[Deck] Clamp

[Duncan]

Hello,

I once saw Mike Long's Deck called suicide virus and i also wanted to make a deck with clamp and servitor. Since the artificer's intuition gets you the clamp you need, i also copied that part. I have no power so that's not in. Let me show you my list:

3 Cranial Plating
3 Genesis Chamber
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
4 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
2 Arcbound Ravager
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Servitor
4 Disciple of the Vault
4 Artificer's Intuition
1 Crop Rotation
2 City of Brass
2 Glimmervoid
3 Seat of the Synod
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Vault of Whispers
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Tinker


Cranial Plating this card's is a real killer. An ornithopter equipped with this usually gives around 10 damage each turn.

Genesis Chamber gives you extra 1/1 myr tokens to eat with your skullclamp

Lion's Eye Diamond at first it looked a bit strange, but you need the mana to keep clamping and most of the time the cards discarded do not matter.

Skullclamp the engine of the deck: eat all your litlle creatures and use the cards to play even more.

Arcbound Ravager ravager helps you sac the ornithopter and frogmite too for clamp. in the beginning i played lodestone myr to tap the genesis chamber during my opponent's turn. Ravager also destroys you own artifacts which makes the plating less effective, but i still think it should be in cause it also kills with disciple (duh  ) I play only two because i do not really need them to kill and with my huge cardadvantage i will take them out.

Frogmite just a free creature to create more tokens with the chamber

Myr Servitor search all 4 with intuition, clamp 3 each turn and get 6 1/1 creatures every turn because of the chamber: insane

Disciple of the Vault Just the killing 
Artificer's Intuition this cards really handy: search the clamp, search the servitors and sometomes just a mana crypt or sol ring if you need more mana

Crop Rotation fetch the academy
Duress well.. disrupt.. what else?

Wheel of Fortune gets you a whole new hand.. this card resolving with enough mana usually wins games

Tinker most of the time i get a memory jar with this to give me a new hand and win, but can also be used to get the ravager if you need it.

Memory Jar gives you a whole new hand

The mana:
Sol Ring
Lotus Petal
Mana Crypt
Mana Vault
City of Brass
Glimmervoid
Seat of the Synod
Tolarian Academy
Vault of Whispers
Dark Ritual

i play only 11 lands, but i do not feel like i need more, 1 or two mana is enough to get started.. the only problem i feel are waste/strip effects

This deck usually kills around turn 4, but once in a while i get a turn three kill and one time i had a turn two kill the aggro matchup is very good, because of all the creatures you can block with, control is more difficult but duress might be of help. duress is also nice against other combo decks. i know this deck will never be tier 1, but it is really nice to play with

some questions

lodestone myr <-> arcbound ravager?
i want to put a yawgmoth's will in, what should i take out?
gaea's cradle?

[cardiffgiant]

I like Skullclamp based decks. A few things the consider.

If your open resolves a null rod it's pretty much game over.

At least in your SB you need removal. Platinum Angel ends you game and it appears in various competitive decks.

You need a lot of sideboard against Combo.

Wheel of Fortune and Memory Jar seem out of place. You have very little control and it seems they would either be win more or increase you likelihood of losing. I would much rather see Ancestral Recall and Timewalk.

Is Artificer Intuition fast enough? How does it compare to regular Intuition?

Good luck. Please post some results again major decks

[Mark_Story]

 I played someone recently playing "his super secret deck" which was simply a tweak of suicide virus, however, he was playing 2-3 echoing truth MD, which helped him remove null rods, and my goblin warchiefs.  Also if you are playing in a proxy meta, proxy up some workshops and see how the deck runs then.  Are you able to reliably disciple combo out with only 2 ravagers?  I would figure you would need more.

[Duncan]

null rod is a great thread indeed, i need to find something, echoing truth might be worth testing, thank you for that. i would really like to put recall and walk in, but they simply are not within my budget 
i've not tested this against major decks, the only one was counter-based madness, which a won almost every game 

what would you suggest instead of the jar/wheel?

[LeRoux]

null rod is a great thread indeed, i need to find something, echoing truth might be worth testing, thank you for that. what would you suggest instead of the jar/wheel?

If your metagame contains some Fish (pretty much any color) and also some Madness (which usually plays Null Rod maindeck), I would definitely fit 2 Echoing Truth maindeck in case you face any of those. In the worst cases, Truth isn't a dead card as it can gain you some tempo or just kill all those pesky 3cc Decree of Justice tokens!

The other possibility would probably be to add more Ravagers like Mark just said. Maybe that Demonic Tutor could also make the cut. Another question, what is Tinker in there for? Memory Jar probably, but if it gets cut, I guess you should either cut Tinker, or simply add a better Tinker target!

[cardiffgiant]

If you're keeping Tinker (which is a very hard one to justify removing even if it is card disadvantage), I would replace Memory Jar with Darksteel Colossus (if there are no Welders) or Karn. Karn can often act as uber gorilla shaman. It can also help you go off by making Sol Ring and extra clamps into creatures to clamp.

Wheel of Fortune is tougher. Do you feel you just need more draw? Vedalken Archmage? If you expect to empty your hand fast, try Windfall. If you're comfortable with getting enough mana, then maybe Skeletal Scrying. Mid-game, Yawgwill can easy be better.

Oh, and though I love LEDs, do you think it's a good card in this deck? I think Gaea's Cradle, which you were considering, is usually far better.

[Duncan]

the LED can give me mana of any color (before a wheel or jar) to play rituals and it is a 0 mana artifact, which is useful in the start. But when i cut wheel and jar i think cradle might be more useful. Kran was a pretty nice idea, but i do not have extra clamps that much. I just discard them for artificer's intuition..

[cardiffgiant]

I think we're talking about different cards. I'm suggesting Karn Silver Golem because Tinkering him in allows you to eat your opponents jewelry pretty cheaply. He's also a good size beat.

[Duncan]

Here is the new list. I've added karn and echoing truth for some more disruption and gaea's cradle to get more mana..

3 Cranial Plating
3 Genesis Chamber
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
2 EchoingTruth
1 Karn, Silver Golem
4 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
2 Arcbound Ravager
4 Frogmite
4 Myr Servitor
4 Disciple of the Vault
3 Artificer's Intuition
1 Crop Rotation
2 City of Brass
2 Glimmervoid
3 Seat of the Synod
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Tolarian Academy
3 Vault of Whispers
4 Dark Ritual
4 Duress
1 Tinker

What do you think of this?

[cardiffgiant]

I think it looks pretty good. A few observations.

The deck depends on getting either Clamp or Artificer's Intuition to stay around. AI mostly justifies itself for getting either Servitor or Clamp. Meddling Mage naming Clamp would be the best way to slow it down. This isn't a significant weakness because it only reduces it to a suboptimal aggro deck which still isn't a walk in the park.

At least one Echoing Truth should be a Aether Spellbomb because it's AI-able.

If you creature casting costs were more consistent, Aether Vial would be a bomb. It's AI-able, fixes mana issues, and makes your creature uncounterable. Just an observation, not a suggestion to change.

If you can get the manabase to work, Goblin Welder would be unbelievable. It supercharges Genesis Chamber, uncounters Skullclamp, and at instant speed creates a monster with Cranial Plating (attack with tiny, unblocked, weld in Plating, equip at instant speed).

Suggestions aside, it's looking really good.

For 5 proxy, I would suggest:
Black Lotus
Time Walk
Ancestral Recall
Mox Sapphire
Mox Jet
Some minor mana adjustments

Still need to nail the SB. Tormod's Crypt and Chalice of the Void at least. Maybe edicts or Cranial Extraction.

Want more testing results Good luck

[Nefarias]

While I haven't PT'ed the deck or anything, I have a few theoretical complaints.

The deck seems unfocused to me, and the main problem I have is Artificer's Intuition. This just doesn't seem like an aggro type of card, although your gameplan obviously is. The Servitor engine is also slow. Servitor/AI worked (if you can call it that) is Suicide Virus because it was combo, produced the required mana, and used the cards accordingly. While this will help you win the long game, I fear there may not be many long games. Since you also don't really have strong enough disruption, I can't see how you could possibly race combo, and you give control too much time to stabilize. In the disruption department: Duress is fine, but Karn is probably too slow for combo, and Echoing Truth isn't so much disruption as is it an answer.

Along the lines of the Servitor/AI, I would suggest using Steelshaper's Gift instead. I would imagine that Skullclamps are more important than Servitors, and as you said, it's the Cranial Platings that win for you. One concern may be that that reduces the power of the Clamp, but I figure that between Genesis tokens and the threats you replace the Servitors with will make up for it, and with a more aggro base you need the Clamp less. It also costs you 1W and one card to get that Clamp into play, as opposed to the 2UU and two cards w/ the Intuition. This would obviously require a bit of a change in mana base, but that's not so hard considering you could drop the Seats if you also dropped the AI. I would suggest something along these lines:

-3 Artificer's Intuition
-4 Myr Servitor
-2 Seat of the Synod

+2 Glimmervoid
+3 Steelshaper's Gift
+2 Arcbound Ravager
+2 Creature of your choice (Arcbound Worker, Ornithopter, Goblin Welder, Myr Enforcer w/e)

Disclaimers: 1) Again, you've got more experience w/ the deck, and I am perfectly willing to except I'm wrong, I also realize that this strays from the original idea behind the deck, so changing it this drastically may not be desired based solely on principle. 2) and this one's important: With all the synergy in this deck (Ravagers, AI, Servitors, Affinity, Plating, etc.), there's a very delicate balance, and I may be breaking this. For example, I never have a problem with Glimmervoid in the decks I use, but that's because I use Moxen, and it's hard for me to put myself in a no-Mox mindset. With the changes I suggested, Glimmervoid may become unreliable, or plating may get to small, or Frogmite may be costing you 3, etc. If any of those are the case, then my suggestions are flawed.

Just trying to help.

[Duncan]

what do u think of changing the AI's for steelshaper's gift and put in auriok steelshaper to reduce the equip costs?
i do not think 4 glimmervoid would be best because artifact land have more synergy with ravager, academy and frogmite. I would rather put in ancient den..

[cardiffgiant]

I've been playing around a lot with Affinity/Skullclamp decks recently. I haven't played with Artificer's Intuition yet so I can't comment on that card.

What I am finding is that Skullclamp is an AMAZING card in a lot of deck styles. By itself, it merits building decks around. All different styles of decks.

I think the first question you need to settle is where in the Aggro/Control/Combo wheel do you want to fall. Pure combo? Kobolds/Clamp/Glimpse is a solid starting point. Control? Utility creatures with come into play/leave play effects.

From the original decklist, it seems you want to be Aggro/Combo. You start with getting some fast beats on the table, then combo out with either Disciple or Cranial Plating. I'm putting Cranial Plating in the combo category because much of the time it wins the game the turn it comes into play.

Assuming you want to combo out with Disciple, you need more ways to get rid of your creatures or more small creature. I love Ornithopters and Frogmites, but it sucks if you get Skullclamp and Ornithopter.

What are some good ways to get rid of your creatures? Ravager, Diabolic Intent, Victimize, Ashnod's Altar, Grafted Wargear, Artifact Mutation. You probably need 8 creature sacrifice outlets if you keeping more than 4 creatures with 2+ toughness.

If you're going the small creature route, try to keep them one casting cost because they are most card draw/Disciple life loss fuel. I personally like Myr Moonvessel because he converts Workshop mana into general purpose mana. Servitors and Archbound Workers each have their place. I think even Clockwork Beetle could be good (he can essentially sac himself). Some exceptions to this rule are Genesis Chamber since it make appropriately sized beasties and Myr Retriever because he's usually a two for one.

The next question I'd ask is how important is Skullclamp to the deck? If it's an integral part of the kill, you need to increase the likelihood of getting it. In black, Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, and Diabolic Intent are probably your best choices (Demonic Consultation may also work). In Blue, Intuition, Artificer's Intuition, Thirsty for Knowledge, Impulse, and Brainstorm have possibilities. White has Steelshaper's Gift and Enlightened Tutor. For just artifacts, Scroll Rack and Sensei's top work if you have sufficient shuffle effects.

The last question I'd also is how many color can you support? Again this is based on my testing, but two is achievable if only one color is early. For example, if you are only running black for the Disciples, black is a late color (turn 3+) and you could support blue or white for tutoring. In order to support two early colors, you must significantly reduces the number of colorless mana source reducing the gain from affinity and Disciple. YMMV

If I were you, I'd probably push the beats approach and passively get the Skullclamp. Possibly

(Free/Affinity)
1 Mana Crypt
1 Lotus Petal
4 Ornithopter
2 Phyrexian Walker or other 0 CC artifacts (Welding Jar, Chalice of the Void)
4 Frogmite

(Fodder)
4 Myr Workers

(Sacrifice)
4 Ravager
4 Grafted Wargear

(Combo)
4 Disciples of the Vault
2-3 Cranial Plating or Genesis Chamber

(Draw/Tutor)
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation (iffy)
4 Skullclamp

(Mana)
To taste, including artifact lands and Blinkmoth Nexii (better synergy than Factories and evasion).