Anyone else want to try Mystic Forge (probably as a 1-of) in this deck? I've personally found it's great--it often effectively draws 3 or more cards in a single turn, although it does brick on lands fairly often. Our nonartifact spells generally being powerhouses helps. It's hosed by (often maindeck) Grafdigger's Cage, though, so it's either Cage or this. Goblin Engineer being unable to reanimate it is also mildly annoying.
Hey guys; been a while but I have time to play again so picking up my thoptersword (or, as I'm calling it now with Urza, SwordLord) deck again. Glad to see The Nobody's still slaying it out there, nice work!
This is just off the top of my head as a starting point. I know it looks a bit nutty, but I really like Chalice as it hoses so hard and it's not really on people's radar at the moment. Modern is just a format where people expect to do a lot of things for 1 mana. The more I play it the more I like it. Have you seen a Phoenix player's face when you land chalice for 1? Or an infect player? It can even stumble Tron. With Chalice, you don't have to lean quite so hard on your hate suite to carry you when you can't combo off immediately, and since most decks are slowed by a chalice on 1, you have more time to combo out. It's also a 0 cost artifact so synergises with Sai (not included in the list above but could be), Mox and bridge. I've never found it a problem that it blocks some of our spells because we can still operate and win, wheras a lot of the time the other deck just can't (read: so we win).
The other nice thing about SSG is he lets you get accelerate a t1 Goblin Engineer more of the time, which is pretty scary, and also accelerates into urza earlier.
I'm increasingly cutting and even (as above) thinking about abandoning Whir; I know it sounds like heresy and I need to play more to fully understand how cutting whir and relying on Goblin affects everything, but the more I play with Goblin, the more I feel I don't need whir and it's UUU restrictions.
8 Cantrips is decent too (astrolabes and baubles). Could play 2 Faithless looting in the list if it doesn't get banned on the 8th.
EDIT: Why is my post count 2 and my avatar gone? *sigh*
Welcome back to the fold, Magpie. The deck is really fun, and I love that I'm actually getting to play against it online. I'm running mill through a league with scheming symmetry, and man was the thopter sword matchup easy. Chalice would definitely help if people actually pick up mill.
I like chalice, and SSG to some degree, but when you jam a bunch of games the swinginess of chalice really starts to show. Sometimes it's really good, sometimes really bad. I think if you do run it, you should swap needle out for spyglass.
Cheers nobodys, good to be back. Spyglass is a good idea, I'll give it a go.
@ContraEgo: Shackles are back on my radar, yes. I wonder if it isn't just a bit too slow in the matchups where it actually matters, though. Definitely worth trying, it's a sweet card I'd love to see return.
So I played in the redbull untapped event this weekend, going 2-1 in sealed and 3-2 in modern constructed.
I won vs bant spirits, hogaak and jund, lost twice to u/w control. The matchups seems horrible. We have to play around MD surgicals which slows us down and with all the counter magic and paths it's hard to stick anything that resembles a clock. I have teferi, time raveler in the board which helps a lot. Helped me play through 3 stony silences but I failed to draw an urza to close the game, eventually teferi got bounced with counter magic up, so the game was over. And even if I would have drawn an urza in time, it would still have been a draw in this case.
Any one has any advice for me on how to approach the matchup?
I find the matchup to be pretty close to 50/50. It's all about resolving a foundry - playing around surgical isn't a big deal at all, because they don't have a clock, so making thopters ASAP isn't necessary. Always just leave 1 mana untapped when making thopters. Also, once you do get a foundry in play, don't rush to get out other threats. Try to force them to use as many resources as possible to try to solve your foundry, because they will do stuff like bounce it with command and try to counter it. I never just run out Urza once I have a foundry in play, because you're playing into their game plan.
Post-board, it does get harder if they play stony. Now, most UW pilots aren't on 3 stony anymore, I've found. It's usually 1-2. But anyway, Aether grid, creatures, and planeswalkers are all good against them. Needles do a lot of work, too. (Can't say enough about playing 3 needles main).
On another note, this site is getting archived today. Just want to say it's been fun talking about this deck over the years, and watching it develop. Good work team!
Thoughts on the Bridge from Below ban? I'd like to start playing again and have all but scalding tarns on the way to update the list. Do we go back to the toolbox with the potential return of a healthier meta? The current deck lists look super fun just not very reactive which really concerns me again the control matchup. Honestly control really kills the game for me. I understand it's necessity. I just hate it with a passion. I'm stubborn like that. Does it go back to being not as good? What you all think? Maindeck Tez fo life!
Thoughts on the Bridge from Below ban? I'd like to start playing again and have all but scalding tarns on the way to update the list. Do we go back to the toolbox with the potential return of a healthier meta? The current deck lists look super fun just not very reactive which really concerns me again the control matchup. Honestly control really kills the game for me. I understand it's necessity. I just hate it with a passion. I'm stubborn like that. Does it go back to being not as good? What you all think? Maindeck Tez fo life!
Wait what?! Archived? What does that mean?!
The Urza Sword lists that have been putting up results are quite good against UW Control as is. Thopter Foundry is pretty good against them. Engineer is really good against them as long as you don't get RiP'd, which they'll likely be playing less of. Urza is great against them, Sai is great against them. We have so many more threats now that it can be difficult for UW Control to answer them all. Overall I've been finding UW Control even before the Bridge ban to be a favourable matchup. Now if anything we can probably make it better since we can ditch the 4 Leylines in the board for a probably just a couple graveyard hate pieces, which opens a couple extra slots for other things. Teferi could be an option, thoughtseize is good against them, stuff like that.
To be honest, I think the heavily toolbox days are gone, it's generally just not needed and it's all about the combo
UW control is fairly close to 50/50, with a slight favor in our direction, I believe. I've been maindecking a few Teferi, not because it does anything that great for us, but because the card is overall stupidly powerful at 3 cmc.
Systrill, I have to offer a differing opinion when you say the heavy toolbox days are gone. I think Urza helps enable main deck toolbox cards, because between him and Whir, they all become mana rocks. So I actually feel more empowered to play cages and needles and spheres. Additionally, Engineer helps turn useless toolbox cards into useful ones, and helps tutor for them. While you're right that we're more about the combo, ideally we're just dropping artifacts on turns 1-3.
So what about the inclusion of counter spells now that we're even more of a combo deck and spending less effort trying to hide behind a bridge? Do we just have to wait and see where the meta goes? I'm expecting upticks in creature decks and a return to tron, which is always fun.
I would also love to get a dialog going on the mirror match. we didn't talked about it much back in the Tez days being as the chances of running into the deck were slim but plenty of players are picking up the Urza list. Who's had experience so far?
I also gotta say i'm gonna feel naked without any Abrupt Decay action in the side board as well but i'm an old dog who's gotta accept the new tricks!
I've played the mirror quite a few times, including today. I like to prison up as much as possible post board, needle foundry asap and try to outgrind. But everyone's sideboard strategy is different right now. For instance, I lost game 3 because of an unexpected plague engineer killing my goblin after I chumped his goblin. The mirror seems to be who can land an urza first. Aether grid is still money in the mirror - I really don't understand why people run spellbomb + trawler.
I like running Pyrite Spellbomb even without trawler since it's just a maindeck removal piece that can cycle for a card if we want. I've tried some Scrap Trawler recently and I do like it. It's got some nice points going for it. It can generate a lot of value sacing things to foundry or Sai and getting back Baubles, etc. It's also fulfills the slots's ability to win on the spot when you combo off with Urza by replaying Spellbomb over and over. Lastly, I haven't done it yet, but it does open up an ability to make infinite tokens without Urza, with Thopter Sword, Trawler and 2 Opals (one can be in the yard).
So far I still think I like Grid more, but I can see the appeal of Trawler. I'm just starting to try out Spine of Ish Sah in that slot right now
Round 1 Esper Obzedat (2-1)
Round 2 UR Phoenix (2-0)
Round 3 RG LD (Ponza) (2-0) Played the goblin on t2, but lost my swords by Surgical Extraction, but Sai wins me the game
Round 4 Brun (2-1) get back to the game after go 1 life, spellskite saves me this game a lot of times
Round 5 Jund (0-2) I guess this match was to be good for thopter/foundry, but he drew better and always had Decay and Ooze to slow me down.
Round 6 UW Control (1-1) I dont think this match is good for us as you guys sad, but maybe is why i hate control? hahah, but again, he always had response for my plays.
Round 1 Esper Obzedat (2-1)
Round 2 UR Phoenix (2-0)
Round 3 RG LD (Ponza) (2-0) Played the goblin on t2, but lost my swords by Surgical Extraction, but Sai wins me the game
Round 4 Brun (2-1) get back to the game after go 1 life, spellskite saves me this game a lot of times
Round 5 Jund (0-2) I guess this match was to be good for thopter/foundry, but he drew better and always had Decay and Ooze to slow me down.
Round 6 UW Control (1-1) I dont think this match is good for us as you guys sad, but maybe is why i hate control? hahah, but again, he always had response for my plays.
I really like the list but one question, do you like lightning bolt over galvonic blast in the SB? I think Spellskite is awesome addition to the deck and i have one in my deck that I run.
Its hard to argument if bolt is better then galvanic, i just don't have galvanic and in that store was out of stock to buy too.
But galvanic and wear/tear i want to try in.
I like skite and think he is so usefull to protect our pieces
Its hard to argument if bolt is better then galvanic, i just don't have galvanic and in that store was out of stock to buy too.
But galvanic and wear/tear i want to try in.
I like skite and think he is so usefull to protect our pieces
Spellskite has been a sneaky whir option against decks like bogles and infect.
Hi all. My first post here and I'd like to thank all of you for doing all the hard work in testing ideas and sharing. I built Tezzerator as soon as sword was unbanned and it remains a pet favourite of mine.
I tested a Servo Schematic at FNM to work with Goblin Engineer in the same way Ichor Wellspring does and found it to work exceptionally well. It acted like a secondary sword/foundry by still giving me the ability to create tokens even after my sword got Surgical Extractioned.
I was wondering if anyone else had tested it or had any thoughts on it's inclusion?
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So has anyone tested a Simian Spirit Guide list? Something like this:
4 Mox Opal
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Arcum's Astrolabe
4 Thopter Foundry
2 Sword of the Meek
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Pithing Needle
1 Damping Sphere
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Urza, Lord High Artificer
1 Ghirapur Aether Grid
4 Prismatic Vista
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Polluted Delta
6 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Blood Moon
2 Teferi, Time Raveller
2 Dead of Winter
2 Unmoored Ego
1 Pithing Needle
2 Wear // Tear
3 Battle at the Bridge
This is just off the top of my head as a starting point. I know it looks a bit nutty, but I really like Chalice as it hoses so hard and it's not really on people's radar at the moment. Modern is just a format where people expect to do a lot of things for 1 mana. The more I play it the more I like it. Have you seen a Phoenix player's face when you land chalice for 1? Or an infect player? It can even stumble Tron. With Chalice, you don't have to lean quite so hard on your hate suite to carry you when you can't combo off immediately, and since most decks are slowed by a chalice on 1, you have more time to combo out. It's also a 0 cost artifact so synergises with Sai (not included in the list above but could be), Mox and bridge. I've never found it a problem that it blocks some of our spells because we can still operate and win, wheras a lot of the time the other deck just can't (read: so we win).
The other nice thing about SSG is he lets you get accelerate a t1 Goblin Engineer more of the time, which is pretty scary, and also accelerates into urza earlier.
I'm increasingly cutting and even (as above) thinking about abandoning Whir; I know it sounds like heresy and I need to play more to fully understand how cutting whir and relying on Goblin affects everything, but the more I play with Goblin, the more I feel I don't need whir and it's UUU restrictions.
8 Cantrips is decent too (astrolabes and baubles). Could play 2 Faithless looting in the list if it doesn't get banned on the 8th.
EDIT: Why is my post count 2 and my avatar gone? *sigh*
I like chalice, and SSG to some degree, but when you jam a bunch of games the swinginess of chalice really starts to show. Sometimes it's really good, sometimes really bad. I think if you do run it, you should swap needle out for spyglass.
We're playing a lot of islands.
We are establishing a board presence. We are not relying on bridge as much..
Can we play shackles again??
Ux Whirza
Rb Goblins
Legacy
U Urza Stompy
Duel Commander
Sai, Master Thopterist
@ContraEgo: Shackles are back on my radar, yes. I wonder if it isn't just a bit too slow in the matchups where it actually matters, though. Definitely worth trying, it's a sweet card I'd love to see return.
I won vs bant spirits, hogaak and jund, lost twice to u/w control. The matchups seems horrible. We have to play around MD surgicals which slows us down and with all the counter magic and paths it's hard to stick anything that resembles a clock. I have teferi, time raveler in the board which helps a lot. Helped me play through 3 stony silences but I failed to draw an urza to close the game, eventually teferi got bounced with counter magic up, so the game was over. And even if I would have drawn an urza in time, it would still have been a draw in this case.
Any one has any advice for me on how to approach the matchup?
Post-board, it does get harder if they play stony. Now, most UW pilots aren't on 3 stony anymore, I've found. It's usually 1-2. But anyway, Aether grid, creatures, and planeswalkers are all good against them. Needles do a lot of work, too. (Can't say enough about playing 3 needles main).
On another note, this site is getting archived today. Just want to say it's been fun talking about this deck over the years, and watching it develop. Good work team!
Wait what?! Archived? What does that mean?!
This website found an 11th-hour buyer some time ago, so it isn't getting archived anytime soon.
The Urza Sword lists that have been putting up results are quite good against UW Control as is. Thopter Foundry is pretty good against them. Engineer is really good against them as long as you don't get RiP'd, which they'll likely be playing less of. Urza is great against them, Sai is great against them. We have so many more threats now that it can be difficult for UW Control to answer them all. Overall I've been finding UW Control even before the Bridge ban to be a favourable matchup. Now if anything we can probably make it better since we can ditch the 4 Leylines in the board for a probably just a couple graveyard hate pieces, which opens a couple extra slots for other things. Teferi could be an option, thoughtseize is good against them, stuff like that.
To be honest, I think the heavily toolbox days are gone, it's generally just not needed and it's all about the combo
UW control is fairly close to 50/50, with a slight favor in our direction, I believe. I've been maindecking a few Teferi, not because it does anything that great for us, but because the card is overall stupidly powerful at 3 cmc.
Systrill, I have to offer a differing opinion when you say the heavy toolbox days are gone. I think Urza helps enable main deck toolbox cards, because between him and Whir, they all become mana rocks. So I actually feel more empowered to play cages and needles and spheres. Additionally, Engineer helps turn useless toolbox cards into useful ones, and helps tutor for them. While you're right that we're more about the combo, ideally we're just dropping artifacts on turns 1-3.
So what about the inclusion of counter spells now that we're even more of a combo deck and spending less effort trying to hide behind a bridge? Do we just have to wait and see where the meta goes? I'm expecting upticks in creature decks and a return to tron, which is always fun.
I would also love to get a dialog going on the mirror match. we didn't talked about it much back in the Tez days being as the chances of running into the deck were slim but plenty of players are picking up the Urza list. Who's had experience so far?
I also gotta say i'm gonna feel naked without any Abrupt Decay action in the side board as well but i'm an old dog who's gotta accept the new tricks!
So far I still think I like Grid more, but I can see the appeal of Trawler. I'm just starting to try out Spine of Ish Sah in that slot right now
I took 5ºth in a 42 players FNM last week
3x Sai, Master Thopterist
3x Goblin Engineer
1x SpellSkite
4x Mox Opal
4x Arcum's Astrolabe
4x Mishra's Bauble
2x Ichor Wellspring
1x Pyrite Spellbomb
1x Chromatic Star
1x Pithing Needle
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Grafdigger's Cage
3x Thopter Foundry
3x Whir of Invention
1x Ghirapur Æther Grid
5x Snow-Covered Island
2x Snow-Covered Swamp
1x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Snow-Covered Plains
1x Inventor's Fair
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Steam Vents
2x Spirebluff Canal
4x Polluted Delta
3x Flooded Strand
3x Lightning Bolt
3x Path to Exile
2x Dead of Winter
2x Echoing Truth
1x Pithing Needle
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Witchbane Orb
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Plague Engeneer
Round 1 Esper Obzedat (2-1)
Round 2 UR Phoenix (2-0)
Round 3 RG LD (Ponza) (2-0) Played the goblin on t2, but lost my swords by Surgical Extraction, but Sai wins me the game
Round 4 Brun (2-1) get back to the game after go 1 life, spellskite saves me this game a lot of times
Round 5 Jund (0-2) I guess this match was to be good for thopter/foundry, but he drew better and always had Decay and Ooze to slow me down.
Round 6 UW Control (1-1) I dont think this match is good for us as you guys sad, but maybe is why i hate control? hahah, but again, he always had response for my plays.
I really like the list but one question, do you like lightning bolt over galvonic blast in the SB? I think Spellskite is awesome addition to the deck and i have one in my deck that I run.
Its hard to argument if bolt is better then galvanic, i just don't have galvanic and in that store was out of stock to buy too.
But galvanic and wear/tear i want to try in.
I like skite and think he is so usefull to protect our pieces
Spellskite has been a sneaky whir option against decks like bogles and infect.
At least, spells we can active normally.
I tested a Servo Schematic at FNM to work with Goblin Engineer in the same way Ichor Wellspring does and found it to work exceptionally well. It acted like a secondary sword/foundry by still giving me the ability to create tokens even after my sword got Surgical Extractioned.
I was wondering if anyone else had tested it or had any thoughts on it's inclusion?