Back on the Chalice of the Void + Coretapper + Astral Cornucopia plan. Chalices feel super strong to me because they shut down a lot of strategies for many decks.
Light on removal because I feel like this deck really just wants to stop the opponent from casting things with Chalice and stopping creatures from attacking anyway with Ensnaring Bridge. Pithing Needle is also for turning off problematic things.
Hex parasite serves a number of purposes: It takes counters of problematic things and kills planeswalkers. Adds to metalcraft / artifact count. Ticks down your Chalices for when you want to cast a 2 or 3 drop. Coretapper also does this, but the opposite way. They kinda work nicely together due to having respective 1 & 2 CMCs.
Resolving a coretapper with a Chalice or Astral already on the field is pretty awesome. You can sac it in response to removal to add charge counters. If it survives the turn, you can tap & sac it to add 3 counters to Astral Cornucopia for your own pseudo repeatable black lotus. Coretapper also chump blocks and sacs pretty nicely - feels like a Sakura Tribe Elder almost.
Boom//Bust works great with Darksteel Citadels. A T3 Chandra into a T4 Bust is pretty backbreaking. With the Coretappers & Astral Cornucopias, you ramp up mana really fast and try to land a Bust.
Stoney Silences can be problematic, but that's why you side in Abrupt Decay and hope to land a Chalice on 2 before they resolve it.
Volt Charge serves as burn/removal and proliferate is a super powerful effect with all the counters on your permanents.
Chandra is almost like Tezz # 5, 6, 7. She digs one deep for an artifact/spell you can cast, otherwise she shocks the opponent. Ramp into another Tezz is pretty relevant too. Really easy to get her emblem 2 turns after she resolves if you have a Volt Charge.
Edit: Moar stuff to explain this deck's plan & lines of play that I'm excited about - Stall your opponent till you can reach your win conditions (Tezz 5/5, Tezz ult, Chandra ping, Chandra Ult)
Stall your opponent:
- T1 metalcraft Chalice on 1
- T1 metalcraft Boom, targeting your own darksteel citadel
- T2 Chalice on 1
- T2 Boom, targeting your own darksteel citadel
- T2 Chalice on 0. Resolve and sac Coretapper to put 2 counters on Chalice/Astral(ramp)
- T2 Ensnaring Bridge w/ metalcraft
- T2 Tezz/Chandra w/ metalcraft + Mox Opal Chains/ Simian Spirit
- T3 Tezz/ Chandra w/ metalcraft + Mox Opal Chains/ Simian Spirit
- Boom//Bust following an early resolved Chandra
- T3 lol, im drunk... will follow this up tomorrow when i'm more sober
Just to point it out: you can have ANY artifact repeated 8 times to win, not the one enchanted. You can enchant a Darksteel Citadel and win with 8 thopters. But if you have 8 thopters, and Mechanized Production in play and you are not dead, you're gonna win. It's the definition of win more for me. There are a lot of more interesting cards to test in the set IMHO.
That's exactly why i kinda like it You're diversifying your threats. Removing an enchantment is hard enough as it is - having it on an indestructible Darksteel Citadel that makes another copy of itself each turn, which you can also sack to thopter foundry to get to your 8 thopters makes it all the more annoying.
I'm just seeing Mechanized Production more of a durdle/roadblock type card for a few turns to stop your opponent from winning. Tezz's strength lies in his ability to ult/drain for a ton the next turn. A mechanized slapped on a bridge or spellskite could just durdle long enough to easily ult with 6-7 artifacts on the board.
The mainboard 1-of Witchbane Orb is mainly against combo decks like scapeshift or storm, etc. It's there to be tutored up with Inventors Fair.
You're correct about the bridge-colossus nonbo. I keep forgetting to add 1 thopter foundry. Metamorph was kind of a "cutesy" addition - not really sure if i'd keep it in. It's just funny when you ult Saheeli for 2x Blightsteel colossi + spellskite/cranial plating, etc.
Blood moons are so great at shutting down other decks. Don't forget that you almost always want to be searching up basics with your fetches. Also you can ghost quarter your darksteel citadels for color fixing into basic lands if you know you're dropping down a blood moon in the next turn.
It certainly is a fun list with so many lines of play and ways to interact & stall other decks.
haha, i got to play in a casted MtG match yesterday @ Mox/cardkingdom for thursday night modern. It's quite interesting to see your lines of play being commentated on.
I feel like Pithing Needle does an equal or better job for less mana, plus it's an artifact. It has always been my go-to sideboard card, so much that I run 3x maindeck in my latest list.
I think that if the plan is to ultimate Saheeli, the best option is to play the sword-thopter combo and 1 Krark-Clan Ironworks. Infinite life and infinite flying 1/1s (that can attack under a bridge) is better than a pathable creature...
Good call! I'll def test this out.
Edit: On 2nd thought, it opens up more susceptibility to stony silence. Path shouldn't really be an issue with spellskites. Still warrants testing though!
Lol yeah, I did some minimal testing and didn't realize of the Blightsteel/Bridge interaction. Maybe because I was only playing against GR Tron, and Bloodmoon was the main stall plan. Perhaps throwing in a single thopter foundry in there might be in order.
Again, with the new set, I've been tempted to brew. Here's my current list. Only have tested against GR Tron so far and it has matched pretty evenly - using Blood Moons and Pithing needles to slow them down.
- I don't know why, but I enjoy the pillow fort style of play. Disrupting your opponent's plan; Pinging and getting in damage when you can while protecting and building your planeswalkers' ults for the finish.
- Darksteel Citadels and Ghost Quarters. With maindeck bloodmoons, you want to target your own citadels to search up basic lands for colors that you need. Mox Opal is also useful here
- Saheeli is super versatile. She pings and filters through your deck. Glint nest cranes are good targets
- You never want Blightsteel Colossus in your hand. Use Collective Brutality to get it back into your library
- Metalcraft is almost always active (23 artifacts), so 4 damage lightning bolts is super versatile for damage or removal
- Not super susceptible to Stony Silence since you dont really rely on artifact abilities. Just take out the Opals, Baubles, Spellskites for other sideboard cards if you suspect Stony coming in G2
- Again, the plan is to stumble your opponents' and ping ping ping. Let me know your thoughts!
You're right about the disynergy between counterspells and the bridge. However, since I only have 2, my line of thinking was it being more of a defense against the attacking fatties (*>4 or emrakul). I was looking towards Galvanic Blast, Izzet Charm, Spellskite to take care of the smaller attacking guys. Holding up 2 or 3 cards of Stoic Rebuttal/Izzet Charm when the bridge is online doesn't detract from the bridge's purpose in this case.
On Blood Moon - I kinda view it as a "screw my opponent more than I'm screwing myself" deal. Most of the time, I'll be using my fetches for basic lands along with the Ghostquarter/Darksteel Citadel thing. I'm also hoping that the Mox Opals will ease some of the pain here too.
Resolving a Tezz > Mishra seems super powerful, especially since they both work really well with each other in protecting themselves.
There's definitely some tweaking to be done! Dropping some of the Mishras sounds solid, along with some targeted discard. I'll give it a run soon! Oh, and thanks for the reminder on Urza being Mishra's actual brother. Perhaps a re-naming is in order: (Step)brother Artificers? ;p
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Mox Opal
3 Pithing Needle
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Coretapper
4 Astral Cornucopia
//Creatures
2 Hex Parasite
1 Simian Spirit Guide
//Spells
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Boom // Bust
3 Volt Charge
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Spire of Industry
4 Aether Hub
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Inventors' Fair
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Glimmervoid
2 Mountain
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Pithing Needle
2 Warping Wail
2 Blood Moon
2 OPEN SLOTS
Back on the Chalice of the Void + Coretapper + Astral Cornucopia plan. Chalices feel super strong to me because they shut down a lot of strategies for many decks.
Light on removal because I feel like this deck really just wants to stop the opponent from casting things with Chalice and stopping creatures from attacking anyway with Ensnaring Bridge. Pithing Needle is also for turning off problematic things.
Hex parasite serves a number of purposes: It takes counters of problematic things and kills planeswalkers. Adds to metalcraft / artifact count. Ticks down your Chalices for when you want to cast a 2 or 3 drop. Coretapper also does this, but the opposite way. They kinda work nicely together due to having respective 1 & 2 CMCs.
Resolving a coretapper with a Chalice or Astral already on the field is pretty awesome. You can sac it in response to removal to add charge counters. If it survives the turn, you can tap & sac it to add 3 counters to Astral Cornucopia for your own pseudo repeatable black lotus. Coretapper also chump blocks and sacs pretty nicely - feels like a Sakura Tribe Elder almost.
Boom//Bust works great with Darksteel Citadels. A T3 Chandra into a T4 Bust is pretty backbreaking. With the Coretappers & Astral Cornucopias, you ramp up mana really fast and try to land a Bust.
Stoney Silences can be problematic, but that's why you side in Abrupt Decay and hope to land a Chalice on 2 before they resolve it.
Volt Charge serves as burn/removal and proliferate is a super powerful effect with all the counters on your permanents.
Chandra is almost like Tezz # 5, 6, 7. She digs one deep for an artifact/spell you can cast, otherwise she shocks the opponent. Ramp into another Tezz is pretty relevant too. Really easy to get her emblem 2 turns after she resolves if you have a Volt Charge.
Edit: Moar stuff to explain this deck's plan & lines of play that I'm excited about - Stall your opponent till you can reach your win conditions (Tezz 5/5, Tezz ult, Chandra ping, Chandra Ult)
Stall your opponent:
- T1 metalcraft Chalice on 1
- T1 metalcraft Boom, targeting your own darksteel citadel
- T2 Chalice on 1
- T2 Boom, targeting your own darksteel citadel
- T2 Chalice on 0. Resolve and sac Coretapper to put 2 counters on Chalice/Astral(ramp)
- T2 Ensnaring Bridge w/ metalcraft
- T2 Tezz/Chandra w/ metalcraft + Mox Opal Chains/ Simian Spirit
- T3 Tezz/ Chandra w/ metalcraft + Mox Opal Chains/ Simian Spirit
- Boom//Bust following an early resolved Chandra
- T3 lol, im drunk... will follow this up tomorrow when i'm more sober
That's exactly why i kinda like it You're diversifying your threats. Removing an enchantment is hard enough as it is - having it on an indestructible Darksteel Citadel that makes another copy of itself each turn, which you can also sack to thopter foundry to get to your 8 thopters makes it all the more annoying.
Heart of Kiran that was recently spoiled looks very interesting. It has quite nice synergy with Tezz
You're correct about the bridge-colossus nonbo. I keep forgetting to add 1 thopter foundry. Metamorph was kind of a "cutesy" addition - not really sure if i'd keep it in. It's just funny when you ult Saheeli for 2x Blightsteel colossi + spellskite/cranial plating, etc.
Blood moons are so great at shutting down other decks. Don't forget that you almost always want to be searching up basics with your fetches. Also you can ghost quarter your darksteel citadels for color fixing into basic lands if you know you're dropping down a blood moon in the next turn.
It certainly is a fun list with so many lines of play and ways to interact & stall other decks.
2 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
3 Pithing Needle
1 Cranial Plating
1 Witchbane Orb
//Creatures
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Blightsteel Colossus
4 Glint-Nest Crane
3 Spellskite
//Spells
2 Blood Moon
2 Collective Brutality
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Saheeli Rai
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Darksteel Citadel
2 Inventors' Fair
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Glimmervoid
2 Island
1 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta
1 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
2 Bomat Courier
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Warping Wail
1 Spellskite
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Lightning Bolt
my matches start at 54:00
https://www.twitch.tv/cardkingdom/v/98872437
Good call! I'll def test this out.
Edit: On 2nd thought, it opens up more susceptibility to stony silence. Path shouldn't really be an issue with spellskites. Still warrants testing though!
2 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
3 Pithing Needle
1 Cranial Plating
1 Lightning Greaves
//Creatures
4 Glint-Nest Crane
4 Spellskite
1 Blightsteel Colossus
//Spells
2 Blood Moon
2 Collective Brutality
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Saheeli Rai
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Inventor's Fair
2 Glimmervoid
2 Island
1 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta
1 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
- I don't know why, but I enjoy the pillow fort style of play. Disrupting your opponent's plan; Pinging and getting in damage when you can while protecting and building your planeswalkers' ults for the finish.
- Darksteel Citadels and Ghost Quarters. With maindeck bloodmoons, you want to target your own citadels to search up basic lands for colors that you need. Mox Opal is also useful here
- Saheeli is super versatile. She pings and filters through your deck. Glint nest cranes are good targets
- You never want Blightsteel Colossus in your hand. Use Collective Brutality to get it back into your library
- Metalcraft is almost always active (23 artifacts), so 4 damage lightning bolts is super versatile for damage or removal
- Not super susceptible to Stony Silence since you dont really rely on artifact abilities. Just take out the Opals, Baubles, Spellskites for other sideboard cards if you suspect Stony coming in G2
- Again, the plan is to stumble your opponents' and ping ping ping. Let me know your thoughts!
You're right about the disynergy between counterspells and the bridge. However, since I only have 2, my line of thinking was it being more of a defense against the attacking fatties (*>4 or emrakul). I was looking towards Galvanic Blast, Izzet Charm, Spellskite to take care of the smaller attacking guys. Holding up 2 or 3 cards of Stoic Rebuttal/Izzet Charm when the bridge is online doesn't detract from the bridge's purpose in this case.
On Blood Moon - I kinda view it as a "screw my opponent more than I'm screwing myself" deal. Most of the time, I'll be using my fetches for basic lands along with the Ghostquarter/Darksteel Citadel thing. I'm also hoping that the Mox Opals will ease some of the pain here too.
Resolving a Tezz > Mishra seems super powerful, especially since they both work really well with each other in protecting themselves.
There's definitely some tweaking to be done! Dropping some of the Mishras sounds solid, along with some targeted discard. I'll give it a run soon! Oh, and thanks for the reminder on Urza being Mishra's actual brother. Perhaps a re-naming is in order: (Step)brother Artificers? ;p