The Minefield: A Modern Artifact Recycler (T3 Win)
Modern
SCORE: 139 | 238 COMMENTS | 30618 VIEWS | IN 78 FOLDERS
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #2
Unfortunately I just don't have the time right now to test this deck. My school has finals week this coming week, so after that I have all the time in the world, but until then not really. Uggh I wanna test this deck so badly though on untap!
January 14, 2016 10:37 p.m.
No worries, there is still time before the GP. On a somewhat related note, I think I have found a way to make this deck more competitive... but it's at the cost of the bomberman win-con, which means I will NOT be making this change. It will be detailed in the description, under the "What if I Simply Crave Raw Power?" section.
January 14, 2016 11:07 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #4
Unfortunately, the Sun Droplet thing doesn't work. Damage is not the same thing as Life Loss, meaning that when you crack a fetch or use Thoughtseize, Sun Droplet doesn't trigger. The result is that Droplet just can't gain you enough life to really matter enough. To be honest, using the Bomberman to recycle Spellbombs is more effective against midrange anyway. Especially because the Bomberman is out of range for Lightning Bolt and Abrupt Decay. Additionally, you can discard Spellbombs to Lili and get them back later. Midrange decks will not care about 2 life every turn, or even 5 life, because the nature of the deck is that they will eventually be swinging for 10+ every turn, especially if you're not able to actually kill their creatures.
In short, you're better off with Bomberman than Droplet vs midrange. Tez might still be useful alongside Bomberman, although I haven't tested at all.
One more thing: in the few games with this deck that I am able to play on occasion, I really have been craving for another cmc=2 and cmc=3 wincon. BSZ is clearly the best option for cmc=3, especially because it's useful vs midrange, and honestly I do believe that a second Profane Command could help. If you haven't been having this issue, that's because you are a much better pilot and can avoid the issues I've been experiencing, and accordingly don't make the change.
January 15, 2016 6:53 p.m. Edited.
I haven't been having cmc=2 issues because of intuition. Part of the way to play is to prioritize using Perplex as a counter spell instead of Muddle the Mixture when you have the choice. The way this deck plays, it does not give the opponent the chance to kill GA, so muddle will be needed to fetch pili more often than perplex to fetch GA.
Another tip is, if you have muddle and the combo could forseeably happen in the next two-three turns, also try to keep an artifact in hand to enable intuition as a wincon.
All of the aforementioned is just me explaining what I have been doing to avoid needing another cmc=2 wincon.
As to the cmc=3 wincon, I also really do miss BSZ. I often am scared to play Staff of Domination because it is the only wincon I have in that slot. On top of that, BSZ enables some fringe mid combat wins. The problem is that I don't miss BSZ enough to cut anything from the list.
The only card that has been underperforming so far is Shambling Vent, and I think Vault of the Archangel is it's best replacement. It turns hangarback and pili into some serious blockers. It also doesn't produce colored mana... So it still needs more testing.
If you really need another cmc=3 wincon, try BSZ over Sunbeam Spellbomb. That's the best I have.
Also, thanks for telling me about the droplet, that detail actually does make it considerably worse. I know it doesn't hard counter midrange decks, it was never meant to. Rather, it was just a great way to stall long enough to start forcing the combo in turn after turn. I'll remove that from the description when I get a chance tomorrow.
January 15, 2016 8:52 p.m.
Wait... What if I do a 1/1 split between Trinket Mage and Artificer's Intuition? That way I still retain most of my stability, but I now have second cmc=3 wincon, since the Mage can fetch up hangarback? hubatish you get credit for this idea. Re-reading your comment sparked this idea as a solution.
January 15, 2016 8:57 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #7
Yeah this list got crazy tight. As good as a 99/99 Hangarback Walker is, it just doesn't win the game on the spot. Using Command is an uncommon occasion though, so I don't think it'll be a problem. I think adding Blue Sun's Zenith back in is worthwhile, but what to cut....
The only idea I have on cuts is you do have a big package in the form of Artificer's Intuition and the things it can grab. If I recall, the point of AI is to be functional copies of Chalice of the Void, Engineered Explosives, and Hangarback Walker, to have access to them when you need them in difficult matchups, but not have to run more copies than are necessary because they are sometimes dead. I wouldn't cut any Spellbombs, even though they fall under this category. They are just too good to go without the full set. That leaves you with 8 spots being used by AI and its targets. I have to think that you can do some fiddling with the number of AI and its targets to bring it down to 7 (2 AI, 2 Walker, 2 Chalice, 1 EE?), opening up a spot for 1 Blue Sun's Zenith.
Just saw your comment about Trinket Mage after writing the rest of mine. Seems like an okay idea, although be careful that you don't rely on Hangarback too much. An opponent being able to go wide the turn after you combo off is no fun.
January 15, 2016 9:07 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #8
So I had time for a game on Untap. I adjusted the deck to have 1 Trinket Mage instead of 1 AI and 1 more Command instead of 1 EE mainboard.
My opponent was 8-rack. Obviously I lost my good hand cards early making comboing off impossible, but my god can this deck beat face! I landed a Grand Architect turn 4 (lost a land to a Smallpox), then topdecked into Trinket Mage turn 5. They had both 1 Rack and 1 Affliction, but I still had cards in hand. I almost hit the ceiling when I topdecked the mage because my hand was 3 lands. I used my 3 lands in play to cast Mage, then played a land to play EE on 1 counter. Then I used Architect to blow up EE and destroy The Rack and Shrieking Affliction. Soon after I put Hangarback Walker, which he had made me discard early, back on top my deck with Academy Ruins. I had 4 lands at the time, so by tapping Architect as well, I made a 3/3 Walker. Next turn I drew into another Architect, played it, made Hangarback blue, then swung in with a 5/5 Hangarback Walker and a 2/4 Architect. In the meantime all he was able to do is make me discard the lands in my hand. He didn't have time for a game 2, which was alright.
Moral of the story: THIS DECK CAN BEAT FACE!!!!! Also, running 1 Trinket Mage instead of 1 Artificer's Intuition probably won me the game. Profane Command never mattered, so I'll test that more if I get time, but I have high hopes for this deck.
January 15, 2016 10:52 p.m.
That tells me to make the trinket Mage swap. The high impact of EE in that game just reinforces my view that the artifact base is too tight to be elbowed out for another command.
January 16, 2016 12:39 a.m.
All updates to the list and description will likely happen Monday, January 18th as I have a very busy schedule prior. Just a heads up for anyone who has decided to scroll down this far.
January 16, 2016 1:12 a.m.
Oh dear god they banned twin and bloom Titan, specifically Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom... Guess Meddling Mage is getting replaced with Crumble to Dust in the sideboard. That also means I definitely want that vault of the archangel change, since my hangarbacks will now have to contend with eldrazi and tron decks. I might also drop a needle for another leave no trace because hatebears is gonna be coming back.
January 16, 2016 1:29 a.m.
Ignore my idea to drop a needle. Tron will rise, I will need it. I just had a derp.
January 16, 2016 2:03 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #13
Yeah I'm uppin' my land hate count, although you really should consider Spreading Seas before Crumble to Dust. For starters, it's on-color. It's also much better vs Bx Eldrazi, I think. Also, in general, you're hoping to stall Tron long enough to win rather than make them unconditionally lose. And having another card in hand helps you do just that.
January 16, 2016 8:44 p.m.
Makes sense. The thing with tron specifically though is that the deck is sturdy enough to play through minor LD. Dust helps because it completely shuts tron down, and since twin just bit the dust, tron is probably going to eat up an even larger % of the new meta. Dust also really beats out Bx eldrazi... But seas would probably do that just as well.
Dust also isn't that far off color, since I do have the one of Steam Vents, but point taken about stressing my mana base.
January 16, 2016 8:59 p.m.
I don't have room for both. For now I am going to go with Crumble to Dust, but that may change with playtesting.
January 16, 2016 9:35 p.m.
What about dropping one Hangarback Walker to add an Orochi Hatchery. It allows me to immediately go wide, is less weak to cards like newlamogg, path, etc, but is weaker turns 2-6 as far as generating blockers goes to slow down midrange decks. The hatchery is a bit better as a long game plan.
January 18, 2016 2:43 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #18
Hatchery is a little to narrow. If it's in your opening hand, about the only thing you can do with it is pitch it to AI, which isn't good enough. Vulnerability of Hangarback to Path to Exile is a problem, though. I'm sure there's some wincon that's an artifact with cmc 0 or 1 that you could run instead, but I'm drawing a blank and can't find anything on the Gatherer.
January 18, 2016 3:17 p.m.
There is nothing else, other than chimeric mass, but that is just worse than walker in this deck.
January 18, 2016 4:49 p.m.
I guess I have the other three win-cons to cover path... so it might just be unnecessary
January 19, 2016 3:01 a.m.
Ok so I did a double take on this one, because I actually own a copy of this card but still never considered it. In this deck, Viridian Longbow replicates the Auriok Salvagers
+
Pyrite Spellbomb
effect. I only need to run one, but given that it could replace the Salvagers wincon, I would get rid of the whole salvagers wincon to increase the deck's performance. The bow also gives me a way to tap Pili-Pala without entering combat, which is nice. Admittedly, it requires that I pay for an obnoxiously large equip cost, so it probably won't be all that useful, but on the other hand equipping it to Pili-Pala even without GA grants our flying friend what is basically a ": Deal 1 damage" ability, so it isn't all that bad even outside of combo.
The bow would probably replace Pyrite Spellbomb. It would then free up some slots in my deck, with Auriok Salvagers getting replaced with Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, and then the other three spellbombs getting replaced with some mixture of Spellskites, Thoughtseizes, Path to Exiles, Welding Jars, Pithing Needles, Hangarback Walkers, Chalice of the Voids, and Engineered Explosives. The replacements would likely be meta dependent.
I also realized that Grand Architect
+
Staff of Domination
+
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
generates , which the staff can use to win the game... but it's a clunky secondary wincon and thus not worth building around in any way. Set-up would involve T3 staff, T4 tez animating staff, T5 architect turning the creature-staff blue. Tapp staff for untap it via staff for spit rinse repeat. The upside of this combo is that Tezzeret does not have to be anything other than a 4 mana Ensoul Artifact for this combo to work though, so... think positive! Right?
The point of this list is to make use of the old Bomberman win-con, so I will not be making any aspect of this change. Prior to testing, I'm also not even sure that aforementioned changes would improve the deck.
January 21, 2016 9:52 p.m.
Oh I almost forgot, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner is another card that might elbow its way into the deck if I were to do away with the bomberman win-con.
January 21, 2016 10:04 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #23
Viridian Longbow.... is actually really good in here. Pinging Affinity's stuff is also pretty good early. I'd run it as a 1-of alongside Bomberman anyway to replace 1 .... something. Perhaps sideboard an Engineered Explosives? Or drop to 1 Hangarback Walker?
Do you think it's possible to run Tez and Bomberman? I love Bomberman as much as you do for the flavor, but at a glance, Tez's ability to dig for artifacts as well as combo off with Architect (fringe but possible) make it a worthy include. Do you think you can drop 1 Muddle the Mixture for 1 Tez mainboard? The most attractive portion of Tez is that he provides an alternative wincon if you can't combo, god forbid.
Great find though! This deck is honestly starting to feel like a Vintage deck. Not in terms of power or speed, but in terms of the feel of the deck. It's doing things that no other deck in modern even has the tools to do. With Tez, it really feels like a Time Vault vintage combo deck. I love it.
Just saw your second comment. Kira interferes with the combo. Using Grand Architect's ability to make an artifact blue will be countered the first time you use it, making you vulnerable to removal again.
January 21, 2016 10:11 p.m.
Kira only interferes with the first attempt. Since each attempt only costs it doesn't do all that much to me since I can play Grand Architect with AEther Vial. If I don't have the vial, or just don't have the mana to overcome the slight nonbo that kira has with the combo, I can always just not play her.
Tez isn't happening with the bomberman combo still present. There isn't room, and this is a combo deck. While it is nice to have a plan for the long game, I can't afford more than one mainboard. I need to focus on the combo, and not what happens if I fail to combo. Auriok Salvagers is that plan for as long as I run the bomberman combo, and therefore elbows out Tez.
As for dropping a hangarback... I have to test that. There is a hilarious interaction where Hangarback and pili can both die in combat, so I make infinite mana for the combat phase, then end of combat once both deaths have resolved and all of the thopter tokens have entered play, I use the infinite mana of the combat step to make all of the thopters blue until EoT. Then, main phase 2, I have access to what is basically by tapping all of the thopters via GA for mana. I could use this to summon another Hangarback Walker to make my opponent somehow remove another ridiculously large creature AND all of the thopters I get when he does remove it, but the longbow doesn't work here as this situation assumes I have lost my Pili-Pala, which is the only creature which can use the longbow for a win. I might just drop the Sunbeam Spellbomb, since the bow could help act as removal which in turn saves me health in the long run. The hangarbacks also have some great synergy with Vault of the Archangel which the bow does not, since the ping doesn't count as combat damage.
For future reference, Muddle the Mixture isn't going anywhere. The deck is built both main and sideboard largely around and cards, so muddle ALWAYS has a relevant use, whether as a counter-spell or to fetch a situational card. Perplex would be cut to two copies before muddle would go to three, as I don't tend to need more than one Grand Architect per game to win. Certainly never more than two.
January 21, 2016 10:32 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #25
I suppose if you have the mana to cast Kira, then it's late enough in the game where an extra activation to combo off doesn't really matter. Cutting a Sunbeam Spellbomb for a Longbow makes sense. From what I've seen with this deck, you basically need a 1-of Longbow. As for its mana cost, look at Izzet Staticaster. That card sees modern play and can't come online until turn 3. It's a little better because it takes only 1 investment and doesn't need a creature to equip to, but being able to go infinite is worth it.
I'll admit, I didn't really understand the Hangarback + Pili-Pala combat trick. You have to tap Hangarback to add a +1/+1 counter, so you can't make a 1/1 Hangarback into a 99/99 mid-combat with infinite mana. Unless you already have a 99/99 Hangarback, in which case you don't really need mana anymore. You already have 99 thopter tokens. Unless I'm missing something.
DuTogira says... #1
The other change I will be testing if anyone wants to test it as well is -1 Artificer's Intuition -1Island +1Tolaria West (can fetch hangarback as a wincon, but strictly worse than Island as a mana source) +1Blue Sun's Zenith. I don't expect this change to stick, but we'll see.
January 14, 2016 10:26 p.m.