I've been playing EDH now for about 6 months, and I really enjoy it. I've run a few different decks now and have found myself with the same "core" of artifact utility cards in every deck I run, and of course with another short list of cards I don't yet have which I'd like for every deck ... so I thought I'd solicit some opinions about just that.
what colorless / artifacts do you think should be in every (or almost every) EDH deck?
Almost any card you would list in this thread can already be found in "The Top-35 cards of each color" thread which is one of the 7 stickied topics of the EDH discussion board. Just look at the top 35 artifacts list in there.
Thanks, missed that thread (sorry if this thread is extraneous).
I guess, though, what I'm after are the cards you'd put in every deck. You wouldn't, for example, use Gauntlet of Power in your 5 color deck, or really anything except a mono colored deck. the gauntlet is still one of the best artifacts around, but not appropriate in every deck.
in that vein, is something like crucible of worlds every-deck-worthy? even if I don't run LD or Strip Mine or other such shenanigans?
All the rest are conditional. Sure, cards like Lightning Greaves are excellent, and should definitely be considered in a lot of decks, but what if you're not planning on casting your general? What if you're running a creatureless deck? In thse cases (and some others), Greaves isn't as useful. That's why it doesn't fit in to every deck. The same goes for most of those other cards, and many others.
This is really more for multiplayer builds which I usually don't build or its good if you need card draw in a color that doesn't have much like R: Mind's Eye
Regarding the OP, I definately don't think the Kaldra pieces are staple cards.
They're powerful, but they are very mana intensive and take a long time to get going. Even in my Captain Sisay deck where I can tutor for them via Sisay, I forego the Kaldra equipments for Umezawa's Jitte instead for my go-to piece of equipment. Much cheaper, and it only takes up one slot.
I've played a ton of EDH 1 v 1 but only 7ish multiplayer games.
I think that quite a few less than the listed artifacts are true staples in every deck. Sol Ring and Mana Crypt I can get behind, there aren't many ways to lose after playing a turn 1 Ring/crypt (excluding your opponents also having one of them). Those are the only artifacts I think should go into every deck. People absolutely love Top but it consistently underwhelms me. It is only truly insane in decks that can maximize shuffling effects (Zur, Sisay) every turn. If you don't abuse it in this way, or with Future Sight/Magus of the Future or some other abusable effect, I probably wouldn't include it in a deck. Top's upside is it makes your hand 3 cards larger, but it costs 1 mana every turn after it's initial investment. Sorta like using Stone Rain on yourself. It doesn't let you get rid of cards that you don't want, and it doesn't help you draw cards. Mind's Eye is incredibly situational. If you want to pay all that mana to draw cards, why not just win with a random combo instead? In multiplayer it can be phenomenal. The upside is good, but when it gets destroyed or you get teamed up on, it becomes really bad. It needs 7 mana plus two of your opponents turns to even net you a card, which doesn't impress me. It's like a Mindspring that costs x with suspend x that can be killed while suspended. In 1 v 1, it is worse than Honden of Seeing Winds in a blue deck and everywhere else it's just a mana drain. If you are going to win, you should win instead of drawing cards. (Although I love the 'I need to discard at the end of my turn' feeling.) Coalition Relic is probably just that good, especially without mana burn. Solemn Simulacrum is card advantage but it doesn't really work towards any definite outcome.
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Sapio that makes a lot of sense. I guess part of my thinking is based on the kinds of decks I've run so far (mostly white, and some BW), which benefit greatly from cards like Top and Mind's Eye. Still, I can count numerous games where I've gotten Top out early and gained no real advantage from it.
I run Armillary Sphere and Wayfarer's Bauble in almost every deck that doesn't have green in it. I also have a few oddball decks that have a green minor and run these spells in place of G land tutor/acceleration.
These cards are very useful IMO because they can turn a 2-land hand into a keeper.
To be sure, they run alongside Darksteel Ingot, not in place of...
I have to agree with this. As long as you have a utility non-basic in your deck you should be running Expedition Map. I mean the ability to fetch Tolarian Academy or Academy Ruins, or whatever you need... for the same CMC cost as a Transumted Tolaria West... what is not to love?
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Expedition Map will definitely be a staple once people realize how good it is. I run Sylvan Scrying in all of my green decks and I'll most likely be using Expedition Map in my non-green ones.
SDT seriously doesn't drag out games like it is made out to be. That happens when people are constantly indecisive with the Top and continously activate it even when they've already rearranged the cards previously.
what colorless / artifacts do you think should be in every (or almost every) EDH deck?
Here is my short list:
Sol Ring
Sensei's Divining Top
Mind's Eye
Mind Stone
Darksteel Ingot
Planar Portal
Umezawa's Jitte
Loxodon Warhammer
Lightning Greaves
Crucible of Worlds
Kaldra
I am sure I'm missing some good ones, and I know that some of these really depend on your own deck plus your local meta, but what do you guys think?
I guess, though, what I'm after are the cards you'd put in every deck. You wouldn't, for example, use Gauntlet of Power in your 5 color deck, or really anything except a mono colored deck. the gauntlet is still one of the best artifacts around, but not appropriate in every deck.
in that vein, is something like crucible of worlds every-deck-worthy? even if I don't run LD or Strip Mine or other such shenanigans?
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Sol Ring
Sensei's Divining Top
and to a lesser extent, Mind's Eye.
All the rest are conditional. Sure, cards like Lightning Greaves are excellent, and should definitely be considered in a lot of decks, but what if you're not planning on casting your general? What if you're running a creatureless deck? In thse cases (and some others), Greaves isn't as useful. That's why it doesn't fit in to every deck. The same goes for most of those other cards, and many others.
But I don't think you'll want to run the same artifacts in every single deck, thus you just need a list of top artifacts to choose from.
If there were any artifacts that went into every deck as an auto-include I would say the most universally used are:
Mana Crypt (so far none of you have posted this one.)
Sol Ring
Sensei's Divining Top
Solemn Simulacrum
Coalition Relic
maybe Crucible of Worlds (it's great with fetch lands which there are 10 of, strip mine, wasteland, tolaria west, ghost quarter, dust bowl, gargoyle castle, mouth of ronom, and any land destruction spells)
After that I agree with Biomechanika that everything else becomes conditional, yet highly probably that you will use:
Darksteel Ingot
Scroll Rack
Lightning Greaves
Umezawa's Jitte
and more...
This is really more for multiplayer builds which I usually don't build or its good if you need card draw in a color that doesn't have much like R:
Mind's Eye
- Sol Ring
- Coalition Relic
- Duplicant
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They're powerful, but they are very mana intensive and take a long time to get going. Even in my Captain Sisay deck where I can tutor for them via Sisay, I forego the Kaldra equipments for Umezawa's Jitte instead for my go-to piece of equipment. Much cheaper, and it only takes up one slot.
I think that quite a few less than the listed artifacts are true staples in every deck. Sol Ring and Mana Crypt I can get behind, there aren't many ways to lose after playing a turn 1 Ring/crypt (excluding your opponents also having one of them). Those are the only artifacts I think should go into every deck. People absolutely love Top but it consistently underwhelms me. It is only truly insane in decks that can maximize shuffling effects (Zur, Sisay) every turn. If you don't abuse it in this way, or with Future Sight/Magus of the Future or some other abusable effect, I probably wouldn't include it in a deck. Top's upside is it makes your hand 3 cards larger, but it costs 1 mana every turn after it's initial investment. Sorta like using Stone Rain on yourself. It doesn't let you get rid of cards that you don't want, and it doesn't help you draw cards.
Mind's Eye is incredibly situational. If you want to pay all that mana to draw cards, why not just win with a random combo instead? In multiplayer it can be phenomenal. The upside is good, but when it gets destroyed or you get teamed up on, it becomes really bad. It needs 7 mana plus two of your opponents turns to even net you a card, which doesn't impress me. It's like a Mindspring that costs x with suspend x that can be killed while suspended. In 1 v 1, it is worse than Honden of Seeing Winds in a blue deck and everywhere else it's just a mana drain. If you are going to win, you should win instead of drawing cards. (Although I love the 'I need to discard at the end of my turn' feeling.)
Coalition Relic is probably just that good, especially without mana burn.
Solemn Simulacrum is card advantage but it doesn't really work towards any definite outcome.
1800+ in Limited
3-0ing after drafting 17 non-basics in Cube
These cards are very useful IMO because they can turn a 2-land hand into a keeper.
To be sure, they run alongside Darksteel Ingot, not in place of...
I have to agree with this. As long as you have a utility non-basic in your deck you should be running Expedition Map. I mean the ability to fetch Tolarian Academy or Academy Ruins, or whatever you need... for the same CMC cost as a Transumted Tolaria West... what is not to love?
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