Mechanics Overview: Fabricate

When I first came across the Fabricate mechanic that was introduced in the Kaladesh (2016) set, I was instantly intrigued. Right off the bat, the mechanic's name itself had me picturing all kinds of metal workshops and hands-on tinkering, the kind of place where you're constantly creating, customizing, and adapting to your needs. And in a sense, that's exactly what the Fabricate mechanic was meant to convey: making choices and "fabricating" the best tools for your current situation.

So, with all that said, in today's Mechanics Overview segment, I want to briefly go over with you the Blueprint for what Fabricate is all about and cover some of the best ways to use it today.

What is Fabricate?

Fabricate is a triggered keyword ability, written as "Fabricate N," where N is a number that determines the scale of its effect. The ability can be read as:

When this creature enters the battlefield, you may choose one:

Put N +1/+1 counters on this creature.

or

Create N 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature tokens.

Seems simple enough, right? But did you know that we actually do not declare our choice (whether to create counters or tokens) until the triggered ability resolves?

So, for example, let's say we cast an Angel of Invention, a 2/1 creature for 5 with Fabricate 2. When it enters the battlefield, its Fabricate ability triggers, and we must wait for it to resolve before choosing between placing two +1/+1 counters on the angel or creating two 1/1 Servo tokens.

During this window, your opponent will have a chance to respond. As such, in the event they cast a removal spell like Harnessed Lightning to deal 1 damage to the angel before the Fabricate trigger resolves, it'll probably be best not to choose the option to put two counters on it since the angel will be destroyed before the ability resolves. But hey, even in this scenario, we'll still get two Servos for our troubles, so not all hope is lost.

Advanced Fabrication

Just like in a real workshop where the right tools can enhance our craftsmanship, using Fabricate effectively often comes down to how well we can integrate it with the other cards in our decks:

Doubling Fabricate Triggers

One of the most powerful interactions that we saw from Fabricate's very own Kaladesh block involves Panharmonicon, an artifact that allows all our Fabricate triggers to trigger twice!

With Panharmonicon out, a Cultivator of Blades entering the battlefield allows us to:

• Put four +1/+1 counters on it, or
• Create four Servo tokens, or
• Put two +1/+1 counters on it, and create two Servo tokens

Now, that's what I call value.

Blinking and Flickering

Cards like Ephemerate, Flickerwisp, and Momentary Blink all allow us to exile a creature and then return it to the battlefield (a.k.a Blinking/Flickering), triggering its ETB effects over and over again. So, for creatures with Fabricate, this means we'll get to reuse the Fabricate trigger every time the creature re-enters the battlefield. In this scenario, our goal is to simply abuse the Servo tokens option every time until we have more robot servants than lands. Or why stop there? Shoot for the stars!

Making the Most of Your Servos

If you're running a deck that leverages something of an artifact-sacrifice theme, Fabricate's Servo tokens can prove to be incredibly valuable. Marionette Master, for instance, is an absolute unit in this context. With Fabricate 3, we can choose to create three Servos, which can then be efficiently sacrificed for damage. With this interaction in mind, all that's left for us to do is to add in some cost-efficient sacrifice outlets (i.e., Ashnod's Altar, Krark-Clan Ironworks, Phyrxian Altar), some good trigger doublers (i.e., Panharmonicon, Wandering Throne, Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines), and some of the best multi-use Flicker effects out there (i.e., Eerie Interlude, Conjurer's Closet, Thassa, Deep-Dwelling), and hey, we've got ourselves a whole combo here just waiting to end the game from out of nowhere.

Cards with Fabricate

Now, if you're ready to fortify your fabricators with +1/+1 counters or flood the battlefield with a swarm of Servo tokens (or both), here's a complete list of all the Fabricate cards that are available for you to tinker with today:

• Accomplished Automaton
• Ambitious Aetherborn
• Angel of Invention
• Cayth, Famed Mechanist
• Cultivator of Blades
• Elegant Edgecrafters
• Glint-Sleeve Artisan
• Highspire Artisan
• Iron League Steed
• Marionette Apprentice
• Marionette Master
• Maulfist Squad
• Peema Outrider
• Propeller Pioneer
• Visionary Augmenter
• Weaponcraft Enthusiast

The Future of Fabricate

I, as an official Marionette Master fanboy, feel that there's just a wealth of untapped potential for Fabricate in future MTG sets:

• Hybrid Fabricate: What if a future version of Fabricate allowed us to mix and match our choices? For example, what if "Fabricate 2" could let us place one +1/+1 counter and create a Servo? How's that for flexibility?
• Color Expansion: While Fabricate has mostly been associated with White and Black cards (and occasionally Green), expanding it into other colors could potentially open up new avenues. Like what if Blue Fabricate cards generate Servos with Flying, or Red Fabricate cards create explosive Servos that ping for 1 when they die? In this instance, the keyword itself would likely need an additional word added here and there, but hey, who doesn't love upgrading mechanics based on the infamous Mechanical Color Pie?
• Equipment Servos: Fabricate is already naturally suited to decks that revolve around artifacts, but what if future sets introduced Fabricate creatures that could create Servos that are also equipments? While I'd imagine this would end up as something similar to the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (2022) mechanic Reconfigure, where the Servos can be equipped to a creature to grant them a slight stat boost, this could make it so that, one way or another, we could always choose to have one big creature or have numerous small ones. And even if this comes off as being too similar to another mechanic, you can't deny the flavor here.

Ultimately, whether we see Fabricate return in a future revisit to Kaladesh, a new plane entirely, or even in more one-offs in special sets like Commander Legends (2020) or Modern Horizons 3 (2024), I'm hopeful to see the mechanic reinvigorated in the future. But until then, happy brewing, and may your board always be filled with Servos and +1/+1 counters!