The 38 Weirdest Artifacts in Magic Ranked

Last updated on January 2, 2025

Leveler | Illustration by Carl Critchlow

Whenever I build a new Magic deck, especially a Brawl or Commander deck, I often search for the most synergistic cards to create diverse play patterns and encourage outside-the-box thinking. Artifacts are perfect for this, as their lack of color identity means they aren’t tied to any particular theme. Today, I’ll highlight some of the weirdest and funniest artifacts that’ll leave your opponents saying “It does what?” whenever you cast them.

Ready to encounter some of the weirdest effects in Magic? Let’s dive in!

What Are Weird Artifacts in MTG?

Coveted Jewel | Illustration by Jason A. Engle

Weird artifacts typically provide unorthodox and chaotic effects when you cast or activate them. While many artifacts tend to add mana or have enter-the-battlefield (ETB) effects related to destroying or exiling permanents, weird artifacts do something far more unusual or unpredictable, often disrupting the flow of the game in unexpected ways.

#38. Chimeric Coils

I'm not sure how a 1-drop artifact that turns into a creature when you need it is necessarily good, but you can, theoretically, spend your infinite mana on it and swing for lethal at an unprotected opponent. What this colorless card really misses is trample.

#37. Acorn Catapult

Acorn Catapult is a fun 4-mana artifact that can ping any target and that player or that target’s owner creates a 1/1 Squirrel token for the trouble. Maybe a 1-mana ping is way too much value without drawbacks, so WotC decided to add a body along with it. There’s a somewhat convoluted combo along with Cacophodon + Darksteel Plate + Ashnod's Altar for those willing to take the fun part out of this card.

#36. Avarice Amulet

Opponents gaining control of your permanents is a theme among weird artifacts, although I don't know what the appeal of this is. Still, Avarice Amulet gives a decent boost to a creature and also provides card draw. You just need to make sure your creature doesn’t die; otherwise, you lose control of it.

#35. Bounty Board

Bounty Board has politics written all over it. First, the discourse on why a creature shouldn’t be targeted with this may need to happen, and later, opponents should discuss whether to kill it. Either way, it’s a win-win for you as the controller, as you can somewhat control the board state with just a single card.

#34. Bucknard's Everfull Purse

For 3 mana and a bit of luck, you can get up to four Treasure tokens with this card. The slight drawback is that you lose control of Bucknard's Everfull Purse, and other players will benefit from its ability by just paying 1 mana. At worst, they’ll get even by just getting a Treasure token. Of course, it fits in decks that rely on passing things to other players, such as those with the likes of Inniaz, the Gale Force as their Azorius commander.

#33. Clockwork Fox

Clockwork Fox will be everybody’s favorite pet around the table as it provides two cards to each player when it leaves the battlefield. This last part is important as you can use flicker effects on it instead of sacrificing it. That is, if you benefit from players drawing extra cards.

#32. Coveted Jewel

“With great power comes great responsibility” is what Uncle Ben preached and became famous for. Well, Coveted Jewel basically follows the same narrative as you get to draw three cards and ramp up ahead 3 more mana. Unfortunately, if you miss blocking even one creature, you lose control over it and the attacking player gets to draw three new cards. Of course, this can be somewhat good if you expect to get back this artifact sooner rather than later, with the help of creatures that can’t be blocked like Triton Shorestalker or Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive.

#31. Genesis Chamber

I remember pairing Genesis Chamber along with Norin the Wary to ping your opponents consistently through the course of the game whenever you had Impact Tremors or Purphoros, God of the Forge already on the field. Note that this ability also triggers and benefits whenever opponents’ creatures enter, so it's possible for a lot of tokens to fill the board relatively quickly. One quick way to bypass this is to use Vandalblast to clear the extra unwanted tokens.

#30. Hithlain Rope

I’m not sure why Hithlain Rope can’t be sacrificed, maybe it's something lore-wise that I’m missing, and if so, please fill my lack of knowledge in the comments. Anyways, search a land, and pass the baton to the player to the right is the name of the game with this card. From time to time, drawing an extra card is also a good choice.

#29. Model of Unity

Voting is a mechanic designed to benefit you most of the time, and even if you lose, Model of Unity makes it so you get rewarded at least by letting you scry. I'm not sure how much this makes a difference for other players, as it incentivizes them to choose the option you voted for, but at least it’s a way to incline the balance in your favor a bit more.

#28. Pendant of Prosperity

Speaking of weird artifacts, Pendant of Prosperity is one that comes into play already under your opponent’s control, and unlike other weird artifacts, it doesn’t change control over the course of the game. Instead, you benefit each time your opponent activates its ability, allowing both the owner and the chosen player some extra card advantage and potential ramp.

#27. Scrawling Crawler

Scrawling Crawler was introduced in MTG Foundations, and it gives players an extra card at the beginning of its owner’s draw step, all while punishing opponents each time they draw cards, which can be annoying. That said, it’s a fine answer against players who like to run Rhystic Study or Mystic Remora.

#26. Spectral Searchlight + Victory Chimes

Most of the time, Spectral Searchlight acts as a normal mana rock for 3 mana, but the interesting part it is that you can choose to “help” a player and give them some mana. Again, politics. Some players may be 1 mana shy from casting their next spell and will be compelled to get it from you if you controlling the Searchlight as part of a nonaggression. Notably, this was printed at a time when mana burn still existed, and you could deal damage by giving people mana at a time where they couldn't spend it.

A very similar card is Victory Chimes, but this one has the particularity that it’s untapped on each upkeep and you can give 1 more mana to every other player on their turn despite adding only colorless mana.

#25. Aeon Engine

Aeon Engine is a card I can see that’ll make the player to your right angry, as they’ll now have to wait a whole new round before their turn, essentially skipping their next turn. Outside of that, you just change the table order, and the card has no practical use in 1v1.

#24. Spy Kit

Why would you run Spy Kit, you may ask? Well, there may be some decks that benefit from it, like Pack Rat and Seven Dwarves, among others, that gain buffs based on the number of cards you control with the same name.

#23. Tempting Contract

Your opponents may be tempted to get the extra Treasure token you can give them with Tempting Contract. In practice, I just see this as a 4-mana do-nothing card as it can easily be treated as though it doesn’t exist and you just spent a turn casting it for no benefit.

#22. Wishclaw Talisman

Wishclaw Talisman is a very popular, yet weird artifact that can act as a tutor to assemble missing combo pieces. The idea is that you use it only on the turn you want to finish off the game, as you give control of it to another opponent upon activation, who can then search for their win condition and close the game otherwise.

#21. Crooked Scales

Crooked Scales is a weird removal spell that requires two targets upon activation and a lot of luck to actually destroy a creature. For each miss, you either lose your creature or pay 3 or more mana for an extra coin flip to try it again. This cycle repeats endlessly until you win the coin flip or run out of mana to pay.

#20. Knowledge Pool

At first, Knowledge Pool may seem like a very fun artifact to play as you or your opponent won't be casting the spells they play, but rather, the ones exiled with this artifact. While you can set up power plays with the likes of Sensei's Divining Top or Brainstorm before resolving the Pool and also mess with players using countermagic, the biggest way to break its potential is by pairing it with the likes of Drannith Magistrate or Teferi, Time Raveler to shut down your opponents and disable them from casting spells. Still, its play pattern is very unique and should be used wisely to not get hated by the whole table.

#19. Krark's Thumb

A simple and effective way to manipulate coin flip strategies is to get a second chance at getting a better result thanks to Krark's Thumb.

#18. Boompile

For only 4 mana, Boompile can be used to destroy all nonland permanents, which would be a very broken thing if it didn’t rely on the coin flip to pull it off.

#17. Marina Vendrell's Grimoire

Marina Vendrell's Grimoire is a very expensive way to get yourself killed if you’re not careful. All the main abilities look great, but you should be careful not to get hit or find yourself with no cards in hand. Note that you can spend all cards in your hand and still not lose the game, as its last ability only triggers if you lose life, something that you can avoid by building a robust field or if your plan is to have your last card be a Time Walk and draw many more cards on the extra turn.

#16. Naked Singularity

If you’re looking for a way to play the game differently, Naked Singularity is a fun one to run along with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth. That can turn the battlefield into a chaos state for as long as you can pay the cumulative upkeep of this card.

#15. Commander's Plate

If you’re looking for an equipment card that can give your creatures protection from many colors, then Commander's Plate is a perfect fit. It's ideal with dual or mono-colored decks with cheap mana value commanders like Kytheon, Hero of Akros or Koll, the Forgemaster, the latter being optimal as an equipment commander. Strike that, try this in a colorless deck where you'll have protection from all colors!

#14. Omen Machine

Omen Machine reminds me of One with the Multiverse for its ability to let you cast spells for free, but one that also relies heavily on luck as no players will be able to draw cards, and you can’t really manipulate your library with popular cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor. This effect changes the battlefield as a whole, affecting you and your opponents' draws and creating a chaotic but fun environment to play with.

#13. Timesifter

Timesifter is a chaotic artifact that shakes up turn order by giving extra turns to the player with the highest mana value card on top of their library. It’s unpredictable and favors decks with expensive cards, but it can just as easily benefit your opponents, making it a wild card in any game, so be aware of it. That said, using library-manipulating cards like Brainsurge along with it is a must.

#12. Bubble Matrix

While Bubble Matrix’s effect is pretty straightforward, it’ll make you read it twice just to make sure you’re not missing anything. All damage dealt to creatures is reduced to 0. Not prevented, reduced, which means it bypasses combat and other sources of damage. I'm not sure how it works with deathtouch and trample, but if you do, please let us know in the comments!

#11. Liar's Pendulum

Liar's Pendulum adds an extra level of complexity to the game as it’s great for messing with your opponents' heads and gaining card advantage if you can outsmart them for the mere price of just 2 mana.

#10. Jester's Mask

I love how Jester's Mask lets you completely mess with an opponent's hand, and it’s perfect for disrupting their strategy or giving them a handful of useless cards like lands in the late game. The small drawback is that it enters the battlefield tapped, making you wait for another turn to use it unless you add cards like Clock of Omens to the mix.

#9. Blinding Powder

Some people may be looking for a piece of equipment that lets a creature escape damage in combat. Blinding Powder is a great way to protect key creatures from dying in battle, especially with frail commanders that may rely on attacking to trigger abilities like Alesha, Who Smiles at Death.

#8. Ice Cauldron

Ice Cauldron is a complicated but versatile artifact for storing and casting spells later. For and a tap, you exile a nonland card from your hand, note the mana spent to activate it, and put a charge counter on the Cauldron. You can cast that card anytime while it’s exiled. Later, you can tap and remove the charge counter to generate the same type and amount of mana you spent earlier, but you can only use it to cast the exiled card. It’s tricky to use, but it's great for planning ahead!

#7. Hot Soup

There are many ways to make creatures unblockable that have been printed throughout the game’s history, and Hot Soup is a risky but fun piece of equipment that does exactly that for relatively cheap. The downside, however, is that if it takes any damage, even from something small, it’s destroyed.

#6. Magnetic Web

Unlike other weird artifacts, this quirky Magnetic Web forces chaos in combat and can be used as a fun way to stir up trouble and manipulate the battlefield, all for the cost of just 1 mana per activation.

#5. Arcum's Whistle

Similar to Magnetic Web, Arcum's Whistle is an artifact that forces creatures to attack by paying just 3 mana. I find it funny that you can target tapped mana dorks, and those will be killed at the end of combat.

#4. Scrying Glass

You choose a number and color for and a tap, and your opponent reveals their hand. If they have exactly that number of cards in the chosen color, you get to draw a card with Scrying Glass. You get both the benefit of drawing an extra card and access additional information that you can use to develop your board differently.

#3. Complex Automaton

While there are creatures like Kor Skyfisher that return permanents when they enter the battlefield, Complex Automaton is a creature that will be returned to your hand at the beginning of your upkeep if you control seven or more permanents. This can be useful for ETB triggers with the likes of Pandemonium or triggers that happen when artifacts enter. Aside from that, it’s not very good on its own, but it’s serviceable if you’re low on resources to trigger effects.

#2. Rishadan Pawnshop

Rishadan Pawnshop is a unique artifact from Mercadian Masques with a very specific effect: It allows you to shuffle a non-token permanent you control back into its owner's library for the cost of and tapping the artifact. This ability can be useful in a variety of situations, particularly in decks that rely on recurring or protecting certain permanents. It also can be used on steal strategies that use cards like Act of Treason, which temporarily give you control over a creature or a permanent.

#1. Leveler

Leveler is one of the craziest cards ever created; in theory, it's 100% unplayable. Let me introduce you to Nexus of Fate, a card that reshuffles itself whenever it’s cast but more importantly, will always be at the top after being cast with an empty library. Of course, this means infinite extra turns to swing with your big creature.

Wrap Up

Complex Automaton | Illustration by Dana Knutson

I have to be honest; this ranking makes no sense, as there isn’t an effect that’s necessarily better than the others, since they don’t share any common theme other than being weird artifacts. That said, sometimes the most unpredictable and bizarre effects can be the most fun to use, catching your opponents off guard and adding a layer of chaos to the game.

What do you think? Were there any that you didn’t know you might try next? Let us know in the comments!

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Take care, and see you next time!