Cantrip Ravager

[perm]

I originally got this idea when an ultimately inefficient endeavor was tried with Esperzoa and cantrip artifacts, but now I think it is viable with

Creatures 20
4 Arcbound Ravager
4 Esperzoa
4 Goblin Welder
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Lodestone Golem

Artifacts 21
4 Cranial Plating
4 Ichor Wellspring
3 Tangle Wire
1 Tsabo's Web
3 Smokestack
1 Mox Opal
3 Engineered Explosives
2 Chalice of the Void

Plansewalker 3
3 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

Lands 16
3 Seat of the Synod
2 Great Furnace
2 Vault of Whispers
3 Wasteland
2 Glimmervoid
4 Ancient Tomb

Essentially I can use super efficient beaters (one being a flyer) and turn their drawbacks into CA and sacability. thoughts?

[perm]

Added tangle wire for combo with esperzoa (you don't tap your own lands but keep renewing the counters upon recast) and lodestone golem for more control

[Octopusman]

Been waiting to see someone put Ichor Wellspring in their deck.
I love the Tsabo Web here.

Is there really no room for Tezz 2.0 in here? There might not, but I've been thinking that Tezz 2.0 would be better served in an artifact deck that is different from typical Affinity. Maybe it was this deck. It's definitely slower but I love the control elements in this deck like the tanglewire/esperzoa.

Since it is slower and there's no real acceleration between mox opal which won't come online as fast and etherium sculptor which is 2CMC I think the biggest concerns are staying alive in the early game. You need ravager as a sac outlet, but perhaps there's another sac outlets besides fling. Otherwise, I'm not sure Disciple is good enough here (can't believe I'm saying that), but you're not playing out tons of frogmites, etc and which may explain why thoughtcast is missing. I think this deck is really missing a way to recur wellsprings/webs/tanglewires/golems and I think you should seriously consider Goblin Welder in this kind of deck.

I don't see any drum and even topdecking into 16 land can be rough although there's interesting protection from wastes in Tsabos web. It definitely should go the prison route imo. I'm thinking less of the agro route and more staying alive until your gameplan can come online and you can start getting card advantage by recurring cantrips. I haven't seen a sideboard but it bends over to combo obviously. I'm skeptical of Master of Etherium but I'm thinking that perhaps you could consider sphere of resistance and pack some mana acceleration and work on the manabase so that it let's you use the doubleladnds like Ancient Tomb/City of Traitors.

I didn't want to try to turn your deck into something it isn't. I haven't tested your deck so I'm not qualified to recommend that you make drastic changes but I would think about overall card choices and see if you can survive long enough to start gaining card advantage by playing discounted cantrips. Turn 1 sphere of resistance might be good for this deck.

If I get a chance to test this I will post again. Love the idea and would love to see this grow and tighten up.
best wishes,

[perm]

I have considered more sac outlets, but I do not want to try to bludgeon sub-optimal card choices in to make use of disciples, that's sort of a sunk cost fallacy. Cutting Disciples for Goblin Welders seems like a fantastic idea, glad you suggested it, even though an impractical but OCD part of me will miss the sac interaction with disciple. I am considering sphere of resistance and possibly chalice, but I will have to work it out more before that


Is there really no room for Tezz 2.0 in here? There might not, but I've been thinking that Tezz 2.0 would be better served in an artifact deck that is different from typical Affinity. Maybe it was this deck. It's definitely slower but I love the control elements in this deck like the tanglewire/esperzoa.
I don't exactly see where Tezz fits in here. The searching is nice, but I don't exactly need combo pieces if you know what I mean. The second ability is nice for going toe-to-toe with tarmogoyfs, and the ultimate gives reach, but I don't know how much it can justify a slot.

[sco0ter]

Added tangle wire for combo with esperzoa (you don't tap your own lands...)

Äh, does that really work? I mean Tangle Wire triggers, then Esperzoa triggers and resolves, returning Wire to hand, then Wire resolves. Doesn't it still know the number of counters, that were on it?

Otherwise, I am working on a similar deck, but with more impressive artifacts robots for Welder, things like Riddlesmith and Stiflenought... performs still underwhelming though.

Maybe you like Shrapnel Blast (for synergy with Wellspring)?

[Zork]

Last I checked it did not work that way, and Esperzoa was mostly good with Tangle Wire as a counter reset or stacking the triggers to return an artifact tapped by TW for a recast.

When I played a similar deck, I found Lodestone Golem to be absolutely ridiculous. I would push for finding room for #4 somehow.

[perm]

I have definitely considered shrapnel blast, but I don't think I can justify such shaky and underpowered synergy for the prohibitive mana and sac cost.

And as far as I know, esperzoa and tangle wire combo works. As the controller of both triggered abilities, you choose in which order they go on the stack. Tangle wire's tap trigger will have an empty value. Also, good idea with 4th golem, since it is functionally better than sphere of resistance, and I was considering adding those

EDIT: I looked it up. The game state remembers the number of counters on the tangle wire, so you will have to tap 3 permanents. Not so sure if it is worth the slot now, though it is a very powerful card.


Considerations: replacing etherium sculptor with metalworker. This deck can go in multiple directions, and one I have considered is using Spine of Ish Sah. This card seems like it could be monstrous with a goblin welder/esperzoa/ravager and metalworker behind it.

[perm]

Added 3 Tezzeret 2.0 and 1 Spine of Ish Sah, removed Galvanic Blast. Will playtest shortly

[Whippoorwill]

EDIT: I looked it up. The game state remembers the number of counters on the tangle wire, so you will have to tap 3 permanents. Not so sure if it is worth the slot now, though it is a very powerful card.

Just stack it so you tap things that don't matter much:

Esperzona trigger on stack.
Tangle Wire tapping on stack.
Tangle Wire Fading on stack.

Remove a Fading Counter.
Tap 1-3 Permanents (Tangle Wire, Esperzoa, something non-land if possible).
Return Tangle Wire to replay.

One thing I notice about the list is that is seems like you're trying to combine Control and Aggro. With Tezzeret, you'd be better off going more towards control with him as the kill. Chances are you'll only need 1 use of his ultimate to win. There's also his -1 ability and you can put Plating on Esperzoa for an evasive beater.

Some suggestions:
-3 Master of Etherium
-2 Fling
-3 Tsabo's Web (Generally won't do more than cantrip)
-1 Spine of Ish Sah (unplayable unless you have an active metalworker)

+ Vedalken Certarch - Adds to your control theme, tap whatever they don't tap with Tangle Wire.
+ Goblin Welder - Works great with Ichor Wellspring
+ Smokestack - Puts more pressure on your opponent, even better if you add Welder.
+4 Thoughtcast - I assume this was accidentally removed from your list since it says 6 spells but only lists 2 Fling.
+3 Mox Opal - If you add Welders.

[perm]

Good suggestions, but I am still going to playtest and theorize a little more before I try certarch or cut fling. Fling gives me awesome reach with ravager I others cant even come close to. I don't think I can possibly justify taking out Tsabo's web, for a few reasons.

A. It shuts down wastelands as many producers, and wastelands hurt me bad. Manlands and other utility lands too, even if only used for mana. Karakas, rishadan port, you name it, legacy runs it.
B. It cantrips and costs 0-2 colorless mana, while thoughcast is at minimum U, and thoughtcast is affected by lodestone.
C. This is the biggest part, it's an artifact permanent. Meaning I can tap it for tangle wire, sac it for smokestack or ravager or welder, or If I am in a bind, pull it out with welder to get a card in hand.

[perm]

Playtested it on MWS, I can attest to the usefulness of tsabo's web, but it's definitely something that would be first to be SB out. Having two welders out is simply fucking bonkers, doing stupid things with smokestack and tangle wire, and drawing at least 3 per turn.

[Karhumies]

I would like to hear your educated opinion on why you're running 2x Fling over Soul's Fire, Shrapnel Blast and Galvanic Blast. In the end, it may be possible that none of these cards are good enough to be run in the list; I would rather take a look at Engineered Explosives to fill this slot.

Otherwise, I think you are not running enough early-game cards to stabilize the board. I am mainly thinking about T1 Goblin Lackey or AEther Vial, which can be very problematic. Any mixture of Galvanic Blast, Swords to Plowshares, T1 Chalice @ 1, Engineered Explosives (@ 1), Vedalken Certarch, may do the trick.

Personally, I would probably try to reduce the color dependancy of the deck and modify the landbase to include 2-3 Wasteland and more :2: lands. After this, it would be possible to run MD Chalice of the Void (@ 1 or @ 0), which seems superior to Tsabo's Web and would probably help your combo MU somewhat. Denying your opponent from landing his low-drops or non-land mana sources combined with Smokestack and Tangle Wire sounds like winning to me.

[lotriderm]

I think Semblance Anvil deserves some testing as it can produce more broken plays than Etherium Sculptor and it's less fragile (both are artifacts but creatures are easier to remove). The only downside is that it reduces the creature count to about 16, which is a bit on the low end. The card disadvantage of Semblance Anvil is offset by the amount of cantrips in the deck.

[perm]

I really don't think semblance anvil is right here. Etherium sculptor is 1 cmc less than anvil, doesn't have the card disadvantage, and can carry cranial plating.

[perm]

I cast page one