Quintorius: Making History Come Alive

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Hawk
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Post by Hawk » 3 years ago

So I'm not totally sold on which of our new Lorehold leaders I want to build around, but I'm actually leaning Quintorious, Field Historian. Why?

What I really want is a deck that utilizes Reconstruct History. Mistveil Plains + Sunforger, and Auriok Salvagers for endless grindy value. Given that, what I want from my commander is something that adds "a little something extra" to the things I already want to do. Let's look at all the Lorehold options:

- Alibou, Ancient Witness: Has no direct synergy with what I want to do.
- Mila, Crafty Companion: Has no direct synergy with what I want to do.
- Plargg, Dean of Chaos: Fills the 'yard to make sure I have stuff to do with Reconstruct and Salvagers, but doesn't directly benefit. A good candidate for the 99.
- Osgir, the Reconstructor: Strong competition, but is arguably a bombo with Auriok Salvagers. Likes a lot of the same cards but wants to go harder on artifacts which hurts our plans to Reconstruct History for a reload.
- Hofri Ghostforge: Our toughest competition. Has no direct synergy with what I want to do but is just a crazy-strong Commander. Has some indirect synergy of reusing the EtB triggers of cards like Stoneforge Mystic and Leonin Squire? Might make the 99 since he does synergize with Quintorius (his ability will trigger Quintorius, so every dead non-token creature yields a token copy and a spirit, both of which are getting +1/+1, Haste, and Trample).
- Zirda, the Dawnwaker: Not an actual Lorehold-marked commander but worth mentioning. She makes it much easier to chain off Sunforger activations, makes it a bit cheaper to churn Salvager engines too. But, overall - she isn't exactly what I want. We can't companion her, but she may make the 99.
- Quintorious, Field Historian: A little slow and a little less explosive than Hofri, but every time I activate Salvagers or Mistveil plains, I also make a dork. This is the kind of nonsense I want to build around and make sure I have access to in my command zone every game.

While I may experiment later with a Zirda + Osgir build later, here's my first crack at a Lorehold deck trying to get all these interlocking synergies to work together:
History Comes Alive, Updated 6/15/2021

Planeswalkers: 1

Approximate Total Cost:

[/deck]

Lots of tinkering to do and some of the newer cards are dependent on their final price (if Hofri or Plargg end up 20+ bucks they're getting cut) - but any thoughts so far? A few things I'm wondering/worrying:

1) Sunforger and Salvager is too much to try to do for one deck.
2) With only 7 sorceries, 3 enchantments, and 0 planeswalkers, Reconstruct History is only going to bring back 2 cards a lot of the time :(.
3) "grinding out value until I chip away with spirits" is certainly A plan to win, but not an awesome one.
Last edited by Hawk 2 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

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darrenhabib
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Post by darrenhabib » 3 years ago

Reconstruct History gets Pull from Eternity and Chandra, Flame's Catalyst as the instant and planeswalker.
Pull from Eternity puts Reconstruct History into graveyard and Chandra, Flame's Catalyst casts Reconstruct History again. You literally want Chandra to be in the graveyard when you cast Reconstruct as that allows you to safe guard it until you are ready to cast Reconstruct again. A personal trick of mine is to use Heart of Kiran.

If you want to make Reconstruct History as good as possible then you'll want a range of the card types that can be sacrificed (or put to graveyard) for value.
You got the artifacts covered. Enchantments could include Seal of Cleansing, Aura of Silence, Showdown of the Skalds, Underworld Breach, Elspeth Conquers Death to name a few.
If you have a couple of equipment then Forging the Tyrite Sword could be a nod towards the Sunforger.

As far as Quintorious you can use a card like Purify the Grave to put 3 x 4/2 onto the battlefield which is solid pressure even in Commander.
If you are going to try and make use out of Relic of Progenitus, Scrabbling Claws, Soul-guide Lantern then you really need as much graveyard fodder as possible. This is where any type of fetchland helps. Even Naya Panorama, Warped Landscape, Terminal Moraine would probably make the cut.

Axgard Armory for Sunforger. You could play Footfall Crater as an Aura that you can get back with Reconstruct History for a draw as well by just cycling it each time.

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capitacommunist
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Post by capitacommunist » 3 years ago

With respect to the questions, I think indeed you will struggle for space with both Sunforger and Salvaging Station packages. I think the second has more synergy with your deck, and without ways to make more use of Sunforger (equip cost reducers, etc.) it will be a slow engine in any case. Cutting Sunforger also allows you to balance out instants and sorceries a bit more for Reconstruct History.
I've never played with it, but entering tapped makes Renegade Map seem very slow/weak versus the rest of your salvaging package.
Escape has a lot of synergy with your general, as each cast generates two triggers. Ox of Agonas and Underworld Breach seem great for that reason in combination with synergizing very well with your deck.
I think you could increase your enchantment content by switching some of your creatures/artifacts to enchantments. For example switching Celestial Crusader to something like Glory of Warfare, or Blasting Station for Goblin Bombardment. Losheel, Clockwork Scholar and Eternal Dragon are also cuts you can make to make room for the sagas Darrenhabib mentioned.
I think Rip Apartcould be an add for something like Return to Dust as a more mana efficient and sorcery removal alternative. Past in Flames is another one to consider.
Since you have few colorless sources, Blade Historian could be a good way to help protect your spirits in combat and close out games.

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Hawk
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Post by Hawk » 2 years ago

Finally got a few test games in with this deck over the past few weekends. I won't post a total play-by-play but I did update the first post with the actual deck as it stands now - you can see compared to my OP, I did eschew the Sunforger package for now and also went lower budget due to a lot of the cards I wanted to run being out of stock in my LGS and in use or nonexistent in my collection. I have a few thoughts:

1) Quintorius, Field Historian is a surprisingly good commander, generating a pretty steady stream of value. I went 1/3 in terms of wins, but was competitive in the other two games.

2) Bag of Holding is the best card in the deck by a lot. I have been lucky enough to draw it every game, and it was huge and was the reason I won in the actual win (especially since I got to use it twice via Junk Diver). Mistveil Plains which has also appeared every game has also been a rockstar as has Scrabbling Claws but that's no surprise - I figured those would be great, I just hadn't guessed how amazing Bag would be.

3) I have yet to draw my favorite card and the reason for this deck's existence (Auriok Salvagers), which is a mega bummer and may be coloring my opinion on some other cards on the cut list...

4) Bomat Courier has also been a house, although it helps I had it turn 1 in one game so it effecitively "drew" 5 cards before the table could block it. In the winning game though, it worked to just pitch my hand to it for one card after a suicide attack thanks to MVP Bag of Holding stashing all those cards for later.

5) I am surprised at how crucial sac outlets have felt; this deck actually struggles to keep its 'yard full enough sometimes. Goblin Bombardment is probably the 3rd best card in the deck after Mistveil and Bag, and makes me want more sac outlets.

So those are general thoughts. Here's what is 99.9999% getting cut before I play again:

- Wand of Vertebrae: Blind milling is actually kind of bad in this deck. Codex Shredder gets a pass because its other effect is so good, but Wand shuffling isn't that great and it exiles itself so it can't even be looped with salvagers.
- Digsite Engineer: Without a Salvager loop running I don't actually trigger Historic effects like this that much, and even when I do I found that paying 2 for a 2/2/ or 3/3 just wans't a thing I could reliably afford. This was a Nessian Courser in one game, and a dead draw that got fed to the claws in the other.
- Signal Pest: Was hilarious with Bomat Courier in one game for some early aggro reminiscent of Kaladesh Standard, but is abysmmal late. I want ways to make my spirits spookier but this ain't it.
- Cursed Mirror: Maybe my meta isn't good for it? Everyone keeps buzzing about this but it's been a Manalith every game. Commander's Sphere is a manalith too, but at least it pitches itself for a card and gets looped or builds loops with Sun Titan and Scrap Trawler.
- Slayers' Stronghold - Cute utility card, does nothing. There's a million utility lands I'd like to run so this is out.

I'm currently showing at 101 cards here but 100 on the app I used to transcribe and 99 in play so I need to recount? But a few things I'm thinking of adding:
1) Sac outlets! I'm definitely replacing Stronghold with High Market. I'm also looking at Martyr's Cause or Blasting Station or possibly even Claws of Gix. It'd be Spirit Bonds if I had one, but I don't so those are the contenders for now.
2) More instant-speed interaction. Top of my list right now is to buy more copies of Swords to Plowshares, Chaos Warp, and Generous Gift as soon as I can. I may have to settle for Lightning Bolt or Skywhaler's Shot in the interim (bleh).
3) More rummage/wheel effects: My only Wheel of Fortune, Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge, and Reforge the Soul are currently in use. I also don't seem to own a copy of Heartwarming Redemption? While I wait to buy or shuffle those around, I'll be looking at "weaker" effects like Cathartic Reunion and Tormenting Voice.
4) Conjurer's Bauble: Mishra's Bauble is so great, I'm inclined to try its weaker brother (I don't own Urza's Bauble at this time, sadly).

Top of my want list is currently Urza's Saga (it's an enchantment for Reconstruct that fetches Bag of Holding, or fetches Sol Ring, or fetches Expedition Map to go find Mistveil Plains or High Market) and Goblin Engineer for better redundancy and power. Also intended to buy an Akroma's Will as a blowout card, but it was out of stock. Chances are, they will probably get edged out for the more universal removal as well as maybe better mana (this deck's mana is garbage and it wants Arid Mesa, Sunbaked Canyon, Fabled Passage, and a Sacred Foundry to fetch so badly it hurts).

A few other cards on my radar to cut and free up space:

- Quicksmith Genius, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle: Digsite Engineer is partically getting cut now for mana constraints, but also because it's hard to trigger if I'm not looping trinkets with Auriok Salvagers. I have not yet drawn Teshar and only drew Genius once. Genius seemed okay (he drew two cards). But I suspect these two's days are numbered since they're hard to reliably generate value off of.

- The "Big Reanimator" Package: Ruin Grinder, Eternal Dragon, Angel of the Ruins, and Combustible Gearhulk + Feldon of the Third Path: This seemed really fun, and Grinder and Dragon were pretty great when drawn, but Feldon doesn't actually trigger Quintorius and this deck's one win (and one "last man standing barely lost") were on the back of a horde of 5/3 spirits rampaging around and pumped by Hofri or Virtue. These are fun, but as I get more good stuff for the deck I suspect that everything else is just better.

- Lorehold Excavation: This card is so flavorful, but again I've found blind milling quite poor for my deck. I haven't drawn it yet, but given how I felt about Wand in the game I had it this will probably get cut sooner rather than later.

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