Mono Blue Artificer

EDH/Commander, Artifacts, and Things Blue

[monoblueartificer]

Midnight KTK pre-release at my FLGS. The monks may not rock limited, but how can I pass them up?

[monoblueartificer]

In a MTG funk...

I have a confession to make...

I have been in a MTG related funk lately.

I know what you may be thinking, "how is that possible?  We have a new set around the corner!  KTK looks awesome!"

Totally true, KTK does look awesome.  I LOVE the pan-Asian flavor!  I was a long time L5R player and it is really up my flavor aisle.  And that may be part of why I'm in such a funk.

See, I love monks.  I f***ing LOVE them!  I have probably played more monks than any other human alive in RPGs.  In L5R, I started as a Brotherhood of Shinsei player, and then moved to Dragon Clan when the Brotherhood ceased being a playable faction.  About the only other character-type I enjoy as much is Artificers (obvious, right :-) ).

So, when the Jeskai Way was revealed, I was ecstatic!  A whole clan, full of MONKS, focused on BLUE, with white and red secondary (my favorite 2 color combos are Azorious, Izzet, and Boros)!  I have long wanted to make an American Jeskai Commander deck, and this was my chance!  The monks have been awesome.  I really like the possibilities in Prowess.  Things should be great for me, right?

But I feel a complete and utter disconnect between Narset, the Jeskai Khan and the rest of the clan!  Narset needs to be in a deck that involves few, if any, creatures. I WANT to run monks!  Narset doesn't mesh with the Jeskai deck I want to run!  So now I'm probably going to have to run one of the other RWU commanders...  flavor fail.

And there is no monk lord...  I just feel this set has a lot of great stuff, but really struck out in a few places for me.

[monoblueartificer]

Random Artifact of the Week #14 - Sliver Construct

Sorry for the late RAOTW post.  Here we go...

An okay card for a standard Slivers deck, but in commander/edh?  Seems like most commander/edh decks, Sliver or otherwise, there are better options.  In a Sliver deck, if you want a 3 cost artifact creature, why not Adaptive Automaton?  Or any other sliver really…

The art is even divisive amongst some.  If you dislike the new sliver artwork, you’ll have this.  Honestly, I kinda dig the Alien/Predator art style, but I was never a fan of the old slivers anyway.

[fandom-mused-fandom-games]

For my Tumblr Flag/Fandom Games project

See the other fandoms here

Poster made by juggernautcollective

[monoblueartificer]

Random Artifact of the Week #13 - Life Chisel

It’s like Zuran Orb, but for creatures!  It’s a Doomgape without the 10/10 Trampling body!  Kinda…  An overlooked feature of this old card is that you are not limited to sacrificing only one creature during your upkeep for the life gain.  The main issue is, when will life be more important than a creature?  For most decks, the answer to that question is, it won’t be.  Especially in commander where your life total starts so high, a creature is almost always more handy to have around than more life.  Add in the fact that you can only sacrifice creatures to this during your upkeep, so you won’t be able to prevent yourself from being killed by saccing a creature.

There is an infinite life-gain combo with any persist creature (although Kitchen Finks works really well here), Melira, Sylvok Outcast, and this card…  That’s something, right?  Maybe for decks that care about life-gain?  The only commander that comes to mind would be Oloro, but Melira is outside of his color identity…

The art is definitely a highlight, very old-school, but still cool.

[monoblueartificer]

Random Artifact of the Week #12 - Living Wall

Where do I begin?

…

Well, it’s a regenerator and colorless.  So, if you are in a color with few regenerators, this is an option.  At 0/6 it can take a decent amount of punishment before needing to regenerate.  However, 4 cc for a 0/6 defender is not necessarily what you might be dying to play when you have 4 mana availiable.  If only it had flying, or even some power…

That art…  CREEPY…  Ooze and teeth and…  WTF is that behind the blue cyst?!?!?!?!?

[monoblueartificer]

Apparently I'm not mono-Blue, but Jeskai!

[monoblueartificer]

Random Artifact of the Week #11 - Pentavus

Pentavus, part of a class of Artifact Creature that come into play with +1/+1 counters and can remove those +1/+1 counters for an effect.  In Pentavus’ case, the effect is a 1/1 flyer.  As with any card that deals in +1/+1 counters and creatures, there are a ton of combo partners for it.  It’s essentially a colorless Ghave, Guru of Spores.

Energy Chamber gives your Pentavus an extra +1/+1 counter every turn, and is decent in an artifact-heavy deck that is running cards with +1/+1 counters or charge counters.  Any proliferate cards also work well with Pentavus.  Ashnod’s Altar can let you turn those Pentavites into 2 colorless mana, add Blade of the Bloodchief, and you get a +1/+1 counter back for the effort.  Throw in Disciple of the Vault, and now you’re dealing 1 damage each time.  Doubling Season gives you a 10/10 Pentavus that can pump out 20 1/1s.  Favorable Winds makes those Pentavites into 2/2s.  Intangible Virtue makes them into 2/2s with Vigilance.

And I’m sure I’m missing some combos.

[monoblueartificer]

Random Artifact of the Week #10 - Elixir of Vitality

Bad.  Bad.  Bad.  Elixir of Vitality has no real use that I can see, as you can find numerous cards, artifacts and otherwise, that can duplicate this effect or better.

This card has two things going for it, art and flavor text.  The art reminds me of the alien bounty hunter from the X-Files.

I remember reading an article about the artist Douglas Shuler (I believe in Scrye) and he said that he often used people that he knew as the models for his paintings.  Maybe he also used pictures of actors as well?  This actor, Brian Thompson, also played a Brujah vampire in the V:tM based series Kindred: The Embraced.  I think the show lasted less than ten episodes (thanks FOX!)...

The flavor text is pretty funny, I sense MaRo had a hand in it.

[monoblueartificer]

Random Artifact of the Week #9 - Bone Saw

Because this puts the random into Random Artifact of the Week...

"Hey freak show! You're going nowhere. I got you for three minutes. Three minutes of PLAYTIME!"

Oops, not that Bone Saw.  RIP Macho Man.

Incredibly off-topic, but I try my best Randy Savage impersonation every time this part of the movie comes up when my kids are watching it.  They love it, even though its god awful.

So, a zero-cost artifact.  Some of the most broken cards in the history of the game have been zero-cost artifacts.  It is really hard to find a card that isn’t too good when it’s free.  WotC succeeded in this card.  It’s not broken AT ALL.  To be fair, one could argue that this artifact is no really free, since it has an equip cost before it’s usable.  However, it has it’s uses before it is equipped.

In an affinity or metalcraft deck it is one more step to getting a bigger effect.  The main issue would be having a deck that needed a free artifact so bad that it included this card AFTER it had included other free/cheap artifacts.  Is it worth a slot in your 99?  That’s the question.  I suppose it can also be used for Master Transmuter fodder, so there is that.

Of course, you can always include it in a Spider-man or Evil Dead theme deck…  In which case, this is an awesome find.  You’re welcome...

[monoblueartificer]

Random Artifact of the Week #8 - Tel-Jilad Stylus

This week features a very versatile artifact, that I honestly have never even seen played.  Hopefully that will change as Tel-Jilad Stylus has many uses and is super-cheap.

First of all, there are the obvious combos.  Combine this card with Tunnel Vision and Laboratory Maniac to win the game.  Use it in combination with any card that exchanges control of two permanents (Avarice Totem, Chromeshell Crab, Gilded Drake, etc.) to make them into control spells instead.  Each of these uses are no stranger to a deck running blue, and Tel-Jilad Stylus makes them that much better.

The other big use for this card is to take back control of your permanents that were stolen from you, almost like a mini Homeward Path.  Although this is targeted and doesn’t help out the rest of the table.

[commandtower]

Command Tower Giveaway: Fiery Redhead Edition

[commandtower]

Hey guys, it’s Jon here with Command Tower. I want to thank you all so much for the support you’ve shown this blog since I started it a little more than a year ago. I’ve got more followers now than I ever expected and people have sent such amazing replies to my articles and card breakdowns telling me what a huge help they’ve been. Even when I had to take a bit of time away for a while, you guys were there to wish me well and make me feel welcome again when I came back, and that’s amazing.

As a small way of trying to say thank you, I’m going to be doing a little giveaway. I built up a prize package package based around Magic’s star pyromancer, Chandra. If you’re one of my followers and you’d like to win some neat Red-aligned stuff, then here’s your chance.

The package includes:  - 1 Pop! Vinyl Chandra Nalaar figure  - 1 foil Chandra Nalaar card  - 1 Chandra T-Shirt (size is mismarked as XXL, shirt is actually somewhere between L and XL)

Here’s how to enter:  - Please be following Command Tower. This is a thank you giveaway to my followers. If you’re interested in the stuff, then you’ll probably like my blog, so feel free to check it out first if you’d like to enter!

 - Each person can enter twice — once by liking this post, and then again by reblogging it. Comments on this post will not be counted as entries.

 - I’ll choose one winner in a couple weeks’ time and send them a private message letting them know that they took it home.

Please get your entries in by August 15th if you’re interested in the prize. 

Good luck to everyone who enters, and thanks again for all the amazing support you’ve shown Command Tower over the past year!

[monoblueartificer]

Random Artifact of the Week #7 - Dingus Egg

A classic combo card.  This beauty existed in every core set up to Eighth Edition.  Dingus Egg was classically used with any card that destroyed a large number of lands or in decks where land destruction is a thing.  I would say that Dingus Egg isn’t just for MLD, but could also be used in Numot, the Devastator, potentially hitting for 10 total damage.  Shattergang Brothers would probably enjoy this card in their arsenal as well.  This card also taxes the fetch lands a bit.  Really to do the most with Dingus Egg, you need to be able to copy it.  Luckily, there are plenty of cards that allow that to happen.

Flavor wise, they did print a Dingus Staff in Weatherlight, which has a similar ability, but for creatures.  So, is there a Dingus Mage running around the multiverse?  Heh, Dingus Mage.  I believe that Dingus was just used as filler that stuck with the printing of the card, as dingus is used to denote something whose name the speaker cannot recall.  Or maybe that’s just what the evil Dingus Mage want’s you to believe...

[monoblueartificer]

Random Artifact of the Week #6 - Basalt Golem

Another blast from the past for me today as this card was a vital piece in my Golem tribalish deck circa Mirage/Visions/Weatherlight!  I say tribalish, as Artifact Creatures didn’t have a creature subtype at that time.  However, all of my creatures were ________ Golem, or looked like animated stone humanoids.  It was fun, if not the most competitive deck ever!

This golem, with a few pieces of help can be an absolute combo beast!  Combined with Lure or Nemesis Mask and all of your opponents creatures are replaced with 0/2 walls.  Give Basalt indestructible (which, you have plenty since we are talking about an artifact here), and its repeatable!  Since the walls are artifacts, they can’t even block Basalt Golem, so if they don’t play any creatures, Basalt goes to the dome.  Combine with It That Betrays, and you gain control of their blockers after combat!  You can also pack artifact destruction, like Vandalblast, and sweep their side of the board.  Heck, even Pyroclasm will do the trick here!

The one issue here with Basalt Golem is in its first ability, “Basalt Golem can't be blocked by artifact creatures.”  This keeps things like Blightsteel and Darksteel Colossus safe from becoming walls, so you’ll have to look to some other ability to take care of them.

[lightningthekid-deactivated2015]

If you're an unknown Mtg blog

REBLOG If you’re not widely known in the fandom! Let’s spread the word!

[mtgaddicted]

u.u

[mtgfan]

I’m looking through the notes on this and finding new blogs to follow. : D

[theartofmtg]

Reblogging, not ‘cause I need followers, but because my followers need more Magic on their dashes.

[loreleywrites]

Hello, Magic Tumblr community. Come follow my blog and maybe not get eaten by Hydras! Maybe!

[monoblueartificer]

Random Artifact of the Week #5 - Chariot of the Sun

This week we are back to an interesting artifact.  Chariot of the Sun never saw much use.  The fact that it has to target a creature you control AND gives it a toughness of one makes it fairly risky and keeps it from being actually interesting.  If you change either of those two restrictions, things open up.  If it could target any creature, then that gives it the ability to combo with a pinger for an easy kill.  If it didn’t give the creature a toughness of one, it could also be used as a cheap evasion source for colors with limited evasion (looking at you green!).

So, what could it still be used for?  I guess you could use it in a hydra deck, +1/+1 counter matters deck, or a Thromok the Insatiable deck for a evasive fatty.  Those +1/+1 counters keep the toughness from being one.  In fact, for most creatures with +1/+1 counters, it will increase their toughness by one!

The flavor of this card is very good.  Like Icarus knows, flying near the sun is risky!

[monoblueartificer]

Sorry about the lateness for raotw! I've been in Washington DC on business, and I haven't written it up yet. So for the moment, here is a real life artifact courtesy of Mr. DiVincci and the National Air & Space Museum!