[Deck] Salvager Game (Golden Grahams)

[Lego]

I've never seen Goblins go lethal on turn 3, but if it happens, im quitting Magic.

I've won on Turn 2 with Goblins, but that's really not what we're talking about here :)

I like the splash a lot, but I think it will hurt consistency when you start facing Wastelands, and it doesn't offer any more speed. I think the deck is doing well as is. Has anyone testing the new tutor?

[Windux]

Againt Goblins and Sui, you allways want to fetch as much basics as possible.
I Just tryed 1 Tropical Island, because of the Sideboardcard Trinket Mage.

My Sideboard varies from Tournament to tournament:
3 Darkblast instead of 3 Tsunamis (becasue of the lack of Solidarity and Standstill...its not that good against gro)
1-2 Perish (against Gro, Survival)
1 Trinket Mage
1 Tormods Crypt (i Board the Crypt in, can draw it/search it with Pact or wish for Trinket Mage to tutor it. Thats the reason for 1 Tropical island).

I Also thought about Colossus+Dragon breath+Seize the Days (on german: Carpe Diem..really nice :) ).
Thats 22Damage in one round and the 2R are payable -> 4 LED, 4 Chromatic Sphere.

What do you think about this Colossus-tactic?

[Watcher487]

I've won on Turn 2 with Goblins, but that's really not what we're talking about here :)

I like the splash a lot, but I think it will hurt consistency when you start facing Wastelands, and it doesn't offer any more speed. I think the deck is doing well as is. Has anyone testing the new tutor?

Hold up here.

How many Wastelands were in the top 8 at Kaddy's DLD?
I know for a fact that I faced off against only 1 deck that had wastes.
(Only 2 lands wasted, I even wasted one back with Teferi's Response.)

I personally don't think there is enough search in the basic 3 color deck to begin with. What happens when you bring in the 4th color is consistancy. Brainstorm was literally a god-send whenever I played it. Lim-Dul's Vault made it so I could win the game usually on the next turn.

@Manabase issues:
I only had 1 situation where I had a manabase problem. That was versus Gearhart in round 6. I had mis-tapped my lands and Ritual'd into a Living Wish for Gamekeeper with no Green availible.

I never cracked my sac-lands or Chromatic Spheres unless I needed them. Against Dryad Sligh (my only opponent with Wastes) I had 4 Basics in play by turn 5.

The format is slowly going back to the way it was prior to the whole wasteland issue.

[parallax]

I Also thought about Colossus+Dragon breath+Seize the Days (on german: Carpe Diem..really nice :) ).
Thats 22Damage in one round and the 2R are payable -> 4 LED, 4 Chromatic Sphere.

What do you think about this Colossus-tactic?

If you see a Dragon's Breath and then a Colossus off the same Gamekeeper, the Colossus is put into play before the Breath is in your graveyard. Also, Dragon's Breath is a dead card if you draw it.

[Windux]

If you see a Dragon's Breath and then a Colossus off the same Gamekeeper, the Colossus is put into play before the Breath is in your graveyard. Also, Dragon's Breath is a dead card if you draw it.

Isnt it so, that Gamekeeper Puts DSCS into play, then puts the Cards into grave, THEN SBE gets checked and the Breath triggers?

/Edit: Ok, checked it, I was wrong.
With Oath of Druids, it would work...the devil is in the detail :)

[Bane of the Living]

The combo route is better than the colossus one imo. Its not worth adding 2 more cards to make DC more lethal. He'll usually get the job done fine without help from janky red cards.

Ive done some testing with IT! (Infernal Tutor)

I think IT will fit the bill as our missing piece. Theres been alot smack talked about combo's rebirth. If any deck should benefit from the tutor the most its this one. Find another Therapy? Find another LED and Living Wish ftw? 8 ways to pop LED with a tutor on the stack? Sounds good to me. I say fuck the 4 color route and heil IT. Hopefully it will suck in standard so I wont have to dish out $80 a playset.

For me its been 100% better than either Tainted Pact, Spoils, ect. At worst it grabs an extra copy of the best card in your hand. Gamekeeper, Dark Ritual, Therapy, LED..

[Watcher487]

Going the old route is just the wrong way of doing things. There are way too many decks right now playing Swords to Plowshares or is just faster than swinging with DSC over 2+ turns. I didn't even side in DSC @ DLD.

Infernal Tutor... I know this is going to be huge in type 2, extended and type 1. So all wishful thinking aside, I do expect this to leave the format about 2 months from now. It is an amazing card if set up right. Just like all of the other search listed in the deck to begin with. Tainted Pact will definatly be chompped away for this in most decks. I still say that adding blue would still make the deck better.

[SillyMetalGAT]

They wont ban Infernal Tutor, They'll ban LED. The synergy with LED is just too much, plus LED goes with the Wishes.... But I dont think that either card will get banned.

As for the deck, I did some playtesting a couple days ago with Bane and the dredge proved to be pretty good. I played with Darkblasts, and everytime I dredged, it won me the game. I dont know if anyone has had this kind of luck, but I highly reccomend Darkblasts.

[tsabo_tavoc]

Oh, I used to have the wrong information about Tainted Pact, thinking it move cards into graveyards. For it really removes cards from the game, Infernal Tutor is likely a better choice, and I might enjoy the dredge from Darkblasts as I enjoyed the dredge from my version of Tainted Pact.
Then, What to put out for Darkblasts?
LED might be the first to be banned
Any other exciting hellbent cards to join the deck?

[threetonsflax]

First, has anyone else tried taking out Chromatic Sphere? I find myself just using it to cantrip early game. If there's not a Spellbomb in the yard it obviously fixes that, but what about running 3/4 spellbombs and no spheres? Spellbombs also function as a way to kill of Keeper. Second, Plunge into Darkness has been great for me. The versatility of it has been amazing and I've been trying it out as a replacement for Innocent Blood. As long as we can load up on tutors/draw/accelerants, we should be beating aggro.

[Bane of the Living]

Chromatic Sphere is in the deck because it fixes mana issues. You cant get white for Salvagers during combo unless you have it in hand or on board sometimes. Dark rit is great with it to filter mana for things like Gamekeeper or hardcasting Salvager.

Its quite helpfull and I would never play less than 4. If you wanted more Spell Bombs id remove Innocent Blood.

[threetonsflax]

Yeah, scratch that. Sphere definitely is good. I'm often using up all my mana early on so the fact that it cantrips for free helps out. That's been much more important than the mana-fixing, helping me to cantrip and cast a draw spell turn 2. So far the combination of Night's Whisper/Plunge into Darkness/Living Wish has seemed to work out well.

I've been testing the Infernal Tutor, but have been very underwhelmed with it, perhaps because I'm already running a wishboard and have the Wish/LED synergy. Has anyone else found it particularly useful?

I've also been wanting some more accelerants in the deck. Dark Ritual and LED are great, but having a few extra accelerants to use on draw/tutoring in the first 2 turns would really help. I was thinking Lotus Petal but I'll have to test it.

[Watcher487]

As of right now I'm running search wise,
3 Infernal Tutor
2 Brainstorm
2 Lim-Dul's Vault
2 Night's Whisper
4 Living Wish

Since I'm playing 4 colors I actually save Spheres till I actually need them. And since I'm running a heck of alot more draw/search than normal they usually stay in play for a while, but there is the occasion where I do need them mana.

Infernal Tutor has been working ok for me lately. I run alot of 1-ofs and 2-ofs so it's non-hellbent version really isn't worth it. It is still worth it for the connection between LED and it but I might just cut another 1 from the deck.

Lately Night's Whisper has been horrible. It's usually bad against Aggro and most Burn decks, while I do like the card drawing the bigger issue is the Life Loss. With Vault, I attempt to win next turn, but with Whisper I'm in the middle of building up.

[threetonsflax]

I've been similarly split on Whisper. I am often cutting it quite close against aggro and sometimes the life matters. On the other hand I'm also running Plunge into Darkness so I guess I shouldn't be complaining about the 2 life. I'd love to have access to Brainstorm and Vault (as well as Trinket Mage for SB), but the manabase is already low on basics I don't think another color is the way to go. What do you cut out for the draw/search that you fit in there?

For reference I'll post my list:
2 Tundra
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
3 Flooded Strand
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
3 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Plunge into Darkness
4 Chromatic Sphere
1 Spellbomb
4 Night's Whisper
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Auriok Salvagers
3 Gamekeeper
4 Living Wish
1 Infernal Tutor

[Watcher487]

Well the big thing that I look at is if you have the ability to look for the mana you need when you need it. My list ( on the previous page on this thread) which I did play recently, looks like it's more geared toward the Tainted Pact style of deck but amazingly it isn't.

2 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Scrubland
3 Pollutted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strands
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Snow-covered Swamp

Now what is going on here is, I have the ability to pull any mana I need off of any Sac-land I use. Now while I only play 12 permenent mana sources (w/ 7 sac-lands), I usually have the mana I need for the right situation even if my opponent is running 40 Wastelands.

[SillyMetalGAT]

I've been similarly split on Whisper. I am often cutting it quite close against aggro and sometimes the life matters. On the other hand I'm also running Plunge into Darkness so I guess I shouldn't be complaining about the 2 life. I'd love to have access to Brainstorm and Vault (as well as Trinket Mage for SB), but the manabase is already low on basics I don't think another color is the way to go. What do you cut out for the draw/search that you fit in there?

For reference I'll post my list:
2 Tundra
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
3 Flooded Strand
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
3 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Plunge into Darkness
4 Chromatic Sphere
1 Spellbomb
4 Night's Whisper
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Auriok Salvagers
3 Gamekeeper
4 Living Wish
1 Infernal Tutor

I run Trinket Mage....... Hes such a good card in the wishboard. I dont typically use the wishes until I have LED so I can play Trinket Mage.

[Bane of the Living]

I've been similarly split on Whisper. I am often cutting it quite close against aggro and sometimes the life matters. On the other hand I'm also running Plunge into Darkness so I guess I shouldn't be complaining about the 2 life. I'd love to have access to Brainstorm and Vault (as well as Trinket Mage for SB), but the manabase is already low on basics I don't think another color is the way to go. What do you cut out for the draw/search that you fit in there?

For reference I'll post my list:
2 Tundra
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
3 Flooded Strand
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
3 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Plunge into Darkness
4 Chromatic Sphere
1 Spellbomb
4 Night's Whisper
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Auriok Salvagers
3 Gamekeeper
4 Living Wish
1 Infernal Tutor

Whoa man where are your removal spells? I dont think Id feel safe playing this deck without the removal card, namely Innocent Blood. You dont even leave yourself outs against Meddling Mage when you remove them.

Has anyone tested Unmask in the more comboish versions?

[Bane of the Living]

Well I hate double posting but most people seem to be fiddling with Iggy Pop now instead of Keeper. As with all black combo decks this one got a bump with IT as well. Maybe more thanks to the utilities the deck has to fetch with simply the 'nonHellbent' IT.

Cabal Therapy
Dark Ritual
Night's Whisper
Duress
Living Wish
LED
Gamekeeper

Look at all those money targets. Against control we have extra draw with Night's Whisper, creating a Deep Analysis like advantage. We also have Duress and Therapy, amazing in doubles. Double Living Wishes to battle Pithing Needles. Double keeper ensures we resolve one, get one to die via NOT Swords to Plowshares, and thin out out of the deck for comboing.

Mana 29
1 Scrublands
2 Savannah
4 Bayou
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Lotus Petal
4 Dark Ritual
4 Lion's Eye Diamond

Control 12
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Innocent Blood

Engine 10
2 Auriok Salvagers
3 Gamekeeper
3 Chromatic Sphere
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
1 Aether Spellbomb

Search/Draw 10
3 Night's Whisper
4 Living Wish
3 Infernal Tutor

Board 15
4 Pernicious Deed
2 Darksteel Colossus
2 Darkblast
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 City of Brass
1 Gamekeeper
1 Auriok Salvager
1 Trinket Mage
1 Kjedorian Dead
1 Viridian Shaman


Mana Base..
Mana is important since its a three color combo deck that cant miss a land drop. Wasteland is out there so I like keeping extra basics in my build. If the deck thins out too much via fetches Its sometimes hard to topdeck one. The rest of the mana base is the 0 drop artifact breed. I like adding a couple petals cause they can make an awful hand so much better. They also give me more rainbow mana along with Chromatic Sphere.

Control...
A sixth of this deck is control. Another sixth of the deck can tutor or draw into it. It's all one black mana and easy to cast mid comboing thanks to Dark Ritual. Thats the reason I'll stay with those 12 cards always. They're all efficient at what they do, hell Therapy and Innocent Blood are 'part' of the combo.

Draw/Search..
Nothing beats Infernal Tutor. Spoils of the Vault and Plunge lose you life. I hate losing life playing a combo deck. Spoils, Plunge, and Tained Pact all RFG cards. I dont want cards RFG. My deck is my combo. Nights Whisper is good at what it does, its life loss has no compare to spoils. Living Wish is always a 4 of here. I know combo normally doesnt like 4 wishes but they get countered and discarded often. Wish is great because it kills or gets around Needle and Crypt. It has amazing synergy with IT and LED.


The part I like about my deck is the more firm mana base, as well as the ability to switch in Pernicious Deed. Lotus Petal is not Chrome Mox, thus you dont lose more off deed. Yet Lotus Petal allows for turn 2 deed goodness.

[FallenOmnipotent]

you do know there's 61 cards right?
Also, do you feel the mana base is too vunerable to LD? e.g. Deadguy's Sinkhole, Vindicate, Wastelands.

[Bane of the Living]

Yes I know its 61 cards thanks tho!

I think my mana base is much more stable than most builds. I run more basics and I run fewer fetches to thin land from the deck. If you play with Wasteland in mind you shouldnt have problems. Hold fetches for your instat speed draw/search so it doesnt get hit by Sinkholes. You have a bad game against Deadguy but not terribly bad, they cant do much if Keeper hits the table. Most versions dont even run 4 swords main.