I'm still thinking about the Mana base; I kinda like the idea of blood moon, but from my testing I feel only Islands (and mountain for Goblin Engineer) are really needed. With this much fixing in Astrolabe, Mox and Spire we can easily play Teferies, blood moons, tezzerets and such.
Do you really prefer basic swamp/plains and mountain over Spire?
Also I play only one Sword, given so many tutors. Why having redundant copies when most used gy hate is Surgical Extraction, rest in peace and leyline of the void?
BTW, on YouTube Channel Team Super Moderní League, there are two takes on Urza Thopter Sword deck, one with Goblins. Worth watching, definitely. Also SaffronOlive played it on his Channel.
Yeah, the deck is no longer a secret. Urza took our baby away and gave it to the masses to enjoy, which is obviously a good thing. But we can remember when it was just our beloved pet deck that everyone always seemed to find cute and interesting,
Hey, I just got into top 8 in today's online Modern Challenge, going 7-1. My rounds went like this:
Round 1: No show 1-0 W
Round 2: Hogaak Vine, 1-2 L (Went to game 3, I kept a slightly slow hand on the draw with a turn 1 needle on Altar, and he just put 14 power on the board turn 2)
Round 3: Dreadhorde Footfalls, 2-1 W (Deck can be a challenge because of early pressure + force, but he drew poorly game 3)
Round 4: Burn 2-0 W
Round 5: Tron 2-1 W (He mulled to oblivion game 1, I thought he was on combo and boarded totally wrong, then game 3 I landed a damping sphere and a blood moon, though he exiled my only sword. Got there through urza beats around a wurmcoil thanks to engineer saccing one of my tokens)
Round 6: Temur Control 2-0 W (Too much value and needles for his walkers)
Round 7: Izzet Phoenix, 2-1 W
Round 8: Hardened Scales, 2-1
Unfortunately for me, Susurrus_MTG is also in top 8 and his Urza prison list also packs Karn, so if I face him it will be really tough.
EDIT:
Got 6th place, losing to Hogaak again. Close games, but he won the die roll, so... Although, he did mull to 5 game 3 but was able to turn 3 Hogaak with a bridge in the yard and a feeder to make a bunch of zombies and dodge my deputy as removal. Really, I should have mulled to a needle, oh well.
Pretty damn good results nobodys. Hogaak is a problem on 2 fronts for us in that it's a really strong deck that can win through multiple angles and we get splash hate from other decks. Everyone seems to have a playset of leylines sb now. I mean its obviously not an auto lose but it's really annoying and definitely weakens our deck
Yeah, the deck is no longer a secret. Urza took our baby away and gave it to the masses to enjoy, which is obviously a good thing. But we can remember when it was just our beloved pet deck that everyone always seemed to find cute and interesting,
I jumped on right before the Urza hype so I feel like I’m part of the original group! Regardless glad I’m part of the group now. I’ve got the whole deck being shipped but coming internationally so take forever...
R1: 1-2 TRON, felt like i could have played better game 3, but i got under the Karn/Lattice Lock a turn before i could combo
R2: 2-0 Jund, felt like a walk in the park
R3: 2-1 UB (Faeries) Game 1 was pretty easy, Game 2 he just wrecked me with handdisruption + Extraction into vendilion beats.
Game 3 academy ruins and goblin engineer prevented him from extracting all my win cons and i could piece enough thopters together to close it out.
R4: 0-2 Infect, felt just unwinnable, died on his T2 when he was on the play, and his T3 when I was on the play.
R5: 2-0 Mirror time, opp played a very different approach though, tezzeret main deck, karns in the side. Felt more like our old skool UB build with a minor red splash for engineer. Game 1 I just combo'ed faster, game 2 unmoored ego x2 gave me all the info I needed to prevent him from doing anything
It was my 4 color list. In the main deck I upped the serum visions to 3, cutting tormod's crypt. My sideboard was:
3 battle at the bridge
2 dead of night
3 teferi, time traveler
2 unmoored ego
1 wear//tear
2 deputy of detention
2 blood moon
The wear//tear was the least useful sideboard card that tourney, though that was just due to matchups. I went down on hogaak hate, which ended up costing me, but both losses were still really close game-3 affairs, and I still feel like yard hate isn't nearly as effective as the plan of needle into bridge or thopter/sword. I kind of like blood moon as additional big mana hate and cards that control has to counter. Battle was instrumental against burn, as always. Dead of night ended up being lackluster in my matches, too, though I played 0 midrange decks and it only did work against hardened affinity.
So, I went to an SCG IQ in Atlanta this weekend and took our man Urza. Went 5-1-1 with an ID and split top 2 to qualify for the Invitational in November!
Round 1: Hardened Scales (2-0, 1-0)
Game 1 I went infinite turn 6 after I chumped with thopters for a few turns.
Game 2 He sacrificed his entire board to lethal Inkmoth Nexus on turn 3 and scooped to Wear//Tear with no permanents on the field.
Round 2: Traditional Affinity (2-0, 2-0)
Thopter Sword is a hell of a combo against anyone attacking with 1 toughness fliers.
Round 3: Weird (2-0, 3-0)
We get deck checked. My opponent is playing Tron. Some of his cards are foil warped, and he can't replace them in time. He had to forfeit.
Round 4: Mono Red Phoenix (2-0, 4-0)
I get the combo active turn 3 both games and he can't win through the lifegain. He kept a slow hand in game 1 and it cost him.
Round 5: U/W Control (0-1-1, 4-1)
My only genuine misplay of the tournament. We grind for 25 minutes, then I have a window to go for the combo after Urza resolves. I have one artifact to tap and Sword of the Meek in the yard. I go for it, and he main deck surgicals (I figured I had to, before I got verdicted next turn). I glance down and see Mox Opal in my hand. What an idiot.
Round 6: Devoted Druid (2-0, 5-1)
Needle on Druid when you are all in on the combo is backbreaking.
Round 7: ID (5-1-1) 4th Seed in the Top 8.
Top 8
Quarters: U/W Control (2-1, 6-1-1)
Game 1 Thopter/sword gets there. Game 2 he has Cataclysmic Gearhulk. Seems absurdly good against us. Game 3 Thopter/sword gets under his counters and he misplays surgical while I still have mana up.
Semis: U/W Control (2-1, 7-1-1)
REVENGE on the only smear to my tournament record.
Game 1 Thopter/sword gets there. He doesn't see his maindeck surgicals. Game 2 Surprise! Another U/W player playing Cataclysmic Gearhulk! He D-spheres 2 needles and then Gearhulks the rest of my board. Game 3 was my favorite of the entire tournament. We go back and forth, I Wear//Tear Stony, he plays RIP,I have Spyglass on Jace and he can't seem to do much. I use the hidden mode on Sword of the Meek (equipping) and start beating down with random thopters, which he eats slowly with Colonnade activations. I get him down to 8 with Whir in hand. At his end step I Whir X3, planning honsetly on getting needle and naming Colonnade, but people get scared when you name bigger numbers. He tapped ALL of his mana to Logic Knot the Whir. He's tapped out, so I sacrifice my entire board of artifacts for exact lethal.
Finals: Would have been against Mardu Pyro with Yawgmoth, but we both had an invite and the top 4 had already split the money. We shook hands and moved on.
The deck is strong, boys. Super strong. I lost 1 game the entire day before top 8, and it was to a misplay.
Wow, so Thopter Sword is finally putting up some real results. 2 copies in the top 4 of the SCG team event, including one in the finals. At GP Dallas one copy of the deck went undefeated in day 1 and in the top 8! It also ended up at 2.2% of the Day 2 meta. We're actually putting up enough results to appear in metagame % breakdowns! It was actually the 4th most popular day 2 deck at the SCG team event, with 5 copies total.
Part of me is a little sad that this isn't just our little pet deck anymore, but now it's looking like a real contender, which is really great!
Yeah, it really is, systrill. The deck is legit tier 1 material with the new horizons cards, and it's only a matter of time before enough pilots pick it up to bring its meta percentage up. I truly believe that, and the silly thing is that pre horizons the deck was still really good but no one played it.
Great job, smagooo! Way to pay back the UW pilot you should have beaten in swiss, that is sweet.
Anyone a little worried about the potential for mill to be a real deck once Scheming Symmetry is released? It's an even worse matchup than tron. And speaking of tron, hogaak is keeping its numbers way down, which means that if hogaak eats a ban, there could be the potential for a worse meta then what we have now.
I managed to make top 4. I don't have a really great memory but here's what I can remember:
Round 1 - UW Control - Both games were a grind but he managed to edge me out both times. Not a great start, especially since I wanted the prize money to pay for my Urzas 0-1
Round 2 - UB Faeries - First game, I thought he was just a derpy UB control deck. He almost got me by swinging in with man lands but I managed to stabilize and pull back gradually. Making sure to play around Surgical the whole way. Second game is when the faeries rolled out. He managed to keep my off balance enough that I couldn't lock down the board fast enough. Third game I got the combo online quickly and once again, gingerly played around Surgical whilst getting an overwhelming board presence. 1-1
Round 3 - Mardu Pyromancer - I remember Kaya's Guile being an issue. Thoughtseize helped a lot. 2-1
Round 4 - Thopter/Sword (with Urza and Engineer) - Yup.. the mirror! Kinda. Funny enough this guy and I showed one another our decks after the first round to compare tech. He had an interesting inclusion in his deck.. a Pentad Prism. I can dig it. First game, I got the board pretty well locked down early. It came to a point where neither of us had a shot at winning. He thought he had me because he had more cards in deck and had Pithing Needled Academy Ruins. But I just went through the paces for probably 40 turns until I drew Aether Grid, which he had forgotten about. Luckily I was able to Thoughtseize his second Pithing needle earlier. That took me game 1. I can't quite remember how I won game 2 but I did. 3-1
Round 5 - UR Phoenix - Early bridge kept him locked down for a long time. It took me a while to find my second combo piece. Luckily, because I found a Thoughtseize and he had 2 Surgical Extractions in hand soaking. Game 2 I managed to get both the combo online as well as Bridge. He did get Aria started but then flooded out on lands and I closed the game quickly. 4-1
Round 6 - ID
Quarter Finals - Mono Red Phoenix - He takes game 1 blazingly fast. I bring in everything that can interact early as well as Liliana and Tezzeret. I leave out Leylines because I am not sure it is Phoenix or just prowess and I don't think it's that good against Phoenix anyway. I manage to take infinite turns on turn 5. Game 3 he gets a shaky start and I am able to curve out decently while he doesn't have a lot of answers.
Semi Finals - Wrenn Jund - Game 1 I let a Wrenn go unanswered.. guaranteeing land drops and then ultimating. He bolted me 5 times in row soon after that. Game 2 it was rough and the writing was on the wall after not too long. I got junded.
Still won $100 credit and secured 2 Urzas though.
I added Pyrite Spellbomb and Ghirapur Aether Grid to my typical old build because I felt I needed some kind of backup plan with all the graveyard hate running around in main decks lately.
So I played Brian Coval's list last night at my modern night event and I will say I kind of missed not having Sai in the main deck. The extra thopter generator and using them to make mana with Urza. I never got a chance to use the scrap trawler combo but it was my first time using it and I never played KCI so I will need practice with the combo but I wanted to give my two cents. Also my Modern event doesn;t have alot of graveyard hate which this list has a ton of it.
How were the serum visions?
How useful was the ramp from mind stone, were there any times you wished it was the other way round and they acted as astrolabes 5 and 6 (i.e. would you consider playing prophetic prism?)
Did you miss not having more whirs? Ive felt in these urza builds that whirs just kinda sit in my hand... im usually even casting my tezzerets before whir!
Could you see a time sieve in tbe main as an alt wincon?
Anyone have a preference between 3 and 4 engineers? I've been on 3, but I couldn't really say why. Also, I totally do not understand the wellsprings in people's lists. If I'm looking for a cantrip, I want it to be cast on turn 1, the added draw down the road hardly seems worth it. I also don't get trimming on whirs, especially in a deck with 4 astrolabes.
I'm on 3 Engineers myself. Engineer is one of the best cards in the deck, but I'm hesitant to go back up to 4 with just so much graveyard hate around.
As for Wellspring, I like the 1 of Wellspring as an engineer target to take you to value town. If I'm worried about a surgical or something, my go-to Engineer target is a Wellspring, so then I can ideally start exchanging wellspring and Astrolabes.
As for Whir, I also am fine with cutting a bit lower on Whir. I'm at 3, and the lists that run 2 no longer seem so crazy to me. I rarely Whir for anything but the combo pieces, and they just don't feel as necessary now that we have Engineer and Urza. Whirs were super important before Urza, but now, I just don't think they have the same impact they did when we were a lot more toolboxy.
But is the prospect of drawing 1.5 cards a turn with wellspring/astrolabe and engineer worth running that card when 2 astrolabe draw you 1 card per turn? If you can value-goblin away, you're probably in a game state where you're winning, anyway. Wellspring seems like the lowest impact kind of win-more.
I can see the rationale for cutting whirs in a vacuum, but don't forget how good they are against control with their instant speed. And goblin is a great tutor, but with maindeck surgicals they're more risky than whir.
How were the serum visions?
How useful was the ramp from mind stone, were there any times you wished it was the other way round and they acted as astrolabes 5 and 6 (i.e. would you consider playing prophetic prism?)
Did you miss not having more whirs? Ive felt in these urza builds that whirs just kinda sit in my hand... im usually even casting my tezzerets before whir!
Could you see a time sieve in tbe main as an alt wincon?
The serum visions were okay, it is nice to set up the next draws. I really think the mind stones are nice to get out a urza a turn faster and for card draw but I think the its mainly there for the scrap trawlers combo. I actually like two wellspring in the deck to loop back and forth with goblin engineer. I will say I think I like the jeskai version over the grixis, if you are in a graveyard meta at your fnm I'd say grixis but Jeskai is still my favorite as of now. I like having the wear//tear and teferi, the time reveler in the sideboard for control decks since we are running less whirs. Also I think with new london rules you are going to see more chalice decks pop up like eldrazi wnter. That was my first match and that was a beating but I was able to beat him barely because I ran 4 goblin engineers.
The whirs are are nice in the deck to sneak a bridge in.
I think Goblin engineer is a 4 of in the deck and if your opponent can't get it off the board, you are running away with the game.
Does anyone actually like the mind stones? Id rather have chromatic star i think. Tested them tonight and eveey time i cast or drew them just felt so underwhelming. The additional ramp hardly felt necessary to me
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Do you really prefer basic swamp/plains and mountain over Spire?
Also I play only one Sword, given so many tutors. Why having redundant copies when most used gy hate is Surgical Extraction, rest in peace and leyline of the void?
Round 1: No show 1-0 W
Round 2: Hogaak Vine, 1-2 L (Went to game 3, I kept a slightly slow hand on the draw with a turn 1 needle on Altar, and he just put 14 power on the board turn 2)
Round 3: Dreadhorde Footfalls, 2-1 W (Deck can be a challenge because of early pressure + force, but he drew poorly game 3)
Round 4: Burn 2-0 W
Round 5: Tron 2-1 W (He mulled to oblivion game 1, I thought he was on combo and boarded totally wrong, then game 3 I landed a damping sphere and a blood moon, though he exiled my only sword. Got there through urza beats around a wurmcoil thanks to engineer saccing one of my tokens)
Round 6: Temur Control 2-0 W (Too much value and needles for his walkers)
Round 7: Izzet Phoenix, 2-1 W
Round 8: Hardened Scales, 2-1
Unfortunately for me, Susurrus_MTG is also in top 8 and his Urza prison list also packs Karn, so if I face him it will be really tough.
EDIT:
Got 6th place, losing to Hogaak again. Close games, but he won the die roll, so... Although, he did mull to 5 game 3 but was able to turn 3 Hogaak with a bridge in the yard and a feeder to make a bunch of zombies and dodge my deputy as removal. Really, I should have mulled to a needle, oh well.
I jumped on right before the Urza hype so I feel like I’m part of the original group! Regardless glad I’m part of the group now. I’ve got the whole deck being shipped but coming internationally so take forever...
3 Thopter Foundry
2 Sword of the Meek
4 Mox Opal
4 Mishra' Bauble
3 Pithing Needle
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Spellskite
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Spine of Ish Sah
2 Talismanof Hierarchy
Creatures
3 Goblin Engineer
4 Urza, Lod High Artificer
3 Whir of Invention
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
1 Sai, Master Thoperist
1 Prismatic Vista
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
5 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Academy Ruins
2 Unmoored Ego
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Path to Exile
2 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Dead of Winter
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Witchbane Orb
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Damping Sphere
Finally got a chance to play 5 rounds on paper
R1: 1-2 TRON, felt like i could have played better game 3, but i got under the Karn/Lattice Lock a turn before i could combo
R2: 2-0 Jund, felt like a walk in the park
R3: 2-1 UB (Faeries) Game 1 was pretty easy, Game 2 he just wrecked me with handdisruption + Extraction into vendilion beats.
Game 3 academy ruins and goblin engineer prevented him from extracting all my win cons and i could piece enough thopters together to close it out.
R4: 0-2 Infect, felt just unwinnable, died on his T2 when he was on the play, and his T3 when I was on the play.
R5: 2-0 Mirror time, opp played a very different approach though, tezzeret main deck, karns in the side. Felt more like our old skool UB build with a minor red splash for engineer. Game 1 I just combo'ed faster, game 2 unmoored ego x2 gave me all the info I needed to prevent him from doing anything
3 battle at the bridge
2 dead of night
3 teferi, time traveler
2 unmoored ego
1 wear//tear
2 deputy of detention
2 blood moon
The wear//tear was the least useful sideboard card that tourney, though that was just due to matchups. I went down on hogaak hate, which ended up costing me, but both losses were still really close game-3 affairs, and I still feel like yard hate isn't nearly as effective as the plan of needle into bridge or thopter/sword. I kind of like blood moon as additional big mana hate and cards that control has to counter. Battle was instrumental against burn, as always. Dead of night ended up being lackluster in my matches, too, though I played 0 midrange decks and it only did work against hardened affinity.
4 Mox Opal
3 Thopter Foundry
2 Sword of the Meek
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
4 Mishra's Bauble
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Welding Jar
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Damping Sphere
1 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Urza, Lord High Artificer
3 Goblin Engineer
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Collective Brutality
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Inventor's Fair
2 Glimmervoid
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Steam Vents
1 Watery Grave
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Snow-Covered Plains
5 Snow-Covered Island
1 Pithing Needle
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Wear//Tear
2 Battle at the Bridge
2 Unmoored Ego
1 Damping Sphere
1 Torpor Orb
4 Leyline of the Void
Round 1: Hardened Scales (2-0, 1-0)
Game 1 I went infinite turn 6 after I chumped with thopters for a few turns.
Game 2 He sacrificed his entire board to lethal Inkmoth Nexus on turn 3 and scooped to Wear//Tear with no permanents on the field.
Round 2: Traditional Affinity (2-0, 2-0)
Thopter Sword is a hell of a combo against anyone attacking with 1 toughness fliers.
Round 3: Weird (2-0, 3-0)
We get deck checked. My opponent is playing Tron. Some of his cards are foil warped, and he can't replace them in time. He had to forfeit.
Round 4: Mono Red Phoenix (2-0, 4-0)
I get the combo active turn 3 both games and he can't win through the lifegain. He kept a slow hand in game 1 and it cost him.
Round 5: U/W Control (0-1-1, 4-1)
My only genuine misplay of the tournament. We grind for 25 minutes, then I have a window to go for the combo after Urza resolves. I have one artifact to tap and Sword of the Meek in the yard. I go for it, and he main deck surgicals (I figured I had to, before I got verdicted next turn). I glance down and see Mox Opal in my hand. What an idiot.
Round 6: Devoted Druid (2-0, 5-1)
Needle on Druid when you are all in on the combo is backbreaking.
Round 7: ID (5-1-1) 4th Seed in the Top 8.
Top 8
Quarters: U/W Control (2-1, 6-1-1)
Game 1 Thopter/sword gets there. Game 2 he has Cataclysmic Gearhulk. Seems absurdly good against us. Game 3 Thopter/sword gets under his counters and he misplays surgical while I still have mana up.
Semis: U/W Control (2-1, 7-1-1)
REVENGE on the only smear to my tournament record.
Game 1 Thopter/sword gets there. He doesn't see his maindeck surgicals. Game 2 Surprise! Another U/W player playing Cataclysmic Gearhulk! He D-spheres 2 needles and then Gearhulks the rest of my board. Game 3 was my favorite of the entire tournament. We go back and forth, I Wear//Tear Stony, he plays RIP,I have Spyglass on Jace and he can't seem to do much. I use the hidden mode on Sword of the Meek (equipping) and start beating down with random thopters, which he eats slowly with Colonnade activations. I get him down to 8 with Whir in hand. At his end step I Whir X3, planning honsetly on getting needle and naming Colonnade, but people get scared when you name bigger numbers. He tapped ALL of his mana to Logic Knot the Whir. He's tapped out, so I sacrifice my entire board of artifacts for exact lethal.
Finals: Would have been against Mardu Pyro with Yawgmoth, but we both had an invite and the top 4 had already split the money. We shook hands and moved on.
The deck is strong, boys. Super strong. I lost 1 game the entire day before top 8, and it was to a misplay.
Part of me is a little sad that this isn't just our little pet deck anymore, but now it's looking like a real contender, which is really great!
Great job, smagooo! Way to pay back the UW pilot you should have beaten in swiss, that is sweet.
Anyone a little worried about the potential for mill to be a real deck once Scheming Symmetry is released? It's an even worse matchup than tron. And speaking of tron, hogaak is keeping its numbers way down, which means that if hogaak eats a ban, there could be the potential for a worse meta then what we have now.
Here's the list:
1 Damping Sphere
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Mox Opal
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Sword of the Meek
4 Thopter Foundry
1 Time Sieve
1 Welding Jar
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
4 Thoughtseize
4 Whir of Invention
3 Serum Visions
1 Battle at the Bridge
1 Inventors' Fair
3 Island
4 Polluted Delta
3 Spire of Industry
1 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Academy Ruins
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Collective Brutality
1 Echoing Truth
1 Herald of Anguish
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Liliana of the Veil
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Unmoored Ego
1 Witchbane Orb
I managed to make top 4. I don't have a really great memory but here's what I can remember:
Round 1 - UW Control - Both games were a grind but he managed to edge me out both times. Not a great start, especially since I wanted the prize money to pay for my Urzas 0-1
Round 2 - UB Faeries - First game, I thought he was just a derpy UB control deck. He almost got me by swinging in with man lands but I managed to stabilize and pull back gradually. Making sure to play around Surgical the whole way. Second game is when the faeries rolled out. He managed to keep my off balance enough that I couldn't lock down the board fast enough. Third game I got the combo online quickly and once again, gingerly played around Surgical whilst getting an overwhelming board presence. 1-1
Round 3 - Mardu Pyromancer - I remember Kaya's Guile being an issue. Thoughtseize helped a lot. 2-1
Round 4 - Thopter/Sword (with Urza and Engineer) - Yup.. the mirror! Kinda. Funny enough this guy and I showed one another our decks after the first round to compare tech. He had an interesting inclusion in his deck.. a Pentad Prism. I can dig it. First game, I got the board pretty well locked down early. It came to a point where neither of us had a shot at winning. He thought he had me because he had more cards in deck and had Pithing Needled Academy Ruins. But I just went through the paces for probably 40 turns until I drew Aether Grid, which he had forgotten about. Luckily I was able to Thoughtseize his second Pithing needle earlier. That took me game 1. I can't quite remember how I won game 2 but I did. 3-1
Round 5 - UR Phoenix - Early bridge kept him locked down for a long time. It took me a while to find my second combo piece. Luckily, because I found a Thoughtseize and he had 2 Surgical Extractions in hand soaking. Game 2 I managed to get both the combo online as well as Bridge. He did get Aria started but then flooded out on lands and I closed the game quickly. 4-1
Round 6 - ID
Quarter Finals - Mono Red Phoenix - He takes game 1 blazingly fast. I bring in everything that can interact early as well as Liliana and Tezzeret. I leave out Leylines because I am not sure it is Phoenix or just prowess and I don't think it's that good against Phoenix anyway. I manage to take infinite turns on turn 5. Game 3 he gets a shaky start and I am able to curve out decently while he doesn't have a lot of answers.
Semi Finals - Wrenn Jund - Game 1 I let a Wrenn go unanswered.. guaranteeing land drops and then ultimating. He bolted me 5 times in row soon after that. Game 2 it was rough and the writing was on the wall after not too long. I got junded.
Still won $100 credit and secured 2 Urzas though.
I added Pyrite Spellbomb and Ghirapur Aether Grid to my typical old build because I felt I needed some kind of backup plan with all the graveyard hate running around in main decks lately.
Ux Whirza
Rb Goblins
Legacy
U Urza Stompy
Duel Commander
Sai, Master Thopterist
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Pithing Needle
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Ichor Wellspring
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Mind Stone
2 Whir of Invention
4 Thopter Foundry
4 Serum Visions
4 Mox Opal
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
1 Scrap Trawler
4 Urza, Lord High Artificer
4 Goblin Engineer
1 Steam Vents
1 Spirebluff Canal
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Prismatic Vista
3 Scalding Tarn
3 Polluted Delta
5 Snow-Covered Island
2 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Dead of Winter
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Sai, Master Thopterist
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Fatal Push
2 Galvanic Blast
How were the serum visions?
How useful was the ramp from mind stone, were there any times you wished it was the other way round and they acted as astrolabes 5 and 6 (i.e. would you consider playing prophetic prism?)
Did you miss not having more whirs? Ive felt in these urza builds that whirs just kinda sit in my hand... im usually even casting my tezzerets before whir!
Could you see a time sieve in tbe main as an alt wincon?
As for Wellspring, I like the 1 of Wellspring as an engineer target to take you to value town. If I'm worried about a surgical or something, my go-to Engineer target is a Wellspring, so then I can ideally start exchanging wellspring and Astrolabes.
As for Whir, I also am fine with cutting a bit lower on Whir. I'm at 3, and the lists that run 2 no longer seem so crazy to me. I rarely Whir for anything but the combo pieces, and they just don't feel as necessary now that we have Engineer and Urza. Whirs were super important before Urza, but now, I just don't think they have the same impact they did when we were a lot more toolboxy.
I can see the rationale for cutting whirs in a vacuum, but don't forget how good they are against control with their instant speed. And goblin is a great tutor, but with maindeck surgicals they're more risky than whir.
The serum visions were okay, it is nice to set up the next draws. I really think the mind stones are nice to get out a urza a turn faster and for card draw but I think the its mainly there for the scrap trawlers combo. I actually like two wellspring in the deck to loop back and forth with goblin engineer. I will say I think I like the jeskai version over the grixis, if you are in a graveyard meta at your fnm I'd say grixis but Jeskai is still my favorite as of now. I like having the wear//tear and teferi, the time reveler in the sideboard for control decks since we are running less whirs. Also I think with new london rules you are going to see more chalice decks pop up like eldrazi wnter. That was my first match and that was a beating but I was able to beat him barely because I ran 4 goblin engineers.
The whirs are are nice in the deck to sneak a bridge in.
I think Goblin engineer is a 4 of in the deck and if your opponent can't get it off the board, you are running away with the game.