Why Glimmer over Engineer? From my testing its been UU draw 3 more often than not. And occasionally it can be turn 2 draw 3 into whir for reservoir turn 3...just silly IMO
I've been testing both actually. Glimmer has helped with Aether Hub activations, as well as being able to be cast by Baral's Expertise, and Recast by Torrential Gearhulk. With a Statuary down it also represents a U scry2draw2 instead of UU draw3. Since we really want to hit things to cast with our draw spells, scry2draw2 can often feel better than draw3.
Inspiring Statuary: Causes your combo turn to be fast and require less 0-cost cards to go off with. Often makes your draw spells cost just U to cast. Not unusual to play 2-3 big spells in the same turn.
Baral's Expertise: Can be used offensively (picking up 0-cost cards) or defensively (Bouncing opponents creatures). The fact that it then casts Reservoir/Statuary/Glimmer/Outcome/Crane for free is icing on the cake.
Sram, Senior Edificer: Lets our 0-drops replace themselves. Insane if on the field after a paradoxical outcome. Not sure if 4 is right, but he has felt good everytime he's been in play.
Whir of Invention: Whoa, now this is the money card. Searches up Reservoir and Statuary at instant speed for UUU. Can in a pinch even search up a 2nd paradoxical outcome in the form of Torrential Gearhulk (though X=6 is a lot).
The build around cards: 11Metalwork Colossus: This is a 10/10 beater (albeit vanilla) but it has two insane abilities. The first is super-affinity where it's cost can be massively reduced by your artifacts. The second is recursion, pulling this card back from the graveyard is expensive, but can be done at a cost of more expensive casting, however as you build up lands the discount will become less necessary anyways. This ability can also be used at instant speed to discount the cost as you can sacrifice an otherwise already dying artifact creature, even saving them from exile effects.
4RRCombustible Gearhulk: 6/6 First Strike is already a respectable body for 6 mana, but its ETB is pure value. A punisher mechanic is always worse than a known etb, but both modes are great. 3 cards is a lot of gas, but the more commonly picked mode is the damage, which in this deck can add up quite fast. Being able to either draw cards or pick off a planeswalker will often see opponents pick the draw 3 mode as well.
The Engine: 4Hedron Archive: Ramp, card draw, counts as 6 for a single Colossus, but gives even more mana if you cast multiple in a turn. Also plays many of our 2-cost artifacts the turn you play it.
2Key to the City: Turns on the Grafstone's and offers card filtering, but the main attraction of this card is to make our 10/10 or 6/6 beaters unblockable. With the face damage early from an unaware opponent, it doesnt take many hits to kill at these powers.
Hanweir Battlements: Hasted 10/10. Which was potentially ressurected end-step and costs almost no mana to play.
The Surpise: 13Emrakul, the Promised End Surprisingly castable between 8 and 9 cost with an easily obtainable 4-6 types in the graveyard (land, instant, sorcery, creature, artifact, planeswalker in the deck). But also a possible ultimate target from Nahiri, the Harbinger.
Gearhulk Damage Math:
Average CMC of deck is 2.55, therefore an average gearhulk will deal ~7.5 damage. However with the ability of Perpetual Timepiece to stack the deck in your favor, it can often average a higher potential. This can kill an unsuspecting foe from 20 life. (Just either hit 2 of the big 10+ dudes, or 1 of them and a few of the 6's and 4's)
I'm loving the Temur version of the deck so far, although it feels a bit weak to eldrazi ramp strategies, since world breaker and ulamog can exile our enchantments. Any ideas on some good sideboard options for those types of opponents?
I'm running the Temur list from the first post with 2 rattlechains instead of 2 hangarbacks, though I'm not sure whether hangarback would be better or not.
Sure, I could see a situation where that's the correct play. But would you want to run a card that costs three mana and just mills you for two? Probably not, right? I mean wouldn't you rather just run Pore Over the Pages or something, and then you get to say "I want these cards in my hand and these in my graveyard, and my opponent doesn't get to decide or see what's in my hand," doesn't that seem better?
It's more versatile but less cost-efficient than Augury. And Constructed is all about cost-efficiency.
It's X+1 cards for UX, so to mill two cards would only cost you two mana not three. In decks that want cards to hit the graveyard, I see this being great at any value of X.
Collected Company isn't very good. We WANT 4 chords since its the best card in the deck, the only elves i want to hit with company are shaman and dwynen's elite, finding a dork isnt useful, and having access to removal spells and obelisk seem better than running more 3 or less elves. Also Dwynen herself, and Sylvan Messenger two of your better elves are 4 drops and therefore not co-co friendly.
My thoughts so far: Chord of Calling has been the best card in the deck hands down. Shaman -> Chord for Shaman is usually the killing play. Woodland Bellower almost always searches for Shaman, although sometimes reclamation sage is a good use of him too. Nissa has flipped once for me, although she does strike fear in the opponent often eating removal early. Winnower hasn't come up much to be honest, a third messenger might be better. I like when i get obelisk, but I almost always side out a copy.
How is Draconic Roar conditional? When in the early game do you want to strike the face? It's instant speed 3 damage to target creature, but has a great chance of also doing 3 damage to the face at the same time. So you lose out on the relatively low number of times you are top decking to a strike to the face, but is that really a good enough place to be in the first place?
I've been testing both actually. Glimmer has helped with Aether Hub activations, as well as being able to be cast by Baral's Expertise, and Recast by Torrential Gearhulk. With a Statuary down it also represents a U scry2draw2 instead of UU draw3. Since we really want to hit things to cast with our draw spells, scry2draw2 can often feel better than draw3.
4x Aether Hub
10x Island
4x Port Town
4x Prairie Stream
Creatures
4x Glint-Nest Crane
4x Sram, Senior Edificer
1x Torrential Gearhulk
3x Metallic Rebuke
4x Paradoxical Outcome
3x Glimmer of Genius
2x Baral's Expertise
4x Whir of Invention
4x Bone Saw
4x Cathar's Shield
3x Inspiring Statuary
2x Aetherflux Reservoir
AER Cards I've really liked so far:
Inspiring Statuary: Causes your combo turn to be fast and require less 0-cost cards to go off with. Often makes your draw spells cost just U to cast. Not unusual to play 2-3 big spells in the same turn.
Baral's Expertise: Can be used offensively (picking up 0-cost cards) or defensively (Bouncing opponents creatures). The fact that it then casts Reservoir/Statuary/Glimmer/Outcome/Crane for free is icing on the cake.
Metallic Rebuke: U mana leak
Sram, Senior Edificer: Lets our 0-drops replace themselves. Insane if on the field after a paradoxical outcome. Not sure if 4 is right, but he has felt good everytime he's been in play.
Whir of Invention: Whoa, now this is the money card. Searches up Reservoir and Statuary at instant speed for UUU. Can in a pinch even search up a 2nd paradoxical outcome in the form of Torrential Gearhulk (though X=6 is a lot).
4 Combustible Gearhulk
4 Metalwork Colossus
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
Artifacts
4 Corrupted Grafstone
2 Perpetual Timepiece
2 Prophetic Prism
2 Key to the City
4 Hedron Archive
Spells
4 Tormenting Voice
2 Chandra, Flamecaller
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Plains
6 Mountain
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Needle Spires
2 Aether Hub
2 Hanweir Battlements
2 Inventors' Fair
4 Radiant Flames
2 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
3 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Refurbish
2 Descend upon the Sinful
2 Declaration in Stone
The build around cards:
11 Metalwork Colossus: This is a 10/10 beater (albeit vanilla) but it has two insane abilities. The first is super-affinity where it's cost can be massively reduced by your artifacts. The second is recursion, pulling this card back from the graveyard is expensive, but can be done at a cost of more expensive casting, however as you build up lands the discount will become less necessary anyways. This ability can also be used at instant speed to discount the cost as you can sacrifice an otherwise already dying artifact creature, even saving them from exile effects.
4RR Combustible Gearhulk: 6/6 First Strike is already a respectable body for 6 mana, but its ETB is pure value. A punisher mechanic is always worse than a known etb, but both modes are great. 3 cards is a lot of gas, but the more commonly picked mode is the damage, which in this deck can add up quite fast. Being able to either draw cards or pick off a planeswalker will often see opponents pick the draw 3 mode as well.
The Engine:
4 Hedron Archive: Ramp, card draw, counts as 6 for a single Colossus, but gives even more mana if you cast multiple in a turn. Also plays many of our 2-cost artifacts the turn you play it.
2 Corrupted Grafstone: Ramp, turned on by our Tormenting Voices and Perpetual Timepieces, counts as 3 to a single Colossus.
2 Key to the City: Turns on the Grafstone's and offers card filtering, but the main attraction of this card is to make our 10/10 or 6/6 beaters unblockable. With the face damage early from an unaware opponent, it doesnt take many hits to kill at these powers.
Hanweir Battlements: Hasted 10/10. Which was potentially ressurected end-step and costs almost no mana to play.
The Surpise:
13 Emrakul, the Promised End Surprisingly castable between 8 and 9 cost with an easily obtainable 4-6 types in the graveyard (land, instant, sorcery, creature, artifact, planeswalker in the deck). But also a possible ultimate target from Nahiri, the Harbinger.
Gearhulk Damage Math:
Average CMC of deck is 2.55, therefore an average gearhulk will deal ~7.5 damage. However with the ability of Perpetual Timepiece to stack the deck in your favor, it can often average a higher potential. This can kill an unsuspecting foe from 20 life. (Just either hit 2 of the big 10+ dudes, or 1 of them and a few of the 6's and 4's)
I'm running the Temur list from the first post with 2 rattlechains instead of 2 hangarbacks, though I'm not sure whether hangarback would be better or not.
My current ideas on a sideboard are:
2 Clip Wings
3 Graf Mole
3 Negate
3 Radiant Flames
3 Root Out
1 Reclusive Artificer
It's X+1 cards for UX, so to mill two cards would only cost you two mana not three. In decks that want cards to hit the graveyard, I see this being great at any value of X.
Collected Company isn't very good. We WANT 4 chords since its the best card in the deck, the only elves i want to hit with company are shaman and dwynen's elite, finding a dork isnt useful, and having access to removal spells and obelisk seem better than running more 3 or less elves. Also Dwynen herself, and Sylvan Messenger two of your better elves are 4 drops and therefore not co-co friendly.
This is what i ran with:
6 Forest
4 Llanowar Wastes
3 Mana Confluence
3 Swamp
4 Temple of Malady
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Creatures
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Gnarlroot Trapper
4 Dwynen's Elite
4 Elvish Visionary
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
4 Shaman of the Pack
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen
2 Sylvan Messenger
1 Gilt-Leaf Winnower
1 Woodland Bellower
2 Ultimate Price
4 Chord of Calling
1 Hero's Downfall
3 Obelisk of Urd
2 Bile Blight
1 Garruk, Apex Predator
3 Hornet Nest
1 Hunt the Hunter
3 Nylea's Disciple
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Roaring Primadox
3 Thoughtseize
My thoughts so far: Chord of Calling has been the best card in the deck hands down. Shaman -> Chord for Shaman is usually the killing play. Woodland Bellower almost always searches for Shaman, although sometimes reclamation sage is a good use of him too. Nissa has flipped once for me, although she does strike fear in the opponent often eating removal early. Winnower hasn't come up much to be honest, a third messenger might be better. I like when i get obelisk, but I almost always side out a copy.