MTG Salvation

NOTE: This deck has been retired from use as-of July 2014. No further updates to the list will be forthcoming.

I've been kicking around the idea of an almost mono-artifact deck for quite a while now. I thought about making an Arcum Dagsson deck for a little while, but feared the inevitable hate. I really wanted to find an outlet to use the Thopter/Sword combination, so that left me looking at either 3 or 5 colors at that point. I could definitely have some fun with Goblin Welder, but there's really nothing in green that would bolster the deck. I'm not sure the addition of just Welder is enough to push me to wreck my mana base.

That puts me squarely in the BUW Esper combination. Now the clear choice for an Esper general is the infamous Sharuum the Hegemon. (And more recently now, Sydri, Galvanic Genius) Now I personally do not want to operate a deck that plans to end the table in an infinite combo. It's just not me. Even if I'm not running an infinite-combo-finish, I realize that Sharuum can act as a very strong artifact support general. However, it goes back to the perceived threat of combo that the average player assumes is coming when you build a deck around her. So, I decided on another Esper-colored artifact general: Sen Triplets.

I've really been impressed with the little, incremental effects that I've been putting in many decks, as well as the card advantage engines that run the backbone of many decks I see. Now, for better or worse, I'm taking this idea to the extreme. I may be one of the few people to ever run Urza's and Mishra's Bauble with a straight face. But they offer a tiny advantage on their own, and when plugged into the engine, it's absolutely beautiful. What is that engine you ask? Why, it's Salvaging Station and Auriok Salvagers my good fellow! There are a lot of great 0 or 1 cmc artifacts that people put into a small Trinket Mage toolbox (and also Artificer's Intuition), so I went from there and maximized the options.

Without wasting too much more time, feast your eyes on:


Break-Down

One of the cards that I really wanted to run in here was Proteus Staff. It is a very powerful tool against decks that are reliant on their commanders to function, and there are some great things you can do with it, too. Like casting your Myr Battlesphere, then staffing away all of the tokens for more impressive creatures. Or combining the staff with Duplicant and Eye of Ugin: exile a creature, shuffle it back into your deck for something else, then tutor it back with the eye.

Another card that I was happy to include was Thada Adel, Acquisitor. With the heavy artifact theme that I'm running, it makes it kinda like I'm lord of all artifacts. Remember, not only can you steal an opponent's artifact if you want, but you can just exile it from their deck if you can't or don't want to actually cast it. Against the right opponent, she gets kinda crazy. Combo pieces can be safely removed from the equation. The best equipment from their voltron deck can be easily rent asunder right before their eyes.

And now we come to Tower of the Magistrate. With my Mycosynth Lattice I can give my attacker pro-artifacts, and swing through at anyone. There are plenty of artifact creatures floating around that this messes with even without the lattice. But one of my favorite uses for this card, is against opposing equipments. I've played this deck on Cockatrice against a few voltron builds, and when I got this on the field, they immediately scooped. Not very sporting, I know, but the power of this against something like Kemba, Kha Regent is pretty incredible.

No updates to this list were made as of the release of Journey into Nyx.

Thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. Thanks for looking.

Sanctum Gargoyle, maybe? It is good on a Mimic Vat.

Quote from imheretomomir

Sanctum Gargoyle, maybe? It is good on a Mimic Vat.

This is true. Where do you think a cut would come from? Maybe Scarecrone?

I don't know if Scarecrone is really working as well as it could with so few artifact creatures really in the deck.

Quote from shmnion

Have you tried out Paradox Haze to target 2 opponents with Triplets. Even if you don't cast stuff it will keep them from activating abilities and playing instants on your turn.

Hmm. It's one that I did think about at one point, but thought with the set-up I was going with, that I wouldn't want to really be playing spells from more than 2 players (myself + opponent) in a turn. You do bring up a good point with just using it to stop other players from casting spells or activating abilities, though.

I'll think about it again...

Are Thopter/Sword, Disciple of the Vault and other infinite combo pieces worth it if you don't want to go infinite with them? I feel they will just draw hate unless you play with guys who know the next drop isn't going to be Time Sieve. Wouldn't it be better to replace them with more control like counterspells and just abuse Triplets to the max.

The two groups that I play with don't use any infinite combos in our games, so the threat of backlash for fear of me assembling one is pretty minimal.

For the Disciple, with the way that I have the deck set up, I'm sac'ing loads of artifacts for small effects for the whole of the game. If I get my Auriok Salvagers in play, then I'm sac'ing several times in a turn (the same can be said for Unwinding Clock and Salvaging Station in play at the same time). Even if I never keep the engine in play, it's not unreasonable for me to trigger the life loss 5-10 times through the course of the game. And nobody is going to want to cast a mass artifact destruction (like Shatterstorm) when I have him on my side.

As far as the Thopter-Sword combo. It's a pretty reasonable win condition even without going infinite. The Thopter Foundry on its own gives me a pretty strong sac outlet for the majority of the deck.

Is Preordain/Ponder over Brainstorm an intentional choice?

Quote from imheretomomir

Is Preordain/Ponder over Brainstorm an intentional choice?

Yes. I don't have that many shuffle effects in the deck that are on the cheaper end of the cost spectrum. Most of the time when I'm happy to see these types of cards is in the early game, when I'm trying to make sure I have enough lands to get the deck rolling. If I only see 1 land off a Brainstorm, or don't see any, then put two non-lands back on top, I'm essentially drawing dead for the next two turns. Ponder/Preordain/Impulse do not have that problem.

If I was running more fetches (and dual lands to go with them), the Brainstorm gets much better than it is on its own. Since I can't realistically expect to have them to pair together as it stands, I feel like its sorcery-speed brethren are the better choice for me.

Ponder/Preordain/Impulse are also better at digging through the deck if you're looking for an engine piece or an answer to some threats in the middle or late game. Again, you can see the same number of cards (Ponder can potentially see more than BS), but if that one you were looking for isn't in the top 3, at least you aren't going to be drawing dead again for the following two turns.

I was reading through this thread, when I came across Artificer's Intuition. With my desire to play with so many of the small "cogs" just as this deck does, now I need to figure out if I really want a tutor to get them.

So I'm still thinking through the potential of Artificer's Intuition. In theory, each of the cogs that I run provide me with incremental CA at a low investment, so as to be essentially invisible and interchangeable. Since they are basically interchangeable with each other, I would be able to discard one of them to fetch a more relevant option, such as a Dispeller's/Executioner's Capsule or a Nihil Spellbomb. Or, I could pitch an artifact land to get something that actually does something in the late game. Like I said, I'm still running over things in my mind, but haven't really made a decision.

I also want to find space for a Sun Titan, especially if the Artificer's Intuition is going to potentially find its way in. Right now, I'm looking at Open the Vaults or Thada Adel, Acquisitor as possible openings. I really like the disruption and swingy plays you can get from Thada, and most of the artifacts from my grave are going to be relatively small effects. This keeps my OtV from being really crazy all the time. I think that OtV is going to come out for now (but I'll keep my eye on how it goes) for the Sun Titan spot.

Changes:
-Scarecrone / +Sanctum Gargoyle
-Open the Vaults / +Sun Titan

Psuedo-update:

I picked up a copy of some Antiquities Urzatron lands, and I really want to find a way to fit them in here for nostalgia's sake. Plus, with my Expedition Map plus some recursion, it's not too unlikely that I'd actually assemble all three pieces.

Can anyone make any suggestions for decent replacement slots in the current deck? Thus far, I haven't seen a huge benefit for my Reliquary Tower, so that may be one potential space for a replacement.


Also, on a somewhat unrelated note, once the prices drop on some shocklands, my current pain-lands will be getting replaced with those to synergize more with the fetches I'm running.

Update:
- Day of Judgement / +Supreme Verdict

Essentially a strict upgrade to DoJ. Being able to wipe the board clear guaranteed is definitely something that appeals to this deck.


In my never-ending browsing on here, I also came upon someone suggesting Jester's Mask as a Sen Trips inclusion. I must have this in here now... This is a nostalgia pick that honestly synergizes really well with my commander. I think I'll throw this into the list in place of my Shimmer Myr.

-Shimmer Myr / +Jester's Mask


Also think I may want to find space for a Codex Shredder and a Conjurer's Bauble.

So, still no updates to the deck. I've been quite disappointed overall with the artifact selection in the last few sets. I have been looking at Sydri, Galvanic Genius as a possible replacement to the 'Trips, but I don't feel that I have enough non-creature artifacts with a decent casting cost to make it worthwhile. The card screams "artifact deck" to me, but the sad truth is there aren't many ways to build her without it going nuts with combos. I like to think that I'm using the softer side of the artifact generals.

Making a little change:

-Mycosynth Lattice, Celestial Dawn, Propaganda, Ghostly Prison
+Codex Shredder, Conjurer's Bauble, Meekstone, Artificer's Intuition

Bear with me now. The Lattice and Celestial Dawn are neat. They're cute. But they are not really useful. Granted, I don't play the deck very often, but I can't remember ever actually casting an opponents' spell off these + the Trips. The best they've ever done for me, is to fix my mana a little bit.

I'm adding in a trinket to plug into my recursion engine (the Conjurer's Bauble), a card to mess with Tops and topdeck tutors, and a defensive trinket for my Trinket Mage package. I'm also bringing in that Artificer's Intuition that I mentioned about a year and a half ago.

The 2 Propaganda effects are nice, but they're not really solutions to anything but a token swarm. I think Meekstone is a better answer to threats, and it really doesn't hit me much at all. Most of what I'd be attacking with are going to be smaller than 3 power (Thopter tokens), have vigilance (Sun Titan), or can just be untapped again with my Voltaic Key. If it turns out to be trouble for me, I'll think about making a switch to something like Ensnaring Bridge or Crawlspace.

I'm looking forward to seeing how these play out for me.