I'm curious how effective Wharf Infiltrator is for performing something of the role of the effect of Prized Amalgam in a mono-blue deck. Unlike Amalgam, it can't recurse indefinitely, but it does provide extra filtering, too. The problem is that it's more mana-intensive. Adding Prized Amalgam to a mono-blue mana base is an interesting idea, too. Just one Amalgam adds a lot of value to every graveyard pull.
I completely see your point about Pore over Pages and not having enough card draw. I'll try a full set of Take Inventory, probably cutting down to two Nagging Thoughts given the potential filtering from drones and infiltrators.
Finally, I just need to finish putting this together and play with this and the original more spell-heavy version to refine the overall strategy. It's blue so it's almost certainly going to be slower than other variants; getting the balance right to (try and) make that work well will be interesting. Thanks for all of the suggestions.
f you're lucky enough to discard it to Stitchwing Skaab, then it's toughness plus 4, so 7 mana to steal a x/3. That's A very high mana cost for a creature you can just block and kill. For bigger creatures you can't block and kill, then we're talking double digit mana. OOF.
It's 7 mana to steal an x/3 *and* summon a tapped 3/1 flyer at instant speed. Done carefully after attackers are declared, this can make a vast swing in game state. That said, it is very situational, which is why I'm still inclined to view it as sideboard material.
Drownyard Temple is okay, but honestly you never care if you discard an island as you probably have a lot either in hand or just a Catalog away.
Being able to pull the drownyard out of the graveyard and play a land in a single turn is decent, though, especially for slower blue decks. I agree that it's only okay, but since it's a mono-color deck, there's no reason I can see not to do it.
I actually meant Chilling Grasp. Looking at more EMN cards, Wharf Infiltrator probably makes a faster creature-heavy blue build doable. That way you can build either creature-heavy or a spell-heavy blue deck, maybe with the sideboard adjusting between the two. Here's a sketch at a creature-heavy one with a sideboard to angle it more toward spells. It opts for Pore over the Pages for more efficient drawing, and has 10 Zombies, 10 Madness, and 14 discard sources, not counting the Sanitarium or the Deep-fiends:
I really like the mono-blue variant and am thinking about how to improve it with only modest additonal investment. First impressions:
1. It's land base seems very thin at only 21 lands; is this really enough lands? If not, what would you cut to add more?
2. How useful would Drownyard Temple (4) or Geier Reach Sanitarium (2) be? The former seems like a pure improvement if the land base is larger; the later could give an emergency discard outlet when needed.
3. I'm still pondering Chilling Grasp and Welcome to the Fold. The former seems useful against the new horrors and the later against things like the new Thalia. esp since the right looter can accelerate the later to instant speed.
4. Both Salvage Drone and 1 or 2 Elder Deep-fiend are attractive. The former accelerates against weenies and the second can break stalls. I don't know what to put them in place of; perhaps sideboard?
I completely see your point about Pore over Pages and not having enough card draw. I'll try a full set of Take Inventory, probably cutting down to two Nagging Thoughts given the potential filtering from drones and infiltrators.
Finally, I just need to finish putting this together and play with this and the original more spell-heavy version to refine the overall strategy. It's blue so it's almost certainly going to be slower than other variants; getting the balance right to (try and) make that work well will be interesting. Thanks for all of the suggestions.
It's 7 mana to steal an x/3 *and* summon a tapped 3/1 flyer at instant speed. Done carefully after attackers are declared, this can make a vast swing in game state. That said, it is very situational, which is why I'm still inclined to view it as sideboard material.
Being able to pull the drownyard out of the graveyard and play a land in a single turn is decent, though, especially for slower blue decks. I agree that it's only okay, but since it's a mono-color deck, there's no reason I can see not to do it.
I actually meant Chilling Grasp. Looking at more EMN cards, Wharf Infiltrator probably makes a faster creature-heavy blue build doable. That way you can build either creature-heavy or a spell-heavy blue deck, maybe with the sideboard adjusting between the two. Here's a sketch at a creature-heavy one with a sideboard to angle it more toward spells. It opts for Pore over the Pages for more efficient drawing, and has 10 Zombies, 10 Madness, and 14 discard sources, not counting the Sanitarium or the Deep-fiends:
4x Salvage Drone
4x Wharf Infiltrator
4x Stitchwing Skaab
3x Advanced Stitchwing
3x Geralf's Masterpiece
2x Elder Deep-fiend
Instants (12)
4x Catalog
3x Broken Concentration
3x Just the Wind
2x Unsubstantiate
4x Nagging Thoughts
2x Pore over the Pages
Lands (22)
2x Geier Reach Sanitarium
4x Drownyard Temple
16x Islands
2x Artificer's Epiphany
1x Broken Concentration
3x Displacement Wave
2x Spell Shrivel
1x Sphinx of the Final Word
3x Thing in the Ice
1x Unsubstantiate
2x Welcome to the Fold
1. It's land base seems very thin at only 21 lands; is this really enough lands? If not, what would you cut to add more?
2. How useful would Drownyard Temple (4) or Geier Reach Sanitarium (2) be? The former seems like a pure improvement if the land base is larger; the later could give an emergency discard outlet when needed.
3. I'm still pondering Chilling Grasp and Welcome to the Fold. The former seems useful against the new horrors and the later against things like the new Thalia. esp since the right looter can accelerate the later to instant speed.
4. Both Salvage Drone and 1 or 2 Elder Deep-fiend are attractive. The former accelerates against weenies and the second can break stalls. I don't know what to put them in place of; perhaps sideboard?