One Step From Eden

The worst part of skipping artifacts is that your max mana and regen speed can't be increased, so despite the ability to take spells they're not as effective as they can be. The character I recommend is Shiso to use his weapon for offense, as it scales with your run if you can be accurate and don't spend too much money. With his weapon being the offense you can save your mana for support cards like shields from the Phalanx focus, time manipulation from the Doublelift focus, or Root cards in the Hearth focus.

Some other characters do have mana manipulation like Terra, Gunner, Selicy, and Violette, so if you want to try a more conventional deck they can work. Focus on strong spells that are worth the cost like Energizer, and upgrade spells to lower their cost and restore mana.