Magic the Gathering (MTG) - Blue / Black (U/B) Colossus Budget Magic Deck - Kaladesh Standard

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Looking for an unusual but competitive deck that you can build for about $100 to play? Blue/Black (U/B) Colossus may be the deck for you! The deck is named after the deck's strongest creature, Metalwork Colossus. This archetype has posted strong results in Magic Online  and has been piloted by multiple players.
 
Here's the decklist:
 
Creatures (15)
 
4  Glint-Nest Crane    
1  Scrapheap Scrounger   
4  Foundry Inspector   
2  Elder Deep-Fiend   
4  Metalwork Colossus   
 
Spells (22)  
 
3  Metalspinner's Puzzleknot   
4  Prophetic Prism   
4  Spatial Contortion   
4  Cultivator's Caravan   
2  Hedron Archive   
2  Panharmonicon   
3  Skysovereign, Consul Flagship  
 
Lands (23)
 
4  Aether Hub
1  Geier Reach Sanitarium   
2  Inventors' Fair   
7  Island  
4  Sanctum of Ugin   
2  Spawning Bed   
3  Spirebluff Canal   
 
Sideboard (15)  
 
3  Ceremonious Rejection   
2  Harnessed Lightning   
3  Negate
3  Incendiary Sabotage
1  Panharmonicon   
2  Thought-Knot Seer   
1  Lashweed Lurker
 
Creatures Breakdown
 
Glint-Nest Crane is extremely good in this deck. It's going to essentially draw you a card whenever he enters the battlefield. But he can get even better as you'll see later.
 
Scrapheap Scrounger is an interesting one-of. He's a 3/2 for 2 mana, however, which allows him to crew the Vehicles in the deck. His recursion ability is a bit tricky to use as this is primarily a mono-Blue deck before dipping into the sideboard. But Aether Hub and Cultivator Caravan can provide the black mana if you need it.
 
Foundry Inspector may look like a simple artifact lord, but he's actually one of the key creatures in the deck. Not only does the +1/+1 help your creatures and vehicles, but being 3 power means that the Inspector can crew the vehicles you need, too.
 
Elder Deep-Fiend  has already proven to be a good creature. With his alternate Emerge casting cost, you will be tapping down 4 permanents a lot. In this particular deck, he's a great way to finish off the game. As it turns out, there's a fairly quick way to get him into your hand and onto the field long before you would think he could.
 
A full playset of Metalwork Colossus may seem like overkill considering that he's an 11 drop. But there are plenty of noncreature artifacts in the deck, including the Vehicles when they aren't being crewed. It doesn't take much to make this a 10/10 for relatively cheap. The recursion ability can be useful, but since you have Sanctum of Ugin in the deck, you'll be able to get another copy to your hand as soon as you cast him. Sanctum also allows you to get any other colorless creatures in your deck, too, which could often be Elder-Deep Fiend. The earlier you can get down a Colossus, the more quickly you can cast a Fiend for 2 Blue mana. Likewise, when you cast a Fiend, you can go get a Colossus.
 
Non-Creature Spells Breakdown
 
Metalspinner's Puzzleknot and Prophetic Prism both offer card advantage by drawing you a card when they enter the battlefield. This is essentially how you ramp up into a Colossus in the early game by using their combined converted mana cost. It helps that the Prism can fix your mana, too, which is very helpful when you board inthe red cards from the sideboard. Also, the Puzzleknot can be sacrified to draw you another card. The life loss usually isn't going to be that relevant.
 
Spatial Contortion is a versatile card in this deck. This deck has plenty of colorless mana sources. Not only can you use it as a removal spell, but since there are high-toughness creatures in this deck, the extra 3 power can help you win the game out of nowhere.
 
Cultivator's Caravan not only is a solid mana rock, but he can punch in for 5 damage when he's crewed. This vehicle shouldn't be underestimated. Plus, he can tap for mana as soon as he comes down. Hedron Archive is another piece of mana ramp that can be cashed in later for cards. Better yet, its converted mana cost of 4 helps you get the Colossus down faster.
 
 
Panharmonicon is an awesome artifact, and it's getting plenty of deck brewers excited. Here's the first time we've seen Panharmonicon at the heart of a competitive Standard deck. There are so many enter the battlefield abilities in this deck between the artifacts and creatures that having 2 copies of this will let you copy them once or even twice. Even just copying the card draw of the Puzzleknots and Prisms is worth casting the Panharmonicons for. Plus, having a 4 CMC is yet another way to ramp out the Colossus.
 
Rounding out the spells is one of the best Vehicles in Kaladesh, Skysovereign, Consul Flagship. 5 mana for this much power is proving to be good across several different Magic formats. The 3 damage is pretty relevant, and with Panharmonicon, you get that ability twice (a third time if you control two Panharmonicons). Also, having a 5 CMC means that a Colossus is a lot easier to cast. Having Skysovereign as part of a 1-2 punch means you can do damage in the air and on the ground.
 
Lands
 
Aether Hub is proving to be a very strong land. While you can only use the color fixing ability once, usually once is enough. Geier Reach Sanatarium is a useful one-of that allows both players to "loot." With the card advantage that this deck already has, this will usually benefit you more than the other player. Inventor's Fair is both a colorless mana source, and another way to seek out a Metalwork Colossus if you need one.
 
We've already discussed the benefits of Sanctum of Ugin in this deck, and that's why there are a full four copies. There are also two copies of Spawning Bed, which is both a colorless mana source and a way to create three 1/1 Scion tokens later in the game. Whether you choose to use them to attack or pop them for mana depends on the situation. There are also three copies of the red/blue "Fastland" Spirebluff Canal. This appears strange until you look at he sideboard, which has several Red cards which would be difficult to cast with regularity even given all the mana fixing in the deck. The mana base is rounded out by 7 basic Islands.
 
Sideboard
 
Ceremonious Rejection counters any colorless spell, of which there are many in Standard. Harnessed Lightning gives you a way to deal with some problem creatures as you ramp up to your bigger creatures. Negate is pretty self explanatory, and is a great way to deal with opposing vehicles, as they start out as non-creature spells. Incendiary Sabotage may be a double-Red spell (@RR), but sometimes, sacrificing an artifact and dealing 3 damage to all creatures is just what you need to get the board state under control.
 
Thought Knot Seer is useful against control decks, taking your opponent's best answer out of their hand. It's also very good with Panharmonicon, of which there is a third copy in the sideboard. Rounding out the board is Lashweed Lurker, which puts a nonland permanent back on top of an opponent's library. This is a good answer for things like Emrakul, the Promised End which would otherwise be difficult to remove. The third Panharmonicon also makes your Deep-Fiend better by allowing you to tap down 8 permanents instead of 4.
 
 
As a budget deck, this is a pretty good one, and it's been able to make several top finishes in competitive tournaments. As the season progresses, you may be able to get some of these cards inexpensively enough that the deck as a whole may actually cost you less than $100. If I were to choose a deck until Battle of Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch rotate from Standard, this would be my pick.

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