Who loves the Gearhulks? . . . Jerry loves the Gearhulks! . . . Is it truuuuuee? . . . I do, I do, I dooo oooh!!
Not since the Titans have we seen a cycle of creatures with such potential for enter the battlefield shenanigans. While they do not have the benefit of triggering each time they attack like the titans do. The Gearhulks have another advantage, they are artifacts. Being an artifact opens the Gearhulks up to be abused by one of my favorite one drops.
You used to have a Black Lotus… Now you have a ZUNE MP3 player!
Hulk-Smash
The Engine
Goblin Welder acts as a repeatable animate dead, cycling out unwanted artifacts for big beefy Gearhulks. The biggest thing to keep in mind with Goblin Welder is that just because he is a one drop, does not mean you should play him on turn one. He is very fragile and you have very little protection to save him from removal. Unless your opponent has tons and tons of discard you should keep him safe in your hand until you are ready to abuse his ability. He is not doing anything until you have both a target in your graveyard as well as a disposable artifact in play, so don’t have him eat a lightning bolt for nothing.
Daretti, Scrap Savant acts as both a way to get targets into your graveyard, as well as providing support on the reanimation front. Daretti also comes in handy if you are unable to resolve a Goblin Welder through a Chalice of the Void or Counterbalance.
The Welder Targets
Baleful Strix is an all star in this deck. He draws you cards, he blocks like a champ and most importantly he is an artifact to loop with Goblin Welder. Baleful Strix is also a solid combo with Academy Ruins as it allows you to make an infinite blocker, while still letting you draw deeper into your library.
Wurmcoil Engine plays great with Goblin Welder. Even when you weld him out he leaves more artifacts behind to help you keep the combo going! The life gain is also a nice touch as you will be taking a fair amount of damage from Ancient Tomb when you switch over to the “hard cast your fatties” plan.
oooh shiny!
Here we come to the real bread and butter of the deck, the Gearhulks. I have not had a chance to play with them as of yet so the numbers are purely theoretical. Combustible Gearhulk seems to be the strongest in this deck style which is why it warrants a second copy. Your opponent is going to have a tough choice between letting you draw 3 cards, or fill up your graveyard with more potential targets for Goblin Welder. The curve is high enough that it is not unreasonable to have the converted mana cost of the three cards add up to ten or more. If your opponent lets you untap with a Welder and repeat the process you will almost certainly have the game locked up.
Torrential Gearhulk is probably the weakest due to lack of targets, but still worth playing. Your best target is Intuition as it will essentially say “tutor up any three artifacts” so long as you have a Goblin Welder in play. A cute interaction is that with a Force of Will in the graveyard, and an active Goblin Welder, you can ‘get’ opponents who don’t keep an eye on the board state.
Noxious Gearhulk is good solid removal. The life gain is once again an added bonus to help with keeping you alive. It very well may warrant additional copies if it shines in testing.
You think you have a choice? That’s cute
Odds and Ends
A huge benefit of Intuition in this deck is the ability to run lots and lots of silver bullets. Thopter Foundry plus Sword of the Meek is a very powerful two card combo that will allow you to dominate against any long grindy decks. Miracles in particular hates to see this combo staring them down. Outside of a single copy of Council’s Judgment, Miracles has no answer for an endless stream of 1/1 thopter tokens.
Engineered Explosives is a nice catch all that will keep any pesky aggro creatures off the board. Academy Ruins will allow you to keep clearing the board until you are able to stabilize.
For the big guys Ensnaring Bridge fits the ticket. Keep all the big bad monsters at bay with Ensnaring Bridge, then once you have the upper hand weld the bridge out of play so you can swing in with your own fatties.
Yeaaaaaa that looks like a good time
The Spicy 61st
Ooooh boy I remember when Mindslaver was first printed. It was one of those ‘ah ha’ moments when an infinite world of possibilities opens up. While there are many ways to break Mindslaver, this way is one of the most mana efficient. As long as you can manage get another artifact in play each turn, Mindslaver will continuously loop back into play with Goblin Welder. This allows you to take the rest of your opponent’s turns until you find a way to bring their life total to zero. Not bad for an investment of four mana a turn and a one mana goblin buddy.
Jerry Mee is a Boston Native who has been playing Magic since Onslaught Block. Primarily a Legacy player, he cohosts the weekly Leaving a Legacy Podcast found on Mtgcast.com. He can be reached on Twitter at @Jmee3rd