Captain Rex Nebula - AKA: Zapp Brannigan from Futurama

This deck is designed to be a functioning commander deck while still paying homage to the Futurama series and cast, which seems to be the main inspiration behind Captain Rex Nebula. The main goal of the deck is to use our commander's ability to transform some of our permanents into vehicles and then crash them into our opponents. Beyond an artifacts-matter theme, we are also running modular and energy counter sub-themes; modular creatures work really well with our commander's abilities, while many of the energy counter cards fit the aesthetics of the Futurama show, and gives us access to an infinite-combats combo.

Road-Side Assistance

Since our commander turns things into artifact vehicles, cards which boost the effectiveness of our vehicles play a key-role in our deck. Kitsune Ace and Aeronaut Admiral are going to give our vehicles First Strike and flying respectfully, while Aethershield Artificer and Losheel, Clockwork Scholar are going to make sure our vehicles don't explode before they crash. Tempered Steel is an amazing anthem effect for us, and Alibou, Ancient Witness gives us Haste and some extra direct damage when we attack. Built to Smash and Blacksmith's Skill give us some combat tricks with the later able to protect our commander in a pinch.

When we do crash our vehicles, we'll get some extra direct damage out of them, but we can add even more value to that effect. Pia's Revolution and Sigil of the New Dawn let us recover our crashed vehicles to our hand, while Scrap Trawler can let us recur important artifacts back. Proper Burial and Aetherworks Marvel give us life and energy counters when our creatures die, and Weatherlight Compleated is going to draw us cards.

Finally, Gratuitous Violence and True Conviction can help us close-out the game by greatly increasing the damage coming from our vehicles and crashes. Note that Double Strike means we roll for a crash check twice - we might lose our creature in between the strikes, but if not, we get another chance to crash.

Vroom, Vroom, Crash

As we are going to be crewing and crashing our cards, its important to have many permanents that we WANT to have crashing and being sacrificed. Ichor Wellspring, Mycosynth Wellspring, Prized Statue, and Solemn Simulacrum provide excellent value having both an ETB and a Dies trigger. Anger and Valor want to be in our graveyard, so we might as well try to crash them. Junk Diver and Myr Retriever let us recover cards from our graveyard when they die. And Ugin's Nexus will make our opponents double-guess themselves on if they want to block it since it's death gives us an extra turn of crashing.

We are running many modular creatures who benefit greatly when crewed by our commander, essentially adding their mana values to their power and toughness, since their base stats are 0/0 creatures. Modular lets them move the counters onto another creature when they die, helping us gain more value out of a crash. The best modular creatures for us are Arcbound Ravager, Arcbound Slasher, Arcbound Whelp, Arcbound Reclaimer, Arcbound Fiend, Arcbound Stinger, Arcbound Crusher, Arcbound Slith, and Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp.

Too Big to Crash

While crashing our permanents is fun, we want to run a few "vehicles" at mana value 7+ that won't trigger the self-destruct and can just be big creatures. Mycosynth Golem, Slag Strider, and Valiant Changeling can all become fairly cheap to get out, but turn much larger when our commander crews them. The golem helps make our other things cheaper to cast, and the elemental provides a cheap sacrifice outlet. Arcbound Lancer and Arcbound Overseer can get massive when they become vehicles. If low on other options, Parhelion II can also be transformed and crewed by our commander becoming more efficient.

Unlimited Power

Energy counters are an underrated mechanic, mostly do to the slosh of poor common and uncommons, but there are some fantastic cards for our deck. The module trio, Animation Module, Decoction Module, and Fabrication Module, form a neigh-infinite loop of printing our servo tokens, +1/+1 counters, and energy counters. Gonti's Aether Heart and Aetherstorm Roc can step in to replace part of that combo. Consulate Turret and Aethergeode Miner can provide consistent energy gains. Consulate Surveillance and Lightning Runner provide some of the best uses for all those energy counters.

Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion helps us with adding value to the energy counters we gain, since energy counters are placed on a player. She also helps with our modular sub-theme as well.

If we have enough energy-support cards that we gain at least 2 energy counters from a creature entering play, we can use Aethergeode Miner to cause infinite ETB triggers. If we are generating at least 3 energy counters with each blink, then we can use the infinite energy to power infinite combats with Lightning Runner. This is the only intentional infinite loop in the deck.

Bells and Whistles

The rest of the cards in our deck provide us with value, options, and are staples for any commander deck. Weatherlight is a great pseudo-draw engine for us, while Reckoner Bankbuster and Daretti, Scrap Savant can also help us dig into our deck. Steel Overseer and Golem Artisan provide amazing options for making our creatures big and evasive.

Arcane Signet, Liquimetal Torque, and Wayfarer's Bauble give us some cheap additional ramp. Conqueror's Galleon can flip into an additional land, with its backside also giving us draw and graveyard recursion options.

Unlicensed Hearse and Duergar Hedge-Mage are great removal engines for disrupting other decks. Skysovereign, Consul Flagship gives us some consistent direct damage without having to rely on crashes. Boros Charm, Captain's Maneuver, and Master Warcraft can turn the entire game around when cast at the appropriate time.

Honorable Mentions

There are plenty of cards I didn't include, here are some cards on the Maybeboard and why you might consider them, or why I did not:

• Assault Suit seems like a great fit as it could prevent the sacrifice part of a crash, however state-based rules mean the suit would fall-off of a creature when our commander makes it a vehicle before we have a chance to crew it. Unless we also run effects that let us equip at instant-speed, this equipment is not worth running.
• Strionic Resonator is an excellent way to double-up on creating vehicles with our commander. Considering we run some other sacrifice outlets, there isn't really a need to risk crashing more than 1 permanent per turn.
• If you want to run more modular cards Arcbound Mouser and Arcbound Shikari are excellent options. Untethered Express and Seven-Tail Mentor also lean into this.
• Stuffy Doll is hilarious, especially when we crew it up to attack as a 5/5, however that doesn't protect it from crashing and needing to be sacrificed. Decks with stronger recursion may enjoy running it.
• Molten Monstrosity, Avatar of Fury, Myr Enforcer and Sojourner's Companion are more creatures that are too big to crash, but can be fairly cheap. They were cut just because I felt I had better options for fulfilling that role.
• If you want to run more energy counter support, Scrapper Champion, Aethertorch Renegade, and Harnessed Lightning are great additions.
• Workshop Assistant, Together Forever, Deflecting Palm, and Outmaneuver are all excellent substitutions for other cards in the deck - I kept the more flavorful options.
• Other cards which could add value but were cut include: Boss's Chauffeur, Spireside Infiltrator, Ride Down, and Swords to Plowshares.