@Garkyn, that is a really cool list. While you do loose Ancient Stirrings, It seems like Whir of Invention can do just as good of a job. 4 Bridges + 4 Stirrings is not 8 bridges in your deck, but 3 Bridges + 3 Whir is 6 hard bridges. The flexibility to grab something important that you are missing, such as a lantern or needle or another mill-rock is exactly what Whir aims to accomplish. I love the simplicity of it.
I'd like to find a way to improve the Valakut / Jund / Tron matchups, thought tron may just be a lost cause at this point even with GQ. The Battle at the Bridge alongside Collective Brutality helps against most aggro matchups for sure, buying you plenty of time.
I understand Crucible + GQ is great, and Inventors' Fair makes it even better, but I don't think it's necessary if you are able to setup your gameplan of disruption + lock. Whir lets you more consistently get the lock going, then you're in great shape. You don't need the Crucible backup plan if you could also assemble thopter sword combo to close out games.
EDIT: For everyone else, why do you guys like Ghost Quarter so much? Don't get me wrong, this card has been in all of my decks since its inception. The card has been good to me. I find it hard to pin-point exactly where I've needed it...
Excellent write up Oliver. Thanks for the report. You played quite a variety of decks. Just goes to show the power level of Lantern and how it can overcome virtually anything with a little luck. I'm really happy that you were able to take down a GP.
I really like the idea of tarns to bluff what you're on. i found 5 shocks to be ideal over seachrome coast, you often want to have more fetchables. On the draw side out a tarn.
I've been having good success with this list. It was originally mono black, but I cut a Ruinous Path and a Murder for two Anguished Unmaking, adjusted the lands, and it feels great.
I have been having a lot of success with a similar style of deck. It abuses the power of Paradoxical Outcome and cheep artifacts alongside Inspiring Statuary. This deck is highly redundant and quite consistent at assembling it's gameplan. While it doesn't use Aetherflux Reservoir as this thread is discussing about, I think Grapeshot is just a cleaner and easier to cast card that serves the same purpose.
The general gameplan is to use Whir of Invention to put in an Inspiring Statuary into play by turn 3 (or cast the artifact if it's in your hand), then combo off on turn 4 by repeatedly casting Paradoxical Outcome through the help of redundant resources such as Merchant Scroll and Snapcaster Mage. The scroll also allows helps find Whir if you dont have it or a statuary. The card also finds valuable defenses such as Pact of Negation for control decks and Repeal for problematic permanents like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Eidolon of the Great Revel.
Inspiring Statuary is an incredibly important combo piece, as it makes your spells cost very little mana. This coupled with the fact that our primary draw engine also happens to "untap" our mana sources makes for a very strong engine.
@kirtash900 thanks for the explanation. You listed that you need Noxious Revival, but I don't see it being used in your line-of-play to gain infinite life/damage.
Todd and Tom discuss the deck after the games. They hit on a few good points. The cheerios list they play doesn't appear optimal but it's still good to showcase the power and consistency.
I have been testing with this list. Inspiring Statuary is nuts. Some games feel akin to Vintage Paradoxical storm, where your 0 mana artifacts might as well be moxen. The other big player is Engulf the Shore as a four-of. This card gives you so much time against Mardu Vehicles or GB stuff. I think I've lost maybe one game to GB constrictor as of now.
Sideboard is a big work-in-progress as I'm still testing the deck. The flex slots in the main are all of the 1-of cards. The Inventors' Fair may need to be an Island, but will unsure how needed the fair is against control decks. Vexing Scuttler provides amazing synergy, buying back Engulf or paradoxical which both buy back the crab to your hand. Unsubstantiate should buy you time against aggro or copy-cat, as well as allow you to push through your combo.
That last minute Alley Evasion addition looking real silly. I expect many more lists to pop up over the next few days with this mess being all over MTGO.
Spent a while writing this quick sideboarding guide. Feel free to critique and let me know if some matchups appear completely wrong. I'm still learning how to best combat certain strategies and playstyles with each deck.
The Chord deck had a lot of answers. He had Reclamation Sage to remove an Opal, Forge-Tender to stop Grapeshot, and multiple ways to combo off and win. Game 1 I played Silence on his upkeep and he responded by tapping out to pump his team, who were already bolstered by Anafenza, with Gavony Township.
I was envisioning a scenario where he plays two Forge-Tenders and I play Echoing Truth to bounce them and he sacs one in response and plays the other on his turn. Yuck! I think this deck is public enemy #3 after Burn & Jund.
They can chord for rec sage on opal. You can also cast retract in response to bounce your opal. There are plays to be made here.
Silence I wouldn't bring in against them, as they can still activate abilities, and they dont have much removal anyway. Swan Song serves a better purpose, as it also counters chord (where silence does nothing)
1 Academy Ruins
2 Inventors' Fair
2 Duskmantle, House of Shadow
3 Island
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
1 Glimmervoid
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Codex Shredder
2 Ghoulcaller's Bell
3 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Lantern of Insight
4 Mox Opal
2 Pithing Needle
1 Pyxis of Pandemonium
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Welding Jar
1 Fatal Push
3 Collective Brutality
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Set Adrift
1 Infernal Tutor
2 Thoughtseize
3 Whir of Invention
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Lost Legacy
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Pithing Needle
1 Set Adrift
1 Thoughtseize
1 Fatal Push
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Welding Jar
1 Witchbane Orb
I'd like to try Duskmantle, House of Shadow over Ghost Quarter, as having duskmantle will allow you to beat Stony Silence easily.
I'd like to find a way to improve the Valakut / Jund / Tron matchups, thought tron may just be a lost cause at this point even with GQ. The Battle at the Bridge alongside Collective Brutality helps against most aggro matchups for sure, buying you plenty of time.
Thoughts on the following:
-1 Crucible
-1 Spellskite
-1 Fatal Push
-2 Ghost Quarter
-1 Polluted Delta
+1 Thoughtseize
+1 Infernal Tutor
+1 Collective Brutality
+2 Duskmantle
+1 Darkslick Shores
I understand Crucible + GQ is great, and Inventors' Fair makes it even better, but I don't think it's necessary if you are able to setup your gameplan of disruption + lock. Whir lets you more consistently get the lock going, then you're in great shape. You don't need the Crucible backup plan if you could also assemble thopter sword combo to close out games.
EDIT: For everyone else, why do you guys like Ghost Quarter so much? Don't get me wrong, this card has been in all of my decks since its inception. The card has been good to me. I find it hard to pin-point exactly where I've needed it...
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Flooded Strand
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Plains
I really like the idea of tarns to bluff what you're on. i found 5 shocks to be ideal over seachrome coast, you often want to have more fetchables. On the draw side out a tarn.
4 Walking Ballista
4 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
4 Fatal Push
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Transgress the Mind
2 Ruinous Path
2 Anguished Unmaking
4 Shambling Vent
4 Concealed Courtyard
2 Aether Hub
2 Blighted Fen
3 Flaying Tendrils
3 Essence Extraction
1 Perilous Predicament
1 Noxious Gearhulk
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Anguished Unmaking
I'm not 100% on the numbers for the side-board, but they can be adjusted as others work on this.
4 Welding Jar
4 Briber's Purse
4 Engineered Explosives
4 Mishra's Bauble
2 Tormod's Crypt
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Inspiring Statuary
3 Whir of Invention
4 Merchant Scroll
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Pact of Negation
1 Repeal
1 Grapeshot
4 Polluted Delta
1 Steam Vents
9 Island
3 Echoing Truth
1 Emrakul, the Promised End
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Pithing Needle
1 Æther Spellbomb
1 Defense Grid
4 Metallic Rebuke
1 Pact of Negation
1 Whir of Invention
The general gameplan is to use Whir of Invention to put in an Inspiring Statuary into play by turn 3 (or cast the artifact if it's in your hand), then combo off on turn 4 by repeatedly casting Paradoxical Outcome through the help of redundant resources such as Merchant Scroll and Snapcaster Mage. The scroll also allows helps find Whir if you dont have it or a statuary. The card also finds valuable defenses such as Pact of Negation for control decks and Repeal for problematic permanents like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Eidolon of the Great Revel.
Inspiring Statuary is an incredibly important combo piece, as it makes your spells cost very little mana. This coupled with the fact that our primary draw engine also happens to "untap" our mana sources makes for a very strong engine.
Todd and Tom discuss the deck after the games. They hit on a few good points. The cheerios list they play doesn't appear optimal but it's still good to showcase the power and consistency.
4 Cathar's Shield
4 Ornithopter
4 Glint-Nest Crane
1 Vexing Scuttler
1 Unsubstantiate
4 Engulf the Shore
4 Paradoxical Outcome
4 Reverse Engineer
2 Baral's Expertise
3 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Inventors' Fair
20 Island
4 Negate
3 Crush of Tentacles
2 Sphinx of the Final Word
2 Whir of Invention
2 Chilling Grasp
2 Unsubstantiate
Sideboard is a big work-in-progress as I'm still testing the deck. The flex slots in the main are all of the 1-of cards. The Inventors' Fair may need to be an Island, but will unsure how needed the fair is against control decks. Vexing Scuttler provides amazing synergy, buying back Engulf or paradoxical which both buy back the crab to your hand. Unsubstantiate should buy you time against aggro or copy-cat, as well as allow you to push through your combo.
This guide is based off of the following list:
4 Puresteel Paladin
4 Retract
4 Serum Visions
2 Swan Song
1 Grapeshot
2 Noxious Revival
4 Mox Opal
4 Accorder's Shield
4 Cathar's Shield
4 Spidersilk Net
4 Paradise Mantle
2 Sigil of Distinction
2 Kite Shield
2 Windswept Heath
2 Marsh Flats
2 Arid Mesa
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Seachrome Coast
2 Plains
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Silence
4 Echoing Truth
2 Paradoxical Outcome
1 Favor of the Mighty
Sideboarding Guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xL9nWYRqoV0fNJ9kZ8MxCQtjfanZhKiwIE7jAaWxcwk/edit?usp=sharing
Most of their videos are over an hour long, can you link to the video with the timestamp?
EDIT: http://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/k/kD06088W/ timestamp 54:00
They can chord for rec sage on opal. You can also cast retract in response to bounce your opal. There are plays to be made here.
Burrenton Forge-Tender does not stop Grapeshot. There are 20+ copies of grapeshot on the stack, he can prevent one of them.
Silence I wouldn't bring in against them, as they can still activate abilities, and they dont have much removal anyway. Swan Song serves a better purpose, as it also counters chord (where silence does nothing)