Switcheroo is just so situational, expensive, and easy to interact with by removing the other creature in response. I would disagree.

removing creatures is easy in DOTP2015?

holding on to Switcheroo until the opponent is tapped out or has an empty hand is that hard? by the time a good Switcheroo target is cast, it's likely the opponent will be empty-handed. by defining "likely" as "more than 50% of the popular decks in the format".

Switcheroo is a late-game changer. it's a very good card. like any other card it can be played around, yes. all cards can be played around. that's like dismissing every creature by saying "dies to removal".

As someone who put in considerable hours playing a "steal your face" type of deck, I can say that my Switcheroos succeeded 95% of the time. So, almost every Switcheroo went through. This game needs more cheap instant speed removal (and we got some help with Resounding Thunder; but one card for all of the Expansion?).

Edit: and no, Reprisal doesn't really help, because you want to kill my exchange creature (which is normally a 1/1 or 0/4) rather than your own fatty.

I'd say then that 95% of the players you played against were bad.

I don't think the card is terrible by any means; I was disagreeing with Mythic's assertion that "almost all Blue decks want to run Switcheroo". It's an okay card for some decks but nowhere near as good as he's claiming, IMO.

I mentioned this deck a couple of weeks ago and I'm still happy with it.



- The more I play with it, the more I'm baffled that people around here aren't in love with Glaze Fiend. They key was make (almost) every nonland card in the deck trigger it, and now he's a star. Early in the game it's a 2/3 flier for 2, which is very good at attacking. Later, is almost trivial to trigger it 3 times in a turn, which is very good at killing your opponent.

- Between 4 Capsule, 4 Sanctum Gargoyle and 2 Bident, it's very hard to run out of gas. Esperzoa also helps at keeping your Fiends bulky.

- Sculptors are awesome, but you have so many early card that are great that your opponent often have to leave those guys alive.

- As I mentioned once, Axes were the tech to make Fiends work. Stevo mentioned Adventuring Gear once, and I think that can be good, but I'm sticking with Axe for now. I'm having some mana problems recently, for example.

- Thoughts on Esper Cormorants over Gargoyle Sentinel?

- Strix is such a removal magnet... and it's probably your least important 2-drop.

- Sphinx is super worth it.

Felbatista, I don't think your deck is fast and aggressive to the point that you'd want vapor snag over permanent removal. How about replacing them with arrests, and maybe adding some mix of ulcerate and dead weight? You could cut the gargoyle sentinels, and one or two capsules to make room for them.

I do feel the need for some more permanent removal from time to time, but removal in our pool is either expensive or conditional, both things I don't want. The card I'm thinking about is Reprisal. While the deck is not super fast, it's very explosive, which makes Snag a nice fit here too. And while I don't love the Sentinels, I don't want to cut them for non-artifact cards. I actually would add more good artifacts if I could, but I need some interaction (where's my Executioner's Capsule/Aether Spellbomb? ). Cutting Capsules is out of question, I'm afraid. Card is integral to the deck.

Have you thought about Creepy Doll as a stall vs non-trample creatures + Bident of Thassa as a form of removal (force to attack, block with Creepy Doll count on kill)?

If you run Creepy Doll you can consider playing Avarice Amulet for draw.

You can be sure I considered every artifact creature in the game. The problem with Doll here is that it's a 5 mana 1/1 in a deck that is trying to be beatdown...

I do like the card in a slower deck, though. I'm using it in my Domain deck and it's good.

You're right, Creep Doll will slow this deck down. I'd take Creepy Doll over Gargoyle Sentinel. With Etherium Sculptor it's easier to cast it, it works great as a blocker and attacker during stall situations with Bident of Thassa and Sharding Sphinx. Additionally if you equip it with Darksteel Axe and Avarice Amulet then it's a 5 attack creature with Vigilance which is risky to block even by bigger creatures.

How do you fare vs aggro decks like Goblins or Tokens with Inspired Charge or Beastmaster Ascension? When I played vs artifact decks they wanted to be fast but usually take quite a while to build up and I manage to ramp into bigger threats + I have 2x Anger of the Gods and 2x Planar Cleansing and lifegain in my deck.

I think I rather have the Cormorants or Galvanic Juggernaut if I'm going to cut the Sentinels. They have better stats by themselves.

Against goblins, it's kinda though. If I can trade early and reach the late game, I'm good. But they have better removal than me. Tokens is something like 50/50. The deck is not as fast as Goblins, and my evasion is king here. The problem is Triplicate Spirits.

So I played your deck for 10 games, and went 7 and 3. The deck is really good, and I enjoyed messing with it.

On to the discussion: I think you should pull all Tidehollow Strix from the deck. I really don't like them in these bounce decks. They get no benefit from the ramp. They do nothing when they come into play. And while their flying deathtouch is relevant, I don't think they are worth it. (BTW, they are great in non-artifact decks, especially control builds, I'm not questioning that at all)

I'd rather see another Obelisk of Alara, and Sharding Sphinx in your deck, and possibly a couple land, or additional copies of other cards you already included.

I agree that the Strixes are not always best in an Artifact deck. In a lot of cases, they'd be better replaced with Esper Cormorants due to the P/T boost and ability to be cheapened. However, if you're light on removal, having something that can kill virtually anything and be pulled back via Sanctum is very good indeed.

Argee on that DJ. Tidehollow is better served in a control type. Is anyone adverse to the Darksteel Ingot in an Artifact deck? It plays off of several different cards such as the Glaze fiend and Etherium Sculptor. I love the card due to it being any color... need a second blue for a counter? It's there.

It's fairly obvious include for obelisk decks, but it's not very popular. Personally, I use them a lot. Hakeem tends to dislike them. I don't think they are inherently good or bad. They do affect mana base decisions, and they probably wind up taking a slot from a spell if you run all three, so that should be kept in mind.

I played with ingots in my original artifact builds after expansion (which I never posted because I felt they all will be the same anyway and I wasn't really that into the style of play.)

Lets not forget however, that strix is another early threat to swing with.

Monk plays Ingots in his artifact deck and I'd be inclined to agree with him just because I know him. I technically disagree, but I haven't played the deck so he's probably right.

I used to run 4x Cultivate and 3x Ingot in my Conflux deck pre-expansion but I feel that trilands plus Cultivate should make the mana good enough to open up three slots for more spells. I've designed that deck but haven't tested it yet.

I only ever sub them for land in decks that can support them. Pre-Shardlands they were invaluable for some three colour decks, especially those with double costs, and even now they have a similar use in Wedge decks. The ramp aspect can also be a boon at times too.

They are SUPER valuable in my End of Days build.

Three-five color decks that have double cost make them invaluable, I agree.

Obelisk decks without them are missing out.