Below are the core parts of the deck, most of the rest of what you play is just ways to find these cards or redundancy for them. You can do without some of the cards on this list but only because there are weaker alternatives on offer, really you want all of these.
Everflowing Chalice
Astral Cornucopia
Walking Ballista
Surge Node
Core Tapper
Mind Stone
Temple Bell
Steady Progress
Trading Post
Tezzeret's Gambit
Paradox Engine
Batterskull
Once you have your core cards in place it is time to pad it out with support, protection and some redundancy where possible. Below is a list of the various cards I was looking at while trying to build this thing that did not make my final cut. I can't easily say how good or bad most of these will be as I am still fairly new to this archetype. I need to do many more builds going in a variety of directions to really get a feel for things. I am sure a bunch of these cards are worthy of playing over things I played and I am also sure that several viable lists for this general style of deck exist for which a much wider greater pool of cards will become viable than I have listed.
Aether Spellbomb
Cantrips and card quality (Sleight of Hand etc)
Elixir of Immortality
Sensei's Divining Top
Voltaic Key
Chromatic Star / Terrarion
Throne of Geth
Contagion Clasp
Ichor Wellspring
Talismans
Vedalken Engineer
Merfolk Looter etc
Voltaic Servant
Ratchet Bomb
Mana Severance
Borderposts
Metalworker
Sculpting Steel
Trophy Mage
Fabricate
Laboratory Maniac
Sai, Master Thopterist
Oracle's Vault
Cryptic Command
Padeem, Consul of Innovation
Otherworld Atlas
Lux Cannon
Tezzeret, the Seeker
Urza's Blueprints
Staff of Nin
Saprazzan Skerry
This is my take on the deck. It has some creatures which empower the combo and greatly speed things up if they are not met with removal. They also allow for a bit more defensive and interactive game against aggressive decks. With all the artifact and proliferate synergies on the go Walking Ballista seems like the obvious best win condition as it does so much prior to that point. I also ended up running Hangarback as well for multiple reasons. Sometimes it is a good source of sacrificial artifacts, sometimes it is a nice free spell to untap, sometimes it is a solid defensive blocker and sometimes you make it enormous and beat face with it. It did make me want more sac outlets like Throne of Geth or Sai, Master Thopterist. The Throne route wants a bit more support with artifacts you want to sac off and Sai sends you down a more all round deck that can combo kill or just be aggressive. You would want to add in things like Karn with your Sai and then it starts to look even more like my Magistrate's Scepter deck!
Mox Opal
Everflowing Chalice
Astral Cornucopia
Walking Ballista
Hangarback Walker
Surge Node
Enclave Cryptologist
Gitaxian Probe
Spellskite
Core Tapper
Mindstone
Renown Weaponsmith
Glint-Nest Crane
Prismatic Lens
Temple Bell
Steady Progress
Grand Architect
Trinket Mage
Tinker
Trading Post
Hedron Archive
Tezzeret's Gambit
Paradox Engine
Batterskull
Whir of Invention
14 Lands
Inventor's Fair
Darksteel Citadel
Seat of the Synod
Academy Ruins
Tolaria West
9 Islands
One way of making your creatures more useful when found part way through trying to go off is Grand Architect. He lets you tap summoning sick things and turns everything into a Renown Weaponsmith. This is especially nice as you have a lot of good artifact finding cards on the back of blue dorks. Architect lets you put those to further use although just blocking with them is also pretty great. Those extra two toughness on Weaponsmith is why he makes it in and Vedalken Engineer does not. Weaponsmith is a far more relevant tempo play able to do some really useful blocking and some decent surviving of removal, even if he can't find any weapons for you...
I really wanted to find room for some disposable artifacts that cycle (or better). Ichor Wellspring would have been lovely. I was finding it uncomfortable when having to sacrifice artifacts. Despite having a good number in the list most of them are things you really want to keep in play. The possible cuts are the low end redundancy cards like Prismatic Lens and Azor's Gateway and the more luxurious spells like Gitaxian Probe, Hangarback Walker and Hedron Archive. Alternatively you could all but cull the blue creatures elements and make some space that way. That might well make the curve rather nicer. This list has painfully few one drops and would really like to be able to at least do some Preordaining on turn one. Obviously in a powered cube you can pack all sorts of mental cards like Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mishra's Workshop and all that jazz and then you can win right off the bat and not have to worry about your curve! I suspect this deck is very tedious in powered cubes when you get a good amount of the right kind of artifact ramp. That is pretty much the case for a wide array of archetypes in powered cubes though so not that much of an acclaim.
Another weakness this list has is to disruptive permanents. While it handles itself in combat admirably for a combo deck it lacks any sort of way to clear a problem card like Stony Silence. This is not too hard to solve as problems go. There are great options that this list has selection for as well as ways to empower. The issue is more one of space than anything else. Lux Cannon is my favourite of the answer cards as it can be so naughty but it is pure win more. It also fails the Stony Silence test as do a selection of the better general options like Ratchet Bomb and Engineered Explosives. In practice you may need to run something like a Rushing River or Cryptic Command, at least in your board.
That mostly covers what we have to say on this deck. A very potent archetype, especially considering how many bad looking cards it contains. Not only is this a fairly top tier combo deck with loads of build options but it is also incredibly fun to play. Probably more fun to goldfish than to play in a match, at least in a utilitarian sense (magic not the best spectator sport after all). It is a combo deck that has to do work well into going off rather than one that just assembles a few parts and wins. I find that style of combo deck more rewarding and more interesting. You can have all the things and still punt. While I have seen this kind of thing on paper plenty of places it is not until you actually play with or against it that you fully appreciate it. It looks like a deck that needs a lot of parts, many of which are expensive do nothings. Typically that is a bad start for any sort of combo deck. Somehow this archetype doesn't mind such things and does a great job of winning. It can win on turn three without that many cards, without even needing the Mox or Tinker. Turn one Surge Node into turn two Chalice then using it to further charge the Chalice allows for five mana on turn three for the Engine. Any zero mana spell then nets you another 3 mana and untaps the Node as well. It is surprisingly easy to go off from that point if you have much in your hand. Well worth a build if you haven't felt it in action, especially if you enjoy a good combo deck. Really, if you like magic you like mana and cards and this deck does both of those things abundantly well!
No comments:
Post a Comment