It’s been noted that for years now, I’ve had an interest in creating a deck with equipment usage at the forefront. I’ve scrapped many decks in those years that just don’t seem to cut it.
Last night, I may had stumbled onto something. It’s a long way from what it could be but it’s a start and I’d like your help.
Today’s deck is far from a finished product. It’s more of a skeleton for something that can be a bit more competitive. As of now, the deck stands at $31 and while good for the pocket, it could stand for more good cards being added.
In today’s deck, I’ll be reviewing the deck and it’s good and bad qualities. Once again, it’s far from a fully functional deck and it has some pretty significant weaknesses, but it’s a start.
Let’s get started with this Modern deck.
The Armory
Creaturesbrass squire
4x Armament Master
3x Brass Squire
4x Kitesail Apprentice
4x Kor Duelist
4x Kor Outfitter
4x Relic Seeker
The Good: Starting with the creatures, many of them have abilities that await equipment being attached to them. Most notable of them being Kor Duelist. When equipped, it gains double strike and with the equipment contained in the deck, that’s a huge amount of damage. Kitesail Apprentice is granted flying when equipped which can potentially be unblockable damage against a ground pounding deck. It’s evasion is key as we will cover later. Armament Master can assist other Kor in the deck when equipped, granting them all +2/+2.
Other notable creatures are the Relic Seeker which will be our conduit to tutoring equipment into our hand. Also in the deck are Kor Outfitter and Brass Squire. Each of these creatures can toss a weapon to another creature in play. The Myr can do it as an activated ability, handing weapons around for free immediately after they are cast for a pseudo “haste equip” like effect which leaves more mana in your pocket to cast other things.
The Bad: This roster is very frail. Not one of them survives a Lightning Bolt, let alone a single gut shot. Making them more durable requires other cards in the deck. Many games start off with a few sucker shots and then they stall out awaiting the arrival of equipment which has to wait for turn three or four.
Equipmentgodsend
2x Godsend
2x Sword of Vengeance
2x Whispersilk Cloak
The Good: This is Plan A. Equip a creature and pound the opponent unmercifully. These two weapons are probably the best equipment for their price tag. In the hands of Kor Duelist, Kitesail Apprentice, Armament Master and Relic Seeker, they can offer many frustrating scenarios for your opponent when it comes to blocking. If Godsend and Sword of Vengeance weren’t enough, Whispersilk Cloak can also score unblockable damage. Brass Squire can toss the cloak around at ease if need be to protect these fragile creatures.
The Bad: Equipment is clunky and requires multiple mana investments to put into play and move around. This deck’s equipment is no different with all of them being three or more just to get into play. Cheating them into play is tricky and requires further investments.
2x Elbrus, the Binding Blade
The Good: This is the Plan B of the deck. Sneaking this knife onto the battlefield and tossing it on a creature with evasion makes a very sinister mess of the game. Once the equipped creature deals damage, the blade flips and turns into a 13/13 demon with flying, intimidate, and trample.
The Bad: If you can’t manage cheating this high casting cost equipment into play, it’s going to sit in your hand and goes to waste.
Other Cards of Notequest
3x Quest for the Holy Relic
The Good: I’ve been able to use this enchantment several times now and each time is better than the last. Just cast five creatures and presto, you have any single equipment you like from your deck onto a creature, including Elbrus, the Binding Blade.
The Bad: Quest for the Holy Relic encourages getting your hand’s worth of creatures into play as fast as possible which sets it up for mass removal spells. Once that form of removal is cast, your hand is typically empty of filled with equipment with no creatures to equip.
4x Sejiri Steppe
The Good: The Steppe is a sneaky way to grant evasion on your creatures. With protection from any color, creatures can go unblocked and score.
The Bad: The land coming into play tapped makes opening hands with it slow. I’ve found that I have to play it on first turn with poor hands which slows Quest down a turn.
As you can see, the positives and negatives leave the deck mediocre. Some games it does well, jumping on the opponent early and not letting up, other games results in a sputtering mess.
With budget in mind, I’d really like to see the deck do better than it’s current form. What are your thoughts? What budget cards are available to improve this deck?
Swing Last,
Aiokii
