Top Rank: #1 in Modern (#3 on T/O) - thanks for reading!
GREETINGS!
This deck is inspired by my favorite anime: Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood).
OBJECTIVE
Your goal is to summon a Blightsteel Colossus as early as turn 4. Surprisingly, this deck can achieve this consistently. Against an opponent running minimal disruption, it is even possible to have 2 Colossi on the battlefield by turn 5!
CARD CHOICES
Master Transmuter and Kuldotha Forgemaster are your master alchemists who enable you to transmute a Blightsteel Colossus, Batterskull, or Wurmcoil Engine using 0-cost or cheap artifacts (Memnite, Mishra's Bauble, Ornithopter, Darksteel Citadel, Inkmoth Nexus) as materia.
Ramp into your master alchemists using their assistants, Etherium Sculptor/Silver Myr and Vedalken Engineer.
Protect your alchemists and Colossi with removal and counterspells (Dismember, Remand).
I purposely avoided the Tron lands (Urza's Mine, Urza's Power Plant, Urza's Tower) to increase the odds of generating Blue mana. The Tron lands are susceptible to Blood Moon and land destruction.
SPLASH OF BLACK
The splash of Black via Glimmervoid and Watery Grave allows for hard casting Surgical Extraction and Dismember without diluting the Island mana base.
SIDEBOARD
The first cards you want to sideboard are Mishra's Bauble, followed by Remand and Silver Myr.
An additional Batterskull is available when you need additional defense and lifegain against aggro or burn.
Darksteel Forge is another potential target for your alchemists and turns your 0-cost creatures into infinite blockers. It is useful when you expect the opponent to bring in artifact hate from their sideboard.
Dismember is amazing removal because it can be cast for only 1 mana. Bring it in against creature decks. It eliminates indestructible creatures and pesky Gideon Planeswalkers with ease.
Echoing Truth is a catch-all for enchantments, artifacts, and tokens.
Spell Pierce is a cheap counterspell to help protect your combo pieces against control decks.
Surgical Extraction eliminates specific threats against graveyard manipulation or combo decks and can be cast for no mana.
CURRENT UPDATES
I am testing Lotus Blossom for additional ramp potential during turns 4-5. Blossoms are useful primarily during the opening hand, but can also be sac’d for Kuldotha Forgemaster. It remains to be seen if the Blossoms are worth including over Remand.
I am also trying out Ensoul Artifact, which seems to work really well in this build. The ability to pump up Thopters and Inkmoths increases aggro potential, while simultaneously increasing defensive capabilities during early turns. It’s also faster than Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas.
This is a work in progress! My goal is to make this as competitive as possible.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome!
