BlueLegendary Creature — Moonfolk ArtificerKatsumasa, the Animator
Mana value4Rank#8,061
The Commander
Flying
: Until end of turn, target noncreature artifact you control becomes an artifact creature and gains flying. If it's not a Vehicle, it has base power and toughness 1/1 until end of turn.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to three target noncreature artifacts.
Guide
Gameplan
Flood the board with noncreature artifacts, pile +1/+1 counters on up to three of them each upkeep, then animate them with Katsumasa's ability and swing through the air for lethal flying damage. You ramp on artifact mana early, grow your best permanents into giant creatures, and close fast since everything you animate gains evasion.
Strengths
- Animates ANY noncreature artifact and grants flying, turning mana rocks and equipment into evasive beaters
- Free upkeep counters compound quickly, threatening one-shot commander damage from animated artifacts
- Mono-blue gives access to the best card draw, counterspells, and protection for your threats
- Synergizes with artifact ramp so your mana base doubles as your win condition
Weaknesses
- Extremely vulnerable to board wipes and artifact removal—losing your animated rocks sets you back on mana and offense
- Counters disappear if you don't have ways to protect them; instant-speed removal during combat blows you out
- Katsumasa is fragile (1 toughness for the flier herself isn't an issue but she's a 4-mana flier) and the deck stalls without her on board
- Mono-blue lacks efficient creature/artifact removal and life gain
Key Cards
- Sword of Feast and Famine — Animate it for an evasive threat that also ramps and protects, and the counters make it a real clock.
- Darksteel Forge — Makes all your artifacts indestructible, so your animated counter-stacked army survives board wipes.
- Lightning Greaves — Protects Katsumasa from removal and lets animated artifacts dodge sorcery-speed answers with haste.
- The Ozolith — Banks the +1/+1 counters so a wrath doesn't waste your upkeep investment.
- Hangarback Walker — A noncreature-adjacent artifact target that thrives on counters and leaves tokens when it dies.
- Voltaic Construct — Untap an animated mana rock to generate explosive mana for combo and ramp turns.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana and protection (Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots) so Katsumasa comes down early and survives. Lean into combo finishers like Voltaic Construct plus a cost-reducer or Staff of Domination for infinite mana, and run Cyberdrive Awakener or overrun-style effects for a wide finish. Tighten interaction with Cyclonic Rift, Force of Will, and Swan Song to defend your fragile counter-stacked board.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Commander/artifact damage from a single animated, counter-loaded artifact equipped or buffed for one-shots
- ▸Wide artifact army animated en masse for an alpha strike through the air
- ▸Infinite mana via animated rocks plus untappers feeding an X-spell or drawing your library
- ▸Grinding card advantage and counterspells into an inevitable artifact beatdown
Archetypes
- Artifacts/Voltron — She turns counter-pumped artifacts into single huge evasive attackers for commander-damage kills.
- Big Mana Ramp — Artifact rocks double as ramp and threats, enabling huge X-spells and bombs.
- Combo — Animated rocks plus untappers like Voltaic Construct create infinite mana loops.
- Control — Mono-blue counterspells and card draw protect your slow-but-inevitable artifact engine.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (U), by popularity.
