I used to play Heartless Architect with Havengul Lich to recur my fatties in standard, and I like seeing that this archetype is still kicking. Golden Guardian is a totally viable card by my estimation, for the exact reasons you mentioned. Having too many 4 drops isn't really a problem with the cost reductions in the deck, so the inclusion is pretty simple I think! The Land side is incredibly strong and ramps you up to wurmcoils and Gearhulks faster
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Been play testing online (Cockatrice) and here are some of my thoughts:
Walking Ballista is definitely a good inclusion. Even if we have a Heartless it basically comes in without the -1/-1 (you can just choose X+1 since the Heartless will give you the discount). Definitely getting at least two. Matchups with DS have become more doable since they need to watch their life or the ballista will ping them to death. Just a note: a 1 counter ballista can't kill a 0/1 Tarmogoyf.
I'm adding in a Trinket Mage so I can find the Ballista if I need it or some other trinket. I'm testing Pithing Needle in the mainboard (just one), since it's the only real way I can deal with planeswalkers if they arrive early or aether vials.
I also added in some Spell Pierces just to help retain the advantage. When Lodestone Golem is on the board it makes him and our other creatures much harder to remove.
I'm finding a hard time dealing with Abzan Company so any thoughts on how you go about that matchup would be great.
On counters company, Its a really rough match-up. I think my record is 7/30/0 against that deck. My thing I focus on is either I would recommend 2 cards for the sideboard Grafdigger's Cage and Chalice of the void resolving these tends to help but it still is a very hard match up to win.
Been play testing online (Cockatrice) and here are some of my thoughts:
Walking Ballista is definitely a good inclusion. Even if we have a Heartless it basically comes in without the -1/-1 (you can just choose X+1 since the Heartless will give you the discount). Definitely getting at least two. Matchups with DS have become more doable since they need to watch their life or the ballista will ping them to death. Just a note: a 1 counter ballista can't kill a 0/1 Tarmogoyf.
I'm adding in a Trinket Mage so I can find the Ballista if I need it or some other trinket. I'm testing Pithing Needle in the mainboard (just one), since it's the only real way I can deal with planeswalkers if they arrive early or aether vials.
I also added in some Spell Pierces just to help retain the advantage. When Lodestone Golem is on the board it makes him and our other creatures much harder to remove.
I'm finding a hard time dealing with Abzan Company so any thoughts on how you go about that matchup would be great.
i just think your list is a little mess. You just need to run at least 4x Grand Architect if you dont wanna run4 HS.
- On iok, i recomend run Thoughtseize, he hurts a little, but it discard anything can disturbs us.
- On Trinket Mage: i like tutors, but you have 2 targets for this, o think one more ballista is worth then 1 mage for this purpose
- You should test Noxious Gearhulk its super strong, Remove + life gain + evasive
On company match:
It's a really difficult match.
Besides Cage and Chalice .. Fatal Push hits the combo pieces, Ballista is good to slow then, remove ramps and Visera Seer, needle is good on Visera Seer, mass remove is good when you see on piece in battlefield cause the opponent cant do an Company in response
It's awesome to see some new people join the conversation while I've been gone. I have more time on my hands now and plan on working on this deck a bunch.
I've been talking to Ulka a little outside of the forum and we've been thinking it might be best to push the parts of the deck that our most broken plays come from (make it a little more "all in"). So from our conversations I have settled on the following list for my first round of test in 2018:
Happy to see you back. Waiting for your comments on this "old" posts.
Trust me, i tested many things, and many of them works well.
After spend some time in my other deck, i see how good is redundance and pieces to find the engine. Maybe deck need cantrips at T1 i dont work on this again for while.
In place of Spell Pierce I'm testing Stubborn Denial instead. Considering most of our hitters will have at least 4 power even with Heartless Summoning out it's a good card to retain the advantage. I've noticed our deck is severely weak against non-combat based decks when we don't have any counter spells so I think having 3-4 counters is needed. This way, even if we just have one Myr Superion or Lodestone or Wurmcoil out we can continue hitting away for the win. How many times has it happened that after we put in most of our creatures on the board we get hit with Ensnaring Bridge or Damnation?
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas in the deck is something I'm wondering about now. I rarely get to use it, and even when I do it normally gets killed quickly. Yes, I know it's a way to delay getting killed ourselves but sometimes it also costs us a turn to cast. Adding in Walking Ballista filled in that need to have something that can go through a grindy matchup for me.
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas in the deck is something I'm wondering about now. I rarely get to use it, and even when I do it normally gets killed quickly. Yes, I know it's a way to delay getting killed ourselves but sometimes it also costs us a turn to cast.
Tezz has always been an MVP for me. Landing one can turn the tide of the game. Tezz selectively draws us an artifact card every turn (even if he dies right away he at least replaces himself) or he has the option of boosting something to 5/5 (optimally that's our Darksteel Citadels). And then there is his ultimate... Unlike most planeswalkers, Tezz's ultimate is extremely easy to pull off. You can use it the turn after you play him and then drain for double your artifact count. I have won tons of games with that and it is generally our best answer to stalemates. I wouldn't want to cut him. If anything I would consider playing a 3rd.
How many times has it happened that after we put in most of our creatures on the board we get hit with Ensnaring Bridge or Damnation?
We actually do have ways to win around an ensnaring bridge, unlike most other creature based decks. As I mentioned above, Tezzeret's ultimate will do the trick, and you also have walking ballistas. You can even attack with spellskites and then pump them with your architects to push through some damage. And lastly, if you are having a lot of problems with Ensnaring Bridge, I recommend you check out Throne of the God-Pharaoh. That card has won me some games that I had no business winning.
If you are having trouble with board wipes, try being more conservative with your plays if you think one is coming so that you still have backups in your hand. Or, even better, slam a Lodestone Golem or two on turn 3/4 in order to delay their 4cost wipe while you beat down.
I have tried some of the more control-ish decks with counterspells and discard spells, etc. but I think they water down the deck too much. The rest of our deck likes to tap out and drop lots of creatures rather than hold up mana for some instant-speed trick and it just becomes awkward. I noticed that you are only playing 17 artifacts in your deck which is pretty low. This is probably the reason why you haven't been having much luck with Tezzeret. Increasing your artifact count could probably help increase your consistency and velocity.
Game 1 was a dead game for me. Drew mostly lands and that was it.
Game 2 I boarded in 2 Dismembers and 1 Ceremonious Rejection, removing my Treasure Mage, Sundering Titan and a Stubborn Denial. My opponent mull'ed to 5. I somehow drew all my Grand Architects and started beating my opponent down with my 3/5s (I had a Heartless Summoning down). Matter Reshaper was no match.
Game 3, the last state was: my opponent was at 10 life, with an untapped Matter Reshaper and Walking Ballista with 2 counters while I had a Noxious Gearhulk, Tezzeret at 4, a 5/5 Darksteel Citadel and was at 6 life. I had a Walking Ballista in my hand and 6 mana to use. In my main phase, fearing that he might use his ballista to ping Tezz, I used his ult to make him lose 4 life. I attacked with all my creatures and he blocked the gearhulk, leaving him at 1 life. I then cast the ballista and pinged for the win.
Match 2: UR Storm (2-1)
Game 1 my opponent was able to draw into his combo at turn 3 while I only had a Myr Superion, a Spellskite and a Chief Engineer doing nothing but cry at the combo.
Game 2 I boarded in 2 Dismembers, 1 Fatal Push, 1 Chalice, 2 Trinket Mages and a Nihil Spellbomb. We got to a board state where he had 3 life, but a board full of 1/1 goblins (18 to be exact). I a Walking Ballista and 6 mana to use so when I got my turn I pinged for the win.
Game 3 My opponent cast a Baral which I tried to push but he countered with a Swan Song giving my a 2/2 Bird. I drew into another push and killed Baral. Over the next few turns, I drew 2 Grand Architects and kept leaving 1 mana open so I can use Dismember. The 2/2 bird which turned 4/4 swung for the kill.
Match 3: UG Merfolk (0-2)
Lost the 2 games because my opponent had a whole lot of creatures and I couldn't block or respond to them fast enough. Even after boarding in all my removals, I didn't draw into a whole lot of them. Islandwalk is a pain since I normally have Islands in play with my opponent having to convert my lands to islands. The merfolk matchup appears to be too fast for me.
In conclusion, given the meta having counters don't really do much for me. It seems I need more removal.
My deck currently has some weird numbers of some cards but that's because I don't have the physical cards with me.
I'll look into the points made by @VariousBoots and @ghgiunco to see if a more aggro build works for my shop's meta.
Okay Lets talk removal as this is a topic Im also debating more as I have found removal is needed. Currently I am running these as removal:
---Main deck--- Noxious Gearhulk
2 Walking Ballista
So I've realised Ive cut back on my removal suite and I need to adjust this. One thing I have been looking at recently is playing 2 balista, a duplicant, and a Gearhulk main deck paired with 2 Treasure Mages so that I can hunt my removal down. However In this I feel I still need a bit more spot removal but Im still Unsure what to run so without further adu...
Spot removal considerations!
Ethersworn Adjudicator: If we play Engineered explosives we often play a 3rd color which if we make that color white, Adjudicator could be a decent removal engine as well as its blue, flies, and we can give it sudo-vigilance. its a strong contender. However its downside is it costs 5 which is my least favorite cmc in the deck. its just high enough that its slow to land unlike our 4 drops but also is too small for Treasure mage to tutor.
Dismember: Plays better with Lodestone golem and doesn;t require us to have black out which is nice but the life tax on it can be really dangerous and it doesn't hit any tron threats which is one match-up where we need our spot removal for.
Executioner's Capsule: Its an egg that can be trinket maged however its just a Doom blade and is a bit black heavy. its a decent card as it gets around lodestone but its a 1BB doom blade seal.
Fatal Push: Moderns golden removal however with Lodestone golem out it often is a 2 cmc spell which makes it less good but its great in the sideboard for Counters Company, Affinity, and Burn/Zoo.
Murderous Cut: My personal favorite removal in Modern. The delve gets around lodestone tax and its unconditional however we may not always have a large grave. I have tested it a bit but in a meta where we didn't need as much removal. I will be testing this again.
Slaughter Pact: Being free never looked so good... until you have to pay Lodestone golem tax. I know various used this a lot in the past so i will let him talk more on this guy.
Vendetta: My last piece of instant removal that I have considered. It may hurt more than dismember at types but it hits more creatures than dismember.
So that's the removal Im covering for now but Im interested in trying Ethersworn Adjudicator maindeck and possibly moving some Fatal pushes to Sideboard for bad matchups.
Slaughter Pact: Being free never looked so good... until you have to pay Lodestone golem tax. I know various used this a lot in the past so i will let him talk more on this guy.
I love Slaughter Pact and this card has been a VIP for me in the past because it is both free and can be cast under a chalice for 1, but the "nonblack" clause makes it miss every major target in the deck with the top meta share (Death's Shadow) and so I don't think it is worth running with other options around. This also applies to Executioner's Capsule and Vendetta.
Ethersworn Adjudicator: If we play Engineered explosives we often play a 3rd color which if we make that color white, Adjudicator could be a decent removal engine as well as its blue, flies, and we can give it sudo-vigilance. its a strong contender. However its downside is it costs 5 which is my least favorite cmc in the deck. its just high enough that its slow to land unlike our 4 drops but also is too small for Treasure mage to tutor.
This guy seems cool and would be incredibly oppressive if it came online, but it doesn't do anything the turn you play it. You can't tutor it up and drop it to kill a threat, instead you have to hope it lives a full turn, untap and then sink a bunch of mana into it. I would prefer to run more Noxious Gearhulks, Duplicants and Phyrexian Metamorphs.
If you look at my most recent list, I am playing a mix of Fatal Push and Dismember in the side for instant speed removal and that has been working really well for me. Push is by far the best removal spell in the format, and Dismember comes in for those threats Push can't hit. I think Murderous Cut would be a reasonable substitute for Dismember for the reasons Ulka stated above.
One card I think you are missing is Basilisk Collar. Putting the collar on a Walking Ballista can wipe most of our opponents threats and both of the pieces of that combo are tutorable with Trinket Mage. Collar is also good on many of our other threats and is really fun to constantly swing in with a recurrable deathtouching/lifelinking Scrapheap Scrounger.
Today's Topic I want to discuss is Treasure Mage. Treasure mage of the 3 Artifact Mages is one that I seem to always want to try to include when the meta moves to a more control edge side. He helps us grab some of our larger threats
Creatures: Duplicant: Between this and Noxious Gearhulk we should probably run 1 if not both if we include the Treasure package as they become tutorable removal. While noxious makes for easier damage due to the menace he has Duplicant is boltproof even with Heartless summoning out. Enigma Sphinx: Meh Geistcatcher's Rig: I know this is one we used to run back in standard which is the only reason i mention it. While it can deal with large fliers, we typically don't have to deal with large fliers atm. Inkwell Leviathan: A neat card that against any blue control deck should be an autowin. Im considering a copy in the sideboard again for jeskai control and its ilk. Noxious Gearhulk: The 2nd 6 drop I'd include in a treasure package honestly as the lifegain, menace and removal all tied to a nice body makes him super worth it. Platinum Angel: This baby can save us from ad nauseam combo but with limited combo decks in the meta and lots of ways to remove her it doesn't seem worth it in our 75 (unless you play against a lot of combo) Platinum Emperion: Our other saving grace against combo. May be worth a sideboard slot if you play the package. Scuttling Doom Engine:a Poor mans Wurmcoil Engine. Honestly what I recommend to people in place of wurmcoils if they cant afford our coiling overlord. Steel Hellkite: seems kinda meh honestly as he seems fragile but if we played more counterspells I could see possibly running him. Sundering Titan: Oh lordy this Monoblue tron finisher is one i have considered but in the end decided against as we often lose 1-2 of our lands which is rough but it could be considered in a more control build. Torrential Gearhulk: Unless we are playing a ton of removal instants i feel he is a hard pass Wurmcoil Engine: Our bread, butter and everything we hope and dream for. With exception of Path to exile we will get little worms when he gets dealt with and that is if they can deal with him. Resolving a wurmcoil typically, will stabilize our boardstate so much so that even if we are at 4-5 life we can win against almost every deck, yes including burn.
Non Creature: Akroma's Memorial: I have never tested this but i feel it could be interesting but probably not worth it in a streasure mage board. Caged Sun: Again probably not worth it but naming blue could be very strong. Contagion Engine: Great against go wide strategies. I know various ran it for a while and when he used it it acted as a board wipe. Mindslaver: Typical mind slaver inclusion as we play Academy ruins. If you run this the tolaria west inclusion in your lands must be made. Salvaging Station: could be fun in a control build but not worth it for us currently. Spine of Ish Sah: seems interesting but probably not worth it.
The newest inclusion I wanted to talk about that made me want to cover this is The Immortal sun. I think the immortal sun may actually solve our tron match-up which is why I'm considering the treasure mage package in the first place.
Pithing Needleing all of trons walkers seems super strong while providing all our cards other advantages.
I guess we need mor better threat density, and maybe this pack is what we need to refine.
Duplicant: before i was thinking remove spells was better, but if we in fact can use Hostage for mor trick and think we can blink this, seens more fun.
Inkwell Leviathan i had tested this. 1 in the MB, i guess is worth, Trample is something i miss in our bug threat. Noxious Gearhulk is a must Platinum Angel i guess it is worth if we run Lightning Greveas Platinum Emperion without protection is hard to hold this in game, but can be a hard to deal piece Sundering Titan this guy i guess we should to run 1 and .. Sometimes a land we lose is less then 2-3 the opponent lose. He turn Lodestone Golem more powerful. Torrential Gearhulk I guess this is strong too. If we run 4-6 remove is good. Flash factor is super strong even if we dont have spell i think .. he has a good body and is blue. Wurmcoil Engine is a must too. i want to test Golden Guardian to fight with wurm, gain free life and get a ramp.
on Non Creature: Mindslaver is one consideration Staff of Nin should be include. Free draw and Damage
When the spoiler shows The Immortal sun I got excited with it. He cancel the Heartless drawback, can cancel the Lodestone Golem drawback on non-artifact spells, he gives us a card, but this cancel the Tezzeret's. He is super strong for us in my point of view.
ps.: i put 2 Fulminator Mage in my side to deal with land-based decks
I guess I never posted on my treasure post but i feel even in a treasure mage package we should only include 3-4 targets and probably 2 treasure mages. That is what I have found to be best in my testings but i may try more as jeskai control is a matchup that can be solved just by a Inkwell
I haven't considered Inkwell Leviathan in a long time. Landing it should win the game vs control as you say. Solid sideboard card for a treasure mage package.
Scuttling Doom Engine is actually pretty good. It's unblockable against a lot of decks (including control) and 6 damage to the face is also pretty sweet. I had a lot of fun playing this alongside Claws of Gix and Academy Ruins.
I don't like Platinum Angel or Platinum Emperion very much. They cost extra which means they come down too late against most combo. I would prefer to disrupt and race them instead.
The Immortal Sun is intriguing, but I did just play against g/r tron and was hit by double Oblivion Stone. The Sun would not have helped much there..
I guess I never posted on my treasure post but i feel even in a treasure mage package we should only include 3-4 targets and probably 2 treasure mages.
I agree 100%. 2 mages tops. Maybe even just 1 if you have Sphinx Summoners in the main. Also no more than 4 targets with 2 of those probably being Wurmcoil Engine we don't want to water down the deck so that we only have 6-8 drops
I agree with Ulka. I don't think it fits well with our deck in that it slows is down significantly in order to play it and we already have a lot of situations where we come start doing anything until turn 3 and I wouldn't want to push the gameplan back another turn for the sake of card quality
I started testing Molten-Tail Masticore today because it can discard extra Heartless and is a regeneratable beater with removal stapled on. Apparently it is currently bugged on MTGO so the upkeep ability doesn't make you discard anything. Turns out broken Masticore is really really good...
But no one say any thoughts about Golden Guardian. I guess he can powerup Tezzeret a lot as resilient artifact make, protecting making blocks and making numbers
I had a chance for test it in xmage one time just, in that situation was good, fight agains wurmcoil, free life, actived revolt for push and kill the Demon of the opponent. Some time in mid-late we just dont draw good things, would be nice more options
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i was imagining good plays with it ... can flip so easy
We can flip it on T3 if we play Myr Superion and Grand Architect and make creatures constantly ..
I used to play Heartless Architect with Havengul Lich to recur my fatties in standard, and I like seeing that this archetype is still kicking. Golden Guardian is a totally viable card by my estimation, for the exact reasons you mentioned. Having too many 4 drops isn't really a problem with the cost reductions in the deck, so the inclusion is pretty simple I think! The Land side is incredibly strong and ramps you up to wurmcoils and Gearhulks faster
Hate to leave a shameless plugin, but if you could check out my Smallpox list I would appreciate it! Looking for some feedback
I will be popping up here periodically, with a list of my own next time hopefully!
- Mono Black Pox BBB Modern:
Walking Ballista is definitely a good inclusion. Even if we have a Heartless it basically comes in without the -1/-1 (you can just choose X+1 since the Heartless will give you the discount). Definitely getting at least two. Matchups with DS have become more doable since they need to watch their life or the ballista will ping them to death. Just a note: a 1 counter ballista can't kill a 0/1 Tarmogoyf.
I'm adding in a Trinket Mage so I can find the Ballista if I need it or some other trinket. I'm testing Pithing Needle in the mainboard (just one), since it's the only real way I can deal with planeswalkers if they arrive early or aether vials.
I also added in some Spell Pierces just to help retain the advantage. When Lodestone Golem is on the board it makes him and our other creatures much harder to remove.
I'm finding a hard time dealing with Abzan Company so any thoughts on how you go about that matchup would be great.
Here's my current deck list:
// 1 Artifact
1 Pithing Needle
// 25 Creature
3 Lodestone Golem
3 Myr Superion
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Spellskite
2 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Glint-Nest Crane
3 Grand Architect
3 Chief Engineer
1 Sphinx Summoner
2 Walking Ballista
1 Trinket Mage
1 Duplicant
// 2 Enchantment
2 Heartless Summoning
// 7 Instant
4 Fatal Push
3 Spell Pierce
// 22 Land
1 Darksteel Citadel
2 Flooded Strand
2 Ghost Quarter
6 Island
3 Polluted Delta
2 Sunken Hollow
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 River of Tears
1 Underground River
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
// 3 Sorcery
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
// 5 Artifact
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Basilisk Collar
// 1 Creature
1 Trinket Mage
// 8 Instant
2 Dismember
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dispel
2 Surgical Extraction
// 1 Sorcery
1 Yahenni's Expertise
@pem
i just think your list is a little mess. You just need to run at least 4x Grand Architect if you dont wanna run4 HS.
- On iok, i recomend run Thoughtseize, he hurts a little, but it discard anything can disturbs us.
- On Trinket Mage: i like tutors, but you have 2 targets for this, o think one more ballista is worth then 1 mage for this purpose
- You should test Noxious Gearhulk its super strong, Remove + life gain + evasive
On company match:
It's a really difficult match.
Besides Cage and Chalice .. Fatal Push hits the combo pieces, Ballista is good to slow then, remove ramps and Visera Seer, needle is good on Visera Seer, mass remove is good when you see on piece in battlefield cause the opponent cant do an Company in response
I've been talking to Ulka a little outside of the forum and we've been thinking it might be best to push the parts of the deck that our most broken plays come from (make it a little more "all in"). So from our conversations I have settled on the following list for my first round of test in 2018:
4 Grand Architect
2 Chief Engineer
3 Glint-Nest Crane
2 Mulldrifter
Enchantment
3 Heartless Summoning
Land
1 Tolaria West
4 Watery Grave
1 Academy Ruins
4 Polluted Delta
1 Sunken Hollow
2 Ghost Quarter
8 Island
1 Swamp
1 Darksteel Citadel
2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Spellskite
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Duplicant
2 Sphinx Summoner
4 Myr Superion
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Wurmcoil Engine
Planeswalker
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Trinket Mage
1 Treasure Mage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Walking Ballista
2 Fatal Push
1 Dismember
2 Yahenni's Expertise
I'll go back over some of the comments from the last few months over the next few days and put out some of my opinions on those
Happy to see you back. Waiting for your comments on this "old" posts.
Trust me, i tested many things, and many of them works well.
After spend some time in my other deck, i see how good is redundance and pieces to find the engine. Maybe deck need cantrips at T1 i dont work on this again for while.
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas in the deck is something I'm wondering about now. I rarely get to use it, and even when I do it normally gets killed quickly. Yes, I know it's a way to delay getting killed ourselves but sometimes it also costs us a turn to cast. Adding in Walking Ballista filled in that need to have something that can go through a grindy matchup for me.
Tezz has always been an MVP for me. Landing one can turn the tide of the game. Tezz selectively draws us an artifact card every turn (even if he dies right away he at least replaces himself) or he has the option of boosting something to 5/5 (optimally that's our Darksteel Citadels). And then there is his ultimate... Unlike most planeswalkers, Tezz's ultimate is extremely easy to pull off. You can use it the turn after you play him and then drain for double your artifact count. I have won tons of games with that and it is generally our best answer to stalemates. I wouldn't want to cut him. If anything I would consider playing a 3rd.
We actually do have ways to win around an ensnaring bridge, unlike most other creature based decks. As I mentioned above, Tezzeret's ultimate will do the trick, and you also have walking ballistas. You can even attack with spellskites and then pump them with your architects to push through some damage. And lastly, if you are having a lot of problems with Ensnaring Bridge, I recommend you check out Throne of the God-Pharaoh. That card has won me some games that I had no business winning.
If you are having trouble with board wipes, try being more conservative with your plays if you think one is coming so that you still have backups in your hand. Or, even better, slam a Lodestone Golem or two on turn 3/4 in order to delay their 4cost wipe while you beat down.
I have tried some of the more control-ish decks with counterspells and discard spells, etc. but I think they water down the deck too much. The rest of our deck likes to tap out and drop lots of creatures rather than hold up mana for some instant-speed trick and it just becomes awkward. I noticed that you are only playing 17 artifacts in your deck which is pretty low. This is probably the reason why you haven't been having much luck with Tezzeret. Increasing your artifact count could probably help increase your consistency and velocity.
// 1 Artifact
1 Mind Stone
// 28 Creature
3 Lodestone Golem
3 Myr Superion
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Glint-Nest Crane
4 Grand Architect
2 Chief Engineer
2 Walking Ballista
1 Mulldrifter
1 Treasure Mage
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Sundering Titan
2 Spellskite
// 3 Enchantment
3 Heartless Summoning
// 7 Instant
3 Fatal Push
4 Stubborn Denial
// 22 Land
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Flooded Strand
2 Ghost Quarter
6 Island
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Academy Ruins
2 Darkslick Shores
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Underground River
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
// 5 Artifact
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Pithing Needle
// 2 Creature
2 Trinket Mage
// 7 Instant
2 Dismember
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Spell Pierce
1 Fatal Push
// 1 Sorcery
1 Yahenni's Expertise
Place: 3rd (8 players)
Match 1: Eldrazi Tron (2-1)
Game 2 I boarded in 2 Dismembers and 1 Ceremonious Rejection, removing my Treasure Mage, Sundering Titan and a Stubborn Denial. My opponent mull'ed to 5. I somehow drew all my Grand Architects and started beating my opponent down with my 3/5s (I had a Heartless Summoning down). Matter Reshaper was no match.
Game 3, the last state was: my opponent was at 10 life, with an untapped Matter Reshaper and Walking Ballista with 2 counters while I had a Noxious Gearhulk, Tezzeret at 4, a 5/5 Darksteel Citadel and was at 6 life. I had a Walking Ballista in my hand and 6 mana to use. In my main phase, fearing that he might use his ballista to ping Tezz, I used his ult to make him lose 4 life. I attacked with all my creatures and he blocked the gearhulk, leaving him at 1 life. I then cast the ballista and pinged for the win.
Match 2: UR Storm (2-1)
Game 2 I boarded in 2 Dismembers, 1 Fatal Push, 1 Chalice, 2 Trinket Mages and a Nihil Spellbomb. We got to a board state where he had 3 life, but a board full of 1/1 goblins (18 to be exact). I a Walking Ballista and 6 mana to use so when I got my turn I pinged for the win.
Game 3 My opponent cast a Baral which I tried to push but he countered with a Swan Song giving my a 2/2 Bird. I drew into another push and killed Baral. Over the next few turns, I drew 2 Grand Architects and kept leaving 1 mana open so I can use Dismember. The 2/2 bird which turned 4/4 swung for the kill.
Match 3: UG Merfolk (0-2)
In conclusion, given the meta having counters don't really do much for me. It seems I need more removal.
My deck currently has some weird numbers of some cards but that's because I don't have the physical cards with me.
I'll look into the points made by @VariousBoots and @ghgiunco to see if a more aggro build works for my shop's meta.
---Main deck---
Noxious Gearhulk
2 Walking Ballista
--Sideboard--
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Yahenni's Expertise
So I've realised Ive cut back on my removal suite and I need to adjust this. One thing I have been looking at recently is playing 2 balista, a duplicant, and a Gearhulk main deck paired with 2 Treasure Mages so that I can hunt my removal down. However In this I feel I still need a bit more spot removal but Im still Unsure what to run so without further adu...
Spot removal considerations!
Ethersworn Adjudicator: If we play Engineered explosives we often play a 3rd color which if we make that color white, Adjudicator could be a decent removal engine as well as its blue, flies, and we can give it sudo-vigilance. its a strong contender. However its downside is it costs 5 which is my least favorite cmc in the deck. its just high enough that its slow to land unlike our 4 drops but also is too small for Treasure mage to tutor.
Dismember: Plays better with Lodestone golem and doesn;t require us to have black out which is nice but the life tax on it can be really dangerous and it doesn't hit any tron threats which is one match-up where we need our spot removal for.
Executioner's Capsule: Its an egg that can be trinket maged however its just a Doom blade and is a bit black heavy. its a decent card as it gets around lodestone but its a 1BB doom blade seal.
Fatal Push: Moderns golden removal however with Lodestone golem out it often is a 2 cmc spell which makes it less good but its great in the sideboard for Counters Company, Affinity, and Burn/Zoo.
Murderous Cut: My personal favorite removal in Modern. The delve gets around lodestone tax and its unconditional however we may not always have a large grave. I have tested it a bit but in a meta where we didn't need as much removal. I will be testing this again.
Slaughter Pact: Being free never looked so good... until you have to pay Lodestone golem tax. I know various used this a lot in the past so i will let him talk more on this guy.
Vendetta: My last piece of instant removal that I have considered. It may hurt more than dismember at types but it hits more creatures than dismember.
Brittle Effigy: I've tried this. its a lot of mana to keep up but it does exile so its nice to hit opposing Wurmcoil engines or World breakers.
So that's the removal Im covering for now but Im interested in trying Ethersworn Adjudicator maindeck and possibly moving some Fatal pushes to Sideboard for bad matchups.
Remove + body + blue creature and can play for you the creature (and see, hit indestructible)
Or a pseudo-Blink for Noxious Gearhulk (act as remove)
I didn't even think about that. that is interesting. I will need to test.
You have me very interested. I think I'll pick up a couple and see how they fare.
I love Slaughter Pact and this card has been a VIP for me in the past because it is both free and can be cast under a chalice for 1, but the "nonblack" clause makes it miss every major target in the deck with the top meta share (Death's Shadow) and so I don't think it is worth running with other options around. This also applies to Executioner's Capsule and Vendetta.
This guy seems cool and would be incredibly oppressive if it came online, but it doesn't do anything the turn you play it. You can't tutor it up and drop it to kill a threat, instead you have to hope it lives a full turn, untap and then sink a bunch of mana into it. I would prefer to run more Noxious Gearhulks, Duplicants and Phyrexian Metamorphs.
If you look at my most recent list, I am playing a mix of Fatal Push and Dismember in the side for instant speed removal and that has been working really well for me. Push is by far the best removal spell in the format, and Dismember comes in for those threats Push can't hit. I think Murderous Cut would be a reasonable substitute for Dismember for the reasons Ulka stated above.
One card I think you are missing is Basilisk Collar. Putting the collar on a Walking Ballista can wipe most of our opponents threats and both of the pieces of that combo are tutorable with Trinket Mage. Collar is also good on many of our other threats and is really fun to constantly swing in with a recurrable deathtouching/lifelinking Scrapheap Scrounger.
Creatures:
Duplicant: Between this and Noxious Gearhulk we should probably run 1 if not both if we include the Treasure package as they become tutorable removal. While noxious makes for easier damage due to the menace he has Duplicant is boltproof even with Heartless summoning out.
Enigma Sphinx: Meh
Geistcatcher's Rig: I know this is one we used to run back in standard which is the only reason i mention it. While it can deal with large fliers, we typically don't have to deal with large fliers atm.
Inkwell Leviathan: A neat card that against any blue control deck should be an autowin. Im considering a copy in the sideboard again for jeskai control and its ilk.
Noxious Gearhulk: The 2nd 6 drop I'd include in a treasure package honestly as the lifegain, menace and removal all tied to a nice body makes him super worth it.
Platinum Angel: This baby can save us from ad nauseam combo but with limited combo decks in the meta and lots of ways to remove her it doesn't seem worth it in our 75 (unless you play against a lot of combo)
Platinum Emperion: Our other saving grace against combo. May be worth a sideboard slot if you play the package.
Scuttling Doom Engine:a Poor mans Wurmcoil Engine. Honestly what I recommend to people in place of wurmcoils if they cant afford our coiling overlord.
Steel Hellkite: seems kinda meh honestly as he seems fragile but if we played more counterspells I could see possibly running him.
Sundering Titan: Oh lordy this Monoblue tron finisher is one i have considered but in the end decided against as we often lose 1-2 of our lands which is rough but it could be considered in a more control build.
Torrential Gearhulk: Unless we are playing a ton of removal instants i feel he is a hard pass
Wurmcoil Engine: Our bread, butter and everything we hope and dream for. With exception of Path to exile we will get little worms when he gets dealt with and that is if they can deal with him. Resolving a wurmcoil typically, will stabilize our boardstate so much so that even if we are at 4-5 life we can win against almost every deck, yes including burn.
Non Creature:
Akroma's Memorial: I have never tested this but i feel it could be interesting but probably not worth it in a streasure mage board.
Caged Sun: Again probably not worth it but naming blue could be very strong.
Contagion Engine: Great against go wide strategies. I know various ran it for a while and when he used it it acted as a board wipe.
Mindslaver: Typical mind slaver inclusion as we play Academy ruins. If you run this the tolaria west inclusion in your lands must be made.
Salvaging Station: could be fun in a control build but not worth it for us currently.
Spine of Ish Sah: seems interesting but probably not worth it.
The newest inclusion I wanted to talk about that made me want to cover this is The Immortal sun. I think the immortal sun may actually solve our tron match-up which is why I'm considering the treasure mage package in the first place.
Pithing Needleing all of trons walkers seems super strong while providing all our cards other advantages.
Thoughts?
- Just remember a thing:
on Remove:
Tragic Slip is something to consider? it can hit some indestruticble and is cheap
Hostage Taker can do the same with our Treasure Mage, we can recast for new tutorable piece.
- Now on the Treasure Mage pack in fact:
I guess we need mor better threat density, and maybe this pack is what we need to refine.
Duplicant: before i was thinking remove spells was better, but if we in fact can use Hostage for mor trick and think we can blink this, seens more fun.
Inkwell Leviathan i had tested this. 1 in the MB, i guess is worth, Trample is something i miss in our bug threat.
Noxious Gearhulk is a must
Platinum Angel i guess it is worth if we run Lightning Greveas
Platinum Emperion without protection is hard to hold this in game, but can be a hard to deal piece
Sundering Titan this guy i guess we should to run 1 and .. Sometimes a land we lose is less then 2-3 the opponent lose. He turn Lodestone Golem more powerful.
Torrential Gearhulk I guess this is strong too. If we run 4-6 remove is good. Flash factor is super strong even if we dont have spell i think .. he has a good body and is blue.
Wurmcoil Engine is a must too. i want to test Golden Guardian to fight with wurm, gain free life and get a ramp.
on Non Creature:
Mindslaver is one consideration
Staff of Nin should be include. Free draw and Damage
When the spoiler shows The Immortal sun I got excited with it. He cancel the Heartless drawback, can cancel the Lodestone Golem drawback on non-artifact spells, he gives us a card, but this cancel the Tezzeret's. He is super strong for us in my point of view.
ps.: i put 2 Fulminator Mage in my side to deal with land-based decks
I haven't considered Inkwell Leviathan in a long time. Landing it should win the game vs control as you say. Solid sideboard card for a treasure mage package.
Scuttling Doom Engine is actually pretty good. It's unblockable against a lot of decks (including control) and 6 damage to the face is also pretty sweet. I had a lot of fun playing this alongside Claws of Gix and Academy Ruins.
I don't like Platinum Angel or Platinum Emperion very much. They cost extra which means they come down too late against most combo. I would prefer to disrupt and race them instead.
The Immortal Sun is intriguing, but I did just play against g/r tron and was hit by double Oblivion Stone. The Sun would not have helped much there..
I agree 100%. 2 mages tops. Maybe even just 1 if you have Sphinx Summoners in the main. Also no more than 4 targets with 2 of those probably being Wurmcoil Engine we don't want to water down the deck so that we only have 6-8 drops
What do you think about 1 Search for Azcanta to improve the draw quality?
I just feel its a weaker option as we have the artifact diggers/ mulldrifter draw
But no one say any thoughts about Golden Guardian. I guess he can powerup Tezzeret a lot as resilient artifact make, protecting making blocks and making numbers
I had a chance for test it in xmage one time just, in that situation was good, fight agains wurmcoil, free life, actived revolt for push and kill the Demon of the opponent. Some time in mid-late we just dont draw good things, would be nice more options