The Mechanist wants a deck that casts lots of instant and sorcery spells. It also suits a deck that fills the table with artifacts that make mana and draw cards.
Mana cost
Blue ()
Power / toughness1 / 3
RarityRare
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, create a Clue token. (It's an artifact with ", Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
: Until end of turn, target artifact token you control becomes a 3/1 Construct artifact creature with flying.
Picked for what they do in The Mechanist's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit The Mechanist's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Open the full glossary
explain how The Mechanist works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
Clue tokens are artifact tokens with "{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card."
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
Creating a Clue token this way isn't the same thing as investigating. Notably, an ability that triggers whenever you investigate won't trigger because of creating a Clue token this way.
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
Effects that modify a creature's power and/or toughness, such as the ones created by Titanic Growth or a +/1+1 counter, will apply to the creature no matter when they started to take effect. The same is true for any counters that change its power and/or toughness and effects that switch power and toughness.
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
If the artifact token was already a creature, its base power and toughness will become 3/1. This overwrites any previous effects that set the creature's base power and toughness to specific values. Any power- or toughness-setting effects that start to apply after The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan's ability resolves will overwrite this effect.
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan's activated ability doesn't remove any abilities the target artifact token has. The artifact token also retains any types, subtypes, and supertypes other than creature types.
Wizards of the Coast2 Oct 2025
The resulting artifact creature will be able to attack on your turn if it's been under your control continuously since the turn began. That is, it doesn't matter how long it's been a creature, just how long it's been on the battlefield.
Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryUPlayers write colors as letters: U for blue. Blue is U because B was already taken by black.SpellslingerSpellslinger decks cast lots of instants and sorceries, one-time spells, and play creatures that reward every spell you cast. Instants and sorceries take effect once and then go to your graveyard, and an instant can even be cast during another player's turn.Open the Spellslinger pageSpellslingerRewards you for casting instants and sorceries, usually triggering each time you cast one. Storm-Kiln Artist, GuttersnipeOpen the Spellslinger pageToken EngineMakes tokens again and again rather than once. A token is a creature or other permanent created by a card, with no card of its own. Something that makes one token gives you a body; something that makes them every turn gives you a board you can keep rebuilding after it is cleared. Grave Titan, Bitterblossom, OphiomancerOpen the Token Engine pageToken MakerCreates one or more tokens. Different cards make very different ones: creatures Grave Titan, Treasures Smothering Tithe, Clues Tireless Tracker or Food Gilded Goose. This is one of our largest tags, so pair it with an archetype or theme when you are hunting a specific kind.Open the Token Maker pageArtifactsAn artifacts deck fills the battlefield with artifacts, cards like Sol Ring that stay in play and keep working turn after turn. Played together, they give you extra mana and extra cards. A handful of keywords turn up on artifacts again and again. Equip means you pay a cost to attach an Equipment such as Swiftfoot Boots to one of your creatures. If that creature dies, the Equipment does not go to your graveyard with it. It stays on the battlefield, and you can pay the cost again to attach it to another creature. Crew means you tap your own creatures with enough total power between them to turn a Vehicle such as Smuggler's Copter into a creature until the end of the turn. A Treasure is a token you can sacrifice (put into your graveyard on purpose) for one mana of any color. A token is a game piece that a card makes, not a card from your deck, and Pitiless Plunderer is one card that makes Treasures. Affinity makes a spell like Frogmite cheaper for each artifact you control. Unearth brings a card like Combat Courier back from your graveyard for one turn, and then it is exiled. Modular creatures like Arcbound Ravager enter with +1/+1 counters and pass them to another artifact creature when they die.Open the Artifacts pageAnimate ArtifactTurns artifacts into creatures so they can attack and block. It is a trade: they gain a body, and they become vulnerable to anything that destroys creatures. Mirage Mirror, Inkmoth NexusOpen the Animate Artifact pageTokensToken decks fill the battlefield with small creatures made by their cards, then attack with all of them or make them all bigger at once. A token is a creature (or other object) that a card creates, not a card from your deck.Open the Tokens pageClues MatterClue tokens are artifacts you can pay 2 mana and sacrifice to draw a card. Making one is called investigate.Open the Clues Matter page
Send Us Feedback
What works, what's confusing, what you wish the site did. We read every one.
Not signed in? That is fine. We only keep what you write.
Optional. We only use it to reply to you.
Can we use Google Analytics cookies?
They show us which pages help people. No ads.
Privacy Policy
: Until end of turn, target artifact token you control becomes a 3/1 Construct artifact creature with flying.
Open the full glossary
