W/u Tempered Steel

Tempered Steel is strong enough to build around. Typically, Crusade effects cost 2 (Crusade, Honor of the Pure, etc). Tempered Steel is costed like a Merfolk Sovereign but gives twice the bonus. The only tricky part is building with enough artifact creatures for the effect to be worthwhile!

4 Tempered Steel

What are the most efficient artifact creatures in Standard? That list obviously starts with Memnite. 1/1 for 0 is decent, but a 3/3 for 0 is scary. Wild Nacatl, who?

4 Memnite

What about Ornithopter? Maybe not a 4-of, but should be solid enough with enough synergy in this deck (Glint Hawk, Mox Opal for starters, and likely Myrsmith too. A Blue splash adds in Trinket Mage and Riddlesmith to make the 0/2 more appealing too.

4 Ornithopter

What about a real artifact creature? Mirrodin’s Affinity had Arcbound Workers and Frogmites, but eventually won most games on the strength of Arcbound Ravager or Myr Enforcers (or Skullclamp… Or Aether Vial… Or Disciple of the Vault… OK, that deck was pretty broken!). We need something here that can do more than cost 0.

4 Steel Overseer

Anyone who has played Steel Overseer in M11 drafts knows how it can take over a game. Standard is a different beast, but you get far more tools as well. Steel Overseer also plays extremely well with Voltaic Key and Proliferate. We should keep that in mind. Now with a solid artifact creature threat, where can we find more?

4 Myrsmith

Having to pay for this activated ability when Painsmith and Riddlesmith are both free seems lame at first, but remember the Wild Nacatl comparison? Tempered Steel makes Myrsmith into a total beast. Imagine if all your cheap artifacts had Kicker 1 – put a 3/3 (or 5/5, or 7/7…) Myr token into play.

Until we consider Glint Hawk Idol and Chimerical Mass, I think there may be enough artifact creatures now for both Steel Overseer and Tempered Steel. What’s next?

4 Glint Hawk

This may prove to be unnecessary as it’s not an artifact, but this deck is looking to play so many 0 CMC artifacts that it’s hard to pass up. It also plays especially well with Myrsmith or Adventuring Gear, and 2/2 Flyers can often take out PWs with a little help. This one is definitely first to go though if space is tight.

Let’s see first if this deck can stay mono White without problems. That’s going to give a mana base of:

4 Tectonic Edge
16 Plains
4 Mox Opal

Quick count: 48 cards, 20 lands, 12 White cards, 16 Artifacts.

There are 12 cards left, what directions can this go? Well, staying mono White means the mana base is rock solid. Cards to consider from here would be Glint Hawk Idol, Chimeric Mass, and perhaps some sort of removal (Journey to Nowhere or Oust, or even Brittle Effigy. With Chimeric Mass and Glint Hawk Idol, I’d even consider Day of Judgment…)

A quick look at the curve:

0CMC : 12
1CMC : 4
2CMC : 8
3CMC : 4

Strange, right? The deck’s curve isn’t very curvy. Where does that lead us?

4 Chimeric Mass

0-mana play or mid game mana sink. Or both with Glint Hawk. Recover from Day of Judgment. This card does so much. Costing however much you need I to also helps smooth out our curve so much.

Playtesting will help tune all of these numbers, but you’ll notice mostly 4-ofs when I build a first draft. Here’s the other card to consider:

4 Glint Hawk Idol

It should trigger very often, and it helps with Myrsmith)

With just 4 cards left though, are you noticing a problem? Everything revolves around resolving Tempered Steel. The deck has other plans but none of them look quite as terrifying. What does that mean? Wait for Enlightened Tutor to reprint? I’d look to adding Blue to dig for Tempered Steel, Trinket Mage, and perhaps more.

Let’s consider the deck minus the last additions and a Blue splash in the maindeck.

4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Glint Hawk
4 Steel Overseer
4 Myrsmith
4 Tempered Steel
4 Mox Opal
4 Celestial Collonade
4 Seachrome Coast
2 Glacial Fortress
4 Island
6 Plains

This still gives us 12 cards to work with. Trinket Mage is a given, and so is Riddlesmith or Preordain. I’d rather have Riddlesmith, but Preordain fits the curve better and is a fine topdeck late.

4 Preordain
4 Trinket Mage

Starting with 4 Trinket Mage but that might get cut to 3 depending on targets. Which will make the cut? Brittle Effigy for sure, Chimeric Mass too. I’d love Voltaic Key but that might be a win-more card. Won’t know until it’s tested!

1 Brittle Effigy
1 Chimeric Mass
1 Voltaic Key
1 extra trinket of choice. Basilisk Collar?

4 Mages may still be too many, but it fetches most of the deck’s non-land cards. That gives us a final build that looks like this:

W/u Tempered Steel
4 Ornithopter
4 Memnite
4 Glint Hawk
4 Steel Overseer
4 Myrsmith
4 Tempered Steel
4 Preordain
4 Trinket Mage
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Chimeric Mass
1 Voltaic Key
1 Basilisk Collar

4 Mox Opal
4 Celestial Collonade
4 Seachrome Coast
2 Glacial Fortress
4 Island
6 Plains

Thanks for reading! Comments (here or on Twitter) would be so appreciated on this or any build I post!