Auriok Salvager.dec

[Seifyk]

I have been testing a deck with locals on Apprentice that centers on the
mana engine of Auriok Salvager from Fifth Dawn and Black Lotus/LED.
It kills with pyrite spellbomb  This is my first build.  I designed it to go
off fast without any hate for other decks.  Here are the new cards.. Critique?
----
Auriok Salvagers - 3W
Human Soldier
1W: Return target artifact card with converted mana cost 1 or less from
your graveyard to your hand.
2/4
----
Plunge into Darkness - 1B
Instant
Choose one – Sacrifice any number of creatures, then you gain 3 life for
each sacrificed creature; or pay X life, then look at the top X cards of your
library, put one of those cards into your hand, and remove the rest from
the game.
Entwine B
----
and.. the deck..


Combo
---------
3 Auriok Salvagers
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Black Lotus
4 Pyrite Spellbomb

Search/Borken Stuff
---------
4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Intuition
4 Brainstorm
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
4 Plunge into Darkness
1 Necropotence


Non-Land Accelerants
---------
5 Moxen
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
4 Dark Ritual

Land
---------
4 Underground Sea
3 Scrubland
5 Black Fetchlands
4 Gemstone Mine

[Lord of Water]

The deck looks kind of funny on paper but I hate disregarding new combo decks, even though it's the cool thing to do. However, as I've never tested this deck or some of the cards in it, I need a few things pointed out to me:

1) Is this better than the old Lotus/LED combo deck (ReapLace) which is now totally obsolete?
2) How is this any better than Draw7.deq, Belcher, DARgon, or DeathLong?
3) Why is Pyrite Spellbomb a good kill mechanism?
4) AK - Intuition?  Plunge into Darkness? Explain??
And, the big question: where the hell are the Draw7's in this deck? If you say AK-Intuition replaces them, I'll really need a thorough explanation because I'm not convinced.
5) How does this deck do without disruption? Salvagers might bring back some of your threats, but considering salvagers is the only 'good' card in the deck and you have no disruption just resolving salvagers might be tough.

As a side note, any deck that has a section titled "broken" and a white component needs to run Balance. Duh.

Beyond that, I'd like to know how fast you goldfish with this deck and what your matchups look like.

[TheAdvantage]

I dont really have a problem with Intuition in a "combo" deck, but I do have a problem with AKs and a lack of Force of Will.  You dont have any problems against the top decks without Force or Duress???  How do these matchups play out??

Ak's and Stroke are simply to slow for a combo deck.  Why no Mana Vault?

You have so much search, I find it very hard that 4 Spellbombs are needed.  Storm based combo decks only need 1-2 slots for their kill mechanism...is this combo noticably better to the point that you can 'waste' 2 slots on the extra 'bombs??


Reiterating, I just see this as an incarnation of Reaplace, which was never a house to begin with, but absolutely died when it could no longer play 5 Lotuses.

[paradigm]

One problem with this is that your key card costs 3W - the same as an Academy Rector. The problem is that the Rector sets up Bargain, which causes you to "just win" whereas with the Scavenger you need an LED or Lotus to win - plus the spellbomb.

In addition the draw is slow -Intuition for AKs is not meant for this deck as it requires too many turns to get active, ditto with Stroke of Genius - especially if you have no disruption. It seems necessary for the deck to add colors to support Draw 7s and Force of Will to become active - because right now the deck is simply too slow and vulnerable.

With a 3W spell being so key, adding in more mana artifacts, Mana Vault, even Lotus Petal would also seem a natural progression, especially since you're trying to set up so fast.

Is Enlightened Tutor / Vampiric Tutor necessary with four plunges?

You must solve speed and consistency issues right now, as well as vulnerability to hate for this.

As the above posters noted - it must be better than current archetypes to be viable.

Interesting idea, however.
Good job and g'luck making this better.

[Ginai Doma]

The combo seems fun, but I have to agree with the others on your lack of disruption/protection worries me.  I would like to see how this does in the field, simply because I like quirky combo decks.

You may also want to run Oath of Druids in the board.

[Seifyk]

I really built this without disruption by design.  To see what the deck actually
needs before tuning it.  AK is there because of Intuition.  I have Intuitioned
Lotus/Led/Ancestral before just to get the third combo piece out.  It seems to
be a good tutor for this deck, and it has great synergy with AK. The extra
tutors? I don't know.  Plunge really doesn't seem to fit in this deck that well..
It is cheap and gets the card -now-, but it misses sometimes.. Maybe add
FoWz instead of Plunge?  Why pyrite as a kill? What would be better.. you
do go infinite on storm count, as well.

As far as being viable, I am worried about hitting dragon splash damage
while also being hurt by counters.  You need the soldier in play.  It goldfishes
about the same as the other combo decks, though.

[Fastbond]

I'd run Conjurer's Bauble and Doomsday.  Conjurer's Bauble allows you to draw out your deck with the Salvagers and Doomsday has synergy with the bauble.  I'd cut Bargain because you'll never get the mana to cast it.

Here's what I'd run:

Disruption(12):
X4 Force of Will
X4 Duress
X4 Disrupt

Kill(12):
X4 Auriok Salvagers
X3 Conjurer's Bauble
X1 Pyrite Spellbomb
X1 Lion's Eye Diamond
X1 Black Lotus
X1 Time Walk
X1 Regrowth

Black Power(7):
X4 Dark Ritual
X1 Doomsday
X1 Necropotence
X1 Yawgmoth's Will

Utility(4):
X3 Chain of Vapor
X1 Balance

Tutoring(9):
X4 Intuition
X1 Ancestral Recall

Mana(20):
X6 Somoxen
X1 Mana Crypt
X1 Mana Vault
X4 Gemstone Mine
X4 City of Brass
X4 Undiscovered Paradise

Sideboard:
X4 Oath of Druids
X3 Choke
X4 Oxidize
X4 Carpet of Flowers

You doomsday for ancestral recall, black lotus, auriok salvagers, mana crypt if needed, and pyrite spellbomb.  Use chain of vapor or balance to clear any threats.

You can Intuition for three game winning cards like Yawgmoth's Will, Doomsday, and Necropotence or conjurer's bauble, Black Lotus, and Lion's Eye Diamond.

[skecreatoR]

If this deck should work, it probably should be some hybrid between Rector based and Salvager based decks. This deck isn't in its current form strong enough or better then Rector based decks, which aren't in this comboless metagame having that much of a showing.

[Covetous]

is there a legitimate reason not to win using either tendrils or brain freeze?  also, what  about the wannabe artifact survival of the fittest?  that would allow you to search for your combo piece artifacts.  fabricate would probably be as good or most likely better as well.  Disruption is a key component in decks of this type--you need to run duress, force of will, xantid swarm or some combination of the three.  I'm not sure if the deck needs green, so I'd lean towards some combination of duress/force and/or orim's chant/abeyance.  The deck does not need mana drain or disrupt IMHO.  

I'd suggest something like this:
4 Auriok Salvager
2 Tendrils of Agony / Brain Freeze
4 Duress
4 Brainstorm
4 Fabricate
4 Abeyance / Orim's Chant
1 Pyrite Spellbomb (searchable win once you've gone off)
1 Chain of Vapor / Hurkyll's Recall
1 Windfall
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Tinker
1 Memory Jar
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Recall
1 Walk
1 Twister
1 Yawgwin
1 Necro
1 Doomsday (seems at least worth trying)

4 Dark Ritual
7 SoLoMoxen
1 LED
1 Vault
1 Crypt
1 Petal
1 Tolarian?? (possibly something else more stable)
4 Underground Sea
3 Gemstone Mine
3 More lands (tundra, scrublands, 5-c lands)

Intuition could be useful because you are fetching stuff from your yard, but may not be as useful as fabricate or normal tutors.  Amusingly enough, if you wanted to run green, you could run eladamri's call to effectively have 8 aurioks in your deck.

[TheDeadMan]

Why play this over reap: both win with a restricted card in the grave, both lose to graveyard hate, both are terrible. I am sorry to bash a deck I play rogue myself, but you can't make a bad combo deck worse and expect to win.

[M]

This will not work. The combo has too many inherent weaknesses.

1) Tormod's Crypt (or Planar Void or Ground Seal)
2) Meddling Mage (or True Believer)
3) Countering the Auriok Salvager
4) Swords to Plowshares (or Diabolic Edict)
5) Null Rod
6) Chalice for X=0
7) Sphere of Resistance (or Trinisphere or Arcane Laboratory)

No viable combo deck 'just dies' to ANY ONE of the elements on that list.
Viable combo decks have 'immunity' against one or (preferably) more of those elements.

If Auriok Salvager has a future it will be in some kind of 'soft' combo deck that is capable of winning games without the combo (e.g. Keeper).

[dromar]

This will not work. The combo has too many inherent weaknesses.

1) Tormod's Crypt (or Planar Void or Ground Seal)
2) Meddling Mage (or True Believer)
3) Countering the Auriok Salvager
4) Swords to Plowshares (or Diabolic Edict)
5) Null Rod
6) Chalice for X=0
7) Sphere of Resistance (or Trinisphere or Arcane Laboratory)

 "M" makes a strong case. It's worth quoting for full effect.

On another note, you NEED FoW and most likely Duress in that deck. Also, Plunge into Darkness is not nearly as good as Fabricate, in my opinion. When you have Auriok Salvagers out, a Fabricate wins the game along with Duress or FoW+Blue Card to stop opposing meanness. Conclusively, because of the deck's weaknesses to combo hate (see quote), it has the words "FUN DECK ONLY" stamped all over it.

[AngryPheldagrif]

While I'm not a huge fan of this deck, Lotushead's list is more on the right track to success. This is not suggesting that his is an especially good list (it's his real life list, and he's missing some stuff that he doesn't own), but having a decent tutor and disruption base is fairly effective. My team is working on compiling a fairly optimalized list just because we feel like it. You just need the right balance between control and combo, since the combo alone is not the strongest.

More on this later,
-Dan

[LotusHead]

Really?  Thanks!  I know my built isn't the ONLY build, but the Salvager just MAY be the one new deck that 5th Dawn has to offer.  Still having loads of fun with it. Keep on truckin'!!!

Are there any 0-1 CC artifacts worth discussing with Salvager decks that have not already been discussed?

The Rackx4? or F'n Disciples of the Vault? (Gawds!) Black Vise? That used to be a scary card! Maybe still is with 4cc Control running rampant in the TMD Meta!