Has anyone considered Thought Prison? Its hand disruption is not as good as a turn 1 Thoughtseize, but I think it is still a reasonable pay off for our mana producers. It can chip away at our opponents life in much the same way as Eidolon of the Great Revel. We can cast it on turn 3 if we curve out our first two turns. It is slightly less reliable than Lodestone Golem but, with OUaT and the "cantrip" creatures, it can be done fairly consistently. One of the weaknesses of this deck is its inability to meaningfully interact with the opponent outside of taxes and ballista. Maybe the prison is worth an inclusion to address this?
Has anyone thought about using Gauntlet of Power or Hall of Triumph? In some match ups, going all-in on an aggressive strategy is the best plan. The versions of Blue Steel that seem to focus on that mode of the deck seem to be best with Signal Pest and Master of Etherium for the extra lord effects. Unfortunately, those cards take up a lot of deck space and don't synergize very well with the rest of the deck. Pest is awkward with Grand Architect and can't crew Smuggler's Copter without help. Master, on the other hand, often doesn't do much. Our early game consists of mostly birds and non-artifacts which don't give any benefit nor receive any from the lord.
The Gauntlet and Hall, on the other hand, pump nearly all of our early drops. They can function as an additional Throne of the God-Pharaoh, albeit at an increased cost. The Gauntlet might also allow some really explosive plays with Walking Ballista.
Sidenote: I'm interested in the mainboard Phyrexian Revoker tech...how has it served you?
I like that it's another creature that works with the engine. He contributes to strong turn 2 plays. Landing your 1-drop into a t2 chief engineer with a revoker is a pretty strong play if you can get a relevant target. Sometimes it whiffs but, even then, you still have a 2/1 on the field that can be turned sideways. It gets sided out in some matches where I don't feel its targets are that relevant but any match where you would side in a revoker is probably better g1 for having it mainboard.
My reasoning for putting him in mainboard is that I want more ways to interact with my opponent's gameplan. In particular, I want more cards that can lock the other player out of the game to further the efforts of Lodestone Golem (and to act as redundancy). From this point of view, revoker only fills the role I want it to in a few matches and is why I originally added in the Thorn of Amethyst mainboard. However, after playing around a bit, revoker whiffing is annoying but not detrimental. If Thorn of Amethyst misses, I've slowed my gameplan down too much. However, if I played fewer non-creatures, I think Thorn of Amethyst would be a more solid addition to the mainboard. In my list though, it's now been relegated to sideboard tech.
I'd be interested in any ideas about adding more interaction or taxes though. I've seen some lists in the thread with Ensnaring Bridge, but I don't think that card fits well with the aggressive gameplan that seems to have had the most traction here. Also, how has Dismember treated you? Is it worth the 4 life and (sometimes) 2 mana very often?
You list looks solid, I'd keep probably keep the Phyrexian Revoker but remove both Thorn of Amethyst. I started with Thorn in the main and found it to be fairly situational...alot of modern decks are creature based so the tax is seldom felt. It also makes Shackles, Swords, Batterskull unnecessarily more expensive...
Also, Sword of Light and Shadow is better than Fire and Ice for this deck imho...it provides a way to recur creatures and its protection is relevant against most removal. The +2/+2 boost inherently gives protection from red spells like bolt etc.
I think you're probably right about the Thorn of Amethyst. There are some match ups where it feels solid, but it does interfere a lot with non-creature artifacts. Two in the sideboard might be the right call for this list. That frees up some room for Signal Pest, which I think is good tech for this deck. Evasive 1-drop artifacts are great with equipment and Chief Engineer. Chief Engineer is so much more impactful when you hit your 1-drop.
The swords question is tough. I definitely prefer drawing a card and getting 2/3rds of a bolt every time I hit a player to gaining 3 life and returning something from my graveyard, but the red/blue protection isn't quite as powerful as the black/white. The prot. blue is sometimes awkward with Grand Architect too. I'll play around with L&S since it does provide an avenue for card advantage, but I think F&I might provide more necessary utility.
On another note, for those of you who have been playing with the deck, what do you think about match-ups? What decks seem to easy to overcome and which seem to be more of a struggle, or even impossible.
Here's a list I've been playing around with. It goes heavier on tax effects and has a stronger focus on curving out. Any thoughts on relegating the revokers to the sideboard and replacing them with signal pests mainboard? On another note, why is there so much love for Hangarback Walker? Is it solely the resiliency?
The Gauntlet and Hall, on the other hand, pump nearly all of our early drops. They can function as an additional Throne of the God-Pharaoh, albeit at an increased cost. The Gauntlet might also allow some really explosive plays with Walking Ballista.
I like that it's another creature that works with the engine. He contributes to strong turn 2 plays. Landing your 1-drop into a t2 chief engineer with a revoker is a pretty strong play if you can get a relevant target. Sometimes it whiffs but, even then, you still have a 2/1 on the field that can be turned sideways. It gets sided out in some matches where I don't feel its targets are that relevant but any match where you would side in a revoker is probably better g1 for having it mainboard.
My reasoning for putting him in mainboard is that I want more ways to interact with my opponent's gameplan. In particular, I want more cards that can lock the other player out of the game to further the efforts of Lodestone Golem (and to act as redundancy). From this point of view, revoker only fills the role I want it to in a few matches and is why I originally added in the Thorn of Amethyst mainboard. However, after playing around a bit, revoker whiffing is annoying but not detrimental. If Thorn of Amethyst misses, I've slowed my gameplan down too much. However, if I played fewer non-creatures, I think Thorn of Amethyst would be a more solid addition to the mainboard. In my list though, it's now been relegated to sideboard tech.
I'd be interested in any ideas about adding more interaction or taxes though. I've seen some lists in the thread with Ensnaring Bridge, but I don't think that card fits well with the aggressive gameplan that seems to have had the most traction here. Also, how has Dismember treated you? Is it worth the 4 life and (sometimes) 2 mana very often?
I think you're probably right about the Thorn of Amethyst. There are some match ups where it feels solid, but it does interfere a lot with non-creature artifacts. Two in the sideboard might be the right call for this list. That frees up some room for Signal Pest, which I think is good tech for this deck. Evasive 1-drop artifacts are great with equipment and Chief Engineer. Chief Engineer is so much more impactful when you hit your 1-drop.
The swords question is tough. I definitely prefer drawing a card and getting 2/3rds of a bolt every time I hit a player to gaining 3 life and returning something from my graveyard, but the red/blue protection isn't quite as powerful as the black/white. The prot. blue is sometimes awkward with Grand Architect too. I'll play around with L&S since it does provide an avenue for card advantage, but I think F&I might provide more necessary utility.
On another note, for those of you who have been playing with the deck, what do you think about match-ups? What decks seem to easy to overcome and which seem to be more of a struggle, or even impossible.
3 Chief Engineer
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Grand Architect
3 Judge's Familiar
4 Lodestone Golem
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Sage of Epityr
3 Spellskite
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Batterskull
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Vedalken Shackles
Land (21)
4 Ghost Quarter
17 Island
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Ratchet Bomb
1x Spellskite
2x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Vedalken Shackles