The Community Deck Build Project v4.0

[toctheyounger]

We'd get to do some Glissa, the Traitor shenanigans, which seems fun. Belbe, Corrupted Observer too, maybe?

I run a fairly high power Belbe deck and she kinda does a different thing. Its a good thing definitely, but its probably pretty tough to shoehorn her in here id say.

[kirkusjones]

We'd get to do some Glissa, the Traitor shenanigans, which seems fun. Belbe, Corrupted Observer too, maybe?

I run a fairly high power Belbe deck and she kinda does a different thing. Its a good thing definitely, but its probably pretty tough to shoehorn her in here id say.

You're probably right. I had visions of Disciple of the Vault, Grinding Station and Krark-Clan Ironworks dancing in my head alongside wurmcoils and salvage titans.

Curious to see your Belbe list!

[toctheyounger]

We'd get to do some Glissa, the Traitor shenanigans, which seems fun. Belbe, Corrupted Observer too, maybe?

I run a fairly high power Belbe deck and she kinda does a different thing. Its a good thing definitely, but its probably pretty tough to shoehorn her in here id say.

You're probably right. I had visions of Disciple of the Vault, Grinding Station and Krark-Clan Ironworks dancing in my head alongside wurmcoils and salvage titans.

Curious to see your Belbe list!

I don't have it on nexus, but I've got a moxfield list if you wanna see it. Not gonna lie, she's a pretty fun commander. Easily my favorite brew of recent years.

It's just with her mana production being global you sort of have to build around her.

[aliciaofthevast]

I keep looking at the Guile in my secret lair box and I want to do something with it but it really doesn't do anything and that's a dang shame. I guess as cool and novel as it is, it's just not lending itself to anything interesting.

I think the Naya guy is gonna have a big red flag over him saying kill me and there's no way to cheat the monarch back without going the full turn cycle. Looks like a forced combat deck but it really doesn't lean so hard into it. Shame, he's got a really big sword that's gonna continue to go to waste.

I guess that de facto puts me on Armix & Gilanra. So we want artifacts that want to both be discarded and cast? Golgari junkyard reanimator? Then we lose to the first null rod I guess. Well, I guess there's a lot we can do with a free discard outlet for sure, even if not artifact. I think that's interesting, yeah, let's see what we come up with! Any ideas what to make of Gilanra besides just "bad mana dork'?

[Legend]

Armix and Gilanra offer the most potential for a novel build in which the commanders are relevant.

[RxPhantom]

I'll vote for the Golgari partners too. I frankly have no idea what to do with it, but I'm game.

[Legend]

I'll vote for the Golgari partners too. I frankly have no idea what to do with it, but I'm game.

Me neither! But that's the fun part. When I look at sayyy . . . Jared, I'm think, "I know exactly what to do with him", which defeats the purpose of this joint venture IMO.

[Crazy Monkey]

If we're look for a plan, I would like to propose stuff like Metalwork Colossus, Myr Enforcer, and Mycosynth Golem for draw off high MV artifacts and/or Salvaging Station and Conjurer's Bauble stuff. The aforementioned Glissa, the Traitor also sounds like an engine with incidental removal from Armix, Filigree Thrasher.

I think the big question for me is whether the deck leans more grindy value, battlecruiser wurmcoil, artifact combo, or other plan. How we use Wurmcoil Engine is a perfect example. Do we ramp it put for a card and attacks, or is it a Nim Deathmantle combo piece?

[toctheyounger]

To me its a grindy midrange combat build. Theres the possibility of combo there, but even with stuff like Toski and Frostfang you're keeping yourself with a full grip and able to trigger Armix on swing.

Gilanra, idk, I don't think she adds a ton, incidental draw isn't nothing, but I think Armix is the place to build around. Combat will always favor us, we can build in means of recursion and just grind the table down with favorable combat and incidental board control.

[kirkusjones]

Meren of Clan Nel Toth in the 99 can help us grind, as for Wurmcoil, I don't think we need to decide what role it plays so early on. The card is flexible value and we're in the flagship recursion colors, some games it'll beat and die and we only get two tokens, others it's filthcoil engine and somebody better have exile/graveyard hate to stop the assault. We definitely want to make like Bowie and go station to station (grinding and salvaging and maybe blasting?)

[3drinks]

I think we have a clear winner in terms of commander choice. Now we need a direction so we don't self-dilute with too many directions. As a starter, I took the liberty of adding the lands and boring ramp cards so no one has to spend their daily picks on those. We can always take a second look at that stuff at the end if it really bothers anyone.

Community Build-A-Deck v4.0

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commanders

1 Armix, Filigree Thrasher

1 Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood

Land (36)

1 Ash Barrens

1 Bala Ged Recovery

1 Command Tower

1 Darkmoss Bridge

1 Darksteel Citadel

1 Drownyard Temple

1 Field of Ruin

1 Geier Reach Sanitarium

1 Glimmervoid

1 Grim Backwoods

1 Haunted Mire

1 High Market

1 Hissing Quagmire

1 Hive of the Eye Tyrant

1 Inventors' Fair

1 Llanowar Wastes

1 Malakir Rebirth

1 Necroblossom Snarl

1 Nurturing Peatland

1 Path of Ancestry

3 Snow-Covered Forest

5 Snow-Covered Swamp

1 Spire of Industry

1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire

1 Tectonic Edge

1 Temple of Malady

1 Tree of Tales

1 Twilight Mire

1 Vault of Whispers

1 Woodland Cemetery

1 Woodland Chasm

Ramp

1 Arcum's Astrolabe

1 Crop Rotation

1 Expedition Map

1 Sol Ring

1 Wayfarer's Bauble

1 Arcane Signet

1 Golgari Signet

1 Mind Stone

1 Nature's Lore

1 Talisman of Resilience

1 Three Visits

1 Skyshroud Claim

Approximate Total Cost:

[Crazy Monkey]

See, now this is the deck for that darn Arcum's Astrolabe. I am on board this time.

On the lands side, I think that everyone so far has thought that we will have an artifact focus. If so, should we consider stuff like Buried Ruin and Inventors' Fair? We could also probably fit Treasure Vault. There may be others that I am missing.

On strategy/game plan I personally like using the available draw in the command zone, so planning around 6MV cards that we pay less for makes sense to me. Also using mana amount replacement effects so we can draw more than one card off of Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood each tap.

Including many artifacts and/or artifact tokens makes Armix, Filigree Thrasher potent removal, so I would personally be on board with dropping the 3 current ramp sorceries for more artifact ramp. Armix isn't very big, so we many want so evasion to get to his attack trigger.

All together I think this is a hybrid value engine + voltron or aggro deck. We get cards and removal from the command zone so ways to use those more is often where I focus. Then either a combat plan for closing games or some artifact combo that uses value pieces we would probably include anyway.

I think that the signpost cards, in my opinion, that come to mind for this plan are Salvaging Station, Metalwork Colossus and Krark-Clan Ironworks. Planning around many low MV artifacts, some repeated engined high MV artifacts, and sac/recur engines.

[3drinks]

Yeah, I had flexed inventor's fair in at first but it's price point is right on the cusp of the cap. It's surely synergistic though so it's likely a non-issue, but colourless lands are high so far. Might be okay over grim backwoods? Idk, I like a sac outlet that draws cards, though it's high to activate.

....I didn't see "black creature" on crypt of agadeem, so maybe that's the cut. I'm much less high on the card in 2+ colours.

[Hawk]

Really appreciate you doing the ramp + land package first - saves a lot of grief. I think there's a world where Skyshroud Claim should be Thran Dynamo or Hedron Archive instead, but we can cross that bridge a bit later.

But for the first suggestion - Salvage Titan feels like this deck's sorta nonsense. A powerful, recurrable artifact creature that fills our 'yard for Armix and triggers Gilanra for a card on cast.

[Crazy Monkey]

I don't have a clear understanding if we're at the card nominating step yet, so I may be getting ahead schedule.

Salvage Titan is on my list of cards to debate for this deck. Specifically for two reasons: Gilanra required us to actually spend mana for the draw and Armix counts artifacts in graveyard. I think that the abilities on the titan are very close to ideal, but the actual play pattern may result in either higher costs paid or not drawing cards. If I were building the deck solo, it's a card that I would test and goldfish around, because I don't know precisely how to evaluate it.

I am 100% on board with Thran Dynamo and similar over land ramp here. Realistically we can plan around stuff like Gilded Lotus with 3MV ramp in the command zone.

[3drinks]

Yeah, I'm waiting to put us into submission phase given there hasn't been a lot of discussion on what we're doing. Though maybe I should because Alicia is bugging me so she can make her first big brain pick 😂

I'll give no spoilers for it. But it's fire and y'all will love it.

Really appreciate you doing the ramp + land package first - saves a lot of grief. I think there's a world where Skyshroud Claim should be Thran Dynamo or Hedron Archive instead, but we can cross that bridge a bit later.

Yeah from watching the past projects I knew that was an area that always gets skipped and then we're scrambling. Who wants to throw in nature's lore when you can pick sweet bombs, right? And hey, I finally got the chance to sneak in the card that starts every one of my decks these days, arcum's astrolabe. 👀👀

[Jemolk]

Astrolabe is fine enough for the deck. I do want to point out, though, that it's not actually ramp, just color-fixing.

Also, definitely include Inventors' Fair. Card is bonkers in an artifact deck. I have so many fun memories of playing that thing in Shops in Vintage. It was arguably one of the strongest lands in that entire deck, and that's talking about a deck that runs playsets of Ancient Tomb, Mishra's Workshop, and Wasteland (with three Crucible of Worlds), plus the one-of (because restricted) Tolarian Academy and Strip Mine. Inventors' Fair is so good.

[RxPhantom]

What's the overall aim of the deck, though? Clearly artifact synergies. Big fat artifact creatures to draw cards off of Gilanra and help Armix mow down creatures? Affinity? Madness? Reanimator? A big slurry of all of that?

[3drinks]

What's the overall aim of the deck, though? Clearly artifact synergies. Big fat artifact creatures to draw cards off of Gilanra and help Armix mow down creatures? Affinity? Madness? Reanimator? A big slurry of all of that?

That's what I've been trying to sus out. To me, it seems pretty clear that we're a reanimator deck but for artifacts, so I either want to regrow Myr Battlesphere or Scuttling Doom Engine. I actually don't see any benefit in the previously talked about Salvage Titan because, it's just a Craw Wurm|4ed. No evasion, no enters, dies, or attack trigger. I think the card is a trap and I hope people don't spend their pick on it. Plus, if you're freecasting it you won't even proc Gilanra and if you're hardcasting...grats, you have a craw wurm.

I think we also need to take precautions vs bane of progress, which will obviously single-handedly cost us games.

[kirkusjones]

I think we want some discard synergy, like Tortured Existence, but I can't think if any madness cards off the top of my head that would be great here. I think recursive value + artifact synergies is the vision I imagine. We're in the colors with some of the best, most flexible removal in the format and unless people dedicate all their gravehate to us, we'll out-value the competition a lot of the time. We're inevitable.

[Crazy Monkey]

I think that most of the concepts put forward in that last day overlap well as subthemes/packages that all work together. I think some number of high MV artifacts, 'eggs' type artifacts, reanimation, self discard synergies, beat down, maybe even voltron, and general value all fit. We don't want 15+ six costs because it wouldn't work at the target power level. We don't want to have 10+ reanimator cards without enough stuff to recur. We don't want to be too weak to board wipes, so pure aggro probably doesn't work either.

In my mind it's a balance of these. I would personally tend towards value, eggs, and Big stuff. I mean, Darksteel Forge costs 6+, right?

[3drinks]

... and unless people dedicate all their gravehate to us, we'll out-value the competition a lot of the time. We're inevitable.

What I'm reading is, Armix needs to be altered as Thanos, and Gilanra as an infinity gauntlet 👀

[toctheyounger]

What's the overall aim of the deck, though? Clearly artifact synergies. Big fat artifact creatures to draw cards off of Gilanra and help Armix mow down creatures? Affinity? Madness? Reanimator? A big slurry of all of that?

I actually think you could manage a dredge subtheme quite easily. Armix is your discard outlet, dredge gets your kit in the bin to make his ability work.

The pool isn't deep so I don't think you'd wanna get the whole Gitrog package in, but Stinkweed and Loam, maybe Thug, Grave Troll would all work really nicely to get stuff in the right zones to me.

From there I think graveyard matters would be a fine synergy to leverage to grind out our opponents. I can't think of specifics right off the bat but there's plenty of stuff that could do well. Undergrowth, Delirium, Unearth, I'm sure there's more.

[Dunharrow]

this makes me miss Paradox Engine just a little.

[kirkusjones]

So…a question as I start to brainstorm a list of picks…how spiky do we want to be? Is this a deck for Karn/Lattice or no?