I have been pondering an Improvise list. This seems great an you cannot argue with your results. The only question I have, before I trade for the missing cards, is why not Servo Schematic over the white puzzle knot? Is it because you can, in a pinch, sac and create another servo? +1

Oops. I'm sorry. I just reread your description. Question answered. Great list!!!!!

Thanks, glad to hear you'll be trying it out! Good luck!

Hey dude, nice deck.

I was reading your match report and noticed something interesting during your 3rd round. You mentioned the use of Tez to respond to an Advanced Stitchwing at the end of your 2nd main phase. For future reference, in addition to needing to be your main phase; Planeswalker abilities can only be used when the stack is empty.

212.9f Each planeswalker has a number of activated abilities. A player may play an activated ability of a planeswalker only during a main phase of his or her turn, when he or she has priority and the stack is empty, and only if none of its activated abilities have been played that turn. The cost to play an activated ability of a planeswalker is to put on or remove from that planeswalker a certain number of loyalty counters, as shown by the loyalty symbol in the abilitys cost. An ability with a negative loyalty cost cant be played unless the planeswalker has at least that many loyalty counters on it.

Ahh, just realised you'd have priority again when the stack is empty - my mistake. plus yes it would need to resolve for Tez' ability to target the stitch. Apologies, I'm clearly losing it.

No problem! I had to check with a judge when it came up because it is definitely one of those weirder interactions that doesn't come up that often.

I saw the decklist this week. I really like it.nice deck. I just played 2 leagues with the deck and the record is 7-3.not bad.I almost persuaded a friend of mine who like Pacification Array used the deck in gp this week.he used 4c finallyAnother friend of mine used the deckthe same 60 main decklistin a pptq and lost out to a jeskai copy cat semifinal yesterday. it's really powerful and unexpected. many people don't have or just don't know the the correct sideboard to beat the deck.

I think maybe more counter spell such as Negate,Warping Wail,Invasive Surgery,Ceremonious Rejectionin the sideboard?(no Dispel) just because the hate like Release the Gremlins,Fumigateor the ramp deck such as marvel deck we don't want to meet. I like the aggro-control version.

And there are too many mardu ballista and 4c and less b/g. so maybe Battle at the Bridgeis not good now?how about change the color grixis to jeskai[thraben Inspector]is more powerful than Elvish Mystic and maybe we also can use the Servo Exhibition

English is not my local language, I hope u can understand...

Very awesome to hear you and your friends have been trying out the deck to some success. This is great feedback and I really appreciate it.

I think taking out the Dispel in the sideboard is a great idea with the format where it is right now, especially when the hate cards like Release the Gremlins and Fumigate are sorceries, like you mentioned. It's hard to know which counterspell is the best. Negate is obviously the most powerful, and I already have 2 copies in the sideboard. Going up to 3 might be correct. I like the idea of Warping Wail with being able to counter sorceries and interrupt Saheeli combo, but I don't think we can support it with enough colorless sources (we currently have six). Going up to 4 Aether Hubs would do it, but runnng more than 2 has been problematic in my testing. Both Invasive Surgery and Ceremonious Rejection don't particularly excite me as being a little too narrow.

Another option is Unlicensed Disintegration, while it's not a counterspell, it's particularly powerful with all the planeswalkers running around. We could take out 1-2 copies of Battle at the Bridge in the main for a copy or two of Unlicensed, and then put another copy in the sideboard. I still think Battle is really powerful, but you're right about it decreasing in power with B/G lessening in popularity.

White offers powerful artifact spells and the splash is just as easy as black, but the problem is that if you are playing Thraben Inspector and Servo Exhibition you need a ton more white sources than a small splash so that we can play them when they matter (turns 1 through 3). As long as we are still playing Whir of Invention it basically forces us to remove red if we want to play the white cards, something that changes the entire identity of the deck.

Your English is great! :)

I'm going to test with Unlicensed Disintegration and see how I like it. 3-mana is a lot in this deck for a single spell without improvise, but the effect is one of the strongest in standard.

I hope this helps, and I'd love to hear more about your future experiences with the deck!

Hi,we tested the deck and have some new feedback about the sideboard.

Maybe 3 Negate is correct and maybe 1 Warping Wail is ok,I cut a basic land and add aAether Hub in our deck.

Ceremonious Rejection is out of our expectation in test,maybe it's the best 1-mana counterspell now.Ceremonious Rejection can counter something like Ballistatower;TKS;Reality Smasher,marvel;Heart of Kiran(maybe this one is not important).I remembered I also sideboard in Ceremonious Rejection to u/w flash just because they have the Copter before,so we also can sideboard in it in the mardu ballista and the Eldrazimuch more than before matchup.

You are right although Unlicensed Disintegration isn't a counterspell,but maybe it's more powerful than a counterspell. But I also don't find the how manyUnlicensed Disintegrationshould we use.It's a real 3-mana spell.in my test,maybe less than 3 is ok but intuitively,it's not right.I hope to hear your test result.It's all rightBattle at the Bridge is also really powerful and can help us win some bad matchup,but maybe we should let all of them to the sideboard?

We use Implement of Combustion to beat the 4c,but how about the Ballista?We also can use the powerful standard card in our deck.It work great in the jeskai decklist. I will test it in our Grixis deck.

The jeskai improvise decklist: enter link description here The mana base isn't good nowbut I don't know how to make it better... my friend will use the decklist to play some tournaments this week and maybe he can give us some feedback about the jeskai version.

I've been rockin' this deck and it's wonderful! Thanks for the build. Quick question.. One question. Given there's a single affinity creature in Gearseeker Serpent in standard, do you think there's anyway of fitting it into this deck? A 5/6 for BB with built-in key to the city would be pretty strong, especially considering you'd likely play it with any other creature in-hand on the same turn.

kts777-

Ceremonious Rejection does sound great at one copy!

The reason I don't like Ballista is because it turns on a lot of removal from our opponents that normally doesn't line up very well (grasp, fatal push, shock). I could see siding in creatures like this for game 2 when they side out their removal though.

Esdeekay-

Great to hear you like the deck! I actually used to play with Gearseeker Serpent in the early versions of the deck. It was mono blue and looked something like this: Mono Blue Improvise. After that, the deck went through a bunch of changes. I didn't give up on Gearseeker Serpent though. I still played with it in an FNM and a Game Day. One of the biggest problems with it though is that it's pretty terrible to have in your opening hand and overall makes hands that include it harder to keep. With improvise decks, consistency is one of your biggest issues. Cards like Pia Nalaar are mainly in the deck to help consistency, giving you a semblance of battlefield presence and an artifact in one card.

That's a lot of jumbled info to take in, so I'll narrow it down to a few points on why the Serpent doesn't make the cut in my list.

1. Is it better than any of the payoffs in the current list? I believe that 10 payoffs is the right number in an improvise list, so assuming that's correct, we'd have to shave one or more of them to make room for the Serpent(s), otherwise, our draws get unbalanced and clunky. In this list, the payoffs are 4 Maverick Thopterist, 4 Bastion Inventor, and 2 Whir of Invention. IMO, Serpent is far worse than these. Thopterist provides ramp, pilots, and blockers. Inventor is already a 5/6 most of the time thanks to Inventor's Goggles and has hexproof. And Whir is a centerpiece of the deck.

2. Could we make room for it by taking out a piece of interaction (i.e. Metallic Rebuke or Battle at the Bridge)? Unlikely. I've liked 6 pieces of interaction, especially with the best deck (Mardu Vehicles) being so aggressive.

3. This deck is excellent against spot removal. Serpent is not. Think about Unlicensed Disintegration.

4. We already have access to unblockable with Key to the City, and you'd be surprised how few times the Serpent's ability actually feels good to use. 6-mana is a real cost.

With that said, Serpent can be awesome when it lets you double spell with an improvise card, especially with Metallic Rebuke and Battle at the Bridge. If you really want to play it, I say go for it. I would take out a Whir of Invention or the third copy of Battle at the Bridge/1st copy of Unlicensed Disintegration depending on what your list looks like.

I hope this helps! All in all, I like to play cards that I have fun playing. If you have fun with Gearseeker Serpent I definitely think it could earn a spot in your list.

I really appreciate the comment! You are 100% correct on all of it, my playtesting the past week has proven this.

Right now I'm getting battered down by control decks. They easily lock me out completely, and I feel like I'm having difficulty sequencing my plays properly. If I try to wait until I have a rebuke and a few creatures/tons of artifacts in hand, they'll just sit with a hand full of negates/disallow/gearhulk. Not sure how you're sideboarding to win that matchup, but some advice would help. One thing I've been considering is sideboarding 2 deep-fiends in an attempt to tie up enough mana on their end step to allow me to play through enough tokens to pressure.

The control match-up has a lot of subtleties that are important. While it's definitely a positive match-up, there's a lot of small decisions to be made. Because I don't know your background as a magic player, I'm going to start with basic concepts for the match-up, some of which you may very well already know, and go from there.

Our game plan basically remains the same.

1. Drop Artifacts turns 1-3

2. Play Improvise cards turns 3 on.

Sequencing

Being on the play or on the draw is going to significantly change the pace of the game due to the cost of the control opponents counter spells. For example, on the play, playing a turn 3 Maverick Thopterist is a great play. On the draw, however, it's just asking to get countered by Disallow/Void Shatter. On the draw, I usually will wait until turn 4 to play a Thopterist, even if I had the opportunity to play it turn 3, taking turn 3 to play something that is insignificant or not cast anything at all. This is because of your control opponents game plan. Ideally, they would counter our turn 3 play and then cast Glimmer of Genius turn 4. By declining to cast anything turn 3 it makes them have to decide on turn 4 between countering our play and using their mana inefficiently or letting our threat resolve and casting their Glimmer. This is just one example of how to make the game more awkward for your control opponent. Every time you cast something, it needs to be deliberate. You need to figure out your turns ahead of time and make a game plan. Don't feel too pressured to make the first move, and if they are countering your artifacts, that's a counter spell out of their hand that isn't hitting a Bastion Inventor.

Speaking of Inventor, he is your absolute best chance of winning, and the entire game revolves around resolving him. Not only will Inventor win you games, but the threat of casting him will. What I mean by this is that because of how powerful he is, your opponent must respect that they could lose the game if they are caught without a counter spell in their hand, or by tapping out. This means that as long as you have any amount of pressure, it will be risky for them to remove your creatures in your combat phase, because of the threat of playing an Inventor in your second main phase. For example, even after turn 6 when they have Torrential Gearhulk mana. You can make really "bad" attacks with servos or Thopterists without caring if they drop a Gearhulk to block, because if they do it means they tapped out and you can land an Inventor.

Generally, saving Metallic Rebukes for Torrential Gearhulks is a good plan. And working towards a turn when you can double spell is better than casting your spells earlier.

Key Cards

These are your best cards in the match-up, in order of least to most impactful:

1. Inventor's Goggles

2. Pacification Array

3. Maverick Thopterist

4. Key to the City

5. Bastion Inventor

Whir of Invention is probably the sixth best card, but you could make an argument for some other cards too. Being able to do this at the end of their turn is great. Never Whir for a vehicle in this match-up, they are not even close to being more valuable than the other artifacts in the above list. Prioritize Key to the City, then Pacification Array, then Inventor's Goggles. The first copy of each of those cards is worth more than a duplicate of any of them, unless you suspect artifact removal from your opponent, then it just depends on the game.

A quick explanation of why these artifacts are so good:

Key to the City is a work horse in this match-up. Once you have one in play, your improvise cards no longer cost a card and you can grind your opponent out of counter spells. As if that wasn't enough, it provides unblockable to Inventors.

Pacification Array makes it very hard for your opponent to touch you. With only Gearhulks (and Dynavolt Tower) as their win condition it's extremely hard to get damage in. And if you run out of improvise cards to tap your Key, Array can do that with it's ability too.

Inventor's Goggles makes all your threats hit harder and make Inventors the size of Gearhulks.

Sideboard

This is my general plan against control:

-1 Aethersphere Harvester, -1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, -2 Pia Nalaar, -1 or 2 Battle at the Bridge

+3 Negate/Dispel, +1 Key to the City, +1 or 2 Release the Gremlins/Unlicensed Disintegration

It depends on what your sideboard looks like and if you suspect they are bringing in more threats after board and if they are playing Dynavolt Tower. But hopefully that should give you a good idea to start with.

Final Thoughts

I've played against a lot of different control decks with this deck, ranging from rogue Jeskai Fog to Temur Dynavolt Tower and I can assure you that the control match-up is very winnable. I like the idea of Elder Deep-Fiend and I had a few copies in my sideboard at one point too, but too often there just aren't enough targets to emerge with. Dispel is absolutely fantastic and I'd make room for those if you want more to bring in (I used to run 3 side).

I hope you found this information useful, feel free to shoot any more questions my way!

Today I piloted this list to a decent finish at a local event. Some observations:

1. When I played meta lists i won. period. End of story.I beat up heavily on Mardu. They weren't really games. My sb is a smidge different. But when I played against non meta things I had a rougher time.

2. The comments made about this list were very positive. That is a real attribute to you.

3. I am excited to continue to play this list.