The first and foremost change to the deck is the number of lands I am running. While I could feel comfortable getting away with 20 lands while also running 4x
Attune with Aether
, I needed to increase the land count to make up for the loss of Attune. I eventually settled on 23 lands after running several probability calculations; in the end, I should only end up mulliganing 16.5%, which is 2 times in 12 games. I've added a few deserts into the land package for the benefit of
Hashep Oasis
, and using
Desert of the Indomitable
to either hedge against flooding, or another desert to sac to Hashep.
In my time playing any Pummeler variant with blue,
Cartouche of Knowledge
has been an all-star. This build looks to capitalize on the cartouche by playing other threats, besides Pummeler, that can really punish an opponent via flying like
Bristling Hydra
and
Longtusk Cub
.
My Temur build wasn't particularly reliant on
Rogue Refiner
as I had already swapped one copy out for the Pummeler-tutoring
Trophy Mage
. With this build, I've taken a step further by dropping one copy of
Electrostatic Pummeler
, but going up to 2x
Trophy Mage
as well as a main deck
Aethersphere Harvester
, which can also be tutored via the Mage. The Harvester is sometimes a more desired 3-drop artifact, especially against aggro decks that cannot attack effectively into its lifelink-capable body. The sideboard also contains a pair of
Lifecrafter's Bestiary
which can also be found via the Mage, and are very useful to bring in against control and midrange builds to let me dig through the deck, usually swapping out one or two Pummelers.
One addition that I consider unique in my build (and you may find it unusual) is 4x
Glassblower's Puzzleknot
. Every other Pummeler deck I have seen post-ban has chosen the other puzzleknot,
Woodweaver's Puzzleknot
, to try and fill the energy void due to its 3 energy. But in my testing, I have found the Scry 2 ability much more relevant in filling the land fixing and card draw void left by the bannings; it can act in the early game to make sure I get my third or fourth land, and in the late game I have used it several times to allow me to topdeck a
Larger Than Life
for the Pummeler kill. Even though it only provides 2 energy with each activation, I have found that to be sufficient every time it has shown up for me. I do tend to sideboard one copy out going into Game 2 when I will be on the draw.
The other addition for which I claim originality is my maindeck
Unsummon
instead of Deep Dive. I never found Deep Dive useful, and while
Unsummon
ing my own Pummeler may hurt my tempo, it effectively answers an attack into
Settle the Wreckage
. I've also used the tempo-punishing of
Unsummon
to buy myself an extra turn or two by bouncing their large 5- and 6-CMC threats, like
The Scarab God
and
The Locust God
.
