i had a lot of fun, and went undefeated at my AER prerelease with RW vehicle aggro very close to this.

unless its been changed with AER, you must crew vehicles before combat step. if you crew during the combat step, your vehicles cannot attack. i dont know the exact ruling, but all i know is to attack with a vehicle, it must be crewed before combat.

pantsbot I'm happy that you like the deck. I plan to take this deck to FNM after AER release, and my playtesting says this deck will do well.

It has never actually been that you have to crew vehicles before combat to my knowledge. The combat phase consists of beginning of combat, assign attackers, assign blockers, damage, and end of combat (Shown here on the Wizards' webpage). At the beginning of combat all combat triggers are put on the stack in turn order starting with the active player and in the order the controlling player chooses to put them on the stack. If you let that stack resolve you will have 2x 3/2 Toolcraft Exemplars. Still in the beginning of combat step, before declaring attackers you may activate abilities and play spells that can be played at instant speed (such as crew). You then crew your Consulate Dreadnought with the 2x 3/2 Toolcraft Exemplars. Move to assign attackers and assign Consulate Dreadnought as attacking.

I admit that I may be wrong as I have not spent extensive time with vehicles, but this is my understanding.

pantsbot you made me decide to look into it more and as I suspected you can crew during the beginning of combat step. This page on the Wizards' website explains.

Pretty early on where it explains the crew ability and the rules associated it says:

"For a Vehicle to be able to attack, it must be a creature as the declare attackers step begins, so the latest you can activate its crew ability to attack with it is during the beginning of combat step. For a Vehicle to be able to block, it must be a creature as the declare blockers step begins, so the latest you can activate its crew ability to block with it is during the declare attackers step. In either case, players may take actions after the crew ability resolves but before the Vehicle has been declared as an attacking or blocking creature."

ok, my mistake. i've been doing it wrong all this time, just to be on the safe side. hahahahahahahaha

good to know theres a "beginning of combat" step before "declare attackers" step.

i think i might've heard way back when at kaladesh prerelease what i told you, and i guess i stuck with it to prevent mistakes with crewing to attack.

now im interested in this deck waaaaay more. :) :)

haha. It's all good. I do the same thing most times and just go with what I'm told until I get a chance to see the ruling.

If you play the deck or a close variation for FNM let me know how it does.

Hi oshen,

I was looking for a Budget Consulate Dreadnought deck in standard and find yours to be the best so far (for budget and competitiveness' sake). Do you have any update for the deck? How was your match up? I already got 60% of the deck and is planning to order the rest online so I was thinking if you have any changes or tips for your deck. Not playing that much recently but I really wanted to build this deck because it really looks fun! Hope you can help me. :)

Hi IrvRai,

I have only playtested it against a few decks.....I was not able to make it to the last 2 FNM tournaments like I planned. That being said, the toughest matchup it has had so far was a Gruul Aggro Deck that was almost a mirror match. His focus was Greenbelt Rampager and Consulate Dreadnought. The decks were pretty evenly matched and starting hand made the matches for the most part. His ability to give hexproof at instant speed with Blossoming Defense shut down Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, Dazzling Reflection, and Declaration in Stone. I did learn from that match that Dazzling Reflection is necessary in mirror matches for that easy recovery. Declaration in Stone may be too slow, but hitting 2 Greenbelt Rampagers if you can makes it nice to have.

I am also waiting on my Veteran Motorists to come in as they are being held tightly by my community for some reason, so I playtested with Thraben Inspector which did quite well for keeping your hand up and a blocker.

IrvRai

I finally took it to FNM last night. It did fantastic. I lost my first game based on bad land draw. I sideboarded well against the opposing deck and won the next 2 games. I thing won the following 2 matches 2/0 each. Unfortunately, at the last round I needed to leave, but since my opponent and I were both 3/0 we decided to split 1st and 2nd place prizes.

1st deck I played against focused on getting Syndicate Trafficker out with Animation Module and/or Hidden Stockpile. Basically it was lots of servo blockers and a big Syndicate Trafficker. Fatal Push and Declaration in Stone were the worst threats and Built to Last were good to deal with them, plus just field advantage. My own Declaration in Stone dealt with fields of servos as well.

2nd deck I played against was a Boros vehicle deck whose heavy hitter was Fleetwheel Cruiser and ran the same weenies like Inventor's Apprentice and Toolcraft Exemplar. It was an easy match as I was always at least 1 turn ahead.

3rd deck I played against was a mono-blue control deck and his counters couldn't come fast enough. He sideboarded in Ceremonious Rejection, but never got to use it. He tried rebounding my permanents and even stealing my Consulate Dreadnought, but it was all too slow. Most games I had dropped everything needed to win by turn 3.

The deck I was playing was this exact deck except I was missing an Inventor's Apprentice, so I ran a single Thraben Inspector which worked beautifully to get the easy artifact for Inventor's Apprentice or Toolcraft Exemplar and helped dig or rebuild my hand as necessary. I may take out a Speedway Fanatic and an Inventor's Apprentice for 2 Thraben Inspectors. Let me know what you think.

Also, thinking about changing a single Mountain to a Plains

Also, thinking about changing a single Mountain to a Plains

Hi Oshen,

Thanks for the input! I already ordered the rest of the deck and will order some Thraben Inspector too. The deck really looks fun and I can't wait to use it against my friends and play it on our LGS' FNM. Nice deck you got there buddy! Keep it up! :)

Thanks. Let me know how it plays for you and any changes you think should be made.

oshen,
Have you looked at Scrapheap Scrounger? I'm wondering if its ability to Crew 3 might be better in enough cases vs. the Haste effect from Speedway Fanatic.

Also, have you tried Stitcher's Graft, maybe as a one-of or two-of? I've been playing Craig Wescoe's Dogs in Boats and I'm always happy to see the card.

Draw well!

Neat. I'm not really a vehicles guy, but this deck ran pretty well. I personally think 20 lands is a little too low. I'd probably bump up to 21 or 22. Still, fun to play and nice concept.

clayperce,

Thanks for the suggestions. I thought about Scrapheap Scrounger and still think you may be right about having it over Speedway Fanatic. Only once has the haste been a big deal. After reviewing Craig Wescoe's Dogs in Boats, I think Lupine Prototype may be a much better alternative. Maybe go 2x Lupine Prototype and 1x Thraben Inspector. I am not a fan of the Stitcher's Graft for this as I am paying 3 mana for +3/+3 which is not the value I am looking for.

divinagon,

I'm glad you like the deck. Not really a vehicle guy myself, but I wanted to build an aggro deck with the most bang-for-the-buck, and I think this is it. I have played with the idea of 21 or 22 lands, but it seems far less consistent than 20 lands. I have tried it and I get mana flooded more often with 21 lands than I get mana screwed with 20 lands. Thanks for the suggestion.

oshen,
Yeah, a deck probably needs some critical mass of 3-power Creatures for Graft to be worthwhile.

Good luck (and good skill!) with the deck!

Thanks

I like this idea. Note that Inspiring Vantage is no good Turn 1 because it will come in tapped if you have no other lands, and you won't be able to play Consulate Dreadnought.

Kurremkarmerruk,
That's not how Inspiring Vantage works. Zero other lands = "two or fewer other lands", lol.

clayperce,

Oh, my bad. I see that now. :)

You have to crew vehicles before you go to combat, so the toolcrafts don't work for crewing the dreadnaught.

Maxjo,
You're incorrect. Toolcraft Exemplars trigger at the Beginning of Combat. You simply Crew during the Beginning of Combat Step (i.e. before the Declare Attackers Step).

Maxjo,

clayperce is correct. See the archived comments for this same conversation I had a while back. There is a beginning of combat before declare attackers in which you can activate abilities and cast instant speed spells.

clayperce,

How do you feel about Combat Celebrant or Harsh Mentor for the deck?