A tad late... the second round is opened. This time with a flashback to the days of old, when WotC would print broken cards that were neither Planeswalkers nor Creatures - because back then Walkers were too broken to be cards and Creatures ... naja lets say Pros were happy with Mons's Goblin Raiders.
For those interested in the contest's history: Seasons 1, 2 & 3.
1) Main rules - Any member of the MTGSalvation forums can submit a deck for the contest, including judges. - A submitted deck has to contain the card of the current round and has to be built around the card in some way. While no negative points are given for an uncommented deck, giving judges insight on your ideas and tricks improves their understanding of your deck. - Contestants can only submit one deck per round. But as long as judging has not started yet, you can edit your deck, change it alltogether or withdraw it. - This is "Casual". -> Only the cards banned in Vintage, silver bordered & celebration cards are banned. There is no Restricted list. If you want to add four Black Lotus, go for it - it should be noted though, that some of the judges might not be too keen on seeing too many broken cards in decks.
- The cards to build around in the ten rounds have already been selected.
2) Time - Contestants have seven days to build and post their decks for each round.
- Judges consult to select the top 8 decks that will be judged for that round during the next day. - The next six days, judges will test and rate the top 8 decks. - A ranking of the contestants’ scores will be posted and the winner will be announced.
3) Judging
- There are four judges. The three volunteer judges are: Bustin, Captain Salty & ExpiredRascals. And me.
- From the time the entry period ends in a given round, the other three judges have 24 hours to PM me their top 9 (most likely the top 8 plus their own =P) submitted decklists of the round. I will then announce the top 8 decklists elected for rating (accroding to the matrix below). - A judge cannot rate his or her own entry. -> If a judge's deck made a round's top 8, he or she will refrain from rating that particular deck and only rate the other decks. - Judges are encouraged to add some comments as to why they gave a certain score to a certain deck. - A deck's four (/three) scores will be arithmeticaly averaged.
- Judges are out-of-contest for the final-ranking.
Each judge awards up to 25 points to each top 8 deck he or she is allowed to rate, based on the following system:
Creativity/Originality: 0 to 5 points How creative and original is your deck. Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points How well does it use the selected card? Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection. Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points Can the deck deliver the goods? Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
Format/Thematic: up to 2 points bonus (can't go over 25) 1 point for any format adherence other than Vintage/Legacy; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour.
Interpretation of this is up to the judges, individually.
4) Championship rules - As with the first season, ten rounds will be played. - To be included in the final ranking, a player has to make the top 8 in atleast four of the ten rounds. (If no player meets this criteria, it will be lowered accordingly.) - At the end of the season, the player within the final ranking having the highest arithmetical average of top 8 scores becomes the Champion. Example: Xanth participates in all ten round, makes it to the top 8 five times and gets f.e. 24 points each round. Mindslavor participates in three rounds, makes it to the top 8 in all of these three rounds and gets trice 25 points. All other players have an average < 24. -> Despite having a lower average than Mindslavor, Xanth wins, because Mindslavor hasn't met the criteria of having atleast four top eight scores.
tl;dr: For each round, a card is scheduled. Anyone can enter the contest and submit a deck using that card. Contestants can post their decks during an entry period of seven days. In the following seven days the judges (Bustin, Captain Salty, ExpiredRascals and me) will elect the eight best decks submitted, to test and rate these decks. After (planned) ten rounds the contest will have a winner.
So Power Artifact is one of those cards that need to abuse the Artifact it's sitting on...
So I was thinking of using one Power Artifact to abuse many Artifacts in play.
We need to have the following cards:
Locus Lands: tonnes of mana (Cloudpost, Glimmerpost, Vesuva) Gemstone Array: for mana fixing; lotsa mana for the future. Goblin Cannon: Gotta win with Power Artifact too. Power Artifact: for the obvious reason that's the card we need to build around.
I'm going to go for a Blue/Green build for excellent sideboard options. As well as great maindeck "Combo-finders."
Lands:
I needed to have lands that tap for more than 1 mana to make the Candelabra get lotsa mana! The Academy Ruins is for the Mindslaver Lock
Creatures:
The Guildmage allows me to move the Power Artifact to different permanents to both save the enchantment and to use the Power Artifact on multiple artifacts. The Triskellion is really good when you manage to play it turn 3 and the Clockwork Dragon gets tonnes of counters to outright kill your opponent or for Triskellion to use with Simic Guildmage.
Non-Creature Spells:
Well I need Power Artifact. Crop Rotation to get the right lands. Living Wish powers a nice Toolbox. Fabricate is to fetch some cards and Braingeyser to draw cards or, in the case of life.dec, draw them out. The Mindslaver is to help you along with disruption and the ruins lock. Basalt Monolith gives you infinite mana and with Gemstone Array you can generate infinite coloured mana. The Candelabra helps you out in the beginning to power out an explosive turn. Barl's Cage and even Goblin Cannon can be used for crowd control, and the Goblin Cannon is another win con.
Sideboard:
Toolbox for my Living Wish and Defense Grid to help me vs. Countermagic.
Now, the obvious card anyone would like to abuse is basalt monolith. Its not really a question whether abuse this card but more of - how will you use the mana?
The key combo is basalt monmolith + power artifact. It is necessery to do this in order to execute my strategy. Once this has been done I have access to infinite amount of colorless mana. My 1st and prior win condition is cast stroke of genius on my opponent and mill his/her whole library. I need the combo cards in play and two blue mana resources. I can tutor for the monolith, for stroke of genius and even for the power artifact. Even further, this is supported by brainstorm, divining top. Mana leak serves as a protection in case I am going to attempt the mill strategy.
The second win condition is also revolving around the basalt monmolith + power artifact combo but in a different way. I can use the access of colorless mana to use my "pump" creatures to do the job. Dragon engine can hit my opponent in direct combat damage with a huge portion of power.
- The decklist has been edited (minor-wise) as for a great hint I received
Land Package - 20 or more can fetch or produce each of the 3 colors Grim Monolith - Cast it from initial hand, grab it with the tutor, only 1 is needed Basalt Monolith - Cast it from initial hand, grab it with the tutor, only 1 is needed Power Artifact - The nutz when slapped on a monolith Enlightened Tutor - Search for either monolith or a Power Artifact Remand - Early clock advantage and cantrip Wash Out - Great sweep considering most of your permanents are colorless Counterspell - The king of denial Banefire - Un-counterable win condition for single player Comet Storm - Great board sweep, kill condition, and awesome early multi-player 1 shot kill
This was a tough one. The cards Power Artifact breaks the best were already taken, so I chose to go a different route and "power up" Doubling Cube, in order to produce lots of mana to generate... Snakes!
The idea is to attach Power Artifact to Doubling Cube ASAP. Getting Tolarian Academy on the BF is your best bet, so your first Trinket Mage option should be Expedition Map when needed. Once you have access to huge amounts of mana (turn 4 or 5), you can fill the board with snake tokens.
Power Artifact - As mentioned in the post below this one, the existence of Training Grounds makes it quite a challenge to build around this card, since you don't want to use artifact creatures. Its mana cost made me go with a mono-U build.
Doubling Cube - This is a card that gets a lot better with PA, even if it's not infinite mana. As designed, it's only useful once you hit a 7-mana threshold, but when powered, it starts giving you more mana when you have as little as 3 available.
Snake Basket and Orochi Hatchery - Once you have access to lots of mana, you want to use it to win the game. I could've added Eldrazi, or some leviathans, but in the spirit of originality, what best than to win with a pit of green snakes while playing a U deck? Hatchery is also a fine target for (an extra?) Power Artifact, and it is fetchable with Trinket Mage.
Trinket Mage - His main function in the deck is to ensure that you get that Tolarian Academy out, but I've included a toolbox with other rampy and defensive cards. As always, nice blocker in the first turns.
Steel Hellkite - It's an alt. win con. that also serves as removal. Could be targeted by PA, but it's not its function in the deck.
Tolarian Academy - One of my favorite cards of all time, ALL of my artifact decks sport it. In this deck, it's a key piece, but lacking it won't completely wreck the deck.
So I tried doing something a little unusual and take advantage of the lower mana requirements that Power Artifact will give me. The primary wincon is Goblin Charbelcher. To that end and thanks to the benefit of Power Artifact I'm only running 14 lands in this build. The secondary wincon comes in the form of an army of 5/5's thanks to Tezzeret the Seeker. This deck is also creatureless if you noticed.
Also judges, remember that this is a control deck. As such even though it's tempting to dump your hand/deck it is beneficial to set up your control first. Get the forcefield as a first priority against creature decks. Winter orb will always hurt them more than it hurts you. Even if it slows your tempo take that loss as you will come out the winner in the end. Once the orb is out try and get a helix with a power artifact on it. Also, the more power artifact you can stick on the staff of domination the better. Once this is done then worry about getting a Charbelcher. Finally, as annoying as it is, sticking a power artifact on the monolith and going infinity mana helped out in every game I did it huge.
Please judges be nice and not penalize me for having multiple vintage restricted cards such as lotus petal and sol ring as without them I couldn't try building an alternative and different deck such as this. The rules do allow it even if it just seems wrong. I'm just trying to increase the power of my deck as my last build lost big points from the judges for lack of power.
Card Explanations:
The base of this deck comes down to it's artifact mana production. Sol ring for bulk mana. Lotus Petal for mana fixxing. I tried not to have many Grim Monoliths as it's pretty much going to be in everyone's deck. I just need it for it's base uses. The infinity combo it allows it's just icing on the cake. Also, it runs a varied toolbox thanks to various tutoring abilities.
Thanks to this large amount of artifact mana generation I am only running 14 lands. Add into that mix a Goblin Charbelcher and it's just nasty. Stick a Power Artifact on it and it's basically doing an average of 6 or so damage for every time you use it. With Tezz and Voltaic Key you can do this many times a turn for very few mana.
Protection comes in the form of Mana Drain and Forcefield. Only use the mana drain on creatures if you absolutely have to. Once you can establish Forcefield as creature defense you should be safe from combat damage.
Winter Orb(see avatar) + a Mishra's Helix with a Power Artifact on it it's pretty well a hard lock. Even without Winter Orb the Helix + Power Artifact is just NASTY as it reads pay:1mana::symtap:: Tap 3 lands. Also, the more Power Artifacts you put on the Helix the more broken it gets.
Staff of Domination with Power Artifact is just silly and completely saved my hide against a burn deck. Add in infinity mana thanks to the Monolith and it basically reads: Draw your deck and play it all sans the blue cards. This isn't recommended though as you need cards in your library to win with the charbelcher. I would just stick with infinity life.
Tezzeret the Seeker is soooo useful in this deck. The ability to untap my artifacts lets me blast you twice with a Charbelcher, have insane amounts of mana, tutor up the key artifacts I need. Also, the ultimate generally means death to the other player.
The single Feldon's Cane in case artifact removal or counters removed your key cards. Also helps if they have life gaining and you have used up the bulk of your deck trying to kill them with the belcher.
Utility comes in the form of 7 Draw Spells, the 3 Expedition Map, Voltaic Key and the pair of Tinkers. Expedition Map is especially useful not only to get my special lands but to thin the lands out for my Charbelcher.
The The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is for VERY creature heavy decks. When combined with Winter Orb it is just evil.
Mishra's Workshop for another source of colourless. Helps against decks with lots of artifact hate that keep destroying your mana producers.
The counters to help against decks with lots of hate/counters/key cards to deal with.
The Pithing Needle is to help against decks with those KEY cards you need to deal with.
The extra lands are against decks with land hate.
Test Play Spoiler (Judges please don't read until after voting for top 8)
So I've done enough games of testing to know it's basic strengths and weaknesses. Gotta say I've never played such a broken deck, have fun playing this one judges. Not saying it wins the fastest. It's control. It isn't supposed to. But as you can see from my avatar I love control and this takes the cake. Forcefield shuts down 60% of what I'm up against. It's like humility in artifact form, only better. Being able to lock their lands generally shuts them down just as bad(and makes them quit). Gaining infinity life or drawing and playing my deck (although not advised as you need cards for the charbelcher) thanks to the Staff of Domination is just silly. Never used Goblin Charbelcher before. It's a beast. Pretty well at the end product now. I gotta say I was worried about how this build would preform as it was a 14 land build with no creatures. Not exactly the norm. Still having trouble playing a full game as everyone seems to quit out on me. If you would like to playtest your build on MWS PM me and we can work something out.
This deck aims to get infinite mana by enchanting either Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith with Power Artifact. Once you have your infinite engine rolling you can either deck people with Blue Sun's Zenith or slam down the always impressive Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. The rest of the cards perform support roles and I will go over them in more detail in the card choices section.
Card Choices:
1 Mana Draw Spells: Ponder, Brainstorm and Preordain are all cheap draw spells that can net you either your missing combo pieces or your win-con. The deck relies heavily on blue mana (in order to cast Blue Sun's Zenith) so I tried to keep the CMC of draw as low as possible. Cast these spells whenever you are missing anything. The fetchlands are there to shuffle away your Brainstorm cards.
Candelabra of Tawnos is in there in order to maximize your islands. You'll often not need it, but it really comes in handy if you fail to draw your Time Spiral (to untap lands) and need a little boost in blue. Great for when you're holding Power Artifact and Blue Sun's Zenith with only three islands in play.
Counterspell, Turnabout and Repeal are all defensive cards. Turnabout can be used to help you, but most of the time you'll be casting the much better Time Spiral. I may play with those numbers. Repeal is amazing with infinite colourless mana, and digs you closer to your win-con. Counterspell, is well, counterspell.
Time Spiral I love casting this card. Period. I cast it with a full hand, I cast it with green eggs and ham. This card essentially translates to "Draw seven cards." I've cast this card with two Blue Sun's Zenith in my hand because I didn't have that third Island untapped. Guess what happened? I drew another Time Spiral, and an Emrakul. You know what happened when I cast that second Time Spiral with an Emrakul on the board? I drew my Zenith, I didn't have to attack with my Eldrazi because my opponent drew infinite cards. Seriously, cast this spell and try not to laugh maniacally.
This deck doesn't need a lot of lands, hence the grand total of 19. Threw in a few fetches in order to thin it out further to maximize the chances of drawing your win-con. Don't be afraid to keep a two land hand with any of the CMC1 draw-spells, that's often game over if you have either Power Artifact or a Monolith in your hand too.
Playing the deck:
With infinite mana this deck doesn't get punished for starting on the draw. I've kept many a one-land hand with Ponder, Brainstorm or Preordains and won with no problem. The only card that is affected by drawing first is Counterspell which should mostly be used to defend your Powered Monolith.
Priority certainly goes to sticking a Basalt Monolith or a Grim Monolith and Power Artifacting the expletive out of it. Try not to tap your Monolith before you've cast Power Artifact because it's very difficult to untap it and there's nothing really that you want to cast for 3 colourless anyway. Don't be scared of the Covetous Dragon facing you from across the table, you'll win in two turns. If things get sketchy, Repeal your opponents actions. Once you do have infinite the obvious win-con is a Blue Sun's Zenith which multiple Time Spirals will be happy to find for you. 4 mana is the magic spot to be at. It lets you Brainstorm, Ponder or PreordainFIRST to search for your win-con and then Time Spiral. For an infinite mana deck it really teaches you the value of using your mana correctly. A lot of people will scoop to Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (and with a Powered Monolith it's essentially free) so drop that before you try to combo off your Zenith. This deck can consistently win on turn four, and I actually haven't really needed a sideboard yet.
Quite the diabolical choice for this week's round...although I must say I enjoyed it. It's almost like asking people to build around the Monoliths or go in a completely different direction, and I think I built a relatively unique deck showcasing the broken power of Power Artifact. This is my Grixis Combo-Aggro-Control.
Demonspine Whip is unique in the sense that it doesn't give the equipped creature an ability - but the activated ability of the Whip belongs to the equipment. So since the pump ability is the activated ability of an artifact, it is perfect for abusing with Power Artifact. This means the ability of Demonspine Whip reads as: " :1mana:, Equipped Creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn." So with 5 mana, you activate this ability 5 times seperately, (don't dump all at once!) to create 5 different triggers of +3/+0, causing a +15/+0 pump. Insane. The damage plan is actually exactly perfect. Take a 1/1 creature with Evasion (played Turn 2). Turn 3, Demonspine Whip + Equip. Turn 4, Power Artifact on whip, activate Whip twice for +6/+0, attack for 7 with Evasion. Turn 5, activate Whip 4 times for +12/+0, attack for 13 damage. Voila, 20 damage total, win on Turn 5. Of course, this is a very ideal scenario - but I think the concept of it is very interesting.
Wine of Blood and Iron is similar in this aspect. The normal activation cost is way too steep, but it is perfect for abusing with Power Artifact. This then becomes a repeatable Berserk for (sans Trample). Granted, you have to sacrifice the Wine at end of turn, but you should only really need 1 strike to win with this deck. So with 2~3 activations of this right after another, with an original 3-power creature, it is 3, 6, 12, 24 power, with a 2-power creature, it is 2, 4, 8, 16, more than enough to kill.
Individual Card Explanations:
So the deck is running on a Rogue subtheme, backed up with Dimir Infiltrator as a tutor engine. You'll notice that the majority of cards in the deck are costed at 2 mana, including all the creatures. This is done on purpose to follow an ideal curve - Turn 2 Evasion Creature, Turn 3 Demonspine Whip and Equip or Wine of Blood and Iron, Turn 4 tutor for Power Artifact and play it, etc. This may seem like an ideal scenario, but the game plan actually does follow closely to this. 2CMC also means fetchable via Dimir Infiltrator, although this card should only be used to get combo pieces Demonspine Whip/Power Artifact.
Looter il-Kor - In making this deck, I wanted to make Evasion a key factor. Otherwise, Demonspine Whip and Wine of Blood and Iron just do not have any impact. So every creature in the maindeck has some form of Evasion (Flying, Shadow, Unblockability, Protection). Having Shadow practically guarantees getting through, and the draw ability is quite welcome. Is also a Rogue to be supported via Oona's Blackguard.
Oona's Prowler - The second consideration for the deck was the Power issue. Wine of Blood and Iron is ideally used with high power creatures for huge double pumps. Using it on a Power-1 creatures is wimpy. Power-2 is acceptable, and Power-3 is crazy. Of course, the drawback with this card is that your opponent can discard to make it useless. If they do, then okay, that's card advantage for us. The drawbacks are also mitigated by combining with Oona's Blackguard and Rise//Fall - keep their hand count low. After sideboard, this card and Looter il-Kor are key to dumping Nether Traitor and Bloodghast into the graveyard.
Oona's Blackguard - The 3rd issue with the deck was the disruption. There simply wasn't enough space for everything with the Power Artifact combo taking 10 slots. This seemed like the ideal disruption via discard - all of our Rogues have some form of Evasion. This card also gives Rogues some extra power/toughness - important in targeting with Wine of Blood and Iron.
Dimir Infiltrator - this can fetch half the cards in the deck if necessary, although as I stated before, should only fetch the main Combo pieces needed to win. However, from my own testing it wasn't ideal to fetch both combo pieces (Demonspine Whip/Power Artifact) if you already didn't have 1 of them in your hand. It was almos better to draw into 1 rather than tutoring for both and wasting a turn. Stalling with Bitterblossom became very viable in that scenario.
The card is also a good creature for Demonspine Whip as it is unblockable. The Sideboard is actually crafted around for fetching with this card as well - most of the Sideboard is also conveniently at 2CMC.
Bitterblossom - churns out 1/1 Flying Rogue tokens. I never actually played with this card until before today, and now I see why Standard was crazy about this card. It is insane. Combine with Oona's Blackguard for 2/2 flying tokens with a discard ability, or even with Grixis Charm's +2/+0 ability for a finish. The flying tokens of course, are a good target for Demonspine Whip as well. Lastly, the tokens can be used to chump block until the 2 Combo Pieces are assembled.
Rise//Fall - The "Rise" part is quite useful - remove a problematic creature from the board, and return 1 creature from your graveyard. This is ideally used for returning Dimir Infiltrator after using its Transmute ability, but any creature is fine too - especially if discarded via Looter il-Kor. The "Fall" part is another good disruption option to back up the discard support.
Grixis Charm - I was originally using Lightning Bolts and Terminate as removal, but I think these are much better. It's really not worth the mana to remove an opposing creature with Bolt/Terminate when all of your creatures have Evasion/Flying to hit the Red Zone. Removing an opposing artifact/enchantment/planeswalker/permanent for a turn can be crucial for winning, and the +2/+0 ability to all creatures is a mini-overrun, works amazingly with the Bitterblossom tokens. It's an absolute beast for this deck.
Demonspine Whip - I'll just say a couple more about this card - remember you can move it around among your creatures as well. Activate the ability when it's attached to a creature, pump it, and then move the equipment elsewhere to pump another creature. That particular strategy is a precaution against chump-blocking, although the Evasion should lessen such worries.
Wine of Blood and Iron - After a little testing, I do feel that this is the weakest inclusion in here. It's meant to be extra Demonspine Whips 5 and 6, so you don't have to tutor for them. On Turn 3, you can either: play Demonspine Whip + Equip, or play Wine of Blood and Iron, so the gameplan isn't too different. After that, enchant either one with Power Artifact and go crazy. The problem is that even with its activation cost reduced to :2mana:, it's not as abusable with 1-power creatures. With 2-power creatures, it is semi-abusable. The real abuse starts when you enchant it wih 2 Power Artifact and then you get a one-turn repeatable Berserk for 1-mana, however uncommon that may be.
I feel like when the judges test this deck they won't enjoy drawing into Wine of Blood and Iron - but I wanted to include a target for Power Artifact besides Demonspine Whip. Would this deck fair better if these 2 slots were more removal/disruption, probably yes, but then I thought it would be less of a Power Artifact deck and more of a Rogue deck. I didn't want that to happen. Hopefully it still fairs well in testing.
Brainstorm, Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor - pretty standard Blue/Black choices. I know the Tutors are a little unfair, but this deck is a combo deck that requires tutors. Combine Brainstorm with fetchlands to shuffle away unwanted cards.
Sideboard Explanation:
Dunerider Outlaw is a Rogue that should come in against Green-heavy decks. I believe Green-based aggro (stompy or whatever) would crush us, and we'll be forced to play more control rather than aggro. Dunerider Outlaw can hold back some of that. Fetchable at 2CMC. Remember, protection is also a form of Evasion - good with Demonspine Whip. I'd probably substitute it with Looter il-Kor, as it won't be able to block non-Shadow creatures.
Shred Memory - Fetchable @ 2CMC, and should come in against graveyard based decks. It can also be used as additional tutoring via Transmute, if the current maindeck tutoring is not enough.
Defense Grid, Nether Traitor, Bloodghast - these should come in against Control decks with heavy counterspells/discard/removal disruption. All are fetchable at 2CMC, Defense Grid should slow MUC down considerably. Dodge counterspells and counter removal/discard with Nether Traitor and Bloodghast as these just keep coming back. Dump them into the graveyard with Oona's Prowler and Looter il-Kor for card advantage.
Earwig Squad, Rootwater Thief - both Rogues (check updated Oracle text for Thief), to be sideboarded in against opposing Combo decks. Remove their key card(s) and win.
Whew, another long post. I swear it's like I write an essay everytime I post one of these. I know it's a huge wall of text, but I like to keep you guys informed just in case there's something weird in here that you guys may not notice just by looking at the deck. Lastly, A Message to the Judges:
This deck certainly can win without the Demonspine Whip + Power Artifact combo. A crazy nut draw of like double Oona's Blackguard + Bitterblossom is possible and hard for any deck to stop. But of course, this doesn't always happen. Although Dimir Infiltrator can tutor for both Oona's Blackguard and Bitterblossom, I'd like to urge you to not do that if possible. Demonspine Whip/Power Artifact is more resilient toward removal and much more abusive, so I would appreciate it if you could tutor for them instead (that is, if you have 1 of the other combo piece in your hand and need the other. Tutoring for Both is normally a waste of mana). I understand Blackguard/Bitterblossom is very alluring to an aggro/control player, but Rogues are merely meant to support the deck, not be the centerpiece. This is why I tried not to include any Prowl shenanigans. Rogues just go well with the Evasion/Unblockability theme that Demonspine Whip/Power Artifact require. Having a 1/1 token suddenly get pumped to a 16/1 is just insane, and hopefully the brokenness of Bitterblossom doesn't outshine that.
Hope it was informative, and good luck to everybody else!
Edit: Deck Changes: -2 Polluted Delta, +1 Scalding Tarn, +1Bloodstained Mire - this change is basically irrelevant, as all the fetchlands can fetch all the original dual lands. It's more of an aesthetic thing.
Sideboard Changes: -1 Faerie Macabre, -1 Yixlid Jailer, +2 Dunerider Outlaw - we can race with Green based aggro, but I don't think it will be fast enough. With a decent hand we can win Turn 5/6, but they may win faster. Outlaw will help slow them down, alongside Bitterblossom tokens.
Man this one is hard... I am not the best with all the rules and stuff, but I have looked up all Oracle texts and think that things should work. (Not positive)
Ok, some card choices:
Artifacts: Goblin Cannon - Its a win condition with Power Artifact on it. I know it is slower than a Grim Monolith but this deck tries to play a little more controlish. That and Grim Monolith will probably give me a 0 in creativity automatically:) Well of Knowledge - Oracle text makes me believe this works with Power Artifact, I personally don't mind drawing 20 cards during my upkeep. Shield of the Ages - This will slow down an aggro deck, getting this out and a Power Artifact on it stops an aggro deck in its track. Staff of Domination - If I get 2+ Power Artifact on this then I can start locking down everything, if I get 3 it does a 1-sided Well of Knowledge (Thanks Wingedkagouti for pointing out that [card]Well of Knowledge works for my opponents too, doh!)
SB Soldevi Digger - Not too powerful to be maindecked, but if I just get wrecked, I would like to be able to re-play some cards.
Creatures:
I was (and still am) on the edge with these creatures. Basically, I feel the deck is controlish enough to be able to justify Flashing these into play as a secondary tutor effect.
SB Emrakul, the Aeons Torn - These are in here to protect against milling. It probably isn't the best choice, but where I play people play casual milling decks that can sneak up on you.
Instants: Orim's Chant - This is to stall and it is good at it.
Tutors - Help get things.
Counterspells - I was thinking of putting in Force of Will but do not have enough blue cards that I can discard. I choose Daze, because playing one will make your opponent think twice for the rest of the match. Regular Counterspell is in there to deal with things that can't be Dazed.
SB Echoing Truth - This might be the second most important card in the deck. My deck has one win condition, game 2 you know they will get their Pithing Needle out for that card. [carrd]Echoing Truth[/card] is just straight up better than Boomerang and Disperse so it gets in.
Ehh just curious if anyone else here wants to test out their builds on MWS? Everyone keeps quitting out against my build even though I warn them the bloody deck is BROKEN. PM me if interested
Ehh just curious if anyone else here wants to test out their builds on MWS? Everyone keeps quitting out against my build even though I warn them the bloody deck is BROKEN. PM me if interested
I had to build mine in MTGO to fine-tune it, but I'm getting the same responses... they just see that I have access to a buttload of mana and they don't wait to see what I'm casting.
My first thought is that they're quitting on you due to multiples of restricted cards, making your deck far more powerful than is the norm for powerful Vintage/Legacy decks.
Why not include P9 instead of breaking the Vintage Restricted list? I know I'd personally deduct more points for not even adhering to the Vintage Restricted list than I would for including P9.
Wow since it specifically says in the rules there is not a restricted list to I'm VERY glad you are not a judge then as you can't make that distinction. To deduct points for having restricted cards is in complete violation of the rules. To the judges the restricted list shouldn't even exist. I was worried about putting those cards in my deck in the first place for reasons like this. I really hope the judges don't have such narrow minds.
Are you serious as well that you would rather me use Mox Sapphire over Lotus Petal since the Petal is restricted anyway? And instead of having a 3cc draw 3 and discard 1-2 restriced draw spell in Thirst for Knowledge you would rather me use a 1CC draw 3 in Ancestral Recall just because Thirst is restricted?
This is "Casual". -> Only the cards banned in Vintage, silver bordered & celebration cards are banned. There is no Restricted list. If you want to add four Black Lotus, go for it - it should be noted though, that some of the judges might not be too keen on seeing too many broken cards in decks.
That too, is from the rules. There are decks that justify 4 Sol Ring, double Tinker and double Tolarian Academy, and there are decks that don't need it. If you think your deck justifies their inclusion then by all means include them. If you want to abide by the vintage restricted list, then you could have replaced some Sol Ring with something like Mana Crypt and Mana Vault.
sorry blut... I'll shut up... didn't even intend that to start.. back to the serious question I posted though. Would still love to test this on MWS so PM me if interested.
I also didn't want to put another infinity engine in my deck .I tried to stay away from it as much as possible. Hense no mana vault.
I am hoping a 14 land + creatureless build justifies it as it's not easy to make that work.
There's no point of ramping unless you ramp up to the biggest thing you possibly can. When it comes to artifacts with activated abilites, that has to be the tower cycle. Ramping up to any of these can either shut down the game for your opponent or bring you one step closer to winning with either Steel Hellkite or Tower of Murmurs.
The main game plan is to power out tons of artifact-infused mana abilities. Between Vedalken Engineer, Thran Dynamo, and draw power and tutors, that shouldn't be too hard; don't forget the tower-catalyzing effects of Soldevi Machinist and Power Artifact. After you've made enough mana to make your opponent scared of what you're trying to accomplish, now comes the fun part. Power out some towers or the Staff of Domination to make the game really hard for your opponent. Every single tower does something that drastically alters the state of the game, you shouldn't be without answers of some sort.
This deck plays like a mix between a ramp deck and a combo deck. From gameplay experience, I've come to notice that this deck performs best when you take a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach. The faster you can get a tower going, the better. Fortunately, there are cards that deal with the board position before the towers hit play, so you're covered almost completely. Normally, this deck wins slowly, but it keeps pretty steady control after an ideal setup is assembled.
Anybody can have a game plan, but it takes that extra mile to protect it. Silent Arbiter can shut down aggro decks on its own. Steel Hellkite deals with problematic permanents (and his abilities get buffed by Power Artifact, even when X is 2 or less!). Any piece of protection in this deck is even more effective because they all can be tutored for with Fabricate.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
EDH: It's like a pillow fight, except occasionally someone pulls out a chainsaw.
If you suggest a card to add to a deck, suggest one to take out as well.
Just curious if anyone tried building a Liquimetal Coating type deck? I tried a few ideas involving this theme. I also tried building around Mycosynth Lattice as well but wasn't satisfied. Then the control freak in me took over.
Gotta say I'm a bit surprised nothing like that came up.
Just curious if anyone tried building a Liquimetal Coating type deck? I tried a few ideas involving this theme. I also tried building around Mycosynth Lattice as well but wasn't satisfied. Then the control freak in me took over.
Gotta say I'm a bit surprised nothing like that came up.
How would you make a Liquidmetal Coating + Power Artifact deck work? The effect only lasts 1 turn, so you'd have to turn some permanent into an artifact, then Enchant on the same turn, then activate its abilities, and EOT Power Artifact falls off. It certainly does not seem worth it unless I'm missing something.
As for Mycosynth Lattice, this can be viable, but only with something like Tinker/Master Transmuter/Trash for Treasure or Colorless mana engine with Cloudposts/Urzatron. Yet even with all of that there's better stuff to do with all those cards - I wouldn't say it's really breaking Power Artifact.
There were 2 other builds I was considering, first was an Open the Vaults or Retether build to return a bunch of Power Artifact all at once. The problem with Open the Vaults was that I needed the Artifact to enchant in play beforehand, and it wouldn't work if it was entering via Open the Vaults alongside Power Artifact.
The second build I considered was Avarice Totem + 2 Power Artifact. Then this becomes: :2mana:: Reusable Donate. The downsides were that your opponent could activate the ability, so I added City of Solitude, but I thought it was much more clunkier than my current submission.
Anyway I'd love to see the Originality scores on this round. I count 15 Basalt Monolith and 13 Grim Monolith over 13 submissions. I'm willing to bet Blut purposefully chose Power Artifact to see how many people wouldn't do a Monolith build
I couldn't make a Liquimetal Coating type deck work. I just tried. That is why I was curious if anyone else attempted it.
I also saw that problem with the Monolith builds. The problem is even if you removed Power Artifact I would still have the Monolith in my build. Probably the only one who would keep it in there. I needed it because I only have 14 lands. Anyway, because of the fact everyone used it I only put two in there to try and avoid being "one of them"
Hehe.. seems like we are all hoping for a little charity from the judges. I think mine is creative in that it is a 14 land creatureless build but I know it is not as original as some. I also know,but hope it will be minimal, that I will get some hate for my quad sol rings. I'm praying the power of my deck makes up for it. My last build was all creative and no power.
Of course the power wont matter if I don't make the top 8 as the judges will never get to experience that. I'm dying here blut... need top 8 posting.
My deck would have been barely competitive with them inside.
I hope that "creativity" counts more than "ability to win"... If I'll ever make the Top8...:p
Yeah I'm pretty sure Originality is going to take a hit in this one. I tried too hard to avoid the most used cards in Round 1, and ended up with a pretty weak deck. This time around I decided to show case the brokenness of Power Artifact by choosing to use the monoliths. Hopefully the Power/Ability to win points compensate for the loss in Originality.
A tad late... the second round is opened. This time with a flashback to the days of old, when WotC would print broken cards that were neither Planeswalkers nor Creatures - because back then Walkers were too broken to be cards and Creatures ... naja lets say Pros were happy with Mons's Goblin Raiders.
- Any member of the MTGSalvation forums can submit a deck for the contest, including judges.
- A submitted deck has to contain the card of the current round and has to be built around the card in some way. While no negative points are given for an uncommented deck, giving judges insight on your ideas and tricks improves their understanding of your deck.
- Contestants can only submit one deck per round. But as long as judging has not started yet, you can edit your deck, change it alltogether or withdraw it.
- This is "Casual". -> Only the cards banned in Vintage, silver bordered & celebration cards are banned. There is no Restricted list. If you want to add four Black Lotus, go for it - it should be noted though, that some of the judges might not be too keen on seeing too many broken cards in decks.
- The cards to build around in the ten rounds have already been selected.
- Contestants have seven days to build and post their decks for each round.
- Judges consult to select the top 8 decks that will be judged for that round during the next day.
- The next six days, judges will test and rate the top 8 decks.
- A ranking of the contestants’ scores will be posted and the winner will be announced.
- There are four judges. The three volunteer judges are: Bustin, Captain Salty & ExpiredRascals. And me.
- From the time the entry period ends in a given round, the other three judges have 24 hours to PM me their top 9 (most likely the top 8 plus their own =P) submitted decklists of the round. I will then announce the top 8 decklists elected for rating (accroding to the matrix below).
- A judge cannot rate his or her own entry. -> If a judge's deck made a round's top 8, he or she will refrain from rating that particular deck and only rate the other decks.
- Judges are encouraged to add some comments as to why they gave a certain score to a certain deck.
- A deck's four (/three) scores will be arithmeticaly averaged.
- Judges are out-of-contest for the final-ranking.
How creative and original is your deck.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 0 to 5 points
How well does it use the selected card?
Synergy/Tuning: 0 to 5 points
How well do the cards combine in the deck; elegance and card selection.
Power/Capacity to win: 0 to 5 points
Can the deck deliver the goods?
Interaction/Protection: 0 to 5 points
How well does the deck interact and deal with other decks.
1 point for any format adherence other than Vintage/Legacy; 1 point for incorporation of theme/flavour.
- As with the first season, ten rounds will be played.
- To be included in the final ranking, a player has to make the top 8 in atleast four of the ten rounds. (If no player meets this criteria, it will be lowered accordingly.)
- At the end of the season, the player within the final ranking having the highest arithmetical average of top 8 scores becomes the Champion. Example: Xanth participates in all ten round, makes it to the top 8 five times and gets f.e. 24 points each round. Mindslavor participates in three rounds, makes it to the top 8 in all of these three rounds and gets trice 25 points. All other players have an average < 24. -> Despite having a lower average than Mindslavor, Xanth wins, because Mindslavor hasn't met the criteria of having atleast four top eight scores.
For each round, a card is scheduled. Anyone can enter the contest and submit a deck using that card.
Contestants can post their decks during an entry period of seven days. In the following seven days the judges (Bustin, Captain Salty, ExpiredRascals and me) will elect the eight best decks submitted, to test and rate these decks. After (planned) ten rounds the contest will have a winner.
Did I mention the price for the Champ?
Credits for the contest banner go to DarkNightCavalier from Heroes of the Plane Studios.
So I was thinking of using one Power Artifact to abuse many Artifacts in play.
We need to have the following cards:
Locus Lands: tonnes of mana (Cloudpost, Glimmerpost, Vesuva)
Gemstone Array: for mana fixing; lotsa mana for the future.
Goblin Cannon: Gotta win with Power Artifact too.
Power Artifact: for the obvious reason that's the card we need to build around.
I'm going to go for a Blue/Green build for excellent sideboard options. As well as great maindeck "Combo-finders."
4 Tropical Island
4 Breeding Pool
3 Cloudpost
3 Glimmerpost
3 Vesuva
3 Island
3 Forest
1 Academy Ruins
Creatures: 7
3 Simic Guildmage
3 Triskellion
1 Clockwork Dragon
4 Power Artifact
2 Fabricate
2 Braingeyser
2 Crop Rotation
4 Living Wish
3 Basalt Monolith
3 Barl's Cage
2 Candelabra of Tawnos
2 Gemstone Array
3 Goblin Cannon
2 Mindslaver
1 Academy Ruins
1 Cloudpost
1 Glimmerpost
1 Vesuva
1 Simic Guildmage
1 Triskellion
2 Clockwork Dragon
4 Eternal Witness
3 Defense Grid
Lands:
I needed to have lands that tap for more than 1 mana to make the Candelabra get lotsa mana! The Academy Ruins is for the Mindslaver Lock
Creatures:
The Guildmage allows me to move the Power Artifact to different permanents to both save the enchantment and to use the Power Artifact on multiple artifacts. The Triskellion is really good when you manage to play it turn 3 and the Clockwork Dragon gets tonnes of counters to outright kill your opponent or for Triskellion to use with Simic Guildmage.
Non-Creature Spells:
Well I need Power Artifact. Crop Rotation to get the right lands. Living Wish powers a nice Toolbox. Fabricate is to fetch some cards and Braingeyser to draw cards or, in the case of life.dec, draw them out. The Mindslaver is to help you along with disruption and the ruins lock. Basalt Monolith gives you infinite mana and with Gemstone Array you can generate infinite coloured mana. The Candelabra helps you out in the beginning to power out an explosive turn. Barl's Cage and even Goblin Cannon can be used for crowd control, and the Goblin Cannon is another win con.
Sideboard:
Toolbox for my Living Wish and Defense Grid to help me vs. Countermagic.
Here it is:
4 ancient tomb
4 tundra
4 flooded strand
6 island
2 reliquary tower
4 basalt monolith
4 power artifact
4 enlightened tutor
2 Merchant Scroll
4 stroke of genius
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 mana leak
4 mulldrifter
1 pithing needle
2 sensei's divining top
3 brainstorm
4 Dragon Engine
The key combo is basalt monmolith + power artifact. It is necessery to do this in order to execute my strategy. Once this has been done I have access to infinite amount of colorless mana. My 1st and prior win condition is cast stroke of genius on my opponent and mill his/her whole library. I need the combo cards in play and two blue mana resources. I can tutor for the monolith, for stroke of genius and even for the power artifact. Even further, this is supported by brainstorm, divining top. Mana leak serves as a protection in case I am going to attempt the mill strategy.
The second win condition is also revolving around the basalt monmolith + power artifact combo but in a different way. I can use the access of colorless mana to use my "pump" creatures to do the job. Dragon engine can hit my opponent in direct combat damage with a huge portion of power.
- The decklist has been edited (minor-wise) as for a great hint I received
cheeers and good luck to all participants! Lukas
4 Grim Monolith
4 Basalt Monolith
KEY CARD
4 Power Artifact
TUTORS
4 Enlightened Tutor
COUNTER SWEEP
4 Remand
4 Wash Out
4 Counterspell
4 Banefire
4 Comet Storm
LANDS
2 Plateau
4 Arid Mesa
2 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
4 Volcanic Island
4 Gemstone Mine
Card Choices
Land Package - 20 or more can fetch or produce each of the 3 colors
Grim Monolith - Cast it from initial hand, grab it with the tutor, only 1 is needed
Basalt Monolith - Cast it from initial hand, grab it with the tutor, only 1 is needed
Power Artifact - The nutz when slapped on a monolith
Enlightened Tutor - Search for either monolith or a Power Artifact
Remand - Early clock advantage and cantrip
Wash Out - Great sweep considering most of your permanents are colorless
Counterspell - The king of denial
Banefire - Un-counterable win condition for single player
Comet Storm - Great board sweep, kill condition, and awesome early multi-player 1 shot kill
4 Power Artifact
3 Doubling Cube
Snakes! (6)
3 Snake Basket
3 Orochi Hatchery
Trinket Toolbox (7)
3 Expedition Map
1 Candelabra of Tawnos
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Sol Ring
1 Pithing Needle
4 Trinket Mage
3 Steel Hellkite
Instants and Sorceries (14)
4 Boomerang
4 Muddle the Mixture
3 Concentrate
3 Fabricate
14 Island
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Tolarian Academy
Power Artifact - As mentioned in the post below this one, the existence of Training Grounds makes it quite a challenge to build around this card, since you don't want to use artifact creatures. Its mana cost made me go with a mono-U build.
Doubling Cube - This is a card that gets a lot better with PA, even if it's not infinite mana. As designed, it's only useful once you hit a 7-mana threshold, but when powered, it starts giving you more mana when you have as little as 3 available.
Snake Basket and Orochi Hatchery - Once you have access to lots of mana, you want to use it to win the game. I could've added Eldrazi, or some leviathans, but in the spirit of originality, what best than to win with a pit of green snakes while playing a U deck? Hatchery is also a fine target for (an extra?) Power Artifact, and it is fetchable with Trinket Mage.
Trinket Mage - His main function in the deck is to ensure that you get that Tolarian Academy out, but I've included a toolbox with other rampy and defensive cards. As always, nice blocker in the first turns.
Steel Hellkite - It's an alt. win con. that also serves as removal. Could be targeted by PA, but it's not its function in the deck.
Expedition Map - Tolarian Academy, nuff said.
Candelabra of Tawnos - Allows some Academy shenanigans. Could be used with PA.
Elixir of Immortality - Recovers lost cards, and gains back the life that could've been lost in the early game.
Sol Ring - Does its thing, while helping Academy at the same time.
Pithing Needle - Defense.
Boomerang - Good for defense or to relocate our favorite aura.
Muddle the Mixture - Tutors for both Doubling Cube and Power Artifact, while serving a defensive function as well.
Concentrate - Nothing worse than having lots of mana and nothing to use it on.
Fabricate - The tutor of choice, get whatever you want, and cast it at the same time if your game's already on.
Island - U requirements in this deck (including Muddle the Mixture's transmute ability) made me ditch Urzatron and go with 100% U-producing lands.
Seat of the Synod - While producing U, they help Tolarian Academy and in extreme circumstances you could fetch one of these with Trinket Mage
Minamo, School at Water's Edge - An island that untaps Tolarian Academy? Yes, please.
Tolarian Academy - One of my favorite cards of all time, ALL of my artifact decks sport it. In this deck, it's a key piece, but lacking it won't completely wreck the deck.
My YouTube Channel
1x Voltaic Key
4x Sol Ring
3x Goblin Charbelcher
3x Expedition Map
2x Grim Monolith
1x Mishra's Helix
4x Lotus Petal
1x Staff of Domination
3x Winter Orb
3x Forcefield
1x Feldon's Cane
4x Power Artifact
Instants (11)
4x Mana Drain
4x Accumulated Knowledge
3x Thirst for Knowledge
Sorceries (2)
2x Tinker
Planeswalkers (3)
3x Tezzeret the Seeker
Lands (14)
1x Academy Ruins
2x Tolarian Academy
4x Seat of the Synod
7x Island
4x Shield Sphere
1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1x Mishra's Workshop
4x Mana Leak
2x Pithing Needle
3x Island
I think this is now just about the final version.
Synopsis:
Also judges, remember that this is a control deck. As such even though it's tempting to dump your hand/deck it is beneficial to set up your control first. Get the forcefield as a first priority against creature decks. Winter orb will always hurt them more than it hurts you. Even if it slows your tempo take that loss as you will come out the winner in the end. Once the orb is out try and get a helix with a power artifact on it. Also, the more power artifact you can stick on the staff of domination the better. Once this is done then worry about getting a Charbelcher. Finally, as annoying as it is, sticking a power artifact on the monolith and going infinity mana helped out in every game I did it huge.
Please judges be nice and not penalize me for having multiple vintage restricted cards such as lotus petal and sol ring as without them I couldn't try building an alternative and different deck such as this. The rules do allow it even if it just seems wrong. I'm just trying to increase the power of my deck as my last build lost big points from the judges for lack of power.
Card Explanations:
Thanks to this large amount of artifact mana generation I am only running 14 lands. Add into that mix a Goblin Charbelcher and it's just nasty. Stick a Power Artifact on it and it's basically doing an average of 6 or so damage for every time you use it. With Tezz and Voltaic Key you can do this many times a turn for very few mana.
Protection comes in the form of Mana Drain and Forcefield. Only use the mana drain on creatures if you absolutely have to. Once you can establish Forcefield as creature defense you should be safe from combat damage.
Winter Orb(see avatar) + a Mishra's Helix with a Power Artifact on it it's pretty well a hard lock. Even without Winter Orb the Helix + Power Artifact is just NASTY as it reads pay:1mana::symtap:: Tap 3 lands. Also, the more Power Artifacts you put on the Helix the more broken it gets.
Staff of Domination with Power Artifact is just silly and completely saved my hide against a burn deck. Add in infinity mana thanks to the Monolith and it basically reads: Draw your deck and play it all sans the blue cards. This isn't recommended though as you need cards in your library to win with the charbelcher. I would just stick with infinity life.
Tezzeret the Seeker is soooo useful in this deck. The ability to untap my artifacts lets me blast you twice with a Charbelcher, have insane amounts of mana, tutor up the key artifacts I need. Also, the ultimate generally means death to the other player.
The single Feldon's Cane in case artifact removal or counters removed your key cards. Also helps if they have life gaining and you have used up the bulk of your deck trying to kill them with the belcher.
Utility comes in the form of 7 Draw Spells, the 3 Expedition Map, Voltaic Key and the pair of Tinkers. Expedition Map is especially useful not only to get my special lands but to thin the lands out for my Charbelcher.
Great Tinker targets will be situational.
Sidboard Explanation:
The The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is for VERY creature heavy decks. When combined with Winter Orb it is just evil.
Mishra's Workshop for another source of colourless. Helps against decks with lots of artifact hate that keep destroying your mana producers.
The counters to help against decks with lots of hate/counters/key cards to deal with.
The Pithing Needle is to help against decks with those KEY cards you need to deal with.
The extra lands are against decks with land hate.
Test Play Spoiler (Judges please don't read until after voting for top 8)
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
4x Power Artifact
Instants: 19
4x Brainstorm
4x Counterspell
3x Turnabout
3x Blue Sun's Zenith
2x Repeal
4x Grim Monolith
4x Basalt Monolith
3x Candelabra of Tawnos
Sorceries: 8
4x Ponder
2x Preordain
2x Time Spiral
2x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Land: 19
13x Island
2x Polluted Delta
2x Misty Rainforest
2x Flooded Strand
Summary:
This deck aims to get infinite mana by enchanting either Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith with Power Artifact. Once you have your infinite engine rolling you can either deck people with Blue Sun's Zenith or slam down the always impressive Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. The rest of the cards perform support roles and I will go over them in more detail in the card choices section.
Card Choices:
Candelabra of Tawnos is in there in order to maximize your islands. You'll often not need it, but it really comes in handy if you fail to draw your Time Spiral (to untap lands) and need a little boost in blue. Great for when you're holding Power Artifact and Blue Sun's Zenith with only three islands in play.
Counterspell, Turnabout and Repeal are all defensive cards. Turnabout can be used to help you, but most of the time you'll be casting the much better Time Spiral. I may play with those numbers. Repeal is amazing with infinite colourless mana, and digs you closer to your win-con. Counterspell, is well, counterspell.
Time Spiral I love casting this card. Period. I cast it with a full hand, I cast it with green eggs and ham. This card essentially translates to "Draw seven cards." I've cast this card with two Blue Sun's Zenith in my hand because I didn't have that third Island untapped. Guess what happened? I drew another Time Spiral, and an Emrakul. You know what happened when I cast that second Time Spiral with an Emrakul on the board? I drew my Zenith, I didn't have to attack with my Eldrazi because my opponent drew infinite cards. Seriously, cast this spell and try not to laugh maniacally.
This deck doesn't need a lot of lands, hence the grand total of 19. Threw in a few fetches in order to thin it out further to maximize the chances of drawing your win-con. Don't be afraid to keep a two land hand with any of the CMC1 draw-spells, that's often game over if you have either Power Artifact or a Monolith in your hand too.
Playing the deck:
With infinite mana this deck doesn't get punished for starting on the draw. I've kept many a one-land hand with Ponder, Brainstorm or Preordains and won with no problem. The only card that is affected by drawing first is Counterspell which should mostly be used to defend your Powered Monolith.
Priority certainly goes to sticking a Basalt Monolith or a Grim Monolith and Power Artifacting the expletive out of it. Try not to tap your Monolith before you've cast Power Artifact because it's very difficult to untap it and there's nothing really that you want to cast for 3 colourless anyway. Don't be scared of the Covetous Dragon facing you from across the table, you'll win in two turns. If things get sketchy, Repeal your opponents actions. Once you do have infinite the obvious win-con is a Blue Sun's Zenith which multiple Time Spirals will be happy to find for you. 4 mana is the magic spot to be at. It lets you Brainstorm, Ponder or Preordain FIRST to search for your win-con and then Time Spiral. For an infinite mana deck it really teaches you the value of using your mana correctly. A lot of people will scoop to Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (and with a Powered Monolith it's essentially free) so drop that before you try to combo off your Zenith. This deck can consistently win on turn four, and I actually haven't really needed a sideboard yet.
Hope you enjoy the deck!
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
2 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Underground Sea
4 Watery Grave
4 Volcanic Island
2 Badlands
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Creatures 16
4 Oona's Prowler
4 Oona's Blackguard
4 Looter il-Kor
4 Dimir Infiltrator
4 Demonspine Whip
2 Wine of Blood and Iron
Enchantments 8
4 Power Artifact
4 Bitterblossom
Spells 8
2 Rise//Fall
2 Grixis Charm
2 Brainstorm
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
4 Dunerider Outlaw
2 Shred Memory
1 Defense Grid
2 Nether Traitor
2 Bloodghast
2 Earwig Squad
2 Rootwater Thief
Deck Explanation:
Demonspine Whip is unique in the sense that it doesn't give the equipped creature an ability - but the activated ability of the Whip belongs to the equipment. So since the pump ability is the activated ability of an artifact, it is perfect for abusing with Power Artifact. This means the ability of Demonspine Whip reads as: " :1mana:, Equipped Creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn." So with 5 mana, you activate this ability 5 times seperately, (don't dump all at once!) to create 5 different triggers of +3/+0, causing a +15/+0 pump. Insane. The damage plan is actually exactly perfect. Take a 1/1 creature with Evasion (played Turn 2). Turn 3, Demonspine Whip + Equip. Turn 4, Power Artifact on whip, activate Whip twice for +6/+0, attack for 7 with Evasion. Turn 5, activate Whip 4 times for +12/+0, attack for 13 damage. Voila, 20 damage total, win on Turn 5. Of course, this is a very ideal scenario - but I think the concept of it is very interesting.
Wine of Blood and Iron is similar in this aspect. The normal activation cost is way too steep, but it is perfect for abusing with Power Artifact. This then becomes a repeatable Berserk for (sans Trample). Granted, you have to sacrifice the Wine at end of turn, but you should only really need 1 strike to win with this deck. So with 2~3 activations of this right after another, with an original 3-power creature, it is 3, 6, 12, 24 power, with a 2-power creature, it is 2, 4, 8, 16, more than enough to kill.
Looter il-Kor - In making this deck, I wanted to make Evasion a key factor. Otherwise, Demonspine Whip and Wine of Blood and Iron just do not have any impact. So every creature in the maindeck has some form of Evasion (Flying, Shadow, Unblockability, Protection). Having Shadow practically guarantees getting through, and the draw ability is quite welcome. Is also a Rogue to be supported via Oona's Blackguard.
Oona's Prowler - The second consideration for the deck was the Power issue. Wine of Blood and Iron is ideally used with high power creatures for huge double pumps. Using it on a Power-1 creatures is wimpy. Power-2 is acceptable, and Power-3 is crazy. Of course, the drawback with this card is that your opponent can discard to make it useless. If they do, then okay, that's card advantage for us. The drawbacks are also mitigated by combining with Oona's Blackguard and Rise//Fall - keep their hand count low. After sideboard, this card and Looter il-Kor are key to dumping Nether Traitor and Bloodghast into the graveyard.
Oona's Blackguard - The 3rd issue with the deck was the disruption. There simply wasn't enough space for everything with the Power Artifact combo taking 10 slots. This seemed like the ideal disruption via discard - all of our Rogues have some form of Evasion. This card also gives Rogues some extra power/toughness - important in targeting with Wine of Blood and Iron.
Dimir Infiltrator - this can fetch half the cards in the deck if necessary, although as I stated before, should only fetch the main Combo pieces needed to win. However, from my own testing it wasn't ideal to fetch both combo pieces (Demonspine Whip/Power Artifact) if you already didn't have 1 of them in your hand. It was almos better to draw into 1 rather than tutoring for both and wasting a turn. Stalling with Bitterblossom became very viable in that scenario.
The card is also a good creature for Demonspine Whip as it is unblockable. The Sideboard is actually crafted around for fetching with this card as well - most of the Sideboard is also conveniently at 2CMC.
Bitterblossom - churns out 1/1 Flying Rogue tokens. I never actually played with this card until before today, and now I see why Standard was crazy about this card. It is insane. Combine with Oona's Blackguard for 2/2 flying tokens with a discard ability, or even with Grixis Charm's +2/+0 ability for a finish. The flying tokens of course, are a good target for Demonspine Whip as well. Lastly, the tokens can be used to chump block until the 2 Combo Pieces are assembled.
Rise//Fall - The "Rise" part is quite useful - remove a problematic creature from the board, and return 1 creature from your graveyard. This is ideally used for returning Dimir Infiltrator after using its Transmute ability, but any creature is fine too - especially if discarded via Looter il-Kor. The "Fall" part is another good disruption option to back up the discard support.
Grixis Charm - I was originally using Lightning Bolts and Terminate as removal, but I think these are much better. It's really not worth the mana to remove an opposing creature with Bolt/Terminate when all of your creatures have Evasion/Flying to hit the Red Zone. Removing an opposing artifact/enchantment/planeswalker/permanent for a turn can be crucial for winning, and the +2/+0 ability to all creatures is a mini-overrun, works amazingly with the Bitterblossom tokens. It's an absolute beast for this deck.
Demonspine Whip - I'll just say a couple more about this card - remember you can move it around among your creatures as well. Activate the ability when it's attached to a creature, pump it, and then move the equipment elsewhere to pump another creature. That particular strategy is a precaution against chump-blocking, although the Evasion should lessen such worries.
Wine of Blood and Iron - After a little testing, I do feel that this is the weakest inclusion in here. It's meant to be extra Demonspine Whips 5 and 6, so you don't have to tutor for them. On Turn 3, you can either: play Demonspine Whip + Equip, or play Wine of Blood and Iron, so the gameplan isn't too different. After that, enchant either one with Power Artifact and go crazy. The problem is that even with its activation cost reduced to :2mana:, it's not as abusable with 1-power creatures. With 2-power creatures, it is semi-abusable. The real abuse starts when you enchant it wih 2 Power Artifact and then you get a one-turn repeatable Berserk for 1-mana, however uncommon that may be.
I feel like when the judges test this deck they won't enjoy drawing into Wine of Blood and Iron - but I wanted to include a target for Power Artifact besides Demonspine Whip. Would this deck fair better if these 2 slots were more removal/disruption, probably yes, but then I thought it would be less of a Power Artifact deck and more of a Rogue deck. I didn't want that to happen. Hopefully it still fairs well in testing.
Brainstorm, Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor - pretty standard Blue/Black choices. I know the Tutors are a little unfair, but this deck is a combo deck that requires tutors. Combine Brainstorm with fetchlands to shuffle away unwanted cards.
Shred Memory - Fetchable @ 2CMC, and should come in against graveyard based decks. It can also be used as additional tutoring via Transmute, if the current maindeck tutoring is not enough.
Defense Grid, Nether Traitor, Bloodghast - these should come in against Control decks with heavy counterspells/discard/removal disruption. All are fetchable at 2CMC, Defense Grid should slow MUC down considerably. Dodge counterspells and counter removal/discard with Nether Traitor and Bloodghast as these just keep coming back. Dump them into the graveyard with Oona's Prowler and Looter il-Kor for card advantage.
Earwig Squad, Rootwater Thief - both Rogues (check updated Oracle text for Thief), to be sideboarded in against opposing Combo decks. Remove their key card(s) and win.
Lastly, A Message to the Judges:
Edit: Deck Changes: -2 Polluted Delta, +1 Scalding Tarn, +1Bloodstained Mire - this change is basically irrelevant, as all the fetchlands can fetch all the original dual lands. It's more of an aesthetic thing.
Sideboard Changes: -1 Faerie Macabre, -1 Yixlid Jailer, +2 Dunerider Outlaw - we can race with Green based aggro, but I don't think it will be fast enough. With a decent hand we can win Turn 5/6, but they may win faster. Outlaw will help slow them down, alongside Bitterblossom tokens.
R: Copypasta Sauce {Browbeat}
UR: Mana Cache , One Spell to Bind them All {Magnetic Theft}
UG: Epic Struggle , All-In-Poison {Metamorphosis}
UW: Planar Overlay , Decree of the Bailiff {Saprazzan Bailiff}
BG: Thought Gorger , Dark Chroma {Umbra Stalker}
UBR: Dwarven Shrine
WUBRG: Dissipation Field , Maelstrom Nexus
15x Island
4x Seat of the Synod
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Academy Ruins
Artifacts:
3x Mox Opal
2x General's Regalia
2x Barl's Cage
1x Myr Matrix
1x Sol Ring
1x Grim Monolith
4x Darksteel Myr
3x Stuffy Doll
2x Phyrexian Walker
1x Darksteel Juggernaut
Spells:
4x Thirst for Knowledge
4x Mana Drain
3x Counterspell
1x Fabricate
4x Power Artifact
1x Copy Enchantment
Planeswalker:
2x Tezzeret the Seeker
Wow, didnt know this got started up again. Nice to see that it was. Here is my submission.
The idea is to make activations cheap with Power Artifact. Most importantly, the activation of General's Regalia. That way I can redirect everything to Stuffy Doll.
BUWGRChilds PlayGRWUB
BUWGR Highlander GRWUB
UBSquee's Shapeshifting PetBU
BW Multiplayer Control WB
RG Changeling GR
UR Mana FlareRU
UMerfolkU
B MBMC B
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Tundra
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
Creatures: 5
3 Academy Rector
2 Totem-Guide Hartebeest
Enchantments: 6
4 Power Artifact
2 Copy Enchantment
4 Staff of Domination
4 Shield of Ages
4 Goblin Cannon
Instants: 19
3 Flash
4 Orim's Chant
4 Enlightened Tutor
4 Mystical Tutor
2 Daze
2 Counterspell
4 Soldevi Digger
4 Echoing Truth
2 Daze
1 Academy Rector
2 Totem-Guide Hartebeest
2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Ok, some card choices:
Artifacts:
Goblin Cannon - Its a win condition with Power Artifact on it. I know it is slower than a Grim Monolith but this deck tries to play a little more controlish. That and Grim Monolith will probably give me a 0 in creativity automatically:)
Well of Knowledge - Oracle text makes me believe this works with Power Artifact, I personally don't mind drawing 20 cards during my upkeep.Shield of the Ages - This will slow down an aggro deck, getting this out and a Power Artifact on it stops an aggro deck in its track.
Staff of Domination - If I get 2+ Power Artifact on this then I can start locking down everything, if I get 3 it does a 1-sided Well of Knowledge (Thanks Wingedkagouti for pointing out that [card]Well of Knowledge works for my opponents too, doh!)
SB Soldevi Digger - Not too powerful to be maindecked, but if I just get wrecked, I would like to be able to re-play some cards.
Creatures:
I was (and still am) on the edge with these creatures. Basically, I feel the deck is controlish enough to be able to justify Flashing these into play as a secondary tutor effect.
SB Emrakul, the Aeons Torn - These are in here to protect against milling. It probably isn't the best choice, but where I play people play casual milling decks that can sneak up on you.
Instants:
Orim's Chant - This is to stall and it is good at it.
Tutors - Help get things.
Counterspells - I was thinking of putting in Force of Will but do not have enough blue cards that I can discard. I choose Daze, because playing one will make your opponent think twice for the rest of the match. Regular Counterspell is in there to deal with things that can't be Dazed.
SB Echoing Truth - This might be the second most important card in the deck. My deck has one win condition, game 2 you know they will get their Pithing Needle out for that card. [carrd]Echoing Truth[/card] is just straight up better than Boomerang and Disperse so it gets in.
Cards for sale: Check them out!
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
I had to build mine in MTGO to fine-tune it, but I'm getting the same responses... they just see that I have access to a buttload of mana and they don't wait to see what I'm casting.
My YouTube Channel
Wow since it specifically says in the rules there is not a restricted list to I'm VERY glad you are not a judge then as you can't make that distinction. To deduct points for having restricted cards is in complete violation of the rules. To the judges the restricted list shouldn't even exist. I was worried about putting those cards in my deck in the first place for reasons like this. I really hope the judges don't have such narrow minds.
Are you serious as well that you would rather me use Mox Sapphire over Lotus Petal since the Petal is restricted anyway? And instead of having a 3cc draw 3 and discard 1-2 restriced draw spell in Thirst for Knowledge you would rather me use a 1CC draw 3 in Ancestral Recall just because Thirst is restricted?
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
Just my opinions.
That too, is from the rules. There are decks that justify 4
R: Copypasta Sauce {Browbeat}
UR: Mana Cache , One Spell to Bind them All {Magnetic Theft}
UG: Epic Struggle , All-In-Poison {Metamorphosis}
UW: Planar Overlay , Decree of the Bailiff {Saprazzan Bailiff}
BG: Thought Gorger , Dark Chroma {Umbra Stalker}
UBR: Dwarven Shrine
WUBRG: Dissipation Field , Maelstrom Nexus
I also didn't want to put another infinity engine in my deck .I tried to stay away from it as much as possible. Hense no mana vault.
I am hoping a 14 land + creatureless build justifies it as it's not easy to make that work.
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
18x Island
1x Academy Ruins
4x Seat of the Synod
Creatures:
3x Soldevi Machinist
4x Vedalken Engineer
3x Steel Hellkite
4x Silent Arbiter
4x Thoughtcast
4x Fabricate
Enchantments:
4x Power Artifact
Artifacts:
2x Voltaic Key
3x Thran Dynamo
1x Staff of Domination
1x Tower of Fortunes
1x Tower of Eons
1x Tower of Champions
1x Tower of Calamities
1x Tower of Murmurs
There's no point of ramping unless you ramp up to the biggest thing you possibly can. When it comes to artifacts with activated abilites, that has to be the tower cycle. Ramping up to any of these can either shut down the game for your opponent or bring you one step closer to winning with either Steel Hellkite or Tower of Murmurs.
The main game plan is to power out tons of artifact-infused mana abilities. Between Vedalken Engineer, Thran Dynamo, and draw power and tutors, that shouldn't be too hard; don't forget the tower-catalyzing effects of Soldevi Machinist and Power Artifact. After you've made enough mana to make your opponent scared of what you're trying to accomplish, now comes the fun part. Power out some towers or the Staff of Domination to make the game really hard for your opponent. Every single tower does something that drastically alters the state of the game, you shouldn't be without answers of some sort.
This deck plays like a mix between a ramp deck and a combo deck. From gameplay experience, I've come to notice that this deck performs best when you take a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach. The faster you can get a tower going, the better. Fortunately, there are cards that deal with the board position before the towers hit play, so you're covered almost completely. Normally, this deck wins slowly, but it keeps pretty steady control after an ideal setup is assembled.
Anybody can have a game plan, but it takes that extra mile to protect it. Silent Arbiter can shut down aggro decks on its own. Steel Hellkite deals with problematic permanents (and his abilities get buffed by Power Artifact, even when X is 2 or less!). Any piece of protection in this deck is even more effective because they all can be tutored for with Fabricate.
If you suggest a card to add to a deck, suggest one to take out as well.
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
Gotta say I'm a bit surprised nothing like that came up.
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
How would you make a Liquidmetal Coating + Power Artifact deck work? The effect only lasts 1 turn, so you'd have to turn some permanent into an artifact, then Enchant on the same turn, then activate its abilities, and EOT Power Artifact falls off. It certainly does not seem worth it unless I'm missing something.
As for Mycosynth Lattice, this can be viable, but only with something like Tinker/Master Transmuter/Trash for Treasure or Colorless mana engine with Cloudposts/Urzatron. Yet even with all of that there's better stuff to do with all those cards - I wouldn't say it's really breaking Power Artifact.
There were 2 other builds I was considering, first was an Open the Vaults or Retether build to return a bunch of Power Artifact all at once. The problem with Open the Vaults was that I needed the Artifact to enchant in play beforehand, and it wouldn't work if it was entering via Open the Vaults alongside Power Artifact.
The second build I considered was Avarice Totem + 2 Power Artifact. Then this becomes: :2mana:: Reusable Donate. The downsides were that your opponent could activate the ability, so I added City of Solitude, but I thought it was much more clunkier than my current submission.
Anyway I'd love to see the Originality scores on this round. I count 15 Basalt Monolith and 13 Grim Monolith over 13 submissions. I'm willing to bet Blut purposefully chose Power Artifact to see how many people wouldn't do a Monolith build
R: Copypasta Sauce {Browbeat}
UR: Mana Cache , One Spell to Bind them All {Magnetic Theft}
UG: Epic Struggle , All-In-Poison {Metamorphosis}
UW: Planar Overlay , Decree of the Bailiff {Saprazzan Bailiff}
BG: Thought Gorger , Dark Chroma {Umbra Stalker}
UBR: Dwarven Shrine
WUBRG: Dissipation Field , Maelstrom Nexus
I also saw that problem with the Monolith builds. The problem is even if you removed Power Artifact I would still have the Monolith in my build. Probably the only one who would keep it in there. I needed it because I only have 14 lands. Anyway, because of the fact everyone used it I only put two in there to try and avoid being "one of them"
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
Of course the power wont matter if I don't make the top 8 as the judges will never get to experience that. I'm dying here blut... need top 8 posting.
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
I think your build is really cool and original though. I love the Back to Basics tech with Jinxed Choker + Power Artifact. I think a tutor would have been a nice addition - Muddle the Mixture in place of 2 Spell Pierce would have fetched Power Artifact/Sun Droplet. 2 Drift of Phantasms could have been good too, since you don't necessarily need 4 copies of Back to Basics.
R: Copypasta Sauce {Browbeat}
UR: Mana Cache , One Spell to Bind them All {Magnetic Theft}
UG: Epic Struggle , All-In-Poison {Metamorphosis}
UW: Planar Overlay , Decree of the Bailiff {Saprazzan Bailiff}
BG: Thought Gorger , Dark Chroma {Umbra Stalker}
UBR: Dwarven Shrine
WUBRG: Dissipation Field , Maelstrom Nexus
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts