Gremlins are so cool...
I brewed a very budget but very "meh" Gremlin Tribal deck several months back when Kaladesh was spoiled. It was ok, but really lacked punch. A functional reprint of
Atog
with
Ravenous Intruder
was exactly the spark needed to bring this to light. Now the deck is shaping up to be like an old Atog deck that I used to run that was ever so fun to play (check it out: Hungry Hungry Atogs.) Of course Scrap Trawler and Pia's Revolution fit the deck like a slipper, but then Wizards went one step further and made Treasure Keeper.
Then, I've been saying this entire rotation is missing some form of mass artifact removal. Oh boy did Wizards get that one right with Release the Gremlins. The name, the art, the flavor... it's absolutely perfect and oh so fitting for Gremlins. At worste it's
Demolish
for one less mana AND you get a 2/2 token. There's nothing wrong with that.
I don't think I could contain myself if they printed a remake of
Disciple of the Vault
, especially if it was Red... They wouldn't do that, would they? Marionette Master is like the Disciple's mom or something, but way too expensive to run here. Pia's Revolution fits the bill as the "Punisher", I don't mind the change.
Alright, so I think that (almost) no matter what else gets spoiled I'm ready to call this one good to go. The sideboard would welcome some alternatives, but the main combo is stupidly perfect as it is.
I've already played around with Pia's Revolution and Scrap Trawler as a not quite infinite but annoyingly persistent combo. What it really needed was a sac outlet like Atog to ensure your opponent was going to be taking as much damage as possible. Guess what. We got one.
Now you need cheap things to sacrifice, which is where Implement of Combustion and
Fireforger's Puzzleknot
come in. Sacrifice one to get back the other. If your opponent wants to try to avoid the heat they can give them both of them back to you. You'll run out of mana eventually, right? Not if you have Foundry Inspector on the job. A pair of them means you are as close to infinite as possible. They avoid the 3 damage every time but will allow your "Atog" to grow out of hand. The only reason an infinite combo like this works in your favor is because the Puzzleknot hits for a damage on ETB and the Implementation will be drawing you a card. Eventually you'll just keep hitting more copies of these and keep dropping more. The "Atog" keeps pigging out. Your opponent will be forced to take the 3 damage a piece from the Revolution. Ouch.
With the addition of Ornithopter and Aetherflux Reservoir there really is no downside to the Revolution. Taking the damage will kill someone quickly and easily and giving things back will just get them killed slowly while giving you a bunch of life in the process. If you can't Foundry Inspector things back at no cost then it'll just take an extra turn or two.
Then, to up the cheapness to 11 they made Treasure Keeper. Eating this guy will trigger the rest of the pieces in the same way, but will also replace himself from your library. The only illegal target is another of himself. Anything you get is great, but hitting another artifact is best.
Aetherflux Reservoir became more apparent as a relevant option through play testing when I finally got to see how easily repeatable these artifact drops are. If you are stuck looping spells and your opponent isn't taking damage, then the Reservoir is gaining you a ton of life in the process and eventually you'll get that damage in. I wasn't as impressed with the Treasure Keeper as I though I'd be, I'm actually thinking about the Reservoir in main as the 4 slot. After all, Gremlins need something to wash all that metal down.
I somehow forgot about the
Workshop Assistant
from Kaladesh which is basically a reprint of Myr Retriever but balanced out at 3 cmc instead of two to make infinite combos a little harder to achieve. The awesome part about this guy is that he brings back ANY artifact when he dies. If you either have a bunch of mana or a number of Foundry Inspectors you can do this this loop several times or infinitely. Having a Scrap Trawler means he will bring back any artifact along with any cheaper cmc artifact. That's two for one! Having Pia's Revolution means you might even get the Assistant back (doubt it) but more likely it'll be causing 3 damage. Insanity. That's a lot of triggers.
So what are we left with? Small creatures that love to eat Artifacts for days. Cheap ways to eat your opponents Artifacts with
Ruinous Gremlin
s or you can Release the Gremlins to take down as many pesky Modules or Marvels as you can afford. They can even snack on Gearhulks and Vehicles, yummy!
I love Wrangle. Everything about it.
Invigorated Rampage
is an awesome finisher as well. With testing I'll determine the best combination for main and sideboard options. I like Reckless Fireweaver with all the repeatable artifact drops, I just wanted the main deck to focus completely on the Gremlins.
As far as Tribes go, I haven't been this excited to build around a particular type this badly in a while. In a world full of broken artifacts, these little guys are the perfect remedy and I for one can't wait to get my hands on 'em :)
