Hey Friends
i hope some of you are still on the bombing side of life :D
For me here just wanted to keep the Thread active.
My Mainboard is still the same but my board changed to this to test some cards:
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Ethersworn Cannonist
2 Meddling Mage
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Containment Priest
1 War Priest of Thune
1 Manic Vandal
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Pithing Needle
1 Detentions Sphere
1 Oblivion Ring
For testing cards i try a split of Sphere and Ring to just see if the colors on the Sphere generate a problem or if we can just run the better of the two.
Magus of the Moon is in there to bring some wins against Greedy decks game 2 or 3 and i think we need it since Lands and Eldrazi Post feel like really bad matchups.
And for last i test Brittle Effigy as a additional way to deal with Angler and bigger stuff. Didn't come up until now.
A couple of weeks ago on the Monday night Card Kingdom Legacy stream on Twitch one player was running the Jeskai Bomberman (bauble man?). I only tuned in at the very end of his feature match so I can't speak for how it played, except that he was running Surge Node out of the board specifically for opposing Chalices on 0, which he pointed out in the post match interview is devastating. Seemed good to me.
BRING BACK MANA BURN!
Yeah that was me.
I've found running a Trinket Mage build allows you to fetch EE or Surge Node depending on how you want to use your sideboard space, which is an enormous help in the Chalice match-ups. The two cards even have incidental synergy together, which has come up. I've also found that running Trinket Mage makes me want the one of Lodestone Bauble as well, as there are some lines where you want to go turn on a Mox Opal and set up the final piece for the combo finish on the following turn.
In the end I really like the Red/Blue Tutors, because they play into the unfair plan, make your sideboard selection much more powerful, have flexibility, and allow you to utilize LED more effectively. Where I've been shaving is Walking Ballista, because the 2nd copy in hand has always felt rather tame, it isn't strictly required, and both of the tutors can search for it.
I'd share my exact build but my winning streak came to an end recently, so I want to make sure my numbers are good before cluttering the thread with too much noise. If it's a direction you're interested in exploring yourself, some notes:
Running Trinket / Imperial over Bob in your "flex slots" removes some of the deck's ability to lean on Bob and 2 Mana to draw into more mana. Playing around with an Azorius Signet and Remote Farm might help nudge the mana a bit higher to make up for this line, plus provide more natural white sources.
I disagree on Spire of Industry being simply preferable to Unclaimed Territory in a 3+ Color Build. If you're running Swords, Disenchant, Cast Out etc. out of the board it most certainly is, but if all you're using "natural" white mana for is recurring artifacts with no other white source off of Salvagers, keep in mind that you're reducing the explosiveness of many early-game Mentors, making your manabase yet more painful in a 4-of Ancient Tomb Deck, and reducing your consistency to cast your spells that little bit further. Even running sideboard Explosives, in two months of playing the only time I really would have wanted my Unclaimed to make natural white was after a Force on LED, didn't have Opal, or Petal, or Remote Farm, or Signet, or Trinket Mage, or another LED, and had to try to draw any one of those off the top.
If you're running Jeskai, and are being a little greedier on the mana, a 1-of Venser, Shaper Savant may be useful mainboard. It's an all-purpose, tutor-able, often uncounterable answer to anything stopping you from winning game-1, and if you need to combo off of a Bauble to draw your deck and pass the turn you can put the LED and at least 1 other mana in play before passing the turn, put the triggers on the stack during their upkeep, sac the LED for Blue, almost certainly draw into Venser, then use the mana to flash him in to protect you before your opponent passes the turn back to you.
Also, if you're running Red, Quicksmith Rebel seems like it might be a good sideboard fit for the deck, as he can 'Punishing Fire' decks lower to the ground, is a fairer Win Condition in his own right, and can even trade with Gurmag Angler.
If I can at least start consistently 3-1ing again, I'd be happy to share my current list, but let's make sure I'm not a complete idiot before cluttering the conversation here with it. I might run it back this Monday, although I also kind of want to run Zachary Wong's RUG Lands list from GP Seattle (EE remains my favorite card in the game), and even if I'm on Bomberman again, I think I might want to shave Ballista down to 1 and shove some Bobs back in there and run it as 4-Color (4 Bob, 2 Trinket Mage, 2 Imperial) just to increase the number of good opening hands.
Another thing I was surprised I never read anyone doing was running the deck straight WG with Horizon Canopy and Choke, and experimenting with Vintage's own Managorger Hydra as Mentors 5 - 8. I don't think I'll actually run it, but the idea amused me.
EDIT: To be clear, I'm running a Mentor Build. Everything I've been talking about has been with-Mentor, which apparently is a different thread. Mentor's pretty great.
Last edited by Rationalist; 04-22-2018 at 11:13 AM.
Hey Guys been testing the new Sideboard lately and im pretty confident. Sadly it looks like i'm the only one activly playing the deck. But i will still update my list here and tell about my expiriences. For the List it is likely the one im gonna play at GP Birmingham in a couple of weeks.
23 LANDS
1 Ancient Den
3 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
2 City of Traitors
4 Flooded Strand
1 Great Furnace
2 Seat of the Synod
1 Island
1 Karakas
1 Plains
1 Plateau
1 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
19 CREATURES
4 Auriok Salvagers
3 Hope of Ghirapur
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Trinket Mage
4 Walking Ballista
18 OTHER SPELLS
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
2 Mox Opal
1 Pithing Needle
1 Saheeli Rai
4 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Swords to Plowshares
SIDEBOARD
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Ethersworn Cannonist
2 Meddling Mage
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Containment Priest
1 War Priest of Thune
1 Manic Vandal
1 Palace Jailer
1 Pithing Needle
2 Oblivion Ring
I've recently picked up the deck and so far I've been having a blast with it! It feels very similar to when I used to play Painter back in the day.
After some testing and playing around with different versions this is the build I settled on:
Creatures:18
4 Walking Ballista
2 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Trinket Mage
4 Auriok Salvagers
Spells:20
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Mox Opal
3 Abrade
Lands:22
1 Ancient Den
3 Ancient Tomb
3 Arid Mesa
4 Cavern of Souls
2 City of Traitors
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Great Furnace
1 Karakas
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Plateau
1 Tundra
1 Volcanic Island
Sideboard:15
2 Containment Priest
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Meddling Mage
2 War Priest of Thune
1 Manic Vandal
1 Reflector Mage
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Disenchant
3 Sorcerous Spyglass
I've also tested the Mentor lists but found the Imperial version to be far superior, at least in my testing. Much more flexible and consistent.
I really liked the idea of Spellbombs and Basilisk Collar, but in my (limited) testing I did not see how we can beat a Swords to Plowshares. Hence I reverted to a Chalice build and cut all the 1 drops. Cabal Therapy is also a problem card with all the tutors, chalice also helps there. And of course being Chalice it just wins games on its own.
Went up to 3 Abrade main. This turned out to be such an all-star in my experience. It answers pretty much all game 1 problem cards (Thalia, Revoker, early flipped Delver, Chalice on 0, Trinisphere etc.). I've even destroyed my own Chalice with it after begin reset by a Flickerwhisp :)
The EE's are there for what Abrades can't clean up (Counterbalance for instance). EE is great in this deck, but it felt nice to not be overly dependant on it.
The 3 Abrade make basic Mountain the most important land in the deck, after Cavern of course..
I'm pretty content with the manabase, 22 lands & 3 Mox Opal feels just about right. Darksteel helps turn (and keep) on the Moxen, as do Furnace and Den. Sure Wasteland is a card, but having 25 mana sources and a relatively low curve, I found we are not that susceptible to be wasted out of the game. The deck operates fairly well on 2-3 lands to my surprise.
The rest is just fetch, basics, duals and sol-lands to optimally support the color/mana requirements).
Sideboard is up for debate, though I'm pretty happy with these 15.
I feel we are already pretty favored against combo (Storm, S&S, Elves, etc), and post board the options are great. Both artifact & non artifact.
I do fear the Turbo Depths and Lands MU's a bit, Marit Lage is a problem. The Spyglasses and Blessed Alliance help out there, though I feel just trying to be faster is the best route here.
RIP and Leyline make it I feel we need 2 War Priests and a Disenchant, even though both are not seeing a lot of play.
And despite having 3 Abrade main I still like having access to Manic Vandal as an uncounterable answer to troublesome artifacts.
All the tutors allow for some nice 1 offs, such as the Reflector Mage, who has been doing work. He buys a lot of time vs Delver for instance. Delver & Pile feel pretty ok, sure you can always lose to those decks, but this feels to at least have a fighting chance. It therefore surprises me this deck sees so little play. Everyone who sees the deck in action or who I tell about the deck is instantly intrigued.
I hope you find my ramblings somewhat useful. I will keep on testing with the deck and look forward to read other experiences!
ps. Maybe it's just me, but I was surprised how often I crack LED just to add counters to Walking Ballista! In a meta filled with 1 and 2 toughness creatures Walking Ballista is such boss.
Wow, this is a lot of goodies to test going forward!
I'll throw in Artificer's Assistant as another card to add to the testing list. I like the promise it holds of letting us scry and see Auriok Salvagers, crack LED(s), then activate a draw ability and cast Salvagers. Yeah, I know, I'm still trying to relive the Sensei's Divining Top glory days... But in all seriousness, I've been toying around with Artifcer's Assistant in a 0-1cc artifact-heavy list (with Conjurer's Bauble, Gitaxian Probe, and Spellbombs to draw into cards once they've been seen via scry) and the little bird often lets you scry 5+ times in just the first couple turns it is down; if it's not answered and the game goes long... the sky is the limit to the amount of scrying it could enable. Furthermore, the fact that it is blue can potentially contribute to achieving enough blue cards for FoW in the sideboard. I'm also going to try slapping Cranial Plating on it out of the board as an alternate win condition.
You are not alone! I'm still playing it when I have time to play Magic, which should be a lot more again over the next few months.
Is the archived video available somewhere? I would enjoy watching some Imperial Bomberman on camera.
Hey Guys. Fast answer to the Tournament i played yesterday. I went to a sad 2-2-1 in 5 Rounds.
2-0 Eldrazi Aggro
1-2 Ur Omnitell (he had 2 Pyroclasms and Show/omni/emrakul/cunningwish for my answer in both post board games.
0-2 Burn (i dont think i can win this matchup)
1-1 Miracles (if i got 1 Turn more i would have won the 3. Game)
2-1 Belcher (i got lucky twice which was nice)
Overall the list felt solid. I got two point where i was not able to cast Saheeli with my mana so i will look into that.
Bit for further testing i picked up one copy of Raff Capashen as a fun off to win at instant speed.
Last edited by ElDorte; 04-30-2018 at 09:14 AM.
As much as I like Raff Capashen... isn't that just generally worse than Shimmer Myr? Hopefully I'll get back to this deck this summer. Super interested in playing around with Artificer's Assistant! I soooo wish that were an artifact creature to be able to tutor with Trinket Mage in addition to Recruiter.
i just want to test it for fun. I dont think that i do big changes to the deck before Birmingham. Sadly he cannot be fetched with Imperial Recruiter but he is a Human which helps beeing Uncounterable and he is still a 3/3 flyer. And since i win like 50% (feeling not having real numbers) off mediocre beats i can see him beeing flashed in EOT and just going to town and bring some Flash Ballistas with him.
I like the fusion of Chalice and the tutors of Imperial Bomberman. How about taking the mentors over in a albeit a bit slower, but way more comboey version:
//Lands
2 Ancient Den
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
2 City of Traitors
3 Great Furnace
1 Karakas
1 Seat of the Synod
3 Spire of Industry
//Spells
3 Abrade
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Engineered Explosives
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Mox Opal
//Creatures
4 Auriok Salvagers
4 Imperial Recruiter
3 Monastery Mentor
4 Trinket Mage
4 Walking Ballista
//Sideboard
SB: 1 Palace Jailer
SB: 2 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 2 Meddling Mage
SB: 1 War Priest of Thune
SB: 1 Manic Vandal
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Oblivion Ring
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 2 Sorcerous Spyglass
I am a sucker for the artifact lands, moxen and the Spires. They provide colored mana and make the mox shine with Mentor.
All in all a very similar version to yours and I will test it this week.
Chalice on 1
@Hofzge: just having a very quick look, you'll find some inspiration about 12 months back:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...=1#post1006547
Edit: I guess this one below is closer, there are several Mox Opal lists around that time. I remember I tested one and have played different Mox Opal decks since then.
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...=1#post1003637
Really like this idea! Might be a bit greedy, but Mentor does provide a much more valid "plan B" as opposed to Trinket Mage beatdown.. :)
Upping the sol-lands and moxen to compensate the lower land count and synergy with mentor seems wise.
The main/only concern I would have is the fact that your list runs no basics and limited fixing (no fetch or duals). The Spire's will probably always be on, but this does leave you much more vulnerable to wasteland and to a lesser extend blood moon. I found myself often fetching basics in my (limited) testing.
Will also try to test a version like this, but maybe with 2 mentors instead of a land and a canonist, while retaining the manabase from my previous post. Look forward to hear your findings in testing!
If you like that and want to be more Wasteland-proof then test this: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...=1#post1042851
Chalice on 1
Hey Guys sadly my testong with Raff was not verry good. I sadly never drew him so could never bring him to the table. As for the List i made no more changes before the GP next week. Does anybody else bring the Bomberman to the big Stage?
I can see the swap of Hope to Swords. I think it depends on the meta. With more Depths decks and Control Shells around Hope is better but with more Creature decks Swords is just as fine.
What do you play in your Sideboard?
The Problem is that she cannot be searched up with Recruiters. And im still really impressed with Saheeli and she feels really strong in the deck.
Hey Friends a bit quiet this week. But i have a new list brewed up. Sadly i did not get to test it yet.
If anyone of you guys wants to run in through some games that would be great.
3 Ancient Tomb
2 Arid Mesa
1 Karakas
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Plains
1 Ancient Den
1 Great Furnace
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Tundra
2 Volcanic Island
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Swords to Plowshares
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
1 Aether Spellbomb
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
3 Monastery Mentor
4 Trinket Mage
4 Imperial Recruiter
4 Auriok Salvagers
3 Walking Ballista
Greetings ElDorte
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