MTG Salvation

That's so brutal ramping into Blightsteel! I love the straightforward approach on this one.

Any luck testing it?

I put Clutch of the Undercity in there as a pain bounce and also a tutor for Silent Arbiter/Lodestone/Metamorph. Not sure if it is better than Fabricate tbh.

The lightning coils are in there for the Sharuum combo. Each time she comes into play with a Metamorph or the original in the grave, one of them dies. Repeat a million times and next upkeep you blow out a million 3/1 haste elementals. Even without the combo you only have to pay that casting cost once and it will do the rest on its own. No need to play around it. Plus Coils are more resilient to removal than Disciple.

The Bident might work as targeted removal just like the Spear. Just testing both of them right now. I have tested no other draw effects but I fear without artifact lands and a good chance of nothing but Vedalken on the field, that artifact-based draw might not be as good as I want.

Good call on the Canonists I totally missed that.

Since I'm thinking about it, this deck does two things badly and one well:
1. It creature tutors to find answers to what is on the field, like Pod, only not as good.
2. It uses lord effects and Cavern of Souls, like tribal or Merfolk, only not as good.
3. It ramps like Green and poops out hell-monsters. It does this well.

I guess it also has an infinite token combo rammed in there too.

As for the white, it's for Colonnade activations but originally for Vault of the Archangel activations. The white also helps me play a T1 Judge, just in case I have a weird land situation or awkward mulligan. Of it doesn't work out I can revert to UB with ease but as it is now I can include Canonists in the side.

I don't like that Snapcaster build very much. If an opponent lands a Surgical Extraction effect on Wurmcoil, the deck DIES. Usually that many dig spells in a deck should create a "win" button but a handful of Wurmcoils are not a "win" button. He's thinking though, and I like that.

Also here is my latest build:


I finally nailed down a sideboard strategy and I have to say I like Perplex a lot. It will help me tutor for an Architect, a Spear of Heliod, or a Lightning Coils to set up my combo. I'm happy with the number of Sphinxes right now and they all do a good job. Additionally Sharuum is never dead. Two lands and Sharuum provide recursion and I could toss in that Theros Whip to get more.

The sideboard hates non-creature decks and I'm betting those Silent Arbiters would hose any infinite token strategy (if theirs is faster/more consistent than mine, I'll side out mine for hate).

Awesome line of play: T1 - Judge, T2 - Chief (convoke @2)-> Sculptor (convoke @1)-> Spellskite.

With the Judge there we can even hose an incoming T2 Pyroclasm. Honestly with all those guys on the field I can play everything in the deck with one more multicolored land drop.

Any advice for cleaning up the side? I'm probably ready for actual testing at this point.

Wow your list and description are basically what went through my head when building. I just took mine down the 12 enabler path!

The Lodestone and Amethyst situation you present it simply fantastic. Both those cards were in my earlier builds but got cut because....well I don't remember why!

When it comes to the 1cmc I think Certarch is definitely 2nd best choice. If you're really trying to make the opponent pay extra for their spells, then adding the threat of the Judge's Familiar to the equation would throw that strategy an extra bone. Additionally I use the Architects and Metamorphs copying them as lords for the owl who can starting eating Delver swings as early at T4 with enough love pumps. That plus flying means it can swing for healthy chunks. This is all synergy that has NOTHING to do with artifacts so it won't be hated as bad as losing metalcraft.

Your lack of Cavern of Souls warrants explanation too. Maybe I've just got PTSD from playing against control too much...

Maybe something more like this?



Middle the Mixture is an awesome card I forgot about transmute tbh.

I added in 1 Sharuum, a 3cmc transmute, Metamorph, and Lightning Coils to generate infinite 3/1 haste elementals. It's a weak combo (3 cards and an upkeep required) but is better than no combo. Except for Perplex none of the cards are really dead on their own. Lightning Coils is even pretty flavorful 😜

I dunno about the Mage, he's definitely a useful tutor and can convoke, I'll have to test to see if I want more.

I'm starting to settle on a list that looks like this. It's about time to whip up a sideboard. In it I would like to see Esper Charm and Muddle the Mixture. Mindbreak traps and other goodies for Storm and Replicate.

I don't know about where the other famous Esper rares are supposed to fit in here. No doubt they're all powerful, but I feel they would land in a Chiefs list different from mine. How does the thread feel about these other bombs in a potential 75:



Other than being Esper colored and bombs in a general sense, we don't see these cards played in Modern. Anything that disrupts removal or the color Red would be great. Anything that is more effective at taking apart combos would be even better.

As the deck is in it's current state, I see it being able to play a war of attrition with Jund and BGxRock with a more the decent chance of success. Against Storm, this deck has no game. It Doesn't feel good to throw away G1 in any match up. I suspect Living End would be a similar G1 as well.

Tezz feels kinda win-more? He might be solid though, I've never played with him, only been on the receiving end when a dude turned a Pithing Needle targeting my Grimgrin into a 5/5 Pithing Thing. Felt stupid. If we're playing with an undisturbed board, he can be extremely potent. I just assume that over half of the things I am capable of playing are going to get Naturalized, Shatterstormed, Harmonic Slivered, Qasali Pridemaged etc...or even COUNTERED!!!!!

If I was playing Master of Etherium, I'd include Tezz. Without question. I'm not going to so he's less attractive.

Speaking of other cards! I think I'll include some Disciples of the Vault in my side for artifact hate being sided in. It wont help vs. Hurkyl's Recall but it will against Kataki.

I've also wondered what blue decks do about that Islandwalk lord in Merfolk?

Memnarch is in there because his ability is only just barely playable with the ramping and architects, easily subbed for another Wurmcoil.

I don't access to M15 cards yet obvi but I want to test this ASAP. If only to nail down a sideboard strategy...

Quote from benbuzz790 »

State-based effects - the legend rule in this case. I was implying that it died before you chose targets (i.e, it's in the graveyard when you choose what creature to bring back) because it dies to state based effects. Now that I think about it though... I might not be right.


Edit: checked with the rules guys - it works.

Then this combo will work perfectly with Disciple of the Vault. It'd be up to you how to get Sharuum and Metamorph to resolve and stick, whether that means adjusting the manabase radically remains to be determined.

In other news I think I'm finally happy with this build. It curves perfectly and has a lot in common with Merfolk and Pod while being weirdly susceptible to Echoing Truth and Maelstrom Pulse:



As for choices: I downgraded the Summoned Sphinx combo a bit, it's still very potent. The manabase allows me to through out Tar Pit and threaten to alpha strike due to Architect lord pumps.

This Deck List provides enough chances to ramp, convoke, and cheat out enough big nasty artifacts on turns 3-5. After that I can start hard casting any top decked fatties and the Vedalkens are largely relegated to Chump blockers and outs to Lily of the Veil's -2.

I used to have Lich's Mirror in there but it does nothing to a board that can kill me in one turn so I put up Perilous Vault, easily subbed with Oblivion Stone.

As for fatty choices: the Avatar of New Phyrexia is just fab, Wurm is decent, the angels are for beats plus their must-answer ability, the dragon helps sweep and beat definitely great against tokens and Merfolk.

Try my list out, I'm very confidant it can at least make it to tier2 with tweaks and a competent sideboard strategy.

Questions? Jeers? Comments? Riddles?

Quote from benbuzz790 »

Just throwing this out there - Phyrexian metamorph + Sharuum the Hegemon + Grand Architect makes infinite mana -- Sharuum etb targets metamorph, metamorph copies sharuum, SBA kills the original, metamorph's trigger targets sharuum, sharuum comes back, SBA's kill metamorph, and now you're back where you started... except between the triggers resolving you've tapped morph and sharuum each for 2 mana! I'm not quite sure what you do with all that artifact only mana, but I wanted to throw it out there.

This might be a little better than pili-pala because you actually want to play sharuum and metamorph in your deck, and both are good without the combo.

I didn't understand that at all. What is SBA?

Hey gang! I like this new deck idea and read the two threads going. Here is my sample decklist:



There is certainly lots of room for improvement. I sort of jumbled all the most powerful spells into the core list and curved it out. Originally I had a playset of Thoughtseize but it isn't exactly the greatest top deck. After we puke our hand and the board gets wiped, a discard spell is the last thing I want to see.

Tossed in some manlands, I had that unblockable one for a bit but didn't like the CIPT.

Sphinx is the best move. I have an opportunity to field 5 in this list. That beats the tar out of Squadron Hawks. Alternatively you can tutor a freakin Memnarch.

No Mindslaver or Pili Pala. The infinite combos are cute but I'm not confident they'd be good top decks/they may sit in my had too long.

This is largely a modification of an earlier posted list and I liked the angles. I basically agree with everything in that list and submit mine to donate are depth of strategy. Haven't tested obvi, but I'm testing the draws/curve and it's going well.

What do you guys think?