Blog Elemental - The Art of the Finisher

Blog Elemental – The Art of the Finisher

August 3, 2004

Qumulox has gotten a lot of negative attention in the Forums, but for interesting reasons. People don’t question that the deck needs a”finisher,” something to end games in a hurry once I have recycling cogs and control of the game (well, some have begun to, but I’m in the Finisher Needed camp). They don’t even question that Qumulox is a good finisher. After all, it’s immune to the artifact removal so common in today’s decks, a 5/4 flier is awfully beefy, and the UU cost late in the game has good synergy with the deck needing mana to continue recycling its cogs. It’s even an uncommon, for goodness’ sake!

No, what people don’t like about Qumulox is that it isn’t cool.”Feels too much like Affinity,” they say.”A 5/4 flier is pretty boring,” they grumble.”Can’t you find a finisher that’s more fun?” they plead. Apparently, Qumulox is very low on the style-points rating system.

Let me be clear and say that I think Qumulox is a good, solid finisher for my deck. He has won me countless games. The only times I have been unhappy to draw him is when I couldn’t find the UU in his cost, which said more about a problem with my mana base than anything else. If you have been following along with your own Nuts and Bolts experiment and want to keep the deck to budget-proportions, keep Qumulox right where he is.

For my own deck, however, I guess I’m going to try and up the style points.

A lot of suggestions have ricocheted around the Forums on the subject of finishers. Some suggestions I won’t pursue today include: Blinding Angel, Somber Hoverguard, Air Elemental, Dreamborn Muse, March of the Machines, Cranial Plating, Mahamoti Djinn, Pristine Angel, Atog, Plasma Elemental, Ageless Sentinels, Exalted Angel, Shrapnel Blast, Lodestone Myr, Fireball, Razormane Masticore, Jareth Leonin Titan, and Triskelion.

The reasons I’m not going in these directions are varied:

Some of them feel less fun than Qumulox or are overly-used in other decks

Some of them take the deck in a direction that requires a lot of support cards I don’t want

Some of them just aren’t my style

If you feel strongly one of these cards is The finisher for the deck, then by all means try it out and post your results in the Forums.

Personally, I’m tempted by five cards. I’ll list them in order of temptation, from least to most.

Rust Elemental

The idea behind Rust Elemental versus Qumulox is that it comes down sooner, only loses a point of power, and its drawback is negligible since you can recycle whatever you sacrifice. Heck, if you’ve included Disciple of the Vault or Arcbound Worker in your deck, then the drawback is actually a boon (we’re talking major style points here). I like this idea, except that I don’t want to add Disciple or Worker to my deck, and in that case it only costs me one additional mana for a 4/4 flier with no drawbacks a la Air Elemental.

Arcbound Crusher

It’s pretty clear to me that recycling cogs = a very, very big Arcbound Crusher. He has trample, too, so he meets the finisher-creatures-should-have-evasion test. What bugs me on principle is the modular ability, since my deck has no artifact creatures on which to place the counters if the Crusher dies. Should this matter? Not necessarily, since I can pretend the modular ability isn’t there. To me, though, it feels like I’m not optimizing the Crusher’s potential, which I think would annoy me each and ever time I played him.

Those are two ideas that tempt me, but ultimately I find lacking. These next three are so close as to be almost interchangable in my mind, and all are changes I like in the current deck.

Serra Angel

It’s in the deck’s base color of White, it can be as useful blocking as attacking, and it has a very vintage tres cool vibe going for it. In fact, I think the discussion in the Forum went along the lines of: If you want Rust Elemental, isn’t Air Elemental better, since you get the same stats for only one more mana and something that isn’t vulnerable to artifact hate? If you’re using Air Elemental, why not Serra Angel, which is White and doesn’t tap?

The only bad news, really, is that when you come down to it, Serra Angel isn’t a lot more tricky than Qumulox, it just feels cooler somehow.

Clone

No one took up my Clone rally cry when I mentioned it awhile ago, but it’s an idea I can’t get out of my head. Clone has the similar throwback panache of Serra Angel and is cheaper to cast. In the mid-game, Clone acts a duplicate Trinket Mage, Leonin Squire, or Leonin Elder, and then when an opponent puts down something truly scary I can just bounce the Clone to copy that scary beastie. Imagine the possibilities: Darksteel Colossus, Platinum Angel, Shivan Dragon… oh my! The downside, of course, is that it’s reliant on your opponent having a finisher of his own, otherwise it’s just an additional weenie for your deck.

Bringer of the White Dawn

It’s just so blatantly, obviously good in a cog deck, and I bet that I could often cast it for five mana. Oh sure, you win automatically if you have a Mindslaver too, but I always thought the existence of Mindslaver made people think too narrowly about the White Bringer’s potential. It’s like a third and fourth Salvaging Station, except these can smash face and return dead Stations to play. Of course – and I know people are tired of hearing this – Bringer of the White Dawn has the added bonus of being a card I named. What could be bad? Well, it’s expensive to find online.

So which to try? The straighforward Angel, the situational Shapeshifter, or the expensive Elk? I’ve tried to paint a balanced picture of the trade-offs, and I’m actually happy with the idea of all three. Today, though, I’m going with the Bringer.

OUT: 2 Qumulox

IN: 2 Bringer of the White Dawn

Yes, the price of this deck is rising, and since I’m throwing in rares willy-nilly I might as well pull the band-aid off:

OUT: 1 Plains

IN: 1 Glimmervoid

So far I haven’t seen the downside of Glimmervoid. It’s never been stuck in my hand and it has never died from a lack of artifacts on the table. That said, I think four is way too many for this deck and three is too many when you’re only running twenty-two land like me.

As I said: Stick with Qumulox in your deck and no one will think worse of you. You can also replace Glimmervoids with Mirrodin’s Core if needed and be fine. I’ll be sure to have a budget alternative to my deck by the time I wrap up this experiment.

It feels close, very close…

Nuts And Bolts v.2.6

Critters (21):

4 Leonin Elder

4 Leonin Squire

4 Trinket Mage

4 Auriok Salvagers

3 Vedalken Engineers

2 Bringer of the White Dawn

Land (22):

5 Plains

3 Island

4 Ancient Den

4 Seat of the Synod

2 Glimmervoid

2 Grand Coliseum

2 Great Furnace

Game 75: Mono-Green Beats

Wow. That’s all I can say. Wow. I get a first-turn Leonin Elder, then a Chromatic Sphere, Leonin Squire, Chromatic Sphere, Aether Spellbomb and Pyrite Spellbomb. My opponent is laying some weenies, Cloudposts, and Forests but who cares, since on turn 5 I play Bringer of the White Dawn. My opponent has a very satisfying pause after I play him, too. Every turn an Aether Spellbomb comes into play, gains me a life and bounces a blocker, allowing my Squire and Bringer to get him within range to start recycling the Pyrite Spellbomb and keep the Bringer back for blocking duty.

That Bringer fellow… well, he’s pretty good.

Game 76: Nuts and Bolts

His deck is different than mine because he’s trying to splash both Red (Pyrite Spellbomb) and Black (Cranial Plating and, I’m guessing, Necrogen Spellbomb), which I personally think puts too much strain on his mana base. Indeed he gets a little color-screwed despite a Chromatic Sphere and Wayfarer’s Bauble, while I get an early Leonin Elder and Leonin Squire to recur my own Sphere and Aether Spellbomb. On turn 3 I draw my lone Scrabbling Claws, which is really the difference-maker in the mirror (never thought I’d say that phrase in this experiment). I start whittling away his graveyard, and an Auriok Salvagers means I can start eating his graveyard for cards with recycling Claws. His lone blocker gets bounced, and my weenies swarm him for the win with me at forty-nine life.

Game 77: White/Blue/Green Control

He uses all sorts of scry cards with Pristine Angel as a finisher, which makes for a long and pretty boring game. My weenies get in some early hits before the Angel comes in, then I force first an Auriok Salvagers, then a Trinket Mage for Pyrite Spellbomb, through his counters. After that I’m able to overwhelm his deck with recycling cogs. When I get the Avarice Totem/Tel-Jilad Stylus combo on the table, I’m ready to snatch his Angel if he tries something funny. I recycle the Pyrite Spellbomb until he draws Wrath of God. I Aether Spellbomb my Salvagers to my hand, and my Salvaging Station untaps a ton to punish him for the Wrath. In the next turn, I do lots of mana gymnastics with Chromatic Spheres to recycle Pyrite Spellbomb four times for the win.

Game 78: Mono-Green Ageless Entity deck

I figure he’s using the Entity when he plays Birds of Paradise, followed by Wurm’s Tooth, Sword of Light and Shadow, and Sun Droplet. His 2/3 Birds do me some damage and gain him some life, while I have an early Leonin Elder and Trinket Mage. I use the Mage for land, since I have a Bringer of the White Dawn in my hand. On the sixth turn I have the correct mana to cast the Bringer and start recycling Chromatic Spheres to draw cards. The drawing gets me an Aether Spellbomb the turn after he casts his Entity, and since I can bounce two creatures a turn, he can’t do anything as I run him over. He does get a late Vernal Bloom, but it’s not enough to compensate for the bounce. We each must have gained about twenty life in the game, but I end at twenty-five and he ends at negative two.

Four games with the new finisher, and so far so good. Did I mention”Wow”?

Blog Elemental – The Mastermind Behind Nuts and Bolts

August 2, 2004

So last week I get an e-mail from the original creator of the Nuts and Bolts preconstructed deck. Wait, before I get to that here’s the current deck:

Nuts And Bolts v.2.4

Critters (22):

4 Leonin Elder

4 Leonin Squire

4 Vedalken Engineers

4 Trinket Mage

4 Auriok Salvagers

2 Qumulox

Non-Critters (16):

4 Aether Spellbomb

4 Chromatic Sphere

2 Salvaging Station

1 Conjurer’s Bauble

1 Leonin Bola

1 Pyrite Spellbomb

1 Scrabbling Claws

1 Sunbeam Spellbomb

1 Engineered Explosives

Land (22):

6 Plains

3 Island

4 Ancient Den

4 Seat of the Synod

2 Grand Coliseum

2 Great Furnace

1 Glimmervoid

While I’m at it, here is an extra game from last week with this decklist:

Game 63: Blue/White Kaldra deck

A very cool deck. When he starts out with Auriok Glaivemaster and Weathered Warfarer, I think it may be a WW Equip deck, which I guess it is, but one that’s heavily skewed towards getting Kaldra in play via Steelshaper’s Gift. He even has Steal Artifact (my guess is in case someone else is using Kaldra equipment), which he puts on my Salvaging Station. I have a quick Leonin Elder, Leonin Squire, and Auriok Salvagers, which uses a recycling Chromatic Sphere and Aether Spellbomb duo to keep his creatures off the board and prevents him from ever using the Shield of Kaldra and Sword of Kaldra he casts. I don’t know what would have happened if he found the Helm of Kaldra, but I’m just as happy not to find out and win with my life comfortably in the forties.

Okay, like I was saying, I received a delightful e-mail from Aaron Forsythe last week. The e-mail actually has some confidential stuff I can’t share, but here’s how it starts:

“I’m enjoying the blog! First off, I don’t believe for a second that you chose that deck at random. If any of the four theme decks hinted at the possibility of a cool deck, it was this one. I should know, I built it!”

Wow. Neat. Aaron, former pro playa, StarCityGames.com Feature Writer and MTG.com editor. Aaron, current R&D member and MTG.com columnist. Aaron, probably my favorite person at Wizards of the Coast (Brandon Bozzi being right up there too). Aaron, the person responsible for my MTG.com column and my first names and flavor text gig. Aaron is actually the progenitor of Nuts and Bolts! Whodathunkit?

Here’s how Aaron’s e-mail ends:

“One suggestion I read on the Wizards boards… adding single copies of Avarice Totem and Tel-Jilad Stylus. The Totem lets you steal anything for five, and the Stylus keeps your opponent from using the Totem against you. Anyway, thought it might be amusing and”in theme.””

This is an idea that has come up repeatedly in SC’s Forums as well. In fact, people who have tried it suggest that while the activation cost is pretty hefty, the Totem can grab that problematic permanent your Explosives can’t touch. The Stylus, while spiffy in combination with the Totem, is also a nice way to keep yourself from getting decked.

Somehow I figure that if the preconstructed creator is suggesting a change to my deck, I kind of have to take it to heart, y’know? So…

IN: 1 Avarice Totem

IN: 1 Tel-Jilad Stylus

But what to take out? This is getting tricky, since I now have a fondness for all of the cards in the deck.

OUT: 1 Leonin Bola

I guess I always knew that Leonin Bola would leave, but it’s still sad to see it go. Some of you who have played Nuts & Bolts will recognize that the Bola is a surprisingly good card in this deck, cheaper than a recurring Aether Spellbomb as a way of keeping an opponent’s main threat under wraps. However, while I don’t mind drawing the Bola and can put it to good use, it still isn’t something I ever use Trinket Mage to fetch nor is it something my opponents fear enough to destroy. These are both signals to me that the slot is better used by something else. Besides, Avarice Totem should perform the same function as the Bola – shutting down an opposing threat – but do so more permanently.

OUT: 1 Vedalken Engineer

I like the Engineers, don’t get me wrong. What I have found, though, is that I never need two on the table at the same time because I can’t put the mana to good enough use. I’ve also drawn them late in the game and frowned, because they are one of the few cards I can draw late that isn’t immediately useful. As a result, I think three is the correct number to have in my deck, though I could even argue for two. With three copies, I will usually draw one but I’ll draw two a lot less often.

This puts the decklist here:

Nuts And Bolts v.2.5

Critters (21):

4 Leonin Elder

4 Leonin Squire

4 Trinket Mage

4 Auriok Salvagers

3 Vedalken Engineers

2 Qumulox

Non-Critters (17):

4 Aether Spellbomb

4 Chromatic Sphere

2 Salvaging Station

1 Avarice Totem

1 Conjurer’s Bauble

1 Pyrite Spellbomb

1 Scrabbling Claws

1 Sunbeam Spellbomb

1 Tel-Jilad Stylus

1 Engineered Explosives

Land (22):

6 Plains

3 Island

4 Ancient Den

4 Seat of the Synod

2 Grand Coliseum

2 Great Furnace

1 Glimmervoid

With these changes in mind, let’s see what happens…

Game 64: Red/Green Aggro

There was no way I thought I would win this game. I have a first-turn Leonin Elder and Sunbeam Spellbomb and Tel-Jilad Stylus on turn 2. Then my land stalls and I have to pop the Spellbomb to go searching, then pop an Aether Spellbomb to keep searching. Meanwhile my opponent is playing Rampant Growth, Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author], and Magma Jet twice on my two Vedalken Engineers. My opponent sees my troubles and switches to Land Destruction Mode. He Molten Rains one land, then Echoing Ruins another. I use the Stylus to put the land back into my library each time, but I still can’t draw land fast enough. He Molten Rains again, then Echoing Ruins again. Aargh. To make matters worse, he has a 5/5 Karstoderm starting to eat into my life. The ‘Derm shrinks gradually and eventually dies just as I’m able to get to three land, Tinker Mage out a fourth, and then play Qumulox. My opponent is only holding Forge[/author]“]Pulse of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author] and is at ten life (did I mention my little Elders were putting up quite the fight?) so he concedes.

Game 65: Green/Black Anti-Artifact

This guy’s deck was really tricky. He had huge amounts of artifact hate – Oxidize, Tel-Jilad Justice, pro-artifact guys, Viridian Shaman, Nantuko Vigilante, Emissary of Despair, Glissa Sunseeker, etc. – to go along with Mycosynth Lattice. He didn’t even need the Lattice for most of the game, since his artifact hate works fine on my artifact lands. A couple of Leonin Squires and a Trinket Mage keep me from getting too land-screwed, eventually giving me enough mana to drop Auriok Salvagers with Aether Spellbomb protection. By this time he has Loxodon Warhammer and Glissa Sunseeker to go along with his Lattice, so I have to tie up my mana by bouncing his legend every turn. The good news is that he doesn’t have much in the way of blockers, so I can rush him with weenies. A late-game Leonin Elder is just silly with the Lattice, and puts my life in comfortable territory for the win. It’s a testament to this deck that it can win against a deck like that.

Game 66: Mono-Red Goblins

The game gets off to a silly, silly start. I keep a one land hand because of two Chromatic Spheres and two Leonin Elder, figuring I’ll cantrip my way out of it. I play Sphere, Elder, Sphere, Elder over the first four turns unable to find another land. Luckily my opponent is stuck on one Mountain with only a Raging Goblin as offense. We both get our second land and he tries Shattering mine. I draw another land and Leonin Squire saves my dead Seat of the Synod. He tries to beat down with Fists of the Anvil and burns my two Elders, but they have already done their damage. The life-pad helps me comfortably get Auriok Salvagers in play with Aether Spellbomb and that’s game over. He ends the game with four land, showing me a hand of Goblin King, Barbed Lightning, Lava Axe, and Beacon of Destruction.

Game 67: Green/Red Equip

Poor guy. He plays Banshee Blade, Energy Chamber, Loxodon Warhammer, and Mask of Memory, but he has no creatures to go along with his equipment. I get a nice solid start of Leonin Elder, Leonin Squire and Auriok Salvagers, so I’m plinking away at his life and cycling cogs for cards. When I get a Trinket Mage for Engineered Explosives set to two, he concedes.

Game 68: Red/Green/Black Dragons

He is playing lots of land-acceleration like Rampant Growth and two Explosive Vegetations while I have out some little guys like Leonin Squire and Vedalken Engineers. He plays Glissa Sunseeker and I respond with Engineered Explosives for four to kill it. Then he plays a 14/14 Kilnmouth Dragon and I’m a little scared. I bounce the dragon with an Aether Spellbomb, and have Auriok Salvagers in hand. I forget why, but I play Avarice Totem instead of the Salvagers, then Trinket Mage for Tel-Jilad Stylus. I figure next time he tries a big dragon… it’s mine!

Unless, of course, that dragon is Furnace Dragon and I’m tapped out. All of my cogs and most of my land vanish into smoke. The 14/14 Kilnmouth shows up again, and this time I die.

Game 69: Cranial Affinity

For such a fast deck, this guy sure was a slow player. Each turn took forever, but he manages to get Arcbound Worker, Ornithopter, artifact land, and some Welding Jars into play. I get a Leonin Elder that dies to Pyrite Spellbomb, then Leonin Squire to recycle a Chromatic Sphere. I’m drawing a lot of cards and he isn’t doing a lot of damage, so I’m able to Trinket Mage out an Engineered Explosives for zero. He drops Cranial Plating, but I respond with Auriok Salvagers. When I recycle the Explosives he concedes.

Game 70: White/Blue Angels

I don’t know what my opponent had in his hand, but whatever it was, it was slow. His first spell is on turn 5 for Serra Angel, but at that point I have Leonin Elder, Leonin Squire, and Trinket Mage to go along with Aether Spellbomb. I bounce his Angel, attack, and next he tries to Annex my Island, forgetting that Tel-Jilad Stylus has been sitting on the table. I bounce his Angel again, forcing him to discard Luminous Angel, and win easily.

Game 71: Mono-Green Tooth & Nail

This was a long game, as my games against Tooth and Nail seem to be, but it eventually comes down to him hoarding lots of mana, me getting Leonin Elder, Vedalken Engineers and Auriok Salvagers, and him eventually casting T&N for Darksteel Colossus and Bringer of the Black Dawn. I cycle cogs like mad, find Aether Spellbomb, bounce the Bringer before it can get used (he can’t replay it), take one hit from the Colossus, then start bouncing it and attacking through his multiple Vine Trellis and Solemn Simulacrum (a recycled Pyrite Spellbomb helps kill the blockers). He casts Mindslaver, but it’s clear he’s getting annoyed by the bouncing Colossus and lifegain from the Elder. I sac a bunch of cogs in response to him activating the Mindslaver, and he concedes. I think he could have done a lot of damage with my turn, but bystanders seemed to agree that his frustration got the best of him.

Game 72: Mono-Red Equip

Interesting deck, but this guy was a little outmatched I think. He was using Sparring Collars, Empyrial Plate, and a bunch of quick weenies. He had Trash for Treasure too, which was interesting. But I have a first-turn Leonin Elder to go along with a Leonin Squire. The Squire blocks a 7/7 Clockwork Beetle as I cycle through cogs, but I’m able to draw Engineered Explosives, play it for two, and pretty much clear his side of the board. Vedalken Engineers show up, followed by Salvaging Station, The best news is that I tutor for Avarice Totem and snag his second Empyrial Plate when he tries to kill it (I think he forgot about the Engineer mana). After that, my now-beefy Leonin Elder and a second Squire finish the game.

Game 73: Red/Green Ion Storm deck

If I have to play against land destruction, please let it be against a creative deck and a nice guy. This was a fun, fun game despite the LD. He uses Wayfarer’s Bauble to accelerate his land and Magma Jet to burn my two early Leonin Elders. What really stinks, though, is that he plays Molten Rain after Reap and Sow after Molten Rain to blow up my land. I save a few of them with Tel-Jilad Stylus, but I’m still mostly looking at one or two land each turn.

Thankfully I am flush with cogs, which allows me to cycle through a lot of my deck and slowly recover. I eventually Tinker Mage for land, get Leonin Squire for more land, and drop Auriok Salvagers. He gets Ion Storm to go along with two Mirrodin’s Core and plenty of land. But I respond with Salvaging Station and a Sunbeam Spellbomb, which means I can outrace his Ion Storm. I horde weenies, bouncing them when he tries to kill them, and recycle Pyrite Spellbomb three times in the final turn for the win. He says”Wow. Even with all of the LD your deck is strong.”

Another Game: Extended Nuts and Bolts

I’m about to end for the afternoon when zaltman asks me if we can play. I say sure. What I don’t realize when he challenges me is that he’s asked for an Extended game. I don’t actually notice for several turns, as we’re both playing out cogs and doing little tricks and I’m thinking”What fun!” Then he plays Myr Servitor and I think”Ooo! More fun! He’s gone in a different direction!” Then he plays Skullclamp and the needle scrapes loudly across the record.

Skullclamp? Crap this is going to suck. I say as much, he explains that while he has Skullclamp, he doesn’t have Leonin Elder, which is somehow supposed to make me feel better. I Engineered Explosives for one to clear the board, but I’m only delaying the inevitable. He eventually finds more Skullclamps via Trinket Mage and gets the full Myr Servitor cycle going along with a Salvaging Station. For a second I think I can Scrabbling Claws my way out of it, but it’s not going to work. I concede at twenty-eight life when he can Clamp a Servitor and activate his Station three times each turn. Afterwards he asks if I really think Clamp-Servitor is a good enough combo to make the difference in our decks. Phhhh.

Sorry Chris Romeo, but I hate Skullclamp. Good riddance, you stupid overpowered cog.

I can’t quite end on that note, though…

Game 74: Green/Black Reanimator

I get a Leonin Elder to go along with Avarice Totem, two artifact land, Vedalken Engineers, and Scrabbling Claws. My opponent plays a turn 3 morph creature, so I’m able to Engineered Explosives for zero, kill the morph (which turned out to be Nantuko Vigilante), then draw a card from the Claws. Next turn he misses his land drop, but plays another morph. I Leonin Squire my Explosives for zero again, pop it using Engineer mana to reveal that I had just killed Bane of the Living, and my opponent concedes at sixteen life. I have been stuck at two land on the table so personally I think my opponent should have stuck around, but I guess I understand why he didn’t.

Whew, well that’s enough for one day. I’m almost three-quarters done now. Tomorrow: The discussion everyone’s been waiting for…