator is black and Ultron, Unlimited, from the Doom Prevails precon, is blue and black, so neither fits a colorless deck.