& artifact Type 1.5

This deck began with a card and an idea. The card was Transmute Artifact. The idea was that if you cast Transmute Artifact and sacrificed a mana producing artifact, after tapping it for mana, you could put any artifact in your library into play at little to no extra cost. A Mana Vault can pull out an artifact that costs 4 (without sticking around to ping you during your upkeep), and a Basalt Monolith will let you cast an artifact that costs 6. A Su-Chi would let you cast an artifact that costs 8, if you could find an artifact worth sacrificing your 4/4 creature in order to cast (and that you could afford to power with your remaining mana – ruling out Aladdin's Ring).

If any of you have been following along you'll note that this trick is similar to the Yawgmoth combo in the Yawgmoth-Chi deck, only in that deck the combo was used for end-game power, while in this deck it's used for speed.

I tried out a bunch of different artifacts when I was first building this deck. I settled on two, Triskelion and Juggernaut. I've always viewed Triskelions as being over-priced for their size, but their casting cost works perfectly with the Basalt Monoliths, and their direct damage is excellent if you're playing mono-blue. They're just so versatile. A single Triskelion can often kill two or three creatures, and still leave you with a creature of your own. You can then Unsummon it and do it again, or Transmute Artifact it into another one. The Triskelion's ability can be used without summoning sickness is unique, and you can even use it after having attacked, meaning that a Triskelion can potentially do 7 damage to an opponent in a single turn.

This deck can be played as either a fast-large-creature deck, or a card denial deck depending on your opening draw. Cast a Mana Vault your first turn and you can transmute it into a Juggernaut on turn two. That is blazing fast in Type 1.5 and can be a decisive edge. But what can make this deck truly devastating is the 4 Amnesia. Usually this is a late game card for slower decks, cast once you've established an environment where your opponent is holding cards. It is normally very difficult come up with the mana to cast it, both the total cost, 6, and the concentrated amount of blue mana: . But if you're playing straight blue with 20 islands it's not so hard to come up with. Odds are by turn 3, having drawn 9 or 10 cards, you will have enough colored mana to cast it. The Mana Vaults and Basalt Monoliths, each conveniently producing 3 colorless, give you the raw mana count you need to pull it off early in the game when it can be crippling to your opponent. Take for instance this opening sequence (which actually isn't as uncommon as you might think):

Turn 1

Play a Brass Man to hold off the Lions, Apes, and even Knights.

Turn 2

Put out a Mana Vault, and wait until the discard phase of your opponent's turn to Unsummon one of their creatures (earlier if they tap out).

Turn 3

Here's the fun part: cast Amnesia and watch them weep.

Turn 4

Now that you've emptied all those pesky Lightning Bolts and Disenchants from their hand, cast a Juggernaut and barrel on to victory.

I have toyed with adding white to increase the deck's removal capacity, but you really can't play very many Plains or you won't be able to cast the Amnesia. I've toyed with using something like 4 Tundra, 2 City of Brass and 2 Plains in order to add 4 Swords to Plowshares and 4 Disenchant, but I think I prefer having the Counterspells and Unsummons, since the Unsummon is so versatile in this deck, and the Counterspells help against one of this deck's weaknesses: Counterspell decks.

There is one thing that I could use some help with if there are any deck builders lurking. You may have noticed that this deck is made of 10 perfect pockets of 4 cards each and 20 land. While this maximizes the consistency of the deck's play, it reduces its versatility. With the Transmute Artifacts even a single copy of an artifact could be pulled out in a pinch. But I'm too close to the deck, unable to "kill my darlings" as writers say. It would be great if somebody could find the room for a few "reset button" type cards, cards that could be pulled to get you out of a pinch. A Nevinyrall's Disk would be great. It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway, no going over 60 cards.

posted by Nils T. Devine  # Thursday, June 16, 2005