My Big Effin' Gun

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Exaulted_Leader

Guest
I've always been intrigued by Mirrodin's counter generation and manipulation cards. I've never really found a particular means of deploying them effectively, but I'd like to think enough perserverence would create something fairly nifty.

I don't have the cards to test this out, but I think it could pull-off some awfully violent tricks in the right hands:

Big Effin' Gun

Critters

4x Triskelion
4x Extruder
4x Arcbound Worker
4x Arcbound Stinger
4x Coretapper

Artifacts

4x Aether Vial
4x Power Conduit
4x Chalice of the Void
4x Skullclamp
4x Lightning Coils

Lands

4x Mirrodin's Core
4x Cloudpost
4x Urza's Mine
4x Urza's Tower
4x Urza's Power Plant


The idea is simple enough: Get a Trike in play and rake a whole bunch of counters onto it to start pounding at your opponent and their critters, or get a Lightning Coils in play and set it off.

Chalice would act as the 'mud', though I'm sure the symmetry would be frustrating (even if you are manipulating the charge counter count). I also despise Echo, but Extruder is just so very good (I'd use it over Juggernaut any day of the week).


Anything I haven't thought of?
 
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Exaulted_Leader

Guest
Oh, man - I'm STUPID!

Nix the Mirrodin's Core for Glacial Chasm. Free counters, nifty ability.
 
M

Mikeymike

Guest
What about Energy Chamber? It might be outright superior to Coretapper in here b/c it can boost your critters as well.

Splashing green for Forgotten Ancient would be nice.

Mindless Automaton can draw you cards.
 
T

train

Guest
I like the automaton idea, card drawing could get you great card advantage...

but the coils only works on non-token critters... so you'd have to point a bit towards it with the tappers etc...
 
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Ephraim

Guest
I would actually get rid of the Lightning Coils and focus solely on getting a bunch of counters on the Triskelion. In general, I think it's going to be the more reliable method of winning and it doubles as board control, besides.

I think that you'd benefit from splashing a colour. As mentioned, green can yield you a bunch of +1/+1 counters, but I think I'd rather see black in this deck for the potent recursion it offers.

With that in mind, I'd like to examine some of the card choices you've made, and look at them with an eye for adding black to the deck.

Your creature selection is excellent, but you may be able to use fewer creatures and generate the same effect through redundant recursion. I'd definitely like to see only two Extruders in this deck. It's got a potent effect, but it comes at a high cost. Skullclamp will dig you to it plenty fast. With some of the other choices I'm going to suggest in a moment, you could also easily run Machinate, which is an awesome search card in a mostly-artifact deck (I know this from experience.) (2 free slots)

I would also take out all four Aether Vials. Yes, they generate charge counters that you can manipulate with the Power Conduits, but they're not functional enough on their own in the absence of a Conduit. Your creatures have a wide array of converted mana costs, which makes it much less useful. (6 free slots)

I would only run two or three Chalice of the Void -- probably two. You are seldom going to want more than one on the table at a time, since it can also cripple your own development. With all of the fast artifact mana you have, you might be better off with Sphere of Resistance. (7 free slots)

I think you can focus this deck on what I believe is its stronger victory condition by removing Lightning Coils outright. (11 free slots)

You may also consider removing two Coretappers, just so you can have four Energy Chambers, which I think are much better than the Coretappers for the generation of useful counters. (4 free slots)

Because I'm going to advocate the addition of black, I think you'd be better off with Mirrodin's Core, as opposed to Glacial Chasm.

Additions -- These are the cards I think you should use to fill those nine slots I've suggested you clear.

4x Oversold Cemetery
If I am correct, this deck will have creatures in the graveyard all the time. Having Oversold Cemetery will allow you to clamp/extrude Arcbound creatures with impunity. You can chump block to your heart's content, and you don't ever have to worry about your Triskelion getting killed. (7 free slots)

2x or 3x Gemstone Array
With all of the excess mana you'll have, I think that this will generate charge counters much faster than Aether Vial anyhow. It will also provide you with a source of black mana, for casting Oversold Cemetery or for cheaply using the next suggestion. (4 free slots)

2x Skeleton Shard
This may not be strictly necessary, depending on how effective Oversold Cemetery turns out to be. You're working without Cemetery right now, so Skeleton Shard may be totally unnecessary, in which case...

2x Machinate
As previously mentioned, this card can be nuts in rifling through your deck. It might be worth considering over Skeleton Shard even if the Cemeteries are a little too scarce. Digging six or eight cards deep in your deck to find an answer is extremely powerful. (2 free slots)

4x Energy Chamber
These are simply nuts, in conjunction with Arcbound creatures and Triskelion. They save you the trouble of having to charge up something (as with Coretapper) and then moving the counters with a Power Conduit.

Finally, if you're really worried about key artifacts (like Power Conduit) getting destroyed, you might clear up a slot or two from among your Arcbound Stingers for Myr Retrievers.
 
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Exaulted_Leader

Guest
Mindless Automatons, in practice, just aren't good. Oh, how I've tired to make effectiver use of them in the past (the artwork... it's so uber...) - but, in the end, they wind-up costing you more cards than they net.

See - cards I just never though of (or, in the case of Energy Chamber, just didn't know existed).

Yeah, I think the Coils are a little out of place too. I just couldn't think of something else to put in. :p

I'm a big sucker for 4-ofs... a habit I'm having some difficulty breaking out of.


Big Effin' Gun

Critters

4x Triskelion
2x Extruder
4x Arcbound Worker
4x Arcbound Stinger
2x Myr Retriever

Artifacts

4x Energy Chamber
4x Power Conduit
2x Chalice of the Void
4x Skullclamp
3x Gemstone Array
1x Skeleton Shard

Black

4x Oversold Cemetery

Blue

2x Machinate

Lands

4x Mirrodin's Core
4x Cloudpost
4x Urza's Mine
4x Urza's Tower
4x Urza's Power Plant


Coretappers were given the whack in light of Gemstone Array and Energy Chamber. Without a Conduit, they're little more than vanilla 1/1s for 2 mana. I think I can do a little better than that. ;P

I'm not sure I have enough colored mana sources for Machinate... but I don't want to start cutting in on my Urzatron for colored mana producers. Anyone else have an opinion on this?
 
D

Doombringer

Guest
hey! coretappers are pretty nice, playem, tap em, then sac em, three counters, or more 2 if you dont want to wait a turn, or way more eventually if you don't sac them. And, you can put the charge counters on a unchargeable artifact, like skull clamp and turn them into +1+1 counters any time a conduit is free! They're really helpful.
 
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Exaulted_Leader

Guest
Honestly, I've never liked that combo. Not even in Block Constructed. Yes, it's HUGE board control - but there are better ways of effectively accomplishing the same goal.

I certainly don't think it's bad, but I just don't personally find it very appealing.
 
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