I am not certain about my sideboard. I believe it gets the job done, but I’m not 100% convinced that this is the perfect sideboard. I find Unsubstantiate especially doubtful. I use it against Supreme Verdict, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Wurmcoil Engine and the like. Still there might be better options like Ceremonious Rejection, as some of you are playing. I only play 3-offs in my sideboard, because I believe that you can better have 3-offs that are very good against specific matchups, instead of 1-offs that are mediocre against multiple matchups.
Anyway, keep up the brewing and I like to hear what you think about my deck.
The first issue i see is from my personal experience playing with myr superion. It will happen, too often sadly, that it get stuck in your hand. It happened to me while i was playing the full 4 etherium sculptors (they allowed me to play the myr with one and animating blinkmoth nexus for creature mana). Without the sculptors i can't imagine you playing them consistently. Personnaly it was a liberation to not play them anymore, in favor of master of etheriums, ballistas and copters has payoffs. You're gonna has tons of unplayable hands because of it, i can guarantee that.
Second you just play too much one drops. Sure you want max turn one action but you're overdoing it imo. You're gonna topdeck a lot of them later and this will make you curse. This is especially true since you don't play signal pest, which has the role of turning your dorky enablers into potent attackers. The mana burst you get from pest also enable the fast turn two, there really is no use for more than one blue one-mana dorks in openers with engineer (or sculptors for those who play them), whereas signal pest can give you explosive draws.
I'm so torn on Myr Superion lately. Feels great when you can turn 2 it with a 1 drop/chief, really puts the pressure on. Obviously can get stuck in your hand but feel like the risk is almost worth it. Master of Etherium can be pretty mediocre at times.
I am also not super thrilled with Master of Etherium in this deck, we are not Affinity.
Switched 2 for Trinket Mages in the main, that also covers some problems like having accelerators and no payoffs, without loading the deck with more Wurmcoils and Battlespheres.
2-1 today at FNM. Won against BW tokens and Grixis Shadow, lost to mono-black devotion.
Lodestone was MVP, and Master of Etherium did pretty well too. He is actually better in this deck than in affinity because you can convoke him, make him cheaper with sculptor, and you have more mana than affinity in general, while they always have to pay full three, which is a lot for them. However, if you cut sculptors, some copters, and have no pests i see how he is not that good anymore. I want to try Superion as 1-of, but he's so fragile and does not really help the deck's game plan. Maybe in a sideboard..
The problem with the swords in my testing is every matchup you want the swords, they are the deck with quite a bit of artifact hate (jund, DS) in the form of ancient grudge, k command, and abrut decay, where spending 5 mana to play/equip to only get Shatter would be too much of a blowout.
Can someone help me rationalize the Master of Etherium tech? There are so many games I get him out and he only pumps one other card in play, while being a pretty mediocre 3CMC to show for it.
Can someone help me rationalize the Master of Etherium tech? There are so many games I get him out and he only pumps one other card in play, while being a pretty mediocre 3CMC to show for it.
I've dropped him. Switched to Myr Superion which just feels better. 3CMC is a clunky spot in this deck, and so many board states he's a 2/2 that pumps nothing vs a 5/6 monster. There is a possibility you could move trinket mages to the main instead of superions but haven't tested that yet.
Edit: Attached an image of a hilarious boardstate of a game I played this evening, slight argument for Big daddy Myr Superion
Trinket is extra strong here since we can have 1 Relic of Progenitus main, making it more virtual copies with Trinkets, have it easily dispatched if not needed (cycle or Copter) and be deployed immediately in the curve (Engineer or Sculptor into Mage). Protection from graveyard at minimum cost.
I also found that Trinket plus Hangarback is great vs Shadow, chumpblocks for days while we finish them of since they have low life total.
Speaking of Master of Etherium, one of my games was land Familiar, land Sculptor, land Architect, and I still can't play the Master. That was so annoying.
I will give 2 Masters another chance before ditching them completely.
I think if we are trying to just play an effective beater with good lategame potential, there's always Pride of the Clouds. It can punch for 3-4 in the air, while giving us insurance in the form of endless chump blockers in the mid-late if we haven't drawn another good payoff spell to dump mana into. This would mean taking damage from fetches/shocks, but I like the Bant Eldrazi method of dipping into painlands for Sea Gate Wreckage as a 1-of. It's the only cheap blue creature that can tap into Architect's ability while also playing decently on its own. I would try a full set of Judge's Familar and 3 Pride if I were going to yankee swap cards to replace a set of Masters as a spitball idea. I know it's going a bit deep, but it's a thought. Also makes a singleton Sky Hussar a thing if you just want a value critter for certain matchups.
I like a package of Trinket Mage + triple Aether Spellbomb. Gives us ways to fight creature based shells, bounces delve creatures after they heavily invest in them, and can always be a cheap cantrip if it doesn't give us the most effective lines game one (vs creatureless combo, control, etc)
Also, what are everyone's thoughts on Curiosity as a potential 1x-2x in the SB? It makes for a good trade-off when the opponent has to decide to kill either our Architects or a dinky flier that will eventually bury them in cards.
EDIT: o__o' I just realized Curiosity doesn't trigger from combat damage, but just any damage... wombo-combo with Walking Ballista. As an aside, I jammed Battlesphere in testing where Wurmcoil used to be, as tech against DS to help chump it an extra 4 times. See results in the screenshot below
Frank made a good point in saying whe lack top end cards, something to do with all our extra mana. Ballista fullfills that role by being flexible but i feel we need more.
Wurmcoil engine is the usual suspect for that function, has it been any good, for those playing it?
For my part i was thinking about trying out steel hellkite for that purpose. Always a mana sink for pumps, clearing the board on unwinnabe battlefields seems great. I feel it just lacks resilience or haste for instant value... Good idea or bad idea?
I have been testing Myr Battlesphere with good results. It blocks Death's Shadow an extra four times, in fact choosing it was inspired by Tsuyoshi Ikeda's Spectral Procession tech to fight 20/20 Dark Depths tokens. On top of that, it doesn't just lose value if bounced, which has frustrated me when trying to stick a Wurmcoil Engine. Was able to steal games vs Flickerwisp that Wurmcoil would have floundered in. Extra bodies also means more Throne of the God-Pharaoh damage. Give it a try?
It is not hard to find expensive artifact wincons, but we like Ballista because it is scalable and sometimes Architect is not drawn.
Maybe Hangarback Walker should jump in as another sink, something that can always be cast and nicely positioned against Grixis Shadow and Affinity?
I have been testing Myr Battlesphere with good results. It blocks Death's Shadow an extra four times, in fact choosing it was inspired by Tsuyoshi Ikeda's Spectral Procession tech to fight 20/20 Dark Depths tokens. On top of that, it doesn't just lose value if bounced, which has frustrated me when trying to stick a Wurmcoil Engine. Was able to steal games vs Flickerwisp that Wurmcoil would have floundered in. Extra bodies also means more Throne of the God-Pharaoh damage. Give it a try?
I do like the idea of a 1/1 split with engine/battlesphere in the main. Gonna try that out
I haven't managed to get hold of Wurmcoil Engines since getting rid of mine a while back so I will definitely be trying a Myr Battlesphere or two! Seems great!
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Decks
Standard: GBGB EnergyGB GRGR EnergyGR
Modern: RBUWAd NauseamRBUW GRGR TitanshiftGR UBLUE STEEEEEELU UR Storm U Turbo Turns
Most recent build had Hangarback in the main. Very useful - plus even better when I brought an extra copy of it and trinket mages in the board against shadow.
Hellkite reads great but using the removal ability means you are already attacking and dealing damage with it.
You want to destroy many one-mana artifacts vs Lantern but there is no attack, Affinity (infinite flyers for chump), Junk (Souls), Grixis (Command, Terminate), Hatebears (Path)...
Without etb/haste/leaves play value, I don't see it.
I play 1 Hangarback Walker in my list with 3 Trinket Mages. I rarely search for it over Walking Ballista but drawing it against Jund, Grixis DS, etc has been amazing.
Hellkite reads great but using the removal ability means you are already attacking and dealing damage with it.
You want to destroy many one-mana artifacts vs Lantern but there is no attack, Affinity (infinite flyers for chump), Junk (Souls), Grixis (Command, Terminate), Hatebears (Path)...
Without etb/haste/leaves play value, I don't see it.
I'm not too afraid of lantern control. I haven't seen the deck in a while, but i did beat some bridge prison decks everytime i played vs them. Once we hit throne of the god pharaoh or walking ballista (or trinket mage into ballista) they can't win, am i right?
Affinity isn't that bad, i would think a huge flyer might be a problem for them. Again, not the matchup i'm most worried about.
Junk/Grixis/jund yes they have tools for the steel hellkite and wurmcoil engine is better here, exept path to exile decks, wurmcoil is the same as the dragon here, but i'd rather get a single dragon hit than a single wurmcoil hit if i can.
Been lurking on the MTG Salvation forums for quite some time. First with the U/B Whir/Tezzerator build discussion, which I have since sold out of and bought paper and online version of the Blue Steel deck. I have added a twist on the Blue Steel deck and was hoping to get some feedback on what changes I've made.
I've had mixed, but mostly positive results - just MTGO testing right now, though the games I don't draw lands far exceeds anything I have ever experienced in paper magic, by a factor of 10!...
I have changed the deck to U/W, though the white cards are only coming out of the sideboard.
Back in Merfolk subforum we regularly talk about splashes (pun intended), but mostly agree it isn't necessary.
Being mono brings a lot of stability to both Fish and Blue Steel.
Before destroying our mana base, what do you plan to accomplish with white splash, which cards give you problems?
Maybe there is solution within Island embrace.
Investing four mana in Master of Waves might be more ideal here since Architect helps in protecting tokens, but it will never be less than 4 mana, never helped by Vial and never brutal in Elemental numbers like over the pond, similar how Master of Etherium is not great here as he is with Robots.
Bident is ok. With 12 accelerators we need more artifact payoffs instead of the Waves.
At least, that is my opinion.
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The first issue i see is from my personal experience playing with myr superion. It will happen, too often sadly, that it get stuck in your hand. It happened to me while i was playing the full 4 etherium sculptors (they allowed me to play the myr with one and animating blinkmoth nexus for creature mana). Without the sculptors i can't imagine you playing them consistently. Personnaly it was a liberation to not play them anymore, in favor of master of etheriums, ballistas and copters has payoffs. You're gonna has tons of unplayable hands because of it, i can guarantee that.
Second you just play too much one drops. Sure you want max turn one action but you're overdoing it imo. You're gonna topdeck a lot of them later and this will make you curse. This is especially true since you don't play signal pest, which has the role of turning your dorky enablers into potent attackers. The mana burst you get from pest also enable the fast turn two, there really is no use for more than one blue one-mana dorks in openers with engineer (or sculptors for those who play them), whereas signal pest can give you explosive draws.
Switched 2 for Trinket Mages in the main, that also covers some problems like having accelerators and no payoffs, without loading the deck with more Wurmcoils and Battlespheres.
Lodestone was MVP, and Master of Etherium did pretty well too. He is actually better in this deck than in affinity because you can convoke him, make him cheaper with sculptor, and you have more mana than affinity in general, while they always have to pay full three, which is a lot for them. However, if you cut sculptors, some copters, and have no pests i see how he is not that good anymore. I want to try Superion as 1-of, but he's so fragile and does not really help the deck's game plan. Maybe in a sideboard..
This deck can have equipped and attacking flyer on turn 3.
I've dropped him. Switched to Myr Superion which just feels better. 3CMC is a clunky spot in this deck, and so many board states he's a 2/2 that pumps nothing vs a 5/6 monster. There is a possibility you could move trinket mages to the main instead of superions but haven't tested that yet.
Edit: Attached an image of a hilarious boardstate of a game I played this evening, slight argument for Big daddy Myr Superion
I also found that Trinket plus Hangarback is great vs Shadow, chumpblocks for days while we finish them of since they have low life total.
Speaking of Master of Etherium, one of my games was land Familiar, land Sculptor, land Architect, and I still can't play the Master. That was so annoying.
I will give 2 Masters another chance before ditching them completely.
I like a package of Trinket Mage + triple Aether Spellbomb. Gives us ways to fight creature based shells, bounces delve creatures after they heavily invest in them, and can always be a cheap cantrip if it doesn't give us the most effective lines game one (vs creatureless combo, control, etc)
Also, what are everyone's thoughts on Curiosity as a potential 1x-2x in the SB? It makes for a good trade-off when the opponent has to decide to kill either our Architects or a dinky flier that will eventually bury them in cards.
EDIT: o__o' I just realized Curiosity doesn't trigger from combat damage, but just any damage... wombo-combo with Walking Ballista. As an aside, I jammed Battlesphere in testing where Wurmcoil used to be, as tech against DS to help chump it an extra 4 times. See results in the screenshot below
First draft of the list:
3 Judge's Familiar
4 Chief Engineer
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Grand Architect
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Walking Ballista
1 Trinket Mage
1 Myr Battlesphere
3 Aether Spellbomb
2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Academy Ruins
16 Island
1 Aethersphere Harvester
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Trinket Mage
2 Curiosity
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dismember
1 Unified Will
Has everyone moved away from Scrap Trawler in the SB for removal-heavy matchups ?
Frank made a good point in saying whe lack top end cards, something to do with all our extra mana. Ballista fullfills that role by being flexible but i feel we need more.
Wurmcoil engine is the usual suspect for that function, has it been any good, for those playing it?
For my part i was thinking about trying out steel hellkite for that purpose. Always a mana sink for pumps, clearing the board on unwinnabe battlefields seems great. I feel it just lacks resilience or haste for instant value... Good idea or bad idea?
Maybe Hangarback Walker should jump in as another sink, something that can always be cast and nicely positioned against Grixis Shadow and Affinity?
I do like the idea of a 1/1 split with engine/battlesphere in the main. Gonna try that out
Decks
Standard:
GBGB EnergyGB
GRGR EnergyGR
Modern:
RBUWAd NauseamRBUW
GRGR TitanshiftGR
UBLUE STEEEEEELU
UR StormU Turbo TurnsYou want to destroy many one-mana artifacts vs Lantern but there is no attack, Affinity (infinite flyers for chump), Junk (Souls), Grixis (Command, Terminate), Hatebears (Path)...
Without etb/haste/leaves play value, I don't see it.
I'm not too afraid of lantern control. I haven't seen the deck in a while, but i did beat some bridge prison decks everytime i played vs them. Once we hit throne of the god pharaoh or walking ballista (or trinket mage into ballista) they can't win, am i right?
Affinity isn't that bad, i would think a huge flyer might be a problem for them. Again, not the matchup i'm most worried about.
Junk/Grixis/jund yes they have tools for the steel hellkite and wurmcoil engine is better here, exept path to exile decks, wurmcoil is the same as the dragon here, but i'd rather get a single dragon hit than a single wurmcoil hit if i can.
I've had mixed, but mostly positive results - just MTGO testing right now, though the games I don't draw lands far exceeds anything I have ever experienced in paper magic, by a factor of 10!...
I have changed the deck to U/W, though the white cards are only coming out of the sideboard.
Looking for any and all advice!
Thanks!
LANDS (22)
CREATURES (30)
ARTIFACTS (8)
SIDEBOARD (15)
Being mono brings a lot of stability to both Fish and Blue Steel.
Before destroying our mana base, what do you plan to accomplish with white splash, which cards give you problems?
Maybe there is solution within Island embrace.
Investing four mana in Master of Waves might be more ideal here since Architect helps in protecting tokens, but it will never be less than 4 mana, never helped by Vial and never brutal in Elemental numbers like over the pond, similar how Master of Etherium is not great here as he is with Robots.
Bident is ok. With 12 accelerators we need more artifact payoffs instead of the Waves.
At least, that is my opinion.