The Newer Age of Artifacts

remember this deck:

UW AGGRO ARTIFACTS (v1)

Lands (24)
1 Dread Statuary
6 Island
9 Plains
4 Sejiri Refuge
4 Terramorphic Expanse

Creatures (20)
4 Esper Stormblade (3-Pointer)
4 Juggernaut
4 Master of Etherium (Team Captain)
4 Steel Overseer (MVP!)
4 Vedalken Outlander

Spells (16)
4 Everflowing Chalice
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Open the Vaults
3 Path to Exile
3 Voltaic Key

Sideboard (15)
3 Dragon's Claw
4 Ethersworn Shieldmage
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Reinforced Bulwark

i finally bought the missing pieces for my deck so i have put it together and went to my friend's place (the one who has a land destruction deck and who introduced me to magic which i talked about here) and played a couple of games. the deck changed dramatically. here's the new list:

UW AGGRO ARTIFACTS (v2) aka STANDARD AFFINITY

Lands (23)
1 Dread Statuary
7 Island
7 Plains
4 Sejiri Refuge
4 Terramorphic Expanse

Creatures (20)
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Master of Etherium
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vedalken Outlander

Spells (16)
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Levitation
1 Obelisk of Alara
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Open the Vaults
3 Voltaic Key

Sideboard (15)
2 Dispeller's Capsule
3 Ethersworn Shieldmage
4 Mana Leak
4 Spreading Seas
2 Whispersilk Cloak

changes were because of mainly three reasons: 1) speed; 2) evasion; 3) resiliency. i'll talk about these one by one.

speed.

when affinity was around during standard, it was hated, it was unloved, it was something i didn't play since i did not yet play magic back then. that deck was fast! my aim with this deck was to bring a sense of affinity back in standard. Etherium Sculptor does that, to an extent, burping free keys, semi-free overseers and almost free masters. with multiple sculptors out, you can just dump your hand to the board! my main problem is, with this such a low curve and such many means to earn extra mana, i'm thinking of cutting more lands for creatures and/or spells, especially draw spells that can refill my hands.

with this speed, over-extending is really something to be wary of, especially that i don't have any ways to protect them from a Day of Judgment. that's where Open the Vaults tries to help out. after they clear your board, refill with your own ultimatum-esque spell. as you can see, everything in the main deck could be returned by opening the vaults. quite neat, i might add.

evasion.

oftentimes as i was testing the deck, i had gigantic artifact creatures but no way to attack effectively (either the villain has chump blockers, or they have larger creatures). i initially thought of Stormcaller's Boon, whose cascade could also prove to be useful; but i settled for the much simpler Levitation which is usually game over when you have lots of gigantic creatures on the field.

i was quite wary of main boarding too many nonartifact spells because lodestone golem main board would make it a wee bit more difficult to cast. but i think the reward is heftier than the risk so in goes the pair of enchantments.

resiliency.

aside for dying from mass removal. removal of some key artifacts (overseers and masters) could greatly impair the deck. to mitigate this, i main boarded the golems just to slow them down a bit more. i included counter magic and cloaks in the sideboard to counter (obviously) or make my creatures untargettable and unblockable.

sideboard.

the sideboard changes were drastic. the only card that were retained were the shieldmages, and even their number was suffered a casualty. let me talk about the card choices.

dispeller's capsule.

the deck's half-dead when someone Pithing Needles my overseers; plus, it's quite useful against Pyromancers Ascension-type decks.

ethersworn shieldmage.
against random red decks or other aggro decks, just to up the creature count.

mana leak.
a mainstay in any deck that plays blue nowadays. i'll be boarding these against control decks.

spreading seas.

against jund and decks that utilize man lands.

whispersilk cloak.

for evasion and shroud.

well, that's that. i can no longer remember the games, but one complaint i have with the deck is that its pretty hard to keep track of the counters when playing it in paper.

till next time. i'll be posting two decks later that i played a few weeks back and didn't get the chance to post.

till then!