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Why was the flashbacked Unburial Rites not Negated, since Dissipate is a far more versatile counter (and is even better against a Reanimation deck if you get a creature like Inferno Titan)?
Anyway, the deck looks fun and I want to try it. Definitely want to add more artifacts like Wurmcoil Engine, similar to the building on a budget deck that had grand architects, wurmcoils, and phantasmal images and such. 

"Dismember is an incredible removal spell for a mono-blue deck. I don't think this deck can afford the pain of more than one Dismember, considering it's already playing Gitaxian Probe and Spined Thopter."

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but there is no "pain" (life loss) from casting Gitaxian Probe or Spined Thopter in a mono-blue deck. Their costs can be paid with blue mana. It's not just big glaring legality errors, but little details like this that really weaken this column from week to week.

I have a question.

How do you make Grand Architect decks competitive?

1. This deck seems like it's just a low-end delver shell.

2. Every time I try to make a deck with the architects mana ability I seem to run into the problem of consistency.

I guess the real question is, how do you make a Grand Architect consistent?


Specifically assuming you are not countered any deck with a grand architect in it needs to be playing that card by turn 3. It seems that any deck based on using its mana ability for artifacts seriously falls apart if you do NOT land an architect at that point in time.

This guy is my favorite 'lord' as well. But it seems every time I make a deck that on paper looks like it could dish out some serious power I'm finding myself scooping cards because I can't find an Architect when I need one.

Mar 20, 2012 -- 10:33PM, CommanderJim wrote:

Mar 20, 2012 -- 10:08PM, Vincent_Valentine_02 wrote:

Y U no video, JVL....

They should really start enforcing MtGO video recording of the playtests in each deckbuilding column. Pratically all the main websites do it, why can't the mothership get back on the train too?

Well, he was playing against people in his shop. I don't know if he should be forced to play online instead of paper magic just so we can see recordings of his games.

I don't mean strictly forced...but incentivated to. Video coverage of playtest is the current present and future of Magic for these deckbuilding articles all around the interwebs' main MtG websites. Text coverage is decent in some areas, but it's more restrictive on what he can actually put inside the article for his column. He can spare the good ol' keyboard and input more important and interesting content via video (actual full matches, actual gameplay of the deck in action, his thought patterns and analysis), which is more profitable for both him and us. Video is also more alluring for many viewers out there, which means more clicks on his article.

I don't mean he should always do MtGO video playtest, but he could at least rotate between written and video gameplay, depending on his availability. I also think many other columns in Daily MtG could profit from more video content.

This was exactly what I'm looking for out of a budget-deckbuilding column: a deck that's easy to put together, fun to play, and competitive enough to pull a decent FNM record coupled with suggestions on how to invest more in the deck if I end up liking it enough to continue with it. Kudos!

As far as the deck goes, it might be worth trying out Gust Skimmer. You talk about flying creatures being important in the R/G matchup, and it gives you explosive turns that involve Architect into Thopter into Skimmer. One of my favorite things about Architect is that it doesn't require the creature to lose summoning sickness before it can tap for mana, and including another 2-mana evasive artifact takes good advantage of this.