General How to execute a minimalist Artifact theme

japahn

japahn

Baseline is a Flying Man that counts for your artifact synergy cards.

It is a good idea to sacrifice it when you will win next turn unless opponent has a board wipe. If the board wipe is a creature, it would've killed Hope of Ghirapur anyways. Whether it's worth sacrificing in the situation that you will win unless opponent has removal will depend on how much of the environment's removal is creature-based.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Velrun said:
Tell me about Hope of Ghirapur.

Do you know when to sacrifice it? I’m guessing the turn before villain plays their 5’th land in your cube?
Is it worth to include even without any Ninjas/in a non-black and non-blue aggro deck? Is it worth it in a green, white or red aggro deck?
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japahn pretty much covered it! If you can suit it up with Bonesplitter, or upgrade it with Steel Overseer, one of the heros, or a battlecry creature, it can chip in for quite some damage, simply because it has evasion.
 
inscho

inscho

yeah that's the problem with blue's artifact enablers, they mostly require a certain density of support artifacts:



Emry is one of my favorite blue artifact buildarounds right now, because it is appeals to dredge strategies, and can be serviceable with 5-6 artifacts in the deck....fairly tidy with trinket mage to fetch a bauble, spellbomb, capsule, etc for recursion
 
Nanonox

Nanonox

Maybe I have unrealistic expectations towards Sai, but he always disappointed me. The amount of actual artifacts you need to trigger him a few times is quite high. High enough, that I don't feel that he fits into a minimalist theme. A full blown theme for sure, but even then, the "cast artifact" cards are tough since most of the best artifact enablers aren't even artifacts.

I would rather have something like



That can trigger off a random artifact and fuels itself. It fits well with all the other artifact token makers in other colors as well.

Other than that 100% Urza, Emry and Whirler Rogue. Those guys are great even on their own!
 
Dom Harvey

Dom Harvey

Contributor
That's always been an issue with the artifact theme - there are more good artifact enablers or cards that care about artifacts than good artifacts themselves, and many of the best artifacts are over the line in some way (Winter Orb, Jitte/Clamp, fast mana etc). I was also disappointed by Sai even in a Cube where it should be at its best and am a little sceptical of Emry (it's often either poor or repetitive), which I'd cut if I didn't also want the self-mill effect. Whirler Rogue is fantastic though!

Blue has some good coloured artifacts:



and artifact-themed finishers (Tezz in particular is fine in a generic blue deck):



plus some great specific enablers:



Blue also is the best colour at getting the most out of some artifacts:

 
Nanonox

Nanonox

Perilous Myr is great against aggro in my experience, not so much in aggro.

The Spellbombs are good since they enable the artifact deck for “free” and are decent cantrips if dead.
Nihil Spellbomb is good too, but I find it too punishing against GY decks. Black wants to sacrifice things, so it’s in the right color.

For the implements, the only playable one in my mind is the green one to further enable counters and artifacts in green, but I don’t feel the card is worth a cube slot.
 
MurphysHuman

MurphysHuman

I have also really appreciated Pyrite and AEther spellbombs in my cube, which supports artifact decks mainly in blue and red. It is worth noting that they can introduce a slightly awkward fit if you also support a "spells matter" theme that focuses on instants and sorceries. It kind of stinks to cast your "artifact shock" and not get an Elemental out of your Young Pyromancer. It almost certainly doesn't affect the performance of either archetype, but it might make one of your drafters feel slightly bad.
 
japahn

japahn

MurphysHuman said:
I have also really appreciated Pyrite and AEther spellbombs in my cube, which supports artifact decks mainly in blue and red. It is worth noting that they can introduce a slightly awkward fit if you also support a "spells matter" theme that focuses on instants and sorceries. It kind of stinks to cast your "artifact shock" and not get an Elemental out of your Young Pyromancer. It almost certainly doesn't affect the performance of either archetype, but it might make one of your drafters feel slightly bad.
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Yeah, the artifacts deck and the spells deck becomes sort of at odds with each other. I wish they had printed more spells with investigate, I liked how it played, they work in both these archetypes, and the draw keeps the game flowing.
 
Erik Twice

Erik Twice

sigh said:
definitely Approach, if you have a deck that won't make it miserable to lose to.
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I'm sorry, but I like making others miserable. That's why I've created the Misery cube, where everyone is given 3 Smokestacks and 2 Stasis at the start. Divine Intervention is a beautiful piece of design and a P1P1 if you don't get any Mox Diamonds (Of which I run a couple).
 
Brad

Brad

Intervention also has a counters and enchantments synergies, whereas Approach only has synergy with cards that have multiple suns in their arts. That archetype's been too narrow for me in the past.

I guess it's an easy pick after all. Thanks, guy.
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Velrun

Velrun

Brad are you serious or are we still on the joking around thingy?

I personally LOVE Approach of the Second Sun because it has so much play to it.

It is a mega game within the game. Each draw step gives you 1 point and you need 7 points to win. Each cycling effect like Renewed Faith gives you a point. A Fact or Fiction is 5 points. Some cards also give points if cast at the right time like the 3 point Brainstorm. Sweepers get a whole new dimension because they are actively pushing for a game win. Moment’s Peace is spectacular. A shuffle effect is a hail mary gamble. A tutor is the Full 7 points.

Furthermore the card is slow enough to not feel oppressive but cool enough to build around.
It is evil enough to warrent a place in a black cube.
 
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