What are Clues?
Clues are connected to investigate, the latest mechanic introduced in Shadows over Innistrad. They are a subtype of artifact created by spells with the investigate keyword. Once created, you can pay 2 mana and sacrifice it to draw a card.
Why use them?
I believe Clues have a lot of potential and versatility outside of Standard, and provide a lot of fun and unpredictability.
Why won't you want to want to use them?
It can be a bit slow. Most of the win conditions also rely on a lot of moving parts, meaning being thrown off your game once can set you back severely. That said, you'll also find some answer precisely because of the flexibility of Clues so it's not too bad.
What does this deck do?
The goal of the deck is to 1) get clues on the battlefield as much as possible, as fast as possible and 2) get as much value out of them as possible. Each card plays a different role to accomplish this. These are:
The Investigation
"Put a colorless Clue artifact token onto the battlefield with "2, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.""
These are the cards that get the whole thing started. Creatures Thraben Inspector - The bread and butter of the deck. Being able to get a clue down and block early can make all the difference. Erdwal Illuminator - The other staple. Not only can it generate extra clues that add up fast, it has a reasonable body with flying. Bearer of Overwhelming Truths - Once you transform a Daring Sleuth it represents an early threat if backed up with other spells. Bygone Bishop - too slow for me. use Illuminators instead. Byway Courier - another less useful one since it only investigates once it dies. Tireless Tracker - an absolute must-have. The strongest investigating creature since it generates clues and benefits from them. Briarbridge Patrol - I like keeping one since it combos off of Tamiyo's Journal to cheat any big creature into play. Drownyard Explorers - no.
Instants Confront the Unknown - an entire win condition. Expose Evil - lets you stall for a bit or ensures you get the kill. Very useful. Survive the Night - saves your creatures. Jace's Scrutiny - has some uses against infect Humble the Brute - expensive and limited. Dispatch is the removal of choice Confirm Suspicions - also expensive, but its a guaranteed counter late game and is the only spell that gives you more than 1 clue
Sorceries Declaration in Stone - unfortunately gives your opponents clues, but being able to exile more than one copy of a creature makes up for it Gone Missing - not sure with this one, since it needs Fleeting Memories to work Press for Answers - the other spell needed to go through your opponent's creatures. Root Out - artifact hate makes a good sideboard choice
Enchantments Fleeting Memories - not that relevant. Ongoing Investigation - stacks with a Bearer if you have one, but its primary use is to keep your life up. Trail of Evidence - the one you want to run. Powers up a Confront even faster. Ulvenwald Mysteries - used more for its clue checking ability. clogs the board up quickly if unchecked. Weirding Wood - the mana boost is nice but you'll better served with Noble Hierarch
Artifacts Magnifying Glass - overcosted. avoid Tamiyo's Journal - another main feature of the deck, it guarantees a clue each turn, sacrifices 3 to search for anything. If you have one down youre pretty much set Sacrificing Clues
"If you sacrifice a Clue for another card’s cost or effect, such as that of Angelic Purge or Tamiyo’s Journal, you can’t also pay 2 and sacrifice it to draw a card."
A lot of the time using clues takes a hefty toll on your mana. Sometimes you just don't need to do it. Which is why we run stuff that takes them away for free! Arcbound Ravager - the other big threat of the deck. Not only does feeding clues to the robot crab beefs it up, it will ideally beef your Tracker up too, and fast Tamiyo's Journal - see above. Sage of Lat-NamTrading Post - While it is funny to cheat the requirements for cracking a clue, we don't really need these Angelic Purge - good permanent removal in my opinion Checking for Clues
Checks for Clues sacrificed in a turn. The reason why sacrificing clues for free is a necessity. Daring Sleuth - is only useful once transformed Tireless Tracker - again, it pumps up incredibly fast in this deck Briarbridge Patrol - designed to go with the journal. Graf Mole - might give you a fighting chance against decks that do incremental damage Fleeting Memories - well, milling could be an option i guess Ulvenwald Mysteries - because everyone loves tokens Clue Interaction
Uses Clue's properties in interesting ways, such as Metalcraft or Affinity Whirler Rogue - Since tapping clues does absolutely nothing to them, you can essentially make any of your creatures unblockable Dispatch - depending on the board state, can either be an Expose Evil or a Path to Exile Mirran Mettle - though limited, it is a possible secondary pump spell Thopter Spy Network Darksteel Juggernaut Master of Etherium Machinate Tezzeret the Seeker - while the idea of turning all clues into creatures is hilarious, having to build around this planeswalker and consistently investigate isnt feasible right now Others
Don't actually have anything to do with clues, but has good synergy with the cards that do: Noble Hierarch - a mana dork in colors that just so happens to be in the same ones as all cards that investigate. Enables a turn 2 Tracker, which is the strongest opening you can get. Exalted is a nice boost too Invisible Stalker - natural hexproof and unblockability make it an improvement over Bearer of Overwhelming Truths. Æther Vial - used in many other decks for the same reason, more or less. Mechanized Production Mechanized Production is the newest card in the deck - it provides an alternate win condition for the number of artifacts you have. Considering the amount of Clues you can get, winning with this is pretty viable. Remember that it checks on your next upkeep! Notes Confront the Unknown checks the amount of clues you currently control until you cast it, so remember to use it last if you have other investigating spells. It no longer checks after you cast it, meaning you can safely sac a clue afterwards. This property is abused to make Trackers absurdly large Erdwal Illuminator adds an extra clue each time you investigate in one turn including your opponent's, so be sure to save some spells until their turn if possible.
Since your hand tends to run out fast its worth remembering that clues let you draw for 2 mana. Depending on the situation you might have to do that first before you go crazy. Whirler Rogue creates 2 Thopters with flying, meaning they might be a better outlet for your ravager's counters. Bearer of Overwhelming Truths has prowess, so if you cast a Confront it can usually hold up on its own. Æther Vial is used to free up lands for cracking clues and casting any spells from them
I've been looking at generating value from Clues as well. The idea in other constructs of "artifacts matter" seem to keep the base assumption that artifacts would be hard to get. Compiling clue tokens everywhere could provide some major payouts down the road in a game. This and the rumoured possibility of contraptions in upcoming sets could really make room for artifacts which have no role other than being artifacts.
Temur or Bant seem like the most interesting routes to go for me. Blue interacts with clue tokens the most while green has some of the most efficient clue related cards in Tireless Tracker and Confront the Unknown. I think the key may be how you want to interact with the tokens. Green obviously introduces a creature beatdown angle and can put pressure in a modern environment where you'll likely need your Tracker to do some scaring and prevent aggro rushing.
The biggest advantage clues have is to have many artifacts which you can use for...artifact things. That is, you have lots of artifacts lying around that you really don't have much to do with other than draw (an occasional use) and can fuel your numerous toys into a given purpose...under the right circumstance, I see clues being a jack of all trades as damage dealers, Metalcraft enablers, and card drawing.
Some cards that I've had in mind other than the above.:
- Ghirapur Æther Grid. A decent alternative win condition in lantern control but I think could really pay dividends in a clue deck. Clues turn into raw damage and, while I haven't gotten to try it out yet (fingers crossed for testing soon!), I think the damage can be pretty substantial over time and could easily swing combat and force less that favourable decisions on that side.
- Invisible Stalker. Everybody's least favourite limited card. Here, he can trigger Ongoing Investigation, is the premier target for Confront the Unknown, and is an overall pain to deal with. Best if you want to force the issue...especially when spot removal is one of the bigger strategies.
- Reclusive Artificer. Probably not the best option but the closest the deck would get to a Flametounge Kavu. Not hard to create some lethal entries and the body is not bad for the cost.
- Galvanic Blast is good for similar reasons to Dispatch.
- Ensoul Artifact. Playing with white gives you the option of getting out a 1/2 and a 5/5 for 2 cards by turn 2. Probably not the best way to spend a card but you can really go all out with this and make a pretty scary attack.
- Shape Anew. Maybe it's just the way I'm looking at clues but I'm seeing a deck where you can run 1 (edit - 0 -> 1) artifact and then slap down a Shape Anew into a VERY specific target. That is, a Blightsteel Colossus or the like. It's a limited combo and you are throwing away 3-4 cards (1 of the artifact and 2-3 Shape Anews in your deck), but it's a fun and amusing combo to pull...especially if you need that game changer.
I'm personally not 100% sold on the journal. It's a 5 mana card which doesn't impact the board without spending your valuable clue tokens...which fuel your Grid and Confront. The Tutor is a nice effect but at 5 mana, I'm looking for game changing power...not something that'll ask for more mana. That is, unless we can swing a Tron or pure control angle into all this.
As much as I'd love to play Bearer of Overwhelming Truths in a Modern Deck, it's just not strong enough. 10/10 art but just not strong enough in my mind to warrant play.
I'm actually holding off on splashing red (until Eldritch Moon maybe?) since we don't have any red cards that investigates. It's just a consistency issue for me. I could be wrong though.
you are 100% right on Invisible Stalker. Can't believe I missed that. Bearer did win me some games but hexproof is too strong to ignore.
I'm only running Tamiyo's Journal for the Briarbridge Patrol > Emrakul combo (vial in a Briarbridge, activate the journal, find Emrakul, slam it on on the end step) but yeah. Being able to buff Trackers thrice in one go is one bonus I think.
Waht about using greater gargadon. I can see this monster coming into play really fast while it helps yours Tireless Tracker, Briarbridge Patrol and Ulvenwald Mysteries to do their work at high level. Imagine saccing three clues with Mysteries to gain three tokens and sac them to make gargadon comes into play almost two turns after being suspended. Or saccing three clues to put a gargadfon into play with Patrol or Pump your tracker to a 6/5 creature mode. I think it is a really good adition to the deck.
i like the idea but i feel like the current list is running too many sub optimal cards for the sake of the investigate keyword.
Red also may not have much in the way of clue production, but it contains so much that can put the clues to good use.
I was mostly worried we couldn't get enough clues consistently but now I think we definitely have some room for red. We're in a good position to take the Jeskai Shape Anew idea and run with it
yes but it is not funny to reveal a mox with shape anew in my list and this card is not in the right colors. because of that I think burning force is suggesting the kuldotha
having an alternate win condition in the form of Mechanized Production does a ton for this deck, even if it checks on the next turn. i'm also trying out Smuggler's Copter; it enables Dispatch more reliably, allows our small creatures to connect with an Ongoing Investigation in play. covers a few problems i had
What are Clues?
Clues are connected to investigate, the latest mechanic introduced in Shadows over Innistrad. They are a subtype of artifact created by spells with the investigate keyword. Once created, you can pay 2 mana and sacrifice it to draw a card.
Why use them?
I believe Clues have a lot of potential and versatility outside of Standard, and provide a lot of fun and unpredictability.
Why won't you want to want to use them?
It can be a bit slow. Most of the win conditions also rely on a lot of moving parts, meaning being thrown off your game once can set you back severely. That said, you'll also find some answer precisely because of the flexibility of Clues so it's not too bad.
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Erdwal Illuminator
4 Tireless Tracker
Artifacts
3 Smuggler's Copter
Spells
4 Dispatch
4 Path to Exile
4 Confront the Unknown
Enchantments
2 Mechanized Production
3 Ongoing Investigation
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Breeding Pool
2 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Botanical Sanctum
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Spellskite
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Dispel
2 Negate
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Rest in Peace
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Natural State
2 Kitchen Finks
What does this deck do?
The goal of the deck is to 1) get clues on the battlefield as much as possible, as fast as possible and 2) get as much value out of them as possible. Each card plays a different role to accomplish this. These are:
The Investigation
"Put a colorless Clue artifact token onto the battlefield with "2, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.""
These are the cards that get the whole thing started.
Creatures
Thraben Inspector - The bread and butter of the deck. Being able to get a clue down and block early can make all the difference.
Erdwal Illuminator - The other staple. Not only can it generate extra clues that add up fast, it has a reasonable body with flying.
Bearer of Overwhelming Truths - Once you transform a Daring Sleuth it represents an early threat if backed up with other spells.
Bygone Bishop - too slow for me. use Illuminators instead.
Byway Courier - another less useful one since it only investigates once it dies.
Tireless Tracker - an absolute must-have. The strongest investigating creature since it generates clues and benefits from them.
Briarbridge Patrol - I like keeping one since it combos off of Tamiyo's Journal to cheat any big creature into play.
Drownyard Explorers - no.
Instants
Confront the Unknown - an entire win condition.
Expose Evil - lets you stall for a bit or ensures you get the kill. Very useful.
Survive the Night - saves your creatures.
Jace's Scrutiny - has some uses against infect
Humble the Brute - expensive and limited. Dispatch is the removal of choice
Confirm Suspicions - also expensive, but its a guaranteed counter late game and is the only spell that gives you more than 1 clue
Sorceries
Declaration in Stone - unfortunately gives your opponents clues, but being able to exile more than one copy of a creature makes up for it
Gone Missing - not sure with this one, since it needs Fleeting Memories to work
Press for Answers - the other spell needed to go through your opponent's creatures.
Root Out - artifact hate makes a good sideboard choice
Enchantments
Fleeting Memories - not that relevant.
Ongoing Investigation - stacks with a Bearer if you have one, but its primary use is to keep your life up.
Trail of Evidence - the one you want to run. Powers up a Confront even faster.
Ulvenwald Mysteries - used more for its clue checking ability. clogs the board up quickly if unchecked.
Weirding Wood - the mana boost is nice but you'll better served with Noble Hierarch
Artifacts
Magnifying Glass - overcosted. avoid
Tamiyo's Journal - another main feature of the deck, it guarantees a clue each turn, sacrifices 3 to search for anything. If you have one down youre pretty much set
Sacrificing Clues
"If you sacrifice a Clue for another card’s cost or effect, such as that of Angelic Purge or Tamiyo’s Journal, you can’t also pay 2 and sacrifice it to draw a card."
A lot of the time using clues takes a hefty toll on your mana. Sometimes you just don't need to do it. Which is why we run stuff that takes them away for free!
Arcbound Ravager - the other big threat of the deck. Not only does feeding clues to the robot crab beefs it up, it will ideally beef your Tracker up too, and fast
Tamiyo's Journal - see above.
Sage of Lat-Nam Trading Post - While it is funny to cheat the requirements for cracking a clue, we don't really need these
Angelic Purge - good permanent removal in my opinion
Checking for Clues
Checks for Clues sacrificed in a turn. The reason why sacrificing clues for free is a necessity.
Daring Sleuth - is only useful once transformed
Tireless Tracker - again, it pumps up incredibly fast in this deck
Briarbridge Patrol - designed to go with the journal.
Graf Mole - might give you a fighting chance against decks that do incremental damage
Fleeting Memories - well, milling could be an option i guess
Ulvenwald Mysteries - because everyone loves tokens
Clue Interaction
Uses Clue's properties in interesting ways, such as Metalcraft or Affinity
Whirler Rogue - Since tapping clues does absolutely nothing to them, you can essentially make any of your creatures unblockable
Dispatch - depending on the board state, can either be an Expose Evil or a Path to Exile
Mirran Mettle - though limited, it is a possible secondary pump spell
Thopter Spy Network
Darksteel Juggernaut
Master of Etherium
Machinate
Tezzeret the Seeker - while the idea of turning all clues into creatures is hilarious, having to build around this planeswalker and consistently investigate isnt feasible right now
Others
Don't actually have anything to do with clues, but has good synergy with the cards that do:
Noble Hierarch - a mana dork in colors that just so happens to be in the same ones as all cards that investigate. Enables a turn 2 Tracker, which is the strongest opening you can get. Exalted is a nice boost too
Invisible Stalker - natural hexproof and unblockability make it an improvement over
Bearer of Overwhelming Truths.
Æther Vial - used in many other decks for the same reason, more or less.
Mechanized Production
Mechanized Production is the newest card in the deck - it provides an alternate win condition for the number of artifacts you have. Considering the amount of Clues you can get, winning with this is pretty viable. Remember that it checks on your next upkeep!
Notes
Confront the Unknown checks the amount of clues you currently control until you cast it, so remember to use it last if you have other investigating spells. It no longer checks after you cast it, meaning you can safely sac a clue afterwards. This property is abused to make Trackers absurdly large
Erdwal Illuminator adds an extra clue each time you investigate in one turn including your opponent's, so be sure to save some spells until their turn if possible.
Since your hand tends to run out fast its worth remembering that clues let you draw for 2 mana. Depending on the situation you might have to do that first before you go crazy.
Whirler Rogue creates 2 Thopters with flying, meaning they might be a better outlet for your ravager's counters.
Bearer of Overwhelming Truths has prowess, so if you cast a Confront it can usually hold up on its own.
Æther Vial is used to free up lands for cracking clues and casting any spells from them
I do hope the next sets have better cards...
Temur or Bant seem like the most interesting routes to go for me. Blue interacts with clue tokens the most while green has some of the most efficient clue related cards in Tireless Tracker and Confront the Unknown. I think the key may be how you want to interact with the tokens. Green obviously introduces a creature beatdown angle and can put pressure in a modern environment where you'll likely need your Tracker to do some scaring and prevent aggro rushing.
The biggest advantage clues have is to have many artifacts which you can use for...artifact things. That is, you have lots of artifacts lying around that you really don't have much to do with other than draw (an occasional use) and can fuel your numerous toys into a given purpose...under the right circumstance, I see clues being a jack of all trades as damage dealers, Metalcraft enablers, and card drawing.
Some cards that I've had in mind other than the above.:
- Ghirapur Æther Grid. A decent alternative win condition in lantern control but I think could really pay dividends in a clue deck. Clues turn into raw damage and, while I haven't gotten to try it out yet (fingers crossed for testing soon!), I think the damage can be pretty substantial over time and could easily swing combat and force less that favourable decisions on that side.
- Invisible Stalker. Everybody's least favourite limited card. Here, he can trigger Ongoing Investigation, is the premier target for Confront the Unknown, and is an overall pain to deal with. Best if you want to force the issue...especially when spot removal is one of the bigger strategies.
- Reclusive Artificer. Probably not the best option but the closest the deck would get to a Flametounge Kavu. Not hard to create some lethal entries and the body is not bad for the cost.
- Galvanic Blast is good for similar reasons to Dispatch.
- Ensoul Artifact. Playing with white gives you the option of getting out a 1/2 and a 5/5 for 2 cards by turn 2. Probably not the best way to spend a card but you can really go all out with this and make a pretty scary attack.
- Shape Anew. Maybe it's just the way I'm looking at clues but I'm seeing a deck where you can run 1 (edit - 0 -> 1) artifact and then slap down a Shape Anew into a VERY specific target. That is, a Blightsteel Colossus or the like. It's a limited combo and you are throwing away 3-4 cards (1 of the artifact and 2-3 Shape Anews in your deck), but it's a fun and amusing combo to pull...especially if you need that game changer.
I'm personally not 100% sold on the journal. It's a 5 mana card which doesn't impact the board without spending your valuable clue tokens...which fuel your Grid and Confront. The Tutor is a nice effect but at 5 mana, I'm looking for game changing power...not something that'll ask for more mana. That is, unless we can swing a Tron or pure control angle into all this.
As much as I'd love to play Bearer of Overwhelming Truths in a Modern Deck, it's just not strong enough. 10/10 art but just not strong enough in my mind to warrant play.
you are 100% right on Invisible Stalker. Can't believe I missed that. Bearer did win me some games but hexproof is too strong to ignore.
I'm only running Tamiyo's Journal for the Briarbridge Patrol > Emrakul combo (vial in a Briarbridge, activate the journal, find Emrakul, slam it on on the end step) but yeah. Being able to buff Trackers thrice in one go is one bonus I think.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
Another card which might work with clues can be Krark-Clan Ironworks.
I think I would begin with:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Confront the Unknown
4 Dispatch
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Mox opal
4 Tireless Tracker
4 Ulvenwald Mysteries
2 Briarbridge Patrol
1 Another finisher you can search for. Invisible Stalker, Ulamok, Kozilek, Emrakul....
3 Flexible slots (more removal, cranial plating for stalkers and birds,...
10 Fetchs
1 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping ground
5 forest
2 Plains
I Like how this dewck sounds. It seems fast and have card advantage. What do you think?
In Red you also have: Shrapnel Blast, Galvanic Blast and Kuldotha Rebirth.
I wonder if Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient would work with clues as well.
Red also may not have much in the way of clue production, but it contains so much that can put the clues to good use.
I will try and brew up a list when i get home tonight.
also you should call the deck "Get a clue"
I was mostly worried we couldn't get enough clues consistently but now I think we definitely have some room for red. We're in a good position to take the Jeskai Shape Anew idea and run with it
the Anafenza/Melira package does make infinite clues with Ulvenwald Mysteries....
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Erdwal Illuminator
3 Thopter Engineer
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Darksteel Colossus
Spells
3 Trail of Evidence
1 Ghirapur Æther Grid
4 Shrapnel Blast
4 Galvanic Blast
4 Boros Charm
2 Izzet Charm
3 Dispatch
3 Shape Anew
3 Flooded Strand
2 Arid Mesa
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Sulfur Falls
Trail of Evidence is the real engine of this deck. You're basically all set once you have it down.
Thopter Engineer plus Boros Charm means a Darksteel Colossus with haste and doublestrike, usually killing your opponent on the spot
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Erdwal Illuminator
4 Invisible Stalker
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Briarbridge Patrol
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Tamiyo's Journal
3 Krark-Clan Ironworks
3 Ongoing Investigation
4 Confront the Unknown
4 Dispatch
Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
2 Temple Garden
2 Breeding Pool
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Island
2 Adarkar Wastes
2 Yavimaya Coast
2 Brushland
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Erdwal Illuminator
4 Invisible Stalker
4 Tireless Tracker
1 Briarbridge Patrol
Spells
2 Tamiyo's Journal
3 Time Sieve
4 Ongoing Investigation
4 Confront the Unknown
3 Dispatch
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Breeding Pool
2 Temple Garden
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Watery Grave
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Flooded Strand
Having to consistently get clues each turn justifies Tamiyo's Journal in here I think.
Come on Kaladesh....
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Erdwal Illuminator
4 Tireless Tracker
Artifacts
3 Smuggler's Copter
Spells
4 Dispatch
4 Path to Exile
4 Confront the Unknown
Enchantments
2 Mechanized Production
3 Ongoing Investigation
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Breeding Pool
2 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Botanical Sanctum
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Spellskite
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Dispel
2 Negate
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Rest in Peace
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Natural State
2 Kitchen Finks
having an alternate win condition in the form of Mechanized Production does a ton for this deck, even if it checks on the next turn. i'm also trying out Smuggler's Copter; it enables Dispatch more reliably, allows our small creatures to connect with an Ongoing Investigation in play. covers a few problems i had