This is a variant on the UW Quest for the Holy Relic archetype. I'm making a new thread because the UW Quest threads are all fairly old, and I think that this variant turns our mission in a slightly new direction.
I know that 15 mana sources seems incredibly light, but I've found it to be fairly forgiving. I haven't had to mull past 6 cards yet in testing, although some of those keeps were certainly 1-landers.
The core idea of the deck is that both Quest and Erayo want us to play a lot of spells quickly, and then significantly disrupt our opponent. We use the Ornithoper-Glint Hawk-Ornithoptor trick here, as well as spells like Bauble, Git. Probe, and Mox Opal. T2 is often possible with Erayo, while turn 3 is a more reasonable goal for attacking with Argentum Armor.
One of my favorite synergies in the deck is the Combo between Erayo and Ethersworn Cannonist, locking non-artifact decks out of spells completely.
The primary reason I think this deck has real potential (as a strong tier-two alternative to T1 mainstays) is that it fits all of my criteria for a good brew.
1) It's fast, establishing a clearly dominant position usually as early as turn 3.
2) It has a decent backup plan, beating down with a few 2/2 flyers and a signal pest looks a lot like playing delver.
3) It's consistent. We can "combo" with either Erayo or Quest, and essentially the entire deck combos with both.
I'd love thoughts and feedback, especially on sideboard.
Tournament Results so far
4-0 FNM w/24 People. (infect, boggles, Grixis Delver, G/r Tron)
I'm with EggShen, lose two serum powder add a Mishras Bauble and Cannonist.
Maybe look at adding a land or two, but that you may be right on. I've not played a lot of low cmc decks like this, But canopy something can cantrip, and is a land.
Not sure about etched champion, three cmc could be hard for this deck. You might look at Gutshot and the black phyrexian mana card that removes a card from the graveyard. They have merits as sideboard cards and can help flip Erayo.
Kolaghan's Command rains on a lot of parades. Luckily, it's a pretty small investment if you do decide to give the deck a whirl, and you could always cram a couple Apostle's Blessing in the 75 to help vs. mean ol' Kolaghan. Or Surgical Extraction as Talionis mentioned, since it forwards your game plan, too. Of course, recovering from a resolved K-Command with this deck is probably very hard to do.
I'm currently working on a more "free" creature build to improve t2 armor swinging. Ornithopter, memnite, burning tree emissary plus 1-2 drop artifact creatures with flying
Another card you might look at is Cranial Plating... You are running a lot of flyers and a lot of artifacts. It dies to artifact removal, but if you have enough threats it's hard to have enough artifact removal.
4 Quest for the Holy Relic
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Argentum Armor
4 Springleaf Drum
3 Mox Opal
3 Mishra's Bauble
2 Serum Powder
4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Glint Hawk
4 Faerie Imposter
4 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
2 Ethersworn Cannonist
2 Plains
2 Island
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
3 Sunlance
3 Path to Exile
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Etched Champion
2 Welding Jar
2 Spell Pierce
1 Batterskull
I know that 15 mana sources seems incredibly light, but I've found it to be fairly forgiving. I haven't had to mull past 6 cards yet in testing, although some of those keeps were certainly 1-landers.
The core idea of the deck is that both Quest and Erayo want us to play a lot of spells quickly, and then significantly disrupt our opponent. We use the Ornithoper-Glint Hawk-Ornithoptor trick here, as well as spells like Bauble, Git. Probe, and Mox Opal. T2 is often possible with Erayo, while turn 3 is a more reasonable goal for attacking with Argentum Armor.
One of my favorite synergies in the deck is the Combo between Erayo and Ethersworn Cannonist, locking non-artifact decks out of spells completely.
The primary reason I think this deck has real potential (as a strong tier-two alternative to T1 mainstays) is that it fits all of my criteria for a good brew.
1) It's fast, establishing a clearly dominant position usually as early as turn 3.
2) It has a decent backup plan, beating down with a few 2/2 flyers and a signal pest looks a lot like playing delver.
3) It's consistent. We can "combo" with either Erayo or Quest, and essentially the entire deck combos with both.
I'd love thoughts and feedback, especially on sideboard.
Tournament Results so far
4-0 FNM w/24 People. (infect, boggles, Grixis Delver, G/r Tron)
Maybe look at adding a land or two, but that you may be right on. I've not played a lot of low cmc decks like this, But canopy something can cantrip, and is a land.
Not sure about etched champion, three cmc could be hard for this deck. You might look at Gutshot and the black phyrexian mana card that removes a card from the graveyard. They have merits as sideboard cards and can help flip Erayo.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/221683-u-w-quest-improved-consistency
I'm currently working on a more "free" creature build to improve t2 armor swinging. Ornithopter, memnite, burning tree emissary plus 1-2 drop artifact creatures with flying