Is Ingenious Artillerist good in Commander?

Ingenious Artillerist

Creature — Human Artificer

Whenever one or more artifacts you control enter, this creature deals that much damage to each opponent.

CMC: 3
Mana cost
Color identity: R
Rarity: common
Set: Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
Price: $0.59
EDHREC rank: #1811

Ingenious Artillerist turns every treasure, food, or clue you make into a free ping — and in token-heavy Commander metas, that damage adds up faster than opponents expect. Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator and Jaws, Relentless Predator are the natural homes, but any commander that floods the board with artifacts makes this a four-mana overperformer.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

Jaws, Relentless Predator

70.1% of decks · synergy 0.67

Jaws, Relentless Predator generates treasures on hits, and Ingenious Artillerist converts each one into direct damage — the two cards form a self-reinforcing loop where attacking both funds removal and closes games.

Jolene, the Plunder Queen

59.9% of decks · synergy 0.57

Jolene, the Plunder Queen rewards opponents for using treasures and then makes more of them, and Ingenious Artillerist ensures every token entering play costs the table life — the pressure compounds quickly in a multiplayer game.

Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator

53.3% of decks · synergy 0.51

Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator runs Malcolm to mint treasures on combat damage, and Ingenious Artillerist translates that treasure flood directly into chip damage spread across all opponents via Kediss's copy effect.

Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter

54.1% of decks · synergy 0.50

Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter churns out treasure and thopter tokens on a tight loop, and Ingenious Artillerist means every token sacrifice triggers a ping — the two cards together can drain the table without ever swinging into blockers.

Roxanne, Starfall Savant

50.7% of decks · synergy 0.48

Roxanne, Starfall Savant creates meteor tokens that produce mana, and Ingenious Artillerist fires whenever one enters or is sacrificed — the passive ping rate in a ramp-heavy Roxanne deck is quietly substantial over a long game.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	not legal
pioneer	not legal
standard	not legal
vintage	legal
pauper	legal
oathbreaker	legal

Commander is the native habitat for Ingenious Artillerist — artifact token generation is endemic to the format, and three opponents mean the damage triggers matter three times as much as in a duel. In Pauper it's legal and theoretically playable, but common-legal treasure synergies are sparse enough that it rarely finds a consistent home. Legacy and Vintage see it occasionally in casual builds, but the formats move too fast for a four-mana do-nothing-on-entry creature to compete. Outside of Commander, Ingenious Artillerist is a card looking for a shell that doesn't reliably exist.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

2,859 decks