Top 10 Vehicles for Vehicle Commander Decks

<a href="https://www.cardkingdom.com/landing/mtg-aetherdrift-cards“>Aetherdrift releases February 14, and if you’ve got love in your heart for all things zoom-zoom in Commander, then you’ve got a hankering to build with vehicles again. Not all vehicle cards are created equally, so let’s look at the top 10 vehicles for vehicle decks to see which ones are worth a look. 

TOP 10 VEHICLES FOR COMMANDER

10. JACKDAW

It’s really hard for me to put colored vehicles on this list, as they often end up being used way less often than the more splashable colorless ones. That goes double for a two-color vehicle, but Jackdaw had to make this list owing to just how strong it is. 

If you’re playing any kind of vehicles deck, you’re going to A) be playing a lot of artifacts and B) playing more artifacts that aren’t vehicles, in order to maximize your artifact synergies. What this means, in practice, is that your Jackdaw is going to be connecting and wheeling you into five, six, seven… even ten fresh cards, every combat. 

That’s insane amounts of card draw, and on a respectably costed three mana 4/4 with crew 3, you’ll be able to achieve this very easily. Our picks for the better Izzet vehicles decks are Mary Read and Anne Bonny, Ovika, Enigma Goliath, both Jhoiras, or even Iron Man, Titan of Innovation. 

9. LIFECRAFT ENGINE

Speaking of more niche vehicles decks, Lifecraft Engine excels in one very specific type of Vehicle deck: one helmed by Dwarves. Dwarves have a natural kind of affinity for cars, apparently, and so Lifecraft Engine provides extra synergies. 

Depala, Pilot Exemplar can effectively give your vehicles +2/+2 if you name Dwarf with the Engine, and more importantly, Magda, Brazen Outlaw will provide you extra treasure when your crewed Vehicles roll on into combat. 

You can also do some weird stuff with this, like name Illusion and play Lord of the Unreal in a blue deck, or have Spirit tokens be your main crew creatures, name Spirit with the Engine, and play Drogskol Captain.

8. SKYSOVEREIGN, CONSUL FLAGSHIP

You can’t really play a Commander deck without removal, and so you can’t really play a vehicles deck without jamming Skysovereign, Consul Flagship. Premiering in OG Kaladesh back in the day, Skysovereign bolts creatures or planeswalkers when it enters or attacks. If you have ways to make non-legendary copies (which are pretty bountiful these days) then you should be able to take advantage of this even more.

7. SMUGGLER’S COPTER

Kaladesh block had some really busted cards in for Standard back in the day, and none more so than Smuggler’s Copter, which saw play in basically every deck because… why wouldn’t you play it? It was overtuned in a similar way to Skullclamp, and because of its ubiquity it got hit with the banhammer eventually.

Thankfully we can play Skullclamp and Smuggler’s Copter in Commander, and the latter is a vehicle I’ve played even in non-vehicle decks (especially those that want to do reanimator things). Copter is a great draw engine that can set up big plays with the graveyard to boot. 

6. MECHTITAN CORE

In Commander you gotta follow the rule-of-cool, and that rule dictates you simply have to run Mechtitan Core. It makes a giant Gundam, guys! Why wouldn’t you want that?

The creature token that Mechtitan Core makes is very, very strong, and can provide 20-point life-swings while being incredibly hard to block or attack into. The best part of making this token is that when you lose it, you get back everything you exiled to create it (except Mechtitan Core) straight to the battlefield, tapped. This encourages you to just go ham and make the token, because you’re going to get your stuff back if it gets removed. 

This is great insurance, as losing your board to Westvale Abbey only to lose Ormendahl to removal always feels rough.

5. NAUTILOID SHIP

Removal is needed in Commander, and that includes ways to keep on top of graveyards, lest you be overcome by those of us who jam Living Death in every deck we can. Thankfully, there’s a heckin’ good vehicle to use to stop those shenanigans – and I don’t mean Unlicensed Hearse, which yes, you should probably be playing too. 

Nautiloid Ship comes in and exiles someone’s whole yard. For four mana, that’s pretty expensive. However, you get to treat yourself to whatever you want, creature wise, from those exiled cards, whenever Nautiloid Ship hits opponents. The best part is you’re not even casting those cards, so they can’t be countered. 

A vehicle that gets a lot better in decks that can give it double strike or take extra combats, that’s for sure.

4. BROTHERHOOD VERTIBIRD

Brotherhood Vertibird is on this list for one very specific reason: you gotta end games, and you gotta put a clock on people. A three mana */4 flyer that grows as your board does scales really well with the game, and you’re going to need that evasive power to really threaten people’s life totals.

The other reason this card is great is that it can be copied easily, being non-legendary, which means you can achieve aerial superiority provided you have enough pilots around ready to fly.

3. REAVER TITAN

Reaver Titan is a real beating. It’s one of my favorites from the 40k precons, and it was a great choice for my Isshin Dungeons & Damage deck, which loved to double up on attack triggers. So sure, it can be great outside of vehicles decks, but we’re more interesting about in them.

A 10/10 that can’t be chumped by smaller creatures is a great way to push damage through and finish a game, so, incidentally, is dealing 5 to each opponent every time you do. Funny how that works, right?

Reaver Titan is well worth the price of entry. It demolishes people.

2. PARHELION II

Favored target of Greasefang decks everywhere, Parhelion II is still more or less the best way to close games in a vehicle deck. This flying warship poops out 4/4 Angel tokens like nobody’s business, and attacks really safely with vigilance, flying and first strike. 

Reanimating this with a Trash for Treasure or Refurbish (or the aforementioned Greasefang) is the quickest way to get it up and running, but honestly, playing it late game as a finisher is just great too. Leaving behind 4/4 flyers is a great compensation for when it inevitably eats removal. 

If you’re in white, you want this one.

1. SHORIKAI, GENESIS ENGINE

Our number one today is arguably the best vehicles Commander, too: Shorikai, Genesis Engine.

Shorikai is incredibly potent. Sure, it can swing for 8, eventually, but what we’re interested in here is the activated ability you can use even when it isn’t crewed, and at any point in the turn cycle. Paying one to draw two, discard one, and make a 1/1 Pilot token is bonkers value.

Shorikai either sits in your command zone and you build the deck around it, or it comes down midway into a game and shores up your crewing needs and your card draw needs. There are many ways in UW to pop off with this (tapping and untapping, for instance), but you don’t really even need them to enjoy the value that Shorikai brings. Whew!

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Those are our picks of the best vehicles for your Commander decks with an emphasis on vehicles.

Am I really high on Cryptcaller Chariot, Thunderous Velocipede and Hedge Shredder? Yes, yes I am. But most vehicles decks aren’t green, and the Chariot is a straight up token engine in Zombies decks. 

That said, the new Oviya, Automech Artisan looks to be the deck to play if you like cars but also bears. And I mean actual bears, and cars. Because green.