Semblance Anvil

Also Foundry Inspector

No.

Also no.

I don't need to reduce costs of things. The only artifacts that matter are Gilded Lotus and Voltaic Key. Not overly expensive. They're wastes of turns to accomplish something that won't be any faster or slower with or without them, simply by the nature of the deck. Furthermore, they have no activated abilities, and thus get no additional value from Kurkesh.

Your decks average cmc is 3.8 and almost entirely artifacts, I'm just telling you you're wrong.

You're cute. But my win ratio is exceptional without unnecessary fluff cards such as those, so I think I'll stick with value and efficiency.

Love the folder by the way. Very effective coping mechanism.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bdh-random-general-kurkesh/

Hey bro, started with your deck as a basis and basically overhauled for my budget deck building challenge in my play group.

Added a much more control oriented approach to get through the early game and cut down the average CMC by a bunch.

I like your deck a lot but 40 lands and an average CMC of 3.8 is something you need to look into. If your win rate is consistent then that is just because your playgroup is also playing incredibly slow decks.

You have a go at people for suggesting cards that actually add consistency to your deck when you are running a bunch of cards in here that actually have no use other than the fact that they CAN be used with Kurkesh to double activate even if it is a terrible activate.

The people here were TRYING to be constructive, maybe get off your high horse for a second.

You are relying on tutoring 1 of cards in your deck when your cheapest tutor is 5 CMC plus another 5/6 (with kurkesh) to activate... hardly reliable or consistent....

The reason people are suggesting alternates to your valuable/wincon cards is because it adds consistency when you are increasing the rate at which they appear RANDOMLY rather than having to tutor them for 10 mana.

What a nice opinion. Go have it somewhere else. When my results start to decline ill look into your suggestions. But as it stands, they are inefficient and unnecessary. Say I'm on a high horse all you like, I'm simply explaining why I've selected these cards over others and displaying their successes. If I've offended anyone I do apologize, I am merely trying to be direct. Except you, I am trying to be unkind to you because you're making a mockery of me baselessly.

Oh yeah, you also only cut down your average cmc by 0.2 so there's hardly an improvement there. That said I do like the availability of your deck as a budget version, dropping some of the more effective but understandably expensive cards for more defense to compensate for the efficiency drop. I'd like to add it to my primer as an budget alternative for people to look at, if you'll permit?

Would love that thanks (adding as a budget alternative),

yeah I didn't mean any disrespect just thought you were being a bit abrasive in your responses to peoples genuine suggestions.

No abrasiveness intended. Just being direct, clear, and concise in my reasoning for choosing other cards over them.

Gamble for tutoring? You have enough recursion to safely run it. And maybe Metalworker?

Also, being a 1v1 deck under the "competitive" hub, how is Temple of the False God working for you? Aren't there FAR better option for fast ramp?(Cough Metalworker Cough) I understand if you shy away from mana dorks because of the nonbo with Kurkesh, but Metalworker seems to good to not include here. Oh yeah, and my least helpful suggestion would probably be to switch your mountains with Snow covered mountains and run Extraplanar Lens.

Sorry if these suggestions are useless, but in my defense this deck is INCREDIBLY fine tuned.

MOOBS

I forgot to mention, too, that Journeyer's Kite has a strictly better counterpart now in Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip (unless you REALLY want to still dig for lands late game.) Have you considered replacing the Kite with it or maybe running both?

Gamble is not included primarily because it's red. I do try to keep this deck optimal but I intentionally try to keep the red cards down while doing so. Its a source of pride for me.

Metalworker is excluded in part because money. It does also draw immediate hate from the table when played on curve, and a big reason this deck is so successful is because it keeps its head low and steals games out of nowhere. Were this a 1v1 deck, I'd include it, but...

This isn't a 1v1 deck. Not sure where you got that idea, as its mentioned several times in the primer that it's optimal in multiplayer but can be 1v1 with some minor card change(s) and play style. Temple of the False God, therefore, is not a bad card to have around. If I didn't have it, it would just be a mountain. Therefore it does no harm and plenty of good.

I'm not partial to snow-covered lands and Extraplanar Lens. Ive been very particular about how many cards with similar effects are necessary without sacrificing other important mechanics in the deck, so the comparable cards that are included are more than sufficient. Taking out something for the Lense potentially drops the count of another group of similar-niche cards which could be detrimental to the efficiency of the deck. Basically "if it ain't broke don't fix it" in more words and more logic. Also, I already have my basics all foil with the same art, so I'd rather not go through that again.

For this deck, Journeyer's Kite is preferable to Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip, not because I need to search for basics mid-late game, but because it stays an artifact. By the compass turning into a land, it loses a relevant interaction within the deck; its helpful to have the Kite around after its served its purpose, so I can sacrifice it to Throne of Geth or, even better, Kuldotha Forgemaster. Were the compass' transformation optional, it would be a fine inclusion, but as a mandatory effect, the Kite is preferable in this context.

Ok... Sorry for wasting your time, lol.

Expedition Map???

To search for... what? Thespian's Stage and Dark Depths? Seems like you're suggesting not bad but unnecessary cards to feel like you've contributed.

None of the nonbasics are powerful enough to warrant a slot dedicated to searching them and only them out. When I get a Mishra's Workshop, maybe. As it stands, it's frivolous.

In my experience, playing mono-red in commander leaves your commander very vulnerable. I used to play Neheb, the Eternal you see. I found Conqueror's Flail to be very usefull for protection. You did mention that Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient had a tendency to die. Maybe this could be a nice piece to fetch.

I assume you already considered Skullclamp at some point. So I'm a little curious, why are you not running it?

Really solid deck.

Neither of those are made better with Kurkesh's ability.

His protection is largely provided by scary artifacts around him, or simply by not playing him until its safe.

Very nice, Kurkesh is underrated. I've got my own list [BUILT TO LAST] if you want to compare notes. I find that Mimic Vat and Feldon of the Third Path are MVPs, The latter especially when I have Liquimetal Coating.

I prefer Soul Foundry to Mimic Vat but I admit they are interchangeable.

I don't like Feldon of the Third Path. He doesnt provide anything for Kurkesh specifically, and I have no interest in adding more red cards at the moment anyway.

Liquimetal Coating has a narrow niche, and while I admit there have been times I've said I wish I ran it, its simply not versatile enough to warrant dropping something else for it at this time.

Ensnaring Bridge might help you not die to random creature beats. Seems real good if your primary wincon's don't include creature combat. even if you consistantly have 4-5 cards in hand it'll stop some amount of big dudes from attacking.

Mana Vault really good mana rock, really solid with voltaic key as well.

Basalt Monolith combo piece with rings of brighthearth, also if you wanted to get cute you could add Gemstone Array to filter the colorless mana to red for your commander to do more shennagains.

Worn Powerstone might be better than ur-golem's eye?

Is perpetual timepiece better than Elixir of Immortality? I'm assuming you're mostly using the timepiece for recursion, not self milling by the way.

how has golden guardian performed for you? Are you able to flip it consistantly?

I don't know how important hitting lands drops is to you, or if you have the time to durdle around with it, but Thawing Glaciers is a card i've really enjoyed in my slower control/combo decks. espeically ones not in green.

I'm not big on Ensnaring Bridge here, as its only good early in the game, at a time when accelerating quickly with assorted tap abilities is very relevant. Its not bad, but for me, here, I don't think its desirable.

I concede that I dont have great reasons for not playing Mana Vault or Basalt Monolith other than not wanting too many cards that do the same things, and the ones I have to full those roles being preferable to me and the way I play Kurkesh, but my results validate my preferences to me.

I like Ur-Golem's Eye over Worn Powerstone so that when it's cheated in or used to accelerate quickly with several mana rocks all at once, it's untapped and keeps the ball rolling. That makes up for the one mana, to me.

I do use Perpetual Timepiece to self mill. Sets up recursion/cheating in of good artifacts.

I regularly flip Golden Guardian  ^Flip. I can usually have it fight a Myr Token or two as i have it block something.

I have enough other Basic Land searching to be fine without Thawing Glaciers. If I happen upon one ill likely put it in, but its not vital enough for me to actively seek it out.

Have you ever considered Grimoire of the Dead. Just stumbled across it, and thought it could be retty sweet for this kinda deck. It might just enable a win on it's own in some matchups or act as a lightning rod at least.

I dunno, just wanted to give you the heads up at least ;)

It doesn't do enough without reliance on the opponents. Against some matchups it's great, yes. But playing cards, particularly in the mainboard, that require your opponents to not only be playing a kind of deck that lets it work, but also requires they be at a point in the game I don't want them to be at in the first place to be worthwhile, is not good strategy or deckbuilding. Better to play cards I can make work on my own. It's why I dropped Mimic Vat in favor of Soul Foundry, and why I'm waiting for useful lands to replace Strip Mine, Tectonic Edge, and the like.

That's a good advise I guess, I will keep it in mind

Awesome deck! I've loved playing it online and I featured it for a deck tech over at MagicGatheringStrat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMtSlNINkvw

I did make a couple of changes that I would recommend.

• Basalt Monolith : You already have Rings of Brighthearth so its infinite mana.
• Gemstone Array : Gives you a filter for all of the colorless mana from your mana rocks and the counters can be increased by Proliferate.
• Paradox Engine : It's a good extender considering how many mana rocks you play.
• Foundry Inspector : Also an extender to lower your artifact cost. Really good early considering its 3 CMC.