What does your current list look like Ace? The TCGPlayer list was similar to mine, as Corbin follows me on the twitter. May or may not be exact list from last week.
Went undefeated tonight with Ace1's Grand Architect aggro deck. Beat Ad Naus, Elves, Grixis Death Shadow, Abzan Coco variant. I really like this build. I didn't actually get to put Throne into play, as i never happened to draw it, but most games I was able to beat down while also applying a tax. Walking Ballista was amazing as always
One of the crazier lines of play tonight was Turn 1 Mausoleum Wanderer, Turn 2 Chief Engineer, Etherium Sculptor, Etherium Sculptor, Smuggler's Copter able to crew, Turn 3 Walking Ballista X=4.
I really like the Unified Will, as they fight unfair decks. Same with Thorns. The Commandeers are pretty much exclusive for tron. The Phyrexian Revoker did work as well, I think they make more sense than needle. Being able to hit mana abilities was a plus, as I ran into Lotus Blood, Devoted Druid (half of it), Heritage Druid.
Hey Keenwa1, no worries man. I enjoy building crazy decks and refining them as much as any of us. I really think this one has potential to take off and do very, very well.
As for the Sages, I would try more but I actually only own one. I played it over the 4th bird the other night and it was pretty good. I suppose it would be a tad better with fetchlands? But I don't exactly want to spend the life if I don't have to. Not sure yet what's optimal. I did have one game where I kept a one-lander (21 total in deck), played Sage turn 1, and saw 4 none lands. That was... really bad lol.
I'm guessing the white splash has been good to you? It means we can't run Shackles, which i think is fine as we handle creature decks well anyways. Fragmentize seems real good. Unsure if I'd play Thalia over Thorn tho...
I most certainly wasn't try to take credit for it. I had found your original list with Trophy Mages, and posted in here that I had been testing with Trinkets, as well as Judge's Familiars. I also put a reference to this awesome forum in the decklist itself (the summary below the deck). I also don't think I call the deck my own in the reddit thread itself, but maybe it could be interpreted that way? If so, my apologies.
As a note, Grand Architect combined with the thopter combo doesn't work at all. When you sac an artifact, a 2/2 creature enters the battlefield. The sword will not trigger.
I basically took your list and replaced the sages with Judge's Familiar (they're blue and help protect). That became the list I played with last night. A ton of fun. Then after a few matches I realized how insane Walking Ballista is with Grand Architect, so I am trying the Trophy Mage swap into the Trinket Mage swap.
I don't think Aether Vial is needed since we don't get any benefit of flashing in guys. We are already cheating most into play. And a deck full of creatures likely won't suffer from Stony Silence. You can side out most of your copters for other stuff like Vendilion Clique and do just fine. There are likely some other good blue creatures you can run as well to just get the beats on while they derp with stony.
I am also working on this list and having a ton of fun. Played only a few rounds with a list similar to yours Keenwa1. I'm looking to swap the Trophy Mages for Trinket Mages because they allow you to grab Walking Ballista and maindeck Collar, which wrecks so many decks.
I'm uncertain how necessary the GQ are. You can just as easily keep 3 main and 1 in the board with a Crucible. I want to try out academy and buried ruin as ways to rebuy walking ballista, which is likely to come up given trinket mages. It may also be correct to swap the 4th Chief Engineer for another useful piece, unsure what atm. Maybe not.
I do love this deck. Grand Architect is one of my favorite magic cards.
@TehCheator, Esper Charm's destroy enchantment mode is probably most useful. It answers Stony Silence, Eidolon of Rhetoric (if you care), Blood Moon (if it matters), opposing Unlifes, etc. The draw 2 is the only other mode thats important, as it can help pull you ahead in control matchups (W/x control decks with stony too).
As for Painful Truths, this is likely the best card to fight against Liliana of the Veil. That walker makes it very difficult to hold onto cards while also making land drops or progressing your gameplan to a combo. Going up an extra 2 cards relieves the pressure for a time and digs deep.
All in all the deck still felt great. I think the sideboard still needs some work, I like Ethereal Haze a lot less with Death's Shadow so popular. I also wasn't thrilled with Elspeth, I think something like Painful Truths might just be better against the grindy decks. The Blessed Alliances were excellent, so I might try something like...
You said the Blessed Alliances were excellent, but I didn't see any mention of them in your tourney report. Why have these been so good for you? The sac creature mode doesn't seem to relevant to us since we are a combo deck that usually doesn't care about opposing creatures in play. Would Timely Reinforcements be better, or...?
I'm also leaning on 2 Painful Truths atm, though I may cut one for Esper Charm as that card has been very good to me.
Congrats on the solid run Thnkr! It makes me incredibly happy to see others doing super well with this deck. Padeem looks like a must-include SB tech card now!
Also randomly stumbled upon these artifact creatures, I really like the manticore:
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Chief Engineer
4 Grand Architect
2 Master of Etherium
2 Etched Champion
4 Walking Ballista
4 Lodestone Golem
2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
14 Island
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Unified Will
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Scrap Trawler
2 Commandeer
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Grafdigger's Cage
One of the crazier lines of play tonight was Turn 1 Mausoleum Wanderer, Turn 2 Chief Engineer, Etherium Sculptor, Etherium Sculptor, Smuggler's Copter able to crew, Turn 3 Walking Ballista X=4.
I really like the Unified Will, as they fight unfair decks. Same with Thorns. The Commandeers are pretty much exclusive for tron. The Phyrexian Revoker did work as well, I think they make more sense than needle. Being able to hit mana abilities was a plus, as I ran into Lotus Blood, Devoted Druid (half of it), Heritage Druid.
As for the Sages, I would try more but I actually only own one. I played it over the 4th bird the other night and it was pretty good. I suppose it would be a tad better with fetchlands? But I don't exactly want to spend the life if I don't have to. Not sure yet what's optimal. I did have one game where I kept a one-lander (21 total in deck), played Sage turn 1, and saw 4 none lands. That was... really bad lol.
I'm guessing the white splash has been good to you? It means we can't run Shackles, which i think is fine as we handle creature decks well anyways. Fragmentize seems real good. Unsure if I'd play Thalia over Thorn tho...
I don't think Aether Vial is needed since we don't get any benefit of flashing in guys. We are already cheating most into play. And a deck full of creatures likely won't suffer from Stony Silence. You can side out most of your copters for other stuff like Vendilion Clique and do just fine. There are likely some other good blue creatures you can run as well to just get the beats on while they derp with stony.
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Chief Engineer
4 Grand Architect
3 Trinket Mage
4 Lodestone Golem
3 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Walking Ballista
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Basilisk Collar
17 Island
2 Buried Ruin
1 Academy Ruins
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Torpor Orb
2 Unified Will
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Spellskite
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Pithing Needle
1 Grafdigger's Cage
I'm uncertain how necessary the GQ are. You can just as easily keep 3 main and 1 in the board with a Crucible. I want to try out academy and buried ruin as ways to rebuy walking ballista, which is likely to come up given trinket mages. It may also be correct to swap the 4th Chief Engineer for another useful piece, unsure what atm. Maybe not.
I do love this deck. Grand Architect is one of my favorite magic cards.
That said, it was great watching Gerry wreck a bunch of opponents even with a mistake or two. As he puts it, this deck is gas!
About to watch them myself.
As for Painful Truths, this is likely the best card to fight against Liliana of the Veil. That walker makes it very difficult to hold onto cards while also making land drops or progressing your gameplan to a combo. Going up an extra 2 cards relieves the pressure for a time and digs deep.
You said the Blessed Alliances were excellent, but I didn't see any mention of them in your tourney report. Why have these been so good for you? The sac creature mode doesn't seem to relevant to us since we are a combo deck that usually doesn't care about opposing creatures in play. Would Timely Reinforcements be better, or...?
I'm also leaning on 2 Painful Truths atm, though I may cut one for Esper Charm as that card has been very good to me.