[SCD] Fluctuator

[mistercakes]

This has been a pet card of mine for a while. I don't want to explore all in versions like Mr. Toad's wild ride.

I've been tinkering around for a while and want to try to see how this card can be used as an engine. Zvi's deck from Urza's block pro tour would be a great starting point:

// 60 Maindeck
// 15 Artifact
4 Grim Monolith
4 Voltaic Key
4 Fluctuator
3 Thran Turbine

// 5 Creature
4 Cloud of Faeries
1 Palinchron

// 3 Enchantment
3 Lingering Mirage

// 12 Instant
2 Opportunity
2 Rescind
4 Stroke of Genius
4 Frantic Search

// 24 Land
4 Blasted Landscape
3 Drifting Meadow
2 Island
4 Polluted Mire
3 Smoldering Crater
4 Tolarian Academy
4 Remote Isle

// 1 Sorcery
1 Yawgmoth's Will


this is obviously on a different power level, as it's using Tolarian Academy as the real threat in the deck.

here's some ideas I had:

// 60 Maindeck
// 12 Artifact
4 Lotus Petal
4 Fluctuator
4 Ruby Medallion

// 4 Creature
4 Simian Spirit Guide

// 12 Instant
4 Seething Song
4 Manamorphose
4 Shadow of the Grave

// 20 Land
4 Smoldering Crater
4 Blasted Landscape
4 Canyon Slough
4 Sheltered Thicket
4 Ancient Tomb

// 12 Sorcery
3 Rite of Flame
1 Past in Flames
2 Burning Wish
3 Bonus Round
3 Reforge the Soul


// 4 Sideboard
// 4 Sorcery
SB: 1 Infernal Tutor
SB: 1 Reforge the Soul
SB: 1 Tendrils of Agony
SB: 1 Rite of Flame

SB: 2 Lightning Rift

-------

idea 2:

// 60 Maindeck
// 15 Artifact
4 Fluctuator
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Bolas's Citadel

// 2 Creature
2 Street Wraith

// 10 Instant
2 Shadow of the Grave
4 Dark Ritual
4 Cabal Ritual

// 21 Land
2 Blasted Landscape
4 Fetid Pools
4 Canyon Slough
4 Polluted Mire
3 Badlands
4 Smoldering Crater

// 12 Sorcery
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Past in Flames
4 Thoughtseize
4 Infernal Tutor
2 Ill-Gotten Gains


idea 3:

// 60 Maindeck
// 32 Artifact
3 Paradox Engine
4 Temple Bell
4 Fluctuator
4 Grim Monolith
4 Voltaic Key
1 Alhammarret's Archive
4 Mox Opal
4 Lotus Petal
4 Chalice of the Void

// 2 Creature
2 Walking Ballista

// 1 Instant
1 Rebuild

// 21 Land
4 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
4 Irrigated Farmland
4 Fetid Pools
4 Remote Isle
4 Blasted Landscape

// 4 Sorcery
4 Thoughtcast


just hoping there's some other brewers that would like to tinker around with this. keep in mind, Zvi's deck was built for turn 4 wins, so ideally we can go for turn 3/4 as long as there's some form of disruption or prison.

-Rob

[Purple Blood]

After they printed Shadow of the Grave I tinkered around with a Fluctuator Deck. My best success was play UB with Fluctuator and a way to tutor for it. You absolutely need more than "4" copies since your deck is a pile of uselessness without it. I wound up using Fabricate but there could be better options. Lab Man is by far the best Win Con. It only dilutes your deck by one card and building up storm for Tendrils is a hassle since you are for the most part not casting much when you go off.

The engine was Fluctuator, Shadow of the Grave, Restless Dreams, Songs of the Damned, and cycling creatures. I was also playing Sol Lands and Lotus Petals for acceleration. Petal is also important because it lets you cast your Lab Man even if you have to tap out during your combo turn.

Various builds tested 1 mana discard and FoW for protection but it's hard to put too many of these in the deck because you water down the combo and lead to fizzling.

I'd post the thread but it seems like it was deleted off this forum.

With Shadow of the Grave and Restless Dreams you barely ever fizzle out. You can reduce the number of cycling cards from your deck with these two since when you start to combo out you can cast Dreams to exchange all your non-cycling cards for your cycling cards once your hand is all bricks. There is also the once in a blue moon game where you can pivot to winning with Archfiend of Ifnir against certain decks.

I really think this deck can only play all in or nothing at all. The nut draw is a turn 1 win with FoW backup (Tomb/City -> Fluctuator -> Cycle into Petal -> Song off Petal -> Draw your whole deck using Shadow/Dreams -> Lab Man off second petal) but that's pretty rare.

I tried to test CotV in this deck but Dreams and Song is just way too important.

[mistercakes]

Yea I've played those versions and they are fine, but I was hoping to use it as an engine, mostly so lands are not dead cards.

[Cire]

After they printed Shadow of the Grave I tinkered around with a Fluctuator Deck. My best success was play UB with Fluctuator and a way to tutor for it. You absolutely need more than "4" copies since your deck is a pile of uselessness without it. I wound up using Fabricate but there could be better options. Lab Man is by far the best Win Con. It only dilutes your deck by one card and building up storm for Tendrils is a hassle since you are for the most part not casting much when you go off.

The engine was Fluctuator, Shadow of the Grave, Restless Dreams, Songs of the Damned, and cycling creatures. I was also playing Sol Lands and Lotus Petals for acceleration. Petal is also important because it lets you cast your Lab Man even if you have to tap out during your combo turn.

Various builds tested 1 mana discard and FoW for protection but it's hard to put too many of these in the deck because you water down the combo and lead to fizzling.

I'd post the thread but it seems like it was deleted off this forum.

With Shadow of the Grave and Restless Dreams you barely ever fizzle out. You can reduce the number of cycling cards from your deck with these two since when you start to combo out you can cast Dreams to exchange all your non-cycling cards for your cycling cards once your hand is all bricks. There is also the once in a blue moon game where you can pivot to winning with Archfiend of Ifnir against certain decks.

I really think this deck can only play all in or nothing at all. The nut draw is a turn 1 win with FoW backup (Tomb/City -> Fluctuator -> Cycle into Petal -> Song off Petal -> Draw your whole deck using Shadow/Dreams -> Lab Man off second petal) but that's pretty rare.

I tried to test CotV in this deck but Dreams and Song is just way too important.

Yeah we had fun shooting around these ideas over here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?31559-Shadow-of-the-Fluctuator/page8

[ronco]

I'd post the thread but it seems like it was deleted off this forum.


I believe it was this one?
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?31559-Shadow-of-the-Fluctuator

I "searched" for the fluctuator with a transmute ability. I tried the living death into haste creatures plan so I needed the ability to clear an opponent's graveyard in a pinch. It was very glass cannon ish and durdled forever so I wasn't a huge fan of that once I more or less settled on a list. Shred Memory was what it was, I think.

[Purple Blood]

Thanks for digging that up!

[ronco]

LED is interesting. iT never dawned on my to do use it in this way. Wonder if the lab man plan would work with this? I always had trouble getting blue mana with my living death build (black was never a problem with songs/Lake of the dead), maybe this is something to look into. Also provides the mana while cycling to keep it going via shadow of the grave, which was a problem i would run into. Perhaps the line could be, first LED for black for shadow and then second LED for blue for Lab man? Even better, if you do discard something to your own LED, you get it back from shadows as it doesn't care how or why it was discarded.

Maybe time to bring it back? I had hopes of using abandoned sarcophagus and using some of the cycling counters (ie miscalculation) as kind of an alternative graveyard engine but never got around to doing so.

[Michael Keller]

LED is interesting. iT never dawned on my to do use it in this way. Wonder if the lab man plan would work with this? I always had trouble getting blue mana with my living death build (black was never a problem with songs/Lake of the dead), maybe this is something to look into. Also provides the mana while cycling to keep it going via shadow of the grave, which was a problem i would run into. Perhaps the line could be, first LED for black for shadow and then second LED for blue for Lab man? Even better, if you do discard something to your own LED, you get it back from shadows as it doesn't care how or why it was discarded.

Maybe time to bring it back? I had hopes of using abandoned sarcophagus and using some of the cycling counters (ie miscalculation) as kind of an alternative graveyard engine but never got around to doing so.

Keep an eye on Fluctuator decks if the new mulligan rule sticks. I'm not saying it'll be any good, but at least something to watch.

[mistercakes]

yea i hadn't really goldfished it with the new mulligan rule. lab man isn't really needed. i had two versions of the black creature one. neither needed to pass the turn to win and didn't require lab man. they're probably in that other thread somewhere. i just wanted to use fluctuator as an engine, ideally as a combo one, but it may take time to find a good reason to do it. with more interest in the new narset, this idea gets even worse.

[Purple Blood]

LED is interesting. iT never dawned on my to do use it in this way. Wonder if the lab man plan would work with this? I always had trouble getting blue mana with my living death build (black was never a problem with songs/Lake of the dead), maybe this is something to look into. Also provides the mana while cycling to keep it going via shadow of the grave, which was a problem i would run into. Perhaps the line could be, first LED for black for shadow and then second LED for blue for Lab man? Even better, if you do discard something to your own LED, you get it back from shadows as it doesn't care how or why it was discarded.

Maybe time to bring it back? I had hopes of using abandoned sarcophagus and using some of the cycling counters (ie miscalculation) as kind of an alternative graveyard engine but never got around to doing so.

You can also run Unearth if you have trouble making blue. Although that does expose you to Surgical.


yea i hadn't really goldfished it with the new mulligan rule. lab man isn't really needed. i had two versions of the black creature one. neither needed to pass the turn to win and didn't require lab man. they're probably in that other thread somewhere. i just wanted to use fluctuator as an engine, ideally as a combo one, but it may take time to find a good reason to do it. with more interest in the new narset, this idea gets even worse.

I would stand by Lab Man being the best wincon being that drawing your deck is relatively trivial with Fluctuator. Anything else is going to require more than a single card at which point you wonder why would you dilute your deck unnecessarily? With your Tedrils build you're essentially dedicating between 5-14 cards (depending on how you look at it) to your win con. I can't think of a good reason for that but I'm open to hearing an explanation. I can't see an argument as to why those slots wouldn't be better allotted to either more cycling (less fizzle chance) or more protection (additional discard and FoW).