Round 2!
The Daily GrindLooks pretty decent as a Control deck. Trafficker and Trawler feel a little out of place, and there's not much to bring back with Torrential Gearhulk. Mana looks a little greedy too.
Game 1 (Draw vs Boros Vehicles) - WIN
I manage his board early through Kingpins and Vials, until I can drop Skyboat. He matches it with his own, but he uses
Siege Modification on it, leaving the Vehicle vulnerable to a Flashbacked (by Jace) Flames + my Flagship's attack trigger.
Game 2 (Play vs Abzan Ramp) - WIN
I had a T3 Liliana he couldn't deal with, so it was just a matter of waiting for her Ult to work, despite me taking forever to draw my 4th, 5th and 6th lands.
Game 3 (Draw vs BW tokens) - WIN
I played 3 sweepers in this game, and that was all I needed. It's pretty cool that Kingpin survives all of them.
Game 4 (Play vs Gruul Energy) - WIN
I had a super slow start, with multiple taplands and maps, but he never got past his 3rd land drop. Having to deal with only 1 threat each turn gave me enough time to deply may haymakers and win.
Game 5 (Play vs 4C walkers) - LOSS
I miss several land drops through the game, which limited my ability to deal with the 7 (!) walkers my opponent played in this game fast enough. The deck put a valiant fight, but it eventually got buried in CA.
Final score: 4-1
The deck felt very good, but it reeeeeally needs more lands. 20 + 4 Maps doesn't mean 24, and 24 lands might not even be enough.
Mechanized Production did nothing and was super awkward in hand, Trawler and Trafficker are in the deck only because they Crew Skyboat. I'd like to find something else for their places, but I don't know what. Speaking of which, Skyboat was the MVP of my games, alongside Kingpin.
The deck did get a bit lucky in a couple of games (game 2 was against a 100 card pile, and game 4 my opponent didn't draw enough lands), but it felt very good to pilot and a great baseline for an Artifacts Control deck. Just play more lands!
The whirl of whirlers whirlingAnother deck very light on lands, although I understand here because it's trying to abuse Improvise. The payoff looks weak, though. Expertise looks weird, and I wonder if it needs more early removal.
Game 1 (Play vs GC Ramp) - WIN
He ramps into oblivion while I play a few Servos. Eventually he plays a gigantic
Walker of the Wastes (15/15 or something), but I manage to race thanks to a bunch of life gained through Battle and Harvester.
Game 2 (Draw vs Golgari Midrange) - LOSS
I flood (!) while my opponent plays grreat value cards. Eventually I draw some gas, but they are all low impact cards, so I'm basically a sitting duck while he rides a flip Nissa to victory.
Game 3 (Play vs Temur Midrange) - WIN
He draws a ton of cards and gains a ton of Energy, but can't deal with Inventor + Goggles + Key.
Game 4 (Play vs Dimir Artifacts) - WIN
Another one that had no way to deal with Inventor + Key, nor could race it.
Game 5 (Draw vs mono Black Control) - WIN.
It seems like the only thing this deck does is play Inventor and Key...
Final score: 4-1
Well, this went better than expected. I believe the lesson here is that a lot of people aren't prepared to face/race an Inventor. The deck only won against non-meta decks, but still.
The mana felt ok-ish, but I'd still like a couple more. The deck also needs to focus on its main path of victory. Cut things like Baral's Expertise, Skyboat and Tezzeret for more Engineer and maybe some Vials, to ensure that we draw our combo. It probably needs more early interaction to deal with aggro decks, but I never faced one to say anything.
It's a one trick pony, but that specific pony looks good enough.
Industrial RevolutionMore tokens! Construction looks weak, but it looks like the deck has enough draw power to make it work. Caravan feels out of place, but the deck might be more mana hungry than I expect.
Game 1 (Play vs Mardu Midrange) - WIN
I make a very dumb mistake early, but he couldn't capitalize on it. The game drags on, and he eventually gets Nahiri, Liliana and Gideon on the board, but he utls Nahiri for Avacyn to try to kill either my own Liliana or Tezz, but I crack a Vial to save them. On my turn I remove his blockers with my walkers, play a big Ballista and Crew Caravan with it, then get rid of Nahiri and Gideon. The game is not over it, though, because he's close to ult Liliana and is still holding Avacyn, but Ballista dominates his board and keeps Liliana in check while I hold 2 mana open for Desgins whenevr he decides to cast the Angel. Eventually Ballista dies and I get him back with Liliana, to play it even bigger, and the game is effectivelly over. Sweet one!
Game 2 (Play vs Jund Energy) - LOSS
Played against WoodlandWanderer from here in this game. I keep a super risky no Artifacts hand, but manage to Battle his first couple of Brawlers, then I Touched a Key and started beating down. He still races me, and eventually finds a removal for my guy, while I struggle to fire off a pair of Designs despite drawing 2 cards a turn. I made a mistake at the end that probably didn't matter due to a second
Lathnu Hellion.
Game 3 (Play vs Abzan Snake) - LOSS
I had a good start, removing his threats and gaining life, but I flood like a champ and die.
Game 4 (Draw vs Rakdos Vamps) - LOSS
He had an amazing start that I couldn't keep up with.
Act of Treason on my Familiar with
Yahenni, Undying Partisan on board was brutal
Game 5 (Draw vs Jeskai Mill) - LOSS
I thought I was going to ride a T3 Liliana all the way to the win, but he surprised me with a
Fateful Showdown. I still had Construction, though, and that + Network was too much for him to handle even after 2
Planar Outbursts.
Final score: 2-3
The deck did get a little unfortunate in the matchups (decks were closer to meta decks than normal, the flood in game 3, the god hand in game 4. Even the competition was harder with a NGA member), but it feels like the deck is more fun than competitive.
As much as I keep saying that people should play more lands, this is the one deck that I think plays too many. A couple of Maps would also do good for the deck. I didn't find much else that doesn't make sense in the deck. The parts work well towards the deck's goal, it's just that the plan itself has some flaws. Construction was good in one game, but didn't blow me away. other tokens decks used Enthusiast for a similar purpose, which I believe is better against aggro but worse against Midrange and Control.
Overall, I like the idea, and using obscure cards is always fun, but this felt more like a fun concept than an ultra competitive deck.