Hammer Time Modern: The One-Turn Equipment Combo
Hammer Time Modern is one of the most explosive aggro-combo decks in the format — a white-blue equipment list built around Colossus Hammer and Puresteel Paladin. The core idea is simple: suit up a zero-cost creature with a Colossus Hammer for free and attack for lethal as early as turn 1. According to recent MTGGoldfish Modern metagame data, Hammer Time holds a consistent Tier 1-2 position while costing roughly $600-$1,000 in paper. You can verify any printing on Scryfall before you build.
This guide walks through the 75-card Modern list, the 10 key cards that make the deck work, how the one-turn equipment kill plays out, the matchups you need to know, and what a proxy-first version looks like for players who want the fastest clock in the format without the four-figure price tag.
| 📋 Table of Contents | |
|---|---|
| 1. | The 75-Card Decklist |
| 2. | The 10 Key Cards That Win Games |
| 3. | How Hammer Time Wins Games |
| 4. | Matchups: What to Expect in Modern |
| 5. | Sideboard Strategy |
| 6. | How to Get Started |
| 9. | Related Reading |
The 75-Card Decklist
Here is the full 75-card Hammer Time list optimized for the 2026 Modern meta:
Maindeck (60 cards):
Sideboard (15 cards):
The manabase is almost entirely artifacts and fetchless duals — that matters because every artifact you control makes Puresteel Paladin’s equip ability cheaper, and every fetchless shock land means you rarely hurts yourself.
- 4 Colossus Hammer
- 4 Puresteel Paladin
- 4 Sigarda’s Aid
- 4 Hammer of Nazahn
- 4 Kor Outfitter
- 4 Ornithopter
- 4 Memnite
- 4 Ingenious Smith
- 4 Mishra’s Bauble
- 3 Urza’s Saga
- 4 Seachrome Coast
- 4 Marsh Flats
- 4 Silent Clearing
- 2 Hallowed Fountain
- 2 Plains
- 2 Island
- 3 Blacksmith’s Skill
- 3 Surgical Extraction
- 3 Rest in Peace
- 2 Path to Exile
- 2 Dress Down
- 2 Force of Negation
- 2 Spell Pierce
- 1 Engineered Explosives
The 10 Key Cards That Win Games
Hammer Time lives or dies by its ability to put a Colossus Hammer onto a creature for free and attack before the opponent stabilizes. Every card in the 75 exists to find a Hammer, equip it at no mana cost, or protect the attack.
Colossus Hammer — The Win Condition
Colossus Hammer is the namesake and the kill. Equipped to a creature, it gives +10/+10 and flying for a total of a 10/10 (or bigger) evasive attacker. Because the Hammer only costs {4} but the deck routinely cheats the equip cost to zero, you can slam a 10-power flier onto the board on turn 1 or 2. One unblocked hit is lethal against most opponents; two is a guarantee. The deck runs four copies and tutors a fifth with Urza’s Saga, so the kill is remarkably consistent.
Puresteel Paladin — The Free-Equip Engine
Puresteel Paladin is what makes the deck a combo rather than a fair equipment deck. As long as you control three or more artifacts (your Ornithopters, Memnites, Baubles, and Hammers all count), Puresteel’s static ability reduces the equip cost of artifacts to zero. That means the moment Puresteel resolves, every Colossus Hammer in hand can be suited up for free at instant speed via Sigarda’s Aid. Puresteel also draws a card when an Equipment enters, smoothing your draws into more gas.
Source: Scryfall — Commander Masters (CMM) #51, illustrated by Jason Chan.
Sigarda’s Aid — The Instant-Speed Equip
Sigarda’s Aid is the card that turns Hammer Time from a turn-3 deck into a turn-1 deck. Whenever an Equipment enters the battlefield, Sigarda’s Aid grants a free equip trigger — and because the trigger is at instant speed, you can equip at the end of your opponent’s turn or in response to removal. Combine Sigarda’s Aid with a Colossus Hammer and a Puresteel Paladin and you can attack on turn 2 with a 10/10 that your opponent never saw coming. Sigarda’s Aid also gives equipped creatures hexproof, which protects the kill from targeted removal.
Source: Scryfall — Commander Legends (CMR) #384, illustrated by Howard Lyon.
Urza’s Saga — The Hammer Tutor
Urza’s Saga is the card that guarantees you find a Colossus Hammer. This legendary land enters, makes Construct tokens, and its final chapter tutors any zero-cost artifact from your deck directly onto the battlefield — and Colossus Hammer is a zero-cost-equip artifact (its mana cost is paid when you cast it, but its equip cost is what matters for Saga). In practice, Saga fetches you a Hammer on turn 3-4 even if you drew none, which is why the deck runs only three Sagas: the threat density is already high. Saga also pressures the board with 4/4 Constructs if the game goes long.
Source: Scryfall — Modern Horizons 2 (MH2) #259, illustrated by Titus Lunter.
Hammer of Nazahn — The Protective Equipment
Hammer of Nazahn is the fourth pillar of the combo. Like Puresteel, it grants a free equip trigger — this one whenever any Equipment enters (so it stacks with Sigarda’s Aid). More importantly, every creature equipped with an Equipment gains indestructible, vigilance, and (with the Hammer itself) a big power boost. Indestructibility is the key: it blanks most removal, so once your 10/10 is suited up with Nazahn attached, only sweepers or exile effects can answer it. The deck runs four copies to maximize the chance of a protected kill.
Source: Scryfall — Commander Masters (CMM) #388, illustrated by Victor Adame Minguez.
The Supporting Cast
The remaining key cards are the free bodies and the enablers. Ornithopter and Memnite are zero-cost artifact creatures that exist purely to receive a Hammer — Ornithopter’s flying even gives the equipped threat evasion on its own. Kor Outfitter is a one-mana creature that grants an equip trigger on entry, doubling as a Puresteel trigger. Ingenious Smith draws cards and ramps when artifacts enter, keeping the deck from running out of gas. Mishra’s Bauble cycles for card selection while padding your artifact count so Puresteel’s discount is always online.
How Hammer Time Wins Games
Hammer Time follows a repeatable three-stage pattern that can kill as early as turn 1:
Stage 1 — Deploy a Free Body (Turn 1) Play an Ornithopter or Memnite. These cost nothing, so you are never behind on tempo for setting up. If you have Sigarda’s Aid in hand, you can already start equipping at instant speed the moment a Hammer lands.
Stage 2 — Cheat the Equip Cost (Turn 1-3) Resolve Puresteel Paladin (with three artifacts in play) or Sigarda’s Aid. The moment an Equipment enters, you get a free equip. Suit the Colossus Hammer onto your Ornithopter: it becomes a 10/10 with flying. With Hammer of Nazahn attached, it also picks up indestructible and vigilance.
Stage 3 — The Kill Attack with the equipped creature. A single 10/10 flier deals lethal to most opponents. Against larger life totals, a second hit closes it out, and Ingenious Smith or Bauble keep you drawing into more Hammers and protectors. If the opponent stabilizes, Urza’s Saga finds the last Hammer and you rebuild the same turn.
The cleanest opener is: turn 1 Ornithopter + Sigarda’s Aid, turn 2 Colossus Hammer (free equip via Sigarda’s Aid) → attack for 10. That is a turn-2 kill that most fair decks simply cannot race.
Matchups: What to Expect in Modern
Against Burn (Favored ~60%) Burn is racing you, but your 10/10 usually ends the game before they can burn you out. Sideboard in Rest in Peace (to shut off their graveyard, irrelevant here) is a trap — instead bring Dress Down and extra Path to Exile to clear their Monastery Swiftspear, and keep a Blacksmith’s Skill up to protect your attacker.
Against UR Murktide (Even ~50%) Murktide wants to tempo you out. Your deck is faster but folds to a well-timed Dress Down or a counter on Sigarda’s Aid. Sideboard in Force of Negation and Spell Pierce to protect your combo turn, and race — you are the beatdown.
Against Tron (Favored ~60%) Tron is too slow. You kill on turn 2-3 while they are still assembling Urza lands. Surgical Extraction on their key payoff post-board, plus Rest in Peace to hit their graveyard, makes the matchup lopsided.
Against Rakdos Scam (Unfavored ~40%) Scam’s free evoke threats (Grief, Undying Evil loops) disrupt your hand and remove your creatures. This is the deck’s worst matchup. Sideboard in Dress Down (shuts off evoke triggers) and extra removal, and hope to resolve a protected Hammer before they pull ahead on card advantage.
Sideboard Strategy
The 15-card sideboard is built around four plans:
The key is redundancy: because Puresteel Paladin and Sigarda’s Aid both generate free equip triggers, your sideboard plan is always live even after a Grief takes a piece of it.
- Graveyard Hate: 3 Surgical Extraction, 3 Rest in Peace — for Tron, Murktide, and yard-based combo decks
- Removal: 2 Path to Exile, 1 Engineered Explosives — for Scam, aggro, and go-wide boards
- Protection: 3 Blacksmith’s Skill (maindeck and side combined) — hexproof/shroud your equipped threat against targeted removal
- Countermagic: 2 Force of Negation, 2 Spell Pierce — to protect the combo turn against blue decks
How to Get Started
Building Hammer Time in paper costs roughly $600-$1,000 in 2026. The expensive pieces are the manabase (Seachrome Coast, Marsh Flats, Silent Clearing, Hallowed Fountain — $15-$40 each) and Urza’s Saga ($20-$30 each). The actual engine cards — Colossus Hammer, Puresteel Paladin, Sigarda’s Aid, Hammer of Nazahn, Ornithopter, Memnite — are all cheap single-digit-dollar cards.
For players who want the full Hammer Time experience without the price tag, printing the entire 75-card list costs about $70 at MakeProxyCard using bulk tier pricing — Colossus Hammer, Puresteel Paladin, Sigarda’s Aid, Hammer of Nazahn, and every land in the 75 all print at tournament quality with sharp text and accurate colors. The proxy version plays identically to the paper version at your LGS, FNM, or any proxy-friendly Modern event.