Upgrading Keen Engineering: Sai, Master Thopterist
The Keen Engineering precon from Foundations Commander is a mono-blue artifacts deck built around Sai, Master Thopterist, who creates a 1/1 flying Thopter every time you cast an artifact spell.
Not owned yet? Check the full decklist or pick it up on ManaPool.
How the Deck Wants to Play
Before choosing upgrades, it helps to know what the deck cares about:
- Artifact density - Every artifact is a spell plus a flying body, so cheap artifacts are worth more than they look.
- Card advantage - Blue lets you turn all those artifacts into cards with draw effects and tutors.
- Interaction - Counterspells and bounce protect the engine while the Thopters pile up.
Budget Upgrades (~$2 total)
Budget Upgrades for this deck. The price shown is the cheapest paper printing found today.
Cards to Add
- Reverse Engineer (~$0.18) - Tap your artifact creatures to draw three cards. Thopters make it a one-sided Divination.
- Efficient Construction (~$0.45) - Draws a card whenever you cast an artifact and makes the next ones flow.
- Trophy Mage (~$0.55) - A creature that tutors a 3-mana artifact. Easy to include and finds your best cheap piece.
- Tezzeret's Gambit (~$0.18) - Draw two cards and proliferate. A cheap source of cards at instant speed.
- Thopter Assembly (~$0.31) - Makes Thopters and returns itself to your hand. Mana sink with an endless engine.
- Sharding Sphinx (~$0.22) - Flying artifact creature that creates Thopters whenever it deals damage. It is a Sai trigger and a payoff in one.
Cards to Cut
These are the lowest-impact slots in the precon for this plan, so they are the first to go:
- Misleading Signpost
- Research Thief
- Fall from Favor
- Launch Mishap
- Ichor Wellspring
- Aether Spellbomb
Premium Upgrades (~$188 total)
Premium Upgrades for this deck. The price shown is the cheapest paper printing found today.
Cards to Add
- Tezzeret, Artifice Master (~$4.75) - Makes a Thopter every turn and draws cards with artifacts. A second engine on top of Sai.
- Cyclonic Rift (~$30.04) - The best blue mass-bounce spell. Reset the table once you are ready to overload.
- Rhystic Study (~$61.95) - Draws a card on almost every opponent spell. Staple card advantage in any blue deck.
- Whir of Invention (~$5.57) - Tutors any artifact with mana value X or less and can be cast with artifacts. Finds your best bomb.
- Urza's Saga (~$33.94) - A land that becomes a construct factory and then tutors a tiny artifact. Excellent value.
- Mana Drain (~$51.90) - Premium counterspell that also ramps you. Protects your engine and refunds mana.
Cards to Cut
These are the lowest-impact slots in the precon for this plan, so they are the first to go:
- Meteor Golem
- Spire Golem
- Myr Retriever
- Soul-Guide Lantern
- Thought Monitor
- Thoughtcast
Swap one tier at a time and keep the land count intact. Each upgrade list below has a ManaPool buy list so you can pick everything up in one order.