It was the second Bident of Thasa (just checked).

If Armillary Sphere proves to be too slow (and it is a pretty slow card) maybe Traveler's Amulet.. I dunno.

I'm headed offshore for 4-5 days to go fishing and diving (commercially). If you run some tests.. I'd really appreciate it.

I also removed the Flesh to Dust for a second Reprisal. The only thing I want to really kill is opponent's flying bombs or big reach creatures. Reprisal does that well and lets you advance your board the same turn. If you really need to kill something annoying that Reprisal doesn't hit (Brimaz) just leave Strix back to block. Flesh to Dust was put in this list solely for Stormbreath Dragon.. but with Pestermites and Shadowborn Demon.. I think we can deal with him.

Gonna give it a run. Will let ya know.

It's running gloriously. Only hiccup now and then with mana.

Decided I like the Ingot over Armillary Sphere. Yes, it doesn't fetch a land, but in essence let's you skip to turn 5. Been playing well so far.

Anybody thought about an Esper pain-lifegain deck?

What do you guys thinkg about it? There cards I thought would make sense:



I dunno if it makes sense or if it's just a worse version of Orzhov or Abzan. It does play a bit different with Archaeomancer and Cloudshift.

I'd love to see your opinions.

meditation puzzle sucks other then that meh I suppose it could work. it won't be as good as abzan imho but might as well try I suppose

So I want to finally throw my hat into the Esper Artifacts ring. Decklist first, explanations of choices to follow:



The build-around card here is Myrsmith. I was always a little bit puzzled by the presence of 4x Etherium Sculptor in every artifact list I saw because most decks didn't have any way to really abuse the cost reduction other than to just spam the board and run out of cards. Myrsmith changes that because you can spend that mana to create an artifact token. This is great for Master of Etherium, but it is also good at double-pumping a Glaze Fiend and creating tremendous pressure. Then there's just going wide to draw a ton of cards via Bident.

I think most of the choices should be fairly obvious given the Smith/Sculptor engine that I'm building around, but I will explain a few of the other choices.

Ulcerate - The deck needs removal and I need it to be cheap because paying for Myrsmith triggers adds up, even with a Sculptor in play. Since this deck is designed to be the beatdown, I think we can afford the life payment and we all know that instant-speed -3/-3 for just one mana is very powerful.

Esperzoa - This card is undercosted but if you try to build around it then you end up playing 4x Traveler's Amulet in your deck. It's great with Sanctum Gargoyle, no doubt, but drawing a second copy is terrible so I'm only playing one here. The upside is that sometimes you can just sacrifice a Myrsmith token to maintain your board presence.

Meteorite - My 23rd land can kill a Rabblemaster. It's also castable on the cheap via Sculptors so I don't think it's terrible here, but drawing multiples would be, so we'll just play one.

I personally think 23 land is a bit too heavy given the deck's curve, but since there are three colors and Myrsmith triggers I'm hesitant to cut to 22.

Thoughts, comments, criticisms?

EDIT - this deck feels powerful but it floods like a ****, so I cut to 22 land and added a six-drop. Hakeem special, but we have the Sculptors to help out.

Sure.... now that we have more consistent mana, you make a three color artifact deck



elk

@Hakeem

Galvanic Juggernaut is really good in these builds. T2 Sculptor T3 Juggernaut is a beating.. I was on the other side of it when I realized it was possible. It was certainly a problem that had to be dealt with right away. With Glaze Fiend pushing damage through in the air.. you can put a ton of pressure on.

@Hakeem, Strix doesn't belong. It's not good in any artifact deck that includes the sculptor, IMO.

@beast, The problem with Juggs is that it costs four mana and I'm pretty stacked there. I considered it but I think the Gargoyles are better. If Tower Gargoyle proves too hard to cast then Juggs gets called up.

@DJ, Strix is still an amazing creature and since this deck wants to beat down in the air, I don't see why I should exclude him. The deathtouch is good on its own, but even better considering Bident of Thassa. I think I disagree on this one.

Obelisk and Meteorite are the iffy cards for me right now.

I disagree. Strix is just a flat out amazing card, even if it can't take advantage of the cost reduction from Sculptor.

The combination of Flying and Deathtouch makes the card relevant no matter when you happen to draw/play it.

My personal suggestions would be to cut Meteorite, Esperzoa, and Tower Gargoyle in favor of Galvanic Juggernaut and Gods Willing.

Having been playing a 3 color Artifact deck (one pretty similar to this) I really feel like these are the correct choices.

The biggest thing I feel is Gods Willing. I feel like you are just losing out on too much value in not playing it in a deck like this.

It works just as well here as it does in the capacity of my old Boros Kiln Fiend deck.

You would be surprised how much damage you are able to suddenly slip through with Glaze Fiend by making it unblockable out of nowhere (know what is fun? Killing people who dropped a Baneslayer the previous turn thinking they have stabilized).

Beyond this, the deck is just absolutely full of targets that are worth protecting. You have Sanctum Gargoyle to get stuff back that has been removed sure, but the tempo advantage of an opponent having their early removal blanked on a buffed Glaze Fiend can often be nail in the coffin right there (much in the same way it works with Kiln Fiend in my Boros deck). Master/Sphinx/Fiend are all creatures worth saving, and again, while we may have Sanctum Gargoyle to get them back should they eat removal, often it is just better to blank the removal due to the large tempo swing it usually provides. Gods Willing also allows you to save Myrsmith which is definitely worth saving as it is one of the best cards in the deck. This is more useful than most consider, because for some reason a lot of people don't seem to notice that Myrsmith isn't an artifact herself, and thus cant be returned via Sanctum Gargoyle.

Gods Willing also becomes one hell of a combat trick/removal option when you happen to have a Strix on the table because of their Deathtouch and Flying (allowing them to block basically anything favorably).

Just my suggestions. I may be a bit premature suggesting removing Tower Gargoyle, simply because a 4/4 Flyer at that cost is actually pretty good in this format. I honestly just don't really like the card though, all it really ever seemed to do for me was cause mana difficulties and slow me down in the early turns where I wanted to be spending mana either beating face for a ton, or building an army in a can to overwhelm the opponent. With the new mana this may be less of an issue, but I still am not sure if I trust it because as much as I love the Wedge lands, they certainly aren't on the same level as fetches/painlands/shocklands/etc.

Are you lecturing me about curve when you have 19 two-drops?

I like Tower Gargoyle too. I'm just saying.. I've been on the wrong side of a T3 Juggy and it was pretty brutal. Ideally, it will be a 3 drop anyway.. not a 4 drop.

You're whole deck with artifacts is pretty much going to be fliers. And in any case it's slight synergy with a 2 copy card would be immaterial to me. However, it's restrictive mana cost IS an issue, and the fact that it won't survive a battle with a 1/1 is also a problem. The death touch, while relevant, really isn't that interesting. I get that you aren't trying to do the whole recursion thing, but in some ways that makes the card even worse. It's a defensive creature in an obviously offensive build. I'd rather see Squadron Hawks tbh (and that's not even trying to think hard about it)

Edit: and I agree about adding Gods Willing in.

I totally agree on the curve issue too. Way too many 2 drops.

Also, 'I think I disagree on this' is code for you'll change your mind soon, and I won't call you out on it. ;-P

Meh, a 2 power flyer for 2 is still a plenty decent beater early on. I see your point about comparing it to something like Squadron Hawk but also keep in mind the Artifact synergy we have going already.

The card may not be phenomenal as an aggressive card, but it still does a good job of it, and does so while still being an Artifact (triggering Fiend/Myrsmith/Sphinx, getting buffed by Master, getting recurred with Sanctum Gargoyle, Bounced by Esperzoa) which many of the other more aggressive early drops don't do for you (like the aforementioned Hawks).

They also give you a bit of a defensive fallback when you end up HAVING to play defensive (which lets be honest, can happen at times in even the most aggressively built and tuned decks), which works relatively well with Sanctum Gargoyle as well as my previous suggestion of Gods Willing.

Sorry, I just really love attacking into peoples Baneslayers with Strix and having them think I am stupid (duh First strike!) just to Gods Willing it and kill their widdle Angel without them gaining any life XD

I think God's Willing should certainly be here.. that's a good call Eon.

Yeah I get it, it's an artifact. The rest are kind of weak combos, and Hakeem here wants, in general, to go spike. I'm just letting him know that I'm pretty sure that card gets the trash bin, before his deck sings. Either that, or he switches to a different tactic. /shrug

Edit: Gods Willing makes just about every artifact deck I've got. Lol

I don't see the problem here, the deck is playing Myrsmith and it won't always draw a Sculptor to offset the payment. My twos all become threes with a Smith in play. Playing higher-cost cards makes the Smith a Goblin Piker.

Also, having a ton of cheap triggers for Glaze Fiend can't be a bad thing.