This is my take on the standard artifact deck that's been going aroung the net. But I added a splash of green so I can include Sylvan Caryatid and other green side board tech. Why Sylvan Caryatid you ask? Well, I'll get to that in a moment.
Here are the cards and their roles in this deck and what I think about them. Let's get started.
THE CHEAP ARTIFACTS:
Darksteel Citadel - A land that's indestructible is always good in my book. But an artifact land that's indestructible?! An auto-include in every standard artifact deck just for the reason we can enchant it with Ensoul Artifact to make it an indestructible 5/5 beating your opponent down. And it can also be Shrapnel Blast fodder in a pinch. Although, it only provides colorless mana. Which can be a drawback and lead you to some awkward mulligans. Most cards in your deck run one devotion in their mana costs anyways, so its all worth it.
Ornithopter - This card is the toolbox of this whole deck. I'll explain why in a second. It's an artifact creature that flies. It can be used to tap for mana with the help of Springleaf Drum. It can be fodder to Shrapnel Blast. And it can be a chump blocker if you need it to be. Oh, did I mention, it's an artifact that flies! That's right. This means we can enchant it with Ensoul Artifact and make it a 5/5 beater hitting your opponen from the skies.
Springleaf Drum
- A good way to ramp into our bigger creatures. It's also an artifact. So we can easily enchant it with Ensouled Artifact or sacrifice it for Shrapnel Blast.
Ghostfire Blade
- Thank God Wizards made a card that was biased on colorless creatures in standard. This card acts as our fail-safe plan. If we only have Ornithopters and Sylvan Caryatids out in the battlefield, this card will act as the guns giving our 0-power creatures a little juice. Which will hold back any aggressive plans long enough to find our big creature and threats. It's also a cheap artifact we can ensoul or feed to shrapnel blast.
THE RAMPERS:
Generator Servant
- This card was so underrated during Magic2015 pre-release. But now, it in almost every ramp deck that runs red. It's just so good. Allowing you to ramp to your big guys as soon as turn 3 is no joke. AND WITH HASTE. Give me a set please!
Sylvan Caryatid - The card that forces me to splash green. Now before I tell you why I'm running a play set of these bad boys. Let me tell you how I got to the point where I realized I had to put this. Now before I had Sylvan Caryatids, I used to run a play set of
Chief Engineer
. At first, giving convoke to all your artifacts looked good on paper but then I realized, It couldn't help me cast instants or pay for equip costs and cast my other colored spells. It was just to weak compared to Sylvan Caryatid. Because Sylvan can do all that in a pinch. And it has hexproof with a body of 3 toughness. That means it stays in the battlefield longer and blocks aggro strategies all day. Now, the reason why this card is included in this deck is because it will easily help us ramp to our big guys and eventually help us win the game.
OUR BIG GUYS:
Prognostic Sphinx
- A 3/5 flier for evasion. Has pseudo-hexproof. Always a good thing. And every time you attack, you SCRY 3. This card just does a ton of work the moment it attacks. Just be ready to have some other creatures ready to block against any counter attacks. That scry 3 will help you find answers and ways to beat your opponent and just help you dig through your deck as quickly as you can.
Stormbreath Dragon - This creature is just all kinds of evasion. It has flying, protection from white, and haste. In the upcoming meta where there are a lot of white removals like Chained to the Rocks,
Suspension Field
,
Banishing Light
,
Devouring Light
and Utter End roaming around. This card will just soar over them and win you the game. And it's monstrous ability can sometimes even win you games.
Scuttling Doom Engine
- This card is one of the main reasons why we're trying to ramp. A 6/6 with haste on T3 or T4 is almost difficult to handle in this meta. And when it dies, it deals 6 damage to target opponent. You can combo this with Shrapnel Blast but I'll talk about that later.
BLASTERS:
Lightning Strike - a cheap way of removing early threats or just another way of blasting your opponent in the face can even win you games. Simple.
Magma Jet - another cheap way of removing mana dorks and small creatures. Even blasting your opponent in the face can be an option. Its scry 2 ability is also relevant and allows you to dig through your deck in the early game to look for your own answers and threats to put on the board and even lets you set up your plays for the coming turns.
Shrapnel Blast - a cheap way to remove bigger threats. But be warned, you always have to sacrifice an artifact to cast this. So it will always end up as a 1 for 2. or even a 0 for 2. But 5 damage is really big and even wins you a lot of games. And you can even combo this with Scuttling Doom Engine
+
Shrapnel Blast
for 11 damage. And if you attacked first with scuttling doom engine, that's a result of 17 damage in one turn. And this is all happening at instant speed.
BIG DADDY:
Ensoul Artifact - If you can enchant this card to an artifact by T2. You will win 95% of the time. Which happens quite frequently than you can imagine. Since im running 16 one-drop artifacts. I have a 1/3 probability of a T2 ensouled artifact play. It's just so hard to deal with a 5/5 by T2 in standard, especially if its a 5/5 flier or an indestructible 5/5. Definitely a keeper in this deck!
Dig Through Time - Still Testing out this card if it's good in this deck. That's why it's a one of in this deck. Basically, It's for long grindy matches and you just need to find a way to win with either with a Shrapnel Blast or a Stormbreath Dragon. It also digs for answers. Fitting for its name. Just looking at the top 7 cards at a possible UU mana and picking 2 cards from them is just mindbogglingly good. +1 for the word mindbogglingly. :)
SIDE BOARD:
Circle of Flame
- anti-aggro. really simple, it hoses down any early aggro strategy and makes combat very awkward for them. You side this in against aggro decks like Rabble Red and Mono Black Aggro.
Unravel the Aether - I included this in case my opponent plays a lot of removals that use enchantments like Chained to the Rocks,
Suspension Field
, and
Banishing Light
. Also hits gods, enchantment creatures and other enchantments that are heavy in this format.
Phyrexian Revoker - PW's are a big thing in standard. And having a card that can prevent it from using its abilities can be life saver. It can even name cards like Sylvan Caryatid just in case I don't want him to ramp. This is also an artifact. So I can easily ensoul this or feed it to shrapnel blast if i need to.
Plummet
- Deals with almost every flying creature in standard. Stormbreath Dragon, Master of the Feast,
Herald of Torment
,
Butcher of the Horde
are just some of the few targets.
Stubborn Denial - Finally a counter spell that can counter
Thoughtsieze
in standard if you're on the play. I play this card to protect my threats like an ensouled artifact or any of my big guys. And even counter PW's. And since I'll be using it to protect my 5/5, my 4/4, and my 6/6 creatures. It will most often be a hard counter for the cost of U. Talk about tempo. A full set in sideboard for sure. Side this in against a heavy removal deck and Control type decks.
