Science! precon.
Science! is the stock Fallout Commander 2024 Jeskai precon led by Dr. Madison Li. You flood the board with artifacts, bank energy counters every time you cast one, and spend that energy to pump, draw, and reanimate while wide artifact-creature swings close the game.
Dr. Madison Li turns a steady stream of cheap artifacts into a battery of energy, and that energy converts directly into damage, card draw, and graveyard recursion. The deck wants a board full of artifacts and artifact creatures, then leverages anthem and counter effects to push a wide attack over the top.
How it plays.
Core game plan
Open on ramp and cheap artifacts so Dr. Madison Li and your payoffs come down ahead of curve, and so every artifact cast feeds her energy. Through the early turns you are building two resources at once: a wide board of artifact creatures and a pool of energy counters. Mid game you turn the corner with anthems and counter engines such as Steel Overseer, Sentinel Sarah Lyons, Sentry Bot, and Assaultron Dominator, while energy from Li keeps drawing you fresh gas and granting trample and haste so attackers connect. Behemoth of Vault 0, The Motherlode, and Synth Eradicator give the energy a removal outlet, and Liberty Prime plus a battalion swing or a Mechanized Production lock can end the game outright. The deck is grindy and resilient rather than fast, so play to the board, keep attacking, and let the artifact count snowball.
Key cards
- Dr. Madison Li. The engine. She banks an energy counter on every artifact cast, then taps to pump for trample and haste, draw a card for three energy, or return an artifact from your graveyard for five. Recast her if she dies because the whole deck is built around her energy.
- Steel Overseer. Best anthem in the deck. Each tap puts a +1/+1 counter on every artifact creature you control, and the counters stay, so it snowballs a wide board faster than any one-shot pump.
- 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. A vigilance, trample, haste threat that needs two energy to survive combat, and its sacrifice ability turns spent artifacts into energy and cards. Strong with the deck's energy production but watch the upkeep cost.
- Panharmonicon. Doubles every artifact and creature enter-the-battlefield trigger you control, which multiplies energy gains, token makers like The Prydwen, and value bodies like Solemn Simulacrum and Behemoth of Vault 0.
- 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. The deck's alternate win. Enchant an artifact you control, copy it each upkeep, and if you ever control eight or more artifacts sharing a name you win the game. Treasures, Clues, Food, and Thopters all help get there.
- Sol Ring. The format's premier accelerant. A turn-one Sol Ring lets you deploy Dr. Madison Li or two artifacts a turn early and banks energy the moment it is cast.
- 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
- Mechanized Production alternate win: Resolve Mechanized Production on a token-making artifact (or any artifact you can copy), then use token sources such as Nuka-Cola Vending Machine Treasures and Food, Whirler Rogue and Loyal Apprentice Thopters, or Nick Valentine Clues to reach eight or more artifacts with the same name. At your next upkeep the win-the-game clause triggers. This is slow and telegraphed, not an infinite loop.
- Dr. Madison Li artifact recursion: With Dr. Madison Li out and surplus energy, tap and pay five energy to return an artifact from your graveyard to the battlefield each turn. Pair it with cheap value artifacts and Panharmonicon to recur enter-the-battlefield effects. It is a value engine, not a loop.
- Steel Overseer plus go-wide anthems: Steel Overseer counters stack with Sentinel Sarah Lyons and Sentry Bot so a board of small artifact creatures quickly outgrows blockers, then Shaun copies a legendary attacker and Liberty Prime or a battalion swing closes.
Mulligan
- Two to four lands with at least one source of each color you need, plus a mana rock or Wayfarer's Bauble.
- An early artifact or two so Dr. Madison Li starts banking energy as soon as she lands.
- Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, or a Talisman, which let you deploy a turn ahead and jump-start the engine.
- A hand with both Dr. Madison Li (or a card-draw artifact) and a way to use energy such as Steel Overseer or Sentry Bot.
- One-land or zero-land hands, or hands with no colored sources for your spells.
- All payoffs and no early artifacts or ramp, so the energy engine never gets going.
- Top-heavy hands full of five-plus drops with nothing to do before turn four.
Lines and sequencing
- Lead with ramp: a turn-one Sol Ring or an early Talisman lets Dr. Madison Li and your anthems arrive ahead of curve.
- Cast cheap artifacts to bank energy before you tap Dr. Madison Li, so you always have fuel for her draw and pump abilities.
- Hold a small pile of energy for combat. Pump an attacker with trample and haste through a blocker, or drain energy into a Behemoth of Vault 0 or Synth Eradicator removal mode.
- Sequence Panharmonicon before your enter-the-battlefield artifacts and token makers to double the value.
- Protect Dr. Madison Li with Lightning Greaves so opponents cannot easily break the energy engine, and be ready to recast her since the deck leans on her.
- Go wide before you swing big: drop your anthem (Steel Overseer, Sentinel Sarah Lyons) and a token maker, then attack with battalion online for the Sarah Lyons reach damage.
Pilot difficulty
Intermediate