Ingenuity Engine MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	7
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Artifact
Abilities	Cascade
Released	2020-11-20
Set symbol
Set name	Commander Legends
Set code	CMR
Number	317
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Yeong-Hao Han

Key Takeaways

Ingenuity Engine offers card advantage by exchanging permanents for new, potentially game-changing cards.
Its possibility for resource acceleration and instant speed action can swiftly tilt the game in your favor.
While powerful, its discard condition and specific mana requirements can limit its flexibility and application.

Text of card

Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.) , , Sacrifice an artifact: Return target artifact you control to its owner's hand.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Ingenuity Engine offers a unique mechanism that can dismantle an opponent’s strategy while concurrently building your own board presence. By potentially exchanging less useful permanents for new cards, it provides an excellent opportunity to pull ahead with more options and responses in hand.

Resource Acceleration: This artifact can be a catalyst for gaining the upper hand by ramping up your available resources. Its ability to repeatedly untap in a single turn could lead to casting myriad spells, setting you on a quick path to victory.

Instant Speed: The value of Ingenuity Engine is elevated by its capacity to operate at instant speed. This flexibility allows you to adapt fluidly to the evolving battlefield, making it harder for opponents to anticipate your moves and ensuring you’re always one step ahead.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Ingenuity Engine demands a card be discarded to activate its prowess, which can drain your hand and leave you vulnerable to opponents.

Specific Mana Cost: The Ingenuity Engine has a precise mana requirement that may not blend seamlessly into multicolor or off-theme decks, restricting its versatility.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a more substantial mana investment upfront, the Ingenuity Engine competes with other high-impact cards in your deck which may offer immediate effects or advantage.

Reasons to Include Ingenuity Engine in Your Collection

Versatility: Ingenuity Engine offers a dynamic range of uses. Its unique cascade ability allows you to potentially cast multiple spells as you work your way down from its own mana value, making it adaptable to various situations on the battlefield.

Combo Potential: Thanks to its cascade mechanic, Ingenuity Engine can be a catalyst for powerful combos. It can seamlessly integrate into and enhance strategies that are designed to exploit casting multiple spells in a single turn or derive value from chaining lower-cost spells together.

Meta-Relevance: In the ever-shifting landscape of competitive play, Ingenuity Engine maintains its relevance. It offers strong interactions in environments that are rich with artifacts and rewards ingenuity. The engine’s presence alone can alter the pace of play and force opponents to adapt their strategy.

How to beat

Ingenuity Engine plays a unique role in the diverse array of artifacts in Magic: The Gathering. As an artifact with cascade, it not only brings an unexpected twist to the game by potentially chaining multiple spells together but also demands a specific strategy to overcome. However, it’s not invincible. One of the most efficient ways to neutralize this artifact is through targeted removal spells that can dismantle artifacts directly from the battlefield. Cards like Disenchant or Abrade offer quick solutions by simply removing it from play.

Furthermore, counter spells serve as a preemptive defense against Ingenuity Engine. By countering it as soon as it hits the stack, you prevent its cascade ability from triggering altogether. If Ingenuity Engine manages to slip through and activate its cascade, graveyard manipulation becomes key. Extracting the artifact from the graveyard before it can be recurred is vital to stopping the cascade chain from reactivating. This can be accomplished with cards such as Tormod’s Crypt or Relic of Progenitus.

In summary, although Ingenuity Engine can produce significant advantages for your opponent, with a thoughtful approach and precise card choices, you can effectively mitigate its impact on the game. By using direct removal, counter strategies, and graveyard manipulation, you can maintain control of the match despite the challenges this card presents.

Cards like Ingenuity Engine

Ingenuity Engine is an intriguing artifact in the MTG realm, offering a unique spin on permanents manipulation. It’s akin to cards like Daretti, Scrap Savant, with its ability to swap out your artifacts to consistently optimize your board state. Daretti allows selective recycling of artifacts, but Ingenuity Engine expands this concept by allowing any number of artifacts to be exchanged with opponents’ permanents during your upkeep.

There’s also Goblin Welder, which works wonders in an artifact-centric deck, offering repeated artifact recursion. However, it doesn’t provide the same broad trading capacity as Ingenuity Engine, which excels at distributing your artifacts across the battlefield. Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge also deserves a mention here for its ability to draw cards while churning out artifacts, though it doesn’t quite match the direct exchange mechanism.

In considering the pool of similar artifacts and their impact on gameplay, Ingenuity Engine’s ability to disrupt and gain control over your opponent’s key pieces is a testament to its potential in MTG. This card opens up strategic avenues that can turn the tide of any match while maintaining versatility in artifact management.

Daretti, Scrap Savant - MTG Card versions

Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Ingenuity Engine by color, type and mana cost

Mishra's War Machine - MTG Card versions

Death-Mask Duplicant - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ingenuity Engine MTG card by a specific set like Commander Legends, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Ingenuity Engine and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Ingenuity Engine has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Ingenuity Engine card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2020-11-10	Ingenuity Engine can be the target of its own ability. It can be artifact you sacrifice as part of the activation cost. It can even be both, although that will result only in you sacrificing Ingenuity Engine and not returning anything to its owner's hand.
2021-06-18	A spell's mana value is determined only by its mana cost. Ignore any alternative costs, additional costs, cost increases, or cost reductions.
2021-06-18	Cascade triggers when you cast the spell, meaning that it resolves before that spell. If you end up casting the exiled card, it will go on the stack above the spell with cascade.
2021-06-18	Due to a 2021 rules change to cascade, not only do you stop exiling cards if you exile a nonland card with lesser mana value than the spell with cascade, but the resulting spell you cast must also have lesser mana value. Previously, in cases where a card's mana value differed from the resulting spell, such as with some modal double-faced cards or cards with an Adventure, you could cast a spell with a higher mana value than the exiled card.
2021-06-18	If a spell with cascade is countered, the cascade ability will still resolve normally.
2021-06-18	If the card has in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
2021-06-18	If you cast a card "without paying its mana cost," you can't choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those to cast the card.
2021-06-18	The mana value of a split card is determined by the combined mana cost of its two halves. If cascade allows you to cast a split card, you may cast either half but not both halves.
2021-06-18	When the cascade ability resolves, you must exile cards. The only optional part of the ability is whether or not you cast the last card exiled.
2021-06-18	You exile the cards face up. All players will be able to see them.