Science! precon.
Stock Jeskai artifacts and energy with Dr.
At the table
Pod notes →- Keep
- Three lands with Jeskai access, a cheap artifact or rock, and an engine; Li begins in the command zone.
- Develop
- Cast artifacts for Li's energy, then budget energy and tap abilities separately.
- Finish
- Grow an artifact-creature board, fund Liberty Prime's combat, or protect a qualifying Mechanized Production upkeep.
- Watch out
- Energy is public. Danse activates from the battlefield and protects only artifact creatures and Humans; Overseer uses no energy.
Guide reviewed List 477f5edd
Rules and list review, not a playtest record. Turn windows and matchup advice are estimates. The list reference covers card quantities and the command zone; card changes require another guide and pod-note review.
Rules basis: Magic Comprehensive Rules, August 19, 2026. Bracket basis: Wizards’ October 2025 update and February 2026 follow-up.
Develop artifact mana and energy around Dr.
Full archetype
Madison Li, then choose a combat, value or upkeep-win route.
Opening hands
Seven cards from this build. Commanders start in the command zone. In multiplayer Commander, the first mulligan is free. For later mulligans, draw seven again; once you keep, put one card on the bottom for each mulligan beyond the free one.
KeepShow the seven
- Command Tower
- Island
- Mountain
- Arcane Signet
- Steel Overseer
- Panharmonicon
- Swords to Plowshares
Assumes Dr. Madison Li is the chosen commander in the command zone and a four-player Core pod. Three lands plus Arcane Signet develop and fix mana, while Steel Overseer and Panharmonicon give this hand a concrete plan. Check the timing of colored costs before choosing the first land.
BorderlineShow the seven
- Command Tower
- Island
- Steel Overseer
- Panharmonicon
- Swords to Plowshares
- Wake the Past
- Behemoth of Vault 0
Two lands make the expensive end of this hand dependent on further mana development. Steel Overseer is a reason to consider it on a later mulligan, but at seven cards with the multiplayer free mulligan available I would usually seek a more dependable third land or accelerator. Do not count a future draw as guaranteed.
MulliganShow the seven
- Command Tower
- Wake the Past
- Behemoth of Vault 0
- Austere Command
- Open the Vaults
- The Prydwen, Steel Flagship
- Liberty Prime, Recharged
One land and an expensive hand cannot reliably develop the stock plan. Keeping several attractive payoffs does not compensate for missing land drops; use the multiplayer free mulligan when available, then follow the London mulligan procedure if drawing again.
How it plays.
Core game plan
Develop artifact mana and energy sources, then deploy Dr. Madison Li from the command zone. Li rewards artifact casts; Panharmonicon does not double those cast triggers. Use energy for the effect that advances the current board instead of spending it automatically. Steel Overseer grows artifact creatures by tapping, without an energy payment. Liberty Prime requires two energy when it attacks or blocks, so budget each combat separately. Track energy openly with a clearly identified counter or die.
Key cards
- Dr. Madison Li. Artifact casts give you one energy. Tap and spend one energy for +1/+0, trample and haste; three to draw; five to return an artifact card tapped. She must be able to tap, and Panharmonicon does not double her cast trigger.
- Steel Overseer. Tap to put a +1/+1 counter on each artifact creature you control. No energy payment; Overseer must be able to tap, so summoning sickness matters.
- Sentinel Sarah Lyons. Gives all your creatures +2/+2 on any turn an artifact entered (trivially easy here) and can deal damage equal to your artifact count to a player when you go wide with battalion. A real finisher.
- Liberty Prime, Recharged. Vigilance, trample and haste; attacking or blocking triggers a requirement to pay two energy or sacrifice it. Its artifact-sacrifice ability provides energy and a card.
- Panharmonicon. Adds qualifying triggered abilities of permanents you control caused by an artifact or creature entering. It does not double cast triggers or all energy production.
- Sentry Bot. Flash, gets cheaper while you are being attacked, banks energy off attackers, and can put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control for three energy. Flexible defense that also grows your team.
- The Prydwen, Steel Flagship. A flying vehicle that spits out a 2/2 Knight every time another nontoken artifact enters, and those tokens get +2/+2 when an artifact entered that turn. It builds a wide board on its own.
- Mechanized Production. Copies the enchanted artifact during your upkeep and checks its eight-same-name-artifacts win condition as that trigger resolves; reaching eight at another time is not an immediate win.
- Sol Ring. One mana for a rock that taps for two colorless. It accelerates generic costs but does not supply your commander's required colors; Li only triggers if she is already on the battlefield when you cast it.
- Open the Vaults. A grindy reset that returns all artifacts and enchantments from every graveyard to the battlefield. After a board wipe it can rebuild your entire artifact base in one cast.
Combos and synergies
- Panharmonicon adds qualifying triggered abilities of permanents you control when an artifact or creature entering causes them to trigger; it does not double every energy effect or Li's cast trigger. Mechanized Production copies its enchanted artifact during your upkeep and checks its eight-artifacts-with-the-same-name win condition when that trigger resolves, not whenever the eighth artifact appears. Paladin Danse must be on the battlefield to exile himself for his ability; he gives your artifact creatures and Human creatures indestructible, not all artifacts, and has no built-in flash or blink permission.
Mulligan
- Three lands with Jeskai access, a cheap artifact or rock, and an engine; Li begins in the command zone.
- A balanced hand that develops an engine while retaining an answer to a meaningful opposing threat. Check tapped-land timing and required colors, not just total land count.
- Zero or one land without a dependable route to develop mana.
- Expensive payoffs without early ramp, or several synergy payoffs with no way to supply their required bodies, spells or resources.
- A hand relying on drawing the chosen commander: the commander starts in the command zone, not the opening seven.
Lines and sequencing
- Ramp with artifacts while making the colors needed to cast Li; colorless mana alone is not enough.
- Choose Li's energy spending based on whether you need a combat buff, cards or an artifact returned, and keep the energy count public.
- Activate Steel Overseer only when it can tap, including summoning-sickness restrictions; no energy is spent.
- Hold two energy for each Liberty Prime attack or block trigger you intend to satisfy.
- Use Danse from the battlefield before a destroy effect resolves, checking that the creatures you want to save are artifact creatures or Humans.
- Protect Mechanized Production through its upkeep trigger, or use the deck's mass recursion to rebuild after destruction.
Pilot difficulty
Intermediate. The main plan is readable, but sequencing, trigger timing and resource accounting matter. Use the pilot reference and worked interaction before taking a long turn.