deck chart

Full Metal Alchemy (Retired)

Commander / EDH unstable_anomaly

SCORE: 176 | 78 COMMENTS | 21144 VIEWS | IN 81 FOLDERS

General Revisions / Updates —Dec. 26, 2021

After some rigorous playtesting I've noticed two things about this deck...

  1. It ramps like crazy. Almost as hard and in some cases harder than a lot of Simic decks out there.
  2. Despite the amount of card advantage and infinite combo lines in this deck, I found myself in a number of games where I was just spinning my wheels. I'd be able to make massive amounts of mana, but then not really have much to do with it.

That being said, I've made some changes to the decklist in hopes of remedying these issues. Making a ton of mana obviously isn't really an "issue", but not having anything to do with it and not being able to close out games because of it can be a problem.

  1. Removed Clifftop Retreat for Sejiri Shelter  Flip - There's a chance that Clifftop Retreat will come in untapped, but with only 8 basics in the deck, and being able to make so much mana I felt like Sejiri Shelter  Flip was a better option. Sejiri will give us another way to protect our commander, but also allow us to potentially make a creature unblockable and swing for lethal.

  2. Removed Reforge the Soul for Memory Jar - I almost never cast Reforge the Soul for it's miracle cost, which was the only thing that might have made it better than Memory Jar. Because Memory Jar is an artifact, it becomes a repeatable effect in this deck providing quite a bit of card advantage while also filling our graveyard.

  3. Removed Wear / Tear for Heliod's Intervention - More mana intensive, but also way more versatile and capable of hitting more targets. Plus some additional lifegain is never a bad thing.

  4. Removed Crashing Drawbridge for Swiftfoot Boots - I played quite a few games were I needed to target Osgir with Magewright's Stone / Staff of Domination / Thousand-Year Elixir ability to untap, but couldn't because he was equipped with Lightning Greaves. Although Swiftfoot Boots doesn't provide every creature with haste, it will allow us to target Osgir with untap abilities.

  5. Removed Treasure Nabber for Alibou, Ancient Witness - This was more or less to remedy that blanket haste effect that was lost by removing Crashing Drawbridge. Not only that but it also doubles as a removal spell by throwing direct damage at enemy creatures/ players. To top it all off the scy X is incredibly beneficial and in some cases will allow us to dig really deep. Obviously losing our little goblin buddy is a bit of a bummer, but he didn't always provide the value I was hoping for.

  6. Removed Mox Tantalite for Phyrexian Dreadnought - Mox Tantalite is arguably a staple in any Osgir build, but I felt strongly that the ramp was adequate and was looking for more ways to close out games. Phyrexian Dreadnought can do exactly that since we can get around the downside of this card with Osgir's ability. Having a 12/12 trampler early game can really help keep the pressure on. It can also help keep the board mostly clear of any annoying creatures our opponents may play. Assuming they decide to block, which they probably will.

  7. Removed Pyroblast for Aurelia's Fury - This is another attempt to help close out games. Pyroblast is a great card, but is very niche and ended up being a dead draw in most games. Aurelia's Fury on the other hand is very versatile and will almost always be good. Not too mention it pairs well with all of the infinite mana combos in the deck.

hairy-wombat says... #1

Hey unstable_anomaly,

First, great Primer writeup and solid EDH deck. I've been working on something quite similar.

Two cards that are in your Maybeboard; Recruiter of the Guard and Imperial Recruiter - These will help tutor parts of your win conditions like Walking Ballista & Dockside Extortionist or just help you find Goblin Engineer to put the one Artifact your are after in your yard.

Question 1: Why not mainboard these tutors?

You already have Walking Ballista in your Mainboard.

Question 2: Wondering why no Heliod, Sun-Crowned (that can be tutored with Enlightened Tutor ) as a simple two card win condition?

July 18, 2021 11:57 p.m.

unstable_anomaly says... #2

Hey hairy-wombat thanks for stopping by, really appreciate the compliment and suggestions.

You make an excellent point about Recruiter of the Guard and Imperial Recruiter . TBH I think I may have overlooked the fact that they can both tutor Walking Ballista . If I remember correctly I think they were both in the first draft of the deck, but I ended up taking them out for two reasons...

  1. I opted for some larger artifact creatures because it was fun to reconstruct multiple copies and then swing for the win.

  2. Winning with the same win condition over and over again can be somewhat boring in my opinion.

That being said I have tuned the deck quite a bit since the first draft, and the more I tune it, the more it becomes a combo heavy deck. I've also added quite a few smaller creatures in place of the heavy hitters which does make your suggestions even more appealing. If my math is right it looks like there's currently 9 targets for Recruiter of the Guard and Imperial Recruiter respectively. Being able to flicker them a few times with Eldrazi Displacer would also be pretty spicy. All things considered I think you've definitely convinced me to take another look at both of these, but I'm curious what you would cut to make room for them?

As far as Heliod, Sun-Crowned is concerned I don't have any lifegain or +1/+1 counter strategies in the deck, so without Walking Ballista or a way to tutor for it, Heliod is just a dead draw.

July 26, 2021 7:17 p.m.

hairy-wombat says... #3

Cards I would consider maybeboarding:

Cards I would add:

July 27, 2021 7:04 a.m.

unstable_anomaly says... #4

Platinum Angel - You're the second or third person to tell me to cut Platinum Angel . It's somewhat of a pet card of mine, but I think everyone might be right. It's probably time I cut it.

Doubling Cube - I would agree Doubling Cube can be slow sometimes, but I've really enjoyed using it. This deck can ramp pretty hard and being able to double up on that mana has proven more than useful quite a few times. The last game I played I was able to make 20 copies of Lotus Bloom , sac them all for 60 mana, and then use Doubling Cube to make over 100 mana. Which then allowed me to make 20 Platinum Angel 's and 20 Lightning Greaves , winning me the game through combat damage. It can also be used as a janky combo piece to create infinite mana. It may not be well suited for a deck that tries to win by turn 5/6, but for a deck that aims to win turns 8/9/10 it's worth the slot in my opinion.

Swiftfoot Boots and/or Whispersilk Cloak - Much like you I would probably cut the Swiftfoot Boots , but keep the Whispersilk Cloak .

Stoneforge Mystic - I'm not entirely sold on this one, but I'll add it to the maybeboard and keep it in mind moving forward.

All in all I'll probably keep the cube but cut Platinum Angel / Swiftfoot Boots for Recruiter of the Guard / Imperial Recruiter . Or maybe keep Swiftfoot Boots and cut Pyroblast , but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on that?

July 27, 2021 9:27 p.m.

Gsanna says... #5

Hi there,

It's been a little while since I first discovered this beautiful deck you posted and it was love at first sight.

I did my best and managed to build a copy of it and I have to admit it is so much fun to play as well as incredibly powerful.

I swapped only 1 card from your lineup, dockside extortionist, for Metalworker to generate infinite mana with Umbral mantle/staff of domination, easier combo to play or tutor.

I have a question for you: do you usually play with Zirda as your companion? Cause in that case it starts outside of the library and doesn't count for the 100 cards limit, therefore you can add another card. If so, what card would you add?

Once again thanks so much for coming up with this amazing deck and sharing it with us, amazing work!

August 24, 2021 1:47 a.m.

unstable_anomaly says... #6

Hey Gsanna, thanks for stopping by. Really appreciate the comment/ upvote and all the nice words. Happy to hear you enjoy playing the deck. It's definitely one of my personal favorites at the moment.

To answer your question, I do not play Zirda, the Dawnwaker as a companion. Reason being it would be way too difficult to meet the requirement in order to play it as a companion. It's mainly in the deck for the infinite mana combo with Basalt Monolith, but also to help reduce the activation cost on Osgir, the Reconstructor's second ability.

I do really like the idea of using Metalworker in place of Dockside Extortionist. I honestly didn't even noticed either of those combos, so thank you for bringing that to my attention. I avoided using Metalworker and Phyrexian Dreadnought in my original draft of the deck because of their high price tag, but now the more I think about it, the more I think they may be worth it.

I am currently playtesting Recruiter of the Guard and Imperial Recruiter in place of Swiftfoot Boots and Platinum Angel based off another suggestion, and have been quite happy with the results. I may look into playtesting Metalworker and Phyrexian Dreadnought in place of Dockside Extortionist and either Recruiter of the Guard or Imperial Recruiter.

Thanks again for the contributions, much appreciated. Cheers.

August 26, 2021 8:49 a.m.

RadRobertK says... #8

Hey there unstable_anomaly! Huge fan of this list! Was just wondering what your thoughts were on Moonsilver Key and if it might be able to find a spot in the list?

September 20, 2021 5:30 p.m.

unstable_anomaly says... #9

Hey RadRobertK thanks for stopping by, really appreciate the comment and kind words :)

I think Moonsilver Key is one of those cards that reads better than it actually plays. At first glance I thought it might find a spot, but after looking over the current list, I can't find anything worth cutting for it. Is there a card you would cut for it?

September 24, 2021 9:12 a.m.