Hey all, coming back at you this week with more budgety goodness. And, my goodness, this one is spicy. Big shout-out to fellow Numot Gaming content creator Zac Elsik for really spearheading this deck into contention with the big boys. He took it to a very strong finish at GP Vegas and I’ve been toying around with it ever since. Also, this deck is very cheap to build. Right now you can buy it for less than 90 tix on MTGO! What a steal! A Blue Steal??
It’s the first time I’m posting a non-taxes deck, but some might say this is the closest you can get to mono-blue taxes. Hah. I mean, we’re playing 4 MEGATHALIA (Lodestone Golem) and 8 one drop disruptive fliers, so it’s not far off I suppose. But anyway here’s the list and the video:
Main Deck
4 Judge’s Familiar
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Chief Engineer
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Grand Architect
2 Trinket Mage
1 Master of Etherium
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Walking Ballista
1 Basilisk Collar
4 Smuggler’s Copter
2 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
16 Island
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Academy Ruins
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
Sideboard
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
2 Dismember
2 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Pithing Needle
1 Aethersphere Harvester
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Unified Will
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 God-Pharaoh’s Gift
Starting with losses to Storm and Titanshift didn’t feel great, but then we beat Abzan Counters Company, got a bye, and then beat the evil specter of Modern: Grixis Death’s Shadow. Not bad, but we had some tough choices against Titanshift and maybe we could’ve squeaked that game out if I had countered the Farseek. Oh well. This deck is a deck of inches and certainly rewards repeated use so I’ll continue to tweak things and maybe get some feedback from Zac Elsik himself going forward. Click his name to see his awesome primer on the deck in all its Zoolander-filled glory. Seriously, it’s great. Slightly outdated tech in this blisteringly fast paced modern world, but still very relevant and well worth the click.
On budget concerns: The only card that will really set you back is Walking Ballista. It’s currently Standard legal and already a staple in Modern. I would say they’re a good pick up and you’ll always be able to turn them around if you end up disliking the deck. This deck is actually so cheap that I’m surprised it hasn’t caught on more. Maybe you’ll be the one that Top 8s the next Modern GP with it. Maybe me? Nah, I’ll probably play Taxes, but I could easily see Blue Steel being a great choice on the right weekend. Or, you know, any FNM or league on MTGO.
This deck tends to be very strong against other creature decks and you can shut out control/storm with early Lodestone Golems and Thorn of Amethyst so I think it’s a real contender in the current modern landscape, but don’t take my word for it. Give it a try! Let me know how it goes @kaosofmind on twitter or at twitch.tv/kponceMTG or in the comments here.
Thanks for hangin. See ya next week.
