Brewing again - Myr!
Ok, so I was reading some of @Geordie_Tait on twitter and this is what he said:
WINNAR! Vs. Kuldotha Red, I'm at 10. He Burst Lightning's EOT, I sac Jinxed Idol/Forgemaster/X, get Battlesphere, Vat FMaster, get Emperion.
and
Round 2 vs. Vampires, he Duresses Mimic Vat and Tumble Magnet, but I untap with
Forgemaster, hit him for 24 on the next attack.
and
On to the 8-Mans- Ramp player just let me untap with Forgemaster in play even though he could have Valakuted. Mindslaver'd for the full 20.
and my brain went wild.
When asked for a list he said:
It'll be in the article.
and
Yep, hopefully it will be up on Wednesday or Thursday.
So I'm thinking:
"BAH!
Wednesday or Thursday?!? But my brain is on fire NOW! I can't wait that long! GAH!" So I'm on my way home from work, thinking about what cards go into this as yet unrevealed deck, and I almost stop by TOGIT to see if they have the cards for it, not that I know what those are beyond the ones Geordie posted on twitter. I master my own imagination and don't stop in, but am finding myself incapable of waiting till Wednesday for the article. So I start brewing.
Cards I know are in Geordie's version:
Kuldotha Forgemaster
Myr Battlesphere
Jinxed Idol
Chimeric Mass
Comet Storm (Might as well take advantage of the infinite mana combo I listed here.)
Eye of Ugin (possibly the only non-Eldrazi deck this would be a legitimate threat in.)
Golem Artisan (I suspect Haste is a really important addition to this combo, but the ability to give a use to the infinite mana combo is good too)
Lodestone Golem
Myr Resevoir
Platinum Angel
Prototype Portal
Semblance Anvil
Strider Harness (haste again)
Wurmcoil Engine
Mana Leak
Galvanic Blast
Stoic Rebuttal
Veldaken Certarch
Trinket Mage
Now obviously these are too many to all fit in one deck.
So what is this deck trying to do? Well one goal is to go infinite with some combination of Myr Galvanizer, Grand Architect, Splinter Twin and/or a mana myr. Combo decks need as much redundancy as they can get in order to most reliably put together their combo. But I could also go the over the top beat down route with Myr Battlesphere, Platinum Emperion, and myr. What about the Trinket Mage package? I don't think I've ever seen a more perfect deck for our favorite artifact tutor on a stick.
Ok, so let's see where we've got so far:
4 Mimic Vat All of our critters and probably all of theirs will be amazing on this thing. Such a good card. Redundancy on the combo end of things isn't bad either, meaning they have to deal with the creature threatening going infinite AND the vat, also threatening the infinite.
I got about this far in my frenzy of writing/brewing and then I went to bed on Tuesday night dreaming dreams of artifacts raining down death on the world of MTG!
Wednesday morning the article Geordie wrote is up.
I was not impressed.
Don't get me wrong, Geordie is a fine writer. I'm sure he's a very good player. His deck even looks fun to play. But my brain had been filled with fiery visions of the new combo-artifact deck that would lay waste to entire sections of metagame in one incredible swath of destruction.
Was Geordie's deck it?
Nope.
Of course, this was probably an unrealistic expectation, but still, I had HOPES! Unrealistic hopes, sure, but a guy can dream.
Ok, so where does that leave the musings of a fiery brain from earlier in the article?
I will persevere!
I will break the format with hordes of brown!
I will not let the fires of my mind be doused by the inadequacies of other less ingenious minds than mine!
(side note: Geordie is probably a far better player/deck builder than me. I have no idea, never met him *Hi Geordie!* but I like hyperbole, so there.)
So I keep working.
What did I want to do with this deck again? Oh, right: combo.
What do combo decks need to be effective? Win Condition with Redundancy (and probably at least one alternate win if the main one gets turned off somehow ex. Valakut titan beats versus a resolved Leyline of Sanctity is a good example of what I mean), protection, speed.
Ok, this gives me something to work with.
Let's assume we're running 24 lands giving us 36 main deck slots to play with. Those slots should then be broken up into the different roles the cards fill.
Win Condition 16 slots
Protection 8 slots
Acceleration 12 slots
Probably should have some kind of card draw in there as well.
Seems ok.
ok so first choice is do we go with the known Splinter Twin and Myr Galvanizer, and I think the answer is no. It's good, for sure, but it's a known quantity and pretty easily disrupted by pretty much every deck out there. Hmm... Well I like it, so maybe I'll try it. Ok, first shot goes to the twin. So base color red. I think the second color should be blue for Grand Architect and Stoic Rebuttal
Win Condition: 16
Splinter Twin x4
Myr Galvanizer x4
Comet Storm x2
Myr Battlesphere x2
Kuldotha Forgemaster x4
Protection: 8
Mimic Vat x2
Myr Resevoir x2
Stoic Rebuttal x4
Acceleration: 12
Grand Architect x4
Silver Myr x4
Iron Myr x4
Land:
Scalding Tarn x4
Mountain x8
Island x8
Halimar Depths x4
So this is what I came up with. I don't have a sideboard yet, but some combination of
Prototype Portal
Wurmcoil Engine
Mindslaver
Galvanic Blast
Platinum Angel
Platinum Emperion
and Tumble Magnet
or even Pyroclasm
would probably be good.
Ok, so we have two different, but similar in execution, combo's.
One is Splinter Twin and Myr Galvanizer with one mana myr on the board. Tap the splinter twinned Galvanizer to make a copy, tap the mana myr to use the copy's ability, untap the twinned galvanizer and the mana myr and repeat. Once you have demonstrated the infinite combo, you attack for the win with an infinitely large floatilla of myr. I use Kuldotha Forgemaster to find my combo pieces, and Mimic Vat, Myr Resevoir, and Stoic Rebuttal to protect it from an opponent trying to disrupt me.
The other is having 2 Myr Galvanizer one mana myr and a Grand Architect, which allows you to make them all blue, keep tapping and untapping the galvanizers making infinite artifact only mana, then using that mana to tap your mana myr infinite times, then Comet Storm for infinite damage to them and all their creatures, and anyone else within range of your never need to reload instant speed Gatling gun.
Obviously this combo relies very heavily on Myr Galvanizer, but the counterspells and vats should allow you to force through your threats despite discard, creature kill, milling, Memoricide
or Day of Judgment. Kuldotha Forgemaster goes and gets that most important of combo enablers at EOT no less, essentially giving your searched up galvanizers haste.
Ok, so in hindsight I didn't break the format either. This deck, although capable of two different infinite combo's, is so easily disrupt-able it's not funny. Geordie, your deck is better than mine, but this was fun, thanks for the inspiration.
- Rogue Insight
WINNAR! Vs. Kuldotha Red, I'm at 10. He Burst Lightning's EOT, I sac Jinxed Idol/Forgemaster/X, get Battlesphere, Vat FMaster, get Emperion.
and
Round 2 vs. Vampires, he Duresses Mimic Vat and Tumble Magnet, but I untap with
Forgemaster, hit him for 24 on the next attack.
and
On to the 8-Mans- Ramp player just let me untap with Forgemaster in play even though he could have Valakuted. Mindslaver'd for the full 20.
and my brain went wild.
When asked for a list he said:
It'll be in the article.
and
Yep, hopefully it will be up on Wednesday or Thursday.
So I'm thinking:
"BAH!
Wednesday or Thursday?!? But my brain is on fire NOW! I can't wait that long! GAH!" So I'm on my way home from work, thinking about what cards go into this as yet unrevealed deck, and I almost stop by TOGIT to see if they have the cards for it, not that I know what those are beyond the ones Geordie posted on twitter. I master my own imagination and don't stop in, but am finding myself incapable of waiting till Wednesday for the article. So I start brewing.
Cards I know are in Geordie's version:
Kuldotha Forgemaster
Myr Battlesphere
Jinxed Idol
Mimic Vat
Mindslaver
Platinum Emperion
and
Tumble Magnet (YAY! someone else who *supposedly* thinks this card is good other than me! I'm right people, it's good.)
So that's where I start.
Grand Architect seems a good fit. So does the infinite myr combo of Splinter Twin and Myr Galvanizer. So U/R, ok what else have we got?
Mox Opal
Silver Myr
Iron Myr
Memnite
All is Dust
Brittle EffigyMindslaver
Platinum Emperion
and
Tumble Magnet (YAY! someone else who *supposedly* thinks this card is good other than me! I'm right people, it's good.)
So that's where I start.
Grand Architect seems a good fit. So does the infinite myr combo of Splinter Twin and Myr Galvanizer. So U/R, ok what else have we got?
Mox Opal
Silver Myr
Iron Myr
Memnite
All is Dust
Chimeric Mass
Comet Storm (Might as well take advantage of the infinite mana combo I listed here.)
Eye of Ugin (possibly the only non-Eldrazi deck this would be a legitimate threat in.)
Golem Artisan (I suspect Haste is a really important addition to this combo, but the ability to give a use to the infinite mana combo is good too)
Lodestone Golem
Myr Resevoir
Platinum Angel
Prototype Portal
Semblance Anvil
Strider Harness (haste again)
Wurmcoil Engine
Mana Leak
Galvanic Blast
Stoic Rebuttal
Veldaken Certarch
Trinket Mage
Now obviously these are too many to all fit in one deck.
So what is this deck trying to do? Well one goal is to go infinite with some combination of Myr Galvanizer, Grand Architect, Splinter Twin and/or a mana myr. Combo decks need as much redundancy as they can get in order to most reliably put together their combo. But I could also go the over the top beat down route with Myr Battlesphere, Platinum Emperion, and myr. What about the Trinket Mage package? I don't think I've ever seen a more perfect deck for our favorite artifact tutor on a stick.
Ok, so let's see where we've got so far:
4 Mimic Vat All of our critters and probably all of theirs will be amazing on this thing. Such a good card. Redundancy on the combo end of things isn't bad either, meaning they have to deal with the creature threatening going infinite AND the vat, also threatening the infinite.
I got about this far in my frenzy of writing/brewing and then I went to bed on Tuesday night dreaming dreams of artifacts raining down death on the world of MTG!
Wednesday morning the article Geordie wrote is up.
I was not impressed.
Don't get me wrong, Geordie is a fine writer. I'm sure he's a very good player. His deck even looks fun to play. But my brain had been filled with fiery visions of the new combo-artifact deck that would lay waste to entire sections of metagame in one incredible swath of destruction.
Was Geordie's deck it?
Nope.
Of course, this was probably an unrealistic expectation, but still, I had HOPES! Unrealistic hopes, sure, but a guy can dream.
Ok, so where does that leave the musings of a fiery brain from earlier in the article?
I will persevere!
I will break the format with hordes of brown!
I will not let the fires of my mind be doused by the inadequacies of other less ingenious minds than mine!
(side note: Geordie is probably a far better player/deck builder than me. I have no idea, never met him *Hi Geordie!* but I like hyperbole, so there.)
So I keep working.
What did I want to do with this deck again? Oh, right: combo.
What do combo decks need to be effective? Win Condition with Redundancy (and probably at least one alternate win if the main one gets turned off somehow ex. Valakut titan beats versus a resolved Leyline of Sanctity is a good example of what I mean), protection, speed.
Ok, this gives me something to work with.
Let's assume we're running 24 lands giving us 36 main deck slots to play with. Those slots should then be broken up into the different roles the cards fill.
Win Condition 16 slots
Protection 8 slots
Acceleration 12 slots
Probably should have some kind of card draw in there as well.
Seems ok.
ok so first choice is do we go with the known Splinter Twin and Myr Galvanizer, and I think the answer is no. It's good, for sure, but it's a known quantity and pretty easily disrupted by pretty much every deck out there. Hmm... Well I like it, so maybe I'll try it. Ok, first shot goes to the twin. So base color red. I think the second color should be blue for Grand Architect and Stoic Rebuttal
Win Condition: 16
Splinter Twin x4
Myr Galvanizer x4
Comet Storm x2
Myr Battlesphere x2
Kuldotha Forgemaster x4
Protection: 8
Mimic Vat x2
Myr Resevoir x2
Stoic Rebuttal x4
Acceleration: 12
Grand Architect x4
Silver Myr x4
Iron Myr x4
Land:
Scalding Tarn x4
Mountain x8
Island x8
Halimar Depths x4
So this is what I came up with. I don't have a sideboard yet, but some combination of
Prototype Portal
Wurmcoil Engine
Mindslaver
Galvanic Blast
Platinum Angel
Platinum Emperion
and Tumble Magnet
or even Pyroclasm
would probably be good.
Ok, so we have two different, but similar in execution, combo's.
One is Splinter Twin and Myr Galvanizer with one mana myr on the board. Tap the splinter twinned Galvanizer to make a copy, tap the mana myr to use the copy's ability, untap the twinned galvanizer and the mana myr and repeat. Once you have demonstrated the infinite combo, you attack for the win with an infinitely large floatilla of myr. I use Kuldotha Forgemaster to find my combo pieces, and Mimic Vat, Myr Resevoir, and Stoic Rebuttal to protect it from an opponent trying to disrupt me.
The other is having 2 Myr Galvanizer one mana myr and a Grand Architect, which allows you to make them all blue, keep tapping and untapping the galvanizers making infinite artifact only mana, then using that mana to tap your mana myr infinite times, then Comet Storm for infinite damage to them and all their creatures, and anyone else within range of your never need to reload instant speed Gatling gun.
Obviously this combo relies very heavily on Myr Galvanizer, but the counterspells and vats should allow you to force through your threats despite discard, creature kill, milling, Memoricide
or Day of Judgment. Kuldotha Forgemaster goes and gets that most important of combo enablers at EOT no less, essentially giving your searched up galvanizers haste.
Ok, so in hindsight I didn't break the format either. This deck, although capable of two different infinite combo's, is so easily disrupt-able it's not funny. Geordie, your deck is better than mine, but this was fun, thanks for the inspiration.
- Rogue Insight
Hey buddy,
ReplyDeleteI put together your deck in Apprentice and tested it out again UB control, against UG fauna shaman and against RUG control. Overall, I had better luck against UB than against RUG, but I feel like the UB sideboard would annihilate this deck.
Jace the Mind Sculptor really messes with your deck. It will just wait for a splinter twin or a combo card, and send the creature right back to your hand.
Mana: Even with all the mana myr you play, I still found it difficult to get out creatures early. Some of it is due to the summoning sickness of the myr, but most of it is due to myr just being extremely vulnerable to attack-- specifically burn. When I tested the deck against RUG, it was very common for my myr to be bolted end of turn, and then on my next turn have them mana leaked. That puts me out of luck. The galvanizers become useless without myr, and sit the next few turns with nothing to do.
Against UB, sideboard spells like disfigure and consume the meek are your worst enemies. Doom blade in the main deck is painful, along with into the roil.
I played it against Blue/Green Fauna Shaman, too. That deck is sickeningly fast, and got Frost Titans out before you could get splinter twins out.
I would replace stoic rebuttal with spell pierce, because you're more worried about your stuff being countered than dealing with creatures.
I found that the kuldotha forgemasters were too costly to get them out. Even when I could, I had fewer than 3 artifacts on the field due to creature destruction-- so the effect was useless.
Anyway, I hate to only talk about the weaknesses of the deck, because it seemed like a really cool idea. But I couldn't really get it to work any better than the best/most common decks of standard. Keep working at it though! See you at FNM!
-The Necrotic Plague
Oh agreed. Mine sucks. Geordie's is better, by far. I'm trying out other avenues of attack to see if I can get a better result, but currently it's on the back burner.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback!