[Discussion] Transmute Artifact, what's the best build?

[Blizzard]

On these forums someone posted a Transmute Artifact Welder deck, and I thought it looked pretty good.  Looks like a fun deck to play.  Their version may be the better build of the deck, looked pretty tuned.  I had a couple ideas though about the deck, and was wondering what people thought of them.  1st here's the decklist they posted:

1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Saphire
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Manavault
2 Gilded Lotus
4 Volcanic Island
3 Island
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra's Workshop
3 Flooded Strand
4 thirst for Knowledge
1 Memory jar
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Platinum Angel
1 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelion
1 Crucible of Worlds
4 Goblin Welder
4 Su-Chi
4 Transmute Artifact
1 Tinker
2 Fire/Ice
1 Mindslaver
1 Time Walk
4 Brainstorm

SB:
3 Eon Hub
4 Trinisphere
3 Old man of the Sea/Lava Dart
1 Duplicant
1 Memnarch
1 Triskelion
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Jester's Cap


Not sure about some of the sideboard cards, but I'm mainly interested in the main deck.  I haven't had a chance to playtest this deck, so I'm not sure if these would be good ideas or not.  The 1st thing I was thinking of was taking out the 4 Brainstorms, and adding 4 Trinisphere main deck.  My other thought was to add 4 Force of Wills, but not adding Trinispheres.  To add the 4 Forces, I was thinking about taking out 2 Fire/Ice, 1 Brainstorm, and 1 Thirst for Knowledge (although could take out other cards).   Are Force of Will or Trinisphere just not needed for the deck?

The problem with adding Forces is you are losing very valueable cards, but I thought might make the deck have at least some chance to stop their key spells.  About the Trinispheres, seems like it wouldn't really hurt the deck too much.  The main loss would be the Brainstorms, which maybe are needed to get the deck going.  Playing 1st turn Trinisphere is just so good against almost every deck.  I've lost many games due to my opponent doing that.  

1 other thing, how do you deal with Null Rod?  Not many decks play it, but seems like would really hurt the deck.  I guess you could just sac something and beat them down, maybe should be some sideboard slot to stop it.  Although I can't think of any good ones off hand.  Would also be nice to have a 3rd Wasteland, but probablyt not room for it.

What are your thoughts about these changes, good, or not needed?  Also I love the Eon Hubs sideboard, I had never even thought about those.  Totally stops Oath, and energy flux.

[Bram]

Are Force of Will or Trinisphere just not needed for the deck?

Remember this is an aggro deck at heart, albeit one that gives up a small  amount of tempo to be able to fetch match-sealers or game-swingers. I refer to it as an 'aggro deck that can combo into prison'. Ofcourse you have more options than just locking, but you know what I mean. I have not missed Force of Will yet. Control is possibly your best matchup anyway, and while combo is icky, you just have to rely on your sideboard. The potential for a turn 1 or 2 trinishpere (often good enough since you'll likely start) with this build is staggering because of the Transmutes. Maindeck Trinispheres are certainly an option if you expect a lot of combo, but honestly I wouldn't know what to cut. The brainstorms have performed fantastically up to now, so those wouldn't be my first choice.

1 other thing, how do you deal with Null Rod? Not many decks play it, but seems like would really hurt the deck.

Su-Chi is still 4/4 under a Null Rod and Titan is still 7/10. And keep in mind the Su-Chi / Transmute trick still works under Null Rod. More or less everything stil works, really. You can forget about the Jar and the Slaver plan, obviously, but those are not the decks main focus anyway. If you really need to remove Null Rod because it's fucking up your mana base or something, you can Welder it out (hopefully).

Also I love the Eon Hubs sideboard, I had never even thought about those. Totally stops Oath, and energy flux.

Don't forget Smokestack and Tangle Wire. If they can't welder it out (or if you can Welder it back in), they're basically screwed. And oh yeah, Mana Crypt no longer does damage under a Hub By the same token: a tapped Vault becomes instant-transmute-fodder once the Hub sees play

I can understand the reasoning behind your proposed changes and they are by no means 'out there'. I do however doubt they are needed.

[phyrexianlotus]

With transmute artifact the you're given two options one Use it to get a mondo bizzaro artifact in play or use it as an Entomb for artifacts since it makes you put it in the yard if you don't pay the cost, but the most effective build i've seen would be using it with the affinity cards prefferablly Myr Enforcer and Frogmite, their wicked awesome high converted mana cost allows you to grab fun artifacts from your deck and beat down your opponent.

[The Atog Lord]

I actually picked up some Transmutes to test in Control Slaver a couple weeks ago. They were okay, but too often they were an overcosted Entomb -- and Entomb itself is too narrow. I might do a bit more testing with them, but they're not promising so far. Granted, Control Slaver can't really abuse them like a Workshop deck can.

[Bram]

but the most effective build i've seen would be using it with the affinity cards

Did this most effective build win three consecutive tourneys?

[Blizzard]

If you had a Trinisphere in play, and you cast Transmute Artifact sacing Triskelion to get a Platinum Angel for example.  Then would you still have to pay 3 mana?  If that's how it works, I guess Trinisphere wouldn't even be that good in the deck.  The only reason I was saying to take out Brainstorm for them was because once Trin is in play, brainstorm isn't very good.  But your version is probably better, you have tested it more than me.

Does this deck beat oath and stax usually?  Oath and workshop varients (stax, 5/3, etc) are the most common decks played in my area.  Last t8 had 4 oath decks (1 was a combo oath deck), 3 stax/ 5/3 decks, and 1 Landstill.  Surprisingly landstill actually won the tournament, was the only copy in the whole place.  The tournament was with 12 proxies.

[rvs]

but the most effective build i've seen would be using it with the affinity cards

Did this most effective build win three consecutive tourneys?

To be honest, Marco finished 2nd in Moers, since he went out of time in the final round and couldn't close the deal in time

On trinisphere: Brainstorms are amazing in this deck, and pretty important to ensure you actually win. Trinisphere is a great (although stupid, and restriction-worthy) card to play in any workshop deck, but (forgetting fast combo decks for a sec) not needed. It also hurts your own spells as well. In the matchups where the opponent plays 3sphere you aren't really hurt since you run MWS yourself, and in the matchups where your opponent doesn't run 3sphere you often don't really need it. However, feel free to give it some test-runs and report back with the results.

[Godder]

If you had a Trinisphere in play, and you cast Transmute Artifact sacing Triskelion to get a Platinum Angel for example.  Then would you still have to pay 3 mana?  If that's how it works, I guess Trinisphere wouldn't even be that good in the deck.

Transmute Artifact (much like Tinker or, for that matter, Welder) doesn't 'play' the artifact as such, it puts it directly into play from your library, so Trinisphere doesn't do anything other than force you to pay UU1 for the Transmute Artifact.

[Wollblad]

I would recommend to include FoW. There are some really anoying things that can happen, like Welders and combos that you just loose to. Also, in my testing four transmute Artifact was one too much. You never want two on your opening hand, and sometimes your mana is spoiled so you cannot get access to {U} leaving you with dead cards in hand.

I have also found controll-slaver to be a more or less impossible matchup. If they just focus on watever is a threat against their Welders, you cannot possibly win. Then of course, I did not play Fire/Ice. What is your experience on this matchup?

[andrewpate]

I do not like Fire/Ice maindeck; I had it in Landstill at a tourney in Sept. and just hated it.  It killed a couple of Welders, but a lot more often it was a disposable Rishadan Port cantrip.  I would cut them and a Brainstorm for 3 Trinispheres.

I don't like Force of Will because you will be cutting blue cards to fit them, so you will end up with 4 Forces and about 13 other blue cards (including things you really don't want to be pitching, like Tinker and Ancestral Recall).  I don't normally run Force unless I have at least 15 pitch targets.

[Bram]

I do not like Fire/Ice maindeck; I had it in Landstill at a tourney in Sept. and just hated it.

Yeah, I was playing it in Unhinged Sui Black a while and it sucked there, too  

This question was not about the power level of the card fire/ice; it was about its inclusion in Transmute Artifact decks, thank you.

Wollblad: yeah, ControlSlaver is an insanely hard matchup and the only reason we even play Fire/Ice meandeck. It's still pretty skewed in their favor but at least it gives you a fighting chance. You best bet is to poop out a turn 1 Su-Chi, possibly back it up by a Welder, COMPLETELY forget about the Transmute plan and hope you can hit their welders with Fire. After boarding, Lava Dart helps you out some some.

On the Transmutes: I can fully understand your apprehension of using four copies. And yes, you will sometimes end up with more than you need. Running 3 is a valid choice, but I'm not about to give up on my fifth Tinker yet.

Force of Will has been unnecessary up to now. You'll eat combo alive after boarding, and FoW merely slows you down, and this is, after all, and aggro build. It has part aggro, part comnbo and part prison. Throwing in part control would make it weak. It's not like 4 FoWs will aloow you to outcounter Control...it would purely be an unneeded Combo stopper. And the question arises: what to cut?

I don't normally run Force unless I have at least 15 pitch targets.

Some combo decks successfully run FoW with 13 pitch targets INCLUDING FoW. This is not the deck you want to do this in, however. It's quite true that there's really nothing you ever want to pitch.

[BigMac]

As the one having played the most with this deck (getting 2 first and a second place) here are my thoughts.

First of all my build is slightly different from the deck posted here. My build doesnt include the waste/strip/CoW combo. Although it is good, in my oppinion it will slow you down as well as your opponent. And although you could very much manascrew your opponent going for a possible autowin there still is the possibility your opponent goes for some artifact mana getting out a welder backed with a FoW and you will lose as you will have lost tempo a lot.

Here for the cards that are discussed here so far.

Null rod. If you look closely it will only hurt tempo a bit. Most artifacts that hurt your opponent are critters. The only deck that can use null rod to good effect are autowins most of the times anyway. If it is beatdown they lose temp with the casting of null rod. If it is fish, my critters still are better and bigger. If they wait i got a tempo advantage anyway. Having a rack and ruin in my sideboard can help with that as well.

FoW. In this deck FoW is plain bad. If you look closely the only cards that can be pitched are your drawengine or fire/ice-transmute. Countering a spell pitching a spell is 2 for 1. So instead of drawing more cards than your opponent you drop 2 cards for 1. When playing against combo you can possibly lose the first game. But games 2 and 3 you have a very very good chance. So FoW is not needed.

Fire/ice: This card indeed is mainly for mirrors. But also against control decks (including drain/slaver) you can actually tap a land at end of turn, drawing a card and pulling out a FoW and another card, so basically getting a cardadvantage of 2 over your opponent. And that is only when he actually has a FoW. When no FoW you have a free spell. So what i am saying here, dont stop looking at the dmg part of this spell.

Brainstorm: Specially with the fetchlands this is a very good drawspell. Also within a Jar turn you can put back some cards you dont want to get into the graveyard just yet.

Trinisphere: The original deck had trinisphere in it. In the end it turned out i was more often transmuting trinisphere for something better than anything else. As this deck has no real lockcomponents (slaver is a one card lock) a trinisphere is only good against certain decks. Against other decks (MWS decks) it is a dead card and specially against a mirror or stax you dont want dead cards. Boarding them in against combo next to chalices pretty much seals the deal. (my version has chalices side as well)

Opponents.
Drain/slaver: Although this is a tough matchup it is very possible to win against it. Specially games 2 and 3. (chalices, old man of the sea, trinisphere are boarded in) It depends on who gains a drawing advantage forst. So what you try to do is get a critter on board asap. Then play your drawspells at end of turn (duh) to try and get cardadvantage.
The biggest advantage you have is tempo. So make use of it. Get out a Su-Chi and transmute it into trike or sundering titan. If you succeed in this you pretty much will win the game.

Death long:
Get out Platinum angel and game 1 is yours pretty much as death long is very singleminded. Games 2 and 3 trinisphere and chalice should close the deal.

Oath:
First game is hard to win. Oath has many counters but not to much (near to nothing) against Platinum.
Second and third game go for chalice 2, or Eon hub or both. That will pretty much kill them.

TPS:
Possibly the hardest matchup as it kind of is control combo. First game ye have to be lucky but that is pretty much a lost game unless you get an active slaver before he combos ye to death.
Second and third game trini and chalice come out. Chalice 1 will slow them down while trini will actually help you win it altogether.
Having said that, this is possibly the worst matchup. The TPS player really needs to make mistakes or be a bit unlucky.
Having said this all, i have yet to lose to TPS (won 2 times, first because opponent made a big mistake, second because opponent needed 4 more turns to get his rebuild.)

4CC:
Because of tempo advantage pretty much a good matchup which you should win.

Fish:
When deck performs normal (not even good or examplary) an auto win when played right.

Madness:
Although i havent played it yet i think as it is basically an aggro deck my critters are bigger and therefore better. And i am almost as fast in casting them. Trinisphere will pretty much kill him anyway after boarding.

Random.deck:
Those should be autowins due to the aggro tendencies this deck has. Next to the drawengine this should kill off most random decks without difficulties.

I may have missed some angles or decks. Feel free to ask or give more comments. I have had a whole lot of fun playing it getting out all kinds of surprises during the play.

A real story:
I play transmute artifact saccing my Su-Chi. My opponent picks up the transmute, reads it, looks at me and says:
So basically this is just a somewhat worse tinker?
Me:
Yup.
Opponent:
And you can play four of those?
Me:
Yup.
I get out my sundering titan killing of 3 of his 4 lands. He looks at me and scoops.
Opponent:
Lets play another one.

[Blizzard]

I still haven't done much testing with the deck, but I think there should be 1 Jester's Cap maindeck.  I played in a type 1 tourny last weekend (ended up using a Doomsday deck instead of this), and a lot of people were running caps in there stax decks.  It is an auto win verses most combo (Unless they have the combo in hand), and is quite good verses oath, tog, and slaver.  Not sure what I'd cut to make room for it though.

[Fominian]

I have playing around with this deck for some time now (ironically I was flipping through my binder and found TA the day the article was posted on SCG)

And before long I had a working deck list.

I have tried the zaar + squee engine in the deck, and personally I love it.  The synergy with welder (as we are all aware of by now I think) is amazing, and it allows you to dig through your library all that much faster.

The next step I took from there was the addition of 2/3 intuition (I really haven't decided, still bounce back and forth and such...) The first intuition depends on what you have in play really.  If all you have is zaar then most often I am digging for the Squees.  However, with welder in play I pull the nasty artifacts - which brings me to my next step.

Possessed Portal, Mindslaver, Jester's Cap - all three of these I worked into the deck itself.  The power each represents is just too amazing.

So as you can gather my list has evolved somewhat from what was posted here, and in the article - but I am fond of it, as it does its job, and thus far has not given me major problems.

On a final note: I did attempt a black splash at one point (Duress, and Tutors) but in the end I found that for the shake up of the mana base, it was not worth it, so I ended up sticking with a UR build.

[BigMac]

I am wondering what cards you would remove as bazaar, squee and intuition are allready up to 10 cards extra. So i am curious as to what your build would be.

As for my ideas to the cards you are proposing.

Intuition: When using squee for your drawengine it could be a very good card. In our basic build i would have to see the purpose. I can imagine getting the wasteeffects when CoW hits the table or its use when you have an active welder in play. Otherwise i think most things you can fetch with it i dont want in my graveyard. I dont want to lose 2 welders, 2 transmutes, 2 thirsts or 2 brainstorms.
After boarding it could be different as getting hold of your sideboardtech could be gamewinning. But then you have a couple of less effective cards maindeck.

Bazaar/squee: Although it is a recurring drawengine, with fast squees very good and reliable i think it is not that good because you lose tempo. If i can choose to drop MWS turn 1 and play something good or play bazaar and draw a couple, i would choose to play MWS every time. Specially since the deck is overcrowded with good cards that you do not want to discard. The difference with dragon is that the graveyard for this deck is an extra threat. The graveyard for dragon is the wincondition. Making use of the graveyard versus winning with the graveyard.

So all in all i think the loss of tempo and the less viable discard choices make bazaar for me less playable in this deck.

However, i will be trying some sort of deck like this. As i do not dismiss it upfront. Biggest wonder to me is how to get a stable manabase when you have another landdrop that cant cast yer ancestral, welder, brainstorm/fetch tech.

But interesting thought. interesting indeed.

[ruken]

I don't feel like the deck -can- accommodate anything else that takes the place of a colored mana drop, given that it's looking for UU for Transmute Artifact (and probably R for a Welder as well).  Unfortunately, Mishra's Workshop is a necessity, as Su-Chis and Trinispheres generally need to be hardcast at some point; but beyond that, the deck weeps for colored mana.  Astrolabe?  That's some Welder goodness right there. ;P

On a side note, Trinisphere should not be left out of any deck with Mishra's Workshop in it.  The card is a three-turn Time Walk if it resolves before your opponent gets a turn.  If they Force your Trinisphere, it's still good.  You just cost them two cards for one, and you still have your nasty land in play for a turn 2 bomb as well.  A deck that faces a turn 1 Trinisphere is in the rear-view no matter how it resolves the problem (or worse, doesn't).

The deck could theoretically accommodate other lock components; with the 'new' fetchability of Tinkers 2-5, the 'right' tool can be more easily found at the right time.  Opponent low on permanents?  Grab a Smokestack and watch them quiver.

Interestingly, I had suggested Jester's Cap to Atoglord awhile ago as a pre-emptive strike against Oath, but the card has not truly caught on yet.  Having the toolbox opened up a bit with Transmute Artifact is useful, and Cap is cheap enough to be fetched by dumping most any artifact (even a Cathodion, plus it pays for its own activation at that).  

I do like Possessed Portal, but so far I haven't made it 'work' yet (drop a fatty plus Portal or whatever, etc.)

I can't believe I missed Intuition - the card is a wrecking ball.  Thanks ^_^

The only other card I might consider is Animate Dead.  Cerebral Assassin's use of this card was pure genius, and it's quite flexible.  The builds running Thirst for Knowledge can really make good use of this card.

[BigMac]

Gonna look into possessed portal as i dont know enough of the card to have an oppinion about that one.

Animate is a bit of colour. Having a hard enough time maintaining the manabase as stable as it is now i dont think adding black would be a good thing.

As you have enough cards i dont think intuition is a good card for this deck. I could be wrong though and may try it sometime. But i think that most things you want to look for are artifacts anyways, and those can be gotten with TA and tinker. Intuition for welders is a bad move as it makes you vulnerable. Having 2 in the graveyard allready with number 3 known to be in your hand makes your welder combo vulnerable. Intuition for land is not my play either, i would rather have a means to get out my jar. Intuition for TA is bad again as that is your way to find answers, so 2 in your graveyard is not a good thing.

As for trinisphere. Off course it is a good card against most decks. But as MWS decks are many nowadays and i dont want to bring in more lock components it is a dead card against other MWS decks. As this is basically a beatdown deck you dont want dead cards, you want every spell to count.

Adding Jesters cap maindeck is allready done. It provides an extra wincondition against Oath game 1 which is not a bad thing. (also against tps probably or any other combo deck for that matter)

Off course this is my oppinion and please post your experience with those cards as i am very interested in the outcome.

[ruken]

On a side note, for better interoperability with Eon Hub and unintentionally deployed Su-Chi mana, why not Grim Monolith instead of Mana Vault?  It Transmutes a bit better, it can be untapped at any time (very important) and can burn off mana from Su-Chi painlessly at any time.  It's not like the deck is ever not going to have 2 mana to cast an artifact with..

[BigMac]

Mana vault is just a tadd faster. Especially when playing against oath a turn 1 eon hub (MWS manavault hub) is a good thing and as speed is of the essence with this deck as in most matchups you play as the aggressor.

I have to say the su-chi mana when not used is indeed a problem, so perhaps i will add the grim as in this deck more isnt less.

[Smythen]

What about Forcefield as a one-of in the maindeck or sideboard to temporarily deal with big Oathed fatties or some of stacker's threats?

Smythen

[BigMac]

Forcefield is way to singleminded. All cards that i have in board against oath will also work against other decks. That is what makes them good.

[Purple Hat]

what about mirari?  if you transmute a suchi for jar or gilded lotus for example you could use the extra 3 to mirrari the transmute into another broken artifact or another suchi.

Hale

[Covetous]

I'm pretty sure you couldn't Mirari the same Transmute that fetched the Mirari because once the Mirari entered play, the spell has already resolved and thus would no longer be on the stack to Mirari (plus, you can only activate Mirari when you PLAY the spell in the first place).  Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I think that Jester's Cap is a very very good idea.  I keep wondering why more Welder decks don't run it already.  It's a severe beating vs. many decks (think about how few decks really run >3 win conditions).  Even against decks where it's not completely GG, it's still powerful (i.e. I will remove 3 of your 4 welders, etc).  In a deck with 5 Tinkers it seems like a natural card to include.  It can even be solid vs. the evil Control Slaver (no slavers for you, etc).

[rvs]

Covetous, you are correct on your whole post.

I also think Mirari is just pretty weak since it doesn't help you win any matchups. It helps you win some matchups even more

[Purple Hat]

I didn't mean mirrari on the one that fetched the mirrari, I meant fetching mirrari early.  it's fun but ultimately pointless.  I tried it out cus taking 5 turns in a row is fun. :lol:

anyway, I played this in a tournament yesterday and jester's cap is like the best card EVER in this deck.  I actually lost a game by fetching jar instead of cap.  basically all my opponents scooped in response to being capped.  I'm still learning to play the deck but it was a TON of fun.

this deck recovers better than anything I've ever seen.  I won a game where I kept a one land hand (underground sea) and my opponent played turn one trinisphere turn two wasteland, and it wasn't even close.  I got eon hub into play and then capped away his win conditions, rack and ruin's and welders.

Hale

[rvs]

I'm glad you liked it Hale. The deck really is a lot better than it first seems, and I think it takes more than 1 playtest session/tournament to realise it's full potential. The deck is really quite nutty, and has next to no dead cards game 1 in just about any matchup.

[diamond66]

What type of matchup does this deck have with dragon?  It's not a huge contender in my area, however it does always seem to be a thorn in my side.  I would assume that since it is a BIT slower than other combo, it may be a better match up, however I am fairly unfamiliar with this deck past a few test games.

[Zeke]

I played 5tinks in a tournament today, and I find that it is a great and fun deck to play.  I want to begin serious work at optimizing it and brining it to the foreground as a bigger and better deck.

One thing I found is that I rarely went for Titan, unless I was going for some strange insane-beatdown plan.  My most used targets were Triskelion and Platinum Angel.

Just for reference, here is the list I was working with, after changes due to proxying needs.

1 Platinum Angel
1 Sundering Titan
1 Triskelion
4 Goblin Welder
4 Su-Chi

1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mindslaver
1 Memory jar

4 thirst for Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Transmute Artifact
1 Tinker
1 Mystical Tutor
4 Brainstorm
2 Fire/Ice

1 Grim Monolith
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Saphire
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Manavault
2 Gilded Lotus

4 Volcanic Island
3 Island
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Mishra's Workshop
3 Flooded Strand

SB:
3 Eon Hub
4 Trinisphere
3 Old man of the Sea/Lava Dart
1 Duplicant
1 Memnarch
1 Triskelion
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Jester's Cap

My proxies were 4 shops, 4 moxen, ancestral, lotus.

I really liked the Jester's Cap in the board, but I found that lava dart doesn't work as well as I would have liked it to, which means I'll eventually have to invest in Old Man.  The memnarch, I'm not sure what I would ever bring it in against, but I never did.

Some of the cards I'd like to see in the deck are Pentavus, Lightning Greaves, and Juggarnaut.

I brought up a list of 5/3 and compared the two decks, since they are somewhat similar.  Mostly is the difference in Lack of Welders in 5/3,  but I also noticed that 5/3 didn't run Brainstorms.  I did find I was using brainstorm a lot today, mostly to try to find an additional land, perhaps another action spell.  

I found that Grim Monoltih worked a little better most of the time than Mana Vault.  

I would really like to add in Juggarnaut and Pentavus into the deck, b/c of the tricks you can pull with both Mindslaver AND Triskelion, which I loved in the deck, with Pentavus, and because of the general goodness of Juggs.  I just love it.

[BigMac]

An early version og the deck actually had Pentavus but it got cut because it wasnt usefull enough. Its one of those cards you do not want in your first hand as it is dead for to long. Its usefullness is almost only to Slavercombo and byt the time you go slaver combo you pretty much have won allready (having enough artifacts to actually make the slaver 2-3 turns winning easilly allready)

The other being beat down, but for that it is just to slow. It was cut for carddrawing btw as the original didnt have 4 brainstorms, and that card is just to good in this deck.

[Zeke]

Someone did make the recommendation of using Darksteel Citadel in the deck as a recurring Welder target.  With crucible in the maindeck perhaps it could be something to look into.  

I really really like Triskelion in the deck, and I found it was the reason why I won many games.  I won a game against Doomsday because I dealt him some early damage, dropped an platinum angel to force him to search for H. Recall, then dropped the triskelion to seal the deal.

Against oath I just dealt a lot of early damage while stalling his oath, because   he didn't have one opening hand and I kept wasting his green mana sources.   When he finally dropped an oath he got SofN, so he couldn't swing in or else I'd run over him the next turn.  I ended up dropping a trike, dealing him damage, weldering it out, and then back in for the final points.

Perhaps putting two triskelions maindeck in order to weld between them, perhaps even in addition to the citadel/crucible trick.

BigMac, I assume you are "Marco" that Bram was talking about.  He said you didn't opt for the wastes/strip and crucible, what did you run in it's place?