MTG Salvation

Trading Post is too durdley and doesn't really fix the issue of consistency and card advantage we have...
Its a trap in that it doesn't really provide resources without costing us resources...which I don't think we can afford.

If you look at the decks we try to imitate, MUD, Merfolk, Tron, they play cards like Ancient Stirrings, Silvergill Adept, Kuldotha Forgemaster and Staff of Domination. In the case of Merfolk, all of their card draw replaces itself like Silvergill and Spreading Seas, while advancing their gameplan. Tron has Ancient Stirrings to find land or beater and also Eye of Ugin and eight ways to find it. MUD while playing a superior "stax" engine due to sol lands etc, has Forgemaster and Staff to find things.

Its very hard, due to our restrictions (Lodestone Golem) and lack of fast Legacy mana (sol-lands) to make this deck consistent and not feel like a bad Affinity/Tron impersonation...which would happen if we dropped Lodestone. My attempt to remedy this is with Sage of Epityr (serves our purpose as a 1-drop blue creature and provides some card selection). I also have some combination of Trinket Mage and Treasure Mage to find beaters while still providing fuel for the Grand Architect engine.

Still not optimized, but all we can do it test and re-test.
The Eggs approach from Ace1 may have some promise with Etherium Sculptor and also allowing to still cast 1-drops/Architect. I dropped Sculptor because I felt he was a redundant "Chief Engineer/Æther Vial" and I hated top decking him. I already had too many bad top decks in cards like Æther Vial etc.

So idk, still testing and trying to find the right cars that advance the plan, get around Lodestone and provide consistency.
Even if they don't completely get under Lodestone, atleast provide some synergy with Architect.

Sidenote: Thoughts on Hedron Archive, saw a MUD deck running it...?

Yes with vial you need less of the enablers and sculptor can be cut. My version is more aggressive and is not playing vial so i need all the enablers x4 because i need most of the deck to be able to attack.

I don't know about your meta Be_Lakor, but in mine people do broken this/pressure you with aggressive creatures early, so i have no interest in playing more than 4x 4 drops, especially if they don't block AND need an extra mana to do anything the turn they come down.

Aside from that i've come back to my «go to» version of the deck:



I'm still trying to find room for lightning greaves, and i'm still unsure whether i want one or two. My ideas was to cut one or two spellskite, but i don't know if skite is just better...

Quote from Ace1 »

...I don't know about your meta Be_Lakor, but in mine people do broken this/pressure you with aggressive creatures early,....I'm still trying to find room for lightning greaves, and i'm still unsure whether i want one or two. My ideas was to cut one or two spellskite, but i don't know if skite is just better...

Since your meta is full of hyper aggressive decks etc, I think Spellskite is the better card as its a nice early blocker. I think Lighting Greaves are better on creatures like Wurmcoil Engine, Platinum Angel and Steel Hellkite.

I assume you are attacking more with your one drops and probably leave Lodestone back more often than not; same with Grand Architect. So the Greaves would just serve as protection for them...Spellskite fills that role well enough in your deck imho..

Edit: this Oath of the Gatewatch set may be interesting...maybe we get some good cards for this deck...

Good points. I also see a lot of infect/bogles so skite is surely the best.

The <> mana is intriguing, hope we get sweet stuff from this set.

Trying Kira out.

Seems like a fine list, but kira, great glass-spinner doesn't work well with lightning greaves. I feel like you need to choose between the two.

On my part i've been happy with 4x spellskite. Aside from its obvious qualities, my version plays signal pests. From time to time i end up attacking with skite + pests/grand architect pump and sneak in a few extra point of damage. This is super good value, something spellskite is not supposed to do normally.

Also i'm back on serum visions and no chromatic star. This is because as soon as my opponent sees vedalken shackles/spellskites game one, they side in stony silence game two. I've seen opponents side in stony silence without having seen anything it could shut down game one because people are so used to siding them in vs affinity. Having my card draw stopped is really terrible so visions is safer.

Quote from Ace1 »

Seems like a fine list, but kira, great glass-spinner doesn't work well with lightning greaves. I feel like you need to choose between the two.

I thought about this and is why I removed Sword of Light and Shadow, but Lightning Greaves cost nothing to equip; so I attempt to equip it gets countered and I attempt again for no cost...its practically transparent when Kira is out.

Quote from Be_lakor »

But the boots negate the meaning of Kira. As soon as your first eqip gets countered, the creature can be removed. I'd try Leonin Shikari instead of Kira since I run white (which is still not good enough for just 2 equipment).
Kira is obviously better on its own.

Ah, you're right. Maybe I will go down to just one and just be mindful of that interaction.
Or board in Kira against Stony Silence decks and board out the Greaves.

Yes, personally i would go with 2x greaves main and 2x kira side, since greaves (but not kira) will suffer from sideboard cards like ancient grudge, stony silence and so on.

Whirler Rogue maybe...our version of Pia and Kiran Nalaar.
Just looking for more "value" on theme cards, sucks shes not an artifact, but I figure Vial-ing her in is worth testing.
Is there an artifact creature that makes flying tokens as it etb?

I'm not in love with non artifact 4 drops and 20 lands mana base, even though i kinda like the rogue. Making golems unblockable seems very valuable.

So i've read a bit about gp pittsburg and it seems like the 3 most played decks now are affinity, twin and jund. Experience has shown me that these aren't the best matchups (but not the worst either). This information has lead me to keep all 4 skite main deck and add a third shackle, which is very good against all these decks. My new list:

Quote from Ace1 »

I'm not in love with non artifact 4 drops and 20 lands mana base, even though i kinda like the rogue. Making golems unblockable seems very valuable.

Yea, the ideal situation is to Vial her in. I like having the flying blockers for the affinity and delver matchups.

So i've read a bit about gp pittsburg and it seems like the 3 most played decks now are affinity, twin and jund. Experience has shown me that these aren't the best matchups (but not the worst either). This information has lead me to keep all 4 skite main deck and add a third shackle, which is very good against all these decks...

I would think Hangarback Walker and Wurmcoil Engine are good against those decks aswell since they don't have exile effects.

Updated my list above to test a one of Triskelion, hoping it helps against token decks, lingering souls, affinity, elves etc.
Either way, its another fetchable creature with Treasure Mage.

Hi Jonny, all ideas are welcomed.
As far as an affinity version, I've been trying to figure out a way to maximize the use of creatures like Hangarback Walker and Triskelion.
I think the card that bridges that gap the best is the affinty staple: Arcbound Ravager.
Between Grand Architect and Chief Engineer, casting Hangarback and Triskelion shouldn't be dfficult; and alongside the affinty supporting cast you have a "go-bigger" affinty list.
You have enough fodder for Ravager and the ability to spread counters to Walker/Triskelion; with a sac outlet for Walker.

Also with your artifact count you might want to consider Vedalken Certarch as a blue one drop.

Hi,
After looking through the rogue modern decks on mtg salvation I came across this thread. I really like the deck ideas that you guys have come up with. Do you think that this deck would work in an aggro/midrange meta? I would also like to know roughly how much this would cost (as i do not have 'unlimited' funds ).

@Danr2000

It can have some difficulty against decks like Affinity and Burn, but its good against midrange decks.
With Wurmcoil and Hangarback, Grixis, Jund and even Abzan can have a hard time...Abzan fairs alittle better since they have Path to Exile and Stony Silence.

But it really depends on which version you build, I think Ace1 and I aim for similar goals but a key difference is that I play Aether Vials and go big with Wurmcoil and friends.
Neither version of the deck is too expensive when compared to the tier'd stuff.

From my experience aggro and burn are favorable. Maybe it is because my version is more aggro and plays less high end threats, but i have a positive record vs burn and zoo.

I have a harder time vs affinity and midrange. Jund is the worst of those because they have kolaghan's command and game 2 and 3 they have ancient grudge. Grixis is better but k command is still a pain. They don't have abrupt decay for vedalken shackles, so there's that. Abzan is the best midrange matchup, even though decay is annoying. 4 main deck spellskites have improved all of these midrange matchups but they are still difficult.

My version is best vs linear decks and aggro decks. Judge's familiar + lodestone golem turn 3 preys on non interactive combo decks, and the fast clock i sometimes have can end the game quickly.

In the end the deck is good vs decks that don't pack infinite removal.

As for budget concern this deck is very cheap. My version pack 16 islands, so no need for pricey fetchlands. The only cards worth something are 4x blinkmoth nexus (8$ each), 2-3 vedalken shackles (around 14$ each) and spellskite x4 (25$ each). Spellskite is the most expensive card but it is a sound investment because it is a staple of the format, and you will always be glad to have them handy for your other deck's sideboards. You can probably get away with only two copies if you can't get four.

It was finally about time to started to post what I have been playing online and am now putting together to actually start playing on paper with.0



So I am going the heartless route over the Mono-U route as I feel black adds so much in both Sphinx Summoner and Heartless Summoning. Both of these allow for consistent Wurmcoils. i tired Mono-U online and while against blood moon it was great I felt that I lost more than I did with the Heartless version.

Some Notable Card choices:
Chief of the Foundry: I felt that with Heartless dropping power and toughness by -1/-1 that giving back to that would be a good idea. I found that while Grand Architect boosted our blue creatures I needed more to help force that last few points of damage so enter Chief. I decided with Cheif of the Foundry over Master of Etherium for a couple reasons:
1.Chief of the Foundry only costs colorless thus can be completely free when the time comes. this ability to be free is the stronger selling points for me.
2.Master of Etherium's P/T are equal to the number of artifacts you control. With Creeping Corrosion and Shatterstorm being regular things for me, I felt that not being able to cast Master if we had no other artifacts when I have Heartless Summoning out was a bad idea.

Solemn Simulacrum: I am playing a more midranged version so I like to use these as tempo builders. They honestly block gofy quite well and provide both ramp and draw. However Sad Robot is in here currently on paper as (temporary) replacements for Spellskites 3 and 4 but also because of the large amount of Jund that is in my meta.

Sharding Sphinx: Honestly this card is a pet card more than anything but with both Architect and Chief boosting the thopters they go nuts very quickly in the deck.

@Ulka, no Myr Superion? He's practically free with Heartless Summoning.

He is free with heartless summoning, but there is nothing worse than getting stuck with a myr superion in your hand and no enabler and that happens way too often. Superion is great in any "pseudo-affinity" lists that try to puke their hand on the board asap, but in my experience it is unreliable in midrange versions.

Yea in my testing of Myr Superion he was often too inconsistent in the deck and I cut him after the first few games as I really didn't like cards that were so situational.

Well the full OGW spoiler is out, disappointing to see no good artifacts.
Eldrazi.dec is going to be bananas.

Only cards I think we can use are Ruins of Oran-Rief and Sea Gate Wreckage.
Sea Gate Wreckage may require a slight rework of the manabase, so far Tectonic Edge, Ghost Quarter, Blinkmoth Nexus and Academy Ruins can activate it.

Worth it?

Have you guys tried this deck vs the rising eldrazi decks? Early myr superion seems like a good way to stop them? I'll be trying this deck with vedalken certarch, might be good in the current meta.

Quote from Ace1 »

Have you guys tried this deck vs the rising eldrazi decks? Early myr superion seems like a good way to stop them? I'll be trying this deck with vedalken certarch, might be good in the current meta.

Good to see you back Ace1, notice you were on Eldrazi for awhile.

Before I started to build my UB Eldrazi deck, I played against Big Eldrazi a couple times with Grand Architect. Myr Superion and Wurmcoil Engine out class them.
We can literally get Superion out on turn 2 and Wurmcoil by turn 3.

I did get to copy an Ulamog with Phyrexian Metamorph and while didn't get the cast trigger, I won by decking him.

Not sure about our matchup against the Pro Tour aggressive Eldrazi decks and haven't test against OGW cards, but I think we would still fair well.
The cards I see us having the biggest problem with are Thought-Knot Seer and Chalice of the Void.

Yeah, i'm not sure i'll keep playing eldrazi these days, a ban would be disatrous for my wallet... On the bright side painter's servant on blue seems pretty synergistic with architect! And with grand architect they can't warping wail it...

Quote from Ace1 »

Yeah, i'm not sure i'll keep playing eldrazi these days, a ban would be disatrous for my wallet... On the bright side painter's servant on blue seems pretty synergistic with architect! And with grand architect they can't warping wail it...

Thought of Painter's Servant, but I want to stick to resilient artifacts creatures.
The only "dumb" creature in my list is Myr Superion but hes such a great beater.
Whenever I evaluate an artifact creature to put in the deck I think, how will it perform against hate...

Wurmcoil, Hangarback, Triskelion all perform well against non-exile hate and even Stony Silence.
An artifact Matter Reshaper or Whirler Rogue would be nice; or they could do the "unthinkable" and unban Sword of the Meek lol.

Sidenote: You guys think theres some synergy btw Mindless Automaton and Sea Gate Wreckage?