MTG Salvation

So this is my first EDH deck and the group I'm playing with is putting a limit of $100 on the deck (not counting basic lands).

What are some upgrades, and staples, that I can put in?

IE: Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Lightning Bolt, etc.

Remember that the deck needs to be $100 or less.

Breya, Etherium Shaper is the commander.

nim deathmantle krark-clan Ironworks ashnod's altar for your infinite combo.

Then arcum dagsson and Muzzio, Visionary Architect and darksteel forge are pretty sold additions. rings of brighthearth is really good but a bit pricier.

What are some staples that a blue/black/white/red deck would play?

Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, etc etc.

Illusionist's Bracers
Thopter Assembly
Scrap Mastery
Sword of the Meek
Strionic Resonator
Mimic Vat

Goblin Welder Time Sieve and Magister Sphinx are other good choices

What I did was took the average submitted deck from edhrec https://edhrec.com/decks/breya-etherium-shaper

So this will give you an idea popular cards that people have added to Breya, Etherium Shaper, the "staples" for her as such.

Then used the price tool from https://www.mtggoldfish.com/ to get prices. Scan the list and it will give you ideas of what cards you might want for price.

Obviously this list contains lots of the original precon deck, but I'm too lazy to filter them out

When you say $100 limit, do you mean all up or MORE that you can spend from the original pre-con? I.e the pre-con decks cost $34.99, so you get to add $65 worth or just add an extra $100?

Thanks for all the info everyone

The $100 limit is basically that the entire deck can be no more than $100 based on TCG mid prices.

My friends were wanting to play Commander but a lot of casuals didn't because the Commander players all played elite decks and so they created this limitation to make it more fair.

I got the Commander deck as a starting point so I can immediately play. It takes me a while to build my own decks, and I have 0 Commander experience.

OK, this is how I would personally spend it: which is about $72 worth of cards, a bit over budget, but maybe you could get better prices when it actually comes to buying?

1 Goblin Welder $1.36
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation $0.35
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster $2.17
1 Swords to Plowshares $2.05
1 Counterspell $1
1 Cyclonic Rift $5.5
1 Anguished Unmaking $1.49
1 Fabricate $2.5
1 Fact or Fiction $0.49
1 Scrap Mastery $0.39
1 Nim Deathmantle $2.31
1 Sword of the Meek $7.39
1 Time Sieve $6.69
1 Krark-Clan Ironworks $4.27
1 Clock of Omens $0.23
1 Gilded Lotus $9.02
1 Phyrexian Arena $3.45
1 Ashnod's Altar $2.14
1 Arcane Denial $1.67
1 Negate $0.14
1 Swan Song $0.63
1 Exotic Orchard $0.78
1 Master Transmuter $8.43
1 Thopter Assembly $0.49
1 Thopter Spy Network $0.49
1 Arcum Dagsson $6.24
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$71.67

So thats means 26 cards need to be cut, which would be the following:
Akiri, Line-Slinger, Armory Automaton, Sanctum Gargoyle, Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder, Filigree Angel, Parting Thoughts, Migratory Route, Grave Upheaval, Hellkite Igniter, Coastal Breach, Trial // Error, Loxodon Warhammer, Bonehoard, Curse of Vengeance, Sydri, Galvanic Genius, Whipflare, Master of Etherium, Magus of the Will, Etched Oracle, Ancient Excavation, Godo, Bandit Warlord, Vedalken Engineer, Ash Barrens, Executioner's Capsule, 1x Mountain

But this is a complicated (but powerful) build. So how much experience do you have with Magic? I can do a complete breakdown of how the deck plays, but no point if you're not comfortable with precise sequencing, etc. Like I don't want to assume anything, I'm sure you'd be fine, its just the type of deck that you'd need to play with it heaps before you would truly understand all the interactions.

I'm fairly experienced. Not the best of the best, but I play modern/standard regularly, and I dabble with learning my friends Death and Taxes legacy deck.

The experience issue I was noting is that I don't have any experience building a commander deck, and so don't know the staples or anything. Hell, I've spent all day looking at my land options, lol.

Definitely let me know the interactions please

So here's the current list..

Unfortunately it's $120 and so $20 worth of cards need to be cut (and replaced with something else).

Cutting $20 is going to be hard, because the money cards are usually part of your combos.

So obviously you're going to be playing multiplayer? Which in its self is quite a new concept probably for you? Multiplayer is a weird environment. Its very subjective. Players have to pick and choose what they are dealing with, who they are attacking, etc.

All these weird diplomatic things, which just don't happen in duels. Then there is the 40 life (rather than 20), so games are much more about control.

Having infinite combos are nice because you don't have to worry about killing each opponent one by one. In a way its simpler because it just comes down to whether somebody can disrupt you or not.

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INFINITE COMBOS

This deck is all about infinite combos. It is unlikely that you are going to be killing players by attacking with creatures. Lets name all the infinite combos in the deck, so you know what you're aiming for:

Sword of the Meek + Thopter Foundry = as many 1/1 Thopters for each 1 coloress mana you spend. Sacrifice the Sword of the Meek to the Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek will return to play because of the 1/1 produced.

Sword of the Meek + Thopter Foundry + (Ashnod's Altar or Krark-Clan Ironworks) = infinite 1/1 Thopters and infinite coloress mana. You can go infinite by sacrificing the artifact creatures to get 2 colorless and this allows you to just produce infinite 1/1 and infinite colorless mana. With Breya, Etherium Shaper you can use her to kill everybody with the 3 damage ability.

Time Sieve + Thopter Assembly = infinite turns.

Time Sieve + (Sword of the Meek + Thopter Foundry) with 5 mana = infinite turns

Breya, Etherium Shaper + Nim Deathmantle + (Ashnod's Altar or Krark-Clan Ironworks) = infinite colorless mana and infinite 1/1 artifact creatures. Sacrifice your 1/1's for 4 mana, then sacrifice Breya for another 2 mana, and use Nim Deathmantle to return her to play. When she comes back into play she'll create another couple of 1/1, and you can just keep doing it. Use Breya to kill everybody with the 3 damage ability.

Myr Battlesphere + Nim Deathmantle + (Ashnod's Altar or Krark-Clan Ironworks) = infinite colorless mana and infinite 1/1 artifact creatures. This is the same as above.

Myr Battlesphere + Master Transmuter + Clock of Omens + Gilded Lotus = infinite mana

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NICE SYNERGIES

(Open the Vaults or Scrap Mastery) + Krark-Clan Ironworks. Open the Vaults and Scrap Mastery are mainly in the deck to help with board wipes, which happen quite frequently in Commander, because there is so much value in running board wipe cards. But you can also use these proactively with Krark-Clan Ironworks to sacrifice all your artifacts so that they return to play, while getting the extra mana.

Clock of Omens is nice with Gilded Lotus, Fellwar Stone, Commander's Sphere and Everflowing Chalice to get extra mana from tapping artifacts that don't provide mana. Too be honest this card is much better of you had lots more artifacts that produced mana, but in general they are quite money expensive.

Skullclamp is amazing in this deck. Use it with Thopter Assembly and Myr Battlesphere.

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GRAVEYARD SYNERGIES

This deck has quite a few synergies around putting cards into your graveyard for value, then retrieving them for value and/or navigating the expensive mana costs.

Cards that get artifacts into graveyard from hand:
Daretti, Scrap Savant (+2 Discard up to two cards, then draw that many cards.)
Read the Runes

Cards that get artifacts into graveyard from battlefield:
Breya, Etherium Shaper
Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer
Krark-Clan Ironworks
Ashnod's Altar (if creature)

Cards that get artifacts directly into play from graveyard:
Daretti, Scrap Savant (-2 Sacrifice an artifact. If you do, return target artifact card from your graveyard to the battlefield.)
Trash for Treasure
Goblin Welder
Sharuum the Hegemon
Beacon of Unrest
Open the Vaults
Scrap Mastery

Cards that get artifacts into hand:
Hanna, Ship's Navigator
Myr Retriever
Silas Renn, Seeker Adept (not too hand, but same effect really)
Trading Post

Ichor Wellspring or Mycosynth Wellspring provide nice cards to sacrifice in general.

It must be noted that Breya, Etherium Shaper is actually an artifact creature, and this means that you have some serious decisions a lot of the time whether to put her into your graveyard or commander zone when she is killed. Because it costs 2 more each time your Commander is killed, casting her out again is a big deal. It will cost you 6, then 8, etc each time she dies. So there are going to be times when you feel confident that you can "cheat" her back into play from your graveyard, or use one of the back to hand graveyard retrieval cards. It must be noted that when you cast your Commander from your hand it ALWAYS only costs it normal casting cost (in her case 4 mana). Its only when you cast from the Commander Zone that it cost the extra. So using Silas Renn, Seeker Adept or Hanna, Ship's Navigator for example, will mean it going to cast you 4 mana. I'll explain this interaction further if you want?

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SEARCHING LIBRARY

There a few search your library for an artifact cards and these will be key to victory. But knowing WHAT to get is going to be very hard for your first games. What combo pieces to get? Obviously if you have some pieces of a combo already then you might search up for one of the missing pieces. I think this where you're just going to have to practice and learn through games.

Fabricate
Arcum Dagsson
Kuldotha Forgemaster
Sphinx Summoner

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Let me think more on how we can get you to budget.

Cards to take out. Even though all these cards I mentioned are good, for their price they are too much.

Kuldotha Forgemaster 2.18
Swords to Plowshares 2.15
Gilded Lotus 9.04
Master Transmuter 8.43
Clock of Omens 0.23
Baleful Strix 3.51
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer 0.37
Beacon of Unrest 1.99
Cranial Plating 0.69
Nevinyrral's Disk 1.02
Grip of Phyresis 1.00
Seat of the Synod 0.86
Hanna, Ship's Navigator 3.34
Ethersworn Adjudicator 2.13

Instead what I've done is found some of the best cards in Commander for price. So these cards are not as combo based, but they are just really excellent cards on their own in this format:
Eldrazi Displacer 4.91
Thada Adel, Acquisitor 1.26
Mentor of the Meek 0.70
Sidisi, Undead Vizier 2.46
Notion Thief 0.74
Burnished Hart 0.25
Recurring Insight 1.21
Future Sight 0.54
Outpost Siege 0.62

So this is what your deck should look like (haven't put the basic lands in as will need to figure out the correct number of sources for the new deck):

The addition of Eldrazi Displacer is that it combinations for infinite with Breya, Etherium Shaper + (Ashnod's Altar or Krark-Clan Ironworks). You blink out Breya, and then sacrifice the 1/1 thopters for 4 colorless mana and use Eldrazi Displacer.

[EDIT] I'd like to get these two lands into the deck, for the price they are great color fixers:
Crosis's Catacombs 0.78
Dromar's Cavern 0.47

Take out:
Temple of the False God 0.33
Swiftfoot Boots 0.39

If you really need to squeeze for budget then we can replace Fabricate (2.50) for Diabolic Tutor (0.54)

Had more of a think on it would like to take out:
Soul of New Phyrexia 1.07 - too slow, you'll never have the mana available
Hellkite Tyrant 1.30 - the problem with running a card like this is that people can copy or steal it and its a complete blowout if it gets to hit you
Swords to Plowshares 2.21
Silas Renn, Seeker Adept 8.74 at this price there are just better cards for the deck

Cards to put in:
Grand Architect 2.52
Pili-Pala 1.05

Grand Architect is excellent in an artifact deck, you can tap him instantly, no summoning sickness for 2 colorless. Breya thopters are actually blue, so you can tap then straight away for extra mana.
Grand Architect + Pili-Pala = infinite colored mana. With Breya you win the game with infinite colored mana. You can just keep casting her from your command zone and blasting people with the 3 damage, sacrificing herself to get her back to your command zone.

So the final deck is this

hey, if the deck wasn't budget what would you do differently?

i really like your ideas and was just wondering for my personal deck.
i'm not talking like crazy expensive but was wondering what ideas you would have without a money constraint.

Quote from donkeylick »

hey, if the deck wasn't budget what would you do differently?

i really like your ideas and was just wondering for my personal deck.
i'm not talking like crazy expensive but was wondering what ideas you would have without a money constraint.

Thanks. Basically fast artifact mana and more tutors. The other thing is the mana base. Its a 4 color deck, so it would have all the duel lands (with basic types) and lots of fetch lands.

+ Gilded Lotus
+ Mana Vault
+ Grim Monolith
+ Mana Crypt
+ Clock of Omens
+ Master Transmuter
+ Demonic Tutor
+ Vamperic Tutor
+ Tezzeret the Seeker
+ Transmute Artifact
+ Sensei's Divining Top - with lots of fetch lands very effective at manipulating your draw, and combos for infinite draw with Future Sight + Etherium Sculptor

The weakest cards in the deck due to budget from what I've been suggesting I think are:
- Sharuum the Hegemon
- Beacon of Unrest
- Commander's Sphere
- Cranial Plating
- Nevinyrral's Disk
- Trash for Treasure
// * cards that I suggested to due price, but wouldn't put in favor of the expensive cards instead
- Mentor of the Meek
- Sidisi, Undead Vizier
- Notion Thief
- Burnished Hart
- Outpost Siege

At this stage there is very little left of the original Invent Superiority deck

thanks bro, i appreciate it.

Deadeye navigator $2.18 pretty much busted in everything, and great with breya.

Quote from andthr33 »

Quote from darrenhabib »

At this stage there is very little left of the original Invent Superiority deck

@darrenhabib: You are the best. from all the list I like yours the best. It seems to strike a nice balance between power and fun to play. I used some of your ideas. I still need to get used to the deck but it is very good. some misplays still happen but with your suggestion the deck is very fun.

That's awesome to hear.

Salvaging Station is good late game and has good synergies with lots of 1 drop artifacts like Nihil Spellbomb, Dispeller's Capsule, Executioner's Capsule etc

Disciple of the Vault can turn any sac loop into a win-con.

Illusionist's Bracers has been mentioned previously. It can go infinite with Aphetto Alchemist and can be a turn 4 win-con with cards like Codex Shredder. Combos this fast are pretty cutthroat for EDH, so make sure your table is ok with it.

Muddle the Mixture is $2+ but its really useful as a tutor for Thopter Foundry and other awesomeness.