So I've played a list not differing from those in two tournaments.
I've lost to Burn twice despite having 4 Korr Firewalker in the SB (1-2) & (0-2), Jeskai Goodstuffs (0-2), Jund.Removals (1-2) and only won luckily against Grixis Death's Shadow for flooding twice (2-0)
The deck is so fun to play with because its so fast but very fragile.
The problem I keep encountering is when your opponents just try to side in and keep a couple of removals and just try to kill the paladins to keep us from ever combo-ing off. The deck lacks something to make it resilient and more competitive. Also, a huge chunk of the deck are 0 mana equipment that does little or nothing at all. This has to be taken into consideration on what other plans of attack or additional wincon we could think of.
I see where you getting at. Sometimes Thoughtscour is cool, sometimes it throws two non-land top decks and gives you a l land.
I also believe that if we have a Thoughtseize or a Thoughtscour and A Gurmag Angler or Tasigur, the Golden Fang on our starting hand, the correct strategy would be is to first disrupt their hand rather than play the Thoughtscour followed by the delving threat on turn two. The deck is designed to control their threats first via cheap, efficient disruption and removal then protect our limited threats to attack for the win most of the time.
Mishra's Bauble is great card but its a 4 of spell that can't be utilized by our Snapcaster Mage which I think makes this deck a blue one.
That first sentence says exactly nothing. The order in which the cards are on top of your library is most of the time random and the fact that you sometimes get unlucky with it doesn not say anything about the card.
Thought Scour is better in Grixis because we don´t need Delirium and have better card selection than the Jund version. Also it fuels our graveyard way better than Bauble. In the first 2 turns Scour is a Dark Ritual for Delve Threats, Bauble is more similar to Pyretic Ritual (adds only one mana).
Thus, especially for land-light hands Scour is more important because it generates more mana for the delve threats.
If your hand is 2 land Scour Seize and Delve threat, only one of those lands needs to be a fetchland to be able to cast seize on t1 and still scour into tasigur t2.
If both lands are fetches, you can even Angler. With Scour, you only need 5 cards (t1 play, 2 lands, Scour and delve threat) to resolve Angler or Tasigur t2. If you have Bauble instead, you need considerably more resources like more lands need to be fetches even for Tasigur or Street Wraiths.
Having spells in the graveyard for eot snapcaster is also important, but more importantly help fuel our Kommands if you play them and give you additional value for snappy by providing more options.
All I'm saying is the fact that Thoughtscour can sometimes mill out important cards because its random and yes, most of the time, we don't know what's on top of the library. I'm not saying the card is bad because it feeds the delve creatures that are cheap, big and most importantly, Fatal Push-Proof as early as T2.
What I'm pointing out is that the safe strategy would be to play a disrupt card on T1 especially if you don't know what deck the opponent is playing rather than Thoughtscour and play a disrupt and a delve threat on T2.
I see where you getting at. Sometimes Thoughtscour is cool, sometimes it throws two non-land top decks and gives you a l land.
I also believe that if we have a Thoughtseize or a Thoughtscour and A Gurmag Angler or Tasigur, the Golden Fang on our starting hand, the correct strategy would be is to first disrupt their hand rather than play the Thoughtscour followed by the delving threat on turn two. The deck is designed to control their threats first via cheap, efficient disruption and removal then protect our limited threats to attack for the win most of the time.
Mishra's Bauble is great card but its a 4 of spell that can't be utilized by our Snapcaster Mage which I think makes this deck a blue one.
I think its really difficult for this deck. I truly fear of not casting the card. We can't remove Darksteel Citadel because it gives us three mana during combo. Sanctum of Ugin is the only fast way of fetching the lone Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Both are essential and do not give blue mana. I really don't like to depend on eggs. Maybe adding Prophetic Prism could somehow fix the issue?
My old list has no Galvanic Blast in the slot intended for Mindstone or Everflowing Chalice. These cards are great, yes they truly are especially when you are on the play and you keep dumping all the 1 mana by turn 2 or three. However, what I think the deck is lacking is a little bit of interaction especially against the notorious Eidolon of Great Revel and those pesky Co-Co Counters creatures. (As we just need to kill the Devoted Druid.) I just had the realization last night to add the Copperline Gorge for the red mana. I think I could have played Grove of the Burnwillows but it gives opponents life and I couldn't take the risk of giving them life if I drew multiple copies of Galvanic Blast
Buried Ruin truly shines against heavy discard and disrupt decks like Grixis Deathshadow and Jund. If they don't have the Scavenging Ooze right out, then we can stall them with multiple casting of Hangarback Walker from the yard. I had games where I did not combo out, and just attacked with flying Thopters from recurring Hangarback Walkers.
Myr Retriever is something I would like to test out. I think 4 copies would do?
*****
I've been playing this deck for awhile now. A few things I would like to point out after learning the ins and outs of the deck and why I came up with this list:
2. The decks that I have encountered wherein I always lose to is Burn and any deck that runs counter spells. Burn is so hard to fight against mainly because of Eidolon of the Great Revel. This is where the idea of playing Galvanic Blast came into mind because we play a good chunk of artifacts for the bonus metalcraft.
3. Instead of dumping artifacts every turn and cracking them up to get a land most of the time I experienced, I just increased the land count to 19. I maybe wrong on this.
Sigarda's Aid played on T1 followed by a T2 Puresteel Paladin or Sram, Senior Edificer and a few equipments in your hand can still get you to draw cards whether the opponent plays a removal on your T2 paladin/sram. It can also save the Sram or the Paladin from a Lightning Bolt since most equipments we play boosts his toughness by 3.
The issue here is that you want it to be your turn 1. You don't want to draw multiple copies of course, and drawing these while you starting the combo really sucks.
I playtested against a Jund Deck which now has almost 8 1 cmc removals in the form of Lightning Bolt and Fatal Push. How I wish I had Sigarda's Aid in my hand. I've played a singleton copy but now I'm thinking of playing 4.
I was playtesting this list against my friend's Jund Deck which he said has about 20% percent removals (without sideboard)
I only won 1 game out of 6.
With the starting hands that I drew, I noticed that I had way too many Equipments. I wish I had the Turn 1 Sigarda's Aid so that my T2 Puresteel Paladin/Sram, Senior Edificer can some how survive a Lightning Bolt if they don't, I could still draw some more cards in exchange for 1.
I wish Gitaxian Probe wasn't banned. It would be nice to see the opponent's hand. It works well with Monastery Mentor and a timely Noxious Revival for a crucial card in the yard.
With that being said, here is the list that I am currently playing...
4 Artifact:
4 Mox Opal
4 Instant:
4 Retract
1 Sorcery:
1 Grapeshot
1 Enchantment:
1 Sigarda's Aid Playing this on turn 1 followed by a turn 2 Palaladin is Strong. However, drawing multiple of this sucks.
18 Lands:
I like Tormenting Voice than Grisly Salvage because it is a discard outlet and a dredge enabler as early as Turn 2. (The manacost is also an issue if we are playing against burn.)
I'm trying to make a Modern Combo deck using Midnight Guard and Elemental Mastery. Since Midnight Guard is a human I thought of infusing it with the past Human Reanimator in Standard. (Though it doesn't do anything with the Angel of Glory's Rise chain but it does come back!)
Any suggestion is very much welcomed.
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Stomping Grounds
1 Bloodcrypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Darkmor Salvage
1 Swamp
1 Forest
4 Faithless Looting
4 Cathartic Reunion
2 Lightning Axe
4 Narcomoeba
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Bloodghast
4 Vengevine
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Gravecrawler
4 Insolent Neonate
1 Gnaw to the Bone
1 Darkblast
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Lightning Axe
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Golgari Charm
2 Ancient Grudge
4 Duress
I've lost to Burn twice despite having 4 Korr Firewalker in the SB (1-2) & (0-2), Jeskai Goodstuffs (0-2), Jund.Removals (1-2) and only won luckily against Grixis Death's Shadow for flooding twice (2-0)
The deck is so fun to play with because its so fast but very fragile.
The problem I keep encountering is when your opponents just try to side in and keep a couple of removals and just try to kill the paladins to keep us from ever combo-ing off. The deck lacks something to make it resilient and more competitive. Also, a huge chunk of the deck are 0 mana equipment that does little or nothing at all. This has to be taken into consideration on what other plans of attack or additional wincon we could think of.
All I'm saying is the fact that Thoughtscour can sometimes mill out important cards because its random and yes, most of the time, we don't know what's on top of the library. I'm not saying the card is bad because it feeds the delve creatures that are cheap, big and most importantly, Fatal Push-Proof as early as T2.
What I'm pointing out is that the safe strategy would be to play a disrupt card on T1 especially if you don't know what deck the opponent is playing rather than Thoughtscour and play a disrupt and a delve threat on T2.
I also believe that if we have a Thoughtseize or a Thoughtscour and A Gurmag Angler or Tasigur, the Golden Fang on our starting hand, the correct strategy would be is to first disrupt their hand rather than play the Thoughtscour followed by the delving threat on turn two. The deck is designed to control their threats first via cheap, efficient disruption and removal then protect our limited threats to attack for the win most of the time.
Mishra's Bauble is great card but its a 4 of spell that can't be utilized by our Snapcaster Mage which I think makes this deck a blue one.
How I sideboard:
-3 Mox Opal +3 SB
or
-4 Galvanic Blast +4 SB
And that's the maximum. I believe that we should not dilute the deck with SB for consistency.
Buried Ruin truly shines against heavy discard and disrupt decks like Grixis Deathshadow and Jund. If they don't have the Scavenging Ooze right out, then we can stall them with multiple casting of Hangarback Walker from the yard. I had games where I did not combo out, and just attacked with flying Thopters from recurring Hangarback Walkers.
Myr Retriever is something I would like to test out. I think 4 copies would do?
Are there other list that play Whir of Invention?
Krark-Clan Ironworks
24 Artifacts
8 Sorcery/Instant:
9 Creatures:
19 Lands:
15 Sideboard:
*****
I've been playing this deck for awhile now. A few things I would like to point out after learning the ins and outs of the deck and why I came up with this list:
1. The fastest, most efficient and only route to victory is to cast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and attack next turn. Thus, keep in mind the lands {Sanctum of Ugin and Darksteel Citadel} that you play to fetch and cast the spaghetti out via Scrap Trawler and Hangarback Walker. I removed Academy Ruin because Buried ruin is better in this deck because you can still recur the essential artifacts the very turn it was countered or destroyed and still combo out. I also removed the mana producing cards like Mind Stone and Everflowing Chalice and replaced them with the Buried Ruins and a full playset of Galvanic Blast.
2. The decks that I have encountered wherein I always lose to is Burn and any deck that runs counter spells. Burn is so hard to fight against mainly because of Eidolon of the Great Revel. This is where the idea of playing Galvanic Blast came into mind because we play a good chunk of artifacts for the bonus metalcraft.
3. Instead of dumping artifacts every turn and cracking them up to get a land most of the time I experienced, I just increased the land count to 19. I maybe wrong on this.
What are your thoughts?
The issue here is that you want it to be your turn 1. You don't want to draw multiple copies of course, and drawing these while you starting the combo really sucks.
I playtested against a Jund Deck which now has almost 8 1 cmc removals in the form of Lightning Bolt and Fatal Push. How I wish I had Sigarda's Aid in my hand. I've played a singleton copy but now I'm thinking of playing 4.
I was playtesting this list against my friend's Jund Deck which he said has about 20% percent removals (without sideboard)
I only won 1 game out of 6.
With the starting hands that I drew, I noticed that I had way too many Equipments. I wish I had the Turn 1 Sigarda's Aid so that my T2 Puresteel Paladin/Sram, Senior Edificer can some how survive a Lightning Bolt if they don't, I could still draw some more cards in exchange for 1.
I wish Gitaxian Probe wasn't banned. It would be nice to see the opponent's hand. It works well with Monastery Mentor and a timely Noxious Revival for a crucial card in the yard.
With that being said, here is the list that I am currently playing...
12 Creatures:
4 Puresteel Paladin
4 Sram, Senior Edificer
4 Monastery Mentor
16 Equipments:
4 Spidersilk Net
4 Cathar's Shield
4 Accorder's Shield
4 Paradise Mantle
4 Artifact:
4 Mox Opal
4 Instant:
4 Retract
2 Noxious Revival
1 Sorcery:
1 Grapeshot
4 Enchantment:
4 Sigarda's Aid
17 Lands:
4 Flooded Strand
4 Windswepth Heath
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Plains
1 Island
4 Elder-Deep Fiend
4 Whirler Virtuoso
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Voltaic Brawler
4 Harness Lightning
4 Attune with Aether
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Aether Hub
1 Game Trail
4 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Island
4 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
Thoughts?
This is my take on the Puresteel Paladin Storm Combo
12 Creatures:
20 Equipments:
4 Artifact:
4 Mox Opal
4 Instant:
4 Retract
1 Sorcery:
1 Grapeshot
1 Enchantment:
1 Sigarda's Aid Playing this on turn 1 followed by a turn 2 Palaladin is Strong. However, drawing multiple of this sucks.
18 Lands:
15 Sideboard:
4 Kor Firewalker - For Burn
4 Disenchant - Our strategy revolves around 0 CMC artifacts, a Chalice of the void for 0 is a nightmare
4 Path to Exile - Use this against Eidolon of Great Revel, or Eideolon of Rhetoric, or Infect Decks
1 Dispel - For protection
1 Apostle's Blessing - A cool card against mid range decks
1 Spell Pierce - A singleton countermagic!
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Wooded Foothills
4 BloodStained Mire
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Grounds
3 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Forest
4 Gravecrawler
4 Vengevine
4 Bloodghast
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Gurmag Angler
4 Stinkweed Imp
15 Spells:
4 Faithless Looting
4 Tormenting Voice
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Life from the Loam
2 Kolaghan's Command
S/B
I like Tormenting Voice than Grisly Salvage because it is a discard outlet and a dredge enabler as early as Turn 2. (The manacost is also an issue if we are playing against burn.)
I chose to run Lightning Bolt than MD Abrupt Decay because its cheaper and very effective but it sucks against Deceiver Exarch Spellskite and Tasigur which have found their home in Grixis/Twin variants.
I like having access to Kolaghan's Command for versatility. maybe 2 copies is too much? What do you guys think?
I'm trying to make a Modern Combo deck using Midnight Guard and Elemental Mastery. Since Midnight Guard is a human I thought of infusing it with the past Human Reanimator in Standard. (Though it doesn't do anything with the Angel of Glory's Rise chain but it does come back!)
Here is the decklist:
4 Undercity Informer
4 Fiend Hunter
4 Angel of Glory's Rise
4 Midnight Guard
4 Mulch
4 Unburial Rites
4 Elemental Mastery
4 Faithless Looting
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 City of Brass
The deck's plan is to fill the yard with humans preferably a Burning-Tree Emissary, an Undercity Informer and a Fiend Hunter; then reanimate or cast Angel of Glory's Rise. When they all return to the battlefield, Burning-Tree Emissary adds RG, Fiend Hunter hides Angel of Glory's Rise, use the RG to pay for Undercity Informer's ability sacrificing Burning-Tree Emissary and Fiend Hunter to mill your opponents library. Since Fiend Hunter will die, Angel of Glory's Rise again enters the battlefield bringing back Burning-Tree Emissary and Fiend Hunter.
The second plan is to enchant Elemental Mastery on Midnight Guard to produce infinite hasty tokens on Turn 4!
This is just an idea, I will test and refine the deck list some other time. I replaced Grisly Salvage with Commune with the Gods because it can dig for Elemental Mastery.
I will fix the lands. Fetch lands are nice but I don't want to risk playing against hatebears because this deck doesn't run any solid removals at all.
Suggestions? Thanks!