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Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Skilled Animator
Creature — Human Artificer
When Skilled Animator enters the battlefield, target artifact you control becomes an artifact creature with base power and toughness 5/5 for as long as Skilled Animator remains on the battlefield.
Argy on
The Pioneer Blues
2 years ago
itsbuzzi thanks for the comments.
I go quite a bit into why I have stuck with Mono Blue, in the notes above, and I'm not interested in adding another colour.
Basically it will increase the chances of having the wrong mana, increase the chances of losing life, and increase the cost of this deck.
I've been playing a form of this deck since Magic Origins, so I know that it works well with one colour.
I'm sure you know that with Aggro builds, two problems are:
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Running out of cards.
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Not getting final damage through.
That's where the four drops come in.
I do appreciate you taking the time to playtest this deck. I'll have a play against yours, as well.
Did you Sideboard both decks? How did you Sideboard against this one? That will make my playtest better.
If you look at my Under Consideration button I have tried both The Blackstaff of Waterdeep and Thopter Spy Network (which isn't male - it's a group of people).
As you noticed, I have enough four drops, so Thopter Spy Network couldn't find a place here.
People are really excited about The Blackstaff of Waterdeep as it's a new card, but I think they might find it's not quite as good as it seems.
Of course I can only talk about how it works with this deck.
In the end these are that things with it that didn't work, for this build:
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I think of the card as a three drop, because I have so many other things I want to do on Turns 1 and 2. My three drop slot is quite full, and Skilled Animator and Bring to Life proved more useful. Skilled Animator because it can make a 5/5, as opposed to a 4/4. Bring to Life because it adds +1/+1 counters, which can result in a 9/9 creature, when combined with the effects of Skilled Animator or Ensoul Artifact
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While The Blackstaff of Waterdeep is quite useful in that it can be reused if the original Artifact it targets dies, Bring to Life is better with Darksteel Citadel , as the +1/+1 counters remain, if it is destroyed. The same can't be said for The Blackstaff of Waterdeep
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Since The Blackstaff of Waterdeep is Legendary, it is one and done, as opposed to the other 3 drops mentioned.
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The Blackstaff of Waterdeep can't be equipped for with Ghostfire Blade which is useful in my deck.
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The Blackstaff of Waterdeep can't be used on the Thopter Tokens which are created with Whirler Rogue in my deck.
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I have noticed a lot of Mystical Dispute in Pioneer Sideboards, and they don't get played for less with any of my other Artifacts. They do with The Blackstaff of Waterdeep
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The Blackstaff of Waterdeep is a dreadful target for animation. It doesn't have Flying, it isn't Indestructible, and doesn't have the chance to be unblockable. You also can't play a second one without destroying the one you animated.
Thanks for giving me things to think about. I appreciate it.
itsbuzzi on
The Pioneer Blues
2 years ago
Seems like you're really into the Ensoul builds. I ran mine from Standard to Modern to Frontier for a week and now Pioneer. I think I landed on a pretty great deck here Jeskai Ensoul (PNR). Just played a mirror match against you, Game 1 was fun but quick in my favor and game 2 was fun where we kept gaining life until my creature got bigger and gained double strike from Boros Charm . Stubborn Denial does wonders against your main board removal.
I like the offset from Izzet to mono blue but you might consider Azorious for All That Glitters . You have a good mass of artifacts and Glitters can make any creature much larger than otherwise possible. Also Stubborn Denial is an amazing card in something like this. You may also like The Blackstaff of Waterdeep . It does the same as Animating Faerie for the same cost (cast and activate) but it recurring in case the target were to die and not as restrictive only targetting nontoken as opposed to noncreature like Faerie but doesn't come down with a body and is legendary.
I like Padeem, Consul of Innovation that's a cool card. I hate running 4 drops though in a deck this quick in the main which is why I run only 3. I may switch out Thopter Spy Network for Padeem though because he doesn't protect the artifact that may be on the field when he hits due to instant speed removal but he protects all the others unless he gets hit as well. Although Spy Network is harder to hit and makes a threat every turn Spy Network may be better that hurts sometimes. I don't run Whirler Rogue because I don't like the 4 drops but I can see where it shines by tapping down equipment that normally don't tap to make your guys unblockable.
The Shadowspear in the main is a sweet addition and when facing any sort of aggressive build I always side mine in. Compared to my build, however, yours seems a little slower with the enabler cards ( Ensoul Artifact , Animating Faerie , Skilled Animator being slightly more mana value than mine and the support cards you run being of 4 drop while mine run at 3 or less for the main. Adding in All That Glitters may make all the difference there and you'll have access to Settle the Wreckage in the side instead of Aetherspouts . That extra mana on the board wipe may make all the difference.
Sweet deck though I would consider taking a look at mine whenever you get the chance I have the entire deck laid out in the description and have been running this stuff for basically as long as it existed.
KBgamer2010 on
The Will of Sakashima
3 years ago
Goblin_Guide One of the funniest combos of the deck is one you wouldn't expect
Skilled Animator Animating Helm of the Host then Spark Double Coming into play as a nonlegendary copy of Helm of the Host
Spark Double Will no longer BE a creature due to a very obscure rule in terms of clones and thus can be equipped to the animated Helm of the Host
Now you can create as many token copies of Helm of the Host as you want
UnbanHogaak on
Everyone acts tough
3 years ago
Given the recent change to the companion mechanic, I've taken Lurrus of the Dream-Den out of the sideboard and simply put in 2 copies of the card into the maindeck, seeing as its ability still hits every permanent in the deck other than Skilled Animator, which is also back as a 2-of.
UnbanHogaak on
Everyone acts tough
3 years ago
Hallowed Fountain and Glacial Fortress can easily be replaced in order to make the deck more budget friendly. If you want to be more aggressive, you can swap out Lurrus of the Dream-Den from the sideboard and slot in 4 Skilled Animator. If anyone has any constructive criticism I'd definitely like to hear it :)
9-lives on Card creation challenge
4 years ago
I love it, Kiran_M! It's difficult enough to play an artifact deck I believe, although I see that Ensoul Artifact and Skilled Animator can make a pretty good deck out of small Thopters and other Artifacts. It's a good thing that Artifacts are usually colorless, because three colors is hard to do.
Ziusdra on Card creation challenge
4 years ago
ZendikariWol I'm not sure you're reading all of the text involved in Fragile. Mox Iridium also triggers when targeted by creatures, planeswalkers, etc. Not just spells. i.e., you want to trigger it by making something more useful out of it--playing Animating Faerie, Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas, or Skilled Animator, or something cheaper so that you break even or actually gain mana out of the transaction. Use an Icy Manipulator or Unbender Tine to give yourself free mana, once per round (because if you do it more than once, you break it), on your opponents' turns or on your own turn.
Fragile also triggers this way. An opponent can kill it even without something that specifically targets artifacts--you're looking too specifically at cards that target only artifacts. A Brazen Borrower can kill it if it's played in response to you targeting it with a spell or creature. Or for that matter, a Pestermite can tap it, in response to its owner targeting it to try to get its use out of it, and before even that tapping resolves, it dies. Really, anything can kill it--even an opponent's Icy Manipulator, in response to whatever the first spell/ability that targeted it was. Your opponent doesn't need to cast two spells to kill it. They only need to target it with anything in response to you targeting it. BUT you want to target it in order to make use of its ability. Therein lies the risk/reward. Flickering it, as you pointed out, might be the best way to go infinite with it; you spend two mana, flicker it, generate two mana, and when it re-enters the battlefield, it forgets that it had been targeted before. You can use Venser, the Sojourner, Aminatou, the Fateshifter
, Skybind, and Brago, King Eternal to cheat mana out of it this way, perhaps more cards than just that. Like I said, I'm sure one can find a way to go infinite off of it, which is why it's important that it's fragile.
Although, like I said, since it's a zero-mana artifact, it probably won't be used for what it's designed for--it'll probably just be one of the 99 in a storm deck or a cheerios deck, simply by virtue of being a zero-mana artifact spell.