Wow, time flies! Very cool idea. I hadn’t even considered Karn in here but I do like Giant + Plating. Guess Plating’s already lights out for opponents a lot of the time. Will do some testing and get back to you… alternatively, watch for a follow-up article! Thanks for the bump 😛

Edit : +3 Relic of Progenitus maindeck, forgot them (list was 57)

I know the article is more than one year old.
I’ve always been interested in the deck and built it online about a month ago.
I thought something was missing, as regards threats.
But with the release of Karn, Scion of Urza, I think this deck has gained a huge threat. The tokens it creates are huge and really shine.

I share the decklist with you as you are the creator of the deck.

Creatures (4)

4 Maverick Thopterist

Enchantment (2)

2 Blood Moon

Artifacts (18)

4 Cogworker’s Puzzleknot
2 Servo Schematic
4 Mox Opal
4 Mishra’s Bauble
4 Cranial Plating

Instants and Sorceries ( 11)

4 Galvanic Blast
4 Thoughtcast
3 Reverse Engineer

Planeswalkers (3)

3 Karn, Scion of Urza

Lands (19)

1 Mountain
2 Steam Vents
4 Darksteel Citadel
4 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Flooded Strand

Sideboard :

2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 By Force
2 Echoing Truth
2 Blood Moon
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
3 Metallic Rebuke
2 Anger of the Gods

The sideboard might not be optimal yet.

I’ve cut Giants because I honestly think they were subpar, 4/4 was hard in front of Tarmogoyfs, Delve creatures, and Eldrazis.
I also cut the Howling Mines because in my opinion they were only good when I already was in a great position, aka, being able to cast an Improvise spell per turn, and the deck already has way enough drawing power.
Instead I’ve increased the cogworker-like effects because they almost turn on Metalcraft alone.
Karn is a very strong threat, and also defines us as a midrange deck, more than an aggro one. That’s why I put in 2 Blood Moon, 4 Galvanic Blast, on top of the 3 Relic of Progenitus, as a way to interact with opponents game 1.
I really think that Karn is what the deck needed to shine.
Let me know if you test the list, I would highly appreciate your review. I can’t thank you enough for brewing the list in the first place.

Those cards don’t have a lot of utility. Puzzleknot allows us to pressure linear decks with Plating while also being somewhat resistant to targeted removal (can pop it for another body), and ramping up our artifact count fast to kickstart our draw engines and other improvise spells. The Plating bit is especially important since eating a pair of removal spells from opponents (as they have to remove Plating-holders), esp. with a Chalice on board so we get stuff like Terminate or chump-blocking Goyfs, is invaluable when we can follow up with Thopterist or Giant.

As for Spellbomb, it provides some much-needed interaction with aggressive decks while trading for a card later on and being “free” to cast when we’re dropping an improvise threat that turn.

I think both cards do a lot more than Orni and Memnite, especially considering both of them are easy for opponents to 1-for-1.

I actually had these in the second build for awhile and eventually cut them to max out on Dismember and play another Anger. I can see going back to one though, especially in some metagames (featuring lots of pump decks or Bridge-featuring strategies).

Nah, that isn’t necessary. 🙂

Feel free to delete the thread if you want.

Oh. Right.

How about Memnite and Ornithopter instead of Puzzleknot and Spellbomb?

No I realize you were. Mostly I just want to avoid a long discussion about this, even a civil one, since like I said it’s just not relevant to most readers. (As for me, I’m a pretty gigantic language nerd, so I get it. And yes, I’m equally great at parties.)

Yeah I get it, I still find your use of the dictionary funny: “informal: used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while NOT BEING LITERALLY TRUE.” It’s a good day when the dictionary contradicts itself. haha… keep up your good work on the article. I enjoyed it.

Noted. I thought we were both fairly civil. A flame war?

I did, but then I decided that being the only one to suffer from its drawback probably wasn’t going to win me any games! That’s the kind of frustrating thing about improvise: it only works with the tapped-clause artifacts that provide beneficial effects, of which there are painfully few. Trinisphere, Winter Orb, etc. would just benefit opponents by getting tapped down on our main phase.

I did take a look and Cogwork was by far the most effective of the bunch. The trouble with living weapon stuff like Flayer Husk is that the germ token isn’t an artifact. Cogwork jumpstarts our gameplan by immediately putting two artifacts on the board. In the midgame, it even provides a second body by sacrificing with some help from Mox Opal, which is hugely relevant with a Plating around.

We’ll have to agree to disagree! I stand by the claim that when it comes to casting improvise spells, Bauble is literally a mox (Mox Crystal, to be specific). I don’t think it’s fair to take a word out of its context and assign another meaning to it. But again, either way, my use of literally falls under the informal definition whether or not you want to consider the word’s context in the sentence. Informal writing is nothing new on MN—we writers love sprinkling jokes and colloquialisms into our articles 🙂

So I just want to clear the air here a bit. Yes, we may have used the word a little incorrectly. Hopefully the meaning was still clear, and it did not impact the strength of Jordan’s argument. At the end of the day, that is more my concern as editor than the exactness of language. In any case, these discussions are to a large extent not germane to our content here at Nexus; let’s please try to avoid a flame war over word usage, as that really isn’t of any interest to most of our readers.

Well you quote the dictionary which says the words “exactly, precisely” and don’t over look the words “really” or “truly”, so that part of your case ain’t helping you much. Your caveat still doesn’t help you, because the word you’re actually looking for here is “effectively.” In context, the Bauble requires other cards to even function like a Mox. Your Bauble is “effectively” a Mox, not literally.

Having a caveat in the first place suggests it’s not literal. I’m the first person to admit language changes (and remarked on it), but having a word mean the opposite of its original definition is an exception I’m willing to stand up against.

Ordinary artisfact creatures would either be used to attack, block or tapping to improvise.

Living weapons deliver a creature token which can attack or block at your leisure, while you can tap the equipment to improvise when you need to.

All other artisfacts in the deck should be chosen with similare attitude, so perhaps a look should be taken at anything generating servo-creatures as well.

Try reading the whole sentence:
“Bauble is literally a Mox when it comes to casting improvise spells.”

Google:
LITERALLY—adverb
in a literal manner or sense; exactly.
“the driver took it literally when asked to go straight across the traffic circle”
synonyms: exactly, precisely, actually, really, truly; More
informal: used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true.
“I have received literally thousands of letters”

Even if I hadn’t included the caveat you missed, the informal definition of literally would still apply. Language evolves brah. How can you argue with a dictionary?