dknight27

With the amount of critters in this build, I'm not a huge fan of Grasping Shadows. [[Bow of Nylea]] accomplishes a very similar thing, but without limiting to one attacker, and comes with fun activated abilities.

Deadbridge Chant is probably too expensive and too slow to justify its spot here. 6-drop on its own is problematic, but it also doesn't do anything you need the turn it comes into play, and has essentially no effect if it gets removed. I'd personally rather run another copy of Drown in Ichor to clear the way for your critters, snag the proliferate, and keep the hurt train running for 2 mana, but that's me.

Just some quick thoughts.

Couple bits of potential synergy problems I see in the build as is. Delirium is gunna be very hard to get, as Zenith shuffles itself back into the deck, so you're really only running 4 sorceries (for this purpose), which means you'll be struggling for that 4th type. You're have critters and lands covered, but only have 13 other playable cards (15 if you discard a Zenith (other than Fear itself as an enchantment hybrid)) to use to get 2 more types in the grave. This is mitigated a bit by Zenith being able to fetch Grist and the few discard effects you've got, but overall seems unreliable to me. Delirium is usually cheated into by running Urza's Saga and sackable artifacts, which gets you 3 types for 1 card, but that would require lots of retooling for the deck. What would really be nice is if Break Out milled instead of the way it's structured, but then it would be worth 50 bucks and probably banned, so it is what it is. Alternatively, you could run [[Malevolent Rumble]], and trade off the mill/token for the deeper reach and tempo, but that's a matter of priorities I suppose.

Second potential problem I see is the curve, which is pretty 2-drop heavy and very limited on acceleration. You can Zenith into Arbor turn 1 of course, but other than that, this deck will be playing behind most games without a turn 1 play, and most of your turn 1 plays are reactionary against critters. This is usually solved by running some mana dorks like [[Ignoble Hierarch]] that up your chances of a turn 1 accelerated play that's going to let you hit the ground ahead on turn 2, or 1-drop discard outlets like [[Thoughtseize]] or [[Inquisition of Kozilek]], both of which deny opponent the turn 1/2 play they want to make to get their deck going. Obviously you're ok with a turn 1 Ragavan or fetch into surveil land, but the format's pretty god damn fast from what I'm seeing, and I don't think the curve as is will work out overall against decks that can go nuclear turn 3.

I'd personally cut 2 Dreadknights (1 copy is an engine by itself, and you'd rather Zenith into it than take the time early to play it as a sorcery) , a Fiend Artisan (useless early on, perfect Zenith target for mid/late game), and Unholy Heat (conditionally great, but less good as single spot removal in a format that can get around spot removal) for 4 copies of Thoughtseize, but that's me. That brings the 'I wanna drop this turn 1 for advantage' count to 10 cards (4 Thoughtseize, 4 Ragavan, 2 Zenith), which (in theory) will help the speed a lot.

Just the stuff that leapt out at me, not trying to throw shade at the build or anything.

Amen. I think [[Obsidian Charmaw]] would be a good consideration here against eldrazi that are gunna try to accelerate right over the top of you. I also really, really like [[High Noon]] as countermeasures against temur breach, ruby storm, affinity, hollow one, looting phoenix, and cascade builds. It stops them either cold or luke warm, hurts you much, much less, and doubles as damage you can build to for a finisher once you're done with it. And it's extra good on the play game 2 or 3 when you can drop it to slow down opponent's turn 2.

I didn't want to go right for the sideboard originally because the format was so new after the unbannings, but now that things have shaped up a bit, I can make a few definitive choices.

As a preamble, my philosophy to sideboarding is bifrucated between 1- what does that deck do poorly against X deck, and 2- what does X deck do well that can be shut down. To me, it's more important to have few/no dead draws in games 2 and 3 than it is to have extremely targeted outs, as the math is more likely to reward a deck doing what it's supposed to do than one just waiting for an out.

First off, High Noon is mainboard hate against SOOOOOOO much of the metagame. It shuts down Temur Breach, Ruby Storm, Affinity, Hallow One, Looting Phoenix, and every Cascade build completely, rendering each build effectively useless without an answer. That's hella powerful, and frees up quite a lot of space in the sideboard. I'm tempted to throw in a copy or two of [[Deafening Silence]] to absolutely put the nail in the coffin of all of the above, but that depends on how well the rest of the builds need adjusting for, as it's not actually necessary with so much hate mainboarded.

The biggest problem with the build is that without the ability to use the activated abilities of artifacts, this deck goes from pure synergy to pure slop. Fortunately, there's some mainboard hate against [[Collector Ouphe]] and [[Stony Silence]], and notably fetchable hate. But they still have to be dealt with, so I'd probably want something that hits both like [[Get Lost]]. Hopefully that's enough to keep the juices flowing.

Another major problem is mass artifact removal, a la [[Meltdown]], which will murder the engine long enough for the deck to fall apart. This is particularly true of Energy Control, which absolutely obliterates this build with [[Wrath of the Skies]]. In fact, Energy Control is probably the worst matchup this deck has. Best thing I can think of to counter this is [[Heroic Intervention]], which has merit on its own anyway. I'd also be interested potentially in running [[Cindervines]], which I've always thought had truly massive potential but almost never sees play. That would also be a good option against a few other builds as an alt-win con/removal, so I'll have to think on it.

[[Obsidian Charmaw]] is probably a must against pesky Eldrazi builds, against which this deck does very little unfortunately.

Amulet titan gets knocked around by a few cards in this build already, and lots of the sideboard options, so I'm not overly worried about it. Perhaps [[Force of Vigor]], perhaps not. I'll ponder.

A problem with the build as is, of course, is that it's vulnerable to types of grave hate, which is popular in the format as so many decks use the grave. Thus, it's going to face both mainboarded and sideboarded grave hate, some of which there's not much to do about, such as [[Nihil Spellbomb]], other that possibly running [[Pithing Needle]], which will absolutely be in the sideboard anyway (which is nice). However, since the build can survive without Goblin Engineer, as much as that sucks, you could choose to ignore grave hate entirely and go for an alternate strategy pulled from the sideboard, which makes opponent's grave hate useless, or you could run countermeasures against cards like [[Rest in Peace]], which nuke this build into oblivion. You've got some mainboard hate with Portable Hole and Haywire Mite already (which are also fetchable via Saga (hurray!)), but running a few [[Exorcise]] in the sideboard never hurt anyone. This, of course, doubles as hate against the big bads, which is delightful.

The silly fast critter decks require running some [[Pyroclasm]], but that's been the case for ages. I gave a lot of thought to mainboarding it.

Anyway, that's my quick thoughts.

What block(s) are you wanting to use?

There's good news and bad news about artifact decks. The good news is, there's basically limitless support/ideas to draw from. The bad news is, all the broken artifacts are expensive. However, there is more than enough cheap material to make a playable/winning build with what you're going for.

First and foremost, you're gunna try and up the speed of the deck. You want as many artifacts on the field as you can get as quickly as possible, which activates your heavy hitters that need lets of artifacts. To do this, you run a bunch of 0 and 1-drop artifacts that still give you advantage.

If you're ok with vintage, you're basically obligated to run a copy (you can only have 1) of [[Sol Ring]]. The 0-drops you want to run are Mishra's Bauble and Urza's Bauble, both of which replace themselves if you need it (with a little info advantage). Being able to drop some turn 1 and speed up your artifact count is CRAZY powerful, and when you don't need them for affinity anymore, you sac them off and draw. Perfect win/win scenario.

Then you've got affinity critters that you need for damage. [[Refurbished Familiar]], [[Thought Monitor]], and [[Frogmite]] fit nicely in here, though I personally don't like running too many Thought Monitors (2 is preferred) in case they clog up my opening hand, but that's me. Plenty of other people like running the full set.

Another mechanic that works almost identically to affinity is improvise, which basically turns all your artifacts into mana rocks (those 0-drops suddenly become moxes, which is ludicrous). [[Kappa Cannoneer]] is an absolute nightmare win condition and is probably the card this deck needs most. [[Emry, Lurker of the Loch]] is another heavy hitter, this time a recycling engine that fits like a glove with your Baubles. Every turn, you can play 1 from your grave for free, then sac it to draw an extra card. Plus, Emry is ludicrously cheap (can be played turn 1), and gets the mill, opening up targets.

[[Metallic Rebuke]] is excellent counter coverage if you're playing into lots of problematic cards, as you will almost certainly be able to cast it for just U.

A huge consideration for the build would be running [[Sphere of Resistance]], as it essentially doesn't affect your build in the slightest but absolutely hamstrings opponent across the board. Since it's an artifact, it's net 0 in cost for you, but to opponent it's an anchor that can lose them the game.

[[Mystic Forge]] is an engine of destruction for cheap artifacts/affinity mechanics, and once you have one fielded, you'll be dropping spells off your deck like crazy. [[Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass]] works almost identically, except it lets you play artifact lands and taps for mana, so it's a great consideration, even if it has the double blue cost.

Soul Manipulation and Signal Pest don't really fit in here, as they're too slow and/or don't give enough benefit. Ratchet Bomb has similar problems, as you've got to wait around for the counters to build and it hits your own targets as well. It's mainly used as an anti-token card, as you can sac it for 0 and kill off tokens. If you need removal, try Executioner's Capsule.

Would [[Troll of Khazad-dûm]] be an option in here, since it ditches itself for mana and then becomes viable later as a target for Grim Harvest?

[[Cranial Plating]] on an Ornithopter. Good times indeed.

If you're looking to update the build, let me know. There's a metric ton of artifact support available now, even on a budget.

Yep, you just put [[ ]] around the card name. So [[Card Name]]. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with cards that have an apostrophe in it. For double faced cards, you separate the sides with a //. So [[Card Name 1 // Card Name 2]]. Super useful feature

16 lands is a bit too few. I know you want to get to 2 lands and field your Hares, and that's about it, but with only 16 you're going to eat mulligans for breakfast and lunch, and you'll be stuck at playing 1 spell a turn for quite a few turns, and you'll be down in development the whole game. I'd up the land count to 20, using [[Lupinflower Village]] as the 4 lands you need, which gives you more mana that aren't dead draws when you don't need anymore. Win/win.

Unfortunately, the ripple cards you've got in this build don't work the way I think you believe they do. They only target the cards with the same name as the cast spell, so only Surging Sentinels and Surging Might. So you can trim those 7 cards. If you want to try for a ripple effect, you can use [[Thrumming Stone]], which will let you ripple every time you cast a Hare (which should be extremely powerful, as you get 4 cards with 1/3 of them being Hares (math is on your side)). It's 20 bucks a pop though, so that's probably not an option. If you want something similar, you could run [[Realmwalker]] and/or [[Eladamri, Korvecdal]], which will help you run through the deck faster and keep the momentum going.

Another big card that would help is [[Aether Vial]]. Set it on 2, and you can put a Hare into play for free every turn, which speeds things up quite a bit. On the flipside, running [[Raise the Past]] makes perfect sense as both an answer to nukes and as an unbelievable trigger creator, as each Hare ups the triggers of all the others as they enter, so pulling back dead ones creates a tidal wave of tokens. [[Delney, Streetwise Lookout]] has the same idea, but it's 25 a pop, so again, probably a no go.

Instead of Intangible Virtue, which helps the tokens but does nothing for the Hares themselves, you could run [[Honor of the Pure]], which will do almost the same thing. Giving the Hares bonuses is more beneficial than giving vigilance to the tokens, as you're gunna try to overwhelm opponent with damage rather than having to worry about playing defense. Since you're running Nantuko Shrine, you might run [[Anthem of Champions]] instead of Honor of the Pure, as you'll up the Squirrel tokens as well. However, I'd suggest running [[Valley Questcaller]] over anything else, as it gives you the best scrying you're going to get, and fits in with some other suggested cards like Aether Vial and Raise the Past.

Ajani's Welcome and Aven Shrine are great lifegain generators in here, no doubt. But you don't really need so much life, as again, you're trying to overwhelm opponent with a swarm of damage and not worry about defense. Instead, I'd advise running Caretaker's Talent if you can afford it (16 a pop) and/or [[Skullclamp]], which will turn your tiny rabbits into a drawing machine of epic proportions, as you can suicide your tokens for 1 mana a pop to draw 2 cards, which will let you play more Hares, which spawns more tokens, etc.

You're going to want to run about 21 lands for this build, 17 is gunna make you eat a lot of mulligans and have a lot of bricks in your hand.

You can run Sol Ring (and you absolutely should), but only 1 copy (it's restricted in vintage).

If you're playing vintage, you get access to all the fun (affordable) vintage cards you should absolutely run like [[Lurrus of the Dream-Den]] {mainboarded) and [[Skullclamp]] (which you should absolutely run 4 copies of (if you can afford them (7 bucks a pop))).

The rest of my advice would be basically to tighten up the screws of the build to make it faster, more reliable, and hit harder. For example, Saltblast is basically a worse version of [[Exorcise]]. Yes, Saltblast hits every critter and planeswalkers as well, but can't hit white things, costs an extra 3 mana, and doesn't exile. Swapping it out for Exorcise does nothing but help you. I could help you with this if you're interested (obviously no pressure)

Mainboard looks good. I'm generally nervous about running 8 fetches and 5 targets, but it's burn, so you really want that deck thinning.

As for the sideboard, I legit have very little idea of a solid meta at this point, as the format is basically brand new and everything is all over the place. I assume things will straighten out over the next few weeks or so, and we can all proceed accordingly.

Is there a reason you're going for vintage here beyond Sol Ring (which has 2 copies (might be accidental))? Other than that, I see a couple legacy cards, but other than that a deck that could be run in modern.

I might be missing something, but isn't Of One Mind not reduced by Brinebarrow Intruder because it's 'not' a non-human? Meaning, you can't just run a human-X and have the same creature count as both a human and non human?

I am not familiar with the meta at all, but Winged Coatl seems a bit underpowered and is eating up noncreature spots that Delver and Elementalist Adept need. As is, both only have a little over 1/3 of the deck that helps them (albeit with lots of good ol cantrips), so I can't help but think replacing Coatl with a noncritter spell would only help the build.

Just a gut instinct, no experience in Pauper whatsoever.

The Lembas Bread was a nice touch.

Now you can throw in [[Mox Opal]] and really get to work

Ya, I doubt this would be able to keep up with the T1 decks that just spam turn 2/3 win conditions, especially the grave builds that are now basically made of rocket fuel thanks to Looting. I just saw some cool synergy between the Troll and Persist, as you effectively get a better turn 2 Goyf that's immune from quite a bit of removal. The sad fact that that's not enough to keep up in modern anymore isn't lost on me, but I wanted to see where it went.

I don't know about you, but I see nothing but potential for Case of the Crimson Pulse.