"We only take what we need to survive. Believe me, you'll need this"
That is a direct quote from MC Hammer.. Okay I lied. It's the flavor text for Kor Outfitter and I think a completely fair way to sum up what this decks goal is... Which involves needing giant hammers.
For those who don't know what the Hammer Time shell basically is, the general idea is to cheat a Colossus Hammer onto a creature (in usual builds, it aims to equip one onto a double strike creature, or even an infect creature), and swing for lethal as early as turn two in some cases.
But, this is not an official primer for the Hammer Time build, as our goal tries to be a little more broad than that (and I just play magic for fun, so my opinion wouldn't be of tremendous value). But, I do know that this deck is fun, and that is why I play this game. I came across the idea from watching Seth from MTG Goldfish (SaffronOlive) pilot a budget version of the build, with no Stoneforge Mystic's, no Steelshaper's Gift's and a handful of other budget changes, straight to a 5-0 victory, along with a mono white Puresteel/Hammer build for a 4-1 (opposite of budget, Mox Opal is hella expensive). So I thought of the potential (as many others already have with this shell) this could have while not really considering a budget, but still being similar to the budget build in function. I have not gotten to do much testing at all, so this will be a rough beta version, and I am posting the deck in it's current state to hopefully get some feedback and constructive suggestions, as I have not played magic in a handful of years, and am not currently sure what's going about the scene right now. (I have a version of this shell on MTGO, minus some lands and Leyline of Sanctity's and once I get more used to the interface, plan on vigorously testing it.
Anyway, here's a run down of basic thoughts, and choices I made.
I wanted the deck to not be so focused on needing to kill turn 2-4. An early win is nice, and is still absolutely possible in this build, but I don't want to be left playing a long game with no resources. So this variant is aimed to focus more on the value that we can get out of our artifact enchantments, and our tutor's in Stoneforge Mystic and Steelshaper's Gift to go retrieve them, without needing to go all in on one creature/double strikers.
Creatures
Kor duelist - The main guy who basically started it all, putting down his bow to pick up a big ass hammer. A cheap cost threat, that has double strike naturally. Going turn 1, Kor duelist into turn 2, Sigarda's Aid, Colossus Hammer for a lethal 22 points of damage is pretty good. But his double strike just also lends him to being a really good target for our equipment's later in the game.
Fervent Champion - A hasty, first striking, equipment loving, value monster. This card is just sweet, and where as he doesn't have any natural protection for himself (as none of our creatures really do), he can do some pretty sweet things. Making all equipments equip cost lower by (3) when they are being equipped to him is just so great, considering we have 8 equipment tutors in the deck in Stoneforge Mystic and Steelshaper's Gift. Tutor up whatever you may need in that particular moment to help take the board state back, slap it on him and get to work. Being able to equip for free/cheap is really nice, as it saves our mana to hold up protection, or play more threats, or even just to load up on a on board threat, when we have no way to cheat a big pay off onto another creature. I just think it's a valuable addition to the build, and gives us another on board clock our opponent has to deal with while also freeing up our resources so we can make other plays.
Stoneforge Mystic - a two mana body, that tutors up some of our biggest value payoff's. Mainly, it tutor's up Colossus Hammer. But it can also get some very valuable tools, depending on the situation we are in. Batterskull, as an additional on board threat, Godsend as extremely valuable creature removal, Shadowspear to get our damage over the top of blockers, Sword of Fire and Ice for some protection, and just extreme value, and finally Sunforger, a more interesting, cute play, but it can becomes essentially a protection tutor to find a Faith's Shield, or even a Magnetic Theft to later equip a Colossus Hammer.
Kor Outfitter - I'm not all in on the free equip idea, so that's why there are only 2 copies in the build (time will tell if that's a correct play or not). But it essentially acts as another way to throw the Colossus Hammer (or any of our equipments) onto a creature, or itself if we really have to.
Ranger-Captain of Eos - Searches for either our Kor duelist or a Fervent Champion and it's second ability is also extremely relevant on a board state in which we could potentially have a lethal attack on the field. If he resolves, and we play him at a meaningful time in the game, it could really seal up matches for us.
Inkmoth Nexus - Where as this technically isn't a creature, it acts as one. Turn it into a creature, throw a Colossus Hammer on it, and do our best Infect impression with a quick 11/11 swing. Just gives us another target on the board.
Enchantments/Equipments
Sigarda's Aid - A cornerstone for the build, it allows us to cast our equipment's at instant speed (which can completely alter the result of combat, potentially even winning us the game), and when we cast our equipment's while this is in play, we can just instantly attach them to our creature without paying equip cost (which if you've been following along, is the point of the deck).
Colossus Hammer - More often than not, we are playing this as a one mana (or two), equipped creature get's +10/+10. It's just absolutely disgusting.
Batterskull - One of our more fair plays, but we can absolutely just stick this on the board with Stoneforge Mystic, have a giant germ, or just playing batterskull on one of our creatures through Sigarda's Aid for a surprise pump.
Shadowspear - The biggest thing that I seen slow this deck down in playthroughs is not being able to go over the top of blockers. The deck could get chump blocked for days it seems. With Shadowspear we now have a cheap, and effective way to get through blockers and still deal tons of damage, so we aren't just playing fair magic against other fair decks when it came to combat (as fair as throwing equipment's on creatures for free can be rather)
Godsend - I've really yet to see this card get suggested, so I'm not sure if I'm missing something or if I'm overvaluing it, but it seems like an incredible power play. +3/+3 gets us out of bolt range, it absolutely punishes our opponents blocks/attacks, and it's completely tutor-able. I'm very excited to test it.
Sword of Fire and Ice - Grants our creature protection from two of the scariest colors in magic, gives a good pump, and it just continues to net us value after it's equipped.
Sunforger - I decided to throw this in the build, as it's something that adds value to the board, and it's extremely cute with Fervent Champion (I actually wish we played more instants in the build because of it. If anyone has any suggestions of cool interactions that could be done here I'm all ears. I wouldn't even mind Boros Charm as wrath protection, or as just a way to get damage through)
Other spells
Faith's Shield - Protection for creatures or even for our artifacts/enchantments.
Stellshaper's Gift - Tutors our equipment's for cheap.
Magnetic Theft - An additional way to cheap Colossus Hammer or other enchantments onto our creatures.
That's pretty much the deck. Would love suggestions, feedback, literally anything on ways to improve it.
*** Things to note - I've considered just trying the green splash for Glistener Elf but I can't think of other ways to take full advantage of it.
*I took out Open the Armory as we have more than enough options for tutoring equipment's, and I didn't feel that we need to dedicate more slots to get Sigarda's Aid on the field, when we still run Magnetic Theft and Kor Outfitter.
*I have no interest in making this a Puresteel Paladin build.
