Thopter Mechanic
Creature — Human Artificer
Whenever you draw your second card each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
When this creature dies, create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Foundations Jumpstart
- Price
- $0.22
- EDHREC rank
- #16080
Thopter Mechanic enters the battlefield and untaps up to two artifacts or creatures, which is a real board state shift the turn you play it. The catch is the three-mana cost on a 1/2 body — you're not running this for the stats, you're running it because that untap trigger completes loops with Nim Deathmantle and similar reanimation engines.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Thopter Mechanic is a Commander card through and through — the untap effect is narrow enough that it only pulls its weight in decks built around artifact recursion or tap-based combo engines. In Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer it's legal but functionally invisible; the formats move too fast for a 3-mana 1/2 with a conditional untap to matter. Commander is where Thopter Mechanic finds a home, specifically in artifact-heavy builds that need repeatable untap effects to assemble infinite loops or generate value across multiple turns.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Nim DeathmantleAshnod's AltarThopter Mechanic
Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.22 bulk tier
At $0.22, Thopter Mechanic sits firmly in bulk territory — easy to pick up as a throw-in with any order. Bulk combo pieces like this rarely climb unless a new commander pushes the archetype into the spotlight, so don't expect it to move.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.