Overview:

This Jeskai artifact deck leverages Akiri and Kraum to build a synergistic artifact swarm strategy focused on overwhelming board presence, explosive card advantage, and multiple scalable win conditions. Akiri serves as a potent, cheaply castable threat that scales directly with artifact count, providing early pressure and commander damage potential. Kraum offers crucial card draw in multiplayer settings, enabling the deck to refuel after deploying artifacts. The primary game plan involves deploying numerous artifacts to power up cards like Bronze Guardian, Broodstar, and Master of Etherium, while generating value through token producers like Sai, Master Thopterist and Digsite Engineer. Key win conditions include massive combat swings, direct damage via Alibou, Ancient Witness, alternate wins with Hellkite Tyrant, and poison/toxic with White Sun's Twilight. The strategy is vulnerable to commander removal (especially Akiri), but Kraum provides inherent card advantage resilience.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4): Prioritize mana rocks (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Signets), artifact lands (Darksteel Citadel, Seat of the Synod), and cost reducers (Foundry Inspector, Enthusiastic Mechanaut). Cast Akiri early for pressure. Use Esper Sentinel and Smothering Tithe to generate advantage/disruption.
2. Board Development (Turns 3-6): Deploy key engines: Sai, Master Thopterist, Thopter Spy Network, Forensic Gadgeteer, Digsite Engineer. Utilize Jhoira, Ageless Innovator to cheat artifacts. Cast Kraum when opponents are likely to trigger its draw. Scale threats like Bronze Guardian or Darksteel Juggernaut.
3. Win Condition Execution (Turns 5-8+):
   • Combat: Overwhelm with wide/tall artifacts. Use Haunted Cloak for trample/haste. Bloodforged Battle-Axe amplifies damage and multiplies. Alibou, Ancient Witness burns opponents while scrying.
   • Alternate Wins: Steal artifacts with Hellkite Tyrant and win via its condition. Generate lethal poison with White Sun's Twilight (especially with X=5+ board wipe).
   • Value Combos: Lithoform Engine copies key triggers/spells. Mycosynth Lattice + Karn, Legacy Reforged enables massive mana.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 2-3 lands, including artifact lands if possible.
• Prioritize early ramp (Sol Ring, Signets, 1-2 mana artifacts).
• Look for at least one engine piece (Sai, Forensic Gadgeteer, Digsite Engineer) or scalable threat (Bronze Guardian).
• Hands with card advantage (Esper Sentinel, Smothering Tithe) or protection (Lightning Greaves) are strong.
• Avoid hands lacking early plays or clogged with high-CMC spells without ramp.

Key Tips:

• Maximize Artifact Synergy: Encroaching Mycosynth/Mycosynth Lattice turn non-artifacts into fuel for all your scaling effects and cost reducers. Use Treasure Vault for explosive mana.
• Protect Critical Engines: Use Lightning Greaves, Padeem, Consul of Innovation, and Assimilation Aegis (exiling threats) to shield key pieces like Sai, Jhoira, or Hellkite Tyrant.
• Leverage Card Advantage: Kraum's draw, Thopter Spy Network, Forensic Gadgeteer, Smothering Tithe, and The Reality Chip (topdeck play) ensure continuous fuel. Sacrifice Clues/Treasures for value if needed.
• Tutor Wisely: Inventors' Fair and Repurposing Bay fetch critical artifacts. Prioritize engines (Sai, Thopter Network) or finishers (Hellkite Tyrant, Alibou) based on the board.
• Flexible Interaction: Three Steps Ahead offers countermagic, cloning, or card draw. Dispatch exiles with Metalcraft active. Swords to Plowshares handles key threats.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Artifact Mass Removal: Vandalblast, Farewell, or Bane of Progress cripples the deck's board state, mana base (artifact lands), and win conditions simultaneously. Recovery is slow without specific engines online.
• Anti-Activation/ETB Hate: Stony Silence, Null Rod, or Collector Ouphe disable mana rocks, equipment, and key abilities (Metalworker, Sai, Alibou). Torpor Orb nullifies ETB triggers from Broodstar, Thought Monitor, and token producers.
• Graveyard Hate: Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void disrupts recursion from Salvation Engine, Repurposing Bay, and Unstable Glyphbridge.

Moderate

• Stack Interaction: Limited counterspells make resolving high-impact spells like Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant or Mycosynth Lattice risky against blue decks.
• Land Destruction: Non-basic land hate (Blood Moon, Back to Basics) disrupts the mana base, which relies heavily on artifact duals and utility lands.
• Sacrifice Effects: Dictate of Erebos or Fleshbag Marauder bypass shroud/hexproof, forcing sacrifices of key creatures like Sai or Metalworker.

Minor

• Flying Threats: Can struggle against evasive armies if token production is offline, though Thopters and equipment (Sword of Fire and Ice) help mitigate.
• Hand Disruption: Targeted discard can remove key pieces, but the deck's draw engines provide mitigation.

Most Important Cards:

• Sai, Master Thopterist (Primary token engine, card draw enabler)
• Mycosynth Lattice (Universal artifact synergy, enables Karn/Encroaching)
• Alibou, Ancient Witness (Scalable direct damage & scry engine)
• Hellkite Tyrant (Alternate win condition, artifact theft)
• Smothering Tithe (Massive mana/card advantage generator)
• Esper Sentinel (Early card advantage/disruption)
• Bronze Guardian (Scaling threat with built-in protection)
• Metalworker (Explosive mana acceleration)
• Jhoira, Ageless Innovator (Cheats high-CMC artifacts into play)
• The Reality Chip (Topdeck manipulation and casting)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 7/10

• Capable of threatening wins via combat/Alibou/Hellkite Tyrant by turns 5-7 with optimal draws and ramp, leveraging explosive starts with Metalworker or cost reducers.

Resilience: 6/10

• Features protection (Greaves, Padeem), recursion (Salvation Engine, Repurposing Bay), and robust card draw (Kraum, Smothering Tithe, Spy Network) to recover, but remains highly vulnerable to resolved artifact wipes and stax pieces.

Consistency: 7/10

• High artifact density, multiple engines (Sai, Gadgeteer, Spy Network), and tutors (Inventors' Fair, Repurposing Bay, Three Steps Ahead) ensure reliable access to key pieces, though lacks blue's top-tier card selection.

Interaction: 5/10

• Efficient spot removal (Swords, Dispatch), flexible spells (Three Steps Ahead, Urza's Command), and stax (Ethersworn Canonist) provide answers, but lacks sufficient counterspells and struggles against resolved enchantments/artifacts.

Rating Justification:

This deck demonstrates high speed and consistency through efficient ramp, artifact synergy, and multiple overlapping win conditions, enabling T5-7 wins in ideal scenarios. While resilient to spot removal via protection and recursion, its critical vulnerability to mass artifact removal and stax prevents higher optimization, placing it firmly in the Focused tier.

Power level: 6.0 - 6.5