#kurkesh

I made some changes to the Kurkesh list I talked about a month ago, and I think it's been streamlined into a pretty solid combo build (qualifier: for a Red deck). Here's the new list.

After playing with it for a bit, the deck is predictably weak to artifact destruction, although you can generally play around it by not committing stuff to the board until you absolutely have to. The list is great at generating tons of mana, but I think that it could probably use more mana sinks so it can better utilize that mana. Also, the Eldrazi and Blightsteel are a little awkward right now. They die a lot if they don't have haste, but I don't want to cut combo pieces for haste granters (I threw in Lightning Greaves as a concession, but the whole situation still needs fixing).

I was really excited about Kurkesh, so I started brewing right after he got spoied last night. The resulting deck is an artifact control list that’s able to amass a ton of mana. 

Cards that are sick with Kurkesh

+Sensei’s Divining Top: Simply tap the Top and copy the activation with Kurkesh. You’ll draw a card and put the Top on top of your library, and then the copied ability will resolve and you’ll redraw the Top. After you cast it again, you’ll be back where you started, except with two less mana and one more card.

+Grim Monolith/Basalt Monolith: You might not be able to copy the mana ability, but you are able to copy the untap ability, which will allow you to convert red mana to colorless mana at a generous ratio; with Grim, you get two colorless for every red mana you pump in, and with Basalt Monolith, you’ll get three.

+Voltaic Key: If you copy the ability, you can untap Voltaic Key and one other artifact. If that artifact happens to be a mana rock that taps for three or more mana, then you can convert 1R to more mana in this way. If that mana rock happens to be a Gilded Lotus, you can go infinite.

+Kuldotha Forgemaster: Allows you to grab both Nevinyrral’s Disk and Darksteel Forge in a single activation.

Mana Sinks

One of the only things that artifacts are able to do really efficiently is generate mana, and since this is an artifact deck with a bunch of mana production engines, we’re very likely to end up with big (or even infinite) amounts of mana, and we’ll be needing some methods for converting mana into board presence, card advantage, etc.

+Avarice Totem: Activate it targeting one of your permanents, then copy the ability with Kurkesh and target one of your opponents’ permanents. The copy will resolve, swapping the Totem with whatever you want, and then the original activation will resolve, swapping the Totem for whatever permanent you’re willing to give away. Voila! You just swapped your worst card for their best card. (Note: This will only work on an opponent that doesn’t have 5 mana open to activate the Totem themselves.)

+Pentavus/Thopter Squadron: Assuming you have Kurkesh out, you can produce a 1/1 flyer for 2R. For 2RR, you can produce a 1/1 flyer and make Pentavus/Thopter Squadron slightly bigger.

+Staff of Domination: Does whatever you need it to do, if you’ve got the mana.

+Sensei’s Divining Top: See above.

+Planar Portal/Ring of Three Wishes: Don’t have a sink? That’s okay, just go and find one.

Everything Else