Hello MTGSalvation, this will be my very first primer for this site and hopefully not my last. Today I'm here to talk about a card, and perhaps an entire archetype that is very near and dear to my heart as a magic player who seeks a balance of competitive edge with an original idea. Some might say there isn't much original with this idea, to which I disagree since Master Transmuter has yet to see any real play in Modern and yet has an ability that is so back-breakingly powerful that it deserves some attention.
Master Transmuter is a very unique win condition where the purpose is to completely circumvent mana costs in order to pump out extremely powerful cards at an unreasonably early point in the game. This is not to be mistaken for other archetypes like TRON or various Grand Architect decks which, although have similar results, have completely different means then us. Combo at it's is often referred to as "gold fishing" because most of what you are doing is just waiting on draws for your combo pieces then you try to win the game, most decks try to make this system a little bit more consistent by adding in tutor effects, whether its an Expedition Map in TRON style decks or a Gifts Ungiven combo package in others, all or most popular combo decks in Modern have tutors to make their plan work. This deck is no different, using mainly Fabricate and also occasionally Tolaria West, I have a found a fairly consistent way of making the core of the deck work as it should.
Card Rulings
Returning an artifact you control to its owner's hand is part of the cost of Master Transmuter's activated ability. Paying a cost can't be responded to (with Naturalize, for example).
Since Master Transmuter is an artifact, you may return Master Transmuter itself to your hand. If you do, the rest of the ability will still work normally.
The artifact card you put onto the battlefield when the ability resolves may be the same card that you returned to your hand when you paid the cost. If so, it returns to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence.
So as you can see, this card is incredibly versatile, not only is it a win condition used to cheat other win conditions onto the field, it can also be used to fairly reliably help you dodge various forms on removal, complicate combat an incredible amount for your opponent, or even just hold silver bullets in your hand until the right moment when you can put them down at instant speed for :symu:.
This is the current build I am in the process of testing, I've been playing it for a few weeks and overall I'm pleased, its not perfect, and the main deck is a slightly homogenized list as my playgroup is largely aggro and midrange focused but you can definitely tweek it for whatever your meta is like.
Overall the versatility of not just Master Transmuter, but the deck as a whole cannot be understated, the addition of Glimmervoid as well as well as the mana signets makes the deck able to splash for a variety of cards if you so desire, maybe you want to splash for red instead of white in order to get cards like Trash for Treasure, Blood Moon, or even something like Whipflare which potentially turns into a one sided Pyroclasm which is no joke, all you have to do is swap the Azorius Signet(s) for Izzet Signet and your basically good to go. The flexible mana base mixed with mana rocks makes the deck very customizable so that you can get whatever you think you need.
Card choices
I'll talk briefly about the bombs within the deck and why I picked them
Platinum Emperion: I don't what people say, no Platinum Angel is not better then Emperion for a number of reasons. Firstly I play a very burn heavy meta as well as people who aren't afraid to play dismember. Although Angel has times where it is better then Emperion, as well as being a card that can go on the offensive while stabilizing you at the same time, it creates a situation where your often at negative health totals and your just hoping they don't top deck a removal spell, some people might be fine with that, some might prefer in fact, but it simply isn't what I like playing.
Blightsteel Colossus: The card is a monster, need I say more, the majority of games you play, the one bomb you will tutor for to transmute out will be this guy because he is usually a one turn kill clock that forces painful chump blocks from your opponent and then some.
Sundering Titan: An insane card against tri + color decks, he has even more viscious synergy with transmuter who can reliably make use of his enter AND exit triggers within the same turn if desired to complete destroy their land base. Oh ya and hes a 7/10 because why not.
Sen Triplets: I'll admit I am still in the early process of testing this card to see how I like it, to be honest this is almost strictly a control killer and little more then that, its absolutely not something you want against aggro and fairly arguable against mid range depending on how grindy they are. Overall the signets and Glimmervoids do provide support for this card, not just for the sake of hard casting it (which is probably not a good idea) but simply for fixing the mana to potentially cast their spells.
Spine of Ish Sah: Your go to, catch all removal spell that even has built in recursion, not that it will be relevant most of the time but still. The card is great, works well with Transmuter since its a card that you want to put back in your hand to cheat out another card and just hold it until you need it again.
Possessed Portal: Now this is perhaps just getting too cute, this is again another anti control silver bullet, without the aid of Thousand-Year Elixir you can still make this card completely one sided once every two turns.
Darksteel Forge: Simply a fantastic card for this deck, nothing too flashy about it, it simply wins games by making most of your opponent's draws meaningless as far as their removal goes which also lets you be much more liberal with your Transmuter activations.
Batterskull: Have you ever attached a Batterskull to a Spellskite before, well I have, and let me tell you its beautiful. Seriously though, there is not much to say about this card that hasn't already been said countless times before, it saves games that you otherwise couldn't have won, it generates a board presence on it's own, its hard castable, goes in any color deck, etc etc etc. Spoiler alert its a good card.
Closing statements
Overall I love this deck, its my pet project that I have been playing and testing for months and I can't get enough of it, its powerful yet fair, as well as being fairly interactive. Keep in mind, the deck is by no means perfect, it still has a ways to go but I can feel it getting there, with that in mind, any feedback you guys might have is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance. And lastly I know this primer might not be as pretty as some of the other ones on this site, sorry for that, again I'm new and I don't know a lot about the formatting techniques commonly used, anyways cya!
I say this iteration would be FNM power level. Ive played the transmuter a little; its really awesome, yet costy and fragile. So i think for this to be a true competitive deck, youd need more protection over all. If i may suggest, some cards could bring it closer to a proper combo approach, like Rings of Brighthearth, Ichor wellspring and Trading post. Etc.
Also, this screams to me: Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. They could even be boyfriend and girlfriend. Look at their arm
Private Mod Note
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MODERN Blue Lantern, UBx Tezzerator. OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
I saw your list over in the Grand Architect thread and was going to comment but everything has gotten very bogged down over there in the last few days. So I am glad you posted over here and this thread should be more helpful for the playstyle you are shooting for anyway.
I have never actually played with Master Transmuter but it is a very cool card. One thing I have frequently seen suggested is Lightning Greaves so Transmuter and the bomb you drop can be activated/attack the turn they come into play and get protected on the side. Cards like Umbral Mantle and Voltaic Construct could be fun for multiple activations of Transmuter in a turn (who doesn't want to machine gun an opponent's board with Spine of Ish Sah or nuke their lands with Sundering Titan). I would also advise you to streamline your bombs. I am probably way too big of a fan of toolbox packages in decks, but it is also important to know what the best options are and have multiple copies of those.
i`m so glad to your response, it's been a while i try to someone see my list and give me advices.
lets me see if i explain lots things i see in this time .. ( I LOVE Master Transmuter)
i see frequently suggested of Lightning Greaves, but why i choise de elixir? the equip can be responded, elixir give mor safestats (i guess) and untap too (2 in 1)
i just add Panharmonicon last week (not playtested so much yet) to do a thing like you call a machine gun with Spine, mor tutors with Mages.
this deck i`n I've been doing and redoing a long time, and not impossible to leave budget ... Spellskite is beatfull, and i want it hahah.
already told to me about Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, but its filter "only" 5, i put the seeker and find it mor effective beacuse i can find something ate 4 CMC and put play .. maybe means "up to 9 CMC" in a turn.
why Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is so superior ?
No I don't think 3 Spellskite is too many. It does a lot in this deck. It stands in the way of fast decks, it protects your threats and Transmuter, it acts as mainboard hate against decks like Infect and Death's Shadow, and it is a cheap artifact that you can bounce with Transmuter.
I don't know if Padeem would be good or not, he seems too slow for Modern. But I do think that Lightning Greaves is better than Elixir, because Elixir does give Transmuter's ability haste, but it doesn't give haste to what ever fatty you are dropping out of your hand. Also the Shroud means your opponent only has 1 time they can respond with removal and that is a very small window.
I like your reasoning about including Tezz the Seeker. I think the tutoring ability is very strong here. But I do think you should also try out Tezz, Agent of Bolas. Yes, the filtering only digs down 5 cards but think of it more as drawing an extra card every turn and you get to choose that card. Also his Ultimate is really strong. It is easy to pull off and frequently wins games.
and about Master of Etherium ? opnion about he for the deck to think in a upgraded list ( with include or not ), i was thinking too, trade the issue of Esperzoa for mor acceleration with a Mind Stone its give a draw when no more mana is need, could try i guess
Master of Etherium is a good card but it is made for a deck that wants to play a lot of smaller artifacts, like Affinity. Your gameplan is to cheat out 1 or 2 big artifacts and win the game with those, so I think Etherium would often not be more than like a 3/3 or a 4/4 and wouldn't be pumping others much. I think it would serve better as a different card
Weaponsmith came to me again, with a second possibilit .. he do mor alone then sculptor ? the second ability maybe can have a utility when you flooded maybe ?
Hello MTGSalvation, this will be my very first primer for this site and hopefully not my last. Today I'm here to talk about a card, and perhaps an entire archetype that is very near and dear to my heart as a magic player who seeks a balance of competitive edge with an original idea. Some might say there isn't much original with this idea, to which I disagree since Master Transmuter has yet to see any real play in Modern and yet has an ability that is so back-breakingly powerful that it deserves some attention.
Master Transmuter is a very unique win condition where the purpose is to completely circumvent mana costs in order to pump out extremely powerful cards at an unreasonably early point in the game. This is not to be mistaken for other archetypes like TRON or various Grand Architect decks which, although have similar results, have completely different means then us. Combo at it's is often referred to as "gold fishing" because most of what you are doing is just waiting on draws for your combo pieces then you try to win the game, most decks try to make this system a little bit more consistent by adding in tutor effects, whether its an Expedition Map in TRON style decks or a Gifts Ungiven combo package in others, all or most popular combo decks in Modern have tutors to make their plan work. This deck is no different, using mainly Fabricate and also occasionally Tolaria West, I have a found a fairly consistent way of making the core of the deck work as it should.
Card Rulings
So as you can see, this card is incredibly versatile, not only is it a win condition used to cheat other win conditions onto the field, it can also be used to fairly reliably help you dodge various forms on removal, complicate combat an incredible amount for your opponent, or even just hold silver bullets in your hand until the right moment when you can put them down at instant speed for :symu:.
Current Deck
4 Glimmervoid
2 Academy Ruins
2 Tolaria West
4 Master Transmuter
4 Porcelain Legionnaire
2 Treasure Mage
2 Spellskite
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Platinum Emperion
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Azorius Signet
3 Welding Jar
1 Spine of Ish Sah
1 Batterskull
1 Quicksilver Amulet
4 Mana Leak
4 Fabricate
2 Spell Pierce
2 Stoic Rebuttal
1 Aetherize
1 Possessed Portal
1 Sen Triplets
1 Sundering Titan
2 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Torpor Orb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Spell Pierce
1 Arcum Dagsson
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Witchbane Orb
2 Negate
This is the current build I am in the process of testing, I've been playing it for a few weeks and overall I'm pleased, its not perfect, and the main deck is a slightly homogenized list as my playgroup is largely aggro and midrange focused but you can definitely tweek it for whatever your meta is like.
Overall the versatility of not just Master Transmuter, but the deck as a whole cannot be understated, the addition of Glimmervoid as well as well as the mana signets makes the deck able to splash for a variety of cards if you so desire, maybe you want to splash for red instead of white in order to get cards like Trash for Treasure, Blood Moon, or even something like Whipflare which potentially turns into a one sided Pyroclasm which is no joke, all you have to do is swap the Azorius Signet(s) for Izzet Signet and your basically good to go. The flexible mana base mixed with mana rocks makes the deck very customizable so that you can get whatever you think you need.
Card choices
I'll talk briefly about the bombs within the deck and why I picked them
Platinum Emperion: I don't what people say, no Platinum Angel is not better then Emperion for a number of reasons. Firstly I play a very burn heavy meta as well as people who aren't afraid to play dismember. Although Angel has times where it is better then Emperion, as well as being a card that can go on the offensive while stabilizing you at the same time, it creates a situation where your often at negative health totals and your just hoping they don't top deck a removal spell, some people might be fine with that, some might prefer in fact, but it simply isn't what I like playing.
Blightsteel Colossus: The card is a monster, need I say more, the majority of games you play, the one bomb you will tutor for to transmute out will be this guy because he is usually a one turn kill clock that forces painful chump blocks from your opponent and then some.
Sundering Titan: An insane card against tri + color decks, he has even more viscious synergy with transmuter who can reliably make use of his enter AND exit triggers within the same turn if desired to complete destroy their land base. Oh ya and hes a 7/10 because why not.
Sen Triplets: I'll admit I am still in the early process of testing this card to see how I like it, to be honest this is almost strictly a control killer and little more then that, its absolutely not something you want against aggro and fairly arguable against mid range depending on how grindy they are. Overall the signets and Glimmervoids do provide support for this card, not just for the sake of hard casting it (which is probably not a good idea) but simply for fixing the mana to potentially cast their spells.
Spine of Ish Sah: Your go to, catch all removal spell that even has built in recursion, not that it will be relevant most of the time but still. The card is great, works well with Transmuter since its a card that you want to put back in your hand to cheat out another card and just hold it until you need it again.
Possessed Portal: Now this is perhaps just getting too cute, this is again another anti control silver bullet, without the aid of Thousand-Year Elixir you can still make this card completely one sided once every two turns.
Darksteel Forge: Simply a fantastic card for this deck, nothing too flashy about it, it simply wins games by making most of your opponent's draws meaningless as far as their removal goes which also lets you be much more liberal with your Transmuter activations.
Batterskull: Have you ever attached a Batterskull to a Spellskite before, well I have, and let me tell you its beautiful. Seriously though, there is not much to say about this card that hasn't already been said countless times before, it saves games that you otherwise couldn't have won, it generates a board presence on it's own, its hard castable, goes in any color deck, etc etc etc. Spoiler alert its a good card.
Closing statements
Overall I love this deck, its my pet project that I have been playing and testing for months and I can't get enough of it, its powerful yet fair, as well as being fairly interactive. Keep in mind, the deck is by no means perfect, it still has a ways to go but I can feel it getting there, with that in mind, any feedback you guys might have is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance. And lastly I know this primer might not be as pretty as some of the other ones on this site, sorry for that, again I'm new and I don't know a lot about the formatting techniques commonly used, anyways cya!
Also, this screams to me: Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. They could even be boyfriend and girlfriend. Look at their arm
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
1x Blightsteel Colossus
3x Esperzoa
3x Etherium Sculptor
2x Ethersworn Canonist
4x Grand Architect
4x Master Transmuter
1x Platinum Angel
1x Sharuum the Hegemon
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Sphinx Summoner
2x Treasure Mage
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Glacial Fortress
2x Inventors' Fair
6x Island
2x Plains
4x Swamp
//Instant
3x Esper Charm
//Planeswalker
2x Tezzeret the Seeker
2x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Panharmonicon
3x Prophetic Prism
1x Spine of Ish Sah
2x Thousand-Year Elixir
Try to ramp, take advantage with Esperzoa + Prophetic Prism, put de Ensnaring Bridge and take control of game.
I saw your list over in the Grand Architect thread and was going to comment but everything has gotten very bogged down over there in the last few days. So I am glad you posted over here and this thread should be more helpful for the playstyle you are shooting for anyway.
I have never actually played with Master Transmuter but it is a very cool card. One thing I have frequently seen suggested is Lightning Greaves so Transmuter and the bomb you drop can be activated/attack the turn they come into play and get protected on the side. Cards like Umbral Mantle and Voltaic Construct could be fun for multiple activations of Transmuter in a turn (who doesn't want to machine gun an opponent's board with Spine of Ish Sah or nuke their lands with Sundering Titan). I would also advise you to streamline your bombs. I am probably way too big of a fan of toolbox packages in decks, but it is also important to know what the best options are and have multiple copies of those.
Lastly, I don't know if you are trying to stay on a budget. But if you are willing to spend more money on this, I think several Spellskite, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas + Darksteel Citadel, and more Blightsteel Colossus are a must add.
Edit: I am currently testing out Glint-Nest Crane in my Heartless Architect list and I think it could work very well for this archetype as well.
lets me see if i explain lots things i see in this time .. ( I LOVE Master Transmuter)
i see frequently suggested of Lightning Greaves, but why i choise de elixir? the equip can be responded, elixir give mor safestats (i guess) and untap too (2 in 1)
i just add Panharmonicon last week (not playtested so much yet) to do a thing like you call a machine gun with Spine, mor tutors with Mages.
this deck i`n I've been doing and redoing a long time, and not impossible to leave budget ... Spellskite is beatfull, and i want it hahah.
already told to me about Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, but its filter "only" 5, i put the seeker and find it mor effective beacuse i can find something ate 4 CMC and put play .. maybe means "up to 9 CMC" in a turn.
why Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas is so superior ?
Glint-Nest Crane i dont test ... ( imagine it trigger 2 time with Panharmonicon looks great.
and Lastly too, what about Master of Etherium ?
wait you for mor ideas.
Padeem, Consul of Innovation with Lightning Greaves over Thousand-Year Elixir.
3 Spellskite on mb is so much ?
I don't know if Padeem would be good or not, he seems too slow for Modern. But I do think that Lightning Greaves is better than Elixir, because Elixir does give Transmuter's ability haste, but it doesn't give haste to what ever fatty you are dropping out of your hand. Also the Shroud means your opponent only has 1 time they can respond with removal and that is a very small window.
I like your reasoning about including Tezz the Seeker. I think the tutoring ability is very strong here. But I do think you should also try out Tezz, Agent of Bolas. Yes, the filtering only digs down 5 cards but think of it more as drawing an extra card every turn and you get to choose that card. Also his Ultimate is really strong. It is easy to pull off and frequently wins games.
Can you post an updated list?
3x Spellskite
1x Blightsteel Colossus
3x Etherium Sculptor
2x Ethersworn Canonist
4x Grand Architect
4x Master Transmuter
1x Platinum Angel
1x Sharuum the Hegemon
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Wurmcoil Engine
3x Treasure Mage
4x Drowned Catacomb
4x Glacial Fortress
2x Inventors' Fair
6x Island
2x Plains
4x Swamp
Planeswalker
1x Tezzeret, Agent of bolas
1x Tezzeret the Seeker
3x Lightning Greaves
3x Mind Stone
2x Ensnaring Bridge
3x Prophetic Prism
1x Spine of Ish Sah
something like that
Renowned Weaponsmith vs Etherium Sculptor vs Mind Stone
Weaponsmith came to me again, with a second possibilit .. he do mor alone then sculptor ? the second ability maybe can have a utility when you flooded maybe ?
twisted my mind.
and Harsh Scrutiny
i`ll find slot for Glint-Nest Crane soon .. maybe trade prism