The Architect of Oz

Modern DuTogira

SCORE: 42 | 101 COMMENTS | 7134 VIEWS | IN 20 FOLDERS


This list looks good! I'm really sad to see the bomberman leave, but the powerup of this deck is really impressive. I think you should try to include 1 more Tez, if you can find room. I kinda forgot about continually recycling Hangarback Walker with Academy Ruins, which is pretty amazing.

Since Hangarback Walker isn't a super important part of the deck, I'm not sure the name 'minewalker' is super fitting. And without bomberman (RIP buddy, you were the best), the mine portion doesn't fit any more. I'd say Tez is the more significant part of the deck now, although he already has his own deck archetype.

Are you absolutely positive that you can't run both Bomberman and Tezzeret? What if you dropped 3 Path to Exile for 1 Bomberman, 1 Pyrite Spellbomb, and 1 Sunbeam Spellbomb? With Hangarback Walker and Engineered Explosives, you probably don't even need too many spellbombs. I honestly think you can get away with just the 2 that you can go infinite with.

January 24, 2016 2:53 p.m.

DuTogira says... #2

Nah, bomberman won't work with tez. The two just don't play nice together in a combo deck. In a more outlast kind of list, it might work but that isn't what this deck does.
I know that mine walker doesn't work too well with the deck but until I think of a better name it's gonna stick.
I might be able to drop a chalice of the void for another tez. I'll have to test that one. Regardless, I'm thinking that with tez becoming a thig, I should swap vault out for a Darksteel citadel. A 5/5 indestructible blocker is really good, especially against jund.

January 24, 2016 3:07 p.m.

Yeah, I was meaning to mention Vault into Citadel, but I forgot about it. The question is: how many citadels? Just 1? Full set? I'm going to leave that one up to you.

I might test Bomberman + Tez just for fun. If I get around to it, I'll let you know how it goes.

I'd sideboard a chalice rather than drop it. With Path to Exile, do you really need 3 Engineered Explosives in the 75? I'm thinking dropping 1 mainboard chalice for 1 more Tez, then drop 1 sideboard EE for 1 sideboard Chalice.

Which version of the deck do you think you're going to play at the tournament. Also, what was your decklist for the SCGIQ?

January 24, 2016 3:30 p.m.

DuTogira says... #4

SCGIQ was The Minefield but swap a sunbeam for a longbow. At the tournament, I'll probably play this just to get a feel for how much more powerful this list is. If I like it, I might just stick to it. More likely though is that I will end up playing The Minefield but with DoP instead of Perplex and a longbow instead of sunbeam.
Just 1 citadel. This deck runs heavy on blue, so three colorless sources are already pushing it for me.
I like the aforementioned -EE move 1 chalice to SB and add a second tez change. I'll give that one a test too.

January 24, 2016 5:25 p.m. Edited.

DuTogira says... #5

What about Defense Grid? Should that have Chalice of the Voids sideboard slot? I mean it's better against removal spells as a whole, but it won't guaranteed stop your opponent from using Path to Exile or something on your Pili-Pala, and if you are on the instant speed game plan you still play pili on your opponent's end step, so the grid won't do anything because the main fight to get pili to stick to the board happens on your opponent's turn.
Both have the potential to bite me in the butt.

January 27, 2016 2:35 a.m.

Nightdragon779 says... #6

Try 1 Mindslaver to combo with the Academy Ruins.

February 7, 2016 1:37 p.m.

DuTogira says... #7

It's just too slow for this deck.

February 7, 2016 9:54 p.m.

DuTogira says... #8

ToolmasterOfBrainerd i have made some pretty big changes to this deck. Any thoughts?

February 7, 2016 11:36 p.m.

First off, love the new name.

Myr Superion is ..... interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I see serious potential for it to swing matchups and serious potential for it to get stuck in your hand uselessly. Keep in mind that the soonest it can be played is turn 3 off a Vial and I think turn 3 as well for Architect.

I think I like it though. Be honest with yourself with Superion if it's consistent enough. I haven't playtested yet, so I don't know if it belongs.

February 7, 2016 11:53 p.m.

DuTogira says... #10

I haven't done much testing either. At Regional San Diego though, EVERY time I had thoughtseize, I wished it had been a superion. Without exception. So I figured heck, let's try it.

February 8, 2016 12:04 a.m.

DuTogira says... #11

Ok so... just from about 50 different solo playtests... Not only can I consistently play any Myr Superion by T3 if it is in my start hand, I can consistently have all three of them out by turn 8. This is assuming that I do not draw my combo and simply win prior. The reason for this is that if you draw a start hand which has no Vial, no GA, and does not seem likely to combo off by turn 4, you should just mulligan it. Myr Superion augments those components already critical to the combo so thoroughly that any game where you cannot play Myr Superion is likely a losing game anyway. Or a game where you should have mulligan'd.
This deck basically has:
Primary game plan of "combo win T3/4"
Secondary game plan of "Esper control that plays a metric TON of x/5's and x/6's"

I currently LOVE the superion. Forget Elephant Ambush, T3 instant speed Myr Superion is about as expected as the French Inquisition, but FAR more powerful.

February 8, 2016 2:11 a.m.

That makes a lot of sense. I like it. It does some serious work vs Eldrazi, so I think it's a good include.

February 8, 2016 4:37 p.m.

DuTogira says... #13

Check out the sideboard. We just picked up another scarecrow as anti eldrazi tech!
Scarecrow tribal B O Y Z !

For the record, while a very nice anti eldrazi tech, I will not be making this change until I am sure that eldrazi decks are here to stay. I'm not about to risk 60$ on two sideboard cards whose only use is at risk of being banned, and whose price is jacked way up because they are useful in legacy and vintage combo decks.

February 8, 2016 8:41 p.m. Edited.

Good choice! I love the scarecrow tribal theme. You should add it to the list of 'hubs' just for funzies. If it isn't an option, we should bug epoch about it to see if he can add it. Scarecrows for the win!

On a side note, I just learned there is a legendary scarecrow, Reaper King. I now want to build a 5 color scarecrow tribal commander deck. There are 26 scarecrow creatures, so it would likely have enough support to sorta work, and would have to be a -1/-1 counter and artifact theme, which doesn't sound too awful. I would also include a blink theme, because Reaper King gains effects off of ETB and some of the scarecrows have an persist, so that could remove the counter from them. At a minimum, it sounds silly and fun.

February 8, 2016 8:53 p.m.

DuTogira says... #15

I love the idea. I have actually already goozle'd two different people into thinking I was playing tribal scarecrow across the two competitions I attended.

It's a game 1 strategy people! Bluff that Reaper King!

February 8, 2016 9 p.m.

Aretherk says... #16

I really enjoy your builds, and I am going to build it as my primary deck.

From lots of testing and theory crafting, I feel ensnaring bridge is an extremely hard counter to the eldrazi decks as well as aggro, with spellskites, you have a pretty beefy wall to consistently get your combo off.

Only problem with with ensnaring bridge with this deck is that it nullifies the myr superion, but you should take a look at mind shreiker. Draw a card, declare attacks with mindshreiker because it has 1 attack and you have 1 card in hand from draw, tap mana or infinite mana to pump its damage to oblivion before damage gets through as well as deck your opponent.

February 9, 2016 1:08 a.m.

DuTogira says... #17

Aretherk let me start by saying thank you so much, and I am honored that you find my brew worthy of building. Nothing in the multiverse is more valuable than people who can give feedback based on experience.
With regard to the Mindshrieker suggestion... it's interesting. The problem that I see with it is that outside of the combo, it is basically just a 1/1 flyer for . The deck in its current state does not lack for ways to win once it has infinite mana. Come to think of it, I don't think I have ever failed to win a game in the last 3+ months once I got the infinite mana combo off. What this means is that only those cards which are useful even outside of the combo but which can also act as win-cons can still make the cut. Viridian Longbow turns Pili-Pala into a machine gun. Hangarback Walker wins attrition games, since he usually leaves behind 2+ tokens every time he dies. Profane Command can 2 for 1 the opponent by killing one of their creatures and pulling one of mine (Myr Superion?) out of the yard. Staff of Domination can draw me an extra card each turn, and thus is also useful for attrition. Mindshrieker... blocks Vendilion Clique well, but not much else.
Ensnaring Bridge is a card I have been looking at for a long time, but I haven't ever added it because of the nature of this deck contrasting with what Ensnaring Bridge really does. Yes the bridge is a powerful anti-aggro card, but but it requires that you keep your hand empty to be at its best. In order to keep your hand empty, you have to be playing whatever card you draw each turn. In order for "play my topdeck" to be a good strategy, you have to have a high density of cards in your deck which are powerful on their own. This deck does not work this way. Don't get me wrong, the deck is still powerful, but it is built like a web of multi-card synergies, with each individual card being rather garbage. Seriously, topdecking AEther Vial sucks. Combine it with Myr Superion or Artificer's Intuition though, and it's nowhere near as bad. What this means for this deck is that it tends to play its cards in 2-3 card bursts to maximize their impact on the game. Ensnaring Bridge is far less powerful if your deck plans to dump its hand once every 3 turns instead of simply playing off the top.

I still do very much appreciate the feedback. The list is just very tight right now.

February 9, 2016 2:28 a.m. Edited.

DuTogira says... #18

Also... HOLY !@#$ DID THE PRICE OF CHALICE GO UP! I got mine for like 12.00$. What the heck happened? Did Eldrazi Aggro cause this spike?

February 9, 2016 2:32 a.m.

Aretherk says... #19

Yes, main board chalice on eldrazi caused it to go up.

As for the ensnaring bridge version, it would yes be a different strategy. Hand disruption like thoughtseize/inquisition, and something like collected company instead of aether vial.

From what I can see with the deck, you have no problems with control or midrange, but I feel it falls to aggro, and the meta is aggro atm.

Mind shreiker was just a suggestion that synergizes, maybe add lantern of insight for addition synergy in this theorycraft, I dunno, but with ensnaring bridge, being able to attack under the bridge, then pump the creature up with mana seems pretty nice.

February 9, 2016 2:56 a.m.

DuTogira says... #20

I'll grant you that attacking under the bridge is nice but... I could also just Profane Command over the bridge.
If you want to make a theorycraft copy of this deck built specifically to handle aggro, you have my blessing and I am more than willing to provide feedback on it! Currently though, I am doing my best to try to make this list the most powerful variant of "The Minefield" against aggro decks. If it gets to the point where I need Ensnaring Bridge I will certainly test it. I don't think I will ever end up needing the shrieker though. Profane Command just does more for the deck.

February 9, 2016 3:11 a.m.

DuTogira says... #21

Actually... I could make a Sultai version of this deck which runs coco along with vial, superion, the combo... I'd probably cut the cmc = 1 wincons and both trinket Mage and artificer's intuition. Tez would have to go. Replace path with abrupt decay. Up the land count to 21, one more fetch one more shock. Maybe run one Glissa, the Traitor because vial and coco mean she can be used for some sneaky combat tricks. Id probably add some snapcasters too in that deck. The steam vents would change to a fountain so that sideboard ayli could still be a thing.
I still wouldn't run shrieker in that deck though. I don't have the time to make that list right now, but if anyone wants to brew that up I'm happy to provide feedback. That or I can make it sometime in the next 2-3 weeks.

February 9, 2016 2:29 p.m.

DuTogira says... #22

That deck would be a little top heavy for a combo deck though. It would probably need considerable refining even after aforementioned changes. Like I said, I don't have time for that now, but I'll get to it eventually. I guess Zombies in Kansas is about to get a cousin.

February 9, 2016 2:32 p.m.

Aretherk says... #23

I would love to work on a project like that, I do want to be a part of this tinkerbox midrange combo competitive style deck, so I will put my heart into it.

Do you have any other methods of communication other than tapped out to discuss options and ideas? Facebook, skype, etc. Something a little bit quicker.

February 9, 2016 4:09 p.m.

Aretherk count me in on helping with that deck as well. I love every Pili-Architect deck so I'd love to help work on that. For faster communication you could use the private chat on tappedout. It's much faster than commenting, but it can also only be seen by the 2 people, so we couldn't have a conversation between all 3 of us, for example.

When you get around to making that deck, tag me in a comment so I can check it out.

February 9, 2016 4:41 p.m.

DuTogira says... #25

I'll brew up a basic list super quick. Should be done in an hour. Texts would be the best way to reach me. I'll private message you two my number, as I'm not active on any social media sites.

February 9, 2016 6:09 p.m.

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