derhenson

I'd love to see what you come up with. I'm gonna try brewing a few up myself. Ink-Treader might be my favorite just because of the endless combo potential, especially within the confines of a budget deck. Yore-Tiller could be the dynamo of a fun budget reanimator. Witch-Maw could also go in some really interesting directions.

The Nephilim are some of my favorite creatures in the game. I give huge props just for making a deck around one, especially non-EDH.

Thanks for the support, man! Keeper of the Lens was in there basically because it's the only playable one-drop artifact creature. At worst it's a 1/2 for 1 with a potentially useful ability. It get's cheap equip from Ghostfire Blade, can be Ensouled, and can help cast Illusory Angel in a pinch. It seemed like a great card for the slot.

However, I've recently transitioned this deck into a little more control-oriented build. Angels were mostly dead-weight in my hand at the games I played, or got shot down immediately. The deck didn't have enough removal or answers to enemy removal, and assembling a 5/5 wasn't nearly as consistent as I'd hoped. I decided to go for more of a UR Control shell, with an emphasis on burn and library digging (Anticipate and Treasure Cruise work wonders to grab another Ensoul after your first get blasted).

I've seen at least one person go UW for Ensoul, for access to Heliod's Pilgrim (which can give you 8 virtual copies of Ensoul Artifact). As much as I like this, I didn't want to go through the expense of another color change, and I also wanted to stick with burn. Sorry for flooding you with all this info, just wanted to give you the full picture on how the deck ended up being built.

Check here for the new version: http://www.mtgvault.com/derhenson/decks/ur-tarkartifacts-control/

Thanks man. Good luck yourself.

I appreciate the suggestions but I'd rather stick with my own build than recreate someone else's. This deck is very effective as it is right now, especially considering its price, and originality is very important to me. Thanks for the ideas, though. Anticipate is definitely a candidate.

Any suggestions on how to fit any of those in? I've been thinking of opening up the Hewed Stone Retainers slots, probably for Anticipates. 4x Doom Engine seems like a tall order for the mainboard, but I can probably squeeze 2 in somewhere. Keep in mind that it's not going to get played earlier than turn 6. The hard part isn't so much figuring out what to put in (there are a ton of options for this deck), it's figuring out what to remove.

Sweet! It's such an underrated archetype (as far as I know no one else has gone for this particular type of built yet). I can't wait to take this version down to the local store this Friday.

I've playtested extensively (bringing the deck in it's various incarnations to competitions) and I've found that chief engineer just isn't viable. It definitely looks good on paper, but most creatures that I could tap for convoke would be mana dorks anyway. Doom Engine and Citadel are both cards I'm seeking out and I'll put them in as I get my hands on them. I feel secure enough with the deck right now that I'm not going to go and order them this minute but I do plan on fitting them in someday.

yeah that's definitely a thought. I'm keeping my eye out for them.

Beastmaster would still be an effective draw engine even without the wall. The question is, how can I fit it (or another draw engine) in the deck and is it worth it. I'm going to have to playtest more with this version once the rest comes in the mail.

Stubborn denial is definitely finding a place here, at least in the sideboard. The build is kind of tight, but I'll find so,e way to squeeze in a draw engine. Treasure cruise is a possibility, but I don't know if I'll have the graveyard to make it's delve consistent. Ideally the draw engine would be an artifact so it can be ensouled and payed for by weaponsmith. Thanks for the suggestions so far, everyone!

I'm on Gatherer and it says the only format it's legal in is "un-sets". The official EDH website says nothing about un-set cards being legal. It says it's played with vintage-legal cards with the exception if its own banned list (un-sets are not vintage-legal).

No, like, I don't think that's legal...
I mean, super casual games I guess but most people don't want to be seeing un-set cards played unless it's specifically an un-set game.

Hmm, duly noted. From playtesting I could see how that would come in handy. I'll see how I might be able to squeeze it in. Any suggestions?

It's from Unhinged...

Some people might get upset when you whip out AWOL in a tiny leaders game

Yay, teamwork!

This advice seems pretty apt if you want to go straight for a nice, efficient black/white tokens deck. However, it calls for almost a total reworking of the deck (and is HELLA expensive if you were to go with that rather opulent land base). If you wanted to keep the decklist a little closer to the original, I'd start by cutting Paragon. It's just not a good investment. Midnight Haunting is a good alternative for more token production and provides Lingering Souls effect at instant speed. Timely Reinforcements might warrant a few slots, but keep in mind that if the rest of the deck works as it should, you'll mostly be hitting the first trigger. Board/hand control is definitely important, but I wouldn't say it needs as many slots as token generators.

I really like this build. Always wanted to make a sacrifice deck during INS/RTR standard. But that price tag though DAMN.

Yes, I meant it costs less money ($0.15 vs $2.25). I'm happy to change it to 4x Lightning Bolt if it sets your mind at ease.