Thoughts on Karn, Scion of Urza?
His -2 has some synergy with our deck...
Thinking more for the control matchups in place of Lodestone Golem.
I would snap build around it if he were an artifact. Sadly, he isn't. The steep cost makes it far less reliable as a finisher than it's worth. We want our non-attacking spells to either push control out of their options, or be able to assist in damage somehow, if not both. Four mana Master token that gets taxed by both Lodestone and Thorn doesn't help our control plan chug along.
Seems like a worthy addition to the deck. Another consistency tool for a deck that needs it badly. I don't really see a reason not to run this over sage of epityr for those who play the card.
Ok guys Traxos, Scourge of Kroog HAS to be one of the MOST exciting cards from Dominaria. As a 4 colorless mana 7/7 we can cast it turn 3 very easily, as well as follow up with a Artifact for his untapping ability. A 7/7 trampler (with pseudo vigilance) is a very powerful racing tool, and the fact that you can back him up with protection like Mausoleum Wanderer and Siren, Stormtamer is really relevant. Overall I guess he's worth the shot...
Seems like a worthy addition to the deck. Another consistency tool for a deck that needs it badly. I don't really see a reason not to run this over sage of epityr for those who play the card.
Sage actually sets up your t2 as well as looting with copter.
Well ok maybe there is a reason but not a good one
I mean yes what you said is true but the bird seems way better for all other turns after the first/second. Flying is also a huge upside over the sage, especially in the signal pest version.
Also with no shuffle effect scrying seem pretty valuable compared to order the top 4. Bottoming stuff we don't need and never seeing them again is great compared to the classic «this card in my top deck is awful and i'm gonna draw it».
Anyways i'll be doing some testing when i can play the bird and will report.
First 2-3 turns are what matter the most in modern. Also you can easily run 2 Minamo, School at Water's Edge to help traxos untap easily and at instant speed if needed.
Has no one liked the immortal sun? I’m still on 1 and loving it.
Has no one liked the immortal sun? I’m still on 1 and loving it.
Yea, like The Sun too. I currently run this list in MODO.
I made a hard decision to get rid of Grand Architects at all and focus on new cards and lower curve. And it works pretty good. With any of our 2 drop accelerators we can play Traxos or Golem on turn 3, so who needs Architect at all?
Do you think it is worth running 1 Darksteel Citadel to have a land that Trinket Mage can tutor for? I play Etched Champion in the sideboard, it can either be evasive or a great blocker in many matchups.
Trinket for citadel seems super corner case. When is it that you have 3 lands to cast mage and need a fourth non blue producing land? I'd say totally not worth the color screw potential when you draw citadel.
Other than that i've been super happy with artificer's assistant. I also have a real hard time beating KCI combo, seems whe have no interaction and they are faster than us. We really need to win with the sideboard in this matchup i guess.
Hello there, I haven't posted here yet, but I'am a Bluee Steel enthusiast and I would love to get some of my questions answered, especially concerning card choices.
What do you think about Thraben Gargoyle ? It actually blocks some popular Modern early aggro creatures, also crews Copter or Weatherlight, a one of in my deck, and then can flip via Archie and get some midgame evasive chunks in. Weatherlight is another card I mentioned, I think it provides some real card advantage, but it's somewhat clunky and slow. What do you think?
I'm a bit lost in terms of sideboard. I can see the matchups where Karn, Scion of Urzais just bound to be good but he's unfortunately over the top of my budget. Aethersphere Harvester proved his worth against burn, but otherwise he seems a bit needless, considering he's helpful in just about one matchup. Another card I really like is Mindlock Orb in some combo matchups, but it's somewhat lackluster in the rest. Maybe these two slots are worth replacing with something else. I am overly satisfied with the value that the God-Pharaoh's Gift provides in not only control matchups though.
Otherwise, I'm not sure whether is the Thorn of Amethyst a better sideboard option or not than the new Damping Sphere, since Thorn offers some neat soft lock potential with Lodestone Golem.
Anyone had positive results with traxos, scourge of kroog? I tried it in a small weekly tournament in a store today and it did absolutely nothing. I cast it on turn 3 every time it drew it and was not able to untap it a single time...
I get that this is a small sample and i was pretty unlucky but traxos feels like a card that can just potentially make your deck lose to itself, kind of like myr superion in older builds. It seems to me we could just not play stuff like that because we have access to a lot of fine options, do we really need this?
EDIT: the bird on the other hand keeps being super good.
I feel like jtms is just better than Karn in the board. I’ve never felt like I had a lack of p/t from my creatures and jtms is just better at card advantage imo. Especially when you’re running scooter/aa to clear away stuff you don’t want. Karn is good in affinity but I think that’s because their deck is literally all artifacts where as we can have aa, engineer, wanderer, architect all out that do nothing to help Karn.
I have made a really sweet mono blue standard deck based on artificers assistant, djin of the lamp, blackblade reforged, voltaic servant, mirage mirror and icy manipulator with of course karn and alot of support. It has been very successful and has lead me to try djinn of the lamp and karn in affinity. And both are great as 1-2 ofs (not together however)
Ill sideboard karn and mainboard djinn and put karn in djins place post board. It has been pretty successful
Anyways my success with artificers assistant in standard and djinn in standard and affinity has lead me to want to build a deck similar to my standard one as both cards are modern viable.
I stumbled upon this deck as its basically the perfect spot for these two cards.
What do you guys think of zahid, djin of the lamp in this deck as a one or two of?
He is really strong and is hard to remove with really only a path or lili able to do it.
Traxos imo is a dud. The bark is louder than the bite. Even in my standard deck i had traxos in originally and i took him out for zahid and the deck is far far better.
Also have you guys tried mirage mirror as possibly a 1 of or even some sideboard tech?
Ill post my very noobish grand architect deck soon.
but dont they have to keep recasting a mox or something? I thought the combo worked by recasting mox and saccing it and getting it back and so on and so forth. Damping Sphere makes things more expensive so after they do it 2-3 times they wont have mana for it.
Im not sure why you mention architect and creatures. I was responding to Ace when he mentioned KCI combo.
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but dont they have to keep recasting a mox or something? I thought the combo worked by recasting mox and saccing it and getting it back and so on and so forth. Damping Sphere makes things more expensive so after they do it 2-3 times they wont have mana for it.
Im not sure why you mention architect and creatures. I was responding to Ace when he mentioned KCI combo.
Wasn’t quoted or in any way noted so sorry. Kci deals with artifacts and enchantments easily though.
Yes, in my testing Traxos, Scourge of Kroog sucks. Unless you awkwardly sequence your hand you don't get to untap. And if you do it just dies to removal. The trample is nice but it doesn't affect the game in a meaningful way; unlike say Lodestone Golem or Walking Ballista.
Good to have feedback from other people on traxos, this will save me testing time with the thing, didn't really want to test it more after my initial disappointment. Bird is great though, love it.
I've never taken throne of the god-pharaoh out of the deck, it never disappoints. In addition to being just great in general it just beats cards i hate losing to, like worship and ensnaring bridge. I'm currently on 2 and have been happy with this number.
I also still love god-pharaoh's gift since i started playing it, it just gives the deck a big splashy artifact to use all the extra mana. It provides free wins vs heavy control decks and isn't really awful against any decks, the challenge is just getting to resolve one.
im new to this board but was drawn to this deck because of zahid and artificers assistant. Both of which i dropped out of the deck upon playing.
I also dropped loadstone golem as I prefer to put in more powerful or useful threats. This is my current build. I am even considering main boarding amethyst as a two of bc the affect is good but just not on a 4 drop creature imo.
I originally had the assistent and a zahir djinn of the lamp. Both are sub optimal. Sage imo is far better then the bird especially if you cant land a artifact till turn 3-4 which makes your bird just sit there. Sage is perfect and the inclusion of fetches helps so much if you only want 1 out of the four he filter. Glint nest crane helps so so much when you are set up with no place to go. I have managed a turn 4 inkwell leviathan and myr superion off of a turn 1 sage, turn 2 glint nest crane and turn 3 architect into a immortal sun. Which is a segway to the next point.
My previous build suffered in that it dumped its hand and was set up with no place to go. Immortal sun is the truth. i run 2 because it is just so so good and sage has pretty good synergy with it too.
Secondly, glint nest crane took the place of etherium sculptor. Late game after removal has been administered by my opponent i find sculptor to be a really poor draw. Where as glint nest is can refill the hand to something you may need or can use in that moment like a ballista or hangarback.
Anyways i think this build helps alot with consistency. I have never played lodestone golem as i just cant get sold on it. As i mentioned above If i need the effect i bring in the amethyst which is really good against control and the like as you all probably know. I also believe the inclusion of spellskite mainboard should be looked at more closely in this meta especially his ability is just made for this deck. Protect the engineer and architect so we can get the fatties out. Anyways still testing any advice is great.
whats wrong with it? Its just a different take. I dont understand the point of saying you see something wrong and offer no points of views or issues you think you see. This list is solid. Its not the best but I never claimed it to be. I beat jund and esper control both 2-0 today so the results are there. Jeskai control however was a different story.
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Also against control decks that usually play Stony Silence, not being an artifact can make certain sideboard options even that much better.
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
Seems like a worthy addition to the deck. Another consistency tool for a deck that needs it badly. I don't really see a reason not to run this over sage of epityr for those who play the card.
Sage actually sets up your t2 as well as looting with copter.
I mean yes what you said is true but the bird seems way better for all other turns after the first/second. Flying is also a huge upside over the sage, especially in the signal pest version.
Also with no shuffle effect scrying seem pretty valuable compared to order the top 4. Bottoming stuff we don't need and never seeing them again is great compared to the classic «this card in my top deck is awful and i'm gonna draw it».
Anyways i'll be doing some testing when i can play the bird and will report.
Has no one liked the immortal sun? I’m still on 1 and loving it.
Yea, like The Sun too. I currently run this list in MODO.
I made a hard decision to get rid of Grand Architects at all and focus on new cards and lower curve. And it works pretty good. With any of our 2 drop accelerators we can play Traxos or Golem on turn 3, so who needs Architect at all?
4x Chief Engineer
4x Etherium Sculptor
1x Hope of Ghirapur
1x Judge's Familiar
4x Lodestone Golem
4x Master of Etherium
4x Mausoleum Wanderer
3x Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
4x Walking Ballista
3x Smuggler's Copter
1x The Immortal Sun
2x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
2x Ghost Quarter
16x Island
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Hangarback Walker
2x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Mindlock Orb
1x Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1x Pithing Needle
1x Relic of Progenitus
2x Thorn of Amethyst
2x Trinket Mage
1x Wurmcoil Engine
BRG Shamans
WUBRGElementals
1 Academy Ruins
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Darksteel Citadel
2 Field of Ruin
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
12 Island
Creatures (31)
3 Artificer's Assistant
1 Siren Stormtamer
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Chief Engineer
4 Etherium Sculptor
2 Trinket Mage
4 Grand Architect
2 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Lodestone Golem
1 Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
3 Walking Ballista
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Smuggler's Copter
1 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Trinket Mage
2 Etched Champion
3 Dismember
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Negate
3 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Damping Sphere
1 Hangarback Walker
1 Pithing Needle
Other than that i've been super happy with artificer's assistant. I also have a real hard time beating KCI combo, seems whe have no interaction and they are faster than us. We really need to win with the sideboard in this matchup i guess.
What do you think about Thraben Gargoyle ? It actually blocks some popular Modern early aggro creatures, also crews Copter or Weatherlight, a one of in my deck, and then can flip via Archie and get some midgame evasive chunks in.
Weatherlight is another card I mentioned, I think it provides some real card advantage, but it's somewhat clunky and slow. What do you think?
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog and Artificer's Assistant really improved the deck IMO, one being a massive attacker replacing Myr Superion while the latter being a huge consistency fixer on just the right body. I run 3 TSoK alongside 2 of Minamo, School at Water's Edge, and 4 of AA.
I'm a bit lost in terms of sideboard. I can see the matchups where Karn, Scion of Urzais just bound to be good but he's unfortunately over the top of my budget.
Aethersphere Harvester proved his worth against burn, but otherwise he seems a bit needless, considering he's helpful in just about one matchup. Another card I really like is Mindlock Orb in some combo matchups, but it's somewhat lackluster in the rest. Maybe these two slots are worth replacing with something else. I am overly satisfied with the value that the God-Pharaoh's Gift provides in not only control matchups though.
Otherwise, I'm not sure whether is the Thorn of Amethyst a better sideboard option or not than the new Damping Sphere, since Thorn offers some neat soft lock potential with Lodestone Golem.
I get that this is a small sample and i was pretty unlucky but traxos feels like a card that can just potentially make your deck lose to itself, kind of like myr superion in older builds. It seems to me we could just not play stuff like that because we have access to a lot of fine options, do we really need this?
EDIT: the bird on the other hand keeps being super good.
I have made a really sweet mono blue standard deck based on artificers assistant, djin of the lamp, blackblade reforged, voltaic servant, mirage mirror and icy manipulator with of course karn and alot of support. It has been very successful and has lead me to try djinn of the lamp and karn in affinity. And both are great as 1-2 ofs (not together however)
Ill sideboard karn and mainboard djinn and put karn in djins place post board. It has been pretty successful
Anyways my success with artificers assistant in standard and djinn in standard and affinity has lead me to want to build a deck similar to my standard one as both cards are modern viable.
I stumbled upon this deck as its basically the perfect spot for these two cards.
What do you guys think of zahid, djin of the lamp in this deck as a one or two of?
He is really strong and is hard to remove with really only a path or lili able to do it.
Traxos imo is a dud. The bark is louder than the bite. Even in my standard deck i had traxos in originally and i took him out for zahid and the deck is far far better.
Also have you guys tried mirage mirror as possibly a 1 of or even some sideboard tech?
Ill post my very noobish grand architect deck soon.
Any feedback would be great
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
Architect and creatures making mana isn’t stopped by shere at all. Sphere stops lands.
Im not sure why you mention architect and creatures. I was responding to Ace when he mentioned KCI combo.
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
Wasn’t quoted or in any way noted so sorry. Kci deals with artifacts and enchantments easily though.
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
Yes, in my testing Traxos, Scourge of Kroog sucks. Unless you awkwardly sequence your hand you don't get to untap. And if you do it just dies to removal. The trample is nice but it doesn't affect the game in a meaningful way; unlike say Lodestone Golem or Walking Ballista.
Artificer's Assistant on the other hand has been amazing. It adds much needed consistency to the deck. I have gone back to two Myr Superions and up to three Throne of the God-Pharaohs. Being able to scry extra copies away or search for enablers has been nuts. Throne of the God-Pharaoh in particular just wins games...
I've never taken throne of the god-pharaoh out of the deck, it never disappoints. In addition to being just great in general it just beats cards i hate losing to, like worship and ensnaring bridge. I'm currently on 2 and have been happy with this number.
I also still love god-pharaoh's gift since i started playing it, it just gives the deck a big splashy artifact to use all the extra mana. It provides free wins vs heavy control decks and isn't really awful against any decks, the challenge is just getting to resolve one.
I also dropped loadstone golem as I prefer to put in more powerful or useful threats. This is my current build. I am even considering main boarding amethyst as a two of bc the affect is good but just not on a 4 drop creature imo.
4x Chief Engineer
4x Glint-Nest Crane
4x Grand Architect
2x Hangarback Walker
1x Inkwell Leviathan
2x Myr Superion
4x Sage of Epityr
2x Spellskite
4x Walking Ballista
4x Wurmcoil Engine
2x Basilisk Collar
2x The Immortal Sun
2x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
Land
1x Academy Ruins
2x Field of Ruin
12x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Polluted Delta
2x Damping Sphere
1x Defense Grid
2x Echoing Truth
2x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Pithing Needle
2x Relic of Progenitus
3x Thorn of Amethyst
2x Torpor Orb
I originally had the assistent and a zahir djinn of the lamp. Both are sub optimal. Sage imo is far better then the bird especially if you cant land a artifact till turn 3-4 which makes your bird just sit there. Sage is perfect and the inclusion of fetches helps so much if you only want 1 out of the four he filter. Glint nest crane helps so so much when you are set up with no place to go. I have managed a turn 4 inkwell leviathan and myr superion off of a turn 1 sage, turn 2 glint nest crane and turn 3 architect into a immortal sun. Which is a segway to the next point.
My previous build suffered in that it dumped its hand and was set up with no place to go. Immortal sun is the truth. i run 2 because it is just so so good and sage has pretty good synergy with it too.
Secondly, glint nest crane took the place of etherium sculptor. Late game after removal has been administered by my opponent i find sculptor to be a really poor draw. Where as glint nest is can refill the hand to something you may need or can use in that moment like a ballista or hangarback.
Anyways i think this build helps alot with consistency. I have never played lodestone golem as i just cant get sold on it. As i mentioned above If i need the effect i bring in the amethyst which is really good against control and the like as you all probably know. I also believe the inclusion of spellskite mainboard should be looked at more closely in this meta especially his ability is just made for this deck. Protect the engineer and architect so we can get the fatties out. Anyways still testing any advice is great.
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB
Grand architect is a super blue lord simply for his ability to turn Blue creatures into essentially Sol rings.
RUAffinityUR
GMono Green StompyG
CEldrazi TronC
URWJeskai GeistWRU
WRBoros BurnRW
BRWMardu PyromancerWRB