A lot has been said on this card and its use as an engine, especially by the Portland guys. I think it deserves a thread on the best ways to use it, especially which sacrificial "cogs" (X-, 0-, and 1-costing artifacts) to use with it, as well as which support cards to run alongside it. Here are some cards for convenience:
With so many options, I'd really like to know which ones people have found works best for them, and what they think the right number of these to run is, particularly the sacrificial cogs. Also, which sacrificial cogs have people found to be the best of the best and would include in any deck with a Salvaging Station engine?
One final note - Salvaging Station and Codex Shredder protect each other, and the Shredder feeds the Station! Does this mean that the Shredder should be in every deck the Station is in?
When I ran Slobad, Flayer Husk was pretty well insane with Salvaging Station and anything that sacrificed an artifact for reasonable benefit. Krark-Clan Ironworks, Megatog etc.
With Ironworks, Station, Flayer Husk, and Furnace Celebration you get the kill. Granted, it's a four card combo, but the deck actually had a ton of draw and backup combos.
Running a multi-colored deck makes Chromatic Star a surprisingly great card. Mana fixing early, with recurring CA later in the game.
Urza's Bauble and Mishra's Bauble are really good with Auriok Salvagers, but are pretty lackluster running off just the Salv-Station.
I love the zero-cost value of Lotus Bloom. While it essentially makes your Salv-Station into a worse Gilded Lotus, you should probably be running Voltaic Key or something like Unwinding Clock to get more value out of your deck.
Like I said, I love the "cog" engines you can put together (which is why I've had Modern Sunrise combo deck put together for about a year now), but it is actually pretty difficult to keep these running in a game. Despite acting as a more complicated Phyrexian Arena a lot of the time, because I'm busier actively doing things on my turns, I'm usually the preferred target for removal in a game. It may just be me, but you have been warned.
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"I have seen the true path. I will not warm myself by the fire—I will become the flame."
—Lim-Dul, the Necromancer
When I ran Slobad, Flayer Husk was pretty well insane with Salvaging Station and anything that sacrificed an artifact for reasonable benefit. Krark-Clan Ironworks, Megatog etc.
With Ironworks, Station, Flayer Husk, and Furnace Celebration you get the kill. Granted, it's a four card combo, but the deck actually had a ton of draw and backup combos.
Don't forget Junk Diver and Myr Retriever.
wow, flayer husk has amazing synergy with the station.
wow, flayer husk has amazing synergy with the station.
It really, really does. If you have just enough stuff together to cobble together a value engine, it was a little weak. However, if you had a couple nutty things in play, you could just curb stomp the competition with this innocuous 1 mana artifact.
I made a Grixis control deck to shatter my own metagame in pour league on MODO and Salvaging Station is the key resource in that. So much value I just keep getting like Pyrite and AEther bombs, Necrogen people's hands. Even get back the cards I pitch to artificier's intuition.
It can even form a "combo" with zuran orb + artifact lands(which can help to feed a glacial chasm, another key protector of my Grixis build).
I made a Grixis control deck to shatter my own metagame in pour league on MODO and Salvaging Station is the key resource in that. So much value I just keep getting like Pyrite and AEther bombs, Necrogen people's hands. Even get back the cards I pitch to artificier's intuition.
It can even form a "combo" with zuran orb + artifact lands(which can help to feed a glacial chasm, another key protector of my Grixis build).
I've tried the UB spellbombs with Salvaging Station, and the results have always seemed pretty good. They seem to be among the best for repeatable effects. For some reason though, it just somehow seems lame to me, like I've got some wonky synergy that would totally cave to any disruption. But then it never does.
Then, I've curiously seen it get better after another card that seems similarly janky - Codex Shredder. On the one hand, a 5 mana regrowth every turn seems pretty unparalelled. But on the other hand, come on. Is this really a good interaction, or is it just one of those things that you get on-line and fall behind anyway once you get it?
I've tried the UB spellbombs with Salvaging Station, and the results have always seemed pretty good. They seem to be among the best for repeatable effects. For some reason though, it just somehow seems lame to me, like I've got some wonky synergy that would totally cave to any disruption. But then it never does.
Then, I've curiously seen it get better after another card that seems similarly janky - Codex Shredder. On the one hand, a 5 mana regrowth every turn seems pretty unparalelled. But on the other hand, come on. Is this really a good interaction, or is it just one of those things that you get on-line and fall behind anyway once you get it?
Yeah, the UB ones are a bit better than the R one(though pyrite is a win-con, at times, through repeatable burn XD). Codex Shredder is one I'd like to test(I play Glissa, Grixis, Arcum, might even work out in Jor Kadeen, though with the 'geddons and speed it desires it might not). Seeing the recent discussion on Codex makes me inclined to believe it is a good inclusion. It's also worth noting that Station + Necrogen can be used to lock someone out of their draw in 1v1(spellbomb can be used at instant speed).
Station does seem like it should attract some attention; and rightfully so. but with Academy Ruins, Buried Ruin + Crucible of Worlds, and now Codex, it should be fairly easy to protect(and all except Academy is good for any deck).
Yeah, the UB ones are a bit better than the R one(though pyrite is a win-con, at times, through repeatable burn XD). Codex Shredder is one I'd like to test(I play Glissa, Grixis, Arcum, might even work out in Jor Kadeen, though with the 'geddons and speed it desires it might not). Seeing the recent discussion on Codex makes me inclined to believe it is a good inclusion. It's also worth noting that Station + Necrogen can be used to lock someone out of their draw in 1v1(spellbomb can be used at instant speed).
Station does seem like it should attract some attention; and rightfully so. but with Academy Ruins, Buried Ruin + Crucible of Worlds, and now Codex, it should be fairly easy to protect(and all except Academy is good for any deck).
Then Expedition Map fetches Academy, which is good with Station, which is.... /thread
As Galspanic has said many times before, "Salvaging Station only works in 80% mana denial metas."
This statement remains to be true because I've never seen aggro or combo decks ruin games as much as Stax.
Codex Shredder doesn't go in every Salvaging Station-Stax list.
What is your meta like? From there, I can answer the question, "If Salvaging Station is actually worth your time?"
As Galspanic has said many times before, "Salvaging Station only works in 80% mana denial metas."
This statement remains to be true because I've never seen aggro or combo decks ruin games as much as Stax.
Codex Shredder doesn't go in every Salvaging Station-Stax list.
What is your meta like? From there, I can answer the question, "If Salvaging Station is actually worth your time?"
Would it gain marginal value in a mono black deck? I am not looking to make it a lynch-pin of the deck, but after reading the OP's post, I was enticed to include it in my Geth deck. With the number of creatures that go to the gy and get reanimated, I thought it might work. I haven't tested it yet. My meta consists of aggro, combo and control, but no mana denial. Will I get any kind of value out of it? I primarily wanted to use it to recur grave hate and get back certain pieces should they be blown up.
As Galspanic has said many times before, "Salvaging Station only works in 80% mana denial metas."
I'm not really sure how that would be the case. Does that mean he thinks it would only work in that kind of setting or that it would only be good in that kind of setting?
So, it's a slow card and whatever value you get out of it is incremental. That's similar to how Smokestack operates. In fact, the thing itself feeds a Smokestack at 1. Spellbombs are particularly a good thing to sacrifice to it, for the cantrip. I understand all that. I'm just not sure how it wouldn't work as that exact same thing in another setting, only in a quicker game it wouldn't mean as much.
Or... maybe if someone plays a Desolation, Mana Vortex, Land Equilibrium, Smokestack or something similar, Salvaging Station benefits in that something else is getting killed by Krosan Grip.
Because I'm thinking that if BUG ramps out T&N into Palinchron and all that garbage, Salvaging Station is still working, just no one cares that you got your Wayfarer's Bauble back. And so besides, how are you going to be able to rely on a 6cmc spell to save you in a mana-denial setting? Your own mana vortex, you cast it if and when you have Station set up. Another player's and you sacrifice a land each turn and need to topdeck a Thran Dynamo within the next little while to even be able to cast it.
I didn't see it so I'll suggest Chimeric Coils. It can double as a win condition and untaps station for 1. I had an old extended deck that's win was double station, Coils, lotus bloom. Once you had infinite mana any spell-bomb.
I didn't see it so I'll suggest Chimeric Coils. It can double as a win condition and untaps station for 1. I had an old extended deck that's win was double station, Coils, lotus bloom. Once you had infinite mana any spell-bomb.
That is so amazing. I forget that Chimeric Coils animated into an X/X and had a end of turn sacrifice ability.
I've been looking for more win conditions for "Zur", and I added Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Gideon Jura. Mishra's Factory doesn't get there like it use to in the past.
Yes, in mono black, Salvaging Station would great if you have enough reusable destroy/sacrifice effect to trigger the untap ability. Just by having graveyard hate and enough 1 cmc artifacts makes it good enough!
I think this card has a 'good engine to break stax' reputation because it was the stax players in my meta who started using it here. But as other people have attested it's a good engine in cog decks that like to make layered machines/engines, it's a good engine in control decks, it's decent in any deck where you expect to get multiple activations from it. You have to ask yourself,when imagining your deck in action, "I just drew a 6 CMC spell, do I want it to be Salvaging Station, or something else like Sun Titan?
Fast decks, decks that want to play big swingy spells, obviously not a fit there. But once you start reusing your Expedition Map, Wayfarer's Bauble, Dispeller's Capsule(one of my favorites), etc, you learn to appreciate it.
Good with Goblin Welder by the way. Salvaging Station back a spellbomb. Use the Welder to switch it with Duplicant. Pay a mana to draw your card.
It means that 1cmc cogs going to the grave cause Station to untap. Some cantripping artifact would make Station into a Necropotence that costs no life. Not bad with Aether Spellbomb either. But really going infinite requires something else like Blasting Station
1. Sac Origin
2. Origin goes to graveyard....Myr is on the stack.
3. In response. Tap Salvaging to return Origin to play.
4. Myr comes into play
5. Salvaging triggers and is untapped.
6. Repeat.
A lot has been said on this card and its use as an engine, especially by the Portland guys. I think it deserves a thread on the best ways to use it, especially which sacrificial "cogs" (X-, 0-, and 1-costing artifacts) to use with it, as well as which support cards to run alongside it. Here are some cards for convenience:
Support Cards
Stax
Smokestack
Tangle Wire
Braids, Cabal Minion
World Queller
Tutors
Reshape
Fabricate
Dizzy Spell
Tolaria West
Artificer's Intuition
Trinket Mage
Treasure Mage
Ethereal Usher
Netherborn Phalanx
Tezzeret the Seeker
Enlightened Tutor
Hoarding Dragon
Gamble
Substitutes + Recursion
Auriok Salvagers
Trading Post
Goblin Welder
Junk Diver
Myr Retriever
Buried Ruin
Academy Ruins
Beacon of Unrest
Codex Shredder
Clones
Sculpting Steel
Phyrexian Metamorph
Copy Artifact
Dredge
Life from the Loam
Stinkweed Imp
Golgari Grave-Troll
Golgari Thug
Shambling Shell
Grave-Shell Scarab
Golgari Brownscale
Dakmor Salvage
Hermit Druid
Avenging Druid
Wheels
Wheel of Fortune
Reforge the Soul
Dragon Mage
Knollspine Dragon
Chandra Ablaze
Timetwister
Windfall
Jace's Archivist
Looters
Thirst for Knowledge
Compulsive Research
Faithless Looting
Cephalid Coliseum
Merfolk Looter
Thought Courier
Looter il-Kor
Cephalid Broker
Viashino Racketeer
Rummaging Goblin
Mad Prophet
Untappers
Voltaic Key
Unwinding Clock
Clock of Omens
Fatestitcher
Unbender Tine
Misc.
Furnace Celebration
Sacrificial Cogs
Cantrips
Scrabbling Claws
Phyrexian Furnace
Mossfire Egg
Darkwater Egg
Skycloud Egg
Sungrass Egg
Shadowblood Egg
Chromatic Sphere
Chromatic Star
Terrarion
AEther Spellbomb
Flight Spellbomb
Horizon Spellbomb
Lifespark Spellbomb
Necrogen Spellbomb
Nihil Spellbomb
Origin Spellbomb
Panic Spellbomb
Pyrite Spellbomb
Sunbeam Spellbomb
Conjurer's Bauble
Urza's Bauble
Mishra's Bauble
Utility
Codex Shredder
Engineered Explosives
Tormod's Crypt
Moratorium Stone
Dispeller's Capsule
Executioner's Capsule
Lantern of Insight
Blazing Torch
Voyager Staff
Mana Boost
Lotus Petal
Lotus Bloom
Expedition Map
Wanderer's Twig
Traveler's Amulet
Wayfarer's Bauble
Lodestone Bauble
Other Cogs
Mana
Sol Ring
Mana Crypt
Mana Vault
Jeweled Amulet
Chrome Mox
Mox Diamond
Mox Opal
Paradise Mantle
Springleaf Drum
Candelabra of Tawnos
Everflowing Chalice
Explorer's Scope
Seat of the Synod
Tree of Tales
Ancient Den
Vault of Whispers
Great Furnace
Other
Sensei's Divining Top
Skullclamp
Basilisk Collar
Pithing Needle
Chimeric Mass
Chimeric Coils
Claws of Gix
Flayer Husk
Grafdigger's Cage
Scroll Rack
Meekstone
O-Naginata
Orochi Hatchery
Zuran Orb
Slagwurm Armor
Viridian Longbow
Voltaic Key
With so many options, I'd really like to know which ones people have found works best for them, and what they think the right number of these to run is, particularly the sacrificial cogs. Also, which sacrificial cogs have people found to be the best of the best and would include in any deck with a Salvaging Station engine?
One final note - Salvaging Station and Codex Shredder protect each other, and the Shredder feeds the Station! Does this mean that the Shredder should be in every deck the Station is in?
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
This deck that just puts artifacts together to form little CA engines.
It's like mechanical engineering except in a silly card game.
With Ironworks, Station, Flayer Husk, and Furnace Celebration you get the kill. Granted, it's a four card combo, but the deck actually had a ton of draw and backup combos.
Don't forget Junk Diver and Myr Retriever.
I run a small package it in my Glissa deck with a nice number of cantrip artefacts and a trading post.
Quite the engine once It gets going drawing multiple cards a turn in a G/B black control deck.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Running a multi-colored deck makes Chromatic Star a surprisingly great card. Mana fixing early, with recurring CA later in the game.
Urza's Bauble and Mishra's Bauble are really good with Auriok Salvagers, but are pretty lackluster running off just the Salv-Station.
I love the zero-cost value of Lotus Bloom. While it essentially makes your Salv-Station into a worse Gilded Lotus, you should probably be running Voltaic Key or something like Unwinding Clock to get more value out of your deck.
Like I said, I love the "cog" engines you can put together (which is why I've had Modern Sunrise combo deck put together for about a year now), but it is actually pretty difficult to keep these running in a game. Despite acting as a more complicated Phyrexian Arena a lot of the time, because I'm busier actively doing things on my turns, I'm usually the preferred target for removal in a game. It may just be me, but you have been warned.
—Lim-Dul, the Necromancer
EDH/Commander
WWMichiko Konda, Truth Seeker Mono-White Control
RWBasandra, Battle Seraph Sunforger Shenanigans
GRWZacama Loam & Lands
Cube
Draft my "Classic Border Cube"
WUBRGCheck out some of my older lists and my Type4 Cube!GRBUW
wow, flayer husk has amazing synergy with the station.
It really, really does. If you have just enough stuff together to cobble together a value engine, it was a little weak. However, if you had a couple nutty things in play, you could just curb stomp the competition with this innocuous 1 mana artifact.
It can even form a "combo" with zuran orb + artifact lands(which can help to feed a glacial chasm, another key protector of my Grixis build).
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
I've tried the UB spellbombs with Salvaging Station, and the results have always seemed pretty good. They seem to be among the best for repeatable effects. For some reason though, it just somehow seems lame to me, like I've got some wonky synergy that would totally cave to any disruption. But then it never does.
Then, I've curiously seen it get better after another card that seems similarly janky - Codex Shredder. On the one hand, a 5 mana regrowth every turn seems pretty unparalelled. But on the other hand, come on. Is this really a good interaction, or is it just one of those things that you get on-line and fall behind anyway once you get it?
Yeah, the UB ones are a bit better than the R one(though pyrite is a win-con, at times, through repeatable burn XD). Codex Shredder is one I'd like to test(I play Glissa, Grixis, Arcum, might even work out in Jor Kadeen, though with the 'geddons and speed it desires it might not). Seeing the recent discussion on Codex makes me inclined to believe it is a good inclusion. It's also worth noting that Station + Necrogen can be used to lock someone out of their draw in 1v1(spellbomb can be used at instant speed).
Station does seem like it should attract some attention; and rightfully so. but with Academy Ruins, Buried Ruin + Crucible of Worlds, and now Codex, it should be fairly easy to protect(and all except Academy is good for any deck).
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
Then Expedition Map fetches Academy, which is good with Station, which is.... /thread
Old Trade Thread
Powerdouble - Shrine of Burning Rage wins games you have no business winning.
Tanion - Humans are basically short bus Allies. Lame.
Right up there in the opening post.
This statement remains to be true because I've never seen aggro or combo decks ruin games as much as Stax.
Codex Shredder doesn't go in every Salvaging Station-Stax list.
What is your meta like? From there, I can answer the question, "If Salvaging Station is actually worth your time?"
EDH
BWG Doran Suicide Tempo BWG
BUW Sharuum Midrange Control BUW
Would it gain marginal value in a mono black deck? I am not looking to make it a lynch-pin of the deck, but after reading the OP's post, I was enticed to include it in my Geth deck. With the number of creatures that go to the gy and get reanimated, I thought it might work. I haven't tested it yet. My meta consists of aggro, combo and control, but no mana denial. Will I get any kind of value out of it? I primarily wanted to use it to recur grave hate and get back certain pieces should they be blown up.
I'm not really sure how that would be the case. Does that mean he thinks it would only work in that kind of setting or that it would only be good in that kind of setting?
So, it's a slow card and whatever value you get out of it is incremental. That's similar to how Smokestack operates. In fact, the thing itself feeds a Smokestack at 1. Spellbombs are particularly a good thing to sacrifice to it, for the cantrip. I understand all that. I'm just not sure how it wouldn't work as that exact same thing in another setting, only in a quicker game it wouldn't mean as much.
Or... maybe if someone plays a Desolation, Mana Vortex, Land Equilibrium, Smokestack or something similar, Salvaging Station benefits in that something else is getting killed by Krosan Grip.
Because I'm thinking that if BUG ramps out T&N into Palinchron and all that garbage, Salvaging Station is still working, just no one cares that you got your Wayfarer's Bauble back. And so besides, how are you going to be able to rely on a 6cmc spell to save you in a mana-denial setting? Your own mana vortex, you cast it if and when you have Station set up. Another player's and you sacrifice a land each turn and need to topdeck a Thran Dynamo within the next little while to even be able to cast it.
Maybe an example?
Strange, I did a search for it. Oh well.
Old Trade Thread
Powerdouble - Shrine of Burning Rage wins games you have no business winning.
Tanion - Humans are basically short bus Allies. Lame.
That is so amazing. I forget that Chimeric Coils animated into an X/X and had a end of turn sacrifice ability.
I've been looking for more win conditions for "Zur", and I added Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Gideon Jura. Mishra's Factory doesn't get there like it use to in the past.
Yes, in mono black, Salvaging Station would great if you have enough reusable destroy/sacrifice effect to trigger the untap ability. Just by having graveyard hate and enough 1 cmc artifacts makes it good enough!
EDH
BWG Doran Suicide Tempo BWG
BUW Sharuum Midrange Control BUW
Fast decks, decks that want to play big swingy spells, obviously not a fit there. But once you start reusing your Expedition Map, Wayfarer's Bauble, Dispeller's Capsule(one of my favorites), etc, you learn to appreciate it.
Good with Goblin Welder by the way. Salvaging Station back a spellbomb. Use the Welder to switch it with Duplicant. Pay a mana to draw your card.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
How does this interact with Station at all?
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
It means that 1cmc cogs going to the grave cause Station to untap. Some cantripping artifact would make Station into a Necropotence that costs no life. Not bad with Aether Spellbomb either. But really going infinite requires something else like Blasting Station
1. Sac Origin
2. Origin goes to graveyard....Myr is on the stack.
3. In response. Tap Salvaging to return Origin to play.
4. Myr comes into play
5. Salvaging triggers and is untapped.
6. Repeat.
??
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