Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Kaladesh Deconstructed: Non-Tribal Creatures

There are plenty of creatures not in the tribes I highlighted. Actually, Human Artificer is a pretty big tribe in this set. White has one plus a Human, Blue has two, Black has two plus four other Humans, Red has five plus four other Humans, Green has one, White/Blue has a Human, Red/Green has a Human, and White/Black has one and another Human. Red and Black alone have seven Human Artificers and eight other Humans.

It will be useful to look at the set only from the perspective of cards in the five colors that care about artifacts. I will highlight those here. Fabricate cards create artifact creature tokens and will help in Limited to fulfill the 'do you control an artifact?' bonus question or the Enters the Battlefield (ETB) artifact bonus.

Here are the White non-Flyers.


There are five Flyers, good for evasion in Limited.


There are five blue Flyers in the other creatures. Experimental Aviator lets you create two artifact creature tokens.


Here are the four non-Flyers. Gearseeker Serpent might as well say Affinity for Artifacts. Weldfast Wingsmith gives a creature a flying bonus from an ETB artifact.


There is all of one Flyer in all of these Black creatures. Ovachase Daredevil and Foundry Screecher care about artifacts.


Dhund Operative, Embraal Bruiser, Durkhara Scavenger, and Marionette Master care about artifacts.


Aethertorch Renegade can be the outlet for all that accumulated Energy. Inventor's Apprentice and Reckless Fireweaver care about artifacts.


Pia Nalaar comes with an ETB artifact creature. Quicksmith Genius cares about artifacts and Speedway Fanatic cares about Vehicles (talk about a card that will see zero use outside of this block!).


Oviya is an artifact creature token maker. Fairground Trumpeter can get big really fast in a counters deck!


None of these four Green cards care about artifacts, and that makes sense with Green being the color that can destroy artifacts most easily.


Restoration Gearsmith can get you an artifact back from your graveyard.