Iron Man, Titan of Innovation Commander Deck Guide

Iron Man, Titan of Innovation | Illustrated by Justyna Dura

Iron Man and Tony Stark paved the way for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)’s initial success back in 2008 and was a huge cornerstone of the MCU. For those closer to my age, the character was already present in comics, Marvel games, and cartoons. Flash forward to 2024, and we finally have an Iron Man card in MTG. Iron Man, Titan of Innovation is an exciting new Izzet commander () that has a Birthing Pod-like ability for artifacts.

I’d say the character should be Dimir (), but who am I to judge? I’d also say that the MCU now stands for Magic Cardgame Universe – and by the looks, Marvel’s going to be a huge part of it!

Jokes aside, here’s a take on an EDH artifact deck with Iron Man in the command zone, so let’s see what makes this deck whirr, shall we?

The Deck

Urza, Lord High Artificer | Illustration by Grzegorz Rutkowski

The Commander: Iron Man, Titan of Innovation

Iron Man, Titan of Innovation is pretty much self-contained. It attacks with haste (and flying, of course!) and makes a Treasure token with its attack trigger, regardless of whether it’s blocked or not. Then, you may sacrifice a noncreature artifact to tutor any artifact from your deck that costs 1 more mana than the sacrificed artifact and put it into play.

You see where this is going. Attack, make a Treasure, then immediately sacrifice it to tutor for a 1-mana artifact.

It’s very similar to a Birthing Pod activation for artifacts. Iron Man can tutor 1MV artifacts each time it attacks. And it gets better if you have cards like Prophetic Prism around to grant you a benefit when they ETB, then sac them to tutor for a 3-drop artifact, and so on.

Attacking and making Treasures every turn is also strong since it’s a natural form of ramp. You can also sacrifice artifact lands you don’t need anymore to get 1-drops. To make the most out of this artifact commander, I’m filling this deck with cheap artifacts, ways to profit from them, and also ways to profit from sacrificing them. Since we’re in Izzet colors, I can play classic counterspells and burn spells to control the board as needed.

The Creatures

Many creatures in this deck are artifacts themselves or synergize with artifacts. A typical example is Goldspan Dragon, a card that works very similarly to this commander while doubling the mana production from Treasures. Glóin, Dwarf Emissary give you Treasures and a way to turn them into goad effects. Sai, Master Thopterist and Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender are a good pair, with the former sacrificing artifacts to draw cards while the latter profits from those sacrifices.

The Energizers

Some of these cards allow you to play artifacts for cheap, or just generate mana in small bursts. Enthusiastic Mechanaut and Etherium Sculptor are artifact deck staples, while cards like Jhoira, Ageless Innovator works as pseudo-ramp for artifacts. I’ve also included Urza, Lord High Artificer, a card that mimics Tolarian Academy, and Storm the Vault, which has the potential to become an Academy.

Iron Man’s Gadgets

One advantage of being able to tutor for 1MV artifacts whenever you attack is that you can fetch good equipment cards like Shadowspear, Tarrian's Soulcleaver, or Commander's Plate. Think of Iron Man upgrading his Mark I armor into Mark II, III, and beyond. You can also get cards like Sol Ring, Terrarion, or Basilisk Collar. Finally, an equipment called Sword of Wealth and Power is Tony Stark as hell… and the card’s also pretty good.

Repulsor Blasts and Unibeams

These cards are the Counterburn aspect of the deck, something that’s expected from an Izzet deck. Good counterspells like Arcane Denial and Negate can protect you from bad stuff, while Rapid Hybridization, Chaos Warp, and Galvanic Blasts are interesting and flexible removal spells.

Jarvis, I Need Something Here Quick

This deck has some ways to tutor artifacts without your commander. Cards like Fabricate, Whir of Invention, and Treasure Mage are in the deck for situations where your engines need some help.

Fuel for the Long Game

A good chunk of this deck generates card advantage along the way. Your commander’s attacks are already a source, so you can tutor a card that either draws a card when it enters, or is an egg that can be cracked for a card. Professional Face-Breaker lets you cast a card from exile in exchange for a Treasure. You also have cards like Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain that steadily draws cards, Rain of Riches that gives your spells cascade, and so on.

Sweepers

This deck doesn’t play that many sweepers, but Blasphemous Act and Cyclonic Rift are cards that save you whenever you’re in big trouble. I’d also consider Desynchronization here as a blue sweeper, and in this deck you’ll keep plenty of your cards on the battlefield.

Photon Cannons

These are the finishers, or the high-impact cards. It’s what you get when you deplete your special bar. Cyberdrive Awakener is no joke, as you can turn all your artifacts into 4/4 fliers, and it can be tutored by Treasure Mage. Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer is another one, turning all your Treasures into 2/1 creatures or bigger. You can go further and transform Idol of Oblivion into a 10/10 Eldrazi token, which is best buddies with Brudiclad. Kappa Cannoneer is another beater that can go the distance, being able to attack as an unblockable 5/5 or bigger.

The Mana Base

This commander can make Treasures when attacking, and many cards you play also generate Treasure. Another aspect is that you can tutor for good mana rocks like Sol Ring or Talisman of Creativity. This mana base relies heavily on these for ramp and mana fixing. You have 20 basic lands, plus some dual lands to help with fixing mana, and many of your cards are colorless anyway. You also have some utility lands that are strong with many artifacts like Power Depot and Inventors' Fair, as well as some artifact lands like Seat of the Synod that you can sacrifice later for value.

The Strategy

Early game, you want to get some synergies going, with cards like Sai, Master Thopterist or Jhoira, Ageless Innovator. The artifact cost reducers like Etherium Sculptor shine in this game phase. It’s also good to have a mana rock so you can cast your commander on turn 4, start attacking right away, and produce Treasures. Remember that a 1MV utility artifact can be sacrificed to get a protection card like Swiftfoot Boots so you can keep your commander on the battlefield for longer. A creature like Trinket Mage can get you an artifact land if you need a land drop early, and that’s nice as well. Slapping a good equipment like Shadowspear on Iron Man does wonders for you too, getting some lifelink that blue cards and red cards aren’t supposed to have.

Going into the late game, there’s some options to pack a punch, especially if your good equipment pieces are around. Myr Battlesphere, Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer, or Cyberdrive Awakener are good at closing games, and you’ll have a tough time tutoring them by sacrificing a 5-drop to your commander, but there’s plenty of card draw in the deck to find these threats. Retrofitter Foundry is also very interesting in the late game as a mana sink.

Combos and Interactions

There are some tips and tricks for this deck to keep in mind.

For starters, remember that you can only sacrifice a noncreature artifact to Iron Man’s ability, but you can fetch any artifact card, including artifact creatures.

A very interesting interaction from this deck is with Sensei's Divining Top. You can easily tutor it with your commander, and once you have it in play, you can spin the Top and activate it before you attack. It’s effectively a “free draw,” since the Top will be on top of your library, but you can tutor it again by sacrificing a Treasure.

Scrap Trawler can produce very interesting loops when you’re sacrificing artifacts, especially when Myr Retriever dies.

Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender is very powerful if you’re constantly sacrificing treasure.

Esoteric Duplicator is a messed-up card. Getting to pay 2 mana to get what you’ve just sacrificed again is interesting and leads to value loops.

Spine of Ish Sah can be interesting if you cast it, sacrifice it to your commander, and fetch an 8-mana artifact to put into play – the only one is Darksteel Monolith, by the way, but you get to cast the Spine again from your hand.

Rule 0 Violations Check

This deck is pretty tame as far as EDH power level goes, specifically if we’re talking combos. You can tune the list to have a good 1-drop to tutor that leads into a good 2-drop, which inevitably combos.

Budget Options

This deck is already on a tight budget, and I avoided including cards like Chrome Mox which cost more than the entire deck added together. Some cards are on the warning side of prices, though, so here are some suggestions.

Equipment like Shadowspear and Commander's Plate can be replaced by cheaper cards, like Mithril Coat or Bloodforged Battle-Axe.

The classic Commander staple Cyclonic Rift can be replaced by Aetherize.

Dual lands can also be replaced as needed for budget lands; there’s no need to spend a lot of cash on premium dual lands.

Other Builds

Having an artifact tutor in the command zone opens the doors for plenty of competitive builds. Seeing as you can tutor stuff, it’s easy to get a card like Isochron Scepter and combo off with Dramatic Reversal and the like. You can also tutor Aetherflux Reservoir, opening up new possibilities.
Tony Stark can also be a Voltron commander (a perfect fit from the point of view of flavor!), but aside from the card advantage you get by tutoring 1MV equipment repeatedly, I can see other commanders doing better, especially because you miss on white.

You can also play a spellslinger deck, especially because prowess also cares about casting artifacts.

All of This Is Proof That Tony Stark Has a…

Blasphemous Act | Illustration by Daarken

Viable in EDH, indeed, or even cEDH. Having a Birthing Pod in the command zone creates many possibilities. I like it when commanders don’t have an obvious way of building around them, like a zombie typal deck where you put the best zombie cards and call it a day. And you can always think of Iron Man, Titan of Innovation as a Goldspan Dragon that gives you some value each time you attack.

Which direction would you take this deck? Which combos would you include? Let me know in the comments section below, or in our Discord Server.

Thanks for reading, and take care!