What do you guys think about Mana Seism? I found this whilst randomly browsing Gatherer.
I think I might test it out, as it seems like the best ritual for this deck. It not only sets us ahead on mana in the early part of the combo turn, but likely generates larger volumes of mana later on in the combo turn, due to us Ghost Quartering ourselves. In addition to this, it "resets" as many lands as we could want, which is one of the reasons I tried out Edge of Autumn to begin with.
I'm not great with the rules, but from what I read online (and if that's correct), sacrificing Elsewhere Flask would cause your Ghost Quarters and fetchlands to not be able to thin your deck any longer. Instead they now tap for a certain colour. I don't see the great benefit here, as thinning your deck seems more important to me. I've fizzled due to drawing too many lands before and cracking an Elsewhere Flask in the first or second loop would increase that probability. Guild Globe on the other hands needs you to have 2 floating mana to activate it, which you basically always have from Lotus Blooms, Mox Opals or Ghost Quartering yourself. It seems trivial to have floating mana and doesn't turn off your Ghost Quarters, so win-win? I don't know if I'm missing anything or the rules I read are incorrect.
I think you’re making a slight mistake, because I made the same one when discussing Flask in the Discord chat the best moment to sacrifice the Ghost Quarter and / or Fetchlands is BEFORE you draw any cards from your Eggs, to thin out the deck as well as shuffling cards that may have been Conjurer’s Bauble’d. Because of this, you won’t have any of those lands be affected by the sacrifice effect of Flask; they’ll all be in your graveyard.
Ah I see! I didn't think of the timing. To follow it with another rules question (hopefully somebody knows the answer to this): Do lands that enter the battlefield after a Elswhere Flask has been cracked still have tekst, or are they basic lands? So, do lands "not seen" during the crack also become basics or not?
Edge of Autumn has been great for me. "Resetting" (=sacrificing) tapped lands and drawing a card is the best! I've occasionally also cast the card (yeah you can do that ) through Mox Opal or Waterlogged Grove when I tested the card. As I play very few lands it actually helped me get to 3-4 lands by turn 4 quite often. I really think Edge of Autumn is good in this deck.
That’s very interesting. I’ll admit that stretching out to Green with our manabase is a worry for me, but I’ll definitely need to try it to see how it goes.
I tried a small green splash in the manabase to be able to cast Edge of Autumn and Noxious Revival if I wanted to, but ultimately dropped it. I didn't need to cast the cards most of the time (Edge of Autumn can be cycled for free and Noxious Revival can be cast for free) and the splash was a bit awkward at times. Especially with Mystic Sanctuary now, I'm thinking about only running basic islands to make sure Mystic Sanctuary is always live. Even though I have a small white and black splash, there's so much colour fixing in the deck that I think we should be fine.
I’m on 2 sanctuary. I don’t want it to come into play tapped on 1 I want to be playing my eggs then. I upped fetches to get it out of the deck when I need it.
I was afraid of the same problems when I originally put my list together, but found that I can often just play the Eggs on later turns, especially since I only need 2 to actually combo off. As well as that I noted that in the original Cifka Eggs list, Cifka himself has moments where he held back on cracking fetchlands and playing out his Eggs just to get that slight additional advantage when combo’ing off. It’s small things, but they all add up when it comes to going off with this deck
I had the same fear as you guys, but if more copies are the solution, I might as well try as I haven't tested it yet! Ordered the 4 copies, now waiting for them to arrive to figure out if 4 copies are indeed the way to go.
Nottuh why are you passing on elsewhere flask? It still fixes mana and is simply better than guild globe. Flask even lets your fetchlands tap for mana.
I'm not great with the rules, but from what I read online (and if that's correct), sacrificing Elsewhere Flask would cause your Ghost Quarters and fetchlands to not be able to thin your deck any longer. Instead they now tap for a certain colour. I don't see the great benefit here, as thinning your deck seems more important to me. I've fizzled due to drawing too many lands before and cracking an Elsewhere Flask in the first or second loop would increase that probability. Guild Globe on the other hands needs you to have 2 floating mana to activate it, which you basically always have from Lotus Blooms, Mox Opals or Ghost Quartering yourself. It seems trivial to have floating mana and doesn't turn off your Ghost Quarters, so win-win? I don't know if I'm missing anything or the rules I read are incorrect.
Ghost Quarter on the combo turn easily allows you to go infinite. Edge of Autumn helps you gain additional Mystic Sanctuary triggers as well.
Dammit, I was hoping no one else would see that infinite for a lil bit Edge of Autumn is cool actually , tell us how you go with it.
Edge of Autumn has been great for me. "Resetting" (=sacrificing) tapped lands and drawing a card is the best! I've occasionally also cast the card (yeah you can do that ) through Mox Opal or Waterlogged Grove when I tested the card. As I play very few lands it actually helped me get to 3-4 lands by turn 4 quite often. I really think Edge of Autumn is good in this deck.
I don't think we want 4 copies as you don't want to see it in your hand (likely to enter the battlefield tapped), but 1 or 2 seems sweet.
I originally started on 2 for similar reasons, but kept uping the number to 4 because the risk was low and the opportunity was VERY high. A single Faith’s Reward + Fetchland = 5 loops (as long as a Mystic Sanctuary isn’t in your hand) and in my opinion that is very, very good for us :3
Ladies and gentlemen, we may yet have another chance to shine.
Nice find! I agree with Lord Nahkiin and Snookumz that this seems a strong card for the deck. I don't think we want 4 copies as you don't want to see it in your hand (likely to enter the battlefield tapped), but 1 or 2 seems sweet.
Here is my take on the eggs deck with Mystic Sanctuary.
I prefer Bolas's Citadel to Pyrite Spellbomb as it not only is a finisher, but also a combo extender. This should become more the case now that the Golden Eggs provide lifegain. Scheming Symmetry is basically a Vampiric Tutor the turn you go off. Never been a fan of Whir of Invention. It doesn't feel like the correct card for the deck. Tapping your eggs for Whir is a huge nonbo, unless you have a good sacrifice outlet such as the banned Krark-Clan Ironworks.
I have also been thinking about using cards that allow for a different win condition, such as Ipnu Rivulet for milling an opponent out. Anyways, looking forward to testing Mystic Sanctuary and what the best numbers are.
I'm doubtful Brought Back can be used, as it (sadly!) brings the permanents onto the battlefield tapped. If your deck runs cards like Elsewhere Flask or Ichor Wellspring then I guess you can try it? I'm personally more interested in Scheming Symmetry as a way to get Reshape's or Faith's Rewards when going off.
If Arcum's Astrolabe had to sacrifice itself when fixing mana it would have been so much better, but as it stands it's decent if you have a sacrifice engine. It also fixes your mana when comboing with Faith's Reward, which could be useful when you want cast Bolas's Citadel, so I guess it's strictly better than Terrarion.
So, War of the Spark has given us another card for the deck.
Guild Globe (Common)
2
Artifact
2,T: Sacrifice Guild Globe: Add two mana of different colors.
I think this card is great and am eager to test it out. It functions similar to Chromatic Sphere and Chromatic Star, hence my excitement. While the requirement that it can only produce different colors and that it's CMC is 2 instead of 1 are certainly drawbacks, this is basically what we want I think. More cycling and mana filtering eggs. To me the card seems to be an upgrade over Terrarion, because it draws upon entering the battlefield and it doesn't enter the battlfield tapped, so it can be reused after casting a Faith's Reward. I also think it's better than Ichor Wellspring, as it is able to cycle and get itself into the graveyard.
My first thought is to replace the Ichor Wellsprings with Guild Globes. Overal, very excited with the card.
Tap the citidal and do 10? Faith’s reward and do it again it’s an engine itself. It shouldn’t be shrugged off
I thought cards like Grapeshot or Aetherflux Reservoir would be necessary, but as you pointed out, just using the ability of Bolas's Citadel should be the quickest way to victory. I thought about it abit more and I'm starting to believe it might have a place in the deck. Up until now my wincons were Pyrite Spellbomb and Grinding Station, but Bolas's Citadel could replace Pyrite Spellbomb as wincon. While it doesn't come down early and can't be cast easily, Bolas's Citadel does win the game quickly when it's in play and can draw multiple cards which is very nice. The main thing it has going against is ofcourse getting it into play. It should be possible to cast with Reshapes and Lotus Blooms, but getting it back into play through Open the Vaults is probably going to be the easiest way.
Grinding Station would be the way to get Bolas's Citadel into the graveyard. And seeing as we'd be milling ourselves anyway, Locket of Yesterdays could be useful for getting reducing the MCM of all cards. Perhaps a deck like this might work, but it'd need some testing.
Are people not going crazy over Bolas Citidal for eggs? I think it could be a new inclusion.
I can't see how Bolas's Citadel would fit the deck, mainly because I don't understand how the deck would win. In Eggs you normally win by looping Pyrite Spellbomb or by milling your opponent out with Grinding Station. Bolas's Citadel would likely require Grapeshot or Aetherflux Reservoir, both of which don't further the main stratgey of Eggs of looping our low CMC artifacts. There's already a thread up discussing the deck implications of Bolas's Citadel. For the moment I'm sceptical about the possiblities of the card in Eggs. If you have an idea, perhaps you could elaborate a bit more on how you think the card might fit?
On a completely other note, I'm hoping that we'll get the original eggs cycle (Skycloud Egg) printed into modern with Modern Horizons, or some other 1 CMC cycling and mana fixing artifact. Though I don't think it's likely to happen.
So for a while now I've been playing a Grixis Goryo's Vengeance deck and have enjoyed it a lot, but I've noticed that the deck has a sort of indentity ciris. I've tried to adjust for this in my own brew, but haven't been able to get to a smooth list. For reference, here's what I would consider a stock list of the deck: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1045017#paper.
The main problem I see with the deck list is that it can't decide if it wants to go for a Goryo's Vengeance or a Through the Breach plan. As Goryo's Vengeance is the card with the lower CMC it's obious you'd prefer to use that card over Through the Breach, but these strategies don't mesh that well.
The other problem is the deck's power level. Cheating an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play is often quite good, but also more difficult than Griselbrand. And Griseldaddy doesn't automatically let you win the game.
The solution to this would be to simply play Grishoalbrand, right? Well, you'd be correct to say that, as the deck is certainly quite powerful. But for me it's too much of a glass cannon. I'd like something more consistent.
The idea I've come up with is the fusion of 2 decks: Grixis Goryo's Vengeance and Grixis Death's Shadow. Instead of going full-on combo, I though a more midrange-y approach might work for the deck. I believe that out of all Grixis decks Death's Shadow has had the most success, so that's why I went for it. Grixis control was also a consideration though. For reference, this is what I'd consider a stock Grixis Death's Shadow list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-grixis-death-s-shadow-46465#paper.
I'll continue here to explain some of the card choises. As we're playing Death's Shadow we need to include enough ways to lose life. Therefore I opted to copy the entire manabase and add the usual cards of a Grixis Death's Shadow deck such as: Thoughtseize, Street Wraith and Dismember. A bonus here is that Griselbrand might also enable us to play Death's Shadow! Stubborn Denial is here for the usual protection, Thought Scour for card drawing and to fill up the graveyard and Fatal Push for removal. Getting this part of the deck and jamming in 4x Griselbrands and 4x Goryo's Vengeance was the easy part.
The part of the deck I'm less sure of is the creature suite and the discard outlets. Apart from the aforementioned creatures I decided to add 2x Gurmag Anglers, 1x Snapcaster Mage and 2x Lazav, the Multifarious to the deck.
Whilst casting the big zombie fish requires us to eat our graveyard, I do believe it's correct to add this to the list, as the deck would otherwise be light on threats when a Griselbrand would get stuck in our hand. And from watching coverage Grixis Death's Shadow can reaally durdle around when it can't find it's threats. So that was another reason for upping the amount of big threats is the deck.
Snapcaster Mage was copied form the Grixis Death's Shadow list too, as it is an extra copy of any spell you've already cast, making it a very useful card.
Lazav, the Multifarious is a complete wild card. The reason for adding the card is because it might surveil a Griselbrand into the graveyard and later in the game it can become a Death's Shadow, provided that there's one in the graveyard. That said, I think the card might be a bit underpowered and perhaps the second (or both) copy/copies should be another Gurmag Angler, Snapcaster Mage or perhaps another card altogether.
As for discard outlets, it's: Faithless Looting, Chart a Course and Lightning Axe. Excluding other ways to get a Griselbrand into the graveyard, such as Thought Scour and Lazav, I have only 5 cards (excluding flashback Faithless Looting) to "get rid" of a Griselbrand from my hand, which feels kinda low. Faithless Looting is strong card for this job, but as it's card filtering and we only want to bin Griselbrand, I'm wary of upping the count. Apart from these cards I've also considered Collective Brutality and Funeral Charm (you can target yourself), but I don't think it's what the deck needs.
Lastly, I'd like to talk about Mausoleum Secrets. I think the card really shines in a deck like this. It can fetch basically anything you need for the low, low cost of 2 mana and 1-2 creatures in your graveyard, which shouldn't be that difficult if you don't delve them away with Gurmag. It also means that we could adjust our sideboard for this, as black cards can be found easier. Cards such as Surgical Extraction, Rakdos Charm, Unmoored Ego or Kolghan's Command can now be found easier.
Now, because this is a brew I have no idea if this deck would work at all. That's why I'd appreciate any feedback on the deck. The creatures and discard outlets are the points I'm especially wary of, but if there are some other glaring issues or perfect fits for the deck, let me know.
Do you guys think Eyes Everywhere has potential, or is this card just too slow?
In the W/U build of the deck, I thought it could replace Monastery Siege. It doesn't give protection against counter spells, but it can (temporarily) get rid of problematic permanents.
The reason pyrite is preferred is because in a pure combo deck like Eggs typically is, it incorporates a win condition without having to make the combo more clumsy, smoothly incorporating itself without being caught in your hand or feeling clunky, like a fireball-style win condition or Emrakul. The biggest reason people would play Banefire or Emrakul is because Pyrite is hard to win with on Magic Online.
It's true that a win-condition such as Pyrite Spellbomb is less clunky than Aetherflux Reservoir. The bonus of potentially picking of a creature and allowing for a draw probably means it really is the wincon of the deck. Trying to use special cards is often not the best way to go. I think I needed a reminder of that.
user 24144553 - 2 responses to what you said in your arguments.
1. Although Whir does not net mana like reshape, mid combo it essentially reads 0: add a lotus to your graveyard.
2. Although the artifact intereacting lands are interesting, not being able to thin your deck more with GQ could hurt wiff percentages in the combo.
My responses:
1. I think having 4 Reshape's is sufficient for the tutoring of Lotus Bloom's. Given the fact that you need run 4 copies of the card and that we draw a lot of cards during the combo, I feel that running 4 tutors (and Reshapes at that) are more than fine, seeing as these Lotus Blooms are the only artifacts we always want to target with the tutoring cards (right?). Having more Reshape-like effects is nice (potentially very good) in the deck, but in my opinion just not necessary. I'd like to fill the main deck with as many cantrippin' artifacts as possible. The bottom line is, I don't like Whir in this deck and for the reasons I stated in my previous post, I prefer Reshape. I could be wrong.
2. True, I should (and will) increase the amount of basic lands.
I think your and Lord Nahkiin's deck is an intersting concept and I'd like to hear how the deck is running.
Binning artifacts through Faithless Looting and Grinding Station and getting them back seems a clever and new way to go about the deck. That said however, I'm wondering how consistently you can get to the (minimum) required 6 mana for Open the Vaults and Roar of Reclamation by turn 4-ish? The problem I think I see is that we can't durdle infinitely. There are a lot of fast decks out there, so a rule I set myself is trying to build the deck to (more-or-less) reliably go off by turn 4. And given the focus on this of the deck to use "bin and revive" the artifacts, I just don't think it's that reliable. You would need to have a turn-1 Lotus all the time right?
I think Mind Stone might help? It doesn't give a free draw, but it does ramp and can give a draw. Anyways, cool spin on the deck.
I don't like having to find room for a sac outlet that doesn't do much, sure, you'll potentially have infinite 1/1s and infinite life but unless you have your Academy Ruins in play already you can't attack with them without drawing out. I think that if you want to go the sac outlet route in order to run Ichor Wellspring or Terrarion, that Grinding Station is better. Now if there was a haste source or a way to not draw out, then it would be a maindeck backup win.
I would definitely recommend running fetches or basics over those non-basics, makes the combo cleaner.
I think in a lot of ways you are playing with very powerful effects but I'm in favor of running as few cards outside the direct combo as possible and you seem to have a lot.
Tezzeret the Seeker is a neat way to think of interaction with Faith's Reward, but because it cost 3UU we can't play it until we are already comboing where as the other tutors can help with setup.
Completely agree with most things you pointed out here. Out of all utility lands, I've always used Inventor's Fair. To my recollection, it has served me quite well, so I'm inclined to keep using that one. But the others will go.
Lasty, an updated decklist, based on the feedback/things I read in the thread (getting rid of Tezzeret the Seeker might be too hart-breaking for me to do)
For our looping spells Faith's Reward and Open the Vaults, I've always liked having 7 of them in my deck. I think going up to 8 is certainly a viable choice too, but I don't know if I would go lower. We need to see enough of these cards to combo off.
I've always prefered Reshape over Whir of Invention for several reasons. For starters, Reshape actually nets mana when tutoring for Lotus Bloom. Whir of Invention's triple blue casting cost has often felt quite steep and as a result I started playing it less and less. Now I've even decided not to run the card. The main advantage of Whir over Reshape was that it could get high CMC artifacts cheaper (through the improvise mechanic). The thing is, what would you want to tutor for? We used to have Krark-Clan Ironworks but since that got banned and there aren't any other essential high CMC artifacts I feel Whir has lost most if it's appeal. Reshape has the additional benefit of being an sacrifice outlet!
I also decided to run Ichor Wellspring over Elsewhere Flask, because of the 2 draws you can get out of the card. That means we'd also need to run more main deck sacrifice outlets, besides Reshape. I opted to go with Phyrexia's Core and Thopter Foundry. Thopter is a permanent, on-colour sacrifice outlet and Phyrexia's Core is a kinda permanent sac outlet (needs to tap). Between those 3 cards I've felt I had enough sacrifice outlets.
For the lands, Phyrexia's Core, Inventor's Fair and Academy Ruins used to be 4 Darksteel Citadels when KCI was still legal. Now the Citadels have lost all (?) of their value, so I'm trying something new. The Inventor's Fair and Academy Ruins could probably be extra islands, though I don't think I've particularly needed them.
Tezzeret the Seeker and Sword of the Meek are probably the 2 worst cards in my current list. I've just critiqued Whir, so it's only fair I'd also do that for Tezzeret. It's a steep initial mana cost and only really shines in combination with Faith's Reward. I think he might be a win-more card, but I'm still unsure. He can be a repeatable tutor, with a less intensive blue casting cost. That's why he's in. Sword of the Meek is here, simply as a potential back up plan. We can tutor it up if we feel like it. But it does stone cold nothing with the combo, which feels really bad. One of these 2 cards (or another card?) should proably be my 4th copy of Conjurer's Bauble. I had forgotten how good that card is in this deck...
I've got a weird split between Mox Opal and Mind Stone, because I'm unsure how many copies each card deserve. I'd like to have as much mana by turn 4 as possible (to reliably go off), but once I have enough mana and got the loop somewhat going, card drawing typically becomes the important factor. And that's where I prefer Mind Stone over Mox Opal.
Lastly, I use Aetherflux Reservoir as my win-con. I've don't think I've ever really understood why people prefer Pyrite Spellbomb. It can remove a creature and can draw a card, but Aetherflux kills a lot quicker and can very quickly gain a lot of life. Is Pyrite Spellbomb really that good (convince me )?
Anyways, time to wrap this up. Whilst the ban of KCI is unfortunate (though probably deserved), these are exciting times to start deckbuilding again, so we can get eggs back up to a competitive level.
I think I might test it out, as it seems like the best ritual for this deck. It not only sets us ahead on mana in the early part of the combo turn, but likely generates larger volumes of mana later on in the combo turn, due to us Ghost Quartering ourselves. In addition to this, it "resets" as many lands as we could want, which is one of the reasons I tried out Edge of Autumn to begin with.
Ah I see! I didn't think of the timing. To follow it with another rules question (hopefully somebody knows the answer to this): Do lands that enter the battlefield after a Elswhere Flask has been cracked still have tekst, or are they basic lands? So, do lands "not seen" during the crack also become basics or not?
I tried a small green splash in the manabase to be able to cast Edge of Autumn and Noxious Revival if I wanted to, but ultimately dropped it. I didn't need to cast the cards most of the time (Edge of Autumn can be cycled for free and Noxious Revival can be cast for free) and the splash was a bit awkward at times. Especially with Mystic Sanctuary now, I'm thinking about only running basic islands to make sure Mystic Sanctuary is always live. Even though I have a small white and black splash, there's so much colour fixing in the deck that I think we should be fine.
I had the same fear as you guys, but if more copies are the solution, I might as well try as I haven't tested it yet! Ordered the 4 copies, now waiting for them to arrive to figure out if 4 copies are indeed the way to go.
I'm not great with the rules, but from what I read online (and if that's correct), sacrificing Elsewhere Flask would cause your Ghost Quarters and fetchlands to not be able to thin your deck any longer. Instead they now tap for a certain colour. I don't see the great benefit here, as thinning your deck seems more important to me. I've fizzled due to drawing too many lands before and cracking an Elsewhere Flask in the first or second loop would increase that probability. Guild Globe on the other hands needs you to have 2 floating mana to activate it, which you basically always have from Lotus Blooms, Mox Opals or Ghost Quartering yourself. It seems trivial to have floating mana and doesn't turn off your Ghost Quarters, so win-win? I don't know if I'm missing anything or the rules I read are incorrect.
Edge of Autumn has been great for me. "Resetting" (=sacrificing) tapped lands and drawing a card is the best! I've occasionally also cast the card (yeah you can do that
Holy sh*t, this seems really strong!
Nice find! I agree with Lord Nahkiin and Snookumz that this seems a strong card for the deck. I don't think we want 4 copies as you don't want to see it in your hand (likely to enter the battlefield tapped), but 1 or 2 seems sweet.
Here is my take on the eggs deck with Mystic Sanctuary.
4 Faith's Reward
1 Noxious Revival
Sorceries
4 Reshape
4 Edge of Autumn
2 Scheming Symmetry
Artifacts
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Guild Globe
4 Golden Egg
4 Lotus Bloom
2 Locket of Yesterdays
2 Mox Opal
1 Bolas's Citadel
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Flooded Strand
5 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Mystic Sanctuary
2 Ipnu Rivulet
I prefer Bolas's Citadel to Pyrite Spellbomb as it not only is a finisher, but also a combo extender. This should become more the case now that the Golden Eggs provide lifegain.
Scheming Symmetry is basically a Vampiric Tutor the turn you go off. Never been a fan of Whir of Invention. It doesn't feel like the correct card for the deck. Tapping your eggs for Whir is a huge nonbo, unless you have a good sacrifice outlet such as the banned Krark-Clan Ironworks.
I have also been thinking about using cards that allow for a different win condition, such as Ipnu Rivulet for milling an opponent out. Anyways, looking forward to testing Mystic Sanctuary and what the best numbers are.
If Arcum's Astrolabe had to sacrifice itself when fixing mana it would have been so much better, but as it stands it's decent if you have a sacrifice engine. It also fixes your mana when comboing with Faith's Reward, which could be useful when you want cast Bolas's Citadel, so I guess it's strictly better than Terrarion.
Guild Globe (Common)
2
Artifact
2,T: Sacrifice Guild Globe: Add two mana of different colors.
I think this card is great and am eager to test it out. It functions similar to Chromatic Sphere and Chromatic Star, hence my excitement. While the requirement that it can only produce different colors and that it's CMC is 2 instead of 1 are certainly drawbacks, this is basically what we want I think. More cycling and mana filtering eggs. To me the card seems to be an upgrade over Terrarion, because it draws upon entering the battlefield and it doesn't enter the battlfield tapped, so it can be reused after casting a Faith's Reward. I also think it's better than Ichor Wellspring, as it is able to cycle and get itself into the graveyard.
My first thought is to replace the Ichor Wellsprings with Guild Globes. Overal, very excited with the card.
I thought cards like Grapeshot or Aetherflux Reservoir would be necessary, but as you pointed out, just using the ability of Bolas's Citadel should be the quickest way to victory. I thought about it abit more and I'm starting to believe it might have a place in the deck. Up until now my wincons were Pyrite Spellbomb and Grinding Station, but Bolas's Citadel could replace Pyrite Spellbomb as wincon. While it doesn't come down early and can't be cast easily, Bolas's Citadel does win the game quickly when it's in play and can draw multiple cards which is very nice. The main thing it has going against is ofcourse getting it into play. It should be possible to cast with Reshapes and Lotus Blooms, but getting it back into play through Open the Vaults is probably going to be the easiest way.
Here's how I'd try it out:
4x Faith's Reward
Sorceries(11)
4x Serum Visions
4x Reshape
3x Open the Vaults
Arifacts(29)
1x Bolas's Citadel
4x Chromatic Sphere
4x Chromatic Star
4x Conjurer's Bauble
4x Ichor Wellspring
4x Lotus Bloom
3x Mox Opal
3x Locket of Yesterdays
2x Grinding Station
7x Island
1x Plains
4x Ghost Quarter
4x Darksteel Citadel
Grinding Station would be the way to get Bolas's Citadel into the graveyard. And seeing as we'd be milling ourselves anyway, Locket of Yesterdays could be useful for getting reducing the MCM of all cards. Perhaps a deck like this might work, but it'd need some testing.
I can't see how Bolas's Citadel would fit the deck, mainly because I don't understand how the deck would win. In Eggs you normally win by looping Pyrite Spellbomb or by milling your opponent out with Grinding Station. Bolas's Citadel would likely require Grapeshot or Aetherflux Reservoir, both of which don't further the main stratgey of Eggs of looping our low CMC artifacts. There's already a thread up discussing the deck implications of Bolas's Citadel. For the moment I'm sceptical about the possiblities of the card in Eggs. If you have an idea, perhaps you could elaborate a bit more on how you think the card might fit?
On a completely other note, I'm hoping that we'll get the original eggs cycle (Skycloud Egg) printed into modern with Modern Horizons, or some other 1 CMC cycling and mana fixing artifact. Though I don't think it's likely to happen.
The main problem I see with the deck list is that it can't decide if it wants to go for a Goryo's Vengeance or a Through the Breach plan. As Goryo's Vengeance is the card with the lower CMC it's obious you'd prefer to use that card over Through the Breach, but these strategies don't mesh that well.
The other problem is the deck's power level. Cheating an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play is often quite good, but also more difficult than Griselbrand. And Griseldaddy doesn't automatically let you win the game.
The solution to this would be to simply play Grishoalbrand, right? Well, you'd be correct to say that, as the deck is certainly quite powerful. But for me it's too much of a glass cannon. I'd like something more consistent.
The idea I've come up with is the fusion of 2 decks: Grixis Goryo's Vengeance and Grixis Death's Shadow. Instead of going full-on combo, I though a more midrange-y approach might work for the deck. I believe that out of all Grixis decks Death's Shadow has had the most success, so that's why I went for it. Grixis control was also a consideration though. For reference, this is what I'd consider a stock Grixis Death's Shadow list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-grixis-death-s-shadow-46465#paper.
4 Death's Shadow
4 Street Wraith
4 Griselbrand
2 Gurmag Angler
2 Laza, the Multifarious
1 Snapcaster Mage
Instants (17)
4 Thought Scour
4 Goryo's Vengeance
2 Fatal Push
2 Dismember
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Mausoleum Secrets
1 Lightning Axe
4 Thoughtseize
2 Chart a Course
2 Faithless Looting
Lands (18)
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Deklta
3 Scalding Tarn
2 Watery Grave
2 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Island
1 Swamp
I'll continue here to explain some of the card choises. As we're playing Death's Shadow we need to include enough ways to lose life. Therefore I opted to copy the entire manabase and add the usual cards of a Grixis Death's Shadow deck such as: Thoughtseize, Street Wraith and Dismember. A bonus here is that Griselbrand might also enable us to play Death's Shadow! Stubborn Denial is here for the usual protection, Thought Scour for card drawing and to fill up the graveyard and Fatal Push for removal. Getting this part of the deck and jamming in 4x Griselbrands and 4x Goryo's Vengeance was the easy part.
The part of the deck I'm less sure of is the creature suite and the discard outlets. Apart from the aforementioned creatures I decided to add 2x Gurmag Anglers, 1x Snapcaster Mage and 2x Lazav, the Multifarious to the deck.
As for discard outlets, it's: Faithless Looting, Chart a Course and Lightning Axe. Excluding other ways to get a Griselbrand into the graveyard, such as Thought Scour and Lazav, I have only 5 cards (excluding flashback Faithless Looting) to "get rid" of a Griselbrand from my hand, which feels kinda low. Faithless Looting is strong card for this job, but as it's card filtering and we only want to bin Griselbrand, I'm wary of upping the count. Apart from these cards I've also considered Collective Brutality and Funeral Charm (you can target yourself), but I don't think it's what the deck needs.
Lastly, I'd like to talk about Mausoleum Secrets. I think the card really shines in a deck like this. It can fetch basically anything you need for the low, low cost of 2 mana and 1-2 creatures in your graveyard, which shouldn't be that difficult if you don't delve them away with Gurmag. It also means that we could adjust our sideboard for this, as black cards can be found easier. Cards such as Surgical Extraction, Rakdos Charm, Unmoored Ego or Kolghan's Command can now be found easier.
Now, because this is a brew I have no idea if this deck would work at all. That's why I'd appreciate any feedback on the deck. The creatures and discard outlets are the points I'm especially wary of, but if there are some other glaring issues or perfect fits for the deck, let me know.
In the W/U build of the deck, I thought it could replace Monastery Siege. It doesn't give protection against counter spells, but it can (temporarily) get rid of problematic permanents.
It's true that a win-condition such as Pyrite Spellbomb is less clunky than Aetherflux Reservoir. The bonus of potentially picking of a creature and allowing for a draw probably means it really is the wincon of the deck. Trying to use special cards is often not the best way to go. I think I needed a reminder of that.
My responses:
1. I think having 4 Reshape's is sufficient for the tutoring of Lotus Bloom's. Given the fact that you need run 4 copies of the card and that we draw a lot of cards during the combo, I feel that running 4 tutors (and Reshapes at that) are more than fine, seeing as these Lotus Blooms are the only artifacts we always want to target with the tutoring cards (right?). Having more Reshape-like effects is nice (potentially very good) in the deck, but in my opinion just not necessary. I'd like to fill the main deck with as many cantrippin' artifacts as possible. The bottom line is, I don't like Whir in this deck and for the reasons I stated in my previous post, I prefer Reshape. I could be wrong.
2. True, I should (and will) increase the amount of basic lands.
I think your and Lord Nahkiin's deck is an intersting concept and I'd like to hear how the deck is running.
Binning artifacts through Faithless Looting and Grinding Station and getting them back seems a clever and new way to go about the deck. That said however, I'm wondering how consistently you can get to the (minimum) required 6 mana for Open the Vaults and Roar of Reclamation by turn 4-ish? The problem I think I see is that we can't durdle infinitely. There are a lot of fast decks out there, so a rule I set myself is trying to build the deck to (more-or-less) reliably go off by turn 4. And given the focus on this of the deck to use "bin and revive" the artifacts, I just don't think it's that reliable. You would need to have a turn-1 Lotus all the time right?
I think Mind Stone might help? It doesn't give a free draw, but it does ramp and can give a draw. Anyways, cool spin on the deck.
Completely agree with most things you pointed out here. Out of all utility lands, I've always used Inventor's Fair. To my recollection, it has served me quite well, so I'm inclined to keep using that one. But the others will go.
Lasty, an updated decklist, based on the feedback/things I read in the thread (getting rid of Tezzeret the Seeker might be too hart-breaking for me to do)
8 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Flooded Strand
1 Inventors' Fair
Sorceries (11)
4 Reshape
4 Serum Visions
3 Open the Vaults
4 Faith's Reward
Planeswalker (1)
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
Artifacts (28)
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Ichor wellspring
4 Lotus Bloom
3 Mox Opal
2 Mind Stone
2 Grinding Station
7 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Phyrexia's Core
1 Inventor's Fair
1 Academy Ruins
Sorceries (11)
4 Reshape
4 Serum Visions
3 Open the Vaults
4 Faith's Reward
Planeswalker (1)
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
Artifacts (28)
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
3 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Ichor wellspring
4 Lotus Bloom
3 Mox Opal
2 Mind Stone
2 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
To explain some of the card choices I made:
For our looping spells Faith's Reward and Open the Vaults, I've always liked having 7 of them in my deck. I think going up to 8 is certainly a viable choice too, but I don't know if I would go lower. We need to see enough of these cards to combo off.
I've always prefered Reshape over Whir of Invention for several reasons. For starters, Reshape actually nets mana when tutoring for Lotus Bloom. Whir of Invention's triple blue casting cost has often felt quite steep and as a result I started playing it less and less. Now I've even decided not to run the card. The main advantage of Whir over Reshape was that it could get high CMC artifacts cheaper (through the improvise mechanic). The thing is, what would you want to tutor for? We used to have Krark-Clan Ironworks but since that got banned and there aren't any other essential high CMC artifacts I feel Whir has lost most if it's appeal. Reshape has the additional benefit of being an sacrifice outlet!
I also decided to run Ichor Wellspring over Elsewhere Flask, because of the 2 draws you can get out of the card. That means we'd also need to run more main deck sacrifice outlets, besides Reshape. I opted to go with Phyrexia's Core and Thopter Foundry. Thopter is a permanent, on-colour sacrifice outlet and Phyrexia's Core is a kinda permanent sac outlet (needs to tap). Between those 3 cards I've felt I had enough sacrifice outlets.
For the lands, Phyrexia's Core, Inventor's Fair and Academy Ruins used to be 4 Darksteel Citadels when KCI was still legal. Now the Citadels have lost all (?) of their value, so I'm trying something new. The Inventor's Fair and Academy Ruins could probably be extra islands, though I don't think I've particularly needed them.
Tezzeret the Seeker and Sword of the Meek are probably the 2 worst cards in my current list. I've just critiqued Whir, so it's only fair I'd also do that for Tezzeret. It's a steep initial mana cost and only really shines in combination with Faith's Reward. I think he might be a win-more card, but I'm still unsure. He can be a repeatable tutor, with a less intensive blue casting cost. That's why he's in. Sword of the Meek is here, simply as a potential back up plan. We can tutor it up if we feel like it. But it does stone cold nothing with the combo, which feels really bad. One of these 2 cards (or another card?) should proably be my 4th copy of Conjurer's Bauble. I had forgotten how good that card is in this deck...
I've got a weird split between Mox Opal and Mind Stone, because I'm unsure how many copies each card deserve. I'd like to have as much mana by turn 4 as possible (to reliably go off), but once I have enough mana and got the loop somewhat going, card drawing typically becomes the important factor. And that's where I prefer Mind Stone over Mox Opal.
Lastly, I use Aetherflux Reservoir as my win-con. I've don't think I've ever really understood why people prefer Pyrite Spellbomb. It can remove a creature and can draw a card, but Aetherflux kills a lot quicker and can very quickly gain a lot of life. Is Pyrite Spellbomb really that good (convince me
Anyways, time to wrap this up. Whilst the ban of KCI is unfortunate (though probably deserved), these are exciting times to start deckbuilding again, so we can get eggs back up to a competitive level.