10 Spiciest Artifacts To Copy With Ultron, Artificial Malevolence

Marvel Super Heroes came out on June 26th and with it we not only got some of Marvel’s most iconic heroes in Magic card form, we also got some of the most iconic villains. One of the most intriguing of these is Ultron, Artificial Malevolence, who makes for a very cool Commander.

He might be colorless, but his ability to make copies of nontoken artifacts more than makes up for that limitation as there are all kinds of awesome possibilities, even when only looking at colorless artifacts.  In this article, I’m going to take a look at some artifacts that are particularly sweet to copy with him.

ROAMING THRONE & PANHARMONICON

Getting Ultron’s trigger any time a noncreature artifact enters is cool and all, but you know what’s even better? Tripling that trigger. That’s what will happen if you use Ultron to make a copy of either Roaming Throne or Panharmonicon. You have to be careful to name the “Robot” type on both Roaming Throne and it’s copy, but Panharmonicon isn’t restricted at all. And you can even get a body on-board when you wouldn’t normally when you make a Robot Villain copy of Panharmonicon.

Other cards that duplicate triggered abilities work nicely here too – like Strionic Resonator – but the Throne and Panharmonicon are the best of the bunch because they don’t ask you to have more mana to get the extra trigger.

CRYPTOTHRALL

Cryptothrall is a good card in any artifact deck as hexproof is an incredibly powerful ability. However, this Construct does have one weakness – it doesn’t offer hexproof to itself – only to “other artifact creatures you control.” This means removal normally works quite well on the thrall itself. However, if you use Ultron to make a copy of it, that weakness is gone as you’ll have two of these, which means they give hexproof to one another.

SOLEMN SIMULACRUM

Solemn Simulacrum appears in just about any Artifact deck because it generates so much value. It ramps and fixes your mana when it enters, and draws you a card when it dies. But you know what’s even better? Having the potential to get each of those triggers twice. That’s what Ultron brings to the table. Ultron is good alongside any artifact that has “enters” or “leaves” triggers, but Solemn Simulacrum is the gold standard when it comes to that kind of card.

ARTIFACT LANDS

Ultron’s ability does not trigger only off of nonland artifacts. This means that you can use him to make copies of your Treasure Vault and Darksteel Citadel. This allows Ultron to make mana dorks, and these lands can even help pay for the cost of his triggered ability. The Citadel will also be a 2/2 indestructible creature, which is awesome.

There are two other artifact lands with colorless identities that you’re probably going to want to include  – Scene of the Crime and Power Depot. However, they both enter tapped, making them a little bit less appealing than the Vault and the Citadel.

COST REDUCTION EFFECTS

While Ultron’s ability to copy artifacts is great, one minor problem with it is that it’s not always easy to have the spare mana to use his ability. This can be remedied in part by cards that reduce the cost of your Artifacts. Not only are they good at freeing up some mana, but Ultron can of course copy them too, giving you a massive discount on your Artifact spells.

MANA ROCKS

That’s right, Ultron allows us to finally break Sol Ring. But seriously, the Ring and other mana rocks are even better in this deck than they are in most.

While copies of your artifact lands and cost reduction effects can help you have lots of mana for Ultron’s triggered ability, so too can making copies of mana rocks. The ones that can tap for 2+ mana are particularly appealing, since they’ll be able to pay the cost to make a 2/2 Robot Villain copy of themselves.

LODESTONE GOLEM

Lodestone Golem is a great creature with a symmetrical tax effect, but since you’re playing an artifact deck it’s highly unlikely to actually feel symmetrical. Instead, your opponents will have to deal with paying extra mana for almost everything they cast, and if Ultron copies this Golem that will make life even more miserable for them.

MYR RETRIEVER, JUNK DIVER, AND WORKSHOP ASSISTANT

While everything I’ve suggested in this article goes great with Ultron, making a copy of one of these three recursive artifact creatures is perhaps the most busted thing he can do. Each of them lets you return an artifact from your graveyard to your hand when they die. The Retriever is especially well-known for enabling a combo with Krark-Clan Ironworks in 60-card formats. If you get two Retrievers in play you can create a sacrifice loop with KCI since each Retriever you sacrifice will bring back the other one.

Typically, to get this combo going in a singleton format like Commander, you need the retriever alongside the Diver or the Assistant. However, Ultron lets you skip that step. This is because you can now make a copy of your Retriever, Assistant, or Diver.  So, if you play a retriever and make a copy of it, you can then sacrifice the copy to KCI or Ashnod’s Altar. Then, you can sacrifice the token for two more mana, and bring back your Retriever. You use two of that mana to cast the Retriever, and the other two to make a copy.

This combo also works with Junk Diver and Workshop Assistant, although you’ll need some cost reduction effects in play to allow you to create the loop.

This doesn’t win you the game on its own, but if you have some artifact cost reduction effects mixed in, this can give you infinite mana to spend on a lethal Walking Ballista. You can also get something like Altar of the Brood into play, which even without cost reduction effects will allow you to mill out your opponent with the loop.

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Ultron is a really cool Commander and there are countless amazing things you can do with them. What do you think is the sweetest? Let me know over on X or Bluesky.