Rivulet (U) is pretty interesting as a win condition because the ability is fairly cheap. I think you'd want a way to recur lands from the graveyard though. The new Ramunap Excavator and/or Splendid Reclamation seem like good enablers. The whole deck is probably a pipe dream though.
However Ruins (R) is downright great for Standard because the reach is invaluable for red decks (especially if they can fit in 4-8 more deserts).
This type of deck is going to be very good with the introduction of Razaketh to the format. Haunted Dead and Prized Amalgam can also be great in the right deck and have favorable interactions with Razaketh. I plan to make a deck centered around these cards and was seriously considering playing Nahiri. I'll be writing a primer on it when HOU is completely spoiled and I settle on a list.
I think the Grim Flayer suggestion is a very good one, but I'd need to see the other supporting cast. The Insolent Neonate/Cathartic Reunion could certainly be a start as well. I suppose any deck trying very hard to accomplish this task may be able to use Haunted Dead + Prized Amalgam as an additional payoff for milling (although there's obviously some tension in that returning them puts you farther away from God-Pharaoh's Gift). Gate could also find a home in a Sam Black style Hidden Stockpile deck with Thraben Inspectors and Sacred Cats. That deck actively sacrifices its own creatures without losing board presence and is able to dig with scry to find more. Furthermore, a 4/4 Sacred Cat with haste is very cool.
Liliana, Death's Majesty was looking for a reanimation target in Standard. I didn't dare hope it would be this good. Razaketh's tutoring turns creatures into cards, so you just have to ensure that those cards generate more creatures. Consider the following engine:
Here are some key interactions:
Haunted Dead allows you to discard Razaketh
Razaketh likes recursive creatures and creature tokens to tutor with
Lili's reanimation triggers Prized Amalgam
Razaketh can tutor for more Amalgams, fueling the reanimation engine further
Razaketh can tutor for Lili in response to non-exiling removal so you can get him back again
The way these all combine is such that if you reanimate Razaketh with Liliana, you can sacrifice your Haunted Deads to tutor for Amalgams. You then discard these to reanimate the Haunted Deads and Amalgams, then you can sacrifice those to get more Amalgams (or whatever you want). If Razaketh is allowed to hit the board he can spiral out of control very quickly with this type of engine.
I almost forgot to mention that this sequence gets you an 8/8 flample beater and a great planeswalker that ticks up while making zombies.
Also, the whole engine is mono-black. Don't let Amalgam fool you, you don't need to cast him. You just need these 11 cards along with discard outlets. You can use Cryptbreaker and Collective Brutality, which are good cards and leave you still in mono-black. You can also get some great additions from other colors: Red gives you Cathartic Reunion and Lightning Axe to discard, which are both great. Green gives you Grim Flayer to mill, Traverse to tutor pieces, and Ishkanah as Ishkanah. Blue gives you Pull from Tomorrow and counterspells, as well as the ability to cast Amalgam. Mardu gives you Nahiri, which is a discard outlet that can also ultimate for Razaketh.
If anyone is reading this and wants to play a deck with these cards, my only request is that it be named, "Razzle Dazzle".
I have an event coming up and was considering playing Colossus, as I've had previous good luck with the deck.
Personally, I am not a big fan of either the Cranes or the Foundry Inspectors. I'd love to play a Foundry Inspector on t3 if I got to untap with it, but I've found that it never happens game 1. As for Crane, I try to focus on explosive power first and I don't like paying mana for something that doesn't reduce the cost of Colossus and much prefer a Puzzleknot, Prism, or Key.
Instead I'd prefer to invalidate creatures altogether since the top decks all rely on attacking. I was intrigued by the monoblue list running Engulf the Shore, but I am extremely worried the creatures in this metagame will rapidly grow out of it's range. Furthermore, this deck's explosive potential is contingent upon playing your Sanctums first, which is a nonbo if you need to use Engulf to survive. I also like Baral's Expertise and Skysovereign, but I think I'll stick with the gold standard of Fumigate.
Does anyone have strong opinions on the way I have constructed my deck? I'd love to entertain argument for Crane or Inspector. It's also possible 3 Reverse Engineer is totally unnecessary until after sideboard and I should replace some or all of those with more interaction. I am definitely worried about the Mardu matchup.
I played RB zombies most of the last standard to great success but am looking to switch into this deck for obvious reasons (RIP in peace Smuggler's Copter). Does anyone have new information with the GB constrictor, Mardu Vehicles, Saheeli Rai meta?
I wish to maximize Elder Deep-Fiend, Kozilek's Return, and Prized Amalgam. I would like to add counterspells but doubt there's room. The things that unnerve me about the deck are the weakness to a creature with 5+ toughness and the obvious damage that a Negate can do to Cathartic Reunion or Tormenting Voice.
I was considering Fevered Visions in the main deck because I like it against Control, Saheeli, and GB, but I feel very uncomfortable about feeding Mardu cards. I also was considering Baral's Expertise because it's very good against the overplayed GB menace and synergizes well with Fevered Visions but I think it's too narrow and doesn't do enough against Control, Saheeli Control, and Mardu on the draw.
Does anyone have a preferred build? I was thinking about something along these lines.
Maybe I'm also too high on Fiery Temper as a holdover from RB, as it is less important when you have 4 Kozilek's Return. But I do like to have a couple good madness cards in to mitigate the loss in card advantage from the Stitchwings and Axes. Are there any decent draw spells in Standard? This deck would be insane with something half as powerful as Treasure Cruise to refuel.
I thought about writing my own thread, but you have one here and there seem to be 2 others on the deck creation forums. I suspect people may get tired of a bunch of different storm threads. So I hope you don't mind me posting some slightly different ideas. I'm with you on Sram, Paradoxical Outcome, Reservoir, and Cheerios, but I have some alternate choices than some of the green cards like Attune and Unbridled Growth (although I do like that they let you cut lands and increase density).
You absolutely need 4 Sram, Senior Edificers. IMO he's literally the reason to play the deck and raises the win percentage immensely. You don't care that he's legendary or if you draw 2; if they can't deal with him you'll draw too many cards and win. I don't like being dependent on him but playing only 3 copies without counterspells in the maindeck.
The other card I've been extremely impressed with is Baral's Expertise. I tried to make this deck work in the last Standard and was a big advocate for Crush of Tentacles. It seemed like it was often a time walk + board wipe + threat. So you have to understand how high I am on Expertise when I say I like it better than Crush. Expertise gets rid of 3 threats while deploying an Aetherflux Reservoir or Gisela, the Broken Blade without knocking your other Reservoirs back to hand (my biggest problem with Crush). The other big thing to note is that when you aren't bouncing threats it's an advantage generator or storm piece. Sometimes I find myself slowing down with Sram when I draw multiple lands, but you can bounce your own cheerios with Expertise and replay them to draw more cards and cast more spells. Overall in a deck with so much card advantage I think Expertise is a fantastic inclusion.
I also feel that Metallic Rebuke is a fantastic card for almost any match up but in particular will give you a fighting chance in a meta that I expect will include a significant amount of control (thanks Fatal Push, Disallow). It's usually Mana Leak or better in this deck.
Some optional, less sure inclusions from my brainstorming and testing are Sigarda's Aid and Gisela, the Broken Blade. As you mentioned, Aid lets you storm more efficiently with equipment and auras. It also lets you save creatures from toughness or damage based spells with Cathar's Shield. Gisela's inclusion is a nod to the occasional need for alternate game plans and a good card to snipe planeswalkers or defend against aggro. The only thing Gisela ever needed to make her good IMO was to not die to Harnessed Lightning and Grasp of Darkness, which Shield conveniently fixes and also gives her vigilance.
Also a note on what I haven't included: While Ornithopter is great with a lot of the deck, I ultimately cut it for cards that serve a more essential purpose because it doesn't draw a card with Sram and can be targeted with removal. It hurt me though, as the new art is lovely.
Other things: I always liked Contraband Kingpin in previous versions of the deck for his ability to scry into lands, but the mana constraints were too difficult for me in this version. I also really like Tezzeret's Touch with Ornithopter (and it draws a card with Sram!) and Tezzeret the Schemer himself. Whir of Invention was in a previous version of the deck but UUU was really difficult to get. If you do include it throw in one copy of Torrential Gearhulk so late game you can tutor it and flashback Whir for a 0 mana artifact. Reverse Engineer similarly was cut from 4 copies because it took down Metallic Rebuke and paying UU or 1UU mana almost always felt like taking a turn off.
Edit: Accidentally repeated what OP had already said, deleted that part.
Without the fast mana from modern for the eldrazi tribe, what's the advantage of playing the tribe? I would say most of the draw to it is curving Eldrazi Mimic into Thought-knot and Reality Smasher. Vile Aggregate is good and so is Collected Company but I think you're sacrificing the best part of the eldrazi tribe for the unnecessary inclusion of Coco or weakening a Coco deck by dedicating yourself to a tribe with mediocre 3 drops, whichever way you look at it. I like the Elder Deep-Fiend angle though.
You have nothing to do with energy, and IMO Glassblower's Puzzleknot is not worth running just for the scry. You can put in 1-2 Deadlock Traps or Harnessed Lightnings and be assured of their high power level, or even splash a 3rd color with Aether Hub. Also if you're playing Metalwork Colossus you can probably add a lot of consistency to the deck by adding the 3rd Colossus and some Sanctum of Ugins to give yourself another dimension of play. With 4 Prophetic Prism there is very little opportunity cost to the colorless land.
My friend and I have been playing this in real life and online. I had Sigarda's Aid in just to get value out of all the equipment. I had removed it because it ultimately didn't draw cards without Paradoxical Outcome, but what you just pointed out is sweet. We are also already playing UW because of one card.
This card is the real deal for the deck. It doesn't look like much until you play with it. In normal games, you use it to rebuy Prophetic Prisms and Glint-Nest Crane before you get to storm territory, but it really shines when you do get to storm territory. When you storm with this card it buys you two spells for 2 mana by picking up and replaying a cheerio. That alone is enough to make it worth playing and is a very powerful way to increase your storm count, but if you're light on gas and have a lot of lands you can also use two to pick up each other and play as many times as you have 2 mana.
Another card I tested a lot but have recently abandoned is Containment Membrane. I mention it because it was borderline playable before and Sigarda's Aid makes it better. It's defense in a deck that lacks for defense and you can pick it up with all your bounce spells (except Engulf! Nonbo!). It also costs 1 mana, which is pretty powerful given that while storming I often find myself unable to deploy all the 2 cmc cards I have and with 1 mana left over. Similarly, Imprisoned in the Moon is okay removal that bounces back to hand but better with Sigarda's Aid. Plus I like using that on my own Cranes to accelerate into Crush of Tentacles a turn ahead of time.
Building around Paradoxical Outcome and Aetherflux Reservoir seemed to be an exercise in futility if you watched the lackluster performance of decks like the one piloted by Caleb Scherer at the first SCG event. However he did not delve very far into alternate game plans that can make the deck tick, such as Crush of Tentacles and Metalwork Colossus. As a consequence, the deck he piloted was entirely dependent on Paradoxical Outcome. Here are some alternatives:
Most people seem to be aware of the way these decks function, but just in case: The deck deploys an Aetherflux Reservoir and then uses cheap or free artifacts to increase the number of spells cast in a turn, pick them all up and draw into more with Paradoxical Outcome, and gain so much life that Aetherflux Reservoir kills on the spot.
Some versions of these decks run all 8 "cheerios" (0 mana artifacts) and no Crush of Tentacles, which seems loose. It is important to have the full 8 bounce effects to prepare to storm off, and a 5 cmc card that can do that while sweeping the opponent's board and generating an Octopus token is most excellent. Any reward for playing with the cheerios is additionally important since they don't do much by themselves.
This version of the deck really came together upon the discovery of Aviary Mechanic and Containment Membrane. Membrane is absolutely vital early defense that you can pick back up and storm with later for only 1 mana. Mechanic allows you to pick up a Bone Saw or Cathar's Shield and rebuy surge for later, switch your Containment Membranes to more dangerous targets, or rebuy Prophetic Prism or Glint-Nest Crane if you have the time and mana. However the most important thing and the reason why it is worth splashing white for is that it increases the spell count by 2 for only 2 mana when you are storming off.
One of the other strategies that has been fairly successful in testing is the use of artifact cost reducers, Cultivator's Caravan, and Metalwork Colossus.
This deck is more powerful because of the Metalwork Colossus/Sanctum of Ugin package. The idea is that when you get 3 or 4 artifacts on the board, Metalwork Colossus is free or close to free. When you cast one copy you trigger each Sanctum of Ugin you have among your lands and search your deck for that many more free 10/10s. Additionally, the deck gets to play cantripping artifacts and artifacts that ramp or beat people for 5 instead of Bone Saws.
However, there are a couple big reasons why it is a worse choice. It is very dependent on the cost reduction creatures to storm off, as without 1 or 2 of these it is too expensive to drive the spell count up with the more costly artifacts. In addition to being weak to removal, the deck doesn't typically contribute to the board before turn 3 and has poor defense. For these reasons the first deck seems a much better choice in a field of artifact aggro and decks that prepared for artifact aggro by saturating themselves with removal.
It is difficult to combine both high power packages (Crush of Tentacles, Metalwork Colossus) into the same deck because Crush relies on free artifacts to reliably be cast on turn 5 and Colossus wants all of your artifacts to cost 2 or more.
I have been testing such decks extensively since before SCG Indy. Please tell me what you think and how your testing is going.
I agree this deck has too many moving parts. I prototyped this deck to test online when the new cards were revealed and I can say that all the cogs definitely need to mesh right. But the way that you build it can be pretty modular.
If you stick to UR, make sure to play Saheeli Rai and throw in the either 8 modules. The modules together are quite potent and add extra potential to combo even if you don't draw the infinite thopter pieces.
I also support the use of Era of Innovation quite a bit. It also combines well with Whirler Virtuoso, letting you create a thopter for 1 energy and 1 mana provided you don't drop below 3 energy.
However Ruins (R) is downright great for Standard because the reach is invaluable for red decks (especially if they can fit in 4-8 more deserts).
I also play New Perspectives so I appreciate that at this point Shefet Monitor is a toolbox.
In limited the black one is nuts and the green and white one are decent.
4x Prized Amalgam
4x Haunted Dead
4x Liliana, Death's Majesty
3x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
Here are some key interactions:
Haunted Dead allows you to discard Razaketh
Razaketh likes recursive creatures and creature tokens to tutor with
Lili's reanimation triggers Prized Amalgam
Razaketh can tutor for more Amalgams, fueling the reanimation engine further
Razaketh can tutor for Lili in response to non-exiling removal so you can get him back again
The way these all combine is such that if you reanimate Razaketh with Liliana, you can sacrifice your Haunted Deads to tutor for Amalgams. You then discard these to reanimate the Haunted Deads and Amalgams, then you can sacrifice those to get more Amalgams (or whatever you want). If Razaketh is allowed to hit the board he can spiral out of control very quickly with this type of engine.
I almost forgot to mention that this sequence gets you an 8/8 flample beater and a great planeswalker that ticks up while making zombies.
Also, the whole engine is mono-black. Don't let Amalgam fool you, you don't need to cast him. You just need these 11 cards along with discard outlets. You can use Cryptbreaker and Collective Brutality, which are good cards and leave you still in mono-black. You can also get some great additions from other colors: Red gives you Cathartic Reunion and Lightning Axe to discard, which are both great. Green gives you Grim Flayer to mill, Traverse to tutor pieces, and Ishkanah as Ishkanah. Blue gives you Pull from Tomorrow and counterspells, as well as the ability to cast Amalgam. Mardu gives you Nahiri, which is a discard outlet that can also ultimate for Razaketh.
If anyone is reading this and wants to play a deck with these cards, my only request is that it be named, "Razzle Dazzle".
Personally, I am not a big fan of either the Cranes or the Foundry Inspectors. I'd love to play a Foundry Inspector on t3 if I got to untap with it, but I've found that it never happens game 1. As for Crane, I try to focus on explosive power first and I don't like paying mana for something that doesn't reduce the cost of Colossus and much prefer a Puzzleknot, Prism, or Key.
Instead I'd prefer to invalidate creatures altogether since the top decks all rely on attacking. I was intrigued by the monoblue list running Engulf the Shore, but I am extremely worried the creatures in this metagame will rapidly grow out of it's range. Furthermore, this deck's explosive potential is contingent upon playing your Sanctums first, which is a nonbo if you need to use Engulf to survive. I also like Baral's Expertise and Skysovereign, but I think I'll stick with the gold standard of Fumigate.
4 Metalwork Colossus
1 Elder Deep-Fiend
Artifacts
4 Renegade Map
4 Prophetic Prism
4 Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
2 Key to the City
4 Cultivator's Caravan
4 Hedron Archive
Interaction
4 Metallic Rebuke
1 Negate
3 Fumigate
3 Reverse Engineer
4 Sanctum of Ugin
3 Inventors' Fair
4 Spire of Industry
4 Port Town
5 Island
2 Plains
Other cards I considered:
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Sweltering Suns
1 Quarantine Field
1 Declaration in Stone
1 Cast Out
1 Scrap Trawler
1 Matter Reshaper
1 Trophy Mage
1 Pacification Array
1 Corrupted Grafstone
1 Inspiring Statuary
1 Peacewalker Colossus
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
Does anyone have strong opinions on the way I have constructed my deck? I'd love to entertain argument for Crane or Inspector. It's also possible 3 Reverse Engineer is totally unnecessary until after sideboard and I should replace some or all of those with more interaction. I am definitely worried about the Mardu matchup.
Edit: Forgot to actually attach list
I played RB zombies most of the last standard to great success but am looking to switch into this deck for obvious reasons (RIP in peace Smuggler's Copter). Does anyone have new information with the GB constrictor, Mardu Vehicles, Saheeli Rai meta?
I wish to maximize Elder Deep-Fiend, Kozilek's Return, and Prized Amalgam. I would like to add counterspells but doubt there's room. The things that unnerve me about the deck are the weakness to a creature with 5+ toughness and the obvious damage that a Negate can do to Cathartic Reunion or Tormenting Voice.
I was considering Fevered Visions in the main deck because I like it against Control, Saheeli, and GB, but I feel very uncomfortable about feeding Mardu cards. I also was considering Baral's Expertise because it's very good against the overplayed GB menace and synergizes well with Fevered Visions but I think it's too narrow and doesn't do enough against Control, Saheeli Control, and Mardu on the draw.
Does anyone have a preferred build? I was thinking about something along these lines.
4 Advanced Stitchwing
4 Stitchwing Skaab
4 Prized Amalgam
4 Lightning Axe
4 Fiery Temper
4 Kozilek's Return
4 Tormenting Voice
4 Cathartic Reunion
1 Negate
4 Fevered Visions
3 Baral's Expertise
3 Release the Gremlins
2 Negate
3 Incendiary Flow (maybe?)
Maybe I'm also too high on Fiery Temper as a holdover from RB, as it is less important when you have 4 Kozilek's Return. But I do like to have a couple good madness cards in to mitigate the loss in card advantage from the Stitchwings and Axes. Are there any decent draw spells in Standard? This deck would be insane with something half as powerful as Treasure Cruise to refuel.
4 Sram, Senior Edificer
4 Paradoxical Outcome
2 Reverse Engineer
4 Bone Saw
4 Cathar's Shield
1 Stitcher's Graft
3 Baral's Expertise
3 Sigarda's Aid
3 Gisela, the Broken Blade
4 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
9 Plains
7 Island
You absolutely need 4 Sram, Senior Edificers. IMO he's literally the reason to play the deck and raises the win percentage immensely. You don't care that he's legendary or if you draw 2; if they can't deal with him you'll draw too many cards and win. I don't like being dependent on him but playing only 3 copies without counterspells in the maindeck.
The other card I've been extremely impressed with is Baral's Expertise. I tried to make this deck work in the last Standard and was a big advocate for Crush of Tentacles. It seemed like it was often a time walk + board wipe + threat. So you have to understand how high I am on Expertise when I say I like it better than Crush. Expertise gets rid of 3 threats while deploying an Aetherflux Reservoir or Gisela, the Broken Blade without knocking your other Reservoirs back to hand (my biggest problem with Crush). The other big thing to note is that when you aren't bouncing threats it's an advantage generator or storm piece. Sometimes I find myself slowing down with Sram when I draw multiple lands, but you can bounce your own cheerios with Expertise and replay them to draw more cards and cast more spells. Overall in a deck with so much card advantage I think Expertise is a fantastic inclusion.
I also feel that Metallic Rebuke is a fantastic card for almost any match up but in particular will give you a fighting chance in a meta that I expect will include a significant amount of control (thanks Fatal Push, Disallow). It's usually Mana Leak or better in this deck.
Some optional, less sure inclusions from my brainstorming and testing are Sigarda's Aid and Gisela, the Broken Blade. As you mentioned, Aid lets you storm more efficiently with equipment and auras. It also lets you save creatures from toughness or damage based spells with Cathar's Shield. Gisela's inclusion is a nod to the occasional need for alternate game plans and a good card to snipe planeswalkers or defend against aggro. The only thing Gisela ever needed to make her good IMO was to not die to Harnessed Lightning and Grasp of Darkness, which Shield conveniently fixes and also gives her vigilance.
Also a note on what I haven't included: While Ornithopter is great with a lot of the deck, I ultimately cut it for cards that serve a more essential purpose because it doesn't draw a card with Sram and can be targeted with removal. It hurt me though, as the new art is lovely.
Other things: I always liked Contraband Kingpin in previous versions of the deck for his ability to scry into lands, but the mana constraints were too difficult for me in this version. I also really like Tezzeret's Touch with Ornithopter (and it draws a card with Sram!) and Tezzeret the Schemer himself. Whir of Invention was in a previous version of the deck but UUU was really difficult to get. If you do include it throw in one copy of Torrential Gearhulk so late game you can tutor it and flashback Whir for a 0 mana artifact. Reverse Engineer similarly was cut from 4 copies because it took down Metallic Rebuke and paying UU or 1UU mana almost always felt like taking a turn off.
Edit: Accidentally repeated what OP had already said, deleted that part.
This card is the real deal for the deck. It doesn't look like much until you play with it. In normal games, you use it to rebuy Prophetic Prisms and Glint-Nest Crane before you get to storm territory, but it really shines when you do get to storm territory. When you storm with this card it buys you two spells for 2 mana by picking up and replaying a cheerio. That alone is enough to make it worth playing and is a very powerful way to increase your storm count, but if you're light on gas and have a lot of lands you can also use two to pick up each other and play as many times as you have 2 mana.
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Crush of Tentacles
1 Engulf the Shore
1 Negate
4 Aviary Mechanic
2 Sigarda's Aid
4 Bone Saw
4 Cathar's Shield
4 Prophetic Prism
Another card I tested a lot but have recently abandoned is Containment Membrane. I mention it because it was borderline playable before and Sigarda's Aid makes it better. It's defense in a deck that lacks for defense and you can pick it up with all your bounce spells (except Engulf! Nonbo!). It also costs 1 mana, which is pretty powerful given that while storming I often find myself unable to deploy all the 2 cmc cards I have and with 1 mana left over. Similarly, Imprisoned in the Moon is okay removal that bounces back to hand but better with Sigarda's Aid. Plus I like using that on my own Cranes to accelerate into Crush of Tentacles a turn ahead of time.
Building around Paradoxical Outcome and Aetherflux Reservoir seemed to be an exercise in futility if you watched the lackluster performance of decks like the one piloted by Caleb Scherer at the first SCG event. However he did not delve very far into alternate game plans that can make the deck tick, such as Crush of Tentacles and Metalwork Colossus. As a consequence, the deck he piloted was entirely dependent on Paradoxical Outcome. Here are some alternatives:
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Crush of Tentacles
4 Bone Saw
4 Cathar's Shield
4 Prophetic Prism
4 Containment Membrane
4 Aviary Mechanic
4 Prairie Stream
4 Port Town
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Plains
9 Island
2 Inventors' Fair
Most people seem to be aware of the way these decks function, but just in case: The deck deploys an Aetherflux Reservoir and then uses cheap or free artifacts to increase the number of spells cast in a turn, pick them all up and draw into more with Paradoxical Outcome, and gain so much life that Aetherflux Reservoir kills on the spot.
Some versions of these decks run all 8 "cheerios" (0 mana artifacts) and no Crush of Tentacles, which seems loose. It is important to have the full 8 bounce effects to prepare to storm off, and a 5 cmc card that can do that while sweeping the opponent's board and generating an Octopus token is most excellent. Any reward for playing with the cheerios is additionally important since they don't do much by themselves.
This version of the deck really came together upon the discovery of Aviary Mechanic and Containment Membrane. Membrane is absolutely vital early defense that you can pick back up and storm with later for only 1 mana. Mechanic allows you to pick up a Bone Saw or Cathar's Shield and rebuy surge for later, switch your Containment Membranes to more dangerous targets, or rebuy Prophetic Prism or Glint-Nest Crane if you have the time and mana. However the most important thing and the reason why it is worth splashing white for is that it increases the spell count by 2 for only 2 mana when you are storming off.
White also offers excellent sideboard creatures if they cut their removal such as Aerial Responder/Gisela, the Broken Blade and Avacynian Missionaries.
One of the other strategies that has been fairly successful in testing is the use of artifact cost reducers, Cultivator's Caravan, and Metalwork Colossus.
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Herald of Kozilek
4 Foundry Inspector
4 Metalwork Colossus
4 Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
4 Cultivator's Caravan
3 Aether Meltdown
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Sanctum of Ugin
3 Aether Hub
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Mountain
5 Island
This deck is more powerful because of the Metalwork Colossus/Sanctum of Ugin package. The idea is that when you get 3 or 4 artifacts on the board, Metalwork Colossus is free or close to free. When you cast one copy you trigger each Sanctum of Ugin you have among your lands and search your deck for that many more free 10/10s. Additionally, the deck gets to play cantripping artifacts and artifacts that ramp or beat people for 5 instead of Bone Saws.
However, there are a couple big reasons why it is a worse choice. It is very dependent on the cost reduction creatures to storm off, as without 1 or 2 of these it is too expensive to drive the spell count up with the more costly artifacts. In addition to being weak to removal, the deck doesn't typically contribute to the board before turn 3 and has poor defense. For these reasons the first deck seems a much better choice in a field of artifact aggro and decks that prepared for artifact aggro by saturating themselves with removal.
It is difficult to combine both high power packages (Crush of Tentacles, Metalwork Colossus) into the same deck because Crush relies on free artifacts to reliably be cast on turn 5 and Colossus wants all of your artifacts to cost 2 or more.
I have been testing such decks extensively since before SCG Indy. Please tell me what you think and how your testing is going.
I think you need to focus less on going infinite and more on synergy. If you want to go the Panharmonicon route, splash white for Aetherstorm Roc, Reflector Mage, Cloudblazer, and maybe Eldrazi Displacer.
If you stick to UR, make sure to play Saheeli Rai and throw in the either 8 modules. The modules together are quite potent and add extra potential to combo even if you don't draw the infinite thopter pieces.
I also support the use of Era of Innovation quite a bit. It also combines well with Whirler Virtuoso, letting you create a thopter for 1 energy and 1 mana provided you don't drop below 3 energy.