Before we begin today's deck fix, I've
got another story to tell you all; an
interesting bit of Magic: the Gathering
news.
A Czech film studio, Digt4l Dreams Films, is
producing a feature length movie based on
Magic: the Gathering. Tap: Max's Game is a
story of a Magic player whose local card
shop has gone out of business and whose
gaming circle of friends has disbanded-- a
sad situation I'm sure we can all relate to.
But when he tries to get back in the game,
he discovers something about second chances,
and himself.
No word yet from Wizards of the Coast
regarding their stance on the movie, but
given Wizards' recent endorsement deal with
The Sorceror's Apprentice, I'm sure they'd
approve. You can find more information on
the movie at: [http://maxovahra.com/?lang=en]
and watch the trailer here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5osjyDSnnLA]
My only question is whether or not the movie
will get a screening near me! We don't get
many Czech movies here in America, what with
being under Hollywood's shadow, but I
already know who I want to bring to this
movie: everyone I know!
More on that later. Today, we've got
metallic clockwork creatures in need of a
tune-up.
----------------
Hi bmoor sorry bout all the emails here's my
new new decklist and ideas
Land (22)
-6 forest
-9 island
-4 terramorphic expanse
-3 buried ruin
Creatures
-4 silver myr
-3 copper myr
-3 palladium myr
-2 myr battlesphere
-2 fangren marauder
-4 myr galvanizer
-2 maul splicer
-2 platinum emperion
-2 master transmuter
-3 kuldotha forgemaster
-2 golem artisan
-1 solemn simulacrum
-2 vedalken certarch
Artifacts
-2 Strider harnesses
Other
-3 xenograft
the combo is to use kuldotha to bring out
myr battlesphere then sacrifice 3 of the 4
myr brought out by the battlesphere to get
master transmuter so I can build an army
while searching for any other artifacts I
want like golem artisan and galvanizers to
enable the mana loop giving any creature
+100/+100 trample or build an army with
xenograft the transmuter and the
battlesphere for unlimited myr using the
artisan for haste and trample with the
battlesphere. Other combos I included were
the creatarch, xenograft, and the mana loop
to tap all creatures they control and repeat
attacking with 1 creature. I removed the
white because it was just pointless other
than the myrs. I added the fangren to combo
with the forgemaster so I can last through
the mid to late game while building combos.
Also adding the strider harnesses to achieve
my combos quicker and easier than before.
Question after I give a creature haste do I
have to activate his ability with it on or
can I attach it to another creature first?
Anyway, its the ultimate loop or loops. So
suggestions from u and a name for my deck
would be much appreciated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just for the record, this is the most
recent of several E-mails that Cole here has
sent, to reflect the modifications that he's
made himself. At one point, this deck was
three colors.
Now, regular readers know one of my pet
peeves is a deck that's too "fragmented",
with too many singletons. You just can't get
the cards you need with any degree of
reliability if you're not running enough
copies of them.
Cole has partially mitigated
that through use of Kuldotha Forgemaster,
but I still think that the bulk of my
revisions are going to involve streamlining
the decklist.
So, step one is identifying what's not
pulling its weight around here. First on the
chopping block is Platinum Empirion. It's
neither a Golem nor a Myr, so it's not
really contributing, and its ability is a
curiosity more than a strategic necessity.
Beyond that, the Empirion is really just an
8/8 that doesn't even have trample. Fangren
Marauder, similarly, is a neat trick but not
really neat enough. Sure, having it in play
when the Forgemaster starts forging means a
15-point gain in life, but life gain isn't
really powerful enough to play a card that
does so little else for you, and the
Marauder does barely anything for you while
you're not Forgemastering. Finally, Vedalken
Certarch can come out. I appreciate you
recognizing the need to hold your opponent
off while you set up the combo, and tap
abilities are a fine way to do that, but the
Certarch only works if you've got metalcraft,
and most of your artifacts cost at least two
mana, so it'll take several turns before the
Certarch comes online.
In answer to your earlier question, Cole,
removing Strider Harness from a creature to
equip it to someone else means the first
creature loses
haste, and is once again
afflicted with summoning sickness and unable
to use its tap abilities. The "good" news
is, I'm also pulling Strider Harness. I just
don't think you need haste as much as you
think you do, especially since the Forgemaster and Transmuter can use their
abilities at the end of your opponent's
turn. Just Forge your Transmuter at end of
turn and she'll be ready to Transmute on
your upkeep.
That gives us eight slots to play with.
First of all, since this is a combo deck,
I'm going to recommend what I end up
recommending for all combo decks-- a way to
sift through your deck faster. Fortunately,
you've already got a copy of the card I
think is the best way for you to do it--
Solemn Simulacrum. The first ability will
fix your mana and pull a card out of your
deck, increasing the odds of you drawing
what you need. By a small margin, yes, but
don't underestimate it-- Magic is a game of
statistical likelihoods and everything you
can do to push the odds in your favor is
worth doing. And when the Simulacrum dies,
as it likely will by blocking an attacker so
you can stay alive long enough to draw the
combo, you get to draw a card. At four mana,
it may seem a bit pricey, but it's worth
running a full set of. Especially since
Solemn Simulacrum is a Golem, and works well
with Maul Splicer and Golem Artisan.
If you'd like some more deck digging, or
just can't afford more copies of the
Simulacrum, I'd say this is a perfect deck
for Ancient Stirrings. Since most of your
nonland cards are artifacts, Ancient
Stirrings will let you get just about everthing in here except Xenograft or a
Splicer. I understand you want Xenograft,
and it's probably the most important card
you can't get with the Forgemaster, but
still, with so many artifacts, Ancient
Stirrings basically says, "Scry 5 and draw a
card". Compare that to Preordain, which
everybody loves! Ancient Stirrings also has
the advantage of being able to put extra
Battlespheres on the bottom, where you won't
draw them until you're ready to cheat them
out.
Maul Splicer can also be bumped up a few
more copies, seeing as how it's actually
three creatures for one card. I'm not quite
sure if you plan to name "Golem" or "Myr"
with Xenograft-- I would hope to draw two
copies just so I could name both-- but since
you included the Artisan, you must believe
that trample is worth having, especially
since you plan to give your creature
+100/+100. Similarly, Wing Splicer could
help your Golems get their damage through. I
think what you really want, though, is Vital
Splicer. You only get one Golem token, but
your deck rolls over and dies to any sort of
board wipe. You need something to protect
you from the inevitable Day of Judgment.
Heck, even Pyroclasm pretty much destroys
your Myr combo, though it would at least let
you keep the Battlesphere that now has no
Myr to tap. Vital Splicer will let you save
your creatures from the Judgment, and give
you a means of holding off attackers in the
form of regenerating blockers. Drudge
Skeletons kept getting reprinted all those
years for a reason, you know!
That pretty much covers my assessment of the
deck. The idea of using Xenograft to help
power the Myr Galvanizer combo, or to make
Maul Splicer give itself trample (as useless
as that would be) amuses me greatly. I'm not
sure if it's a tournament-caliber idea, but
I can tell that Cole is going to have a lot
of fun playing this one.
Good luck!
~BMoor