After deliberating with my friends about the fresh spoils of Kaladesh (I am in love with this set!!), I decided to brew a deck with some cards that I already had (Nahiri, Emrakul) and some gearhulks, since they are such value to play!
I was happy to find out that Mardu Gearhulks is a real good way to play control!!
Sidenotes: Battlefield Forge is the new red/white dual land from Kaladesh, and I will probably put some Skywhaler's Shots in the deck, possibly replacing some disintegrations, since scry is amazing, especially if you've got a sorin on the battlefield.
Combos of the Deck Show
There are various combos within this deck:
Nahiri, the Harbinger Show
1)
Nahiri, the Harbinger and
Emrakul, the Promised End. This combo is hard to get off but will do 13 trample damage in the air on a body impossible to kill with instants! A great finisher!
2) Nahiri and Cataclysmic Gearhulk. When you have her ult up and you are being overrun by creatures or other permanents, throw a cataclysmic gearhulk in to sacrifice all of the opponent's creatures/enchantments/artifacts/planeswalkers except for one of each of those card types. Your cataclysmic gearhulk can be selected either as artifact or creature so keep in mind you can keep it on the battlefield if you select another creature too! This deck does not run many artifacts that I prefer to keep over a cataclysmic gearhulk. It will return to hand after the turn ends so you can keep it in hand until you need a Tragic Arrogance on a body again :)
3) Nahiri and Noxious Gearhulk. Arguably the worst out of the 3 gearhulks in this deck, it is still no small feat to get 5 hasty menace damage in while killing off the biggest threat of the opponent, with the possibility to slap the gearhulk in a second time in the next turn to take another threat down! Oh, and it gains you a ton of life!
4) Nahiri and Combustible Gearhulk. This combo is so good that I almost always favour getting the combustible gearhulk over Emrakul. It gives you 6 hasty first strike damage while either drawing you 3!!! cards, or doing even more damage to your opponent!
5) Nahiri and Goblin Dark-Dwellers. This combo is literally Nahiri and Noxious Gearhulk but the dark-dwellers will do 1 less damage, will not gain you life and will be 1 cheaper to cast next turn! They can re-use any of the removal spells we have in the graveyard!
Sorin, Grim Nemesis Show
1) Use his +1 ability to find any of the high converted mana cost cards that are put in this deck. There is a good chance you find at least 3 damage while drawing a card. The deck is filled with high mana costs so you'll probably hit your opponent even harder.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers Show
1) Goblin Dark-Dwellers has a special place in this deck, namely, being a cheaper version of Noxious Gearhulk, by recasting any removal spell that we've used before (and we have loads of those removal spells). Almost every permanent is covered by our removal except for lands.
Ever After Show
Basically, Ever After allows us to do the same enter the battlefield combos as a Nahiri ult would give us, except without the hasty damage but WITH the creatures staying in the battlefield. How incredibly broken is it to revive 2 combustible gearhulks or an Emrakul you milled with Nahiri's +2 ability, or better yet, a cataclysmic and a noxious gearhulk to completely get rid of your opponent's creatures! There's a plethora of fun double revive combos that allow for very valuable plays in this deck :)
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is in here to get more from destroying all our opponents creatures every turn, while also allowing us to gain some life if we're running low.
Kambal, Consul of Allocation is in here because I needed another 3 drop creature and I expect this guy to be amazing versus any spell heavy deck. I might put him in the sideboard in favour of another removal spell though.
Filigree Familiar is our chosen creature because of the lifegain (we are not that good versus aggro matchups) and the card advantage when this little guy dies. It also helps to get our 3 damage in from Unlicensed Disintegration.
Cards I'm still considering: Conduit of Ruin with Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger (or some other big eldrazis or the new 11 cmc artifact creature) for Sorin shenanigans, Madcap Experiment to cheat in gearhulks earlier in the game, Refurbish for a cheaper version of Ever After for one of the gearhulks, and finally the newly spoiled Captured by the Consulate, which acts like pacifism on a creature the opponent controls and gives me a lightningrod to soak up the next removal card the opponent is casting. It is weak versus Fragmentize though.
**I hope you like the first version of this deck! Some small adjustments might be necessary to optimize it, so I would really appreciate any constructive criticism and recommendations!
Peace out, Manemaan**
