I've been toying with this idea for a while, and Glint-Nest Crane being spoiled today drove me to turn it into an actual list. 10 artifacts isn't enough to hit consistently, but honestly there aren't enough playable ones in Standard right now. Hopefully spoilers will bring something new. That said, this seems pretty functional so far, and I think it could lead somewhere.
So with the spoiling of Dovin Baan today I feel like this gets a lot better, anything that evokes memories of Jace AoT is probably going to be great in Standard IMHO and Dovin is arguably more powerful. Thoughts?
You should consider cards like reflector mage, spellqueller, and even more importantly Cultivator's Caravan. I really love that card. The only question left is what good value U/W creature can crew the Caravan.
I like the idea, but I fear that it lacks focus.
It wants a high instant count for torrential gearhulk.
But it also wants a high artifact count for the bird.
But it also wants powerful enchantments, creatures, and planes walkers to make the most out of cataclysmic gearhulk.
You can't have it all. I'd cut the bird to start.
For it to work they'd have to spoil:
A White instant creature removal.
A white or blue PW that searches for your gearhulks. Dorin kinda works here.
This is a good point. I have to agree that counter spells are in a bad position in standard. And playing stasis snare seems bad in multiples. Here's my idea for a B/W list thus far.
4 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Grasp of Darkness
2 Ruinous Path
2 Declaration in Stone
2 Murder
1 Stasis Snare
I'm a big fan of the idea of Gearhulk Control. That being said, I think that BW Gearhulk Control will be the better deck. Liliana works just as good, if not better than Dovin Baan. She doesn't draw you cards, true, but her Ultimate wins more easily because it's a threat on it's own. Ultimating Dovin Baan gets you no where if your opponent just keeps untapping his big creatures and attacking you. The overall quality of black removal is just superior, so in a control deck you might want to play black. Counterspells just don't work that good in the current standard, and I think it will stay like that after rotation.
However, playing UW might still be good. BUT! You'll never want to play that many Stasis Snare in a deck with that many Cataclysmic Gearhulk. The situation of "Oh, I have 2 Stasis Snare in play, now I can't cast my Cataclysmic Gearhulk!" is not a situation I'd want to end up in.
I have to disagree. I feel like the current standard will slow down just a little, and counter control will make a comeback. I'll run this package.
I like the idea, but I fear that it lacks focus.
It wants a high instant count for torrential gearhulk.
But it also wants a high artifact count for the bird.
But it also wants powerful enchantments, creatures, and planes walkers to make the most out of cataclysmic gearhulk.
You can't have it all. I'd cut the bird to start.
For it to work they'd have to spoil:
A White instant creature removal.
A white or blue PW that searches for your gearhulks. Dorin kinda works here.
Definitely a good list of problems to solve. Thankfully, Skywhaler's Shot being spoiled could help with many of the issues you and everyone else listed. It doesn't look great on paper, but it's easier to cast than Stasis Snare, doesn't die to Gearhulk in multiples (or enchantment destruction), and there isn't too much Snare hits that it doesn't. I've really liked GNC so far since it's a good early blocker and often a source of CA, but it's by no means locked into the deck and I could see cutting it.
I would make this an Emrakul deck. It's by far the strongest wincon available and this type of shell already goes long way towards making Emmy cheap to cast.
Card types covered:
Artifact - Filigree Familiar and Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Creature - Filigree Familiar and Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Planeswalker - Dovin Baan and Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
Enchantment - I would run Oath of Jace
Instant/Sorcery/Land - Trivial
Emrakul sounds great in this deck. Not entirely sure it's needed with so many creatures, but it's definitely something to test out!
I'm convinced that the Gearhulks will be the second coming of the Titans. They all seem like "fixed" versions of them in some way.
The obvious good ones are white and black, IMO. Red seems hilarious and the legacy player in me wants to Sneak Attack it into play for sure.
Why not cut the difference and play Esper? He have access to Baan as well as Oath to Liliana, which will probably be a very important card going forward. What this deck really needs is a turn 4 sweeper.
The other option is Jeskai. We have Radiant Flames still, and playing 3 colors seems like the best to wipe the board with Converge. We then have White Gearhulk to clear up in the later turns as well as Baan to hold down and buy time. Hell, if you really wanted to get spicy play Nahiri to go GET YOU THE GEARHULKS.
2 Evolving Wilds
10 Island
6 Plains
4 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
3 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
4 Filigree Familiar
4 Glint-Nest Crane
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Spells:
4 Blessed Alliance
2 Declaration in Stone
4 Dovin Baan
2 Spell Shrivel
3 Stasis Snare
4 Void Shatter
It wants a high instant count for torrential gearhulk.
But it also wants a high artifact count for the bird.
But it also wants powerful enchantments, creatures, and planes walkers to make the most out of cataclysmic gearhulk.
You can't have it all. I'd cut the bird to start.
For it to work they'd have to spoil:
A White instant creature removal.
A white or blue PW that searches for your gearhulks. Dorin kinda works here.
4 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Grasp of Darkness
2 Ruinous Path
2 Declaration in Stone
2 Murder
1 Stasis Snare
4 Cultivator's Caravan
I have to disagree. I feel like the current standard will slow down just a little, and counter control will make a comeback. I'll run this package.
Definitely a good list of problems to solve. Thankfully, Skywhaler's Shot being spoiled could help with many of the issues you and everyone else listed. It doesn't look great on paper, but it's easier to cast than Stasis Snare, doesn't die to Gearhulk in multiples (or enchantment destruction), and there isn't too much Snare hits that it doesn't. I've really liked GNC so far since it's a good early blocker and often a source of CA, but it's by no means locked into the deck and I could see cutting it.
Emrakul sounds great in this deck. Not entirely sure it's needed with so many creatures, but it's definitely something to test out!
The obvious good ones are white and black, IMO. Red seems hilarious and the legacy player in me wants to Sneak Attack it into play for sure.
Why not cut the difference and play Esper? He have access to Baan as well as Oath to Liliana, which will probably be a very important card going forward. What this deck really needs is a turn 4 sweeper.
The other option is Jeskai. We have Radiant Flames still, and playing 3 colors seems like the best to wipe the board with Converge. We then have White Gearhulk to clear up in the later turns as well as Baan to hold down and buy time. Hell, if you really wanted to get spicy play Nahiri to go GET YOU THE GEARHULKS.
"There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job'." -Terrance Fletcher, Whiplash (2014)