MTG Salvation

This deck is essentially a tight control deck that seeks to control the flow of the game and overrun the opponents slowly with our top-end finishers. To this end our early game is spent ramping and building resources before dropping our big creatures. In case that doesn't work out, we also have the classic Archaeomancer combo in the combination of Crystal Shard, Time Warp and Archaeomancer for infinite turns.

This deck also runs 4 layers of toolbox packages: 0 CMC, 1 CMC and 2 CMC and a Tezzeret/Fabricate package, on top of our existing tutors.

Tolaria West package

Trinket Mage package

Shred Memory/ Muddle the Mixture package

Artifact Tutor (Tezzeret, Fabricate, etc) Package

Wants:

Any combos I should be running? I feel like I'm missing a true wincon.

Any constructive criticism would be much appreciated!

Changelog

Considerations

Added a Changelog

I'm assuming Temple of Mystery is supposed to be either Silence or Deceit.

Quote from Comicalflop

I'm assuming Temple of Mystery is supposed to be either Silence or Deceit.

Oops. Good catch, it was the B/W one.

Removed a few basic lands for Sejiri Refuge and Coastal Tower.

Removed Fact or Fiction for Prison Term.

What wincons can I run in Sen? I'm thinking of Markov/Sphinx but I was wondering if there was anything else useful.

Also, should I cave in and just run Lattice? It'd work with Memnarch and I could probably add an infinite mana combo or two...? Although I guess infinite mana makes Lattice pretty extra.

The Lattice is what makes this deck very broken, it depends on how competitive you want to go, if you want to make it the best possible your going to need a Lattice, if you want to make it as competitive without lattice try your best, Markov/Sphinx both will be very competitive and solid options for this deck. Its all your choice though

Quote from SirGrizz

The Lattice is what makes this deck very broken, it depends on how competitive you want to go, if you want to make it the best possible your going to need a Lattice, if you want to make it as competitive without lattice try your best, Markov/Sphinx both will be very competitive and solid options for this deck. Its all your choice though

My main grip with the Lattice is that often I have nothing to really cast with it...R/G has mostly fatties as far as I've managed to see. I've been trying not to tap out with this deck. It's so tempting though.

I will definitely get Markov and the Sphinx but I'll think about running some infinite mana combos to combo out with Memnarch or re-add Blue Sun's Zenith or Exsanguinate to just win. Not a huge fan of combo though.

Changelog

-Deep Analysis
-Prison Term

+Praetor's Grasp
+Sorin Markov

//12/01/14
//-
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Frost Titan
//+
1 Celestial Dawn
1 Magister Sphinx
1 Dissipation Field

Magister Sphinx is good for wincon and closing a hard control game out, while Frost Titan has just been mildly annoying.

Celestial Dawn: Subbed this in when I finally played a table where I was the only deck running Esper colours....

Dissipation Field: meta call for cards like Manabarbs, Purphoros etc.

Cuts:

Lightning Greaves: so far, pretty underwhelming....few spot removal is really used on me.

Oblivion Ring: Pretty extra.

Cuts:

1 Lim Dul's Vault
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Archon of the Triumvirate
1 Rewind
1 Island
1 Expedition Map

Add:

1 Academy Ruins
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Nev Disk
1 Darksteel Forge
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Knowledge Pool

Your deck has been featured here!

The Cluestones seem terrible.

Knowledge Pool isn't a great card, unless your running it solely for Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir?

Do you have enough artifacts for Darksteel Forge? Or are you just running it for the Mycosynth Lattice/Nevinrryal's Disk combo?

Telepathy seems a lot better than Seer's Vision.

I'd recommend finding spots for: Sphinx's Revelation/Blue Sun's Zenith, Consecrated Sphinx, Sun Titan, Vampiric Tutor, Austere Command & Merciless Eviction.

You said you feel you're missing a true win con? You can win via beaters such as Wrexial, the Risen Deep/Sphinx of the Steel Wind, or by something you steal from an opponent using your commander. Also, you already seem to have a few combos in the deck anyway?

I'd increase your mana ramp to at least 10 (and get rid of the cluestones please). I might also throw in 1-2 more lands - I'd only stick with your current land count if you use the karoo lands (azorius chancery, etc). I'd also run at least 1 more sweeper that can hit noncreatures so you're not totally reliant on disk, and maybe cut hallowed burial or terminus.

I'm not sure what celestial dawn is used for, or the seer's vision. I guess "lol i like casting from people's hands", but I don't think celestial dawn will let you cast red or green spells anyway, and if you're using dawn to color fix you, chromatic lantern is usually better. Similar for seer's vision, you should only target people where you are sure they'll have somehting in your colors.

Not sure how much I like running forge/lattice/disk combo. Feels like you don't run enough regular artifacts to make this reliable. In a dedicated artifact deck (like, say Arcum or Sharuum), there are enough artifacts where you don't always need lattice. However this is up to you, and I have not really experimented with the combo either.

I'd also try to cut some of the high end to make room for the ramp spells. If you flood out, you can always just play Sen triplets and (during the next turn) play stuff from other people's hands. Whereas if you get constrained on mana that's kinda it. As for what to cut, I don't really know. Just play the deck and figure out which of your 5+ mana bombs are the weakest, since on paper they're all fine cards, but I recommend that you make room for more mana.

Also, knowledge pool is listed twice.

+ 4-5 mana ramp spells
+ 1-2 more lands (or run the karoo lands in place of a couple other lands)
- Cluestones
- Celestial dawn
- seer's vision
- not a fan of the forge/lattice/disk combo here
- Cut some of the fat at the top

Quote from IMProgenitus »

I'm not sure what celestial dawn is used for, or the seer's vision. I guess "lol i like casting from people's hands", but I don't think celestial dawn will let you cast red or green spells anyway, and if you're using dawn to color fix you, chromatic lantern is usually better. Similar for seer's vision, you should only target people where you are sure they'll have somehting in your colors.

Celestial Dawn does let you cast red and green spells, just like Mycosynth Lattice, it's why both cards see play in so many Sen Triplets decks, and yeah - this has been ruled several times in the rulings section. I don't think being able to see what your opponents have is a bad ability, but I do believe Telepathy does a much better job of this, as mentioned earlier.

Quote from EDH »

...
You said you feel you're missing a true win con? You can win via beaters such as Wrexial, the Risen Deep/Sphinx of the Steel Wind, or by something you steal from an opponent using your commander. Also, you already seem to have a few combos in the deck anyway?

I'd actually say that I really like running the Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek combo as my win condition in my own Sen Trips deck. It's an interaction that is bounded by the total mana you have available, so I've never felt "cheap" by using it as a win-con. Plus, I've found that having the foundry as an additional sacrifice outlet is pretty great in a pinch.

I've also move away from running Mycosynth Lattice and Celestial Dawn entirely. I just rarely felt that I really wanted to bother with my opponents' cards in my deck, so I was happy just using the 'Trips to stop other players from casting spells on my turn. Granted, our builds are quite different, so your mileage may vary in regards to those inclusions.

Quote from LimDul945 »

Quote from EDH »

...
You said you feel you're missing a true win con? You can win via beaters such as Wrexial, the Risen Deep/Sphinx of the Steel Wind, or by something you steal from an opponent using your commander. Also, you already seem to have a few combos in the deck anyway?

I've also move away from running Mycosynth Lattice and Celestial Dawn entirely. I just rarely felt that I really wanted to bother with my opponents' cards in my deck, so I was happy just using the 'Trips to stop other players from casting spells on my turn. Granted, our builds are quite different, so your mileage may vary in regards to those inclusions.

This is how I have always used Sen Triplets. In a deck that wants to cast Sen Triplets and use their ability, I think that more flash and hexproof enablers are necessary. I have more difficulty sticking Sen Triplets to the board than even Riku.

Quote from EDH »

Quote from IMProgenitus »

I'm not sure what celestial dawn is used for, or the seer's vision. I guess "lol i like casting from people's hands", but I don't think celestial dawn will let you cast red or green spells anyway, and if you're using dawn to color fix you, chromatic lantern is usually better. Similar for seer's vision, you should only target people where you are sure they'll have somehting in your colors.

Celestial Dawn does let you cast red and green spells, just like Mycosynth Lattice, it's why both cards see play in so many Sen Triplets decks, and yeah - this has been ruled several times in the rulings section. I don't think being able to see what your opponents have is a bad ability, but I do believe Telepathy does a much better job of this, as mentioned earlier.

I see. If that's the case, then lattice and celestial dawn are fine. But you would need lightning greaves and such to help protect Sen Triplets.