Hasn't changed much but here is my version which runs 2 whirs in the main that exclusively fetch thopter, sword, or bridge. Once I board they can hit some other bullets like cage, spellskite, ratchet bomb or my favourite witchbane orb
This deck realistically has 2 paths to victory: thopter/sword or tezzeret (whether 5/5s or ultimate). I have ashiok in there as a ghetto 3rd way to win a game but I'm not sure it ever really works - usually if I've ashiok'd enough to get someone in mill range I've also at some point established a tezz or thopter/sword anyways. I think its important to keep track of your build and how you're actually going to win games - I think most boil down to those 2 possibilities and everything else is just getting us to the point where we can win with those. I would desperately love a tutorable artifact with whir that would give me an alternate win con, but I can't get behind the rack or jinxed idol ><
My biggest problem has been that with these 2 win conditions thopter/sword in particular becomes painfully vulnerable in game 2 and 3. getting hit by artifact and graveyard hate is brutal, not to mention incidental crap like night of soul's betrayal or phyrexian revoker or suppression field. Sometimes you also get smoked game 1 by k-command or abrupt decay - we really need either a bridge or a foundry/sword combo to stick most of the time. An unprotected tezzeret doesnt often get there.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Scrap Trawler:
This falls in the category of cute to me... to get back a foundry you need to lose a bridge or the trawler and it can't help you recur bridge really. I think for this slot trading post is far superior. Both is probably overkill but I can see synergy (sort of chirstmasland honestly).
In a proper build made to abuse it scrap trawler isn't just "cute" or "magical christmas land" but a very powerful recursive tool that negates artifact hate in the form of destruction. I know because i've been playing the card for a few weeks now.
You just need to include enough zero mana cost artifacts such as mishra's bauble and hangarback walker, with the full 4x thopter foundry and you'll get tons of value for sure, allowing you to "go off" without the combo.
I can see your point - I was referring to the more control-whir style of deck context
I think Trawler and Post are very different and I don't think you can compare them directly. Whichever one is better is probably a meta call. That said, I'd be interested to hear if you think my list posted just earlier is a "control-whir style" of deck, because I find it performs beautifully.
Totally different context. I think your deck is very cool. Not only a meta call but a deck's goals call too.
Your deck in my view is not the control-attrition shell ive been speaking about. Its more all in on the combo and bridge. Theres nothing wrong with that
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Legacy:B The Gate // B Pox Modern:RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox EDH:RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal Tiny Leaders:BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
I don't really agree that the deck top-decks poorly, or, if that's true, then it isn't important for the deck to do so. Tezz, bridge, and thopter/sword are such haymakers that you don't usually need a constant stream of threats/answers off the top of the deck. The combined tutoring power of whir/inventors' fair/tezz is quite high. That said, I've always gone back to having 2-3 serum visions. To address the hand disruption point, I run 4 copies of Collective Brutality maindeck and no Inquisition. Brutality handles an issue you were just complaining about - having extra copies of cards in hand and/or useless cards in hand, and turning them into value. Why play 4 IoK and 4 push when you can play 4 brutality and let bridge do the rest? Brutality doesn't hit stuff like Stony Silence out of the board, but IoK isn't a great answer to the card either.
Tez, bridge and thopter sword win you a ton of game ones. You need proactive answers to their threats post board. We absolutely do topdeck poorly,depending on the list you have there could be upwards of 20 cards (not including lands) that you do not want to see off the top in any given game. And yes our haymakers are very good but they do not make up for the fluff. There are clearly problems with the deck, that need to be fixed,or it would be listed in the tier 1 subforums. I personally believe this is one of them. If it's not join the discussion and lets work together to figure out what is.
Cool, just checking. It's hard to keep track of what everyone defines everyone else as doing sometimes haha. I think without the full support structure of my deck as it currently is, trawler wouldn't be worth its salt. In some people's lists where they have IoK, CB, Thoughtseize, and god knows what other non-artifact answers, he does a lot less. The best is when he's in play and someone does something like spend a bolt on him. I typically sac a mishra's bauble, then sac a pyrite spellbomb to kill something of theirs, get back the bauble, then trawler dies and I get back the spellbomb, then draw two next upkeep. It allows for a LOT of incremental card advantage in a build like this.
Overall, the hours I have put into this deck on MODO and paper, coupled with my GP experience have left me with the feeling that we can make this deck competitive beyond the FNM level, however it will take a ton of work for us, as deckbuilders to collaborate and find the right list. There are 2 very important issues I have discovered with Tezzerator that we need to address in order to push this deck into the next level
1) We NEED to run disruption
This is true for multiple reasons:
- The information is key. You will win an obcene amount of game ones using the info gathered by Seize/Inquizition to tutor up silver bullets. The ability to know between 40 and 50 cards in our opponents maindeck is an incredible advantage, as we know the outs they have to bridge, what potential threats are, and can consequently tutor up proactive answers. The information disparity between us and our opponents straight up wins games, as they usually have no idea whats going on on our side of the table.
- Your game 2 winrate will plummmet without hand disruption. We do not run enough answers to stuff like stony silence, RIP, recall and rest in peace in order to afford to cut these cards. Our deck relies a ton on sticking a bridge. Slightly less so now, with Whir, but honestly it is so important. Bridge wins games. Every single deck in modern runs artifact hate, and we need to be able to proactive answers to these. I've put hours into trying the deck with and without hand disruption and honestly cannot justify cutting them. I will be sticking to 3 inq 2 seize and 2 brutality maindeck until someone proves that this is wrong.
HOWEVER, this deckbuilding constriction leads to a MUCH BIGGER problem with tezzerator. The reason this deck, in its current form, has one gigantic flaw......
2) We Topdeck worse than any other deck in magic... ever... seriously.
Pentad prism, hand disruption, extra halves of thopter sword, wrong silver bullets, mox opal, welding jar, lands, extra copies of bridge. It is seriously the most frustrating thing I have ever experienced. Topdecking a sword of the meek when all you need is ANYTHING else is the most frustrating experience imaginable.I lost a side event game to a Jund opponent that was stuck on one land until turn 7, all because he seized both Tezzerets out of my hand and I drew stone nothing 6 turns in a row.
I think the solution to this is upping the threat density. I personally don't feel like Herald in the main is good, but I will be slotting a 4th Tez in additon to 2 copies of Liliana of the Veil. We need cards that can win the game on their own, because you literally cannot rely on drawing anything that affects the board in a meaningful way after both hands are stripped. This is the biggest problem with the deck, bar none. It is incredibly infuriating, and is one of the only things holding the deck back. We need a way to break the top-deck parity, as every other deck in magic topdecks better than us.
How do we fix this issue? Any suggestions? I'll be posting a sideboard guide in the coming days, just making some minor adjustments.
Thank you for the report, Crabfisher!
I am 100% onboard with your criticisms of the current shells and direction brewing should be focused. The terrible topdecks this deck produces are an enormous problem, and one that we haven't really found a good way of addressing. I'd even go so far as to agree with you that it's the #1 thing holding the deck back. So in addition to facing several kinds of prevalent hate, it feels like the deck is pulled in a bunch of directions, and it can't really support all of them. Those directions being:
If we want to look at addressing the poor topdeck issue, the place to start is IMO the maindeck reliance on silver bullets. Needle seems good since it's very rarely a dead draw, but some of the more situational ones often come back to bite you. I'd also wager that the mana accelerants could be slimmed down. Yeah, Prism helps with Whir or with turn 3 Tezzeret animating Citadel, but I don't know if it helps more than just running better cards. The next thing to look at is IMO getting some stronger filter in. Crane is one option (requiring a high artifact count), but I'll keep harping on Serum Visions and especially Thirst for Knowledge as good places to turn. Other than that, interaction (removal, discard, Liliana, etc.) are all good places to look.
Finally, there's that awkward tension between running more genuinely good cards rather than artifacts, and powering down your filter cards and Tezzeret. I'm not really sure how to walk that line. I guess at the end of the day we have to ask ourselves: are we a combo deck, a midrange/control deck, an artifacts deck, or something else?
I'm just rambling by this point so I'll shut up now.
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Playing UX Mana Denial until Modern gets the answers it needs.
WUBRG Humans BRW Mardu Pyromancer UW UW "Control" UR Blue Moon
I don't really agree that the deck top-decks poorly, or, if that's true, then it isn't important for the deck to do so. Tezz, bridge, and thopter/sword are such haymakers that you don't usually need a constant stream of threats/answers off the top of the deck. The combined tutoring power of whir/inventors' fair/tezz is quite high. That said, I've always gone back to having 2-3 serum visions. To address the hand disruption point, I run 4 copies of Collective Brutality maindeck and no Inquisition. Brutality handles an issue you were just complaining about - having extra copies of cards in hand and/or useless cards in hand, and turning them into value. Why play 4 IoK and 4 push when you can play 4 brutality and let bridge do the rest? Brutality doesn't hit stuff like Stony Silence out of the board, but IoK isn't a great answer to the card either.
Tez, bridge and thopter sword win you a ton of game ones. You need proactive answers to their threats post board. We absolutely do topdeck poorly,depending on the list you have there could be upwards of 20 cards (not including lands) that you do not want to see off the top in any given game. And yes our haymakers are very good but they do not make up for the fluff. There are clearly problems with the deck, that need to be fixed,or it would be listed in the tier 1 subforums. I personally believe this is one of them. If it's not join the discussion and lets work together to figure out what is.
Thanks for the reply. What 20 cards don't I want to see game 2? I'm almost never cutting mana rocks, as they are part of my mana base. For reference, my list:
Affinity: -2 Jar, -1 Bauble, -1 Time Sieve, +1 Needle, +1 Blood Moon, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Flaying Tendrils (honsetly this matchup is so easy, repeal is such a hoser for their arcbound shenanigans)
As you can see, I'm making 4-5 changes usually, unless it's a terrible matchup like tron. Sideboarding for me, I ask the question: What is more powerful, their combo or thopter/sword? If it's their combo, (valakut, tron, finks recursion, kiki-jiki, elves, ad nauseum, cheerios) I will concentrate on all the prison/control elements at my disposal, and play those first. Then I ask: Will they play Stony Silence? This is really the only hate card I care about. We can deal with Kataki or destroy effects. Rest in Peace hurts, but doesn't stop us from making thopters without a sword. My gameplan against SS is to hide behind bridge and wait for a turn to repeal it, or if they haven't cast it yet, Chalice on 2. Both Time Sieve and Tezz allow an instant kill once Silence is bounced.
Other than those combos and Stony Silence, there pretty much isn't a threat I care about (that my maindeck can't answer in some way).
that last part is exactly what i've been thinking about the last few days, and i feel like we are getting a bit misguided with the deck at this point. the primer states that the deck is supposed to be a control deck, which wins using the thopter/sword combo. so i'd like to get back to working as a functional control deck that plays the combo towards the late game. either that or if we want to become a more midrange deck or a combo deck or whatever else we should think about starting a new thread for such a deck.
Strongly disagree with the sentiment that the new deck style emerging because of Whir is somehow not part of "UB Tezzeret: Agent of Bolas Control". The thopter sword combo was only unbanned last year, when this thread was on 151 pages. We're on 231 now and things change and shift. The comment you're replying to says that we should move in a more controlling direction by using less artifacts and adding Serum Visions and Thirst for Knowledge clashes with what I would say is definitely our strongest card in Ensnaring Bridge. Ironically, the best card we have right now to "draw" cards out of our deck is Whir, which doesn't necessarily care if you only have one artifact in your deck, just synergising with a deep artifact strategy. I'm not trying to start a fight, but I just feel that the problem we seem to be struggling with, "bad top decks" is not, I think, answered by dividing the deck into two categories and calling the "bad top-decking" version a combo one somehow, when it's the one that's really far more efficient at playing our control angle, in my humble opinion.
I agree with this as well.
I think the deck should focus on one thing only, that is to control with Thopter/Sword/Tezz. Game 2/3 change of strategy. Ensoul Artifacts/Herald kinda stuff which is not hit by stony silence/graveyard hate.
I'm interested in what you mean by this, that we should "focus on one thing only, that is to control with Thopter/Sword/Tezz." In my experience and testing the Whir versions of this deck are far more consistent at this than previous versions at doing exactly that.
In regards to poor topdeck, if only sensei's diving top wasn't banned :D. I would love for Merchant's dockhand to work. But the invest (4 mana) is too much and the CMC and P/T make it very easy to remove. Other than that, with 4x Tezz and 4x Crane 1/2 Whir/Inventor's fair it should not be to hard to assemble the keycards.
I'm interested in why you favor Crane over Whir. Whir searches the whole deck, albeit at some cost, whereas crane only digs 4. I've cut 4 cranes, which I LOVED for 4 Whir, which I love MORE.
On the assertion that this deck has bad late game draws
To be clear, I am discussing the control-whir style of deck using a disruption package such as mine (see list posted previously).
Here is my view dead draws in the deck:
All decks can draw land in the late game.
Mana rocks should be treated as lands for this purpose.
Removal can be useful throughout the game depending on the deck you are facing. Example a late game inquisition of kozilek can grab a sandbagged counterspell to clear the way for a tezzeret. Removal like push is almost always useful in the late game. Both aren't necessarily what you "want" to draw - but are far from "dead" draws.
Additional copies of thopter-sword you do not need are bad draws. Not necessarily dead either, but bad. If you look at it from the standpoint of currently only having one piece in play and drawing extra copies of that same piece - then you can have a max of 2 dead draws in most lists (2/3 thopter foundrys).
filter cards, draw spells, whirs - never dead
Additional tezzerets - if you have on in play already, extras are "dead" but this isn't a bad situation to be in.
The real useful part of this discussion imo is what utility artifacts you run in order to make the deck work - whir targets, cheap artifacts to help with improvise and artifact count in general. This is an inherant deckbuilding strain we have to deal with to play tezzeret decks. As was previously mentioned by Radouf - we need 20-25 artifacts in the MD minimum depending on the style of tezzeret deck you have built. Not all artifacts always do things we want - this is just a fact of the cardpool - otherwise we would just be jamming all artifacts and call it a day - aka affinity.
In the average matchup most of the cards are not "dead":
2x Spellskite - defense, disruption, lockout some decks
1x Darksteel Citadel - manabase
1x Mox Opal - manabase
4x Pentad Prism - manabase
1x Executioner's Capsule - removal
1x Pacification Array - removal, board control
1x Nihil Spellbomb - cantrips, hoses some decks
1x Pithing Needle - usually useful - sometimes useless.
2x Sword of the Meek - combo, 1 copy max is dead
3x Thopter Foundry - combo, 2 copy max is dead (but can still make a dude out of itself)
1x Ensnaring Bridge - never dead
1x Trading Post - never dead
Realistically from what I can see this lineup doesn't have much more of an issue over other "control/ attrition" decks. Being that I am going for that sort of build I plan for my answers to be realistically versatile and I accept when they do not line up 100% as part of the strategy. There is also a low threat density to deal with - also similar to other decks in this category.
Where we have a real disadvantage is the Mana-source count:
I run 22 lands + 5 rocks = 27 mana sources. This is 2-4 additional mana rocks over other decks employing a similar strategy. This is a slight disadvantage...
Let's weigh the adv/disadv:
- approx 3 extra lands
- potentially 2 dead combo pieces
- removal might not line up with the game state
+ 4x tinker effect
+ tutorable silver bullets in sideboard (and some versatile enough in the main)
+ reduce need for redundancy in effects - toolbox approach
+ powerful trump cards, difficult to disrupt
This is not so much an argument in support of/ against anyone elses in the thread - just an explanation of how I evaluate my approach to the deck - and those that are similar. I don't see any overly large disadvantage in late game draws as compared to most other decks I have played or played against...
However I do see the major advantages of Tezz + Bridge + Whir + combo in one deck. Played well this is a very difficult deck to beat...
Legacy:B The Gate // B Pox Modern:RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox EDH:RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal Tiny Leaders:BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
@Jwelt - I've been coming to the same conclusions as you. Too many mana sources, too many combo pieces. I've been trying to come up with strategies to address this as well. I suggest trying out a 3/1 split of Foundry/Sword. Sword is recursive in its own right, so we really only need 1 copy, we have plenty of ways to find it. I originally was testing as 2/1 split, but found that the extra foundry actually helps deal with some of the flooding issues a little bit by turning rocks and citadels into thopters. This could still be wrong, and I can see a 2/1 split still being optimal if we find another way to address flood. I originally tried running the 2nd sword in the board, but eventually removed it because the effects that hose our combo hose us whether we have 1 or 2 in the deck (RIP, Extract, Stony).
This gets me full circle to thinking about having the 2/1 split again, because it becomes easier to remove the combo entirely after game 1 if we expect those hard to deal with answers. We can replace the combo with value artifacts that have either static abilities, or ETB effects in order to have our Whirs still be great. I tried filigree familiar and Solemn Simulacrum here and didn't like either, but mileage may vary depending on deck lists; I'm very reactive, those two suggestions are proactive, so I suggest giving them a Whir anyways(pun intended).
In a proper build made to abuse it scrap trawler isn't just "cute" or "magical christmas land" but a very powerful recursive tool that negates artifact hate in the form of destruction. I know because i've been playing the card for a few weeks now.
You just need to include enough zero mana cost artifacts such as mishra's bauble and hangarback walker, with the full 4x thopter foundry and you'll get tons of value for sure, allowing you to "go off" without the combo.
Can you elaborate on the going off part with Scrap Trawler, because I still see a mana restriction here (Thopter Foundry). Also what are you getting back if a bauble, walker/ballista (any x/0 cmc artifact) goes to the graveyard? You need Sword to either get back one of these. For bauble I cannot see why you want to draw multiple cards (assuming you would use it a couple of times) with a Bridge out (which is the second most important priority of this deck).
I have tried the scrap trawler as well, but to me it's in the Time Sieve department of win-more and thus questionable. Also the only real application is going infinite with Thopter/Sword/Trawler/2x Mox Opal, and this is a very unlikely scenario or you should already be winning with Thopter/Sword online.
Too many cards for real value, rather add cards that contribute to the main plan and use Academy Ruins instead for recursion.
My 2 cents in regards of testing Whir: I'm kind of going back to try 0/1/2 copies. I usually only want to get Thopter/Sword online asap, and with this in mind why not add more copies of these to increase your luck of drawing into the combo? I think Whir needs a deck where it can abuse it's X part of the cost and get fetch huge artifacts (Wurmcoils/Blightsteels etc..) It's nice occasionally get the turn 3 combo online, but this can also be done with more copies of the Thopter/Sword. During testing I often had a lot of artifacts which could help with improvise to get big stuff. But I always resorted to tap 2 for the combo. I do not like the silver bullet builds to much, for a lack of inconsistency.
I agree this plan is bad with bridge, but i play a bridgeless build that spams tokens with hangarback walker and 4x thopter foundry. The point is to make foundry great without the combo and playing a more value game with a full hand and not relying on bridge to survive. You go off with one and two mana artifacts bringing back hangarback or mishra's bauble, either drawing you tons of cards so that you keep going off or spamming lots of tokens with walker + foundry. You also get to refill your hand when you combo off with sword of the meek, so that if the opponent interrupts the combo later you still got tons of value for the rest of the game.
My version loses the prison style lockdown of ensnaring bridge and the toolbox approach of whir of invention but gains in value/card advantage and board presence with tokens.
@Jwelt - I've been coming to the same conclusions as you. Too many mana sources, too many combo pieces. I've been trying to come up with strategies to address this as well. I suggest trying out a 3/1 split of Foundry/Sword. Sword is recursive in its own right, so we really only need 1 copy, we have plenty of ways to find it. I originally was testing as 2/1 split, but found that the extra foundry actually helps deal with some of the flooding issues a little bit by turning rocks and citadels into thopters. This could still be wrong, and I can see a 2/1 split still being optimal if we find another way to address flood. I originally tried running the 2nd sword in the board, but eventually removed it because the effects that hose our combo hose us whether we have 1 or 2 in the deck (RIP, Extract, Stony).
This gets me full circle to thinking about having the 2/1 split again, because it becomes easier to remove the combo entirely after game 1 if we expect those hard to deal with answers. We can replace the combo with value artifacts that have either static abilities, or ETB effects in order to have our Whirs still be great. I tried filigree familiar and Solemn Simulacrum here and didn't like either, but mileage may vary depending on deck lists; I'm very reactive, those two suggestions are proactive, so I suggest giving them a Whir anyways(pun intended).
I think this is a good angle of attack to help minimize bad draws. I think I might try a 3/1 split. The only time I have really lost sword entirely was when it was exiled with a thought-knot seer, which sucks. Luckily I had the extra copy I could whir for at a later point (I won that game). This is a real problem in the current meta if only running one copy of sword. There's a lot of tks running around these days between colorless eldrazi tron and bant...
Overall like I said in the lengthy post - I don't think our lategame draws are much worse that nother decks that take a similar approach of control. Probably about 4 extra potential "dead draws" in the deck. I think a good pilot can minimize this a bit and maximize the efficiency of locking the game down. At which point your draws aren't all that important anyways - you can afford to sit there and filter until you find the combo or a tezz...
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Legacy:B The Gate // B Pox Modern:RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox EDH:RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal Tiny Leaders:BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
@jwelt - TKS and Scavenging Ooze are the only real reasons to run more than 1 IMO. However, with only having 1 in the deck, it is already unlikely for us to have it in our opener for them to snag it with a discard + scooze, or with TKS. This is relatively easy to play around as well, Eldrazi isn't blisteringly fast to the point where we can't afford to take a turn off in the early game to just get the Sword on the board. Jund (read:Scooze decks) are a little more difficult to play around, because if we drop it early they can still Decay/Kolaghan's it then scooze it. But in the unlikely scenario that A) We have it in first few turns B) They have a way to put it in the graveyard and C) they have a scooze we can't deal with.... in that scenario we still have other win conditions.
@Ace1 - Would you mind sharing your list please? I've been trying to make the deck work without bridge, but I keep coming back to it, it's so strong. I'd love to see what you have going on, maybe I can use your list as a starting point for some of my own bridgeless ideas.
I think there's something to be said for reducing the # of swords and foundries and expecting to tutor for them - but in the end you may find you should just play gifts tron if that's how you want to do it. One copy of each, tutor them up when its time to win the game, be very effective at locking the game down in the meanwhile with wraths and condescends.
This deck feels more like we want to disrupt turn 1-2 then establish bridge/combo/tez turn 3-5 and hope they don't draw out of it or race us too fast. We can afford multiple copies of combo pieces including sword because once we have the combo online we don't really care what we draw.
I love whir as an aid to assembling the combo or finding a bridge - I don't think I want it to be my only way to reliably hit those cards.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
I think there's something to be said for reducing the # of swords and foundries and expecting to tutor for them - but in the end you may find you should just play gifts tron if that's how you want to do it. One copy of each, tutor them up when its time to win the game, be very effective at locking the game down in the meanwhile with wraths and condescends.
This deck feels more like we want to disrupt turn 1-2 then establish bridge/combo/tez turn 3-5 and hope they don't draw out of it or race us too fast. We can afford multiple copies of combo pieces including sword because once we have the combo online we don't really care what we draw.
I love whir as an aid to assembling the combo or finding a bridge - I don't think I want it to be my only way to reliably hit those cards.
Cutting a single copy of Sword of the Meek won't have a noticeable effect on the reliability of putting together the combo. Cutting the numbers of bridge is probably wrong though; you need 2+ or zero imo, not based only on probabilty of drawing it alone, but also on the fact that it doesn't have built in recursion like SotM does.
@Ace1 - Would you mind sharing your list please? I've been trying to make the deck work without bridge, but I keep coming back to it, it's so strong. I'd love to see what you have going on, maybe I can use your list as a starting point for some of my own bridgeless ideas.
Currently missing explosives and bauble, running terrarion and ratchet bomb (i hate the card) instead, waiting for MM2017 to see if any drop in price. Still i won a couple of LGS small weekly events with it. It is a work in progress, i'm still tweaking it, but i like it. The deck is kind of more black heavy with only a little bit of blue, the mana has been good so far.
@ Ace1 - Thanks for sharing the list, I actually went back a couple pages and found where you posted it earlier. The thing I like about bridgeless lists is that it doesn't put such constraints on deck building. Being able to play creatures with more than 1 power is nice, and as you said before, Herald seems to be working for you, probably due to your higher creature count. This opens the door for other threats should we choose to explore them.
I'm going to present a list to you guys, and it has 2 very strange choices. I'm 14 and 1 with the list so far, but to be fair, only a few decks i faced were what anyone would consider competitive. Those 4 were Esper, Jeskai, Burn and Jund. My only loss has been to that hardened scales walking ballista deck, which ive beaten 3 times as well. Though I haven't faced Tron, I imagine it is still still a bad match. Valakut, which I also haven't played, but I feel like this list has a little more game against than most lists because I'm running counter-magic. Anyways, here's the list.
Obviously the odd choices are Thraben Gargoyle and
Tidehollow Strix (would give right arm for baleful Strix). So the idea behind these cards is to have proactive early plays that can fit a mostly reactive gameplan.
Gargoyle just trades with a removal spell or a small creature, it just trades effectively with a card for 1 mana. Fills a similar role as Inquisition of Kozilek basically, while also being an artifact that can potentially become threatening. Out of 15 matches or so, I transformed it a total of maybe less than 5 times, but was never disappointed to have a copy in my opener.
Tidehollow Strix is fairly versatile, 2/1 flyer for 2 is a reasonable rate. Deathtouch and artifact make it play nice with Whir. You can Whir it in as a removal spell, which admittedly is even more rare than transforming Gargoyle, or you can use it for improvise 'mana'. Usually it just trades with a removal spell after stalling an opposing creature threat for a couple turns. However, it also does a fair job of closing out games. If you can chip in for 4 damage with it, I find it lets me close out a turn or two earlier once I find my 'real' threat.
This gets me to Tasigur. The biggest upside of running those dorky creatures is just filling the graveyard a bit and clearing out removal from the opponent to make way for real threats. This slot could easily be Herald of Anguish in a non-Shackles build, but I don't run a ton of black sources. In any case, I've really enjoyed Tasigur, and his ability seems very potent in this deck. Almost anything that goes to the graveyard is decent to get back when it top deck mode.
Having a few creatures early also provides a reasonable way to protect a Planeswalker in an otherwise reactive shell. Usually reactive control decks don't have great ways to protect a walker and can't afford to drop it in the early or mid game.
I want to try to find space for 2 Scrap Trawler and 1 more Tezzeret in the main. Probably removing a Thirst and 2 other non-artifact cards, just not sure what.
2-1 vs Cheeri0s. Mulled to 5 2 games. Just kind of discard his stuff, kill his srams/puresteels.
in: Thoughtseize + inquisition etc
out: Bridge
2-1 vs Esper Control: Recurring walking ballista with Academy ruins is just impossible for them to deal with. Fatal push is good vs collonade.
in: Thoughtseize + inquisition
out: Bridge
1-2 Affinity: got stuck on drawing 6-8 lands in a row G3 while hovering on 2-3 life while he's attacking under bridge with ornithopter + signal pest. I have inventors fair until he draws the arcbound ravager
out:
in: pithing needle vs plating/ghirapur aether grid etc
2-0 vs Grixis delver: G1 I win, G2 he gets stuck on 2 land and doesn't flip 3 delvers for several turns.
In: discard, cyclonic rift vs tasigur/angler, hero's downfall
out: bridges, fatal push is bad vs tasigur/angler
I won several games by running Walking ballista's out there and shooting whatever necessary or just attacking until walking ballista gets killed then recurring it with academy ruins. This card is Great.
I'm interested in what you mean by this, that we should "focus on one thing only, that is to control with Thopter/Sword/Tezz." In my experience and testing the Whir versions of this deck are far more consistent at this than previous versions at doing exactly that.
.....
I'm interested in why you favor Crane over Whir. Whir searches the whole deck, albeit at some cost, whereas crane only digs 4. I've cut 4 cranes, which I LOVED for 4 Whir, which I love MORE.
I think the deck should try to lock the board and take controle asap. And a lot of silver bullets can interfere with consistency of getting general control and a lock.
In my current build, I play with 4 Chalices main and E.Explosives and considering Walking Ballista instead of a second Spellskite. Therefore I'd prefer Crane, because I don't have room for silver bullets. Crane with Tezzeret provide a lot of digging and playing Crucible main with Inventor's Fair also gives me tutoring options. Also whir can sometimes be tough to cast with UUU. I agree Whir is better than Crane if you have more diversity of targets. I play one Whir though.
Im curious - what are the silver bullets you are speaking of... can you please list them?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy:B The Gate // B Pox Modern:RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox EDH:RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal Tiny Leaders:BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
If you're leaning on so many X spells with a large number of copies of each, then Crane definitely makes more sense. What has you on so many chalices and explosives? I feel like in my meta those are exactly what anemic draws would look like. Is it your meta that puts you on that build? What does it look like?
Further I find it interesting when people say they have a hard time casting whir. I never had a problem when I was Grixis colors, and going U/B has completely dispelled any issues. Looking back at your post history it looks like you run an Urborg. Do you find that necessary? Your list does have a bit more black than I do, but is it necessary? It looks like your list is built in just a generally different way and that's fine, but I think that urborg and the 4th darkslick over the 4th watery grave is probably part of the limitation on your whirs.
As long as you have Islands to fetch the only concern is what colors you need to support. I have 3 Grave and 1 Steam vents for my red splash, but I run 5 fetches: 4 Delta and 1 Tarn.
Edit: and two more basic islands, for 6 fetchable islands total. I should also note I run 4 opals and 2 Pentad Prisms.
3 Mishra's Bauble
4 Talisman of Dominance
4 Thopter Foundry
3 Sword of the Meek
3 Ensnaring Bridge
Disrupt (13)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
3 fatal push
1 Echoing Truth
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Seek (8)
3 Glint-Nest Crane
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Whir of Invention
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Polluted Delta
2 Watery Grave
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Inventor's Fair
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Spellskite
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Echoing Truth
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Collective Brutality
3 Thoughtseize
This deck realistically has 2 paths to victory: thopter/sword or tezzeret (whether 5/5s or ultimate). I have ashiok in there as a ghetto 3rd way to win a game but I'm not sure it ever really works - usually if I've ashiok'd enough to get someone in mill range I've also at some point established a tezz or thopter/sword anyways. I think its important to keep track of your build and how you're actually going to win games - I think most boil down to those 2 possibilities and everything else is just getting us to the point where we can win with those. I would desperately love a tutorable artifact with whir that would give me an alternate win con, but I can't get behind the rack or jinxed idol ><
My biggest problem has been that with these 2 win conditions thopter/sword in particular becomes painfully vulnerable in game 2 and 3. getting hit by artifact and graveyard hate is brutal, not to mention incidental crap like night of soul's betrayal or phyrexian revoker or suppression field. Sometimes you also get smoked game 1 by k-command or abrupt decay - we really need either a bridge or a foundry/sword combo to stick most of the time. An unprotected tezzeret doesnt often get there.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Totally different context. I think your deck is very cool. Not only a meta call but a deck's goals call too.
Your deck in my view is not the control-attrition shell ive been speaking about. Its more all in on the combo and bridge. Theres nothing wrong with that
Modern: RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox
EDH: RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal
Tiny Leaders: BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
Projects:
Gisa and Geralf Extreme-Tribal EDH
Esper Eldrazi Processor Control
Brewing with Kuldotha Forgemaster
Primer: "The Gate" - Mono Black in Modern
Modern Prison Pox - building a better plague
Tez, bridge and thopter sword win you a ton of game ones. You need proactive answers to their threats post board. We absolutely do topdeck poorly,depending on the list you have there could be upwards of 20 cards (not including lands) that you do not want to see off the top in any given game. And yes our haymakers are very good but they do not make up for the fluff. There are clearly problems with the deck, that need to be fixed,or it would be listed in the tier 1 subforums. I personally believe this is one of them. If it's not join the discussion and lets work together to figure out what is.
Thank you for the report, Crabfisher!
I am 100% onboard with your criticisms of the current shells and direction brewing should be focused. The terrible topdecks this deck produces are an enormous problem, and one that we haven't really found a good way of addressing. I'd even go so far as to agree with you that it's the #1 thing holding the deck back. So in addition to facing several kinds of prevalent hate, it feels like the deck is pulled in a bunch of directions, and it can't really support all of them. Those directions being:
Core Win Conditions: Thopter/Sword, Tezzeret
Other Win Conditions: Creeping Tar Pit, Liliana, Herald of Anguish
Core Acceleration: Pentad Prism, Mox Opal
Other Acceleration: Talisman of Dominance, Dimir Signet
Core Interaction: Collective Brutality, Push
Other Interaction: Other discard, Liliana, Battle at the Bridge, Executioner's Capsule, Pyrite Spellbomb, Abrupt Decay, Ratchet Bomb, Echoing Truth
Core Hosers/Utility: Bridge, Needle, Jar, Cage/Spellbomb, Witchbane, Time Sieve, Skite, Academy Ruins
Other Hosers/Utility: Crucible, Trading Post
Core Filter: Whir, Tezz
Other Filter: Crane, Inventors' Fair, Serum Visions, Thirst for Knowledge
If we want to look at addressing the poor topdeck issue, the place to start is IMO the maindeck reliance on silver bullets. Needle seems good since it's very rarely a dead draw, but some of the more situational ones often come back to bite you. I'd also wager that the mana accelerants could be slimmed down. Yeah, Prism helps with Whir or with turn 3 Tezzeret animating Citadel, but I don't know if it helps more than just running better cards. The next thing to look at is IMO getting some stronger filter in. Crane is one option (requiring a high artifact count), but I'll keep harping on Serum Visions and especially Thirst for Knowledge as good places to turn. Other than that, interaction (removal, discard, Liliana, etc.) are all good places to look.
Finally, there's that awkward tension between running more genuinely good cards rather than artifacts, and powering down your filter cards and Tezzeret. I'm not really sure how to walk that line. I guess at the end of the day we have to ask ourselves: are we a combo deck, a midrange/control deck, an artifacts deck, or something else?
I'm just rambling by this point so I'll shut up now.
WUBRG Humans
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
UW UW "Control"
UR Blue Moon
Thanks for the reply. What 20 cards don't I want to see game 2? I'm almost never cutting mana rocks, as they are part of my mana base. For reference, my list:
3 Mishra's Bauble
2 Welding Jar
1 Pithing Needle
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Spellskite
3 Thopter Foundry
2 Sword of the Meek
1 Time Sieve
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Instants/Sorceries:
3 Serum Visions
2 Repeal
4 Collective Brutality
4 Whir of Invention
2 Mox Opal
3 Pentad Prism
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Polluted Delta
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Drowned Catacomb
5 Island
1 Swamp
1 Inventors' Fair
3 Blood Moon
1 Torpor Orb
3 Negate
1 Echoing Truth
1 Etched Champion
1 Scrap Trawler
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Pithing Needle
1 Witchbane Orb
Sideboarding major matchups:
Burn/zoo variants: -1 Needle, -1 Time Sieve, +1 Flaying Tendrils, +1 Champion or Orb
Jund/Abzan: -2 Chalice, -1 Time Sieve, +1 Padeem, +1 Champion, +1 Trawler
Bant Eldrazi: -1 Spellskite, -2 Chalice +1 Padeem, +1-2 Blood Moon if on play, +1 Trawler, +1 Echoing Truth
Tron: -4 Brutality, -1 Spellskite, -2 Repeal, -2 Bridge +3 Blood Moon, +3 Negate, +1 Needle, +1 Trawler, +1 Champion (I leave in repeal vs GW tron)
Titan Breach/Scapeshift: -2 Repeal, -2 Chalice, -1 Brutality, -2 Bauble +3 Blood Moon, +1 Orb, +3 Negate
Affinity: -2 Jar, -1 Bauble, -1 Time Sieve, +1 Needle, +1 Blood Moon, +1 Echoing Truth, +1 Flaying Tendrils (honsetly this matchup is so easy, repeal is such a hoser for their arcbound shenanigans)
Grixis Control: -2 Repeal, -1 Time Sieve, -1 Needle, -1 Bauble, -1 Bridge +1 Padeem, +1 Trawler, +1 Champion, +3 Negate
UW or Esper Control: Same as grixis only keep in repeal for stony silence, drop to 1 bridge, +1 Echoing Truth
Abzan Company: -2 Chalice, -2 Bauble +1 Torpor Orb, +1 Grafdigger's Cage, +1 Flaying Tendrils, +1 Echyoing Truth
Ad Nauseum: -3 Bridge, -2 Jar, +3 Negate, +1 Needle, +1 Orb
As you can see, I'm making 4-5 changes usually, unless it's a terrible matchup like tron. Sideboarding for me, I ask the question: What is more powerful, their combo or thopter/sword? If it's their combo, (valakut, tron, finks recursion, kiki-jiki, elves, ad nauseum, cheerios) I will concentrate on all the prison/control elements at my disposal, and play those first. Then I ask: Will they play Stony Silence? This is really the only hate card I care about. We can deal with Kataki or destroy effects. Rest in Peace hurts, but doesn't stop us from making thopters without a sword. My gameplan against SS is to hide behind bridge and wait for a turn to repeal it, or if they haven't cast it yet, Chalice on 2. Both Time Sieve and Tezz allow an instant kill once Silence is bounced.
Other than those combos and Stony Silence, there pretty much isn't a threat I care about (that my maindeck can't answer in some way).
Strongly disagree with the sentiment that the new deck style emerging because of Whir is somehow not part of "UB Tezzeret: Agent of Bolas Control". The thopter sword combo was only unbanned last year, when this thread was on 151 pages. We're on 231 now and things change and shift. The comment you're replying to says that we should move in a more controlling direction by using less artifacts and adding Serum Visions and Thirst for Knowledge clashes with what I would say is definitely our strongest card in Ensnaring Bridge. Ironically, the best card we have right now to "draw" cards out of our deck is Whir, which doesn't necessarily care if you only have one artifact in your deck, just synergising with a deep artifact strategy. I'm not trying to start a fight, but I just feel that the problem we seem to be struggling with, "bad top decks" is not, I think, answered by dividing the deck into two categories and calling the "bad top-decking" version a combo one somehow, when it's the one that's really far more efficient at playing our control angle, in my humble opinion.
I'm interested in what you mean by this, that we should "focus on one thing only, that is to control with Thopter/Sword/Tezz." In my experience and testing the Whir versions of this deck are far more consistent at this than previous versions at doing exactly that.
I'm interested in why you favor Crane over Whir. Whir searches the whole deck, albeit at some cost, whereas crane only digs 4. I've cut 4 cranes, which I LOVED for 4 Whir, which I love MORE.
To be clear, I am discussing the control-whir style of deck using a disruption package such as mine (see list posted previously).
Here is my view dead draws in the deck:
The real useful part of this discussion imo is what utility artifacts you run in order to make the deck work - whir targets, cheap artifacts to help with improvise and artifact count in general. This is an inherant deckbuilding strain we have to deal with to play tezzeret decks. As was previously mentioned by Radouf - we need 20-25 artifacts in the MD minimum depending on the style of tezzeret deck you have built. Not all artifacts always do things we want - this is just a fact of the cardpool - otherwise we would just be jamming all artifacts and call it a day - aka affinity.
So I run the following artifacts in my main deck:
2x Spellskite
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Welding Jar
1x Mox Opal
4x Pentad Prism
1x Executioner's Capsule
1x Pacification Array
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Pithing Needle
2x Sword of the Meek
3x Thopter Foundry
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Trading Post
In the average matchup most of the cards are not "dead":
2x Spellskite - defense, disruption, lockout some decks
1x Darksteel Citadel - manabase
1x Mox Opal - manabase
4x Pentad Prism - manabase
1x Executioner's Capsule - removal
1x Pacification Array - removal, board control
1x Nihil Spellbomb - cantrips, hoses some decks
1x Pithing Needle - usually useful - sometimes useless.
2x Sword of the Meek - combo, 1 copy max is dead
3x Thopter Foundry - combo, 2 copy max is dead (but can still make a dude out of itself)
1x Ensnaring Bridge - never dead
1x Trading Post - never dead
Realistically from what I can see this lineup doesn't have much more of an issue over other "control/ attrition" decks. Being that I am going for that sort of build I plan for my answers to be realistically versatile and I accept when they do not line up 100% as part of the strategy. There is also a low threat density to deal with - also similar to other decks in this category.
Where we have a real disadvantage is the Mana-source count:
I run 22 lands + 5 rocks = 27 mana sources. This is 2-4 additional mana rocks over other decks employing a similar strategy. This is a slight disadvantage...
Let's weigh the adv/disadv:
- approx 3 extra lands
- potentially 2 dead combo pieces
- removal might not line up with the game state
+ 4x tinker effect
+ tutorable silver bullets in sideboard (and some versatile enough in the main)
+ reduce need for redundancy in effects - toolbox approach
+ powerful trump cards, difficult to disrupt
This is not so much an argument in support of/ against anyone elses in the thread - just an explanation of how I evaluate my approach to the deck - and those that are similar. I don't see any overly large disadvantage in late game draws as compared to most other decks I have played or played against...
However I do see the major advantages of Tezz + Bridge + Whir + combo in one deck. Played well this is a very difficult deck to beat...
Modern: RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox
EDH: RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal
Tiny Leaders: BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
Projects:
Gisa and Geralf Extreme-Tribal EDH
Esper Eldrazi Processor Control
Brewing with Kuldotha Forgemaster
Primer: "The Gate" - Mono Black in Modern
Modern Prison Pox - building a better plague
This gets me full circle to thinking about having the 2/1 split again, because it becomes easier to remove the combo entirely after game 1 if we expect those hard to deal with answers. We can replace the combo with value artifacts that have either static abilities, or ETB effects in order to have our Whirs still be great. I tried filigree familiar and Solemn Simulacrum here and didn't like either, but mileage may vary depending on deck lists; I'm very reactive, those two suggestions are proactive, so I suggest giving them a Whir anyways(pun intended).
I agree this plan is bad with bridge, but i play a bridgeless build that spams tokens with hangarback walker and 4x thopter foundry. The point is to make foundry great without the combo and playing a more value game with a full hand and not relying on bridge to survive. You go off with one and two mana artifacts bringing back hangarback or mishra's bauble, either drawing you tons of cards so that you keep going off or spamming lots of tokens with walker + foundry. You also get to refill your hand when you combo off with sword of the meek, so that if the opponent interrupts the combo later you still got tons of value for the rest of the game.
My version loses the prison style lockdown of ensnaring bridge and the toolbox approach of whir of invention but gains in value/card advantage and board presence with tokens.
I think this is a good angle of attack to help minimize bad draws. I think I might try a 3/1 split. The only time I have really lost sword entirely was when it was exiled with a thought-knot seer, which sucks. Luckily I had the extra copy I could whir for at a later point (I won that game). This is a real problem in the current meta if only running one copy of sword. There's a lot of tks running around these days between colorless eldrazi tron and bant...
Overall like I said in the lengthy post - I don't think our lategame draws are much worse that nother decks that take a similar approach of control. Probably about 4 extra potential "dead draws" in the deck. I think a good pilot can minimize this a bit and maximize the efficiency of locking the game down. At which point your draws aren't all that important anyways - you can afford to sit there and filter until you find the combo or a tezz...
Modern: RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox
EDH: RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal
Tiny Leaders: BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
Projects:
Gisa and Geralf Extreme-Tribal EDH
Esper Eldrazi Processor Control
Brewing with Kuldotha Forgemaster
Primer: "The Gate" - Mono Black in Modern
Modern Prison Pox - building a better plague
@Ace1 - Would you mind sharing your list please? I've been trying to make the deck work without bridge, but I keep coming back to it, it's so strong. I'd love to see what you have going on, maybe I can use your list as a starting point for some of my own bridgeless ideas.
This deck feels more like we want to disrupt turn 1-2 then establish bridge/combo/tez turn 3-5 and hope they don't draw out of it or race us too fast. We can afford multiple copies of combo pieces including sword because once we have the combo online we don't really care what we draw.
I love whir as an aid to assembling the combo or finding a bridge - I don't think I want it to be my only way to reliably hit those cards.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Cutting a single copy of Sword of the Meek won't have a noticeable effect on the reliability of putting together the combo. Cutting the numbers of bridge is probably wrong though; you need 2+ or zero imo, not based only on probabilty of drawing it alone, but also on the fact that it doesn't have built in recursion like SotM does.
my current list:
4 hangarback walker
4 glint-nest crane
4 scrap trawler
2 herald of anguish
Artifacts: 14
2 mishra's bauble
2 engineered explosives
2 nihil spellbomb
2 executioner's capsule
4 thopter foundry
2 sword of the meek
instants: 4
4 fatal push
2 battle at the bridge
planeswalkers: 2
2 Tezzeret, agent of bolas
Lands: 24
4 polluted delta
3 bloodstained mire
2 watery grave
1 island
4 swamp
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
3 drowned catacomb
4 darksteel citadel
1 inventors' fair
1 academy ruins
2 drown in sorrow
2 monastery siege
2 echoing truth
1 trinket mage
2 pithing needle
2 aether spellbomb
2 welding jar
1 hope of ghirapur
1 grafdigger's cage
Currently missing explosives and bauble, running terrarion and ratchet bomb (i hate the card) instead, waiting for MM2017 to see if any drop in price. Still i won a couple of LGS small weekly events with it. It is a work in progress, i'm still tweaking it, but i like it. The deck is kind of more black heavy with only a little bit of blue, the mana has been good so far.
I'm going to present a list to you guys, and it has 2 very strange choices. I'm 14 and 1 with the list so far, but to be fair, only a few decks i faced were what anyone would consider competitive. Those 4 were Esper, Jeskai, Burn and Jund. My only loss has been to that hardened scales walking ballista deck, which ive beaten 3 times as well. Though I haven't faced Tron, I imagine it is still still a bad match. Valakut, which I also haven't played, but I feel like this list has a little more game against than most lists because I'm running counter-magic. Anyways, here's the list.
1 Executioner's Capsule
2 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the meek
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Engineered Explosives
Creatures 8
3 Thraben Gargoyle
3 Tidehollow Strix
2 Tasigur
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Instants 20
3 Fatal Push
1 Murderous Cut
3 Mana Leak
2 Negate
3 Anticipate
2 Thirst for knowledge
4 Whir of Invention
2 Cryptic Command
9 Islands
4 Watery Grave
4 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Sunken Hollow
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Swamp
Obviously the odd choices are Thraben Gargoyle and
Tidehollow Strix (would give right arm for baleful Strix). So the idea behind these cards is to have proactive early plays that can fit a mostly reactive gameplan.
Gargoyle just trades with a removal spell or a small creature, it just trades effectively with a card for 1 mana. Fills a similar role as Inquisition of Kozilek basically, while also being an artifact that can potentially become threatening. Out of 15 matches or so, I transformed it a total of maybe less than 5 times, but was never disappointed to have a copy in my opener.
Tidehollow Strix is fairly versatile, 2/1 flyer for 2 is a reasonable rate. Deathtouch and artifact make it play nice with Whir. You can Whir it in as a removal spell, which admittedly is even more rare than transforming Gargoyle, or you can use it for improvise 'mana'. Usually it just trades with a removal spell after stalling an opposing creature threat for a couple turns. However, it also does a fair job of closing out games. If you can chip in for 4 damage with it, I find it lets me close out a turn or two earlier once I find my 'real' threat.
This gets me to Tasigur. The biggest upside of running those dorky creatures is just filling the graveyard a bit and clearing out removal from the opponent to make way for real threats. This slot could easily be Herald of Anguish in a non-Shackles build, but I don't run a ton of black sources. In any case, I've really enjoyed Tasigur, and his ability seems very potent in this deck. Almost anything that goes to the graveyard is decent to get back when it top deck mode.
Having a few creatures early also provides a reasonable way to protect a Planeswalker in an otherwise reactive shell. Usually reactive control decks don't have great ways to protect a walker and can't afford to drop it in the early or mid game.
I want to try to find space for 2 Scrap Trawler and 1 more Tezzeret in the main. Probably removing a Thirst and 2 other non-artifact cards, just not sure what.
2-1 vs Cheeri0s. Mulled to 5 2 games. Just kind of discard his stuff, kill his srams/puresteels.
in: Thoughtseize + inquisition etc
out: Bridge
2-1 vs Esper Control: Recurring walking ballista with Academy ruins is just impossible for them to deal with. Fatal push is good vs collonade.
in: Thoughtseize + inquisition
out: Bridge
1-2 Affinity: got stuck on drawing 6-8 lands in a row G3 while hovering on 2-3 life while he's attacking under bridge with ornithopter + signal pest. I have inventors fair until he draws the arcbound ravager
out:
in: pithing needle vs plating/ghirapur aether grid etc
2-0 vs Grixis delver: G1 I win, G2 he gets stuck on 2 land and doesn't flip 3 delvers for several turns.
In: discard, cyclonic rift vs tasigur/angler, hero's downfall
out: bridges, fatal push is bad vs tasigur/angler
I won several games by running Walking ballista's out there and shooting whatever necessary or just attacking until walking ballista gets killed then recurring it with academy ruins. This card is Great.
Im curious - what are the silver bullets you are speaking of... can you please list them?
Modern: RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox
EDH: RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal
Tiny Leaders: BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
Projects:
Gisa and Geralf Extreme-Tribal EDH
Esper Eldrazi Processor Control
Brewing with Kuldotha Forgemaster
Primer: "The Gate" - Mono Black in Modern
Modern Prison Pox - building a better plague
Further I find it interesting when people say they have a hard time casting whir. I never had a problem when I was Grixis colors, and going U/B has completely dispelled any issues. Looking back at your post history it looks like you run an Urborg. Do you find that necessary? Your list does have a bit more black than I do, but is it necessary? It looks like your list is built in just a generally different way and that's fine, but I think that urborg and the 4th darkslick over the 4th watery grave is probably part of the limitation on your whirs.
Edit: and two more basic islands, for 6 fetchable islands total. I should also note I run 4 opals and 2 Pentad Prisms.