Alright, I'll see how that goes. Also I was thinking of using Elvish Mystics as I have used Arbor Elves with the Deathrite in previous builds. Deathrite doesn't get much at all from the land ability obviously, but sometimes his health ability can be useful(albeit, he does seem meh at times). If I replace the Deathrite with the Mystics should I add Varolz back in? Or use Dreg Manglers?
I would add Valroz back in and include the new Nylea, God of the Hunt x3 as well since she is an excellent Scavenge value that offers a good benefit and you can always cast a double of her to send a copy to the yard.
If you are considering Vile Rebirth then Undead Alchemist might be a good trick as well to get lots of Zombies. His second ability works on all Mill Effects not just his own.
This is the list I am running currently. I've been out of Magic for a few months and was playing B/G Heartless Pod when I left so I updated it a bit with some of the new DA cards.
I really like the addition of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. Giving all my ETB Pod creatures Undying is pretty good and also he counteracts one Heartless Summoning's downside. Sideboard needs a bunch of work still.
I also have not been able to find a better creature for the two drop than the emmisary, are there really any other options? I tried ambush viper and the 2 caster wolf that pumps but they seem sub par, viper is useless if you have summoning outso... im just wondering
Biggest difference is no 7 drops. I know Sheoldred is a house with Wurmcoil but I've had too many of mine Doom Bladed or Ancient Grudged before I could pod them away. I'd much rather have a Black Creature or an ETB dude.
Main deck Surgical Extraction. I boarded this card in everytime and don't think it would be a dead draw in Game 1.
It's great against Snapcaster Mage which is a lot of decks. It has uses against almost every deck in Standard right now including Red because of cards like Brimstone Volley which is good against us because we kill our own guys. We have so many 187 effects for creatures, enchantments, artifacts and Lands (Inkmoth, Wolf Run) that it is bound to get something and at least let us Probe their hand and library.
I'll be playing it at FNM this week to see how it plays.
Ok... I have to ask, sry, not rude, texting everything just doesn't allow tone of voice:
Questions:
1) Rune-Scarred Demon - How is this better than Sheoldred in anyway?
2) Brutalizer Exarch - Why?
3) Sylvok Replica - Why?
4) Massacre Wurm mainboard but Reaper of Abyss sideboard?
5) Hollowhenge Scavenger - Why none between main or sideboard?
6) Skinrender - Why only 1 between main and sideboard?
I have no problem with criticism as I mainly ended up playing this deck because I saw that it was Top 16 in Nashville and it was one of the decks I had the cards for to build in time for States. I changed a few things to make it my own and was pretty happy with the results.
1. It Flys and lets you get silver bullets from the SB and main deck. It helps block Inkmoths. That being said I a probably going to replace it with Reaper.
2. I actually swapped this out at the last minute because I found someone with a Tree of Redemtion however I wish I had left it in. The first ability is ok but the second ability let's you get rid of O-Rings, Inkmoth Nexus, and Planeswalkers. It I had left it in I would have been able to win my 7th round matchup since I could have podded a Slime away and taken care of the last Inkmoth. It's definitely going back in.
3. The Original list I was working off of had 1 main and 3 SB and I may up the SB count because it was very good for me all day. Inkmoth Nexus, Swords, O-Rings, Tempered Steel killer or simple pod target into a 4 drop.
4. Massacre Wurm helps versus aggro and also Hexproof guys like Geist and Stalker. After Slime he was my Co-MVP of the day. The Reaper is mainly there for other Pod Decks. Versus Control it's weaker. It does fly though so I may try and work it in place of the Rune-Scarred since I am considering removing 7 drops all together as I didn't want to Pod out of my 6 drops all day.
5. Without a Pod or Heartless Hollowhenge is just a big guy for 5cc that is vulnerable to Doom Blade. I have Peace Striders for assured life gain but since I didn't play Mono-Red all day I didn't need them.
6. This was again an omage to the List I was working off of. Skinrender was useful for me everytime I drew it but I would probably keep it at one since Morkrut Banshee also fills this roll. Morkrut also allows me the ability to kill Titans etc by playing her an then Podding her into a Massacre Wurm.
I'm going to work on an updated list today and hopefully have it up Tomorrow. Land count will go to 24. 25 may be too much because I had several dead draws late of land that if they had been any sort of creature I could have had a chance to win.
Round 1: Solar Flare (0-2) 0-1
Game 1 I was on the draw and had to mulligan to 6 because of a 1 land and ended up keeping a 1 land hand anyway with a bunch of 2 drops. Didn’t see 2nd land until turn 4 and by then it was too late to recover. Died to a turn 6 Sun Titan and a copied Sun Titan.
Game 2 had a better draw and it went back and forth for about 20+ turns but I ran out of steam and he was able to get off about 4 Forbidden Alchemies. Liked this matchup though and it would prove to be good most of the day as long as I got land in my opening grip.
Round 2: U/G Splinterfright (2-0) 1-1
Games 1 and 2 went pretty easy. In the second I Surgically Extracted his Primeval’s and Jace’s.
Round 3: Solar Flare (2-0) 2-1
Game 1 my opening of turn 2 Heartless, turn 3 Slime was too much for my opponent who was missing land drops. Got a turn 4 Wurmcoil Engine off the Slime and he scooped.
Game 2 opened again with turn 2 Heartless and turn 3 Slime. Copied Slime on Turn 4 and then beat him down with a few guys.
Round 4: AliCats Esper Control (2-0) 3-1
Game 1 got off to a fast start and a turn 4 Thrun. His answer was Timely Reinforcements for just dudes because I was at lower life because of a Pod on turn 3. They blocked Thrun for a few turns and he used Snapcaster to FB the Timely. I podded out a Massacre Wurm and killed his team and swung with Thrun. I got him down to 4 and then cast Heartless with two Perilous Myr in hand to win game 1.
Game 2 turn 4 Thrun again. He got off another Timely Reinforcements to get some Blockers but I was able to attack by hardcasting the Massacre Wurm with a Hearltess in play negating the life from the Timely. He tried to Snap the Timely back next turn but I was able to Surgically Extract it in response. He had a bunch of cards that weren’t going to save him in hand. I Metamorphed my Massacre Wurm to have him lose 4 life from the Snapcaster and then swung for lethal.
Round 5: Solar Flare (2-1) 4-1
I don’t remember much from this but I know they were good games where early Slimes helped me win my two games.
Round 6: Solar Flare (1-2) 4-2
I lost the first game again because of having to Mulligan to 6 and keep a 1 lander. Only ever saw 2 Forests the whole game and had to discard a Pod and something else so my opponent didn’t know what I was playing.
I won Game 2 because I got two land in my opening hand and Heartlessed out several guys and kept him off of Day of Judgement Mana.
Game three lost to Elesh and a Grave Titan. I killed them each a couple of times but he had two Unburial Rights.
Round 7: R/W Tempered Steel (1-2) 4-3
Game 1 I kept the 1 land opening hand and used my “One Time’ to get a swamp on the draw because I had the optimal hand of turn 2 Heartless and turn 3 Slime and podded into a Massacre Wurm to kill his team and take the game.
Game 2 I kept a suboptimal hand of 5 land, a Wurmcoil and a Skinrender. He exploded out and I drew nothing but land and didn’t have answers.
Game 3 I had a good opening hand with some guys. He had to Mulligan down to 6 and kept a big hand of land and Inkmoth’s. After getting in for a poison he plays Curse of Stalked Prey and plays back to back Inkmoth’s and proceeded to put counters on them. I was able to Slime two and Pod in a Reaper from the Abyss which flys but it was Dispatched and he flew in for the win by Poison. Could have gone either way. Brutalizer Exarch could have won me this game.
Round 8: RUG Control (2-1) 5-3
He gets game one because I have to Mulligan another 1 lander into a 1 lander, He kills me with an Invisible Stalker and my Copied Wurmcoils Tokens.
Game 2 Turn 3 Slime and friends kill his only green source with Thrun and a Mayor in hand.
Game 3 he Mulligan’s his 1 lander into a 6 card no lander into a 5 card no lander and then concedes. I had a good grip so it was likely my game anyway.
Conclusion
I know what I need to work on to get the deck in better shape. Adding 1 land up to 24 is the first start. I also think I will try and work a second Entomber Exarch in because he was a house when I got to play him. My Apostle's Blessings were just bad as was Garruk's Horde. I think I am going to top out at 6 in the pod chain.
I know how to beat Solar Flare/Esper Control if nothing else. Avoided Aggro decks all day except for 7th round.
Blessing is there to act as a counterspell if needed or to punch in damage for the win. It protects both your creatures and Pod. It also allows one of your guys to block a Wurmcoil and not give them life.
Sever the Bloodline is my answer to Tokens (Wurm, Spirit, Solder etc) and also Solar Flare's Sun Titan/PI/PI plays. Since the Phatasmal Images are also Sun Titan's they get exiled as well.
I played a few games this weekend with my version of the deck.
In Casual:
Crushed a G/x Infect Deck with Elesh. The guy then brought out his R/G Quicksilver Amulet Titan dec. I won versus a triple Inferno Titan board because he was trying to kill my Wurmcoil Engine instead of Grimgrin.
He played one Titan and did 3 damage to my Wurmcoil. Attacked with the other two and when he applied the second package of damage to the Wurmcoil I sac'd him to Grimgrin to untap him. The third damage package went to the Deathtouch token and I sac'd it in respons and blocked one Titan with Grimgin and the other with the LL Token and then sac'd the last token to Grimgin killing one of the attacking titans. Next turn I attacked with Grimgrin and killed his untapped Titan. Killed the other Titan next turn and played another Wurmcoil that I sac'd 3 times to Grimgrin for the game as I did 12 to him.
Also tested well against a Solar Flare deck and a Mono Green Dungrove Elder deck.
In the tournement on Saturday I went 2-2 beating Bant Pod and a U/W Invisible Stalker deck. Losing to a U/B Snapcaster control mainly from a horrible play mistake on my part as I should have taken a hit from a Grave Titan instead of blocking with one of my Zombie tokens from a copied Grave Titan. I would have forced his Inkmoth Nexus to Block next turn and won the turn after as he was at 2 life.
My other match loss was versus a Mono-White Humans deck. First game he had a fast start with Champion of the Parish on turn one followed by two Gideon's Lawkeeper on turn two and a Mentor of the Meek on turn 3. I got a Spellskite in play but when I had to block he died to a 4/4 Champion and after that he could tap me down to get in. I won the second match by getting a turn 5 Elesh after a Ratchet Bomb cleared his 1 drops. The third game he had a god hand of Champion of the Parish turn 1, Champion + Lawkeeper turn 2, and Mirran Crusader turn 3. So I died on turn 4 once he tapped my only blocker down with the Lawkeeper.
I'm considering adding in Mental Misstep to try and stop those turn 1 plays which were killer.
Still love the deck though and it's very resilient but plays slow as almost all my matches went to near time.
idea here is to get caged sun out early to get down a big mass or bomb them with RSZ.
With so much mana fireballing your own unblock able hexproof guy is awesome too.
trinket mages can also fetch up spellbombs to nuke graveyards decks
Where's the Pod? I like the idea of Kessig Wolf Run and Invisible Stalker but Caged Sun is not that great a card outside of EDH. I think you'd get better mileage out of something like Liquimetal Coating to turn the Kessig Wolf Run into an artifact and then use Architect's mana ability to pump your Stalker that way. But that's an enitrely different deck than U/X Architect Pod.
I don't get the combo you're trying to describe. Can you elaborate on this please? Thanks
I like to refer to this as the backup plan in case you’re just tired of winning with 7cc legends or need a faster clock. It can also serve as a midgame finisher if the board is stalled.
Tap an untapped blue creature you control: Add {2} to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts
If you can untap with those three in play and a few other creatures it should not be hard to generate 16-20 mana to kill your opponent with MTM’s ability or even plow the way for a decent sized Grimgrin.
Tap X numbers of Blue/Artifact creatures for mana. Start sacking creatures to Grimgrin and using him to tap for mana since he is a blue creature while conversely filling up the yard to fuel Masticore’s ability. Rinse-repeat until enough damage is dealt.
Even without Grimgrin I’ve been using Masticore for awhile now. I probably had my best win in the last year playing versus an opponent who was milling me out with Sword of Body and Mind I just cast Masticore on my turn and then he was able to mill the last of my library on his turn. During my upkeep I discarded a card to Masticore and then did 12 damage for the win before my draw step as I had enough artifact/blue creatures in play.
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I would add Valroz back in and include the new Nylea, God of the Hunt x3 as well since she is an excellent Scavenge value that offers a good benefit and you can always cast a double of her to send a copy to the yard.
I like Boon Satyr as well for combat tricks.
Also just to note there won't be a G/B Scry land in Theros it will be in a later set.
Artifact Creatures
3 Perilous Myr
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Spellskite
1 Sylvok Replica
1 Wurmcoil Engine
Creatures
3 Acidic Slime
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Morkrut Banshee
3 Phyrexian Rager
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
3 Viridian Emissary
1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1 Glissa, the Traitor
Artifacts
3 Birthing Pod
Enchantments
3 Heartless Summoning
Instants
2 Altar's Reap
3 Tragic Slip
Basic Lands
9 Forest
9 Swamp
Lands
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Woodland Cemetery
1 Peace Strider
2 Sylvok Replica
1 Acidic Slime
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Hollowhenge Scavenger
1 Skinrender
1 Tree of Redemption
2 Ratchet Bomb
3 Doom Blade
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Creeping Renaissance
I really like the addition of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. Giving all my ETB Pod creatures Undying is pretty good and also he counteracts one Heartless Summoning's downside. Sideboard needs a bunch of work still.
Perilous Myr or Spellskite have been working for me.
4x Woodland Cemetery
10x Forest
10x Swamp
Creatures (24)
3x Perilous Myr
4x Viridian Emissary
3x Phyrexian Rager
1x Sylvok Replica
2x Entomber Exarch
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Skinrender
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Morkrut Banshee
1x Brutalizer Exarch
1x Massacre Wurm
1x Reaper from the Abyss
1x Wurmcoil Engine
Artifacts (4)
4x Birthing Pod
Enchantments (3)
3x Heartless Summoning
Instants (5)
3x Doom Blade
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Peace Strider
3x Sylvok Replica
1x Acidic Slime
2x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Tree of Redemption
3x Go for the Throat
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Tribute to Hunger
1x Creeping Corrosion
Biggest difference is no 7 drops. I know Sheoldred is a house with Wurmcoil but I've had too many of mine Doom Bladed or Ancient Grudged before I could pod them away. I'd much rather have a Black Creature or an ETB dude.
Main deck Surgical Extraction. I boarded this card in everytime and don't think it would be a dead draw in Game 1.
It's great against Snapcaster Mage which is a lot of decks. It has uses against almost every deck in Standard right now including Red because of cards like Brimstone Volley which is good against us because we kill our own guys. We have so many 187 effects for creatures, enchantments, artifacts and Lands (Inkmoth, Wolf Run) that it is bound to get something and at least let us Probe their hand and library.
I'll be playing it at FNM this week to see how it plays.
I have no problem with criticism as I mainly ended up playing this deck because I saw that it was Top 16 in Nashville and it was one of the decks I had the cards for to build in time for States. I changed a few things to make it my own and was pretty happy with the results.
1. It Flys and lets you get silver bullets from the SB and main deck. It helps block Inkmoths. That being said I a probably going to replace it with Reaper.
2. I actually swapped this out at the last minute because I found someone with a Tree of Redemtion however I wish I had left it in. The first ability is ok but the second ability let's you get rid of O-Rings, Inkmoth Nexus, and Planeswalkers. It I had left it in I would have been able to win my 7th round matchup since I could have podded a Slime away and taken care of the last Inkmoth. It's definitely going back in.
3. The Original list I was working off of had 1 main and 3 SB and I may up the SB count because it was very good for me all day. Inkmoth Nexus, Swords, O-Rings, Tempered Steel killer or simple pod target into a 4 drop.
4. Massacre Wurm helps versus aggro and also Hexproof guys like Geist and Stalker. After Slime he was my Co-MVP of the day. The Reaper is mainly there for other Pod Decks. Versus Control it's weaker. It does fly though so I may try and work it in place of the Rune-Scarred since I am considering removing 7 drops all together as I didn't want to Pod out of my 6 drops all day.
5. Without a Pod or Heartless Hollowhenge is just a big guy for 5cc that is vulnerable to Doom Blade. I have Peace Striders for assured life gain but since I didn't play Mono-Red all day I didn't need them.
6. This was again an omage to the List I was working off of. Skinrender was useful for me everytime I drew it but I would probably keep it at one since Morkrut Banshee also fills this roll. Morkrut also allows me the ability to kill Titans etc by playing her an then Podding her into a Massacre Wurm.
I'm going to work on an updated list today and hopefully have it up Tomorrow. Land count will go to 24. 25 may be too much because I had several dead draws late of land that if they had been any sort of creature I could have had a chance to win.
Decklist a couple of posts earlier.
G/B Heartless Pod
5-3 (30th place out of 167)
Round 1: Solar Flare (0-2) 0-1
Game 1 I was on the draw and had to mulligan to 6 because of a 1 land and ended up keeping a 1 land hand anyway with a bunch of 2 drops. Didn’t see 2nd land until turn 4 and by then it was too late to recover. Died to a turn 6 Sun Titan and a copied Sun Titan.
Game 2 had a better draw and it went back and forth for about 20+ turns but I ran out of steam and he was able to get off about 4 Forbidden Alchemies. Liked this matchup though and it would prove to be good most of the day as long as I got land in my opening grip.
Round 2: U/G Splinterfright (2-0) 1-1
Games 1 and 2 went pretty easy. In the second I Surgically Extracted his Primeval’s and Jace’s.
Round 3: Solar Flare (2-0) 2-1
Game 1 my opening of turn 2 Heartless, turn 3 Slime was too much for my opponent who was missing land drops. Got a turn 4 Wurmcoil Engine off the Slime and he scooped.
Game 2 opened again with turn 2 Heartless and turn 3 Slime. Copied Slime on Turn 4 and then beat him down with a few guys.
Round 4: AliCats Esper Control (2-0) 3-1
Game 1 got off to a fast start and a turn 4 Thrun. His answer was Timely Reinforcements for just dudes because I was at lower life because of a Pod on turn 3. They blocked Thrun for a few turns and he used Snapcaster to FB the Timely. I podded out a Massacre Wurm and killed his team and swung with Thrun. I got him down to 4 and then cast Heartless with two Perilous Myr in hand to win game 1.
Game 2 turn 4 Thrun again. He got off another Timely Reinforcements to get some Blockers but I was able to attack by hardcasting the Massacre Wurm with a Hearltess in play negating the life from the Timely. He tried to Snap the Timely back next turn but I was able to Surgically Extract it in response. He had a bunch of cards that weren’t going to save him in hand. I Metamorphed my Massacre Wurm to have him lose 4 life from the Snapcaster and then swung for lethal.
Round 5: Solar Flare (2-1) 4-1
I don’t remember much from this but I know they were good games where early Slimes helped me win my two games.
Round 6: Solar Flare (1-2) 4-2
I lost the first game again because of having to Mulligan to 6 and keep a 1 lander. Only ever saw 2 Forests the whole game and had to discard a Pod and something else so my opponent didn’t know what I was playing.
I won Game 2 because I got two land in my opening hand and Heartlessed out several guys and kept him off of Day of Judgement Mana.
Game three lost to Elesh and a Grave Titan. I killed them each a couple of times but he had two Unburial Rights.
Round 7: R/W Tempered Steel (1-2) 4-3
Game 1 I kept the 1 land opening hand and used my “One Time’ to get a swamp on the draw because I had the optimal hand of turn 2 Heartless and turn 3 Slime and podded into a Massacre Wurm to kill his team and take the game.
Game 2 I kept a suboptimal hand of 5 land, a Wurmcoil and a Skinrender. He exploded out and I drew nothing but land and didn’t have answers.
Game 3 I had a good opening hand with some guys. He had to Mulligan down to 6 and kept a big hand of land and Inkmoth’s. After getting in for a poison he plays Curse of Stalked Prey and plays back to back Inkmoth’s and proceeded to put counters on them. I was able to Slime two and Pod in a Reaper from the Abyss which flys but it was Dispatched and he flew in for the win by Poison. Could have gone either way. Brutalizer Exarch could have won me this game.
Round 8: RUG Control (2-1) 5-3
He gets game one because I have to Mulligan another 1 lander into a 1 lander, He kills me with an Invisible Stalker and my Copied Wurmcoils Tokens.
Game 2 Turn 3 Slime and friends kill his only green source with Thrun and a Mayor in hand.
Game 3 he Mulligan’s his 1 lander into a 6 card no lander into a 5 card no lander and then concedes. I had a good grip so it was likely my game anyway.
Conclusion
I know what I need to work on to get the deck in better shape. Adding 1 land up to 24 is the first start. I also think I will try and work a second Entomber Exarch in because he was a house when I got to play him. My Apostle's Blessings were just bad as was Garruk's Horde. I think I am going to top out at 6 in the pod chain.
I know how to beat Solar Flare/Esper Control if nothing else. Avoided Aggro decks all day except for 7th round.
4x Wooland Cemetery
9x Forest
10x Swamp
Artifact Creatures (9)
3x Perilous Myr
2x Phyrexian Metamorph
2x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Sylvok Replica
1x Wurmcoil Engine
Creatures (17)
3x Acidic Slime
1x Tree of Redemption
1x Garruk's Horde
1x Entomber Exarch
1x Massacre Wurm
1x Morkrut Banshee
3x Phyrexian Rager
1x Rune-Scarred Demon
1x Skinrender
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
3x Viridian Emissary
4x Birthing Pod
Enchantments (3)
3x Heartless Summoning
Instants (4)
3x Doom Blade
1x Apostle’s Blessing
2x Peace Strider
1x Sylvok replica
1x Reaper from the Abyss
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
3x Go for the Throat
1x Sever the Bloodline
3x Surgical Extraction
1x Tribute to Hunger
1x Creeping Corrosion
1x Apostle’s Blessing
The two main differences are Apostle's Blessing and Sever the Bloodline.
Blessing is there to act as a counterspell if needed or to punch in damage for the win. It protects both your creatures and Pod. It also allows one of your guys to block a Wurmcoil and not give them life.
Sever the Bloodline is my answer to Tokens (Wurm, Spirit, Solder etc) and also Solar Flare's Sun Titan/PI/PI plays. Since the Phatasmal Images are also Sun Titan's they get exiled as well.
In Casual:
Crushed a G/x Infect Deck with Elesh. The guy then brought out his R/G Quicksilver Amulet Titan dec. I won versus a triple Inferno Titan board because he was trying to kill my Wurmcoil Engine instead of Grimgrin.
He played one Titan and did 3 damage to my Wurmcoil. Attacked with the other two and when he applied the second package of damage to the Wurmcoil I sac'd him to Grimgrin to untap him. The third damage package went to the Deathtouch token and I sac'd it in respons and blocked one Titan with Grimgin and the other with the LL Token and then sac'd the last token to Grimgin killing one of the attacking titans. Next turn I attacked with Grimgrin and killed his untapped Titan. Killed the other Titan next turn and played another Wurmcoil that I sac'd 3 times to Grimgrin for the game as I did 12 to him.
Also tested well against a Solar Flare deck and a Mono Green Dungrove Elder deck.
In the tournement on Saturday I went 2-2 beating Bant Pod and a U/W Invisible Stalker deck. Losing to a U/B Snapcaster control mainly from a horrible play mistake on my part as I should have taken a hit from a Grave Titan instead of blocking with one of my Zombie tokens from a copied Grave Titan. I would have forced his Inkmoth Nexus to Block next turn and won the turn after as he was at 2 life.
My other match loss was versus a Mono-White Humans deck. First game he had a fast start with Champion of the Parish on turn one followed by two Gideon's Lawkeeper on turn two and a Mentor of the Meek on turn 3. I got a Spellskite in play but when I had to block he died to a 4/4 Champion and after that he could tap me down to get in. I won the second match by getting a turn 5 Elesh after a Ratchet Bomb cleared his 1 drops. The third game he had a god hand of Champion of the Parish turn 1, Champion + Lawkeeper turn 2, and Mirran Crusader turn 3. So I died on turn 4 once he tapped my only blocker down with the Lawkeeper.
I'm considering adding in Mental Misstep to try and stop those turn 1 plays which were killer.
Still love the deck though and it's very resilient but plays slow as almost all my matches went to near time.
2x Buried Ruin
4x Darkslick Shores
1x Forest
2x Hinterland Harbor
7x Island
2x Plains
4x Seachrome Coast
2x Swamp
Creatures (28)
1x Archon of Justice
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4x Grand Architect
1x Grimgrin, Corpse-born
2x Molten-Tail Masticore
4x Oculus
2x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
2x Solemn Simulacrum
4x Spellskite
3x Treasure Mage
1x Trinket Mage
2x Wurmcoil Engine
4x Birthing Pod
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Mindslaver
2x Unburial Rites
3x Flashfreeze
4x Mana Leak
1x Master Thief
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
3x Ratchet Bomb
3x Timely Reinforcements
Unburial Rites gives me a little protection from my own Masticore and also versus decks like Solar Flare etc.
I went with Flashfreeze in the board since it can hard counter other Pods and also should be good versus any Werewolf/RDW decks out there.
Timely Reinforcements can also generate tokens to sac to Grimgrin. I should probably put a Nihil Spellbomb in there as well.
Where's the Pod? I like the idea of Kessig Wolf Run and Invisible Stalker but Caged Sun is not that great a card outside of EDH. I think you'd get better mileage out of something like Liquimetal Coating to turn the Kessig Wolf Run into an artifact and then use Architect's mana ability to pump your Stalker that way. But that's an enitrely different deck than U/X Architect Pod.
I like to refer to this as the backup plan in case you’re just tired of winning with 7cc legends or need a faster clock. It can also serve as a midgame finisher if the board is stalled.
Molten-Tail Masticore
4, Exile a Creature card in your graveyard: MTM deals 4 damage to target creature or player.
Grimgrin, Corpse-born
Sacrifice another creature: Untap Grimgrin and put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Grand Architect
Tap an untapped blue creature you control: Add {2} to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts
If you can untap with those three in play and a few other creatures it should not be hard to generate 16-20 mana to kill your opponent with MTM’s ability or even plow the way for a decent sized Grimgrin.
Tap X numbers of Blue/Artifact creatures for mana. Start sacking creatures to Grimgrin and using him to tap for mana since he is a blue creature while conversely filling up the yard to fuel Masticore’s ability. Rinse-repeat until enough damage is dealt.
Even without Grimgrin I’ve been using Masticore for awhile now. I probably had my best win in the last year playing versus an opponent who was milling me out with Sword of Body and Mind I just cast Masticore on my turn and then he was able to mill the last of my library on his turn. During my upkeep I discarded a card to Masticore and then did 12 damage for the win before my draw step as I had enough artifact/blue creatures in play.