Hello and welcome to another edition of A Seat at the Table where I pick a commander and tell you what I’d jam in the 99. This time, the final backup commander for the Warhammer 40k precon decks. These are available as of October 7th and the value train keeps a-chugging along. If you haven’t already pre-ordered or purchased them, I highly recommend you get one. The decks look like so much fun and all have a ton of new cards that will be difficult to reprint… and they’re all busted!

Imotekh the Stormlord is a legendary artifact creature with a type we’ve never seen in Magic until now – Necron. For 2BB, this 3/3 Necron has some seemingly unassuming abilities. Here’s the textbox:

“Phaeron — Whenever one or more artifact cards leave your graveyard, create two 2/2 black Necron Warrior artifact creature token.  

Grand Strategist — At the beginning of combat on your turn, another target artifact creature you control gets +2/+2 and gains menace until end of turn.”  

What does this mean? It means you want a thick graveyard with artifacts that dance in and out to make some 2/2 tokens like a very specific Tormod, the Desecrator. Let’s see what kind of shenanigans we can brew up with Imotekh at the helm.

Trading Post / Skeleton Shard / Myr Retriever / Junk Diver

What’s the best way to get your artifacts to leave the graveyard? Return them to your hand. All of these cards do a great job of bringing back artifacts to your hand to redeploy later. Skeleton Shard is the most narrow, but looping a Solemn Simulacrum feels pretty good when you can sacrifice it for a card and bring it back. Looping Myr Retriever and Junk Diver with an engine like in category 2 or with reanimation strategies or even Haunted Crossroads / Phyrexian Reclamation for your artifact creatures. All of this will get Imotekh to summon a huge army of 2/2 Necrons who themselves are artifacts who can swap for a card or an artifact from your graveyard thanks to Trading Post.

Scarecrone / Scrap Trawler

Scarecrone with Imotekh out means that not only will you be bringing back something like a Meteor Golem for four mana, you’re also going to get two Necrons to do your bidding from the deal too. Then when you sacrifice your Meteor Golem, Scrap Trawler will reward you with another artifact to play and, of course, two Necrons courtesy of Imotekh. Scrap Trawler can really warp a deck and if you’ve got a ton of artifact creatures, Ashnod’s Altar and Altar of Dementia will go a long way for you.

Don’t forget to include your Lotus Petals and Lotus Blooms and Mox Ambers along for the ride. Scrap Trawler in the right deck is a kill on sight creature and you’re about to be able to prove that to your friends.

Krark-Clan Ironworks / Ashnod’s Altar / Phyrexian Altar / Altar of Dementia

It’s an artifact deck, so Krark-Clan Ironworks will be a big deal for you to sacrifice noncreature artifacts so you can loop them in and out of the graveyard. Ichor Wellspring and Mycosynth Wellspring are amazing cards to get into the graveyard.

Given Imotekh’s ability to create token creatures at a high clip, the Altars are hugely impactful. Altar of Dementia fuels your deck further and they enable…

Agent of the Iron Throne / Disciple of the Vault / Marionette Master / Grave Pact / Dictate of Erebos

Oh, you thought I wasn’t going to mention any aristocrats shenanigans?

Agent of the Iron Throne requires Imotekh to be in play but nugs all of your opponents. Disciple of the Vault only hits one opponent but triggers off of any artifact going to the graveyard. Marionette Master might cost six mana but targets an opponent for four life for each artifact that hits your graveyard (as long as you choose to give it three +1/+1 counters for Fabricate).

You’ve got so many creatures being created and hitting the graveyard. If you feel like being on the meaner side of the build, time to toss in Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos, turning each creature death into an edict effect.

Spine of Ish Sah

Spine of Ish Sah is a relic of Commander’s past. No offence to those who still use and love Spine of Ish Sah, it’s just not what it used to be. But in this deck? Oh, boy.

With Imotekh in play, throwing down Spine to destroy a problematic permanent of any kind (aka enchantment *cough* monoblack *cough* or planeswalker or land) and then sacrificing it to Krark-Clan Ironworks or Trading Post bring it right back to your hand. Boom, two Necron tokens. Add Scrap Trawler to the mix and you’re going to get any artifact you want back to your hand and that’s another Imotekh trigger.

Tortured Existence

If you have an artifact creature heavy build, Tortured Existence is a perfect way to make use of a ton of self-mill and selection while gaining more creature tokens out of the deal. Plus, it works perfectly with…

Honorary Mention: Containment Construct + Discard outlet

Containment Construct says that when you discard a card, you may exile it from your graveyard and if you do, you can play that card this turn. There’s no limit to how many times you can do this. Discard your artifacts and every time you exile one to play it, Imotekh makes you Necrons to swarm with. This is a great deck for Bog Witch! Key to the City and The Underworld Cookbook are cheap ways to get a discard going. Trading Post, again, a true all star of this deck, can also get you there.

There you have it, folks. Another one in the books. If there’s a commander you’d like covered, message me on Twitter @mikecarrozza!

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