You can have whatever you want for breakfast, so long as it includes eggs, and the FDA (DCI) hasn’t inspected it yet. Eggs is a deck built around the powerful effect of recursively sacrificing artifacts that cantrip. Whether taking advantage of the dies triggers or just going infinite, people have found ways to win with the most insignificant of cards.
”The bright tunnel sometimes leads back to life.”-Second Sunrise
There is a phrase commonly applied to what happens when Timmy gets a little too into what they’re doing, “Durdling.”
What happens when the ability to durdle is refined down to a top tier deck? Well it didn’t start that way.
In the fall of 2001 Odyssey premiered and with two things were now available. A critical mass of artifacts that sacrifice to draw cards in the “Egggggs” Cycle. As well as a reason to run them, Nantuko Shrine
In in other formats the deck didn’t gain much traction outside of FNM level events. In Mirrodin the deck gained Disciple of the Vault, Second Sunrise, and Conjurer's Bauble to little immediate consequence. It wasn’t until October of 2006 that the deck started cooking with fire. Lotus Bloom and the associated rules change that cards without mana cost would have a CMC of 0.
Conceived by Sylvain Lauriol and played by most of the French players at Worlds that December Omelette aux Lotus was the buzz after Bastien Perez went undefeated on day one. "This might actually be the most skill-oriented combo deck in the entire history of magic."- Pierre Canali
Between 2007 and 2011 not much happened for the deck, extended had some tough competition.
In 2011 with the creation of modern brews began and in mid 2012 Faith's Reward was printed and the deck had finally come into its full. By October 2012 just 2 months after this version’s first tournament appearance Stanislav Cifka went 18-1 to win ProTour Return to Ravnica.
April 22nd 2013 just 5 months after Stanislav’s win the DCI announcement comes through that Second Sunrise is banned. The deck falls into obscurity and myth of how powerful it once was. Now running KCI it manages less than a dozen top 8’s in daily tournaments on MTGO and a single place in a World Cup qualifier over the next 4 years.
It wasn’t until January of 2017 that the deck became competitive again. Decks began by running Whir of Invention as an obvious inclusion and by April the power of Scrap Trawler was discovered. The deck now had consistency it craved and the power to go infinite.
In early 2018 a very specific rules interaction that made the deck require fewer pieces for its combo became widespread knowledge increasing the tournament presence of the deck.
When paying for the cost of Chromatic Sphere’s activated ability you can then choose to pay for it by activating the mana ability of KCI by sacrificing Myr Retriever, the Retriever’s triggered ability does not go on the stack until after the Sphere’s ability resolves. Allowing it to target itself where it normally couldn’t.
The power of the deck in the hands of a skilled player lead to an excess of high-profile finishes such as claiming 4 of the top 8 slots at GP Oakland 2019.
The day before the writing of this primer the DCI struck again. Banning the now crux card Krark-Clan Ironworks. The future of this deck remains uncertain, but below we will attempt to find where this deck should move onto.
”Deserted, but not uninhabited.”-Ghost Quarter
Eggs is a historically ridged deck as far as construction goes, you’ll have your necessary pieces of the combo and then 1-4 flex slots that even then don’t change that much. That said, the deck is currently undergoing a major transformation, so a lot of options are on the table.
We will need 25-35 artifacts, 15-20 lands, a recursion source or two, a slot dedicated to a win condition, and possibly some defensive spells. Wee will be focusing the discussion in on one particular build until others establish a bigger presence.
These will be the cards to power the deck.
Learning the timing on when to use your tutors and how far you’ll have to dig for a mass recursion is one of the key skills you’ll need to master to play this deck.
Typically, 4-9 recursive engine cards and 4-8 Tutors. The exact numbers will come down to how much you value speed verses consistency.
Open the Vaults (Run 2-4) : With Second Sunrise banned this is what we have left instead for redundancy. It doesn’t bring back everything, only artifacts and enchantments so pay attention to the mana you need off lands through fetches or quarters. The plus side is that it will bring back any artifacts you may have sacrificed on earlier turns of the game or if you need to restart your combo after failing to go off.
Roar of Reclamation (Run 0-4) : Can be run in place of Faith's Reward to have a build that recurs artifacts put into the graveyard through any means. It would be a more consistent build as you have the options to sacrifice eggs on earlier turns or come back from a turn where you don’t go off. The drawback of costing 5WW will probably slow down the starting turn by too much.
Tutors:
Whir of Invention (Run 4) : The main use of this card will be to, at the beginning of your combo turn, sacrifice Lotus Bloom to play Whir for 0 to tutor another Lotus onto the battlefield. Maintaining the same amount of mana until you cast either Faith's Reward or Open the Vaults where you will have 3 extra mana to work with. Later in the combo it will still most commonly be used for Lotuses but if mana is abundant would be used to find an Egg. Games 2/3 it can be used to find board cards if necessary.
Reshape (Run 1-3) :All the applications of Whir at one less mana, with the sacrificing of an artifact. Remember “in Modern two-mana Tinker for Black Lotus is a legal play.” You generally want to be sacrificing Elsewhere Flask or Chromatic Star so that you aren’t depriving yourself a draw off the eggs that cantrip from their abilities.
Tezzeret the Seeker (Run 0-1) :Tutors up any artifact in your deck by using his minus X=4. Can then be returned to the battlefield with Faith's Reward for repeatable tutor. Unlike our other tutors will not help us set up in the early turns and then on our combo turn requires us to at least have an investment of 2 since he can tutor for a Lotus Bloom.
Cantrips:
Serum Visions (Run 0-4) :Not an egg but will help with your early game setup and once you are in mid combo with extra mana. Run over eggs that cost mana because while both are mostly dead during the most fragile early combo iterations, this sets up better, where late combo where we are at our strongest already the bad eggs would be better. Obvious interaction is that during combo cast this before cracking your eggs to draw into the cards you scry from.
Sleight of Hand (Run 0-3) :Same story as Visions except the draw happens differently. Sometimes one is better than the other. In this deck you will more often want Visions.
Faithless Looting (Run 0-4) :The difference here is that Looting puts cards in a place where we already want them so they can be hit by Open the Vaults. The negative is needing R in the early game. Current Favorite.
Thoughtcast (Run 0-2) :A powerful draw effect, for a different deck most likely. Artifact aggro deck can cast this for U once they gave played out their hand to draw more steam. We are running spell based cantrips to improve our early game setup over artifact eggs. Thoughtcast would only really draw us cards cheaply once we are already ready to go off.
Ancient Stirrings (Run 0-4) :Unlike the KCI builds our artifacts are mostly interchangeable eggs. Unless you put in a colorless combo piece I wouldn’t run it over anything else.
Board the Weatherlight (Run 0) :Slightly more on color than Stirrings and digs one deeper. Can only find Legendary Lands instead of any land. Generally worse in most ways.
Crack an egg and watch the gears turn. These are the cards that draw you into the next, they occasionally color filter, or even win you the game. (Oh, wait that’ll be in the next section)
In most every incarnation of the deck you will run at least 16 after which they tend to start needing enablers to be playable.
Core:
Chromatic Star (Run 4) : The base of our deck. Play your eggs early while you can and avoid cracking them until the last possible moment.
Chromatic Sphere (Run 4) :The next best egg. You will get very, very familiar with cracking eggs. Note the difference between the two. This one only draws a card when you activate its ability, Star will draw a card however it goes to the graveyard.
Conjurer's Bauble (Run 4) : Not only is this an incredibly efficient 1 egg, but it is actually our combo piece. Early in the combo you will put back Faith's Rewards and Open the Vaults to improve your consistency. Late combo, when you have no cards in deck, you will stop sacrificing all other eggs that draw you cards. Then you will use a single Bauble to recycle a Faith's Reward for an infinite loop.
Elsewhere Flask (Run 4) : Here is where things get down to what we are given verses what we want. It does what we need it to though. Drawing a card, this time with the advantage of getting it on the front side for better early game setup. Secondly, it sacrifices itself without costing mana. You’ll find that nothing else quite meets those qualifications. As a small bonus it can mana fix your lands if you need that UUU for Whir, watch out though, as it can blank your Ghost Quarter.
Extras:
Mishra's Bauble (Run 0) :This is the cheapest egg, and while it can be played early to help draw into the combo, the turn we go off it does nothing since we don’t want our opponent to get another turn anyway. If for some reason you were unable to go off (maybe because one of your eggs doesn’t draw a card right away) it does a great job of rebuilding to help you win on your next turn.
Mind Stone (Run 0-2) :Can be used as early game ramp into other eggs. Since it’s draw affect cost mana it would drain one every iteration which can make all the difference when you are trying to go off. Once you use it for mana during a combo turn you are unlikely to be able to sacrifice it for any repeated value.
Kaleidostone (Run 0-4) :The best egg for our deck we aren’t running. It functions almost the same as Elsewhere Flask with the added benefit of better mana filtering. The startup cost is however one too high putting it just below the threshold of inclusion.
Courier's Capsule (Run 0-1) :Costing 1U per iteration is a steep price, with a sweet but passable payoff. A list or two once upon a time splashed one into the main.
Alchemist's Vial (Run 0-2) :The cost to sacrifice is detrimental to our combo plan but might serve to niftily delay our opponents from killing us an extra turn in the early game.
Nihil Spellbomb (Run 0-1) :Maindeck tutorable graveyard hate that can also serve to play into the combo. Probably belongs in the sideboard but let your meta decide. Easily the best of the modern spellbombs.
Sac-Outlet:
Grinding Station (Run 0-4) : A free sac-outlet that helps load up your graveyard for Vaults. Also serves as a primary win condition. If you want to run the eggs of the KCI days this is your best option.
Claws of Gix (Run 0) : Costing only 1 to play or sac this is our next best sac-outlet and it probably isn’t worth playing at all.
Metalwork Colossus (Run 0) : A free sac-outlet that first must be put into the graveyard and then has some pretty intense timing restrictions. Not runnable unless your combo innately involves a discard outlet and even then, seems questionable.
Thopter Foundry (Run 0-2) : Advantages include infinite life and infinite 1/1s. Disadvantages include requiring two colored mana to play, a mana to sacrifice, infinite life being irrelevant if you are winning, and needing a way to not draw out on your next turn in order to win with infinite 1/1s. Has very positive interactions with Sword of the Meek for times when you aren’t going off.
Time Sieve (Run 0-4) : Makes Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek worth running, lets you untap your lands and draw a card. A different strategy and win condition but takes up a lot more slots in the deck than our current combo.
Things that require Sac-Outlets:
Terrarion (Run 0-4) :It does everything we want. Except it comes into play tapped.
Ichor Wellspring(Run 0-4) :The most powerful draw egg for its cost.
Scrap Trawler (Run 0-2) :Powerful recursion engine, however the current build does not generate much mana with each iteration so Reward and Vaults function as ways around needing more than 6 mana.
Myr Retriever(Run 0) :Incredible value for recurring artifacts. In the current build would only get back a standard egg, so might as well be an egg that could sac itself.
Every deck needs land, we just so happen to be lucky enough not to need very many. Decks have historically run between 16-21 lands and enough other mana producers to explain the difference.
I’ve gone infinite without hitting a single land drop until turn 4.
Who needs lands when you have fast mana.
Fast Mana:
Mox Opal (Run 4) : Early game this ramps us, late game it becomes part of the combo. Take advantage of its Legendary Status during your combo turn to loop them for an extra mana each iteration, sacrificing the tapped one for the newly entered untapped one. Remember that if multiple enter play at the same time you won’t have an opportunity to tap either before sending one to the graveyard.
Lotus Bloom (Run 4) :Cast this on turn 1 for an additional three colored mana on turn 4. Tutor it with Reshape or Whir of Invention to get your combo started or add to the existing loop. This is the card that allows this deck to work. If drawn on any turn but turn one you might as well play it incase you have the opportunity to wait that long to go off. If you are running Looting or another discard source you can pitch it freely to later bring back with Vaults
Fetch and Mana Lands:
Ghost Quarter (Run 4) : Target a land you have already tapped for mana, to get a new basic land untapped. You will net the same amount as if you had tapped the ghost quarter for mana. Then in conjunction with Faith's Reward both the destroyed lands and Ghost Quarter will come back untapped. Thinning your deck and producing mana with each iteration.
Oneoffourfetches (Run 3-4) :An old and mostly debunked expression amongst magic players is, “Thin to win.” Running fetches to reduce your odds of drawing a land generally isn’t worth the life. In an average deck that wins or loses on turn 6 you will have seen 5 additional cards after your initial 7. Reducing the 53 card pile you draw from into a 52 card pile won’t affect your draws in a significant way. Eggs on the other hand intends to see every card in the deck and drawing any other card over a land can make the difference between winning or not. When cracked on a combo turn you can recur it for additional mana production and thinning as long as your life total or basic land count allows. Choose which fetch based on color splashes, and if you don’t have any non-blue cards except Reward or Vaults consider running one of each to confuse your opponents and increase your resilience to hate cards.
Island (Run 7-9) :This deck usually uses two colors and between 8 ChromaticFilters, Land Type Changing, Moxen, and Black Lotuses you find what you need pretty well. During combo your artifacts will be producing W]/ana]foRyoURWHitESPEllS,WHEREaSEaRlyGamEyoURtUtoRSWant[mana]U.
Other Basics (Run 0-2) :If you are running a second color this is half of the way you will be casting those spells. Shocks of any Island[c/c] including [c=Hallowed Fountain]Color may also be included for the same reason. You will often be running only one slot for your splash land so the choice between a basic or a shock depends on how much damage you are willing to take in order to more consistently have UUU for Whir of Invention
Spire of Industry (Run 1-4) :If your list is splashing for several colored effects this is your tri-land of choice.
Effect Lands:
Darksteel Citadel (Run 0-4) : If you are running main deck free sac-outlets this land will produce a mana per iteration.
Inventors' Fair (Run 0-1) : Late game when you haven’t gone off yet will find you an artifact, better if you are running artifacts outside of just eggs. If we need this we have already most likely lost.
Phyrexia's Core (Run 0-1) : A sac-outlet that only works once a turn. Generally, not worth a slot.
Academy Ruins (Run 0-2) : A way to not draw out if needed, if we need this we already lost. Has some specific applications in a few unique builds.
So we have the pieces for an infinite loop that produces infinite mana. We have all the options in the world, so many possible wincons, so easy to use once the loop is achieved. It actually means we are probably running the weakest of those win conditions because it plays better before we go off.
Win Conditions:
Pyrite Spellbomb (Run 1) : Looped infinitely with Faith's Reward will steadily kill a player form any life total. Early game can serve to remove a creature or draw a card furthering the early game plan. The only reason to run any other win condition is because of your opponent’s hate cards. Cannot win against infinite life since Bauble puts Faith's Reward into an unknown zone even if it is the only card in your deck. This mean you must play out each iterations. Easily outclasses every other original spellbomb for egg purposes.
Silence (Run 0-4) : This is our most powerful defensive option, once it resolved you are in the clear to go off. Sunrise decks ran two, current builds are more mana hungry and people often choose to exclude this safety net.
Backup options: Placed here rather than sideboard for better decision making.
Implement of Combustion : Very similar to the Spellbomb except it draws off R and can’t hit creatures. The only reason to run 1 in the board is if your opponent already knows to name Pyrite Spellbomb with Meddling Mage. Probably better off with a more versatile backup.
Blind Obedience : Can buy you time in the early game and win with untargeted life lost. This is the favored backup wincondition. Cannot win against infinite life
Laboratory Maniac : The fragility of being a creature is mostly negated by your ability to draw a card as many time as is needed to trigger his win. The only playable option that can win against infinite life. Note:Chromatic Sphere’s draw is part of a mana ability and cannot be responded to.
Banefire : Can let you win uncounterably much earlier on in your combo than any other win condition. Particularly relevant if playing on MTGO.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn : Be careful to have an extra card in your Library if you intend to cast him. Generally you would rather a wincon that you are guaranteed to be able to use if you combo out. Sometime casting him requires drawing all of your cards.
Grapeshot : Many of the same advantages as Banefire, can be played earlier for multiple creature removal if necessary.
Codex Shredder : Sets up an infinite combo with Faith's Reward if you have enough mana. You can deal infinite damage since the combo no longer interacts with an unknown zone.
Research // Development : If you would rather not guess how your opponent is going to try and stop your win condition just play a Wish Instead. Find whichever win they weren’t expecting.
Aetherflux Reservoir : Another storm based win condition, this time it’s an artifact which is worse since it can be hit by the hate they bring in for your artifacts and doesn’t do anything to help your combo during early turns anyway.
Sai, Master Thopterist : Like Emrakul will win through damage. Unlike Emrakul it doesn’t give you an extra turn to attempt to do so with. Will kill an opponent from higher than 15 but requires enablement to do so. Does produce blockers mid-game if you need them.
All together, what does the deck look like?
This deck is in a very heavy time of flux so please recommend your lists and ideas. We will rebuild, how is the question.
Feel free to post or recommend lists for the Primer.
”When the vaults are empty, everyone is rich.”-Open the Vaults
In this section we can compile sideboard strategies for specific matchups. Due to the varying nature of the modern what to run will depend entirely on your meta.
I hope that this part will be a community project, gathering play data and experience in how to react to each situation. Currently we have a lot of information throughout this thread. Now let’s gather it all together so that it can be of use to us.
The point of a sideboard is to shore up the decks weaknesses against common problem it will face in the current meta.
Let’s see what we’ve got.
This section will be filled in with community input, thank you for your patience as data comes in.
"Take a quiet moment to reflect on your sins."-Silence
Updated Last: Incoming Results will go here.
If I miss anything please feel free to message me about it.
Thank you for your contributions. This is still a very young primer and I would appreciate input and patience. Feel free to message me about technical errors, bad links, typos, and the like. If it is a large theoretical discussion on what belongs in the deck, that is a discussion for this thread.
Sources include but are not limited to: Stanislav Cifka, Nate Heiss, Redit user PrometeusGod, and Hanno Terbuyken. As well as Salvation users: Izzetmage, Aazadan, and you.
mr_scrambles, how much success are you having with 6 reshape effects mainboard? I'm currently using 8, but I could really use the flex spots if less will still work
Basically instead of [[mox opal]] I have essentially more [[lotus bloom]]s through 7-8 [[reshape]], finding it very easy to get 3-4 and combo off. I never really bothered with mopal because I find that 1 extra mana every [[faith's reward]] or [[open the vaults]] to be inconsequential. I also have [[faithless looting]] mainboard to discard [[lotus bloom]]s that would otherwise be stuck in hand. It's certainly one way to take advantage of [[open the vaults]] compared to faith's reward.
I'm really liking what Faithless Looting does for the deck. Though the Opals make me more confident in running them. I switched my lands to make a R instead of W since we will have white if we're going off anyway. Also upped my Open the Vaults from 3 to 4.
FireWolf, I think that 6 reshape effects is fine so far. I started with more since the mana cost on Open the Vaults is daunting, and found that Whir felt awkward and would be stuck in my hand often when I wanted to develop more of a board.
For our looping spells Faith's Reward and Open the Vaults, I've always liked having 7 of them in my deck. I think going up to 8 is certainly a viable choice too, but I don't know if I would go lower. We need to see enough of these cards to combo off.
I've always prefered Reshape over Whir of Invention for several reasons. For starters, Reshape actually nets mana when tutoring for Lotus Bloom. Whir of Invention's triple blue casting cost has often felt quite steep and as a result I started playing it less and less. Now I've even decided not to run the card. The main advantage of Whir over Reshape was that it could get high CMC artifacts cheaper (through the improvise mechanic). The thing is, what would you want to tutor for? We used to have Krark-Clan Ironworks but since that got banned and there aren't any other essential high CMC artifacts I feel Whir has lost most if it's appeal. Reshape has the additional benefit of being an sacrifice outlet!
I also decided to run Ichor Wellspring over Elsewhere Flask, because of the 2 draws you can get out of the card. That means we'd also need to run more main deck sacrifice outlets, besides Reshape. I opted to go with Phyrexia's Core and Thopter Foundry. Thopter is a permanent, on-colour sacrifice outlet and Phyrexia's Core is a kinda permanent sac outlet (needs to tap). Between those 3 cards I've felt I had enough sacrifice outlets.
For the lands, Phyrexia's Core, Inventor's Fair and Academy Ruins used to be 4 Darksteel Citadels when KCI was still legal. Now the Citadels have lost all (?) of their value, so I'm trying something new. The Inventor's Fair and Academy Ruins could probably be extra islands, though I don't think I've particularly needed them.
Tezzeret the Seeker and Sword of the Meek are probably the 2 worst cards in my current list. I've just critiqued Whir, so it's only fair I'd also do that for Tezzeret. It's a steep initial mana cost and only really shines in combination with Faith's Reward. I think he might be a win-more card, but I'm still unsure. He can be a repeatable tutor, with a less intensive blue casting cost. That's why he's in. Sword of the Meek is here, simply as a potential back up plan. We can tutor it up if we feel like it. But it does stone cold nothing with the combo, which feels really bad. One of these 2 cards (or another card?) should proably be my 4th copy of Conjurer's Bauble. I had forgotten how good that card is in this deck...
I've got a weird split between Mox Opal and Mind Stone, because I'm unsure how many copies each card deserve. I'd like to have as much mana by turn 4 as possible (to reliably go off), but once I have enough mana and got the loop somewhat going, card drawing typically becomes the important factor. And that's where I prefer Mind Stone over Mox Opal.
Lastly, I use Aetherflux Reservoir as my win-con. I've don't think I've ever really understood why people prefer Pyrite Spellbomb. It can remove a creature and can draw a card, but Aetherflux kills a lot quicker and can very quickly gain a lot of life. Is Pyrite Spellbomb really that good (convince me )?
Anyways, time to wrap this up. Whilst the ban of KCI is unfortunate (though probably deserved), these are exciting times to start deckbuilding again, so we can get eggs back up to a competitive level.
The reason pyrite is preferred is because in a pure combo deck like Eggs typically is, it incorporates a win condition without having to make the combo more clumsy, smoothly incorporating itself without being caught in your hand or feeling clunky, like a fireball-style win condition or Emrakul. The biggest reason people would play Banefire or Emrakul is because Pyrite is hard to win with on Magic Online.
I run an eggs deck that I used while KCI was legal, but it has a different approach of winning and playing rather than with the classic Pyrite Spellbomb. My deck focuses on Grinding Station, and rather than using my Eggs to try and draw into another Open the Vaults effect, I’d use them to mill my own deck to find other artifact to return. Every Open the Vaults would become more powerful and eventually I’d have enough to kill the opponent out.
If you want to know more then just ask away, I try to stay as budget as possible which can influence card choices. Although some cards I also just use because I believe they’re better in this type of deck.
My deck focuses on Grinding Station, and rather than using my Eggs to try and draw into another Open the Vaults effect, I’d use them to mill my own deck to find other artifact to return.
Playing that type of list has several advantages in that you can freely sac your eggs in the early turns, and once you cast your first Open the Vaults with a Grinding Station in play your deck plays out much, much faster than a typical eggs interaction. I've only played with it a few times so figuring out if your turn clock is slower like it feels or if it's actually the same will be interesting.
For our looping spells Faith's Reward and Open the Vaults, I've always liked having 7 of them in my deck. I think going up to 8 is certainly a viable choice too, but I don't know if I would go lower. We need to see enough of these cards to combo off.
I also decided to run Ichor Wellspring over Elsewhere Flask, because of the 2 draws you can get out of the card. That means we'd also need to run more main deck sacrifice outlets, besides Reshape. I opted to go with Phyrexia's Core and Thopter Foundry. Thopter is a permanent, on-colour sacrifice outlet and Phyrexia's Core is a kinda permanent sac outlet (needs to tap). Between those 3 cards I've felt I had enough sacrifice outlets.
For the lands, Phyrexia's Core, Inventor's Fair and Academy Ruins used to be 4 Darksteel Citadels when KCI was still legal. Now the Citadels have lost all (?) of their value, so I'm trying something new. The Inventor's Fair and Academy Ruins could probably be extra islands, though I don't think I've particularly needed them.
Lastly, I use Aetherflux Reservoir as my win-con. I've don't think I've ever really understood why people prefer Pyrite Spellbomb. It can remove a creature and can draw a card, but Aetherflux kills a lot quicker and can very quickly gain a lot of life. Is Pyrite Spellbomb really that good (convince me )?
I was hard on being at 7 recursion spells, changing over to 4xLooting brought me up to 4xVaults. Though that is still in testing.
I don't like having to find room for a sac outlet that doesn't do much, sure, you'll potentially have infinite 1/1s and infinite life but unless you have your Academy Ruins in play already you can't attack with them without drawing out. I think that if you want to go the sac outlet route in order to run Ichor Wellspring or Terrarion, that Grinding Station is better. Now if there was a haste source or a way to not draw out, then it would be a maindeck backup win.
I would definitely recommend running fetches or basics over those non-basics, makes the combo cleaner.
I think in a lot of ways you are playing with very powerful effects but I'm in favor of running as few cards outside the direct combo as possible and you seem to have a lot.
Tezzeret the Seeker is a neat way to think of interaction with Faith's Reward, but because it cost 3UU we can't play it until we are already comboing where as the other tutors can help with setup.
Any thoughts on Expansion//Explosion? It's another wincon plus being a 2 mana faith's reward and a negate against opposing counterspells.
It also can copy reshape which is quite nice
Also, is Time Sieve a servicable replacement for KCI?
It is similar in many ways (but obviously will still require a couple different cards to really work:
It allows you to cheat on mana: Cast all your eggs, sac them, go to extra turn, untap all of your lands, repeat. The eggs are technically free here.
It combos well with Scrap Trawler (and Myr Retriever!) : Sac stuff, bring it back as well as drawing cards. The same loops that KCI used work here too.
Not really relevant but can also combo infinitely with Thopter Sword, just like KCI.
However, some things must be changed in order for it to properly work:
Unfortunately, Ancient Stirrings can't find it. I'm using Board the Weatherlight, but it's way clunkier.
In order to consistently have enough artifacts to sacrifice and continue chaining turns together, Sly Requisitioner has become a must.
More eggs, in the form of implements, are probably necessary to draw enough cards to keep going.
Here is my turbo-Sieve deckL
//deck-1
1 Adarkar Wastes
2 Buried Ruin
1 Caves of Koilos
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Whir of Invention
2 Inventors' Fair
4 Sly Requisitioner
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Spire of Industry
1 Underground River
2 Myr Retriever
4 Scrap Trawler
4 Chromatic Star
3 Everflowing Chalice
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Implement of Improvement
4 Mind Stone
4 Mox Opal
4 Terrarion
4 Time Sieve
And here is another list I've been working on. It's more Grinding Station and Sword oriented, kind of like the Grinding Station decks people were toying around with a couple months ago, and I think it also has some potential. (super janky though)
//deck-1
3 Darksteel Citadel
1 Buried Ruin
4 Adarkar Wastes
2 River of Tears
1 Inventors' Fair
2 Mind Stone
2 Island
4 Spire of Industry
2 Time Sieve
1 Myr Retriever
2 Ichor Wellspring
3 Memnite
4 Scrap Trawler
3 Sly Requisitioner
4 Chromatic Star
2 Board the Weatherlight
2 Terrarion
4 Mox Opal
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Grinding Station
4 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
2 Whir of Invention
//sideboard-1
1 Echoing Truth
4 Fragmentize
2 Path to Exile
2 Negate
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Sai, Master Thopterist
1 Swan Song
2 Thoughtseize
Please give me your feedback! Do you think any of these could be any good?
The reason pyrite is preferred is because in a pure combo deck like Eggs typically is, it incorporates a win condition without having to make the combo more clumsy, smoothly incorporating itself without being caught in your hand or feeling clunky, like a fireball-style win condition or Emrakul. The biggest reason people would play Banefire or Emrakul is because Pyrite is hard to win with on Magic Online.
It's true that a win-condition such as Pyrite Spellbomb is less clunky than Aetherflux Reservoir. The bonus of potentially picking of a creature and allowing for a draw probably means it really is the wincon of the deck. Trying to use special cards is often not the best way to go. I think I needed a reminder of that.
user 24144553 - 2 responses to what you said in your arguments.
1. Although Whir does not net mana like reshape, mid combo it essentially reads 0: add a lotus to your graveyard.
2. Although the artifact intereacting lands are interesting, not being able to thin your deck more with GQ could hurt wiff percentages in the combo.
My responses:
1. I think having 4 Reshape's is sufficient for the tutoring of Lotus Bloom's. Given the fact that you need run 4 copies of the card and that we draw a lot of cards during the combo, I feel that running 4 tutors (and Reshapes at that) are more than fine, seeing as these Lotus Blooms are the only artifacts we always want to target with the tutoring cards (right?). Having more Reshape-like effects is nice (potentially very good) in the deck, but in my opinion just not necessary. I'd like to fill the main deck with as many cantrippin' artifacts as possible. The bottom line is, I don't like Whir in this deck and for the reasons I stated in my previous post, I prefer Reshape. I could be wrong.
2. True, I should (and will) increase the amount of basic lands.
I think your and Lord Nahkiin's deck is an intersting concept and I'd like to hear how the deck is running.
Binning artifacts through Faithless Looting and Grinding Station and getting them back seems a clever and new way to go about the deck. That said however, I'm wondering how consistently you can get to the (minimum) required 6 mana for Open the Vaults and Roar of Reclamation by turn 4-ish? The problem I think I see is that we can't durdle infinitely. There are a lot of fast decks out there, so a rule I set myself is trying to build the deck to (more-or-less) reliably go off by turn 4. And given the focus on this of the deck to use "bin and revive" the artifacts, I just don't think it's that reliable. You would need to have a turn-1 Lotus all the time right?
I think Mind Stone might help? It doesn't give a free draw, but it does ramp and can give a draw. Anyways, cool spin on the deck.
I don't like having to find room for a sac outlet that doesn't do much, sure, you'll potentially have infinite 1/1s and infinite life but unless you have your Academy Ruins in play already you can't attack with them without drawing out. I think that if you want to go the sac outlet route in order to run Ichor Wellspring or Terrarion, that Grinding Station is better. Now if there was a haste source or a way to not draw out, then it would be a maindeck backup win.
I would definitely recommend running fetches or basics over those non-basics, makes the combo cleaner.
I think in a lot of ways you are playing with very powerful effects but I'm in favor of running as few cards outside the direct combo as possible and you seem to have a lot.
Tezzeret the Seeker is a neat way to think of interaction with Faith's Reward, but because it cost 3UU we can't play it until we are already comboing where as the other tutors can help with setup.
Completely agree with most things you pointed out here. Out of all utility lands, I've always used Inventor's Fair. To my recollection, it has served me quite well, so I'm inclined to keep using that one. But the others will go.
Lasty, an updated decklist, based on the feedback/things I read in the thread (getting rid of Tezzeret the Seeker might be too hart-breaking for me to do)
In testing, I have found Sleight of Hand to be way better than Serum Visions, as
a) It is better at finding Lotus Bloom on turn one, when it is by far at it's best
b) It can be better when comboing, as it is a good draw when you're digging for a Reward effect and have run out of Egg draws.
However, this could be entirely anecdotal, so I would like some advice on this.
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There is a phrase commonly applied to what happens when Timmy gets a little too into what they’re doing, “Durdling.”
What happens when the ability to durdle is refined down to a top tier deck? Well it didn’t start that way.
In the fall of 2001 Odyssey premiered and with two things were now available. A critical mass of artifacts that sacrifice to draw cards in the “Egggggs” Cycle. As well as a reason to run them, Nantuko Shrine
4 Darkwater Egg
4 Skycloud Egg
4 Mossfire Egg
4 Shadowblood Egg
4 Sungrass Egg
4 Nantuko Shrine
Instants & Sorceries
2 Circular Logic
4 Moment's Peace
4 Obsessive Search
4 Peek
4 Words of Wisdom
8 Forest
10 Island
In in other formats the deck didn’t gain much traction outside of FNM level events. In Mirrodin the deck gained Disciple of the Vault, Second Sunrise, and Conjurer's Bauble to little immediate consequence. It wasn’t until October of 2006 that the deck started cooking with fire. Lotus Bloom and the associated rules change that cards without mana cost would have a CMC of 0.
Conceived by Sylvain Lauriol and played by most of the French players at Worlds that December Omelette aux Lotus was the buzz after Bastien Perez went undefeated on day one. "This might actually be the most skill-oriented combo deck in the entire history of magic."- Pierre Canali
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Conjurer's Bauble
3 Darkwater Egg
4 Lotus Bloom
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Skycloud Egg
3 Sungrass Egg
Instants & Sorceries (13)
2 Cunning Wish
2 Mystical Teachings
1 Orim's Chant
4 Reshape
4 Second Sunrise
4 Archaeological Dig
3 Cephalid Coliseum
4 Ghost Quarter
5 Island
2 Plains
2 Seat of the Synod
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Angel's Grace
1 Brain Freeze
1 Echoing Truth
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Orim's Chant
1 Pithing Needle
1 Reclaim
1 Seedtime
1 Spoils of the Vault
1 Stifle
1 Trinket Mage
1 Wipe Away
Between 2007 and 2011 not much happened for the deck, extended had some tough competition.
In 2011 with the creation of modern brews began and in mid 2012 Faith's Reward was printed and the deck had finally come into its full. By October 2012 just 2 months after this version’s first tournament appearance Stanislav Cifka went 18-1 to win ProTour Return to Ravnica.
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Elsewhere Flask
4 Lotus Bloom
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
Instants & Sorceries (22)
4 Faith's Reward
4 Second Sunrise
2 Silence
1 Gitaxian Probe
4 Reshape
4 Serum Visions
3 Sleight of Hand
7 Island
1 Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Echoing Truth
2 Silence
1 Grapeshot
April 22nd 2013 just 5 months after Stanislav’s win the DCI announcement comes through that Second Sunrise is banned. The deck falls into obscurity and myth of how powerful it once was. Now running KCI it manages less than a dozen top 8’s in daily tournaments on MTGO and a single place in a World Cup qualifier over the next 4 years.
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
1 Codex Shredder
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
3 Lotus Bloom
4 Mox Opal
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Terrarion
2 Edge of Autumn
4 Faith's Reward
2 Open the Vaults
4 Reshape
Lands (19)
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Flooded Strand
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Island
3 Plains
2 Radiant Fountain
1 Banefire
1 Codex Shredder
4 Defense Grid
4 Echoing Truth
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Tormod's Crypt
It wasn’t until January of 2017 that the deck became competitive again. Decks began by running Whir of Invention as an obvious inclusion and by April the power of Scrap Trawler was discovered. The deck now had consistency it craved and the power to go infinite.
In early 2018 a very specific rules interaction that made the deck require fewer pieces for its combo became widespread knowledge increasing the tournament presence of the deck.
The power of the deck in the hands of a skilled player lead to an excess of high-profile finishes such as claiming 4 of the top 8 slots at GP Oakland 2019.
2 Buried Ruin
4 Darksteel Citadel
1 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Inventors' Fair
1 Island
4 Yavimaya Coast
Creatures (7)
1 Myr Retriever
2 Sai, Master Thopterist
4 Scrap Trawler
Instants & Sorceries (4)
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
4 Mind Stone
1 Mishra's Bauble
4 Mox Opal
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Spine of Ish Sah
3 Terrarion
1 Delay
1 Firespout
2 Galvanic Blast
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Nature's Claim
1 Negate
1 Sai, Master Thopterist
1 Swan Song
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Wurmcoil Engine
The day before the writing of this primer the DCI struck again. Banning the now crux card Krark-Clan Ironworks. The future of this deck remains uncertain, but below we will attempt to find where this deck should move onto.
In this section we can compile sideboard strategies for specific matchups. Due to the varying nature of the modern what to run will depend entirely on your meta.
I hope that this part will be a community project, gathering play data and experience in how to react to each situation. Currently we have a lot of information throughout this thread. Now let’s gather it all together so that it can be of use to us.
Updated Last:
Incoming Results will go here.
If I miss anything please feel free to message me about it.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/third-breakfast-1/?cb=1548280720
This is the list that I currently run.
Under alternate win-cons, [[altar of the brood]] does not target your opponent, and functions as spellbomb in the regular end loop.
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/11-01-19-uw-eggs/?cb=1548287664
Here’s this list I’m working with now. I’ll keep it updated as I go.
How how your builds without Mox Opal been running?
4x Chromatic Sphere
4x Chromatic Star
4x Conjurer's Bauble
4x Elsewhere Flask
4x Lotus Bloom
4x Mox Opal
1x Pyrite Spellbomb
4x Faith's Reward
4x Faithless Looting
4x Open the Vaults
3x Reshape
3x Whir of Invention
4x Ghost Quarter
8x Island
1x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
P.S. FireWolf try [c]Reshape[/c] instead of [[Reshape]] slight differences between Salvation and Tappedout
Modern:
Pyro Prison
Sun and Moon
Eldrazi Stompy
Noct - Thanks for the tips, I'm really not familiar with mtgsalvation at all lol
7 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Phyrexia's Core
1 Inventor's Fair
1 Academy Ruins
Sorceries (11)
4 Reshape
4 Serum Visions
3 Open the Vaults
4 Faith's Reward
Planeswalker (1)
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
Artifacts (28)
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
3 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Ichor wellspring
4 Lotus Bloom
3 Mox Opal
2 Mind Stone
2 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
To explain some of the card choices I made:
For our looping spells Faith's Reward and Open the Vaults, I've always liked having 7 of them in my deck. I think going up to 8 is certainly a viable choice too, but I don't know if I would go lower. We need to see enough of these cards to combo off.
I've always prefered Reshape over Whir of Invention for several reasons. For starters, Reshape actually nets mana when tutoring for Lotus Bloom. Whir of Invention's triple blue casting cost has often felt quite steep and as a result I started playing it less and less. Now I've even decided not to run the card. The main advantage of Whir over Reshape was that it could get high CMC artifacts cheaper (through the improvise mechanic). The thing is, what would you want to tutor for? We used to have Krark-Clan Ironworks but since that got banned and there aren't any other essential high CMC artifacts I feel Whir has lost most if it's appeal. Reshape has the additional benefit of being an sacrifice outlet!
I also decided to run Ichor Wellspring over Elsewhere Flask, because of the 2 draws you can get out of the card. That means we'd also need to run more main deck sacrifice outlets, besides Reshape. I opted to go with Phyrexia's Core and Thopter Foundry. Thopter is a permanent, on-colour sacrifice outlet and Phyrexia's Core is a kinda permanent sac outlet (needs to tap). Between those 3 cards I've felt I had enough sacrifice outlets.
For the lands, Phyrexia's Core, Inventor's Fair and Academy Ruins used to be 4 Darksteel Citadels when KCI was still legal. Now the Citadels have lost all (?) of their value, so I'm trying something new. The Inventor's Fair and Academy Ruins could probably be extra islands, though I don't think I've particularly needed them.
Tezzeret the Seeker and Sword of the Meek are probably the 2 worst cards in my current list. I've just critiqued Whir, so it's only fair I'd also do that for Tezzeret. It's a steep initial mana cost and only really shines in combination with Faith's Reward. I think he might be a win-more card, but I'm still unsure. He can be a repeatable tutor, with a less intensive blue casting cost. That's why he's in. Sword of the Meek is here, simply as a potential back up plan. We can tutor it up if we feel like it. But it does stone cold nothing with the combo, which feels really bad. One of these 2 cards (or another card?) should proably be my 4th copy of Conjurer's Bauble. I had forgotten how good that card is in this deck...
I've got a weird split between Mox Opal and Mind Stone, because I'm unsure how many copies each card deserve. I'd like to have as much mana by turn 4 as possible (to reliably go off), but once I have enough mana and got the loop somewhat going, card drawing typically becomes the important factor. And that's where I prefer Mind Stone over Mox Opal.
Lastly, I use Aetherflux Reservoir as my win-con. I've don't think I've ever really understood why people prefer Pyrite Spellbomb. It can remove a creature and can draw a card, but Aetherflux kills a lot quicker and can very quickly gain a lot of life. Is Pyrite Spellbomb really that good (convince me )?
Anyways, time to wrap this up. Whilst the ban of KCI is unfortunate (though probably deserved), these are exciting times to start deckbuilding again, so we can get eggs back up to a competitive level.
If you want to know more then just ask away, I try to stay as budget as possible which can influence card choices. Although some cards I also just use because I believe they’re better in this type of deck.
Link to deck: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/modern-uw-eggs/?cb=1548397235
user 24144553 - 2 responses to what you said in your arguments.
1. Although Whir does not net mana like reshape, mid combo it essentially reads 0: add a lotus to your graveyard.
2. Although the artifact intereacting lands are interesting, not being able to thin your deck more with GQ could hurt wiff percentages in the combo.
Playing that type of list has several advantages in that you can freely sac your eggs in the early turns, and once you cast your first Open the Vaults with a Grinding Station in play your deck plays out much, much faster than a typical eggs interaction. I've only played with it a few times so figuring out if your turn clock is slower like it feels or if it's actually the same will be interesting.
Here is my take on this version.
If only Careful Study were modern legal. I'm not high on Chart a COurse but let us know how it goes.
I was hard on being at 7 recursion spells, changing over to 4xLooting brought me up to 4xVaults. Though that is still in testing.
I don't like having to find room for a sac outlet that doesn't do much, sure, you'll potentially have infinite 1/1s and infinite life but unless you have your Academy Ruins in play already you can't attack with them without drawing out. I think that if you want to go the sac outlet route in order to run Ichor Wellspring or Terrarion, that Grinding Station is better. Now if there was a haste source or a way to not draw out, then it would be a maindeck backup win.
I would definitely recommend running fetches or basics over those non-basics, makes the combo cleaner.
I think in a lot of ways you are playing with very powerful effects but I'm in favor of running as few cards outside the direct combo as possible and you seem to have a lot.
Tezzeret the Seeker is a neat way to think of interaction with Faith's Reward, but because it cost 3UU we can't play it until we are already comboing where as the other tutors can help with setup.
I'm trying to figure out a loop around the cards: Artificer's Intuition, Locket of Yesterdays, Astral Cornucopia, Metalwork Colossus and Scrap Trawler, maybe Everflowing Chalice too.
The take would be to drop Locket of Yesterdays turn 1, Artificer's Intuition on turn 2, Scrap Trawler on third turn and try combo the turn after.
the combo would be something like activate Artificer's Intuition discarding Metalwork Colossus and fetching a second Locket of Yesterdays, activate Artificer's Intuition discarding Locket of Yesterdays fetch another Locket of Yesterdays, play it for free because there is one in play an another in the graveyard, activate Artificer's Intuition discarding a Astral Cornucopia and fetch a second Astral Cornucopia, activate Artificer's Intuition discarding Astral Cornucopia and fetch the third Astral Cornucopia, play it with for free with one counter because there are two on grave and two lockets in play, tap Astral Cornucopia for U and activate Metalwork Colossus ability from graveyard sacrifice Astral Cornucopia and another artifact, maybe one Locket, trigger Scrap Trawler take a Astral Cornucopia back, use the U generate from Astral Cornucopia and activate Artificer's Intuition discarding Metalwork Colossus fetching somehing and here I could find a loop...
I think it could be nice if it work. a possible list could be:
4 Artificer's Intuition
4 Metalwork Colossus
4 Scrap Trawler
4 Astral Cornucopia
4 Everflowing Chalice
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
3 Whir of Invention
1 Claws of Gix
1 Codex Shredder
18 lands
any ideas if this could work?
2 Flooded Strand
1 Academy Ruins
1 Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
7 Island
4 Chromatic Sphere
3 Mox Opal
1 Codex Shredder
4 Chromatic Star
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Conjurer's Bauble
3 Ichor Wellspring
3 Grinding Station
4 Faith's Reward
2 Whir of Invention
3 Serum Visions
2 Thoughtcast
4 Reshape
3 Open the Vaults
SB: 2 Sai, Master Thopterist
SB: 2 Blind Obedience
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Witchbane Orb
SB: 3 Echoing Truth
SB: 2 Pact of Negation
SB: 3 Path to Exile
It also can copy reshape which is quite nice
It is similar in many ways (but obviously will still require a couple different cards to really work:
It allows you to cheat on mana: Cast all your eggs, sac them, go to extra turn, untap all of your lands, repeat. The eggs are technically free here.
It combos well with Scrap Trawler (and Myr Retriever!) : Sac stuff, bring it back as well as drawing cards. The same loops that KCI used work here too.
Not really relevant but can also combo infinitely with Thopter Sword, just like KCI.
However, some things must be changed in order for it to properly work:
Unfortunately, Ancient Stirrings can't find it. I'm using Board the Weatherlight, but it's way clunkier.
In order to consistently have enough artifacts to sacrifice and continue chaining turns together, Sly Requisitioner has become a must.
More eggs, in the form of implements, are probably necessary to draw enough cards to keep going.
Here is my turbo-Sieve deckL
//deck-1
1 Adarkar Wastes
2 Buried Ruin
1 Caves of Koilos
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Whir of Invention
2 Inventors' Fair
4 Sly Requisitioner
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Spire of Industry
1 Underground River
2 Myr Retriever
4 Scrap Trawler
4 Chromatic Star
3 Everflowing Chalice
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Implement of Improvement
4 Mind Stone
4 Mox Opal
4 Terrarion
4 Time Sieve
And here is another list I've been working on. It's more Grinding Station and Sword oriented, kind of like the Grinding Station decks people were toying around with a couple months ago, and I think it also has some potential. (super janky though)
//deck-1
3 Darksteel Citadel
1 Buried Ruin
4 Adarkar Wastes
2 River of Tears
1 Inventors' Fair
2 Mind Stone
2 Island
4 Spire of Industry
2 Time Sieve
1 Myr Retriever
2 Ichor Wellspring
3 Memnite
4 Scrap Trawler
3 Sly Requisitioner
4 Chromatic Star
2 Board the Weatherlight
2 Terrarion
4 Mox Opal
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Grinding Station
4 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
2 Whir of Invention
//sideboard-1
1 Echoing Truth
4 Fragmentize
2 Path to Exile
2 Negate
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Sai, Master Thopterist
1 Swan Song
2 Thoughtseize
Please give me your feedback! Do you think any of these could be any good?
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
It's true that a win-condition such as Pyrite Spellbomb is less clunky than Aetherflux Reservoir. The bonus of potentially picking of a creature and allowing for a draw probably means it really is the wincon of the deck. Trying to use special cards is often not the best way to go. I think I needed a reminder of that.
My responses:
1. I think having 4 Reshape's is sufficient for the tutoring of Lotus Bloom's. Given the fact that you need run 4 copies of the card and that we draw a lot of cards during the combo, I feel that running 4 tutors (and Reshapes at that) are more than fine, seeing as these Lotus Blooms are the only artifacts we always want to target with the tutoring cards (right?). Having more Reshape-like effects is nice (potentially very good) in the deck, but in my opinion just not necessary. I'd like to fill the main deck with as many cantrippin' artifacts as possible. The bottom line is, I don't like Whir in this deck and for the reasons I stated in my previous post, I prefer Reshape. I could be wrong.
2. True, I should (and will) increase the amount of basic lands.
I think your and Lord Nahkiin's deck is an intersting concept and I'd like to hear how the deck is running.
Binning artifacts through Faithless Looting and Grinding Station and getting them back seems a clever and new way to go about the deck. That said however, I'm wondering how consistently you can get to the (minimum) required 6 mana for Open the Vaults and Roar of Reclamation by turn 4-ish? The problem I think I see is that we can't durdle infinitely. There are a lot of fast decks out there, so a rule I set myself is trying to build the deck to (more-or-less) reliably go off by turn 4. And given the focus on this of the deck to use "bin and revive" the artifacts, I just don't think it's that reliable. You would need to have a turn-1 Lotus all the time right?
I think Mind Stone might help? It doesn't give a free draw, but it does ramp and can give a draw. Anyways, cool spin on the deck.
Completely agree with most things you pointed out here. Out of all utility lands, I've always used Inventor's Fair. To my recollection, it has served me quite well, so I'm inclined to keep using that one. But the others will go.
Lasty, an updated decklist, based on the feedback/things I read in the thread (getting rid of Tezzeret the Seeker might be too hart-breaking for me to do)
8 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Flooded Strand
1 Inventors' Fair
Sorceries (11)
4 Reshape
4 Serum Visions
3 Open the Vaults
4 Faith's Reward
Planeswalker (1)
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
Artifacts (28)
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Ichor wellspring
4 Lotus Bloom
3 Mox Opal
2 Mind Stone
2 Grinding Station
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Faithless Looting
1 Thoughtcast
1 Chart a Course
1 Board the Weatherlight
1 Ancient Stirrings
1 Grinding Station
1 Claws of Gix
1 Metalwork Colossus
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Time Sieve
1 Myr Retriever
4 Basics
4 Shocks
1 Spire of Industry
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Phyrexia's Core
1 Academy Ruins
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Sai, Master Thopterist
1 Altar of the Brood
I cannot factor in every build mentioned, but I will for any ideas with multiple people supporting it.
[C]Island[/C] becomes Island.
[Deck=Example] Lands (4) 4 Island[/Deck] becomes
4 Island
a) It is better at finding Lotus Bloom on turn one, when it is by far at it's best
b) It can be better when comboing, as it is a good draw when you're digging for a Reward effect and have run out of Egg draws.
However, this could be entirely anecdotal, so I would like some advice on this.