This deck is explosive. As in "goldfishes before Elves" explosive. One game I went T4 Master into 2x Metamorph off of Chief Engineer (by tapping the elemental tokens). By the end I had infinite 4/3's. The reason I'm trying this is because I get less and less excited by Lodestone as time goes by. The only thing I don't like about this deck is Harbinger who hasn't performed yet but at least he gives some devotion. I really wish that Chief Engineer was UU.
If I wasn't running Lodestone, my deck would be very similar to yours with Master of Waves an auto include. I think since you aren't running Lodestone, you should cut the Harbingers and run some combination of Dismember/Vapor Snag.
I still like Lodestone and want to go more into the taxing effect by possibly replacing the 2x Blinkmoths with 2x Tectonic Edge. The only reason I keep Ghost Quarter is soley for Tron. Thoughts?
GQ is also huge against Affinity. Tron and Affinity are 2 of the worst matchups in my experience, that's why I run 4 GQs in all my lists. I can't blame you for trying a split though since it's easier to keep your opponent off of Supreme Verdict mana for instance (or just generally makes it hard for him to play Magic). I would definitely rank both lands higher than any other colorless lands. I haven't tried the manlands, but I've tried stuff like Moorland Haunt and Academy Ruins and GQ/Tec Edge has been a lot more impactful and important for me so far.
I've thought about cutting Harbingers for Serum Visions actually though Dismembers could be a good choice too. I'm starting to like them more though. One game I got to play it instant speed off of Vial, bounce a Lord of Atlantis and trade with another lord, another game I forced my opponent to sac his own Ravager when I tried to bounce it with a bunch of counters on. I'm keeping them in right now but I might make the switch at some point.
@Badagbing, not that its necessary, but it looks like you got a Wizard sub-theme going on there with Harbinger, Sage, Master and "Phyrexian Metamorph" (since Master is your usual target). Maybe shuffle some numbers and think about Voidmage Prodigy and Diviner's Wand.
@Badagbing, not that its necessary, but it looks like you got a Wizard sub-theme going on there with Harbinger, Sage, Master and "Phyrexian Metamorph" (since Master is your usual target). Maybe shuffle some numbers and think about Voidmage Prodigy and Diviner's Wand.
Heh I actually did try Prodigy yesterday. He was a bit underwhelming (hard to keep up UU). Still unsure about Harbinger though. Thinking about switching them for a couple of Renowned Weaponsmiths + something else (Spellskite maybe). I also included a couple of Cliques who have been really good so far and a singleton Bident which has surprisingly over performed so far. I remember it for being meh back in the old builds but I guess I also didn't run as many fliers + Master. Diviner's Wand looks expensive. Have you tried it?
^Haven't tried the wand, but as you mentioned, Bident of Thassa is just way better.
Renowned Weaponsmith is just too redundant with Chief and Architect. Plus doesn't have "haste". I think that slot is better served by 2x Spellskite and a split with a bomb creature like Wurmcoil Engine, Steel Hellkite or even Hangarback Walker. Master of Waves allows for some crazy mana with Chief or Grand Architect in play.
The deck looks good, the only thing I'm worried about is the lack of interaction. No shackles, no golem, no spellskite, no spot removal... It does make the deck's threat density higher but I'd be very worried about combo decks.
One of the reasons I've had great success with my deck is that it is both good at threatening the opponent's life and can slow down combo decks. The route you are taking makes your deck great vs aggro/midrange but it seems like you auto loose to turn 4 or less combo kills.
I also agree with streemage, I'm not in love with renowned weaponsmith. Fast mana is just so much better than slow mana that is vulnerable to removal and sets you back a turn.
Maybe I should say that the deck is tuned to beat what I'm facing right now online. Unless it's variance it's a seriously weird meta at the moment. Elves, Affinity, Merfolk, Abzan Midrange and CoCo decks, Jund, Grixis, UWR Control and Mono Blue Tron are the only decks I've been facing several weeks in a row now, though I did just finish a game vs. Twin which I only managed to win because he was mana screwed twice in a row. Though I agree with both of you that it needs some disruption main deck. I tested Weaponsmith again shortly and this time he felt underwhelming. I liked him more when I went for the 4/4x Lodestone/Batterskull kill (but never loved him)
Metamorph is the next card I'm looking at cutting a copy or two of. Master into Metamorph is absurd but doesn't happen often enough though copying Superions, Batterskulls and even Architects is still pretty solid. It just feels like a filler card more often than not and a "win more" card other times. I've been switching between 22 and 23 lands back and forth (and even tried 24 at one point). I still don't know what is correct. Splashing 2 colors only for the SB might be a bit greedy but on the other hand 3 colors are good with EE.
Had a whole summary written out in full detail, but Internet Explorer crashed before I could post...so heres a shorter version.
Skred Red (2-1)
UR Twin (2-1) Puresteel Paladin Affinity (2-0)
Grishoal Combo (0-2)
Soul Sisters (0-1-1)
Overall felt really good with the deck.
Made some changes. Feel like I want to go back to the basic Swamp over the 2nd Watery Grave.
Tectonic Edge seemed fine as I was able to add two without lowering my Island count. I actually increased the count with the 2nd Watery Grave. I did miss the Phyrexia's Core as a way to turn Hangarback into fliers. Still need to figure that out.
Dude, this deck is awesome, played against it on modo today and it sounded freaking awesome. I mught be brewing back to blumen again, meanwhile, here was my last list:
4 Grand Architect
4 Vedalken Engineer
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Æther Spellbomb
4 Riddlesmith
4 Terrarion
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
4 Flooded Strand
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Blood Crypt
12 Island
1 Academy Ruins
2 Molten-Tail Masticore
Welcome SNESman, was awesome playing you on mtgo.
You list looks interesting, there's been discussion throughout the thread on cards like Vedalken Engineer and Riddlesmith. I feel Chief Engineer is an upgrade to those cards because it has "haste".
Molten-Tail is indeed interesting. I might try him out. The deck lacks reach sometimes and it has plenty of small dudes to discard in the mid/late game.
I'm all over the place. Trying out completely different stuff. Right now I've been testing this:
Vedalken Certarch has been surprisingly good this time around. Maybe because I play slightly more artifacts than the last time I tried him out. This is a more aggro/tempo-esque build with Superion and Ensoul Artifact to put maximum pressure on the opponent from the get go while you tap down his lands/creatures with Certarch and lock him out with sphere effects. I've only played around 6 matches with the deck but so far it seems decent.
It's too soon to tell how good this is but at some point of the games I've been playing it kinda goes off. Just switching Hangarback Walkers back and forth is really powerful. That also enables Kuldotha Forgemaster. It's basically a deck filled with swizz army knives. Not sure what the correct silver bullets are yet. I've thought about stuff like Contagion Engine (fun with Hangarback too), Mindslaver, Possessed Portal (great with all the Thoptor fodder) and Spine of Ish Sah. Vedkalken Shackles also seems great with Post, you get to steal their dudes and sac them for value. It hasn't come up yet but it might be a reason to up the Shackles count.
I've also upped the land count to 24 because I hate mulliganning 0 or 1 landers with a passion. The reason I'm trying this is also because I really hate running out of gas. I want to be the one overwhelming my opponent, not the other way around.
EDIT: small changes. Trying out Possessed Portal. Have looked for it once and ended in a insta scoop from the opponent.
Did a couple of hours more testing. So far I'll still claim that Hangarback + Trading Post is really really good and almost impossible for fair decks to fight through. On the other hand I'm starting to get the feeling that Forgemaster is meant to be played with Lightning Greaves or not meant to be played at all. Waiting two turns after you land it to attack with the fatty you search up is too slow and the artifacts that have an immediate impact like Sundering Titan and Possessed Portal are best when you're ahead to begin with. It's great as a tutor though and I've searched up all kinds of jazz with it even Shackles at one point. So it's not all bad, but it needs to fight for its spot in the deck. Or maybe I need to adjust what silver bullets I run. Ideally I have one for almost any situation and board state.
The problem with Forgemaster isn't so much that you have to sac artifacts (since I run 4 Hangarbacks) the problem is that waiting a turn before you can fetch what you really want is often too slow. Summoner has the same problem. That's why I think that if you were to go the Forgemaster route then you'd have to go all in with Lightning Greaves. I don't like that direction though since Greaves are pretty bad alone when we don't have access to Metalworker. So I've actually cut them entirely and now only have 3 Wurmcoils in the high end since they are a decent back up plan with Trading Post if I don't draw into Hangarback.
Metamorphs are always decent and most of my lists start with 3 of them then I slowly trim them for other stuff, since they don't perform any particular role. They are never bad but they are never ground breaking either (except when you copy Golems, but that doesn't happen that often, at least not in time). I don't think it's incorrect to run them, but I think I've come to a point where I'd rather run other stuff.
Thopter Foundry could serve as a mini Trading Post.
It provides life gain and evasive creatures (blue fliers that work excellent with Grand Architect).
You can also use Judge's Familiar to convoke the W of the casting cost with a Chief Engineer out. Most of all, I suggest it simply over Trading Post, because it costs 2 cmc less and its ability is repeatable.
Trading Post I have found, in playing UB Tezz to be just alittle to expensive at 4cmc and the additional activation cost.
In this deck if I'm paying 4cmc, its to drop a Lodestone, Hangarback on 2 or Phyrexian Metamorph. Don't get me wrong, Trading Post is a bonkers card, but idk, would have to test with it more..
Trust me I've played approx 20 hours with this deck (am currently in a Daily Event) and Trading Post is bananas with Hangarback. Thoptor Foundry doesn't provide the powerful late game where you can loop things back and forth and overwhelm your opponent. It's more or less a one shot deal. I really urge you to try it (with no less than 4x Hangarbacks though).
18 lands is too few. I go between 22 and 24. Right now I'm at 22 but only because I've put Vial back in but I'm closer to 23 than to 21 if I were to change anything. Without Vial I think the correct number is between 23 and 24.
I think you need to determine how aggressive you wanna be. Signal Pest suggests a low aggressive curve, while Forgemaster suggests the opposite. I also don't think that Blightsteel is the best Forgemaster target. It has no immediate impact and it usually needs 2 hits to end the game. So it basically does nothing for 2 turns (that's 3 turns after you resolve Forgemaster) and it's weak to Path. I think that Sundering Titan or Myr Battlesphere are better targets since Titan has an immediate impact and is tough to deal with (if he kills it that probably means he has no lands left) and Battlesphere gives you chump blockers or a lot of mana if you have a Chief Engineer in play while put him on a just as fast clock as Blightsteel + is harder to deal with. You can also realistically hard cast both of them.
For this deck i prefer all in aggro approach, i'm not interested in durdling with trading post in a deck with this little interaction, i'd rather pressure the opponent fast and still have an ok game vs midrange.
I guess there are many ways to build this deck but i think a deck with few ways to interact is better served with killing the opponent early than durdling and getting comboed or out controlled in the late game.
For this deck i prefer all in aggro approach, i'm not interested in durdling with trading post in a deck with this little interaction, i'd rather pressure the opponent fast and still have an ok game vs midrange.
I guess there are many ways to build this deck but i think a deck with few ways to interact is better served with killing the opponent early than durdling and getting comboed or out controlled in the late game.
It depends what you're up against. The reason I made the switch was because Jund and Grixis were tough matchups in my experience that I wanted to fix (because I've been up against them a lot). One of the reasons I wanted to test Master of Waves since they can't deal with it (pro red). But it wasn't enough. Now it's completely turned around from 40/60 to probably the opposite. They have a really tough time against the engine. They are trying to 2 for 1 you with stuff like Kolaghan's Command, Lilly, Electrolyze and Bob but you can beat them at their own game once you get the engine online . The same goes for Affinity. They simply can't beat infi fliers. Or CoCo decks. It's also not useless against Burn since you gain 4 each turn. It does get sided out against a lot of other decks like Merfolk, Tron, Amulet Bloom and Scapeshift. But we can't race them anyway so it's pretty much post-board board in all kinds of crap, close your eyes and pray, no matter what the build is (at least from my experience). So it depends on the meta. Right now I've been winning more with this build than any other I've tried so far though.
I'd also add that just because you run Trading Post doesn't mean that you pressure your opponent significantly less. It goes into what I'd call "flex slots". One notable difference I've made from the list I've posted is that I took out Thorn and replaced it with Myr Superion. So now my beaters are 4 Myr, 4 Hangarback, 4 Golem and 3 Wurmcoil which is close to what I've run in my other builds. Only difference is that I got the late game advantage which I've really been looking for. Vomiting out your hand isn't always enough. And lets be honest. We aren't Affinity. If we were going for all clock no inevitability we would be playing that instead.
Alright, the deck is certainly adaptable enough to be built according to your metagame. The meta at my store is more aggro/burn and combo, so the pressure + disruption plan pays off a lot for me. I've had less ridiculous success at the other store i play because the meta is significantly less predictable (30-40 players each week with diverse archetypes and some sweet random brews), so there'S that. Architect is a meta killer for sure from my experience.
And yes we aren't affinity, i've heard the argument and my answer is always the same: we are not as explosive but we pack more disruption are are a lot less vulnerable to commonly played hate cards. I still goldfish turn 4 kills a lot and thats fine for me, considering the deck costs nothing to build compared to 8x 50$ cards from affinity + the rest. I'm a huge fan of beating people up with one dollar cards ;).
Haha I was an idiot. I bought three at 10 tix a piece. Didn't like how they performed, sold them again when they were diving in value for 6 tix a piece. Then I bought 4 again when they had slightly increased in value for 7 or 8 tix (can't remember). So overall I've lost a lot of money on my little adventure.
Ace: fair enough. I've found in hard to gold fish turn 4 consistently. It requires a lot of things to go right for me. But I'm not playing Signal Pest either.
GQ is also huge against Affinity. Tron and Affinity are 2 of the worst matchups in my experience, that's why I run 4 GQs in all my lists. I can't blame you for trying a split though since it's easier to keep your opponent off of Supreme Verdict mana for instance (or just generally makes it hard for him to play Magic). I would definitely rank both lands higher than any other colorless lands. I haven't tried the manlands, but I've tried stuff like Moorland Haunt and Academy Ruins and GQ/Tec Edge has been a lot more impactful and important for me so far.
I've thought about cutting Harbingers for Serum Visions actually though Dismembers could be a good choice too. I'm starting to like them more though. One game I got to play it instant speed off of Vial, bounce a Lord of Atlantis and trade with another lord, another game I forced my opponent to sac his own Ravager when I tried to bounce it with a bunch of counters on. I'm keeping them in right now but I might make the switch at some point.
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
Heh I actually did try Prodigy yesterday. He was a bit underwhelming (hard to keep up UU). Still unsure about Harbinger though. Thinking about switching them for a couple of Renowned Weaponsmiths + something else (Spellskite maybe). I also included a couple of Cliques who have been really good so far and a singleton Bident which has surprisingly over performed so far. I remember it for being meh back in the old builds but I guess I also didn't run as many fliers + Master. Diviner's Wand looks expensive. Have you tried it?
Renowned Weaponsmith is just too redundant with Chief and Architect. Plus doesn't have "haste". I think that slot is better served by 2x Spellskite and a split with a bomb creature like Wurmcoil Engine, Steel Hellkite or even Hangarback Walker. Master of Waves allows for some crazy mana with Chief or Grand Architect in play.
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
One of the reasons I've had great success with my deck is that it is both good at threatening the opponent's life and can slow down combo decks. The route you are taking makes your deck great vs aggro/midrange but it seems like you auto loose to turn 4 or less combo kills.
I also agree with streemage, I'm not in love with renowned weaponsmith. Fast mana is just so much better than slow mana that is vulnerable to removal and sets you back a turn.
This is what I'm running now:
4 Æther Vial
4 Judge's Familiar
3 Sage of Epityr
4 Chief Engineer
4 Myr Superion
2 Dismember
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Grand Architect
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Bident of Thassa
4 Master of Waves
3 Batterskull
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
// DIFFERENT KIND OF STUFF (15)
4 Thoughtseize
1 Dismember
2 Izzet Staticaster
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Pyroclasm
2 Spellskite
2 Engineered Explosives
Metamorph is the next card I'm looking at cutting a copy or two of. Master into Metamorph is absurd but doesn't happen often enough though copying Superions, Batterskulls and even Architects is still pretty solid. It just feels like a filler card more often than not and a "win more" card other times. I've been switching between 22 and 23 lands back and forth (and even tried 24 at one point). I still don't know what is correct. Splashing 2 colors only for the SB might be a bit greedy but on the other hand 3 colors are good with EE.
EDIT
That is actually quite sweet. I think I'm gonna try this.
Had a whole summary written out in full detail, but Internet Explorer crashed before I could post...so heres a shorter version.
Skred Red (2-1)
UR Twin (2-1)
Puresteel Paladin Affinity (2-0)
Grishoal Combo (0-2)
Soul Sisters (0-1-1)
Overall felt really good with the deck.
Made some changes. Feel like I want to go back to the basic Swamp over the 2nd Watery Grave.
Tectonic Edge seemed fine as I was able to add two without lowering my Island count. I actually increased the count with the 2nd Watery Grave. I did miss the Phyrexia's Core as a way to turn Hangarback into fliers. Still need to figure that out.
Heres the list I ran:
7 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Watery Grave
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Academy Ruins
Spells (2)
2 Murderous Cut
Artifacts (10)
4 Æther Vial
2 Mishra's Bauble
2 Vedalken Shackles
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Grand Architect
3 Lodestone Golem
3 Myr Superion
3 Chief Engineer
2 Spellskite
2 Sage of Epityr
2 Hangarback Walker
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Logic Knot
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Silent Arbiter
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Trinket Mage
1 Grafdigger's Cage
-1 Swamp
-1 Ghost Quarter
-1 Etherium Sculptor
-1 Phyrexia's Core
------------------
+2 Tectonic Edge
+1 Chief Engineer
+1 Watery Grave
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
Dude, this deck is awesome, played against it on modo today and it sounded freaking awesome. I mught be brewing back to blumen again, meanwhile, here was my last list:
4 Grand Architect
4 Vedalken Engineer
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Æther Spellbomb
4 Riddlesmith
4 Terrarion
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
4 Flooded Strand
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
1 Blood Crypt
12 Island
1 Academy Ruins
2 Molten-Tail Masticore
You list looks interesting, there's been discussion throughout the thread on cards like Vedalken Engineer and Riddlesmith. I feel Chief Engineer is an upgrade to those cards because it has "haste".
Really like the Molten-Tail Masticore, how did he perform?
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
I'm all over the place. Trying out completely different stuff. Right now I've been testing this:
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Vedalken Certarch
4 Chief Engineer
4 Myr Superion
4 Ensoul Artifact
3 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Grand Architect
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Moltensteel Dragon
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Steam Vents
3 Island
3 Spellskite
4 Pyroclasm
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Dismember
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Thorn of Amethyst
Vedalken Certarch has been surprisingly good this time around. Maybe because I play slightly more artifacts than the last time I tried him out. This is a more aggro/tempo-esque build with Superion and Ensoul Artifact to put maximum pressure on the opponent from the get go while you tap down his lands/creatures with Certarch and lock him out with sphere effects. I've only played around 6 matches with the deck but so far it seems decent.
Round 1 - Bye
Round 2 - Soul Sisters (1-0-1)
Round 3 - CoCo Aristocrats (0-2)
Round 4 - Burn (2-0)
Can give details on certain Rounds if anyone wants, list is the same as the latest posted.
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Chief Engineer
2 Etherium Sculptor
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Grand Architect
1 Vedalken Shackles
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Trading Post
2 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Sundering Titan
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Darksteel Citadel
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
2 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
7 Island
// DIFFERENT STUFF
4 Thoughtseize
2 Dismember
4 Pyroclasm
2 Spellskite
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Platinum Angel
It's too soon to tell how good this is but at some point of the games I've been playing it kinda goes off. Just switching Hangarback Walkers back and forth is really powerful. That also enables Kuldotha Forgemaster. It's basically a deck filled with swizz army knives. Not sure what the correct silver bullets are yet. I've thought about stuff like Contagion Engine (fun with Hangarback too), Mindslaver, Possessed Portal (great with all the Thoptor fodder) and Spine of Ish Sah. Vedkalken Shackles also seems great with Post, you get to steal their dudes and sac them for value. It hasn't come up yet but it might be a reason to up the Shackles count.
I've also upped the land count to 24 because I hate mulliganning 0 or 1 landers with a passion. The reason I'm trying this is also because I really hate running out of gas. I want to be the one overwhelming my opponent, not the other way around.
EDIT: small changes. Trying out Possessed Portal. Have looked for it once and ended in a insta scoop from the opponent.
4 Judge's Familiar
3 Sage of Epityr
4 Chief Engineer
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Thorn of Amethyst
4 Grand Architect
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Trading Post
3 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Possessed Portal
1 Sundering Titan
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Darksteel Citadel
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
2 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
6 Island
// DIFFERENT STUFF
3 Thoughtseize
2 Dismember
4 Pyroclasm
2 Spellskite
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Platinum Angel
1 Spine of Ish Sah
Have you considered phyrexian metamorph you start copying things, notably your own lodestones but also your opponents Tarmogoyfs and Tasigur's
I'd play sphinx summoner (it's blue) over forgemaster, but Sundering titan is a great card and forgemaster is the easiest way to get it into play.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Metamorphs are always decent and most of my lists start with 3 of them then I slowly trim them for other stuff, since they don't perform any particular role. They are never bad but they are never ground breaking either (except when you copy Golems, but that doesn't happen that often, at least not in time). I don't think it's incorrect to run them, but I think I've come to a point where I'd rather run other stuff.
It provides life gain and evasive creatures (blue fliers that work excellent with Grand Architect).
You can also use Judge's Familiar to convoke the W of the casting cost with a Chief Engineer out. Most of all, I suggest it simply over Trading Post, because it costs 2 cmc less and its ability is repeatable.
Trading Post I have found, in playing UB Tezz to be just alittle to expensive at 4cmc and the additional activation cost.
In this deck if I'm paying 4cmc, its to drop a Lodestone, Hangarback on 2 or Phyrexian Metamorph. Don't get me wrong, Trading Post is a bonkers card, but idk, would have to test with it more..
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
I think you need to determine how aggressive you wanna be. Signal Pest suggests a low aggressive curve, while Forgemaster suggests the opposite. I also don't think that Blightsteel is the best Forgemaster target. It has no immediate impact and it usually needs 2 hits to end the game. So it basically does nothing for 2 turns (that's 3 turns after you resolve Forgemaster) and it's weak to Path. I think that Sundering Titan or Myr Battlesphere are better targets since Titan has an immediate impact and is tough to deal with (if he kills it that probably means he has no lands left) and Battlesphere gives you chump blockers or a lot of mana if you have a Chief Engineer in play while put him on a just as fast clock as Blightsteel + is harder to deal with. You can also realistically hard cast both of them.
Other than that I think the list looks great
For this deck i prefer all in aggro approach, i'm not interested in durdling with trading post in a deck with this little interaction, i'd rather pressure the opponent fast and still have an ok game vs midrange.
I guess there are many ways to build this deck but i think a deck with few ways to interact is better served with killing the opponent early than durdling and getting comboed or out controlled in the late game.
It depends what you're up against. The reason I made the switch was because Jund and Grixis were tough matchups in my experience that I wanted to fix (because I've been up against them a lot). One of the reasons I wanted to test Master of Waves since they can't deal with it (pro red). But it wasn't enough. Now it's completely turned around from 40/60 to probably the opposite. They have a really tough time against the engine. They are trying to 2 for 1 you with stuff like Kolaghan's Command, Lilly, Electrolyze and Bob but you can beat them at their own game once you get the engine online . The same goes for Affinity. They simply can't beat infi fliers. Or CoCo decks. It's also not useless against Burn since you gain 4 each turn. It does get sided out against a lot of other decks like Merfolk, Tron, Amulet Bloom and Scapeshift. But we can't race them anyway so it's pretty much post-board board in all kinds of crap, close your eyes and pray, no matter what the build is (at least from my experience). So it depends on the meta. Right now I've been winning more with this build than any other I've tried so far though.
I'd also add that just because you run Trading Post doesn't mean that you pressure your opponent significantly less. It goes into what I'd call "flex slots". One notable difference I've made from the list I've posted is that I took out Thorn and replaced it with Myr Superion. So now my beaters are 4 Myr, 4 Hangarback, 4 Golem and 3 Wurmcoil which is close to what I've run in my other builds. Only difference is that I got the late game advantage which I've really been looking for. Vomiting out your hand isn't always enough. And lets be honest. We aren't Affinity. If we were going for all clock no inevitability we would be playing that instead.
And yes we aren't affinity, i've heard the argument and my answer is always the same: we are not as explosive but we pack more disruption are are a lot less vulnerable to commonly played hate cards. I still goldfish turn 4 kills a lot and thats fine for me, considering the deck costs nothing to build compared to 8x 50$ cards from affinity + the rest. I'm a huge fan of beating people up with one dollar cards ;).
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant
Ace: fair enough. I've found in hard to gold fish turn 4 consistently. It requires a lot of things to go right for me. But I'm not playing Signal Pest either.
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Chief Engineer
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Evolutionary Leap
4 Grand Architect
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Vedalken Shackles
4 Master of Waves
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Myr Battlesphere
Don't think it's any good but it feels good when it works. Definitely a midrange slayer.