Today's contributor had sent me a deck idea previously, and I had asked him to decide which direction he wanted to go with it so I could better help him. It looks like he decided to scrap that idea and take a page from Monty Python - And now for something completely different.

 

I sorry I didn't put much thought into the poison counter/ snake token deck, so i revised a deck I thought would be a little more my style. I like putting stronger creatures out fast and devastating my opponents. This new deck deals with this very well, the only problem is the weaknesses it has: it's all artifacts (mostly); I've put in counterspells to buyme time to put out those fatties, along with mana drawing cards. My friend plays with an entirely blue wizard deck, and I'm trying to put it out of its misery; buy countering his counters and saving my artifacts. My plan is simple; block with Phyrexian Walker and Ornithopter, then play mana increasing cards to seal the deal and play a powered up Draco or Teeka's Dragon.

 

Welcome to my proposed Artifact/Counter Deck:

 

Creatures: 3x Phyrexian Walker

                4x Copper Gnomes

                2x Ornithopter

                2x Draco

                1x Teeka's Dragon

                2x Su-Chi

                2x Memnarch

 

Spells: 4x Mana Leak

           2x Energy Tap

           4x Counterspell

           4x Blacker Lotus

           3x Copy Artifact

 

Land: 20x Island

 

Other: 1x Darksteel Forge

          2x Surestrike Trident

          2x Sword of Kaldra

          1x Coat of Arms

          2x Sculpting Steel

 

This may be above 60 cards but I could think of what to take out. By the way thanks on giving me feedback on my other deck idea; and you're right it wouldn't work well! I hope this deck goes more for what I'm driving at (big creatures and fast). I hope this deck is more focused and makes more sense than the other idea. Thanks for helping and giving your expert advice!

 

Thanks again!

Kyle Watermolen

 

Well, Kyle, let me first apologize for not getting back to you more quickly. I hope my advice is still useful. This makes for an interesting deck idea, nonetheless. I can see where you are going with this, but I think we can achieve that objective more efficiently. 

 

To start off with, I'm more than a little concerned about Draco. You might be able to cheat him into play with Copper Gnomes, but you've still got to pay the 8 mana upkeep for him! If you're going to be paying 8, you might as well pay 9 and play Colossus of Sardia and get a 9/9 trampler. Or, if you're going to be playing a Colossus, you might as well play the best one - Darksteel Colossus. You could probably do better than Teeka's Dragon as well, but we'll leave her there for now. (Speaking of Teeka's Dragon, I've always thought it would be fun to put Lure on it and play it with Hunted Troll (who says Rampage is useless?), but that's for a different deck entirely). No, no, I've got a better idea. If you want to pay 9 mana for a flying artifact creature, I recommend Nullstone Gargoyle. That will help keep your counterspelling friend at bay.

 

-2 Draco

-1 Teeka's Dragon

+2 Darksteel Colossus

+1 Nullstone Gargoyle

 

Now, as I understand it, you Ornithopter and Phyrexian Walker are for early blocking. I've got another use for them: sacrifice them and search out a big, nasty artifact using Arcum Dagsson. Let's add 3 of him and 4 copies of the best 0 casting cost blocker - Shield Sphere.

 

+3 Arcum Dagsson

+4 Shield Sphere

 

Now that we have Arcum to sacrifice our little artifact dudes when we're done with them (and remember, you can block a creature and then sacrifice him with Arcum before the creature dies - the attacker is still blocked and deals no damage), let's find some fun stuff for him to pull out. Searching through Gatherer, I came across something I had not seen before that would work perfectly here: Xanthic Statue. Perhaps I had seen it, but it hadn't ever stuck in my mind. Anyway, sacrifice your Ornithopter or one of his buddies, and five mana later, you are ready to trample through for 8! You already have Darksteel Forge as a great way to protect your creatures, but let's add one more  so you can search your library for it just in case you get stuck with one in your hand. Then, once you have the Forge out, try out a Nevinyrral's disk or two. How would you like to destroy everything your opponent controls and none of your own stuff (except Arcum Dagsson)? I thought you might like that. To make room, let's get rid of the Sword of Kaldra and Coat of Arms.

 

+2 Xanthic Statue

+1 Darksteel Forge

+2 Nevinyrral's Disk

-2 Sword of Kaldra

-1 Coat of Arms

 

Now, we've got to get rid of some things. You're not often going to have a good way to spend the mana that Su-Chi gives you, especially if your opponent throws a surprise kill spell at it. Su can go. Blacker Lotus, even if your playgroup allows you to play with Un-cards, has to be torn up to be used. That's not a good investment! Sculpting Steel AND Copy Artifact is a bit much, so let's drop the Steel. Energy Tap is only good once you have a big creature out, and once you've got that big creature out, you should already be sitting pretty. Also, Surestrike Trident works best on huge creatures. Those huge creatures should be able to do their damage by attacking, and won't often need the Trident.

 

-2 Su-Chi

-4 Blacker Lotus

-2 Sculpting Steel

-2 Energy Tap

-2 Surestrike Trident

 

Now, let's work with your land. Playing with mostly artifacts and high casting costs, it's almost a no-brainer to include Urza's Lands. Let's put in 4 of each in place of 10 Islands.

 

+4 Urza's Tower

+4 Urza's Power Plant

+4 Urza's Mine

-10 Island

 

I believe that brings us to 60 cards. Below is my proposed decklist. Keep in mind that this is just my idea after working with this for a short time. There are a lot of good ways to build a deck like this, so keep trying things and use this only as a guide:

 

3x Phyrexian Walker

4x Copper Gnomes

2x Ornithopter

2x Darksteel Colossus

1x Nullstone Gargoyle

2x Memnarch

3x Arcum Dagsson

4x Shield Sphere

 

4x Mana Leak

4x Counterspell

3x Copy Artifact

2x Darksteel Forge

2x Xanthic Statue

2x Nevinyrral's Disk

 

4 Urza's Tower

4 Urza's Power Plant

4 Urza's Mine

10 Island

 

 

I hope that gives you something to go on as you seek to dominate the Wizards with some big, bad artifacts!

 

-mattedesa