I was looking for a Gonti deck that leans heavily on Gonti. This means the deck should have a lot of sac outlets, reanimator/reclamation effects, and a decent ETB support. While I really like the list, I wonder if that can be worked in a budget? I don't have Jet Medallion but I do have Cloud Key and Helm of Awakening. Working on a lower budget comes with risks as well, like not having access to Goryo's Vengeance, Necromancy, and the Dark Depths package. The mana rocks would also be worse, but I don't think it matters in a more casual playgroup. Do you mind if I use your list as reference?
I think you want Genesis Chamber to help your Ashnod's Altar / Nim Deathmantle combo, but keep in mind that your opponents will get double the tokens when Panharmonicon is in play.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Cauldron of Souls work well together. Just saw the price on Mikaeus... sorry for the suggestion... it is being reprinted in UMA though!)
Zulaport Cutthroat is okay.... I would play it or I would play Gray Merchant of Asphodel... otherwise after exiling all of your opponents' best cards, the game can drag on. You need a way to close it.
For Sac Outlets, I kinda like Anowon, the Ruin Sage for this. Sac Gonti on your upkeep, edict your opponents..
I think you have a nice shell, and should probably fill the rest of the deck with card draw, ramp and removal. Don't forget Crypt Ghast!
I have been fascinated with the idea of having Gonti, Lord of Luxury helm a deck which just aims to disrupt what everyone else is doing and then do a Nim Deathmantle + Ashnod's Altar win. I want the deck to capitalize on Gonti as a sac target, so the deck has to have some sac outlets and a lot of reanimator spells, as well as cards that give value when sacrificing Gonti. In order to pull this off, the deck has to have a lot of mana rocks with some rocks able to produce any color of mana (for activated abilities). I'd like to keep the deck cost to under $200, so expensive rocks like Mana Crypt as well as expensive lands like Cabal Coffers are immediately out of the picture.
I did try to have some sort of "reanimate fatties" kind of strategy but ultimately didn't like it. I want the deck to be as disruptive as possible and to mess with hoe people play with their deck. Once I have the core cards for the strategy identified, I
Here is the list of core cards I'm considering. Do note that this is more of an exhaustive list and can be cut down to what is really wanted for the deck.
Sac Outlets
Thoughtpicker Witch - exile the best of 2 cards off the top of the library and has no timing restriction
Thank you all for the suggestions. The reason why I want to go the artificer route is just because i want an artificer commander. I do have Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain but I'm primarily using her as superfriends historic tribal with Paradox Engine as the main wincon. I did take a look at my binder and found Yidris lying around alongside Glissa and Daretti, so I thought I'd give it a try. I like the ramp in green and Glissa's recursion. I absolutely love the options offered by red. I love blue's card draw. The only color I don't think I can use much is black but I'm fine with it just being a splash.
As it currently stands, I think the deck will be more of an artifact value town than anything else. I'm thinking of removing the cost reduction artifacts though as they can lead to infinite combos, which I'm actively trying to avoid in the deck.
For the past few days, I have been brainstorming about the possibility of using Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder as some sort of artificer commander. The main idea of the deck is to used Yidris' ability to cascade into a lot of artifacts that may have synergies with them, something similar to Daretti, Scrap Savant. There is no definite strategy yet so I'm looking for suggestions.
As such, I have a few questions I'd like to find the answers to:
How many mana rocks do I run?
Would a sac-for-value-then-recur strategy work?
Is a combo-centric approach avoidable? I'd like to run this deck without intentional infinite combos as much as possible.
I haven't been playing the deck much. Got too busy IRL and just recently revisited the deck. I made the changes a long while back but just got the chance to update the decklist here now.
From my experience, I think what the deck wants to do is to lay down some pillowfort effects in the early-mid game. I also think that 6 counterspells are enough and that 4 or 5 board wipes should work. I think what the deck needs to improve on is ramping mana and draw lots of cards. I don't think the likes of Blue Sun's Zenith and its ilk are the ones needed though.
After a lot of games with the deck, I realized that the following are somewhat weak cards:
Detention Sphere/Grasp of Fate - while it's true that both cards can deal with multiple permanents, they are clunky and slow. They might have to be replaced with instant-speed removal
Hour of Revelation - while the potential to cost a lot cheaper is nice, the WWW in its mana cost becomes too prohibitive at times
Forbid - most of the time it just sits in my hand and rots eventually
View from Above - sure it's great with a cost reduction effect on the battlefield, but do we really need this guy? I'm a bit on the fence for this one.
This being a combo deck, I want to make it faster so I think cards like Windfall and some other form of ramp would help. Maybe Chromatic Lantern and Mindstone? What do you think?
Thank you for the suggestions. I'll keep these in mind. I did come up with a very rough draft with the cards I originally listed but it seems like going that route isn't too much to my liking. Maybe it's just me or I find not running cantrip effects too much of a burden.
I'm making a Rubinia Soulsinger deck that I'll be using in a creature-heavy meta. I decided to go with an enchantress subtheme just because I don't have one yet.
Deck Concept: Turn the opponents' creatures against them, sacrifice some for value, then run them over with tokens. Or just plainly steal all their stuff. *Gain incremental advantage from sacrificing creatures.
Can you guys help me come up with some cards that might help with the theme? I'm just listing cards in here i think might be useful. Suggestions are very much welcome. Thanks!
I was looking for a Gonti deck that leans heavily on Gonti. This means the deck should have a lot of sac outlets, reanimator/reclamation effects, and a decent ETB support. While I really like the list, I wonder if that can be worked in a budget? I don't have Jet Medallion but I do have Cloud Key and Helm of Awakening. Working on a lower budget comes with risks as well, like not having access to Goryo's Vengeance, Necromancy, and the Dark Depths package. The mana rocks would also be worse, but I don't think it matters in a more casual playgroup. Do you mind if I use your list as reference?
Mana Rocks:
Card Draw/Tutors:
Thank you! I think Black Market may be too cute for ramp when the deck plays Sifter of Skulls/Pawn of Ulamog. I might be wrong though, so it's definitely on the maybe list. Anyway, for ramp, I'm thinking of Crypt Ghast, Cabal Stronghold, Crypt of Agadeem, and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx(just so happens I already have this card).
Anowon, the Ruin Sage seems like a good option alongside Dawn of the Dead. I'm bringing Chainer, Dementia Master in to maybe help enable this nasty synergy.
I forgot to include it in the initial list but Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Sepulchral Primordial, and Puppeteer Clique are in the short list. Though I don't know if reanimating opponent's creatures is what I want to be doing.
Anyway, here is the list of creatures that helps to produce tokens that can gum up the board, ramp, or be sac fodder:
What do you think?
Nice read. Thanks!
I have been fascinated with the idea of having Gonti, Lord of Luxury helm a deck which just aims to disrupt what everyone else is doing and then do a Nim Deathmantle + Ashnod's Altar win. I want the deck to capitalize on Gonti as a sac target, so the deck has to have some sac outlets and a lot of reanimator spells, as well as cards that give value when sacrificing Gonti. In order to pull this off, the deck has to have a lot of mana rocks with some rocks able to produce any color of mana (for activated abilities). I'd like to keep the deck cost to under $200, so expensive rocks like Mana Crypt as well as expensive lands like Cabal Coffers are immediately out of the picture.
I did try to have some sort of "reanimate fatties" kind of strategy but ultimately didn't like it. I want the deck to be as disruptive as possible and to mess with hoe people play with their deck. Once I have the core cards for the strategy identified, I
Here is the list of core cards I'm considering. Do note that this is more of an exhaustive list and can be cut down to what is really wanted for the deck.
Sac Outlets
Kindly share your suggestions. Thanks!
As it currently stands, I think the deck will be more of an artifact value town than anything else. I'm thinking of removing the cost reduction artifacts though as they can lead to infinite combos, which I'm actively trying to avoid in the deck.
For the past few days, I have been brainstorming about the possibility of using Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder as some sort of artificer commander. The main idea of the deck is to used Yidris' ability to cascade into a lot of artifacts that may have synergies with them, something similar to Daretti, Scrap Savant. There is no definite strategy yet so I'm looking for suggestions.
As such, I have a few questions I'd like to find the answers to:
Value Spells:
Recursion:
Value from Artifacts:
Cost Reduction: (because casting them artifacts cheaper is real nice)
Removal:
Artifact Sac Outlets:
Artifact Tokens:
Land Ramp: (because green)
I'm just listing cards here I feel can be used in the deck so they are not set in stone.
Suggestions? Thanks!
From my experience, I think what the deck wants to do is to lay down some pillowfort effects in the early-mid game. I also think that 6 counterspells are enough and that 4 or 5 board wipes should work. I think what the deck needs to improve on is ramping mana and draw lots of cards. I don't think the likes of Blue Sun's Zenith and its ilk are the ones needed though.
After a lot of games with the deck, I realized that the following are somewhat weak cards:
This being a combo deck, I want to make it faster so I think cards like Windfall and some other form of ramp would help. Maybe Chromatic Lantern and Mindstone? What do you think?
I'll try out some of your suggestions.
I'm making a Rubinia Soulsinger deck that I'll be using in a creature-heavy meta. I decided to go with an enchantress subtheme just because I don't have one yet.
Deck Concept: Turn the opponents' creatures against them, sacrifice some for value, then run them over with tokens. Or just plainly steal all their stuff. *Gain incremental advantage from sacrificing creatures.
Can you guys help me come up with some cards that might help with the theme? I'm just listing cards in here i think might be useful. Suggestions are very much welcome. Thanks!
Here are what I have so far:
Mind Control Effects
Sac Outlets
Untap Effects
Tokens
Combo
Removal
Since the deck uses a lot of auras, might as well include ways to get them back:
Recursion
Oh this is nice. I may have to work on getting some snow basics. Smoke and Mudslide seem decent in dealing with creatures.