MTG Salvation

Yahenni's Expertise into Ancestral Vision or Kommand sounds hilarious, I might switch out my Painful Truths and Anger of the Gods from my sideboard to playtest it "giggles". I'm also very interested in the mention of Liliana, the Last Hope, other than the advantageous self-mill and recursion, in a heavier black deck, does she fill the role Izzet Staticasterhas in our sideboard? I often use it against X/1 decks and lingering souls but lily seems to be able to fill a similar spot with her +1 and maybe even more. Thoughts?

I love delver, so flexible :B::B:

Thanks, this was actually a brew idea after I fell in love with Blightsteel Collossus and Kuldotha Forgemaster from a while back that I never got to play test but now I feel the motivation to try it :p.

I agree with the landbase change, this was a bit thrown togheter so I didn't have the time to think about it too much.

If you think about it, having 4 Kuldotha Forgemaster, 2 Blightsteel Colossus and 4 TTB, you get around the same combo consistency as Splinter Twin which is quite encouraging (albeit not the same combo at all xd), sadly for Forgemaster to work, your Blightsteel has to be in your deck which makes me reticent on using Fabricate over Thirst for Knowledge, opinion?

Don't think your understanding Through the Breach Jwelt... you would prefer casting Through the Breach on you opponent's turn to play Forgemaster than on your turn because:

1. Forgemaster does not have haste and you have to wait a whole turn before activating him, and then a whole other turn to attack with Blightsteel, not only that the risks for the combo are higher. (That is if you don't have lightning Greaves which you won't always have).
2. Through the Breach is harder to hate on than Lightning Greaves which is equipped at sorcery speed! Don't worry about your artifact count, Darksteel Citadel will help that.
3. It's not only for giving Kuldotha flash but also haste, and also remove summoning sickness on Blightsteel Colossus.
4. Realistically, you will find Amulet slow and mana draining which is why it doesn't see play in modern. Master Transmuter has the same problem.
The idea is really to protect the combo more efficiently by doing it on the opponent's turn than our own, combos at instant speed usually have a better chance at succeeding than slower ones and ones which needs more pieces, Through the Breach permits you to litterally have a 2 card combo in having the Forgemaster or the Blightsteel itself and going for the win as fast as you can. Lightning Greaves can be disrupted much more easily with artifact hate than you think because of it's sorcery speed and ads another piece to your combo. (I'm not telling you to not play any, but to not put all your eggs in one basket.)

Also with all due respect saying why not play Emrakul instead is like saying why not playing Splinter Twin instead... and actually in our case it's better since we have more ways to get to cheat the Blightsteel than an Emrakul.

I also found a neat interaction with using Through the Breach with Wurmcoil Engine, it lets you attack with the big bad coil and then it leaves it's tokens on the battlefield post TTB. A la Feldon of the Third Path.

Okay I rushed making this list but that's my general idea of how I would build the deck:

I also added Thirst for Knowledge instead of fabricate as a way to not only shuffle back our beloved Blightsteel Colossus but also to dig for the combo.
I agree with Raystack that the deck will go nowhere with the menace of the Eldrazi and that we have to wait for ze banhammer.

Actually with Through the Breach you can combo with Kuldotha forgemaster on your opponent's end step to have a Blightsteel Colossus ready to attack on your turn.. it doesn't only work with Blightsteel, that's whats interesting about it. So essentially if you have Through the Breach and any other creature your "comboing off". I can get why you wouldn't like the card but personally I think it's a great combo enabler in this deck since our creatures will generate immediate value after the Through the Breach. If you cheat Kuldotha Forgemaster at the end of your opponent's turn, sac it and 2 other artifacts on instant speed to get a permanent Blightsteel Collossus on your battlefield ready to attack on your turn. If you have Blightsteel Hack and Slash away directly at your opponent, the Blightsteel will then reshuffle in your library ready to be reused. The Quicksilver Amulet is a neat idea, albeit expensive.

May I recommend Through the Breach? It is an easy splash, and gives an easy way to try and win with an unexpected Blightsteel Colossus. Also after Blightsteel Collosus gets sacrificed, he will shuffle back into your library to be recycled for your Kuldotha Forgemaster. Furthermore, since it is an instant you may use it as a line of defence against attacks or combos with Platinum Angel.

I like Lightning Greaves for it's ability to not only give Kuldotha Forgemaster haste, but also Blightsteel Colossus. Otherwise I find it useless without the combo in sight which may happen. I'd also like to recommend an alternative in Hammer of Purphoros, now hear me out: First it is an artifact that gives haste to all your creatures, Second it creates 3/3 artifact creatures out of your lands if you find yourself in a flood or a stall. It encourages a splash for red which has it's fair share of support for artifacts and for cards such as Lightning Bolt and Anger of the Gods to fend of aggro. It's cons are that it costs one more than lightning greaves and opens up to a wider splash of red..

I'll stop recommending red cards in this blue deck for now and let you all reflect on this. Happy brewing! :')

Edit: Just realized you can use Through the Breach on the opponent's turn to Kuldotha Forgemaster into Blightsteel Colossus, effectively going for the kill on your turn. Like a modern Tinker :3 think of the higher mana cost paid for the instant speed.

@Sled_Dog Yes but I don't care about the combo... I care about how Ad Nauseam itself interacts with the Coretapper shell I see it as a sort of interesting Primal Surge for the 0cc artifacts with interesting side benefits.

@Tdog09876 It has been tested and we came to the result that any 3cc mana rock cost too much and that we were better of using the 2cc ones, even if the ingot is indestructible, it doesn't do anything else except being a mana rock for 3 with the possibility of being a citadel substitute wich I didn't felt like we needed.

@Filthound A nice genuine tezzeret brew you have there, may I ask, why the simian spirit guides? With 6 mana rocks already main deck you would be better of with discard and more kill spells, some lilianas, a couple o' mana leaks... Also maybe try to up Thirst for Knowledge to a full playset as the card is invaluable.

@radouf like SirPsychoMantis said, I don't need Ad Nauseam to be anything more than a fair card, and to compare it to the combo deck is a mistake because it has a different role in this shell than theirs. They need to set up multiple cards such as Angel's Grace and Phyrexian Unlife and a Lotus Bloom turn 1 to hope to combo off on turn 4 or 5 which makes them fragile and extremely vulnerable to hate. If they get their win cons extracted, discarded, countered or milled it's over for them and they have only so many, hell some lists only play 1 lightning storm and that's all.

My goal is not to deck myself out and drop to 0 life in a desperate attempt to combo off, I mean sure I can combo off, but unlike Ad Nauseam Combo, I can choose not to, gather only a few cards and be content with it, no strings attached. Since I have around 40 cards with no converted mana cost it becomes an extremely powerful utility card that plays right in the Coretapper + Astral Cornucopia + Everflowing Chalice + Mox Opal + Darksteel Citadel shell which is why I'm even giving the card the time of the day, and I realized it may give the build more flexibility by having the ability of playing Pact of Negation and Slaughter Pact since they have a converted mana cost of 0 and are relatively easy to pay with the help of our numerous mana rocks. I could never draw the card in a game and be fine nonetheless.

@Raystack interestingly enough Time Sieve can also simply set you up for a tezzeret ultimate by gaining an extra turn and can be used out of the combo as a way to finish an opponent off with a 5/5 or as an alarm button, also Thopter Assembly is not completely useless on it's own. Also in my train of thought I figured that not only Ensoul Artifact is good at the beggining of the game but with the combo you can set up multiple artifacts into a 5/5 oil fest as another way to "combo" down our opponent. And you are right about their explosiveness, they're like our lil mech goyfs.

Also small note Golem's Heart sounds like a really good sideboard card against burn and affinity (lol). And if you are scarred of Ad Nauseam add a Venser's Journal in your deck . On a more serious note, Tolaria West seems like a good utility land for searching a pact or getting a much needed chalice of the void.

I have been pondering for a while about joker's Coretapper tech and it encouraged me into trying various ideas. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. Death Cloud + Mind Stone has been ridiculously good as an early or late board wipe with heavy integrated hand disruption and mana denial(land sac). Since the deck uses so many mana rocks loosing lands does not hurt us as much. Death Cloud encourages playing as many mana rocks as we want or need. Do not confuse this card as Smallpox, it this build it's even better. It also opens the possibility of playing remand as it synergies well with Death Cloud.

2. I am not sold yet on Day's Undoing as I much prefer Thirst for Knowledge in this kind of deck, and day's undoing it is especially a non-bo with Death Cloud. I can very much see it's appeal as it synergises with our explosive speed, but it also makes aggro opponents, that much more deadly. Can we outrun affinity?

3. I do not currently have the time to post my version of the deck and will do so later on but, I have currently 39 0cc (including lands) cards in my deck and I searched for ways to abuse this feat in a similar way to Day's Undoing until I stumbled upon Ad Nauseam ! I had butterflies in my stomach when I saw the card, and I had to double check that artifacts such as Everflowing Chalice and Astral Cornucopia were considered as 0cc. So here's the thing, with our number or 0cc artifacts Ad Nauseam becomes relatively painless, all that is left is to draw 3/4 of our deck, play a bunch of free artifacts and Tezzeret away at your opponent.

4. I have a bittersweat relationship with Ensoul Artifact, it is so agressively strong it is most often outraging but at the same time, other than adding pressure, it does not "add" to the Coretapper plan. I don't know how to express myself on this one but it almost feels like dead weight sometimes. Thoughts?

5. I also agree with @Raystack on switching the numbers of Everflowing Chalices and Astral Cornucopia, I only find myself sometimes really wanting the :/

6. If you guys have any trouble against Eldrazi, I have a suggestion: Painter's Servant is quite an interesting tech against the eldrazi as it makes Eldrazi Temple not able to tap for 2, it disables Eye of Ugin (it says COLORLESS eldrazi ) and it makes devoid spells colorful again if that even comes to be a problem.. :3 bonus it's an artifact!

Also thanks for the feedback guys, it makes me want to break Tezzeret even more, all hail artifacts! If Ad Nauseam fails my expectations I will definitely try some Simian Spirit Guide, so often I find myself have explosive starts but end up having to delay it all to turn two. Mox Opal + Citadel is the dream.

Finally I will have to do some extended testings between the more traditional Tezzeret builds and the Coretapper tech to compare their potentials and viability. Will edit soon with deck list!

Edit #1: @streetMage I do not think Mindless Automaton synergies with charge counters, if it does it is definitely interesting albeit a little costly. Also just realised that Ad Nauseam let's us play pacts in our decks to assure imminent victory. 1 of Reliquary Tower to keep hand once 90% of the deck is in our hand? so many ideas...

Oh my. Guys, Joker's list with Death Clouds and Mind Stones to refill hand post DC. (Thanks Zinch for this idea :o!). Just spam a ton of mana rocks into death cloud and Tezz -1/ Ensoul Artifact your opponent into oblivion!
Tezzedeath? Also get's rid of the problems you would confront when overloading cyclonic rift.

At that point I would switch back to Thirst for Knowledge though because Day's Undoing is a no go post DC.. Also Zinch is right about the number of counterspells being dropped as the format is shaping towards aggro so it shouldn't be too hard resolving a DC turn 3 or 4 (living the coretapper life).

Inspired by jokers list :3, Coretapper + Power Conduit almost creates a countertop effect with Chalice of the Void. While at it, throwing a silly idea, dismantleling a Darksteel Reactor effectively doubles it's charge counters. The only problem with Darksteel Reactor is that it doesn't do anything else except diluting the game plan and being an unreliable win condition. Surge Node also seems like an interesting artifact albeit it's limited uses and the fact that you have to spend a mana to do it each time. Also with that amount of 0 drops, is it possible/reliable to use Reshape into Lotus Bloom?

Leyline of the Void?

The new Tango lands may help mitigate the damage taken from land base problem, (ex:sunken hollow) although I don't really like them as much.

I really like aristocrats in general and I wanted to share a way to build Aristocrats through the new standard iteration of the deck. Now hear me out, Sidisi's faithful is a sorcery speed unsummon which may, in fact be not strong enough for modern, but with the addition of rally the ancestors, you can revive sidisi's faithful and bounce for example a Deceiver Exarch being enchanted with Splinter Twin! Not only that but you can use her as ":symu: : Sacrifice a creature, bounce sidisi's faithful back into your hand" repeatedly to drain your opponent's life away or trigger other death triggers, also with the new liliana, heretical healer, it becomes -1: Bounce a creature a player controls into its owner's hand, and trigger all death triggers while at it. Sidisi's Faithful is also useful with cards like Sultai Emissary because you can bounce the manifest to get a land back into your hand or a spell, effectively drawing a card this way. Not only that but opening to blue open's up the door to another combo. Whirler Rogue + Bloodthrone Vampire, which funnily both fit the bill in pressuring your opponent to death. The only spells which can disrupt that combo are a counter spell if played from the hand, abrupt decay and Path to Exile. Furthermore, you can sack Bloodthrone Vampire to itself in case you need it in your graveyard which I believe is a plus from a sac outlet. So here's my take on it:



Now I didn't push the deck further than that mainly because I didn't have time to read the whole thread yet for ideas but feel free to give feedback!

Here's my take on it, never tried the deck and just played with the numbers, but feel free to give some feedback :p.

So here's my take on the deck, I kept struggling on what to cut to try out other stuff, and I changed Akki Blizzard-Herder for Fulminator Mage as under Trinisphere, Fulminator Mage is superior to it, although maybe I'm missing the point, crack the earth and akki Blizzard-Herder seems like a hilarious synergy, how often are you able to pull that off?