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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
"Chris's Artifact Deck"
April 1, 2011
 

It's been far too long since the real world offered me a break in my schedule to fix a deck... and between you and me, it still isn't, really. I'm taking this time by force. Savor the Moment isn't just a quirky rare from Shadowmoor, it's a fairly sound philosophy.
 
You've all been very patient, continuing to send me you decklists even as weeks turned to months since I'd responded to one. Let's shake off this score of absence with a topical decklist that also revolves around an old favorite of mine-- the artifact deck.
 
----------

Well, here's another deck for you. It plays like an artifact control deck. The problem is it starts out too slow. I'm trying to get a Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas in place of Venser and Darksteel Plate in place of Dolmen Gate to protect Indomitable Archangel with. Remember I play casual. This deck so far is undefeated but I do see it coming eventually. I plan on buying a box of Mirrodin Besieged soon so maybe you can factor that in to the equation. Here's the deck as it is right now:
 
Planeswalkers:
 
Tezzeret the Seeker
Venser, the Sojourner
 
Creatures:
 
Darksteel Colossus
Mycosynth Golem x2
Broodstar
Platinum Emperion
Memnarch
Platinum Angel
Ethersworn Adjudicator
Kuldotha Forgemaster
Darksteel Juggernaut
Lodestone Golem
Indomitable Archangel
Veldaken Archmage x2
Platinum Myr
Master of Etherium x2
Ethersworn Canonist
Lighthouse Chronologist
Etherium Sculptor x3
 
Artifacts:
 
Darksteel Forge x2
Mirrorworks
Lux Cannon
Thran Dynamo
Semblance Anvil
Howling Mine x2
Dolmen Gate
Mox Opal
 
Everything else:
 
Dissipation Field
Fabricate x2
 
Lands:
 
Academy Ruins
Darksteel Citadel x3
Seat of the Synod x3
Vault of Whispers
Ancient Den
Halimar Depths
Island x4
Swamp x3
Plains x6
 
It had Psychosis Crawler for acouple of days, but it rarely came out and when it did, I had no drawing power. By late game, I can start casting my artifacts for free thanks to Mycosynth, the two Sculptors, and Anvil. My best combo so far is Ethersworn Canonist, Ethersworn Adjudicator, and Darksteel Forge. They can't destroy my artifacts, can only play 1 nonartifact spell per turn, and I can pop one permanent per turn.
I can usually get Canonist out early game, soon after Adjudicator and usually by mid or late game, the Forge. So what can you suggest to speed it up and keep its control power intact?
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
As much as I like Psychosis Crawler, I agree that it doesn't really belong here. Psychosis Crawler belongs in a deck full of draw spells, not a deck that just wants it because it's an artifact.
 
My first knee-jerk reaction to this deck is that old saw I like to play: too many singletons and not enough four-ofs. It's getting to the point where it's so cliché of me to say it, I usually don't even say it, just remark on the fact that it's cliche of me! But not this time. Since this is a casual deck, and since I see you have Fabricate in there, we can run this in a more toolbox-style. Don't sweat multiple copies, except for Fabricate, Master of Etherium, and Broodstar. You need four Fabricate because they're the whole reason you can afford to skimp on the rest. You need four (or at least three) Master of Etherium because they're both your Artifact Lord and your heavy hitter-- drawing a second one makes both more powerful and increases the bonus your other creatures are getting. And you need four Broodstar because it's the most powerful win condition you have-- it'll be huge every time it sees play and it flies-- but more importantly, because you can't Fabricate for it. If you can't get more Broodstars, Qumulox will work.
 
Now, to speed things up? I think I know how to do that. You've got a lot of cost-reducers and a lot of big, expensive artifacts. I'd say what you really want is some cheap-to-moderate (topping out at 5 or 6 mana) artifacts, and then power them out for cheap. To that end, let's cut the slow cards.
 
Lux Cannon, despite costing only four mana, is probably the slowest thing in here. It needs three turns to charge up and a fourth turn to kill something. I do enjoy the fact that it can kill anything, but Lux Cannon really needs a way to put extra counters on it to be effective, and you can Fabricate an Adjudicator for most of the stuff you'll want to kill, and that can kill every turn, kill multiple things in a turn with sufficient mana, and swing for four if you need it to. Dissipation Field feels sort of thrown in as an afterthought, and Howling Mine comes straight out-- there's better card draw than that for you. Platinum Empirion is cute, but in practice not effective enough, since your opponent can still win by poison, milling, or by killing the 8/8 with no self-preservative ability. And Darksteel Forge can actually go down to a single copy. If you haven't drawn it by the time you can cast it, you can Fabricate for it, and you don't want to draw the second copy-- it's nine mana for no additional benefit. And it's not like the first one is going anywhere, right?
 
So what to replace them with? Since you've got Kuldotha Forgemaster, yet another way to search for artifacts, why not try Ichor Wellspring? One card coming in, and one going out when you sack it to the Forgemaster! Keeping the card draw flowing is the key to making a deck of this nature going. Faerie Mechanist is another excellent choice, getting you your choice of trinkets and a 2/2 body to boot. And if you add those two, a singleton Esperzoa or two can let you play and replay them, and get that card draw every turn! This combo was very popular in Alara block constructed, and makes a nice replacement for Howling Mine, though if you really want quality card draw, forget the artifacts and embrace your blue mana! Foresee, Tidings, Telling Time? Card draw isn't hard for anyone who can generate blue mana.
 
The last card I'd like you to find room for is Conjurer's Bauble. It also provides a draw, for the unheard of price of one colorless mana, and puts a card in your graveyard back into your deck. Try and make that card Fabricate, if you can. Then your next Fabricate will shuffle the deck and give you a good chance of drawing the old Fabricates. Unfortunately, you need some way of putting more than one card at a time from your graveyard into your deck in order to make this go on forever... but you don't intend to play forever, do you? You just want to go get that powerhouse spell as soon as possible. And if that spell gets countered, destroyed, or otherwise handled, the Bauble can get it back for a second Fabrication. That's one of the reasons I said go down to one Darksteel Forge.
 
Finally, I'd replace a land or two of yours with Arcane Sanctum. You don't have much color requirement, but you dont' want to get caught with an Ethersworn Canonist in hand and no white source, do you? And the Adjudicator needs all three colors to be effective.
 
Good luck!
 
~BMoor

 

 

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