Commander Deck Tech: Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade

I'm not much of a Marvel fan. I don't really know the characters all that well except for some cryptic details, and I only have three Deadpool editions that I bought when I was a teen. Even today's protagonist, Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade, is a mystery to me. All I know is that it is the name of a new suit Tony Stark gives Peter Parker.

Though I don't know much about this world, I know a lot about MTG, and I can tell when there's a good card in front of me. So, in today's article, we'll see what Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade can do in Commander!

Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade stands out because it is simple in theory but extremely versatile in practice. At first glance, it really reminds me of Steel Overseer, but it has a much wider range, as it also affects Vehicles and has vigilance. This means you can use this friendly neighborhood Spider to attack or block, and tap it at the right time to activate its ability, and this, in turn, is the reason this strategy flows so well.

Another great thing about this card is that it turns the counters you put on your creatures and Vehicles into card draw. This is why Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade truly stands out, because even some Izzet lists centered around artifacts struggle with being consistent in the long-term.

The fact that your own commander itself is a card draw engine means you don't have to rely so much on other engines, and as such this colorless deck is, in a way, even better than some red decks.

Finally, this commander lets you remove counters from your creatures at any time and draw cards, so if one of your creatures is about to die, you'll be able to get the best out of them one last time. With Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade, you'll always have a way to get value from your creatures, and as such, you'll always make up for any cards in play you end up losing.

Today's list sits at Bracket 4 and was built by JovenLD. Out of all the most accessible lists I researched, this was the one I enjoyed the most. Even beginners will be able to play it, so if you don't have any expensive or rare cards or the resources to get them, this list is definitely for you.

Let's see it:

It plays a lot more artifact creatures than Vehicles because these creatures are a lot more useful to us. Curiously, this Spider doesn't buff Spacecrafts before they turn into creatures, so this list also doesn't play them apart from The Eternity Elevator, a mana rock.

Ramp and Discounting Costs

It's almost a rule that we must use great mana rocks in completely colorless lists, as we don't have many card draw options to play and the cards themselves are often expensive.

Because we don't need to rely on mana colors, the traditional kit (Sol Ring, Thran Dynamo, Basalt Monolith, Everflowing Chalice, and even land support like Temple of the False God and Urza's trio) is interesting. Since we're discussing cards that create a lot of mana, we'll also play abilities that tap and untap artifacts, like Voltaic Key and Clock of Omens.

Another way to balance this deck is by discounting the cost of our heavy artifacts and making them a lot more accessible. Cards like Foundry Inspector, Jhoira's Familiar, Cloud Key, Semblance Anvil, and particularly Mycosynth Golem make the mana curve quite healthy.

Colorless decks are usually expensive, both mana-wise and in order to activate abilities and effects that tap and untap artifacts, and it is through this engine we'll develop our game plan.

Counter Synergies

First we need ramp to make this colorless list work, but then we'll need counters and ways to interact with them to win the game with Iron Spider. This commander is, in essence, a way to give +1/+1 counters to all your artifact creatures, and this list was built with that goal in mind.

Let's start with the most obvious ones. Steel Overseer is a second copy of your main effect: it doubles the number of counters on your board as you play. Cards like Animation Module, Iron Apprentice, and Patchwork Automaton then buff themselves naturally when they enter or after you play new artifacts. As for Cryptic Trilobite, it creates and shares its own counters as mana.

This list also plays classic threats for 75-card formats, that is, Hangarback Walker and Walking Ballista. Threefold Thunderhulk and Marketback Walker are this same unique type of card, only in a different font. They turn counters into different ways to keep your opponents in check.

Then we have useful cards like Giggling Skitterspike or Surge Conductor, which put more counters on the board, but we'll discuss them later in more detail.

Proliferating and Accelerating

As this is a colorless deck, we don't have many ways to Proliferate our counters. If we were playing blue, for instance, the situation would be different.

Unfortunately, we can't play cards like Thrummingbird, but we can play Contagion Engine. It is one of our main pieces, both a mass removal against smaller creatures and a way to put more counters on all our permanents.

Throne of Geth plays a similar role but is a bit more humble. It lets us sacrifice artifacts to put more counters in play instantly and for very little, too. As for Karn's Bastion, it has a safe, recursive effect that is tied to our mana base, so we can Proliferate whenever we have a little bit of mana left. Surge Conductor is also an interesting way to Proliferate our counters.

Besides Proliferating itself, this list also plays ways to untap the artifacts we mentioned before. With these accelerators, Iron Spider and other support tools will perform far better than usual, and the deck itself will flow a lot better.

Thousand-Year Elixir, in particular, lets us activate our abilities (and most of them require us to tap our creatures) as though they had haste. This will be great with our commander, Palladium Myr, Steel Overseer, and Cryptic Trilobite, for instance.

Clock of Omens and Unwinding Clock follow that same logic. They'll keep our artifacts ready to defend us from enemy attacks and let us activate their abilities as the turns go on. Voltaic Key and Manifold Key are cheap ways to untap whatever we need.

Other Pieces

There are many cards in this deck that don't benefit the core strategy directly but are quite helpful. Darksteel Forge, for instance, makes our artifacts indestructible, so we can build a giant board nearly stress-free and get the best our Spider can offer us.

Mystic Forge can be considered a second hand, as it lets us play artifacts directly from the top of our deck. And since this list plays a low curve (courtesy of Foundry Inspector and Jhoira's Familiar), this artifact will let us cast many cards in a row and thus keep our board alive. Here's some trivia for you: Mystic Forge is banned in Vintage.

Another highlight is Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter, which lets you play all your artifacts at instant speed. It essentially lets you play a bit more carefully, turning ramp and threats into surprises on your opponent's turn, all while Liberator itself grows. Shimmer Myr is similar, as it also works with Flash and makes sure your opponents have a hard time predicting what you'll play.

Win Conditions

The main game plan is turning artifact creatures into truly colossal threats by filling them with counters. They'll grow too fast to be answered in time. Walking Ballista, Hangarback Walker, and the other cards we mentioned above are the most classic examples, and each counter you put on them will bring you one step closer to victory.

Virulent Silencer is a Fynn, the Fangbearer for artifact creatures. It creates value because of its Poison counters and puts pressure on the game as these creatures deal damage and as you play Proliferates. It will definitely put a target on your forehead, but you'll have a lot of fun, too.

As for Giggling Skitterspike, it is a bit more subtle. It looks like a crazy version of Sid's toy in the first Toy Story. It grows by defending itself with its indestructible and pays itself because of how easily it can deal deadly amounts of damage. Considering you'll put new counters on your cards every turn, Sid's toy is a win condition. And it also looks like a Spider. How about that?

Finally, The Millennium Calendar is the "fun" win condition in this list and also supports the core strategy, as you'll get a lot from cards that let you tap it. It also brings you closer to inevitability and puts pressure on your opponents to answer it as the game goes on. Without a question, the best part of Commander is seeing cards like these shining under the spotlight.

Here's a budget version of this list. It is even more friendly and accessible to players but is just as powerful as the original.

As I said in the beginning, though I don't know much about the adventures of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, I know good cards when I see them. Iron Spider, Stark Upgrade delivers exactly what it is supposed to: fun, great gameplay, as well as resilience and consistency. It might not be the most explosive commander, but it makes up for it with stability and a new way to play the most common archetype in Commander, the artifact archetype.

It had been a while since I last wrote something about a colorless deck. I believe back then I wrote about Marvin, Murderous Mimic. In any case, this Iron Spider surprised me quite a bit.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!