Alchemy Balcony

Modern Artifact Control Counterspell Infinite Combo Transmute UB (Dimir)

Balaam__

Instant (21)

• 2x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 4x Counterspell
• 2x Dismember
• 2x Force of Negation
• 4x Muddle the Mixture
• 4x Perplex
• 2x Remand
• 1x Surgical Extraction

Land (22)

• 2x Academy Ruins
• 7x Island
• 4x Polluted Delta
• 2x Swamp
• 3x Tolaria West
• 4x Watery Grave

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Ancestral Vision

Creature (14)

• 3x Dimir Infiltrator
• 3x Drift of Phantasms
• 4x Grand Architect
• 3x Pili-Pala
• 1x Walking Ballista

Planeswalker (2)

• 2x Karn, the Great Creator

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Sideboard

Artifact (4)

• 1x Batterskull
• 1x Damping Sphere
• 1x Mindslaver
• 1x Pithing Needle

Creature (4)

• 1x Pili-Pala
• 1x Spellskite
• 1x Walking Ballista
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Instant (5)

• 2x Dismember
• 2x Fatal Push
• 1x Surgical Extraction

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Maybeboard

Instant (6)

• 1x Ancestral Recall
• 1x Counterspell
• 4x Force of Will

Land (4)

• 4x Underground Sea

Artifact (2)

• 1x Mox Jet
• 1x Mox Sapphire

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Demonic Tutor

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NOTE I’m revisiting this deck for the first time in awhile. Numerous expansions have released since I constructed this, so I’m looking for input regarding any ‘must include’ cards from Throne of Eldraine->forward.

While perusing the card lists one day I came across the Grand Architect + Pili-Pala combo. I decided it would be a neat experience to try and design a deck around it. As with all my builds, I prefer to construct it myself first. Only after I’m finished do I look around and see what other ideas people have come up with. So this is my (maybe unique, but probably not) design based around the combo engine. I do not have much experience playing blue (or control for that matter!), so this might be absolute trash. Feel free to let me know in the comments, but please tell exactly why it’s garbage. I won’t improve if I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Without further ado...

The Mana Base

• Academy Ruins Is the recursion engine enabling recasts of Pili-Pala , Mindslaver and Walking Ballista . It does little without these pieces in play, but once the deck gets going this land is critical to success for each particular win-con.

• Tolaria West is magnificent. It provides a blue mana, yes, but it excels at tutoring up Academy Ruins if it isn’t in our hand or in play yet.

• Watery Grave is our multitasking land; tap it to pay 1 toward the cost of any card in this deck.

• Island s for blue mana.

• Swamp s for black mana.

My First Alchemy Set

I find the Transmute keyword ability a neat concept. Below are the cards in this deck that revolve around this mechanic. They essentially pull double duty, as they’re all useful on their own but really shine when used to tutor up the pieces of our combo. Since it’s imperative to get the combo online as early as possible, each of its two components can be transmuted by no less than 7 other cards. Once a piece is brought to hand, the little alchemists can go back to doing what they’d normally do.

• Dimir Infiltrator can be played as an effective blocker (who happens to be unblockable himself) for a mere 2 mana, and at 3 copies that’s already 3 opportunities to find Pili-Pala through transmutation.

• Muddle the Mixture is as close to a Modern legal old school Counterspell as it gets. For just 2 blue, counter that loathsome instant or sorcery spell. But at 4 copies, there’s another 4 chances to transmute it into a Pili-Pala .

• Drift of Phantasms is a solid big booty blocker, replete with flying, no less. Transmute it to find Grand Architect .

• Perplex excels at offering a lose-lose situation to your opponent. Either the spell resolves and they lose their hand, or the spell is simply countered. At 4 copies, combined with the 3 copies of the previous card, that’s 7 chances to acquire Grand Architect .

The Combo

Now that we’ve discussed transmutation, let’s turn some Pb into Au, shall we?

•Grand Architect + Pili-Pala is our combo engine. Once up and running, you have access to infinite mana of any color. Click it for a step by step breakdown of how it works.

Control and Tempo

• Counterspell , as Lowenstein kindly reminded me, is now Modern legal and that makes it an automatic inclusion. Use this to fizzle your opponent’s best plays.

• Force of Negation is top tier and a definite inclusion. If you’ve already cast your combo pieces, hold onto one of the transmuters; they’re all blue. Use it to pay the exile cost to cast Force of Negation on your opponent’s turn and disrupt their attempts to break up your mana machine.

• Remand is tempo at its finest. “Heh, hah, No.”, then card advantage. Beautiful.

• Perplex was mentioned above, but don’t forget-aside from transmutation, it isn’t a bad counterspell.

• Muddle the Mixture is always nice to have in hand, at the ready. Don’t panic, we’re set up to be able to counter and stall most threats.

• Ancestral Vision is a poor man’s Ancestral Recall . Still great, but not as great.

Full Metal Alchemist

Alphonse Elric—er, Karn, the Great Creator is another tutor. He can search our sideboard for Pili-Pala , which can help set up our combo, or for one of the other two artifacts which constitute our win-cons. Speaking of...

The Win-Con(s)

So there’s probably a trillion ways one could win a game of magic, providing one had access to infinite mana. I picked these:

•Shoutout to Grubbernaut for recommending Blue Sun's Zenith over my previous choice of Mind Grind . With enough mana dumped into its casting cost, it will simply erase someone’s library on the spot. (Psst, here’s a neat little tip-since the X in a variable costed card is always considered to be 0 until paid, you can transmute Drift of Phantasms or Perplex to call Blue Sun's Zenith to hand;)

• Walking Ballista just had its ‘infinite ammo’ cheat turned on courtesy of Grand Architect + Pili-Pala . Don’t forget, Karn can find him in the sideboard, as well as Tolaria West can transmute him! XX is also 0.

• Mindslaver , our Philosopher’s Stone, ought to be reserved for special occasions. Find it with Karn, then use it for its ability, move it to the top of your library with Academy Ruins , redraw it next turn, recast it, use it for its ability, move it to the top of your libr...

I’d like help finishing the sideboard. The three cards ( Pili-Pala , Walking Ballista and Mindslaver ) there must remain, for obvious reasons, so it’s a 12 card board.

Update

Special thanks to zAzen7977 for much appreciated advice regarding the sideboard and general tips to help reinforce the effectiveness of the main deck. I was lacking proactive removal, and sometimes the best defense is indeed a strong offense.

Regarding the Maybeboard

Since I play a lot of Vintage, I designed this deck to be modular in nature. The Maybeboard consists of the pieces required to transform it into a Vintage Format deck.

• Underground Sea x4

Replaces 2 Island s and 2 Swamp s

• Mox Sapphire

Replaces an Island

• Mox Jet

Replaces a Swamp

• Force of Will x4

Replaces 4 copies of Force of Negation

• Ancestral Recall

Replaces 1 copy of Ancestral Vision

• Demonic Tutor

Replaces 1 copy of Merchant Scroll

”Instead of the copper I shall bring in gold, and instead of the iron I shall bring in silver...”

Top Ranked	Achieved #26 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #6 position in Modern 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Modern Artifact 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Modern Control 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 years
Key combos	Grand Architect + Pili-Pala
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	0 - 3 Mythic Rares 23 - 4 Rares 7 - 5 Uncommons 21 - 1 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.49
Tokens	Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink
Folders	Modern, Fun decks