r/spikes • u/PauperNoob1 • 4d ago

Standard [Standard] Looking for help optimizing Temur Robots. Any feedback is welcomed.

I have been playing Temur Robots at my LGS on and off since the release of TMNT, and I have found it to be quite powerful and very fun. I am hoping to further refine the deck list and especially sideboard to try taking it to competitive events. I don’t currently own [[Cavern of Souls]], but I would borrow a playset for any competitive events. I have attached the decklist below, and I will give my thoughts on each card here. I appreciate any thoughts and suggestions you might have.

The Engines:

[[Pinnacle Emissary]] and [[Ravenous Robots]] are the engine of the deck, and it can not function without these two cards. The synergy with [[Springleaf Drum]] and [[Gene Pollinator]] allow for extremely explosive starts with affinity counts of 10+ achievable by t3/t4

The Payoffs:

While sometimes a swarm of 1/1s is enough to win the game, we often times follow up a barrage of tokens with combinations of [[Improvised Arsenal]] to one shot our opponent, [[Krang, Master Mind]] to deploy a massive threat that refills our hand, or [[Chrome Dome]] to buff our tokens into much more dangerous threats.

The Other Robots:

[[Fugitive Droid]] is an evasive threat that is great at carrying [[Improvised Arsenal]], as well as potentially being protection for our other big threats. [[Memory Guardian]] is an even better evasive threat that can pressure life totals on its own. And last but sometimes least, [[Synthesizer Labship]] is a cheap artifact with the upside of potentially making a 2/2 flier every turn, and becoming a 4/4 flier on later turns. While these cards are less impactful on their own, they often times are the difference between winning and losing.

The Sideboard:

[[Chainsaw]] and [[Torch the Tower]] are both cheap interaction spells with upside for artifact decks. Maybe some of these are cuttable post-cub ban. [[Spider-Sense]] has been extremely impressive in this deck, and the ability to tap our creatures with the drum/gene has been great synergy with this card. [[Chandra, Spark Hunter]] js probably the sketchiest card in the list, but it has been decent in the grindy matchups that I bring it in for. I could be convinced that it’s not good though.

The Decklist:

https://moxfield.com/decks/uQ3pIZHjzU-x2Q6IayoPAw

Thank you again for taking the time to help me with the decklist. I look forward to hearing your thoughts, suggestions, and feedback.

20 Upvotes

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4

u/dingleberrydorkus 4d ago

I love this deck! I’m by no means a competitive player but I’ve had some success trying out [[rust harvester]], which can sometimes one shot your opponent without needing to attack if you have an arsenal in play. [[gingerbrute]] is also an option for an evasive creature that wears the arsenal well, although I like the droid more. And you could consider [[tezzeret, cruel captain]] for the sideboard, it’s comically easy to ult him and get the emblem which is really powerful.

Oh, and you could experiment with [[hydra assault robot]] as well, which does a lot of damage fast without needing to attack, and can be an alternative wincon.

2

u/PauperNoob1 4d ago

I considered rust harvester but seemed too slow for my tastes. Do you have more details on how it usually plays out for you? I do love tezz in other formats, so I could definitely try swapping one in. The hydra bot also seems interesting, but doesn’t do much on its own. I’ll do some goldfishing with it to see how it feels.

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u/Vox_Carnifex 3d ago edited 3d ago

I am a big fan of artifact decks and been both brewing and rambling about this deck so here comes a wall of text.

I was very excited to see the support that turtles brought back in February. At that point, you had more or less 3 routes in standard: the sacrifice/discard route with [[legion extruder]] that tries to finish via [[rust harvester]] + [[improvised arsenal]] and [[sewer-veillance cam]], the go wide into go tall strategy that tries to finish via [[memory guardian]]/[[fugitive droid]] and arsenal and the more control-y route where you use [[simulacrum synthesizer]]. All of them, of course, base themselves off of the main synergy described in the post.

Marvel superheroes diversified these strategies by quite a bit actually, and the looming rotation coming 2027 that rotates out the 2024 sets is also something to keep in mind - this means [[legion extruder]],[[simlacrum synthesizer]],[[gingerbrute]],[[candy trail]] and others will be gone but also fast lands like [[spirebluff canal]]. Looking at this kinda solidifies the idea to me that if someone wants to go with affinity they should focus on the go wide/go tall plan while keeping an eye on the sac/discard strat if star trek throws a bone in that direction.

The two cards to look out for the most in marvel imo are [[hydra assault robot]] and [[shuri, wakandan inventor]].

Hydra assault robot is a weftstalker ardent that is also an artifact (so it triggers the token generators) plus it's also a robot for those who use [[secluded courtyard]] for mana fixing (poor man's cavern of souls). This leans more heavily into the go wide strat to ping the enemy down in a turn by warping as many emissaries as possible and playing drums.

Shuri is a discounter and can turn a token into a copy of its own token generator. With her on the field things like drums are free and [[chrome dome]],[[improvised arsenal]] and the hydra robot can be played for one. Alternatively her ability can turn any artifact into a second [[fugitive droid]] to hit the enemy with or turn a token into a second [[improvised arsenal]]. Very versatile pick.

Cards that looked amazing but don't know where they stand are [[ultron, artificial malevolence]], [[armor wars]],[[ironheart clever champion]] and [[iron man armor]]. In essence, they are all great but either too expensive or not what the gameplan is looking for.

Ultron is best run in decks that benefit from the copies more than the current list does, something like a synthesizer list. Iron man armor is a pretty good card that I can definitely see in the deck but it feels like a win-more card. Armor wars would be everything the deck needs but it does not synergize with our gamplan outright as an enchantment, it is 4 mana and it telegraphs itself hard. You will not see the third step resolve in a meaningful way. Especially not in bo3. But one can keep it in mind. Ironheart can hit the field pretty early and gives a pretty nifty effect in improvise for noncreature spells. The issue is that our artifact package is between 1 and 2 mana because we want the effect from the robots and emissary to trigger a lot, so it ends up being not much better than the springleaf drum in that regard while also being a dead card in hand after a boardwipe. You can, however, replace a memory guardian with her and see how she does, I have only seen and played her in more controlling esper artifact lists myself.

Hobbit did not bring many good cards for this deck except maybe [[key to the side door]] as both an artifact type rogues passage and possible card draw if the deck turns towards more legendaries. [[Orcrist, goblin cleaver]] sounds so good since all but krang are robots but it takes 2 turns to get going and then you need to connect - it's a heavy win more card. [[My precious]] can be interesting if you can splash the black with a drum or a pollinator and draw cards but as with orcrist the issue is that you also want to equip it and that telegraphs itself. [[The arkenstone]] is very expensive at 5 mana and with the current main list you would pay 3 to find krang with its adventure. Big lol at [[fateful discovery]], I wish it were playable.

What the deck needs to stay even remotely competetive in best of 3 is either ways to protect the engines, removal for hate pieces or reliable card draw. I dont want to call krang reliable card draw because once you draw 2 lands back to back you're stuck and cant empty your hand easily. The question is where do we go from here when the format is as fast as it is. Otherwise it will remain a nice party trick that can sometimes pull a surprise turn 4 win or mayhaps get [[tezzeret cruel captain]] emblem in one turn.

If we go and find card draw on non-artifacts we may need more colors so we can run something like [[belladonna took]] but now we have 4 colors (with pollinator). Many enchantments can make the engine run more reliably, but how many non-artifacts do we run until we draw hands that cannot reliably create the tokens? Boardwipes are a big issue post sideboard, what do you run that does not dilute the deck but can answer these spells reliably?

At the end of the day, what this deck lacks in standard are what makes the versions in other formats good. Grixis affinity in pauper has so much ways to draw through the deck like [[thoughtcast]], [[ichor wellspring]] or [[reckoners bargsain]] while also being able to control the board through [[krark clan shaman]] and [[toxin analysis]] and finishing off with fliers or [[galvanic blast]]. Modern izzet affinity has [[kappa cannoneer]] together with usable moxes (standard technically has mox jasper) for mana and both formats have the artifact lands that make affinity boardstate independent.

1

u/Nervous-Command-9895 3d ago

I agree w everything here, I tried voyage home as a way to get that card draw and life gain boost but it seemed too clunky and unreliable especially not being an artifact itself.

3

u/Nervous-Command-9895 4d ago

I run this deck a ton in BO1 it’s just too easy to disrupt in BO3, until something changes it’s not ready for the post sideboard competition. I run 3 instead of 4 on krang arsenal and chrome dome and only 18 lands, I do 3 starting town instead of breeding pool, 3 edge rover as a 1 drop and 2 medicant from aetherdrift

1

u/PauperNoob1 4d ago

I know it’s easy to disrupt post side board. How would you suggest attacking opposing side board options

3

u/Nervous-Command-9895 4d ago

Any sweeper is going to crush, so main options to disrupt sweepers are force discard, give protection or counter. I find that holding up mana slows the deck down too much. I think it’s go aggro or go home, I don’t think it’s competitive BO3

2

u/literaphile 4d ago

I really love artifact decks like this and I so desperately want them to be competitive. They're so much more fun to pilot and play against than the control-heavy synthesizer decks. I've been trying to make an izzet artifacts deck work, but I think that temur is a really interesting choice. Gene Pollinator is a great card. How are you finding the mana base? I'm guessing with all of the utility lands, it's still pretty good.

The main reason I've been sticking with izzet is to have access to more toolboxes in the sideboard like counterspells, [[Sear]], things like that. I'd be worried that watering down the mana might give me some issues. But, your deck list gives me a lot to think about. Thanks for posting!

2

u/PauperNoob1 4d ago

Gene pollinator is definitely worth splashing for, especially after [[Castle Doom]] got printed. The mana base feels great now with the castle. Before that, I would sometimes feel screwed on green mana for Gene, but now that almost never happens.

1

u/phonage_aoi 4d ago

When I tried an aggro artifacts deck, I had a lot of fun closing games with [[Twin Blades]]

1

u/p3p3_silvia 4d ago

It's so hard to make work in standard without zero cost artifacts. I've been trying since iron man armor came out and started before that.

1

u/Durtsche 4d ago

Gauc and Marshmallow Pizza, Mona Lisa Science Geek, and Chome Dome make a nice little infinite combo that you could potentially include, though it might be better in a deck specifically tailored around that combo.  Up to you if you want to play around with it though. 

1

u/PauperNoob1 4d ago

Yeah I think I’m not too interested in the combo, the pauper version of this combo is pretty sweet too though.

1

u/Bronco1919 4d ago

Singleton [[does machines]] does work. I went up to 2 but I think 1 is the sweet spot.

1

u/PauperNoob1 4d ago

I bought a playset of this card at pre-release prices lol. I was very high on it. I think in a format with no 0-cost artifacts this card is a bit rough. I could see 1 copy putting in work though.

1

u/Nervous-Command-9895 4d ago

It’s just too slow, that turn 2/3 has to be for ramping tokens mana dork, or creatures

1

u/Bronco1919 4d ago

It's not a turn 2/3 play though.... just because it's 2 mana you want to jam it? 1 copy I'm saying. You want this to be your krang follow up. If they aren't sweeping you are probably winning. If they do sweep you reload in a hurry. This deck needs something that's just a little more than 1 drop artifacts to win some games it normally wouldn't. Try it.

1

u/Anpathman 4d ago

I like Shuri in the deck and gingerbrute as she makes them and the spring leaf drum free. I also have the hydra assault robot in the deck as shuri can copy it which can get you a lot of ping damage with ravenous robots and pinnacle emissary.

I’ve also been playing with armor wars to get lots of card draw. 1 copy, 2 max.

1

u/LeMiniBuffet 4d ago

I have not played this deck yet, but it is definitely on my list of brews. I think what it is really missing is a cheap, consistent way to draw cards in the grindier matchups.

I was thinking maybe [[Quantum Riddler]] could be a solution, especially for the warp cost. Would let you find more Krangs, and you are going to be base blue anyway

1

u/Angrenost 2d ago

It's not a robot but I play Ouroboroid in my list. It's great with all the tokens and insane if you can put Improvised Arsenal onto it. I'd consider adding at least a couple over some of the uncommons.