Discussion Forum

what immediately jumps to mind is that you barely have anything giving you extra draws...this would be a key mechanic to building a deck around Psychosis Crawler.

at best it'll float around being a 3/3 - 5/5 and that's if you just sit on your hand without casting anything...hardly seems like a winning strategy.

i can't really recommend specific implementation as I don't follow the Standard meta but as a non-specific example...my friend runs a PC deck and it usually wins with Whirlpool Rider or Whirlpool Drake triggering the PC.

PC isn't there just to be a creature to attack and block with, he's there to trigger damage off of draws.

that is my soul intention with PC is to kill with th draw. when i get spellblade out, i pair him with distortion strikes to increase his counters to add up the draws. proliferate cards were recommended to me so i may try to work those in

rofl. i spent a good 20 - 25 minutes staring at your deck trying to figure out how the hell you thought it could be good until i realized what i had been missing.

phychosis crawler is not, in fact, Phyrexian Revoker...
and then suddenly the deck made sense once i decided to "re-read" what phychosis crawler actually said, in case i was missing something...

Lol I know right! It stumped my buddy for a while until I spelled it out for him and then he got it lol it still has holes but, as of now, it is def throwing people for a loop when I play iot

i think running 2 mind-sculpter in there could help a ton though, honestly... it says "draw three, then blahblah..."

It seems that with every set there is a rare that is attracted to me while other rares are repelled. Psychosis Crawler is one of those rares that I quickly acquired four of by playing in weekly drafts.

My idea for using my four copies of Psychosis Crawler is to harness it with the "cantrip" like effects of Trinket Mage and Treasure Mage.

One type of play testing is to determine how your deck holds up against the three quick decks that you are certain to face: 1) Red deck wins (Goblins utilizing haste and supported by burn, etc.) 2) Boros type decks (running 16 fetch lands to assure double land drops and red and white two casting cost creatures that pump with each land drop or land that comes into play under their control. And they add the equipment which does the same. And now they have newer cards to add double strike creatures to their arsenal with color protection. 3) Blue/Black infect decks - even white infect decks (the idea is to deliver a poison counter and then to proliferate with Contagion Clasp and use Tumble Magnets for defense, etc. (which benefits from proliferating) to win the race to deliver 10 poison counters versus receiving 20points of damage or before receiving 10 poison counters from their opponent.

I mention the above because your deck, to me at least, seems susceptible to those three types of decks. I envision you being close to receiving lethal damage or poison counters before your deck kicks in which will not leave much room or much margin for error.

The mages provide blockers while replacing your hand to keep it full for when Psychosis Crawler is cast. I also think they add synergy to Mitotic Manipulation which can increase the chances of getting two cards for playing one! Riddlesmith is an excellent blue creature which allows you to dig through your deck while drawing (triggering Psychosis Crawler's loss of life effect) and discarding each time you simply "cast" an artifact. This trigger occurs regardless- even if your opponent counters an artifact spell. If you have one or two, even three copies, Grand Architect is worth adding to your deck because besides boosting your mages (other blue creatures) power and toughness the architect provides mana for casting your higher casting cost artifiacts while having enough mana to cast a counterspell if your opponent attempts to disrupt your plans. Trinket Mage nabs you an Everflowing Chalice or even a Chemeric Mass (your opponent must wiat until you turn Mass into a creature to target it!) Treasure Mage is used to get one of your key artifiacts that cost 6 mana or more. You can even sideboard in options here to deal with the meta game. Examples of options to choose from are Dreamstone Hedron, Darksteel Sentinel, Contagion Engine, Phyrexian Juggernaut, Spine of Ish Sah, Steel Hell Kite etc. You can run four different 6 mana casting cost spells or two copies of only two different spells (in case you draw one in your opening hand, etc).

Try this deck list:
Go here to comment on deck and try the shuffler and hand drawer:
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=169754

Artifacts (10x)
Chimeric Mass 1x
Contagion Engine 1x
Dreamstone Hedron 2x
Everflowing Chalice 3x
Spine of Ish Sah 1x
Venser's Journal 2x or Elixir of Immortality 2x

Creatures (12x)
Psychosis Crawler 4x
Riddle Smith 2x
Treasure Mage 3x
Trinket Mage 3x

Spells (14x)
Aether Tradewinds 2x or Into the Roil 2x
Blue Sun's Zenith 1x
Mitotic Manipulation 3x
Stoic Rebuttal 4x
Deprive 2x
Spell Pierce 2x

Lands (24x)
Halimar Depths 4x
Islands 16x
Tectonic Edge 4x

Total = 60 cards

Sideboard (15x)
4x Narcolepsy
4x Spreading Seas
4x Flashfreeze
1x Deprive
2x Mind Control

I hope this offers an alternative type of deck which harnesses Psychosis Crawler with replacement (cantrip) effects.

I have been working on a build, and I am close to perfecting it. I havn't yet been on the Vault Deckbuilder, so I might as well just spell it out here.

Basically, I'm working on two fronts.
1. To get enough cards in hand to hit them with a massive crawler, or;
2. Crawler + Sphinx + Reversal = Gg.

Anyway;

Creatures: [10]
Oculus [4]
Psychosis Crawler [4]
Consecrated Sphinx [2]

Draw effects: [11]
Preordain [4]
Time Reversal [3]
Jace Beleren [2]
Blue Suns Zenith

Control: [12]
Cancel [4]
Mana Leak [3]
Negate [1]
Into the Roil [4]

Other: [4]
Everflowing Chalice [4]

Land: [23]
Tectonic Edge [3]
Halimar Depths [4]
Island [16]

Sideboard: [15]
- In progress.