This is a decklist I was very interested from Yuuya Watanabe when he brought his Marvelous Bant decklist to the Pro tour Kaladesh at Honolulu.
I made a couple of edits to his decklist but the list is still very similar.
I've tried the Temur list, but I felt like the two red cards (Kozilek's Return and Cathartic Reunion) felt sub-par in my meta. The Kozilek's Return would usually miss against
Inventor's Apprentice
, Smuggler's Copter, Spell Queller, or even Grim Flayer when it got late in the game. And since I decided to remove kozi's return, I only had Cathartic Reunion in the list which was nice on occasion but not helpful in a lot of situations and I found
Anticipate
or Glimmer of Genius to be a way better alternative.
I've also tried a custom jund list with a lot of jank going on including Cathartic Reunion discarding Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, then playing Mortuary Mire putting Ulamog back on top, then activating Aetherworks Marvel. It was a pretty funny deck but wasn't as consistent as this one.
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Card Choices:
--The Titans--
-Emrakul, the Promised End: Obviously a two turn clock that can destroy an opponent's board state and hand. Even if you accidentally draw it, I've been able to cast it for 7-9 mana without problems.
-Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger: Another clock, but takes about two or three turns. Even though it takes longer to kill an opponent, the indestructible is extremely nice and becomes a pain to remove once it resolves. The cast trigger is also a very savage blow to an opponent's board state. Turn 4, exiling 2 lands is usually a scoop from the opponent.
--The Energy Producers--
-
Woodweaver's Puzzleknot
: This turn 2, crack turn 3, Aetherworks Marvel turn 4 is a very optimal start. Not only does it generate 6 energy, but it also generates 6 life which acts as a great shield against aggro.
-
Glassblower's Puzzleknot
: Not as great as
Woodweaver's Puzzleknot
, but is still fantastic. While producing energy, this can also prepare optimal draws and/or guarantee a hit on a titan with the aetherworks.
--Finding Aetherworks--
-
Anticipate
: A nice, cheap draw card and helps dig 3 cards for aetherworks
-Glimmer of Genius: Oh baby, this is digs 4 cards deep for aetherworks and also generates energy!
-Glint-Nest Crane: A 1/3 flying body that goes 4 cards deep for aetherworks or puzzleknots? Yes please!
--Please don't hurt me--
-Negate: Even though it only gets non-creature spells, protecting Aetherworks Marvel is of hightest priority and is our win condition. Also
Summary Dissmissal
is a thing that gets the titans and the cast trigger. Really gross and destroys us.
-Fumigate: It's not a Wrath of God, but its pretty close! And as a bonus we get life!
--Interesting Cards--
-Tamiyo, Field Researcher: This card is a really fun card to play. Basically one of four things will happen with her:
She +1's and scares opponents into not swinging to not give you card draw, thus they aggro less and try to work around her.
You are at 5 life and need to tap down their opponents constantly and she ends up killing herself. Still gives a turn or two to stabilize a bad board state.
The opponent goes ham on her and doesn't care if you draw 2-4 cards. Still not a bad situation.
The opponent completely forgets she's there and you manage to -7. (By the way, that means you win the game).
-
Nissa's Renewal
: May seem like an awkward 1-of at first, but during multiple games with this card; it actually won me multiple games. Going from 6 lands to 9 means that you can play Emrakul, the Promised End or you're one land away from Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. The 7 life is also no joke, that is a third of life regained.
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Sideboard Card Choices:
--Wait, I thought this was combo--
-Longtusk Cub: If your opponent is a control player, he/she would probably remove mass removal such as
Radiant Flames
or Grasp of Darkness due to the deck's low creature count. That's when you sideboard these in, these little guys are huge threats for only two mana. With lack of removal taken out, they're forced to use the removal they saved for the titans on the poor cubs.
-Spell Queller: This is following the same concept as the cubs, they're designed to make the deck much more aggressive while the opponent probably reduced the removal count. These little guys also protect your aetherworks from Fragmentize or
Pick the Brain
.
-Gideon, Ally of Zendikar: If you need aggressive, pick no other than Gideon!
--Please don't hurt me: Part 2--
-
Descend upon the Sinful
: Because Selfless Spirit, Scrapheap Scrounger, and Metalwork Colossus is a thing
-Thalia, Heretic Cathar: Beautiful 3/2 first strike body. Able to block almost any aggressive creature, stalls opponents super hard with tapped creatures and tapped lands, and the buy-a-box promo is gorgeous!
-Bruna, the Fading Light + Gisela, the Broken Blade
: I'm still playtesting this combo, but I've been able to pull the combo out a couple of times.
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Thoughts
--Cards I've considered--
-Declaration in Stone: I've really liked this card, especially with the exile. It offers very valuable protection and can definitely win games. I've just been afraid of it slowing down the deck and offering card draw to my opponent. I definitely could be wrong and haven't been able to fully playtest this card all that often.
-
Aether Theorist
: I appreciate the 1/3 body, but I've always thought that the Glint-Nest Crane was just better. It's true it offers scrys and energy and I think that
Aether Theorist
would've been worth testing.
-Tireless Tracker: I've always loved this card. The beatdown this card can bring is so real and feels amazing. The clue sac'ing can also fuel energy if aetherworks is on the board. I would really like to bring this card into sideboard, but I don't know when I would bring it in or what I would replace it with.
-
Consulate Surveillance
: I thought the card was funny and could definitely be great. It's just that I've always beat aggro in a best of three so I thought anti-aggro cards were unnecessary.
-Attune with Aether: This used to be my turn 1 play, but one day I accidentally removed it from my decklist and found the deck still consistently running. Not having a turn 1 play meant I could play my tapped land for turn and follow with an untapped land and a turn 2 puzzleknot.
-Servant of the Conduit: Used to be my favorite turn 2 play, again I removed it by accident and found the deck still running smoothly. The servant is still extremely handy and definitely could be re-added if you want to try turn 3 aetherworks.
-More counterspells: I've thought about bringing in more counterspells such as Ceremonious Rejection or even
Summary Dismissal
, but bringing in these made the deck slower and it just felt bad. I've always felt comfortable with the two Negates and the three Spell Queller.
-More Titans: If you ever feel more titans for consistency is needed, feel free to make edits to the decklist to make space for more. I've always thought that the five were enough and any more was just excessive and expensive.
