I played Blue Steel for about two years and contributed a bit to this thread, but lost my account.
I wanted to do a quick report on Blue Steel because I played the deck again at this week's FNM (Nowadays i'm usually playing UR Phoenix, but I'm sick of all the hate for the deck and I'm definitely not the best pilot for Phoenix).
Overall you'll see I'm not playing any of the new sweet cards at the moment. No Traxos, no Artificer's assistant, no immortal sun, etc...
What I think, is that 8 copies of tax birds feel necessary against Phoenix. As a Phoenix player myself i feel like you generally want to counter that turn 2 manamorphose.
Also, tax birds are nice. You can always count on at least one opponent doing a misplay, someone forgetting you have a bird in play and trying to use a spot removal while being tapped out. That's the advantage of being a rogue deck.
Friday, I played against Whir Prison, Storm and Hardened scales and won 2-0 each time.
I will make it quick :
1st Match : Against Whir Prison
My opponent plays a build with no mox opals, replacing them with simian spirit guides.
Game 1 My opponent and I both mulligan to 6,
Opponent sticks a chalice on 1 on turn 2, but I managed to play 3 birds on turn 1 and 2 , making his chalice useless for the rest of the game. Opponent also finds an early ensnaring bridge , but is unable to fully empty his hand, allowing my Birds to gradually lower his life total despite his inventor's fair gaining him 1 life on each of his upkeeps. I also drew one of my 2 copies of Throne of the god-pharaoh. With grand architect throne, and a few birds in play, my opponent decides to concede.
Game 2 : Sideboard changes : - 4 Lodestone Golem, - 1 Wurmcoil engine, +2 Ceremonious rejection, +2 Trinket mage, + 1 Relic of progenitus
This made me realise I probably don't have enough sideboard slots against artifacts decks, in situations where Lodestone Golem are basically useless. I felt kinda bad siding Relic in this game.
My opponent mulligans at 6 again. I keep a slow hand with ceremonious rejection in it, play mausoleum wanderer turn 1, and force myself to not play chief engineer on turn 2, because I have no other way to deal with his possible turn 3 ensnaring bridge. My opponent played engineered explosives on 1, then basically waited until he had 5 mana to play his bridge, believing I had a spell pierce in hand. I countered it. In the meantime, i drew and played a copter that allowed me to find a second ceremonious rejection later on. When I'm representing lethal on board, my opponent doesn't have the mana to both pay the wanderer tax and his whir of invention, and cannot whir anymore if he decides to crack his engineered explosives.
Second match against storm :
Game 1 he wins the toss and sticks a turn 2 electromancer.
I'm on the draw, but my hand is quite decent, I just need another blue source to go turn 1 mausoleum wanderer, turn 2 etherium sculptor, Turn 3 Grand architect + Lodestone Golem + Ballista X=1.
Fortunately, his start is very slow and he does not try to storm off before I play my lodestone golem and ballista. He repeals my ballista end of turn (Very bad idea) and plays a baral on his turn 4 (for 3 mana), making him unable to storm off immediately again. On my turn 4, i have about 14 mana available and 2 ballistas in hand but I'm scared of a remand so I play ballista X=3 two times, then immediately destroy Baral and Electromancer.
Game 2 : Sideboard changes -1 Wurmcoil Engine, -3 Smuggler's copter, -2 etherium sculptor, -2 Throne of the god pharaoh + 2 Damping Sphere, + 2 Relic of progenitus, + 2 Trinket mage, + 1 Grafdigger's cage, + 1 Dismember
On game 2 against storm I have so much sideboard cards to bring in that, again, I feel like my sideboard isn't really balanced. Throne and copters go away because I would rather play control than aggro against storm. My Lodestone golem dies to an abrade, but Damping sphere and relic of progenitus with one mana open stall the game long enough. He has no clean answers to it, has not enough mana to bounce every artifacts to my hand because of the wanderer tax. I finish the game slowly by attacking with 1 power creatures while always replaying the artifacts he bounces back to my hand and keeping one mana open for relic.
Match 3 Against Hardened scales
Honestly my favourite match-up even if it's supposedly quite difficult for us.
He goes first and plays turn 1 Llanowar graft land into turn 2 Arcbound ravager, turn 3 ballista x=1
My deck was faster because I had turn 1 Bird, turn 2 engineer Copter, Turn 3 grand architect, balista X=3. I immediately try to remove his ballista, and he decides to just ping my face in response. I'm surprised but happy. I know the match-up often boils down to "Who has the biggest ballista".
On turn 4 he plays a hangarback walker X=1. On my turn i just recharge the ballista twice, and start to machine gun his board. First the hangarback. He sacs it and i respond by shooting Arcbound ravager twice, then the leftover topter to prevent him from having a huge flying thopter with his modular triggers. I lost my ballista but wiped his entire board, except for a mox opal and a darksteel citadel which he apparently did not want to sacrifice.
Game 2 : Sideboard changes : -4 Lodestone golem, -2 Throne of the god-pharaoh, +2 Trinket mage, +2 ceremonious rejection, + 1 Pithing needle, + 1 dismember
His turn 2 steel overseer meets my turn 2 engineer + pithing needle, and I sac my turn 1 Judge's familiar to counter a Nature's Claim targeting the needle. My opponent forgot about the bird tax ! Afterwards, I play a trinket mage looking for a ballista while already having a ballista in hand, slowly controlling the board while I beat him down with a myr superion for the win. My opponent rages a bit that he did not draw his hardened scales, but I feel like he mostly misplayed a lot and did not use his ravagers as much as he had to.
I played Blue Steel for about two years and contributed a bit to this thread, but lost my account.
I wanted to do a quick report on Blue Steel because I played the deck again at this week's FNM (Nowadays i'm usually playing UR Phoenix, but I'm sick of all the hate for the deck and I'm definitely not the best pilot for Phoenix).
My decklist is as follows :
4 Smuggler's Copter
2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
Artifact Creature (16)
4 Etherium Sculptor
3 Myr Superion
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Walking Ballista
1 Wurmcoil engine
Creature (16)
4 Chief Engineer
4 Grand Architect
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
16 Island
Utility Lands(5)
1 Academy Ruins
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
Trinket package :
2 Trinket mage
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Pithing Needle
2 Damping Sphere
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dismember
2 Wurmcoil Engine
Overall you'll see I'm not playing any of the new sweet cards at the moment. No Traxos, no Artificer's assistant, no immortal sun, etc...
What I think, is that 8 copies of tax birds feel necessary against Phoenix. As a Phoenix player myself i feel like you generally want to counter that turn 2 manamorphose.
Also, tax birds are nice. You can always count on at least one opponent doing a misplay, someone forgetting you have a bird in play and trying to use a spot removal while being tapped out. That's the advantage of being a rogue deck.
Friday, I played against Whir Prison, Storm and Hardened scales and won 2-0 each time.
I will make it quick :
1st Match : Against Whir Prison
My opponent plays a build with no mox opals, replacing them with simian spirit guides.
Game 1 My opponent and I both mulligan to 6,
Opponent sticks a chalice on 1 on turn 2, but I managed to play 3 birds on turn 1 and 2 , making his chalice useless for the rest of the game. Opponent also finds an early ensnaring bridge , but is unable to fully empty his hand, allowing my Birds to gradually lower his life total despite his inventor's fair gaining him 1 life on each of his upkeeps. I also drew one of my 2 copies of Throne of the god-pharaoh. With grand architect throne, and a few birds in play, my opponent decides to concede.
Game 2 : Sideboard changes : - 4 Lodestone Golem, - 1 Wurmcoil engine, +2 Ceremonious rejection, +2 Trinket mage, + 1 Relic of progenitus
This made me realise I probably don't have enough sideboard slots against artifacts decks, in situations where Lodestone Golem are basically useless. I felt kinda bad siding Relic in this game.
My opponent mulligans at 6 again. I keep a slow hand with ceremonious rejection in it, play mausoleum wanderer turn 1, and force myself to not play chief engineer on turn 2, because I have no other way to deal with his possible turn 3 ensnaring bridge. My opponent played engineered explosives on 1, then basically waited until he had 5 mana to play his bridge, believing I had a spell pierce in hand. I countered it. In the meantime, i drew and played a copter that allowed me to find a second ceremonious rejection later on. When I'm representing lethal on board, my opponent doesn't have the mana to both pay the wanderer tax and his whir of invention, and cannot whir anymore if he decides to crack his engineered explosives.
Second match against storm :
Game 1 he wins the toss and sticks a turn 2 electromancer.
I'm on the draw, but my hand is quite decent, I just need another blue source to go turn 1 mausoleum wanderer, turn 2 etherium sculptor, Turn 3 Grand architect + Lodestone Golem + Ballista X=1.
Fortunately, his start is very slow and he does not try to storm off before I play my lodestone golem and ballista. He repeals my ballista end of turn (Very bad idea) and plays a baral on his turn 4 (for 3 mana), making him unable to storm off immediately again. On my turn 4, i have about 14 mana available and 2 ballistas in hand but I'm scared of a remand so I play ballista X=3 two times, then immediately destroy Baral and Electromancer.
Game 2 : Sideboard changes -1 Wurmcoil Engine, -3 Smuggler's copter, -2 etherium sculptor, -2 Throne of the god pharaoh + 2 Damping Sphere, + 2 Relic of progenitus, + 2 Trinket mage, + 1 Grafdigger's cage, + 1 Dismember
On game 2 against storm I have so much sideboard cards to bring in that, again, I feel like my sideboard isn't really balanced. Throne and copters go away because I would rather play control than aggro against storm. My Lodestone golem dies to an abrade, but Damping sphere and relic of progenitus with one mana open stall the game long enough. He has no clean answers to it, has not enough mana to bounce every artifacts to my hand because of the wanderer tax. I finish the game slowly by attacking with 1 power creatures while always replaying the artifacts he bounces back to my hand and keeping one mana open for relic.
Match 3 Against Hardened scales
Honestly my favourite match-up even if it's supposedly quite difficult for us.
He goes first and plays turn 1 Llanowar graft land into turn 2 Arcbound ravager, turn 3 ballista x=1
My deck was faster because I had turn 1 Bird, turn 2 engineer Copter, Turn 3 grand architect, balista X=3. I immediately try to remove his ballista, and he decides to just ping my face in response. I'm surprised but happy. I know the match-up often boils down to "Who has the biggest ballista".
On turn 4 he plays a hangarback walker X=1. On my turn i just recharge the ballista twice, and start to machine gun his board. First the hangarback. He sacs it and i respond by shooting Arcbound ravager twice, then the leftover topter to prevent him from having a huge flying thopter with his modular triggers. I lost my ballista but wiped his entire board, except for a mox opal and a darksteel citadel which he apparently did not want to sacrifice.
Game 2 : Sideboard changes : -4 Lodestone golem, -2 Throne of the god-pharaoh, +2 Trinket mage, +2 ceremonious rejection, + 1 Pithing needle, + 1 dismember
His turn 2 steel overseer meets my turn 2 engineer + pithing needle, and I sac my turn 1 Judge's familiar to counter a Nature's Claim targeting the needle. My opponent forgot about the bird tax ! Afterwards, I play a trinket mage looking for a ballista while already having a ballista in hand, slowly controlling the board while I beat him down with a myr superion for the win. My opponent rages a bit that he did not draw his hardened scales, but I feel like he mostly misplayed a lot and did not use his ravagers as much as he had to.