Buckle Up precon upgrade guide

Eleven of this box's fifteen Vehicles crew at three power or more, and blue sits eight sources short of {U}{U} on turn three. Nine swaps for $26.57 work on both.

Kotori gives every Vehicle you control crew 2. That is a discount on eleven of the fifteen Vehicles in the box: Shorikai crews at 8, Colossal Plow at 6, Parhelion II, Peacewalker Colossus and Surgehacker Mech at 4, and six more at 3. The discount is worth what the creature bodies behind it are worth. Twenty of the 28 creatures have power 2 or more, so with Kotori out almost anything crews anything. Take him away and only 11 creatures reach power 3, and the Vehicle plan leans on a three-mana 2/4 surviving.

The second finding is the mana. The box runs 30 basics and seven other lands, one of which always enters tapped, and 28 blue sources give {U}{U} by turn three 78.5% of the time on the play. Getting that to 90% takes 36. Blue is the color with the double pips: Jace, Whirler Rogue, Katsumasa, Thopter Spy Network, Access Denied and Universal Surveillance all want two or more. The swaps below fix the lands first, then hand Kotori more bodies, then protect the pile of artifacts he is crewing.

What are the best Buckle Up upgrades?

Ranked by what they fix, with October 2026 market prices at the cheapest released printing, which can be a promo.

1. Urza, Lord High Artificer ($15.40). Tap an untapped artifact you control for {U}. The deck has 33 artifacts, so he turns the pile into blue mana, and the Construct he brings is a 0/0 that grows by one for each artifact you control.
2. Hallowed Fountain ($7.41), Glacial Fortress ($0.20), Seachrome Coast ($0.36) and Seat of the Synod ($0.94). Four lands that replace the only always-tapped land and three basics. Argued in the mana section. Hallowed Fountain is $7.41 of the total and the part to buy last.
3. Reckoner Bankbuster ($0.63) and Hangarback Walker ($0.25). A Vehicle that draws without being crewed, and an artifact creature that can be cast for any amount of mana.
4. Padeem, Consul of Innovation ($0.57). Your artifacts have hexproof, and that covers every Vehicle you have crewed.
5. Path to Exile ($0.81). A second one-mana exile for a single creature, in a box where four instants answer one.

The nine adds come to $26.57, and the nine cuts are argued below.

Crew 2 is cheap, and the bodies are the cost

Kotori's text adds a second crew ability to each Vehicle. It doesn't replace the printed one, so Shorikai can still be crewed at 8 if that is what you have, and the cheaper option is simply there. Four of the fifteen already crew at 2 or less (Smuggler's Copter, Aerial Surveyor, Imperial Recovery Unit and Prodigy's Prototype), and they are the ones that work without him.

Crew 2 means tapping creatures with total power 2, and that is where the box is thinner than the Vehicle count suggests. Seven creatures have power 1: Emry, Etherium Sculptor, Sai, Vedalken Engineer, Hanna, Gold Myr and Silver Myr. Master of Etherium has variable power. The other twenty, Kotori himself included, crew a Vehicle alone once he is out. Pilot tokens help too. Shorikai, Prodigy's Prototype and the new Bankbuster each make Pilots that crew as though their power were 2 greater, so one 1/1 Pilot crews any Vehicle at crew 3 or less, with or without Kotori.

Crew in your first main phase. Kotori's combat trigger picks a target as combat begins, and it names an artifact creature you control, so a Vehicle crewed beforehand gets lifelink and vigilance for the turn and a Vehicle crewed afterwards doesn't. On a board with Parhelion II or Skysovereign, that is the difference between gaining life and not.

The two bodies I'm adding are cheap on purpose. Hangarback Walker costs twice X, so at X=2 it's four mana for a 2/2 that crews alone under Kotori, and when it dies you get a flying 1/1 Thopter for each counter. Those Thopters are artifact creatures, which is what Master of Etherium (+1/+1), Research Thief and Thopter Spy Network all care about. Reckoner Bankbuster comes with three charge counters. For {2} and a tap you remove one and draw a card, and when the last one goes you get a Treasure and a Pilot. It draws without anyone crewing it, and its crew 3 drops to 2 under Kotori.

Five spells and four lands out

Ironsoul Enforcer costs {4}{W} and returns an artifact from your graveyard to the battlefield, but only when it or Kotori attacks alone. This deck's attacks are Vehicles, and a Vehicle crewed to attack is an extra attacker, so the trigger turns off the turn the deck does its thing.

Swift Reconfiguration is a one-mana Aura with flash. The enchanted permanent becomes a Vehicle with crew 5, loses its other card types, and is removed from combat if it was in it. On an opponent's creature that sounds like removal, but any opponent who can tap creatures with total power 5 gets the creature back for a turn, and the Aura does nothing about the next one. On your own creature it switches the creature off. Neither is what a go-wide artifact deck wants from an enchantment.

Release to Memory exiles one opponent's graveyard and makes a 1/1 Spirit for each creature card in it. In a four-player pod that is one opponent's yard for four mana. Mirage Mirror costs {3} and then {2} each time it becomes a copy of something, until end of turn only. It's mana spent twice for an effect that goes away. Colossal Plow crews at 6 and, when it attacks, adds {W}{W}{W} and gains you 3 life. Under Kotori that is crew 2, and without him it needs creatures with total power 6.

Path to Exile takes Release to Memory's slot, and the box is thinner on answers than a removal count suggests. That count includes Release to Memory, which exiles a graveyard, and Crush Contraband, which only hits artifacts and enchantments. The instants that answer a creature are Swords to Plowshares, Reality Shift, Generous Gift (any permanent, and its controller gets a 3/3 Elephant) and Dispatch, which taps the creature and exiles it only if you control three artifacts. Path is the second one-mana exile beside Swords, and the cost is that its controller may fetch a basic land.

The instant that stays, and the sweeper that takes Kotori with it

Armed and Armored looks dead because the box has no Equipment and one Dwarf, Sram, Senior Edificer. The first half is the useful one: your Vehicles all become artifact creatures until end of turn for {1}{W} and no tapping, and the ruling says the set is fixed as the spell resolves. So you cast it in the first main phase with the Vehicles already on the battlefield, and one that arrived this turn still can't attack.

Organic Extinction costs ten with improvise, so tapping artifacts pays for up to eight of that, and it destroys nonartifact creatures only. It spares your artifact creatures and kills every other creature, yours included. Kotori is a Moonfolk Pilot and not an artifact, so he dies with the rest, and so do Urza and Padeem. Cataclysmic Gearhulk is the opposite problem, because it makes you keep one artifact, one creature, one enchantment and one planeswalker. The ruling lets an artifact creature fill two of those slots, so the Gearhulk itself or a crewed Vehicle can be both. The box has only these two sweepers, so I kept both and I'd rather play around the Gearhulk than cut one.

Thirty basics for a deck that wants {U}{U}

The stock lands are 15 Plains, 15 Islands and seven others: Command Tower, Exotic Orchard, Port Town, Prairie Stream, Skycloud Expanse, Spire of Industry and Temple of Enlightenment. The Temple is the only always-tapped land, and its one upside is a scry 1. The four lands that replace it and three basics all make blue.

Hallowed Fountain is a Plains Island that comes in untapped for 2 life. Glacial Fortress enters untapped if you control a Plains or an Island, and the box has 30 basics plus Prairie Stream, which carries both types, so it almost always does. Seachrome Coast is untapped only when you control two or fewer other lands, so it is a turn-one-to-three land and a plain dual after that. Seat of the Synod only taps for {U}, but it's an artifact land. That makes it an artifact for Master of Etherium's power, for the "if you control an artifact" check on Thopter Spy Network's upkeep trigger and for Spire of Industry, and under Padeem it has hexproof as well.

I cut two Plains, one Island and the Temple, so the deck goes from 30 basics to 27, 15 Plains to 13 and 15 Islands to 14. Blue sources go from 28 to 31, which lifts {U}{U} by turn three from 78.5% to 83.9%. Six cards in the box print {U}{U} or more, and Urza makes seven. White goes the other way, 29 sources to 28 and {W}{W} by turn four from 85.3% to 83.7%, and the reason is a card and not a land. The source count includes Colossal Plow, which makes {W}{W}{W} only after it has been crewed and has attacked, and it's one of the cuts. Neither color reaches 90%. {U}{U} on turn three would take 36 sources and I'm not going to pretend 31 is that.

The lands also change when they tap. Always-tapped lands go from one to none, and conditional lands from two to five, with Port Town and Prairie Stream already in the box.

What Urza and Padeem do with 33 artifacts

The deck plays 33 artifacts before the swaps and 33 after: 15 Vehicles, 13 artifact creatures, and the Signets, Fellwar Stone, Sol Ring and the rest. Urza taps any of them for {U}, including an artifact creature that arrived this turn, because the cost is tapping an artifact and not an artifact's own {T} ability. A Vehicle tapped that way can't attack, so he wants the artifacts that have nothing better to do that turn. Once he is out every artifact is a potential blue source, which is why he fixes {U}{U} for the cards that come after him. He costs {2}{U}{U} himself, so he needs the lands first.

Padeem gives artifacts you control hexproof, and a Vehicle you crew is still an artifact. An opponent's targeted removal can't pick a crewed Parhelion II, the Construct or a Thopter. It does nothing against a sweeper, and it doesn't cover Kotori, who is not an artifact. His second ability draws a card at your upkeep if you control the artifact with the greatest mana value or tied for it, among artifacts on the battlefield, so it works while Parhelion II (8), Cyberdrive Awakener or Kappa Cannoneer (6) or Skysovereign (5) is the biggest one in play, and stops when an opponent has something bigger.

The cards I priced and passed over

Smothering Tithe is $56.23 at its cheapest printing and a Game Changer, which would move the bracket floor from 1 to 3 on its own. Every Treasure it makes is an artifact, so it fits, and it still costs more than twice everything above. Whir of Invention ($5.09) is {X}{U}{U}{U} with improvise and puts an artifact onto the battlefield. It's another triple-blue card in a deck that is already short of blue. Ancient Den ($1.48) is Seat of the Synod's white twin, and it's the land I'd buy if you'd rather bring white back up than lift blue further. Adarkar Wastes ($0.33) is the cheap stand-in for the $7.41 in Hallowed Fountain. It always enters untapped and deals 1 damage to you when you tap it for color. The Fountain is reprinted in Star Trek on 13 November 2026, so its price may fall. Heart of Kiran ($0.42) is a fine 4/4 flying Vehicle with crew 3, but its other cost removes loyalty from a planeswalker and Jace, Architect of Thought is the only one in the box.

Nine swaps, measured

Land count holds at 37, while average mana value drops from 3.32 to 3.26. Cards costing four or more stay at 25, and cards costing three go from 16 to 15. The creature count rises from 28 to 30 counting Kotori, and legendary creatures from 8 to 10. Vehicles stay at 15, because Bankbuster replaces Plow. The bracket floor stays at 1, since none of the nine is a Game Changer, and the Scryfall market total of the box goes from $78.24 to $97.36.

The upgraded decklist

Kotori and the 99 with all nine 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 Kotori's crew 2 replace the crew number printed on a Vehicle?

No. It adds a second crew ability, so Shorikai can still be crewed by tapping creatures with total power 8, or by tapping power 2 while Kotori is on the battlefield, whichever you can pay. A creature that arrived this turn can help crew, because crewing taps the creature as a cost and doesn't use its own tap ability. The Vehicle itself still can't attack on the turn it came under your control.

Is Smothering Tithe worth $56 in this deck?

I left it out. Its cheapest printing is $56.23, which is more than twice the $26.57 of the nine adds put together, and it is a Game Changer. Buckle Up has none today, so it would move the bracket floor from 1 to 3 by itself. Every Treasure it makes is an artifact, so the fit is real, and it's the first card I'd consider once the rest is bought.

Can Urza tap a Vehicle for mana and still attack with it?

No. Tapping a Vehicle for Urza's mana leaves it tapped, and a tapped Vehicle that gets crewed is a tapped creature that can't attack. Tap artifacts with nothing else to do that turn instead, such as a Signet you didn't need, a Myr or a Thopter that stays home. Urza can tap an artifact creature that arrived this turn, because his ability doesn't use that creature's own tap symbol.

Which Vehicles are worth crewing every turn?

Skysovereign deals 3 damage to a creature or planeswalker an opponent controls whenever it enters or attacks, and nothing damages it back. Surgehacker Mech deals twice the number of Vehicles you control, itself included, to a creature or planeswalker an opponent controls when it enters. Parhelion II makes two 4/4 flying Angels attacking each time it attacks. Smuggler's Copter crews at 1 and loots when it attacks or blocks. Weatherlight is the slow one, and it digs five cards deep for a historic card when it connects.

What does the whole upgrade cost, and where can I save?

The nine adds come to $26.57 at the cheapest released printings, as of October 2026. Urza is $15.40 and Hallowed Fountain is $7.41, so the other seven cards are $3.76 together. Adarkar Wastes at $0.33 does the Fountain's job and costs you 1 life per colored tap. The Fountain is also reprinted in Star Trek on 13 November 2026, so waiting may be cheaper.

Why keep Armed and Armored when the box has no Equipment?

The first half of the card is the one that matters. For {1}{W} every Vehicle you control becomes an artifact creature until end of turn without anyone tapping, and the set of Vehicles is fixed when the spell resolves. The Equipment half does nothing here, and Sram, Senior Edificer is the only Dwarf. It's an instant, so it also turns a pile of Vehicles into blockers.