Built From Scratch precon upgrade guide

Nothing in this box searches for an artifact, and Daretti and Goblin Welder can bring back one of any mana value, so the upgrade is mostly about what goes into the graveyard.

Daretti, Scrap Savant costs four and starts at 3 loyalty. His +2 discards up to two cards and draws that many, and his -2 sacrifices an artifact and returns an artifact card from your graveyard to the battlefield, with no mana value limit. Goblin Welder does a version of the same swap for a tap. The box is built for it: 36 artifacts counting two artifact lands, and nine of them cost five or more, from Steel Hellkite and Wurmcoil Engine at six up to Bosh, Iron Golem at eight. The ones worth returning are Wurmcoil Engine, Myr Battlesphere, Steel Hellkite, Pentavus and Bosh, and bringing back a six-drop with a four-mana planeswalker is the deck's best trick.

What it can't do is choose. In the box the graveyard fills with whatever you drew and discarded, through Daretti's +2, Faithless Looting and Jalum Tome. Not one card in the 100 searches the library for an artifact. That's the first fix, and it costs $8.51. The second is the pile around it: 41 lands is three above the typical 35 to 38 range, the average mana value is 3.79, and 21 nonland cards cost five or more. So the swaps trim the land count to 38, drop the slowest cards and spend the room on the engine.

What are the best Built From Scratch upgrades?

Ranked by what each does for the engine, with prices from October 2026 at the cheapest released printing, sometimes a promo, sometimes a special-guest card. The ten adds come to $44.74. The two sacrifice outlets at the bottom are $27.39 of that, so buy them last.

1. Goblin Engineer ($8.51). Two mana, and when it enters you may search for any artifact card and put it into your graveyard. It picks what Daretti and Welder return. Its own ability costs {R}, a tap and an artifact sacrifice, returns only artifacts with mana value 3 or less, and can't target the artifact it sacrifices, so it sets the engine up and doesn't finish the job.
2. Skullclamp ($4.57). Equip {1} gives +1/-1, and the creature draws you two cards when it dies. The deck makes a lot of 1/1s to wear it: two Goblins from Beetleback Chief, four Myr from Myr Battlesphere, the Thopter from the next card on this list, and the Myr token from Myr Sire.
3. Breya's Apprentice ($0.37). Three mana for a 1/1 flying Thopter artifact token on entering, plus a sacrifice outlet: tap and sacrifice any artifact to exile your top card and play it until the end of your next turn, or give a creature +2/+0. It's an artifact creature itself, so it's fodder too.
4. Reckless Fireweaver ($0.40). Two mana, and each artifact that enters under your control deals 1 damage to each opponent. Every return from the graveyard is another artifact entering, and a token counts as well.
5. Abrade ($0.16). Instant: 3 damage to a creature, or destroy an artifact. The box answers a creature with Flametongue Kavu, Spitebellows and Volcanic Offering, which cost four or more, and has nothing at two mana that targets one.
6. Scrap Trawler ($1.31). A three-mana artifact creature that returns an artifact card with lower mana value to your hand whenever it or another of your artifacts leaves the battlefield for a graveyard. Sacrifice a three-drop to Daretti and a two-drop comes back.
7. Vandalblast ($1.71). {R} destroys one artifact you don't control. Overload for {4}{R} destroys all of them, and it can't hit yours. The box's dedicated artifact removal is Ingot Chewer, which costs five or spends the card for {R}.
8. Fiery Confluence ($0.32). Choose three modes, repeats allowed: 1 damage to each creature, 2 damage to each opponent, or destroy an artifact. It's a sweeper, a 6-damage finisher or three artifact kills, and the first mode hits your own tokens too.
9. Ashnod's Altar ($14.32). Sacrifice a creature for {C}{C}. The deck has 30 creatures after the swaps, 16 of them artifacts, and Battlesphere's four Myr tokens alone are eight mana.
10. Krark-Clan Ironworks ($13.07). Sacrifice an artifact for {C}{C}, which turns every spare rock or cheap body into mana and puts it in the graveyard for the next return.

Choosing the artifact that goes to the graveyard

Daretti's -2 has a timing detail that decides how you sequence it. You pick the target when you activate it, so the artifact you want back has to be in the graveyard already. The artifact you sacrifice is chosen as the ability resolves, which means it can never be the one that comes back. Goblin Engineer's ability has the same restriction. So the order is always the same: first the big artifact goes to the graveyard, then the engine runs.

There are three ways to do the first part. Discard it from hand with Daretti's +2 or Faithless Looting. Search for it with Goblin Engineer. Or destroy it where it sits: Ingot Chewer can be evoked for {R} to destroy target artifact, and Hoard-Smelter Dragon destroys one for {3}{R}. Both can target your own. Then Daretti's -2 or Goblin Welder does the return, and the fodder it needs is cheap. Eight artifacts in the box pay you when they leave: Ichor Wellspring draws a card, Mycosynth Wellspring fetches a basic land, Panic Spellbomb draws for {R}, Cathodion adds {C}{C}{C} you can spend that turn, Myr Sire leaves a 1/1 Myr, Myr Retriever and Junk Diver each return another artifact card to your hand, and Epochrasite is suspended for three turns and comes back with three counters.

Goblin Welder is the faster half and the more fragile one. It swaps an artifact on the battlefield for an artifact card in that player's graveyard, and both targets have to still be legal on resolution or nothing happens. It doesn't have haste, so on the turn it lands it can't tap. Swiftfoot Boots gives it haste for equip {1}, which is why the Boots stay. It can target any player's artifacts, but the card that comes back returns under that player's control, so aim it at your own.

Ten cuts: three spells, four artifacts and three lands

Bitter Feud costs five and doubles damage between two players you choose. It has no payoff in this deck. Word of Seizing also costs five and is an instant with split second that steals a permanent for a turn. It can feed an opponent's artifact to Bosh or Daretti, but that's two cards and five mana for one turn of value. Impact Resonance deals damage equal to the most damage any source dealt this turn, so it needs something else to deal damage first. The box already sweeps with Blasphemous Act, Starstorm, Magmaquake and Whipflare.

The four artifacts do the least of the 36. Liquimetal Coating makes a permanent an artifact until end of turn, and with 36 artifacts already in the list that's a solution for a problem the deck doesn't have. Jalum Tome loots for {2} and tap, and Daretti's +2 and Faithless Looting already loot. Loreseeker's Stone costs six and then {3} and tap to draw three, plus {1} more for each card in hand, while Dreamstone Hedron at six makes {C}{C}{C} and can sacrifice itself to draw three for a flat {3}. Pristine Talisman is a three-mana rock that gains 1 life, in a deck that already has Sol Ring, Mind Stone and Fire Diamond.

The three lands bring the count from 41 to 38. Smoldering Crater enters tapped, and Forgotten Cave does the same thing with the cheaper cycling cost, so Cave stays. Ghost Quarter destroys a land and gives its owner a basic, which does nothing for this plan. Reliquary Tower removes your maximum hand size and taps for {C}, and nothing here wants a full hand. Lands that stay each do a job: Buried Ruin can sacrifice itself to return an artifact card to your hand, Phyrexia's Core is an artifact sacrifice outlet, and Darksteel Citadel is an indestructible artifact land that's also fodder.

Why the seven-drops stay when they look like cuts

A 7-mana artifact is a bad hand and a good graveyard target. Myr Battlesphere makes four 1/1 Myr tokens each time it enters, and the box has four Myr (Myr Sire, Myr Retriever, Palladium Myr and the Battlesphere itself), so each return is four more bodies for Skullclamp. Wurmcoil Engine leaves two 3/3 Wurms when it's destroyed or sacrificed, and returning it brings the body back as well. Pentavus enters with five +1/+1 counters and trades each one for a flying 1/1 Pentavite for {1}, and Bosh, Iron Golem turns any artifact you sacrifice into damage equal to its mana value for {3}{R}.

Spine of Ish Sah at seven mana destroys any permanent, which matters because the box's answers to an enchantment are Chaos Warp and Unstable Obelisk, and the Obelisk's ability costs {7}. It also returns to your hand whenever it goes to a graveyard from the battlefield, so feeding it to Daretti or Welder costs only the seven mana to cast it again. Caged Sun names red and doubles the red mana from every land, including the 29 basics, and gives your red creatures +1/+1. Scrap Mastery exiles every artifact card from every graveyard, sacrifices every artifact on the battlefield, then puts the exiled cards onto the battlefield. It's symmetrical and it sacrifices your own board, but it's the deck's only mass return. Feldon of the Third Path copies a creature card from your graveyard as an artifact with haste and sacrifices it at end of turn, so a discarded Wurmcoil Engine or Myr Battlesphere gets its death or enter trigger one more time.

What I left out, and where the numbers land

Mana Vault ($91.99) and Gamble ($16.10) are both Game Changers, and any one of those puts a deck in Bracket 3 at the least. Goblin Bombardment ($2.96) is the cheap alternative to the Altar: sacrifice a creature to deal 1 damage to any target. If the $27.39 for the two sacrifice outlets is too much, it's the first thing I'd buy instead. Kuldotha Forgemaster ($12.25) sacrifices three artifacts to put any artifact onto the battlefield, and Goblin Engineer into Daretti does the same job for one artifact.

The cuts take one red source with them, since Smoldering Crater taps for {R}. Twelve cards print {R}{R} both before and after, since Fiery Confluence replaces Word of Seizing in that group. With 37 red sources the odds of two by turn three on the play are 91.6%, and with 36 they are 90.6%, which still clears 90%.

In total, average mana value falls from 3.79 to 3.59, and nonland cards costing five or more go from 21 to 18. Lands go from 41 to 38 and always-tapped lands from three to two. Creatures go from 26 to 30, artifacts from 36 to 37 with the two artifact lands counted, and artifact creatures from 14 to 16. The deck's total goes from $113.88 to $149.49 at market prices. The bracket floor stays at 1, because the ten adds are all ordinary cards.

The upgraded decklist

Daretti and the 99 with all ten swaps made, sorted by card type. Hovering any name shows the card.

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“Load into the deck builder” opens this list in your account, pinned to the printings the box shipped, ready to edit or save. “Copy decklist” gives you plain text for Moxfield, Archidekt or Arena, with no account needed.

FAQ

Does Goblin Engineer bring back Wurmcoil Engine?

No. Goblin Engineer's ability only returns an artifact card with mana value 3 or less, and Wurmcoil Engine costs six. Daretti's -2 and Goblin Welder have no mana value limit, so they do that job. Engineer's enter trigger is what puts Wurmcoil into the graveyard in the first place, and the Engineer can't target the artifact it sacrifices.

Can Daretti's -2 return the artifact I sacrifice to it?

No. The target is chosen when you activate the ability, so the artifact card has to be in your graveyard already, and the artifact you sacrifice is chosen as the ability resolves. Discard or tutor the big artifact first, then use the -2 on a later turn, since Daretti activates one loyalty ability a turn. Daretti enters with 3 loyalty, the +2 takes him to 5, and the -2 leaves him at 3.

Do any of the ten adds raise the bracket?

No. All ten are ordinary cards, so the list still sits at a Bracket 1 floor with Daretti as the commander. Mana Vault and Gamble are Game Changers, and either one would put the list in Bracket 3 at the least, which is why they're left out of the swaps.

Why does the upgraded deck run 38 lands instead of 41?

The box runs 41, which is three over the typical range of 35 to 38, with an average mana value of 3.79. The swaps cut Smoldering Crater, Ghost Quarter and Reliquary Tower for spells, and the average falls to 3.59 with the new cards in. Red sources go from 37 to 36 and the chance of two by turn three on the play from 91.6% to 90.6%.

What does the Built From Scratch upgrade cost?

The ten adds come to $44.74 at the cheapest released printing, in October 2026 prices. Ashnod's Altar ($14.32) and Krark-Clan Ironworks ($13.07) are $27.39 of that, so the other eight cost $17.35 together. The whole deck goes from $113.88 to $149.49 at market prices.