Credit for the shell of this deck goes to recent development and collaboration of ideas over on the Tezz thread. Card selection and sequencing of play is very similar to that of Tezzerator, but there are obviously some differences as this deck has a more combo-centric route to victory, as well as a host of different sideboard cards.
I've played a decent number of matches on MTGO competitive league with this list, and have a couple 5-0's as well as multiple 4-1's. Here's my current list:
-The deck is very hard to pilot. It takes a LOT of practice because there is so much card filtering and tutoring available, and so many different lines of play. But it's extremely fun and rewarding once it becomes familiar.
-No removal maindeck. As it turns out, the combined efforts of the thopter/sword combo and Ensnaring Bridge are usually enough to keep at bay what most decks can throw at you during game one. Granted, you may have to soak up 15 or so damage before you stabilize, but once you do, it's usually a safe bet creatures attacks will no longer be lethal. The reliability of getting out the combo early, or an early bridge, lies in the wonderful card Whir of Invention. Whir is the reason no colorless utility lands are played, and only 1 land (a basic plains) can't produce U.
-Maindeck silver bullets. This is a huge reason to play the deck, as whir allows you to get your bullets on the field reliably by turn 3. Facing Storm? Fetch canonist. Facing Devoted Druid? Fetch Needle. Facing Dredge? Fetch bridge. One great thing about this deck is that you can flavor your main deck according to the expected meta. Expecting lots of Dredge and Company? Swap your main-deck canonist for a sideboard cage. Whir gives you 5 virtual copies of your singleton bullet.
-Surprise Combo Finishes. While the deck can take a reactive, control route by fetching silver bullets and plopping down bridge, and can grind with foundry/sword combo, it can also win out of the blue. This is very important in matchups like Tron or Scapeshift, where your hate-pieces aren't going to protect you. The instant-win combos are:
Two Felidar Guardians + Altar of the Brood - A rarely occurring combo, but effective nonetheless. Guardians blink each other and mill out opponent
These combos do not interact with the graveyard, which is important because opponents will bring in grave-hate for your Thopter/Sword combo.
A Note on Altar and Coating:
While both cards, individually, look like do-nothing combo pieces, they have a few niche uses by themselves, and it's important to understand their role. Altar is an amazing card against U/W control. If you get it early against them, it just slowly grinds their deck down, and they'll either have to waste a detention sphere on it or just lose to it. And Coating can enable Mox Opal to get metalcraft, and in grindy games where you are hiding behind a bridge and have a thopter foundry but no sword of the meek, it can turn your extra lands into 1/1 fliers.
Matchups:
Good:
Affinity - They lack interaction, and you can get recursive 1/1 flying blockers pretty quickly. Other than a turn two plating equip, it's an easy matchup.
Merfolk - Crumbles to bridge.
Other creature-centric decks like humans or zoo.
Decent:
Death's Shadow Variants - You're a combo deck, and they strip your hand, which is bad. But you have bridge and a lot of redundancy, and they struggle against a resolved Thopter Foundry.
Storm - Game one is 50/50. Either you tutor for canonist or relic before they combo, or you don't. Chalice out of the board is strong, as are other options.
Ad Nauseum - Game one is tough, unless canonist. Sideboard is strong against them, like storm.
Eldrazi Tron - If they get the creature half of their deck, then game one is pretty easy. If they get an early Karn, Ulamog, or all is dust, then it's hard. These games usually become very grindy. Altar of the Brood can just sometimes mill them out behind a bridge.
Company Decks - Getting down a needle is key, for druid. Bridge is big. You can beat infinite life with milling combo, but a quick druid combo can still get you.
Dredge - Game one is usually a win with bridge, but their grudges in the board are hard to deal with. Very much a coinflip match.
OK-ish:
UW Control - It's about resolving your key spells. If you can get a thopter foundry down, asap, they have few answers for it game one. Game two, you have to fight through tons of countermagic as well as the hardest sideboard card to overcome, Stony Silence.
Difficult:
Traditional Tron - O-Stone and Karn beat up on your permanents. Fortunately, the current meta has very few tradition trons roaming around.
Scaepshift or Titan/Breach - Racing them with combo is key, but you have very few hate options here.
Burn - I don't have much sideboard help for this matchup, but you could shore this up in the board if you wanted to. I just try to rely on thopter/sword to get down fast enough to hold them off. I've won many, many burn matchups where I went down to 1 life before stabilizing. Still, they are quick and apply the damage directly to your face.
Elves - They are quick and swarm so wide that thopter/foundry typically isn't enough. Bridge is huge, but they can pump to lethal with ezuri if you have even 2 cards stuck in hand. GW elves with druid is actually easier than the typical BW elves, because Shaman of the Pack is literally the hardest card in all of modern (so it seems) for this deck to defend against.
Discussion:
Anyone interested in this deck, please join the fray. I know there are a few on the Tezz list who would like to discuss different builds and the ways this deck can improve. It's definitely very powerful, and can adapt to a given meta with great ease thanks to all the tutor-able cheap artifact silver bullets. I have a lot of practice piloting this deck, and can answer questions about card selection or play sequencing.
This deck is super sweet. I gave it a quick test with my friend, and the only changes I had made to the main was -2 Spirit Guides, + 1 Crane, +1 Quicksilver Rebel, and -2 Seachrome + 2 Spirebluff Canal.
The rebel was "just because" but it surprised me, as it happened to shoot a ton of stuff down while being behind a bridge.
Although the testing wasn't anywhere close to varied (it was just against his Abzan blink deck), it sold me on the deck.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
This deck is super sweet. I gave it a quick test with my friend, and the only changes I had made to the main was -2 Spirit Guides, + 1 Crane, +1 Quicksilver Rebel, and -2 Seachrome + 2 Spirebluff Canal.
The rebel was "just because" but it surprised me, as it happened to shoot a ton of stuff down while being behind a bridge.
Although the testing wasn't anywhere close to varied (it was just against his Abzan blink deck), it sold me on the deck.
The deck definitely looks interesting, but I'll be sticking with Tezz for the time being. Also I think you meant Quicksmith Rebel.
Yes I did, thank you. I'm a big Saheeli fan, and something that plays out more than just bad Twin or a value deck that has "oops I win" is a winner for me. Tezz might even be a better choice than the Rebel as something that can shoot behind a bridge.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
Acissathar, glad you had some fun and success with your list. Crane has been in and out of the list for me, and the guides are definitely a flex spot for me, so good judgment there.
Rebel is decent, but ghirapur aether grid does potentially more for less, can't be removed by creature removal, and still works with a stony silence out. The last point being the most important.
Edit: In case anyone is wondering, nahiri is in the board mostly as a good removal spell, to shoot down stony silence, rest in peace, and the like, while providing the option of grabbing a combo piece.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
I've been trying random jank, and so far the only thing I've actually liked was going up to 2 of the Altars and Coatings. Last night I tried a Scrap Trawler and it was really cute to Coating my non artifacts when they were being destroyed to get something back. Probably not good enough to warrant inclusion though.
I think Nahiri is fine for games where you're likely to loot and exile a bunch without necessarily worrying about the ultimate. I'd say it's understandable to cut her though depending on your meta or if you just don't feel she pulls her weight.
I think a one of Ironworks is fine, but I also tried Obelisk of Alara.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
I played this at a large pptq, started 3-1 but then lost to jeskai burn and tron. Tron actually isn't that bad with the quick combo, but he just drew like god and beat a game 1 blood moon by me! Against jeskai burn, I could have boarded into leylines but I had a brainfart and put him on control.
All in all the deck felt good, if a little fragile at times, which it is. Thopters won slightly more than saheeli did for me. I did win with a turn one saheeli off of two simian spirit guides, which was fun. I expected a lot of big mana decks at the pptq, which there were, and the deck plays well against them for the most part. Burn is a really tough matchup, though, unless leyline.
I feel like this deck is cool and has potiential but looks weak if you don't draw your walker when you have the combo set up. Is there a way to put in another win con besides alter and the walker?
I see thopter sword combo, but is that really good enough as a plan b in your testing?
Thopter combo is your plan A in a lot of matchups.
@ardillacody - don't bother with Academy Ruins, it's not as useful as you might expect in this deck, and it just ends up making it harder to cast whir of invention.
Credit for the shell of this deck goes to recent development and collaboration of ideas over on the Tezz thread. Card selection and sequencing of play is very similar to that of Tezzerator, but there are obviously some differences as this deck has a more combo-centric route to victory, as well as a host of different sideboard cards.
I've played a decent number of matches on MTGO competitive league with this list, and have a couple 5-0's as well as multiple 4-1's. Here's my current list:
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
1 Altar of the Brood
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Liquimetal Coating
4 Thopter Foundry
2 Sword of the Meek
1 Spellskite
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Ensnaring Bridge
Other Permanents: 11
2 Glint-Nest Crane
2 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Saheeli Rai
3 Felidar Guardian
4 Serum Visions
4 Whir of Invention
Land: 20
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Steam Vents
4 Seachrome Coast
1 Spire of Industry
2 Island
1 Plains
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Runed Halo
2 Izzet Staticaster
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Wear//Tear
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Worship
3 Chalice of the Void
Deck Basics:
-The deck is very hard to pilot. It takes a LOT of practice because there is so much card filtering and tutoring available, and so many different lines of play. But it's extremely fun and rewarding once it becomes familiar.
-No removal maindeck. As it turns out, the combined efforts of the thopter/sword combo and Ensnaring Bridge are usually enough to keep at bay what most decks can throw at you during game one. Granted, you may have to soak up 15 or so damage before you stabilize, but once you do, it's usually a safe bet creatures attacks will no longer be lethal. The reliability of getting out the combo early, or an early bridge, lies in the wonderful card Whir of Invention. Whir is the reason no colorless utility lands are played, and only 1 land (a basic plains) can't produce U.
-Maindeck silver bullets. This is a huge reason to play the deck, as whir allows you to get your bullets on the field reliably by turn 3. Facing Storm? Fetch canonist. Facing Devoted Druid? Fetch Needle. Facing Dredge? Fetch bridge. One great thing about this deck is that you can flavor your main deck according to the expected meta. Expecting lots of Dredge and Company? Swap your main-deck canonist for a sideboard cage. Whir gives you 5 virtual copies of your singleton bullet.
-Surprise Combo Finishes. While the deck can take a reactive, control route by fetching silver bullets and plopping down bridge, and can grind with foundry/sword combo, it can also win out of the blue. This is very important in matchups like Tron or Scapeshift, where your hate-pieces aren't going to protect you. The instant-win combos are:
A Note on Altar and Coating:
While both cards, individually, look like do-nothing combo pieces, they have a few niche uses by themselves, and it's important to understand their role. Altar is an amazing card against U/W control. If you get it early against them, it just slowly grinds their deck down, and they'll either have to waste a detention sphere on it or just lose to it. And Coating can enable Mox Opal to get metalcraft, and in grindy games where you are hiding behind a bridge and have a thopter foundry but no sword of the meek, it can turn your extra lands into 1/1 fliers.
Matchups:
Good:
Decent:
OK-ish:
Difficult:
Discussion:
Anyone interested in this deck, please join the fray. I know there are a few on the Tezz list who would like to discuss different builds and the ways this deck can improve. It's definitely very powerful, and can adapt to a given meta with great ease thanks to all the tutor-able cheap artifact silver bullets. I have a lot of practice piloting this deck, and can answer questions about card selection or play sequencing.
The rebel was "just because" but it surprised me, as it happened to shoot a ton of stuff down while being behind a bridge.
Although the testing wasn't anywhere close to varied (it was just against his Abzan blink deck), it sold me on the deck.
The deck definitely looks interesting, but I'll be sticking with Tezz for the time being. Also I think you meant Quicksmith Rebel.
Rebel is decent, but ghirapur aether grid does potentially more for less, can't be removed by creature removal, and still works with a stony silence out. The last point being the most important.
Edit: In case anyone is wondering, nahiri is in the board mostly as a good removal spell, to shoot down stony silence, rest in peace, and the like, while providing the option of grabbing a combo piece.
I think Nahiri is a good inclusion, as every ability is relevant in the match ups you'd bring her in.
Next on the jank list to try will be Trading Post.
I've been trying random jank, and so far the only thing I've actually liked was going up to 2 of the Altars and Coatings. Last night I tried a Scrap Trawler and it was really cute to Coating my non artifacts when they were being destroyed to get something back. Probably not good enough to warrant inclusion though.
I think Nahiri is fine for games where you're likely to loot and exile a bunch without necessarily worrying about the ultimate. I'd say it's understandable to cut her though depending on your meta or if you just don't feel she pulls her weight.
I think a one of Ironworks is fine, but I also tried Obelisk of Alara.
I hope I can play this soon!
4 Thopter Foundry
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Altar of the Brood
3 Spellskite
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Liquimetal Coating
2 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Glint-Nest Crane
4 Saheeli Rai
4 Serum Visions
4 Whir of Invention
3 Felidar Guardian
20 Lands
2 Academy Ruins
What I liked about the Altar, is that it Leyline of Sanctity proof, as it doesn't make target.
I like the idea of the deck, it's very interactive, letting us choose what we need in that moment when facing X deck, and fetch for that card we need.
All in all the deck felt good, if a little fragile at times, which it is. Thopters won slightly more than saheeli did for me. I did win with a turn one saheeli off of two simian spirit guides, which was fun. I expected a lot of big mana decks at the pptq, which there were, and the deck plays well against them for the most part. Burn is a really tough matchup, though, unless leyline.
I see thopter sword combo, but is that really good enough as a plan b in your testing?
@ardillacody - don't bother with Academy Ruins, it's not as useful as you might expect in this deck, and it just ends up making it harder to cast whir of invention.