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2 years ago ::
Jul 20, 2011 - 6:50AM
#1
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Date Joined:
Oct 17, 2010
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I'm here to talk about a Puresteel Paladin deck I've been playing a lot (online) recently and have been really enjoying. I call it, "Make your own hero" because I feel like I take base layers of 1/1s and 0/0s and build my own threats piece by piece from those, or "equipical" for obvious reasons. It's rediculously fast, sometimes getting metalcraft on turn 1, and getting right into Paladins, Duelists, and Swords a plenty on turn 2. Accorder's Shield is one of my favorite cards, because with Paladins out its free card draw, vigilance for any creature (move it around and almost never tap a creature) and extra defense to keep your **** alive. I've never actually payed the equip cost before. And it even does exceptionally well late game, because my card draw is so good that I never have to stop making my creatures bigger and bigger with almost free equipments. Its less susceptable to board sweeps than traditional fast aggro decks, which load on tons of tiny creatures very fast. It even has decent lifegain, with lifelink and the fact that you can always unequip the lifestaff last from a germ for some free regen. I dont like mortarpods, personally, because I feel like their cost is too high, (Its basically best with 1 drop equipments) and creatures aren't actually that easy to come along, so sacrificing them usually isn't worth it. I'd be pleased to see what other variations of this list others may be playing. So far, I haven't lost online with it, and I've always managed to quickly overwhelm the opponent and not let down till I win. I've beaten valakut and W/U control mostly so far. Theres no sideboard yet, but thats because I haven't been running it long enough to settle on a list yet. 4 x Seachrome Coast  4 x Glacial Fortress  4 x Puresteel Paladin  3 x Accorder's Shield  4 x Flayer Husk  3 x Basilisk Collar  4 x Kor Duelist  4 x Dispatch  2 x Mox Opal  3 x Celestial Colonnade  4 x Inkmoth Nexus  4 x Preordain  7 x Plains  2 x Island  1 x Sword of Body and Mind  2 x Sword of Feast and Famine  1 x Sword of War and Peace  2 x Sylvok Lifestaff  2 x Infiltration Lens 
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2 years ago ::
Jul 20, 2011 - 9:19AM
#2
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Date Joined:
Nov 27, 2007
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Mirran Crusader  , Blade Splicer  , and Batterskull  all seem good here. Sun Titan  would be an interesting late-game option since it can pull essentially all of the permanents in this deck back (including swords!). Timely Reinforcements  seems decent too.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 20, 2011 - 6:45PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Mar 27, 2003
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4 x Seachrome Coast
4 x Glacial Fortress
4 x Puresteel Paladin
3 x Accorder's Shield
4 x Flayer Husk
3 x Basilisk Collar
4 x Kor Duelist
4 x Dispatch
2 x Mox Opal
3 x Celestial Colonnade
4 x Inkmoth Nexus
4 x Preordain
7 x Plains
2 x Island
1 x Sword of Body and Mind
2 x Sword of Feast and Famine
1 x Sword of War and Peace
2 x Sylvok Lifestaff
2 x Infiltration Lens
You should have one Basilisk Collar, not 3. Sylvok Lifestaff is better for the lifegain; in fact, the only reason Basilisk Collar is in the original lists is because of what it does with Mortarpod. You should not have Infiltration Lens at all, it is a terrible piece of equipment. You should have at least 3 Mortarpod, because it helps up your creature count with Living Weapon and it also has amazing synergy with Basilisk Collar, Puresteel Paladin and Sylvok Lifestaff (and god forbid you have all three together). I would have only 1 Accorder's Shield; it's not very good as Equipment goes, and is there mainly to trigger a card draw off Paladin.
As far as I can see, your current list has lost the reason to run blue in the first place; Trinket Mage  .
I would make the following changes to your list:
-2 Accorder's Shield
-2 Infiltration Lens
-2 Basilisk Collar
-1 Sylvok Lifestaff (optional)
+3 Mortarpod
+3 Trinket Mage
+1 Sword of War and Peace or Batterskull (optional).
The advantage of Mortarpods is that with Metalcraft, a Puresteel Paladin, and a handful of Germs/Duelists/Mages, you can basically wipe out a quarter to a third of your opponent's life points. e.g. you attack them to 6 with Paladin, three germs, a Duelist, and a Collonnade. You free-equip Mortarpod to a Germ, shoot your opponent for one. Free-equip to Collonnade, shoot your opponent for 1. Free equip to another Germ, shoot. Repeat this process and finish with the Puresteel, and suddenly your opponent is dead.
It's also really useful to be able to trade a Germ with Basilisk and Mortarpod for any opposing creature, because you don't actually lose clockspeed for doing it (since most of your creatures' power is coming from Equipment, so you just move Equipment over to a different creature and attack for the same amount). Similarly, with Lifestaff and Mortarpod you convert your germs into life total while chipping away your opponents' weenies/life.
It's really not even about giving niche cards to black.
It should be about giving black cards to Niche.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 20, 2011 - 7:12PM
#4
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swiftboots...............a must?
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2 years ago ::
Jul 20, 2011 - 10:34PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Oct 17, 2010
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Indigo... I agree on the mortarpod/collar business, but I still love my shields. 0 drop equipment feels so nice, and its almost always a welcome improvement for metalcraft. Why should I tap out when I don't need to? I think I'll drop the lens to a 1, because sometimes the opponent HAS to block to survive, so I want to get some decent cards out of it so I don't lose tempo and get defeated later. As far as the trinket mage goes... I'd rather just have card draw, because with 20 something equipments in my deck and a good draw engine, why should I waste 3 cmc for a 2/2 body and another small equipment? I love preordain, so I think that's worth keeping blue for.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 20, 2011 - 11:50PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Mar 27, 2003
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swiftboots...............a must?
I've been running two Swiftfoot Boots in my build, it's been okay so far.
It's really not even about giving niche cards to black.
It should be about giving black cards to Niche.
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2 years ago ::
Jul 21, 2011 - 1:37AM
#7
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Date Joined:
Oct 17, 2010
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swiftboots...............a must?
I've been running two Swiftfoot Boots in my build, it's been okay so far.
I like a Sun Titan or two in the deck, and they're really nice on that guy. Basically, you drop a Sun Titan, and you get to put one sword on him before he attacks, and another sword on him after. I'll have to stick some boots in to get that combo going.
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