So the object is to cast Marionette Master on turn 6 and immediately be able to sac enough artifacts to kill your opponent.
The Tezzeret is very useful because its +1 makes artifacts that can be sac'd for free and give you extra mana while the -2 can pump the Marionette, so less sacs are needed for lethal. With the extra mana, the Marionette can be protected even on turn 6 with Dispel and Blossoming Defense, which also pumps for easier lethal. Hope of Ghirapur and Renegade Map are just cheap artifacts which can be sac'd for free and might also be useful outside the combo.
The rest of the deck and sideboard is just to help you survive.
So the object is to cast Marionette Master on turn 6 and immediately be able to sac enough artifacts to kill your opponent.
The Tezzeret is very useful because its +1 makes artifacts that can be sac'd for free and give you extra mana while the -2 can pump the Marionette, so less sacs are needed for lethal. With the extra mana, the Marionette can be protected even on turn 6 with Dispel and Blossoming Defense, which also pumps for easier lethal. Hope of Ghirapur and Renegade Map are just cheap artifacts which can be sac'd for free and might also be useful outside the combo.
The rest of the deck and sideboard is just to help you survive.
I see that you're new to the site. Welcome! There's a lot to unpack here, so let's just get right to it:
-Marionette Master (referred to as Master from here on out) is a 6 CMC (Converted Mana Cost) spell. That's a lot of mana. Many decks, regardless of the format, never get to cast more than two 6 CMC spells a game because you're either dead before you can do it again, or you get mana screwed (you don't draw enough/don't play enough lands to cast the spell). Usually, only dedicated control and ramp decks can do this (for references on control and ramp, look up: mtg control and mtg ramp, respectively). You don't ever want to see more than one copy of Master in your hand at any one time, until much later in the game. This thought process also applies doubly so far Legendary cards with 6 CMC's. This is also the reason why most decks that aren't ramp or control typically run only 1-2 copies of a specific 6 CMC card. For your particular build, I'd go down -1 or 2 Master and add some other win condition.
-You're not running enough artifacts and/or artifact token producers to make Master a viable win condition. In the game of Magic, it is said by many players that Turn 4 is where the most important plays of the game are made. For this reason, many cards with a CMC of 4 or higher MUST be impact-ful and change the board state in some significant way. This applies even more so Master because of it's high mana cost. You want to be able to slam this card down on the table and either win the game outright, or be able to close the game out 1-2 turns after that. But you have no way of pumping her up and making her bigger aside from Blossoming Defense (a card you should be using to protect Master with more so than pumping). Yes, Master CAN pump itself, and in most cases, that's what you want/need to be doing. The rare case you should be using her Fabricate ability to create servos is if you have no other creatures in play, your opponent has a more advanced board with creatures, and you need to generate blockers to protect you from attacks.
-You're running a LOT of removal/counters and not enough threats. With decks like yours, you need to find a healthy balance between the two. It's more important to protect your combo pieces than anything else. Removal should mostly be used to eliminate specific threats your opponents play you think will heavily swing the game in their favor. You're not trying to stall them forever, you're just trying to buy yourself a little bit of time. The same goes for your counter spells. Use them to protect your combo pieces, and less so to protect other threats in your deck.
-Hope of Ghirapur works better as a sideboard card than a mainboard one. Sure, it's a cheap artifact that can be sacked to Master, but it works better as a Revolt enabler to counter a spell that control decks use to stop you from playing your major combo pieces/win condition(s).
Reviewing your deck inspired me to build a Marionette Master deck of my own. This is mostly an exercise in deck building (I have numerous other decks I've been brewing/testing), but I hope it gets across some of the points I made in my previous post:
Play Marionette Master and start sacrificing artifacts to it for massive amounts of damage.
WIN CONDITIONS
-Play Marionette Master (in conjunction with Call for Unity) and start sacrificing artifacts to it for massive amounts of damage.
-Go wide, amass a servo army pumped by Call for Unity (powered by numerous Revolt triggers) to swing for a lot of damage.
-Deal big chunks of damage early with an artifact enchanted by Tezzeret's Touch.
CARD CHOICES
Marionette Master: The card for which this deck was made and our primary win con. Fabricate should mostly be used for pumping her, but can also be used to provide defense with servos if need be. She also gets a boost from Call for Unity, making her deal even more damage when an artifact dies.
Merchant's Dockhand. An unusual (and overlooked IMO) card that goes well in the deck. Early game, he doesn't do much, but it's no laughing matter come Turn 3 when enchanted by Tezzeret's Touch. He becomes a card draw engine Turns 4+, and because the deck has a little built in Ramp via Tezzeret the Schemer, will allow you to look at quite a few cards.
Tezzeret the Schemer: A team player. His ultimate is not very devastating as most ultimates go, but it can close out the game quickly if your opponent leaves 1 to 2 artifacts on our side of the battle field unchecked. He's removal, he's ramp, and he also triggers Revolt via a sacked etherium cell token.
Tezzeret's Touch: Good throughout the entire game, as long as you control even just one artifact. That artifact becomes a threat that must be answered quickly. The two best cards to use it on are Ornithopter and Merchant's Dockhand.
Hidden Stockpile: Love. This. Card. Guarantees we can trigger Revoltevery turn, allows us to look at cards each turn, and ensures we always have a body on the battlefield we can use to block with.
As stated before, this was an exercise in deck building. No testing whatsoever has been done. I'm actually curious to how the deck would run with +1 more Marionette Master and Call for Unity mainboard. I have said copies in the sideboard for now. It all depends on how fast the deck is able to Scry and draw. If I do get time to test and the deck does draw well, I'd probably substitute more removal/counter in the sideboard instead.
You might be right about too many copies of Marionette Master. I can probably take out a couple copies and add more card draw/scry. Contraband Kingpin might be good. Solid blocker with lifelink and the scry works well with the cheap (or free) artifacts. I was also thinking about Filigree Familiar. Chump block, life, and a card with the bonus of being an artifact. Gifted Aetherborn might also work.
You might be right about too many copies of Marionette Master. I can probably take out a couple copies and add more card draw/scry. Contraband Kingpin might be good. Solid blocker with lifelink and the scry works well with the cheap (or free) artifacts. I was also thinking about Filigree Familiar. Chump block, life, and a card with the bonus of being an artifact. Gifted Aetherborn might also work.
Yeah, I like Gifted Aetherborn and
Contraband Kingpin as well. If I weren't running Merchant's Dockhand, they'd have a spot for sure.
Well, $38 in-store credit and $60 later, I made the deck I previously posted above for a Standard tournament tonight. Went up against UB Metalwork Colossus , BG Snake Counters, Jund Energy Aggro, and WB Odric. For reference, the deck I ran was:
-For starters, I think I ran too few lands. The deck originally had 24 lands in it, but while playtesting an hour before the tournament, I found myself flooding out quite a few times. I cut two in hopes of mitigating this, but found myself mana starved a couple of games. I believe my original 24 count was the right way to go.
-Merchant's Dockhand: Card was a mixed bag. I only saw him three times out of the ten games I played tonight. I was only able to activate it's abilities during one game only, but when I did, it dug deep for the answers I needed at the time. But the mana commitment and tapping of artifacts, most of them servos, seems a bit much. Especially when you need to leave up blockers. I think it might work better in a UG build that has a lot of ramp built into it.
-Marionette Master: Is an even better card than I thought. I managed to find and play her 7 out of 10 games, and never once was she countered. Because no one plays her in my meta, she is a spell no one thinks to prepare for.
-Call for Unity: Sigh... Very disappointed in how this card performed. 5 mana already is a bit much to pay for a "do nothing" card once it hits the battle field. Then you have to have cards that can help you trigger Revolt without sacrificing too much of your board state. I managed to play it only two times, and trigger it's ability twice (I lost that game, btw). Master Trinketeer would be a much better replacement, I think.
And now for the bad news... Went 1-1-1, 0-2, 0-2,1-2.
ROUND 1 (1-1-1) UB Metalwork Colossus
Knew what my opponent was playing the second he played a Metalworker's Puzzleknot and Prophetic Prism. Made the mistake of not countering his Metalwork Colossus. He was ahead on board, but I know I could have turned the corner and beaten him had I not misplayed. Boarded in a bunch of kill spells and easily won Game 2. Game 3 went to turns and we drew.
Round 2 (0-2) BG Snake
Don't remember how or why I lost Game 1. His deck was definitely optimized at the pro/netdeck level. Game 2 I got mana screwed, having three lands on the battlefield and drawing 3 copies of Tezzeret the Schemer in a row (What are the odds?!?). Was funny and sad at the same time. Got bludgeoned fairly quickly.
Round 3 (0-2) RG Energy Aggro
Was a VERY frustrating match. My opponent didn't speak much at all. He just started performing actions, sometimes not even indicating what he was doing. I follow Standard very closely, so it wasn't much of an issue (I can think of only one instance when he performed an action I wasn't clear on, where he thereby clarified what he was doing). It's very hard to interact with this deck because of how it dodges kill spells. It can get bigger than what Grasp of Darkness can kill, and hexproofs everything else. Makes me want to mainboard Fumigate (Yahenni's Expertise just can't do the trick because those creatures get bigger than 3 Toughness easily enough.
Final Round (1-2) WB Odric
My second favorite match of the night. Game 1 had some confusing board states going on. Because I knew winning any prizes from the tournament was out of my reach, I ceded Game 1 to him instead of clearing up the board state. Normally this is something I never do, but it was getting late and I just didn't care. Again, we playing for fun at this point, so it didn't matter. Game 2 I didn't board anything in, just played the game out and won. Game 3 was the most interest. My opponent has A LOT of lifegain built into his deck. He had Thalia, Heretic Cathar, 3 Always Watching, and a bunch of lifegain creatures. At one point in the game, I dealt 16 points of damage to him for THREE TURNS IN A ROW via blocks from my servos dying triggering Marionette Masters ability. It didn't matter. I couldn't afford to attack, and more and more of my servos entered the battlefield tapped. It was only a matter of time for his creatures to start pushing damage through.
SYNOPSIS
The deck needs more early game interaction/threats. It's good at clogging up the board, but durdles a bit too much as it stands, IMO. However, this may not be a bad thing with the right card combinations. Only other dedicated token decks can keep up with the amount of servos my deck can generate. This can be devastating against decks that cast creatures spells that require lots of mana/time to build up a strong board presence. Mainboard Fumigates can help with this. The deck also needs more draw and/or ramp to find win cons sooner, I think. I never had trouble finding/playing Marionette Master, but I didn't have the board presence to make her truly effective. By the time I cast her, I generally have no more gas in hand and fall prey to topdecking sometimes. Hidden Stockpile helps a bit in this regard.
Here's what I think I should test out moving forward with the deck:
I like having Ob Nixilis Reignited mainboard because he allows me to kill opposing creatures and draw more cards. If I nuke the board with Fumigate, he's a great follow-up play. Authority of the Consuls nets us some lifegain and stalls our opponent from blocking our early game threats. Master Trinketeer pumps our servos. Considering running Murder in the sideboard still, but replacing it with 2 Fumigate for now. As stated early, I wanted the deck to have earlier interaction, so I added Syndicate Trafficker in the mix. Card is perfect because it adds the early game pressure I've been looking for (as previously stated). I removed -2 Authority of the Consul and -2 Master Trinketeer because I never saw them consistently enough. Also because Trinketeer was so easily removed and wasn't impact-ful enough. Trafficker can be just as easily removed if we don't have any artifacts on the battlefield. BUT, it hits hard, and can even hit harder, while dodging destroy/burn affects. I also added in Stasis Snare in the SB. At first I was running Anguished Unmaking. But after removing Authority of the Consuls from the deck, I realized I was losing far too much life between it, Ob Nixilis Reignited, and Spire of Industry.
EDIT: Forgot Always Watching doesn't pump tokens. Put Master Trinketeer in it's place. Removed -2 Authority of the Consuls, -2 Master Trinketeer, -4 Ornithopter, -2 Fumigate SB. Added +4 Thraben Inspector, +4 Syndicate Trafficker, +2 Stasis Snare SB.
To start, I wasn't able to play the deck I previously posted. I was running late and mistakenly thought the store I was attending the tournament at would have all the cards I needed. I was able to get two out three Syndicate Traffickers, but was short a full set MB. Also had zero copies of Fumigate, so I ran with the 2 copies of Planar Outburst I already had instead. The deck I ran was:
These were def close games. The thing that brought the game to a draw was the constant shuffling of my deck, both on my part and my opponent's. Seriously, one third of the game was spent shuffling my deck because of Evolving Wilds and Renegade Map. That, and my opponent thoroughly shuffling my deck after I had already shuffled my deck after searching my library. But I didn't say anything because it's his prerogative to do so. Had I been smarter, I would have just shuffled once or twice, then handed the deck to him and have him shuffle it the rest. Took us over 30 minutes just to make it thru Game 1. I won Game 1 and he easily won Game 2 (I didn't board anything in). We started Game 3 with less than a minute left in the round and drew to turns.
Round 2: 2-1 (WB Eldrazi)
Easily took Game 1. His deck had nearly zero ways of interacting with mine, let alone any hand disruption to combat the combo pieces in my deck. I decided to not board in anything because I was one game up and wanted to see what else his deck was capable of. Game 2 he boarded in a few Transgress the Mind, which finally enabled him to break my combo pieces. He landed a Gideon and a Sorin shortly thereafter and won. Game 3, I went down -3 Syndicate Trafficker, -2 Marionette Master, -2 Fumigate, -4 Renegade Map, +3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, +2 Metallic Rebuke, +2 Negate, +2 Ruinous Path so I'd be able to remove more of his big creatures and counter his planeswalkers.
Final Round: 0-2 (Grixis Control)
Wasn't expecting to see a deck like this. Haven't gone up against many control decks this season, so it was a welcome surprise. I still lost handily, due to the fact he had counter/kill spells all lined up. Game went on for a while, but ultimately he burned me out with multiple copies of Fevered Visions on the battlefield. I tried boarding in all of my counter spells and boarding out most of the creature kill spells (his deck ran very few creatures) but it was to no avail. He boarded in even more counter spells, managed to stick a Thing in the Ice/Awoken Horror and a Torrential Gearhulk and that was all she wrote.
MY TAKEAWAY
-You want/need an artifact on the battlefield at ALL TIMES if possible. This also helps with your mana fixing, because without it, Spire of Industry becomes useless as a land.
-Renegade Map: Adds too much variance to the deck. Most of the time I felt like I may have been shuffling away many of the answers I needed, just so I could trigger Revolt on Hidden Stockpile. But Stockpile is easy enough to trigger thru combat, so Map just isn't worth it.
-Syndicate Trafficker: It's great that he can trigger Revolt via his sack ability, but he gets chump-blocked all day by other creatures. Also, most times you want to be playing Stockpile or Servo Exhibition Turn 2 anyway, because you want/need as many artifacts on the battlefield as possible to make Tezzeret, the Schemer and Marionette Master even more powerful.
This is the same control deck I went up against prior. My opponent told me he'd made some changes to the deck as well. I don't know if this made a difference for me or not. Game 1 took a while, and ultimately he won the same way he did in our previous encounter (a la counter spells), beating my face in with Torrential Gearhulk and Awoken Horror. I boarded in +2 Dispel, +3 Metallic Rebuke, +2 Negate, +3 Hope of Ghirapur and boarded out -4 Tezzeret, the Schemer, -4 Hidden Stockpile, -2 Fumigate. These were ultimately enough counter spells to stick a threat, in this case Ob Nixilis Reignited, ult him, and make my opponent draw to death. Game 3 drew to turns. It is interesting to note that I never once saw a Fevered Visions, which leads me to believe he took them out of his deck entirely.
Round 2: 1-2 Mardu Vehicles
Game 1 I played enough removal until I got my combo off. Game 2 I boarded in more counter and removal, but got mana screwed. Game 3 I foolishly boarded in even more counter spells because I was afraid of Unlicensed Disintegration, and took out my best removal spell, Stasis Snare. He landed a Skysovereign, Consul Flagship and went to town. GG's.
I really like where the deck is right now. I could maybe see exchanging one Metallic Rebuke for a Dispel to give me that extra little edge over control. It appears that the decks I have the most trouble with are the Tier 1 decks. I simply need to learn the match up in relation to my deck and figure out how it should be played. But, I have been having the most fun in Magic I've had in quite some time. Here's to the deck evolving, and as always, feel free to offer criticisms and critiques!!!
EDIT: Been putting in even more work with the deck. Goes to show, you should never consider a deck complete. There's always changes/adaptions to be made. Most recently, I've been testing this:
4 Tezzeret the Schemer
4 Hope of Ghirapur
4 Renegade Map
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Dispel
3 Fatal Push
4 Grasp of Darkness
3 Negate
2 Ruinous Path
3 Flaying Tendrils
3 Lost Legacy
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Horribly Awry
2 Disallow
2 Murder
So the object is to cast Marionette Master on turn 6 and immediately be able to sac enough artifacts to kill your opponent.
The Tezzeret is very useful because its +1 makes artifacts that can be sac'd for free and give you extra mana while the -2 can pump the Marionette, so less sacs are needed for lethal. With the extra mana, the Marionette can be protected even on turn 6 with Dispel and Blossoming Defense, which also pumps for easier lethal. Hope of Ghirapur and Renegade Map are just cheap artifacts which can be sac'd for free and might also be useful outside the combo.
The rest of the deck and sideboard is just to help you survive.
I see that you're new to the site. Welcome! There's a lot to unpack here, so let's just get right to it:
-Marionette Master (referred to as Master from here on out) is a 6 CMC (Converted Mana Cost) spell. That's a lot of mana. Many decks, regardless of the format, never get to cast more than two 6 CMC spells a game because you're either dead before you can do it again, or you get mana screwed (you don't draw enough/don't play enough lands to cast the spell). Usually, only dedicated control and ramp decks can do this (for references on control and ramp, look up: mtg control and mtg ramp, respectively). You don't ever want to see more than one copy of Master in your hand at any one time, until much later in the game. This thought process also applies doubly so far Legendary cards with 6 CMC's. This is also the reason why most decks that aren't ramp or control typically run only 1-2 copies of a specific 6 CMC card. For your particular build, I'd go down -1 or 2 Master and add some other win condition.
-You're not running enough artifacts and/or artifact token producers to make Master a viable win condition. In the game of Magic, it is said by many players that Turn 4 is where the most important plays of the game are made. For this reason, many cards with a CMC of 4 or higher MUST be impact-ful and change the board state in some significant way. This applies even more so Master because of it's high mana cost. You want to be able to slam this card down on the table and either win the game outright, or be able to close the game out 1-2 turns after that. But you have no way of pumping her up and making her bigger aside from Blossoming Defense (a card you should be using to protect Master with more so than pumping). Yes, Master CAN pump itself, and in most cases, that's what you want/need to be doing. The rare case you should be using her Fabricate ability to create servos is if you have no other creatures in play, your opponent has a more advanced board with creatures, and you need to generate blockers to protect you from attacks.
-You're running a LOT of removal/counters and not enough threats. With decks like yours, you need to find a healthy balance between the two. It's more important to protect your combo pieces than anything else. Removal should mostly be used to eliminate specific threats your opponents play you think will heavily swing the game in their favor. You're not trying to stall them forever, you're just trying to buy yourself a little bit of time. The same goes for your counter spells. Use them to protect your combo pieces, and less so to protect other threats in your deck.
-Hope of Ghirapur works better as a sideboard card than a mainboard one. Sure, it's a cheap artifact that can be sacked to Master, but it works better as a Revolt enabler to counter a spell that control decks use to stop you from playing your major combo pieces/win condition(s).
EDIT: Misspellings and redundancies.
Reviewing your deck inspired me to build a Marionette Master deck of my own. This is mostly an exercise in deck building (I have numerous other decks I've been brewing/testing), but I hope it gets across some of the points I made in my previous post:
4 Spire of Industry
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Shambling Vent
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Island
2 Swamp
CREATURES 8
4 Ornithopter
2 Merchant's Dockhand
2 Marionette Master
4 Tezzeret the Schemer
INSTANTS AND SORCERIES 12
4 Fatal Push
2 Grasp of Darkness
4 Servo Exhibition
2 Metallic Rebuke
ENCHANTMENTS 10
4 Tezzeret's Touch
4 Hidden Stockpile
2 Call for Unity
ARTIFACTS 4
4 Renegade Map
3 Hope of Ghirapur
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Murder
2 Ruinous Path
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Negate
WHAT THE DECK WANTS TO DO
Play Marionette Master and start sacrificing artifacts to it for massive amounts of damage.
WIN CONDITIONS
-Play Marionette Master (in conjunction with Call for Unity) and start sacrificing artifacts to it for massive amounts of damage.
-Go wide, amass a servo army pumped by Call for Unity (powered by numerous Revolt triggers) to swing for a lot of damage.
-Deal big chunks of damage early with an artifact enchanted by Tezzeret's Touch.
CARD CHOICES
Marionette Master: The card for which this deck was made and our primary win con. Fabricate should mostly be used for pumping her, but can also be used to provide defense with servos if need be. She also gets a boost from Call for Unity, making her deal even more damage when an artifact dies.
Call for Unity: Our secondary win con. Card is bonkers with all the various Revolt triggers in the deck via Evolving Wilds, Hidden Stockpile, Renegade Map, and Hope of Ghirapur. Makes all of the creatures in the deck bigger.
Merchant's Dockhand. An unusual (and overlooked IMO) card that goes well in the deck. Early game, he doesn't do much, but it's no laughing matter come Turn 3 when enchanted by Tezzeret's Touch. He becomes a card draw engine Turns 4+, and because the deck has a little built in Ramp via Tezzeret the Schemer, will allow you to look at quite a few cards.
Tezzeret the Schemer: A team player. His ultimate is not very devastating as most ultimates go, but it can close out the game quickly if your opponent leaves 1 to 2 artifacts on our side of the battle field unchecked. He's removal, he's ramp, and he also triggers Revolt via a sacked etherium cell token.
Tezzeret's Touch: Good throughout the entire game, as long as you control even just one artifact. That artifact becomes a threat that must be answered quickly. The two best cards to use it on are Ornithopter and Merchant's Dockhand.
Hidden Stockpile: Love. This. Card. Guarantees we can trigger Revolt every turn, allows us to look at cards each turn, and ensures we always have a body on the battlefield we can use to block with.
As stated before, this was an exercise in deck building. No testing whatsoever has been done. I'm actually curious to how the deck would run with +1 more Marionette Master and Call for Unity mainboard. I have said copies in the sideboard for now. It all depends on how fast the deck is able to Scry and draw. If I do get time to test and the deck does draw well, I'd probably substitute more removal/counter in the sideboard instead.
Thanks for the thought out response.
You might be right about too many copies of Marionette Master. I can probably take out a couple copies and add more card draw/scry. Contraband Kingpin might be good. Solid blocker with lifelink and the scry works well with the cheap (or free) artifacts. I was also thinking about Filigree Familiar. Chump block, life, and a card with the bonus of being an artifact. Gifted Aetherborn might also work.
Yeah, I like Gifted Aetherborn and
Contraband Kingpin as well. If I weren't running Merchant's Dockhand, they'd have a spot for sure.
4 Spire of Industry
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Shambling Vent
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Island
2 Swamp
CREATURES 8
4 Ornithopter
2 Merchant's Dockhand
2 Marionette Master
4 Tezzeret the Schemer
INSTANTS AND SORCERIES 12
4 Fatal Push
2 Grasp of Darkness
4 Servo Exhibition
2 Metallic Rebuke
ENCHANTMENTS 10
4 Tezzeret's Touch
4 Hidden Stockpile
2 Call for Unity
ARTIFACTS 4
4 Renegade Map
3 Hope of Ghirapur
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Murder
2 Ruinous Path
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Negate
-For starters, I think I ran too few lands. The deck originally had 24 lands in it, but while playtesting an hour before the tournament, I found myself flooding out quite a few times. I cut two in hopes of mitigating this, but found myself mana starved a couple of games. I believe my original 24 count was the right way to go.
-Merchant's Dockhand: Card was a mixed bag. I only saw him three times out of the ten games I played tonight. I was only able to activate it's abilities during one game only, but when I did, it dug deep for the answers I needed at the time. But the mana commitment and tapping of artifacts, most of them servos, seems a bit much. Especially when you need to leave up blockers. I think it might work better in a UG build that has a lot of ramp built into it.
-Marionette Master: Is an even better card than I thought. I managed to find and play her 7 out of 10 games, and never once was she countered. Because no one plays her in my meta, she is a spell no one thinks to prepare for.
-Call for Unity: Sigh... Very disappointed in how this card performed. 5 mana already is a bit much to pay for a "do nothing" card once it hits the battle field. Then you have to have cards that can help you trigger Revolt without sacrificing too much of your board state. I managed to play it only two times, and trigger it's ability twice (I lost that game, btw). Master Trinketeer would be a much better replacement, I think.
And now for the bad news... Went 1-1-1, 0-2, 0-2,1-2.
ROUND 1 (1-1-1)
UB Metalwork Colossus
Knew what my opponent was playing the second he played a Metalworker's Puzzleknot and Prophetic Prism. Made the mistake of not countering his Metalwork Colossus. He was ahead on board, but I know I could have turned the corner and beaten him had I not misplayed. Boarded in a bunch of kill spells and easily won Game 2. Game 3 went to turns and we drew.
Round 2 (0-2)
BG Snake
Don't remember how or why I lost Game 1. His deck was definitely optimized at the pro/netdeck level. Game 2 I got mana screwed, having three lands on the battlefield and drawing 3 copies of Tezzeret the Schemer in a row (What are the odds?!?). Was funny and sad at the same time. Got bludgeoned fairly quickly.
Round 3 (0-2)
RG Energy Aggro
Was a VERY frustrating match. My opponent didn't speak much at all. He just started performing actions, sometimes not even indicating what he was doing. I follow Standard very closely, so it wasn't much of an issue (I can think of only one instance when he performed an action I wasn't clear on, where he thereby clarified what he was doing). It's very hard to interact with this deck because of how it dodges kill spells. It can get bigger than what Grasp of Darkness can kill, and hexproofs everything else. Makes me want to mainboard Fumigate (Yahenni's Expertise just can't do the trick because those creatures get bigger than 3 Toughness easily enough.
Final Round (1-2)
WB Odric
My second favorite match of the night. Game 1 had some confusing board states going on. Because I knew winning any prizes from the tournament was out of my reach, I ceded Game 1 to him instead of clearing up the board state. Normally this is something I never do, but it was getting late and I just didn't care. Again, we playing for fun at this point, so it didn't matter. Game 2 I didn't board anything in, just played the game out and won. Game 3 was the most interest. My opponent has A LOT of lifegain built into his deck. He had Thalia, Heretic Cathar, 3 Always Watching, and a bunch of lifegain creatures. At one point in the game, I dealt 16 points of damage to him for THREE TURNS IN A ROW via blocks from my servos dying triggering Marionette Masters ability. It didn't matter. I couldn't afford to attack, and more and more of my servos entered the battlefield tapped. It was only a matter of time for his creatures to start pushing damage through.
SYNOPSIS
The deck needs more early game interaction/threats. It's good at clogging up the board, but durdles a bit too much as it stands, IMO. However, this may not be a bad thing with the right card combinations. Only other dedicated token decks can keep up with the amount of servos my deck can generate. This can be devastating against decks that cast creatures spells that require lots of mana/time to build up a strong board presence. Mainboard Fumigates can help with this. The deck also needs more draw and/or ramp to find win cons sooner, I think. I never had trouble finding/playing Marionette Master, but I didn't have the board presence to make her truly effective. By the time I cast her, I generally have no more gas in hand and fall prey to topdecking sometimes. Hidden Stockpile helps a bit in this regard.
Here's what I think I should test out moving forward with the deck:
4 Spire of Industry
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Shambling Vent
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Island
4 Swamp
2 Plains
CREATURES 10
4 Thraben Inspector
2 Marionette Master
4 Syndicate Trafficker
4 Tezzeret the Schemer
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
INSTANTS AND SORCERIES 12
4 Fatal Push
2 Grasp of Darkness
4 Servo Exhibition
2 Fumigate
ENCHANTMENTS 4
4 Hidden Stockpile
ARTIFACTS 4
4 Renegade Map
3 Hope of Ghirapur
2 Grasp of Darkness
2 Stasis Snare
2 Ruinous Path
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Metallic Rebuke
2 Negate
I like having Ob Nixilis Reignited mainboard because he allows me to kill opposing creatures and draw more cards. If I nuke the board with Fumigate, he's a great follow-up play.
Authority of the Consuls nets us some lifegain and stalls our opponent from blocking our early game threats. Master Trinketeer pumps our servos. Considering running Murder in the sideboard still, but replacing it with 2 Fumigate for now.As stated early, I wanted the deck to have earlier interaction, so I added Syndicate Trafficker in the mix. Card is perfect because it adds the early game pressure I've been looking for (as previously stated). I removed -2 Authority of the Consul and -2 Master Trinketeer because I never saw them consistently enough. Also because Trinketeer was so easily removed and wasn't impact-ful enough. Trafficker can be just as easily removed if we don't have any artifacts on the battlefield. BUT, it hits hard, and can even hit harder, while dodging destroy/burn affects. I also added in Stasis Snare in the SB. At first I was running Anguished Unmaking. But after removing Authority of the Consuls from the deck, I realized I was losing far too much life between it, Ob Nixilis Reignited, and Spire of Industry.EDIT:
Forgot Always Watching doesn't pump tokens. Put Master Trinketeer in it's place.Removed -2 Authority of the Consuls, -2 Master Trinketeer, -4 Ornithopter, -2 Fumigate SB. Added +4 Thraben Inspector, +4 Syndicate Trafficker, +2 Stasis Snare SB.Played a couple of Standard tournaments past couple of days and got in even more good feedback:
Tournament 1
Record: 1-1-1 (vs GB Snake), 2-1 (vs WB Eldrazi), 0-2 (Grixis Control)
To start, I wasn't able to play the deck I previously posted. I was running late and mistakenly thought the store I was attending the tournament at would have all the cards I needed. I was able to get two out three Syndicate Traffickers, but was short a full set MB. Also had zero copies of Fumigate, so I ran with the 2 copies of Planar Outburst I already had instead. The deck I ran was:
4 Spire of Industry
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Shambling Vent
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Island
4 Swamp
2 Plains
CREATURES 9
4 Thraben Inspector
2 Marionette Master
3 Syndicate Trafficker
4 Tezzeret the Schemer
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
INSTANTS AND SORCERIES 13
4 Fatal Push
3 Grasp of Darkness
4 Servo Exhibition
2 Planar Outburst
ENCHANTMENTS 4
4 Hidden Stockpile
ARTIFACTS 4
4 Renegade Map
3 Hope of Ghirapur
1 Grasp of Darkness
2 Stasis Snare
2 Ruinous Path
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Metallic Rebuke
2 Negate
Round 1: 1-1-1 (GB Snake)
These were def close games. The thing that brought the game to a draw was the constant shuffling of my deck, both on my part and my opponent's. Seriously, one third of the game was spent shuffling my deck because of Evolving Wilds and Renegade Map. That, and my opponent thoroughly shuffling my deck after I had already shuffled my deck after searching my library. But I didn't say anything because it's his prerogative to do so. Had I been smarter, I would have just shuffled once or twice, then handed the deck to him and have him shuffle it the rest. Took us over 30 minutes just to make it thru Game 1. I won Game 1 and he easily won Game 2 (I didn't board anything in). We started Game 3 with less than a minute left in the round and drew to turns.
Round 2: 2-1 (WB Eldrazi)
Easily took Game 1. His deck had nearly zero ways of interacting with mine, let alone any hand disruption to combat the combo pieces in my deck. I decided to not board in anything because I was one game up and wanted to see what else his deck was capable of. Game 2 he boarded in a few Transgress the Mind, which finally enabled him to break my combo pieces. He landed a Gideon and a Sorin shortly thereafter and won. Game 3, I went down -3 Syndicate Trafficker, -2 Marionette Master, -2 Fumigate, -4 Renegade Map, +3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, +2 Metallic Rebuke, +2 Negate, +2 Ruinous Path so I'd be able to remove more of his big creatures and counter his planeswalkers.
Final Round: 0-2 (Grixis Control)
Wasn't expecting to see a deck like this. Haven't gone up against many control decks this season, so it was a welcome surprise. I still lost handily, due to the fact he had counter/kill spells all lined up. Game went on for a while, but ultimately he burned me out with multiple copies of Fevered Visions on the battlefield. I tried boarding in all of my counter spells and boarding out most of the creature kill spells (his deck ran very few creatures) but it was to no avail. He boarded in even more counter spells, managed to stick a Thing in the Ice/Awoken Horror and a Torrential Gearhulk and that was all she wrote.
MY TAKEAWAY
-You want/need an artifact on the battlefield at ALL TIMES if possible. This also helps with your mana fixing, because without it, Spire of Industry becomes useless as a land.
-Renegade Map: Adds too much variance to the deck. Most of the time I felt like I may have been shuffling away many of the answers I needed, just so I could trigger Revolt on Hidden Stockpile. But Stockpile is easy enough to trigger thru combat, so Map just isn't worth it.
-Syndicate Trafficker: It's great that he can trigger Revolt via his sack ability, but he gets chump-blocked all day by other creatures. Also, most times you want to be playing Stockpile or Servo Exhibition Turn 2 anyway, because you want/need as many artifacts on the battlefield as possible to make Tezzeret, the Schemer and Marionette Master even more powerful.
Tournament 2
Record: 1-1-1 (vs Grixis Control), 1-2 (vs Mardu Vehicles), 2-1 (Jeskai Saheeli)
Made a few significant changes to the deck, removing -3 Syndicate Trafficker, -4 Renegade Map, -3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet (SB), -1 Grasp of Darkness (SB) and added +4 Ornithopter, +4 Tezzeret's Touch, +1 Metallic Rebuke (SB) +2 Dispel (SB). Decklist looked like this:
4 Spire of Industry
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Shambling Vent
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Island
4 Swamp
2 Plains
CREATURES 10
4 Thraben Inspector
2 Marionette Master
4 Ornithopter
4 Tezzeret the Schemer
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
INSTANTS AND SORCERIES 12
4 Fatal Push
2 Grasp of Darkness
4 Servo Exhibition
2 Fumigate
ENCHANTMENTS 8
4 Hidden Stockpile
4 Tezzeret's Touch
3 Hope of Ghirapur
1 Grasp of Darkness
2 Stasis Snare
2 Ruinous Path
2 Dispel
3 Metallic Rebuke
2 Negate
Round 1: 1-1-1 Grixis Control
This is the same control deck I went up against prior. My opponent told me he'd made some changes to the deck as well. I don't know if this made a difference for me or not. Game 1 took a while, and ultimately he won the same way he did in our previous encounter (a la counter spells), beating my face in with Torrential Gearhulk and Awoken Horror. I boarded in +2 Dispel, +3 Metallic Rebuke, +2 Negate, +3 Hope of Ghirapur and boarded out -4 Tezzeret, the Schemer, -4 Hidden Stockpile, -2 Fumigate. These were ultimately enough counter spells to stick a threat, in this case Ob Nixilis Reignited, ult him, and make my opponent draw to death. Game 3 drew to turns. It is interesting to note that I never once saw a Fevered Visions, which leads me to believe he took them out of his deck entirely.
Round 2: 1-2 Mardu Vehicles
Game 1 I played enough removal until I got my combo off. Game 2 I boarded in more counter and removal, but got mana screwed. Game 3 I foolishly boarded in even more counter spells because I was afraid of Unlicensed Disintegration, and took out my best removal spell, Stasis Snare. He landed a Skysovereign, Consul Flagship and went to town. GG's.
Round 3: 2-1 Jeskai Saheeli
Game 1, my combo strikes again! Opponent didn't know what hit him. Game 2 I boarded +2 Dispel, +3 Metallic Rebuke, +2 Negate, +3 Hope of Ghirapur and boarded out -4 Tezzeret, the Schemer, -4 Hidden Stockpile, -2 Fumigate. He still managed to counter most everything I play and get off his Copy Cat, Saheeli Rai+Felidar Guardian combo. Game 3 I made no changes to the deck, opting to stop him from resolving his draw spells via counters so he couldn't find answers. I beat him to death with a Thraben Inspector and Shambling Vent.
MY TAKEAWAY
I really like where the deck is right now. I could maybe see exchanging one Metallic Rebuke for a Dispel to give me that extra little edge over control. It appears that the decks I have the most trouble with are the Tier 1 decks. I simply need to learn the match up in relation to my deck and figure out how it should be played. But, I have been having the most fun in Magic I've had in quite some time. Here's to the deck evolving, and as always, feel free to offer criticisms and critiques!!!
EDIT: Been putting in even more work with the deck. Goes to show, you should never consider a deck complete. There's always changes/adaptions to be made. Most recently, I've been testing this:
4 Spire of Industry
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Shambling Vent
2 Westvale Abbey
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Island
CREATURES 18
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Weaponcraft Enthusiast
4 Felidar Guardian
4 Herald of Anguish
2 Marionette Master
3 Tezzeret the Schemer
INSTANTS AND SORCERIES 8
4 Fatal Push
2 Altar's Reap
2 Grasp of Darkness
ENCHANTMENTS 4
4 Hidden Stockpile
ARTIFACTS 4
4 Cogworker's Puzzleknot
3 Fumigate
2 Stasis Snare
2 Ruinous Path
4 Transgress the Mind
2 Metallic Rebuke
1 Lost Legacy
1 Negate