[Theorycraft] Is there any hope for ArtiSajj?

[thematsjo]

So before I say anything else let me emphasize the following: I’ve hated EMP from day one. I firmly believe it should’ve always been a Golem or Mech with a Bond rather than an Opening Gambit and the card has been warping the late game by itself since. To boot, it only seems to be getting worse and after yesterday’s round of nerfs it seems unlikely EMP will get changed any time soon and it won’t rotate out for quite a while. So, EMP is a fact, and as long as it’s played it completely decimates any hope for an Artifact deck getting popular. Unless…

I’ve been theorycrafting Artifact Sajj because I like her, combos and Artifacts and the only type of Artifact deck I could come up with that might be able to stand something of a chance in an EMP-carrying Meta would have to be quite a fast one. The idea is to hit the board hard and fast so you can transition into the classic Teary Maelstrom combo ASAP for the win. The Golem package is there for the tempo but especially the Dreamshaper draw engine. Along with Burden of Knowledge and Scion’s First Wish there’s a heap of cheap draw in my concept of this deck so you can quickly get everything you need without slowing down in the early game. Falcius and Iris Barrier combo with Burden to avoid the self-harm and the rest of the deck is just Artifacts + Artificer ramp and the combo. I wanted to try a single Droplift instead of Rasha’s Curse to punish specific opponents and a single Zephyr as tech for swarm decks. Because of all the cycle in this deck I thought one-ofs would do fine for their purpose. I couldn’t find a way to fit Blood of Air but I figured it would be too slow and Sajj should be controlling the board with Psionic Strike and her Artifacts anyway.

To win, you need to have several Artifacts equipped (+ perhaps a Falcius bump) so you can combo with a huge burst at around 6 Mana (before EMP can hit) after doing a bit of chip damage in the early game. If that didn’t work, you probably lost unless you can Airdrop a Reliquarian Relic. The deck would probably auto-lose against chip damage decks like Spellhai and any swarm that gets out of hand and maybe enemy Rasha’s Curses. The entire idea is probably stupid and way too weak but I thought I’d offer it up for discussion at the very least. What do you think, is there room in the meta for some version of ArtiSajj?

[sajjismywaifu]

Still trying to make Sajj work here. You have no idea how much I would like to bring Sajj decj to meta since I joined (hint: look at my username)

Although in my early test, the artifact archetype actually suits Ciphyron better than Sajj to my dismay…
Gonna test more later.

[eurasianjay]

Decklist from Discord user Jason/Icicle showcases a interesting avenue for experimentation. Bein able to remove everything but your combo pieces is very interesting from a gameplay perspective and something I have actually seen on ladder here and there.

[ryousen]

If I were to try to combo as fast as possible, I’d use Staff instead of Thunderclap.
I dont know about you or others, but I always have this doubt, should I be running 3 Tears and 2 Maelstorms instead? A lot of times I dont have enough mana for Maelstorm and/or its not really worth it, whereas I would have mana for Tears

[alplod]

To avoid EMP there’s theoretically one more option: autarch’s gifts with abjudicator and/or manaforger. Just saying.

[thematsjo]

I’d use Staff instead of Thunderclap.

I can imagine, but stealing something key can be really devastating too. You could get some Staffs or Skyppys, I don’t think the lower curve would hurt the deck.

Just saying.

Manaforged Gifts meta confirmed!

[ryousen]

Im also a fan of artifacts but I usually go with a burn play kit rather than a golem or minion one; I will certainly experiment with these new cards (just let my hype for my solo magmar cool off a bit), and I’ll probably start with something like this;

Just sharing so we can think of more possible builds for the coolest archetype

I have also tried this artifact + burn kit with Manaforger and Sand Trap in the past, but it didnt work out

Also, didnt Deathsadvocate use Rae in his ramp Catafault and (pre-nerf) Azure Summoning deck? I never tested that kind of play but I like the idea, imagine a Celebrant followed by ramping Rae in the next turn

[mmf]

As a vet player on a budget I have only 1 copy of time maelstrom so I’d opt for silhouette tracer. It gives me both mobility and works as a soft answer to provoke minions other than just hitting them. I work towards accumulating those tears for a game ending BANG so being able to stall is great for me.

That being said, i like @eurasianjay’s copy&pasted form discord idea. Making decks more consistent (in terms of draw) is great for many (if not all) art decks.

It just feels weird for me to be using non-meme artifacts since i’ve been abusing TC and spinecleaver for so long now.

[SnakeintheEye]

I got completely obliterated by a Sajj player with Burden of Knowledge & Iris Barrier, while the fear of stealing an artifact made me scramble a couple of turns too. Ilena’s tricks thanks to the new minions & spells didn’t help at at all.

So yeah, go for it, imma try out your ArtiSajj deck myself.

[unreason]

Unfortunately, @thematsjo, to answer that last question, I think Sajj in the meta was dead on arrival and will remain so. It’d be really nice if they could fix that. Perhaps artifact repair or resurrection tied to other good effects. Artifact related heals, card draw and removal. Yeah, I think Sajj will remain dead until that kind of thing shows up, tragically.

I absolutely agree with you that EMP’s should use bond instead of opening gambit, and statistically should probably only be 5/8’s or something. Their current effect and stats for cost are fairly insane. Bond has more flavor anyway, and encourages you to actually play tribal.

I hope all the sets we get in 2018 have piles of support for undersupported archetypes. Dervishes and vespyrs and golems oh my (and I guess arcanysts too) with bond and stuff for all the different factions (as long as none of the new arcanysts are neutral or Vanar), the artifact cards I was just talking about for Vetruvian, maybe some neutral minions that make artifacts more attractive for other factions, some good shadow creep cards for poor Cassy, a buff for shadow nova, maybe give Kaleos three range on blink instead of two and drop a couple extra move support cards. Maybe they could even find a way for Starhorn to be good besides mechazor and decimus (on a related note, decimus damage down to one, please). It’d be nice for all that to actually be a thing.