Stronghold Machinist

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Stronghold Machinist

Creature — Human Spellshaper

(Blue)(Blue), Tap, Discard a card: Counter target noncreature spell.

DreadKhan on BBEG Deck Ideas

5 months ago

I feel like you could also look into running a lot of wipes, stax or other salt inducing things, such that the deck will naturally end up the archenemy and everyone will unite against them. Do the other decks compete with one another? If so, something that does Goad or Goad-like effects would be cool. TBH, if I had to pick a commander to try out as an Archenemy type deck, I'd be very tempted to go with Kresh the Bloodbraided. 5 mana for a 3/3 isn't very spicy, but he quickly can get very, very out of hand, it's not unusual for you to do something like Mandate of Abaddon or Phyrexian Scriptures and then one shot people one at a time with your gigantic Kresh. Lots of cards synergize with Kresh, ranging from Grim Feast and anything that works with/is Rite of the Raging Storm. Big Goad effects like Disrupt Decorum and Spectacular Showdown also add a nasty surprise, and Insurrection is a great turn-around-is-fair-play type effect for an Archenemy. You can even make the deck on the cheap using stuff like Fleshbag Marauder (there are a bajillion at this point, especially if you'll pay 4 for a 4 power one), these generate a lot of power if you also have Savra, Queen of the Golgari (or something similar) out. Pestilence and similar effects are very good in here, they let you both clear out weenie blockers while also pumping Kresh ever bigger by winnowing away the chaff. Kresh will quickly crush everyone, you just need to add fun stuff like evasion or trample to make his immense power count. If you build this right it should be quite scary to play against, and the odd Fling can be a nice way to punish the players for killing Kresh.

Another great option might be Sauron, the Dark Lord, the more the party does the bigger the 'threat' gets, and it's almost impossible to remove Sauron. It's easy to sneak in some powerful Changelings to work as a better base army, but the whole 'orc army' thing is in and of itself very stereotypical in D&D. I like Grixis because you get Blue, meaning you have access to the odd counter. In particular I'd look into stuff like Stronghold Machinist, effect-on-a-stick creatures are good for an Archenemy because they tend to soak up the opponent's cards, even something like Royal Assassin is card advantage over time. Since the Army can get pretty big you can use Voltron stuff with it, and if you use Anthems (Berserkers' Onslaught, Dauthi Embrace, and Whip of Erebos come to mind) they'll work on both the Army and Sauron, which is cool Big Bad energy for the deck.

DraconicDestruction on Zur the enchanter $100 budget

1 year ago

Hi. I do think that budget mana bases are a bit inefficient in tricolor, so thanks for those overall ramp recommendations (including artifacts and enchantments and especially The Restoration of Eiganjo  Flip). other than the ramp, I do think that Stronghold Machinist is good, because it's reusable counter magic, and the Spy Kit + Cornered Market combo could be good against creature based decks, but I don't have a way to consistently get out Spy Kit, and as for shrines, I like the idea but almost all shrines function with a lot of shrines, so i would have to cut some other things (a zur deck focused on shrines could be fun though). thanks for the overall recommendations

DreadKhan on Zur the enchanter $100 budget

1 year ago

Cool idea with good execution!

Not sure if you are 100% satisfied with your mana base, some stuff like Esper Panorama, Darkwater Catacombs, Skycloud Expanse, and Ash Barrens can help fix your mana, I always find Zur is a hassle to get out without stretching the budget. There are also somewhat worse options like Obscura Storefront, it's worse than Arcane Sanctum but not by a ton. I recently found out about Planar Atlas, but this looks like exactly what Zur needs to get out faster, but I do run Signets and Signet Lands, so I have more use for colourless arguably. If you're using a Sun Titan, any lands that fetch something before going to the Graveyard become pretty strong in my experience, but Myriad Landscape is hilarious if you can recur it.

Not sure if it's outside your budget, but Mirrormade is the cheapest Copy Enchantment I know of that Zur can fetch, and it can also copy an artifact, so if there is a ramp rock out Zur can find mana. Another way Zur can ramp you is The Restoration of Eiganjo  Flip, which also turns into a creature. Dance of Many is a pretty interesting option if someone has a really big body out against you, not sure if you face many Blightsteels.

If you like to run Rule of Law effects in Zur, you might enjoy using a little Moderation to fuel you, it's a nice cheap card. If you can draw enough cards, Stronghold Machinist and/or Stronghold Biologist are pretty interesting cards. Obviously better with Necropotence though.

If you have Vanishing on Zur, you can fetch Out of Time to wipe the board in a shockingly thorough manner, if the board is full nothing is coming back. Obviously better if you can copy it before it goes away, but Copy Enchantment and Estrid's Invocation are both pretty pricey, and there are few things as good as copying All That Glitters. Another weird thing you could do is combine Spy Kit with Cornered Market, nobody can play creatures, if you have Zur out then you should be set.

If Propaganda or Ghostly Prison are too pricey, War Tax can be an interesting alternative, it's especially useful in a Rule of Law deck where you can't play multiple Sorcery speed spells, this lets you use spare mana to hassle whomever you want, it's non-targeted and scales with the game.

I always wonder if non-cEDH Zur decks should consider running Honden of Seeing Winds and Sanctum of Calm Waters to draw cards, Zur can find you a few other Shrines if you ever draw into a Draw engine, none better than Sanctum of Stone Fangs. I guess you'd have to decide how much work 2-3 cards per turn is worth, at least once it's set up it doesn't use more resources.

DreadKhan on Chun-li Spell Pump

1 year ago

It's not really cheap, but I suspect Mystical Tutor would be pretty good in a deck that cares about instants and can recycle the effect for U each time. If you can get a spell like Brainstorm Kicked, you can use Long-Term Plans, it's not as good at finding Instants as Mystical, but it can find literally anything in your deck for 3 mana.

Perhaps over Wrath of God you could run Tragic Arrogance or Winds of Abandon? Both protect Chun Li. There is also Promise of Loyalty, which prevents those creatures from swinging at you after.

A nice way to protect Chun-Li and get instants into the bin might be Stronghold Machinist, or even the super-specialized Diplomatic Escort, which can also counter abilities fwiw. You might want a Homeward Path at some point (I suspect you struggle if someone can permanently steal Chun-Li?), but it's really $$$ still, I'm sure they'll reprint it someday!

legendofa on Lets Shape the Spell

1 year ago

I would suggest an option that includes and , with as a possible third color.

isn't great. Mageta the Lion is a repeatable board wipe, and the other two I would consider are Avenger en-Dal and Devout Witness as targeted removal options.

has a couple of interesting control options. Waterfront Bouncer, Trickster Mage, and maybe Alexi, Zephyr Mage are passable tempo options, Stronghold Biologist and Stronghold Machinist are more color-heavy, and Dreamscape Artist hits color fixing and ramp, unusual for blue.

Spellshapers are generally mana-heavy, but Undertaker gives you a lot of freedom in what you discard, allowing you to switch cards in your hand and graveyard as needed. Notorious Assassin and Greel, Mind Raker are further control options.

offers mostly burn and evasion. Seismic Mage is repeatable land destruction, and Hammer Mage eats artifacts.

is, as always, the best at color fixing, with Greenseeker, Harvest Mage, and Silverglade Pathfinder. Rushwood Herbalist and Dawnstrider protect your creatures, and Jolrael, Empress of Beasts works well with the red options.

Tyongo on Damia's Draw and Discard Dance

4 years ago

It's a pretty nice start, with some key discard cards already in there. In the tests I've done, I feel the discard theme is not doing quite enough right now. You need the powerhouse cards such as Zombie Infestation to really start doing things, but you should have some more powerhouse cards. I must admit, though, that I'm not quite sure what other powerhouse discard cards would be.

I do have some other suggestions. Replace Frilled Mystic with Diplomatic Escort or Stronghold Machinist . While they don't do the exact same thing, with the Escort and Machinist being tap abilities, they do have the additional effect of adding to the discard possibilities. Frilled Mystic is pricey in terms of mana, so you'd be better of playing a normal counterspell if that is what you really wanted.

Underrealm Lich could be amazing. For every card you draw, you essentially get to draw three and choose one that best fits your current needs. It does fill up your graveyard very fast as well, but I think that'll be helpful the majority of the time.

Taigam, Sidisi's Hand could be very nice. It's essentially a card without downside, as you'll have your commander out most of the time anyway, which means it's just an extra card. You'd even be able to choose which effect to activate first, which means you draw to seven with Damia and get another card with Taigam. The activated effect is a decent way to get rid of threats on the board, as long as you fill your graveyard quickly enough. Combined with some more graveyard filling effects, it could be very useful.

Tasigur, the Golden Fang is a nice political card, and also has synergy with the graveyard theme in these colours. It fills it up, and you can make some nice deals. Should be fun.

Brawn is an awesome card in this deck, as you'll be able to use the big creatures you have, such as the growing Chasm Skulker or Oneirophage, and actually smack people really hard. It's another great card in a graveyard synergy deck, so it should work well.

In case you need more removal, Dark Withering is a madness removal spell. Not the best, but madness cards are quite rare. A general tip would be to pay close attention to the new Commander 2019 set, because one of the decks will be Madness themed, which means there'll be new madness cards and reprints soon. That's nice for the price of cards as well.

Abandoned Sarcophagus is a nice card for all the cycle cards you have in the deck, as you'll get to cycle them as well as cast them from your graveyard.

Psychic Possession is also a great card in combination with your commander, as the downside of skipping your draw step doesn't do anything for you, so instead you'll get to draw a lot of extra cards for each card your opponent draws.

Tamiyo, Collector of Tales or cards with a similar effect could be nice against a certain types of decks. cough Shattergang Brothers cough

Overall, I think that adding a graveyard theme to the deck could make the discard theme a lot better. You already have a few cards in your deck that allow you to cast or return cards from your graveyard, so why not add more and allow the two themes to complement eachother? Sidisi, Brood Tyrant could be a starting point to look for some more cards.

Best of luck, and happy deckbuilding :)

Snickles@EDH_only on Voidchant Sliver

4 years ago

For sizing, the bigger counter point is simply color logic - I know of not a single blue 3/2 for 2 blue mana. the closest comparison is Gilded Drake , which while a 3/3 for 2, is given to your opponent as opposed to kept on your side of the field. searching the gatherer for creatures costing "UU", the majority are 2/2s, with a few 1/2s, 2/1s, and the odd 1/4 or 4/1.

I am forced to agree with cdkime - "sliver" is more than a powerful enough mechanic to begin with. especially since morph is less useful to slivers than any other tribe, as the creatures face down have no creature type. the ability to turn face up is much better for triggered creatures, such as Voidmage Apprentice or Weaver of Lies . Creatues without a "when this card turns face up" typically just have a larger mana cost that can be paid over 2 different turns, and that's it.

random tidbit for you Flooremoji, Stronghold Machinist and Stronghold Biologist are two sides of the same picture.

Flooremoji on Voidchant Sliver

4 years ago

Sort of reminds me of Stronghold Machinist :)

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