Hello and welcome to my first ever Pioneer list!
When I played Kamigawa: Neon Dinasty's pre-release, I fell in love with Mindlink Mech. Very interesting design that I couldn't abuse much during my pre-release, but I was determined to try in constructed.
I attempted a bit in Standard, using Calamity Bearer for some power turns, but it felt fragile, slow and uninteresting. It also felt like it defeated opponents due to them overlooking exponentials rather than the deck actually being strong, which meant once the surprise factor was out, it became predictable and vulnerable.
So I set my sights onto the next available format, Pioneer. More specifically, what made me look here is the lynchpin of the list, Shrapnel Blast. Without this card, the deck wouldn't be nearly as powerful as it is. It gives the list tremendous reach, and thanks to all our cheap artifacts, the secondary cost is hardly costly.
The main strategy is, obviously, Mindlink Mech's copy effect with the myriad of cheap cards with powerful abilities.
But lets talk about our cheap cards with great effects:
Gingerbrute is a pretty annoying pest thanks to haste and unblockable for 1. It's a very good crewing creature for Mindlink, as it lets us attack with a 4/3 hasty flyer on T3.
Lizard Blades is straightforward: it gives double strike - either when reconfigured, or when crewing Mindlink Mech. That's all there is to it, really.
Dreadhorde Arcanist is where things get interesting. Since our Mech copies it while keeping its 4 power, this lets us cast any spell in our deck from the grave. Recast Chart a Course or See the Truth in order to refuel, Prismari Command to destroy more artifacts, ramp, or remove something, or even Shrapnel Blast for incredible reach. Remember that when casting See the Truth from the grave, you actually draw all three cards!
Stonecoil Serpent is a very clutch card here. While it doesn't significantly empower Mindlink Mech by itself, it *does* give it protection from multicolored as well as trample. Its flexible cost means it is almost never a bad draw. Also, keep note that, should it die while holding an Eater of Virtue, the protection ability also gets passed.
Our final copy target is Prophetic Flamespeaker. Simply giving our Mech Double Strike and Trample all at once is already powerful enough, but its ability to then impulse draw twice off of it is amazing.
Onto other cards with great effects, we have Eater of Virtue. At first, it starts off as a simple Bonesplitter, which isn't as bad as it looks considering our creatures all love having a bit more power, and +2 is enough to make them all a threat on their own. It starts to shine, however, when one of those creatures dies, as the sword steals its keywords and passes it on. So you could have a hasty Dreadhorde Arcanist w/ 3 power, or maybe a double striking Gingerbrute. It's certainly not a card to be underestimated.
The rest is pretty self explanatory - Chart a Course and See the Truth for draws, Shrapnel Blast for removal and reach, Prismari Command for Prismari Command things.
Onto the sideboard!
Mystical Dispute is excellent versus other blue lists, letting us protect ourselves from counterspells and the like.
Negate is another great addition when facing control lists, while also being one of our only preemptive answers to Karn, the Great Creator before it shuts down our artifacts.
Aether Gust buys us some time against MonoG - hopefully enough to kill them before they get set up.
Damping Sphere is a bit of a bother against monoG, but it's mainly there to curb Lotus Combo decks.
Cleansing Wildfire has a similar role, destroying Nykthos as well as other bothersome lands. It can also heavily punish decks lacking in basic lands. Casting it off of the grave with Dreadhorde Arcanist has the added benefit of drawing you a card, too.
And finally, Grafdigger's Cage prevents Greasefang from doing its shenanigans, though it does weaken us a bit. However, we can turn it off with a Shrapnel Blast if it is needed.
Maybeboard: Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki is an incredible card, giving us a treasure generator that can crew our Mindlink, card selection, and a great creature that can be used to generate as many copies of itself as we have mana so long as we have Mindlink Mech on the field. Unfortunately, it feels a tad too slow for the deck, which is why it's here.
The Blackstaff of Waterdeep gives us some great flexibility, letting us turn weaker artifacts like Gingerbrute or Lizard Blades into 4/4s, or making our Mindlink Mech into a permanent creature. It can also effectively give our Stonecoil Serpents a permanent +4/+4 stat boost, which works great with its trample. It has a high chance to make it onto the mainboard, to be honest - I just don't know what I'd remove in order to fit it in.
Creature (19) | |||
---|---|---|---|
$0.27€0.22 | |||
$1.15€1.350.24 | |||
$0.50€0.710.02 | |||
$8.42€10.742.88 | |||
$0.95€0.650.02 | |||
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (20) | |||
$0.35€0.230.03 | |||
$1.44€1.930.98 | |||
$0.25€0.23 | |||
$0.55€0.440.02 | |||
Land (21) | |||
$1.00€0.970.02 | |||
$12.75€12.210.96 | |||
$3.14€3.670.52 | |||
$0.40€0.380.02 | |||
4
Mountain
|
$0.180.03 | ||
3
Island
|
$0.150.03 |
$0.40€0.420.18 | |||
$1.00€0.750.90 | |||
$0.30€0.270.04 | |||
$2.58€1.950.20 | |||
$0.25€0.250.03 | |||
3
Negate
|
$1.31 |
$0.25€0.170.02 | |||
$8.00€15.6812.04 |
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