Armory Automaton

Armory Automaton card image

Armory Automaton: Artifact Creature - Construct, Commander 2016. MTG card printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{3}
Mana value
3
Type
Artifact Creature - Construct
Colour identity
Colourless
Power / toughness
2/2
Rarity
Rare
Set
Commander 2016 (C16)
Released
2016-11-11
Collector number
51
Artist
James Paick
Commander rank
7,183 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)

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About Armory Automaton

Armory Automaton is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare colourless artifact creature from Commander 2016 (C16), a Commander product released in November 2016. It is collector number 51 in that set, with art by James Paick. It costs {3} (three generic mana) to cast, for a mana value of 3. It is a 2/2 creature. It has no colour identity. It is legal in Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander and Oathbreaker. It has been printed in 3 sets, from Commander 2016 (2016) to Final Fantasy Commander (2025). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $1.03 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-12).

Card text

Whenever this creature enters or attacks, you may attach any number of target Equipment to it. (Control of the Equipment doesn't change.)

With no flesh to tire or resolve to falter, the machines soon became the Academy's preferred trainers.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $1.03 (as of 2026-11-12).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of Armory Automaton by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal

Other printings of Armory Automaton

Armory Automaton has been printed in 3 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
Final Fantasy Commander (FIC) #336Rare2025
Treasure Chest (PZ2) #68Rare2016

Official rulings

Six official rulings apply to Armory Automaton, newest first.

  • Armory Automaton's ability can cause an Equipment one player controls to become attached to a creature another player controls. The controller of the Equipment can pay the equip cost to attach that Equipment to a creature they control, but only any time that player could cast a sorcery. The controller of Armory Automaton can't activate equip abilities of Equipment they don't control.
  • The triggered ability triggers both when Armory Automaton enters the battlefield and whenever it attacks. You don't have to choose only one.
  • If Armory Automaton leaves the battlefield before its ability resolves, nothing happens to any of the Equipment it targeted. If they were already attached to other creatures, they remain attached to those creatures.
  • If an Equipment an opponent controls is attached to a creature you control, any ability of that Equipment that says "you" refers to that opponent. However, if the Equipment says that the equipped creature has an ability, the word "you" in that ability refers to you, the controller of the creature.
  • You can choose to target no Equipment if you don't want to attach any to Armory Automaton. Because the ability is optional, you also don't have to attach the Equipment it targets as you resolve the ability. However, you must either attach all of the target Equipment or attach none of them.
  • An ability of an Equipment that triggers "whenever equipped creature attacks" triggers only if the Equipment was attached to a creature at the moment that creature was declared as an attacker, and any references to "that creature" in the effect refer to the creature the Equipment was attached to when the ability triggered.

Similar cards

Other artifact creature cards with no colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

In these precons

Armory Automaton is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.

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