In recent weeks I've written spotlight columns about discover and descend, and today I'd like to do a third "deep dive" on another mechanic from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan - Craft. This new keyword is found exclusively on double-faced cards that you can transform if you satisfy the card's requirements. Transforming a card will exile it and return it with the back face up as a new permanent.

Crafting always requires payment in the form of both mana and materials. The materials will be specified in the description of the ability, such as "Craft with two creatures " for the artifact card Visage of Dread // Dread Osseosaur. Crafting materials will be exiled as part of the payment for the ability and may be needed later by the new permanent that you are crafting. The cards you exile can be exiled from the graveyard and/or the battlefield. Crafting is done at sorcery speed.

Cards with craft always seem to be artifacts, which makes a certain amount of sense. These artifacts are crafted into new artifacts, creatures, or artifact creatures. A few of them are legendary, but only one has a front side that is legendary and is usable as your commander.

I'm struck by the fact that this new ability is another example of Wizards of the Coast giving their card designers an incredibly flexible tool that can be used to make complex and interesting game interactions.

A great example of this is Throne of the Grim Captain.

This legendary artifact taps to let you mill two cards. For four mana you can craft The Grim Captain - a 7/7 legendary Skeleton Spirit Pirate with menace, trample, lifelink and hexproof. The crafting recipe requires a Dinosaur, a Merfolk, a Pirate and a Vampire. Don't worry - you'll probably get them back. When The Grim Captain attacks, each opponent sacrifices a nonland permanent and then you may put one of the creature cards used to craft it onto the battlefield under your control tapped and attacking.

The Grim Captain is sure to be run as a "rule zero" (normally not legal) commander by lots of Commander players. The deck is going to require an interesting and unique build to give you a chance to have what you need to transform Throne of the Grim Captain into a creature.

These new cards range from the simple and straightforward to cards that are both powerful and fairly complicated. I don't love the ever-increasing complexity that keeps getting added to the game, but I very much appreciate that they are trying to make the game more interesting and challenging.

I may not be ready to throw together a quad-typal Ixalan's Greatest Hits deck as an excuse to "rule zero" Throne of the Grim Captain for a commander deck, but I am going to take a look at some of the cards with craft that I find the most intriguing.

I should note that I am a commander writer and my focus is going to lean heavily toward that format. I may pass over cards that end up having an impact in Standard, Modern or even Pioneer. What feels underpowered to me might be a real threat in a 1 v 1, 20 life format.

Do You Like Artifacts?

My first pick feels like it could be a decent draw engine now that we are firmly a game dominated by Treasure artifact tokens.

This three-mana Blue artifact enters the battlefield with three net counters and will let you tap down permanents and prevent them from having their activated abilities activated. That's pretty strong, but for one and a Blue you can exile an artifact and transform it into Braided Quipu. This artifact lets you pay three and a Blue to tap and draw a card for each artifact you control. You only get to do it once, because you'll put Braided Quipu into its owner's library third from the top.

The overall cost for all of this nonsense is nine mana and an exiled artifact, but if you're playing a deck in blue that floods the battlefield with artifacts, even if they're just Clues and Food, you'll at least want to consider running this. You'll add to your affinity, and some decks will see you draw a dozen or more cards when it's activated. I do see this as a commander card, and I'm already planning to add this to my Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain deck, which isn't trying to be a cEDH powerhouse. I don't think this makes the cut in cEDH or even fringe cEDH, as it requires too much mana.

Do You Like Free Spells?

The more I think about it, Braided Net might deserve to be more of an honorable mention. Fortunately, I've got two artifacts with craft that can let me cast spells for free.

Ore-Rich Stalactite // Cosmium Catalyst is a 2-drop Red mana rock that can tap for a Red mana to be used to cast an instant or sorcery spell. It has craft with four or more Red instants and/or sorcery spells, and transforms into Cosmium Catalyst. That backside lets you pay two mana and tap to choose an exiled card to craft Cosmium Catalyst at random. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost.

The floor on this card is that you exile lower powered spells and you never get lucky and cast the one you really want when you activate Cosmium Catalyst. The ceiling on this card is that you manage to exile four high-mana powerhouse instants and sorceries and you're getting a huge amount of value every time you activate it.

Not knowing what you'll be getting is a serious downside, but that fits in with Red perfectly. If you really need to know what you'll be getting, the next card might be more up your alley.

Eye of Ojer Taq // Apex Observatory is a 3-drop mana rock that taps for mana of any color and which can be crafted for six mana with two cards that share at least one card type. It transforms into Apex Observatory, which enters the battlefield tapped. As it enters you choose a card type shared among two exiled cards used to craft it. When you tap Apex Observatory, the next spell you cast this turn of the chosen type can be cast without paying its mana cost.

Apex Observatory will lock you into a card type, but can also represent a huge amount of value. Your investment is nine mana and two exiled cards, but many of these craft cards require a significant investment for what will hopefully be a big payoff.

Do You Like Golems?

My first thought when I looked at this next card was that it would go crazy with Intruder Alarm. Intruder Alarm is an enchantment that untaps all creatures whenever a creature enters the battlefield. That first glance conveniently had me forgetting that this card transforms from an artifact into an artifact, not an artifact creature. Let's give it a closer look.

This Azorius () artifact will have you create a 4/4 White and Blue Golem artifact creature token when it enters the battlefield. It costs a hefty five mana and can craft with artifact for an additional seven mana ().

The flip side of Master's Guide-Mural is Master's Manufactory. This artifact taps to make a 4/4 White and Blue Golem artifact creature token, and can only be activated if it or another artifact entered the battlefield under your control this turn.

There are a ton of ways to make an artifact into an artifact creature in Magic, so my Intruder Alarm idea isn't that far fetched. I'd probably run this in Sydri, Galvanic Genius, which puts you in Esper () colors. Sydri can make a noncreature into an artifact creature, and you're in Black so you can tutor for what you need to make this happen. As a creature it would be summoning sick on the turn it transforms, but that's not a huge drawback. This plan is complicated and mana intensive enough that it wouldn't see play in cEDH, but it's silly and convoluted enough to appeal to my best (or worst?) deck-building tendencies. I may have to build this deck.

Do You Like Puzzles?

The next card is one that feels like a real puzzle waiting to be solved. Chances are good that it's already been solved but that shouldn't stop you from trying to find new and interesting ways to make the most of it.

This legendary artifact costs a paltry 1 Blue mana, enters tapped, and taps to make two colorless mana which can only be used to activate abilities. That's a lot to digest, but it also has craft with four or more nonlands with activated abilities. That craft ability also costs nine mana, one of which must be Blue.

The reason this card is on the list is because it transforms into Locus of Enlightenment, a really interesting legendary Blue artifact. Locus has each activated ability of the exiled cards used to craft it. You may activate each of those abilities only once each turn. Whenever you activate an ability that isn't a mana ability, you copy it and may choose new targets for the copy.

Since we're looking at the back side of a permanent, we won't be able to flicker it to reset the "once each turn" restriction. On the other hand, Locus of Enlightenment will copy the activated abilities that it has from the cards it exiled, provided those aren't mana abilities.

It isn't in the scope of this column to fully explore how to break this card. I expect something involving Time Sieve or Magistrate's Scepter might get you around the "once per turn" issue but there are surely other crazy things you can do with this new toy.

Do You Like Commander?

This column wouldn't be complete without a look at the one legendary artifact creature with a craft ability.

Tetzin, Gnome Champion is a legendary artifact creature in Jeskai () colors. Whenever Tetzin or another double-faced artifact enters the battlefield under your control you'll mill three cards. You may put an artifact card from among them into your hand.

Tetzin's craft ability is craft with six artifacts for four mana. It transforms into The Golden-Gear Colossus, a 6/6 legendary artifact creature Gnome with vigilance and trample. When it enters the battlefield or attacks you transform up to one other target double-faced artifact you control. You'll also create two 1/1 colorless Gnome artifact creature tokens.

The specifics around this transform ability get pretty complicated. Only "transforming" double-faced cards and transforming tokens can transform. Choosing a modal double-faced card like Pestilent Cauldron from Strixhaven won't cause that permanent to transform. In short, just because a card has two faces doesn't mean it can transform.

Furthermore, if you have a token or clone copy of a transforming double-faced card and you attempt to use the craft ability, it will go to exile, but it won't return to the battlefield. As soon as it leaves the battlefield it will cease being a copy of the card it was copying. I'm not a judge, but this info comes from the rulings on gatherer and I would advise that you learn all of the ins and outs of transforming cards and the craft mechanic if you plan to build and play this deck.

Final Thoughts

These new transforming double-faced cards have given us some really cool, and really complicated new toys to play with. My favorite might be the very straightforward Sunbird Standard // Sunbird Effigy. It's a 3-drop mana rock that can craft with one or more other cards for five mana. It turns into Sunbird Effigy, a flying, vigilant, hasty artifact creature that can tap for each color among the cards used to craft it.

Many of these cards cost a lot to play and to transform, but this little guy could tap for five mana if you exiled all five colors worth of materials when you crafted it. That means it would tap for as much as it cost to transform, not counting your materials cost. I'll freely admit that my affection for Sunbird Standard // Sunbird Effigy has a lot to do with the fact that I just love the artwork. It is just a really pretty card, especially when you see it in foil.

That's all I've got for today. If you enjoy my take on things, you can find my regular column on this fine website every Monday morning. I write about the Commander format, usually through the lens of diving into a specific commander and building a deck around it.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading!