Tinker Time is one of five new Commander precons from March of the Machine, and we’re looking to upgrade this deck that loves to create artifact tokens. Along the way, we’ll also touch on the deck right out of the box and all the new cards inside!

Each time a new set releases, we love seeing what themes show up in new precons — and we got a very unique one in Tinker Time from March of the Machine. This precon offers us not only an artifact theme in an expanded color, but specifically one that cares about artifact tokens. 

What’s fun about this deck is the lack of white, which means we can’t rely on the most common token makers or duplicators. So, while you’ll find no Smothering Tithe or Anointed Procession ahead, we’ll be talking about what cards in Temur would make excellent upgrades. First, let’s talk about what this precon has to offer from its start.

TINKER TIME: NEW CARDS

First up, we have Gimbal, Gremlin Prodigy as the face commander of Tinker Time. Gimbal gives your artifact creatures trample, meaning you’ll want to create loads of hefty artifact creatures with which to stomp your opponents. 

Gimbal’s second ability creates artifact creature tokens on your end step with power based on the amount of differently named artifact tokens you control, and this is where his theme really shines through. This means you’ll want to play cards that create as many differently named artifact tokens as possible to really buff those artifact creatures up and do some serious damage.

The alternate commander for Tinker Time is Rashmi and Ragavan, a duo Legendary Creature that uses your opponents cards to your advantage. While Gimbal is still a great commander for Tinker Time, Rashmi and Ragavan cost one mana less to cast and allow you to ramp by creating treasures each time you cast your first spell on each of your turns. 

Rashmi and Ragavan also enable you to cheat cards onto the battlefield if you control enough artifacts, meaning you’ll want to have plenty of them on the board, regardless of being differently named or not. And since free cards are always good cards, there’s a lot of potential here.

Speaking of plenty of artifacts, Hedron Detonator is a new card in this March of the Machine precon that deals damage to one of your opponents each time an artifact enters the battlefield under your control. This is a great way to ping your opponents, but Hedron Detonator’s second ability allows you to sacrifice artifacts for card advantage, making this a great inclusion in Tinker Time. 

Paired with another card that might ping opponents each time you sacrifice an artifact, this damage could very quickly add up and spell certain doom for your enemies.

Schema Thief may not be an artifact creature, but it is a 3/3 Rogue Artificer with flying, giving it some sweet evasion in battle. When Schema Thief deals combat damage to a player, you create a token copy of an artifact that player controls, letting you ramp quickly if you choose to copy mana rocks or the like on your opponents’ boards. 

In Tinker Time, this is a fun inclusion, as it’s another avenue for creating token artifacts with different names. That way Gimbal can create even bigger artifact creatures on your end step. But honestly, there are lots of decks that would love an evasive attacker that keeps getting your opponents’ best artifacts.

Dance with Calamity is a new sorcery that’s on the higher end of casting cost, but it’s going to make for some excitement on the board in true red form. 

This sorcery allows you to exile the top card of your library as many times as you’d like. However if you go over the total mana value of 13, you lose the benefit of being able to cast all of those spells for free. It’s like a little game of Blackjack, and I personally can’t wait to tempt fate with this card.

Another new card from Tinker Time, is Pain Distributor, a group-hug type of creature that gives your opponents treasure when they cast their first spell on their turn. In true group-hug fashion, this 2/3 also punishes your opponents each time they use those treasures, as they take damage every time they sacrifice an artifact. 

This card is great for a Vazi, Keen Negotiator deck or any other that likes to give opponents treasure and then punish them for using them. This Devil Citizen also happens to have Menace, further cementing it one of the strongest new cards in Tinker Time.

It’s also worth mentioning two excellent reprints in Tinker Time in Academy Manufactor and Tireless Provisioner — a pair that thrives in a deck like this. With Academy Manufactor and Tireless Provisioner on the board, each time a land enters the battlefield under your control, you’ll be making three separate types of artifact tokens: treasures, clues, and food. 

This really lets you take full advantage of Gimbal as your commander on the battlefield as you’ll be able to create a 3/3 artifact creature token on your end step (with trample none-the-less).

These March of the Machine precons reintroduce Planechase, which features Planar cards in a separate deck that influence the game depending on the plane to which you planeswalk to. During each player’s turn, that player can choose to roll the planar die and if the die lands on the planeswalk symbol, a new plane is put into play, replacing the previous one. If the planar die lands on chaos, you get the chaos effect depending on the plane in play.

Path of the Animist is one new card in Tinker Time that lets you ramp by adding tapped lands to the board but also lets players vote planeswalk or chaos. If planeswalk wins, you planeswalk to a new plane but if chaos ensues, you follow the chaos effect rules. This will certainly make for unexpected interactions in games, and it’s something I am very much looking forward to seeing with these precons.

TINKER TIME: DECK REVIEW

The addition of planechase in these March of the Machine’s precons makes all of these decks exciting, however Tinker Time already does something I love to do — and that’s creating big creature tokens. This precon contains plenty of token creators, including unique ones like Vampires’ Vengeance. 

This deck is all about variety, and we love to see it. Tinker Time also packs quite the punch with its new cards, as Pain Distributor is one creature I can’t wait to have on my board. 

Tinker Time is especially unique, as its colors lie in Temur, letting you ramp with green, swing hard with red and create strong artifacts with blue. The goal here is to overrun your opponents with large artifact creatures with trample, and this deck certainly supports that. Still, there’s always room for an upgrade, so let’s also talk about some cards that fit that description.

Gimbal $100 Upgrade

While we typically don’t upgrade lands for precons, Urza’s Saga is one card that is excellent for Tinker Time, as its second saga chapter allows you to create a colorless Construct with +1/+1 counters equal to the amount of artifacts you control. 

This not only adds to the differently named artifact tokens, but the Construct also benefits from Gimbal’s trample, as you’re sure to have one beefy boy once you get the artifact engine running. Urza’s Saga’s third stage also allows you to tutor for any artifact with mana cost zero or one, letting you grab a Sol Ring for free and pull well ahead of your opponents.

Mirrex is another land upgrade that works great in this deck. Fresh from Phyrexia: All Will Be One, Mirrex is a land sphere that taps for colorless or any color depending on if it entered that turn, but its next ability is what makes it work well in Tinker Time. Spend three mana and tap Mirrex to create a 1/1 colorless Phyrexian Mite artifact creature with Toxic 1, adding to your array of differently named artifacts.

Brainstorm is (pun-intended) a no-brainer inclusion in any deck with blue, as it’s a low-cast top deck control instant that gives you card advantage. Another instant I’ve included is Second Harvest, a card that performs well in token decks like ones led by Volo, Guide to Monsters, who also wants to create varying tokens. With Second Harvest, you can create massive amounts of tokens in an instant, giving you some advantage on the battlefield.

Prosperous Innkeeper is another great card for any token deck, as he not only gives you a treasure upon entering the battlefield but also gains you life for each creature that enters the battlefield under your control. Because this deck creates plenty of artifact creature tokens, we’ll certainly be getting good use of this guy. 

Another low-cost upgrade I’m including is Lonis, Cryptozoologist, as he creates clue tokens each time a nontoken creature enters the battlefield under your control. Clues can be sacrificed to draw cards, but if you have Academy Manufactor on the board, you’ll be creating treasure and food tokens as well.

Kibo, Uktabi Prince is a newer card from JumpStart 2022, and this monkey loves to give people bananas that can be sacrificed to not only add red or green mana, but also gain you life. While there may not be any other monkeys or apes in this deck, you can certainly buff Kibo using his second ability. 

Kibo’s last ability works well with Pain Distributor, as he forces opponents to sacrifice an artifact each time he attacks, letting the distributor ping them each time.

Third Path Iconoclast comes to us from Brothers War and serves well as a low-cost token creator in this deck. It rewards you with a Soldier token, which happens to also be an artifact creature, letting you benefit from Gimbal‘s trample ability. 

Saheeli, Filigree Master also comes to us from Brothers’ War and gives you card advantage by using her +1 ability. Using her -2 ability, Saheeli can also create Thopter artifact creatures with flying, giving you excellent offense in the air. If you’re fortunate enough to get to her -4 ability, Saheeli can also buff your artifact creatures and discount the cost of artifact spells you cast.

While Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer is on the more expensive side mana-wise, he grants your creature tokens haste, making him a killer tag-team partner for Gimbal. Brudiclad also creates 2/1 Myr artifact creature tokens, giving you another token type to buff Gimbal’s Gremlin artifact creatures. 

Brudiclad can also create blanket copies of a creature token, letting you get a little creative with interactions.

With those additions spoken for, these are the cards removed to make space for this upgrade:

• Cutthroat Negotiator
• Everquill Phoenix
• Brass’ Bounty
• Masterful Replication
• Spine of Ish Sah
• Thopter Assembly
• Junk Winder
• Rise and Shine
• Myriad Landscape
  Terramorphic Expanse

The final deck list can be found here

Finally, If budget isn’t an issue, Doubling Season and Parallel Lives are two green staples that each create twice the tokens and would be great upgrades to the Tinker Time precon. With both of these on the board, your opponents will crumble under the massive amount of artifact creature tokens you’re creating and you’ll be sure to trample your way to victory with Gimbal.