This is a deck I've been tinkering with for the past couple days after seeing many different/similar spellcraft decks posted here. So far it has been performing fairly well (10-2 today in its current form), but even more importantly, it really is a blast to play!
While it is essentially an aggressive midrange deck (capping out at 4 power in the main deck), it also includes an exceptionally powerful combo. This combo involves two (or three) cards:
Horde Plunderer and
Ironfist Chancellor as well any spellcraft weapon, though this combo is most effective by far when paired with
Sword of Unity.
If you are able to set this particular three-card combo up (which I accomplished in approximately 70% of my ranked games), you will be able to buff and apply aegis to all of your units EACH TURN for 0 power. The combo works like this-- once both Ironfist and Horde Plunderer are on the field
(something that can be done on turns 2 and 3 respectively if you have at least one Primal and one Justice influence) equip Ironfist with Sword of Unity (turn 4); then, you activate his 5 power ability each turn ("Pay 5 to play a 2/2 Soldier with a copy of each weapon on Ironfist Chancellor.").Once you've created 2 or 3 of the units through Ironfist's ability, your board becomes filled with a number of rather frightening threats that are difficult for the opponent to deal with. (*This combo becomes even more powerful when you are able to equip a
Tome of Repetition on one of your units as well, as you're then able to cast a SECOND
Stand Together per turn for 0 mana).
Once you've set up and activated the ability/combo, you'll create a 6/6 unit with aegis, lifelink, and overwhelm, while also simultaneously giving all of your units +1/+1 and aegis. I generally pull this off around turn 5-7, while also using
Equivocate and
Permafrost to hold off early aggression and/or grabbing sigils/drawing cards in general.
And that's all there is to it! If you're a bit behind early, with your match up/hand/power or influence situation, you should hold off on casting your high-threat combo pieces until the timing is more suitable-- unless absolutely necessary-- (though having 4 copies of each gives you some wiggle room and can even be used to draw removal from your opponent if you have multiple copies in hand of one or more of the three cards mentioned). Also, thanks to the lifelink on SoU, you have a good tool set to recover in the mid-game and seize back the advantage if you're dealt a rough start.
The combo is surprisingly consistent, but, even in its absence, the deck functions fine, just as another effective TJP midrange otherwise would, so it's not a "get combo or lose" situation. Even though this is the configuration I've settled on for now, involving early-game card draw to increase the likelihood of combo or finding an answer to an enemy threat, there is a lot of room for customization based on your own personal preferences while still retaining the combo cards.
I really enjoy this deck (it feels almost broken one the combo goes off), but I would definitely appreciate any feedback or ideas, as I'm still debating on a few of the card choices. And if you do try it out, let me know how it works for you! Hope you enjoy!
-Vesalius
Permafrost
x4
1
Seek Power
x4
1
Staff of Speed
x2
2
Equivocate
x3
2
Ironfist Chancellor
x4
2
Learned Herbalist
x4
2
Linebreaker's Shield
x3
2
Strategize
x2
2
Tome of Repetition
x3
2
Vanquisher's Blade
x3
3
Auralian Merchant
x4
3
Horde Plunderer
x4
3
Wisdom of the Elders
x2
4
Sandstorm Titan
x3
4
Sword of Unity
x3
Justice Sigil
x4
Primal Sigil
x5
Time Sigil
x7
Crest of Order
x2
Crest of Progress
x3
Seat of Order
x2
Seat of Progress
x2
Seat of Wisdom
x2
View Deck on Shiftstoned
So why are you running staff of speed? What matchups is it good in? I'm running a similiar deck and it has issues with not having enough creatures to put weapons on. Do you have any similiar issues? Why aurelian merchant over jenev? Also why passage when you already have disjunction? When do you pick up emeritus? Why no influence/power fixing in the market?
I'll do my best to answer your questions in order:
Staff of speed is predominantly for the 1-cost endurance additive (the spellcraft can be helpful, and has been on occasion, however); this weapon is predominantly meant to counter Skycrag/Scream decks (which I've been encountering a lot of again all of a sudden), and any other control or midrange that runs Permafrost[/]: if you invest a weapon in a unit and it doesn't have aegis yet, or does, but the enemy doubles down on freezing it, it can mean a major setback, so this is just an added bit of insurance. I'll likely change it with the meta.
In the past, I did have issues with the unit/attachment ratio, yes, but since I've added the early draw as well as sigil fetch, I've been able to filter in units with consistency and have not had much of an issue since; also, I was originally running Jennev, but I found the two health made it often function as little more than a chump-blocker for early-game aggression; the Aurelian replacement helped with that, and, more importantly, it added the ramp needed to reach 5 for the Chancellor ability or "hard-casting" a spellcraft spell on a bad draw-- it's worked quite well for me so far (though that could change).
Passage is actually primarily used to silence the enemy board, rather than for its attachment destruction; I'll admit that I've used it only a handful of times, but it has, on more than one occasion, allowed me to stop flying/deadly/inspire enemy units from tipping the balance, allowing me a vital turn or two to retake the board.
I nearly always use power-fixing in market, and, after speaking to another member of this board, I think I'll swap in Tome of Repetition for the purpose; the main reason I had not done so already is that I've stacked a fair amount of spells/two-color sigils in the deck to assist with that issue, and the only card that demands particularly excessive influence requirements (2 Time, 2 Justice) is Sword of Unity, an obviously necessary card for the deck's function, but I've as of yet had issue with it (that said, again, Tome I think is a good change).
As for Emeritus-- Emeritus is a last-resort fail-safe for when the necessary combo pieces, despite fair amount of draw, just don't show up in full. I use him after acquiring the combo often too, in order to "win more" to make certain that I keep the board (by drawing into other sigils, other copies of chancellor, weapons, and so on).
Thank you, really, for giving your feedback (and no need to apologize! I didn't take your comments as rude at all), and I will certainly be thinking about what you've asked as I re-re-re-review the list hah.