It’s finally here! The day has arrived at long last, where Jumpstart: Historic Horizons has been released on Magic Arena. Immediately, many players flocked to the ladder to start testing the decks that they’ve been brewing for weeks on end. Well I think we may have found the undisputed best deck in the format, at least for now.
Tempered Steel
This is a
Tempered Steel
Tempered Steel
Artifact creatures you control get +2/+2.
deck that was created by myself and @JohnRamosMTG. Him and I have been brewing and testing for tournaments for a while now, and so far this deck has been the best that we’ve tested. We’ll break down the deck a bit here and talk through our card choices and why this deck is just so darn good.
Historic Horizons Cards
The story really starts with these two power house cards from Modern Horizons 2. Let’s start off with
Esper Sentinel
Esper Sentinel
Whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn, draw a card unless that player pays {X}, where X is this creature's power.
. One of the main problems with the deck before was that it lacked any sort of draw potential. Esper Sentinel gives us that. Taxing our opponent’s first noncreature spell each turn is extremely powerful. Even if they pay for it, they lose out on being able to cast a second spell in the turn. When we buff up Esper Sentinel, it basically guarantees us drawing cards.
Nettlecyst
Nettlecyst
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters, create a 0/0 black Phyrexian Germ creature token, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact and/or enchantment you control.
Equip {2}
is an absurd card in this deck as well. With a critical mass of cheap artifacts, our creatures can get really big, very quickly. Being able to also shift this around onto various creatures lets us pick and choose how we get damage through, which is incredibly powerful.
Now you may be asking, where is
Thought Monitor
Thought Monitor
Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)
Flying
When this creature enters, draw two cards.
? The biggest reason John cut Thought Monitor from the deck is that it was often costing 4-6 mana. Esper Sentinel does what Thought Monitor does but cheaper and more reliably. In the Modern incarnations of Affinity, they have access to a lot more cheap artifact spells like
Welding Jar
Welding Jar
Sacrifice this artifact: Regenerate target artifact.
and
Memnite
Memnite
to help power out Thought Monitor where we don’t. We also don’t have the luxury of having
Frogmite
Frogmite
Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)
or
Springleaf Drum
Springleaf Drum
{T}, Tap an untapped creature you control: Add one mana of any color.
to help smooth out our hand dump turns. So, Thought Monitor was cut in favor of more interaction pieces.
Creatures
In addition to Esper Sentinel, we run a host of cheap artifact creatures that help us pile on damage quickly. Often times in the early game, a board state of
Court Homunculus
Court Homunculus
This creature gets +1/+1 as long as you control another artifact.
and
Gingerbrute
Gingerbrute
Haste (This creature can attack and {T} as soon as it comes under your control.)
{1}: This creature can't be blocked this turn except by creatures with haste.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this creature: You gain 3 life.
can get in 6-9 damage before our opponent has any real play.
Vault Skirge
Vault Skirge
({B/P} can be paid with either {B} or 2 life.)
Flying
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
is a wonderful target for our Nettlecyst and can help us stave off some life loss from early aggressive decks. Stonecoil Cerpent tends to come down as a midgame threat that can block Dragon’s Rage Channeler, but can serve as an early game beater if we need. To tie everything together
Steel Overseer
Steel Overseer
{T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on each artifact creature you control.
helps to pump up our team to incredible heights to close games out quick.
READ MORE: Your Commander Deck Probably Needs More Interaction
Support Cards
The-Blackstaff-of-Waterdeep-AFR-048
The namesake card of the deck is
Tempered Steel
Tempered Steel
Artifact creatures you control get +2/+2.
. This insanely powerful anthem can turn our little dorky 1/1s into sizeable threats. Stack up a few of these and you’ve got a party. The amazing thing is, we can definitely win games without this card.
Spell Pierce
Spell Pierce
Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {2}.
was added in place of Thought Monitor. Esper Sentinel really did the job of drawing us cards, and Spell Pierce really helps in protecting our creatures from removal. In conjunction with Esper Sentinel, you leave your opponent with a very difficult choice.
Emry, Lurker of the Loch
Emry, Lurker of the Loch
Affinity for artifacts (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each artifact you control.)
When Emry enters, mill four cards.
{T}: Choose target artifact card in your graveyard. You may cast that card this turn. (You still pay its costs. Timing rules still apply.)
gives us a little staying power to recover from a board wipe or removal.
The Blackstaff of Waterdeep
The Blackstaff of Waterdeep
You may choose not to untap The Blackstaff of Waterdeep during your untap step.
Animate Walking Statue — {1}{U}, {T}: Another target nontoken artifact you control becomes a 4/4 artifact creature for as long as The Blackstaff of Waterdeep remains tapped. Activate only as a sorcery.
is a really fun inclusion here. This can help turn our Vault Skirge or
Blinkmoth Nexus
Blinkmoth Nexus
{T}: Add {C}.
{1}: This land becomes a 1/1 Blinkmoth artifact creature with flying until end of turn. It's still a land.
{1}, {T}: Target Blinkmoth creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
into 4/4 flyers.
READ MORE: What We Want to See in MTG’s Streets of New Capenna
Sideboard
As for our sideboard, we have
Portable Hole
Portable Hole
When this artifact enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls with mana value 2 or less until this artifact leaves the battlefield.
to deal with various small blockers or cheap permanents, and it’s an artifact as an added bonus.
Grafdigger’s Cage
Grafdigger’s Cage
Creature cards in graveyards and libraries can't enter the battlefield.
Players can't cast spells from graveyards or libraries.
and
Soul-Guide Lantern
Soul-Guide Lantern
When this artifact enters, exile target card from a graveyard.
{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Exile each opponent's graveyard.
{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.
are our main graveyard hate spells in addition to being cheap artifacts.
Declaration in Stone
Declaration in Stone
Exile target creature and all other creatures its controller controls with the same name as that creature. That player investigates for each nontoken creature exiled this way.
is inexpensive exile removal, and
Dovin’s Veto
Dovin’s Veto
This spell can't be countered.
Counter target noncreature spell.
and
Mystical Dispute
Mystical Dispute
This spell costs {2} less to cast if it targets a blue spell.
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {3}.
are our additional counter magic package.
READ MORE: Should Birthing Pod be Unbanned in Modern?
We are still very much in the early stages of this new format, but I highly encourage you to give this deck a try. Truthfully, crafting Esper Sentinels and Nettlecysts aren’t too bad of a requirement, as there’s a good chance that they’ll be good in other decks as well. Give this deck a try and let us know what you think about it in the comments!