This thread originally started out as an Echo Affinity deck, but I morphed it into a UW Stompy variation because it is way more powerful.
U/W/x Echo Stompy
Lands (12)
4 Seat of Synod
4 Glimmervoid
4 Ancient Tomb
Creatures (10)
3 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
3 Hullbreacher
4 Monastery Mentor
Spells (38)
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
2 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Oko, Thief of Crowns
4 Echo of Eons
4 Thoughtcast
2 Urza's Bauble
2 Mishra's Bauble
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Chrome Mox
4 Mox Opal
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
Sideboard (15)
4 Force of Will
1 Mystical Dispute
2 Ashiok, Dream Render
2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Brazen Borrower
1 Abrade
1 Eliminate
1 Cast Out
2 Defense Grid
Original Post
So this is a rough idea that just popped into my head while discussing another deck.
Basically, the idea is to play a bunch of cards that can be put into play for free, use LED to discard and cast Echo for a fresh hand, and then do it all again.
My initial idea for putting cards into play for free is to build around an Affinity shell, using free artifacts like Lotus Petal, Mox Opal, Memnite, Frogmite, and Myr Enforcer.
I'd like to make Hollow One work, since it is an artifact creature that can be cast for free and contribute to casting Myr Enforcer for free. It's going to require additional discard outlets besides just LED, but needing additional discard outlets makes sense because of Echo anyway.
With just LED, Hollow One's in the initial hand aren't going to be castable (and will get discarded after cracking it), but if I draw a new hand with Echo, any Hollow One's in the new hand should be castable, so I feel like it should be able to work.
Careful Study makes the most sense as an additional discard outlet. My biggest concern is that they only reduce the cost of Hollow One to 1 mana instead of 0, but hopefully that's not an issue. I'll also need more cards that I actively want to discard to make Study worth it.
I still need more engine cards too. Echo and Study alone aren't going to be enough.
Emry, Lurker of the Loch can bin cards into the yard, which synergizes well with Echo, and the activated ability works well with Careful Study and LED.
Thoughtcast seems decent, drawing 2 for a single blue mana once there are 4+ artifacts in play.
Anyway, here's a rough list to get started...
Echo Affinity
Lands (4)
4 Seat of Synod
Creatures (20)
4 Emry, Lurker of the Loch
4 Memnite
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Enforcer
4 Hollow One
Spells (24)
4 Thoughtcast
4 Careful Study
4 Echo of Eons
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Lotus Petal
4 Mox Opal
Beyond that, I'm not really sure what to do. I'm at 48 cards so far, so that leaves 12 more, but I still need to include a few more mana sources, some sort of disruption, and some sort of pay off.
There are a couple of directions I could see taking the deck in from here.
Basking Rootwalla and Vengevine have a lot of synergy in here. Study and LED enable Rootwalla to be cast for free; Study and Emry bin Vengevine, which can be easily triggered.
Glimpse of Nature could be a really strong supplemental draw engine, especially with more free creatures like Basking Rootwalla and Ornithopter.
Paradoxical Outcome probably costs too much mana, but I could see that being another powerful draw engine in here too.
Maybe the deck should run Brain Freeze, chaining spells and then casting on yourself to bin Echo or Vengevine? With an active Emry, I could get back LED to cast Echo to keep going.
Maybe Cranial Plating with some flying creatures, like Vault Skirge, Smuggler's Copter, or even Blinkmoth Nexus would be enough? There's also Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek, especially with Gaea's Cradle. Sai, Master Thopterist is an engine by itself for making fliers.
I really like the interaction between Etherium Sculptor and Springleaf Drum. It would also reduce the cost of Hollow One to 0 with Careful Study. I could even run Conjurer's Bauble, which draws a card immediately vs the slow tripping of the other Bauble's, and the effect could potentially protect cards from Surgical Extraction and graveyard hate.
Is it just dumb to not be running Mishra's Bauble and Urza's Bauble with Emry?
I'm sure I need some sort of disruption too. Force of Will and Force of Negation would probably be the best choices, assuming I can get my blue spell count high enough.
Narset, Parter of Veils would also be sick with Echo, and most likely needs to be included.
Here are some other cards that might be worth looking into too...
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Goblin Cratermaker
Hullbreacher
Opposition Agent
Ethersworn Canonist
Mox Amber
Tendrils of Agony
Auriok Salvagers
Sevinne's Reclamation
Faithless Looting
Day's Undoing
Transmute Artifact
Artificer's Intuition
Tolarian Winds
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Dack Fayden
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Wishclaw Talisman
Infernal Tutor
Goblin Welder
Baleful Strix
Notion Thief
Riddlesmith
Arcbound Ravager
Salvage Titan
Thieving Skydiver
Chromatic Sphere
Grim Monolith
Master of Etherium
Urza, Lord High Artificer
Walking Ballista
Spellskite
Containment Priest
Meddling Mage
Phyrexian Revoker
Cabal Therapy
Defense Grid
Karn, the Great Creator
Transmute Artifact
Lightning Greaves
Thousand-Year Elixir
Mystic Forge
Paradox Engine
Fragmentize
Disenchant
Echoing Truth
Brazen Borrower
Dispatch
Swords to Plowshares
Glass Casket
Ghirapur AEther Grid
Galvanic Blast
Whipflare
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Cavern of Souls
Karakas
Inventor's Fair
Ancient Tomb
Wasteland
Blast Zone
Retrofitter Foundry
Umezawa's Jitte
Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Last edited by Hanni; 01-06-2021 at 11:15 PM.
Reserved.
I didn't realize Artifacts Blue (Emry Stompy) was already a deck in Legacy, so I feel a bit stupid. Still, I'm trying to take this deck in a slightly different direction, so I'm not going to have this thread deleted yet.
There's a lot of potential with Transmute Artifact since you're cheating 4,5, and 7 cc artifacts into play. For example, it could fetch a 1-of Paradox Engine for silly interactions with Emre and Urza.
Probably not what you're thinking of, but Artificer's Intuition and Salvage Titan can have some synergies.
Something like Breakthrough, Tolarian Winds or Ideas Unbound could fit into the game plan.
Those are all sweet suggestions, thank you.
Transmute Artifact seems great. UU should be manageable to cast. Paradox Engine would generate infinite mana with Emry and a Lotus Petal or whatever, but I'd still need to combo that with another card, like Walking Ballista or Brain Freeze. That sounds like too many pieces to reliably make it work, but I'm not really sure. I'm also not sure that I want to run Urza yet, but it would be good with Mystic Forge as well.
Transmute Artifact could also grab Mystic Forge when I don't have an Emry. I'm not sure if I'll have enough artifacts for Mystic Forge to be worth it, but it could be really strong if I do. I'm still not sure that I want to run Urza yet, but it would be good with him as well.
Artificer's Intuition is really cool with Emry, but the fact that it can't discard Echo is probably a deal breaker. It's also a bit mana hungry for what it is. I do like that it can tutor for LED, though.
Salvage Titan is interesting. I can sacrifice weaker artifacts to cast it for free, and then recast those artifacts with Emry. Sacrificing 3 might be a bit too steep, causing some disynergy with Myr Enforcer, but being a free cast would be great for Glimpse, and the 6/4 body is pretty nice.
I'm not really a fan of Breakthrough in here. I don't want to draw 4 and then discard my entire hand, so I'd have to sink some amount of mana into X for it to work properly, which is going to be too expensive for what it is.
Tolarian Winds would be good if I also run Basking Rootwalla and Vengevine. If I'm trying to put most of the cards into my hand into play for free, it's not going to do much, but if I have cards in hand that I actually want to discard, it would be great. If it can discard at least 3 cards, it would enable Hollow One for zero mana.
Ideas Unbound isn't going to work to enable Hollow One, since the discard doesn't happen until end of turn.
My goal is to basically cast tons of free cards, refill my hand, cast more free cards, refill my hand, rinse and repeat.
I'm not sure if I should have some sort of way to quickly finish the game, or just plan to close games out by attacking with an army of small to medium sized creatures.
I'll take what you suggested into consideration as I continue to figure this whole thing out.
Last edited by Hanni; 09-21-2020 at 04:13 PM.
Emry/Urza Stompy is already a competitive deck. I mentioned it in the other thread. It's already established as one of the most powerful things to do with LED+Echo.
Even if you want to go in more affinity-like direction, you probably want 4x Mishra's Bauble. The card is really good with Emry (draw a card per turn), really good at enabling early Metalcraft and Affinity, and just another free card to deploy quickly for value before you reshuffle your hand.
Myr Enforcer is probably too slow for a vanilla 4/4. Even Affinity doesn't run it anymore. Master of Etherium and Urza are both strong options, depending on what kind of manabase you establish.
Narset, Parter of Veils is also way too good with this shell to not run, especially if you stay in monoblue. In order to not justify running Narset, you basically have to try to be winning on Turn 2 or be a sligh deck with nothing that costs more than 2 mana. If you're spending 3+ mana on anything (like Master or Urza or Myr Enforcer), it's probably correct to play Narset first.
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