GGoober
12-03-2010, 03:10 PM
BRIEF HISTORY:
I like designing decks and testing ideas. Sadly 9/10 decks that I create fail pretty bad or at least have conceptual flaws that don't play out as intended from a design point of view. There are lots of oppotunities to create decklists in Legacy but sadly only a few cut it due to design constraints. What seems nice on paper doesn't always work in a practice. There is often a tradeoff between an idea/concept and practicality.
For instance, the Punisher UWr Punishing Fire Landstill) list that I created was great in theory, and in practice performed as I had expected: it beats the hell out of Merfolks/Gobs and loses to Goyfs/Knights. As much as I have worked on the flaws of the deck (adding more EEs in later iterations), in the end, the overall strategy of the deck did not match up to requirements of the archetype: control. It was a fundamental flaw in deck design. The idea/concept wasn't bad but it didn't work well in practice.
Another example was my desire to make Grim Monolith and Metalworker work in Legacy. MUD seemed attractive but just never worked out the way it planned to. Cards like Monolith and Metalworker are insanely good, but in a deck and format with constraints (no Mishra's Workshop, Legacy meta isn't like Vintage where MUD strategies are viable), the strategies sometimes don't add up. For instance, you can have an unanswered Metalworker and win games, but in most cases, Metalworker is argubly a bad Bob that dies to removal but has the disadvantage of being a terrible topdeck. In the Metalworker lists I've worked with, I've come to the same conclusions: I won the nuts with Metalworker when he resolves, but in the no-nuts situations, he is fairly weak/slow e.g. if you don't open Metalworker turn 1, you're tapping to ramp up on turn 3, which is argubly behind the fundamental clocks of most Legacy decks, and this is ignoring any form of disruption your opponents may present to you (Zoo bashing face, Counterspells, StPs, etc).
The following list is built with an idea, initially a flawed one, but has shown quite a lot of promise to be viable.
The idea is based on utilizing the aggressiveness of affinity to overwhelm aggro competitors yet playing a deck that beats control/combo (stompy shell). I have various lists being developed on this idea, involving Metalworker, Monolith, Smokestacks etc, but none worked as well as this list.
DECK: Spawn more Overseeers
Lands: 24
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Wasteland
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
Accelerants: 5
3 Mox Diamond
2 Mox Opal
Lock-pieces: 10
3 Trinisphere
3 Crucible
4 Chalice of the Void
Equipments: 6
4 Cranial Plating
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Beaters: 16
4 Steel Overseer
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Master of Etherium
4 Etched Champion
Sideboard: 15 (in progress, you tweak yourself for your metagames)
4 Thorn of Amethyst (control/combo)
1 Trinisphere (combo)
3 Defense Grid (control)
3 Winter Orb (control/Enchantress/Aggro/CBTop, very solid against the right deck)
4 Relic of Progenitus (dredge/GY/Goyf/KotR/Loam)
Other options:
Pithing Needle
Silent Arbiter
Razormane/MTMasticore (not advised)
More equipments (SoFI mainly against x/1s, x/2s)
The list draws its inspiration from Hanni's 5/3 Blue Artifact Aggro deck and Taco's Full Metal deck. There are obvious exclusions and questionable choices so I'm here to answer them from my opinions.
Acceleration is key to a stompy deck. Sadly Chrome Mox[cards]'s wording is outdated and dumb. I've considered 3-4 Mox Opals but rejected the idea. Mox Opal is amazing in the deck (That's why I run 2) but it is not relevant until turn 2 (you hardly get Metalcraft online turn 1 with this deck) so I have to explore other options. I thought about Grim Monolith/Lotus Petal but these options don't provide security of manabase that actually is required by the deck to consistently drop 3cmc threats or use the extra mana to pump manlands and free up Wastelands without actually slowing the deck down.
Our next best option becomes: [cards]Mox Diamond which conveniently works with Crucible of Worlds and a high land-count. Over time, I realized the synergy of Mox Diamond + Crucible + Manlands + Overseer + Wasteland + Trinisphere all started to build into each other. The beauty was: None of these cards are bad. They are all decent cards alone i.e. no cute tricks, but when paired together, they become quite potent.
Keep in mind the philosophy of the deck again: Aggressive creatures in a stompy shell. Why not just play something like Dragonstompy or MGCA/Faerie Stompy? Because there are many synergies in the above lists that function powerfully when undisrupted, yet having the potential to recover from a setbacked position.
How so?
Let's look at the creaturebase for now. I have one philosophy for the creatures in this deck: They need to do enough for what they cost.
E.g.
Steel Overseer
- Overseer is a 1/1 for 2 interacts strongly with Arcbound Ravager or any artifact creature with Ravager out (the +1/+1 counters work with the Modular ability).
- Overseer interacts with the 8 manlands providing a backup plan against aggro/control when your other threats are being answered.
- Overseer has synergy with Etched Champion (MVP in the deck).
- Overseer costs 2, droppable on turn 1 all the time via Tomb-lands or Mox+ non-tombland.
CONCLUSION: For 2, a 1/1 Overseer does more than just beat for 1. He interacts synergistically with many components of the deck, either to extend towards a win, or setting up inevitability (e.g. counters on manlands/Etched Champion)
Arcbound Ravager
- Ravager is a 1/1 for 2 and interacts strongly with all artifacts in the deck.
- Ravager is a main source of removal-denial (voiding StPs by saccing targetted creatures)
- Ravager has synergy with Overseer and Etched Champion/Blinkmoth Nexus
- Ravager costs 2, droppable on turn 1 all the time via Tomb-lands or Mox + non-tombland
CONCLUSIONS: For 2, a 1/1 Ravager does more than just beats for 1. He not only denies targetted removal at times (saccing in response to StP for example), but he preserves the overall P/T of the board position by transferring these P/T onto other targets, argubly better targets e.g. Etched Champion and Blinkmoth Nexus
Master of Etherium
- Master is a x/x for 2U and interacts strongly with all artifacts in the deck.
- Master is the main aggressor, comparable to Knight of the Reliquary/Goyf in other decks, and he pumps even the manlands, increasing threat-density for the deck
- Master costs 2U, droppable on turn 1 sometimes via Mox + Tomb-lands, otherwise available on turn 2 all the time.
CONCLUSIONS: For 2U, Master is the big fast beater of the deck. Most opponents of affinity know how terrifying this card is so we won't go into detail explaining how awesome he is.
Etched Champion
- Champion is a 2/2 for 3 that is basically almost unkillable in the deck (pending Pernicious Deed)
- Champion is mainly a defesive card initially, until Overseer/Master/Cranial Plating/Jitte/Ravager pump him up to start winning games in 1-2 turns.
- Champion costs 3, droppable on turn turn 1 sometimes via Mox + Tomb-lands, otherwise available on turn 2 all the time.
CONCLUSIONS: If I were to name a card that this deck is based off, it's probably Champion, with Overseer coming up next. Champion IS the card you want to see all the time. Everything in the deck interacts with him. Ravager can pump him FTW while keeping Metalcraft active in mind. Overseer grows Champion slowly but each growth speeds up the clock by 0.5-1 turn. Cranial Plating and Jitte are unstoppable on a Champion. He also serves his purpose early game against more aggressive decks by blocking defensively. With Ravager + Overseer, Champion is hardly ever a 2/2 and when he hits 3/3, he will be able to trade with most creatures in the format (namely Zoo, Lord'd Merfolks/Gobs, Mongoose).
So the creature-base consists of creatures that can always or most of the times be dropped on turn 1, and all of them can be dropped on turn 2. Each creature is more than just vanilla. They fulfill the needed purpose of the deck. Good Affinity creatures excluded include: Frogmite and Myr Enforcer. The loss of Frogmite is forgiveable since a 2/2 does nothing for this deck since it isn't as explosive as Affinity so Frogmite coming down on turn 2 is not impressive for the format. Myr Enforcer will be missed, but it is hard to hit Affinity for this guy in this deck. Overseer will pump most artifacts into Enforcer size in 2-turns, and don't forget that these include your manlands as well.
Having seen the creature-base, I'll delve a little into the Equipments.
Cranial Plating
This is the most ridiculous equipment ever printed (only in certain decks). I was opting to play SoFI and SoLS over its place, but note that costing 2 to play and 1 to equip makes all the difference in the clock of the deck. The Swords come down at least a full turn later than plating (argubly 2 turns sometimes) and this makes a huge difference in the speed of the deck.
Plating on Etched Champion or Blinkmoth Nexus is usually game over, and this is the common win-condition of the deck, otherwise slapping Plating on a big Master will force them into chumping mode until you eventually win or close in with a Champion/Blinkmoth
Umezawa's Jitte
I would like to cut the card, but this deck's weak matchups include Burn/Zoo/Goyf Slight (any fast aggro deck). Jitte wins these matchups single-handedly and it's always a strong card for any aggro deck. 16 creatures in the deck seems to be low on threats, but once you account the manlands that fly or pump each other, the deck can support 2 more Jittes. I opted for Jitte over SoFI and SoLS because it is once again faster and the lifegain/removal is relevant.
The other aspect of the deck is the lock-pieces provided in a stompy shell that gives you a good matchup against combo/control game 1.
Chalice of the Void
Your deck is immune to Chalice@1 which so happens to be one of the best play in Legacy. You can't relaly Chalice@2 because it hurts you quite a ton (Ravager, Overseer, Plating, Jitte) but if the need requires you to do so to win, you can do it since you still have eight 3cmc threats and 8 manlands + Crucibles to finish off the job
Trinisphere
This card can be played on turn 1 sometimes with Mox Diamond + Tomblands, and is one of the strong starting play. I could opt for 4 3sphere maindeck but my meta isn't too combo/control heavy at the moment (lots of Hierarchs and Vials so this is quite weak)
Crucible of Worlds
The main inclusion of this card was its natural connection with the use of Mox Diamonds + Wasteland. 24 lands supported by Mox Diamond with the possibility of Wastelocks in tandem with Trinisphere was a big reason to include 3 copies. The final deciding factor was the ability of Crucible to recur threats such as Blinkmoth Nexus and Mishra's Factory, providing yet another win-condition against control decks, and some inevitability against slower (non Zoo/Goyf Sligh) aggro decks.
CONCLUSIONS:
I have designed quite a lot of decks, sadly 9/10 decks fail. A good example of a successful deck that I don't advertise is Welderstone Survival (Welder Survival + Painter's Servant + Grindstone) but that deck may sadly be destroyed by a potential future banning. Through all these designs, I've realized one big flaw that I tend to make:
I like cute synergies and ideas. These cute synergies and ideas seem strong on paper, but are terrible sometimes in practice. E.g. Welderstone Survival runs into hands "BoP, Welder, 2 Lands, Grindstone, Squee". These cute synergies despite being powerful can cost games. Eventually I started noticing that the good new decks that do end up working are decks with (or without) unique ideas that are not bent on the cute synergies. They only use the synergy as an additional benefit to secure wins, but not as a means to obtain wins. However, some situations don't apply e.g. SnT Emrakul is cute but is argubly VERY powerful i.e. you resolve it you win. For strategies that lack this inevitability, cute synergies should be avoided or at least should not be the main pillar of the deck.
This is the one flaw I found with MUD-lists running Metalworker, with/without Lodestone. Lodestone + Metalworkers are examples of powerful cards that win-games. However, they do so only situationally (unlike SnT Emrakul). A turn 1 unanswered Metalworker tapping out on turn 2 almost always wins games. A turn 2 Metalworker tapping out on turn 3 doesn't necessarily win games. An answered Metalworker and a topdecked Metalworker almost alwayscosts games. A turn 2 Lodestone Golem usually wins games. A turn 3 Lodestone Golem seldom wins-games (you need a backup lock piece or that 5/3 won't be able to survive past a 3/4 Goyf or 3/3 Wild Nacatl). A turn 1 Grim Monolith sometimes wins games. The list goes on and on. You can argue that neither will turn 1 Ravager + Overseer + Champion win game using the same logic, but I believe it's for you to decide if under these circumstances that untimed Ravager/Overseer/Champion do win more games than untimed Metalworker/Lodestones.
What I've been trying to do, is create an aggressive list in a stompy shell. By being aggressive, you can outrace aggro competitors, and being in a stompy shell gives you some shot at control/combo where most aggro decks are uncapable of fighting.
Here are a sample of turn 1 openings that you can perform with the deck.
Turn 1: Tombland + Mox
- Trinisphere
- Master of Etherium
- Champion (I wouldn't play this until I can secure Metalcraft, you want him to always stick cause he wins games)
- Crucible of Worlds
- any 2cmc spells
Turn 1: Tombland
- Chalice of the Void @1
- Arcbound Ravager
- Steel Overseer (strong turn 1 play with a follow-up or manlands in play)
- Cranial Plating
- Umezawa's Jitte
All of the plays above are not dead (except multiple 3Spheres and Crucibles which argubly pump Masters and feed Ravager). The goal is to reduce redundant plays and dead hands. The only downside to this deck is drawing multiple Moxes (5 in the deck) or multiple non-Manlands. Drawing tons of Manlands is never bad because they can win games by themselves with either Overseer or Master in play.
NOTES:
- Manlands can trigger Champion even without 3 artifacts in play. This trick can be used on careless opponents
- You want to drop Overseer ASAP to start pumping if you have enough manlands and artifact creatures to follow up.
- Sometimes it is tempting to attack with your manlands + Overseers, but if you have a situation of 2 Manlands + 1 Overseer, I would actually just not attack, EOT animate both manlands and pump them with overseer to swing with a bigger army next turn. Pumping your army not only creates faster clocks (although costing a turn) but it has the benefit of growing your manlands into bigger creatures that cannot be dealt with later. If I feel that I'm not gaining much from a swing with manlands, I usually just pass a turn growing dudes especially if I have a lock piece in play or know who I'm playing against.
- Don't forget that Ravager + Blinkmoth/Champion wins games. If you know your opponent has no outs, it's sometimes worthwhile to sac enough artifact to pump Blinkmoth/Champion to a 9/9 and finish games the next turn.
I like designing decks and testing ideas. Sadly 9/10 decks that I create fail pretty bad or at least have conceptual flaws that don't play out as intended from a design point of view. There are lots of oppotunities to create decklists in Legacy but sadly only a few cut it due to design constraints. What seems nice on paper doesn't always work in a practice. There is often a tradeoff between an idea/concept and practicality.
For instance, the Punisher UWr Punishing Fire Landstill) list that I created was great in theory, and in practice performed as I had expected: it beats the hell out of Merfolks/Gobs and loses to Goyfs/Knights. As much as I have worked on the flaws of the deck (adding more EEs in later iterations), in the end, the overall strategy of the deck did not match up to requirements of the archetype: control. It was a fundamental flaw in deck design. The idea/concept wasn't bad but it didn't work well in practice.
Another example was my desire to make Grim Monolith and Metalworker work in Legacy. MUD seemed attractive but just never worked out the way it planned to. Cards like Monolith and Metalworker are insanely good, but in a deck and format with constraints (no Mishra's Workshop, Legacy meta isn't like Vintage where MUD strategies are viable), the strategies sometimes don't add up. For instance, you can have an unanswered Metalworker and win games, but in most cases, Metalworker is argubly a bad Bob that dies to removal but has the disadvantage of being a terrible topdeck. In the Metalworker lists I've worked with, I've come to the same conclusions: I won the nuts with Metalworker when he resolves, but in the no-nuts situations, he is fairly weak/slow e.g. if you don't open Metalworker turn 1, you're tapping to ramp up on turn 3, which is argubly behind the fundamental clocks of most Legacy decks, and this is ignoring any form of disruption your opponents may present to you (Zoo bashing face, Counterspells, StPs, etc).
The following list is built with an idea, initially a flawed one, but has shown quite a lot of promise to be viable.
The idea is based on utilizing the aggressiveness of affinity to overwhelm aggro competitors yet playing a deck that beats control/combo (stompy shell). I have various lists being developed on this idea, involving Metalworker, Monolith, Smokestacks etc, but none worked as well as this list.
DECK: Spawn more Overseeers
Lands: 24
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
4 Wasteland
4 Seat of the Synod
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
Accelerants: 5
3 Mox Diamond
2 Mox Opal
Lock-pieces: 10
3 Trinisphere
3 Crucible
4 Chalice of the Void
Equipments: 6
4 Cranial Plating
2 Umezawa's Jitte
Beaters: 16
4 Steel Overseer
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Master of Etherium
4 Etched Champion
Sideboard: 15 (in progress, you tweak yourself for your metagames)
4 Thorn of Amethyst (control/combo)
1 Trinisphere (combo)
3 Defense Grid (control)
3 Winter Orb (control/Enchantress/Aggro/CBTop, very solid against the right deck)
4 Relic of Progenitus (dredge/GY/Goyf/KotR/Loam)
Other options:
Pithing Needle
Silent Arbiter
Razormane/MTMasticore (not advised)
More equipments (SoFI mainly against x/1s, x/2s)
The list draws its inspiration from Hanni's 5/3 Blue Artifact Aggro deck and Taco's Full Metal deck. There are obvious exclusions and questionable choices so I'm here to answer them from my opinions.
Acceleration is key to a stompy deck. Sadly Chrome Mox[cards]'s wording is outdated and dumb. I've considered 3-4 Mox Opals but rejected the idea. Mox Opal is amazing in the deck (That's why I run 2) but it is not relevant until turn 2 (you hardly get Metalcraft online turn 1 with this deck) so I have to explore other options. I thought about Grim Monolith/Lotus Petal but these options don't provide security of manabase that actually is required by the deck to consistently drop 3cmc threats or use the extra mana to pump manlands and free up Wastelands without actually slowing the deck down.
Our next best option becomes: [cards]Mox Diamond which conveniently works with Crucible of Worlds and a high land-count. Over time, I realized the synergy of Mox Diamond + Crucible + Manlands + Overseer + Wasteland + Trinisphere all started to build into each other. The beauty was: None of these cards are bad. They are all decent cards alone i.e. no cute tricks, but when paired together, they become quite potent.
Keep in mind the philosophy of the deck again: Aggressive creatures in a stompy shell. Why not just play something like Dragonstompy or MGCA/Faerie Stompy? Because there are many synergies in the above lists that function powerfully when undisrupted, yet having the potential to recover from a setbacked position.
How so?
Let's look at the creaturebase for now. I have one philosophy for the creatures in this deck: They need to do enough for what they cost.
E.g.
Steel Overseer
- Overseer is a 1/1 for 2 interacts strongly with Arcbound Ravager or any artifact creature with Ravager out (the +1/+1 counters work with the Modular ability).
- Overseer interacts with the 8 manlands providing a backup plan against aggro/control when your other threats are being answered.
- Overseer has synergy with Etched Champion (MVP in the deck).
- Overseer costs 2, droppable on turn 1 all the time via Tomb-lands or Mox+ non-tombland.
CONCLUSION: For 2, a 1/1 Overseer does more than just beat for 1. He interacts synergistically with many components of the deck, either to extend towards a win, or setting up inevitability (e.g. counters on manlands/Etched Champion)
Arcbound Ravager
- Ravager is a 1/1 for 2 and interacts strongly with all artifacts in the deck.
- Ravager is a main source of removal-denial (voiding StPs by saccing targetted creatures)
- Ravager has synergy with Overseer and Etched Champion/Blinkmoth Nexus
- Ravager costs 2, droppable on turn 1 all the time via Tomb-lands or Mox + non-tombland
CONCLUSIONS: For 2, a 1/1 Ravager does more than just beats for 1. He not only denies targetted removal at times (saccing in response to StP for example), but he preserves the overall P/T of the board position by transferring these P/T onto other targets, argubly better targets e.g. Etched Champion and Blinkmoth Nexus
Master of Etherium
- Master is a x/x for 2U and interacts strongly with all artifacts in the deck.
- Master is the main aggressor, comparable to Knight of the Reliquary/Goyf in other decks, and he pumps even the manlands, increasing threat-density for the deck
- Master costs 2U, droppable on turn 1 sometimes via Mox + Tomb-lands, otherwise available on turn 2 all the time.
CONCLUSIONS: For 2U, Master is the big fast beater of the deck. Most opponents of affinity know how terrifying this card is so we won't go into detail explaining how awesome he is.
Etched Champion
- Champion is a 2/2 for 3 that is basically almost unkillable in the deck (pending Pernicious Deed)
- Champion is mainly a defesive card initially, until Overseer/Master/Cranial Plating/Jitte/Ravager pump him up to start winning games in 1-2 turns.
- Champion costs 3, droppable on turn turn 1 sometimes via Mox + Tomb-lands, otherwise available on turn 2 all the time.
CONCLUSIONS: If I were to name a card that this deck is based off, it's probably Champion, with Overseer coming up next. Champion IS the card you want to see all the time. Everything in the deck interacts with him. Ravager can pump him FTW while keeping Metalcraft active in mind. Overseer grows Champion slowly but each growth speeds up the clock by 0.5-1 turn. Cranial Plating and Jitte are unstoppable on a Champion. He also serves his purpose early game against more aggressive decks by blocking defensively. With Ravager + Overseer, Champion is hardly ever a 2/2 and when he hits 3/3, he will be able to trade with most creatures in the format (namely Zoo, Lord'd Merfolks/Gobs, Mongoose).
So the creature-base consists of creatures that can always or most of the times be dropped on turn 1, and all of them can be dropped on turn 2. Each creature is more than just vanilla. They fulfill the needed purpose of the deck. Good Affinity creatures excluded include: Frogmite and Myr Enforcer. The loss of Frogmite is forgiveable since a 2/2 does nothing for this deck since it isn't as explosive as Affinity so Frogmite coming down on turn 2 is not impressive for the format. Myr Enforcer will be missed, but it is hard to hit Affinity for this guy in this deck. Overseer will pump most artifacts into Enforcer size in 2-turns, and don't forget that these include your manlands as well.
Having seen the creature-base, I'll delve a little into the Equipments.
Cranial Plating
This is the most ridiculous equipment ever printed (only in certain decks). I was opting to play SoFI and SoLS over its place, but note that costing 2 to play and 1 to equip makes all the difference in the clock of the deck. The Swords come down at least a full turn later than plating (argubly 2 turns sometimes) and this makes a huge difference in the speed of the deck.
Plating on Etched Champion or Blinkmoth Nexus is usually game over, and this is the common win-condition of the deck, otherwise slapping Plating on a big Master will force them into chumping mode until you eventually win or close in with a Champion/Blinkmoth
Umezawa's Jitte
I would like to cut the card, but this deck's weak matchups include Burn/Zoo/Goyf Slight (any fast aggro deck). Jitte wins these matchups single-handedly and it's always a strong card for any aggro deck. 16 creatures in the deck seems to be low on threats, but once you account the manlands that fly or pump each other, the deck can support 2 more Jittes. I opted for Jitte over SoFI and SoLS because it is once again faster and the lifegain/removal is relevant.
The other aspect of the deck is the lock-pieces provided in a stompy shell that gives you a good matchup against combo/control game 1.
Chalice of the Void
Your deck is immune to Chalice@1 which so happens to be one of the best play in Legacy. You can't relaly Chalice@2 because it hurts you quite a ton (Ravager, Overseer, Plating, Jitte) but if the need requires you to do so to win, you can do it since you still have eight 3cmc threats and 8 manlands + Crucibles to finish off the job
Trinisphere
This card can be played on turn 1 sometimes with Mox Diamond + Tomblands, and is one of the strong starting play. I could opt for 4 3sphere maindeck but my meta isn't too combo/control heavy at the moment (lots of Hierarchs and Vials so this is quite weak)
Crucible of Worlds
The main inclusion of this card was its natural connection with the use of Mox Diamonds + Wasteland. 24 lands supported by Mox Diamond with the possibility of Wastelocks in tandem with Trinisphere was a big reason to include 3 copies. The final deciding factor was the ability of Crucible to recur threats such as Blinkmoth Nexus and Mishra's Factory, providing yet another win-condition against control decks, and some inevitability against slower (non Zoo/Goyf Sligh) aggro decks.
CONCLUSIONS:
I have designed quite a lot of decks, sadly 9/10 decks fail. A good example of a successful deck that I don't advertise is Welderstone Survival (Welder Survival + Painter's Servant + Grindstone) but that deck may sadly be destroyed by a potential future banning. Through all these designs, I've realized one big flaw that I tend to make:
I like cute synergies and ideas. These cute synergies and ideas seem strong on paper, but are terrible sometimes in practice. E.g. Welderstone Survival runs into hands "BoP, Welder, 2 Lands, Grindstone, Squee". These cute synergies despite being powerful can cost games. Eventually I started noticing that the good new decks that do end up working are decks with (or without) unique ideas that are not bent on the cute synergies. They only use the synergy as an additional benefit to secure wins, but not as a means to obtain wins. However, some situations don't apply e.g. SnT Emrakul is cute but is argubly VERY powerful i.e. you resolve it you win. For strategies that lack this inevitability, cute synergies should be avoided or at least should not be the main pillar of the deck.
This is the one flaw I found with MUD-lists running Metalworker, with/without Lodestone. Lodestone + Metalworkers are examples of powerful cards that win-games. However, they do so only situationally (unlike SnT Emrakul). A turn 1 unanswered Metalworker tapping out on turn 2 almost always wins games. A turn 2 Metalworker tapping out on turn 3 doesn't necessarily win games. An answered Metalworker and a topdecked Metalworker almost alwayscosts games. A turn 2 Lodestone Golem usually wins games. A turn 3 Lodestone Golem seldom wins-games (you need a backup lock piece or that 5/3 won't be able to survive past a 3/4 Goyf or 3/3 Wild Nacatl). A turn 1 Grim Monolith sometimes wins games. The list goes on and on. You can argue that neither will turn 1 Ravager + Overseer + Champion win game using the same logic, but I believe it's for you to decide if under these circumstances that untimed Ravager/Overseer/Champion do win more games than untimed Metalworker/Lodestones.
What I've been trying to do, is create an aggressive list in a stompy shell. By being aggressive, you can outrace aggro competitors, and being in a stompy shell gives you some shot at control/combo where most aggro decks are uncapable of fighting.
Here are a sample of turn 1 openings that you can perform with the deck.
Turn 1: Tombland + Mox
- Trinisphere
- Master of Etherium
- Champion (I wouldn't play this until I can secure Metalcraft, you want him to always stick cause he wins games)
- Crucible of Worlds
- any 2cmc spells
Turn 1: Tombland
- Chalice of the Void @1
- Arcbound Ravager
- Steel Overseer (strong turn 1 play with a follow-up or manlands in play)
- Cranial Plating
- Umezawa's Jitte
All of the plays above are not dead (except multiple 3Spheres and Crucibles which argubly pump Masters and feed Ravager). The goal is to reduce redundant plays and dead hands. The only downside to this deck is drawing multiple Moxes (5 in the deck) or multiple non-Manlands. Drawing tons of Manlands is never bad because they can win games by themselves with either Overseer or Master in play.
NOTES:
- Manlands can trigger Champion even without 3 artifacts in play. This trick can be used on careless opponents
- You want to drop Overseer ASAP to start pumping if you have enough manlands and artifact creatures to follow up.
- Sometimes it is tempting to attack with your manlands + Overseers, but if you have a situation of 2 Manlands + 1 Overseer, I would actually just not attack, EOT animate both manlands and pump them with overseer to swing with a bigger army next turn. Pumping your army not only creates faster clocks (although costing a turn) but it has the benefit of growing your manlands into bigger creatures that cannot be dealt with later. If I feel that I'm not gaining much from a swing with manlands, I usually just pass a turn growing dudes especially if I have a lock piece in play or know who I'm playing against.
- Don't forget that Ravager + Blinkmoth/Champion wins games. If you know your opponent has no outs, it's sometimes worthwhile to sac enough artifact to pump Blinkmoth/Champion to a 9/9 and finish games the next turn.