Inventors' Fair

Legendary Land

At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control three or more artifacts, you gain 1 life.

: Add to your mana pool.

, , Sacrifice Inventor's Fair: Search your library for an artifact card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library. Activate this ability only if you control three or more artifacts.

Discussion (51)

oberien on Metalworks V2

3 hours ago

I liked the v1 list and played it at two FNMs. However I didn't find it complex enough being used to Hardened Scales, KCI and Amulet Titan (and Amulet Bloom back in the day). I love the solve the puzzle aspect of decks. The old version felt more like a "cheat 10/10 into play and beat the enemy down" with the infinite loop feeling more like a backup. The new list above seems to focus more on infinite loops, which satisfies my inner MTG player :)

I took the above list to the FNM with slight modifications and went 1-1-1 (could have been 2-0-1 if I knew the deck better). I didn't have any Conjurer's Bauble so I replaced them with Akroma's Memorial , Ghirapur AEther Grid and Karn, Scion of Urza . I really enjoyed playing the deck and slowly discovering more and more ways to win the game :) For those interested, I went for this sideboard: 3 Nature's Claim , 2 Dismember , 2 Abrade , 2 Firespout , 1 Engineered Explosives , 2 Nihil Spellbomb , 1 Grafdigger's Cage , 1 Sun Droplet , 1 Sorcerous Spyglass .

Infinite Combos

General loop: Metalwork Colossus (MC) and Scrap Trawler (ST) on the battlefield, at least {3} mana reduction on the battlefield (e.g. 1 Semblance Anvil and 1 Cloud Key ) and enough CMC for MC, a Metalwork Colossus in the graveyard (GY). Sacrifice MC and ST to the MC in the GY. ST-trigger of MC gets back ST, ST-Trigger of ST gets back any {0}, {1} or {2} mana artifact. Play MC and ST for free. We're back to the beginning but have an additional artifact in hand and increased the storm count.

Another possible loop if artifact reduction is only at {2} is to not sacrifice ST, but only MC and the {2}-mana artifact, ST-trigger of MC get back that artifact, play both. If artifact reduction is only at {1}, it's possible to draw some cards with Conjurer's Bauble (until there are no more artifacts in the GY) or to include Chromatic Star and draw infinite cards. There must always be enough non-creature artifact CMC on the battlefield to cast MC for free.

Infinite Card Draw: Get back Elsewhere Flask and play it (-> draw), then sacrifice it to get it back again in the next iteration. If there's a sac-outlet on the battlefield, it's possible to get back any egg and sacrifice it to the sac-outlet before sacrificing MC and ST to MC in the GY.
Infinite Damage: With Ghirapur AEther Grid in play, just do the most simple version of the loop and tap both to-be-sacrificed artifacts to grid before sacrificing them, dealing one damage. Without grid sac the Mortarpod token for 1 damage, sac Mortarpod and MC to the MC in the GY, ST-trigger of MC gets back Mortarpod . Rinse and repeat.
Infinite Mana: Tap Mind Stone for {1}. Sac MC and Mind Stone to the MC in the GY. ST-Trigger of MC gets back Mind Stone . Rinse and repeat.

Card analysis

I'd like to go through some cards:

• Arcbound Ravager : I really like this addition. I was missing a sacrifice outlet to get the second Metalwork Colossus into graveyard before. Arcbound Ravager being fetchable with Sanctum of Ugin is just amazing and allowed me to go off in two games in the FNM which I otherwise couldn't have.
• Grinding Station : I'm not sure about this card in general. I've previously played some variations of Krark-Less Ironworks lists ( Semblance Anvil and Grinding Station ). I see this card in this deck mainly for 3 reasons. (1) Milling the opponent with the infinite combo, (2) using it as a sac-outlet, (3) milling yourself to get a Metalwork Colossus into your graveyard when you already have one on the field to start the combo.
  I don't see the reason for (1), as we already have infinite card draw (eggs) and infinite damage ( Ghirapur AEther Grid or Mortarpod ).
  For (2) I find Arcbound Ravager better, as it can be fetched for with Sanctum of Ugin and doesn't need to be tapped (even though you can respond to the untap-trigger of Grinding Station by tapping it whenever an artifact ETB).
  For (3) I can't really judge that yet, as I didn't really try it out yet. I usually don't have problems finding the second Metalwork Colossus among Ancient Stirrings and Sanctum of Ugin . In longer matchups Inventors' Fair can also be used, even though I didn't need to crack any fairs so far. It might help against Blood Moon .
• Mortarpod : This is the easiest and cheapest go-to infinite damage card. Even if drawn without a loop, it's still one damage that can take out a Snapcaster Mage to slow down the clock of an opponent ifneedbe.
• Akroma's Memorial : I personally love this card in this deck. I've added it to the old version, and I also have it in my current deck. First, given {2} to {3} mana reduction, it's pretty easy to cast. It triggers Sanctum of Ugin letting you fetch Metalwork Colossus . If you have it deployed, and have any mana reduction on the field, MC is already free. Nobody expects this card. It adds another sort-of wincon. You can win with this card out of the blue. While I think it may be somewhat a win-more card, it has already won me several games single-handedly. I was able to fly over my opponent's elves. Giving Vigilance, it allowed me to attack with two MC against Spirits, which needed to block one, which left them without lethal and put me into a better spot. I just love this card.
• Ghirapur AEther Grid : I think this card deserves to be a one-of in the deck. Against creature-based decks, it enables easy removal of the creatures. Control decks can barely do anything once it's deployed. And otherwise it still allows an infinite damage combo if Mortarpod has been exiled.

These are some cards, which may be good, but I don't see their effectiveness quite yet:

• Greater Gargadon : As an earlier post suggested, this is a possible sac-outlet and threat. The problem is that we usually want artifacts on the battlefield to make Metalwork Colossus cheaper. Additionally, if we're able to get to 10 artifacts, we most likely already have a win condition.
• Karn, Scion of Urza : I'm very unsure about this card. It gives us card-draw, but I don't think that's important in the current decklist. The only real reason for it I can think of is for the super-large token when we have lots of artifacts in play. But for that it might be too slow. It might help in grindy matchups, but in those MUs we'd just like to combo off anyway. And against control MUs it's not needed as this deck already has an amazing control matchup.
• Salvage Titan : This card might be worth investigating, but I'm unsure if it goes well with the other ideas of the deck. We don't necessarily want to sacrifice 3 artifacts for a 6/4.
• Silent Arbiter : This might be good against creature-heavy matchups and go-wide strategies.
• Torpor Orb : Unsure if there are enough MUs which this card is good in.
• Sun Droplet / Golem's Heart / Dragon's Claw : These might help against burn / fast strategies. May also help agaist phoenix decks.
• Ratchet Bomb : Cheap (probably free) boardwipe. Helps against chomp blockers and tokens. Probably shouldn't be cracked for {2} :)
• Engineered Explosives : Also possibly cheap boardwipe and a one-answers-all type card. Especially useful with Prophetic Prism .

Mana Base

I'm not sure about the landbase. I prefer utility lands over the Aether Hub s. I think that the old mana base fits better. This is probably mainly because I still like having Prophetic Prism over Elsewhere Flask . I haven't tested a lot with the landbase yet, so I'm not sure what the correct way of handling this is.
I often times lose against the deck itself just due to only drawing lands / having no lands. I'm not sure if this is just plain misfortune or if the number of lands is hard to balance between having enough lands on the starting hand and not flooding.

Weaknesses

• Blood Moon : Shuts off our utility lands. Makes it harder to get another Metalwork Colossus or Scrap Trawler or Arcbound Ravager as Sanctum of Ugin and Inventors' Fair can't be used anymore. Color isn't that much of a problem as only few cards are coloured and Prophetic Prism s and Elsewhere Flask maindeck help against it.
• Chalice of the Void : If played for X=2 shuts of pretty much half of the deck. It's still possible to hard-cast Metalwork Colossus and to make it cheaper with Semblance Anvil and Cloud Key . But it's very hard to fight through.
• Trinisphere : Cost reduction comes before cost-setting effects. As such no matter how much cost reduction is on the field, we need to pay at least {3} for everything. This card slows the deck down a lot and is pretty much impossible to win against from what I've experienced so far.
• Rest in Piece: Only affects the infinite loop / combo part. We can still win "normally" with Metalwork Colossus .

Matchups

• Through the Breach / Nahiri, the Harbinger : Alchemist's Vial completely shuts them off. Therefore, this MU is amazing.
• Control: The Control MU is probably one of the best out there. Always remember having a sacrifice outlet for any Metalwork Colossus on the battlefield, be it Phyrexia's Core or a Metalwork Colossus in the graveyard. Whenever they try to exile one from the battlefield, get back one from the graveyard and get the otherwise exiled one in the graveyard.
  I even won two out of two games against Legacy Miracles (low sample rate, but we both felt like the MU is highly favoured for Metalworks Combo)
• Very fast creature decks: This deck seems to always just be one turn too slow for very fast creature based MUs. In fact I lost 4/4 games against Sliver.

I don't have a lot of matchup data so far, and the above are mainly just estimates and gut feeling playing the matchup.

Please leave feedback on my observations so far, I really love this deck and it feels like it still has potential.

GrandRoyal on Jhoira, The combo Captain cEDH

17 hours ago

In terms of cEDH I think you probably want some tutors, you're in U/R so you can look for things like Fabricate , Inventors' Fair , Mystical Tutor , Tezzeret the Seeker , and Gamble are all very good and fairly inexpensive cards to buy. Keyrune , Cluestone , Eye , Spectral Searchlight , Prismatic Lens , and Pristine Talisman are pretty inefficient for ramp in cEDH. As another side note, since you are in a 2 color deck you more than likely don't need Chromatic Lantern as you shouldn't really have a problem getting your colors. I would also swap Shrine of the Forsaken Gods for Temple of the False God , the 2 mana is 2 lands less that you need so you'll see the benefits far earlier and I don't know that you'll have time to get to 7 lands in cEDH. Psychic Spiral and Elixir of Immortality are ok for shuffling graveyards but I think Day's Undoing , Time Reversal , and Commit / Memory are probably far better.

2 counter spells is ok, I might add in like 2 more in Counterspell and Swan Song . Flusterstorm is stronger than people think... You are storm countering so when you cast it is in the first place U for counter target instant/sorcery unless it's controller pays 2 and on top of that you can choose new targets, which means if there is multiple spells on the stack you can possibly counter more than 1 spell for your 1cmc counterspell. cEDH is a super powerful format, decks are tuned af and have responses to get around your responses. Careful when you go off :) you may also want some other interaction for opponents graveyards, artifacts, enchantments and creatures.

RedYeard on Metalworks V2

2 days ago

I was digging through eggs lists and someone recommended Greater Gargadon . I think the card has potential in this deck as a persistent and protected sack outlet for 1 mana. Its a big body with haste as early as turn 4 and has good synergy with Ichor Wellspring and Scrap Trawler .

A major downside to this card is it can't trigger or be tutored itself with Sanctum of Ugin or Inventors' Fair unlike Arcbound Ravager which is arguably the card I would replace with it.

Cloudchaser.Kestrel on The 8th Plague

2 days ago

Glad you like it :)

Lying in bed last night I had the realization that you already have a version of the combo I was talking about with Skullclamp + The Locust God + Ashnod's Altar for infinite creatures, card draw, and mana. I wonder if some trinket mage kinds of effects might be worth putting in? Inventors' Fair Artificer's Intuition Hoarding Dragon etc.

Inkmoth on Yeva! Give me Ludicrous Speed!

1 week ago

With ten artifacts, I feel it's going to be super difficult to consistently proc Inventors' Fair . How has it performed for you? Cause I could consider it in mine, but I only have 10 artifacts as well.

Malachite Talisman is pretty cool, considering testing it.

Cloudius on We Love Freebies! *Primer*

1 week ago

maston07 You're welcomed and thanks for the compliments and upvote too!

Yes, I've always been trying to find a spot for Enlightened Tutor to no avail as the deck is already very tight. I only run 1 enchantment ( Penance which is just an enabler) so the tutor's main targets would be Proteus Staff or Isochron Scepter , both of which are my key wincons. At the moment, I've been relying on the other tutors (e.g. the various transmute spells like Muddle the Mixture , Dimir Machinations or Inventors' Fair or the good old Fabricate ) to fetch them in times of need.

What would you recommend be removed to make room for Enlightened Tutor ?

Farycane on ArtiFacts of Life and Death

1 week ago

Okay I get the point :) Didn't know you really want to win only through combat damage :P Greaves and Boots also have the benefit of giving haste, which synergizes with the combat plan. Verdurous Gearhulk done lots of work, even in decks that only have +1/+1 theme and no counters. I don't know exactly if there are that many lands in this colors

Llanowar Wastes comes untap, is under 2 bucks i think and can make both colors if needed.

Woodland Cemetery Very often Untapped Dual

Buried Ruin should be cheap too, untapped, can get back a card

Twilight Mire don't know how much $ but kind of untapped that can (95%+) make both colors :) and even make green into blackblack

Blooming Marsh most times tapland but better than Guildgate

Inventors' Fair not sure if it is expensive now, but maybe is. So on the Land side there are really some cards that aren't expensive and better than E-Wilds/ T-Expanse I'm not sure why Cranial Plating is too Voltron, since you want to win through combat damage, you just can insta equip it to other creatures than Glissa, making it really good. I understand that spending much on single cards may not worth it. Thats fine :)

PS: I did read the Sorcerers Wand wrong, it doesn't even allow to ping creatures :( sorry for that

Keep going with making decks! :)

wallisface on U Ballista Control

1 week ago

Some thoughts

• vial seems really clumbsy. There’s only 8 creatures you can use it for (can’t vial ballista), and even then these creatures have different cmcs, making it awkward. I get you’re trying to be able to sneak out tbe pili so summoning sickness is less of an issue, but you’re built as a control deck so it really shouldn’t matter. Ditch the vials.

• Control decks typically have more lands, and more control-elements. You’re wanting the game to go long so that you can effectively remove all threats and wait for your wincon. This is a bit troublesome as your current wincon has 12 cards, which makes it much harder for you to keep control of the game (every non-control piece you draw brings your opponent closer to winning). You need 24-26 lands imo.

• Your wincon relies on drawing 3 specific cards. If any of the playsets of these cards are in the bottom half of your deck you lose (you won’t get down that far), which is about 19% of the time. And that’s assuming you can still get through the first half of your deck, which will involve 23 draws/scrys- a huge ask!

So all this sounds a bit grim... 3 piece combos are hard to begin with, and i’m not sure you’re fielding the search tools to get it together quickly or reliably enough. Your control shell is also lacking enough ompf to actually control the game. What I would be doing is one of these options:

1) make the deck a proper UW control deck, board-wipes and all. Drop down to only 1-each of Ballista and Pili, but have cards like Inventors' Fair to tutor for them at your leisure when the fame’s good-as-won, and maybe a few copies of Buried Ruin in case they end up in the yard.

2) mono-blue-tron. This lets you run big stuff like Wurmcoil Engine and crazy blue spells to utterly disrupt and mess with your opponent. It also makes all your existing creatures useful on their own (architect will have more targets to ramp with, pili can get you extra blue in a pinch, ballista can easily be cast with 4+ counters). Imo this is the most practical path to go down.

3) robots. With cards like Steel Overseer , and a bunch of the other meaty-bois you see in typical affinity decks, you no longer rely on having to have the combo, and instead the combo becomes a sweet secondary wincon if the opponent can somehow wade through judgement-day. It allows a easy include of Whir of Invention , meaning you can probably get away with running just 2 pilis, cause you’ll be able to tutor him when you need him (you’ll also be able to inude the lands mentioned above)

Sorry if this all sounds like i’m doom-saying your original idea here, and hoping that some of what i’ve said helps make this deck awesome :)