Was it really a shout out though? I saw your link to this forum in the comments of that article, and I thank you for that. I didn't see the author make any reference to us though. He (shadowgripper) admitted that he was using my list in this forum too, so a little shout out our way would have been appreciated. I have been working so hard on this deck, playing hundreds and hundreds of games with it on MTGO, and refining it as I go. Seeing someone else trying to take credit for it is quite disheartening, especially after they admitted using my list specifically.
I most certainly wasn't try to take credit for it. I had found your original list with Trophy Mages, and posted in here that I had been testing with Trinkets, as well as Judge's Familiars. I also put a reference to this awesome forum in the decklist itself (the summary below the deck). I also don't think I call the deck my own in the reddit thread itself, but maybe it could be interpreted that way? If so, my apologies.
Was it really a shout out though? I saw your link to this forum in the comments of that article, and I thank you for that. I didn't see the author make any reference to us though. He (shadowgripper) admitted that he was using my list in this forum too, so a little shout out our way would have been appreciated. I have been working so hard on this deck, playing hundreds and hundreds of games with it on MTGO, and refining it as I go. Seeing someone else trying to take credit for it is quite disheartening, especially after they admitted using my list specifically.
Definitely fair. I guess shoutout may have been a poor choice of words there for the original post and it more obvious credit could have been directed to the origins of each of those decks, but it is positive publicity for the deck and I generally consider that to be a win for archetypes like these. Hopefully linking the two will help a few more people to find their way over here and some more people will start playing around with the awesomeness that is Grand Architect.
I most certainly wasn't try to take credit for it. I had found your original list with Trophy Mages, and posted in here that I had been testing with Trinkets, as well as Judge's Familiars. I also put a reference to this awesome forum in the decklist itself (the summary below the deck). I also don't think I call the deck my own in the reddit thread itself, but maybe it could be interpreted that way? If so, my apologies.
Have you tried the Sage of Epityr at all, Shadowgripper? I find that he really smooths out the draws a lot, but it could just be personal bias. Judge's Familiar definitely has its own merits, but I think I would miss the flexibility of card selection that the Sage offers. I played the Familiar in Mausoleum Wanderer's spot before Eldrich Moon was released, but I was never too impressed with him to be honest. Wanderer is obviously bananas with Grand Architect's pump, which I think makes him an auto include. I am not sold on the Familars though, but maybe I aught to give them a try. I have pretty much been going infinite with this deck in MTGO leagues, so I've really got nothing to lose. Plus, I've been running a u/w build lately, so I can even cast him of my one basic plains
I went up to 22 lands because I had to mulligan too often with just 20 and 21 lands. Seems like a good change so far. Chalice of the Void has also been bonkers, as expected. Makes the Trinket Mages that much better!
So i've done a little testing and abandonned the red splash. I tried out trinket mage, which i had tried a long time ago but now we got real good targets for it. I like it so far, and like the one of basilsk collar to go with ballista.
Still like signal pest as my other one drop, allows explosive draws. I don't like that it doesn't crew copter, but it hasn't been such a liability.
I also tried my idea of throne of the god-pharaoh and i think in an aggro shell it does wonders! I like it wins through stuff like ensnaring bridge because we have so many ways to tap our stuff, between copter (which can crew itself too), architect, chief engineer or just attacking. Didn't draw it a lot since it is a one of, i might add a second.
I also want to try master of etherium again in my aggro shell. Seems perfect to protect golems and copter from lightning bolt/anger of the gods, and also win in combat vs the numerous 3 power flyers of the format. It also keeps ballista around after discharging its counter, ready for more activation or just chumping/attacking.
Regarding lands i've settled on 22, which is the right amount to get 3 mana turn 3. Flooding is somewhat less of an issue with copter looting extra lands away. I'm currently on 18 island, 2 blinkmoth nexus, one academy ruins and one inventors' fair. Blinkmoth are great a crewing copter after removals/sweepers. ruins is obviously even better now with ballista. Inventors' fair is great at getting sideboarded stuff, or just anything for value. You can gain life early too, which is valuable in some matchups.
Won't post a list yet until more testing next week.
Hey Keenwa1, no worries man. I enjoy building crazy decks and refining them as much as any of us. I really think this one has potential to take off and do very, very well.
As for the Sages, I would try more but I actually only own one. I played it over the 4th bird the other night and it was pretty good. I suppose it would be a tad better with fetchlands? But I don't exactly want to spend the life if I don't have to. Not sure yet what's optimal. I did have one game where I kept a one-lander (21 total in deck), played Sage turn 1, and saw 4 none lands. That was... really bad lol.
I'm guessing the white splash has been good to you? It means we can't run Shackles, which i think is fine as we handle creature decks well anyways. Fragmentize seems real good. Unsure if I'd play Thalia over Thorn tho...
Scrap trawler is something i recommend in any sideboard vs grindy midrange decks such as grixis of jund. Makes non-exile removal very awkward for the opponent.
Hey Keenwa1, no worries man. I enjoy building crazy decks and refining them as much as any of us. I really think this one has potential to take off and do very, very well.
As for the Sages, I would try more but I actually only own one. I played it over the 4th bird the other night and it was pretty good. I suppose it would be a tad better with fetchlands? But I don't exactly want to spend the life if I don't have to. Not sure yet what's optimal. I did have one game where I kept a one-lander (21 total in deck), played Sage turn 1, and saw 4 none lands. That was... really bad lol.
I'm guessing the white splash has been good to you? It means we can't run Shackles, which i think is fine as we handle creature decks well anyways. Fragmentize seems real good. Unsure if I'd play Thalia over Thorn tho...
Yeah, the fetchlands help a lot with the Sage. I figured it was easy enough to splash a color after that, and I decided to try white. Thalia has been the best of the bunch so far, likely out performing Thorn for me. She contributes to aggressive starts nicely, which is surprising since she's just a 2/1.
It is possible that another splash is better, but mono blue also has it's own merits. The life loss from fetches and shocks is very real. And now that Ballista exists, mono blue has a reliable way to deal with opposing creatures. With that being said, having Path available out of the board feels nice. I think Fatal Push would be better than Path, since it doesn't ramp the opponent, so maybe black is a better splash? It is tough to give up on Thalia though - feels like she's made for this deck.
I agree that this deck has potential to take off and do really well. I have like a 65% win percentage with it in the MTGO Modern League I play in. It has a decent place in the current meta, doing generally doing well against aggro and combo, but mediocre against midrange and control. Feels like it can beat any deck with a good draw though, which is cool.
Hey everyone i'm planning on building this deck would it work well against a meta of bant eldrazi and abzan?
Tron and Abzan are two of the hardest match ups for this deck. While Ghost Quarter helps against Tron, it is otherwise tough to interact with them. Abzan isn't quite as bad, but their discard/removal package can make it hard to execute our game plan. They are also more creature heavy than Jund and Death's Shadow, so the post board tech of Thorn of Amethyst or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben less useful against them.
Bant Eldrazi is a pretty even match up. Our deck is kind of similar to theirs, since we both want to ramp into mid-sized threats. It really depends on who draws better, I guess. The Bant version is probably a little easier than the Tron version of Eldrazi, sinceWalking Ballista takes Noble Hierarch. Eldrazi Displacer is a problem for Balista though (blinks and kills it), so you might want something like Pithing Needle help handle it. It also hits Drowner of Hope, not that he's a great target.
Really the best match ups for this deck are aggro, combo, and burn decks. If those decks aren't represented in your meta, then this deck might not be the best choice. You can probably tune it to have a better match up against those other decks though, you just have to find the right mix of cards. Ace1's u/r list with Blood Moons in the sideboard would be good against Tron/Eldrazi for example. Graveyard hate is really good against Abzan.
Another option for tron is quicksilver fountain out of the sideboard. It is the closest thing to blood moon and it is basically one sided in our deck. Scrap trawler also helps mitigate oblivion stone and worldbreakers (in addition to being the perfect card vs midrange). You can also tutor up pithing needles with trinket mage vs the planeswalkers.
Went 4-0 beating knightfall CoCo, grixis death's shadow, eldrazi tron and g/r tron.
Things i liked:
The deck is really good a applying pressure AND still has staying power and good late topdecks. Throne of the god-pharaoh was great everytime i drew it, allows to clock the opponent while tapping my stuff to develop my board. Great at closing games fast. Quicksilver fountain + pithing needle was enough vs tron. The fountain is especially great with all my non-islands that allows the flood counter to stick around longer.
Love the one drops, and love master of etherium pumping copters, blinkmoth and pests for flying beats.
Still missing thron of amethysts, will get them when i can.
I've been playing the list that Shadowgripper/Zac posted on Tournament Practice in MTGO, and I was wondering if anyone has tried out 2x Etched Champions in place of 1x Wurmcoil Engine and 1x V. Shackles. I've found Shackles to be a bit slow, and Champion is just a house against so many decks that playing a couple maindeck can't be too bad.. unless we don't have enough artifacts to enable Metalcraft. Any thoughts/testing on your parts?
Quicksilver fountain + pithing needle was enough vs tron. The fountain is especially great with all my non-islands that allows the flood counter to stick around longer.
Quicksilver fountain + pithing needle was enough vs tron. The fountain is especially great with all my non-islands that allows the flood counter to stick around longer.
Depends. In that game in particular i needled the expedition map my opponent had just played, because he led with a non-tron land, so the odds of buying lots of time with it was high. Later you can needle any planeswalkers or oblivion stone, depending on what they play.
Fountain is always a turn 3 play. Obviously better on the draw, but even on the play if they have turn 3 tron and you play it they just get one turn with their tron. Something nice about the fountain, as opposed to blood moon is that even if they destroy the fountain the flood counters stick around and keeps them off of tron. I haven't played a ton with the deck though, more testing will be needed to get a better feel of the matchup.
I've been playing the list that Shadowgripper/Zac posted on Tournament Practice in MTGO, and I was wondering if anyone has tried out 2x Etched Champions in place of 1x Wurmcoil Engine and 1x V. Shackles. I've found Shackles to be a bit slow, and Champion is just a house against so many decks that playing a couple maindeck can't be too bad.. unless we don't have enough artifacts to enable Metalcraft. Any thoughts/testing on your parts?
Personally, think Metalcraft sounds easy enough most of the time, but I don't see the payoff in Etched Champion. Wurmcoil Engine and Shackles can both take over a game on their own, while Champion is just an unblockable 2/2 or indestructible wall. Affinity has Cranial Plating for their Champions to close out games, but we have no such payoff.
Ace1 congrats on your 4-0. How big was your Master of Etherium usually? It feels like he'd usually only be like 3/3 or so, although I guess Architect pumps him too.
Indeed, Master is usually not that big early on, but i really play him first and foremost for the pump, and also the fact that he's a decent blue artifact creature, with all the benefit that comes with it.
Indeed, Master is usually not that big early on, but i really play him first and foremost for the pump, and also the fact that he's a decent blue artifact creature, with all the benefit that comes with it.
Awesome, yeah a 4/4 Copter sounds pretty good. I can imagine it's aggravating when you get the all non-artifact creature draw though. You do up your count with Signal Pest, which helps I'm sure. I'm curious to see how Master does over the long haul, so please keep us posted.
Went 3-0 today with the same list, beating 4 color copycat, gideon control and Abzan CoCo combo.
Things to note:
Throne is consistently good when i draw it. Don't wanna play less than 2 anymore.
Master is sometimes good, sometimes medium. I'm afraid he's gonna be bad we i play vs more controlish decks. It makes me want to run 2x trinket mages again, because if i want a lord effect i can search for a signal pest. I'll probably go with 2/2 split between mage and master.
Went 3-0 today with the same list, beating 4 color copycat, gideon control and Abzan CoCo combo.
Things to note:
Throne is consistently good when i draw it. Don't wanna play less than 2 anymore.
Master is sometimes good, sometimes medium. I'm afraid he's gonna be bad we i play vs more controlish decks. It makes me want to run 2x trinket mages again, because if i want a lord effect i can search for a signal pest. I'll probably go with 2/2 split between mage and master.
I just got crushed by Elves playing Throne. Seems good.
Hey Keenwa1, no worries man. I enjoy building crazy decks and refining them as much as any of us. I really think this one has potential to take off and do very, very well.
As for the Sages, I would try more but I actually only own one. I played it over the 4th bird the other night and it was pretty good. I suppose it would be a tad better with fetchlands? But I don't exactly want to spend the life if I don't have to. Not sure yet what's optimal. I did have one game where I kept a one-lander (21 total in deck), played Sage turn 1, and saw 4 none lands. That was... really bad lol.
I'm guessing the white splash has been good to you? It means we can't run Shackles, which i think is fine as we handle creature decks well anyways. Fragmentize seems real good. Unsure if I'd play Thalia over Thorn tho...
Hey Zac. We met briefly, I'm friends with Kid and happened across your table at Madness late 2015 while you were going through the motions with your Uw Emeria Midrange. You showed me a Tezzeretor brew afterward as well iirc
At any rate, I really like the shell you developed in the reddit post. I made a few changes based on my testing with Architect lists of the past, and so I figured I'd chime in with some results:
I'll admit I don't have too much reliable data for the changes but maybe spitballing can lead to some tech being found. I've been on Ghost Quarter + Darksteel Citadel as it helps to turn on the Inventors' Fair, shuffle away the chaffe from what Sage of Epityr reveals, gives you a land you can tutor with Trinket Mage if you need to curve out, and thins your deck to reduce dead draws later. They also open up the possibility to use repeating activations of Ghost Quarter against midrange/control if you land a Crucible out of the board.
I opted to play the Sword instead of Shackles as it gives protection from Death's Shadow and I felt the Shackles were redundant against creature decks where Ballista machine guns them down. It also nets cards that we dump to Copter and can help enable Ballista to go face and get thrown back into play to provide better reach. Goes well with our counterspell creatures for additional insurance against spells. In general I just felt it would mesh well as it gives us action and most of the creatures are anemic without Architect hitting the board. It also helps to give us the inevitability we seek with Academy Ruins without time walking ourselves.
Without Shackles, we can also explore additional land options that give us game if we go longer, and I thought it would be mostly helpful to play Abbey as another payoff option as the deck can sometimes fail to apply pressure. It's also nice vs sweepers or just a solid way to add to the board in a stalemate. As we usually try to go hellbent anyway, I figured Wreckage wouldn't hurt to shoehorn into the manabase. Inventors' Fair rounds it out and helps vs burn or as an additional tutor in a pinch for things Trinket Mage fails to find.
Out of the board, I felt Chalice would only hurt our own plan. I could be wrong in thinking that the Lodestones slow combo-oriented strategies enough as it is, but I would rather not have to deal with playing 12 dead 1CC critters if I'm using this at its usual Sunburst count.
I threw in Hibernation without much data in this shell because with my aggro-oriented Architect build, it was usually crucial vs Elves and other decks going wide.
Curiosity is there to help against decks that attrition. At worst, we attract the opponent's removal to the creatures which matter least and keep our important piece(s) out. At best, we can protect whatever carries it by taxing the opponent and using Spellskite as a vitamin, then efficiently drown them in cards to make up for all their 2-for-1s (sweepers, K Comm, etc) Being 1CC helps us hit the ground running early to prepare for the grind of the mid-to-late game.
It can definitely be wrong to leave out Wurmcoil from the main and Chalice from the side but I think these options add a lot of play that can help to push the boundaries of the deck to really capitalize more often when things simply don't fall into place. I'd like to hear what you make of the choices, or if you have any data to make an assertion about them one way or the other.
As an aside, I've been lowkey tweaking my aggro build to include some newer options. I want to see if I can do anything to hedge my weaker matchups, but I'm open to any C&C that involves keeping the shell intact
Jund and Mardu have usually given me a hard time (K Comm while picking apart my hand mostly) so I've come to the point that I know I can only bend my options so far before I play a completely different deck trying to not lose to them lol. Scrounger definitely helps build resiliency though, and hopefully I can jam some more games with Curiosity to see how well it can perform in spite of the combination of Bolt/Push or Path/Push (shrug)
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Definitely fair. I guess shoutout may have been a poor choice of words there for the original post and it more obvious credit could have been directed to the origins of each of those decks, but it is positive publicity for the deck and I generally consider that to be a win for archetypes like these. Hopefully linking the two will help a few more people to find their way over here and some more people will start playing around with the awesomeness that is Grand Architect.
Fair enough, I didn't notice the link to this forum under your decklist. I had initially found this article https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://mnews.deckedbuilder.com/articles/24838.htm&ved=0ahUKEwiixtr25NfTAhXnslQKHZqwAGIQFghAMAk&usg=AFQjCNHZQoBnl5Oyckh84sggCHrUL6zxKQ&sig2=0-nMxgIECCzFAp-v8veKHw, which helped fuel my reaction that you quoted. I figured that it was you that the author mentioned, since the list was similar to the one you posted. VariousBoots post just confirmed it. He is right though, more exposure is good for this deck. I like your change of Trinket Mage over Trophy Mage, and other people on here have helped me improve my deck as well. The more traffic we get through here, the more innovation will occur for this archetype.
Have you tried the Sage of Epityr at all, Shadowgripper? I find that he really smooths out the draws a lot, but it could just be personal bias. Judge's Familiar definitely has its own merits, but I think I would miss the flexibility of card selection that the Sage offers. I played the Familiar in Mausoleum Wanderer's spot before Eldrich Moon was released, but I was never too impressed with him to be honest. Wanderer is obviously bananas with Grand Architect's pump, which I think makes him an auto include. I am not sold on the Familars though, but maybe I aught to give them a try. I have pretty much been going infinite with this deck in MTGO leagues, so I've really got nothing to lose. Plus, I've been running a u/w build lately, so I can even cast him of my one basic plains
Here is my current build
4 Grand architect
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Chief Engineer
4 Sage of Epityr
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Walking Ballista
2 Trinket Mage
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Smuggler's Copter
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Chalice of the Void
Land
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
7 Island
3 Seachrome Coast
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Plains
3 Chalice of the void
2 Path to Exile
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Fragmentize
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Hangarback Walker
I went up to 22 lands because I had to mulligan too often with just 20 and 21 lands. Seems like a good change so far. Chalice of the Void has also been bonkers, as expected. Makes the Trinket Mages that much better!
Still like signal pest as my other one drop, allows explosive draws. I don't like that it doesn't crew copter, but it hasn't been such a liability.
I also tried my idea of throne of the god-pharaoh and i think in an aggro shell it does wonders! I like it wins through stuff like ensnaring bridge because we have so many ways to tap our stuff, between copter (which can crew itself too), architect, chief engineer or just attacking. Didn't draw it a lot since it is a one of, i might add a second.
I also want to try master of etherium again in my aggro shell. Seems perfect to protect golems and copter from lightning bolt/anger of the gods, and also win in combat vs the numerous 3 power flyers of the format. It also keeps ballista around after discharging its counter, ready for more activation or just chumping/attacking.
Regarding lands i've settled on 22, which is the right amount to get 3 mana turn 3. Flooding is somewhat less of an issue with copter looting extra lands away. I'm currently on 18 island, 2 blinkmoth nexus, one academy ruins and one inventors' fair. Blinkmoth are great a crewing copter after removals/sweepers. ruins is obviously even better now with ballista. Inventors' fair is great at getting sideboarded stuff, or just anything for value. You can gain life early too, which is valuable in some matchups.
Won't post a list yet until more testing next week.
As for the Sages, I would try more but I actually only own one. I played it over the 4th bird the other night and it was pretty good. I suppose it would be a tad better with fetchlands? But I don't exactly want to spend the life if I don't have to. Not sure yet what's optimal. I did have one game where I kept a one-lander (21 total in deck), played Sage turn 1, and saw 4 none lands. That was... really bad lol.
I'm guessing the white splash has been good to you? It means we can't run Shackles, which i think is fine as we handle creature decks well anyways. Fragmentize seems real good. Unsure if I'd play Thalia over Thorn tho...
4 mausoleum wanderer
4 signal pest
4 chief engineer
4 etherium sculptor
4 walking ballista
4 grand architect
2 trinket mage
4 lodestone golem
2 wurmcoil engine
4 smuggler's copter
2 throne of the god-pharaoh
lands: 22
1 academy ruins
1 inventors' fair
2 blinkmoth nexus
2 cavern of souls
16 island
1 viridian longbow
1 basilisk collar
1 grafdigger's cage
2 relic of progenitus
2 pithing needle
2 thorn of amethyst
2 scrap trawler
1 mindlock orb
1 orbs of warding
2 echoing truth
Curve:
XX: 4
1: 8
2: 14
3: 6
4: 4
6: 2
Artifacts: 24
Still undecided about the two flex slots that are throne of the god-pharaoh. Not sure if i want them main or side, vs the basilisk collar/viridian longbow package. The bow is something i want to try as ballista number 5. Goes well on a wurmcoil engine too.
Scrap trawler is something i recommend in any sideboard vs grindy midrange decks such as grixis of jund. Makes non-exile removal very awkward for the opponent.
It is possible that another splash is better, but mono blue also has it's own merits. The life loss from fetches and shocks is very real. And now that Ballista exists, mono blue has a reliable way to deal with opposing creatures. With that being said, having Path available out of the board feels nice. I think Fatal Push would be better than Path, since it doesn't ramp the opponent, so maybe black is a better splash? It is tough to give up on Thalia though - feels like she's made for this deck.
I agree that this deck has potential to take off and do really well. I have like a 65% win percentage with it in the MTGO Modern League I play in. It has a decent place in the current meta, doing generally doing well against aggro and combo, but mediocre against midrange and control. Feels like it can beat any deck with a good draw though, which is cool.
Tron and Abzan are two of the hardest match ups for this deck. While Ghost Quarter helps against Tron, it is otherwise tough to interact with them. Abzan isn't quite as bad, but their discard/removal package can make it hard to execute our game plan. They are also more creature heavy than Jund and Death's Shadow, so the post board tech of Thorn of Amethyst or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben less useful against them.
Bant Eldrazi is a pretty even match up. Our deck is kind of similar to theirs, since we both want to ramp into mid-sized threats. It really depends on who draws better, I guess. The Bant version is probably a little easier than the Tron version of Eldrazi, sinceWalking Ballista takes Noble Hierarch. Eldrazi Displacer is a problem for Balista though (blinks and kills it), so you might want something like Pithing Needle help handle it. It also hits Drowner of Hope, not that he's a great target.
Really the best match ups for this deck are aggro, combo, and burn decks. If those decks aren't represented in your meta, then this deck might not be the best choice. You can probably tune it to have a better match up against those other decks though, you just have to find the right mix of cards. Ace1's u/r list with Blood Moons in the sideboard would be good against Tron/Eldrazi for example. Graveyard hate is really good against Abzan.
Right, i missed that, thanks for pointing it out. Exile is certainly annoying vs our stuff.
4 mausoleum wanderer
4 signal pest
4 chief engineer
4 etherium sculptor
4 walking ballista
4 grand architect
4 master of etherium
artifacts: 6
4 smuggler's copter
2 throne of the god-pharaoh
lands: 22
4 blinkmoth nexus
4 cavern of souls
14 island
1 grafdigger's cage
2 relic of progenitus
2 pithing needle
2 quicksilver fountain
2 scrap trawler
2 mindlock orb
2 orbs of warding
2 echoing truth
Went 4-0 beating knightfall CoCo, grixis death's shadow, eldrazi tron and g/r tron.
Things i liked:
The deck is really good a applying pressure AND still has staying power and good late topdecks.
Throne of the god-pharaoh was great everytime i drew it, allows to clock the opponent while tapping my stuff to develop my board. Great at closing games fast.
Quicksilver fountain + pithing needle was enough vs tron. The fountain is especially great with all my non-islands that allows the flood counter to stick around longer.
Love the one drops, and love master of etherium pumping copters, blinkmoth and pests for flying beats.
Still missing thron of amethysts, will get them when i can.
What do you usually Pithing Needle against Tron? And how early are you generally able to get Quicksilver Fountain online?
Depends. In that game in particular i needled the expedition map my opponent had just played, because he led with a non-tron land, so the odds of buying lots of time with it was high. Later you can needle any planeswalkers or oblivion stone, depending on what they play.
Fountain is always a turn 3 play. Obviously better on the draw, but even on the play if they have turn 3 tron and you play it they just get one turn with their tron. Something nice about the fountain, as opposed to blood moon is that even if they destroy the fountain the flood counters stick around and keeps them off of tron. I haven't played a ton with the deck though, more testing will be needed to get a better feel of the matchup.
Ace1 congrats on your 4-0. How big was your Master of Etherium usually? It feels like he'd usually only be like 3/3 or so, although I guess Architect pumps him too.
Things to note:
Throne is consistently good when i draw it. Don't wanna play less than 2 anymore.
Master is sometimes good, sometimes medium. I'm afraid he's gonna be bad we i play vs more controlish decks. It makes me want to run 2x trinket mages again, because if i want a lord effect i can search for a signal pest. I'll probably go with 2/2 split between mage and master.
I just got crushed by Elves playing Throne. Seems good.
Hey Zac. We met briefly, I'm friends with Kid and happened across your table at Madness late 2015 while you were going through the motions with your Uw Emeria Midrange. You showed me a Tezzeretor brew afterward as well iirc
At any rate, I really like the shell you developed in the reddit post. I made a few changes based on my testing with Architect lists of the past, and so I figured I'd chime in with some results:
4 Grand Architect
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Sage of Epityr
3 Trinket Mage
4 Walking Ballista
1 Hangarback Walker
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Westvale Abbey
11 Island
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Spellskite
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Curiosity
2 Hibernation
2 Unified Will
I'll admit I don't have too much reliable data for the changes but maybe spitballing can lead to some tech being found. I've been on Ghost Quarter + Darksteel Citadel as it helps to turn on the Inventors' Fair, shuffle away the chaffe from what Sage of Epityr reveals, gives you a land you can tutor with Trinket Mage if you need to curve out, and thins your deck to reduce dead draws later. They also open up the possibility to use repeating activations of Ghost Quarter against midrange/control if you land a Crucible out of the board.
I opted to play the Sword instead of Shackles as it gives protection from Death's Shadow and I felt the Shackles were redundant against creature decks where Ballista machine guns them down. It also nets cards that we dump to Copter and can help enable Ballista to go face and get thrown back into play to provide better reach. Goes well with our counterspell creatures for additional insurance against spells. In general I just felt it would mesh well as it gives us action and most of the creatures are anemic without Architect hitting the board. It also helps to give us the inevitability we seek with Academy Ruins without time walking ourselves.
Without Shackles, we can also explore additional land options that give us game if we go longer, and I thought it would be mostly helpful to play Abbey as another payoff option as the deck can sometimes fail to apply pressure. It's also nice vs sweepers or just a solid way to add to the board in a stalemate. As we usually try to go hellbent anyway, I figured Wreckage wouldn't hurt to shoehorn into the manabase. Inventors' Fair rounds it out and helps vs burn or as an additional tutor in a pinch for things Trinket Mage fails to find.
Out of the board, I felt Chalice would only hurt our own plan. I could be wrong in thinking that the Lodestones slow combo-oriented strategies enough as it is, but I would rather not have to deal with playing 12 dead 1CC critters if I'm using this at its usual Sunburst count.
I threw in Hibernation without much data in this shell because with my aggro-oriented Architect build, it was usually crucial vs Elves and other decks going wide.
Curiosity is there to help against decks that attrition. At worst, we attract the opponent's removal to the creatures which matter least and keep our important piece(s) out. At best, we can protect whatever carries it by taxing the opponent and using Spellskite as a vitamin, then efficiently drown them in cards to make up for all their 2-for-1s (sweepers, K Comm, etc) Being 1CC helps us hit the ground running early to prepare for the grind of the mid-to-late game.
It can definitely be wrong to leave out Wurmcoil from the main and Chalice from the side but I think these options add a lot of play that can help to push the boundaries of the deck to really capitalize more often when things simply don't fall into place. I'd like to hear what you make of the choices, or if you have any data to make an assertion about them one way or the other.
As an aside, I've been lowkey tweaking my aggro build to include some newer options. I want to see if I can do anything to hedge my weaker matchups, but I'm open to any C&C that involves keeping the shell intact
4 Chief Engineer
4 Grand Architect
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Myr Superion
4 Lupine Prototype
4 Glint-Nest Crane
4 Smuggler's Copter
4 Aether Spellbomb
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Underground River
4 Island
1 Swamp
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Ratchet Bomb
1 Pithing Needle
2 Curiosity
2 Warping Wail
1 Unsubstantiate
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Trinisphere
Jund and Mardu have usually given me a hard time (K Comm while picking apart my hand mostly) so I've come to the point that I know I can only bend my options so far before I play a completely different deck trying to not lose to them lol. Scrounger definitely helps build resiliency though, and hopefully I can jam some more games with Curiosity to see how well it can perform in spite of the combination of Bolt/Push or Path/Push (shrug)