Michiko's Reign

[Borg]

Urza's Saga and Nettlecyst are established cards in Legacy.
Michiko's Reign of Truth is not and yet ... this card seems just as powerful ... given the right build.

Consider this opening :

T1 Ancient Den, Esper Sentinel
T2 Urza's Saga, Michiko's Reign of Truth and that is a 4/4 Sentinel attacking on T2.
With another Artifact Land instead of Saga on T2 and possibly a Mox Opal and/or Mishra's Bauble in play this can be even a 5/5 or 6/6 ... attacking on T2 and T3.

Other potential T1 Artifact Creatures to consider :
Hope of Ghirapur has Flying to help connect and can possibly stunt the opponent's development. Losing the artifact in the process is a minus though.
Haywire Mite is a very intriguing option because this creature can still use its sacrifice ability while being tapped / attacking. Needs green mana though.
Ornithopter best of the 0-mana options because of the flying ability but less useful without Michiko's Reign of Truth. Can pick up a Nettlecyst and become a very dangerous flying threat.

Add in the rest of the usual suspects in an artifact build and this could be a tough one to deal with ?

//CC0
4 Mox Opal
4 Mishra's Bauble
1 Ornithopter

//CC1
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Esper Sentinel
3 Hope of Ghirapur
3 Haywire Mite
2 Enlightened Tutor
1 Shadowspear
1 Gingerbrute

//CC2
4 Patchwork Automaton
4 Michiko's Reign of Truth // Portrait of Michiko
2 Ethersworn Canonist

//CC3
4 Nettlecyst

//Lands
4 Windswept Heath
4 Urza's Saga
4 Plains
4 Ancient Den
2 Tree of Tales
1 Savannah

[FTW]

I really like this idea. There's a lot of redundant synergy with all the X/X beatdown.

Vault Skirge is your 1 mana 1/1 flyer - with lifelink! Better than Hope and Gingerbrute
T1 Skirge
T2 Michiko

If you keep Hope & Ornithopters (creature type Thopter), then 1 Retrofitter Foundry is good. Saga finds it. It turns Thopters into 4/4s.

[Borg]

Vault Skirge is a fantastic suggestion FTW.

Once Michiko Transforms however, he gets back to being just a 1/1 Flyer.
He can equip Nettlecyst alright but that's a 5-mana affair.
Cranial Plating does a similar job for just 3 mana and is another excellent target for the Enlightened Tutors which are already there.
Cranial Plating also makes the 0-cost Thopters a better option, which increases the zero cost drops to 12 in the process AND it fits perfectly as a T3 play.

T1 Ancient Den - Skirge/Sentinel/Thopter ( with a Thopter opening you can possibly tutor for Michiko before drawing on T2 )
T2 Michiko's Reign
T3 Plating


//CC0
4 Mox Opal
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Ornithopter

//CC1
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Esper Sentinel
4 Enlightened Tutor
2 Haywire Mite

//CC2
4 Vault Skirge
4 Michiko's Reign of Truth // Portrait of Michiko
4 Cranial Plating
3 Ethersworn Canonist

//Lands
4 Windswept Heath
4 Ancient Den
4 Urza's Saga
4 Plains
2 Tree of Tales
1 Savannah

Impressions :

Enlightened Tutor is fantastic. Seems to be a 4-off rather than a 2-off.
One of your best plays at T3 : tutoring for Michiko's Reign of Truth during upkeep ( or at opposing EOT2 )
Can also be used EOT1 after a T1 opening of Den/Plains + Ornithopter.

Urza's Saga is extra good because besides being a Land it's also an Enchantment and thus it empowers Michiko as well.
Ideal Land drops : T1 Ancient Den, T2 Urza's Saga, T3 Artifact Land.

[Borg]

Question :
If Portrait of Michiko is bounced back into your hand, can you play Michiko's Reign again or is the card lost ?

[FourDogsinaHorseSuit]

Question :
If Portrait of Michiko is bounced back into your hand, can you play Michiko's Reign again or is the card lost ?

If you bounce Portrait, Michiki's Reign will go to a card in your hand.
Just like bouncing a flipped delver. Exiling and returning it to play flipped doesn't change that.

[dte]

Enlightened tutor looks pretty bad: low velocity and CdA, while you have good redundancy, with 12 cards to get X power.

If you want tutors, I would go stoneforge (cranial, nettlecyst), plus it is a creature as target for michiko.

Maybe you want something to buy you time instead?
Like tangle wire and/or wasteland.

Hex parasite might be a consideration: cheap creature artefact, goes crazy with urza's saga (keep saga and tutor every turn), occasionally helpful with michiko. Bonus is killing opposing planeswalker, aether vial, urza's sagas and occasional +1/+1s.

[FTW]

https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=58136&d=634613&f=LE

This top 8 list looks like exactly what you want to do.

4 Michiko + 4 Cranial Plating + 4 Saga + 2 Nettlecyst
No tutor needed, just redundancy.

They use Stonecoil Serpent as another 1 cmc, but Esper Sentinel seems good too.

Dispatch instead of StP

Ancient Tomb and Lotus Petal speed it up: Saga activations, casting Cranial Plating & Nettlecyst, etc.

Maybe something like this


//Lands: 18
4 Urza's Saga
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Ancient Den
2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Plains
2 Spire of Industry

//Other Mana: 8
4 Mox Opal
4 Lotus Petal

//Creatures: 19
4 Ornithopter
4 Vault Skirge
4 Esper Sentinel
4 Patchwork Automaton
3 Etched Champion

//Buffs: 11
4 Michiko's Reign of Truth
4 Cranial Plating
2 Nettlecyst
1 Shadowspear

//Spells: 4
4 Dispatch

//Maybeboard:
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Hex Parasite
1 Haywire Mite
1 Hope of Ghirapur

[Borg]

Nice to see a similar deck is already in competition. Thanks for looking that up FTW.

I'd like to point out ( and hear your opinions ) on the inclusion of certain cards.

Shadowspear
I had this originally in as well but with the addition of 4x Vault Skirge Shadowspear does not carry enough weight anymore IMHO.
You lose only Trample but you gain Flying ( which is possibly better here ).

Ancient Tomb
The posted deck seems geared towards getting a T1 Patchwork Automaton in play ( or Etched Champion or Nettlecyst )
I have reservations about this strategy because I don't think these three creatures are the best to focus on early game.

Patchwork Automaton
Is great if you get it out T1 so you can get the boosts from the early artifact drops.
Drawing Automatons later in the game feel like very weak draws ( again IMHO ) because you're paying 2 mana for a 1/1 which is now much more difficult to add +1/+1 counters to because the 0-mana drops are probably already spent and you have no super draw engine to draw more.
Another drawback of this card is that it has no evasion and thus has problems to connect.
Also doesn't get +1/+1 counters from Saga. ( as those artifacts are not cast )

It's my impression that cheap flyers are much more effective to start the game rather than try to get an early more expensive creature in play.
This allows you to drop the damage dealing Ancient Tombs and put less pressure on your deck.
At the same time you can increase the Artifact Land count which is more beneficial than the non-artifact Ancient Tomb.

Darksteel Citadel
Is immune to Wasteland alright but I prefer to use Vault of Whispers and Tree of Tales instead as their colored mana may be more useful to power some of your abilities.

Hex Parasite
Thanks for pointing that card out, dte.
I think the ideal way to build a Michiko deck is to start with 0 or 1 cost artifact creatures with excellent upside, meaning they can still have a significant impact even if not boosted.
Vault Skirge, Esper Sentinel, Ornithopter, Hope of Ghirapur, Haywire Mite and Hex Parasite all provide that.

I think the Parasite is so good this deck could benefit greatly from a certain card package to be included without taking anything away from the normal build :
4 Urza's Saga
1 Hex Parasite
1 Retrofitter Foundry
4 Ornithopter
2 Hope of Ghirapur

This gives you 6 Thopters to turn into 4/4 constructs while the Parasite keeps a Saga alive to fetch the necessary cards turn after turn.
Not necessarily something to focus on but the opportunity could present itself and provides another angle of attack.

This build has 10 T1 Flyers to pump with Michiko and 7 non-Flyers with upside
and 8 Artifact Lands + 4 Enchantment Lands which all boost Michiko's Reign on T2.


//CC0
4 Ornithopter
4 Mox Opal
4 Lotus Petal

//CC1
4 Esper Sentinel
4 Dispatch
2 Hope of Ghirapur
2 Haywire Mite
2 Hex Parasite
1 Retrofitter Foundry
1 Shadowspear

//CC2
4 Vault Skirge
4 Michiko's Reign of Truth // Portrait of Michiko
4 Cranial Plating

//CC3
2 Nettlecyst

//Lands
4 Urza's Saga
4 Ancient Den
4 Vault of Whispers
3 Plains
2 Tree of Tales
1 Prismatic Vista

EDIT Removed 2x Etched Champion.
EDIT2 Put Shadowspear back in.

[FTW]

It looks good. I like the Hex Parasite and Hope additions, more interaction with opponent.

1 Shadowspear still seems good. It gives the X/Xs Trample to get through blockers. Lifelink is still good since you won't always have Vault Skirge.

Yes, I guess the Ancient Tomb is to speed up Patchwork Automaton, Etched Champion, Nettlecyst, and Saga activations. It's a slightly different strategy. Patchwork & Etched Champion are harder for opponent to remove, so you can safely equip & beatdown. The 1-mana creatures are faster but also die easily. Hex Parasite & Hope have useful abilities though! Your strategy is worth trying out.

[dte]

If you drop tomb (I wouldn't), you might want to drop etched champion as well. It is harder to cast, and can't be pumped by michiko.

[Borg]

If you drop tomb (I wouldn't), you might want to drop etched champion as well. It is harder to cast, and can't be pumped by michiko.

Correct ... again. :)

I just tried a couple of games vs Wb Humans ( Aether Vial, Kudro ) and Etched Champion was stuck in my hand all game from the beginning.
Never enough mana leftover to cast it.
Hex Parasite did thwart Aether Vial a couple of times until Haywire showed up while a 5/2 Thopter flew over the grounded Humans to finish them. Michiko had be Sworded.

Got a Parasite and Saga in opening hand and wanted to try that strategy but Saga got Wasted quickly.

Game one stabilized after my T1 Nettlecyst Germ Creature was removed by Brutal Cathar but a couple of turns later a 21/21 Imp finished it in one attack after picking up a +10/+10 Nettlecyst and a +10/+0 Skirge.

[Borg]

And it just occurred to me Hex Parasite can not only do tricks with Urza's Saga but it can also keep Michiko's Reign going !!