DECK TECH: Mr. Roboto (R/G Liquimetal Coating Permanent Destruction)

I got this idea from my friend Marcel White (Monday Night Magic) back on Christmas of 2011.  I absolutely love this deck, from conception to execution... DISCLAIMER: if you play someone with it -and it works the way it's supposed to- they probably won't like you very much.  You have been warned :p

(Liquimetal Coating by Johann Bodin)

Mr. Roboto

by

Phil "Fat Ninja" Tacata

(You can find the TCG Player link to this deck along with card descriptions and sample hand generator here.)

4x Liquimetal Coating

4x Ancient Grudge

3x Faithless Looting

3x Birthing Pod

4x Manic Vandal

3x Huntmaster of the Fells

1x Oxidda Scrapmelter

3x Zealous Conscripts

1x Acidic Slime

3x Inferno Titan

2x Whipflare

1x Slagstorm

4x Bonfire of the Damned

4x Copperline Gorge

4x Rootbound Crag

9x Mountain

7x Forest

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OBJECTIVE AND PLAY-STYLE

Mr. Roboto, so-named because I like to use Liquimetal Coating (LMC) to turn my opponents into titanium-coated robots :p, is a Red/Green Permanent Destruction deck that looks to destroy relevant permanents -especially lands- using the power of LMC in combination with artifact destruction cards like Ancient Grudge and Manic Vandal.  The deck is very slow and you will often find yourself taking 10-15 points of damage before your first sweeper, but if you survive the initial onslaught, some pretty ridiculous boardstates begin unfold such as the ultimate "I just killed you and you have no permanents on the board" endgame.

Your basic opening should look something like this:

Turn 1: land

Turn 2: land, LMC

Turn 3: land, use LMC to turn one of their lands into an artifact, cast Ancient Grudge and destroy that land

Turn 4: land, use flashback Ancient Grudge to destroy another land, cast a sweeper (Whipflare, Slagstorm, or Bonfire of the Damned)

Turn 5: land, cast a creature, ideally one that can destroy another permanent w/LMC)

Turn 6... Their board has 0 creatures and probably less than 3 lands, you have 6 lands and are threatening to run all over them.

One thing that's painfully obvious about this deck is that it doesn't do so well WITHOUT drawing a Liquimetal Coating.  Unfortunately, there are no good tutors for the 2cc artifact in Standard, so in order to play this deck effectively, you have to mulligan pretty aggressively.  Rule #1: Do not play a starting 7 (on the play or the draw) without either an LMC or a sweeper in your hand.  Rule #2: Only play the mulligan 6 if you have an LMC, sweeper, or Faithless Looting.  Otherwise, go to 5 and pray :)

ENGINE

The core of this deck is, of course, the interactions between LMC and the various artifact destruction cards in the deck.  In order for you to win, you have to be able to provide a constant stream of destruction effects.  This is where Birthing Pod comes into play.  Mr. Roboto has Birthing Pods in it, but it is not a Birthing Pod deck: the Pod is not used to find "answers in the toolbox" (as a traditional Pod deck would), rather, the Pod allows you to tutor through your chain of destruction creatures getting turn-after-turn use of your LMC and end with your Inferno Titan finisher.

The destruction chain is as follows:

Manic Vandal --> Oxidda Scrapmelter --> Acidic Slime

CARDS

-Faithless Looting:   gives the deck extra "dig" when you need that LMC, sweeper, or next destruction creature.

-Huntmaster of the Fells:   the card, itself, is just so powerful and gives so much value that a R/G deck can't afford to NOT play it.  The life-gain is super-relevant in this deck due to its slow start and life-loss from Pod use.  And while it's not an artifact destruction creature, it's still a destruction creature on the flip and probably the best mid-range card in Standard.

-Zealous Conscripts:  this card is so broken in decks that run Pod... Not only can you steal with impunity and Pod from 4cc to 6cc (Huntmaster to Inferno Titan is pretty good :) ), you can steal your opponent's creature and Pod the plunder!  Destruction?  Yes, Sir!

  

-Inferno Titan:  Mr. Roboto's finisher.  Outside of an opponent playing their own Zealous Conscripts, there isn't a better 6-drop suited for this deck.  It wipes the board of its remaining creatures and does a specifically great job against Lingering Souls.

-Whipflare, Slagstorm, Bonfire of the Damned: 7 sweepers gives you a good chance to have one in your opening hand.  Against aggro decks, a turn 3-5 sweeper is essential to your stabilization and control of the board state.

OTHER NOTES 

Mr. Roboto came out of my desire to build a dedicated Type II Land Destruction deck but has turned into basically a Desert Twister control deck with oppressive flair.  I placed 2nd with this deck at my local shop's Dark Ascension Gameday Standard event with a 3-1 record, the highlight of which was my 3rd round matchup against a Lingering Spirits deck.  I went Turn 1 land, Turn 2 land + LMC, Turn 3 land + Ancient Grudge their land, Turn 4 land + flashback Grudge on their land + Slagstorm away their flipped Delver, Drogskol Captain, & Phantasmal Image (copying the Captain).  I eventually won when he conceded on turn 8 with zero permanents on the board :)  Domo arigato, Liquimetal Coating!

(Manic Vandal by Christopher Moeller)