Before I make any other changes to the deck, I want to nudge it closer to cog-tacularity and further away from WW Equip. I fully admit that someone else doing this experiment would do the exact opposite, which is part of the fun.
OUT: 1 Auriok Glaivemaster
In an equipment-heavy deck focused on beatdown, this guy is a star. Unfortunately, the deck is becoming less about beatdown and equipment. As a result, the Master of the Glaive is a measly Eager Cadet way more often then he’s a 4/2 first-striker on the second turn. With four Leonin Elders, I don’t need any more White 1/1s on the first turn.
OUT: 1 Auriok Windwalker
Did I mention the deck is becoming less and less about equipment? I hate dropping one of the two rares, especially when it’s a card with so many cool tricks inherent in it. But although I have played the Windwalker in games, it’s always been either a speedbump to slow down attackers or a flying attacker. If I want a flying attacker, which I’m not sure I do aside from Qumulox, there are better choices. The cool ability is the reason to play Auriok Windwalker, and I will rarely use the ability in this deck.
OUT: 1 Steelshaper's Gift
Today is weeding-out-the-equipment-theme day, but this one is still tough. There are currently three pieces of equipment in the deck, all of which cost one mana. I’m slightly ambivalent about dropping a tutor, since it essentially acts as a fifth Trinket Mage for the deck’s equipment. Truly, though, Trinket Mage most often searches for card:Spellbombs, Scrabbling Claws or Ornithopter (as a recurring blocker with Auriok Salvagers or Salvaging Station), so I’m not entirely certain the equipment is going to be lasting much longer either.
OUT: 1 Skyhunter Skirmisher
There is nothing inherently wrong with the Skirmisher in this deck. It’s quicker than Auriok Windwalker as an attacker/blocker and more deadly than Ferropede. It’s a great target for Bonesplitter and… ah, there’s the problem. It’s a great target for Bonesplitter, period. Otherwise, it really has no synergy with the rest of the deck. By dropping Steelshaper's Gift, the likelihood of getting the two cards together is even slimmer, which means that Skyhunter Skirmisher just looks out of place. The double-White mana requirement is a pain, too.
These four openings allow me to add…
IN: 2 Auriok Salvagers
Every time I get an active Auriok Salvagers working, crazy things ensue. My life skyrockets. My opponent’s creatures bounce away into hiding. My entire graveyard gets put on the bottom of my library or my opponent’s graveyard disappears. I draw a ton of cards. My opponent’s reactions are always”Cool” or”Neat trick” or”Awesome idea for a deck” when I get an active Salvagers. In addition, I have always appreciated the 2/4 blocking ability. This all tells me that Auriok Salvagers and Trinket Mage are the two hearts of the deck, and I want four copies of each. The problem with Salvagers is that it costs four mana and uses a ton of mana for its tricks. Eventually I might decide to drop the total number down to three instead of four, but at least for now I want to try four and see if I run into mana problems.
IN: 1 Salvaging Station
Salvaging Station has made me similarly happy every time it comes into play. Unlike the Salvagers, I think the six casting cost and being a rare means I only want to add one additional copy now, giving me twice the chance of drawing it. The free activation cost is an incredible luxury and its untapping ability never ceases to surprise opponents. I had hoped this card would be cool, and it has so far lived up to my expectations.
IN: 1 Ancient Den
I just took out two single-cost cards, one that costs three and another that costs four. In their place I added two four-cost cards and one that costs a whopping six. As a result, the mana curve of the deck just got steeper, considerably so. Originally I thought to add Wayfarer's Bauble in this slot. I think the Bauble is a great addition to the deck and something I want to try out soon. Truly, though, the deck is looking like it needs more land, and the Bauble is too slow an immediate solution. This feels like a good opportunity to sneak another artifact land into the deck, making the total number of land twenty-four. Since there are now four Salvagers, I think the addition of another white source of mana is an obvious one.
“What a pain,” you may be thinking,”Having to find two more Salvagers and another Station… I hate this deckbuilding stuff.” Ah, but here is my little secret: I bought two copies of Nuts and Bolts! It was pretty clear to me that I would want more copies of many of the cards already in the deck. If you’re ever trying an experiment like mine, I highly recommend this practice.
I write these blogs a few days in advance so that Ted can do the editing, which means that today is the day I’m getting a chance to see people’s Forum suggestions to Wednesday’s changes. Right now there seems to be a clear message that the deck needs a way to deal with opposing artifacts and enchantments, with the top two ideas being Altar's Light and Engineered Explosives. One of these two will get added soon, I promise. A few other folks have mentioned Myr Servitor, which is a cool idea, but to be effective you need four in the deck and I’m not ready to go there yet. Silver Drake is an awesome idea for a non-Standard deck.
My enthusiasm is getting the better of me, but I have some time to play a few more games.
Game 12: Mono-Black Cranial Plating This guy’s deck was brutal. He dropped Disciple of the Vault (bad for a cog deck), Myr Enforcer, Cranial Plating (I have no way to deal with artifacts, you might recall…), two Genesis Chambers (…which is still a problem), and all artifact land. I manage to get a Salvagers to block, an Aether Spellbomb to recur, but it’s all too slow. A 1/1 Myr token sneaks through, becomes 14/1, and Disciple life-loss from the blocked tokens finishes me.
Game 13: Monoblack Clerics Even though I lose the next game, it’s a lot of fun. He comes out early with beatdown and the only reason I’m able to survive is because of two card:Leonin Elders who are gaining me a bunch of life. When he drops Grave Pact and Cabal Archon, things look grim for the home team. He also empties his hand of a full four Dark Banishings, which is just cruel.
But even amidst the abuse, I manage to stabilize with him at twenty-two life and me at four. I have an Auriok Salvagers and Aether Spellbomb keeping his Archon in check, with Scrabbling Claws keeping his tricks to a minimum. Now it’s a topdecking war, which I can win thanks to recurring Claws. I get a Qumulox and Trinket Mage to start the attack. When he drops to ten life, it looks like I’m going to win. Then he draws Promise of Power, draws five cards, and has enough Clerics to kill me with Archon before I can bounce everything. Still, a great game, as was the next one.
Game 14: Mono-Red beatdown/burn I’ll never fully understand why someone would bring a mono-Red burn deck packing land destruction to the Casual Constructed room, especially a polished, expensive deck. My opponent has Slith Firewalker, Magma Jet,Pulse of the Forge , Arc-Slogger, Molten Rain, and Shrapnel Blast. So I lost right away, right? Wrongo. I get two early Elders and a fourth-turn Auriok Salvagers to block. A recurring Aether Spellbomb keeps the Slogger from doing anything, so my opponent goes into full-on burn mode. He sacrifices his land for Shrapnel Blast, Pulses me twice, Magma Jets me twice, etc. It would have worked, too, except I drop Trinket Mage to get Sunbeam Spellbomb, recur it (he doesn’t have the mana to recast the Slogger anymore) and win at fourteen life. To his credit, my opponent is gracious. He loves the deck and is very complimentary.
Game 15: Blue/Green control This guy packed a lot of Fifth Dawn cards, including Pentad Prism, Myr Servitor, and many a Scry shenanigans. He also had Krosan Tusker, Viridian Shaman, Concentrate, Sculpting Steel, Echoing Truth, and Bribery. I think his plan was to get maximum mileage out of Shaman, Steel, etc. with bounce, so maybe Eternal Witness was in there too. Anyway, card:Trinket Mages gets me a Scrabbling Claws and Aether Spellbomb while Leonin Squire kept them coming. The Squires really shined for the first time, since they provided, with the Mages, a horde of 2/2 attackers while keeping the cog production going. My opponent card:Bribes a Qumulox, but I have the mighty Leonin Bola on the equally-mighty Ornithopter. The Bola shuts down his (er, my) big flier, and my army causes him to concede. Neat.
Game 16: Mono-Green… something Wow. I totally dominate a game. I get a quick Aether Spellbomb, then Trinket Mage for Bonesplitter, then Auriok Salvagers and Skyhunter Prowler. I’m on the attack. My opponent can only Journey of Discovery for a couple card:Forests on his way to a fifth turn Molder Slug. But, see, I have Salvagers and Spellbomb. His Slug bounces back into his hand twice and he concedes.
Okay, that’s another five games. This next change should come as no surprise:
OUT: 2 Island, 1 Plains
IN: 2 Seat of the Synod, 1 Ancient Den
Artifact lands help Leonin Elder, Synod Centurion, Qumulox, and all of the cog cards. The only situation in which they stink is versus March of the Machines and Akroma's Vengeance. This is an easy change to make.
However, what about Darksteel Citadel? Right now, I think the mana requirements are too severe to include it, but it’s something to consider. Other land considerations include Flooded Strand, Glimmervoid, Mirrodin's Core, City of Brass, and Grand Coliseum. At some point soon I’m also going to have to look at the color balance to see if I have enough sources of each color. Stay tuned.
The current decklist looks like this (I’ve again sorted by type and cost and italicized the cogs):
Nuts And Bolts V.1.3 Critters (22): 4 Leonin Elder 4 Trinket Mage 4 Auriok Salvagers 3 Leonin Squire 2 Skyhunter Prowler 2 Synod Centurion 2 Qumulox 1 Ornithopter
Non-Critters (14): 3 Chromatic Sphere 2 Aether Spellbomb 2 Salvaging Station 1 Bonesplitter 1 Conjurer's Bauble 1 Leonin Bola 1 Scrabbling Claws 1 Sunbeam Spellbomb 1 Viridian Longbow 1 Vanquish
Land (24): 4 Ancient Den 4 Seat of the Synod 11 Plains 5 Island
I think I’m honing in on the cog theme and successfully neutering the deck’s schizophrenia. The next changes, I’m guessing, will start pulling in cards outside the original decklist. Log your ideas in the Forums and let me know where you think I should go from here. By this time next week, I’m betting we’ll be on our way to a pretty darned interesting deck with all sorts of painful and contested choices.
