Match Report: Pia’s Revolution (8-1)

Hello Alchemist,

I took the deck I wrote about here and made 4 iterations before I piloted it for our local store championships, for the chance to win the Teferi championship playmat and a Dominaria pre-release pass. The tournament gathered 47 players entering round 1, resulting to 6 swiss rounds and a cut to top 8 for a total of 9 rounds.

The deck went 5-1 in swiss and 3-0 in the top 8 to bag the store champion title and the handsome playmat!

I want to share some rounds report to give you guys insight on how the deck played out and at the same time explain how the deck works in more detail for those who wish to build it.

Round 1: Bant Approach (0-2)

Game 1, I kept a slow hand of 4 lands, 1 Scrapheap, 1 Trawler and 1 Lightning strike. This was honestly a bad keep but since it was the first round, I went in and started on the play hoping I’ll draw into a Bomat or my Mimics and Ballista. It was a devastating game 1 because I all my threats went down with Settle the Wreckage and a couple of Baffling Ends. I never recovered and lost to an Approach with my opponent still in 15+ life.

I sided out all my Unlicensed for all 4 copies of Duress in the side.

Game 2 I had a lot of threats in my hand but my opponent played Authority of the Consuls very early negating my Bomat’s damage as I kept bringing down my creatures. I was able to chain Metallic Mimics and Walking Ballistas for free at 1 counter thanks to Mimic’s ability naming ‘Construct’ but sadly they ate a bunch of Cast Outs and Fumigates.

I drew 3 Pia’s Revolution and my opponent, Nino, had 2 of them Casted out. The 3rd copy stayed in play but it didn’t matter as he was able to Cast Approach and played Pull from Tomorrow at end step to draw it again.

Lessons: Never keep a slow hand against a deck who has tons of life gain and sweepers.

SB Lesson: Wished I had some Doomfall in the sideboard to peak and play around countermeasures.

Round 2: Sultai Hadana’s Climb (2-0)

I was on the play with T1 Bomat. Opponent plays Blooming Marsh signaling Snek or Hadana. T2 Bomat hit once more with no Fatal Push and I played Hope as a follow up. Winding Constrictor came into play on my opponent’s second turn stopping my Bomat hitting for the third time so I swung in with Hope. I draw and played Mimic on 3 while my opponent plays Jadelight revealing Chupacabra and Bristling Hydra, dumped Chups, turning Ranger into a 4/3. T4 I played a second Mimic and cast 2 Walking Ballistas for free with 2 +1/+1 counter each. My opponent played Bristling in his turn 4 and charged the 3 energy for hexproofing the hydra.

I played Pia’s Revolution T5 seeing my attacks and blocks won’t be profitable. I swung in with Mimic and Bomat and opponent blocked with Jadelight and Hydra and took 6 to keep my robots dead (Pia’s Trigger), now down to 11. I Lightning Strike the Jadelight and left Hydra alive. Opponent plays Hadana’s Climb and triggers the +1/+1 counter ability at the beginning of combat.

I responded with shooting it with Ballista for 1 and wait for it to resolve. It did, Hydra down to 2 toughness. Shot it again with the other 2/2 Ballista and connected, Hydra now 4/1. Tried shooting it again killing my Ballista, opponent took 3 from Pia (he’s down from 11 to 8 life) to keep it dead and popped the energy for hexproof. In response, I shot it with my last 1/1 Ballista to kill it in response and my opponent, now mostly dead, allowed Pia Revo to put it back to my hand, but losing the Hydra. Opponent went out of gas and died to Hazoret swinging in plus a Lightning Strike to the dome.

I sided out 1 Pia Revo, 1 Trawler for 2 Magma Spray. Since I’ll be in the draw, He will have a Servant of the Conduit or Longtusk to block my T1 Bomat. It’s also a good response to Jadelight’s explore trigger and kill it before it gets nasty.

Game 2 was how I envisioned it to be with Turn 2 Servant from my opponent which should have kept my Bomat in check but I had the Magma Spray in the opening hand to deal with it on my second turn followed by a Hope and passed. Turn 3 my opponent played a 2/1 Jadelight after blanking with 2 consecutive lands. I played T3 Trawler and swung in with my Hope and Bomat, opponent didn’t block. Turn 4 my opponent cycled a land main phase which is a good sign and played a 2/1 Branchwalker.

On my turn 4, I attacked with Hope and Bomat luring the Branchwalker but he didn’t block. I played 2 Mimics and cast Ballista for free as a 2/2. I used both counters to kill both the 2/1 Jadelight and 2/1 Branchwalker, sac’d the Hope to trigger Trawler’s ability to get back my Ballista. Recast Ballista for free as a 2/2 and passed. My opponent was dumbfounded after seeing the loop and was pressured to find removal for my Trawler. He eventually played a Jadelight which revealed a Vraska’s Contempt but I had the Unlicensed a hand to kill the Jadelight, swung with Bomat, Hope, 2 Mimics, Trawler and a 2/2 Ballista killing my opponent through the Contempt.

Lesson: Magma Spray was a good call in the SB.

Round 3: BW Vampires (2-0)

I was on the play and my opponent had a Legion’s Landing which was bad news. I played Bomat on T1 and swung in to keep his creature count low. He chose not to block and swung in for 1 on this second turn followed up by a Dusk Legion Zealot. I played Mimic on 2, swung with Bomat, and passed. T3 he played Queen’s Commission and passed with 3 standing 1/1 life linkers.

T3 I swung in with Bomat and Scrapheap to lure some blocks to avoid Legion’s Landing flipping the next turn. Opponent made no blocks and I was forced to play a Walking Ballista for 2 and used it to kill one of the tokens. T4 he draw and passed so I sensed a Cast Out or Settle maybe. T4 I attacked and still no blocks. I played Trawler and passed. My opponent read what Trawler does and decided to Cast my Scrapheap out.

T5 he played and passed. T5 I attacked with Bomat (now having 5 cards) and Trawler, he decided to use the tokens and the Martyr to block and kill my creatures. I cast Unlicensed to kill the Martyr to keep my Trawler alive, cashed in my Bomat and discard a hand with a Ballista on it. Bomat hits the yard and I take back Ballista thanks to Trawler’s ability netting 6 cards and passed. T6 my opponent Cast Outs my Trawler and passed. On my turn, I cast 1 Mimic on ‘construct’, played 2 Balista for XX=2 and came in with 2 +1/+1 counters thanks to Mimic and passed. Opponent seeing I have enough Ballistas and lands to keep shooting down his 1/1s, we went to game 2.

I sided out 3 Pia’s Revolution for 3 Make Obsolete. Make Obsolete is my meta call for go-wide decks like vampires, servos, appeal//authority and merfolks. Pia’s Revo won’t do much because my opponent can just keep trading 1/1s and my creatures will still be alive. With so much lifelink, Pia won’t be as deadly either.

Game 2 I kept a creature light hand but had 1 Make Obsolete so I kept it. My opponent opened with Legion’s Landing and Martyr of Dusk T1 and T2. My first spell as a Scrapheap Scrounger on 2. My opponent played Queen’s Commission on 3 and swung with Martyr and the Landing token. T3 I swung back with Scrapheap expecting the opponent not to block to trigger Landing next turn and passed with mana up for Make Obsolete.

T4 my opponent cast Radiant Destiny to make his three 1/1s and 2/1 into 2/2s and 3/2 and getting the City’s Blessing only to be foiled with Make Obsolete in response to Radiant Destiny, sweeping the board and reducing his permanent count from 9 (going 10 with Destiny) to just 4 lands, Legion’s Landing and a 1/1 from Martyr’s token. Radiant enters making the token into a 2/2 but the opponent now didn’t have reasons to attack and passed.

With the tokens out of the way, I cast Hope and Trawler on my fourth turn setting up my Mimic and Ballista on hand. I continued with my Mimic and Ballista play, shot the 2/2 token with Ballista. Swung with in Hope, Trawler. Sac’d Hope to get back my Mimic and recasted it with mana up for Unlicensed. The opponent played Dusk Legion Zealot hoping to draw into more gas but died with an end of turn Unlicensed and a lethal crack back with Hazoret.

Lesson: You have to be keen on what goes to the graveyard and what you have on board to trigger Trawler to replenish your threat count consistently.

SB Lesson: Make Obsolete was another good call for the local meta, but would have been useless if my opponent first played Radiant Destiny before Queen’s Commission. But who the hell plays Make Obsolete which would prompt the opponent to sequence Radiant Destiny before Queen’s Commission.

Round 4: Grixis Scarab God (2-0)

Luckily I was on the play after rolling a double 6 versus my opponent’s 6/4 and opened with a Bomat from a Sunscorched Desert bringing him down to 18. He played a Canyon Slough and passed. Sensing this will be a Grixis or UB, I played Scrapheap on Turn 2 instead of a Mimic and check what land comes next. Better have a resilient threat to draw a Push than a Mimic that can set me up for free Ballistas (I had 1 on hand). Opponent plays T2 Aether Hub and played Glint Sleeve Siphoner and I smiled on the inside. T3 I attacked with both Bomat and Scrapheap bringing him down to 14. Cast Mimic and a free Ballista for 1 and shot the Siphoner down. My oppenent laughed and expected a crazy play from a crazy brewer (we’re friends).

T3 he cast Whirler and had 5 energy up for a thopter. T4 I crashed my Bomat, Mimic and Scrapheap and my opponent made a thopter. I responded by using my Unlicensed Disintegration on the Whirler to bring him down to 11. He blocked my Mimic with the thopter and took 4 from Bomat and Scrapheap going to to 7. He drew for T4 and played a tap land and passed. T5 I attacked with everything and opponent Harnessed Lightning my Scrapheap and took 1 damage from the Bomat going to 6. I cast 2 Lightning Strike to go to game 2.

I sided out 1 Pia’s Revolution, 1 Trawler, 2 Hope for 2 Magma Spray and 2 Vraska’s Contempt. I wanted to make sure I had all the cards that can deal with the Scarab God.

Game 2 my opponent was stuck on 2 lands but had Fatal Pushes and Harnessed Lightning so he was able to deal with my early threats, and I didn’t have an early Bomat either or Scrapheaps and kept a hand full of lands and Lightning Strikes.

Eventually he did reach Scarab God mana but it was forced to block my Hazoret on the backswing thus time-walking him for a turn. With his life slowly going down with my initial hits and 2 Lightning strikes, he was forced to recast Scarab God to keep Hazoret at bay while he dug for answers. With only Hazoret and Scarab exchanging blows, I was out of cards at 20 life and my opponent had a lot of cards but sat on 3 life. I drew a Bomat Courier for the turn and thought about pitching it to Hazoret but thought my opponent may have a Vraska’s Contempt and will still sit on 3 life with a Scarab God next turn.

I decided to play Bomat Courier instead and attacked together with Hazoret and tucked a card underneath Bomat. The opponent didn’t have Contempt and blocked Hazoret with the Scarab God taking 1 from Bomat going down to 2. I sac’d Bomat on my second main to draw the tucked card and flung it with Hazoret to seal the game.

Lesson: When going against a control player, don’t be tempted to cast Mimic over Scrapheap on T2 in the hopes of getting a 4/3 Scrounger. Dealing the 3 damage first is better than 2 damage and bank on a hypothetical 4/3 hit later. Each additional draw step a control player gets is bad for the aggro player.

SB Lesson: Though my SB didn’t matter, I think it is safer to have cards that can deal with that 1 card that can overtake the game, namely The Scarab God.

Round 5: Red Black Aggro (2-0)

My opponent has back to back top 8 finishes in several Store Championships prior so this should be a match that won’t go down easy.

I mulliganed a slow hand with no interactions and kept 6 with a Bomat and Lightning Strike, and a Ballista. No Mimic. I opened with Bomat and hit for 1 and my opponent played a tap land on his turn. T2 I played Ballista for 1 in anticipation to a Khenra or opposing Bomat. An Earthshaker Khenra did come down on T2 and I took 2, keeping our life totals tied at 18 all.

I played Pia’s Revolution on T3 to give me some insurance when my opponent plays his removal or forces me to block unprofitably. Unfortunately my opponent got stuck to 2 lands until 4 and I had Trawlers and Scrapheaps rushing in. A late 3rd land did come and Kris had Lightning Strike and Shock to deal with my creatures. I recurred by Scrapheaps and keep attacking to keep the pressure up. My opponent did manage to play a Rekindling Phoenix but it took a hit with Unlicensed Disintegration and the token was forced to block and save him from some damage. Sadly with not much life left, Pia Revolution got me back my threats and we both decided to go to game 2.

Sided out 1 Hazoret and 1 Trawler for 2 Magma Spray. The RB aggro deck also plays Scrapheap Scrounger so Magma Spray deals with it exceptionally well, not to mention Khenra’s too. I sided out Hazoret because both of us will play the most crucial spells in the first 4 turns and I wan to be light on 3-4 drops and have enough spells to interact.

Game 2, my opponent mulliganed and kept a slow 6. He went with Bomat on 1 which I reciprocated with the same play. T2 he played a land and passed. T2 I played Scrapheap which caught a Magma Spray at end step, both Bomats stilll connected on both sides. T3 my opponent started to stumble with his land drop and cast Khenra with no attacks. I played Trawler on T3 and attacked with my Bomat which the Khenra blocked. T4 my opponent still struggled witth his lands and passed.

T4 I played a Mimic and used 2 mana to play a Ballista for XX=1 (I didn’t want to cast it for zero and have my opponent kill my Mimic in response making my Ballista enter as a 0/0 and lose 2-for-1). My oppenen didn’t kill my Mimic in response to my Ballista thinking he didn’t have a 2-mana removal spell so I followed with a free Ballista. My opponent this time didn’t reach his 3rd land and scooped after a couple of combat steps.

Lesson: I was lucky because my opponent stumbled with lands but Ballista is the star player here ensuring I can block and shoot 1-toughness creaures including the 0/1 Phoenix-Elemental token.

SB Lesson: Against equally fast deck that can damage race like you, you need to go faster. I should have sided out the 2nd Hazoret and added 1 Abrade.

Round 6: Bant Approach (2-1)

Game 1 my opponent went first with a tapped Sunpetal Grove and passed. I played a Hope of Ghirapur and passed the turn. T2 my opponent played Botanical Garden and passed and I knew he was on Bant Approach.  Seeing how my Round 1 went, I needed to delay the opponent as much as I can. T2 I played Scrapheap and attacked with my Hope. Second main phase I sac’ed my Hope to stop my opponent from playing Spring//Mind or Gift of Paradise next turn. T3 my opponent played a land and passed. On my turn, I played a Ballistas with one +1/+1 counter and swing in with Scrapheap.

Turn 4 my opponent did have a Gift of Paradise and gained 3 negating my Scrounger’s damage going back to 19. I kept swinging with my Scrapheap and Ballistas, then cast Hazoret with the plan to dump all my hand in the next turn.

Hazoret mainly took over the game with my opponent not drawing the Fumigate he needed or the life gain to stay alive long enough to stabilize.

I sided Duress back in like what I did with my first round and sided out all my Unlicensed.

Game 2, my opponent had all the answers to my threats and I kept a relatively slow but playable hand. Baffling End, Cast Outs and timely Settles kept my board clean. My opponent managed to cast Approach on turn 6 and Pulled from Tomorrow at the end of my turn and with that I scooped to go to game 3.

No changes in the deck.

I wanted a Hope or Bomat in my opening hand and draw a Duress between turns 4 and 5. My first 7 had a Hope, and Duress but no Bomat which is perfectly fine. I opened with  a 1/1 Hope, 2/1 Mimic from turns 1-2. My opponent cycled Cast Out and played Thaumatic on his first 2 turns. On my 3rd turn, turn I did play Bomat Courier which I draw only to die to an Atzocan Archer my opponent brilliantly sided in to deal with my 1-toughness creatures.

Thank goodness I didn’t side out my Unlicensed Disintegration in anticipation for Caracals and zombie tokens and was able to deal with it on the back swing which let my creatures through unblocked. My opponent had an Hour of Promise at hand but it was the Unlicensed Disintegration that closed the game fast enough before the Bant deck had time to recover. It was a game that I would think relied on who went first and who was on the draw.

At this point after playing through 6 rounds of swiss, I was the top seed and have priority to choose to play or draw going into the quaterfinals.

Quarterfinals: Bant Approach (2-0)

My opponent mulled to 6 which was helpful for me playing first, especially against a control deck. My opponent played a tapped Irrigated Farmland and passed. I saw this player playing into turns and thought this might be a Drake Haven or Approach deck so I was relieve I drew a fast hand and opened with a Bomat on T1.

T2 he played Glacial Fortress and cast Search for Azcanta. T2 I played Scrapheap, hit with Bomat and passed. T3 he scryed and pitched a Haze of Pollen because he didn’t seem to have the green mana, drew and missed a land drop and passed. At this point I knew he kept a shady hand and relied on Search for Azcanta to make his land drops. T3 I hit with Bomat and Scrapheap taking him down to 14 and played Mimic and 2 Ballistas for free with 1 counter each from the Mimic. I decided to go all in while my opponent was still far from Settle the Wreckage mana.

My opponent did manage to get a land off of Azcanta and played Spring//Mind to get to 4 mana on turn 4. I kept the onslaught coming and hit for 8 more damage, bringing him down to 6. I played Trawler on my 5th turn and passed.

I am expecting a Fumigate coming in so having a Trawler out when my opponent casts Fumigate will let me recover my entire board and gives me a sequence to prevent my opponent from gaining a lot of life as a response to Fumigate.

1. Ballista A shoots opponent for 1. Ballista dies, Trawler recovers nothing.
2. Cash in Bomat, discard hand. Bomat dies, Trawler grabs Ballista A.
3. Ballista B shoots Mimic, Ballista dies, Trawler recovers nothing. Mimic dies, Trawler recovers Ballista B.
4. Scrapheap dies, Trawler can’t target Mimic, opponent gains 1 (negates Ballista A’s damage)
5. Trawler dies, opponent gains 1. Trawler fetches Mimic. Scrapheap and Trawler in the yard.
6. End turn, Scrapheap eats Trawler, Scrapheap comes back.
7. Opponent gains zero life.

This sequence DID happen and my opponent decided we were wasting time and went to game 2 after I replayed my hand.

Sided out 4 Unlicensed and sided in 4 Duress. I need Duress on turn 4 to snipe a Settle the Wreckage or Fumigate to keep my offense online. No need for removal since Bant Approach normally play Carnage Tyrant which I can’t target. Lightning Strike can deal with Regal Caracal fairly well and can still go to the dome if needed.

Game 2, my opponent didn’t have problems and was able to cast Baffling End on my Scrapheap Scrounger. 2 Bomats did somehow keep his life total ticking down but it was definitely not fast enough. I played Pia’s Revolution on 3 and swung in with Bomat with 2 and 3 cards underneath them. My opponent played Thaumatic Compass on T4 and played a tap land.

As long as my opponent does not have Hour of Promise next turn, I won’t have problems with Compass which is irritating to say the least.

T4 I played Pia’s Revolution in anticipation for a Fumigate next turn. After taking 7 from Bomats alone in the last 4 turns, if he does decide to take 3 damage per Bomat, he takes 6 and goes down to 7, then gains 1 from Fumigate (since I’ll be cashing in the other Bomat with my 1 mana left) and sit at 8 life. End of my turn, he cycled a Cast Out.

T5 he left mana up so I was thinking it might be a Settle the Wreckage. On my fifth turn, I attacked with my Bomats a Settle was indeed cast. In response, I cast Lightning Strike from my hand to bring him down to 10, then sac’ed 1 of the Bomat and my opponent took 3 again from Pia’s Revolution and went down to 7. I took the cards underneath which were lands and a Scrapheap. I decided to cash in the other Bomat, the opponent took another 3 damage to go down to 4. I discard my hand and draw the cards underneath the 2nd Bomat. It contained a Lightning Stike and passed the turn. My opponent went to T6 and cast Hour of Promise to cluttle the board with zombies, flipped the Compass and passed with 4 life.

I drew for my turn and played a Sunscorched Desert to deal 1 damage and cast the Lightning Strike I drew earlier to deal the last 3 damage.

Lesson: Every damage counts and you must never waste any source of damage against the control player. It might come down to 1 point of damage that might change the results of the game. If the opponent didn’t take the damage from Pia’s Revolution, he might have stabilized and was able to cast Approach of the Second Sun.

Semifinals: Grixis Scarab (2-1)

 

On the play, I opened with Hope and passed hile my opponent opened with Canyon Slough and passed. I seconded with a freshly drawn Bomat and played to swing for 2, bringing the opponent down to 18. Opponent played Aether Hub and cast Siphoner and passed. Thankfully I had Unlicensed and dealt with the Siphoner, deal 3 damage and swung for 2 more and bring him down to 13.

Opponent follows with a Whirler Virtuoso with 5 energy which was beginning to be problematic. I drew for my fourth turn and played Ballista for 2. I attacked with my Hope and Bomat and the opponent decided to make a Thopther and use it to block Hope then put Whirler in front of Bomat tempting me to pop the Ballista and kill it. I don’t and pass the turn wih Lightning Stike on hand. He plays a tapland for this 4th turn and passed.

Turn 5 I played Pia’s Revolution to which my opponent casts Lightning Strike on my Ballita. I chose to shoot my opponent with it to negate him getting the energy and deal 2 more damage bringing him down to 11. After Pia’s Revolution resolves, I target Whirler with Lightning Strike with my remaining 2 mana.

T5 he cast Scarab God and passed. On my T6, I played Hazoret to force him to block with Scarab God and essentially time walk him for the turn, he chose to block to save him some damage because he would respect 2 Lightning Strikes/Unlicensed would be lethal if he ever went down to 6.

Post combat I played a Scrapheap and passed. On his turn, he opted not to cast Scarab God and played another Whirler and Siphoner and passed. On my turn, I did have the Unlicensed to deal with the Whirler, but not without him making a Thopter, he goes down to 8 thanks to Scrapheap in play. I attack with both Hazoret and Scrapheap and he immediately placed the Siphoner in front of the Scrounger to trade, and the thopter in front of Hazoret. On his turn, he had no other play but to recast Scarab God to block Hazoret which it did. He took 3 from Scrapheap and went down to 5.

To win the first game, I hit my opponent with a Lightning Strike and discarded a card to Hazoret to deal the remaining 2.

I sided in 2 Vraska’s Contempt and 1 Magma Spray for 1 Trawler, 2 Pia’s Revolution.

Game 2 I was completely wrecked after drawing 4 lands consecutively after T5. With so many of my threats dead after profitable attacks to keep my opponent’s board clear, a T5 Scarab God made short work after reanimating Virtuosos from his yard who died blocking my Scrapheap. Mind you, I did have my Contempt for the first Scarab God but my opponent had another and played it the next turn. At that moment when I drew 2 lands consecutively and my opponent had his second Scarab God online, I was merely playing to see what other cards did my opponent side in against me.

Game 3, my opponent mulligane to 6 and eventually kept a hand with answers. I had a great start with Bomat into Scrapheap on turn 2. My opponent only had 2 tap lands on this first 2 turns and never drew another land until the game went out of control. from T3, my threats kept coming but my opponent seemed to have the removal to stay afloat and buy some time. I didn’t play anything on turn 3 to keep mana up for Unlicensed for a possible Whirler what will allow my opponent to stabilize.

With my opponent tight in resources and with creatures rushing in from my side, the game gradually went out of my opponent’s reach and lost. Later my opponent did reveal that he should have kept his opening 7 of 2 UB lands and 3 Siphoners and opted to race me instead with the 2/1 Menace and outplay me with sheer card advantage.

Lesson: Fast starts and Unlicensed Disintegration are a powerful combo against Grixis.

SB Lesson: Have the answers in the deck but play like you don’t rely on them. Never dilute the deck for the sake of cramming as much answers (you might not draw them anyway).

Finals: UB Control (2-1)

Me and my opponent are both walking away with PR passes but the playmant is what we’re both after. I got to play first which is a great advantage!

Game 1 I mulled to 6, shipping away 4 lands, 2 Trawlers and 1 Revolution. Never a good keep against decks that pack Disallow and Essence Scatters mainboard. Opening 6 was 2 Bomats, lands and Unlicensed. Kept and opened with a Bomat and hit for 1. Opponent plays a tapland and passed. T2 I opened with another Bomat, crashed for 2 and passed. Opponent plays Drowned Catacomb and passed. T3 I tried to play a Mimic but it was Essence Scattered, missing my chance to play the Ballista I had in hand. Crashed with Bomat to bring my opponent down to 15. T3 my opponent played a land and passed again. T4 I played Scrapheap which got through (I guess no point countering it since it will come back eventually).

I tried  casting Walking Ballista for 1 and it resolved as well. I attacked with my 2 Bomats. Opponent cycles Censor at end of turn. I think the opponent was light on lands because Censor could have stopped by Ballista when I tapped out for it. T4 he did make his land drop and passed again. T5 I kept attacking with my 2 Bomats, Scrapheap and Ballista but my opponent cast Vraska’s Contempt on my Scrapheap. He took 3 but gained 2. T5 he made a land drop and cast Scarab God. I have been waiting for a target for my Unlicensed Disintegraton so on T6 I took down the Scarab God with it to deal 3 extra damage. Played a Sunscorched Desert to deal 1, he Fatal Pushed one of the Bomats and at end step he took back The Scarab God.

On my opponent’s turn, he played a land and cast Arguel’s Blood Fast. The game state is a bit shady here guys, sorry, because the game was sort of intense even I myself thought we were playing game 2 already. My opponent eventually ended with 6 life on his untap step with Arguel on the battlefield. He decided to draw using Arguel’s bloodfast with 2 mana, going down to 4, triggering Arguel’s flip condition. I remember he still had his Scarab God on hand. He played a land, then cast Scarab God keeping Temple of Aclazotz untapped, attempting to sacrifice the Scarab God to it and essentially gain 5 life every turn from now on. In response to Scarab God entering the battlefield, I sac’ed my remaining Bomat to refill my land and bagged a Lightning Strike.

I shot my opponent with it tto bring him down to 1, and finally used my surviving Ballista which was not Censored and kill him before he could execute his plan.

Sideboard was 2 Contempt and 2 Abrades. I am expecting some Contraband Kingpin or Gifted Aetherborne to come out of the sideboard so I want to make sure they don’t get in the way.

Game 2 I drew all my sideboards but never got passed 2 lands until T5. My opponent packed Moment of Craving and countered my plays until a Scarab God hit the battlefield. When I eventually got my third land, a Pia’s Revolution online and some artifacts creatures going to the red zone, my opponent had enough answers and life points to keep Pia’s Revolution off duty. The game ended quickly soon after with my opponent down to 9 with me having 2 Lightning Strikes on hand but no turns or lands to cast them with.

Game 3 was the most nerve wrecking game because I needed to draw a fast hand and my opponent must not draw his Moment of Craving, Fatal Pushes, Contraband Kingpind early.

I opened with 2 Bomats back to back which went unanswered for 2 turns each netting me 3 damage and 3 cards combined tucked underneath. My opponent played 2 taplands on his first 2 turns and cycled a Hieroglyphic Illuminations at end of my 2nd turn. Still no Craving or Push in sight. T3 I played Mimic and 1 Ballista for free leaving 1 mana up for a potential Bomat cracking, attacked with Bomats to bring my opponent down to 15.

A Contraband Kingpin did come in on my opponent’s side and he did push one of my Bomat. I cashed the Bomat in, discard lands and a Hope of Ghirphur which I drew late, and drew into an Unlicensed Disintegraton and Hazoret.

T4 I killed the Kingpin with the Unlicensed to deal 3 more damage, attacked with the surviving Bomat, Mimic and Ballista and dropped my opponent down to 8. Opponent plays a land on his T4 and passed with mana up. I didn’t have the lands to play my Hazoret so I just kept attacking to deal 4 more damage and bring my opponent down to 4 life.

And end step, my opponent cast a Glimmer of Genius to which I responded with hitting him with a Lightning Strike and popped the Ballista to deal the last 4 damage, winning the game and the Store Championships.

Notes:

The deck has a number of great synergy that works really well together, but are not useless when played separately.

Metallic Mimic + Walking Ballista

Many games were won by curving multiple Ballistas after a Mimic enters the battlefield. Games that allow you to have 2 Mimics in the battlefield and playing Ballistas as a 2/2 for free is priceless. Having a 1-drop and two 2-drops on turn 2 with the ability to use the Ballista to take a lot of standard’s best 1-toughness creatures puts the deck ahead in so many ways. Thopters, Bomats, Khenras, Siphoners, Ragavan Tokens, Vampire tokens are just target you can take out without spending any mana.

Pia’s Revolution + Lightning Strike + Unlicensed Disintgration

Pia’s Revolution works wonder alone, but coupled with direct damage spells make it so much better. Alone it can pressure the opponent to take unneccesary damage just to keep the onslaught of your robots at bay. Even during combat, nonprofitable attacks or blocks can still result to some damage getting through if the opponent wants your creatures to stay dead. Even if your attacks don’t connect, Pia’s Revolution provides that reach which makes your Lightning Strike and Unlicensed Disintegration much more deadly.

Scrapheap Trawler + Constructs curved 3-2-1-0

The interaction of Scrap Trawler and Pia’s Revolution is the most obvious but the real synergy comes from the creaures that the deck supports. Except for Hope of Ghirapur, everything in the deck is a Construct which benefits from Mimic’s ability giving you more power on the board. But the spread of casting cost couped by a somewhat voluntary sacrifice triggers from Bomat and Hope, you can get your Ballistas back very easily. Ballistas can also take your creatures down if needed against Fumigate and still have ways to get them back wth Trawler. In multples, Trawler can guarantee that you won’t be running out of threats to play making you deck more resilient to removal.

Hazoret the Fervent

Initially I thought Hazoret did not fit into the deck but she ended up replacing Pia Nalaar in the deck because Hazoret is a much better top deck late in the game. With so much 3 drops already in Revolution, Unlicensed and Trawler, Pia Nalaar is the worse card amonst the 3. Hazoret however is a great top curve that can end games quickly, catch the opponent off guard, force them to block her and let your construct get through, and can be a steady source of damage if the board is to clutered. She has won me games that I otherwise would have lost if not for her element of surprise.

I am very satisfied with how this iteration came out. If you’re looking for a strong deck that won’t break your pocket, give this a try and let me know how it feels!

Thanks for reading till the end! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I tried capturing every minute of the games!

Alvanson

Ps. I want to thank Team Mavericks for the playtesting, variation suggestions and for the support.