Hello! My name is Peter. I have been playing and strategizing with Magic for many years now. Recently, the Frontier format has come up on my radar. Thus far, it is a surprisingly cheap and enjoyable format, with lots of space for brewers and tuners. For example, in the tournament I finished first at 4-0 (8-0 in games) last weekend, no two decks were the same. If you are on the fence about whether to get into the format, I would highly recommend you try it out.
Alright, onto the deck. In a nutshell, UR Scissors is an aggro/combo deck seeking to abuse powerful artifact synergies. Archetype-wise, it is a Fish strategy; that is, it plays threats first, and then protects them with disruption and permission. The primary game plan is to enchant a cheap artifact with Ensoul Artifact (affectionately known as "Scissors"), creating a 5/5 beater as early as turn two, and ending the game as early as turn four. If that does not outright win the game, a combination of evasive creatures equipped with
Ghostfire Blade
chip the opponent's life total to where a
Shrapnel Blast
or two spells victory.
The individual spells can be roughly grouped into four groups: enablers, payoff cards, disruption, and flex slots.
Enablers
Ornithopter, Bomat Courier, Darksteel Citadel, Phyrexian Revoker, and Hangarback Walker
Each of these cards fulfill essentially the same role: a cheap artifact. The first two allow for Ensoul Artifact beatings beginning on turn two. The latter three are a turn slower, but provide addition utility. Darksteel Citadel doubles as a mana source, and when Ensouled creates a creature that dodges most removal. Phyrexian Revoker is included mostly for its artifact nature, as well as a four power creature with
Ghostfire Blade
to turn on the Ferocious of Stubborn Denial. Occasionally, it can turn off powerful cards, or occasionally even entire decks, such as Copy Cat. Hangarback Walker needs little introduction; most people have already realized what a powerhouse this card is. In UR Scissors, it is a sticky target for our payoff cards, and a potential tertiary strategy should the game stall out.
Payoff Cards
Ensoul Artifact,
Shrapnel Blast
, and
Ghostfire Blade
These are the reasons to play this deck. Ensoul Artifact is really what makes our deck tick. Even a couple of turns of inactivity from our opponent is often enough for an early Scissors to win the game.
Shrapnel Blast
is the other obvious inclusion in an aggressive artifact deck. Five damage takes out nearly creature in the format, but more often it will be used to finish off our opponent. In fact, the situation comes up frequently that the opponent stabilizes at around five health. Finally,
Ghostfire Blade
is almost always a better Bonesplitter in this deck. Not only can it turn innocuous creatures into scarier threats, but it can be used to turn Stubborn Denial Ferocious, and even carry an Ensoul Artifact in less favorable circumstances.
Disruption
Stubborn Denial and Lightning Strike
The volume and card choices in this area will depend largely on the local meta and personal preferences. However, it should be noted that the disruption is meant to assist the strategy, not dominate it. There were games in which I cast no disruption and still won. Half the reason to play these cards is to keep the opponent on their toes, and make them second guess a decision to leave back blockers or remove a threat.
To that end, Stubborn Denial is the most mana efficient and useful options for us in all of Frontier. Our creatures will typically either fly over or be larger than any defensive creatures, so non-creatures are the main problem. Even without Ferocious, a pseudo-Force Spike can be enough to either deal with removal or force the opponent to wait before they can successfully cast it, by which time we will most likely have won. When creatures are a problem, or when we need to get in those last couple points of damage, Lightning Strike works beautifully.
Flex Slots
Pia Nalaar and
Thopter Engineer
A necessity of this deck is consistency. As such, there are few slots available for change. However, I managed to carve out four spots in my list, and there could be arguments made to make a couple more. In that space, most lists put a top end of some sort; cards that are more expensive than one would like, but add great utility and/or finishing power. I decided on Pia Nalaar and
Thopter Engineer
due to their relatively low mana costs, production of evasive artifact creatures, and mild utility in haste, subpar firebreathing, and a panic effect. However, others have decided upon such cards as Whirler Rogue and Pia and Kiran Nalaar. The decisions you make in tuning this deck will once again be largely dependent, on your local meta and personal preference.
A Few Gameplay Notes
A few things must be kept in mind as one pilots this deck. The first is to mulligan aggressively. If the hand is not fast enough, or does not contain the necessary pieces, do not hesitate to try again. Won a match 2-0 in which I went to five cards both games.
Second, the player must tread a narrow path between committing and conserving resources. The key is patience. There were games in which I had lethal in hand, but waited as many as several turns to cast it, until they had tapped out or I was going to lose next turn.
