Lodestone Golem is a non-bo with all of your non-artifact blue creatures: Glint-Nest Crane, Chief Engineer, Grand Architect
I've been coming close to the lists floating in this thread as a budget challenge, but here lately I've dipped into a deck idea that is very much non-budget. Has excellent matchups across the board save for Jund and Grixis where I feel like K.Comm is just a house. Will probably jam this at GP Dallas if I can manage to borrow the missing pieces:
Welcome! I like some of the observations. One thing I would recommend is adding a turn one play to your deck, preferably a blue 1-drop that provides some sort of value like Sage of Epityr or Mausoleum Wanderer. Also if you are concerned about wrath effects, Hangarback Walker and Filigree Familiar are considerable solutions.
I find Lodestone Golem to be the secretly "broken" card in the deck. I have an easier time around him by playing Aether Vial. His taxing ability is severely underestimated imho.
I'll keep this deck idea thread in mind moving forward. I've been working on finding ways to get big artifact bombs into play while not getting annihilated by aggro and have started looking towards some historic options.
Against aggro, Basilisk Collar is a good piece of equipment.
@Badabing, yea if you really want to make Architect and the combo work in this deck you'd have to run something like Heartless Summoning to make your tokens 1/1s.
But I do like the synergies in your second list..I'd recommend just dropping Thopter Foundry and replacing it with a 1-drop blue flier like Faerie Miscreant, Cloudfin Raptor, Wingcrafter or even Judge's Familiar. I've found that when it comes to combat, I win sometimes because I have so many flier my opponents cant block. Also, Sword of the Meek triggers off them aswell.
I may give Glint-Nest Crane another shot, but feel I need to dedicate the list more to make him super valuable. I feel like he can be the "Stoneforge Mystic" of the deck if we fill it with more equipment.
I like that the list consists of resilient artifacts such as Filigree Familiar and Hangarback Walker. What do you guys think of a Bridge-less list that abuses Smuggler's Copter and Scrapheap Scrounger. Instead of Bridge, you can run removal and more Damnation like sweepers. The creatures would all be "resilient" to sweepers and non-path like removal. In combination with the Thopter-Sword Combo...
Tried the Crane and wiffed more than I'd like, definitely feels like it belongs in a more aggressive list than mine..
Also tried Copter and not completely in love with it..when you have two or few cards in hand it can be awkward. Sometimes I decided to just not draw off its trigger to not lose a card I wanted to pay after combat. Its good if you draw extra lands that you may not need...
@Ace, as much as I'd love to run Vedalken Certarch, I feel he interferes too much with Grand Architect and Chief Engineer's ability to help us power out artifacts since you have to tap him. Mausoleum Wanderer has been exceptional as a beater and as disruption. That would give you 12 creatures that have to be blocked by fliers.
I'd also cut atleast two Etherium Sculptor and run some sort of equipment instead. Sword of Light and Shadow in particular...Crane can easily help you find and carry them as Badabing mentioned.
Yea Crane is good since it can hit artifacts with cmc between 1 and 6.
I think adding Darksteel Citadel to a list with Crane is good since it can effectively get you a land option aswell.
@Badabing, I could definitely see adding more equipment and having Crane find/wear them.
Glint-Nest Crane has really impressed me. I started out with 3 and immediately added the 4th. So far whenever I had it in my starting hand, I completely wrecked my opponent. The fact that it adds mana and gives you something to do with the mana seems to make the deck far more consistent and even more tempo-oriented. Some of the draws I've had with it has just been ridicules.
I don't know if you guys have tried it out, but if not you should give it a shot and tell me what you think.
I really want the card the work, but I don't know what to take out. My list is just so tight. I think it would have to take the place of Trinket Mage and Treasure Mage.
I agree, when I played this deck heavily, my hardest matches were against Stony Silence controlish decks and Tron.
One artifact that I don't see in sideboards here is Crucible of Worlds. The card is good against control and Tron when you recur lands like Ghost Quarter and Tectonic Edge. It also doesn't fall to Stony Silence.
I think Sword of Light and Shadow is better since if gives protection from the colors with the best removal in the format...especially from Path to Exile.
It provides recursion and also serves as a mini Batterskull by providing life gain.
@Badabing, list is looking pretty good.
Although, I am a strong advocate of Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, I would only recommend playing one maindeck since its legendary.
Also, like you pointed out, its not always optimal.
Not surprised by the latter two but still. Do you guys think that the prices will go down once the online pre-release is over (greater supply and all)?
streetMage: glad that Flagship pulls its weight. I can't wait to try it out.
Yea I pre-ordered all of those for my paper deck when they were about a third of those prices. I'm surprised Familiar and Smuggler's Copter are so expensive on mtgo and paper...makes me wonder if we aren't looking at Smuggler's Copter close enough..
Did some goldfishing with Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, seems good so far.
Should be able to test in a few days against other decks.
Trying to find room for atleast one Filigree Familiar in the main...
I find Lodestone Golem to be the secretly "broken" card in the deck. I have an easier time around him by playing Aether Vial. His taxing ability is severely underestimated imho.
But I do like the synergies in your second list..I'd recommend just dropping Thopter Foundry and replacing it with a 1-drop blue flier like Faerie Miscreant, Cloudfin Raptor, Wingcrafter or even Judge's Familiar. I've found that when it comes to combat, I win sometimes because I have so many flier my opponents cant block. Also, Sword of the Meek triggers off them aswell.
I may give Glint-Nest Crane another shot, but feel I need to dedicate the list more to make him super valuable. I feel like he can be the "Stoneforge Mystic" of the deck if we fill it with more equipment.
The closest you get to Ancient Tomb in Modern is Eldrazi Temple...and its specific to Eldrazi spells.
Something like:
Creature Core
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Filigree Familiar
4 Hangarback Walker
4 Glint-Nest Crane
Tezz -1 would be used alot more and can even animate the Copter.
Also tried Copter and not completely in love with it..when you have two or few cards in hand it can be awkward. Sometimes I decided to just not draw off its trigger to not lose a card I wanted to pay after combat. Its good if you draw extra lands that you may not need...
Again, I think Glint-Nest Crane and Smuggler's Copter would do awesome in a list with Disciple of Deceit and Scrapheap Scrounger. Possibly even Scarecrone.
I'd also cut atleast two Etherium Sculptor and run some sort of equipment instead. Sword of Light and Shadow in particular...Crane can easily help you find and carry them as Badabing mentioned.
I think adding Darksteel Citadel to a list with Crane is good since it can effectively get you a land option aswell.
@Badabing, I could definitely see adding more equipment and having Crane find/wear them.
On equipment, what do you guy think of cards like Mask of Memory, Mask of Riddles and Skeleton Key to help draw cards? We are a combat deck...
I do like the fact that it flies..
One artifact that I don't see in sideboards here is Crucible of Worlds. The card is good against control and Tron when you recur lands like Ghost Quarter and Tectonic Edge. It also doesn't fall to Stony Silence.
Another good anti Stony Silence/control card is Thopter Spy Network.
It provides recursion and also serves as a mini Batterskull by providing life gain.
Edit: Also, I feel Verdurous Gearhulk is great with Hangarback Walker, Mindless Automaton, Triskelion and Arcbound Ravager.
Although, I am a strong advocate of Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, I would only recommend playing one maindeck since its legendary.
Also, like you pointed out, its not always optimal.
I know you are trying UW, but Disciple of Deceit and Scrapheap Scrounger look like they may synergize really well with Smuggler's Copter.
Another card that has been stellar for me is Sword of Light and Shadow, I think the card is a must in any version of this deck.
Should be able to test in a few days against other decks.
Trying to find room for atleast one Filigree Familiar in the main...