Is It Worth It?

Hello everyone! We are getting closer and closer to the release of New Phyrexia, and the official spoilers will start pouring out in just 1 week! Today, the mechanics article was released on the Mothership and a certain card REALLY spiked my deckbuilding interests. But before I get there, we need some background:

Scars of Mirroden was released, and was viewed as a very weak set because of the linear mechanics. Unlike Landfall, which simply requires you play lands in your deck, the major themes of Metalcraft and Infect required your entire deck to follow a tight theme. Even with another set, neither of those mechanics have blossomed into a tier 1 deck yet (yeah yeah... UB infect... that runs 2 infect cards, 1 proliferate card, and the rest is a typical UB control deck). Let's take a look at what we gain by going all-in on infect:

-Your opponent starts at 10 life instead of 20
-Pump spells become twice as powerful
-Walls lose effectiveness against the onslaught
-Proliferation can give you games when your creatures burn out

Basically, you only gain advantages in combat, which can still be raced by mono-red style decks, or wiped out by Day of Judgement. However, infect is still a major threat as taking 3 poison sometimes feels worse than taking 6 damage. Let's look at Metalcraft, what advantages can we gain by going mono-brown:

-Bigger creatures then the mana should provide (Ardent Recruit, Auriok Sunchaser, Carapace Forger, Ezuri's Brigade)
-Spells become more powerful then the mana should provide (Stoic Rebuttal, Galvanic Blast)
-Mana Ramp (Mox Opal)
-Protection from your opponent's spells (Indominable Archangel, Etched Champion)

One of the problems with Metalcraft becoming a deck is that it takes a lot of work/board commitment for mediocre gain, and your opponent can always blow you out with a well timed Shatter. A card was released today, that is by far the most powerful effect post metalcraft out of the entire block and frankly I don't think it can get better then this:

By having the additional requirement of Metalcraft, we have a Swords to Plowshares/Path to Exile card with no drawbacks! So now I ask the question: is it worth it? Obviously this card is nuts, but we need to figure out how it can be utilized best. The first place to check is what decks already get metalcraft alot? As you carry on with your life after reading this article, be actively aware of when you have Metalcraft. Maybe you're playing Caw-Blade and you have a Sword, Tumble Magnet, and Mortarpod in play. Seeing as we don't have a very artifact-heavy metagame right now, a new deck needs to be built to accomadate this card. Here's some sweet Metalcraft cards:

White:
Dispatch
Indomitable Archangel
Auriok Sunchaser
Blue:
Vedalkin Cetarch

Stoic Rebuttal

Red:
Galvanic Blast


Green:
Ezuri's Brigade

Carapace Forger

Artifact:
Mox Opal
Etched Champion

There's clearly not a lot out of any one color, but maybe it's a good thing to not go too deep into the Metalcraft theme, but instead use it as a source of value. 2 Archetypes that jump out at me is a GW Beatdown deck and a UW Control deck. Unfortunately for Tezzeret, black isn't that good for artifacts (yeah Phylacatory Lich!) but maybe we can splash black in our UW control deck for him. Here are some other artifacts that are great:

Aggro:
Memnite
Ornithoptor
Adventuring Gear
Signal Pest
Glint Hawk Idol
Phyrexian Revoker
Steel Overseer
Tumble Magnet

Control:
Brittle Effigy
Phyrexian Revoker
Ratchet Bomb
Sphere of the Suns
Everflowing Chalice
Wall of Tanglecord
Tumble Magnet
Lodestone Golem
Mindslaver
Steel Hellkite
Wurmcoil Engine

Clearly Metalcraft is going to be expanded with a couple cards in New Phyrexia, so keep your eyes on these lists, maybe a hot new deck can explode out of them. As a player who has a natural affinity for control, a UWb Metalcraft control deck feels really cool. White could also provide Day of Judgement, which works scarily well with Wurmcoil. From a financial perspective, picking up the rares like Mox Opal, Indomitable Archangel, Tempered Steel, Etched Champion, and Ezuri's Brigade may not be a bad idea.

It's almost that time again for some innovation and fresh deckbuilding, and you know when that time comes I will be all over it! Until next time, stay classy!