I recently remembered that Mishra, Artificer Prodigy exists. He’s for a while now been one of those “almost there” cards that are definitely powerful enough to do some impressive things only for the supporting cast to just never get there. Given this and my quest to find something that fits this deck better than Narset (that isn’t named Tangle Wire), I decided to give him a shot in this.

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Maindeck:

4 Urza

4 Emry

4 Karn

2 Sai

2 Mishra, Artificer Prodigy

4 Echo of Eons

3 LED

4 Lotus Petal

4 Mox Opal

4 Chalice of the Void

3 Tangle Wire

4 Urza’s Bauble

2 Mishra’s Bauble

4 Seat of the Synod

4 Ancient Tomb

4 Glimmervoid

1 Spire of Industry

2 Cavern of Souls

1 Island

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Sideboard:

1 LED

1 Lattice

1 Ensnaring Bridge

1 Liquimetal Coating

1 Walking Ballista

2 Tormod’s Crypt

4 Force of Will

1 Oko

1 Plague Engineer

2 Abrade

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My thoughts on Mishra after about 10 matches:

1. This card is really fun! Playing Mishra then doubling up on LEDs, Petals, and Opals very quickly gives you all the mana. Going turn 2 Mishra cast LED, put a second one into play for free, crack them both, Echoing, then doubling up on all the Baubles, Tangle Wires, and mana rocks in the new hand and immediately dumping that hand is one hell of a drug. As is playing something and doubling it, then saccing it and Emrying it back, doubling it again. I’m probably going to keep playing Mishra just because he is so fun.
2. Cool factor aside, he was pretty good, definitely good enough to consider. While he has the Sai problem of requiring you to have artifacts to play after you cast him, his upside can be quite high. Doubling up on LEDs is completely degenerate, doubling up on baubles is a lot of value, doubling Opals and Petals give you huge bursts of mana, doubling Tangle Wire locks your opponent out of doing anything for 3 turns and Mishra + Emry is a match made in heaven. I could see something like running 2 copies of Wishclaw Talisman for more Mishra value. Also, unlike Sai, a 4 mana 4/4 is decent enough stats for the cost that he isn’t completely terrible if you have to just run him out with nothing to synergize with him.
3. While Mishra may be a win more card, but he’s presently replacing Narset who is also a win more card. It’s worth nothing that Mishra is much better from behind than Narset is as the only real way this deck has to defend planeswalkers is building a giant board, or Karning for Bridge. The Narset + Echo combo is quite useful in combo heavy metas however. However either one into casting LED into Echo almost always win the game on the spot.
4. Probably the biggest knock against him is the Grixis requirement resulting in a few moments where he was difficult to cast, but with Glimmervoids, Cavern, Spire, Opal and Petal, it hasn’t been frequent enough to be a dealbreaker. It’s worth noting that Mishra seems easier to cast in more Cavern heavy builds than Narset is.
5. If WoTC ever prints something like Lodestone Golem’s static ability on a 2 mana artifact he’s kicking Narset to the curb permanently.

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TLDR: Mishra is hella fun and surprisingly deece, give him a shot.