Another card I tested for some weeks is Artificer's Intuition. The rationale being that it acts as a 5th Lantern, fetches bullets such as Needle or Spellbombs, and speeds up the digging for Tezz by turning every useless artifact into a mill artifact. However, in the end, it just wasn't doing enough. Yea it had nice benefits but overall they felt like the infamous win-more phenomenon. For instance, against very fast decks like burn it simply was too slow. Against the slower decks it mostly simply speeded up the process but wasn't really necessary. After cutting the Sunbeam Spellbombs there were only 1 Nihil Spellbomb and 2 Pithing Needles left as "special" targets at the time, so I decided to just add an additional copy of both.
It is a very useful effect but ultimately unecessary or too slow, at least for my version of the deck.
I tried it out too before I started posting here. It was really good, but on turn 2, I'd rather focus on disrupting our opponent and digging into the deck rather than plopping an enchantment that pretty much does nothing. Plus, it didn't tutor up Ensnaring Bridge, which was the main rationale to have any sort of tutor in the first place
But Infernal Tutor is on a different level. I am currently loving that card in this deck so much that I'm running 2.
If your deck runs black and uses Ensnaring bridge, you might even go up to 3 Tutors. I usually Loot away the extras in the rare time that I get two. 4 might be too much, but 3 is just enough to cast it at least once a game.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Top Control: The only pure lockdown deck in Modern.
Ive had a playset of Deathrites sitting around for a while, wondering why not a GB affinity build utilizing the cards we are putting into the graveyard? You dont necessarily need to work with the G either. Plus you could toss some of their lands for free mana.
We can do that, but there's one thing I want to make sure you know.
There's a very, very thin line between using DRS for utility, and using him as a stabilizer.
Using him as utility means we don't rely on him to give us a huge advantage or swing the game in our favor. We will use him as a tool for accelerating the wincon or as a tool to keep our opponent in check.
Using him as a stabilizer means that we completely depend on him dropping and us utilizing him to the fullest.
The point of this deck (in my eyes) is to blank our opponents creature removal. It is so very prevalent in the meta. If we start relying on DRS, then removing him is going to be worth it to our opponents. If DRS is our gameplay, then people will exploit it.
As long as you don't rely on DRS to win games, then you can try it.
I think the deck concept is really creative and I wanted to play it. I don't have all that much modern experience and I didn't feel the inclusion of red was all that necessary (please tell me why I am wrong). This is the list I came up with:
The interesting thing about us legacy players is that we consider Force of Will, Dark Ritual, Blood Moon, Tarmogoyf and Swords to Plowshare to be fair.
I think the deck concept is really creative and I wanted to play it. I don't have all that much modern experience and I didn't feel the inclusion of red was all that necessary (please tell me why I am wrong). This is the list I came up with:
By sacrificing red, you are losing a few things.
-Pyroclasm
-Faithless Looting
-Galvanic Blast
-Pyrite Spellbomb
You also run only 9 'combo' pieces, when the recommended amount was around 11-14. You run Trinket Mage as a tutor, which makes 9 slightly more acceptable.
In the place of Pyroclasm, you run Engineered Explosives, which is a good card for some instances, but it's really like a Ratchet Bomb, and we don't have more than 6 mana occasionally.
You run Dispatch, which early on isn't straight-up removal.
You replaced Looting with Thirst for Knowledge, which is a pretty good card, but not in this deck, and let me explain why.
T1, you look to play either a piece or DRS
T2, whatever else you need for the combo, Ancient Stirrings, DRS if you haven't, Thoughtseize if you haven't.
T3, you have a choice of Thirst, Ensnaring Bridge, and Trinket Mage.
Now, here's the problem with these 3 turns.
1) T1 DRS isn't a very strong play for us. What does that mean? T1 we are looking to get part of the combo up or to disrupt our opponent, or to dig for more bullets, or to Galvanic Blast their T1 creature. We need to get out of the gates T1 with this deck in order to save as much life as we can and to insure the lock in our deck by turn 3. At best, I found that DRS on turn 1 just accelerates our mana, which doesn't do much because...
2) At 3 mana, we have 3 different things that need to get done, and that's bad. We can either Trinket Mage, Thirst, or put down a Bridge. That clutters up our 3 mana move, and when you end up not having exactly what you need and having to decide between 2, you end up taking another turn to set up, which still means a full set up at turn 3 the latest, WHICH ENDS UP BEING THE SAME. Even with mana acceleration T1, we aren't accelerating the lock, we still end up having everything we need at around the same time. And since we devoted T1 to casting DRS and not a 1 mana piece, we are sometimes a turn LATE.
3) Your only wincons I see are mill and Tezz. You have no Pyrite Spellbomb recursion that pretty much gives us the game on the spot sometimes, or a Galvanic Blast recursion with Codex Shredder. We just either plop down a one of bomb to win or we mill them. Which is really slow and not ideal.
4) You have no board control. You should have some removal, or at least a board wipe in case you cannot find a Bridge (cannot be tutored by Mage), so you sometimes just sit there and take the damage, hoping to knock off Sunbeam Spellbomb off the top to stabilize. Dispatch sometimes isn't good enough. 20 artifacts is actually a pretty weak number when aiming for metalcraft on turn 2. Also, Pyroclasm ins't available to you, and you are just asking to be hosed by an aggro deck, without a means to tutor up Bridge.
5) You only have one way to deal with hate in the mainboard, and that's Explosives. How can you beat Leyline of the Void if it costs you 8 mana, which is pretty hard in a deck that runs 16 lands to begin with? Sure, you can get there, but it's a long and grueling process, and you're just torturing yourself by not playing a Beast Within, or something that beats it easily. I don't see your sideboard, but hopefully you have more permanent removal.
6) You decide to go a route where you take a lot of unnecessary damage from aggro decks, and yet you jam in 4 Thoughtseize along with shocks and fetches. Duress is safer in this deck, so is Inquisition.
Sunbeam Spellbomb recursion is good, it's just not fast enough to outrace the aggro decks when you don't have solid removal. Since you run black, how about some more killspells maindeck? Or some Beast within? Replace the 4 Dispatch. Maybe throw in a Damnation for good measure?
EDIT: Surgical Extraction and Infernal tutor are good cards to try out too. More Pithing Needles can secure you against a plethora of matchups as well. Here's my decklist, you can see if things work out for you by changing some numbers and cards to suit a no-red version.
WILL SUPPLY NEW DECKLIST SOON DERP THAT WAS MY OLD TEST LIST
UPDATE: I am still testing out Primal Command and Crypt Incursion, and 3 Infernal Tutor. Will return with a long post about what I think about them soon.
I think the deck concept is really creative and I wanted to play it. I don't have all that much modern experience and I didn't feel the inclusion of red was all that necessary (please tell me why I am wrong).
Red is included for removal and digging.
We use Faithless Looting for digging for combo pieces. Trinket Mage can find your pieces for the lock, but Faithless Looting also digs to Ensnaring Bridge, Academy Ruins, and Tezzeret. Thirst for Knowledge is good for digging as well, just at a higher cost than Looting. Thirst digs deeper and lets you keep cards, but Looting just goes off quicker. However, Thirst is a much better topdeck if you don't have Academy Ruins or extra Codex Shredders out.
The main idea is that we use so many artifacts, which gives us such a good mana base with Glimmervoid and Mox Opal. So we have all 5 colors available to us easily, and a lot of our mana is spent on colorless artifacts. With such a good mana base, there isn't much reason not to run all 5 colors. If you do decide to cut some colors, you might include Darksteel Citadel to make Glimmervoid a teensy bit more reliable and as anti-LD tech.
Pyroclasm is very powerful for removal, as well as Slagstorm. Red finds its way in to a lot of Modern decks for the use of Pyroclasm and Lightning Bolt as cheap removal.
The main idea is that we use so many artifacts, which gives us such a good mana base with Glimmervoid and Mox Opal. So we have all 5 colors available to us easily, and a lot of our mana is spent on colorless artifacts. With such a good mana base, there isn't much reason not to run all 5 colors. If you do decide to cut some colors, you might include Darksteel Citadel to make Glimmervoid a teensy bit more reliable and as anti-LD tech.
This is a very solid point DrLemniscate raises. It doesn't really matter what we play; eventually, we will be able to play it. Anything that doesn't cost over 5 mana and need one specific mana to play is a card that can be played in this deck. Thus, there are a lot of 'playable' cards we can choose from in our arsenal. Pretty much any card that fits the line of 'under 5 mana, one specific mana to cast' can be considered.
So step right up! We will consider it if we can cast it! Don't be shy, whatever jank tech you always wanted to try can probably be played in this deck. I really want to promote 'constructed unplayable' cards as considerable options. You want to play Commandeer like a Modern Force of Will? Go ahead! (not an actual suggestion, we don't run blue spells)
Speaking of anti-LD tech, how about Boros Charm? It gives everything indestructable to save us from Creeping Corrosion and Shattering Spree/Storm and Boom//Bust.
I keep testing Retract as a safeguard from mass artifact removal but I decided to drop it. I recently came across Boros Charm and I would like to hear your guys' opinion.
While looking through various artifact indestructibility, it occurs to me that Darksteel Reactor could be a wincon for us. Although, more of a trolling wincon, since Tezzeret doesn't just win us the game, but also digs for more artifacts.
Boros Charm is good, and keeping 1 card in hand is usually okay. If it ends up hurting you, you can just send 4 to the dome. The only question is what to cut? You might just want it on the SB replacing Welding Jar.
Also look at Simic Charm. Some artifact removal on the SB (such as ours with Wear // Tear) is singular. Cheaper to get rid of the one troublesome artifact than a wipe. Well, we mostly have singular since we don't want a wipe, and don't have the extra mana for Shattering Spree. All 3 modes of Simic Charm help us. +3/+3 to a troublesome Signal Pest before it attacks and gets insta-speed equipped with Cranial Plating, give everything hexproof (doesn't stop wipes, but does stop replicate), or bounce a troublesome creature.
edit: If only there was a cheap way to donate Crown of Convergence. Would give an extra lantern effect and keep creatures from sneaking under the bridge.
Hey guys, its been a while. I've been busy derping around with Elvish Charbelcher, a Modern Stax variant, and Modern Cherri0s.
So, Primal Command is really having that problem I talked about earlier (The Surgical Extraction Syndrome). It's awesome when I need it, and a boatload of crap when I don't. At worst, it gives me 7 life and a noncreature bounce. I find that the graveyard shuffle effect is actually not good, especially at sorcery speed. So it's getting trashed.
Crypt Incursion, however, is bonkers. I only tried 1 in the main and 1 in the side, but it hoses out the aggro matchup by lock and milling creatures, then popping it for something around 12 life (against Affinity, I got 33 life once). If you don't need it, side it. If you do, bring in the other one. My only gripe is that sometimes, it's slow, and it doesn't gain me a specific number of life I want and is completely based on my opponent's top decks.
3 Infernal Tutor is still awesome, but sometimes I end up having 2 in my hand. The trade-off for seeing it more doesn't really appeal to me, as Bridge is so important to us, and we need to keep it viable.
I actually never had Welding Jar in the sideboard, I actually don't have any protection whatsoever, so Boros Charm was a delight to see. The double strike clause is actually funny when you use it with Tezzeret to make an artifact a 5/5 (won a game with it cus lol). All permanents have indestructible means that Boom // Bust is dead against us, mass artifact hate is livable, and swinging with indestructible 5/5 artifact(s) is still funny. And doming them for 4 is always relevent, basically our 5th Galvanic Blast.
Simic Charm is really cool, especially the Signal Pest example, that's just pure awesome. Bounce is also relevant. I see a lot more wipes in my meta though, so I'll stick with Boros Charm, but this choice does depend on your meta. If you see more singular removal, then Simic Charm is great. If you see more wipes, Boros Charm is great.
It doesn't really matter what we play; eventually, we will be able to play it. Anything that doesn't cost over 5 mana and need one specific mana to play is a card that can be played in this deck. Thus, there are a lot of 'playable' cards we can choose from in our arsenal. Pretty much any card that fits the line of 'under 5 mana, one specific mana to cast' can be considered.
So step right up! We will consider it if we can cast it! Don't be shy, whatever jank tech you always wanted to try can probably be played in this deck. I really want to promote 'constructed unplayable' cards as considerable options. You want to play Commandeer like a Modern Force of Will? Go ahead! (not an actual suggestion, we don't run blue spells)
Still open to any/all things that are cool and unexpected. I am willing to test anything, as long as it makes sense.
Thanks a lot for your feedback, and a great performance for a budget build! This speaks highly of the potential this deck has!
Here are my main points.
1) A UB build is very interesting. It looks like you replaced Faithless Looting and Ancient Stirrings with Mishra's Bauble, which is a very good call! It does double duty in drawing you a card and peeking into your opponent's next draw, and being ready for whatever they might have with hand disruption is a pretty solid gameplan.
2) I understand your logic for Noxious Revival, but with Academy Ruins and Codex Shredder doing all types of recursion, I found that Revival was unnecessary in my testing. Maybe you can add one more Academy Ruins? I understand only being able to get artifacts is a little limiting, but with Executioner's Capsule (great call, very well done) is very powerful.
3) I feel like Nihil Spellbomb and 3 Surgical Extractions can be a little overwhelming sometimes. It feels like it can lead to crappy hand situations where you need to dump your hand for Bridge or Tutor as fast as possible. A number I feel very comfortable at is 2 Surgical and 1 Nihil, and although 1 less seems like the same, keep in mind that this deck really wants to utilize every single slot it has.
4) When people run Trinket Mage and no other fetch for artifacts, I often ask them how they fetch for Bridge. While you run Infernal Tutor (I strongly recommend running 2), to look for Bridge, you have Trinket Mage look for anything else, and here's where I must commend you for your build. Here's what you can look for with Mage that no one else that's thought of.
Executioner's Capsule and Elixer of Immortality.
Again, splendid. Great call, and one that really deserves recognition. Fully understanding that you need answers that others may not supplement, you really go and one-up the other Trinket Mage builds.
5) Disfigure may have been a meta call, and at one mana it's great, so if you needed anything else as a kill spell and not Disfigure, what would you have used? Infest? I'm curious.
6) How has Engineered Explosives done for you? I am wondering as I feel like EE isn't very ideal in this deck, and I want your opinion. I'd rather prefer something like Echoing Truth or Beast Within, or Maelstrom Pulse, but you don't have access to green or red or white for permanents that cause you trouble like Leyline of Sanctity or Torpor Orb.
Also, I just thought of the sickest tech for your deck.
Counterspell unless they discard. Pure evil. Transmute to tutor up Bridge. Even better.
Find other 3 drops to punish your opponent and you are good to go. (just realized you can get Trinket Mage with this oh my god this tech is crazy good)
Other than that, thank you for your tournament report! I'm always looking for data to improve the deck in a competitive level.
If you have anything you'd like to ask me, ask away! I. Looking into playing this deck competitively in future GPs (hopefully a Modern GP comes to the West coast)
Normally, you can just outline how you plan on controlling your opponent and they can choose to scoop. The way the main tournament build wins in by recurring Pyrite Spellbomb with Academy Ruins over and over again.
Maybe you can see if you can find something? This is a major problem in the deck, which is why we strongly recommend even splashing red.
Also, I mentioned Leyline of Sanctity, not Void, but still effective.
That's actually the biggest wall to this deck. Leyline of Sanctity sees sideboard slots to the randomest decks. I'm very comfortable with a way to blast them in the case that we don't expect it to come in.
I might have to experiment with a Trinket Mage build that specializes in more artifact utility. Maybe Chalice of the Void at 2?
Mostly because Perplex seems like such a meta tech against control decks and any deck that gets greedy (combo, any deck with a tutor, any deck with an engine to function properly)
If you are willing to go up to 6 cmc, Booby Trap recursion is the best wincon!
Outside of UB, I would love to see someone win with Ogre Menial or Char-Rumbler swinging under the bridge.
Goblin Charbelcher is a little costly, and requires mana every turn, but would definitely be faster with our low land count (and you can always make it at least 1).
Timesifter has been used as a wincon in the past. Mindslaver recursion costs way too much.
Skullcage, but this is easily controlled by an opponent, unless you are running repeatable discard. For fun, you can use this plus Ebony Owl Netsuke. With a lot of discard, The Rack is a cheap option.
Overall, I think Scepter of Empires looks best. Relatively cheap, doesn't require extra mana every turn. Razortip Whip is appealing for the cheaper cost, but the extra mana every turn makes it worse ... although winning with it would be entertaining (saying "Crack that whip!", 20 turns in a row). I love how a lot of this deck is recent stuff. Codex Shredder, Ghoulcaller's Bell, Faithless Looting, etc.
I can't wait for the day when we get a cheap global anthem effect, to keep more creatures locked behind the bridge.
A quick search of the thread shows that Mindstorm Crown has not been discussed.
Think this could ever be used for more digging power? We should be able to dump our hand fast enough early game for it, although we always run the chance of getting stuck with a card in hand we can't get rid of.
Of course, if we are just interested in drawing cards, Bottled Cloister is a lot better for just 1 more cost.
Hey guys. I have a buuuunch of cards I want to talk about.
This is gonna take a while.
Jace, Memory Adept Sorin Markov Ajani Vengeant Chandra, Pyromaster
Planeswalkers are perfect top-end cards. I have a few here that seem good in a deck like this.
Mill Jace - His +1 is pretty good, acts as another Codex and draws us cards (okay, not as good, I'll admit). He mills and makes the process for winning us the game go faster (duh). But is he right for the job? I'm not entirely sure. Sorin - Fun times with making people go to 10 and being a Mindslaver when we need it. Costs 6 though (D:)
Ajani - Lightning Helix is always viable, especially in our deck. And once we blow up lands, it's a quick GG. Not too hard to cast, and his +1 actually does lock down troublesome permanents.
"Playable" Chandra - This is the real big card I want to test. Her +1 helps out with wiping the board of little x/1's that pass under our radar (Signal Pest), and she gives us pretty much the best card advantage we have yet. We know what's on top of our library, and we know what we need. Her ult even helps us win games by knocking off Galvanic Blast 3 times. I really want to test this over Tezzeret.
Vedalken Orrery Phyrexian Metamorph Duplicant Basically, this is in a set so that we can beat Emrakul (not that Tron is a big problem). Vedalken Orrery is good on it's own, letting us cast any artifact as instants, which seems good, but I'll have to test that viability. Duplicant is a card I always wanted to try, and it's hilarious as hell. Phyrexian Metamorph, however, is a card I actually now have in my sideboard as a 1-of, as he's pretty useful at copying what we need and being a nuisance for Tarmogoyf.
Sunbeam Spellbomb Elixir of Immortality
Now, this is a set of cards we have seen before. But I actually want to touch on them for a bit.
Sunbeam Spellbomb is still a card. It's not like white mana is impossible, we run anywhere from 5-8 sources of white. And if we don't need it, we can always pitch it for a card.
Elixir is a bit different. Since this deck runs a lot with the graveyard, it'd be nice if the shuffle effect wasn't there, but it's an issue. I actually like Sunbeam Spellbomb over this card.
Salvaging Station Semblance Anvil Cloud Key
Our 'cheat' set. Salvaging Station is a really awesome card, but it costs 6 to cast (I really hate the number 6). Semblance Anvil is basically ramp, but questionable if we really need it. Same thing with Cloud Key. I think it depends on what you run.
Engineered Explosives Scourglass
Engineered Explosives is a card that has been discussed for a while now, and I'm warming up to it. It might take the place of my 1 Maelstrom Pulse in the sideboard. Scourglass is a card that I saw and was like, "WOW, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED, BUT IT COSTS 5 MANA!" I can see this and Semblance Anvil be a thing, but this deck is tight with it's slots as it is, and tweaking the deck is a painful task.
Bow of Nylea
Jitte in spirit. Gives us life, keeps us from milling ourselves out, and deals with pesky flyers like Ornithopter + that one equip Affinity plays. Gives us a mana sink. Seems fine, really. But the validity of it is questionable.
Booby Trap
Was thrown around as a win-con. I'd rather play Chandra, but it seems like a fun card to beat people with.
Jester's Scepter Jester's Cap Okay, these cards are actually playable. Cap helps us with the Tron/Twin/Scapeshift/Pod/any other combo deck matchup, which this deck has a bit of trouble with as they don't attack with clunky dudes. Scepter is more of an insurance type of deal. It IS unpredictable, but being able to counter things with artifacts is really a relief, and helps the line of play go a bit smoother. These are cards I want to actively test as well.
Bottled Cloister Trading Post
These cards are a failsafe to discard spells. Bottled Cloister nets us a card after and protects against discard, but we won't be able to use our instants (we have like 4, so why not?). This also makes our hand 0 on our opponent's turn, so they can't attack even though we draw more cards. Yaaay!
Trading Post offers a huge amount of utility. Blockers in the early game, life in the mid game, recursion in the late game, a bit of draw here and there.
Pyromancer's Gauntlet
Turns one Pyroclasm into two (MAGIC!), and Galvanic Blasts into one hell of a burn spell. It also turns Chandra's +1 into Lightning Bolts, and makes the ult into Galvanic Blast much better. But at 5 mana, it doesn't do anything the turn it comes in and comes in late to the party.
Phew. Okay, I'm done. I'll be testing these. Feel free to share your thoughts on some of these cards!
EDIT: Mindcrank + Duskmantle Guildmage is actually pretty do-able in this deck. Makes the combo just funnier.
Stops creatures from swinging under the bridge, gains some crucial life, possible repeatable removal. The protection against mill isn't very big, but it does help with recursion. With an infernal tutor in hand, it lets you get back anything you milled that is no longer in library. Say they ghost quarter your Academy Ruins. If you are against mill, it lets you stack your deck.
I love the look of Scourglass, despite its slowness. However, we already have the bridge for creatures, and pithing needle for planeswalkers and a few otherr permanents. Scourglass would really only help with enchantments and utility creatures (and a few isolated cases like instant speed equips on 0-cost creatures).
If you want repeatable life gain, you can look at Pulse of the Fields. More expensive than those two items, but doesn't lose your graveyard like Elixir. Sunbeam Spellbomb is better, as it has the card draw option, but the Spellbomb is more expensive to recur in the long run and uses your draw.I just love the whole Pulse cycle.
Vedalken Orrery is subject to the same argument as Witchbane Orb vs Leyline of Sanctity. Leyline of Anticipation has the same cmc, and the option of dropping it on T0. By the time we get to 4 mana sources, the double blue shouldn't be an issue.
For the planeswalkers ...
Daddy Jace would be more used for his 0, I believe. Statistically, repeatable milling 1 and repeatable milling 10 do the same thing for setting up someone's draw. The only issue would be cards that recycle the graveyard; we wouldn't be able to Pyxis it, so we would have to have some graveyard exile or Surgical Extraction in hand. He would make milling much more of a wincon, which would more reliable and quicker than recurring a Pyrite Spellbomb.
Ajani Vengeant looks interesting. Probably use him with more of a LD approach. Mana starve them, and use Ajani to tap down one of their remaining lands. Once their lands are destroyed, we keep them mana starved and every 3 turns use Ajani's -2. This is great, because it is easier to set up a nonland card for them to draw, since lands or mana sources are usually only 30-40% of a deck.
As for LD to use with Ajani, Ghost Quarter is great because it makes it easier to mana starve them if they even have basics. Boom is great if we also run Darksteel Citadel (which also helps metalcraft). Boom also has a silly combo with things like Trade Routes (Boom, then activate the trade ability in response). Smallpox could also work. Basically anything that tries to be "fair" LD, as it is the cheapest. Crucible of Worlds just makes it mean.
Chandra could also be very useful. Her +1 not only get's rid of pesky x/1's, but also bigger creatures that aren't quite killed by Pyroclasm or Galvanic Blast. It also helps towards ultimately winning. Her 0 is great since we have some control over it, as you said. Her Ultimate is even better, because we can pop a Codex Shredder to put a Galvanic Blast on top.
Once we make the deck creatureless, it's hard to throw in any creatures that aren't used solely for their ETB effect and as a chump blocker (trinket mage, solemn simulacrum). "Real" Control can afford to just use a few creatures as wincons, as they have the counterspells to protect them. Right now, creature removal are dead draws, which makes our job easier. Again, using a few clones might be better in a deck that tries to mana starve (but you really need to get the lock up fast for this to work). Phyrexian Metamorph is very flexible, but Sculpting Steel might be a better option if you find yourself using it on artifacts more.
I personally want to test out Ashiok in here. Getting it down T3 and just using the +2 is a viable win con. 3 cards is 1/20th of a library, similar to Chandra pinging for 1 every turn. Little faster of course, since the combo helps with the mill and draws every turn. It exiles which protects against any graveyard shenanigans. It's ultimate really helps, as it gets rid of anything left over from the opening hand or before we established a lock. Even if it doesn't last long, it is a fog until we get the bridge out. I'm just fond of Ashiok as I use 4 of it in a Standard control mill deck (Basically Esper shell, with Pilfered Plans, Psychic Strike, Big Jace, and Ashiok).
It is a very useful effect but ultimately unecessary or too slow, at least for my version of the deck.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/654861-lyzolda-blood-fiend
But Infernal Tutor is on a different level. I am currently loving that card in this deck so much that I'm running 2.
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
u/Anon_Amarth - Fun as a zero sum game: If my opponent is having none of it, then by extension I must be having all of it.
Current Top Control Decklist
Cockatrice: Spage
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
There's a very, very thin line between using DRS for utility, and using him as a stabilizer.
Using him as utility means we don't rely on him to give us a huge advantage or swing the game in our favor. We will use him as a tool for accelerating the wincon or as a tool to keep our opponent in check.
Using him as a stabilizer means that we completely depend on him dropping and us utilizing him to the fullest.
The point of this deck (in my eyes) is to blank our opponents creature removal. It is so very prevalent in the meta. If we start relying on DRS, then removing him is going to be worth it to our opponents. If DRS is our gameplay, then people will exploit it.
As long as you don't rely on DRS to win games, then you can try it.
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
3 Trinket Mage
3 Deathrite Shaman
Planeswalker (1)
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Instant (7)
4 Dispatch
3 Thirst for knowledge
Sorceries (8)
4 Thoughtseize
4 Ancient Stirrings
Artifacts (20)
3 Mox Opal
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Lantern of Insight
1 Ghoulcaller Bell
4 Codex Shredder
2 Academy Ruins
4 Glimmervoid
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Mikokoro, Center of the sea
Okay, here's what I have to say about your list.
By sacrificing red, you are losing a few things.
-Pyroclasm
-Faithless Looting
-Galvanic Blast
-Pyrite Spellbomb
You also run only 9 'combo' pieces, when the recommended amount was around 11-14. You run Trinket Mage as a tutor, which makes 9 slightly more acceptable.
In the place of Pyroclasm, you run Engineered Explosives, which is a good card for some instances, but it's really like a Ratchet Bomb, and we don't have more than 6 mana occasionally.
You run Dispatch, which early on isn't straight-up removal.
You replaced Looting with Thirst for Knowledge, which is a pretty good card, but not in this deck, and let me explain why.
T1, you look to play either a piece or DRS
T2, whatever else you need for the combo, Ancient Stirrings, DRS if you haven't, Thoughtseize if you haven't.
T3, you have a choice of Thirst, Ensnaring Bridge, and Trinket Mage.
Now, here's the problem with these 3 turns.
1) T1 DRS isn't a very strong play for us. What does that mean? T1 we are looking to get part of the combo up or to disrupt our opponent, or to dig for more bullets, or to Galvanic Blast their T1 creature. We need to get out of the gates T1 with this deck in order to save as much life as we can and to insure the lock in our deck by turn 3. At best, I found that DRS on turn 1 just accelerates our mana, which doesn't do much because...
2) At 3 mana, we have 3 different things that need to get done, and that's bad. We can either Trinket Mage, Thirst, or put down a Bridge. That clutters up our 3 mana move, and when you end up not having exactly what you need and having to decide between 2, you end up taking another turn to set up, which still means a full set up at turn 3 the latest, WHICH ENDS UP BEING THE SAME. Even with mana acceleration T1, we aren't accelerating the lock, we still end up having everything we need at around the same time. And since we devoted T1 to casting DRS and not a 1 mana piece, we are sometimes a turn LATE.
3) Your only wincons I see are mill and Tezz. You have no Pyrite Spellbomb recursion that pretty much gives us the game on the spot sometimes, or a Galvanic Blast recursion with Codex Shredder. We just either plop down a one of bomb to win or we mill them. Which is really slow and not ideal.
4) You have no board control. You should have some removal, or at least a board wipe in case you cannot find a Bridge (cannot be tutored by Mage), so you sometimes just sit there and take the damage, hoping to knock off Sunbeam Spellbomb off the top to stabilize. Dispatch sometimes isn't good enough. 20 artifacts is actually a pretty weak number when aiming for metalcraft on turn 2. Also, Pyroclasm ins't available to you, and you are just asking to be hosed by an aggro deck, without a means to tutor up Bridge.
5) You only have one way to deal with hate in the mainboard, and that's Explosives. How can you beat Leyline of the Void if it costs you 8 mana, which is pretty hard in a deck that runs 16 lands to begin with? Sure, you can get there, but it's a long and grueling process, and you're just torturing yourself by not playing a Beast Within, or something that beats it easily. I don't see your sideboard, but hopefully you have more permanent removal.
6) You decide to go a route where you take a lot of unnecessary damage from aggro decks, and yet you jam in 4 Thoughtseize along with shocks and fetches. Duress is safer in this deck, so is Inquisition.
Sunbeam Spellbomb recursion is good, it's just not fast enough to outrace the aggro decks when you don't have solid removal. Since you run black, how about some more killspells maindeck? Or some Beast within? Replace the 4 Dispatch. Maybe throw in a Damnation for good measure?
EDIT: Surgical Extraction and Infernal tutor are good cards to try out too. More Pithing Needles can secure you against a plethora of matchups as well. Here's my decklist, you can see if things work out for you by changing some numbers and cards to suit a no-red version.
WILL SUPPLY NEW DECKLIST SOON DERP THAT WAS MY OLD TEST LIST
UPDATE: I am still testing out Primal Command and Crypt Incursion, and 3 Infernal Tutor. Will return with a long post about what I think about them soon.
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
Red is included for removal and digging.
We use Faithless Looting for digging for combo pieces. Trinket Mage can find your pieces for the lock, but Faithless Looting also digs to Ensnaring Bridge, Academy Ruins, and Tezzeret. Thirst for Knowledge is good for digging as well, just at a higher cost than Looting. Thirst digs deeper and lets you keep cards, but Looting just goes off quicker. However, Thirst is a much better topdeck if you don't have Academy Ruins or extra Codex Shredders out.
The main idea is that we use so many artifacts, which gives us such a good mana base with Glimmervoid and Mox Opal. So we have all 5 colors available to us easily, and a lot of our mana is spent on colorless artifacts. With such a good mana base, there isn't much reason not to run all 5 colors. If you do decide to cut some colors, you might include Darksteel Citadel to make Glimmervoid a teensy bit more reliable and as anti-LD tech.
Pyroclasm is very powerful for removal, as well as Slagstorm. Red finds its way in to a lot of Modern decks for the use of Pyroclasm and Lightning Bolt as cheap removal.
This is a very solid point DrLemniscate raises. It doesn't really matter what we play; eventually, we will be able to play it. Anything that doesn't cost over 5 mana and need one specific mana to play is a card that can be played in this deck. Thus, there are a lot of 'playable' cards we can choose from in our arsenal. Pretty much any card that fits the line of 'under 5 mana, one specific mana to cast' can be considered.
So step right up! We will consider it if we can cast it! Don't be shy, whatever jank tech you always wanted to try can probably be played in this deck. I really want to promote 'constructed unplayable' cards as considerable options. You want to play Commandeer like a Modern Force of Will? Go ahead! (not an actual suggestion, we don't run blue spells)
Speaking of anti-LD tech, how about Boros Charm? It gives everything indestructable to save us from Creeping Corrosion and Shattering Spree/Storm and Boom//Bust.
I keep testing Retract as a safeguard from mass artifact removal but I decided to drop it. I recently came across Boros Charm and I would like to hear your guys' opinion.
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
Boros Charm is good, and keeping 1 card in hand is usually okay. If it ends up hurting you, you can just send 4 to the dome. The only question is what to cut? You might just want it on the SB replacing Welding Jar.
Also look at Simic Charm. Some artifact removal on the SB (such as ours with Wear // Tear) is singular. Cheaper to get rid of the one troublesome artifact than a wipe. Well, we mostly have singular since we don't want a wipe, and don't have the extra mana for Shattering Spree. All 3 modes of Simic Charm help us. +3/+3 to a troublesome Signal Pest before it attacks and gets insta-speed equipped with Cranial Plating, give everything hexproof (doesn't stop wipes, but does stop replicate), or bounce a troublesome creature.
edit: If only there was a cheap way to donate Crown of Convergence. Would give an extra lantern effect and keep creatures from sneaking under the bridge.
So, Primal Command is really having that problem I talked about earlier (The Surgical Extraction Syndrome). It's awesome when I need it, and a boatload of crap when I don't. At worst, it gives me 7 life and a noncreature bounce. I find that the graveyard shuffle effect is actually not good, especially at sorcery speed. So it's getting trashed.
Crypt Incursion, however, is bonkers. I only tried 1 in the main and 1 in the side, but it hoses out the aggro matchup by lock and milling creatures, then popping it for something around 12 life (against Affinity, I got 33 life once). If you don't need it, side it. If you do, bring in the other one. My only gripe is that sometimes, it's slow, and it doesn't gain me a specific number of life I want and is completely based on my opponent's top decks.
3 Infernal Tutor is still awesome, but sometimes I end up having 2 in my hand. The trade-off for seeing it more doesn't really appeal to me, as Bridge is so important to us, and we need to keep it viable.
I actually never had Welding Jar in the sideboard, I actually don't have any protection whatsoever, so Boros Charm was a delight to see. The double strike clause is actually funny when you use it with Tezzeret to make an artifact a 5/5 (won a game with it cus lol). All permanents have indestructible means that Boom // Bust is dead against us, mass artifact hate is livable, and swinging with indestructible 5/5 artifact(s) is still funny. And doming them for 4 is always relevent, basically our 5th Galvanic Blast.
Simic Charm is really cool, especially the Signal Pest example, that's just pure awesome. Bounce is also relevant. I see a lot more wipes in my meta though, so I'll stick with Boros Charm, but this choice does depend on your meta. If you see more singular removal, then Simic Charm is great. If you see more wipes, Boros Charm is great.
Still open to any/all things that are cool and unexpected. I am willing to test anything, as long as it makes sense.
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
Here are my main points.
1) A UB build is very interesting. It looks like you replaced Faithless Looting and Ancient Stirrings with Mishra's Bauble, which is a very good call! It does double duty in drawing you a card and peeking into your opponent's next draw, and being ready for whatever they might have with hand disruption is a pretty solid gameplan.
2) I understand your logic for Noxious Revival, but with Academy Ruins and Codex Shredder doing all types of recursion, I found that Revival was unnecessary in my testing. Maybe you can add one more Academy Ruins? I understand only being able to get artifacts is a little limiting, but with Executioner's Capsule (great call, very well done) is very powerful.
3) I feel like Nihil Spellbomb and 3 Surgical Extractions can be a little overwhelming sometimes. It feels like it can lead to crappy hand situations where you need to dump your hand for Bridge or Tutor as fast as possible. A number I feel very comfortable at is 2 Surgical and 1 Nihil, and although 1 less seems like the same, keep in mind that this deck really wants to utilize every single slot it has.
4) When people run Trinket Mage and no other fetch for artifacts, I often ask them how they fetch for Bridge. While you run Infernal Tutor (I strongly recommend running 2), to look for Bridge, you have Trinket Mage look for anything else, and here's where I must commend you for your build. Here's what you can look for with Mage that no one else that's thought of.
Executioner's Capsule and Elixer of Immortality.
Again, splendid. Great call, and one that really deserves recognition. Fully understanding that you need answers that others may not supplement, you really go and one-up the other Trinket Mage builds.
5) Disfigure may have been a meta call, and at one mana it's great, so if you needed anything else as a kill spell and not Disfigure, what would you have used? Infest? I'm curious.
6) How has Engineered Explosives done for you? I am wondering as I feel like EE isn't very ideal in this deck, and I want your opinion. I'd rather prefer something like Echoing Truth or Beast Within, or Maelstrom Pulse, but you don't have access to green or red or white for permanents that cause you trouble like Leyline of Sanctity or Torpor Orb.
Also, I just thought of the sickest tech for your deck.
Perplex
Counterspell unless they discard. Pure evil. Transmute to tutor up Bridge. Even better.
Find other 3 drops to punish your opponent and you are good to go. (just realized you can get Trinket Mage with this oh my god this tech is crazy good)
Other than that, thank you for your tournament report! I'm always looking for data to improve the deck in a competitive level.
If you have anything you'd like to ask me, ask away! I. Looking into playing this deck competitively in future GPs (hopefully a Modern GP comes to the West coast)
Edit: Maybe Dimir Machinations? Dizzy Spell? Drift of Phantasms?
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
Maybe you can see if you can find something? This is a major problem in the deck, which is why we strongly recommend even splashing red.
Also, I mentioned Leyline of Sanctity, not Void, but still effective.
That's actually the biggest wall to this deck. Leyline of Sanctity sees sideboard slots to the randomest decks. I'm very comfortable with a way to blast them in the case that we don't expect it to come in.
I might have to experiment with a Trinket Mage build that specializes in more artifact utility. Maybe Chalice of the Void at 2?
Mostly because Perplex seems like such a meta tech against control decks and any deck that gets greedy (combo, any deck with a tutor, any deck with an engine to function properly)
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
If you guys have any questions about the deck and some of our lists, let us know! Feel free to contact any one of us.
For reference, the list on the OP is outdated.
Have fun!
Viva la Top Control.
@daviusminimus - How about Fledgling Mawcor? Razortip Whip? (Lol) Scepter of Empires, or the Empire artifact set? (more lol) Stuffy Doll? Staff on Nin? (Horrible I know.)
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
If you are willing to go up to 6 cmc, Booby Trap recursion is the best wincon!
Outside of UB, I would love to see someone win with Ogre Menial or Char-Rumbler swinging under the bridge.
Goblin Charbelcher is a little costly, and requires mana every turn, but would definitely be faster with our low land count (and you can always make it at least 1).
Timesifter has been used as a wincon in the past. Mindslaver recursion costs way too much.
Mindcrank + Duskmantle Guildmage is an "infinite" combo.
Skullcage, but this is easily controlled by an opponent, unless you are running repeatable discard. For fun, you can use this plus Ebony Owl Netsuke. With a lot of discard, The Rack is a cheap option.
Thought Prison looks interesting, but not reliable.
Overall, I think Scepter of Empires looks best. Relatively cheap, doesn't require extra mana every turn. Razortip Whip is appealing for the cheaper cost, but the extra mana every turn makes it worse ... although winning with it would be entertaining (saying "Crack that whip!", 20 turns in a row). I love how a lot of this deck is recent stuff. Codex Shredder, Ghoulcaller's Bell, Faithless Looting, etc.
I can't wait for the day when we get a cheap global anthem effect, to keep more creatures locked behind the bridge.
Think this could ever be used for more digging power? We should be able to dump our hand fast enough early game for it, although we always run the chance of getting stuck with a card in hand we can't get rid of.
Of course, if we are just interested in drawing cards, Bottled Cloister is a lot better for just 1 more cost.
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
This is gonna take a while.
Jace, Memory Adept
Sorin MarkovAjani Vengeant
Chandra, Pyromaster
Planeswalkers are perfect top-end cards. I have a few here that seem good in a deck like this.
Mill Jace - His +1 is pretty good, acts as another Codex and draws us cards (okay, not as good, I'll admit). He mills and makes the process for winning us the game go faster (duh). But is he right for the job? I'm not entirely sure.
Sorin - Fun times with making people go to 10 and being a Mindslaver when we need it. Costs 6 though (D:)Ajani - Lightning Helix is always viable, especially in our deck. And once we blow up lands, it's a quick GG. Not too hard to cast, and his +1 actually does lock down troublesome permanents.
"Playable" Chandra - This is the real big card I want to test. Her +1 helps out with wiping the board of little x/1's that pass under our radar (Signal Pest), and she gives us pretty much the best card advantage we have yet. We know what's on top of our library, and we know what we need. Her ult even helps us win games by knocking off Galvanic Blast 3 times. I really want to test this over Tezzeret.
Vedalken OrreryPhyrexian Metamorph
DuplicantBasically, this is in a set so that we can beat Emrakul (not that Tron is a big problem). Vedalken Orrery is good on it's own, letting us cast any artifact as instants, which seems good, but I'll have to test that viability. Duplicant is a card I always wanted to try, and it's hilarious as hell.Phyrexian Metamorph, however, is a card I actually now have in my sideboard as a 1-of, as he's pretty useful at copying what we need and being a nuisance for Tarmogoyf.Sunbeam Spellbomb
Elixir of Immortality
Now, this is a set of cards we have seen before. But I actually want to touch on them for a bit.
Sunbeam Spellbomb is still a card. It's not like white mana is impossible, we run anywhere from 5-8 sources of white. And if we don't need it, we can always pitch it for a card.
Elixir is a bit different. Since this deck runs a lot with the graveyard, it'd be nice if the shuffle effect wasn't there, but it's an issue. I actually like Sunbeam Spellbomb over this card.
Salvaging Station
Semblance AnvilCloud KeyOur 'cheat' set. Salvaging Station is a really awesome card, but it costs 6 to cast (I really hate the number 6).
Semblance Anvil is basically ramp, but questionable if we really need it. Same thing with Cloud Key. I think it depends on what you run.Engineered Explosives
ScourglassEngineered Explosives is a card that has been discussed for a while now, and I'm warming up to it. It might take the place of my 1 Maelstrom Pulse in the sideboard.
Scourglass is a card that I saw and was like, "WOW, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED, BUT IT COSTS 5 MANA!" I can see this and Semblance Anvil be a thing, but this deck is tight with it's slots as it is, and tweaking the deck is a painful task.Bow of Nylea
Jitte in spirit. Gives us life, keeps us from milling ourselves out, and deals with pesky flyers like Ornithopter + that one equip Affinity plays. Gives us a mana sink. Seems fine, really. But the validity of it is questionable.
Booby Trap
Was thrown around as a win-con. I'd rather play Chandra, but it seems like a fun card to beat people with.
Jester's ScepterJester's CapOkay, these cards are actually playable. Cap helps us with the Tron/Twin/Scapeshift/Pod/any other combo deck matchup, which this deck has a bit of trouble with as they don't attack with clunky dudes. Scepter is more of an insurance type of deal. It IS unpredictable, but being able to counter things with artifacts is really a relief, and helps the line of play go a bit smoother. These are cards I want to actively test as well.Bottled Cloister
Trading Post
These cards are a failsafe to discard spells. Bottled Cloister nets us a card after and protects against discard, but we won't be able to use our instants (we have like 4, so why not?). This also makes our hand 0 on our opponent's turn, so they can't attack even though we draw more cards. Yaaay!
Trading Post offers a huge amount of utility. Blockers in the early game, life in the mid game, recursion in the late game, a bit of draw here and there.
Pyromancer's Gauntlet
Turns one Pyroclasm into two (MAGIC!), and Galvanic Blasts into one hell of a burn spell. It also turns Chandra's +1 into Lightning Bolts, and makes the ult into Galvanic Blast much better. But at 5 mana, it doesn't do anything the turn it comes in and comes in late to the party.
Phew. Okay, I'm done. I'll be testing these. Feel free to share your thoughts on some of these cards!
EDIT: Mindcrank + Duskmantle Guildmage is actually pretty do-able in this deck. Makes the combo just funnier.
Modern: Top Control -- UWx Titan -- Loam Pox -- Footsteps Hulk
Legacy: Doomsday -- Death and Taxes -- UR Stasis -- Sylvan Plug
Pauper: UB Teachings -- UR Nivix Control
Stops creatures from swinging under the bridge, gains some crucial life, possible repeatable removal. The protection against mill isn't very big, but it does help with recursion. With an infernal tutor in hand, it lets you get back anything you milled that is no longer in library. Say they ghost quarter your Academy Ruins. If you are against mill, it lets you stack your deck.
I love the look of Scourglass, despite its slowness. However, we already have the bridge for creatures, and pithing needle for planeswalkers and a few otherr permanents. Scourglass would really only help with enchantments and utility creatures (and a few isolated cases like instant speed equips on 0-cost creatures).
If you want repeatable life gain, you can look at Pulse of the Fields. More expensive than those two items, but doesn't lose your graveyard like Elixir. Sunbeam Spellbomb is better, as it has the card draw option, but the Spellbomb is more expensive to recur in the long run and uses your draw.I just love the whole Pulse cycle.
Vedalken Orrery is subject to the same argument as Witchbane Orb vs Leyline of Sanctity. Leyline of Anticipation has the same cmc, and the option of dropping it on T0. By the time we get to 4 mana sources, the double blue shouldn't be an issue.
For the planeswalkers ...
Daddy Jace would be more used for his 0, I believe. Statistically, repeatable milling 1 and repeatable milling 10 do the same thing for setting up someone's draw. The only issue would be cards that recycle the graveyard; we wouldn't be able to Pyxis it, so we would have to have some graveyard exile or Surgical Extraction in hand. He would make milling much more of a wincon, which would more reliable and quicker than recurring a Pyrite Spellbomb.
Ajani Vengeant looks interesting. Probably use him with more of a LD approach. Mana starve them, and use Ajani to tap down one of their remaining lands. Once their lands are destroyed, we keep them mana starved and every 3 turns use Ajani's -2. This is great, because it is easier to set up a nonland card for them to draw, since lands or mana sources are usually only 30-40% of a deck.
As for LD to use with Ajani, Ghost Quarter is great because it makes it easier to mana starve them if they even have basics. Boom is great if we also run Darksteel Citadel (which also helps metalcraft). Boom also has a silly combo with things like Trade Routes (Boom, then activate the trade ability in response). Smallpox could also work. Basically anything that tries to be "fair" LD, as it is the cheapest. Crucible of Worlds just makes it mean.
Chandra could also be very useful. Her +1 not only get's rid of pesky x/1's, but also bigger creatures that aren't quite killed by Pyroclasm or Galvanic Blast. It also helps towards ultimately winning. Her 0 is great since we have some control over it, as you said. Her Ultimate is even better, because we can pop a Codex Shredder to put a Galvanic Blast on top.
Once we make the deck creatureless, it's hard to throw in any creatures that aren't used solely for their ETB effect and as a chump blocker (trinket mage, solemn simulacrum). "Real" Control can afford to just use a few creatures as wincons, as they have the counterspells to protect them. Right now, creature removal are dead draws, which makes our job easier. Again, using a few clones might be better in a deck that tries to mana starve (but you really need to get the lock up fast for this to work). Phyrexian Metamorph is very flexible, but Sculpting Steel might be a better option if you find yourself using it on artifacts more.
I personally want to test out Ashiok in here. Getting it down T3 and just using the +2 is a viable win con. 3 cards is 1/20th of a library, similar to Chandra pinging for 1 every turn. Little faster of course, since the combo helps with the mill and draws every turn. It exiles which protects against any graveyard shenanigans. It's ultimate really helps, as it gets rid of anything left over from the opening hand or before we established a lock. Even if it doesn't last long, it is a fog until we get the bridge out. I'm just fond of Ashiok as I use 4 of it in a Standard control mill deck (Basically Esper shell, with Pilfered Plans, Psychic Strike, Big Jace, and Ashiok).