Do I Need Eight Loci in My Artifact Deck?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Feb. 4, 2023, 6:14 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
I have four copies of Cloudpost and four copies of Glimmerpost in my partially colorless artifact deck, but I wonder if that deck really requires that much mana, especially since I just replaced four copies of Hovermyr with four copies of Swooping Lookout, increasing the need for colored mana in the deck.
I think that Razortide Bridge would be the perfect addition to this deck, since white and blue are rather prevalent in it, and I plan to put four copies of that land into this deck, but which loci should I remove to make room for those copies? Should I remove all four copies of Glimmerpost, all four copies of Cloudpost, or two of each? What does everyone else say about this?
DemonDragonJ says... #3
shadow63, I have Chromatic Lantern in that deck to provide color fixing, so why would I replace with cards that are largely inferior to it?
February 4, 2023 11:38 p.m.
It's slow and doesn't help you actively win the game. The sphere and star come down for 1 mana gives you the color you need I'd you don't have it and draws you a card.
February 5, 2023 4:15 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #5
shadow63, please also remember that the lantern gives all of my lands the ability to produce any color of mana, and that is very important for any deck.
February 5, 2023 10:55 a.m.
If you cut the treasure vaults and a Vault of Whispers or two for more blue and white lands that would remove the need for the lantern. With the locus lands coming in this deck looks some what similar to a tron list and those use very few basic lands and leverage the fact that Chromatic Star gives them colored mana. The tron lands Urza's Tower and its friends and better then 8 post. But you will need to devote 12 slots to those lands then and would probably need to cut a color. Just my 2 cents no need to take it as gospel
February 6, 2023 noon
wallisface says... #7
Yeah I agree with everything shadow63 has said here.
Chromatic Lantern is a slow/clunky card that any deck should be looking to avoid. There are better options that have already been mentioned.
Metallic Rebuke is better than Stoic Rebuttal.
26 lands feels like 2 too many, but also you need more Locus for them to be useful.
It feels like the deck is going to be doing nothing if you can’t get the locus down asap - but you have no way to grab them quickly.
The creature choices confuse me.
February 6, 2023 1:33 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #8
I appreciate the advice from everyone, but no one has actually answered my question; I am wondering if I need to keep eight loci in this deck, since I would rather put Razortide Bridge in their places.
Also, wallisface, I like Chromatic Lantern because of how smooth and efficient it makes one's mana base; no longer does the player need to worry about which lands to tap for which mana, and I have been in many situations where either the absence or presence of a Chromatic Lantern was of crucial importance, so I have firsthand experience with its power and utility.
February 6, 2023 8:16 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #9
Also, shadow63, the loci are better than the Urza lands, because four copies of each Urza land shall produce 21 mana for twelve cards, whereas four copies of each locus shall produce 36 mana for only eight cards.
February 6, 2023 8:18 p.m.
wallisface says... #10
DemonDragonJ your question has been answered, just in a really roundabout way: You’re currently running too few Locus cards in the deck - you either need to run more, or none at all. Which option you decide there will determine whether-or-not you can put Razortide Bridge into the deck (irregardless I think a tapland is a really bad idea for the deck just because its sooo slow, and there are soo few cards in your deck that benefit from artifacts).
I can see you’ve fully convinced yourself the Chromatic Lantern is somehow useful, so i’m not going to persuade you otherwise.
The comment by shadow63 was saying that the Tron lands were better than running 8 Locus. If it’s a straight 12-to-12 comparison then obviously the Locus win-out (there’s a reason they’re banned in modern). The point is 8 Locus is too clumsy to be useful.
February 6, 2023 8:41 p.m.
wallisface says... #11
Looking at the actual Locus decks, you need stuff like Crop Rotation, Once Upon a Time, Candelabra of Tawnos and Expedition Map to make it work. I’d suggest that if you’re unable to commit to the shell Locus needs to actually do something meaningful, to either switch to Tron lands or ditch this fast-mana plan.
February 6, 2023 8:50 p.m.
veritablecvn says... #12
I would drop the 4x Vault of Whispers for 4x Expedition Maps while leaving the rest of your mana base alone. The reason behind this is that your only black mana pips are the phyrexian pips in Vault Skirge so I see it as wanting to cast it early as a blocker with paying the life and the Expedition Maps allow you to go grab whatever land you need based on how your starting hand and first few draws lead the game.
February 6, 2023 9:46 p.m.
Hey DemonDragonJ, I think part of the issue here is that you appear to be asking for advice for casual play, rather than advice for a competitive setting. In competitive Legacy, sadly this deck is too slow, and more so if you add Razortide Bridge. For example, with my legacy reanimator deck, I usually win within turns 1 through 3. Other combo decks I’ve gone up against are even faster. Most of the time, you won’t be able to take advantage of Chromatic Lantern fast enough for it to be useful. If your meta is at a low-power level or casual, that changes things and you can get away with suboptimal choices. But be aware that the deck won’t fare as well against a highly competitive meta.
February 7, 2023 1:55 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #14
zAzen7977, this is absolutely a causal deck, as I prefer to avoid competitive games, as those tend to be too vicious and end too quickly for me to actually enjoy playing.
February 9, 2023 8:34 p.m.
jethstriker says... #15
If you're building a Post deck, your threats should be huge colorless spells. If you want rainbow colored sources, in addition to the Stars and Spheres already mentioned, I think Glimmervoid is better in your deck than the Lantern, since you're already playing the Artifact Lands.
February 17, 2023 4:24 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #16
I cannot believe that I completely forgot about Glimmervoid, so I have put that in my deck, in addition to Razortide Bridge.
shadow63 says... #2
That deck wants to be fast so I wouldn't put the bridge in. But the post lands can hurt you by not letting you get your colors. If you want to use them I'd swap the Chromatic Lantern for Chromatic Star or Chromatic Sphere but over all you can probably do better than lantern
February 4, 2023 7:43 p.m.