Dark Knight

What would Batman be without Robin?  Wayne without Garth? Bart without Millhouse? Abbot without Costello? Double acts are exactly that, they support each other and make the finished article just a little bit better. Without the funny guy all you have is an accountant, but without the straight guy you’re left with the overweight kid who got bullied a lot at school....

Magic is full of great double acts, what would Windbrisk Heights be without Spectral Procession, Eldrazi Conscription without Sovereigns of Lost Alara, Game of Chaos without Krark’s Thumb or Poly Morph without Emrakul?  Sure the cards would all work without their favourite dance partners, but would they have they made centre stage?  I don’t know for sure, but I think at least a few of them would still be waiting in the wings...

And so, my friends, to the point... My friend Melenko from Venezuela follows the blog and asked me to create a Vampire deck. It was going to be mono black, but after a wee bit of research, I discovered what I believe to be another great double act and so Ladies and Gentleman I present my new deck I call it... 

Dark Knight( for reasons that will become apparent soon.)

You will need

4 Arrogant Bloodlord

4 Student of Warfare

3 Pulse Tracker

4 Guul Draz Assassin

4 Knight Exemplar

4 Captivating Vampire

3 Grasp of Darkness

3 Prophetic Prism

2 Grim Discovery

3 Journey to Nowhere 
2 Disfigure

4 Marsh Flats

4 Terramorphic Expanse

4 Tectonic Edge

6 Plains

6 Swamps

Ok so what’s the cunning plan? Ok well this one is pretty simple, but first I want to talk about the cards I didn’t put in. As you as probably aware vampires do exist and not only that, but currently they are one of the forces to be reckoned with. Being one of the top decks means there are lots of opinions on it and more importantly it can affect the price and we at Tragic The Gathering or Adventures in the Meta, whichever way you think of us, will always fly the flag for budget, so for this reason you won’t find any Bloodghasts, Highborns or Vampire Nighthawks in this deck.  Now it’s important to say that these are good cards and they would go well in the deck, but there are over 10,000 magic cards in existence and with numbers like that there’s really no need to play with the same 50.... (Standard... Less cards...Yes I know...Making a point...ok? ... Good... Let’s move on...)   

So now we know what’s not in it, here’s a quick run through the stars that did make the list.  There are two, one drops, Guul Draz Assassin and Student of Warfare, and they are both pretty imposing first turn threats. There are two lords and each has an awesome second ability. Being black and white the deck has the best of removal and Grim Discovery will help you get your favourite critters back and help you sort your colours out by recurring the Marsh flats...

Ok what was all that about a double act? Well the two reasons I went black white with this deck are Arrogant Bloodlord and Knight Exemplar. If ever two cards were meant to go together it was these two, The Bloodlord is a rare creature indeed a 4/4 for 3 and its sole flaw is compensated perfectly by the other 3 drop knight, who not only makes him indestructible but also pumps him... And since we’re adding a knight lord... why not add one of the best one drops and knight in the game, Student of Warfare.

Now this a real word of warning... These cards are cheap now, but they are going to go up and I mean rocket in value. With the introduction of Hero of the Bladehold and the two new cavaliers in the new set, there’s a good chance that knights will be the new white weenie deck and if we remember why we don’t have Bloodghasts in this deck I’d suggest if you haven’t got Students of Warfare or Knights of the Exemplar already you better get onto EBay now.  (Speaking of which you may have noticed the Amazon.co.uk search box at the bottom of the blog... Have you ever searched for Magic the Gathering on Amazon? If not... try it... the results might surprise you)

For the sideboard try Vampire Hexmage (Which could also be worth a shout in the main deck) and as we are in black and white you could add either or both of the leylines, or maybe Inquisition of Kozilek or duress to steal the threats before they hit the table...

Black Knight and white knight also fit the build, but I sincerely think you'll get more value out of the vampires and there are enough to make the Vampire lord's ability resolve and that is a hidoeus trick. Of course the new knghts will also work here but this is a vampire deck for my friend Melenko and when the new set comes out I'll make a knights deck too.

If you have them, then BloodGhasts and the gang fit right into this deck, but what makes this deck special are the lords... 

Captivating Vampire? +1+! to each Vampire and you can steal creatures? 

Knight Exemplar +1+1 and indestructabillity? 

I find the mana is working, ok but if you feel you need more stability you could always add Prophetic Prism. Other options for the main deck could be Journey to Nowhere over the Condemn and Disfigure over the the Feast of Blood.

In my opinion these are two of the best lords wizards have printed, but we'll have the chance to test that theory really soon, as we take a look at the best Lords ever... From the double pumping lieges to the tricksy Reejeries and the frankly bonkers Goblin Riggers...

The Tardis

I like Scars, I  mean Scars of Mirrodin ovbiously I wasn't coming out of the sexy medical fetish cabinet. I 've always liked the idea of Artifacts, whether it be little robot myrs scurrying around the landscape or a special bag of peanuts that can reverse time (this one I made up, so please don't waste your time looking for it on Gatherer... but if you are a research bod at Wizards R&D then please make it and call it Vader's Magic Nut Sack)

Obviously being on Mirrodin I'm spoilt for choice for bobbits and trinkets and indeed fetishes and it got me thinking.

What's better then a lot of artifacts?

Well since you asked... Lot's more artifacts...


And so to the deck Ladies and Gentlemen

This is The Tardis (google it if you don't know the Arcronym) because it's a lot bigger inside than it looks.

You will need...

2 Mumble Tagnets
4 Prototype Portal
2 Myr Propagator  
1 Myr Reservior
1 Myr Galvaniser
4 Perilous Myr
1 Myr Battlesphere
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Elixir of Immortality
4 Throne of Geth
1 Voltaic Key
4 Ratchet Bomb
4 Kuldotha Forgmaster
1 Lux Cannon

So what's on the agenda? Well this one is a combination of a few of my favourites plays. and has a sneaky trick to deal with the obvious sideboard card.

So how does it work?


Welll your first port of call should be either an everflowing chalice or a ratchet bomb. The bombs and the perilous myrs will be your removal and as the deck progresses you'll find it pretty easy to recurr them, so don't be affraid to blow up anything you don't like the look of.  Your own threats are a never ending supply of robotic myrs that will start off as annoying and soon become earth breakingly devastating.

The deck itself is situational and has a few tricks depending on who you are up aggainst, but it won't take a detective to point out that the deck has many ways to create excess artifacts and also to proliferate. There is also a tutoring element and once you get to that level you are going to be having a lot of fun with this deck.

So  basically...

A section of the deck makes artifacts...
Part of the deck sacrifices artifacts to proliferate...
Another porton of the deck brings back artifacts from the graveyard.
Another little bit Tutors artifacts into your hand...

I'll explain each section...

Making artifacts -  Well this one is easy you are doing two things here for two reasons. Firstly most of the artifacts in the deck can be used in mass amounts so if you get a portal you can imprint pretty much anything you like and it will serve you well (including the portal itself...)

As artifact hate is still a sideboard card in Standard you are pretty safe to drop these willy nilly and not think about the consequences.  Like I said, almost everything works and later you will be tutoring artifacts up left right and centre so just imprint the first thing you see and remember what ever it is it will serve the portal's second function well.

Second function? Oh yes, the hidden agenda is to build some towers of babel, which in turn willl fulfil two other secret functions. Put simply, in creating artifacts you are making more fuel for the fire.

What fire? Well like I said there are two... the first is the old devil proliferate which you do in this deck with the Throne of Geth and that demands a sacrifice every time you do it... The second is the Forgemaster which again require sacrifices to tutor up an artifact.

Proliferate, why and what's to proliferate?  There are three obvious targets and a less obvious techie target in this deck. It won't take a genius to spot that Lux Cannon, Tumble Magnet and Everflowing Chalice all work well with the mechanic, but there is another target that can pull off a sneaky trick, so be cautious as to why, when and how you proliferate the Ratchet Bomb...  What?  Well let me put it another way, just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should do something... Particularily if you want to make your opponent think you've missed a trick...

What I'm trying to say is that if this deck behaves and you take the first game your opponent is probably going to sideboard in ratchet bombs aggainst you and they are going to race them to 4 mana to take out the portals, and your best defence is to feign ignoramce, because if they think you've missed the trick they are going to try and set the bomb off as they hit 4 counters and you are going to use your throne to proliferate it to 5 at instant speed.  Of course if they aren't playing bombs zap em as high as you can get them . Don't underestimate this little Jedi Mind trick. and speaking of which why not have some fun with the land.. I reccomend Dread Sanctuary and Raging Ravine (which you can also proliferate)but appart form that its any colour so pick anyone you like.

Recurring Artifacts - this deck does this in two ways, Firstly the reservior (which should be one of the first things you get with the foregmaster) will keep bringing back the collection of myrs.. Perlious for removal, palladium to ramp, propagators to increase the threat and battlespheres fot the win... At the same time if you lose anything too valuable, you can always use the deck's second method of recursion, elixir of immortality, to get it back in the deck...  

Tutoring... Ok this is simple, use the token artifacts you've generated to find the pieces you need to win the game, by saccing them to the Forgemaster.

Strategy? Get your bombs out early get the first one up to the threat level yu expect for  your opponenets deck... 4 for blue white control, 6 for eldrazi ramp, 3 or 5 for elves... (as we mentioned ealrier it may be wise to pretend not to notice that you can proliferate the bombs, particularily if you don;t need to)

Tutor for the resevior or the propogater early to get some defence and the battlespheres will be your game winner....Once you get the tutor engine up and running get a glavaniser on a prtoal and then get a battlesphere on another...

As the new set comes in save a space for Thopter Squadron as it will fit in here perfectly...

Our week of madness begins!

We all love a trier and history is full of tales of brave folks doing mad things in a last ditch attempt to steal victory. Whether it’s a bunch of Greeks in a Wooden Horse, an African madman driving a herd of Elephants over a mountain range, some guys blowing trumpets at the walls of Jericho or even some farmers hiring a handful of cowboys or was that samurai? The point is, if it hadn’t worked, and let’s not pretend for a second that a million other fatally flawed plans didn’t, we’d never have heard of it. Conversely as they did succeed (even if only in the movies ) the modern world has such a soft spot for death defying feats of heroic lunacy, that these stories are immortalised. (usually by making movies)

So my friends in honour of the brave 300 we are going to investigate the world of do or die last ditch, million to one shots and general lunacy in the world of Magic...  Most times these decks and combos will do nothing, but fizzle out feebly, make you swear profusely and look like an idiot... but sometimes just sometimes... the little blue touch paper will ignite and your opponent will be able to do nothing but stare open mouthed as you utterly devastate his plans with what can best be described as a wooden horse and some trumpets...  

We’re going to look at some crazy combos and decks for Legacy, Extended, EDH and not one, but 2 standard decks and one for them is brand new...

Today we’re going to have a look at Legacy and tomorrow we’ll look at Extended and then we’ll have a crack at standard for the weekend..
.

So to our first deck and this one is the perfect example of what we’re talking about. Two parts jank 50c rare, one part combo ramp and one part madscience.  This is a legacy deck like no other, it has 4 cards that cost more than $1 and whilst they are pretty expensive they are by no means bank breakers. I won’t bore you with the whole deck, but the combo is pure cheek.   

This is the infamous Krark’s Thumb One Turn kill combo... (Now we mentioned on the blog that we’d offer a prize for anyone who guessed it, no one did, but we did get an alternative idea which was along the right line and would kind of still count from Brian Leahy...so well done to you sir) We’ll tell you Brian’s idea in a second, but here’s the combo we had in mind...

You will need the god hand (But hey his is legacy and who doesn’t... plus if you had the money you could probably make this more stable)

So this is it...

1 Chrome Mox (about $15/20)

1 Krark’s Thumb

1 Mountain

1 pyretic ritual

1 seething song

1 (any) red spell

1 Game of Chaos

If you go first and your opponent isn’t playing blue (and force of will... and has it in his opening hand... and you’re not seriously unlucky) you’ve won...

How?  Well imprint the mox with (any) red spell... lay the mountain... tap both for the ritual... use the 3 mana for seething song you can now play both Krark’s thumb and the Game of Chaos and all you have to do to win is flip and win FIVE coin flips and because of Krark’s Thumb you basically have 10 chances to do it...  Because Game of Chaos goes up geometrically it works like this...

1^st  flip - they lose 1 - you gain 1 (19 v’s 21)

2^nd flip- they lose 2 – yiou gain 2(17 v’s 23)

3d flip – they lose 4 – you gain 4 (13 v’s 27

4^th flip –they lose 8 – you gain 8 (7 v’s 33)

5^th flip they lose 16 – you gain 16 (-9 v’s 39) of course if you lose the flip here you’re probably in trouble)

So there you have it. A cheap as chips (potential) first turn kill. I’m not for a second suggesting that you take this along to the world championships, but next time your beardy mate wants to play in a legacy tournament ask to borrow his chrome moxes (it can probably be done with mox opal too or perhaps some fancy lands) and hit the local traders 50p box in search of a Krark’s thumb or two...  You might not win any games, but you’ll have a blast and just maybe... yeah... just maybe...

Oh and before we forget, we got to say thanks to Brian for suggesting Mana Clash as an alternative. It could technically work too, but it would take at least 20 flips and maybe more and the chances of that happening, even with Krark’s thumb, are just a little too low...

If you want my exact Krark’s thumb decklist send me an email... but there are some great cards out there so If you just want to potter along on your own here are some suggestions to look out for... Planar Claos, Goblin bomb, Chance encounter ( imagine these last two with proliferate ) Bottle of Sulieman, Goblin Assassin (put in goblin assault too) and my favourite... Fiery Gambit (awesome card)   

Tomorrow we’re going to look at Extended.  It’s another nasty tricky combo deck and once again it’s great when it works and pants when it doesn’t... So what’s the plan this time?  Well there are less combo pieces but once again we’ll give you a teaser... How can you play a Titan, give it haste and double strike and wipe your opponent’s board all on turn three? And you can’t use any mirrors, cobras, polymorphs, pipers oh and you can’t use green at all...  

One final note of caution.... We recommend this deck as a casual or fun deck, but if you do take it to a tournament remember this very important rule...

You are not allowed to have any money on the table at any time (like a coin)  so use a coin that isn't legal tender.... (I use a french frank ...:if you think I'm being too cautious imagine you've just beaten a legacy player who has been playing foir 2o years and whose desk is worth £5000 and knows every rule... he;s gonna know this rule too and all he has to call a judge and pont at tjhe coin on the table... Would you really blame them? )

 

And yes we know its not guarenteed, but it also doesn't cost 2 grand...

Tangle Mangle

OK we’re coming out of The Twilight Zone for a moment. This one is fast, nasty and cheap. It’s mean blue/green aggro and this is a contender

Tangle Mangle

You will need.

4 Tangle Angler

4 Blight Mamba

4 Overgrown Battlement

4 Prized Unicorn

4 Gargoyle Sentinel

4 Twisted Image

4 Garruk Wildspeaker

4 Overwhelming Stampede

4 Turn Aside

4 Khalini Gardens 
use 4 teermorphics to find one of the 4 islands and the rest can be forests...

Simplicity itself this one... Regenerating toxic defenders and throwaway chump blockers to start and then quickly into mid game with tricksy lures and then for a finisher either use Garruk or the stampede to trample up that poison damage, of course don’t forget to switch the anglers power an toughness before you use the stampede... or if you’ve managed to get it past the blockers..  Ramp with the Battlements and Garruk, use the plants to get in the way and remember there’s more than one way to use Twisted Image. If you’re desperate it will draw you a card, if you’re smart it will draw you a card and take out a blocker or a ramper and if you’re lucky and smart it can draw you a card and win you the game. Yoiu can also use the Gargolyes as targets for the stampede, just remember to pump them frrst....

Remember that 8 of your creatures can force your oponents to block and theefore you can choose what a you want to get through... :

Use tangle angler or prized unicorn to tie up the blockers while you pile through with a combination of trample damage and poison counters. So why split the damage? Well what you are trying to do with the deck is to attack on two fronts. It has a few tricks which you’re opponent will have to watch unless he wants to concede and early defeat.  It’s nasty on a lot of levels, but there are some sneaky moves hidden in its midst.  Got a prize unicorn and a tangle angler in play with a twisted image in hand?  Left unchecked that’s 5 poison counters in one turn and you get to draw a card, add an Overwhelming Stampede and that’s game.

Twisted Image is not only a cantrip its also a doomblade for walls

  

Or it might just win you the game

    

Red/black/white madness

Well we’ve been here for 3 weeks and the feedbacks been great. So I did a bit of listening and it turns out a lot of folks want the same thing; something competitive and something cheaper than the tier. Well i 'm not sure how competitve this one is but its a lot of fun..

This deck is unusual in that it uses s few higher price cards, but as the game has changed these cards have dropped in value and the very idea that you could create a budget deck featuring them would have  been a joke three weeks ago.. Ladies and gentlemen this deck uses Baneslayer Angels and in a previously unheard of fashion. Before you say I’ve gone corporate, remember that a month ago these cards were £30/$45 and now you can pick them up on ebay ‘buy it now’ for £13/20 (just to prove my point look here). This deck also uses the planeswalker that proliferate was so clearly aimed at.... Sarkhan The Mad. You can currently pick one up for just £6.99 and by now you might be thinking ... ‘Oh yeah... I get it...’  Well good but we’ve got more to add, but these two cards have a natural synergy which this deck will exploit to the nines.   I call it.

Scars Tech 2- The Wrath of Sarkhan

You will need

4 Dragonmaster Outcast

4 Baneslayer Angel

4 Sarkhan the Mad

4 Act of Treason

3 Liquimetal Coating

3 Throne of Geth

2 Everflowing Chalice

1 Elixir of Immortality

3 Mimic Vats

4 Ratchet Bomb

4 Condemn

Lands, well I am open to suggestions ... right now I’m running 4 terra morphics and 4 evolving wilds and a mix of basics 

Ok basically this is red black control with a double splash of white for the Angels and condemns. The condemns will keep out early threats and defend well against dragons.  In fact most things in the deck will do well against dragons, which is also lucky because you are going to be facing lots of dragons. Why? Because you’re going to be giving them away like they are going out of fashion.

Ok so in what universe is it a good idea to give away dragons? Well it all depends on planning, let’s say you knew there would be dragons and maybe you had planned ahead and ordered the industrial size tins of wieners and a great big dragon cake for the party... and basically set your deck up around that fact... Well surely that would be better than having just anything turn up and try and eat you... and besides... you might be giving your opponent dragons, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to let them keep them.

So what’s the plan, well first things first, you’re not going to be giving away anything unless you a) need to and b) can handle it.

So here’s the general plan...

Early game you’ll be looking for the outcasts and condemns  to get in the way of early attacks. Then the game can run two ways, firstly use Sarkhan to make your opponent sac their biggest threat and give them a dragon, which will just bounce off your angels until you’re ready to steal them back and swing. Then either sac them to Sarkhan, to get a dragon all of your own or you can get Sarkhan to make it deal damage equal to its power to your opponent or their biggest threat before turning in to an artifact and sacking it to the throne to proliferate Sarkhan back up...

...Or you can steal their creatures, or even just sac an outcast, to make a dragon and swing through the air for massive damage... Obviously their dragons will just bounce of your Angels which have the all important ‘protection from Dragons’. Andif one does get through, don’t worry, that turn two ratchet bomb can take them out at instant speed.

Late game the outcasts will conjure up all sorts of chaos and give Sarkhan more fuel for the fire...  

Use the Chalices and the throne to ramp and you should be able to keep pace with most decks. 

Sarkhan can take out most threats and as long as you can deal with the dragons you are going to give your opponents you can mix up their strategies and confuse their game. Use the mimic vat to steal their sacked creatures and keep swinging.

Dependent on which of the tier you’re up against your play will vary, against Eldrazi Ramp don’t be afraid to blow up overgrown battlements with Sarkhan and obviously any actual Eldrazi, against Red Deck blow up your own outcasts and against elves blow up the mythic regenerator and the archdruids.

In testing it’s proving pretty capable, but as always I’d love to hear some suggestions...

News just  in fromn Karchev.... Bloodghast is a good additon to the gang maybe over the thrones ???  anyway keep em coming...

Blue White The Short Con

Ok I’m sticking with blue for the time being, but I‘m also making a welcome return to white. This one is tricksy little number that they won’t see coming first time round, but you’ll have to really sweat to win after they raid the sideboard....Guys this ones for fun...

 I call it...

The Short Con

You will need...

4 Totem-Guide Hertebeest

4 Merfolk Spy

4 student of warfare

3 spreading seas

4 Aura finesse

3 Celestial mantle

1 True conviction

4  Eel Umbra

4 Felidar Sovereign

4 Palladium myr

1 Elixir of Immortality (as always)

24 lands including , a few of the blue white non basics and maybe even some Celestial Colonnades

Ok so I said this deck is tricksy and it is exactly that. What you are trying to do is get Celestial Mantle on a creature with one blue mana spare.

The myrs are there to help you ramp and there is some card draw and disruption from the spreading seas.

Ideally you want the Celestial Mantle on a merfolk spy with the spreading sea in play. What you are trying to do is to keep getting combat damage through and therefore doubling your life, before eventually playing a Feldar Sovereign with an umbra on it if you can do this you’ll probably win.

The trick is aura finesse, there’s no way you’re opponent is going to let you double your life and will go hell for leather to prevent you getting the damage through. So you’ll want the Aura on the merfolk spy and our opponent will think you’re trying to use its island walk ability to get the damage through, the real trick is you want him to spend all his mana and removal on the spy, because what you’re really trying to do is get the aura on the student of warfare for double strike damage.Next turn you'll have the chance to flash in eel umbra to protect your Student.

In play testing, I found that opponents will let the student through rather than letting the merfolk in. Of course the trick here is aura finesse and that’s why you wanted the one blue spare, after blockers, once action has been taken and just before damage, flash in aura finesse and switch the Celestial Mantle from the spy to the student(if he wasn’t blocked obviously) , or as soon as they try to deal with the spy. Boom you’ve just caused combat damage with a double striker that means your life doubles twice.  Let’s say you’re on 14 instantly you’ll go to 28 and then 56 in one turn...

Early game you’ll want to play aggro, pace your opponent and to keep the student on the field with umbras and keep him levelled. You must have the aura finese in hand and have the spare mana before you play the mantle. Target anything other than the student, your opponent will think you’re an idiot, but they will be laughing on the other side of their face in a second.  

Next turn you’ll want to umbra up the student, if you haven’t already and then get the sovereign on the field as soon as you can. If you have another Aura Finese then you’re gonna win... because all you have o do is switch the umbra to the sovereign when they try and kill him and unless they can get 16 damage past your blockers, not forgetting the double striking student you will enter your upkeep with over 40 life and win.

Use the wildebeest ti find the auras you need,

You can experiment with some counter spells and white removal and the like, but this deck is quite tricky if your opponent makes the wrong play it will be very hard for them to come back, all you need to do to win late game is keep one card in play.

Against elves you’ll need day of Judgement and more umbra’s... Against - Valakut - you’ll want Leyline of Sanctity-  Against Eldrazi ramp you’ll want divine intervention (that’s a joke not a card) Against Blue/White control you’ll want to play cautiously and remember hitting a planeswalker counts as a player and therefore your life will still double.

The Good news about mythics...

Now I do like Magic and I do respect the boys and girls in R&D I mean they must have such a headache making sure that what they do doesn’t break the system. Of course sometimes cards slip through the net that are stupidly overpowered and I can imagine their faces when on Monday morning the boss drags them all into a meeting to ask them exactly what they were thinking when they let Lotus Cobra out of the building.. My point is, they can’t get everything right and its fun when you find one of their gaps.

 Like the first time you realise that Soliton and Heavy Arbalest is an AK47 and Liquimetal coating and revoke existence is a doomsday laser.  There are other gaps too, not everything can be a mythic and they must spend weeks trying to get that right, but would anyone play a Mox opal over a Steel Overseer or an Archdruid or even a Trinket Mage? I played a 12 player draft recently and opened an Opal. I passed it and 12 turns later I got it back. 

The thing is, I do think Mythics have their place. They artificially inflate their own price and thus devalue normal rares. You can pick up a Birds oF Paradise for £4/$6 these days and that has got to be a record and which would you rather have in your deck?  Having said that kids all it will take for Mox Opal to become the most played card in standard is for Wizards to suddenly think it’s a good idea to bring artifact lands back. 

We are at Adventures in the Meta are looking forward to Mirridon Besieged and shall be making some educated guesses and total punts as to what we might see in the new set very soon, feel free to send in your suggestions and watch this space...

Pssssst.... Pentavus










that was a complete punt but if the R%D boys & girls are watching... please bring back pentavus....

Big Blue Boom Button aka Grand Architect combo or Mono Blue Eldrazi Ramp

There was something niggling at me yesterday, I probably need to get out more, but instead I decided to build a deck. I’d been working on a blue deck recently and I had a look at some of my cards and a thought struck me...

There are some really broken cards in Scars and two or three cards keep jumping out at me.  So I decided to stick them together and suddenly... the entire game unravelled.

I guess its mono blue Eldrazi ramp?

Ladies and gentlemen, this one is going to raise eyebrows.

I call it... 

Big Blue Boom Button

You will need. 

1 Ulamog the Infinite Gyre

4 Grand Architects

4 Kraken Hatchling

4 Trinket mage

4 Enclave Cryptologist

4 Liquimetal Coating

4 Everflowing Chalice

1 Expedition Map

2 Kuldotha Forgemaster

2 Wurmcoil Engine

1 Spawnsire Of Ulamog

1 Mindslaver

2 Elixir of Immortality

1 Platinun Emperium

1 Prototype Portal

1 Voltaic Key

1 Eye of Ugin

4 Eldrazi Temple

18 Islands

Ok this deck may take a few run-throughs, before it starts to make sense. At first glance the inclusion of the Eldrazi temple may seem unusual, but as it unfurls I hope you can see the method behind the madness and remember it still taps for one colourless...

This deck uses a few tricks, but where you’re headed is Spawnsire of Ulamog. We’ve seen ideas around this card before and its ultimate ability is so tempting, but equally too out of reach to be competitive. Well it was, this deck smashes that theory and not only makes it possible, it makes it easy... This is how it’s done...

You will need a few cards to make this happen, but they’ll come easy and you won’t even raise an eyebrow until it’s too late.

Big Blue Boom Button uses an engine not dissimilar to my mono nlack control deck The Dark Design. What you are looking for is an opening hand with a grand architect, any blue creature, liquimetal coating, a trinket mage an expedition map and a pair of islands.  I realise this is the god hand, but to be honest you can do this trick any number of ways so I’ll just skip to the end.

Once you have the Expedition Map ready to go, you’re looking for the Eye Of Ugin. Now it’s safe to assume that you’re going to have some blue creatures in play and if you have a Grand Architect and the liquimetal coating in play you’re probably going to win...

In your opponents turn, use the Liquimetal Coating to turn the Eye of Ulgin into an artifact (yep, you guessed it and it works) tap any blue creatures to tutor up the Forge Master, as the Eye OF Ulgin searches for colourless creatures not just Eldrazi.

In your turn play the Forgemaster and if you can, play the trinket mage and get the Voltaic Key if you don’t have it already.

Next you need to tutor up a Wurmcoil Engine, using the eye and the Architect’s trick again, play it in your turn. This will give you some defence until their next end step.

This time sac the wormcoil and a liquimetal coated land and drop a chalice for zero to sac to the Forgemaster and go get the portal.  As you already have the key, imprint this and make as many keys as you can by tapping blue creatures and un-tapping the portal. You should be able to make upwards of 6 and you can now sac 3, at instant speed at any time to tutor up the other Wurmcoil for defence or the Mind Slaver to steal your opponents next turn or the Platinum Imperium to stabilise your life.

At the end of your opponents next turn use the liquimetal coating and the Eye to look for the Spawnsire or Ulamog if you have enough mana to play him. If you need to, go find the elixir and replenish your library.  As soon as you find a Chalice you’ve won, quite literally.  

Remember! Whenever you have spare mana use it to generate keys.

The end game is simple, you use blue creatures to create huge kicked chalices and then the excess keys to un-tap them, this should enable you to play the Spawnsire in one turn and then all you need to do is use the Liquimetal Coating  to turn the Spawnsire into an artifact and then you can use your blue creatures to activate the ultimate ability and bring in your horde of Eldrazi from outside the game, or even just Emrakul and few other fatties.  

The synergy of this deck is incredibly fluid, once you have those keys in play you can tap and un-tap nearly everything by tuning everything into artifacts with the Liquimetal Coating and then using the keys to un-tap the coating and then moving on to the next one. You can even use the blue creatures to tap for 2 mana then use the Liquimetal Coating to turn them into artifacts and use 1 of the 2 to un-tap them so you can tap them again for 2, leaving 1 mana floating.  With enough keys you can achieve almost anything.

The Liquimetal trick also works on the Cryptologists which will help you dig deeper in the deck and once you have the portal and the key you can create enough keys to tap and unto the world...

Here’s an example....

Let’s say you have...  1 Eye Ugin and 5 islands in play...A Grand  Architect, a forgemaster and two hatchlings on the battlefield, a key on the portal and liquimetal coating and last turn you made 3 keys...

This turn you can... tap an island to make a key, tap a trickster to make 2 mana use 1 to untap the portal and make another key use the last to make another key... sac three keys to the Forgemaster go get Mindslaver, tap the other trickster and the architect for 4 mana and sac Mindslaver to take opponents next turn.  Use the liquimetal coating to make the Architect an artifact, tap an island for 1 mana, use a key to un-tap him, tap him for 2 mana, use 1 mana on another key to untap the portal and then make another key, keep using your islands to keep making keys until you have one key left and 3 mana, use this to untap the forgemaster, sac 3 keys to go get the Elixir of Immortatilty use 2 mana to tap and sac the elixir and reset your deck...

Next turn you can do the same thing again and your opponent... will never have another turn.

This deck also has solid defence from the one drop 0/4 hatchlings and once the Forgemaster is in play you should be able to tutor up anything you need rather than play them, so counter spells will have limited effect on your deck. It’s a blue deck, so sideboard counter spells for game two because whilst it may be funny to have 15 Eldrazi marching out of the sideboard in the middle of the game, there’s really no need, as an Emrakul will pretty much win the game for you.

 I’ve tested it against most decks and its pretty quick and left unchecked, this deck will eat pretty much anything, although it is weak against memoricide in game two, hence the counter spells. In the first game unless your opponent has a great start or main deck artifact hate, they are going to really struggle to compete.

  

This deck is really fun to play and it will leave your opponent scratching their heads and looking like you’ve just punched their favourite puppy.  

 Now I feel I should say that this deck also works with pretty much any artifact you can think of..  I have gone for the cheapest options, but you could swap out the Platinum Emperium for the Masticore and of course you could have a horrid amount of Eldrazi in your sideboard and if you can afford the Big Three (Kozilek, Ulamog, Emrakul) then they would be worth including... but it also works with out them and come on guys whens the next time you're actually going to play any Artisans of Kozilek. Pathrazers of Ulamog or It That Betrays?


UPDATE 

Nov 12th

Ok after some playtesting I reccomend that the following changes are made to make the deck even more playable.

 You can drop the Trinket mages because the forgemasters can find all the combo pieces a lot earlier and you really need the spaces for more portals and voltaic keys, you can also drop a chalice and an islond for more expedtitoin maps...

In yoir sideboard you really only need three emrakuls to win the game and use the other spaces to safety proof the deck...  

As soon as you reach Spawnsires ultimate ability, play Emerakul.  In your second turn swing with him, after combat play the second one, which will give you another turn and destroy the pair of them . In your next turn play the last one...If you don't win, your opponent is somehow cheating or you don't deserve to win..

Update Nov 13th

Ok now I call the deck Eldrazi ramp, but to be honest that's not really the trick...
What this deck is really trying to achieve is a forgemaster in play (Easy enough!) and then to tutor a portal  and imprint the key... with any blue creatures and an architect (or even without) this deck can do increadible things... 

Lets say the erchitect is in play...  and just one other blue creature 1 liquimetal coating and I've made 2 keys and I  have 4 lands...

Watch this for card advantage...

In your turn I can make 7 voltaic keys...

...on my turn I can  sac and use the remaining mana to tap and untap the forgemaster enough times to play both my wurmcils,  my emperion, sac both my wurmcoils,  tutor up an elixir tap and sac it (gain 5 life potentially... ) and then retutor both the wurm coils back into play...

thats 4 lands for 2 x 6/6 deathtouch/lifelinkers 2 x 3/3 lifelinkers and 2 x 3/3 deathtouchers  and an 8/8 thats says my life doesn't change...oh and I gained 5 life...
oh actually I don't do I? or do I?... because I can make one of the tokens blue and then sac the emperium in response before gainng the life and then retutoring the Emperium...Also remember that most permanents can be turned into artifacts and thus become viable targets for the grand architects... Celestial Colonnade,  Dawnglare invoker,  air servent etc etc etc....  

Here's the match ups...


Eldrazi ramp.... If you can get the portal and the key on turn 4/5 and then tutor for the Emperion... There is little they can do to beat you.... Even if they Ulamog they Emperion you can just tutor up the elixir tap sac it and use another key on the forgemaster and re tutor the Emperion again... all in the same turn... with the amount of keys you can generate each turn Annihilator just tickles and because Empoerion and portal are colourless they can't all is dust it...


Elves - use the Kraken hatchlings early game turn 2/3 to stop early damage, but don't let them die.  Then when you get the architect/ eye get the forgemaster and portal… if you can survive until the Emperio is out you should win... a really funny way to finish elves is to mindslave them late game and genisis wave them to death... as they MAY choose to put any cards revealed by the wave onto the battlefield and you will chose not to and therefore mill them to death with their own card… if they are running ulamog, play him and take out their biggest threat with him as you can make any number of keys each turn it won’t matter...

Valakut  because Valakut is such a one trick pony as soon as you can, tutor up a mindslaver and just ruin their game by using all their explores, cultivates and tap and sac the shrines to bring in all the mountains you can because when those mountains are on the field and they run out there deck is useless... 

Red deck will probably eat you

Blue white control  - you'll need to keep recurring mindslaver and doing the wrong things with their planeswalkers... fate seal them with jace and bounce jace with venser to keep him down, use gideon to blow up their creatures...If they wrath you could be n trouble..


That’s about it... It’s a fun deck, but needs some work...

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