The Fantasticar

# THE FANTASTICAR

Cali Commander — Beginner's Deck Primer

Strategy: Colorless Artifact Aggro / Flying Token Swarm / Stax

Main goal: Cast Fantasticar quickly, use inexpensive artifacts to create four flying attackers, and defeat our opponent before they can recover.

1. How Does This Deck Work?

Fantasticar is a legendary artifact Vehicle that costs three mana.

Our deck is filled with cheap artifacts, including many that cost zero mana.

Why?

Whenever we cast our fourth noncreature spell in a turn, Fantasticar can sacrifice itself to create four 4/4 flying Construct creatures with haste!

That's 16 damage worth of attackers that can attack immediately.

Our main strategies are:

• Fast Mana: Cast Fantasticar as early as turn one.
• Zero-Mana Artifacts: Reach our fourth spell without spending much mana.
• Flying Constructs: Attack for 16 damage, then finish the opponent.
• Disruption: Make it harder for our opponent to stop us.
• Artifact Engines: Use Mystic Forge and other cards to keep casting spells.

Important Words

Noncreature Spell: Any spell that isn't a creature spell.

Zero-Drop: A spell that costs zero mana.

Mana Rock: An artifact that produces mana.

Token: A permanent created by a spell or ability rather than a regular card.

Haste: A creature can attack immediately.

Stax: Cards that restrict what our opponent can do.

Metalcraft: An ability that requires us to control at least three artifacts.

2. How to Start the Game

Our opening hand is extremely important.

We want to cast Fantasticar and create its Constructs as quickly as possible.

What makes a good opening hand?

Look for three things:

1. Fast Mana: Mana Crypt, Jeweled Lotus, Mishra's Workshop, Ancient Tomb, or Sol Ring.
2. Cheap Artifacts: Cards like Bone Saw, Darksteel Relic, Welding Jar, or Tormod's Crypt.
3. A Plan: Enough spells to reach our fourth noncreature spell, ideally with some protection.

Example: Turn-One Fantasticar

Imagine we have Ancient Tomb, Mana Crypt, Bone Saw, and Darksteel Relic.

1. Play Ancient Tomb.
2. Cast Mana Crypt for zero mana. Spell #1.
3. Use our mana to cast Fantasticar. Spell #2.
4. Cast Bone Saw for zero mana. Spell #3.
5. Cast Darksteel Relic for zero mana. Spell #4.
6. Fantasticar triggers! Sacrifice it to create four flying 4/4 Constructs.
7. Attack immediately for 16 damage!

If our opponent starts at 30 life, another unblocked attack will finish the game.

Beginner tip: Before keeping our hand, count how much mana we can produce and how many spells we can cast.

3. Understanding Fantasticar

Fantasticar has two important abilities.

Ability A: Become a flying creature

Whenever we cast a noncreature spell while Fantasticar is on the battlefield, we may turn it into a 4/4 flying artifact creature until the end of the turn.

It can attack if we've controlled it since the beginning of our turn.

However, Fantasticar doesn't have haste, so it usually cannot attack the turn we cast it.

Ability B: Create four Constructs

When we cast our fourth noncreature spell of a turn, Fantasticar may sacrifice itself to make four 4/4 flying Constructs with haste.

These creatures can attack immediately.

The most important counting rule

Spells cast before Fantasticar count toward the total!

For example:

• Mana Crypt is our first spell.
• Bone Saw is our second.
• Fantasticar is our third.
• Welding Jar is our fourth.

Fantasticar is already on the battlefield when Welding Jar is cast, so we get the Construct trigger.

Important: If Fantasticar itself is our fourth spell, it won't trigger because it wasn't on the battlefield to see itself being cast.

Casting a fifth spell won't fix this. We've already passed our fourth spell for the turn.

4. Winning With Flying Constructs

Once Fantasticar creates the Constructs, our plan is straightforward.

Each Construct is a 4/4 flying creature with haste.

Together, they have 16 power.

First attack: 16 damage.

Second attack: Another 16 damage, for 32 total.

That's enough to defeat an opponent starting at 30 life.

Important commander-damage rule

The Constructs are not our commander.

Even though Fantasticar creates them, they deal normal combat damage, not commander damage.

We normally need to deal 30 damage, not 21.

What if our opponent has flying blockers?

We can use our disruption, extra attackers, or artifact abilities to make combat easier.

Sometimes we shouldn't sacrifice Fantasticar immediately.

Keeping it as a 4/4 flying creature may be better against certain opponents, although creating the four Constructs is usually our strongest play.

Beginner tip: Don't just count how much damage we can attack with. Count how much damage will actually get past blockers.

5. Why We Play So Many Zero-Drops

This is the secret of the entire deck.

Some of our artifacts look weak by themselves.

But casting them helps Fantasticar reach its fourth spell!

Our important zero-mana artifacts

Equipment: Bone Saw, Accorder's Shield, Cathar's Shield, Kite Shield, Paradise Mantle, and Spidersilk Net.

Utility artifacts: Darksteel Relic, Dark Sphere, Herbal Poultice, Spellbook, Welding Jar, Zuran Orb, and Tormod's Crypt.

Card selection: Mishra's Bauble and Urza's Bauble.

Mana and other tools: Lotus Petal, Lion's Eye Diamond, Jeweled Lotus, Mox Amber, Mox Diamond, Mox Jasper, Mox Opal, and Chrome Mox.

These cards don't all produce mana or draw cards.

But they all count as noncreature spells when we cast them.

Artifacts with X in their cost

Some cards have {X} in their mana cost.

We can choose X=0 to cast them for free.

Examples include:

• Astral Cornucopia
• Briber's Purse
• Chalice of the Void
• Chimeric Mass
• Clown Car
• Engineered Explosives
• Everflowing Chalice
• Orochi Hatchery
• Sigil of Distinction

Choosing zero often makes their individual abilities weak, but they still count toward Fantasticar.

Not every Mox makes mana!

Mox Amber: Fantasticar is legendary but colorless, so it doesn't give Mox Amber a color to produce.

Mox Jasper: Requires a Dragon before its mana ability works.

Chrome Mox: Needs an appropriate colored card imprinted, which our colorless deck doesn't provide.

These are mainly free spells in this deck.

Mox Diamond can produce mana if we discard a land as it enters.

Mox Opal can produce mana once we control at least three artifacts.

Beginner tip: A zero-mana artifact doesn't have to be useful by itself. Sometimes being our fourth spell is enough to win!

6. Our Most Powerful Mana Sources

Fast mana lets us cast Fantasticar much earlier than normal.

Mishra's Workshop

Mishra's Workshop produces three colorless mana that can only be spent casting artifact spells.

Fantasticar is an artifact!

That means Workshop alone can pay Fantasticar's original three-mana cost.

Jeweled Lotus

Jeweled Lotus costs zero and can produce three mana toward casting our commander.

It can pay Fantasticar's entire original cost.

Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors

Both lands produce two colorless mana.

Ancient Tomb costs us two life when we tap it.

City of Traitors must be sacrificed when we play another land.

They're excellent for explosive openings.

Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, and Sol Ring

These provide large amounts of mana for very little investment.

Mana Crypt is especially powerful because it costs zero, helping both our mana and spell count.

Grim Monolith and the Keys

Grim Monolith produces three colorless mana.

Voltaic Key and Manifold Key can untap artifacts such as Grim Monolith or Mana Vault.

This lets us reuse powerful mana rocks during a turn.

Other useful mana sources

Crystal Vein: Can sacrifice itself for two colorless mana.

Gemstone Caverns: Can start on the battlefield when we're not playing first, if it's in our opening hand and we exile another card.

Crystal Grotto and Prismatic Lens: Help filter our mana when needed.

The Irencrag: Provides colorless mana as a legendary artifact.

Beginner tip: Remember that casting mana rocks also increases our spell count. Sometimes the same card helps us in two different ways.

7. Our Important Lands

Our lands do more than produce mana.

Urza's Saga

Urza's Saga eventually searches for an artifact with mana cost zero or one.

Useful choices include:

• Mana Crypt or Jeweled Lotus for mana.
• Expedition Map to find another land.
• Voltaic Key or Manifold Key to untap artifacts.
• Pithing Needle to stop an opposing ability.
• Welding Jar to protect an artifact.
• Vexing Bauble to interfere with free spells.

Saga can also create Construct tokens.

Important: Saga puts the artifact directly onto the battlefield. It doesn't cast it, so the artifact doesn't count toward Fantasticar's fourth spell.

Urza's Workshop + Planar Nexus

Urza's Workshop produces more mana when we control several Urza's lands and at least three artifacts.

Planar Nexus has every nonbasic land type, including Urza's.

That means it counts for Workshop!

Urza's Saga and Urza's Cave also help increase the count.

This gives us a powerful way to produce extra colorless mana.

Expedition Map

Expedition Map can search for important lands such as Mishra's Workshop, Ancient Tomb, Urza's Saga, or Planar Nexus.

Our disruption lands

Strip Mine and Wasteland: Destroy important opposing lands.

Rishadan Port: Taps an opponent's land to restrict their available mana.

Our creature lands

Blinkmoth Nexus, Mishra's Factory, and Mutavault can become creatures.

These give us backup attackers if Fantasticar is removed.

Beginner tip: Lands don't count as spells, even when they have powerful abilities.

8. How to Find More Cards

We often empty our opening hand very quickly.

These cards help us continue playing after our first explosive turn.

Mystic Forge

Mystic Forge lets us look at the top card of our library and cast colorless nonland cards from there.

Almost every spell in our deck qualifies!

If the top card is a zero-mana artifact, we can cast it immediately and look at the next card.

This can let us cast several spells without using cards from our hand.

Mystic Forge + Sensei's Divining Top

With both cards on the battlefield:

1. Pay one mana and tap Top to draw a card and put Top on our library.
2. Mystic Forge lets us cast Top from the top of our library.
3. Pay one mana to cast it again.
4. Repeat if we have enough mana.

This draws cards and increases our spell count.

Important: We must pay mana each time. This isn't automatically an unlimited combo.

Mishra's Bauble and Urza's Bauble

Both cost zero mana and can draw replacement cards at the beginning of the next upkeep.

They help our spell count without permanently costing us a card.

Fomori Vault and War Room

Fomori Vault helps us find cards based on how many artifacts we control.

War Room lets us draw cards by paying mana. Because our commander is colorless, War Room's life payment is zero.

Serum Powder

If Serum Powder is in our opening hand when we could mulligan, we can exile that hand and draw the same number of cards.

This gives us another chance to find fast mana and cheap artifacts.

Warning: Those exiled cards don't return to our deck.

9. How to Stop Our Opponent

We want to win quickly, but sometimes we need to make our opponent's interaction more difficult.

Defense Grid

Defense Grid makes spells cost three additional mana when cast outside their controller's turn.

During our turn, our opponent's counterspells and removal become much more expensive.

This helps protect our winning attempt.

Vexing Bauble

Vexing Bauble counters spells when no mana was spent to cast them.

This is great against free opposing interaction.

But it also counters our free artifacts!

An interesting trick: Even if Vexing Bauble counters a zero-mana spell, that spell was still cast, so it still counts toward Fantasticar's fourth spell.

Be careful when choosing when to play Bauble.

Chalice of the Void

Chalice can counter spells of a chosen mana value.

If we cast it with X=1, it counters one-mana spells.

If we cast it with X=0, it counters zero-mana spells—including our own!

A useful trick is making Chalice our fourth spell. Fantasticar's trigger can create the Constructs before Chalice resolves.

Pithing Needle

Pithing Needle stops most activated abilities of a named card, although it doesn't stop mana abilities.

It's useful against opposing commanders and combo pieces.

Graveyard interaction

Tormod's Crypt, Relic of Progenitus, Soul-Guide Lantern, and Stone of Erech can interfere with opposing graveyard strategies.

Welding Jar

Welding Jar can protect an artifact from being destroyed by regenerating it.

It doesn't stop exile or sacrifice, so it can't prevent Fantasticar's own sacrifice.

Beginner tip: Don't accidentally stop our own game plan with Chalice or Vexing Bauble. Think about which spells we still need to cast.

10. Other Powerful Tricks

Patchwork Banner — Bigger Constructs

Patchwork Banner lets us choose a creature type.

Choose Construct.

Our four flying 4/4 Constructs become four 5/5 flying Constructs.

That's 20 power in one attack instead of 16!

Secluded Starforge — Extra damage

Secluded Starforge can tap artifacts we control to give a creature extra power.

We can use otherwise unneeded artifacts to make one flying Construct much larger.

It must be activated at sorcery speed, so do this before combat.

Don't tap the Constructs we're planning to attack with!

Tooth and Scale of Chiss-Goria

These artifacts have affinity for artifacts, meaning they cost less based on how many artifacts we control.

With enough artifacts, they can become free spells!

Tooth can increase a creature's power, while Scale increases toughness.

Both can help trigger Fantasticar.

Sculpting Steel

Sculpting Steel can enter as a copy of an artifact already on the battlefield.

Copying Mana Crypt or another mana rock can give us additional resources.

The Mycosynth Gardens

This land can become a copy of another nontoken artifact we control, if we pay the required mana.

It can copy useful mana rocks or utility artifacts.

Treasure Vault

Treasure Vault can create Treasure tokens, giving us mana for later turns.

However, creating Treasure tokens isn't casting spells.

Emergence Zone

Emergence Zone can let us cast spells as though they had flash for the turn.

This creates a surprise opportunity!

We can cast Fantasticar and our cheap artifacts during the opponent's end step, create four flying Constructs, then attack when our turn begins.

Beginner tip: We don't always have to win on our own turn. Surprise timing can make our opponent's decisions much harder.

11. Common Mistakes

Casting Fantasticar as spell four: It must already be on the battlefield when we cast the fourth noncreature spell.

Counting lands as spells: Playing lands doesn't increase the spell count.

Counting tokens as spells: Creating Constructs or Treasures isn't casting anything.

Assuming every zero-drop produces mana: Some are included only to help trigger Fantasticar.

Forgetting our own stax effects: Chalice and Vexing Bauble can stop our own cards.

Expecting commander damage from Constructs: They're regular creatures and deal normal combat damage.

Trying to trigger Fantasticar twice in one turn: Recasting Fantasticar doesn't reset the spell count or create another fourth spell.

Letting Fantasticar get removed: If it leaves the battlefield before its token trigger resolves, we cannot sacrifice it for the four Constructs.

12. Ten Tips to Become a Better Fantasticar Player

1. Count every spell. Always know which noncreature spell is our fourth.
2. Look for fast mana. Workshop, Mana Crypt, and Jeweled Lotus make explosive openings possible.
3. Don't overlook zero-drops. Even weak artifacts can create sixteen flying power.
4. Remember the Constructs have haste. Attack immediately when possible.
5. Calculate our damage. Two unblocked attacks from four Constructs deal 32 damage.
6. Protect our big turn. Defense Grid can make opposing interaction expensive.
7. Use Urza's Saga carefully. It finds useful artifacts but doesn't cast them.
8. Watch our own disruption. Chalice and Vexing Bauble can interfere with our spells.
9. Plan for longer games. Mystic Forge and our utility lands can help us recover.
10. Practice opening hands. Recognizing a turn-one or turn-two Construct line is our most important skill.

Final Advice

The most important lesson about Fantasticar is simple:

We don't need every card to be powerful by itself. We need our cards to work together quickly!

Sometimes a zero-mana artifact creates sixteen flying power.

Sometimes fast mana lets us win before the opponent develops their battlefield.

Sometimes Defense Grid protects our attack.

And sometimes Mystic Forge helps us rebuild after our first attempt.

Start by memorizing the fourth-spell rule, practice counting opening hands, and learn when to use our protection.

The goal is to play quickly, count carefully, and turn a handful of small artifacts into an unstoppable flying army!