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Strictly Sai

Standard* Artifact Competitive Lifegain Mono-Blue Tokens

TSmash

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Artifact (21)

Enchantment (4)

Creature (7)

Instant (5)

Sorcery (1)

Land (20)

Planeswalker (2)

Stay a while and... become a Master Thopterist!

Original Source: Modified this deck from Strictly Better MtG's Youtube video: "rotation-proof mono-blue artifacts" to fit my desires and budget.

Deck Goal: Utilizing Sai, Master Thopterist ability to fill the board with Flying 1/1 Thopter tokens. This, paired with Skilled Animator and The Antiquities War 5/5 buff really puts the pressure on early-mid game. Karn, Scion of Urza also gives great synergy, board presence, and draw power to the deck.

Player's Thoughts: Overall, the deck is a blast to play! Lots of moving pieces. Can overwhelm and outpace the opponent fairly consistently as most won't see the Artifact flood coming. Don't expect to always win, and don't expect this to be a top deck, but you can expect to always have fun with this under-the-radar glass cannon.

The challenge of this deck is finding space to fit our many needs for key cards, artifacts, counters, and lands. The sweet spot for ratios seem to be here (for me at least):

  • 10-12 Creatures (can include mix of Artifact Creatures)
  • 18-20 Artifacts (can include mix of Artifact Creatures)
  • 2 Planeswalkers
  • 10-15 Instant / Sorcery / Enchantment
  • 20-21 Lands

My goal was to keep the highest CMC at 4 with an average Mana Cost as close to 2 as possible (currently 2.23). Here's our current card ratio for Fall Standard 2018:

  • 12 Creatures (7 Blue / 5 Artifact)
  • 15 Artifacts (11 Card and Mana Advantage / 4 Life Gain)
  • 2 Planeswalkers (Karn, Scion of Urza)
  • 11 Spells (6 Instant / 1 Sorcery / 4 Enchantment)
  • 20 Lands (17 Basic / 3 Colorless)

Sai, Master Thopterist / Skilled Animator / The Antiquities War / Karn, Scion of Urza

  • Sai, Master Thopterist (Blue Legendary Creature) does 2 really cool things. Most importantly, he creates flying 1/1 Thopter tokens every time an artifact spell is cast. These Thopter tokens are important blockers and attackers for our deck strategy. Sai's second ability can sacrifice 2 artifacts and draw a card at instant speed at the cost of . Trick is to assign your artifact blockers, then sacrifice them if they were to be destroyed and draw a card during your opponent's turn. Deck runs 3 Sai. I would not raise it to 4 due to the Legendary Rule.
  • Skilled Animator is our under-rated MVP. This card can and will win you games all by itself with another Artifact. When Skilled Animator enters the battlefield, target artifact you control becomes a base power/toughness 5/5 artifact creature until Animator leaves the field. Best targets are flying Thopter tokens, Jhoira's Familiar, and even Karn's Construct tokens (the 5/5 will stack with the Contruct's +1/+1 ability). Skilled Animator is never a bad card to draw. Puts pressure on turn 3. Deck runs all 4 copies.
  • The Antiquities War is our true win condition. Chapters 1 & 2 add one Artifact to your hand from the top 5 cards of your library. Chapter 3 turns all Artifacts you control into 5/5 Artifact Creatures until end of turn. Worst case scenario with this card is that Chapter 3 will destroy the opponent’s creatures through battle. Never upset to see multiple copies in hand as you can cast multiple copies. Deck runs 4.
  • Karn, Scion of Urza – Colorless Legendary Planeswalker. 4 drop. 5 loyalty. Tick 1 reveals 2 top two cards and opponent chooses 1 to add to your hand and 1 to exile with silver counter. Neg 1 adds 1 exiled card you own with a silver counter to hand. Neg 2 creates a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature with “This creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.” Karn is a powerful combo card for this deck. I usually first tick up to add a card and then create 2-3 construct tokens on the next turns. Construct tokens can easily become 8/8 or higher. Deck runs 2.

Diamond Mare / Voltaic Servant / Jhoira's Familiar / Traxos, Scourge of Kroog

  • Diamond Mare – Diamond Mare enters the battlefield and you choose a color. You then gain 1 life whenever you cast a spell of that chosen color. We play 18 blue cards. No reason not to play Diamond Mare. Deck runs 1 as he typically stays on the field and is not a threat to the opponent.
  • Voltaic Servant - Voltaic Servant is so cool in this deck. Untaps target artifact at your end step. This gives us another blocker and can even untap Traxos. Deck runs 1.
  • Jhoira's Familiar - It took me weeks to discover Jhoira's Familiar. Was trying to find a flying artifact and for some reason kept skipping over this gem of a card. 4 mana is a lot for us to commit, but this card pays for itself 10 fold. 29 of our cards are Historic so it's easy to fill the board with what we need at a reduced cost. Get 2 Jhoira's on the field and consider it game over for the opponent. You want to protect this guy with your life (literally), Dive Down, and buff it with Skilled Animator. Deck runs 2.
  • Traxos, Scourge of Kroog - Traxos is our one beefy creature next to Construct tokens. Traxos can stall the opponent from attacking or simply trample his way through the opponent's creatures. His tap restriction is not a huge problem for us, but it does cause you to cast most of your spells Main Phase 2. Deck runs 1.

Mox Amber / Traveler's Amulet / Fountain of Renewal / Navigator's Compass / Treasure Map   / Thaumatic Compass  

  • Mox Amber – Legendary Artifact – 0 drop. Taps itself to add one mana of any color among legendary creatures and Planeswalkers you control. Used as a free trigger for Sai’s Thopter ability and becomes another mana source. Can also become a free 5/5 when combined with Skilled Animator or The Antiquities War. Although three copies can became cloggy, you want to see Mox in every game. Run 3.
  • Traveler's Amulet – Artifact. 1 drop. Tap 1 to sacrifice Traveler’s Amulet to search your library for a basic land card and add it to hand. Great utility card for early-mid game. Deck runs 4. Could bring down to 3 if you're feeling land lucky.
  • Fountain of Renewal – Artifact. 1 drop. Gain 1 life at the beginning of your upkeep. Tap 3 to sacrifice this card to draw a card. Fountain's draw ability can be great in a pinch, but is hardly used. Deck runs 2.
  • Navigator's Compass – Artifact. 1 drop. Gains 3 life when entering the battlefield. Can tap to change basic land type of your choice (not needed in this deck). This is typically my target for Skilled Animator if I don't have a flyer or Mox. Deck runs 2.
  • Treasure Map   - Should have used Treasure Map from the start. Great card for early-mid game Scrying. It's transform ability gives us another colorless mana source, draw power, and artifact tokens. Deck runs 2.
  • Thaumatic Compass   - Same for Thaumatic Compass. Amazing card early-mid game for ramp. Adds basic land to hand which helps increase your chance of drawing into your power cards. It's transform ability acts as a deterrent for opponent's attacking creatures. Deck runs 2.

Opt / Dive Down / Anticipate / Sleep / The Antiquities War

Instants

  • Opt - Not a card choice for everyone, but I've found good luck with this card. Can be held as a bluff on your opponent's turn. It's scry and draw ability is used to thin out our deck and hopefully get what we need a bit earlier. Deck runs 1.
  • Anticipate - Great spell to use during your opponent's end phase to prep your next turn. I wanted this deck to draw fast and Anticipate seems to get the job done well. Deck runs 2.
  • Dive Down - I replaced Negate and Essence Scatter with this spell. I found that I was sitting on counter spells for too long while my own creatures were getting blasted by the opponent's activated abilities. Felt like Dive Down would give me more options to protect my key creature cards and even lowered the mana cost. Deck runs 3.

Sorcery

  • Sleep - This card wins games. It's almost unfair. Sit on this card until Chapter 3 of The Antiquities War. Tezzeret's Gatebreaker is a good replacement card instead of Sleep if you're looking for a similar artifact. Deck runs 1 of this Sorcery.

Enchantment

  • The Antiquities War – As already mentioned, this is our win con. The only enchantment we have to time to see in this build. Deck runs 4.

Island – Blue Basic Land card. Deck runs 17 (1 Unstable and 16 Full Art Islands).

Zhalfirin Void – Colorless Land card. Scry 1 upon entering the battlefield. Deck runs 3.

The sideboard would benefit with a dedication to more counter spell cards such as...

What do you think? Did I miss something? Can the ratios be stronger? I'm actually very excited to take this deck through Standard and then modify it for another format with a much stronger artifact pool.

Thanks for all the views and upvotes so far!

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Updates Add

First FNM and Playtest — Oct. 6, 2018
Edit

Playtested this deck for the first time at FNM and met some really great people. Totally a fun and memorable evening! Thanks to everyone and Atomic Comics Emporium II!

I lost a ton, which was expected, but learned a lot more about the game, card interactions, and meta strategy. I got some wins and really great combos, which shows me that the deck can hold it's own and quickly overwhelm if left unchecked.

Biggest changes to the deck were including counter spells (which I knew would be needed) and dropping the card count from 64 to 60. Reducing the deck size was extremely challenging, but through playing actual matches against really good opponents, the areas to trim became apparent.

There were almost too many artifacts, which left me with no hard counters or answers for the board. In response, I dropped Diamond Mare and Voltaic Servant from 4 to 3, as they could not swing over most creatures. I also dropped Tezzeret's Gatebreaker from 2 to 1, as the card did win me games, but was dead weight in other rounds. The same went for The Antiquities War, which became my win condition, but at 4 copies was too much. This was dropped from 4 to 3.

These drops allowed room for 4 counter cards, which I currently have 2 Disdainful Stroke and 2 Essence Scatter in the main deck. I found that I could deal with and recover from spell and instant negations, but could not recover well from a large board presence. Essence Scatter and Disdainful Stroke allowed me to counter the opponent's big monsters and Planeswalkers so I could survive longer and damage for game.

I'm sure more changes will be made, but really liking this deck's engine, card art, and feel. Cheers!

More Karnbell! — Oct. 4, 2018
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Revision 17 See all

(7 years ago)

+1 Anticipate main
-1 Diamond Mare main
-3 Dive Down main
+2 Fountain of Renewal main
+2 Navigator's Compass main
+1 Opt main
+1 Sai, Master Thopterist main
-4 Skilled Animator main
+1 Thaumatic Compass main
+1 Treasure Map main
-1 Voltaic Servant main