Clan Crafter Lae'Zel - Phasing in Voltron

[Guardman]

So I opened a Gilded Foil Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion in one of my prize packs and Sanctuary Warden in another prize pack and decided they looked fun. And out of the backgrounds that dealt with +1/+1 counters: Master Chef seemed a little boring; Agent of the Iron Throne & Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion seem like a worse Felisa Fang of Silverquill; I didn't want to be mono-white; and there was no red +1/+1 counter background. This left Clan Crafter, which seemed pretty cool, and lent itself to a cool sac, draw, artifact, voltron theme that spoke to me a lot more than most Azorius decks. Plus it let me access phasing, which is probably the best defense in a deck like this.

Looking for suggestions or cards that I missed. Especially looking for a way to sneak in some incidental graveyard hate.

Clan Crafter Lae'Zel

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commanders 2

1 Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion

1 Clan Crafter

Creatures 11

1 Hangarback Walker

1 Iron Apprentice

1 Deep Gnome Terramancer

1 Kor Blademaster

1 Lion Sash

1 Herald of Secret Streams

1 Whirler Rogue

1 Ironsoul Enforcer

1 Kappa Cannoneer

1 Crystal Dragon

1 Sanctuary Warden

Artifacts (Equipment) 7

1 Blade of the Bloodchief

1 Swiftfoot Boots

1 Goldvein Pick

1 Robe of Stars

1 Mask of the Schemer

1 Sword of Sinew and Steel

1 Sword of Truth and Justice

Artifacts (Other) 4

1 Animation Module

1 The Ozolith

1 The Underworld Cookbook

1 Key to the City

Artifacts (Mana) 8

1 Jeweled Amulet

1 Sol Ring

1 Wayfarer's Bauble

1 Arcane Signet

1 Azorius Signet

1 Mind Stone

1 Noble's Purse

1 Archaeomancer's Map

Artifacts (Sacrifice) 6

1 Chromatic Star

1 Ichor Wellspring

1 Mycosynth Wellspring

1 Prized Statue

1 Servo Schematic

1 Ugin's Nexus

Enchantments 10

1 Aqueous Form

1 Training Grounds

1 Security Bypass

1 Teferi's Veil

1 Vanishing

1 Duelist's Heritage

1 Resourceful Defense

1 Smuggler's Share

1 Thorough Investigation

1 Smothering Tithe

Instants 14

1 Blacksmith's Protection

1 Boon of Safety

1 March of Swirling Mist

1 Path to Exile

1 Slip out the Back

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Change of Plans

1 Contractual Safeguard

1 Flawless Maneuver

1 Return to Dust

1 Settle the Wreckage

1 Access Denied

1 Confirm Suspicions

1 Spell Swindle

Sorceries 4

1 Winds of Abandon

1 Damning Verdict

1 Divine Reckoning

1 Promise of Loyalty

Lands 34

7 Island

6 Plains

1 Adarkar Wastes

1 Arid Mesa

1 Blinkmoth Nexus

1 Castle Ardenvale

1 Cave of the Frost Dragon

1 Celestial Colonnade

1 Command Tower

1 Exotic Orchard

1 Faerie Conclave

1 Field of Ruin

1 Glacial Fortress

1 Hallowed Fountain

1 Hengegate Pathway

1 Irrigated Farmland

1 Karn's Bastion

1 Prairie Stream

1 Razortide Bridge

1 Rogue's Passage

1 Scavenger Grounds

1 Tyrite Sanctum

1 Windswept Heath

Approximate Total Cost:

[TheGildedGoose]

Prized Statue seems good here.

[duducrash]

Im not sure but there are some artifacts that get some nice benefits from dying. Ugin's Nexus Solemn Simulacrum Filigree Familiar Circuit Mender all would net tou double proffit from the tireless tracker like effect

[TheGildedGoose]

I like the core idea of this deck a lot, so I was thinking about it a bit.

Graveyard hate:

Scavenger Grounds (little to no opportunity cost if you cut a colorless producing non-basic)
Lion Sash (taste the synergy)

I think Promise of Loyalty isn't very great. I'd rather play Tragic Arrogance; you lose some more stuff too but it's more of a board wipe and you get to choose what each person keeps.

I think Blacksmith's Skill is a little better than Reality Ripple due to a lower mana value. They perform almost exactly the same role, depending on how frequently you face Farewell and other mass exile. To that end, though, is Teferi's Protection absent due to budget reasons?

Dispeller's Capsule over Return to Dust, maybe? Artifact-theme but it doesn't hit two targets in a pinch.

[Guardman]

Prized Statue seems good here.

Good catch (I wish they would update gatherer sooner on new cards).

Im not sure but there are some artifacts that get some nice benefits from dying. Ugin's Nexus Solemn Simulacrum Filigree Familiar Circuit Mender all would net tou double proffit from the tireless tracker like effect

Ugin's Nexus is probably a good include. The others were all cut for being too expensive. Though out of them, I did go back and forth on Solemn Simulacrum due to how mana hungry the deck is.

I like the core idea of this deck a lot, so I was thinking about it a bit.

Graveyard hate:

Scavenger Grounds (little to no opportunity cost if you cut a colorless producing non-basic)
Lion Sash (taste the synergy)

I think Promise of Loyalty isn't very great. I'd rather play Tragic Arrogance; you lose some more stuff too but it's more of a board wipe and you get to choose what each person keeps.

I think Blacksmith's Skill is a little better than Reality Ripple due to a lower mana value. They perform almost exactly the same role, depending on how frequently you face Farewell and other mass exile. To that end, though, is Teferi's Protection absent due to budget reasons?

Dispeller's Capsule over Return to Dust, maybe? Artifact-theme but it doesn't hit two targets in a pinch.

Lion Sash was in my original list, but I cut it due to being too mana hungry. But it does probably belong just because it is synergistic, targeted removal. Good call on Scavenger Grounds and Blacksmith's Skill.

So to make a long story short, Teferi's Protection was partially cut for budget reasons. But the bigger reason was I thought Change of Plans, Contractual Safeguard, and Flawless Maneuver were better three mana protection spells since I only have one creature I want to protect mostly in Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion and Change of Plans is more synergistic, Contractual Safeguard can be played proactively, and Flawless Maneuver can be played for free.

Promise of Loyalty is a card I at least want to try before switching to something like Tragic Arrogance as my thought is they deck doesn't make a whole lot of blockers, but has a lot of ways for Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion to be protected or ignore blockers. Therefore, I mostly don't care what they keep. Also, I don't like that Tragic Arrogance hits my artifacts and enchantments.

Dispeller's Capsule was originally in Return to Dust slot. Went back and forth. Want to try Return to Dust, but could easily see me switching over to Capsule.

[TheGildedGoose]

Good catch (I wish they would update gatherer sooner on new cards).

I always prefer Scryfall, personally. They update more frequently and have a more robust search feature, but meh. I actually only know of that one because it's gonna be great in my Daretti list.

Lion Sash was in my original list, but I cut it due to being too mana hungry. But it does probably belong just because it is synergistic, targeted removal. Good call on Scavenger Grounds and Blacksmith's Skill.

So to make a long story short, Teferi's Protection was partially cut for budget reasons. But the bigger reason was I thought Change of Plans, Contractual Safeguard, and Flawless Maneuver were better three mana protection spells since I only have one creature I want to protect mostly in Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion and Change of Plans is more synergistic, Contractual Safeguard can be played proactively, and Flawless Maneuver can be played for free.

Promise of Loyalty is a card I at least want to try before switching to something like Tragic Arrogance as my thought is they deck doesn't make a whole lot of blockers, but has a lot of ways for Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion to be protected or ignore blockers. Therefore, I mostly don't care what they keep. Also, I don't like that Tragic Arrogance hits my artifacts and enchantments.

Dispeller's Capsule was originally in Return to Dust slot. Went back and forth. Want to try Return to Dust, but could easily see me switching over to Capsule.

Sash is super mana-intensive for sure, but you can break it up over several turns as necessary and it does rattlesnake well.

Interesting decisions and analysis about Protection. The only thing I can think of is that Protection also saves your own skin in a pinch. Of course, 99% of the time it's to protect your board, but I've cast Protection just to fog before, so it does happen. Just something to consider over, say, Change of Plans.

I really do love these backgrounds decks.