Just throwing this idea out there, I've been play testing this with fantastic results against many of the currently popular decks in standard. Now I'm aware that many of the deck Archetypes are going to go awol but this seems to have a tremendous amount of potential, locking the game down and going extremely aggressive as early as turn 3, which is actually very common with the deck design. Without further ado I present Architect Beatdown.
Updated 9/30 with hot new tech and better build. This is an over-all better deck list for this archetype then anything I've presented before and should be tremendously competitive against ANY archetype of deck in the next coming meta, testing it against some popular decks that should make appearances in the coming weeks shows at least a 50/50 shot against any deck archetype with no bad match ups so long as the pilot behind the deck is competent. This deck is not noob friendly whatsoever and has so many decisions that it is staggering. Test this versus anything you can imagine and you will see the potential
I dont know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but I almost want to say that their are almost too many good options for this deck, as if it can completly change its entire face everytime you run into it. I think it's the decks infinite possibilities that are probably it's true strength and something we should play around with as much as possible. If this deck becomes a force in the meta then it'd be close to impossible to screw with with all the different variety of threats we can potentially produce.
Here's my head on this deck so far and pretty much every card in it, this may go a bit so forgive me for the wall of incoming text.
I'm in love, I love it when it works because it feels so damning to anyone when it does, but I still feel there is a slight consistency problem that I just can't get over. A lot of the different ways of dealing with this problem directly conflict with the way that the deck wants to work in a variety of ways, and the reason I switched my list away from the Fish version was because the best fixers tend to be spells and non-merfolk, and i didn't want to have a clash in deck design, but everytime I play a non-merfolk variety, I miss the ability to put pressure on my opponent early game to force the flow of the game in my direction while treatening a potential turn 3 wurmcoil or masticore.
Speaking of Masticore, I love him and hate him all at the same time, his draw back puts me in fits, I hate the idea of top decking all game and the way that the deck runs with him in it turns it into a top-decking machine. The reason it turns this way so often is because the way that Masticore varieties of the deck play, you want to have as many creatures as possible for use as possible flame javelins and if you play more cards for CA to keep your hand full to keep Masticore alive, you don't have enough creatures to fuel him, making his presence unneccesary. These versions of the deck work concurrently the best with early Wurmcoil Engines as well, so that's an ever-present thought in the back of my mind as well.
Wurmcoil has met and exceeded my expectations in every way and every variety of the deck, and is easily the most solid card in any list short of Jace, The Mind Sculptor. I don't think it's reasonable for any list to cut him, at all.
About the creature full varieties of the deck, I'm very on the fence, I feel these are probably the most consistent versions of the deck, but they have a lot of inherent flaws in the way they run, it's probably wise to try to run this as a creature/aggro deck with a back up plan of ultra fast artifact beat sticks, but I find that going this route seems to feel impotent, wether that's because I as a player am not comfortable playing the aggressor role, or wether I simply feel that blue is a color of control and hold back too often as a result for fear of over-extending into something I can't recover from is uncertain and something I'm trying to work around myself to play the deck better.
About my metalcraft/creature light varieties, I feel that these decks vibe better for me, as I'm more comfortable in a roll of reaction rather then action. Unfortunately I don't believe all the tools are in place yet to throw this version of the deck over the deep end in regards to usefulness/brokenness. These versions probably want to play walls in the form of Kraken Hatchling, as that's the roll that seems to be missing most from this deck that I'd love to see more of, but can't seem to find the deck space for.
With all that said, I feel these are the versions of the deck I'm settling around right now that work the best for me over-all.
I'm honestly not sure which deck I like most, the control build definitely feels more natural for me but the creature build seems better over-all, especially after the sideboard hoses aggro.
10/13/10 New deck build, more of a mid-range, control/ramp deck, really does a little bit of everything, gives amazing reach and tons of options, not for those who wish to simply have their deck play for them.
i have been trying to build a deck like this with the prototype portal/mindslaver infinite combo that can come early as turn 4.i like it though. will prob need adjusting when oct rolls around
Here's my thoughts on most of this, and if anyone thinks differently do say so cause I'd love to make this a new Tier 1 deck on block come rotation.
The reason I'm not running any main deck counterspells with this particular set up is because in most of my testing, it seemed entirely unneccesary, or too late, or superfluous to the way that the deck works. The intention is to tap out or come close to tapping out every turn for the first 3 turns at minimum, most of the stuff you have in play is sorcery speed to take advantage of and usually that means you don't have much mana open during your turn. The mana you do have is typically in the form of creatures you can tap for artifact mana, if there was an artifact that allowed control during your opponents turn, it would work splendidly in this deck without diluting the decks overall strength in numbers idea. I suppose by extension that would mean Mindslaver is a very good idea to play around with in deck, possibly as a 2-3 of, as drawing 2 of them would be horrible. If we did mindslaver we'd have no need for counter power, but we'd almost require prototype portal, which I suppose would also work in this deck with most of the artifact beats we have in here.
Coralhelm Commander was one of the original creatures I considered in the deck, if there was more merfolk to take advantage of his max boost I would put him into higher consideration, but for his position in the curve at 2 mana, I'm typically trying to play something that's going to give me back breaking potential, Lighthouse Chronologist, or something that's going to let me dig for one of my neccesary creatures, either a grand architect or any of the 9 beast artifacts to put into play should I already have the architect in hand. The Coralhelm doesn't really help any of the needed early game plays for the deck, it doesn't have a particularly fat ass so it won't be much use as a wall, I'm not going to be attacking with it so it's 2 power is mostly pointless other then to trade to another beater, but I'd much rather he stay in play to power out one of the aforementioned bad-asses.
Training Grounds is a dead card on it's own, a horrible top deck and mostly useless. There is nothing I can't do with creatures tapping for 2 mana each that I can do with a training rounds in play instead of another creature tapping for 2 mana. The creatures atleast can play as road blocks til I get my act together.
I was really praying for a creature with the ability to sac/counter or something to that effect, an effect like that in this deck would make it truly back-breaking.
I LOVE Mimic Vat in this deck, and I was thinking of throwing it in, It's a nice early game drop for whenever one of your guys goes down, with Aether Adept it's 100% board control against anything that may want to do something stupid, as well as an extra 2 mana to spend on anything else with Architect is in play. I was considering running 4 of it in lieu of something else, but the only thing I could think of to replace it with would be Augury Owl, who, while bad, does have other purposes. Scrying 3 early sometimes means the difference between a 6 mana artifact hitting play turn 3, or slowing yourself down all the way til turn 5.
I haven't honestly had the chance to test Mimic Vat yet so I'm unsure if it'll actually help or not but I have a feeling it'll probably do a lot more good then harm in the long run so I guess it deserves a shot.
Riddlesmith seems ineffectual in this deck, there really aren't enough Artifacts to really abuse his looting ability, which would already be redundant with the Cryptologist. He might be more useful then the Augury Owl in the long run if the Prototype Portal gets working, but for the most part he doesn't really lend himself to early game stability like the owl would.
I love Kraken Hatchling, it's fat ass is the best thing to happen to this deck versus early game beats. Nothing makes RDW players cry like having their Goblin Guide blocked by this guy and having to blow burn on it. This isn't to say that there is probably a better card somewhere that'll increase early game stability but I haven't quite found that card yet.
Mana Leak is good, and I agree that it should have a spot in the deck somewhere but I really have noticed that it seems to be mostly useless when you actually need it, as you're already in the mid-game by the time you should have any extra mana open to cast it, typically invalidating its use to begin with.
I played around a bit, and I think Kraken Hatchling does end up being useful.
Something you might find interesting to try is Thrummingbird. It helps your levellers and you could add in Jace, and maybe something like Lux Cannon. You end up slowing your plan down somewhat, but you gain disruption and card draw, and you can get out a Mindslaver/Portal lock.
I actually never considered thrumming bird... It would be replacing Augury Owl I guess? Or maybe Lighthouse? Probably Augury Owl so that it can keep placing level up counters on the Lighthouse Chronologist. Lux cannon honestly doesn't feel powerful enough to do the jobs I need it to do, plus it seems a little too slow to actually effect the board when it does land, if it required less counters it'd be a different story, removing permanents is always good. I guess we should try playing around with a different variety of the deck and see how it works, let me draw up a quick decklist with some lasting power.
For a time I was playing both, then I played Cosi's Trickster instead of Kraken Hatchling, I think they both have their merits. Cosi's Trickster is highly likely to die well before you get an opportunity to make her any larger then a 2/2, which means shes a very unstable turn 1 drop against any aggresive deck, she definitely shines against control decks whom do deck searching of any kind and ramp decks. The hatchling however is a huge 1cc wall that no deck is going to be able to get around without significant investment, making it a more stable creature to play with the intention of going off on turn 3. I think Cosi's Trickster is pretty much interchangeable with the Kraken Hatchling depending on your meta. If you have a lot of aggressive fast beat down decks, you'll likely want to run the Hatchling, if you have a lot of ramp and control, Cosi's Trickster. Either way one or the other is definitely going to be playing Sideboard duty.
On a side note the more I think about it the more I like the Mimic Vat, the more I feel it has a spot in this deck, if you chump block with an augury owl while it's out you get scry 3 for the rest of the game, ensuring some craziness with the bigger artifacts, and getting you your baddies sooner. Moltentail masticore has no draw back, and Wurmcoil engine is a bastard. Question is, what do you play to take advantage of it?
Okay, I think I'm going to play an alteration of the deck that abuses some artifacts in the main deck to handle threats and create ridiculous amounts of card advantage at the same time, hopefully the threat density doesn't change too much.
The cards I want to put into the deck are Mimic Vat, Mana Leak and Ratchet Bomb. I feel all three deserve a spot and would do more good then harm in the long run by giving the deck affordable answers and recursion of card advantage through the Vat.
Here are some potentially broken card interactions.
Mimic Vat + Aether Adept = Block this, bounce that.
Mimic Vat + Sea Gate Oracle = Block this, scry 2, draw 1.
Mimic Vat + Wurmcoil Engine = LOL, talk about a screwed up interaction, you swing with your Wurmcoil Engine, they choose to take 6 or chump block/kill it with something bigger, which means their creature dies, if it was better then wurmcoil you can Mimic Vat it, if it wasn't better, you vat your Wurmcoil Engine.
Mimic Vat + Molten-Tail Masticore = No more need to discard cards from hand.
Cosi's Trickster removed from the entire list, entirely too uneffective for the goal of the deck.
Jace, The Mind Sculptor cause it's Jace and the 4 drop of this deck is a blank without him, also he helps to add draw, board stability and an alternate win condition with Aether Adept/Wurmcoil Lock via Mimic Vat as well as draw into neccesary combo pieces, Vat, Wurmcoil or Grand Architect.
I feel like there is still something missing, I think 20 blue creatures is enough to get turn 4 wurmcoil mana but I haven't tested the stability of this build yet. It does seem slower and the over all original goal of the deck has seemingly shifted into more a mid-game control oriented plan and less of an early aggressive strategy. Without 2 drop blue creatures and only 8 1 drop creatures, the god hand of a turn 3 wurmcoil is a lot less likely, but you have plenty of new ways to stall the game out til you do get some type of degenerate combo online.
Newest Variant, The First is all about Mindslaver lock with a slight proliferation subtheme. Prototype Portal can evoke an essential game lockdown with either Mindslaver or Brittle Effigy.
Went 17-1 in matches with this screwing around last night. It is solid. I came back one game from 2 days and 3 journey to nowhere's to win. This deck is solid.
Wow this list actually looks really solid, going the level up route with the Venerated Teachers is a really decent back up plan and gives you access to more aggressive early beats. Have you tested this version against Control? What about ramp? Of the 18 matches how would you say it would do against some of the older competitive decks of pre-scars rotation?
if you are playing cosi's trickster/multiple level-upers you just NEED thrummingbird. Thrummingbird + everflowing chalice is also an amazing way to accelerate into your artifacts if you don't draw architect. Oh and also thrummingbird + jace is awesomesauce
My buddy is building a b/g landfall ramp that abuses ob nixilis, and another buddy is running a version of valakuut. I really didn't have issues with either of them.
One thing that i like about going the level up route, is that the levelers i run allow me to play and level without overextending much. I don't have to play out my hand in order to create pressure, or even draw out removal like doj or bolt. This allows me to keep throwing down creatures and applying pressure after board wipes and the such.
The control matchup is actually not as one sided against us as i thought it was. i tested 12 matches against my buddies u/w plainswalker control, and went 5-7 their favor. It comes down to threats and establishing some early beats. plains walkers can be a HUGE issue if we have no answer. I'm trying to think of some way to deal with this, as this is our really only awkward match up.
I played a number of games against a few variations of white weenie/ quest for holy relic.dec, and had no big issues unless they got god hand and i had a slower start. Steel Hellkite was the mvp here, allowing me to blow up their board in one shot.
I feel the best answer available for planeswalkers is either Mindslaver (there is no need to for prototype portal shenannigans; it is gamechanging on its own), or splashing black for Creeping Tar Pit. Tar Pit forces Jace to fateseal, and keeping them off brainstorming. Plus, a black splash allows for duress, which seems more effective in this deck as it is a proactive answer to problems when compared to Mana Leak, and is cheaper. And having the knowledge of what to play around for a couple turns can be vital recon. Plus, a black splash can be as simple as 4 Creeping Tar Pits and 4 Drowned Catacombs. Also, this allows for doomblade and memoricide. A couple cards which will bolster the versatility in the 75 for a deck like this. I'd limit the number of non-blue creatres/non-artifact spells to 3-6 cards at any given time, but sometimes a single well-timed duress will win the game. Also, don't discount the power of Tar Pits. By itself it can wreck control that doesn't stock up on Techtonic Edges. IMHO, it's the best available manland post Alara.
As long as the deck maintains focused, I feel the real debate is solidifying standard blue-creature base, and the 4-7 utility spots in the deck and how to properly outfit your sideboard for the most versatility against the majority of the field.
Went 17-1 in matches with this screwing around last night. It is solid. I came back one game from 2 days and 3 journey to nowhere's to win. This deck is solid.
I'm going to proxy this version up asap, I found that the Prototype Portal/Mindslaver Lock version is just way way too jank versus most decks. Keeping this is an aggro deck seems best.
I feel the best answer available for planeswalkers is either Mindslaver (there is no need to for prototype portal shenannigans; it is gamechanging on its own), or splashing black for Creeping Tar Pit. Tar Pit forces Jace to fateseal, and keeping them off brainstorming. Plus, a black splash allows for duress, which seems more effective in this deck as it is a proactive answer to problems when compared to Mana Leak, and is cheaper. And having the knowledge of what to play around for a couple turns can be vital recon. Plus, a black splash can be as simple as 4 Creeping Tar Pits and 4 Drowned Catacombs. Also, this allows for doomblade and memoricide. A couple cards which will bolster the versatility in the 75 for a deck like this. I'd limit the number of non-blue creatres/non-artifact spells to 3-6 cards at any given time, but sometimes a single well-timed duress will win the game. Also, don't discount the power of Tar Pits. By itself it can wreck control that doesn't stock up on Techtonic Edges. IMHO, it's the best available manland post Alara.
As long as the deck maintains focused, I feel the real debate is solidifying standard blue-creature base, and the 4-7 utility spots in the deck and how to properly outfit your sideboard for the most versatility against the majority of the field.
I like mindslaver a lot actually, and will start testing it out. I agree with you also on getting down a creature base. I like my levelers a lot, but i have games where i'm holding coralhelm commander, and I really wish it was an augury owl so i can scry....Then I play games with the owl and i hate the fact its a 1/1 owl.....anyone else know what im talking about?
So I think this is going to be my second deck after poison. I'm thinking about this build. I really like having the Owl as a 2-drop, because it's just a slightly higher chance of the T3 Architect, while still being a dude to tap. I've also kicked up the Engine count to 4 because the guy just seems really, really good, and the Vats down to 3 because seeing two isn't that great. Trickster I left in the main because, well, I really don't want to play Kraken Hatchling. Besides, a lot of aggro decks will also be stuffed with fetches.
The sideboard is still a bit iffy. I thought about running a 'Thrummingboard' full of level up dudes, but it seems a bit pointless. Ratchet Bomb might be a little slow and/or counterproductive. No testing yet though! Any thoughts?
My list. Been playing for the past few days. Has the most success of my SoM lists second to My Mimic green.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
~Intelligence is Bliss; Ignorance is Denial.
Skill is an ability that relates more so to the type of deck that's built and how said player pilots it. It also relates to the ability to assess the board and use the cards available to you in the most optimal way relative to each situation.
When a deck is filled with above par cards and every play is solid, there comes a diminishing need to "think" for the lack of wanting to use a better word.
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4 Enclave Cryptologist
2 Skywatcher Adept
4 Coralhelm Commander
2 Lighthouse Chronologist
4 Grand Architect
3 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Mindslaver
Spells
3 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
4 Preordain
4 Mana Leak
2 Into the Roil
Lands
4 Tectonic Edge
18 Islands
4 Kraken Hatchling
2 Lighthouse Chronologist
4 Flashfreeze
2 Mindslaver
3 Steel Hellkite
Updated 9/30 with hot new tech and better build. This is an over-all better deck list for this archetype then anything I've presented before and should be tremendously competitive against ANY archetype of deck in the next coming meta, testing it against some popular decks that should make appearances in the coming weeks shows at least a 50/50 shot against any deck archetype with no bad match ups so long as the pilot behind the deck is competent. This deck is not noob friendly whatsoever and has so many decisions that it is staggering. Test this versus anything you can imagine and you will see the potential
Edit: 10/10/10 Over-all deck viability review, spoilers below.
Here's my head on this deck so far and pretty much every card in it, this may go a bit so forgive me for the wall of incoming text.
I'm in love, I love it when it works because it feels so damning to anyone when it does, but I still feel there is a slight consistency problem that I just can't get over. A lot of the different ways of dealing with this problem directly conflict with the way that the deck wants to work in a variety of ways, and the reason I switched my list away from the Fish version was because the best fixers tend to be spells and non-merfolk, and i didn't want to have a clash in deck design, but everytime I play a non-merfolk variety, I miss the ability to put pressure on my opponent early game to force the flow of the game in my direction while treatening a potential turn 3 wurmcoil or masticore.
Speaking of Masticore, I love him and hate him all at the same time, his draw back puts me in fits, I hate the idea of top decking all game and the way that the deck runs with him in it turns it into a top-decking machine. The reason it turns this way so often is because the way that Masticore varieties of the deck play, you want to have as many creatures as possible for use as possible flame javelins and if you play more cards for CA to keep your hand full to keep Masticore alive, you don't have enough creatures to fuel him, making his presence unneccesary. These versions of the deck work concurrently the best with early Wurmcoil Engines as well, so that's an ever-present thought in the back of my mind as well.
Wurmcoil has met and exceeded my expectations in every way and every variety of the deck, and is easily the most solid card in any list short of Jace, The Mind Sculptor. I don't think it's reasonable for any list to cut him, at all.
About the creature full varieties of the deck, I'm very on the fence, I feel these are probably the most consistent versions of the deck, but they have a lot of inherent flaws in the way they run, it's probably wise to try to run this as a creature/aggro deck with a back up plan of ultra fast artifact beat sticks, but I find that going this route seems to feel impotent, wether that's because I as a player am not comfortable playing the aggressor role, or wether I simply feel that blue is a color of control and hold back too often as a result for fear of over-extending into something I can't recover from is uncertain and something I'm trying to work around myself to play the deck better.
About my metalcraft/creature light varieties, I feel that these decks vibe better for me, as I'm more comfortable in a roll of reaction rather then action. Unfortunately I don't believe all the tools are in place yet to throw this version of the deck over the deep end in regards to usefulness/brokenness. These versions probably want to play walls in the form of Kraken Hatchling, as that's the roll that seems to be missing most from this deck that I'd love to see more of, but can't seem to find the deck space for.
With all that said, I feel these are the versions of the deck I'm settling around right now that work the best for me over-all.
First, the creature heavy build.
4 Cosi's Trickster
4 Enclave Cryptologist
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Augury Owl
4 Grand Architect
4 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Molten-Tail Masticore
4 Spell Pierce
2 Strata Scythe
3 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Lands
16 Island
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
2 Unified Will
2 Sleep
4 Aether Adept
4 Narcolepsy
2 Steel Hellkite
And this is my control build.
3 Trinket Mage
4 Grand Architect
4 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Argent Sphinx
Artifacts
3 Everflowing Chalice
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Contagion Clasp
2 Voltaic Key
2 Lux Cannon
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Chimeric Mass
4 Preordain
2 Into the Roil
3 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Lands
2 Mystifying Maze
4 Halimar Depths
16 Islands
2 Dread Statuary Sideboard
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Contagion Clasp
1 Argent Sphinx
4 Flashfreeze
4 Negate
3 Volition Reins
I'm honestly not sure which deck I like most, the control build definitely feels more natural for me but the creature build seems better over-all, especially after the sideboard hoses aggro.
10/13/10 New deck build, more of a mid-range, control/ramp deck, really does a little bit of everything, gives amazing reach and tons of options, not for those who wish to simply have their deck play for them.
4 Augury Owl
4 Grand Architect
2 Sea Gate Oracle
2 Trinket Mage
3 Molten-Tail Masticore
4 Wurmcoil Engine
Artifacts
3 Everflowing Chalice
2 Brittle Effigy
4 Preordain
3 Mana Leak
1 Stoic Rebuttal
1 Cancel
3 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
2 Into The Roil
Lands
14 Islands
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Kraken Hatchling
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Flashfreeze
4 Negate
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
Maybe you should be running counters or something as well to help urself out a bit. Someone landing a baneslayer is pretty bad for u.
I would like to see a version adding
And removing some of the weaker creatures like
and less of the artifact creatures. I'll try and come up with a list
The reason I'm not running any main deck counterspells with this particular set up is because in most of my testing, it seemed entirely unneccesary, or too late, or superfluous to the way that the deck works. The intention is to tap out or come close to tapping out every turn for the first 3 turns at minimum, most of the stuff you have in play is sorcery speed to take advantage of and usually that means you don't have much mana open during your turn. The mana you do have is typically in the form of creatures you can tap for artifact mana, if there was an artifact that allowed control during your opponents turn, it would work splendidly in this deck without diluting the decks overall strength in numbers idea. I suppose by extension that would mean Mindslaver is a very good idea to play around with in deck, possibly as a 2-3 of, as drawing 2 of them would be horrible. If we did mindslaver we'd have no need for counter power, but we'd almost require prototype portal, which I suppose would also work in this deck with most of the artifact beats we have in here.
Coralhelm Commander was one of the original creatures I considered in the deck, if there was more merfolk to take advantage of his max boost I would put him into higher consideration, but for his position in the curve at 2 mana, I'm typically trying to play something that's going to give me back breaking potential, Lighthouse Chronologist, or something that's going to let me dig for one of my neccesary creatures, either a grand architect or any of the 9 beast artifacts to put into play should I already have the architect in hand. The Coralhelm doesn't really help any of the needed early game plays for the deck, it doesn't have a particularly fat ass so it won't be much use as a wall, I'm not going to be attacking with it so it's 2 power is mostly pointless other then to trade to another beater, but I'd much rather he stay in play to power out one of the aforementioned bad-asses.
Training Grounds is a dead card on it's own, a horrible top deck and mostly useless. There is nothing I can't do with creatures tapping for 2 mana each that I can do with a training rounds in play instead of another creature tapping for 2 mana. The creatures atleast can play as road blocks til I get my act together.
I was really praying for a creature with the ability to sac/counter or something to that effect, an effect like that in this deck would make it truly back-breaking.
I haven't honestly had the chance to test Mimic Vat yet so I'm unsure if it'll actually help or not but I have a feeling it'll probably do a lot more good then harm in the long run so I guess it deserves a shot.
Riddlesmith seems ineffectual in this deck, there really aren't enough Artifacts to really abuse his looting ability, which would already be redundant with the Cryptologist. He might be more useful then the Augury Owl in the long run if the Prototype Portal gets working, but for the most part he doesn't really lend himself to early game stability like the owl would.
I love Kraken Hatchling, it's fat ass is the best thing to happen to this deck versus early game beats. Nothing makes RDW players cry like having their Goblin Guide blocked by this guy and having to blow burn on it. This isn't to say that there is probably a better card somewhere that'll increase early game stability but I haven't quite found that card yet.
Mana Leak is good, and I agree that it should have a spot in the deck somewhere but I really have noticed that it seems to be mostly useless when you actually need it, as you're already in the mid-game by the time you should have any extra mana open to cast it, typically invalidating its use to begin with.
Something you might find interesting to try is Thrummingbird. It helps your levellers and you could add in Jace, and maybe something like Lux Cannon. You end up slowing your plan down somewhat, but you gain disruption and card draw, and you can get out a Mindslaver/Portal lock.
4 Kraken Hatchling
4 Enclave Cryptologist
4 Augury Owl
4 Lighthouse Chronologist
4 Aether Adept
4 Grand Architect
3 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Moltentail Masticore
3 Mindslaver
4 Prototype Portal
Lands (23)
4 Halimar Depths
19 Islands
On a side note the more I think about it the more I like the Mimic Vat, the more I feel it has a spot in this deck, if you chump block with an augury owl while it's out you get scry 3 for the rest of the game, ensuring some craziness with the bigger artifacts, and getting you your baddies sooner. Moltentail masticore has no draw back, and Wurmcoil engine is a bastard. Question is, what do you play to take advantage of it?
4 Tectonic Edge
3 Mystifying Maze
17 Island
Cogs
4 Everflowing Chalice
1 Chimeric Mass
1 Brittle Effigy
4 Vedalken Certarch
4 Enclave Cryptologist
4 Thrummingbird
4 Grand Architect
3 Trinket Mage
3 Sword of Body and Mind
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Moltentail Masticore
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
The cards I want to put into the deck are Mimic Vat, Mana Leak and Ratchet Bomb. I feel all three deserve a spot and would do more good then harm in the long run by giving the deck affordable answers and recursion of card advantage through the Vat.
4 Kraken Hatchling
4 Enclave Crytologist
4 Sea Gate Oracle
4 Aether Adept
4 Grand Architect
3 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Molten-Tail Masticore
4 Mimic Vat
Spells (7)
3 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
4 Mana Leak
Lands (23)
20 Island
3 Mystifying Maze
4 Lighthouse Chronologist
4 Ratchet Bomb
2 Steel Hellkite
2 Jace Beleren
3 Stoic Rebuttal
Here are some potentially broken card interactions.
Mimic Vat + Aether Adept = Block this, bounce that.
Mimic Vat + Sea Gate Oracle = Block this, scry 2, draw 1.
Mimic Vat + Wurmcoil Engine = LOL, talk about a screwed up interaction, you swing with your Wurmcoil Engine, they choose to take 6 or chump block/kill it with something bigger, which means their creature dies, if it was better then wurmcoil you can Mimic Vat it, if it wasn't better, you vat your Wurmcoil Engine.
Mimic Vat + Molten-Tail Masticore = No more need to discard cards from hand.
Some of my changes.
Lighthouse Chronologist moved to the Sideboard, only effective in the control matchup.
Cosi's Trickster removed from the entire list, entirely too uneffective for the goal of the deck.
Jace, The Mind Sculptor cause it's Jace and the 4 drop of this deck is a blank without him, also he helps to add draw, board stability and an alternate win condition with Aether Adept/Wurmcoil Lock via Mimic Vat as well as draw into neccesary combo pieces, Vat, Wurmcoil or Grand Architect.
I feel like there is still something missing, I think 20 blue creatures is enough to get turn 4 wurmcoil mana but I haven't tested the stability of this build yet. It does seem slower and the over all original goal of the deck has seemingly shifted into more a mid-game control oriented plan and less of an early aggressive strategy. Without 2 drop blue creatures and only 8 1 drop creatures, the god hand of a turn 3 wurmcoil is a lot less likely, but you have plenty of new ways to stall the game out til you do get some type of degenerate combo online.
4 Enclave Cryptologist
4 Thrummingbird
4 Trinket Mage
4 Grand Architect
Artifacts (11)
3 Mindslaver
4 Prototype Portal
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Chimeric Mass
2 Brittle Effigy
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
4 Mana Leak
4 Preordain
Lands (23)
23 Island
4 Molten-Tail Masticore
4 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Lighthouse Chronologist
3 Steady Progress
This decklist is an aggro variant.
4 Enclave Cryptologist
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Renegade Doppleganger
4 Trinket Mage
4 Grand Architect
4 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Chimeric Mass
2 Brittle Effigy
Spells (10)
4 Preordain
4 Mana Leak
2 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
22 Island
4 Cosi's Trickster
4 Kraken Hatchling
4 Lighthouse Chronologist
3 Molten-Tail Masticore
24 Island
Creatures
3 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Grand Architect
4 Skywatcher Adept
3 Molten-Tail Masticore
3 Steel Hellkite
4 AEther Adept
4 Coralhelm Commander
4 Venerated Teacher
3 Lighthouse Chronologist
4 Enclave Cryptologist
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
4 Spreading Seas
3 Narcolepsy
4 Kraken Hatchling
3 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Went 17-1 in matches with this screwing around last night. It is solid. I came back one game from 2 days and 3 journey to nowhere's to win. This deck is solid.
3 Seachrome Coast
3 Glacial Fortress
2 Celestial Colonnade
2 Halimar Depths
3 Tectonic Edge
4 Mana Leak
4 Journey to Nowhere
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Augury Owl
3 Coralhelm Commander
3 AEther Adept
4 Grand Architect
4 Molten-Tail Masticore
4 Lodestone Golem
3 Steel Hellkite
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Negate
3 Spreading Seas
3 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
3 Revoke Existence
Balance of aggro, control and tempo cards.
My buddy is building a b/g landfall ramp that abuses ob nixilis, and another buddy is running a version of valakuut. I really didn't have issues with either of them.
One thing that i like about going the level up route, is that the levelers i run allow me to play and level without overextending much. I don't have to play out my hand in order to create pressure, or even draw out removal like doj or bolt. This allows me to keep throwing down creatures and applying pressure after board wipes and the such.
The control matchup is actually not as one sided against us as i thought it was. i tested 12 matches against my buddies u/w plainswalker control, and went 5-7 their favor. It comes down to threats and establishing some early beats. plains walkers can be a HUGE issue if we have no answer. I'm trying to think of some way to deal with this, as this is our really only awkward match up.
I played a number of games against a few variations of white weenie/ quest for holy relic.dec, and had no big issues unless they got god hand and i had a slower start. Steel Hellkite was the mvp here, allowing me to blow up their board in one shot.
As long as the deck maintains focused, I feel the real debate is solidifying standard blue-creature base, and the 4-7 utility spots in the deck and how to properly outfit your sideboard for the most versatility against the majority of the field.
I'm going to proxy this version up asap, I found that the Prototype Portal/Mindslaver Lock version is just way way too jank versus most decks. Keeping this is an aggro deck seems best.
I like mindslaver a lot actually, and will start testing it out. I agree with you also on getting down a creature base. I like my levelers a lot, but i have games where i'm holding coralhelm commander, and I really wish it was an augury owl so i can scry....Then I play games with the owl and i hate the fact its a 1/1 owl.....anyone else know what im talking about?
The sideboard is still a bit iffy. I thought about running a 'Thrummingboard' full of level up dudes, but it seems a bit pointless. Ratchet Bomb might be a little slow and/or counterproductive. No testing yet though! Any thoughts?
4 Cosi's Trickster
4 Enclave Crytologist
4 Augury Owl
3 Æther Adept
4 Grand Architect
4 Wurmcoil Engine
3 Molten-Tail Masticore
3 Mimic Vat
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
Instants and Sorceries (4)
4 Mana Leak
Lands (23)
19 Island
4 Tectonic Edge
3 Ratchet Bomb
3 Steel Hellkite
3 Sleep
3 Flashfreeze
3 Lighthouse Chronologist
04 Dread Statuary
13 Island
04 Halimar Depths
03 Mystifying Maze
Creatures
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Argent Sphinx
3 Steel Hellkite
3 Precursor Golem
4 Grand Architect
4 Vedalken Certarch
2 Dreamstone Hedron
3 Distortion Strike
3 Brittle Effigy
2 Mox Opal
4 Everflowing Chalice
1 Brittle Effigy
3 Tectonic Edge
4 Dispel
3 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
4 Stoic Rebuttal
My list. Been playing for the past few days. Has the most success of my SoM lists second to My Mimic green.
Skill is an ability that relates more so to the type of deck that's built and how said player pilots it. It also relates to the ability to assess the board and use the cards available to you in the most optimal way relative to each situation.
When a deck is filled with above par cards and every play is solid, there comes a diminishing need to "think" for the lack of wanting to use a better word.