Esper Artifact-Combo

[XccentriX]

There's a local card shop that hosts weekly Commander night that I am hoping to join. Below is my first attempt at making a Commander deck. Any chance I could ask the community to use this deck as an example to help me fine tune or discuss the various strategies and approaches to deck building? Edit - This is also my first post, and my first deck that I feel drawn too. Bare with me while I use this spot to fine-tune to Ponder and Brainstorm.

My approach

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I noticed I had a lot of artifacts in my collection that could combine together for neat combo wombos. With Commander, I thought why not try a multi vector combo approach. I build the manabase in the early game, and depending on what cards I draw, I tutor the remaining combo pieces to build a win-con. I leaned into three color Esper mainly because of the Dramatic Reversal / Silence + Isochron Scepter combo and Phyrexian Scriptures. This was a bottom-up build and the Commander pick was more of an after thought to fit within the color wheel. My ultimate goal with the deck is to have something jank-filled fun to pilot, not uber-cEDH levels, yet still strong enough to hold my own in a variety of metas. MTG Arena has influenced/inspired some of these card choices, though quite sad to see paradox engine banned.

Questions - Outside of win-con's and synergies, Ramp/Card Draw/Removal tend to be important components to a deck from my understanding. I broke down the package below, curious if I should add more board wipes or wait for more meta understanding? I already thinned out some combo cards, removing other novel combos ... do I have enough tempo to maintain all these synergies? Even more specific card swaps like Manifold Key vs Unwinding Clock has been on my mind.

Wishlist - Scrap Trawler, Muddle the Mixture, Arcane Signet and Tribute Mage are on my to-buy list.

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Ramp

• Repertoire (x15) - Leaden Myr, Alloy Myr, Silver Myr, Gold Myr, Palladium Myr, Expedition Map, Sol Ring, Springleaf Drum, Chromatic Lantern, Darksteel Ingot, Myr Reservoir, Commander's Sphere, Ashnod's Altar, Krark-Clan Ironworks, Paradise Mantle, Wayfarer's Bauble

Removal

• Repertoire (x8) - Dispatch, Vindicate, Phyrexian Scriptures, Dakkon, Shadow Slayer, Meteor Golem, Esper Charm, Anguished Unmaking, Dispeller's Capsule

Card Draw/Tutors

• Spell Draw (x3) - Esper Charm, Blue Sun's Zenith, Deadly Dispute,
• Utility Draw (x7) - Sai, Master Thopterist, Trading Post, Tezzeret, Artifice Master, Dakkon, Shadow Slayer, Padeem, Consul of Innovation, Weatherlight, Kindred Discovery,
• Bonus Draw (x1) - Commander's Sphere
• Tutor (x6) - Enlightened Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Perplex, Fabricate, Muddle the Mixture, Oswald Fiddlebender

Esper Artifacts

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander

1 Sydri, Galvanic Genius

Creatures

1 Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage

1 Myrsmith

1 Sai, Master Thopterist

1 Oswald Fiddlebender

1 Blood Artist

1 Emry, Lurker of the Loch

1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation

1 Mirran Spy

Artifact Creatures

1 Myr Retriever

1 Meteor Golem

1 Scrap Trawler

1 Master of Etherium

1 Myr Scrapling

1 Leaden Myr

1 Alloy Myr

1 Silver Myr

1 Gold Myr

1 Palladium Myr

1 Jhoira's Familiar

1 Golem Artisan

1 Dross Scorpion

1 Foundry Inspector

1 Myr Galvanizer

1 Lodestone Myr

Planeswalkers

1 Tezzeret, Artifice Master

1 Dakkon, Shadow Slayer

Spells

1 Enlightened Tutor

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Dispatch

1 Silence

1 Dramatic Reversal

1 Vindicate

1 Perplex

1 Fabricate

1 Anguished Unmaking

1 Esper Charm

1 Counterspell

1 Deadly Dispute

1 Blue Sun's Zenith

1 Muddle the Mixture

Artifacts

1 Dispeller's Capsule

1 Trading Post

1 Isochron Scepter

1 Myr Reservoir

1 Myr Matrix

1 Myr Turbine

1 Lightning Greaves

1 Codex Shredder

1 Krark-Clan Ironworks

1 Ashnod's Altar

1 Blasting Station

1 Grinding Station

1 Wayfarer's Bauble

1 Paradise Mantle

1 Expedition Map

1 Sol Ring

1 Commander's Sphere

1 Springleaf Drum

1 Unwinding Clock

1 Chromatic Lantern

1 Darksteel Ingot

1 Weatherlight

Enchantments

1 Tempered Steel

1 Phyrexian Scriptures

1 Kindred Discovery

Land

1 Detection Tower

1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon

1 Treasure Vault

1 Darksteel Citadel

1 Reliquary Tower

1 Phyrexian Tower

1 Esper Panorama

1 Seat of the Synod

1 Urza's Tower

1 Urza's Power Plant

1 Urza's Mine

3 Island

3 Plains

3 Swamp

1 Cascading Cataracts

1 Arcane Sanctum

1 Opal Palace

1 Command Tower

1 Razortide Bridge

1 Mistvault Bridge

1 Goldmire Bridge

1 Glacial Fortress

1 Fabled Passage

1 Watery Grave

1 Caves of Koilos

1 Godless Shrine

1 Scavenger Grounds

1 Buried Ruin

Approximate Total Cost:

Deck Edits

In 1.0

Muddle the Mixture
Deadly Dispute
Anguished Unmaking
Weatherlight
Scrap Trawler
Commander's Sphere
Wayfarer's Bauble
Codex Shredder
Kindred Discovery
Mistvault Bridge
Fabled Passage
Goldmire Bridge
Dispeller's Capsule

Out 1.0

Render Silent
Behold the Beyond
Whir of Invention
Metalwork Colossus
Chief of the Foundry
Terrarion
Cranial Plating
Swiftfoot Boots
Neurok Stealthsuit
Helm of the Host
Temple of Deceit
Phyrexia's Core
Trophy Mage

[Legend]

33 lands, if I counted correctly, is a bit low. 36 is a safe minimum IMO.

[XccentriX]

33 lands, if I counted correctly, is a bit low. 36 is a safe minimum IMO.

That was something I researched a bit with this deck theme. 36-38 seem to be a normal average for EDH, but with the mana rocks and dorks package I thought 33 might be a good number. Some decks I saw go aggressively low with 28-32 lands.

Some of my mana ramp only lands on turn 3, while others are either conditional (need another creature) or really just mana fixing.

One option I was considering was dropping things like Terrarion and Mind Stone which offers some cards for Signets and Talismans.

[XccentriX]

I've tweaked the deck some more. It's almost like entering a meditative state of self-awareness, attempting to understand my clinginess to certain cards versus the overall goal of the deck.

This spot will be reserved for simple rough draft on musings.

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Musings

Thoughts on Combos

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Some cards help build the combo engines in this deck. The pay off is:

• Mana Production
• Token Creation / EtB triggers
• Death triggers

Some cards take advantage of these combos, preferably with a win condition. Blood Artist can close a game if I have unlimited Death Triggers with the Altar/Station + Dross Scorpion + Myr Turbine combo. Golem Artisan can use all that mana to make a massive creature with flying, trample, haste. Metalwork Colossus was removed because it didn't quite synergize with anything, doesn't have evasion. Master of Etherium and Lodestone Myr can pump up in this deck easily enough.

Some cards are meant to build card advantage or tempo disruption. I cracked open a Kindred Discovery which I swapped out Whir of Invention for. With the Myr subtheme, at 10 myr creatures and 3 myr token producers, it feels like a good card to include. With the cost of Whir, I'd rather be drawing cards instead of tutoring for one artifact when I get to the point I can readily play this. I feel I have enough other tutors to fetch other pieces if needed and better draw cards could pick these up faster.

The mana rock/dork package is still on my mind. The Myrs are defintely staying in now, but the early play rocks could be optimized. Don't have the money for Moxxes, and still waiting to find an Arcane Signet. I also included Deadly Dispute ... really because it offers some synergy, but I wanted a black instant I could put on the scepter if I felt like it.

Mana Ramp

1. Paradise Mantle
2. Expedition Map
3. Wayfarer's Bauble
4. Sol Ring
5. Mind Stone
6. Darksteel Ingot
7. Commander's Sphere
8. Chromatic Lantern

Play Test

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Game 1

• Format = Casual
• Players = 3
• Opponent Decks = 4c Omnath-Landfall & Mono-White Heliod-Life-Gain
• Clumsy piloting but a good start. Took the victory despite cards like Rest in Peace. Combo'd out with Dross Scorpion + Krark-Clan Ironworks + Myr Turbine + Blood Artist after killing off Omnath player with Rest in Peace with Master of Etherium.
  
  Sydri is becoming a more welcomed commander by splashing deathtouch to create attacking aversion.
  
  I was curious about the popularity of Blue Sun Zenith, but I get it now. Loved Kindred Discovery as well, happy to have it included. I anticipate I'll see more enchantments that will lock out my artifacts and combos, so I added another removal piece. Upped the land count to 34 since I snagged another artifact land.
  
  Room for improvement will be to play faster. I'll draw more opponent hate if I am fumbling through my steps. I'm also locked in on some combo's, so what should be a bottom-up vector combo deck is becoming a top-down tutor deck. I think I'll head over to a sand-box and test run different lines of attacks based on cards drawn.