Sram, Senior Edificer was one of the cards I was most excited about during the preview season for Aether Revolt. I didn’t necessarily see it as the most powerful card, but I always enjoy decks that play aggressively yet have tools to play through removal, which is exactly what Sram does with its aggressively slanted cost, incentive to play Vehicles, and built-in card advantage.
Unfortunately, the card hasn’t been able to break through to Constructed play. Today’s deck looks to change that, utilizing the card alongside two of the most powerful Vehicles in Standard, Heart of Kiran and Aethersphere Harvester, and a card that you may remember from Kaladesh block Limited: Peacewalker Colossus.
Heart of Kiran has proved somewhat difficult to crew since Thraben Inspector’s departure put a dent into Mardu Vehicles by making Toolcraft Exemplar and Spire of Industry less reliable, but Peacewalker Colossus easily does the trick, and if you can afford to attack on the ground, Heart of Kiran jumps back inside the Colossus in a strange, circular turducken of sorts.
In order to turn on Toolcraft Exemplar consistently, the rest of the deck is built around Servo tokens with Servo Exhibition and Sram’s Expertise. The tokens crew Aethersphere Harvester with ease and play well against the spot removal in the format that is necessary to kill Vehicles. The token plan is also well-supported by Shefet Dunes, opening up sequences where you get in some quick attacks with Toolcraft Exemplar and Vehicles; while your opponent is busy answering those, you set up a wide battlefield for a lethal alpha strike.
Lack of removal can be an issue with decks like this, but fortunately this list is perfect for Fairgrounds Warden. It may be unreliable for a longer game, but you’ll often just need it to stay on the battlefield for a turn or two in order to do its job.
The tokens here give you a lot of flexibility for crewing Vehicles, so the deck has some tricky lines, but I like how it effectively blends a go-tall strategy with a go-wide one. It makes the deck hard to play reactively against, so as long as you mulligan for aggressive hands and put your opponents on the back foot, you should be okay.
Creatures (14)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (6)
Spells (37)
