A Magic: The Gathering deck called “I Make Horrible Artifacts into Unhorrible Creatures” has been released as part of the Budget Magic series. The deck is built around Puppet Crafting, a green card that turns an artifact into a 5/5 creature, and it leans heavily on cheap, low-power artifacts that the deck can build into threats. The budget version costs around $65 in paper and four non-land rares on Arena.
Puppet Crafting and the Cards Around It
Puppet Crafting is the star of the deck. It is a color-shifted version of Ensoul Artifact, a card from Core Set 2015 that players used to play quite a bit. The new card turns an artifact into a 5/5 creature, and the deck carries 16 good copies of it plus more that are less good. That redundancy means players are rarely stuck without a way to animate something.
The deck also includes Zoetic Glyph, a three-mana version of Puppet Crafting that might let players discover if the creature it enchants dies. Case of the Filched Falcon turns an artifact into a 4/4 flier, and Tough Cookie temporarily makes a non-creature artifact a 4/4. Between those four cards, the deck can turn almost any artifact into a creature in some way.
The Artifacts Themselves
The deck’s strategy is to play cheap, useless artifacts and then turn them into monsters. Nutrient Block and Vibranium Energy Daggers are both horrible artifacts that cost just a single mana and are indestructible. Players can put one down on turn one, use Puppet Crafting to make it a 5/5 on turn two, and start attacking.
Exile removal and bounce can still take down the creature, but the deck’s creator says many decks do not have good answers to a 5/5 indestructible flier that starts hitting on turn two. Players only have a handful of turns to draw into an answer, which makes the strategy work.
The deck also has a second group of artifacts that do something different. Fugitive Droid and Gingerbrute are mostly or fully unblockable, which makes them great against blockers. Eventually, even a 5/5 indestructible Nutrient Block can get outclassed on the battlefield. When that happens, players can use Fugitive Droid and Gingerbrute to sneak past the opponent’s defenses and close out the game.
The Clock and the Downsides
The redundancy means the deck is consistent. Players can always access at least one of these cards each game, often multiples, which lets the deck go all in on playing super janky artifacts. The clock is also super fast, since Nutrient Block and Vibranium Energy Daggers cost just one mana each.
The downsides come from decks overloaded on removal, especially removal that can deal with indestructible creatures. The deck also faces some aggro decks that can race it, especially if they are on the play. The creator of the deck notes that these decks are annoying but not a fatal problem for the strategy.
The Early Access Record
The deck was played during early access, and the record is not official. The creator won right around half of the games, maybe slightly better. The tracker does not count early access, so the exact record is not known.
The creator describes the deck as super solid for a budget deck. The redundancy makes it consistent, and the clock is super fast. The creator sees it as a great budget option for Reality Fracture Standard, and could see it ending up a legit tier two or tier three option depending on how the new meta shakes out.
Comparing the Two Groups of Artifacts
| Artifact Group | Cost | Power | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nutrient Block / Vibranium Energy Daggers | 1 mana | 5/5 indestructible | Fast clock, cheap to animate | Vulnerable to exile and bounce |
| Fugitive Droid / Gingerbrute | Cheap | 4/4 or less | Unblockable evasion | Vulnerable to removal, can get outclassed |
The deck’s strength comes from the fact that it can turn both groups of artifacts into monsters in the same game. Players can start with the fast clock artifacts and then switch to the evasion artifacts when the indestructible threats start getting outclassed.
The creator notes a small technical detail about the cards in the deck. Both Case of the Filched Falcon and Tough Cookie can only turn non-creature artifacts into creatures, which means they cannot animate Fugitive Droid or Gingerbrute. Even with that in mind, the cards are super important to the deck.
The Legacy of Ensoul Artifact
Puppet Crafting is the 2026 version of the old Ensoul Artifact decks. Players who were playing Magic when Core Set 2015 was released will probably remember those old decks, and this one is basically the same idea with a bunch of cookies thrown in. The creator says winning with Nutrient Block and Vibranium Energy Daggers on a four non-land rare budget is a legitimate plan in Reality Fracture Standard.
The deck’s name is deliberately playful. It takes cheap, useless artifacts and turns them into monsters, using a color-shifted budget staple from ten years ago and a collection of cards named after baked goods.
The creator’s own name, SaffronOlive, appears at the end of the article as the person to reach out to for thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions.
The deck is a cheap way to try out the new set. If you are looking for something super cheap to try out Reality Fracture Standard, or you are just a fan of cookies, the creator suggests giving Puppet Crafting a shot. It really does feel like a worthy successor to Ensoul Artifact.
See the video the story is built around at MTGGoldfish.
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