Metalcraft Aggro

[hamfactorial]

[deck]Boros Metalcraft Aggro[/deck]

I was playing with the Boros Kitty list and liked it, but I felt often that I was just sitting around bouncing artifacts instead of killing my opponent.

The turning point was finding Porcelain Legionnaire, at which point I started looking at other synergistic creatures. I found that both Ardent Recruit and Auriok Sunchaser became undercosted beaters with Metalcraft enabled. I dropped a few of the do-nothing Boros Kitty artifacts and replaced them with threats
while keeping the artifact count high.

Flayer Husk looks stupid on paper, but it's essentially a 1/1 artifact creature (and permanent Metalcraft enabler) that buffs my other creatures after it becomes ineffective. Recruit, Skyfisher and Sunchaser all have 4 toughness after equipping, so they're extremely hard to kill. There's also some minor synergy where a T2 Skyfisher can bounce the germ token and avoid the awkward tempo loss associated with bouncing land.

I'm not sure whether I should be running Prophetic Prism or Springleaf Drum. Each have their advantages, but Prism seems better in more situations.

It's rough, but initial playtesting was positive.

In the sideboard, COP: Green is for hexproof and stompy. Electrickery is for hexproof and any swarm strategy (Elves, Goblins, Faeries). Gorilla Shaman for Affinity. Pyroblast for monoU and Cyclops/Kiln Fiend combo. Hallow is for burn and mono B (because lolz, sweet Corrupt bro).

[DocLawless]

Yes sir, I do like it. I am particularly fond of how every creature in the list is underpriced for what it is. With the number of Artifacts you're running, Myr Enforcer could often fit that theme.

[hamfactorial]

might be a good deck with some tuning

[Alex]

You might consider dropping red and playing blue for things like Thoughtcast, Somber Hoverguard, Stoic Rebuttal, etc. Galvanic Blast is nice but I don't know if its better than card draw. You get a lot of stuff in blue anyway, like Ninja of the Deep Hours and stuff, which plays pretty well with stuff that has evasion and is undercosted.

[hamfactorial]

Interesting idea, Alex, thank you. I think a UW build might have some game, better able to protect its threats in a way that RW can't. Stoic Rebuttal would certainly require more blue sources, but Ninja and Thoughtcast is quite enticing.

[hamfactorial]

For a more stick-and-protect gameplan, the following cards seem quite good.

[cards]Dawn Charm
Apostle's Blessing
Shelter
Gods Willing[/cards]

[Alex]

Apostle's Blessing is a really good card. Sometimes you use it to save your dudes, other times you use it to make your dudes unblockable.

[hamfactorial]

I confirmed this morning that Hallow completely wrecks both Burn and Affinity (the Atog-Fling version). Won 2 matches vs. both decks.

I also put together a white-weenie version that has some game.

[deck]White Weenie Metalcraft[/deck]

[hamfactorial]

It gets even more aggressive with [mana]B[/mana] in the mix.
[deck]BW Metalcraft Aggro[/deck]

[DocLawless]

[deck]Esper-Colors Metalcraft[/deck]

In my brain it works.

Thoughtcast is just the tits. Many times, Myr Enforcer will be a 4/4 for free and Somber Hoverguard will be a 3/2 flyer for a Blue. You have 16 flyers; 12 of them have Power 3 and four of them are Vault Skirge (though Vault Skirge just feels less threatening without Cranial Plating behind him... hmm...). Prism is a little extra color fixing, but honestly I like Chromatic Star/Sphere for the additional draw. That said, I back that one-time use thing up with Reconstruction in my Affinity deck. You may want a permanent that you can reuse in this list. Or
possibly even replace it entirely if you don't find it necessary.

It's kinda Esper colors, I guess, but the only thing that sticks you to Black is Darklit Gargoyle's ability. You can get around it with Phyrexian Black in Skirge's CMC and hybrid BW with Unmake. All without diluting the extra aggressiveness of your WB list. But my mana base there needs some tuning. I just kinda threw it together.

Random thoughts:
- Might need more Ninjas.
- I kinda wish Flayer Husk could come back, but for what?
- I'm not a Blue player, so there could be more optimal card choices.
- I wish Dispatch were common.

[hamfactorial]

Dude, any deck where you can say "might need more ninjas" is a must-play for me.

[DocLawless]

Something can come out for Alex's suggested Ninja of the Deep Hours. Oh, you're just taking it from my Vault Skirge? One damage isn't that big a deal? Okay, then I'M DRAWING CARDS NOW!!!

[hamfactorial]

Darklit Gargoyle wasn't great in testing, but Vault Skirge has been pretty sweet. Had an Executioner's Capsule played against me, then I had dirty dreams about recurring them with Sanctum Gargoyle.

[DocLawless]

For one less mana you get two things back with Remember the Fallen. But it's not a body on the field.

[MisterMet]

[deck]
Creatures: 26
4 Ardent Recruit
4 Auriok Sunchaser
4 Court Homunculus
4 Glint Hawk
3 Kor Skyfisher
3 Porcelain Legionnaire
4 Squadron Hawk

Artifacts: 12
4 Bonesplitter
4 Flayer Husk
4 Glint Hawk Idol

Enchantments: 3
3 Journey to Nowhere

Lands: 19
4 Ancient Den
4 Darksteel Citadel
11 Plains

Sideboard: 15
2 Circle of Protection: Green
2 Crimson Acolyte
2 Disenchant
1 Journey to Nowhere
2 Lone Missionary
2 Obsidian Acolyte
2 Standard Bearer
2 Unmake
[/deck]

This is similar to the 12th place deck from a recent Pauper Premier event (the only differences are with the sideboard).

I've just started to test this in the 2-mans and so far it's been good. Won against Auras 2-1 and Mono-blue Faeries 2-0.

[Alex]

Standard Bearer is fucking sweet, holy crap.

[hamfactorial]

Standard Bearer is the best vs. Hexproof and Infect.

[hamfactorial]

I like that Glint Hawk Idol. I didn't think much of it before, but I could think of situations where it would be handy. How's it been running for you?

[MisterMet]

Standard Bearer has been great against any green aggro decks.

Glint Hawk Idol has been nice as another beater and metalcraft enabler. And so far there hasn't been a problem activating it early on with all of the artifacts in the deck.

Just went 1-1 in an 8-man, beating Affinity and then losing to mono Black. Seeing 3 Grey Merchants in one game is never fun.

[DocLawless]

I'm sure there's a WG list in here somewhere, just for the sake of completing the set...

[MisterMet]

Just went 3-0 in an 8-man with the same list as above. This deck has been a lot of fun to play!

R1: 2-1 vs White Weenie
Sided in: Journey to Nowhere, 2x Unmake, Disenchant
Sided out: 2x Ardent Recruit, Court Homunculus, Porcelain Legionnaire
Since this was the Doomed Traveler and War Falcon version I was able to overwhelm my opponent with my larger fliers late in games 1 and 3 (equipping Flayer Husk helped as well). Game 2 I had to mull to 5 and then he destroyed my tempo by casting Dust to Dust on two of my lands.

R2: 2-0 vs Mono Blue Control
Sided in: Journey to Nowhere
Sided
out: Ardent Recruit
Game 1 he mulled to 5 but that included 2 Piracy Charms which took out my first two creatures though he didn't have any counters for my following creatures. Game 2 my opponent made a mistake tapping out to cast Serrated Arrows with a flipped Delver on his side. That allowed me to cast 2 Glint Hawks and Journey to Nowhere on his Delver. After that I had enough creatures on hand and on the board to overcome his bounce spells and counters.

R3: 2-1 vs Black/Blue Control(?)
Sided in: Journey to Nowhere
Sided out: Porcelain Legionnaire
He had Trinket Mage, Chittering Rats, Mulldrifter, Fume Spitter and Undying Evil. Game 2 he won thanks to multiple Undying Evils which caused me to lose creatures and waste removal. Game 3 I mulled to 5 but had a nut draw: Turn 1 Ancient Den and Recruit, Turn 2 Darksteel Citadel and Homunculus, Turn 3 Glinthawk and Squadron Hawk and Turn 4 Journey to Nowhere on
his rat.

[hamfactorial]

[deck]BW Metalcraft[/deck]

I cut the Porcelain Legionnaire as an experiment to see if the evasion of Darklit Gargoyle was more important than the first strike, and I think it is. Legionnaire gets walled off a lot, and he dies to maindeck Cuombajj Witches, which are everywhere. With the gargoyle, I've hit a critical mass of flyers that many opponents just can't deal with.

1-0 vs. Mono U Control (exact copy of Z's deck, it doesn't have enough bounce to deal with a creature once it sticks)
1-
0 vs. Fling-Affinity (Hallow is the best)
0-1 vs. MBC (fuck the Gray Merchant triplets, fuck them right up their mono black asses. Absolutely enraging to play against these guys when they curve out)
1-0 vs. 5c Affinity
1-0 vs. UR FiendClops
0-1 vs. Fling-Affinity (terrible opponent, missed an on-board kill 3 turns in a row while I drew land )

[hamfactorial]

I'm starting to think that with all my artifact bounce and Sanctum Gargoyles, Serrated Arrows absolutely needs to be here somewhere.

[MisterMet]

Legionnaire has been huge in games where me and my opponent have a lot of creatures on board. It attacking with any equipment on will mean my opponent likely has no way to trade with it.

Witches is a problem though and I usually side out Legionnaire against mono black. Have you tried Hallow to counter any life loss from Gray Merchant? I'm going to replace Disenchant with that for my sideboard since it looks like a nice option against affinity (my current strategy there is to keep blocking Atog with my ground creatures while attacking with my fliers).

[hamfactorial]

Hallow doesn't help against Gray Merchant, since it doesn't do damage (only life gain/loss) and it's attached to an ETB effect, not an effect of the creature spell itself. Hallow does stop Corrupt and Tendrils of Corruption, so it's not entirely dead.

[hamfactorial]

Talking with Zooligan last night, he asked if I had brewed an RB Metalcraft list. I did, but it operates very differently from the white based lists above. This is less aggro, more combo / burn.

[deck]Pauper RB Graveyardcraft[/deck]

The plan here is to fill up the graveyard with artifacts that provide value along the way (Wellsprings, Capsules) and play the attacking / blocking game with artifact creatures, burning stuff as needed.

Basically, punch a hole, and then finish the opponent off with a giant Atog and his buddy Salvage Slasher who stays big even after Atog shrinks back down.

nList is untuned, but seems like a good starting point for discussion.

The deck might want a good dredge card like Stinkweed Imp to fill up the graveyard, not sure yet. It's a safer bit of recurrable removal than Executioner's Capsule, and might be a better fit.

[Zooligan]

Damn. In paper Gorilla Shaman is like $.075, on MTGO it's 7.72! Pyroblast is $2.44 in paper and 9.93 on MTGO!

I thought online prices were usually less than paper. What gives with these two cards?

[DocLawless]

In paper, Sensei's Divining Top is ~$15-$20. On MTGO it's $1.75.

It's the grinders. If Pauper were an official and proliferate paper format, Gorilla Shaman and Pyroblast would probably cost that much in real life too.

[Zooligan]

Ah, so no one plays Pauper in paper?

[DocLawless]

Not as a sanctioned format. Pauper is an invention of MTGO, but I'm sure a few unofficial paper pauper groups are out there. DarthStabber has one going in his town, and me and a few buddies play it on occasion. But we're not enough to drive the paper prices up.

[DarthStabber]

They need to sanction paper pauper. Pauper is probably the most fun format going. If they do though the price of hymn to tourach is going to go through the roof.