Deck 5 - Artificers Guild: Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter

This deck is part of the Two-Headed Giant Commander decks, these are designed to be played 2v2 or 3v3 in the Commander format, but can also be played 1v1. 

Certain decks have certain themes, and will pair better with other decks, which decks work best have been listed below. These decks are on a higher skill level than most of the other decks in the club, with a lot of interacting mechanics. This can be overwhelming to learn and master but it is a whole lot of fun when you do.

Above the clouds, a magnificent city of artifice and invention floats in the sky. The Freelancers, a powerful guild of artificers and mercenaries, make their home here, offering their services to the highest bidder. They care little for the moral alignments of their employers, focused only on the wealth and knowledge they can gain. As the world below descends into chaos, the Freelancers find themselves courted by both sides of the conflict. Their allegiance, however fleeting, could tip the scales of power in favor of either the Villains or the kingdom of Gloria. The main themes of the Freelancer decks are artifacts, flyers and +1/+1 counters.

Jan Jansen was a gnome inventor, illusionist, turnip salesman, weapons manufacturer, disreputable businessman, and adventurer who lived in Athkatla during the mid–14th century DR. Jan was very eccentric, and loved to ramble on with stories that never got to the point. He had a habit of telling bizarre tales about his supposed relatives, turnips, griffon-baiting, wyvern-taming, and other subjects for seemingly no reason. Some of his stories were so outlandish it seemed they had no foundation in reality. He spoke about his aunt Petunia, who was a ranger who wore fruit armor and kept a number of pets including a black dragon, a hydra, and a solar. He also spun a tale about Angus the giant beaver who befriended Gurgen the hormonal moose.

This Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter deck focuses on leveraging artifact synergies, token creation, and sacrifice outlets to generate value, control the board, and close out games through overwhelming resource generation. With the ability to tap and sacrifice artifacts for tokens, Jan serves as the engine of this deck, enabling powerful synergies with cards that care about artifacts entering or leaving the battlefield. The deck excels in the two-headed giant format by providing consistent utility and explosive turns with efficient artifact recursion and sacrifice payoffs.

Key Cards

• Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter: The commander is a key engine for generating artifact tokens by tapping and sacrificing artifacts. Jan fuels various artifact synergies, allowing you to generate Treasures, Constructs, and Clue tokens for value.

• Marionette Master: This card turns artifact sacrifices into massive damage to opponents. Combined with Jan's ability to consistently create and sacrifice artifacts, it becomes a dangerous win condition.

• Mondrak, Glory Dominus: Doubling token production synergizes with Jan’s token-creation ability, quickly overwhelming the board with creatures and treasures.

• Pitiless Plunderer: A crucial piece that generates Treasure tokens whenever any of your creatures die, synergizing with the deck’s many sacrifice effects and enabling powerful mana generation.

• Disciple of the Vault and Mayhem Devil: These cards turn each artifact or creature sacrifice into incremental damage, helping to wear down opponents while maintaining board presence.

• Oni-Cult Anvil: Provides consistent chip damage and life gain while generating more artifact tokens to fuel Jan and other synergies.

• Skullclamp: A draw engine in this deck, providing card advantage when you sacrifice creatures like Constructs or Thopters.

• Goblin Welder and Oswald Fiddlebender: Powerful artifact recursion pieces, allowing you to sacrifice low-value artifacts to bring back key threats or combo pieces from the graveyard.

Combos and Synergies

• Jan Jansen + Pitiless Plunderer + Marionette Master: Jan creates Treasure tokens with Pitiless Plunderer in play, and as you sacrifice these Treasures with Marionette Master on board, you deal massive damage.

• Goblin Welder + Any Artifact: Swap low-value artifacts for high-value pieces like Blinkmoth Urn or Mondrak, Glory Dominus, enabling further synergies.
  
  

Strategy

Early Game: In the early stages, your goal is to set up a solid mana base and start laying down artifact enablers. Use cards like Arcane Signet, Talisman of Indulgence, and Rakdos Signet to ramp quickly into more powerful plays. Early threats such as Reckless Fireweaver and Ingenious Artillerist can start dealing damage as you create and sacrifice artifacts. Focus on establishing sacrifice engines like Goblin Welder or Oswald Fiddlebender while Jan Jansen comes into play.

• Key Plays: Ramp with mana rocks, establish early sac outlets, and deploy utility creatures like Esper Sentinel and Xorn to increase value.

Mid Game: As you move into the mid-game, your artifact synergies should come online. Start using Jan's ability to generate additional value by sacrificing artifacts to create tokens. This will synergize with cards like Mayhem Devil and Marionette Master to start pressuring opponents. Mondrak, Glory Dominus will enable you to flood the board with tokens and overwhelm the battlefield. Utilize Professional Face-Breaker and Deadly Dispute for card draw and mana generation.

• Key Plays: Jan Jansen’s ability should be activated regularly, creating artifacts to fuel cards like Marionette Master, Pitiless Plunderer, and Goblin Bombardment. Use recursion from Daretti, Scrap Savant and Scrap Trawler to recover key artifacts.

Late Game: By the late game, you should be able to leverage your artifact token army for a finishing blow. Cards like Blasphemous Act or Sunfall can clear the board of threats while your indestructible artifacts remain. Mondrak and Oni-Cult Anvil should ensure that you have a constant stream of tokens, and Clock of Omens can untap Jan Jansen or other key pieces to generate even more value. Finish off opponents with Marionette Master, Mayhem Devil, or a large Hangarback Walker.

• Key Plays: Use Mondrak, Glory Dominus to double your tokens and combine it with Marionette Master to drain opponents. Cards like Goblin Bombardment or Disciple of the Vault can finish the game.

Mulligan Guide

• Keep: Hands with early ramp like Arcane Signet, Sol Ring, or Talisman of Indulgence. You should also keep hands that have early sacrifice engines like Oni-Cult Anvil, Oswald Fiddlebender, or Goblin Welder. Having Jan Jansen in your opening hand or easy access to him is crucial for getting your artifact engine going.

• Consider: If you lack ramp but have a strong draw engine like Skullclamp or a recursion piece like Scrap Trawler, you might still consider keeping it.

• Ship: Hands without ramp or early plays. You want to be setting up by turns 2-3, so avoid hands that are too slow to get started.

Conclusion

This Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter deck excels in creating explosive plays through artifact token generation and sacrifice synergies. In two-headed giant games, Jan's ability to generate value and control the board makes this deck a strong asset for your team, offering removal, ramp, and damage to help overwhelm your opponents. Focus on building a wide board with artifact tokens, using sacrifice effects to generate value, and closing out the game with powerful synergies.