MTG Salvation

Basically, the idea is use Etherium Sculptor and Everflowing Chalice to power out Steel Hellkite and/or Wurmcoil Engine.

I haven't been playing long, and I dunno about how control decks should be made, so I'd appreciate some advice on how to make this deck better. Am I using the right counterspells? Draw spells? And etcetera.

And can this even be remotely relevant? Are fourth turn Wurmcoils and Hellkites even worth casting?

Could I get a mod to move this to the Casual forum, please?

Your best choice of play here would be to play the 12post land set up and run All is Dust

That takes up a lot of space, though.

And getting the right 'posts at the right time is a pain.

-12 Island
+4 Vesuva
+4 Glimmerpost
+4 Cloudpost

-2 Oblivion Stone
-2 Surge Node
+4 All is Dust

Could be the bare minimum and your deck would just get faster and more reliable to me.

I would also consider a Single eye of ugin as a way to tutor out threats and make your all is dust spells cost less. I would consider a single emrakul, the aeons torn. couple reasons. If you have the mana to hard cast him (not too difficult to get to that if you resolve an all is dust to reset the board to give you the ability to control the field) its essentially game over. He also (with the use of gifts ungiven) gives you the ability to reshuffle your yard and get back your threats in a longer drawn out game.

Mhm..

Alright.

What should I do about my counters? Would some combination of Misstep/Snare/Snag be a good set up?

Quote from feathers

Mhm..

Alright.

What should I do about my counters? Would some combination of Misstep/Snare/Snag be a good set up?

Depends on the format. Spell pierce, remand, mana leak and any number of other counters might be useful depending on what is actually played. You're probably best off starting with spell snare, mana leak and a higher mana counter given how the deck works.

Hmm.

Alright. But I'm putting four Missteps in the sideboard. I just know Aether Vial is going to show up.

So like this?

I feel like you don't need the Etherium Sculptor/Everflowing Chalice stuff. You'd be better off with more ways to find your Cloudposts and more stuff to do with your mana. Here's an example of a more classic "Tron" deck that's built around the same idea of fast mana lands (although the Urza's lands were worse). I feel like you're going to want at least some green as well in this as well. Gifts Ungiven isn't banned in this format either, is it?

EDIT: You already had Gifts in there, but I'd move it up to 4 copies.

Good ol' Nassif Tooth and Nail.

Well.. you're really getting away from the original. It's not gonna be my deck anymore if I get rid of those.

And they work so well together! I suspect that the Chalices will get even better with the 'posts.

My issue is that you have two different mana strategies right now, both the 12post and the sculptor/chalice stuff. I think you'd be better off replacing Etherium Sculptor and Chalice with some way to find your cloudposts. Expedition Map would work (especially with Academy Ruins), splashing green for Sylvan Scrying would work and there's a few other things that would work that I can't think of right now. The deck needs more focus.

Also, you might want to look at a few things like Staff of Domination (6 mana to draw a card isn't bad when you are doing that with one land) and some of the better draw spells like Thirst for Knowledge. EDIT: Mindslaver as well.

ok

Couple things

1st: Blue Sun's Zenith is an isntant...

2nd: Try not to forget Rune Snag Its a particular favorite of mine.

3rd: Duplicant wouldn't be a horrid creature for this deck just not sure where it would fit... most likely a sideboard card.

To give an idea of what I'd try to do.



I might actually try this deck out a bit to see how fast it can go off.

Okay.

I'll throw a few over there.

I think I'll switch out Zenith for Mind Spring. Three blue mana could be a problem with so little actual blue mana.

Speaking of which, with so little colored mana already, is splashing a second color really a good idea?

You can get 10 sources of each color pretty easily which is enough for this deck. I don't think anything needs more than 1 colored mana to cast in the setup I had.

EDIT: One thing is that my version needs more trinket mage targets. It's all very rough right now though.

Duping a Hypergenesis deck's Emrakul makes me like that card. Just hope that's possible.

But this is getting way too expensive for me. Not to mention complicated. I'm sure I couldn't play anything close to your set-up.

If you're worried about it getting too expensive, there's still a few interactions you should keep in mind.

1) Trinket Mage -> Expedition Map -> Academy Ruins. This gives you the land drop you want every turn for 5 mana. If you just need a single land you can skip the academy ruins and go for that as well.

2) Staff of Domination + large amounts of mana is good. You can stall out the other side of the board by tapping creatures, draw 2-3 cards a turn or gain some life.

3) Trinket Mage packages. You can have engineered explosives, pithing needle and a number of other powerful cards that can be tutored up easily. You'll actually need this if you want to compete in the format.

Those shouldn't be that expensive and they'll make your deck a lot more powerful.

Just played vs NovemberMike in cockatrice, and i noticed that this deck would do very well with a gifts ungiven package.

Academy Ruins- Mindslaver- Life from the Loam- Gitaxian Probe= inevitable slaver lock.

Ok.

I will still invest in Chalice of the Void, though.

Should I pick up some Trinispheres?


So I'll give this a try:

This is a list I just through together on the basis of trying to establish big mana via the posts, a trinket mage tool box and a treasure mage tool box. Realms Uncharted seems pretty good considering its going to pull two lands to your hand with plenty of targets and with life from the loam running around it whatever ended up in the yard shouldn't be an issue at all. Gifts package can set up the Mind Slaver Lock or net you some pretty nice toys to play with.

I've tested this deck a little bit, and I enjoy it a lot.


1-2 Multicolor Madness (Not actual Madness, just stuff like Knight of New Alara and Wooly Thoctar)

Game one, overrun. Couldn't stabilize against the creature onslaught.

Game two, got a good hand. Used Trinket Mage to pull Expedition Map which fetched a Cloudpost. Pulled two Vesuva and another Cloudpost. I Snagged two creatures in a row, Dusted once, then laid Staff of Domination. The retarded amounts of mana generated by the posts fed through the staff kept his fatties tapped down until I could Gifts for Emrakul, Titan, Wurmcoil, and Hellkite. I needed something to seal the deal badly. There was an Oros in his hand that I Aether bounced earlier, and I didn't think I could weather a fourth creature. After he'd put the Engine and Titan in my hand, I topdecked All Is Dust, cast it, and he conceded.

Game three, blundered so horribly I'm embarassed to say what I did. That was that.


The game after that was against a person playing UW Enchantments. I scooped after mulliganing to five to a hand with only Vesuva for land and then spent the next four turns not doing anything because I never drew a single land. Maybe should have mulliganed again, but I didn't see my chances of getting anything playable as very high. I could have used that hand quite well if I'd gotten an Island.

I didn't play a second game because I needed to make some edits. So out went two Effigy and in went two Island.


2-0 Puresteel Equip

Game one, the opponent dropped his Puresteel, and an assload of 0, 1, and 2 cost equipments (including Basilisk Collar). He managed to work me down to 7 life, him up to 52. He plays a second Paladin, next turn I dust them both, next he plays Ponder. I Misstep it. I need him to not find a third Paladin bad. Success! He passes with nothing, I drop Chalice for four (two counters) to lock out any more Paladins and the only spells he plays for the rest of the game are two of those Metalcraft StPs. He concedes not long after those.

Game two, he got off to a terribly slow start. So much so that I was able to hardcast Emrakul the turn after he cast his Puresteel and all his equipment. I took my extra turn, attacked, causing him to sac all his equipments. He tried to Ponder, but I snagged it to seal the deal.


I really like this deck, needless to say. Thank you all for the help!

Here's what I'm working with now.

Mine, updated:



How is it playing for you, Mike?

I feel like it has a fair amount of work still. It's definitely powerful, it just needs some more cards to keep you alive in the early game.