Helmerator

[TLK]

Found this spicy list that won a 50 player event: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=19642&d=325997&f=LE

Wasn't sure if there was a current Helm Combo thread or not, so if there is feel free to merge threads. Was going to post it in Tezzerator but this deck seems to forego Tezzeret in favor of The Antiquities War.


1 Academy Ruins
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
2 Island
3 Polluted Delta
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Swamp
4 Underground Sea
1 Vault of Whispers

4 Baleful Strix
1 Trinket Mage
2 Walking Ballista
1 Wurmcoil Engine

2 Collective Brutality
4 Force of Will
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Transmute Artifact

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Dimir Signet
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Helm of Obedience
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
4 Leyline of the Void
4 The Antiquities War


2 Damping Sphere
2 Engineered Plague
3 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Lodestone Golem
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 The Abyss
1 Thopter Spy Network
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Witchbane Orb

[Neo900]

It's an interesting idea of helm control which is commonly uw. Couldn't find one in the etablished section either; (maybe I write one).
The strong part about an uw build is that your grave hate is cheaper, so it's faster, and counts for you as well which allows you to get the benefit of energy field.
The main issue is that you don't play many black cards and no one is relevant enough to argue against uw with cards like Humility, Moat, Swords to Plowshares, Enlightened Tutor...
It's an interesting was to go, but I can't imagine that's better than an uw list.

[steelydanno]

I thought this looked interesting so took it out for a couple spins. After a local event and some testing with friends this is where it is:

IN: 4 Mox Diamond, 1 Thirst for Knowledge, 1 Sorcerous Spyglass, 2 Collective Brutality, 1 Polluted Delta
OUT: 4 Force of Will, 1 Walking Ballista, 1 Karn Scion of Urza, 2 Dimir Signet, 1 Underground Sea

4 Baleful Strix
1 Walking Ballista
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Trinket Mage

1 Karn, Scion of Urza

4 Collective Brutality
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Transmute Artifact

4 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Helm of Obedience
4 Mox Diamond
2 Dimir Signet

4 Leyline of the Void
4 The Antiquities War

4 Polluted Delta
3 Underground Sea
2 Island
1 Swamp
4 Seat of the Synod
1 Vault of Whispers
4 Ancient Tomb
2 City of Traitors
1 Academy Ruins

SB (no change)
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Damping Sphere
2 Engineered Plague
2 Toxic Deluge
1 Lodestone Golem
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1 Thopter Spy Network
1 The Abyss
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Sorcerous Spyglass

The first thing I missed was Mox Diamonds. The starts were slower without them and much more vulnerable to Wasteland/Blood Moon/Choke etc (also the reason for the extra fetchland), I wanted more chances at a T1 Chalice, I frequently need a third color for Engineered Explosives, and in general this deck just plays more aggressively than the average Tezzerator. I think it's a clear improvement. I really liked Thirst for Knowledge to help smooth out iffy opening hands so went up to four. Maindeck Spyglass is a flex spot, it's very good in my local meta. I'm liking the flexibility of Collective Brutality and so far prefer it to FoW, but we'll see as testing continues.