Sanwell - Modular Sac

[ISBPathfinder]

Modular Artificer

I have tried several times to do sort of an artifact sac vibe in commander but in a lot of cases it feels like the consistency still isn't there. Don't get me wrong I can pick out 5 or more cards I REALLY want to play with but some of the issue is just consistently getting access to those all star cards to make it feel viable. That's where today's commander comes into effect. Sanwell, Avenger Ace lets me dig deep into my deck and gives me shots at pulling those really effective creatures out to be used and in a lot of cases due to his interaction with vehicles you can tap him on other player's turns to do it giving you kind of a weird draw go feel to playing him. Its possible that due to this I might want to play more instants than I currently am but I want to start with the core focus of the deck and shift that way over time assuming the artificer sac thing works.

I splashed in a handfull of untappers mainly to play with my commander. It might be a bit optimistic but we will see if they work.

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

COMMANDER (1)

1 Sanwell, Avenger Ace

CREATURES (34)

1 Walking Ballista

1 Arcbound Javelineer

1 Arcbound Mouser

1 Arcbound Worker

1 Esper Sentinel

1 Iron Apprentice

1 Market Gnome

1 Arcbound Prototype

1 Arcbound Ravager

1 Arcbound Stinger

1 Cyberman Patrol

1 Ethersworn Canonist

1 Ornithopter of Paradise

1 Steel Overseer

1 Drumbellower

1 Foundry Inspector

1 Losheel, Clockwork Scholar

1 Metalworker

1 Palladium Myr

1 Ratchet, Field Medic

1 Scrap Trawler

1 Scrapyard Recombiner

1 Thermal Navigator

1 White Plume Adventurer

1 Arcbound Crusher

1 Filigree Vector

1 Roaming Throne

1 Solemn Simulacrum

1 Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle

1 Karn, Legacy Reforged

1 Illustrious Wanderglyph

1 Threefold Thunderhulk

1 Cityscape Leveler

1 Mycosynth Golem

ARTIFACT (17)

1 Mox Amber

1 Mox Opal

1 Skullclamp

1 Sol Ring

1 Reckoner Bankbuster

1 Sting, the Glinting Dagger

1 Unlicensed Hearse

1 Aerial Surveyor

1 Cultivator's Caravan

1 Honor-Worn Shaku

1 Relic of Legends

1 Clock of Omens

1 Mystic Forge

1 The One Ring

1 Thran Dynamo

1 Weatherlight

1 Gilded Lotus

ENCHANTMENT (4)

1 Reconnaissance

1 Felidar Retreat

1 Smothering Tithe

1 Virtue of Loyalty

INSTANT (5)

1 Enlightened Tutor

1 Everybody Lives!

1 Reprieve

1 Teferi's Protection

1 Clever Concealment

SORCERY (2)

1 Steelshaper's Gift

1 Ascend from Avernus

PLANESWALKER (1)

1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

LAND (36)

1 Ancient Den

1 Darksteel Citadel

1 Eiganjo Castle

1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin

1 Holdout Settlement

1 Homeward Path

1 Inventors' Fair

1 Kor Haven

1 Maze of Ith

1 Opal Palace

23 Plains

1 Survivors' Encampment

1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon

1 Treasure Vault

Approximate Total Cost:

[ISBPathfinder]

Ok, I scraped together some cards for this and put in orders for what was missing. On top of that I did a bit of a second glance through some of the artifact creatures and some other references of artifacts to find some additional cards. Right now I am questioning if I have enough support for the commander tapping as well as mana production assuming I can untap him. I want to wait to see the deck in action before jumping to too many conclusions though. I also don't know if I have enough sac outlets. Testing helps a lot with checking consistancies though so I am just going to try to get everything together before making too many assumptions. I was trying to tone down some of the winmore stuff and trying to gear up the basic functions of this deck a bit with these changes.

DECK CHANGE:

• Cultivator's Caravan → Relic of Legends the Caravan can be found by my commander but I don't think I would be half as happy drawing it over relic. Both function to tap my commander but relic does a much better job in play.
• Sensei's Divining Top → Ratchet, Field Medic I thought that paired with my commander's abilities I might like to draw some of my non artifact stuff but the more I think about it I think the mana consumption of top might be a problem. I could also just resort to something like Land Tax if hitting my land drops becomes a problem. Ratchet isn't amazing given his small size but I am building a strategy that sacs artifacts and can power up others so I think he probably does combat fairly well in this deck and helps me keep some value going.
• Felidar Retreat → Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle Felidar might still be good but while I have a number of creatures with modular the idea of having a bunch of them in play and then hitting this card seems probably winmore. I forgot to add Teshar in here because he isn't an artifact but after thinking about it briefly I definitely want a copy of him here.
• Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter → Rusted Slasher I like the idea of mass artifact flash but I don't know how much I actually need it. I do need more sac outlets though so while I wish I could add more cards like Arcbound Ravager I just have to resort to some lesser sac creatures or noncreature sac outlets. I think I need a little more in the creature department first due to my commander's ability to find them.
• Recruiter of the Guard → Martyr's Bond I included recruiter to go get an untapper but it could only get one and it seemed really clunky. I opted to just cut the idea. I thought about a few different control mechanics but since I am already on a sac strat it seemed good to try out Martyr's where sacing an artifact creature makes it a lot harder on opponents chaining between both creatures and artifacts.
• Deafening Silence → Genesis Chamber I do like these chain spellcast stop effects but I don't think it fits this deck as well considering its not even an artifact. I will keep the artifact tax and hate cards but I want to start off going proactive and then see how I need to respond. I like the chamber with some of my mass rez stuff and it makes artifact tokens which have multiple uses.
• 1 Plains → Ancient Den adding more artifact lands to the deck primarily for Clock of Omens and Unwinding Clock but I supose in a pinch they could also be sacrificed to other things.
• 1 Plains → Darksteel Citadel same as above. I like that its indestructible too which limits some of the artifact sweeping on it.
• 1 Holdout Settlement → Treasure Vault same as above, I also feel like my commander can probably at worst case deal with doing combat due to my artifact creature count and uncaringness if most of the artifact creatures die.
• 1 Survivors' Encampment → Power Depot same as above.

Notable Considerations:

• Mana Crypt / Mox Amber / Mox Opal - Cheap mana is good. Opal is probably the last I would consider even though I can probably hit metalcraft easy it just has more checks to hit.
• Deep Gnome Terramancer - I plan to play a bit draw go already and I have had some good results with him as ramp in the past.
• Expedition Map / Weathered Wayfarer - I don't know how much I care about my utility lands but there are a few good ones. I like the idea of Maze of Ith for my commander as a tap plus untap effect and there are a number of others that seem useful.
• Crystalline Crawler - It plays well with modular and gives emergency mana. My hangups tend to be how slow it is to spin up on its own as well as how little it can produce in a turn on its own but paired with some untappers and the modular stuff it seems interesting.
• Second Sunrise / Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant - I like the idea of Cosmic Intervention and Faith's Reward but I don't know if I want to pay more or have hoops to jump through for them. I figure play with the two that seem less clunky and see if I need more.
• Organic Extinction - It kills my commander and a few untility guys but it sweeps in a lot of cases most players while leaving a lot of my board. My hangup is the cost of it even given the improvise part and that it doesn't have much other utility. I like All Is Dust and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon in that they take things like enchantments and walkers out too but I guess they have the downside of hitting my colored artifact creatures. Its something to consider for sure.
• Thermal Navigator / Altar of Dementia - Assuming I need more sac outlets I will probably consider these. Dementia isn't a creature but with the modular idea its possible that Altar could roll a super huge mill cannon at someone.
• Dispatch its fairly good removal. I want to start a bit more proactive though and see how that plan works before working in more control but I suspect this might come in.
• Enlightened Tutor - I guess there is the question of how much I need a non creature artifact or enchantment or if its worth putting an artifact creature on top for my commander. I just don't know how much I care right now.
• Reprieve - I like its disruption and I probably play at the speed that I can hold it up.

[ISBPathfinder]

I got a sweet game in with this deck but its worth mentioning that my opponents were newer and I was mostly goldfishing. That said I got a game in and it was a lot of fun. I think I need a little more access to sac outlets and card advantage though as I was able to shotgun my hand fairly quickly. I managed to get Mycosynth Golem, Metalworker, and Clock of Omens + Mana Vault so I had crazy mana even though I only had a few lands in play.

I managed to draw Relic of Legends which I used all game for my commander's tap ability which worked out well for me but I also didn't see much else to tap into.

I ended one player with a 64/64 Arcbound Stinger and a second player with a swarm of myrs from Genesis Chamber paired with 4 or 5 10/10s. The last player scooped at that point.

So, right now I guess if I make changes I could use more sac, card advantage, and tap potentially. The game went well and I spiraled into a Lifeline tutor and snowballing off of Arcbound Ravager. I don't have a lot to report but the deck was fun although it required a crazy amount of dice and counters to track what the hell was happening by the end.

Right now off the top of my head I am thinking about adding:

• Thermal Navigator - I like that its a creature with sac options.
• Mystic Forge - its not a creature or vehicle but it fits a lot of other things I need in this deck.
• Equipment Tutors - It depends on how much I want Skullclamp but I think I could also consider some other equipment possibly. My only issue right now is how few I am running so far.

EDIT: Looking into some equipment options for this deck right now to have a better idea on the equipment tutors.

• Thornbite Staff - Its a good engine especially with my sac outlets to power out more commander triggers. That said, its expensive to get going.
• Paradise Mantle - I like the low cost to set it up and it functions like a mana rock.
• Sword of the Animist - The ramp curve hits decently with my commander.
• Nim Deathmantle - I could see the payoff being cool but I also think the setup to get this to be useful is high.
• Blade of the Bloodchief - It plays a bit like how The Ozolith plays due to the modular creatures in the deck. Its a reasonable thought and maybe something I try out.
• Sword of Truth and Justice - It could play into the modular idea and give commander evasion options if I lack a tap effect.
• Sword of Forge and Frontier - My curve is somewhat low but I guess my concern is exiling those two cards after tapping my commander and trying to cast whatever my commander finds.

[ISBPathfinder]

Let me start off by saying I wanted to go a little bit back to basics of what my objectives of this deck are. Some of the cards I am cutting here definately didn't get sufficient testing but I am cutting them because I felt like the core of the deck revolves around enough concepts that they didn't meet. My main objectives are 1) get commander into play. 2) find a way to turn commander sideways without dying. 3) have sufficient density of targets in my deck to find sweet cards. 4) Have sac outlets for the modular stuff.

I did want maybe another sac outlet in the game I had but the lack of card advantage was maybe more of the issue rather than sac outlets. I did feel like I drew a number of the utility artifacts that need to be set up early and they felt awkward. Some of the cards I am cutting felt like they were objectives beyond those above objectives and that made them feel a little winmore.

CHANGES:

• Scarecrone → Steelshaper's Gift adding a little bit of an equipment package in here. I looked at Scarecrone and I think its possible that I could want to use it but I have too many cheap things to rez so the cost to rez was a little too high for me to really want to do that unless I were getting more 5+ mana artifact creatures to play which I am not really currently. I don't have much to an equipment package right now but I do have grave hate and skullclamp currently so just adding one more for some tapping for my commander should shore up the early game tutor interaction. I went with steelshaper's because it curves with my commander the best.
• Gandalf the White → Virtue of Loyalty I considered the role of Gandalf and by proxy the inclusion of The Ozolith as well and I came to the conclusion that I am going to cut Gandalf for being a non artifact with a high cost and keep The Ozolith for now. Technically both of them can "roll up" a chain of modular creatures in a profitable way and Gandalf can do it after blocks which is possibly more appealing but him being more expensive on a non artifact body is why I am cutting him and keeping Ozolith for now. It is entirely possible I might revisit Gandalf later but for now I wanted to go back to the basics a little. Virtue of Loyalty is cool as it plays both to my commander's tap abilities as well as the modular things by stacking those counters on.
• Animation Module → Paradise Mantle Its not that there is no value in the chaff artifact tokens but I didn't see enough for me to want to pay per token currently. I wanted to explore a light equipment package and expand my commander tap options a little.
• Genesis Chamber → Thousand-Year Elixir I might return to look at some of the chaff artifact tokens later but right now they felt like they were somewhat narrow in use. I do have some artifact sac outlets but the value they generate doesn't seem that high to me. I have a few anthems and I could possibly run away with a game via Steel Overseer with tokens but that also feels a bit narrow and like I don't have enough of that effect to justify it. I like the idea of extra triggers for my commander and the hate for abilities is useful on a handful of my creatures as well.
• Weatherlight Compleated → Mystic Forge I did actually see weatherlight in the one game I played but I didn't pick it to cast and got something else instead. I am starting to realize that with weatherlight it sort of needs a lot of things to come together which I am not as sure about. It does do things in general with my deck idea but its like, after I get every cog moving it becomes ok and I don't like how it doesn't really work if I lack other parts of the equation. I ultimately felt that the job of this vehicle was card advantage and given its complications I am just cutting it for some general card advantage that works well with running heavy artifacts.

Crystalline Crawler is still something I am eyeballing as something that would be cool with some of the untap effects. I haven't found something I feel like I can cut for it but its still on my mind. The equipment idea is still something I am trying to figure out where I stand with in part because my commander lacks evasion. I do think that something like Sword of the Animist could play ok but I think lacking evasion and survivability it might be a bit much to assume I can always attack with some disposable artifact creatures early on which is why I didn't go with it. Blade of the Bloodchief also seems interesting as it has some similarities to The Ozolith but is an equipment so if I go harder on equipment tutors it might become relevant to consider more.

[ISBPathfinder]

Ok I had some fun games with this deck today. I did win one of the three games I played but to be honest, two of the games I lost weren't that bad and one of them was someone who had a T3/T4 style of engine deck that just played his whole deck and brainstormed us T3. The other game I lost was mostly an issue that my opponent came in with unblockable creatures en mass while force of willing my All is Dust attempt to answer them. I was just going to speak somewhat broadly on a few things I am going to look into for now.

Draw - my draw sucks. My commander sort of covers the problem up a little thanks to the digging for creatures but wow my draw sucks. I really notice it more if I don't have enough mana or if I need an answer because my answers can be few and far between.

Vehicles - Good lord I kind of hate the vehicles. I thought they would feel better but every time I see them they feel like they cost too much mana so if I keep any I think I need to drop down to some cheaper options like 2 mana or less but I might also just have to run less of them we will see. I also think I am going to move to some more tap options that are just like mana rock sort of things that tap my commander for mana instead of bad vehicles even though I can find vehicles.

Mana - I included a number of mana rocks that play well with untap effects. Well..... they don't play with a bunch of other things so I was thinking about rotating them into being things more like Gilded Lotus which still tap for a bunch of mana but have sustained mana instead of burst and not untapping. I say this just because I can't really ramp hard into my early game with consistency and would prefer more mana turn after turn.

Ability to Connect - I have noticed some issue in getting to connect for damage. I lack evasion with a lot of my creatures in general. I really wish I could find my Reconnaissance as I have yet to see that at all. I often end up with having to over commit to the board by quite a bit to win. I have noticed that the few token on death guys are nice though especially with overseer.

So, in broad strokes I think I am going to overhaul my vehicles and really assess which ones I want to run. I will also probably end up pairing them down and running more tap effects outside of vehicles. I want more draw and I also want to really take a strong look at anything and everything my commander can't find with his activation because I think I need to rethink some things.

[ISBPathfinder]

Ok, following up on my comments from yesterday with deck changes. This deck is a lot of fun and hopefully this will boost up my evasion, draw, and removal a little. I ended up shifting a few more cards around than I had originally planned but look forward to seeing how these changes play out. I had only managed two games to date before the three games I played yesterday one of which was mostly me bullying newer players so it was good to have the games yesterday against some more veteran players.

DECK CHANGES:

• Lion Sash → Walking Ballista I lacked the interaction to make a dedicated graveyard card like this really feel like its going to work. I sort of justified it by the thought of equipping it as a means of hiding from sweepers for a modular target to push the counters onto but I just.... don't think it does enough right now. I thought about Walking Ballista before and while I still think it has some problems there is some high upside potential to it as well as I can see some options where I could mana dump to it via something like Unwinding Clock and the modular dump onto Ballista makes for some spicy control options in a pinch.
• Arcbound Reclaimer → Sandstone Oracle Arcbound was just a little too inefficient being a modular 2 creature for 4 mana. I haven't been finding the single recursion to not play that impressive either as my fears tend to be exile spot removal, theft, command
• Extruder → Phyrexian Dreadnought So, I have found a number of the four drop artifact creatures to feel clunky especially as I have been increasing some of my untap means in the deck and extruder having echo is really really awkward. It feels like I need to find it super late after I have set up a lot for it to feel like a card I can bother casting. So, I am going to try out Dreadnought..... I have absolutely NO idea if its going to work out but holy hell I love the hell out of the flavor of this card and it gives me a few things I have wanted lately which is sort of sac outletish as well as a big evasive beater. We will see how it goes but I have been eyeballing the hell out of him to the point I just need to send it and see how he goes.
• Myriad Construct → Crystalline Crawler wow I read Myriad Construct totally wrong I thought it split on death not on being targeted. That makes it kind of worthless for what I was trying to use it for which was mostly as a wrath insurance. I really was considering making room for the crawler before and so I think now might be a good time to try for that.
• Arcbound Overseer → Cityscape Leveler I have only seen the Overseer once and I thought it was.... ok. The fact that it costs 8 is obviously annoying and I am replacing it with another 8 drop so thats not why I am cutting it but honestly the degree of width of my board I need to accomplish before it becomes impressive is kind of a lot. I also don't have quite as much modular as you want for it to really put in work. The single counter on each modular at upkeep isn't as big as I would want just because while I do have a lot of modular it ends up being like a fifth of my creatures in deck. I am also cutting another modular creature with this change so I just think its not too realistic in singleton magic to make modular numbers truely go wide enough for this card to shine (lets be honest its not that great of a card either). I also appreciate that the leveler has trample and unearth as I think both of those effects can play into some good control as well as a finisher option.
• Paradise Mantle → Springleaf Drum I did some goldfishing math and it makes more sense to run the Drum which I can use on T2 to tap my commander and possibly cast a one mana card with. It seems like its better assuming my commander gets disrupted but its worse if I can untap my commander. I only leaned towards the equipment in the first place because I was trying to add some equipment tutors which I am cutting now.
• Mana Vault → Thran Dynamo bringing the cost of my mana rocks up. I just didn't find that I could curve them before my commander and there gimmick relied on me finding artifact untap effects so its better to just run some bigger rocks I think.
• Grim Monolith → Gilded Lotus same as above, trying to get some consistent mana gen while still being strong if I get artifact untappers.
• Aerial Surveyor → Honor-Worn Shaku bringing in another mana rock as well as commander tap option.
• Mobile Garrison → Diversionary Tactics The vehicles have been a bit clunky and I had issues keeping the Garrison alive unless I was fully set up with sac outlet + modular guys. I also like that I can use this enchantment to defend from flyers or disable key blockers before an attack. I think it has some interesting flexability while serving as another tap down option for my commander.
• Nautiloid Ship → Tocasia's Welcome just bringing in a little more card draw in place of some of the vehicles that haven't been working out as well for me.
• Weatherlight → Reckoner Bankbuster dropping the cost in half with the upside that bankbuster can also serve as card draw outside of the crew option.
• Steelshaper's Gift → Gift of Immortality With cutting Lion Sash I just felt like I had to dump my equipment package. I do like Skullclamp I just didn't feel like right now I had the backing and depth to keep an equipment package. Gift of Immortality seems like it can play well with most any modular creature plus sac outlet. Outside of that..... I could also technically work my commander on Gift + a sac outlet assuming I have a means of tapping him for an amusing effect.

[ISBPathfinder]

Quick update. I played two more games this weekend with this deck. Still having issues closing out games but I don't mind that so much as long as the deck is fun to play and pilot and it is. It does have some issues with combo and control archetypes as I tend to be sort of slow and clunky to get a real threat together but its still fun to do.

I have had a lot of issues with getting enough mana fast enough so lets just step it up a bit on some mana gen and see how things are looking.

DECK CHANGES:

• Lodestone Golem → Arcbound Bruiser I do like the golem and its cool and all but....... it depends a lot on what my opponents deck is as to if it matters and my four drops have been a little painful of late so I want to lean into being a little more proactive with my expensive creatures rather than something to slow my opponents down. I have also felt like I need a little more modular of late but my options left aren't that many cards.
• Rusted Slasher → Palladium Myr I have gotten to play the Slasher a few times now and its.... fine.... That said I just don't think I need quite as much sac as I have and the slasher while being a creature it does kind of the least for my deck. I have been hoping for a little more ramp and ramp on a stick is something I might want due to the ability to find them.
• Kuldotha Forgemaster → Smuggler's Share Forgemaster has been a little awkward in that I feel like it takes a lot of setup and when I actually draw it, it feels clunky and slow too often for me. I mostly can go and get Lifeline with it and everything else feels like it doesn't punch hard enough for how much setup he takes.
• Sandstone Oracle → Foundry Inspector I wanted to push a bit more ramp / cost reduction and see where it goes. I did find the Oracle but it was this awkward time where I had a hand full of 6+ mana reactive spells which was really awkward. So, I had a bad time with it but I also felt like I was starved for mana at the time I found it while being full of my most expensive spells. I am just going to try out Inspector even though I am not sure about the cost reduction its on a stick so lets try it.
• The Ozolith → Resourceful Defense I realized that the enchantment does a much better modular snowball because I can double stack the same creature immediately before sacing and double stacking again. It snowballs better and in the end I could potentially split the counters between two threats.
• Phyrexian Altar → Altar of Dementia Shifting my sac outlet to a wincon sac outlet. The mana from sac is ok but I want to see if I can modular snowball some milling.
• Diversionary Tactics → Mox Amber I did draw and cast Diversionary Tactics and I used it to ok use and then it got O ringed immediately. I think its control vs some of the evasive commanders can be alright but the fact is its still a four mana enchantment which just isn't on theme enough for me I think.
• Martyr's Bond → Mox Opal I have a hard time being built up enough to feel like I can cast my bond and use it. I almost did and then I resorted to instead cast some blockers or some such just to eat a cyc rift and be salty. This deck is always going to be bad vs cyc rift though but whatever. I wanted a bit more mana.
• Cosmic Intervention → Enlightened Tutor sooooooooo I realized that Cosmic actually stops things from dying and I got a lot less interested in its proactive play options. It means I can't snowball a modular chain. Adding Enlightened because even with its card disadvantage tutoring for The One Ring seems really good.
• Faith's Reward → Teferi's Protection maybe an over reaction but I just lost a game after getting tempo mass bounced out of play 3 times from multiple Cyclonic Rifts and I was kind of salty. Overall though Protection is a versatile spell though and I want to try it out even if it doesn't have the sac + rez component to it.

[Arebennian]

I've scanned through and if you till need ways to tap the commander, I might recommend Survivors' Encampment and Holdout Settlement. They might free up some slots for you

[ISBPathfinder]

I've scanned through and if you till need ways to tap the commander, I might recommend Survivors' Encampment and Holdout Settlement. They might free up some slots for you

Its a good call. I went back and forth on including them in part because they are once a turn tap outlets which can be a problem with some of the untapper effects but they are still good enough that I think they should be in here. I do have them in my physical list so there is some discrepancy between my physical and digital list which I will try to remedy soon.

I played one game yesterday and the deck was running better with the recent addition of more ramp. I did manage to pair Steel Overseer together with Virtue of Loyalty // Ardenvale Fealty and got an impressive size buffing that allowed me to do some interesting play around against an opposing Blasphemous Act due in part to Scrap Trawler a sac outlet, and modular creatures to sac. My one game though was a three player game so playing an aggro deck in a three player pod is a little crappy but I just thought I would mention that the ramp felt a lot better in the game I had. Crystalline Crawler ended up being a little over the top ramp in this situation and I just shifted it into being a beater once it got past being a 6/6 but it was also funny amid the untapping and steel overseer setup. I am not totally convinced on where I stand with Crystalline Crawler but I think I want a little more playtesting with it for now.

Reckoner Bankbuster oddly has been my favorite vehicle to date due to its added card draw mechanic. It makes me think a bit more about Smuggler's Copter just because the 2 mana vehicles have been fairly decent. I also keep thinking about Expedition Map as the tutor for Maze of Ith does feel like a good way to go for this deck.

Really just leaving some thoughts for now. I need to test a bit more with the updated version. I really like this deck but it can be really slow to amass the critical mass and shift to the offensive. It also draws a hell of a lot of attention in its attempt to assemble lol.

EDIT: I also keep eyeballing Treasure Keeper as something I might experiment with. It seems like it could play with some of the recursion stuff I just don't know that I run enough recursion for it to really work but I like where it hits for Scrap Trawler. The dream situation would be to set it up with Gift of Immortality and go brrrr but that seems unlikely.

[ISBPathfinder]

Alright, its been a hot minute since I updated this one. I always get a little squirrely when we go into Path of Exile new league time and I fall off a little in my updates of existing decks. I have been kind of poke updating this deck as I went and I do think that the Ixilan set brought a lot of really good stuff for this deck as did doctor who surprisingly.

One of the big things I have been working on is getting more mana faster and more reliably and then shifting into getting more triggers of my commander. This tends to be a very proactive gameplan style of deck and while I have a few answers my card draw is really really weak which keeps pushing me back to what the deck can do well which is jamming artifact creatures to play. I have been trying to push up my artifact creature count whenever and wherever I can and lowering my noncreature / non vehicle stuff which is harder to find.

I have a LOT of updates as its been a while so I am going to outline them a little differently because one for one gets harder when the changeset gets bigger.

CUTS:

• Hangarback Walker - There were situations where it was cool but it mostly involved the mass buffs after splitting it open. It felt a little too clunky and like it just wasn't explosive enough. When it would get huge suddenly the table would come together to double removal spell me with spot removing it then wrathing or double wrathing me. I just felt like it was slow and everyone came to kill me when I tried doing things with it.
• Phyrexian Dreadnought - I really love this card and it was really cool.... that said sacing 12 power is hella hard and I had to pass on him a bunch or make actual bad moves to get him into play too often. Then he would get answered and I was sad. He is super cool and if I can manage him somewhere in the future I will but it was more of a pet card than a good inclusion lol.
• Arcbound Slith - it was just like, the worst of the modular guys. I opted to run less and cut him.
• Crystalline Crawler - it wasn't that smooth to use. I think my direct swap was over to Karn, Legacy Reforged which I don't regret at all.
• Mindless Automaton - He is just kinda clunk. I did add Solemn Simulacrum though which is also clunk but I think the value of Solemn is a bit better overall being a land and a draw. The Automaton was always like a what if I go crazy mode on modular and then turn it into draw but it was never as good in practice as I kept thinking it would be.
• Arcbound Bruiser - Its.... fine, I just added a lot of other expensive artifact creatures like Illustrious Wanderglyph and Threefold Thunderhulk and I felt it was fair to cut just an ok modular guy for some sick top end.
• Springleaf Drum - I kept going back and forth on these kinda meh ok mana production cheap artifacts that tap my commander. In the end I shifted to a little more vehicles in deck and I think I am happier with repeat use tappers than something that can only work once a turn due to some of the untap options.
• Altar of Dementia - its amusing and I could still see some snowball mill cannon wincon but my consistency to the non creature artifacts is hella bad so I shifted by adding another sac outlet to my creatures to make up for cutting a few noncreature ones. I am so far happy with the consistency of having that swap even if I do lose some power in what the sac does.
• Ashnod's Altar - less noncreature sac outlets
• Thousand-Year Elixir - Sting, the Glinting Dagger outperforms it for my commander at least. I do lose some of the other creature activations but I am happy with the upgrade of Sting for commander.
• Krark-Clan Ironworks - less noncreature sac outlets
• Unwinding Clock - it can do silly things the number of permeants needed is just a bit high to pull it off well. I want less noncreature things that require me to be built up heavily though.
• Lifeline - it can do silly things the number of permeants needed is just a bit high to pull it off well. I want less noncreature things that require me to be built up heavily though.
• Gift of Immortality - it can do silly things the number of permeants needed is just a bit high to pull it off well. I want less noncreature things that require me to be built up heavily though.
• Resourceful Defense - it can do silly things the number of permeants needed is just a bit high to pull it off well. I want less noncreature things that require me to be built up heavily though.
• Smuggler's Share - Its.... ok but trying to cut into my list of... its ok on the noncreatures list though.
• Tocasia's Welcome - Its.... ok but trying to cut into my list of... its ok on the noncreatures list though.
• All is Dust - Trying to be a little more proactive and its a non artifact creature / vehicle effect which I am cutting back on some. Ugin seems like he has some more versatility and reusability as well so I opted to keep Ugin for now and lower my noncreatures stuff.
• Inkmoth Nexus - honestly, I don't really want to modular to all hell a land and punk someone out. I included it originally and it never really lined up because if I had the setup to try it generally people had blockers and mana up and it was just a risky thing to try.
• Minas Tirith - there was other utility I found more useful in making sure the deck worked than some minor draw.
• Power Depot - I felt it was my worst artifact land so I cut it because it comes in tapped.
• Urza's Saga - I didn't think that I really valued sacing a land to get an artifact even if it was sol ring it just felt kind of dangerous if someone sweeps my artifacts.
• 1 Plains - more utility lands.

ADDS:

• Market Gnome - I really like this card just because its cheap and a good recursion target for Ratchet, Field Medic, Scrap Trawler, and Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle. Its not amazing but I think its value is higher than my other one drops when it comes to recursion looping.
• Cyberman Patrol - I am a little unsure still on where this stands but it seems like an interesting psudo evasion. Especially with the modular guys it gives options to attack en mass and sac to send damage through after afflict and blocks declared. I will be honest though, this feels like more of an anthem but its just so cheap for what it does that its in for now until I can prove or disprove it.
• Ornithopter of Paradise - It made the cut in part because it flies and is a mana dork. Instead of pushing for more noncreature mana stones adding more creature ones gives me more commander trigger target options and I like that I could stack up on it in a pinch with my modular triggers for blocking or attacking purposes.
• Thermal Navigator - I moved off of several non creature sac effects for this one. So far the consistency of having even one more on a creature is better than a bunch on a noncreature just because of how many cards my commander goes through.
• Roaming Throne - More triggers for my commander!!!
• Solemn Simulacrum - Its a little underwhelming but its like..... fine as fodder. It has some ok value all in all even if its a little slow these days.
• Karn, Legacy Reforged - The mana production of this guy is INSANE and he is still usually a chonky boy to boot. I have been lucky in that I mostly have gotten to cast him from commander rather than drawn which makes him a lot better but that is also generally how this deck is going to stumble into him.
• Illustrious Wanderglyph - This is a great anthem and token producer. I have really not seen him much yet since adding him but I have faith that I will like him.
• Threefold Thunderhulk - I have seen him like.... once but holy crap he snowballs. The pairing with modular is crazy as you can respond to his ETB trigger and move counters onto him spawning more tokens and then attack and spawn MORE tokens. Its still a little awkward in that its not that explosive of an immediate threat but its one of those things that like if its still there in 2-3 turns your opponents have probably lost by then.
• Sting, the Glinting Dagger - The untap triggers are really good for my commander and it opens me back up to maybe being able to run some equipment tutors. I think that its nice having the untap effect be an artifact is really nice as well as it opens some synergy with the deck with tutoring and recurring.
• Aerial Surveyor - Its another tap option and its nice that I can find it with my commander and it brings a little land consistency to the deck too which can be really nice as sometimes I stall on drawing actual cards and playing lands.
• Cultivator's Caravan - mana rock which can be found via commander trigger and tap my commander in a pinch with it.
• Weatherlight - I can tap my commander and its card advantage. I think with having added a lot of ramp to the deck its maybe time to try out a few more vehicles. In for testing I guess.
• Felidar Retreat - I thought about this and while its odd it feels like a little less situational modular support. Its nice in that if I end up with tokens it still helps as well.
• Everybody Lives! - I wanted to dodge a little more in the sweepers front. I am still not sure if this one is better..... but its amusing and in for some testing. I think the other protects I have are better so far but I like this card in what it can do in general.
• Reprieve - stall a problem. It can be very useful in a heavily proactive deck.
• Clever Concealment - I like that it can protect my creatures and my noncreatures. I can also use my commander and tap them to cast this and hide the card I cast with my commander being tapped in order to cast this. Right now Teferi's Protection and this are my favorite sweeper protections because they can hide from Cyclonic Rift and exile / sac / tuck / whatever.
• Steelshaper's Gift - Its mostly going to tutor for Sting, the Glinting Dagger but I also have Skullclamp still as well. I considered if I wanted a third equipment but I think its fine given how low my actual draw is as well as my ability to find any of these cards.
• Eiganjo Castle - Not sure if it really matters but I would hate to get shut down by like.... a Sword of Fire and Ice just holding my commander ransom. I had an encounter with a Endbringer a while back and it got me shuffling some utility cards into my lands. The castle won't help well against it but I think that is just a weird situational card that is going to choke this deck out lol.
• Opal Palace - More reasonably the answer to the problem of small answers on my commander. I don't really plan to voltron my commander but I guess if you offer me to have an 8/5 commander I won't say no.
• Homeward Path - I don't think this is really a big concern but well..... might as well add the answer to it.
• Holdout Settlement - some tappy tap things
• Survivors' Encampment - some tappy tap things

CONSIDERATIONS:

• Cybermen Squadron - especially with the focus of modular it makes me smile when I think about replicating the hell out of modular guys. This said, I have taken some steps back from being only a modular deck even though its still a focus of mine the reality is I often by the end of the game have still only seen like 4-5 modular guys assuming they are even still in play. I ended up going back and forth for some time on the idea of adding this and ultimately Threefold Thunderhulk came out too and I realized that even a few counters made it kind of insane. I did think about some of the anthem creatures though with myriad being funny because could you imagine 3x attacking Cyberman Patrol. In the end, I think its a problem that this card loses power as there are less opponents left and it requires a lot of board buildup for it to really seem like its going to do something for me.

So, well I will say it feels like maybe a little of my original Modular concept has been lost in this deck and that is probably accurate in that I have a lot less death loop support of the deck but it runs a lot smoother being heavier on creatures like it currently is. Having added more mana generation has helped me a lot so far in how explosive I can get going and it feels like my wincons feel more diverse now.