Should I Put Additional Artifact Dual Lands in this Deck?

Deck Help forum

Posted on Sept. 23, 2024, 9:23 p.m. by DemonDragonJ

I have four copies of Razortide Bridge in this 60-card artifact deck of mine, but I am wondering if I should replace the four copies of Glimmervoid and four copies of Treasure Vault with four copies of Goldmire Bridge and Mistvault Bridge, for a more reliable mana base; what does everyone else say about that?

As a side note, I severely dislike the fact that those artifact dual lands are named for specific locations on Mirrodin, which limits the sets in which they can be reprinted.

wallisface says... #2

Generally speaking lands that enter tapped are a terrible idea. These artifact lands are absolutely terrible in basically any shell that isn’t affinity - as the fact that they’re artifacts reduces those affinity costs and so removes the downside of them entering tapped.

With sooo few cards that actually care about artifact-counts, I can’t fathom why you’d want to include this slower manabase. Personally i’d also be ditching Razortide Bridge in favour of something faster.

As an aside, how competitive/viable are you wanting this deck to be? It currently looks like it’s going to play very slowly, with a glut of mana and a very steep mana curve. I think a lot of improvements could be made here for fairly cheap

September 23, 2024 10:16 p.m.

jethstriker says... #3

I agree, get rid of the tapped lands. I also recommend playing Thoughtcast in this deck. With the amount of artifacts you have, you can almost always reliably cast it for one mana.

September 24, 2024 5:57 a.m.

wallisface says... #4

As an example, this list costs well-under half of the money of your current list, but will significantly outperform it by prettymuch every metric:

September 24, 2024 3:35 p.m. Edited.

DemonDragonJ says... #5

wallisface, this deck is not intended to be fierce and competitive, as nearly all of my decks are intended for casual play, and I have artifact lands in this deck to make Master of Etherium more powerful.

September 24, 2024 9:10 p.m.

wallisface says... #6

DemonDragonJ I would strongly suggest that making Master of Etherium slightly stronger is a poor tradeoff for being a turn-slower in doing anything - and really not worth it.

September 24, 2024 9:27 p.m.

Caerwyn says... #7

I agree on not adding the tapped lands. An additional +1/+1 is very rarely going to make a difference in the game.

Think about it this way: What is more likely to help you win? A slightly bigger Master of Etherium? Or being able to drop a Wurmcoil Engine on or ahead of curve?

Tapped lands effectively slow you down an entire turn. Instead of playing, casting what you need, and being able to use it the following turn (either because your lands untap and you can cast something with the extra ramp mana or summoning sickness wears off), tapped lands mean you are waiting a turn for it to untap, then the turn to cast your setup piece, then do not get to really take advantage of that land until the third turn it is on the field.

September 25, 2024 10:04 a.m.

jethstriker says... #8

If you really like the Master of Etherium route, I suggest swap the bridge with Darksteel Citadel. You already have Glimmervoid and Chromatic Lantern to filter the color of mana you need. Although I would also suggest to swap the lantern with Chromatic Star and/or Chromatic Sphere.

September 25, 2024 8:47 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #9

wallisface, Caerwyn, jethstriker, yes, that makes sense, so I shall keep my existing lands, but I actually did have Darksteel Citadel in this deck, before I replaced it with Treasure Vault, or do you believe that the citadel is superior? Also, I feel that both Chromatic Sphere and Chromatic Star are radically inferior to Chromatic Lantern, so I cannot in good conscience replace the lantern with those cards.

September 27, 2024 11:21 a.m.

wallisface says... #10

DemonDragonJ

  • Treasure Vault is probably better than Darksteel Citadel, but it’s close. However, in your deck Darksteel Citadel is probably better than Vault of Whispers, as you have nothing that needs black mana (if you’re ever not casting Vault Skirge for , you’re doing something wrong).

  • regardless of the point above, I think your deck is lacking enough blue and white sources to be reliable, and i’d be dropping a bunch of the black & colourless lands in favour of more lands that can provide white/blue.

  • Chromatic Lantern is an absolutely tragically terrible card. Maybe you’re thinking of it being useful is a hangover from Commander?? In any non-edh format the card is just really, really bad - 3 mana for this effect is not playable. At least upgrade it to Talisman of Progress if you’re wanting a mana-rock that sticks around. Although I also think that Chromatic Star/Chromatic Sphere are also much better options.

September 27, 2024 2:57 p.m.

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