Since the Mirrorworks triggers whenever a non-token Artifact is entering the battlefield - including from exile - Venser can make copies of a few things in this deck rather effectively. With Batterskull, you can create an army of lifelink, vigilant armors. Spine lets you trash any problem on the board. Purity Talisman handles the activation costs of things like the replicative cost of the Mirrorworks and gains you life in the process. Elspeth, if she can get her ultimate to trigger, will wipe the board of everything except these token copies; this also means any germ tokens survive and can launch an onslaught. Or, if things get to a stalemate, you could make an army of token Perilous Myrs and sacrifice them all to deal non-colored massive damage.
Piston Sledge might seem an odd choice, but the sac effect gives a little contrl over what you're gonig to be doing with the Spine, and at the low scale you can use the Myrs or the Necropedes to cripple a creature.
The board is designed to bust out the counterspells for when you might want to draw things out a little longer on some decks with a higher tempo, which usually involves some sort of mean artifacts and 1-off creatures, as well as a smattering of enchantment and artifact control.
Anyways, any thoughts? I kind of want to work this up and see if I can make it stronger when rotations hits for a standard deck.
I like the idea, however your issues are three-fold.
1.To make this deck work, you need more mana fixing and mana acceleration. The more I look at it, the more I see little chunks of mana being used in activation costs. Mirrorworks, Phyrexia's Core, Batterskull, and Inkmoth Nexus are some serious investments, especially given your curve.
2. You have no way to interact with the most dominant deck in the format- Tempered Steel Weenie besides Spine. This is a deal sinker right here. Early Aggro stomps all over your face and you only have Necropedes and Perilous Myr to stop it.
3. Your card draw situation needs help. Distant Memories is really bad. Really, really bad- don't run it. I speak from experience there, I'm afraid. Gitaxian Probe is mediocre in this deck- it's designed to work well with counterspells and named hate cards (Memoricide, for instance). You don't have enough counters to make Tezzeret's Gambit as powerful as it is in other decks.
2. This is a tough one: Tumble Magnet will help, but it won't solve it. Elspeth helps a little, but is too little, too late. Perilous Myr does very, very little. Mortar Pod turns all of your Myr into either Gut Shots or Lightning Bolts, which makes Perilous Myr a lot more attractive. Grand Architect and Caged Sun help a little as well, both by speeding up the deck, and by boosting tokens (Myr and Soldier, respectively).
3. Seriously, you're running Venser and artifacts that cost more than 6; why are there no Treasure Mages? Your list has Batterskull, so it's clearly not a budget list. I would also highlight Ichor Wellspring (since you're running Phyrexia's Core and Venser) and Frantic Salvage, to help against artifact hate.
3 Venser, the Sojourner
2 Elspeth Tirel
Creatures (7)
4 Necropede
3 Perilous Myr
Spells (9)
3 Gitaxian Probe
2 Distant Memories
4 Tezzeret's Gambit
Artifacts (14)
3 Mirrorworks
3 Batterskull
2 Spine of Ish Sah
2 Piston Sledge
4 Purity Talisman
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Seachrome Coast
3 Phyrexia's Core
7 Plains
7 Island
4 Steel Sabotage
3 Mental Misstep
3 Stoic Rebuttal
4 Revoke Existence
1 Gitaxian Probe
Since the Mirrorworks triggers whenever a non-token Artifact is entering the battlefield - including from exile - Venser can make copies of a few things in this deck rather effectively. With Batterskull, you can create an army of lifelink, vigilant armors. Spine lets you trash any problem on the board. Purity Talisman handles the activation costs of things like the replicative cost of the Mirrorworks and gains you life in the process. Elspeth, if she can get her ultimate to trigger, will wipe the board of everything except these token copies; this also means any germ tokens survive and can launch an onslaught. Or, if things get to a stalemate, you could make an army of token Perilous Myrs and sacrifice them all to deal non-colored massive damage.
Piston Sledge might seem an odd choice, but the sac effect gives a little contrl over what you're gonig to be doing with the Spine, and at the low scale you can use the Myrs or the Necropedes to cripple a creature.
The board is designed to bust out the counterspells for when you might want to draw things out a little longer on some decks with a higher tempo, which usually involves some sort of mean artifacts and 1-off creatures, as well as a smattering of enchantment and artifact control.
Anyways, any thoughts? I kind of want to work this up and see if I can make it stronger when rotations hits for a standard deck.
1.To make this deck work, you need more mana fixing and mana acceleration. The more I look at it, the more I see little chunks of mana being used in activation costs. Mirrorworks, Phyrexia's Core, Batterskull, and Inkmoth Nexus are some serious investments, especially given your curve.
2. You have no way to interact with the most dominant deck in the format- Tempered Steel Weenie besides Spine. This is a deal sinker right here. Early Aggro stomps all over your face and you only have Necropedes and Perilous Myr to stop it.
3. Your card draw situation needs help. Distant Memories is really bad. Really, really bad- don't run it. I speak from experience there, I'm afraid. Gitaxian Probe is mediocre in this deck- it's designed to work well with counterspells and named hate cards (Memoricide, for instance). You don't have enough counters to make Tezzeret's Gambit as powerful as it is in other decks.
How to Fix It
1. Easy enough to do: Grand Architect seems tailor made for this deck. Mycosynth Wellspring might help too. Caged Sun might be a fit as well.
2. This is a tough one: Tumble Magnet will help, but it won't solve it. Elspeth helps a little, but is too little, too late. Perilous Myr does very, very little. Mortar Pod turns all of your Myr into either Gut Shots or Lightning Bolts, which makes Perilous Myr a lot more attractive. Grand Architect and Caged Sun help a little as well, both by speeding up the deck, and by boosting tokens (Myr and Soldier, respectively).
3. Seriously, you're running Venser and artifacts that cost more than 6; why are there no Treasure Mages? Your list has Batterskull, so it's clearly not a budget list. I would also highlight Ichor Wellspring (since you're running Phyrexia's Core and Venser) and Frantic Salvage, to help against artifact hate.
Here's what I'd propose:
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Seachrome Coast
3 Plains
8 Island
3 Venser, the Sojourner
2 Elspeth Tirel
4 Grand Architect
4 Perilous Myr
1 Myr Battlesphere
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Mirrorworks
3 Tumble Magnet
2 Mortarpod
2 Mycosynth Wellspring
2 Ichor Wellspring
2 Frantic Salvage
1 Caged Sun
1 Mindslaver
1 Spine of Ish Shah
Good luck!