SUPER TOOLS N' TITANS!
[DISCLAIMER]: This deck will really tick off your opponent. I've had several people scoop, call me vulgar names and leave the game while playing online. Be forewarned, you won't make a whole lot of friends playing this. BTW, if you like this deck please feel free to give it an upvote!! Thanks!
ORIGINS:
Super Tools N' Titans gets it's name from an older Tangle Wire, Welder aggro Vintage deck called Tools N' Tubbies that was popular in the early 2000's. Not only was it popular, it was the number one deck at the time. After the printing of Goblin Engineer I decided that it was time to attempt to rekindle it's magic and give it another shot. The first iterations of the deck had some fatty creatures and artifacts such as Wurmcoil Engine and Salvage Titan hence the name Tools N' Titans. The idea was to tutor up huge fatties and expensive to cast artifacts to the graveyard and Weld them out via Goblin Welder. The deck was good but often I couldn't depend on just 4x main deck Goblin Welders to get the job done so I opted for less expensive fatties that could be hard cast in the event I didn't draw my Goblin Welder.
With the printing of Modern Horizons 2 our toolbox was greatly expanded and the deck evolved into it's current "stage 2" status and the deck became known Super Tools N' Titans which also happens to be reminiscent of my favorite video game Super Ghouls N' Ghosts.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Super Tools N' Titans is an aggro control deck that gets stronger as the player progresses through turns. The basic idea is to create tempo and disrupt the opponent with mana taxing STAX components such as Lodestone Golem, Tangle Wire and Trinisphere and then pound the opponent to death with giant 10/10+ robots (titans).
The deck features a toolbox of singleton silver bullet cards that can be tutored up depending on the occasion. There are 3 main deck tutors: Goblin Engineer, Urza's Saga and Expedition Map. The sideboard features even more silver bullets to ensure the job gets done game two.
CARD CHOICES:
Welding Buddies!
- Goblin Welder and Goblin Engineer
These guys are best friends! A turn one Goblin Welder followed by a turn 2 Goblin Engineer allows you to tutor up any lock piece (usually Trinisphere) put it into the graveyard and then Weld it into play. One of the best interactions is the ability to reset Tangle Wire counters by swapping them in and out of the graveyard. If this combo is set up early enough and followed up by a Lodestone Golem or Trinisphere your opponent might not ever get to cast another spell for the rest of the game.
Tools!
Any deck featuring Urza's Saga and Goblin Engineer as tutors needs a toolbox!
- Thran Turbine
This might be the first deck to fully take advantage of the card Thran Turbine. This card has been hiding in the back of brewers minds since it was printed back in the late 90's but there was never really any good cards to take advantage of it's mana until now!
With the printing of Modern Horizons 2 we finally have an excuse to run this card via Urza's Saga. With Thran Turbine and Urza's Saga in play you can start powering out x/x construct tokens as early as turn two. In fact this is your best opening hand!
Turn one play Urza's Saga, tap it, cast Thran Turbine and start powering out robots. When Saga's last chapter is spent on turn three you can sac it and tutor up an Expedition Map which Turbine also enables during your next upkeep, thus powering out another Urza's Saga for Turbine to power. Rinse, repeat, and you get an endless suite of robots every turn without ever having to tap a single land.
With the help of Mox Opal and Sol Lands such as Ancient Tomb and/or City of Traitors your turn two can be devastating! With a Mox Opal in play follow up your turn one "Saga + Turbine" with a turn two Ancient Tomb. Note, your Mox Opal will be activated when Saga cranks out a robot during turn two's upkeep. Tap both Opal and Ancient Tomb and a drop lock piece like Triniphere to lock your opponent out of the game while you smash your opponent's face to pieces with an endless stream of 10/10+ robots.
Note that Thran Turbine also synergizes quite nicely with Retrofitter Foundry giving you free 1/1 servo tokens every turn and also can help activate The Underworld Cookbook's secondary ability (bringing a Welder or Golem back from the yard) as well as activating food tokens to gain life in a pinch.
- The Underworld Cookbook
This card looks weird here but let me assure you that it is one of the best cards in the deck. Along side of Faithless Looting for pitching artifacts to the yard to be reanimated by Goblin Welder, The Underworld Cookbook also creates a food artifact token than not only can be sacked for life but also sacked to Goblin Welder. Essentially, it pitches the artifact you want in play to the yard and creates an artifact for you to sack to Welder to reanimate it. It also pumps your robots by making dead cards artifacts and can enable Mox Opal turn one by creating and artifact. Last but not least, the extra artifact you get helps give you more permanents to tap to Tangle Wire. If there was ever a deck that The Underworld Cookbook belonged in, it's this one.
- Expedition Map
This card is essentially Urza's Saga numbers 5 and 6 in the deck. As mentioned earlier, Thran Turbine powers both Expedition Map and Urza's Saga. A turn one Ancient Tomb, tap, cast both Expedition Map and Thran Turbine can be game ending!
- Nettlecyst.
This card, tutorable with Goblin Engineer, is our only Titan out side of Lodestone Golems and Saga tokens. Being tutorable with Engineer, it comes in handy for those games where you didn't get an opening hand with either Expedition Map or Urza's Saga. FYI, the creature attached to Nettlecyst can get HUGE!! The icing on the cake is that you can equip it to flying thopter tokens produced by Retrofitter Foundry for evasion and it pumps Lodestone Golem out of Lightning Bolt range. Also, considering you get a germ token, you get more permanents to tap to Tangle Wire.
- Shadowspear
Tutorable by both Goblin Engineer and Urza's Saga, it gives your massive robots trample for closing out the game against chump blockers, and it really shines with it's lifelink ability when/if you are dangerously low on life. In additon, it pumps Lodestone Golem out of bolt range and makes for a mighty 6/4 trampling lifelinker.
- Ichor Wellspring
Tutorable with Goblin Engineer, cards such as Ichor Wellspring and/or Servo Schematic (you can run either / or) are great for sacking to Welders to generate card advantage and board position all the while plopping lock pieces into play for free. It also taps to Tangle Wire.
- Retrofitter Foundry
Tutorable by both Urza's Saga and Goblin Engineer, Retrofitter Foundry can generate and army of servos, thopters and golems to beat down your opponent. With a Turbine in play you won't have to tap lands to pay it's mana costs. Best of all it fuels your Welders with robots to sac for juicy artifacts in the yard.
- Pyrite Spellbomb
This card is so dang useful in this deck! Tutorable by both Goblin Engineer and Saga, Pyrite Spellbomb burns up your opponents critters and keeps coming back with Welders. This card has won me several games against Death & Taxes, Delver and Goblins. Not only can it burn weenies, the real icing on the cake is that it can also be used as a draw engine with it's secondary ability.
SIDEBOARD!
As you can see, the sideboard is full of singleton silver bullets that can all be tutored up with either Expedition Map, Goblin Engineer and Urza's Saga.
- Karakas
For Marit Lage, Ragavan, Thalia and any other annoying Legendary creatures
- Pithing Needle
For pesky Planeswalkers and Aether Vials.
- Abrade
For weenies and Chalice of the Void, plus any other annoying artifacts.
- Soul-Guide Lantern
For Reanimator and other graveyard shenanigans.
- Thorn of Amethyst
For Storm combo and other combo in general.
- Hex Parasite
For Chalice, Planeswalkers and Vials.
- Defense Grid
Counterspell protection for blue control decks.
- Maze of Ith
For Emrakul / Marit Lage / Dreadnoughts and other large beaters.
- Meteor Golem
Recurable with Goblin Welder, Meteor Golem is for removal. It can remove almost anything and it's better than Spine of Ish Sah here because it goes to the graveyard when Welded to be Welded back out the following turn.
- Pyroclasm
The sideboard needs a sweeper and this is it.
- Smokestack
This is our sideboard flex slot. This deck can literally lock your opponent out of the game with Smokestack but it is really slow.
- Winter Orb
Combined with Trinisphere and/or Tangle Wire it can create a near hard lock on your opponent. I wanted to run it main deck but couldn't find the room. Tutorable with Goblin Engineer, this slot is situational and you'll know when to side it in when the time comes.
ADDENDUM:
You might be tempted to run Karn, the Great Creator main deck but this is a mistake. While the deck does generate enough mana to get him on the table, he is too slow and he changes the deck too much. I've tested him fairly extensively and many, if not most, games I've played him in he set me back a turn and in short I lost those games.
Smokestack, this is another card that changes the deck too much. You can side it in, but I'd only recommend a singleton on the sideboard. It is however decently effective and my original Tools N' Titans did go this route for a while. It got the axe for being too slow. Plus, as if this deck didn't already piss off your opponent's, this card pisses them off even more. Not so much for it's effectiveness but for the sole reason that it drags the game on for upwards of an hour.
Match ups coming soon!!