Semblance Anvil:Primer
Overview
The deck revolves around a few reducers:
- Semblance Anvil (it's namesake)
- Cloud Key
Its win condition:
- Aetherflux Reservoir
Enablers:
- Mystic Forge
- Scrap Trawler
Cogs/Eggs:
- Elsewhere Flask
- Sleeper Dart
- Chromatic Sphere
- Chromatic Star
- Mind Stone
Decklist
Gameplan
The goal of the deck is to get an Aetherflux Reservoir (or several) on the board and gain life by casting artifacts until your life total is above 50. Then use Aetherflux Reservoir (pay 50 life, do 50 damage) to kill your opponent.
Mulligans
From my experience playing the deck, two land hands with draw capability or a Mind Stone are definitely keepable. Surprisingly, it's also frequently possible to keep a one land hand, provided that the land is a scry land and you have at least one (preferrably two or more) Chromatic one drops.
Gameplay
There is no specific order that you want or need to accomplish things. Your goal is to reduce your artifact casting cost by 4 (highest cost in the deck) and get a Mystic Forge on the board. Once this is done you can cast artifacts from the top of your deck for free. The issue then becomes to avoid _bricking_.
Bricking (and how to avoid it)
You brick yourself when you can no longer cast artifacts from the top of your deck. There are a few ways around this.
Option 1
Most of the 2 drop artifacts in the deck draw a card when they enter play. As a result as you are casting artifacts from the top of your deck (once Mystic Forge and reducers are in play) you will likely end up drawing a 2 drop into your hand. Save these and prioritize casting from the top of your deck until you hit a land. At that point, play any 2 drop from your hand that triggers a draw. Repeat if needed until there is once again an artifact on top of your deck and then once again prioritize casting from the top of the deck.
Option 2
This option requires a few things to be in place, but if they are in place it will often dig you out of most any hole.
Requirements:
- 1 or more Chromatic 1 drops (on board or in graveyard)
- 1 or more Scrap Trawler on board
- 1 or more 2 drop artifacts on board
- at least 1 cost reduction for artifacts
- at least 1 open mana source
If you have a Chromatic 1 drop on board, filter 1 mana through it (color largely doesn't matter, but B/G for Umori doesn't hurt). This will draw you a card. If that is sufficient to get an artifact on top, proceed back to Option 1 above. If not, proceed to crack your next Chromatic 1 drop using the floating mana.
If you exhaust all your 1 drops, crack any free 2 drop. This will trigger each Scrap Trawler and allow you to return a Chromatic 1 drop for each Scrap Trawler in play, provided there are that many in your graveyard. At this point you can cast each of them for free and repeat the above process of filtering the floating mana through them for card draw.
Option 3
There are 8 scry lands in the deck. It is also likely that through the process above you'll draw one or more of them into your hand. If you delay laying a land during your turn, you can use your land drop and the resultant scry trigger to put the land on top of your deck on the bottom.
Option 4
Mystic Forge's triggered ability allows you to tap it and pay 1 life to exile the top card of your library. This should be your last resort.
Winning
At some point during the above process you should stumble upon at least one copy of Aetherflux Reservoir. Normally, you'll want to cast it as soon as you come across it and then resume the above process, thereby gaining life and eventually getting to 50+, at which point we can win the game.
Flexibility (Sculpting Steel)
The Sculpting Steel in the deck allows for a great deal of flexibility. It can copy any other artifact you have in play. So, it can become another:
- artifact cost reducer
- Cog/Egg that draws you cards
- Scrap Trawler that helps return Chromatic 1 drops from the graveyard
- Mystic Forge (further ensuring that you can cast from the top of your deck)
- Aetherflux Reservoir (multiplying your life gain)
Which of these you'll want depends on the current board state. I prefer to hold on to these if I can and cast other artifacts before them. Unless of course, I'm short on reducers and then I prioritize using them to get me to the magic 4 cost reduction.