Kotori, Pilot Prodigy - Vehicles

[Ruiner]

Kotori, Pilot Prodigy

Kotori, Pilot Prodigy

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander

1 Kotori, Pilot Prodigy

Vehicles

1 Consulate Dreadnought

1 Colossal Plow

1 Unlicensed Hearse

1 Imposter Mech

1 Weatherlight Compleated

1 Mechtitan Core

1 Mighty Servant of Leuk-o

1 Prodigy's Prototype

1 Peacewalker Colossus

1 Shorikai, Genesis Engine

1 The Indomitable

1 Midnight Crusader Shuttle

1 Aradara Express

1 Deluxe Dragster

1 Thunderhawk Gunship

1 Reaver Titan

1 Parhelion II

Creatures

1 Hotshot Mechanic

1 Esper Sentinel

1 Weathered Wayfarer

1 Giant Ox

1 Sram, Senior Edificer

1 Sanwell, Avenger Ace

1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

1 Mistmeadow Vanisher

1 Monastery Mentor

1 Lita, Mechanical Engineer

1 Rebbec, Architect of Ascension

1 Indomitable Archangel

1 Katsumasa, the Animator

1 Space Marine Devastator

Enchantments

1 Defenders of Humanity

Removal (Instants & Sorceries)

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Generous Gift

1 Stroke of Midnight

1 Supreme Verdict

1 Evacuation

1 Rout

1 Farewell

1 Terminus

1 Heliod's Intervention

Counterspells

1 Counterspell

1 Arcane Denial

1 Dovin's Veto

1 Fierce Guardianship

1 Force of Will

Draw/Tutor

1 Preordain

1 Mystic Remora

1 Ponder

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Anchor to Reality

1 Vanish Into Memory

1 Fact or Fiction

Misc Instants & Sorceries

1 Armed and Armored

1 Temporal Mastery

Planeswalkers

1 The Eternal Wanderer

Ramp

1 Sol Ring

1 Tithe

1 Arcane Signet

1 Talisman of Progress

1 Azorius Signet

1 Fellwar Stone

1 Archaeomancer's Map

Lands

1 Command Tower

1 Tundra

1 Flooded Strand

1 Hallowed Fountain

1 Sea of Clouds

1 Adarkar Wastes

1 Deserted Beach

9 Plains

9 Island

1 Otawara, Soaring City

1 Flagstones of Trokair

1 Lotus Field

1 Scorched Ruins

1 Thespian's Stage

1 The Mycosynth Gardens

1 Academy Ruins

1 Buried Ruin

1 Tyrite Sanctum

1 Inventors' Fair

1 Mech Hangar

Approximate Total Cost:

General Overview

This is a vehicles based aggro-control deck. Kotori making all vehicles have a Crew of 2 (coincidentally her power) is what is at the heart of this deck, allowing you to swing with some vehicles with a smaller board state than would otherwise be needed.

Being able to wipe the board, or be board wiped, and keep (most) of your threats around is one of the strengths of a vehicle based aggro build.
A wipe followed by replaying Kotori, Pilot Prodigy or using Peacewalker Colossus type effects to animate vehicles and swing with some big dumb boat, plow, mech or other vehicle can be pretty satisfying.

Kotori's lifegain and vigilance combo is super useful and helps you stick around for the late game. Dropping a turn 1 or 2 high power vehicle like Consulate Dreadnought, Colossal Plow, Weatherlight Compleated, etc., followed by Kotori, Pilot Prodigy on Turn 3 to immediately crew the vehicle can start putting your life total awfully high above the table pretty quickly. If opposing decks are still in the "setting up" phase you can get in quite a bit of damage in on early turns sometimes. This deck can come out swinging fairly quickly depending on what your opening hand is, which is fun for this color combination.

This deck does contain some anti-synergistic elements to a degree but I think they still are worth including. Rebbec, Architect of Ascension and Indomitable Archangel are great for protecting all of your vehicles and/or potentially letting them get through opposition unscathed. However, due to the protection or shroud these generate, Kotori's targeted ability as well as a few others in the deck cease to function on all of your vehicles. This is definitely something to keep in mind any time one of these two cards is in play and occasionally this can hamper how the deck functions but overall I haven't found it to be much of a problem.

I've messed with a number of "untap" and inspired (or inspired adjacent) creatures since they seem perfect for crewing vehicles but honestly a majority of them are pretty lackluster or too slow. Daring Thief is probably the best, and I've had success with it in the past.

Mirrorweave is a card I've gone back and forth on, had it in the deck at various times but have never seemed to draw it when it will actually be useful with my current board state. It could lead to some goofy plays like targetting a vehicle for a fog effect, or crewing all of your vehicles and then making them all a "normal" creature to dodge a Vandalblast. With the tokens this deck can sometimes generate it could be useful for a non-vehicle based win. I may experiment with it again at some point.

[Ruiner]

These past few sets have had some cards that seem like a decent fit for the old blue white vehicles deck, so I made a few changes:

Added Cards
+1 Stroke of Midnight - This is pretty much a staple removal spell for any white deck.
+1 The Indomitable - This seems like it'll be a pretty solid source of card draw, it hits pretty well, and it can likely be recurred without a ton of trouble.
+1 Midnight Crusader Shuttle - I'm not 100% sure on this one but it seems like it'll mess with some decks pretty well, and it just seems like a fun card.

Removed Cards
-1 Thopter Spy Network - This is a good card, and it kind of plays in the same space as The Indomitable, so it seemed like a decent card to try swapping out. Losing out on the tokens may be an issue.
-1 Time Warp - It's pretty much always good, but I wanted to try some stuff out and this seemed like one of the less important cards.
-1 Daring Thief - There are games where this can be an all star, but in a number of games I don't want to actually give anything away or I don't care about stealing what people have. It may go back in at some point.