First thing to note -- I would definitely use Wurmcoil Engine in place of the armor if I had any (and will probably make the investment now).
My matches were:
Round 1: Vampires
Game 1: He kept a 2 land hand that looked promising (he had 3 decent 1 drops) but he didn't draw a third land for ages. I had a Ratchet Bomb for his little guys and was able to win with a hard-cast Steel Hellkite.
Game 2: This time he had a slow start and stalled on 4 land with an empty board and full hand. I eventually got an Architect and emptied my hand the turn before he played a 5th swamp and cast the Mind Sludge he'd been waiting for, but with only one card left in my hand and a full board, it was too little too late and I won soon after. I didn't see a single Doom Blade from him which made life easier.
1-0
Round 2: UB Control
Game 1: All I saw of his deck was a Jace 1 and a preordain. My hand wasn't especially fast but he didn't put up much of a fight.
Game 2: I started with double Lodestone Golem, but he had Doom Blades for each. I used an edge on his Tar Pit which kept him off Blue sources all together. He had a Duress and Inquisition which both whiffed and not much else, giving me another fairly easy win.
2-0
Round 3: Pyromancer Ascension
Game 1: I had a slow hand but so did he. I played the part of a (bad) weenie deck, beating him down with a few 1/1s, which ironically eventually forced him to use most of his burn on wizards and owls to stay alive. Which meant that by the time he got his ascensions active he didn't have any gas left. Sadly, neither did I (3 active ascensions and no Ratchet Bombs anywhere to be found!). Eventually he found a Surreal Memoir to get back some burn for the win.
Game 2: I had a turn 3 Hellkite that miraculously didn't get countered. He was able to bounce it a couple times, but a few turns later it stuck, blew up some inactive ascensions and went all the way.
Game 3: Since game 1 was so long we only had about 5 minutes left and ended up going to time with no decision.
2-0-1
Round 4: RDW w/artifacts
Game 1: He wins the roll and hits me for 5 (!) before I even have a land on the table (Mountain, Mox, Memnite, Ornithopter, Bushwacker). Unfortunately for him I had kept a weak hand (in a vacuum) with 2 trinket mages and not much else, but the double Elixir they gave me kept me alive to find an Architect and an Argentum Armor which swung the game back to my favor.
Game 2: A Hatchling holds off his quick trio of 1-drops until Ratchet bomb clears them away. Then Hellkite ends up going all the way backed up by some flashfreezes from the SB.
3-0-1
I ended up in 2nd place (I believe both my first two opponents ended up going 3-1 to help my tiebreakers), though you can't read too much in to the win because I was pretty lucky to face really weak draws in the first two matches. I'm looking forward to next time where I'll be armed with some Wurmcoil Engines and will hopefully face some more competitive decks to really give the deck a test.
Other than adding Wurmcoil's, the main change I will make will be to drop the Lodestone Golem count. I LOVE that card and I feel like it has great potential, but so far in practice it has been really underwhelming. I will take some out to allow for a 4 Wurm / 2 Hellkite "bomb" split, and will either leave 2 in or use those 2 extra spots to shore up a 3-of into a 4-of.
I'd love to get Negate into the deck, mostly for defense against counterspells, which seem to give the deck fits, but also for opponent's removal and PWs. However, I can't seem to find anywhere to squeeze it in, and in reality I end almost every turn tapped out so I think Negate would be less good than it seems or would involve changing up the playstyle.
Well, I've repeated a bit of the things said here quite a few times. Ty for playing the list. and fortune did make the first two matches for you it seems. Good stuff though.
^ If that isn't enough, Idk what is. Lodestone is underwhelming for the millionth time I've said this, liking the card won't make it better (Patagia Golem was the first magic card I touched. In '01, I fell in love with the card and it's new flavor text and made up a whole storyline involving it and brass herald. It sucked, but I loved the card and always used it as a one of in my deck. Still sucked and still have the copy).
And again, counters dont really work with aggro.
Ty for posting your results. Really.
On a side note, I think Argentum Armor is an excellent inclusion for the list and can understand why you would take it out. The only time it's really effective is when you can smack it on the board and swing with it immediately. There was a list weebo posted a few pages back you should take a glance at, t4-5 Argentum swings are quite pleasant. I prefer the equip because everything that can swing becomes a threat.
@Weebo: ty for posting those Builds I appreciate it.
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~Intelligence is Bliss; Ignorance is Denial.
Skill is an ability that relates more so to the type of deck that's built and how said player pilots it. It also relates to the ability to assess the board and use the cards available to you in the most optimal way relative to each situation.
When a deck is filled with above par cards and every play is solid, there comes a diminishing need to "think" for the lack of wanting to use a better word.
Grand Architect - This guy pumps all your early dorks and lets you beable to pump out a LARGE Chalice or Chimeric Mass. Also lets you play and early Wrumcoil.
Sea Gate Oracle - Early dude that can block some of the early plays. Lets you dig for cards and is blue for Architect.
Trinket Mage - Early, Trades, gets your Chimeric, Chalice or Elixir.
Chimeric Mass - Once you have a lot of blue guys on the field that each add to 2 power for this guy. His big, gets around DoJ, and can only be removed via artifact hate.
Everflowing Chalice - trinket target, Each blue guy you play can add up to 1 extra kicker level.
Elixir of Immortality - Trinket target, shuffles graveyard, and gains life. I just added this card after losing a couple of games vs mono-red.
Ok now I will talk about the two cards I think a lot of people will tell me are bad, and I agree on one of them.
Roil Elemental - This guy just seems really good vs Titans. Really you can say "Dies to Lightning bolt", but you would be wrong! if you have an Grand Architect out! This card just screamed at me, its kind of like the blue titan but worse.. and better on different levels. It wins in the titan war by stealing theres. It can grab an Emerukal... I think testing is needed, but I see this card being good. Yes, I side it out vs most red decks
Narcolepsy - I found I needed an answer to problems I couldn't mana leak, and well lets just be to the point, blue is lacking in that area.
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Standered
Tezz Infect
EDH
:symb::symg::symw: Doran, the Exporan :symw::symg::symb:
Jhoira of the Storm
Ob Noxious, the Fallen
i!Huge thanks to Nakamura and the team at Heroes of the Planes Studios!i
If nothing else, Roil Elemental could be good sideboard tech against Eldrazi Ramp. They don't run much removal save for Ulamog, and Roil Elemental doesn't need to hit until after Ulamog. In this case, how many fetchlands, including cards like Evolving Wilds, would we want to play? The real power behind them is it allows you to steal their creature at instant speed this way.
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You are a nerd if you see Gitaxian Probe and think the flavor text should be: "Prisoner Zero has escaped! Prisoner Zero has escaped!!"
Personal Laws:
1. Maintain the favorable state.
2. Try harder.
3. Rules exist for a reason. If by breaking or ignoring a rule you fulfill the purpose of said rule at least as well as if you had followed it, then said rule should be duly broken or ignored.
Then you can always Into the Roil their threats and Cancel them later on. Narcolepsy just sucks.
I don't know about Cancel, they thing is I'm tapping out a lot on turn 3 onwards and i really just need to keep the board slowed down. It stops them from ramping with Battlements, Treespeaker, Arch druid, keeps geopead locked down. There are a lot of early drops that can hurt the tempo of the deck is stopped.
Cancel just comes down to late, and i just want to drop a Wurmcoil turn 4.
If nothing else, Roil Elemental could be good sideboard tech against Eldrazi Ramp. They don't run much removal save for Ulamog, and Roil Elemental doesn't need to hit until after Ulamog. In this case, how many fetchlands, including cards like Evolving Wilds, would we want to play? The real power behind them is it allows you to steal their creature at instant speed this way.
I was thinking the fetchlands. if i was going to run this in paper i would have Jace 2.0 so i would probably want to run a couple fetchs to shuffle up after a brainstorm.
I'm going to play a couple more games now.
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Standered
Tezz Infect
EDH
:symb::symg::symw: Doran, the Exporan :symw::symg::symb:
Jhoira of the Storm
Ob Noxious, the Fallen
i!Huge thanks to Nakamura and the team at Heroes of the Planes Studios!i
Played the list above this friday night in our usual single elimination tournament and went 1-1 (no draws allowed sadly)
Game 1 vs. BG Infect: The deck was being piloted by someone other than it's owner but he knew what he was doing for the most part. (Boarded out Giant Growths in the All or Nothing version :-/) Round 1: I keep an opening hand of Island, Island, Tec Edge, Certarch, Chalice, Riddlesmith, Hellkite. I win the roll and start with Certarch while he starts with nothing on the opening turn. Turn two I drop Riddlesmith and he drops Ichorclaw Myr. After some turns of him dropping infect creatures and my cycling through my deck with Riddlesmith I drop an Architect and the game goes into my favor after some wisely placed blocking. Round 2: Turn two Cobra, Turn three and four Putrefax spells my doom. Round 3: Toughest game of the three. For every creature I drop he drops an infect creature. At one point I have to decide on how to block in order to save 3 creatures or lose 5 (☺☺☺☺ing Necropede). Luckily I stabilize and drop a Steel Hellkite which gets turned into a 1/1 with a blocking Plague Stinger and Pump. After that block I'm able to lock him out by dropping 3 Lodestone Golems in a row with help from Riddlesmith. He shows me his hand of 3 Consuming Vapors and two Carrion Calls with only 5 lands and scoops.
Game 2 vs. Genesis Elves: This was a flop of a matchup. Though I'd give the match a 60-40 in their favor I could've still pulled if off. Round 1: We both mulligan to 5 and I keep a hand of Island, Tec Edge, Riddlesmith, Certarch, Argent Sphinx. The game goes awkwardly in my favor on turn 4 when I drop a Sphinx and then on turn 5 drop another. He has no removal in mono-green so even without metalcraft they go the distance. Round 2: Though I'm able to hold him off he gets a classic elf hand dropping half his deck on the board with Genesis Wave (luckily no Eldrazi Monument) and when I still have hope it gets dashed to the ground when he drops a Garruk Wildspeaker immediately after. (Curse Mono-Blue's inability to deal with planeswalkers) Round 3: Literally nothing to say. I have to make the choice to mulligan to three or just scoop and save time. I took the cowards way out as though I was playing CoD4.
All in all the deck still has potential but is missing a key card or two to really get off the ground. Lodestone Golem is still my hero in 5 out of 8 matchups but those last three really have to make me choose what to board and if I should take him out or not.
P.S. If you're wondering why I didn't mention any boarding of Contagion Engine against Elves, it's because I just realized that I was playing a 14 card sideboard for around a month and a half.
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Old School Like the Old school
:evillol:Thanks to .toRRent for the awesome Avi and Piet for the Banner:evillol:
I am currently using the Triskelion/Collar/Blade combo. I found it was always one turn off form winning especially vs Mono G Elves, until I added Lodestone Golem. The Golem stalled the aggro decks just enough to at least get Triskelion in play armed with a Collar or Blade. Sometimes both. A turn 3 Lodestone Golem is major tempo loss to Elves. It even slows down U/B and U/W control. Follow that up with a turn 4 golem and the game changes quickly. 1 Grand Architect also makes your Golem into a 6/4 creature, which is great for evading burn. Triskelion is actually a decent metagame card right now, I used to run Masticore, but always hated the discard that comes with it. My fattie package is now 3 Wurmcoils/3 Triskelion.
nobody plays triskelion + blade of the bloodchief/basilic collar package ??? (tutorable w trinket mage)
I tried it. Trike is ok on it's own, but not great. Blade is pretty terrible most of the time. Collar was the only consistently good part, so that's all I kept. The issue is that you have a three card combo that gets disrupted by creature or artifact hate. While Trinket Mage fetches out the equips, you still need to see a trike and 2 mages/1 mage and 1 equip/both equips to do anything meaningful.
It was fun when I got it going though.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
Just finished this list tonight. Im actually very surprised at the amount of synergy this deck has and i'm pretty positive this could be quite competitive...
Being able to use Architects ability with out worrying about summoning sickness is incredible. T1,2,3 drop then Wurmcoil turn 3 is too good. This list has oodles of synergy. I'm not 100% on the sideboard so there is that. Whatta u guys think?
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Also, those running removal other than Brittle effigy... why?
I'm just starting to realise how good steel hellkite could be.. he is re-usable ratchet bomb on a 5/5 flying, firebreathing (of sorts), stick. It's tough to say which i'd prefer out of wurmcoil and hellkite... perhaps wurmcoil because of his resistance to removal, but it's so tough.
Sideboard: Contagion Engine. Buttraep elves with a 3rd-4th turn boardsweep that gets around eldrazy monument. Badass. If only blue had more viable 1 drop creatures... Cosi's trickster is pretty badass with all the fetchlands running around, but we need either another aggressive 1 drop, or a a basic 1 drop with a cantrip. Maybe 1/1 with flying, draw a card. Or a 1 drop that interacts with artifacts...
These kind of things would make the deck infinitely more aggressive and are what's holding the deck back atm.
I think Molten-tail masticore builds are much, much more powerful when backed up with Jace the mind sculptor. Well, all builds really. He's card advantage and another win-con. If he sticks for one brainstorm and forces a bolt or a swing, that could be enough to change the game.
Sick of borrowing, i just splurged for a playset. Go me.
Also in the works at the moment is a black splash for creeping tar pit (4/3 unblockable with architect) and doom blade. Perhaps inquisition of kozilek or duress in the side.
I've played this deck at FNM twice since my last report.
The first time I went 2-2 with a list a lot like the one in my previous report, but including Wurmcoil Engine. I lost to UW control (mostly Jace 2.0) and to RDW, and beat a mono-G eldrazi ramp and artifact red.
I adjusted the deck a bit to try to defend myself a bit more against Jace, and took the following build to a Wednesday night FNM-style event last night.
The main changes I made were:
•Out with Lodestone Golem, in with Spell Pierce. This is mostly for control and planeswalker defense, but also comes in handy in many other matchups. This deck taps out a lot, but keeping a single U open is a lot more manageable than 1U for Leak or Negate.
•Out with Vedalken Certarch, in with Cosi's Trickster. The Certarch is amazing when he's "turned on", but I don't have enough small artifacts to reliably have metlacraft (Ratchet Bomb, Elixir, Effigy all get sacrificed). So I decided to try a new 1-drop.
•Added 2 Dread Statuary for some more offense, particularly against Jace and other control. It didn't come up often, but was a game-changer in a couple of matches, so I'm glad I made the swap. Note that when animated it can be turned blue to be pumped by Architect.
My matches:
Round 1 vs Valakut Ramp
Game one: We both had slow starts, with his first move being an Inferno Titan that I effigy-ed. My little guys did some damage, and he was low enough when he stabilized with Primeval that I could swing past (with guys plus man-land) for just enough to win.
Game two: Throughout the game I saw 2 Tec Edges and 3 of my sideboarded Flashfreezes, so he lost his Valakuts and couldn't stick Inferno, Trap, or Primeval, and it was pretty one-sided. 1-0, 2-0
Round 2 vs WW Quest
Game one: First turn quest, second turn combos the quest up to 4 counters. I almost scoop right there (nothing much in my hand), but decide to play it out. Amazingly, she still hasn't drawn the 5th creature a few turns later when I get a ratchet bomb to clear her board and Hellkite kept it clear afterwards.
Game two: She has no quest, but a decent start with weenies and small equipment, and removal for my turn-2 ratchet bomb. But she doesn't quite get there and a Hellkite eats up her guys and weapons. 2-0, 4-0
--Hellkite was really a star finisher in this matchup, probably preferable to Wurmcoil. I'm almost tempted to go back to a 3/3 split.
Round 3 vs Mono-B
Game one: He opens with duress and inquisition, which tears apart my hand, but he doesn't take Architect with the Inquisition and my turn 4 or 5 Wurmcoil goes the distance.
Game two: He's got more removal and a Persecutor, but makes some play mistakes (like attacking with Nighthawk and not keeping it back to block a Hellkite, and forgetting to rebound a Vapors) that let me stay in the game and come back from 7 life to win at ~40 thanks to a pair of Wurmcoils. 3-0, 6-0.
Round 4 vs WW Quest
(We ID but play it out anyway)
Game one: No quest, but he does have a Sword of Body and Mind which poses some problems for a mono-U deck. Luckily I have a hand with 2 ratchet bombs, one of which clears away the Sword before I get too low and the other takes some guys. Wurmcoil does the rest.
Game two: For some reason he fetched Argentum instead of Sword with his Mystic, which was odd given that he didn't have an Outfitter to follow up when he put it into play. Argentum sits on the battlefield the whole game while my Architect powers out a pair of Wurmcoils that finish him off. 4-0, 8-0.
So, a very successful night, though I didn't have to face any of my hardest matchups, like UW or RDW, so I won't read too much in to it. One thing is for sure, the deck is really fun to play, and Architect is just a great card.
I built a version of this deck the other day and that that architect + molten tail = broken. Threw in some mindslayers and made a deck. I'm just curious how does Lodestone golem work for you guys? I also use platinum emperor as the finisher. I also ditched the levelers because I didn't want to dump that many resources into anything besides what was needed. Corralhem commander is an exception though.
I dunno the levelers + venerated teachers actually work pretty well for me. And Grand Architect is NUTS! The way its worded allows you to tap it as though it had haste along with your 1 and 2 drops for 6 Colourless on T3, So not only do you have 3 blue guys but you have a TURN 3 WURMCOIL OR HELLKITE!!! Plus the Enclave Cryptologist serves dual purpose as a level 2 allowing you to dump creatures to feed Masticore. I'm actually finding that this deck has more synergy than elves. Can't wait to take it to FNM and see how it fairs... Here it is...
This deck is extremely fast as it allows you to drop your 6cmc stuff faster than ramp. It's important to keep the deck as creature heavy as possible to get the most out of Grand Architect IMO. At first i was kinda wary of Venerated teacher but he has proven to be pretty effective. He levels your t1 and t2 Cryptologist and Commander and adds to your army of Sol Rings and at the very least he chumps and goes on to feed the Masticore.
And although i do have the JaceTMS' i feel this is one deck where Mini Jace actually fits better. You gotta remember this deck aims to dump a fish army + plus Architect and essentially drop Wumcoils and Steel Hellkites for free all the while abusing the ☺☺☺☺ outta Molten-tail Masticore. I'd actually like to find room for another Jace Beleran in the main.
Also i brought in Thada Adel, Acquisitor (originally in the side) because the amount of decks running monster artifacts is on the rise and steeling an opponents Wurmcoil, Mimic Vat, Ratchet Bomb, Argentim Armor, Sword of Body and Mind, Brittle Effigy or Mox is pretty damn cool. This deck is too much fun!!
Can you link the post maybe. I'm happy to take a look and try anything that catches my eye. I'm really loving the whole Grand Architect archetype in general right now. Can't catch every list posted in 28 pages ya know. But yeah post your ish up bro...
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Really surprised no one is even testing the VVine Engines list i posted infi pages back. I have been demolishing tournys left and right.
Koloran, you're back! I've playing a vvine/architect deck for a few weeks now; and yeah, it's pretty crazy. I started a new thread for it; i wanted to seperate. Here's the thread:click here
I dunno the levelers + venerated teachers actually work pretty well for me. And Grand Architect is NUTS! The way its worded allows you to tap it as though it had haste along with your 1 and 2 drops for 6 Colourless on T3, So not only do you have 3 blue guys but you have a TURN 3 WURMCOIL OR HELLKITE!!! Plus the Enclave Cryptologist serves dual purpose as a level 2 allowing you to dump creatures to feed Masticore. I'm actually finding that this deck has more synergy than elves. Can't wait to take it to FNM and see how it fairs... Here it is...
This deck is extremely fast as it allows you to drop your 6cmc stuff faster than ramp. It's important to keep the deck as creature heavy as possible to get the most out of Grand Architect IMO. At first i was kinda wary of Venerated teacher but he has proven to be pretty effective. He levels your t1 and t2 Cryptologist and Commander and adds to your army of Sol Rings and at the very least he chumps and goes on to feed the Masticore.
And although i do have the JaceTMS' i feel this is one deck where Mini Jace actually fits better. You gotta remember this deck aims to dump a fish army + plus Architect and essentially drop Wumcoils and Steel Hellkites for free all the while abusing the ☺☺☺☺ outta Molten-tail Masticore. I'd actually like to find room for another Jace Beleran in the main.
Also i brought in Thada Adel, Acquisitor (originally in the side) because the amount of decks running monster artifacts is on the rise and steeling an opponents Wurmcoil, Mimic Vat, Ratchet Bomb, Argentim Armor, Sword of Body and Mind, Brittle Effigy or Mox is pretty damn cool. This deck is too much fun!!
This list seems really, really heavy at the 3 drop. To the point where I would either add in some chalices or consider cutting some of the lower performing guys. Though if it's been testing well for you, good on you I guess.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
Okay some major rearranging has taken place with my list. I've dumped the laughably sub par cards in favor of a more professional solid package. With out further adieu...
I'm much more satisfied with this list. After placing 4th in tonights FNM i became aware of just how much jank i had in the original list. I don't know what i was even thinking with Lighthouse Chronologist and Venerated Teacher LOL *headinhands*. On the other hand the addition of the Trinket Mage package has been the tits!
I think your absolutely right about the crowded 3 spot Weebo. Im just not sure what to do about it. I wish there was another 1 or 2 drop blue creature that would synergize well with the deck. Maybe just throw in the Unsummons? Any suggestions?
Thada Adel, Acquistor has been surprisingly good tech against the majority of decks running good artifacts (mimic vat) and equipments (Wurmcoil Engine) even if you can't steel them exiling them ain't bad as a bonus. Plus islandwalk is pretty relevant these days.
I dunno this deck is most certainly a work in progress and many an opponent were caught off guard by a deck most scoffed at as a "jank homebrew". Consistent T3 Wurmcoils and/or 2 Masticore activations per turn ain't nothing to laugh at IMO.
I would suggest removing volition reins from the maindeck. Adding spreading seas in that spot improves your curve, helps your early digging, and enables Thada against non-blue opponents. At my local shop I have found there aren't enough good targets for volition reins that are not creatures, and have gone back to mind control in the sideboard. I don't fault anyone for playing reins but if you are going to play it, know what you expect to be targeting with it. Also you have enough high cost cards that when you don't have the architect your curve is a bit slow. As such I would drop the ornithopter or collar for one everflowing chalice. Trinket maging up an ornithopter and turning it blue with architect to tap for mana is an interesting possibility... have you found it is something you actually do? Fun version of the deck, thanks for posting.
I would suggest removing volition reins from the maindeck. Adding spreading seas in that spot improves your curve, helps your early digging, and enables Thada against non-blue opponents. At my local shop I have found there aren't enough good targets for volition reins that are not creatures, and have gone back to mind control in the sideboard. I don't fault anyone for playing reins but if you are going to play it, know what you expect to be targeting with it. Also you have enough high cost cards that when you don't have the architect your curve is a bit slow. As such I would drop the ornithopter or collar for one everflowing chalice. Trinket maging up an ornithopter and turning it blue with architect to tap for mana is an interesting possibility... have you found it is something you actually do? Fun version of the deck, thanks for posting.
Volition Reins hits Jace. Alternatively, you could target Jace. Some decks also run Jace.
Seriously, I am entirely willing to pay one more for my control magic to hit Jace. Other planeswalkers are a pretty good targets (Garruk, Gideon, pretty much any of them), as well as artifacts (steal a Mimic Vat in a pinch?) or even enchantments (though I can't think of any relevant ones). The untap effect is nice too. I don't know that I like control magic in this deck in general, but if you're going to run it I'd rather have reins most of the time.
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Yeah your probably right about the Volition Reins. I'll move them to the side but i think their versatility is worth the extra mana over Mind Control. I've put in the Spreading Seas for now to see how they work. I've also added the Everflowing Chalice over the Ornithopter. Above all else this deck is really fun to play and it pulls out wins from nowhere. Lets see what else we can do with it.
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Alright, so the overwhelming synergy of Grand Architect builds started to nag at the back of my mind a bit. Especially where it overlaps with Metalcraft. Here's what I have so far.
Hence the Everflowing Chalice/Dreamstone Hedron/Voltaic Key in the list.
Aaah, I missed the Hedron. Not a card I have even considered for Constructed. Seems good with Voltaic Key though.
Standard:
UB Tezzeret
GW Township Tokens
Legacy:
UMerfolk
EDH:
WBROros, The Avenger
RZirilan of the Claw
BUGKarador, Ghost Chieftan
BBaron Sengir (in progress)
19 islands
3 turn aside
2 steel hell kite
4 grand architect
4 prototype portal
4 Vedalken Certarch
4 thrumming bird
3 wurmcoil engine
2 voltaic key
4 tumble magnet
3 ever flowing chalice
2 Jace the mind sculptor
2 throne of geth
SB
4 ratchet bombs
4 flash freeze
2 volition reigns
1 Jace the mind sculptor
1 wurmcoil engine
2 Stoic Rebuttal
1 steel hell kite
Well, I've repeated a bit of the things said here quite a few times. Ty for playing the list. and fortune did make the first two matches for you it seems. Good stuff though.
^ If that isn't enough, Idk what is. Lodestone is underwhelming for the millionth time I've said this, liking the card won't make it better (Patagia Golem was the first magic card I touched. In '01, I fell in love with the card and it's new flavor text and made up a whole storyline involving it and brass herald. It sucked, but I loved the card and always used it as a one of in my deck. Still sucked and still have the copy).
And again, counters dont really work with aggro.
Ty for posting your results. Really.
On a side note, I think Argentum Armor is an excellent inclusion for the list and can understand why you would take it out. The only time it's really effective is when you can smack it on the board and swing with it immediately. There was a list weebo posted a few pages back you should take a glance at, t4-5 Argentum swings are quite pleasant. I prefer the equip because everything that can swing becomes a threat.
@Weebo: ty for posting those Builds I appreciate it.
Skill is an ability that relates more so to the type of deck that's built and how said player pilots it. It also relates to the ability to assess the board and use the cards available to you in the most optimal way relative to each situation.
When a deck is filled with above par cards and every play is solid, there comes a diminishing need to "think" for the lack of wanting to use a better word.
I built this online and if i was going to make it on paper i might run jace 2.0 as its just good.
Some of the cards are really sub-par but i was just thinking to figure ways to stall the game so i could go off.
4x Grand Architect
4x Sea Gate Oracle
3x Trinket Mage
2x Roil Elemental
4x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Chimeric Mass
2x Everflowing Chalice
1x Elixir of Immortality
Enchantments
2x Narcolepsy
2x Volition Reins
2x Into the Roil
4x Mana Leak
2x Jace's Ingenuity
Sorcery
4x Preordain
Land
4x Halimar Depths
2x Tectonic Edge
17x Island
What i find to be the core of the deck.
Grand Architect - This guy pumps all your early dorks and lets you beable to pump out a LARGE Chalice or Chimeric Mass. Also lets you play and early Wrumcoil.
Sea Gate Oracle - Early dude that can block some of the early plays. Lets you dig for cards and is blue for Architect.
Trinket Mage - Early, Trades, gets your Chimeric, Chalice or Elixir.
Wurmcoil Engine - Wins the game?
Chimeric Mass - Once you have a lot of blue guys on the field that each add to 2 power for this guy. His big, gets around DoJ, and can only be removed via artifact hate.
Everflowing Chalice - trinket target, Each blue guy you play can add up to 1 extra kicker level.
Elixir of Immortality - Trinket target, shuffles graveyard, and gains life. I just added this card after losing a couple of games vs mono-red.
Ok now I will talk about the two cards I think a lot of people will tell me are bad, and I agree on one of them.
Roil Elemental - This guy just seems really good vs Titans. Really you can say "Dies to Lightning bolt", but you would be wrong! if you have an Grand Architect out! This card just screamed at me, its kind of like the blue titan but worse.. and better on different levels. It wins in the titan war by stealing theres. It can grab an Emerukal... I think testing is needed, but I see this card being good. Yes, I side it out vs most red decks
Narcolepsy - I found I needed an answer to problems I couldn't mana leak, and well lets just be to the point, blue is lacking in that area.
Tezz Infect
EDH
:symb::symg::symw: Doran, the Exporan :symw::symg::symb:
Jhoira of the Storm
Ob Noxious, the Fallen
i!Huge thanks to Nakamura and the team at Heroes of the Planes Studios!i
Personal Laws:
1. Maintain the favorable state.
2. Try harder.
3. Rules exist for a reason. If by breaking or ignoring a rule you fulfill the purpose of said rule at least as well as if you had followed it, then said rule should be duly broken or ignored.
I don't know about Cancel, they thing is I'm tapping out a lot on turn 3 onwards and i really just need to keep the board slowed down. It stops them from ramping with Battlements, Treespeaker, Arch druid, keeps geopead locked down. There are a lot of early drops that can hurt the tempo of the deck is stopped.
Cancel just comes down to late, and i just want to drop a Wurmcoil turn 4.
I was thinking the fetchlands. if i was going to run this in paper i would have Jace 2.0 so i would probably want to run a couple fetchs to shuffle up after a brainstorm.
I'm going to play a couple more games now.
Tezz Infect
EDH
:symb::symg::symw: Doran, the Exporan :symw::symg::symb:
Jhoira of the Storm
Ob Noxious, the Fallen
i!Huge thanks to Nakamura and the team at Heroes of the Planes Studios!i
4 Tectonic Edge
19 Island
Creatures
4 Grand Architect
3 Riddlesmith
3 Vedalken Certarch
3 Etched Champion
3 Steel Hellkite
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Lodestone Golem
3 Argent Sphinx
3 Trinket Mage
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
1 Chimeric Mass
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Brittle Effigy
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Sword of Vengeance
4 Disperse
4 Stoic Rebuttal
3 Mimic Vat
1 Brittle Effigy
2 Thada Adel, Aquisitor
1 Contagion Engine
Played the list above this friday night in our usual single elimination tournament and went 1-1 (no draws allowed sadly)
Game 1 vs. BG Infect: The deck was being piloted by someone other than it's owner but he knew what he was doing for the most part. (Boarded out Giant Growths in the All or Nothing version :-/)
Round 1: I keep an opening hand of Island, Island, Tec Edge, Certarch, Chalice, Riddlesmith, Hellkite. I win the roll and start with Certarch while he starts with nothing on the opening turn. Turn two I drop Riddlesmith and he drops Ichorclaw Myr. After some turns of him dropping infect creatures and my cycling through my deck with Riddlesmith I drop an Architect and the game goes into my favor after some wisely placed blocking.
Round 2: Turn two Cobra, Turn three and four Putrefax spells my doom.
Round 3: Toughest game of the three. For every creature I drop he drops an infect creature. At one point I have to decide on how to block in order to save 3 creatures or lose 5 (☺☺☺☺ing Necropede). Luckily I stabilize and drop a Steel Hellkite which gets turned into a 1/1 with a blocking Plague Stinger and Pump. After that block I'm able to lock him out by dropping 3 Lodestone Golems in a row with help from Riddlesmith. He shows me his hand of 3 Consuming Vapors and two Carrion Calls with only 5 lands and scoops.
Game 2 vs. Genesis Elves: This was a flop of a matchup. Though I'd give the match a 60-40 in their favor I could've still pulled if off.
Round 1: We both mulligan to 5 and I keep a hand of Island, Tec Edge, Riddlesmith, Certarch, Argent Sphinx. The game goes awkwardly in my favor on turn 4 when I drop a Sphinx and then on turn 5 drop another. He has no removal in mono-green so even without metalcraft they go the distance.
Round 2: Though I'm able to hold him off he gets a classic elf hand dropping half his deck on the board with Genesis Wave (luckily no Eldrazi Monument) and when I still have hope it gets dashed to the ground when he drops a Garruk Wildspeaker immediately after. (Curse Mono-Blue's inability to deal with planeswalkers)
Round 3: Literally nothing to say. I have to make the choice to mulligan to three or just scoop and save time. I took the cowards way out as though I was playing CoD4.
All in all the deck still has potential but is missing a key card or two to really get off the ground. Lodestone Golem is still my hero in 5 out of 8 matchups but those last three really have to make me choose what to board and if I should take him out or not.
P.S. If you're wondering why I didn't mention any boarding of Contagion Engine against Elves, it's because I just realized that I was playing a 14 card sideboard for around a month and a half.
Old School Like the Old school
:evillol:Thanks to .toRRent for the awesome Avi and Piet for the Banner:evillol:
I tried it. Trike is ok on it's own, but not great. Blade is pretty terrible most of the time. Collar was the only consistently good part, so that's all I kept. The issue is that you have a three card combo that gets disrupted by creature or artifact hate. While Trinket Mage fetches out the equips, you still need to see a trike and 2 mages/1 mage and 1 equip/both equips to do anything meaningful.
It was fun when I got it going though.
3x Molten-tail Masticore
3x Wurmcoil Engine
3x Steel Hellkite
3x Lighthouse Chronologist
4x Aether Adept
4x Grand Architect
4x Coralhelm Commander
4x Venerated Teacher
4x Enclave Cryptologist
4x Augury Owl
4x Techtonic Edge
20x Island
3x Volition Reins
3x Narcolepsy
2x Brittle Effigy
4x Spreading Seas
3x Thada Adel
Being able to use Architects ability with out worrying about summoning sickness is incredible. T1,2,3 drop then Wurmcoil turn 3 is too good. This list has oodles of synergy. I'm not 100% on the sideboard so there is that. Whatta u guys think?
RMythic RedR
RRDWR
EDH
GRBAdun OakenshieldBRG
I'm just starting to realise how good steel hellkite could be.. he is re-usable ratchet bomb on a 5/5 flying, firebreathing (of sorts), stick. It's tough to say which i'd prefer out of wurmcoil and hellkite... perhaps wurmcoil because of his resistance to removal, but it's so tough.
Sideboard: Contagion Engine. Buttraep elves with a 3rd-4th turn boardsweep that gets around eldrazy monument. Badass. If only blue had more viable 1 drop creatures... Cosi's trickster is pretty badass with all the fetchlands running around, but we need either another aggressive 1 drop, or a a basic 1 drop with a cantrip. Maybe 1/1 with flying, draw a card. Or a 1 drop that interacts with artifacts...
These kind of things would make the deck infinitely more aggressive and are what's holding the deck back atm.
I think Molten-tail masticore builds are much, much more powerful when backed up with Jace the mind sculptor. Well, all builds really. He's card advantage and another win-con. If he sticks for one brainstorm and forces a bolt or a swing, that could be enough to change the game.
Sick of borrowing, i just splurged for a playset. Go me.
Also in the works at the moment is a black splash for creeping tar pit (4/3 unblockable with architect) and doom blade. Perhaps inquisition of kozilek or duress in the side.
The first time I went 2-2 with a list a lot like the one in my previous report, but including Wurmcoil Engine. I lost to UW control (mostly Jace 2.0) and to RDW, and beat a mono-G eldrazi ramp and artifact red.
I adjusted the deck a bit to try to defend myself a bit more against Jace, and took the following build to a Wednesday night FNM-style event last night.
3x Cosi's Trickster
4x Augury Owl
3x Trinket Mage
4x Grand Architect
Big Artifacts
2x Steel Hellkite
4x Wurmcoil Engine
Utility
4x Preordain
3x Everflowing Chalice
3x Spell Pierce
3x Ratchet Bomb
2x Brittle Effigy
1x Elixir of Immortality
1x Chimeric Mass
Land
17x Island
2x Dread Statuary
4x Tectonic Edge
4x Flashfreeze
4x Kraken Hatchling
1x Brittle Effigy
1x Spell Pierce
3x Lodestone Golem
2x Nihil Spellbomb
The main changes I made were:
•Out with Lodestone Golem, in with Spell Pierce. This is mostly for control and planeswalker defense, but also comes in handy in many other matchups. This deck taps out a lot, but keeping a single U open is a lot more manageable than 1U for Leak or Negate.
•Out with Vedalken Certarch, in with Cosi's Trickster. The Certarch is amazing when he's "turned on", but I don't have enough small artifacts to reliably have metlacraft (Ratchet Bomb, Elixir, Effigy all get sacrificed). So I decided to try a new 1-drop.
•Added 2 Dread Statuary for some more offense, particularly against Jace and other control. It didn't come up often, but was a game-changer in a couple of matches, so I'm glad I made the swap. Note that when animated it can be turned blue to be pumped by Architect.
My matches:
Round 1 vs Valakut Ramp
Game one: We both had slow starts, with his first move being an Inferno Titan that I effigy-ed. My little guys did some damage, and he was low enough when he stabilized with Primeval that I could swing past (with guys plus man-land) for just enough to win.
Game two: Throughout the game I saw 2 Tec Edges and 3 of my sideboarded Flashfreezes, so he lost his Valakuts and couldn't stick Inferno, Trap, or Primeval, and it was pretty one-sided. 1-0, 2-0
Round 2 vs WW Quest
Game one: First turn quest, second turn combos the quest up to 4 counters. I almost scoop right there (nothing much in my hand), but decide to play it out. Amazingly, she still hasn't drawn the 5th creature a few turns later when I get a ratchet bomb to clear her board and Hellkite kept it clear afterwards.
Game two: She has no quest, but a decent start with weenies and small equipment, and removal for my turn-2 ratchet bomb. But she doesn't quite get there and a Hellkite eats up her guys and weapons. 2-0, 4-0
--Hellkite was really a star finisher in this matchup, probably preferable to Wurmcoil. I'm almost tempted to go back to a 3/3 split.
Round 3 vs Mono-B
Game one: He opens with duress and inquisition, which tears apart my hand, but he doesn't take Architect with the Inquisition and my turn 4 or 5 Wurmcoil goes the distance.
Game two: He's got more removal and a Persecutor, but makes some play mistakes (like attacking with Nighthawk and not keeping it back to block a Hellkite, and forgetting to rebound a Vapors) that let me stay in the game and come back from 7 life to win at ~40 thanks to a pair of Wurmcoils. 3-0, 6-0.
Round 4 vs WW Quest
(We ID but play it out anyway)
Game one: No quest, but he does have a Sword of Body and Mind which poses some problems for a mono-U deck. Luckily I have a hand with 2 ratchet bombs, one of which clears away the Sword before I get too low and the other takes some guys. Wurmcoil does the rest.
Game two: For some reason he fetched Argentum instead of Sword with his Mystic, which was odd given that he didn't have an Outfitter to follow up when he put it into play. Argentum sits on the battlefield the whole game while my Architect powers out a pair of Wurmcoils that finish him off. 4-0, 8-0.
So, a very successful night, though I didn't have to face any of my hardest matchups, like UW or RDW, so I won't read too much in to it. One thing is for sure, the deck is really fun to play, and Architect is just a great card.
2x Skywatcher Adept
2x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
2x Aether Adept
4x Molten-tail Masticore
3x Wurmcoil Engine
3x Steel Hellkite
4x Enclave Cryptologist
4x Venerated Teacher
4x Coralhelm Commander
4x Grand Architect
3x Augury Owl
20x Island
4x Techtonic Edge
1x Aether Adept
1x Sleep
2x Spell Pierce
3x Negate
2x Narcolepsy
2x Brittle Effigy
2x Volition Reins
2x Contagion Engine
This deck is extremely fast as it allows you to drop your 6cmc stuff faster than ramp. It's important to keep the deck as creature heavy as possible to get the most out of Grand Architect IMO. At first i was kinda wary of Venerated teacher but he has proven to be pretty effective. He levels your t1 and t2 Cryptologist and Commander and adds to your army of Sol Rings and at the very least he chumps and goes on to feed the Masticore.
And although i do have the JaceTMS' i feel this is one deck where Mini Jace actually fits better. You gotta remember this deck aims to dump a fish army + plus Architect and essentially drop Wumcoils and Steel Hellkites for free all the while abusing the ☺☺☺☺ outta Molten-tail Masticore. I'd actually like to find room for another Jace Beleran in the main.
Also i brought in Thada Adel, Acquisitor (originally in the side) because the amount of decks running monster artifacts is on the rise and steeling an opponents Wurmcoil, Mimic Vat, Ratchet Bomb, Argentim Armor, Sword of Body and Mind, Brittle Effigy or Mox is pretty damn cool. This deck is too much fun!!
RMythic RedR
RRDWR
EDH
GRBAdun OakenshieldBRG
RMythic RedR
RRDWR
EDH
GRBAdun OakenshieldBRG
Koloran, you're back! I've playing a vvine/architect deck for a few weeks now; and yeah, it's pretty crazy. I started a new thread for it; i wanted to seperate. Here's the thread:click here
This list seems really, really heavy at the 3 drop. To the point where I would either add in some chalices or consider cutting some of the lower performing guys. Though if it's been testing well for you, good on you I guess.
2x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
2x Augury Owl
2x Steel Hellkite
3x Trinket Mage
3x Wurmcoil Engine
4x Molten-tail Masticore
4x Enclave Cryptologist
4x Coralhelm Commander
4x Grand Architect
2x Volition Reins
2x Brittle Effigy
1x Chimeric Mass
1x Basilisk Collar
1x Ornithopter
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Chimeric Mass
2x Unsummon
3x Narcolepsy
3x Spreading Seas
3x Negate
2x Contagion Engine
I'm much more satisfied with this list. After placing 4th in tonights FNM i became aware of just how much jank i had in the original list. I don't know what i was even thinking with Lighthouse Chronologist and Venerated Teacher LOL *headinhands*. On the other hand the addition of the Trinket Mage package has been the tits!
I think your absolutely right about the crowded 3 spot Weebo. Im just not sure what to do about it. I wish there was another 1 or 2 drop blue creature that would synergize well with the deck. Maybe just throw in the Unsummons? Any suggestions?
Thada Adel, Acquistor has been surprisingly good tech against the majority of decks running good artifacts (mimic vat) and equipments (Wurmcoil Engine) even if you can't steel them exiling them ain't bad as a bonus. Plus islandwalk is pretty relevant these days.
I dunno this deck is most certainly a work in progress and many an opponent were caught off guard by a deck most scoffed at as a "jank homebrew". Consistent T3 Wurmcoils and/or 2 Masticore activations per turn ain't nothing to laugh at IMO.
Very much open to suggestions...Thanks guise!
RMythic RedR
RRDWR
EDH
GRBAdun OakenshieldBRG
Volition Reins hits Jace. Alternatively, you could target Jace. Some decks also run Jace.
Seriously, I am entirely willing to pay one more for my control magic to hit Jace. Other planeswalkers are a pretty good targets (Garruk, Gideon, pretty much any of them), as well as artifacts (steal a Mimic Vat in a pinch?) or even enchantments (though I can't think of any relevant ones). The untap effect is nice too. I don't know that I like control magic in this deck in general, but if you're going to run it I'd rather have reins most of the time.
RMythic RedR
RRDWR
EDH
GRBAdun OakenshieldBRG
4 Grand Architect
4 Kraken Hatchling
3 Vedalken Certarch
2 Enclave Cryptologist
4 Augury Owl
4 Trinket Mage
Trinket Artifacts
1 Mox Opal
2 Everflowing Chalice
1 Voltaic Key
1 Chimeric Mass
2 Brittle Effigy
1 Elixir of Immortality
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Win Conditions
2 Molten-Tail Masticore
3 Wurmcoil Engine
Lands
4 Tectonic Edge
18 Island
4 Spreading Seas
2 Brittle Effigy
3 Elixir of Immortality
2 Volition Reins
2 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
2 Contagion Engine
I get the feeling that what it needs is one or two more high-efficiency 1cc or less artifacts to really get it to shine.