Summaries of tournaments are posted in the "Updates" section below! I added a small black splash to make the deck technically grixis and instead of messing with this solid list I made it a new deck which you can look to for further updates! Grixis Whir of Invention Improvise
The game plan is to play a few cheap artifacts on turns 1, 2, and 3 with some disruption (
Pacification Array
and Metallic Rebuke). Then, to start playing our improvise cards such as
Bastion Inventor
, Reverse Engineer, Whir of Invention, and Maverick Thopterist.
Against aggressive decks Whir of Invention is primarily looking to get your vehicles out at instant speed. The deck can flash in turn 4 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, kill a creature with the etb, crew it, and block to eat another creature. Which is very powerful against any aggressive strategy. Aethersphere Harvester is another great target and the lifelink is a nice bonus.
As far as match-ups go your best is going to be against control. All of your threats are very hard for them to deal with, especially
Bastion Inventor
, and Metallic Rebuke pulls a lot of weight.
Mardu Vehicles is an overall good match-up for you. You can't beat their best draws but there aren't many decks that can. The vehicles in your deck backed up with metallic rebuke really do good work in this match-up. Kozilek's Return out of the sideboard is also great here.
Jeskai Saheeli is largely an unknown match-up. There aren't many people playing it in my area but
Implement of Combustion
is quite good against it especially when you can Whir of Invention for it.
Bastion Inventor
is a good clock against them too. I imagine it plays out similarly as control except sometimes you'll lose to the combo. So overall a good match-up.
G/B Constrictor decks are definitely your worst match-up. We don't have access to Fumigate in U/R and their battlefield quickly gets out of control. Your best bet is too hope they don't have an explosive start and you get a chance to Metallic Rebuke some of their key threats such as Winding Constrictor, Tireless Tracker, Walking Ballista, and Verdurous Gearhulk. As you can see though they have a lot of powerful threats so therein lies the problem. I've played around with an emerge package with Kozilek's Return and Elder Deep-Fiend and I think it's our best option, there are a lot of spots against them when 2 damage to the board is actually great if cast at the correct point in the game and 5 damage with a Deep-Fiend will most likely win you the game. You can really only side in 1 Elder Deep-Fiend though because of your small creature package to emerge with. I'm going to try it and hope for the best.
Welding Sparks
is another good tool for this match-up.
Artifacts
[MOVED TO SIDEBOARD] 1
Implement of Combustion
- It provides a tutor target for Whir of Invention at instant speed to interrupt the Shaheeli-Felidar Guardian combo. It's also a good turn 1 play for improvising and played later in the game can cycle itself. If there are people playing Saheeli combo at your shop it should be mainboard. I would replace 1 Servo Schematic with it.
4
Inventor's Goggles
- Paired with
Bastion Inventor
can make a 5/6 Hexproof as early as turn 3. Most of the time turn 4. Also pairs well with Maverick Thopterist to create 5/6 in stats over 4 bodies. It's a great 1 mana accelerator in the deck that has synergy with all of our creatures.
4
Pacification Array
- A sleeper of the set. A great card all around and another essential 1-mana artifact for accelerating our improvise cards.
4
Cogworker's Puzzleknot
- Giving us two artifacts from one card is powerful with improvise. In this deck, it's better than Servo Schematic because it offers us the fringe opportunity to sacrifice it with Spire of Industry to get another servo. It also gets us pilots for Aethersphere Harvester.
2 Servo Schematic- Copies 5 and 6 of
Cogworker's Puzzleknot
. One of the key cards to make the deck operate. It's usually safe to keep a hand with one of these effects plus an improvise card which makes the deck have to mulligan less when you have 6 copies of the effect. Keeps the deck consistent.
2
Key to the City
- A great card to use for improvise (Don't have to discard a card to tap it enabling you to draw a card for "free" (two mana)). Unblockable is a great key word to have access to as well.
2 Aethersphere Harvester- Gives our tokens a way to "level up" and is a large blocker we can tutor up at instant speed with Whir of Invention. Excellent against aggressive strategies.
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship- The biggest and best target for Whir of Invention in the deck. Absolutely takes over the battlefield against B/G Constrictor and Mardu Vehicles decks.
Creatures
4
Bastion Inventor
- Turn 3 is rare, turn 4 is common. Free equips with
Inventor's Goggles
. Blessed Alliance and To the Slaughter are the most prevalent answers people will have. Usually game over for most control decks if it resolves early.
4 Maverick Thopterist- Great card on rate and paired with
Inventor's Goggles
is way too much value. Also acts as a ramp spell providing two more artifacts for improvising, and creates more pilots for our vehicles. A centerpiece of the deck.
2 Pia Nalaar- A great pilot for our vehicles and another artificer. Provides a mana sink if you flood out and another artifact to improvise with.
Instants/Sorceries
4 Metallic Rebuke- One of the incentives to play the deck. When supported, card is insane.
3 Whir of Invention- Basically the deck's namesake. Most of the time you'll be getting Aethersphere Harvester for a surprise 3/5 lifelink blocker. Late game you can get Skysovereign, Consul Flagship to take over the game. Against control
Key to the City
is a very important artifact to get.
Lands
10 Island- Whir of Invention costs triple blue and we are basically a mono-colored deck. A draw to playing decks like this is the consistency of the manabase.
4
Wandering Fumarole
- On it's own, a fantastic card in the format. Note With
Crackdown Construct
it's an infinte combo. It's even a hedge against sacrifice effects for
Bastion Inventor
. Man lands have always been the real deal in magic. Also note that it doesn't need another red source to activate for the combo kill.
4 Spirebluff Canal- Dual land that comes in untapped early. Great.
4 Spire of Industry- Great fixer in artifact heavy decks.
2 Aether Hub- You want every land to provide blue ideally with all the blue mana requirements in the deck. So mountains aren't really an option. This is the next best fixer available. And while we don't want to draw them too often, it's another instance of lifelink for Aethersphere Harvester and another white source for
Cogworker's Puzzleknot
.
Sideboard
3 Dispel- Good against any Torrential Gearhulk deck when your goal in the match-up is to resolve a
Bastion Inventor
.
3 Kozilek's Return- Against Humans, Mardu Vehicles, and anything low to the ground.
1 Aligned Hedron Network- If G/B battlefield gets out of hand, works well with Whir of Invention.
1
Key to the City
- A third copy for grindy match-ups where
Implement of Combustion
can come out.
2
Release the Gremlins
- Mirror match, Mardu Vehicles, and Metalwork Colossus match-ups.
1
Quicksmith Rebel
- Can take over a game against x/2 creature decks if they board out their small creature removal (which is likely) and overload their more catch-all removal (a.k.a. Unlicensed Disintegration).
3
Welding Sparks
- When you need more removal this is the best option for this deck. Goes in against G/B decks.
1
Implement of Combustion
- For Saheeli Combo
Removed Cards
-Reverse Engineer- I was playing with this card for a while and I finally realized it's not what you want to be playing in this specific improvise deck. A threat or some sort of interaction with the battlefield is pretty much always going to be better than getting the top 3 cards of your deck. It's not a 2-mana draw 3 either because a large amount of the cards you'd want to cast after casting this will also need to use those artifacts you just tapped.
Thoughtcast
this is not.
-
Gearseeker Serpent
- I replaced this card with Pia Nilaar and after a few games of testing with her never looked back. The serpent makes opening hands that contain it hard to keep while Pia Nilaar is a great bridge to your late game. It's also much worse against spot removal such as Unlicensed Disintegration making it not a great play in any match-up.
-Inventors' Fair- After getting screwed many times by not having enough colored sources on the battlefield for sequences like Maverick Thopterist + Whir of Invention I abandoned this land. The upside is not nearly worth the trouble it can cause.
-
Implement of Examination
- For 3-mana it's just not powerful enough. You want all your improvising artifacts to cost 2 or less.
-Prophetic Prism- This card is definitely passable, but there isn't space for it.
-
Crackdown Construct
- While it's fun, not really worth it. The combo killer with
Wandering Fumarole
and if you need it,
Key to the City
. Also notice that there are a few artifacts you can activate in response to removal like Shock to make it a 3/3 (
Pacification Array
,
Key to the City
, sacrifice a puzzleknot or implement, crewing a vehicle). This isn't a card you are looking to cast on your turn. Putting it onto the battlefield with Whir of Invention after your opponent taps out on their turn is your best bet. It's mostly here because it's cute, but there are some match-ups where a removal light opponent can get caught off guard.
The deck is a blast to play. The more I play it the more I realize that Whir of Invention is the real deal. Any feedback welcome as I'm always looking for ways to improve it! Thanks for reading!
