After messing with the deck some more I modified my deck:
4 * Darksteel Citadel
2 * Inventors' Fair
4 * Glimmervoid
4 * Spire of Industry
2 * Yavimaya Coast
1 * Island
4 * Mox Opal
4 * Ancient Stirrings
4 * Chromatic Star
4 * Chromatic Sphere
3 * Terrarion
4 * Ichor Wellspring
4 * Pentad Prism
1 * Thopter Foundry
1 * Sword of the Meek
4 * Scrap Trawler
4 * Krark-Clan Ironworks
3 * Whir of Invention
2 * Hangarback Walker
1 * Aetherflux Reservoir
Replaced Emrakul with Aetherflux Reservoir, as it's a win con that you can tutor for with either Fair or Whir. Also decided I needed another 0 cost over Whir so I added a second hangarback.
I didn't realize until recently that hangarback + sword of the Meek + Trawler + KCI is a loop for Mana and thopters, and if you have any star effect you also draw your deck!
Currently 4-0 in a league I'll do a write up when I have time to finish it out. Every match has been pretty epic!
Been playing an interesting version of the deck, so here it is for your viewing pleasure! On mobile so sorry for no deck tags.
4 * Darksteel Citadel
2 * Inventors' Fair
4 * Glimmervoid
4 * Spire of Industry
2 * Yavimaya Coast
1 * Island
4 * Mox Opal
4 * Ancient Stirrings
4 * Chromatic Star
4 * Chromatic Sphere
3 * Terrarion
4 * Ichor Wellspring
4 * Pentad Prism
1 * Thopter Foundry
1 * Sword of the Meek
4 * Scrap Trawler
4 * Krark-Clan Ironworks
4 * Whir of Invention
1 * Hangarback Walker
1 * Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
It's definitely a click-fest on MTGO without any way to shortcut finding Emrakul, but I've enjoyed it. 7-3 over two leagues so far. Nothing unusual in my SB so I left it out. I added Pentad Prism to support the Whir, but I've been impressed with it when just comboing normally. There's definitely some tension between Prism and darksteel, but you can usually at least filter into casting it, and having plus two mana to start the combo turn sooner is great.
I don't know if the Thopter Sword combo is just a waste of space, but I thought I'd give it a go since it was just 2 slots, There is no better feeling than having them out as well as Trawler and KCI. You get infinite Mana, life, thopters, and can return a star to draw a card each iteration to draw your deck for Emrakul! Wish I could shortcut that on MTGO, nobody ever scoops and I don't really blame them.
Is is silly to include thopter sword in the deck somehow? With KCI out you go infinite life , thopter, and Mana. I tried to build a Whir of invention list, but went actual 0-5 in a league so I'm pretty disheartened with the idea. Played deaths shadow 4 times though and they could always disrupt enough between discard, counters, nihil bomb and KCommand.
Is the love affair with Glint-Nest Crane over? I haven't updated my list in 3-4 weeks since I decided to max out on Whir of Invention and really get a feel for how playable the card is. Results have been mixed, but overall I've placed worse at my weekly tournaments.
One awesome side effect of using Whir though is that it's great vs. Chalice decks, you can just Whir right through them. I had absent-mindedly boarded into 0 ways to kill a Chalice vs. Eldrazi Tron, but was able to win the game through a turn 2 chalice. I was lucky enough to be able to hide behind bridges until I found Whir and got my 1 drops out. Definitely wanted to share that.
I went with 4 Whir to get the maximum amount of exposure to it. Removed 1 Mill Rock, 1 Needle, 1 Bridge, 1 Hand Disruption. Also moved Brutality to the side for 1 Welding Jar and 1 Spellskite to tutor for. (I knew Burn wasn't in the room)
Overall I was not disappointed, even with only 16 sources of blue I rarely found myself with it stranded in my hand while I died. There were times I had to mill past Whir because I didn't have the required blue. But there were also times where I knew I had 1 more draw step before I was dead and I could keep the Whir, and be confident I could mill into the third blue source. It's important to remember that if you need it, Stirrings is very good at fixing your mana as well.
Also tried Mechanized Production in the SB. Only used it in the final metch vs. Tron, but it got there! I was impressed. Can't really think of much else to add! Please tear my list to shreds!! lol
Played in a FtF Open in Toronto this weekend. Mediocre 3-4-1 day, but I thought I would put up a report anyways!
I'm playing a pretty stock crane list so I'll skip the full decklist.
R1 - Bogles (2-0)
We knew each others deck going in.
G1 - I'm on the draw and mull to 4(!), just looking for bridge and mana because that's the game. At 4 I keep a no land hand with stirrings and bridge. (Thank God for the scry rule). I'm fortunate to find mana and land my bridge in a timely manner and my opponent is cold to it.
G2 - I find and land a bridge again, but he's had a go wide rather than go tall draw, and I have an interesting decision to make. He has 3 scouts in play, one with a spider umbra, and that's it. My hand is abrupt decay and golgari charm. I'm somewhere between 15-10 life. I use the cards to wipe his board, but I don't have lantern yet and he draws a Stony Silence. Not sure if I should have waited a turn or two of taking 4 damage. The game continues and he casts 2 Leylines before I finally draw removal for the Stony. Once I'm back online I use Shredders to get back charm twice and take care of the Leylines for the lock.
R2 - UW Cheerios (1-2)
G1 - I'm on the draw, and my T1 Stirrings gets Swan Songed. That tipped me off to what he was doing, but I wasn't able to establish anything before he goes off.
G2 - I keep in Brutality, but I don't know if it's at all reliable to get their creature with -2/-2. I'm able to get the deck lock on him and strip his hand of cards that do anything. He did show SB Monastery Mentor, which is a little newer for that deck and important for us to know about.
G3 - I have the lock again, with 3 mill stones out. But he was able to land and keep 2 paladins. He's going off with draws and I don't know what I'm supposed to care about. My mistake was caring about Retract. I use up all my mills and die anyways.
We talk after the match about what really matters in the match up. If they are going off, the only cards we care about are Grapeshot and Noxious Revival. My instinct was to mill Retract because it would draw SO MANY CARDS, but it doesn't matter. He was very prepared with his deck and also ran the SB Mentor I mentioned, and a Void Snare. This would let him beat as well through one bridge.
R3 - Zoo with Spirit Guide and Bushwhacker (1-2)
G1 - I'm on the play, but I have to mulligan to 4 AGAIN. Karma was not with me a second time. I did not play a card, but revealed a few cards to goblin guide before scooping.
G2 - I find bridge and sun droplet to stabilize, only falling to 9 before getting the lock and a concession
G3 - I keep a GREAT hand for the match-up. Land, Land, Opal, Opal, Lantern, Shredder, Bridge. They play Nacatl on 1 and on turn 2, thanks to SSG, they play Nacatl, Emissary, Bushwhacker and hit me for 13. I deploy my turn 2 bridge hand, with 2 card left. They can hit me to 3, but as long as the last card in their hand isn't burn than it's looking good. Of course they show Bolt and that's the match!
R4 - B/W Eldrazi Taxes (2-0)
This match was pretty forgettable, in Game 2 my opponent kept a 1 lander, and I had a Lantern + Rocks hand, I was lucky they didn't have a and clump on the top of their deck and they never cast a spell. They told me afterwards they kept an opener with 2 Stony Silence.
R5 - Naya Burn (0-2)
G1 - I'm on the draw, and my keep had no chance against Burn.
G2 - Sun Droplet comes too late. I am at 5 without deck control and they find 2 burn spells.
After the game I see my opponent boarded out all 4 Eidolons, which I was surprised to see. I even brought in enchantment hate to kill them. I brought it up, and he had good reasoning. When he's on the draw he felt they played too much into my plan of discard on turn 1, and that taking it out would strand cards like abrupt decay. Anyone know if this is common for Burn players to do vs lantern? Personally I feel like Eidolon is just lights out for us.
R6 - 4 colour Saheeli combos! (1-1-1)
G1 - My opponent makes me mill him completely, because he has 1 detention sphere in his deck... Big waste of time but sure.
G2 - I stop his combos with Surgical, but never find bridge and get beaten slowly by his random ETB creatures.
G3 - We go to time, but I was definitely in a losing position. I guess he should have scooped in Game 1!!
He had a very unique deck with Sun Titan and Primeval Titan, which could fetch Emeria, the Sky Ruin. It really gave him inevitability in the match.
R7 - Grixis Delver (2-0)
A rather inexperienced Delver player, conceded very early to my locks in both games. Earlier than I would have at least!
R8 - Abzan Company (1-2)
G1 - I lose to beats before finding bridge
G2 - I establish control, opponent decides to play it out (borderline slow play, but its the end of the day)
G3 - There's only really time for him to win the game, which he does because we both forget that Grafdigger's Cage prevents creatures from entering from the graveyard. He used the new Renegade Rallier to return a Qasali Pridemage, killing both my Welding Jar and Spellskite. This allowed him to swing with a Noble for lethal exalted triggers. It was one of those awkward games with no mill rocks, but an Academy Ruins and sideboard protection cards. I had to keep putting them back on top of my deck to answer his hate cards. In a world with more time it could have been a winnable game, and certainly should have been a draw if we caught the rules error.
Overall, I felt I had really close losses and very convincing wins, so I am happy with the deck.
Wow I would never consider cutting stirrings myself, I'm definitely a skeptic. You haven't found issues getting mana with only 21 sources? I'd always thought the only reason we could get away with 22 was because stirrings can help us in a pinch.
Manabase
-4 Blooming Marsh
-1 Forest
-1 Academy Ruins
-1 Inventors' Fair
+3 Spire of Industry
+1 Darkslick Shores
+2 Botanical Sanctum
+1 Island
The UUU makes me hesitant to include many non-blue lands, no matter how strong they are. Bonus of not drawing doubles on your legendary lands! Island might be wrong even still since its basically colourless for the rest of the spells (Mainly Abrupt Decay)
Cards
-2 Ensnaring Bridge
-1 Surgical Extraction
-1 Abrupt Decay
+2 Whir of Invention
+1 Welding Jar
+1 Spellskite
I decided on cutting Bridges for Whir. The main drawback I see to this is when we mill ourselves without a lantern hoping to find Bridge and ruins it on top again, since we can't get Whir back in this manner. It's possible we could even go down to just 1 Bridge and play a third Whir if this works out though!
I also swapped some MD and SB cards, my thought process being we can tutor of these at instant speed now which may make them better.
Overall, the biggest issue I see with this is that we lose some consistency casting early coloured spells, and that we're back on a painland. We're also down on the legendary lands, which are so good in this deck we risk drawing doubles. What we gain is the flexibility of Whir over Bridge, when we already have (or perhaps don't even need) Bridge, Whir gets to be whatever is going to best help us lock out the game.
My biggest concern - how often and how fast do we have 3 artifacts down, as well as 3 mana sources. That's a lot of physical cards we need deployed in order to get a bridge out. If it comes up even occasionally that we can't save ourselves from lethal because Whir is too expensive I'm not sure the changes are worth it.
That's what I have to say on the matter! Let me know how you all feel!
Hi all, recently built the deck and have had great success! 8-1 tournament matches so far with a crane build featuring MD Crucible.
I wanted to get some opinions on Whir of Invention. I think with spire of industry we can make the mana work, going down to just 1 of each legendary land. Hopefully the tutor will make up for the loss of utility they give.
I would cut 1 bridge for sure, but I'm not sure what to chop after that, or how many copies we could get away with. It is another 3 mana spell after all. I wouldn't want to drop any of the artifact side of the deck, since it's the fuel for improvise in the first place.
It would also lead me to wanting to make room for at least a MD welding jar, or maybe Spellskite (I removed mine) Having options to tutor for is definitely nice!
If anyone's tried this please let me know how you for it in and how it turned out!
Been brainstorming with my friends about Decimator of Provinces potential in Modern and thought I would throw something up on here! Likely in a BG creature build, perhaps with graveyard synergies.
Here's where I've goten to far:
Delve creatures - Hooting Mandrills and Gurmag Angler are great ways to reduce the emerge cost. Vengevine - If decimator is your second spell, you can emerge of this guy and he is happy to come back and get the +2/+2 bonus!
Undying - Strangleroot Geist works very similar to Vengevine above, though only a two mana discount isn't too impressive
Based on that I'm imagining a deck with a decent amount of 1 drop elves to pair with vengevine, so good three mana aggro plays would be ideal.
Anyone have any input? Are there other ways in modern to cheat a higher CMC creature into play early in order to emerge in green or black? Or another colour that this might be better suited to? It'd definitely an early stage idea, but I'm excited to play a cheap 7/7 haste that pumps my team!
I'm honestly surprised people can play versions of this deck with as many borderposts as they do. Do you not find yourself losing a lot postboard to stony silences and ancient grudges?
I've been playing the deck for a couple weeks now, mixed results. I was trying out a Nahiri's Wrath to break hand symmetry and was pleastly surprised to read that it hits planeswalkers! This is a decent nod for the card as a wrath-like effect which can hit what is the biggest problem permanent type.
If I have a planewalker as well as multiple Oath of Gideon enter the battlefield simultaneously, (for the example lets use Genesis Wave) will my planewalker enter with an extra loyalty for each Oath before the legend rule knocks any of them to the graveyard?
Further to that, what is the interaction between planewalkers entering the battlefield when I control both an Oath and a Doubling Season?
4 * Darksteel Citadel
2 * Inventors' Fair
4 * Glimmervoid
4 * Spire of Industry
2 * Yavimaya Coast
1 * Island
4 * Mox Opal
4 * Ancient Stirrings
4 * Chromatic Star
4 * Chromatic Sphere
3 * Terrarion
4 * Ichor Wellspring
4 * Pentad Prism
1 * Thopter Foundry
1 * Sword of the Meek
4 * Scrap Trawler
4 * Krark-Clan Ironworks
3 * Whir of Invention
2 * Hangarback Walker
1 * Aetherflux Reservoir
Replaced Emrakul with Aetherflux Reservoir, as it's a win con that you can tutor for with either Fair or Whir. Also decided I needed another 0 cost over Whir so I added a second hangarback.
I didn't realize until recently that hangarback + sword of the Meek + Trawler + KCI is a loop for Mana and thopters, and if you have any star effect you also draw your deck!
Currently 4-0 in a league I'll do a write up when I have time to finish it out. Every match has been pretty epic!
4 * Darksteel Citadel
2 * Inventors' Fair
4 * Glimmervoid
4 * Spire of Industry
2 * Yavimaya Coast
1 * Island
4 * Mox Opal
4 * Ancient Stirrings
4 * Chromatic Star
4 * Chromatic Sphere
3 * Terrarion
4 * Ichor Wellspring
4 * Pentad Prism
1 * Thopter Foundry
1 * Sword of the Meek
4 * Scrap Trawler
4 * Krark-Clan Ironworks
4 * Whir of Invention
1 * Hangarback Walker
1 * Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
It's definitely a click-fest on MTGO without any way to shortcut finding Emrakul, but I've enjoyed it. 7-3 over two leagues so far. Nothing unusual in my SB so I left it out. I added Pentad Prism to support the Whir, but I've been impressed with it when just comboing normally. There's definitely some tension between Prism and darksteel, but you can usually at least filter into casting it, and having plus two mana to start the combo turn sooner is great.
I don't know if the Thopter Sword combo is just a waste of space, but I thought I'd give it a go since it was just 2 slots, There is no better feeling than having them out as well as Trawler and KCI. You get infinite Mana, life, thopters, and can return a star to draw a card each iteration to draw your deck for Emrakul! Wish I could shortcut that on MTGO, nobody ever scoops and I don't really blame them.
Let me know your thoughts!
Is the love affair with Glint-Nest Crane over? I haven't updated my list in 3-4 weeks since I decided to max out on Whir of Invention and really get a feel for how playable the card is. Results have been mixed, but overall I've placed worse at my weekly tournaments.
One awesome side effect of using Whir though is that it's great vs. Chalice decks, you can just Whir right through them. I had absent-mindedly boarded into 0 ways to kill a Chalice vs. Eldrazi Tron, but was able to win the game through a turn 2 chalice. I was lucky enough to be able to hide behind bridges until I found Whir and got my 1 drops out. Definitely wanted to share that.
4 Mox Opal
4 Glimmervoid
4 Spire of Industry
2 Darkslick Shores
2 Botanical Sanctum
2 Inventors' Fair
2 Academy Ruins
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Welding Jar
4 Lantern of Insight
4 Codex Shredder
2 Ghoulcaller's Bell
1 Pyxis of Pandemonium
2 Pithing Needle
1 Spellskite
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Glint-Nest Crane
4 Whir of Invention
I went with 4 Whir to get the maximum amount of exposure to it. Removed 1 Mill Rock, 1 Needle, 1 Bridge, 1 Hand Disruption. Also moved Brutality to the side for 1 Welding Jar and 1 Spellskite to tutor for. (I knew Burn wasn't in the room)
Overall I was not disappointed, even with only 16 sources of blue I rarely found myself with it stranded in my hand while I died. There were times I had to mill past Whir because I didn't have the required blue. But there were also times where I knew I had 1 more draw step before I was dead and I could keep the Whir, and be confident I could mill into the third blue source. It's important to remember that if you need it, Stirrings is very good at fixing your mana as well.
Also tried Mechanized Production in the SB. Only used it in the final metch vs. Tron, but it got there! I was impressed. Can't really think of much else to add! Please tear my list to shreds!! lol
I'm playing a pretty stock crane list so I'll skip the full decklist.
R1 - Bogles (2-0)
We knew each others deck going in.
G1 - I'm on the draw and mull to 4(!), just looking for bridge and mana because that's the game. At 4 I keep a no land hand with stirrings and bridge. (Thank God for the scry rule). I'm fortunate to find mana and land my bridge in a timely manner and my opponent is cold to it.
G2 - I find and land a bridge again, but he's had a go wide rather than go tall draw, and I have an interesting decision to make. He has 3 scouts in play, one with a spider umbra, and that's it. My hand is abrupt decay and golgari charm. I'm somewhere between 15-10 life. I use the cards to wipe his board, but I don't have lantern yet and he draws a Stony Silence. Not sure if I should have waited a turn or two of taking 4 damage. The game continues and he casts 2 Leylines before I finally draw removal for the Stony. Once I'm back online I use Shredders to get back charm twice and take care of the Leylines for the lock.
R2 - UW Cheerios (1-2)
G1 - I'm on the draw, and my T1 Stirrings gets Swan Songed. That tipped me off to what he was doing, but I wasn't able to establish anything before he goes off.
G2 - I keep in Brutality, but I don't know if it's at all reliable to get their creature with -2/-2. I'm able to get the deck lock on him and strip his hand of cards that do anything. He did show SB Monastery Mentor, which is a little newer for that deck and important for us to know about.
G3 - I have the lock again, with 3 mill stones out. But he was able to land and keep 2 paladins. He's going off with draws and I don't know what I'm supposed to care about. My mistake was caring about Retract. I use up all my mills and die anyways.
We talk after the match about what really matters in the match up. If they are going off, the only cards we care about are Grapeshot and Noxious Revival. My instinct was to mill Retract because it would draw SO MANY CARDS, but it doesn't matter. He was very prepared with his deck and also ran the SB Mentor I mentioned, and a Void Snare. This would let him beat as well through one bridge.
R3 - Zoo with Spirit Guide and Bushwhacker (1-2)
G1 - I'm on the play, but I have to mulligan to 4 AGAIN. Karma was not with me a second time. I did not play a card, but revealed a few cards to goblin guide before scooping.
G2 - I find bridge and sun droplet to stabilize, only falling to 9 before getting the lock and a concession
G3 - I keep a GREAT hand for the match-up. Land, Land, Opal, Opal, Lantern, Shredder, Bridge. They play Nacatl on 1 and on turn 2, thanks to SSG, they play Nacatl, Emissary, Bushwhacker and hit me for 13. I deploy my turn 2 bridge hand, with 2 card left. They can hit me to 3, but as long as the last card in their hand isn't burn than it's looking good. Of course they show Bolt and that's the match!
R4 - B/W Eldrazi Taxes (2-0)
This match was pretty forgettable, in Game 2 my opponent kept a 1 lander, and I had a Lantern + Rocks hand, I was lucky they didn't have a and clump on the top of their deck and they never cast a spell. They told me afterwards they kept an opener with 2 Stony Silence.
R5 - Naya Burn (0-2)
G1 - I'm on the draw, and my keep had no chance against Burn.
G2 - Sun Droplet comes too late. I am at 5 without deck control and they find 2 burn spells.
After the game I see my opponent boarded out all 4 Eidolons, which I was surprised to see. I even brought in enchantment hate to kill them. I brought it up, and he had good reasoning. When he's on the draw he felt they played too much into my plan of discard on turn 1, and that taking it out would strand cards like abrupt decay. Anyone know if this is common for Burn players to do vs lantern? Personally I feel like Eidolon is just lights out for us.
R6 - 4 colour Saheeli combos! (1-1-1)
G1 - My opponent makes me mill him completely, because he has 1 detention sphere in his deck... Big waste of time but sure.
G2 - I stop his combos with Surgical, but never find bridge and get beaten slowly by his random ETB creatures.
G3 - We go to time, but I was definitely in a losing position. I guess he should have scooped in Game 1!!
He had a very unique deck with Sun Titan and Primeval Titan, which could fetch Emeria, the Sky Ruin. It really gave him inevitability in the match.
R7 - Grixis Delver (2-0)
A rather inexperienced Delver player, conceded very early to my locks in both games. Earlier than I would have at least!
R8 - Abzan Company (1-2)
G1 - I lose to beats before finding bridge
G2 - I establish control, opponent decides to play it out (borderline slow play, but its the end of the day)
G3 - There's only really time for him to win the game, which he does because we both forget that Grafdigger's Cage prevents creatures from entering from the graveyard. He used the new Renegade Rallier to return a Qasali Pridemage, killing both my Welding Jar and Spellskite. This allowed him to swing with a Noble for lethal exalted triggers. It was one of those awkward games with no mill rocks, but an Academy Ruins and sideboard protection cards. I had to keep putting them back on top of my deck to answer his hate cards. In a world with more time it could have been a winnable game, and certainly should have been a draw if we caught the rules error.
Overall, I felt I had really close losses and very convincing wins, so I am happy with the deck.
4 Mox Opal
4 Glimmervoid
1 Spire of Industry
4 Blooming Marsh
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Academy Ruins
2 Inventors' Fair
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Forest
Artifacts - 20
4 Lantern of Insight
4 Codex Shredder
2 Ghoulcaller's Bell
2 Pyxis of Pandemonium
3 Pithing Needle
4 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Surgical Extraction
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Collective Brutality
2 Glint-Nest Crane
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Welding Jar
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Thoughtseize
2 Spellskite
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Golgari Charm
1 Seal of Primordium
2 Sun Droplet
1 Witchbane Orb
At first glance, here's how I would update the list.
4 Mox Opal
4 Glimmervoid
4 Spire of Industry
2 Darkslick Shores
2 Botanical Sanctum
1 Academy Ruins
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Island
Artifacts - 20
1 Welding Jar
4 Lantern of Insight
4 Codex Shredder
2 Ghoulcaller's Bell
2 Pyxis of Pandemonium
3 Pithing Needle
1 Spellskite
2 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Surgical Extraction
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Collective Brutality
2 Glint-Nest Crane
2 Whir of Invention
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Welding Jar
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Thoughtseize
1 Spellskite
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Golgari Charm
1 Seal of Primordium
2 Sun Droplet
1 Witchbane Orb
Manabase
-4 Blooming Marsh
-1 Forest
-1 Academy Ruins
-1 Inventors' Fair
+3 Spire of Industry
+1 Darkslick Shores
+2 Botanical Sanctum
+1 Island
The UUU makes me hesitant to include many non-blue lands, no matter how strong they are. Bonus of not drawing doubles on your legendary lands! Island might be wrong even still since its basically colourless for the rest of the spells (Mainly Abrupt Decay)
Cards
-2 Ensnaring Bridge
-1 Surgical Extraction
-1 Abrupt Decay
+2 Whir of Invention
+1 Welding Jar
+1 Spellskite
I decided on cutting Bridges for Whir. The main drawback I see to this is when we mill ourselves without a lantern hoping to find Bridge and ruins it on top again, since we can't get Whir back in this manner. It's possible we could even go down to just 1 Bridge and play a third Whir if this works out though!
I also swapped some MD and SB cards, my thought process being we can tutor of these at instant speed now which may make them better.
Overall, the biggest issue I see with this is that we lose some consistency casting early coloured spells, and that we're back on a painland. We're also down on the legendary lands, which are so good in this deck we risk drawing doubles. What we gain is the flexibility of Whir over Bridge, when we already have (or perhaps don't even need) Bridge, Whir gets to be whatever is going to best help us lock out the game.
My biggest concern - how often and how fast do we have 3 artifacts down, as well as 3 mana sources. That's a lot of physical cards we need deployed in order to get a bridge out. If it comes up even occasionally that we can't save ourselves from lethal because Whir is too expensive I'm not sure the changes are worth it.
That's what I have to say on the matter! Let me know how you all feel!
I wanted to get some opinions on Whir of Invention. I think with spire of industry we can make the mana work, going down to just 1 of each legendary land. Hopefully the tutor will make up for the loss of utility they give.
I would cut 1 bridge for sure, but I'm not sure what to chop after that, or how many copies we could get away with. It is another 3 mana spell after all. I wouldn't want to drop any of the artifact side of the deck, since it's the fuel for improvise in the first place.
It would also lead me to wanting to make room for at least a MD welding jar, or maybe Spellskite (I removed mine) Having options to tutor for is definitely nice!
If anyone's tried this please let me know how you for it in and how it turned out!
Been brainstorming with my friends about Decimator of Provinces potential in Modern and thought I would throw something up on here! Likely in a BG creature build, perhaps with graveyard synergies.
Here's where I've goten to far:
Delve creatures - Hooting Mandrills and Gurmag Angler are great ways to reduce the emerge cost.
Vengevine - If decimator is your second spell, you can emerge of this guy and he is happy to come back and get the +2/+2 bonus!
Undying - Strangleroot Geist works very similar to Vengevine above, though only a two mana discount isn't too impressive
Based on that I'm imagining a deck with a decent amount of 1 drop elves to pair with vengevine, so good three mana aggro plays would be ideal.
Anyone have any input? Are there other ways in modern to cheat a higher CMC creature into play early in order to emerge in green or black? Or another colour that this might be better suited to? It'd definitely an early stage idea, but I'm excited to play a cheap 7/7 haste that pumps my team!
As for the Colossus, on paper my worry would be you basically NEED 3 posts for it to be a card and I think that might be too many.
Also I updated the SB with some Lost Legacy to improve vs ad nauseum
If I have a planewalker as well as multiple Oath of Gideon enter the battlefield simultaneously, (for the example lets use Genesis Wave) will my planewalker enter with an extra loyalty for each Oath before the legend rule knocks any of them to the graveyard?
Further to that, what is the interaction between planewalkers entering the battlefield when I control both an Oath and a Doubling Season?