In a world where Emrakul/Copter/Reflector mage are no longer in standard we needed to find an answer the swell in control decks that started to appear shortly after the good aggro decks left the meta.
My answer: Grixis Colossus
Today I decided to playtest this deck at a GPT (Jump right into the fire) against the regular grinders in my area.
Result: Top seed moving into the top 4 with a 4-1 record. We didnt have a finals as we collectively agreed that the only one of us who was going should get the bye.
Matches:
Round: 1 Grixis zombie emerge WIN
Opponent was on last standards r/b zombie deck to playtest its viability vs the meta. (He was 2nd seed btw)
Game 1 colossus did what it was supposed to do but in the end a misplay led me to shock his sac fodder and not emerge a deep fiend on a colossus and tap down his board so that I could stabilize for one more turn and win on the crack back.
Out: 2 Tezzeret, 2 Shock, 1 Hedron Archive
In: 3 Incendiary sabotage, 2 Thought-knot Seer
Games 2 and 3 went exactly as I had hoped. Curving perfectly into 2-4 colossus without seeing any of my sideboard cards and winning off of bad trades on his part every combat. Only went to turn 6 both games.
Match 2: Jeskai Saheeli LOSS
Game 1 was a total blowout as my opponent didn't know what to counter and essentially let me set up my board to have free colossi as fast as I could tutor for them and give them haste with battlements. Win.
Out: -2 Tezzeret -2 Shock
In: +2 Thought-Knot Seer +2 Negate
Games 2 and 3 I tried to play around the combo since my cover was blown and he was countering smarter. Both games resulted in a loss on my part due to Disintegrating at the wrong time to him wombo comboing when the coast was clear.
Match 3: Mono-Blue Reservoir Affinity WIN
Honestly I thought this was going to be a terrible matchup for me, game 1 he was 1 mana short of winning with the reservoir and succumbed to colossus damage. He had gained 20+ life the turn before he lost.
Game 2 was the same as game 1 except he was slowing his own deck down by loading up on counterspells but eventually lost to a negate on his reservoir and 40 power worth of robots attacking.
Match 4: G/b Counters (http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=110996 confirmed this list) WIN
Game 1 I had kept a hand full of removal and ended up slowing his game plan waaaayyy down until I was able to get a playset of colossus on the field and go larger than him.
Out: -2 Tezzeret -2 Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
In: +2 Chandra +2 Key to the city
Game 2: on his turns 3-4 he lost legacy's me for both my herald of kozilek and my unlicensed disintegration, both of which were in my hand and I felt like I was going to be fighting an uphill battle. Turns out he didn't keep a hand with enough gas and eventually got trampled over by colossus 3 turns later.
Round 4: G/B counters planeswalker edition (Former top seed) WIN
Game 1 I kept another hand full of removal and was able to out tempo my opponent with a combination of Tezzeret and Disintegration until the beats came.
Out: -2 Tezzeret -2 Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
In: +2 Chandra +2 Key to the city
Game 2 I totally blewout my opponent by representing a playset of colossus on turn 5 and Elder Deep-Fiend in hand. Opponent scoops and says Colossus make him want to scratch his eyes out.
In Top 4 we were paired against each other first match. :-)
Specific Card Choices:
Unlicensed Distegration: I basically chose the deck archetype around this because of how good this card is vs the cat combo. It's always on and the mana is never a problem.
Metalwork Colossus: G/B tries to go bigger than everyone else pretty fast, why not use something that requires less investment to go even bigger and has a form of recursion.
Key to the city: Not just for aggro decks but its great for sneaking gigantic robots through walls of tokens. Extra card draw is always nice as well. Probably will make this main deck.
Tezzeret the Schemer: After seeing the fun things Joe Lossett did with it at SCGCOL I wanted to test him out and he was a welcome addition to the archtype though I feel like he is somewhat weak.
Herald of Kozilek: Back from BFZ my homeboy loves not dying to Radiant Flames and Yahennni's Expertise and keeps my Thought-Knots and Colossi on the cheap.
Sanctum of Ugin: The ability to fetch another free Colossus or a Deep-Fiend is huge.
Inventor's Fair: May increase the number in the main due to how often it would be used to go fetch a free colossus.
All in all I believe this deck is a great choice for the meta. Build upon what I have done my friends!
