Science! Commander Precon Guide

Overview

Science! revolves around the energy mechanic introduced in Kaladesh. Dr. Madison Li generates one energy counter every time you cast an artifact spell. Once you have accumulated enough energy, you can tap her to spend it in three different ways: one energy to give a creature +1/+0, trample, and haste until end of turn; three energy to draw a card; or five energy to return a target artifact from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. The deck is designed to cast a steady stream of artifacts, stockpile energy, and then spend that stockpile on high-value abilities each turn.

Liberty Prime, Recharged serves as both a secondary commander and a major payoff within the 99. An 8/8 with vigilance, trample, and haste, Liberty Prime must be sacrificed whenever he attacks or blocks unless you pay two energy, but he can also tap and sacrifice an artifact himself to gain two energy and draw a card, letting him fund his own upkeep by feeding him spare artifacts. In a deck generating energy through artifact casts, Liberty Prime is consistently fuelled and provides an immediate game-ending threat the turn it enters. The deck can pivot between Dr. Madison Li's incremental resource game and Liberty Prime's aggressive combat strategy depending on the state of the board.

Key Cards

Playing the Deck

Science! rewards patience in the early game. The first few turns are about establishing the mana base and getting low-cost artifacts into play to begin accumulating energy. Even a single artifact cast per turn with Dr. Madison Li in play generates enough energy over four or five turns to start spending on card draw. Sol Ring and Arcane Signet both trigger Li's energy generation on cast and provide the acceleration to deploy her on curve.

The mid game is about reaching the energy thresholds that make Dr. Madison Li's activated abilities valuable. Drawing a card for three energy is efficient when you are generating one or two energy per turn from artifact casts alone. Panharmonicon doubles all ETB triggers and converts each artifact cast into two energy, dramatically accelerating the accumulation rate. Once Aetherworks Marvel is in play, permanents dying to combat or removal contribute additional energy to the stockpile rather than being purely lost value.

The late game hinges on Liberty Prime's ability to end games quickly once he is deployed. With haste, Liberty Prime attacks the turn he arrives, often representing eight or more damage immediately. Gonti's Aether Heart can fund an extra turn when the energy pool reaches eight, allowing a second attack phase before opponents can assemble an answer. Dr. Madison Li's five-energy recursion ability retrieves any artifact removed from the battlefield, meaning key pieces like Panharmonicon or Aetherworks Marvel rarely stay dead for long.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths: The deck has two distinct win conditions in Dr. Madison Li's resource game and Liberty Prime's combat threat, giving it flexibility to adapt to the game state. The energy mechanic is resilient because energy counters persist between turns and cannot be interacted with directly by most removal. Panharmonicon and Aetherworks Marvel are genuinely powerful reprints that provide immediate impact.

Weaknesses: The stock list suffers from too few energy generators relative to how many activations it wants to make. Drawing three cards for three energy or returning an artifact for five energy is strong, but reaching those thresholds consistently requires a density of artifact casts the precon struggles to maintain in the mid game. The deck improves significantly with additional low-cost artifacts and Kaladesh-block energy producers added to the list.

Full Decklist

All 100 cards from the out-of-the-box Science! precon, enriched with current prices. Click any card to expand it.