While this is no Blue Moon deck it does play very similar to it, A lot of the lines are the same when you are playing against many different standard decks.
This should serve as an introduction to playing a more budget friendly version of control. If casting Teferi and Karn are not what you want to be doing (I don't know why you wouldn't want to be doing that) then this may be the control deck for you.
There have been several Jeskai Decks that also utilize the same strategy that this deck is employing but it also uses the previously mentioned cards like Teferi and Cast out. This Version is strictly for the UR Variant. If you would like to see the Jeskai Versions I can link those in later post.
Card Choices
Red card Choices
A semi quick clock that can be tough to deal with but also helps you slow down the opponents board. Pretty good removal as you dont really use your energy for anything else really This is great for all the Scrap Heap Scroungers that are around Versatile removal that has a lot of utility in several different matchups Not where you want to be unless you want to play a more counter burn strategy See Lighting Strike This Card does lots of different things it board wipes both creatures and walkers which isn't a bad thing as it can sometimes catch you back up from being behind. What else can I say for this card other than what it says for itself. Does almost everything a control deck wants to do.
Blue Cards that do the heavy lifting
This is going to be the primary win condition of the deck as it helps you “turn the corner” and win the game. Well this is basically a mainstay in all control decks lately even in modern. If you don't have this card it isn't the end of the world Great Counter that helps counter activated abilities like stopping Planeswalker Ultimates and just a good counter spell. Draws Cards, Scrys, Gains Energy,Pitches to Force of Will, Basically does everything you want.
Land Choices
Amazing dual land that we have access to. Unfortunately late game it is a bad draw. Again another great dual we can play only turn it is really bad is turn one unless you haven't played a mountain or island first. Budget option for some players also some decklist will play this because they just want more dual lands. Probably one of the more awkward lands in the entire deck. Yes it is a dual land for you but because energy can come up a little short in the early game it can work against you. When this card was first spoiled I didn't think it would show up as much as it has but it has proved to be a great card for multiple reasons. This card is just a utility land that does extra things like feed Azcanta to get it to flip or get rid of an opponents Approach that you know is coming up. A budget replacement for Search for Azcanta.
Possible inclusions
This card has personally given me an alternate win condition in case something happens to your gearhulks.
I havnt tested this yet but i do like the utility that she offers with the Loot ability
Pretty good against control as it lets you keep a full grip without having to discard to hand size and can protect itself because of your larger handsize.
Another card I personally havn't tested but it can get out of hand very quickly.
If you own this fella I see no reason not to play him. He does a lot of things very well. I can't give any new insight that hasn't been said already about this card.
I am torn on this one as it stops you from playing Planeswalkers if you choose to play this card but it does help against many other decks.
Blood Sun This card however can hurt your own utility lands so it is not recommended. However if you arnt running any of the utility lands it will help quite a bit in the control mirror. Thaumatic Compass Once it flips into a Maze of Ith it ends up helping you out a lot. Treasure map It allows early scry for yourself and then can draw cards with treasures later not really what the deck is looking for. Azor's Gateway This card is interesting for sure as there are a lot of different casting cost in the deck to make use of it. But the Mana it provides will probably go wasted. Whirler Virtuoso This card can be useful as it gives you an outlet for your energy that you normally don't have. Chandra, Torch of Defiance While the most powerful Chandra ever printed she doesn't play well with counters. I would not recommend this card for this deck. Sorcerous Spyglass This one is great if Scrap-Heap Scrounger and Heart of Kiran are large in abundance in your area you will want a few of these in your sideboard. Dynavolt Tower I really like this card however, my meta is overloaded with red decks so there are a lot of Abrades. If your area doesn't have them I would say try this out. Deep Freeze Very interesting card. I havn't tried it out personally. Aether Meltdown This card has Flash and give you Energy. Most of the threats lately are 4 power or less so this card shuts those down quite well. By Force Mass artifact removal, Not much else to say about it. Jace's Defeat Counter blue Spells and upside against Jace but no one is really playing Jace. Best thing is that it is a 2 mana Counter for Teferi. Chandra's Defeat Deals with Chandra's that are all over the place. Also deals with large Red creatures quite well. Saheeli Rai I haven't tested this yet but it could do well with being able to let you scry every turn it can also copy your value creatures like Siege-Gang Commander and Whirler Virtuoso. Blink of an Eye This card gives you a way to deal with problem permanents, plus it draws a card. In Bolas's Clutches This is a Pet card of mine that i have liked to run lately it is great in dealing with Walkers or large creatures.
Thanks for your interest I havn't had a chance lately to update but here is my most recent list. This Was what I played at GP Pitt and went 5-3 on day 1 My losses were UB Midrange and 2 RB decks. The only one that 2-0'd me was UB. The 2 RB decks basically came down to me mullinging to 5 in game 3
I've been testing this deck in MTG Arena with good results.
Still working on the SB, and need to find a place for Search for Azcanta Karn's Temporal Sundering has great synergy with Planeswalkers and The Mirari Conjecture, which allows you to deal 20 points of damage in one blow with Fight with Fire. The MVP card is definitely Temporal Sundering. It gives Chandra and Jaya Ballard the possibility to become great finishers.
Magic. Yes, I know you think you know what it is, and how it works. You don´t. You're an ignorant fool, just like all the others.(...)
- by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun
I personally stay away from Chandra in any deck that plays counterspells. I do agree that Search can replace mirari in almost every instance. Gearhulks have been very good everytime i play it and like d90 said you want to maximize the instants that you can. Temporal sundering was in my list for a short while but i quickly cut it because it was underwhelming most of the time.
I will disagree that Jaya is not a good planeswalker as my experiences with her have been good. Very rarely does she not help do what i want.
I have a feeling we will want Magma spray even more so with zombies coming back. With the rise of that deck we will want it a lot.
Though your deck does show a lot of promise. If i owned Karns i would probably play them in my list as well.
I have to disagree with Jaya Ballard being a weak PW. It allows you to cast Temporal Sundering and still have 3 mana for counter. It also helps with casting Fight with Fire. Same idea can be applied with Chandra.
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Magic. Yes, I know you think you know what it is, and how it works. You don´t. You're an ignorant fool, just like all the others.(...)
- by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun
I saw the set up, I just personally am not a fan of it. It is too many pieces for me honestly. But if it works for you that is awesome. If we are all able to work on the deck to make it more viable then i am happy about that.
While Dynavolt tower is great and a pet card of mine, With Red being such a huge part of the meta Abrade is everywhere which makes it harder to play in this meta.
true, but it's such a low casting cost, it's probably easy to protect. personally, i'm ok fighting over Tower. If you're spending their mana on Abrade, that's 2 mana they aren't spending on damage to my face (in the form of creatures or burn).
While i agree with that eating a dmg spell, they are probably already going to have a board presence and you will not. So killing your only gas (tower) will prolly end you.
I also feel that jaya is a bad PW. She only helps if you are already doing ok. I'd rather have shaheli if you really want another walker.
Do you side int he locust god or just play him? i think hes fine against control but way to slow against the rest of the pack
I think that Tezzeret can be really good in the deck and fill a similar role to Teferi in UW.
He can protect himself and generates card advantage while having high loyalty.
He doesn't even need other artifacts to support him but works nicely with Karn (and Treasure Map) and Torrential Gearhulk as the artifacts in the deck.
Another decent build around card is Metallurgic Summonings but it is hard to justify tapping out for a 5-mana enchantment.
I have yet to try out a artifact heavy build of the deck yet so i havnt tried Karn,Metallurgic summoning has been okay for me but not great.
While you say Jaya is bad walker, you havnt played with her. She seems worse on the surface then what she is actually doing for you. Filtwring your draws is huge. Or when i have been able to play her make mana and then play sweltering suns the same turn has been great.
Saheeli is out of the board for my current list and she does a lot of work for me.
As for the Locust God, I did play him originally over the Baral in my deck. But with the vast amounts of Chainwhirler i was seeing i took him out of the deck. When you play against the green decks and the non-chainwhirler decks he is great though.
I think that Tezzeret can be really good in the deck and fill a similar role to Teferi in UW.
He can protect himself and generates card advantage while having high loyalty.
He doesn't even need other artifacts to support him but works nicely with Karn (and Treasure Map) and Torrential Gearhulk as the artifacts in the deck.
Tezzeret is far from being a good PW IN THIS DECK (I think he is great in an artefact deck). Although he works nicely with Karn, it's a dead card in your hand. Sorry, but Teferi is way better and more powerful than Tezzeret. In my particular list, Jaya Ballard is a shining star, it helps casting Karn's Temporal Sundering, Glimmer of Genius, Sweltering Suns, Abrade, Fight with Fire and still have mana for counterspell. Her second ability is great when you need to dig for a risponse or for a finishing card. Finally , her ulti is just game. I wouldn't discard her that fast. Give her the chance to prove her worth. A card is not usually good on its own, It just needs a good set up.
Magic. Yes, I know you think you know what it is, and how it works. You don´t. You're an ignorant fool, just like all the others.(...)
- by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun
I'd much rather draw cards with Tezzeret than loot with Jaya and I don't value the ramp ability particularly highly as it is highly situational and requires multiple relevant spells in hand to be good. Jaya not protecting herself is problematic as well while Tezzeret can make thopters which also power up the card draw ability later
(and make Karn tokens bigger).
It is just a far better PW in control imho regardless of the rest of the deck and doesn't need to be in a dedicated artifacts' deck to be good.
Karn's Temporal Sundering is a win-more card and isn't something I'd play in a control deck anyway.
A better expensive spell imho would be something like Pull from Tomorrow.
I've been piloting RU Control for a while now (even got second place at my store championship with it). I actually think one of the best aspects about it is you can play a complete Superfriends build without any creatures. I can't tell you how many times I've won just because my opponent kept drawing dead cards.
Jaya Ballard is the glue planeswalker of the deck. It allows you to churn through your deck to find a card you need, it has psuedo protection since you can add mana on the turn you play it to play Sweltering Suns or Abrade, and I've never lost a game I've ultimated her.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance is your best win condition. On the other hand it doesn't protect itself as well as in other decks because of that. Negativing her to kill something just takes too long to build her back up.
Tezzeret, Artifice Master is similar to Jaya Ballard in that while he can win you the game he is more of a glue card. Still he protects himself well with Thopter tokens and his ultimate can be game winning if you aren't too far behind. Thinking of possibly doing a two-two split with him and Jaya, but need to find someone willing to trade me for a second one...
Sarkhan, Fireblood (or Sarkhan, Feuerblut since it is a card that demands to be played in German) is good against midrange, bad against aggro, amazing against control. Get it down on turn 3 against control, especially on the play, and it is just so hard for them to answer before you ultimate for the win. Plus the rummage effect is amazing in the control mirror. Thinking of putting another in the sideboard for the control match-up (possibly replacing a Naturalize or Banefire). Unfortunately my other Sarkhan, Fireblood is not German.
In Bolas's Clutches is just an amazing card. It is basically removal for anything, oh, and you also get a copy of your opponents best card. Plus it turns on Karn's Temporal Sundering. The only decks I've found it lacking against is Storm and White Weenie.
Karn's Temporal Sundering is the card that, in my opinion, makes UR superfriends superior to UR with Torrential Gearhulk or some other win condition. The way to think about this card is to think of it as saying "Return target non-land permanent to its owner's hand. You may use your Planeswalker's abilities again." I've had games where I play a planeswalker, protect it for one turn, untap, and am chain free turns together so that I am ultimating it before my opponent can get another turn, while also removing their board.
Nexus of Fate is basically Karn's Temporal Sundering number 5. A neat trick that you can do with it is play it on your opponent's turn instead of your's so you can play a planeswalker on the next turn and then have a free turn after that if you won't have enough mana to protect it if you play the planeswalker on your turn. Also nice since it isn't a legendary sorcery.
Haze of Pollen is why I am splashing green since it costs only two mana to basically protect your planeswalkers for a turn. A lot of times it let's you play a planeswalker when you otherwise couldn't due to an opponent's board state. Plus I've sometimes gotten to straight up countered an opponent's combat tricks and pumping mana into a creature to pump it. While it has been good, especially against Green Stompy and White Weenie, I do go back and forth on whether or not the splash is worth it. Currently I am still leaning towards yes since it also give you naturalize in the sideboard for UW Control, Esper Control, and Sarkhan's Unsealing decks.
Syncopate is better than Disallow. The ability to counter anything on turn 2 and the fact it exiles the spell is worth a lot more than being able to counter abilities.
I've found Anticipate to be better than Hieroglyphic Illumination since this deck prefers card selection over pure card advantage (hence why it loves rummage effects) or Glimmer of Genius since it can be played on turn two to dig for lands if need be.
Doublecast is a card I am testing out. So far it's been good when I've cast it since it allows me to double up a removal spell if needed or usually a Karn's Temporal Sundering. Still want to live the dream and win via a doubled up kicked Fight with Fire.
Thanks for the addition, Im not sold on the Sarkhan personally i think o would rather it be something else like a banefire, i also feel the same about doublecast. But it if it works for you awesome.
I have been meaning to try out antcipate just havnt pulled the trigger because i dont own foils of it yet. I Will agree that you want card selection over card advantage for sure.
I cant get behind not having dissallows though. Even though i do like the syncopates.
Thanks for the addition, Im not sold on the Sarkhan personally i think o would rather it be something else like a banefire, i also feel the same about doublecast. But it if it works for you awesome.
I have been meaning to try out antcipate just havnt pulled the trigger because i dont own foils of it yet. I Will agree that you want card selection over card advantage for sure.
I cant get behind not having dissallows though. Even though i do like the syncopates.
I do have 3 Banefire currently in the board for control. But you aren't winning with just one Banefire, while you can with one Sarkhan, Fireblood. I would strongly suggest at least trying it vs. control as it is a card that is hard to realize just how strong it is in the match-up until you get it down and watch it go to town.
After thinking about it some more I think the reason the one doublecast works in the deck is when it is good it is back breaking and when it is not you can rummage it away easily enough that it just doesn't stick in your hand. Still I am planning on seeing if I can think of anything else in that slot I would like better.
At first I was hesitant on syncopate over disallow as well, but I've found it to be a much better counter vs. any aggro, zombie, or scrapheap deck. Exiling a scrapheap scrounger on turn two is a huge loss since it get rid of their best form of card advantage. Even exiling a random creature hurts them since it means it is one less time they can recur scrapheap. Against pure control disallow is better, but nowhere near enough for me to think about swapping the two.
I have been testing a UR Nexus list (no green) for my own primer and I am VERY surprised at the strength of this one. Found this primer for UR Control, and I think there might be some merit in swapping some tech with each other. With nexus, you don't need much protection versus aggro to be able to set up and just go off. Just some Idea Food.
This deck initiates massive boosts in tempo as soon as Jaya hits the board. She can immediately pump herself for Sweltering Suns, and enables Nexus of Fate the very next turn (if she survives). Once you ultimate Jaya, she is virtually a win condition, giving you ridiculous options with her emblem. Sunbird's Invocation allows for some sick board and hand building when you aren't just using it to chain Timewalks. And, every once in awhile, revealing Sweltering Suns on the back of a Manalith or Supreme Will - just closes games by itself.
I think if we can shore this list up to be versus early aggro without the fog ... its pretty solid.
Aezuriel I have been looking at making a UR Nexus deck as well. Instead of Karns ive been using Chandra, Torch of Defiance. I do like the idea of Manalith however with the amount of Abrades that people are making those less viable. I do feel like you are on to something. However i feel like Sunbird's invocation is more a Win more card. And I feel those should probably just be Banefires.
While this is no Blue Moon deck it does play very similar to it, A lot of the lines are the same when you are playing against many different standard decks.
This should serve as an introduction to playing a more budget friendly version of control. If casting Teferi and Karn are not what you want to be doing
(I don't know why you wouldn't want to be doing that)then this may be the control deck for you.There have been several Jeskai Decks that also utilize the same strategy that this deck is employing but it also uses the previously mentioned cards like Teferi and Cast out. This Version is strictly for the UR Variant. If you would like to see the Jeskai Versions I can link those in later post.
Red card Choices
A semi quick clock that can be tough to deal with but also helps you slow down the opponents board.
Pretty good removal as you dont really use your energy for anything else really
This is great for all the Scrap Heap Scroungers that are around
Versatile removal that has a lot of utility in several different matchups
Not where you want to be unless you want to play a more counter burn strategy
See Lighting Strike
This Card does lots of different things it board wipes both creatures and walkers which isn't a bad thing as it can sometimes catch you back up from being behind.
What else can I say for this card other than what it says for itself. Does almost everything a control deck wants to do.
Blue Cards that do the heavy lifting
This is going to be the primary win condition of the deck as it helps you “turn the corner” and win the game.
Well this is basically a mainstay in all control decks lately even in modern. If you don't have this card it isn't the end of the world
Great Counter that helps counter activated abilities like stopping Planeswalker Ultimates and just a good counter spell.
Draws Cards, Scrys, Gains Energy,
Pitches to Force of Will, Basically does everything you want.Land Choices
Amazing dual land that we have access to. Unfortunately late game it is a bad draw.
Again another great dual we can play only turn it is really bad is turn one unless you haven't played a mountain or island first.
Budget option for some players also some decklist will play this because they just want more dual lands.
Probably one of the more awkward lands in the entire deck. Yes it is a dual land for you but because energy can come up a little short in the early game it can work against you.
When this card was first spoiled I didn't think it would show up as much as it has but it has proved to be a great card for multiple reasons.
This card is just a utility land that does extra things like feed Azcanta to get it to flip or get rid of an opponents Approach that you know is coming up.
A budget replacement for Search for Azcanta.
Possible inclusions
This card has personally given me an alternate win condition in case something happens to your gearhulks.
I havnt tested this yet but i do like the utility that she offers with the Loot ability
Pretty good against control as it lets you keep a full grip without having to discard to hand size and can protect itself because of your larger handsize.
Another card I personally havn't tested but it can get out of hand very quickly.
If you own this fella I see no reason not to play him. He does a lot of things very well. I can't give any new insight that hasn't been said already about this card.
I am torn on this one as it stops you from playing Planeswalkers if you choose to play this card but it does help against many other decks.
2 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Torrential Gearhulk
Spells(28)
2 Abrade
3 Blink of an Eye
1 Commit/Memory
3 Disallow
2 Essence Scatter
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Magma Spray
1 Supreme Will
4 Sweltering Suns
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Aether Hub
3 Field of Ruin
2 Ipnu Rivulet
4 Island
5 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Abrade
1 Commit/Memory
2 Deep Freeze
1 Disallow
1 Hour of Devastation
2 Magma Spray
4 Negate
2 Vizier of Many Faces
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Spells(31)
2 Abrade
2 Commit/Memory
4 Disallow
4 Essence Scatter
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Magma Spray
1 Supreme Will
2 Sweltering Suns
2 Metallurgic Summonings
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Aether Hub
3 Field of Ruin
4 Highland Lake
7 Island
4 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Abrade
1 Chandra's Defeat
1 Jace's Defeat
4 Negate
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
2 Vizier of Many Faces
4 Whirler Virtuoso
Blood Sun This card however can hurt your own utility lands so it is not recommended. However if you arnt running any of the utility lands it will help quite a bit in the control mirror.
Thaumatic Compass Once it flips into a Maze of Ith it ends up helping you out a lot.
Treasure map It allows early scry for yourself and then can draw cards with treasures later not really what the deck is looking for.
Azor's Gateway This card is interesting for sure as there are a lot of different casting cost in the deck to make use of it. But the Mana it provides will probably go wasted.
Whirler Virtuoso This card can be useful as it gives you an outlet for your energy that you normally don't have.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance While the most powerful Chandra ever printed she doesn't play well with counters. I would not recommend this card for this deck.
Sorcerous Spyglass This one is great if Scrap-Heap Scrounger and Heart of Kiran are large in abundance in your area you will want a few of these in your sideboard.
Dynavolt Tower I really like this card however, my meta is overloaded with red decks so there are a lot of Abrades. If your area doesn't have them I would say try this out.
Deep Freeze Very interesting card. I havn't tried it out personally.
Aether Meltdown This card has Flash and give you Energy. Most of the threats lately are 4 power or less so this card shuts those down quite well.
By Force Mass artifact removal, Not much else to say about it.
Jace's Defeat Counter blue Spells and upside against Jace but no one is really playing Jace. Best thing is that it is a 2 mana Counter for Teferi.
Chandra's Defeat Deals with Chandra's that are all over the place. Also deals with large Red creatures quite well.
Saheeli Rai I haven't tested this yet but it could do well with being able to let you scry every turn it can also copy your value creatures like Siege-Gang Commander and Whirler Virtuoso.
Blink of an Eye This card gives you a way to deal with problem permanents, plus it draws a card.
In Bolas's Clutches This is a Pet card of mine that i have liked to run lately it is great in dealing with Walkers or large creatures.
How does your last Blue red control decklist looks like. Was interested in playing control, but something diferent.
2 Baral, Chief of Compliance
3 Torrential Gearhulk
Planeswalkers (1)
1 Jaya Ballard
Spells (26)
3 Magma Spray
3 Abrade
2 Essence Scatter
4 Harnessed Lightning
1 Negate
4 Disallow
1 Fight with Fire
2 Sweltering Suns
4 Glimmer of Genius
2 Hour of Devastation
2 Search for Azcanta
Lands (26)
4 Aether Hub
1 Arch of Orazca
2 Field of Ruin
1 Ipnu Rivulet
6 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Chandra's Defeat
2 Negate
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Dynavolt Tower
2 Saheeli Rai
1 Metallurgic Summonings
2 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Combustible Gearhulk
1 Commit // Memory
Still working on the SB, and need to find a place for Search for Azcanta
Karn's Temporal Sundering has great synergy with Planeswalkers and The Mirari Conjecture, which allows you to deal 20 points of damage in one blow with Fight with Fire. The MVP card is definitely Temporal Sundering. It gives Chandra and Jaya Ballard the possibility to become great finishers.
2 Torrential Gearhulk
Spells (24)
4 Disallow
3 Essence Scatter
2 Fight with Fire
4 Glimmer of Genius
4 Abrade
2 Sweltering Suns
2 Karn's Temporal Sundering
3 The Mirari Conjecture
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
2 Jaya Ballard
Lands (26)
4 Aether Hub
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Field of Ruin
4 Spirebluff Canal
6 Mountain
8 Island
3 Negate
4 Magma Spray
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
1 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Karn's Temporal Sundering
2 Hour of Devastation
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
- by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun
I'd also go with the new Tezzeret over Jaya which is a weak PW.
Karn's Temporal Sundering is powerful but is only good once you're ahead, I'd probably prefer some more interaction
(Commit // Memory/Blink of an Eye/Supreme Will) or card draw (Hieroglyphic Illumination) instead.
A couple more Gearhulks wouldn't be too bad either.
To maximize Torrential you should probably have more instants in the deck over sorceries so Fight can be Struggle // Survive or Harnessed Lightning.
I will disagree that Jaya is not a good planeswalker as my experiences with her have been good. Very rarely does she not help do what i want.
I have a feeling we will want Magma spray even more so with zombies coming back. With the rise of that deck we will want it a lot.
Though your deck does show a lot of promise. If i owned Karns i would probably play them in my list as well.
Karn's Temporal Sundering allows you to set up the scenario for Fight with Fire 20 points of damage with The Mirari Conjecture or Chandra, Torch of Defiance's ultimate or even Jaya Ballard's ultimate.
I'll consider cuting 1 Mirari Conjecture and 1 Chandra in order to make space for 2 Search for Azcanta
I have to disagree with Jaya Ballard being a weak PW. It allows you to cast Temporal Sundering and still have 3 mana for counter. It also helps with casting Fight with Fire. Same idea can be applied with Chandra.
- by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun
I also feel that jaya is a bad PW. She only helps if you are already doing ok. I'd rather have shaheli if you really want another walker.
Do you side int he locust god or just play him? i think hes fine against control but way to slow against the rest of the pack
He can protect himself and generates card advantage while having high loyalty.
He doesn't even need other artifacts to support him but works nicely with Karn (and Treasure Map) and Torrential Gearhulk as the artifacts in the deck.
Another decent build around card is Metallurgic Summonings but it is hard to justify tapping out for a 5-mana enchantment.
While you say Jaya is bad walker, you havnt played with her. She seems worse on the surface then what she is actually doing for you. Filtwring your draws is huge. Or when i have been able to play her make mana and then play sweltering suns the same turn has been great.
Saheeli is out of the board for my current list and she does a lot of work for me.
As for the Locust God, I did play him originally over the Baral in my deck. But with the vast amounts of Chainwhirler i was seeing i took him out of the deck. When you play against the green decks and the non-chainwhirler decks he is great though.
Tezzeret is far from being a good PW IN THIS DECK (I think he is great in an artefact deck). Although he works nicely with Karn, it's a dead card in your hand. Sorry, but Teferi is way better and more powerful than Tezzeret. In my particular list, Jaya Ballard is a shining star, it helps casting Karn's Temporal Sundering, Glimmer of Genius, Sweltering Suns, Abrade, Fight with Fire and still have mana for counterspell. Her second ability is great when you need to dig for a risponse or for a finishing card. Finally , her ulti is just game. I wouldn't discard her that fast. Give her the chance to prove her worth. A card is not usually good on its own, It just needs a good set up.
- by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun
Jaya not protecting herself is problematic as well while Tezzeret can make thopters which also power up the card draw ability later
(and make Karn tokens bigger).
It is just a far better PW in control imho regardless of the rest of the deck and doesn't need to be in a dedicated artifacts' deck to be good.
Karn's Temporal Sundering is a win-more card and isn't something I'd play in a control deck anyway.
A better expensive spell imho would be something like Pull from Tomorrow.
Here is the list I am currently using.
6 Mountain
5 Island
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Hinterland Harbor
3 Sheltered Thicket
2 Highland Lake
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Field of Ruin
Planeswalkers 7
3 Jaya Ballard
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Tezzeret, Artifice Master
1 Sarkhan, Fireblood
4 Syncopate
4 Anticipate
3 Abrade
2 Haze of Pollen
1 Nexus of Fate
Sorceries 10
4 Karn's Temporal Sundering
3 Sweltering Suns
2 Fight with Fire
1 Doublecast
Enchantments 3
2 In Bolas's Clutches
1 Search for Azcanta
4 Negate
3 Naturalize
3 Banefire
2 Magma Spray
2 Haze of Pollen
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
A few notes.
I have been meaning to try out antcipate just havnt pulled the trigger because i dont own foils of it yet. I Will agree that you want card selection over card advantage for sure.
I cant get behind not having dissallows though. Even though i do like the syncopates.
I do have 3 Banefire currently in the board for control. But you aren't winning with just one Banefire, while you can with one Sarkhan, Fireblood. I would strongly suggest at least trying it vs. control as it is a card that is hard to realize just how strong it is in the match-up until you get it down and watch it go to town.
After thinking about it some more I think the reason the one doublecast works in the deck is when it is good it is back breaking and when it is not you can rummage it away easily enough that it just doesn't stick in your hand. Still I am planning on seeing if I can think of anything else in that slot I would like better.
At first I was hesitant on syncopate over disallow as well, but I've found it to be a much better counter vs. any aggro, zombie, or scrapheap deck. Exiling a scrapheap scrounger on turn two is a huge loss since it get rid of their best form of card advantage. Even exiling a random creature hurts them since it means it is one less time they can recur scrapheap. Against pure control disallow is better, but nowhere near enough for me to think about swapping the two.
4x Nexus of Fate
4x Jaya Ballard
2x Karn, Scion of Urza
Ramp
4x Sailor of Means
4x Manalith
4x Anticipate
2x Supreme Will
2x Chart a Course
2x Search for Azcanta
Board Control
4x Sweltering Suns
2x Sunbird's Invocation
1x The Mirari Conjecture
Land
4x Aether Hub
8x Island
7x Mountain
2x Spirebluff Canal
4x Sulfur Falls
This deck initiates massive boosts in tempo as soon as Jaya hits the board. She can immediately pump herself for Sweltering Suns, and enables Nexus of Fate the very next turn (if she survives). Once you ultimate Jaya, she is virtually a win condition, giving you ridiculous options with her emblem. Sunbird's Invocation allows for some sick board and hand building when you aren't just using it to chain Timewalks. And, every once in awhile, revealing Sweltering Suns on the back of a Manalith or Supreme Will - just closes games by itself.
I think if we can shore this list up to be versus early aggro without the fog ... its pretty solid.