Fade
04-12-2012, 11:30 AM
UR Painted Stone was my first "real" legacy deck that I had made. It was something about the milling combo that I always liked. I used to play it back when Merfolk and NO RUG were decks and the deck would lose to the vast amounts of counterspells and removal spells. Since then I decided that I would one day build Imperial Painter to play the deck in a more resilient shell. As of know I am half way there, needing just 2 more recruiters to complete the playset but I figured why not try to innovate and make a new list that can do well against the top three decks in legacy right now (UW/Esper Blade, RUG Delver, and GW Maverick).
The list I came up with is unique using the "Team Italia" colors (BWR) and I believe provides us with a consistent way to both assemble the combo and keep it from being disrupted. With that being said, let’s get to the list and then I will discuss some of the card choices in the deck.
Creatures (16):
4 Mother of Runes
4 Goblin Welder
4 Painter’s Servant
2 Dark Confidant
2 Imperial Recruiter
Spells (22):
4 Grindstone
3 Lion’s Eye Diamond
3 Mox Opal
4 Faithless Looting
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Unearth
1 Thoughtseize
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
Lands (22):
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
3 Great Furnace
2 Vault of Whispers
1 Ancient Den
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Marsh Flats
1 Arid Mesa
2 Badlands
2 Plateau
1 Scrubland
Sideboard (15):
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Angel’s Grace
2 Pyroblast
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
I used to play UR Painted Stone a lot. I found that the deck would lose to two major problems. First, the deck would sometimes lose to itself. You might have one piece of the combo in your hand and all you need is that other piece. You cast your brainstorm and you then know you are screwed for the next two turns because you don’t have many shuffle effects. Or another situation is you waste every single moment investing in top hopeful to find the other combo piece and your are just stuck in a standstill not finding what you want over and over again.
Secondly the deck lost to the vast amount of removal spells everyone is playing. You would invest everything you had to roll the dice and hope they didn’t have a swords, a path, a grudge, a disenchant, … The list went on and on. With this deck we can change that. Mother of Runes provides protection for everything. Yes I know, before people were playing with spellskite and that was fine but what if they had a second one? The combo was still interrupted and you wasted your investment. With Mother you can give your Servant protection from their removal for the rest of the turn. This is much better than a recurring spellkite from a goblin welder.
Now on to the Card Choices:
4 Painter’s Servant / 4 Grindstone / 3 Mox Opal / 3 Lion’s Eye Diamond:
These are known as the core to almost every Grindstone list, minus the Lion’s Eye Diamonds, and are pretty much mandatory to be playing the archetype. As you should know the combo with Painter’s Servant and Grindstone will allow you to mill your opponent for all of their cards. When you pass the turn, they can’t draw and you win! How fun is that! The Lion's Eye Diamonds are used to enable a turn one kill and also can provide three mana to flashback the Faithless Looting if it's in the graveyard.
This is stopped by cards like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Progenitus but the likelihood of getting matched with one of these decks isn’t that great as they are almost always rogue combo decks
4 Mother of Runes / 4 Goblin Welder / 2 Dark Confidants / 2 Imperial Recruiter:
Here are the complementary creatures I have come up with to use with the Grindstone combo. With these creatures we are maximizing value through protection and card advantage. This causes all of these creatures to be must answer creatures otherwise I will gain too much card advantage or value by making their removal spells much worse.
Mother of Runes is a house as she is in every deck she is played in. She causes your opponent to overextend to kill her or she will blank their removal spells unless they have multiples in which case you get a 2-for-1. She also provides the deck with infinite blockers
Goblin Welder is such a great creature here. He resurrects our combo from the depths of our graveyard. If he ever resolves with a Mother of Runes on board it is normally game over. Your Mother gives your Painter’s Servant protection and then if they try to remove your grindstone welder brings it back. Just a great card overall and causes a ton of headaches for your opponent. He also plays well with the discard of Faithless Looting.
Dark Confidants and Imperial Recruiter were afterthoughts to the deck but by no means are just thrown in the deck. Dark Confidant allows us to search for our combo or gain card advantage when the opponent has countered or removed most of our permanents. If you notice there is no card in the deck or sideboard with a converted mana cost over 3 so taking damage from Confidant will remain low. Sensei’s Divining Top also combos nicely with Confidant causing us to draw the free spells in the deck or the lands on top. Imperial Recruiter is such a great card. He fetches every single creature in the deck whether it’s a Confidant when we have nothing left and are in top deck mode, a Mother of Runes for protection, a Goblin Welder to resurrect a Grindstone or a Painter’s Servant, or how about just grab the Painter’s Servant?
4 Faithless Looting / 2 Enlightened Tutor / 2 Unearth / 2 Sensei’s Divining Top:
Faithless Looting helps to dig us into our combo pieces and late game the card just gains value whether it is to dig for a combo piece or the throw it into our graveyard to goblin welder it back onto the field. The Sensei’s Divining Top is the decks library manipulation allowing us to set up the top reveal for Dark Confidant. It also has a trick with Goblin Welder to tap and draw a card but in response you Goblin Welder the top into the graveyard to bring back another artifact. This gives you an extra card while getting rid of multiple tops. The reason why there are only two tops in the list is because drawing the second one is the worst feeling in the world when you just need one more piece to win.
The Enlightened Tutors and Unearths give us more consistency whether the tutor is finding what we need or the unearths are reanimating a Painter’s Servant or protection for the combo (Goblin Welder/Mother of Runes). An interesting interaction is if we Enlightened Tutor with a Sensei’s Divining Top in play. This allows us to actually draw the card we need to win for the turn. Also, if you find the unearth sitting in your hand, don’t be afraid to cycle it for another card.
1 Thoughtseize / 1 Inquisition of Kozilek:
The targeted discard is to disrupt the opponent of their removal or counterspells. The deck might want a few more mainboard but I’m unsure of what to cut for them right off the bat. Plus the main deck is built more for consistency and speed than for disruption. However, after board you do have access to 5 targeted discard spells.
4 Ancient Tomb / 2 City of Traitors / 3 Great Furnace / 2 Vault of Whisper / 1 Ancient Den:
The Ancient Tombs and City of Traitors help power out the combo in the first few turns and also enables a turn one kill (City of Traitors, LED, Mox Opal, Painter’s Servant, and Grindstone). The artifact lands are to use with the Goblin Welder as artifact fodder and to also grab with the Enlightened tutor if we need a specific color and don’t have metalcraft.
Problems:
The problems I foresee with the deck are opponents who are running Emrakul or Progenitus. These cards prevent us from using the mill combo to win. Another problem card is pernicious deed which could wrath the board. Surgical Extractions and Extirpate after board also pose as a problem because if they remove half of the combo then we have lost the main win condition.
The list I came up with is unique using the "Team Italia" colors (BWR) and I believe provides us with a consistent way to both assemble the combo and keep it from being disrupted. With that being said, let’s get to the list and then I will discuss some of the card choices in the deck.
Creatures (16):
4 Mother of Runes
4 Goblin Welder
4 Painter’s Servant
2 Dark Confidant
2 Imperial Recruiter
Spells (22):
4 Grindstone
3 Lion’s Eye Diamond
3 Mox Opal
4 Faithless Looting
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Unearth
1 Thoughtseize
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
Lands (22):
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
3 Great Furnace
2 Vault of Whispers
1 Ancient Den
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Marsh Flats
1 Arid Mesa
2 Badlands
2 Plateau
1 Scrubland
Sideboard (15):
3 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Angel’s Grace
2 Pyroblast
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
I used to play UR Painted Stone a lot. I found that the deck would lose to two major problems. First, the deck would sometimes lose to itself. You might have one piece of the combo in your hand and all you need is that other piece. You cast your brainstorm and you then know you are screwed for the next two turns because you don’t have many shuffle effects. Or another situation is you waste every single moment investing in top hopeful to find the other combo piece and your are just stuck in a standstill not finding what you want over and over again.
Secondly the deck lost to the vast amount of removal spells everyone is playing. You would invest everything you had to roll the dice and hope they didn’t have a swords, a path, a grudge, a disenchant, … The list went on and on. With this deck we can change that. Mother of Runes provides protection for everything. Yes I know, before people were playing with spellskite and that was fine but what if they had a second one? The combo was still interrupted and you wasted your investment. With Mother you can give your Servant protection from their removal for the rest of the turn. This is much better than a recurring spellkite from a goblin welder.
Now on to the Card Choices:
4 Painter’s Servant / 4 Grindstone / 3 Mox Opal / 3 Lion’s Eye Diamond:
These are known as the core to almost every Grindstone list, minus the Lion’s Eye Diamonds, and are pretty much mandatory to be playing the archetype. As you should know the combo with Painter’s Servant and Grindstone will allow you to mill your opponent for all of their cards. When you pass the turn, they can’t draw and you win! How fun is that! The Lion's Eye Diamonds are used to enable a turn one kill and also can provide three mana to flashback the Faithless Looting if it's in the graveyard.
This is stopped by cards like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and Progenitus but the likelihood of getting matched with one of these decks isn’t that great as they are almost always rogue combo decks
4 Mother of Runes / 4 Goblin Welder / 2 Dark Confidants / 2 Imperial Recruiter:
Here are the complementary creatures I have come up with to use with the Grindstone combo. With these creatures we are maximizing value through protection and card advantage. This causes all of these creatures to be must answer creatures otherwise I will gain too much card advantage or value by making their removal spells much worse.
Mother of Runes is a house as she is in every deck she is played in. She causes your opponent to overextend to kill her or she will blank their removal spells unless they have multiples in which case you get a 2-for-1. She also provides the deck with infinite blockers
Goblin Welder is such a great creature here. He resurrects our combo from the depths of our graveyard. If he ever resolves with a Mother of Runes on board it is normally game over. Your Mother gives your Painter’s Servant protection and then if they try to remove your grindstone welder brings it back. Just a great card overall and causes a ton of headaches for your opponent. He also plays well with the discard of Faithless Looting.
Dark Confidants and Imperial Recruiter were afterthoughts to the deck but by no means are just thrown in the deck. Dark Confidant allows us to search for our combo or gain card advantage when the opponent has countered or removed most of our permanents. If you notice there is no card in the deck or sideboard with a converted mana cost over 3 so taking damage from Confidant will remain low. Sensei’s Divining Top also combos nicely with Confidant causing us to draw the free spells in the deck or the lands on top. Imperial Recruiter is such a great card. He fetches every single creature in the deck whether it’s a Confidant when we have nothing left and are in top deck mode, a Mother of Runes for protection, a Goblin Welder to resurrect a Grindstone or a Painter’s Servant, or how about just grab the Painter’s Servant?
4 Faithless Looting / 2 Enlightened Tutor / 2 Unearth / 2 Sensei’s Divining Top:
Faithless Looting helps to dig us into our combo pieces and late game the card just gains value whether it is to dig for a combo piece or the throw it into our graveyard to goblin welder it back onto the field. The Sensei’s Divining Top is the decks library manipulation allowing us to set up the top reveal for Dark Confidant. It also has a trick with Goblin Welder to tap and draw a card but in response you Goblin Welder the top into the graveyard to bring back another artifact. This gives you an extra card while getting rid of multiple tops. The reason why there are only two tops in the list is because drawing the second one is the worst feeling in the world when you just need one more piece to win.
The Enlightened Tutors and Unearths give us more consistency whether the tutor is finding what we need or the unearths are reanimating a Painter’s Servant or protection for the combo (Goblin Welder/Mother of Runes). An interesting interaction is if we Enlightened Tutor with a Sensei’s Divining Top in play. This allows us to actually draw the card we need to win for the turn. Also, if you find the unearth sitting in your hand, don’t be afraid to cycle it for another card.
1 Thoughtseize / 1 Inquisition of Kozilek:
The targeted discard is to disrupt the opponent of their removal or counterspells. The deck might want a few more mainboard but I’m unsure of what to cut for them right off the bat. Plus the main deck is built more for consistency and speed than for disruption. However, after board you do have access to 5 targeted discard spells.
4 Ancient Tomb / 2 City of Traitors / 3 Great Furnace / 2 Vault of Whisper / 1 Ancient Den:
The Ancient Tombs and City of Traitors help power out the combo in the first few turns and also enables a turn one kill (City of Traitors, LED, Mox Opal, Painter’s Servant, and Grindstone). The artifact lands are to use with the Goblin Welder as artifact fodder and to also grab with the Enlightened tutor if we need a specific color and don’t have metalcraft.
Problems:
The problems I foresee with the deck are opponents who are running Emrakul or Progenitus. These cards prevent us from using the mill combo to win. Another problem card is pernicious deed which could wrath the board. Surgical Extractions and Extirpate after board also pose as a problem because if they remove half of the combo then we have lost the main win condition.