The 25 Best Double-Faced Artifacts in Magic Ranked

Last updated on March 19, 2024

The Golden-Gear Colossus | Illustration by Kekai Kotaki

Welcome to Magic: The Gathering, the only place on Earth where it’s okay to be conniving and two-faced. Double-faced, to be technical, but you get the point. Thanks to the printing of Tetzin, Gnome Champion in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander, double-faced cards are back in vogue, specifically artifacts.

These have been around since Dark Ascension and have cropped back up in almost every set featuring double-faced cards, but now there’s a commander that wants you to put them all in the same deck. And if you’re not here specifically for Tetzin…, why are you here?

What Are Double-Faced Artifacts in MTG?

Dowsing Dagger | Illustration by Florian de Gesincourt

For our purposes, a double-faced artifact is any card with two sides, at least one of which is an artifact. It can be an artifact on both sides, an artifact that transforms into a non-artifact, or vice versa with an artifact only on the back half.

We’re focusing on Commander here, where most of these cards actually see some amount of play.

Honorable Mention: Incubator Tokens

The Incubator tokens from March of the Machine featured on some of the strongest cards from 2023 (Chrome Host Seedshark, Sunfall), to the point where they almost overshadowed the big splashy battle mechanic from the same set. They’re even responsible for a rule change that now allows token copies of double-sided cards to transform, whereas they previously couldn’t.

My only gripe is that Incubators are currently linked to the Phyrexian creature type, and since they’re phased out of existence for the foreseeable future, it makes it much less likely we’ll see the mechanic again. I’m hoping it gets the amass treatment and gets changed to “Incubate Phyrexian X” so we can see it used on different creature types. Incubate dinosaurs, anyone?

#25. Azor’s Gateway / Sanctum of the Sun

I recall people losing their minds over Sanctum of the Sun when it was revealed, but as appealing as it is to tap a single land for 30-40 mana, it’s actually appropriately gated behind the Azor's Gateway mini-game. Personal opinion: Looting isn’t worth spending extra mana on in Commander, so the Gateway’s not really getting there on its own, and the threat of this flipping is enough to attract the attention of your opponents. A decent amount working against it, but still super cool and fun for that “achievement unlocked” feeling.

#24. Matzalantli, the Great Door / The Core

Matzalantli, the Great Door is a reworked version of Azor's Gateway, with an arguably better front side and a comparable back half with The Core still tapping for obscene amounts of mana. It’s not too hard to set up Matzalantli’s “delirium” requirement, and the free looting’s always nice if you can find the time to stick this on board.

#23. Conqueror’s Galleon / Conqueror’s Foothold

Ah, take me back to a time when I could slot Conqueror's Galleon into any deck and feel good about it. I’m still fond of the card, but it’s just Slow with a capital S these days. Conqueror's Foothold is ramp when it transforms, and it gives you a lot of late-game inevitability. On the other hand, the entire package is such a colossal mana-sink, and a 2/10 vehicle isn’t that interesting on its own. Maybe Doran, the Siege Tower knows how to steer a boat?

#22. Dowsing Dagger / Lost Vale

Dowsing Dagger’s a funny little card; give an opponent some dorky blockers, get yourself a land that taps for 3 mana every turn. You have to land a hit first, but you’re also free to attack whoever you’d like to get your Lost Vale online. Hmm… Lost Vale, Lotus Vale… not a coincidence, I’m guessing.

#21. Jorn, God of Winter / Kaldring, the Rimestaff

Apologies to Kaldring, the Rimestaff, but Jorn, God of Winter’s the real breadwinner here. Assuming you like your bread frozen. Snow decks can make good use of both sides, but Jorn’s essentially a mana-doubler in these decks, whereas Kaldring is a slow, attrition-based card that requires some set-up. Still, it meets our criteria, even if the artifact half is lacking.

#20. Invasion of Vryn / Overloaded Mage-Ring

I’m still getting a feel for how battles play out in Commander. They don’t come up too often, and they can be difficult to defeat and transform at times. I suspect that Overloaded Mage-Ring is worth the effort. It starts off as Invasion of Vryn, A.K.A. Sift in permanent form, but defeating the battle stockpiles a one-time copy effect. Note the Mage-Ring can copy any spell, not just instants and sorceries.

#19. Clay-Fired Bricks / Cosmium Kiln

Admittedly, Clay-Fired Bricks is more of a Limited powerhouse than a Commander staple, but some decks love a permanent that fetches a land. It can be blinked by Brago, King Eternal or sacrificed to Oswald Fiddlebender, though there’s some competition with The Birth of Meletis. It’s just a matter of whether you think Cosmium Kiln provides better upside than the early Wall token from the saga.

#18. Treasure Map / Treasure Cove

Shame that Treasure Map isn’t an X-spell, since X marks the spot! Still, it’s a clean card advantage tool that actually got a bump in power after its initial printing due to the sheer amount of Treasure support that’s been added to the game. Treasure Cove turns Treasure into card draw, though it’s still a slower process than just running Reckoner Bankbuster.

#17. Primal Amulet / Primal Wellspring

Primal Amulet used to be a mainstay in spellslinger decks, but people have been cutting it more and more lately. Makes sense, given the time and effort it takes to transform, though Primal Wellspring is certainly worth the wait. Try out some proliferate spells to speed up the process, since they’ll account for two charge counters per spell.

#16. Brass’s Tunnel-Grinder / Tecutlan, the Searing Rift

Much like Primal Wellspring, Tecutlan, the Searing Rift is a goal worth working towards. And it’s a cave? Irrelevant, but cool! The real question is whether Brass's Tunnel-Grinder is playable or not. People love Valakut Awakening, but that card doubles as a land when you need one. Descending for Grinder shouldn’t be hard, but there aren’t many ways to speed up the process, so your opponents will have ample time to remove it. I suppose it’s good enough in a wheel deck, and if you get to Tecutlan, send a postcard!

#15. Starscream, Power Hungry / Starscream, Seeker Leader

These Transformers cards exhaust me to no end, and for that reason I’m only including a couple on the list. I don’t really care how good Megatron or Optimus Prime is, I find the entire batch of cards horrendous, and I physically and mentally age while reading them. Starscream, Power Hungry and Starscream, Seeker Leader do some unique monarch stuff that would be way cooler on a card with a lot fewer words and sides.

#14. Birgi, God of Storytelling / Harnfel, Horn of Bounty

Birgi, God of Storytelling is one of the few Kaldheim gods where both sides of the card are scary on their own. Birgi’s a mana-making machine and contributes to several infinite combos, whereas Harnfel, Horn of Bounty makes sure you’re never drawing dead and plays well with “paradox” commanders like Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald.

#13. The Enigma Jewel / Locus of Enlightenment

How are we feeling about The Enigma Jewel, folks? At the time of writing it’s still pretty fresh off the presses, so I haven’t seen it in action much, but I have to imagine Sol Ring #2 for “activated ability decks” is something to pay attention to. Locus of Enlightenment is such a mess of a design, but I’m sure it gets the creative juices flowing for some players out there.

#12. Tarrian’s Journal / The Tomb of Aclazotz

You’d prefer your sac outlets to work at instant speed, but Tarrian's Journal gets a pass. If you’re running expendable tokens (like, I dunno, Treasure), you end up with a nice little card advantage engine. The Tomb of Aclazotz is present if you’re willing to go hellbent, though I’m not sure how often an artifact/aristocrats deck wants to transition into full-on reanimator, considering the finality counters put a damper on death triggers.

#11. The Mightstone and Weakstone

Full disclosure, I almost missed The Mightstone and Weakstone since it doesn’t show up in a Scryfall search for double-faced cards. It does in fact qualify, though it obviously can’t be force-transformed with Tetzin, Gnome Champion or through any other means than melding it with Urza, Lord Protector or Mishra, Claimed by Gix. It actually makes me a little nervous that I’m missing some other niche double-faced artifact, but I’m sure you’ll let me know if I do.

#10. Reidane, God of the Worthy / Valkmira, Protector’s Shield

My suspicion is that people who run Reidane, God of the Worthy in their deck aren’t casting Valkmira, Protector's Shield nearly enough. Reidane’s certainly a decent attacker that taxes expensive noncreature spells, but Valkmira’s surprisingly effective, too. It basically gives you and all your permanents a blanketed ward ability, while preventing chip damage from any source. No more dying to Squirrel Nest combos or Goblin Bombardment loops!

#9. Unstable Glyphbridge / Sandswirl Wanderglyph

I’ve lost against Unstable Glyphbridge in Lost Caverns Limited enough that it’s piqued my interest for Commander. I like board wipes that give you control over what sticks around, and being a permanent makes this an interesting, maybe even oppressive sweeper. It seems better-suited for artifact decks than Cataclysmic Gearhulk, which often eats up a bunch of your material with its effect. Sandswirl Wanderglyph is an even better Angelic Arbiter, since the trigger locks your opponents out of attacks if they used a removal spell to clear it off.

#8. Cosima, God of the Voyage / The Omenkeel

I love both sides of Cosima, God of the Voyage. Send Cosima on vacation, wait a few turns, then welcome it back with a whole new grip of cards. Even better if you’re hitting extra land drops, and it’s a near-uncounterable (but very slow) way to draw a ton of cards at once.

You thought Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer was bad? Check out the hull on The Omenkeel, a theft vehicle that battles in the early game well enough and makes it easier to hit your land drops. And yes, I know Ragavan’s better. Stupid monkey.

#7. Eye of Ojer Taq / Apex Observatory

I always push back on the “3-cost mana rocks aren’t playable” debate, under the pretense that the 3-mana rocks you’re playing have reasonable upside. How’s casting spells for free with Apex Observatory for upside? Sure, it’s an investment to transform the Eye, but remember it can pay for itself, so it’s effectively 5 mana to craft, and the back side should more than refund itself with the very first spell you cast for free.

#6. Poppet Stitcher / Poppet Factory

Poppet Stitcher and Poppet Factory form a tight little package wherein you essentially turn your instants and sorceries into 3/3 token creatures, like a supercharged Young Pyromancer. The card’s mostly played for its front half, but the Factory’s a clever way to circumvent decayed on the Zombie tokens when it’s time to get into the red zone.

#5. Tergrid, God of Fright / Tergrid’s Lantern

One haughty laugh for Tergrid, God of Fright making this light simply because it has Tergrid's Lantern stapled to the back of it. The Lantern doesn’t matter in the slightest, so I have to sit here and mise over this miserable card simply because there’s a lantern in the background. High marks for being stupidly strong, but I’m knocking it down a few pegs because it’s only here on a technicality.

#4. Thaumatic Compass / Spires of Orazca

Love, love, love me a Thaumatic Compass. If you’re hurting for lands, the Compass helps you out, and if you’re not then you’re one step closer to transforming it into Spires of Orazca. That’s close enough to a Maze of Ith, but tapping for mana is a huge deal, especially if you already got any utility out of the front half.

#3. Thousand Moons Smithy / Barracks of the Thousand

The token created by Thousand Moons Smithy is better than the usual Construct/”Karnstruct” tokens we’re used to seeing, and that’s already one of the best tokens you can make in artifact-heavy decks. Barracks of the Thousand is a pretty absurd reward for transforming this, spitting out more heavy-duty Gnomes basically for free. It’s balanced though; the Smithy can only be transformed on your precombat main phase, so you’ll have to wait a turn after casting it. And if you tap the Smithy itself as part of the cost, it’ll remain tapped for another full turn cycle.

#2. Slicer, Hired Muscle / Slicer, High-Speed Antagonist

If you want games to end fast, Slicer, Hired Muscle’s your guy… er, robot. A couple of cards have attempted the whole “pass around the table and attack opponents” design but none come close to Slicer’s damage output. Slicer, High-Speed Antagonist might as well not even exist since you almost always choose to give it to your opponents.

#1. Tetzin, Gnome Champion / The Golden-Gear Colossus

There it is, the reason you’re likely here at all. As your commander, Tetzin, Gnome Champion single-handedly gives players a reason to dredge up all their old double-sided artifacts. The front side mills and draws cards while The Golden-Gear Colossus generates board presence and cheats on some of the harder transform conditions. The Core and Sanctum of the Sun are suddenly that much more achievable.

Best Double-Faced Artifact Payoffs

Tetzin, Gnome Champion is the main reason to focus so intently on double-faced artifacts. It’s such a specific and unique strategy that makes pretty much any double-faced artifact worth consideration, though with some exceptions. Remember that this list includes cards that aren’t actually artifacts on the front side, like Birgi, God of Storytelling and Invasion of Vryn. Those don’t work as well with Tetzin, so be a little more choosey which artifacts you include.

The fact that double-facing artifacts are permanents on the battlefield matters quite a bit for decks that can put permanents to good use. For cards like Clay-Fired Bricks and Invasion of Vryn, simply getting an effect and leaving behind something to blink or sacrifice is good enough. Of course, in these situations you could normally care less that the permanents transform, since you’re rarely interested in what the back half offers anyway.

There are a few hyper-specific cards that care about permanents transforming, like Corruption of Towashi and Cult of the Waxing Moon, but none that are too competitive in Commander.

As much as I loathe them, I should reiterate that all the Transformers creatures are indeed double-faced artifacts, so they’re all in consideration for any deck that cares about artifacts or double-faced cards in general. Hope you like reading!

See You on The Other Side!

Thousand Moons Smithy | Illustration by Manuel Castañon

It’s a flip-card joke, don’t be so morbid!

Double-faced cards have been popular ever since their induction in Innistrad, and now Tetzin, Gnome Champion gives you reason to care about double-faced artifacts moving forward. If you’re inspired and you want to dig into more cards like this, you can do so with a simple Scryfall search.

I am curious how Tetzin’s been performing for everyone, or if there are any other interesting places that people have found for double-faced artifacts. Sorry, you can spare me the Transformers stories, but for anything other than that, let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

Thank you for making Draftsim your #1 stop for all things Magic!