[Article] The Cutting Room Floor: Artificer's Intuition

[Michael Keller]

Damn right, kids!

[kiblast]

I didn't read the article yet but reading the title, oh man I'm so excited. I've had (me and many others for sure) this card under the radar for a long time. I tried hard to break it with no success.

Edit: Thanks for sharing your thoughts, lots of good inputs. I'm looking forward to see your brew you've been working on.

[Michael Keller]

I didn't read the article yet but reading the title, oh man I'm so excited. I've had (me and many others for sure) this card under the radar for a long time. I tried hard to break it with no success.

Thanks, man!

We'll find out just how good it is this Saturday at the February NELC - because I'm playing it.

[Greenpoe]

I love these articles since sometimes, new decks can just come out of nowhere and become hugely successful. I'd love to see an article building around Krovirkian Horror.

[Amon Amarth]

This is pretty exciting. Keep us informed with how well you do!

[slave]

Nice Hollywood.

My first thought with AI has always been Goblin Welder.
Casually it works long enough to plonk a robot into play, but legacy-level removal makes the combo pretty difficult to protect.
Shame.....

[Megadeus]

Yeah I was thinking of Welder too... Still doesnt seem awful. Sounds kind of fun really! I was designing a Grixis Welder deck but maybe just UR AI Welder is better...

[Oiolosse]

Dangerously cool indeed. That was good advice bc this card could either be terrific or goofy, depending on the brew. I look forward to hearing a report

juntu stakes could be good against tokens and general weenie.

...i think that there must! be a way to recoup cards gone to the graveyard. Either via reanimation or salvagers and the like.

Cursed scroll looks nice here. Finding non-colored removal seems solid.

Voltaic key could be utilized as well but i cant think how right now.

[.dk]

glad to see a new article! been a while... ;)

AI is such a cool card - although I don't think that any of the shells that you proposed abuse it fully. Check out this deck that a friend was tuning for a while (don't think his latest list is posted):

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...issance-Combo)

It basically uses Creeping Renaissance as a draw engine for storm or what have you, and using Artificer's Intuition as an all purpose tutor effect. Its obviously a graveyard based deck, so it's potency ebbs and flows along with the amount of graveyard hate in the meta, but it reminds me a lot of the Survival/Vengevine builds that got Survival banned.

Back on topic: I really like how your article series is bringing up forgotten cards (AI, Contamination), and proposing builds around them. Definitely appeals to the brewer in me and makes me look forward to whatever card you find next! Also, I think the writing of your articles is getting markedly better, making for a better read in general. This one in particular I felt had a very good flow, and there were no disjoint or confusing section.

Thanks for the article!

[kiblast]

By the way, I think the best way to build a wincon out of A.I. is just playing one Locket of Yesterdays and a Brain Freeze.

Assuming you play 4 Tops and 4 A.I., you need to cast A.I. as soon as possible. Then, assuming you didn't misbuild your deck and you have plenty of artifacts available to pitch (I'm guessing the right number is around 10 utility artifacts- including most of the ones Hollywood wrote about in his article, 3 Mox Opals, around 10 artifact lands, 4 Tops, all of which give plenty of food for A.I.) you can easily get to a boardstate in which you have various Tops in play, a Locket out, and a Top in your graveyard.
The good thing is that A.I. by itself is a really good card at controlling the game, netting you Relic of Progenitus, Pithing Needle, Executioner's Capsule if you want to, Engineered Explosives and many more board control tools when needed. So the space you need for the combo itself is minimal: 1 Locket and 1 Brain Freeze. The thing we really miss here is a recurring form of card advantage like Squee was for Survival.

[bruizar]

Although I like the subject, I think the article was quiet lackluster.

I posted several A.I. lists on thesource myself and, judging from my experience with the card, you omitted 2/3 crucial cards for the deck.

Expedition Map
Tezzeret Agent of Bolas
Rings of Brighthearth

Expedition Map is crucial because it helps you lock out your opponent. It grabs Academy Ruins and it grabs Karakas, Tabernacle and Darksteel Citadel. Pitch Mox Opal, grab Engineered Explosives, pitch E.E., grab Expedition Map, Crack it grab Academy Ruins, put E.E. back on top is the main line of play I use. I play a heavy planeswalker (4 liliana, 2 abyss, 4 tezzeret AOB, 2 Rings of Brighthearth) build because of Elixir of Immortality. THis card ensures I don't die to burn, which most UBx planeswalker builds have no chance of winning from.

Rings of Brighthearth is the best planeswalker you can wish for, and it helps double wastelands, fetchlands and turns A.I. into a card advantage engine.

The combo's with grindstone, auriok salvagers or phyrexian dreadnought suck because you can't get the entire combo. If you want something that can take the entire combo, there is Hex Parasite + Dark Depths + Expedition Map (Which also sucks, but at least you don't have to run Stifles or Painter Servants.

You also forgot to mention Chalice of the Void and Welding Jar as sideboard cards against hate and combo, and Lantern of Insight against Miracles. ALso only a short mention of Nihil Spellbomb, which you need to fuel your hand so you can continue to tutor for new artifacts. Much bette rthan Tormod's Crypt.

I believe that A.I. can be very strong in Modern since nearly the entire deck is legal except for colored artifact lands, but you can play it with 8 Darksteel Citadel and Mox Opal just as well.

[Michael Keller]

Although I like the subject, I think the article was quiet lackluster.

I posted several A.I. lists on thesource myself and, judging from my experience with the card, you omitted 2/3 crucial cards for the deck.

Expedition Map
Tezzeret Agent of Bolas
Rings of Brighthearth

Expedition Map is crucial because it helps you lock out your opponent. It grabs Academy Ruins and it grabs Karakas, Tabernacle and Darksteel Citadel. Pitch Mox Opal, grab Engineered Explosives, pitch E.E., grab Expedition Map, Crack it grab Academy Ruins, put E.E. back on top is the main line of play I use. I play a heavy planeswalker (4 liliana, 2 abyss, 4 tezzeret AOB, 2 Rings of Brighthearth) build because of Elixir of Immortality. THis card ensures I don't die to burn, which most UBx planeswalker builds have no chance of winning from.

Rings of Brighthearth is the best planeswalker you can wish for, and it helps double wastelands, fetchlands and turns A.I. into a card advantage engine.

The combo's with grindstone, auriok salvagers or phyrexian dreadnought suck because you can't get the entire combo. If you want something that can take the entire combo, there is Hex Parasite + Dark Depths + Expedition Map (Which also sucks, but at least you don't have to run Stifles or Painter Servants.

You also forgot to mention Chalice of the Void and Welding Jar as sideboard cards against hate and combo, and Lantern of Insight against Miracles. ALso only a short mention of Nihil Spellbomb, which you need to fuel your hand so you can continue to tutor for new artifacts. Much bette rthan Tormod's Crypt.

I believe that A.I. can be very strong in Modern since nearly the entire deck is legal except for colored artifact lands, but you can play it with 8 Darksteel Citadel and Mox Opal just as well.

Thanks for the feedback, bruizar. A few things, however:

The deck with Salvagers and Grindstone was a list from 2011 that was interesting because, well, no one runs Artificer's Intuition - but that gentleman did. Considering how low the sample-size is of people running the card in competitive events, I'm sure you can see its relevance to a discussion based on the card itself.

I didn't forget to mention the cards you're mentioning: Tezz, Chalice, Welding Jar, etc. - I explained that the "list goes on and on." There are hundreds of cards you can put into a deck running A.I. that work with the card, but to go into each and every choice would be ludicrous - which is why I sectioned off the piece and gave a general overview of what the card can potentially fish for.

I mentioned the Spellbombs in the article. I also mentioned that Cage is just an image-identifier for graveyard hate; if you want to run something else, by all means go for it.

Expedition Map isn't very good in a deck like this, and probably takes up space more than anything else. If you're investing that kind of mana that early with Tops and Intuitions available, then waiting a few turns to find a specialized land really isn't that spectacular unless you're running Dark Depths. It does cost one so I'll give it that and not much else.

I play a heavy planeswalker list, too. But to list all of those cards right now might be a strategic error considering I mentioned I'm actually playing Artificer's Intuition this Saturday and I kind of want to keep things under wraps as best as I can beyond that until this Saturday. I did make mention of planeswalkers and The Abyss in the article, though. I was trying not to cheat the meat of the article by holding back information regarding the exact list I'm playing, but I also wasn't about to dive right in to each and every card I'm playing. I used the cliffhanger at the end so that my report next week will show what I played and what I was trying to do.

Thanks though, comments appreciated!

[SirTylerGalt]

When reading this article, I thought about the list bruizar posted in the Planeswalker Stax thread a few months ago. I see bruizar already posted in the thread, but I think it's worth linking it for some more inspiration: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post664658

[sco0ter]

Thanks, it was really nice to read an article about AI.

I play an AI deck myself (though more casually), but I am not really happy with it. I play it in Ubr (for Goblin Welder and Baleful Strix)
My main concerns are, that the deck misses a Squee alternative, which generates CA and a lack of threats. This often leads me to the conclusion, that Trinket Mage would be just better in most circumstances. The only upside is the discard aspect, which helps Welder.

I tried it also with Dreadnought, but it really is just too much card disadvantage (AI + Stifle + Dreadnought), which again made me thought, that Trinket Mage is better.

I also had the idea to Proclamation of Rebirth them all into play, but never tried it.

I think AI is best suited for the combo finish with Locket of Yesterdays (as mentioned above) or Grindstone.

[Michael Keller]

Thanks, it was really nice to read an article about AI.

I play an AI deck myself (though more casually), but I am not really happy with it. I play it in Ubr (for Goblin Welder and Baleful Strix)
My main concerns are, that the deck misses a Squee alternative, which generates CA and a lack of threats. This often leads me to the conclusion, that Trinket Mage would be just better in most circumstances. The only upside is the discard aspect, which helps Welder.

I tried it also with Dreadnought, but it really is just too much card disadvantage (AI + Stifle + Dreadnought), which again made me thought, that Trinket Mage is better.

I also had the idea to Proclamation of Rebirth them all into play, but never tried it.

I think AI is best suited for the combo finish with Locket of Yesterdays (as mentioned above) or Grindstone.

The version I'm playing is similar to bruizar's in that it's planeswalker heavy. Mine is heavier on permission and does have a combo finish installed into the config.

[r3dd09]

Any update on this deck?

[kiblast]

Yeah. My 8 playsets of AI want to know how your list looked like and final result in the tournament. A report would be great!

[Michael Keller]

Yeah. My 8 playsets of AI want to know how your list looked like and final result in the tournament. A report would be great!

Didn't do so hot at the event, going 0-3 drop. It wasn't even close, really.

Although, I did win a game on camera using the Locket combo. Aside from that, nothing to see here. Artificer's Intuition perhaps in another shell would work decent, but mine wasn't up to par.

[r3dd09]

Keep on brewing, I've been picking up foil AI's like candy lately. I want this card broken.

[Michael Keller]

Someday it might. For now though it's a card that's very difficult to build a good deck around.