[Brainstorming] Meandeck MUD with Scars of Mirrodin

Now if you're a mana and bombs person, this deck is perfect for you! The release of Scars of Mirrodin brought artifact bombs with it in the form of Wurmcoil Engine, Kuldotha Forgemaster, Myr Battlesphere, and Steel Hellkite. These seemed to have proved their worth when Michael Bomholt made 2nd place at SCG Indianapolis with Meandeck MUD.

Wait no more, here's the decklist:

Meandeck MUD – 2nd Indianapolis SCG 6th Feb 2011 Michael Bomholt

Mana (16 + 14)
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
4 Wasteland
4 Great Furnace
3 Mox Diamond
3 Mox Opal
4 Grim Monolith
4 Metalworker

Bombs (20)
4 Goblin Welder
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Kuldotha Forgemaster
4 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Steel Hellkite
2 Myr Battlesphere
1 Sundering Titan

Others (10)
4 Voltaic Key
2 Sensei’s Divining Top
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Crucible of Worlds

Sideboard (15)
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Duplicant
2 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Trinisphere

And here's his tourney report.

Now if you're still here, let's take a closer look.

Mana

Though this is not Lands, half the deck consists of mana sources. That's understandable considering that the deck aims to resolve a 6 or 7cmc bomb spell. With 6 Moxes and other acceleration in the form of Grim Monolith and Metalworker, it's easy to cast such a bomb turn 3-4. Metalworker acts like Goblin Lackey in the sense that if it's not dealt with the turn it lands, scarier threats are bound to show up the next turn. Even if you do have a Swords for the accelerant, a top-deck 2 mana land will still launch the robot into play.

I'm proud to restate that the potential in Grim Monolith is the ability to net 6 mana turn 2-3. Other than Legacy Hive Mind, this deck again proves my point. Now the implications of this is immense. Launch gatherer and take a serious look into all those 5-6 cmc spells, especially mono coloured cards with only 1 or 2 coloured mana. Can they be cast off a Grim Monolith snucked into play turn 1 with an Ancient Tomb? What if you add Chrome Mox to give coloured mana? Would you want to play with Primeval Titan in Legacy?

Turn 1: Forest + Chrome Mox, Grim Monolith
Turn 2: Forest, Primeval Titan, fetching double Wasteland. GG?



Think outside the box, you don't need to sport an artifact deck to abuse Grim Monolith.

With 4 artifact lands, 3 Mox Diamonds, 6 1cmc spells, and 2 2cmc spells, achieving Metalcraft for Mox Opal is rather achievable. Some personal testing demonstrated that the slowest you can achieve this would be turn 2, preparing you for the turn 3 bomb.

Now the only question I have in mind is how well Mox Diamond fits in a deck with only 16 land cards? Like that's the number of lands ANT runs! Perhaps this is why the deck mulligans just short of Dredge. I'd cut the Mox Diamonds and add some basic lands instead.

Bombs

Instead of me rehashing everything, you're better off reading the tourney report here.

Directions to Consider

Meandeck MUD has opened my eyes and demonstrated that costly spells can be viable in Legacy. Going forward, deckbuilders might want to consider using this shell for Mana and Bombs decks:

Shell of Mana and Bombs
6 Basic Lands
4 on color Artifact Lands
4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
3 Mox Opal
3-4 Chrome Mox (possible in mono-colored decks, but note the card disadvantage and mulligan issues)
4 Grim Monolith
4 Sensei's Divining Top
8 1-2cmc artifacts (eg, Ratchet Bomb, Umezawa's Jitte etc)

Instead of restricting the deck to an artifact based monster, the above shell might be able to support a deck filled with bombs with only 1 or 2 colored mana in their cost. As for how many of what to run, you can follow Meandeck MUD as a guide:
8 4-5cmc
4 6cmc
2-3 7cmc and above

Having less than 4 SDT is a mistake in my opinion. It activates Mox Opals and more importantly digs you 3 cards deep in a deck with perhaps no real card advantage. Notice that the powerful Chalice of the Void is eminently absent here. This is up to the player's play style and can very well be an inclusion. Should you be an aggressive player, omitting Chalice will provide you with more slots for other bombs.

Adding Blue
Should you wish to go the pure artifact way, you might want to try adding these:
Thirst for Knowledge
Intuition
Master Transmuter
Platinum Emperion
Mindslaver
Master of Etherium
Precursor Golem

Taking a page out of Building on a Budget, I had been running a casual deck with 4 Goblin Welder, 3 Metalworker, and 3 Master Transmuter. Master Transmuter provides another out to control decks because if he's not countered, counterspells don't count (XD).

Thirst for Knowledge provides discard outlets for Goblin Welder and is a real source of card advantage. On the other hand, Intuition is the more powerful card as it tutors you whatever you need. Platinum Emperion is almost gg against many decks and its interaction with Master Transmuter/Goblin Welder makes it almost immune to removal. Also imagine Mindslavering every turn by welding out Myr tokens.

If you were to prefer the age old way of bashing, Master of Etherium + Precursor Golem means a +6 boost in power. Funky aye?

Summary

Now what do you think about the mana and bombs strategy? Does it make you want to buy up all the Grim Monoliths you can find? Or do you think it's just a fluke? Let me know by commenting below or at my facebook page!

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