
Revisiting and update? I've shifted gears for how i want to play this archetype going forward. "My Body as a Shield" by Roaring Turkey was the initial inspiration for this deck, and i'm going back to it for a better understanding on how an ironclad deck, let alone a control deck, should function.
Info Nuggets for someone else working on the idea:
> Life loss from sites represents a major problem for an ironclad deck, you are getting your main ability completely bypassed. In Turkey's deck, there is a very clear 6 mana limit on cards, not just to minimize damage from searing truth, but to allow you to set up your lands very specifically, ideally a 2x3 with you as the ironclad in the forward middle position. this allows your avatar the chance to block site damage and make use of your damage reduction. I missed this on the first pass with the deck. That's not to say you should do this every game, but the idea underlying it should be central to your play and positioning. You WANT to get hit as an ironclad, especially early with most minions only dealing 1 to you. Cards like Riptide or Blink are really good for ironclad control because it allows you to move up without losing mana ramp or land draws.
*WARNING!* bad information and ideas below, preserved for posterity
A control deck that seeks to use the ability as both an active defense and card draw utility. You should expect to take damage often, and to mitigate that damage i put in every healing effect i think is worthwhile. The healing in this deck is likely crucial, and probably needs tweaking. This is the first version of a work in progress, and i have no idea what the top end of a deck like this should look like just yet, so for now it's because that's cool. ( in the collection to amp the effect)
with and is the goal here. This allows you to sit on your forward three sites and kill any minion without taking damage ( is to allow you to continue to tap your avatar while moving up). Effects like can allow you to remove two minions each of your turns, one on the attack and one on the defense. Pair this combo with and you cannot be killed on death's door without a disenchant effect or an effect that bypasses harp (I.e. ), which is extremely funny
Disenchant effects can and will ruin you, but there are enough disenchant targets within the deck that it hopefully warrants forcing your opponent to remove them early and before they really pile up
This deck probably shouldn't be 4 color, and as of right now
would be my choice for the cut.
Misc. Thoughts:
The Atlas is a major WIP and needs changes
This deck is running very little targeted hate towards popular archetypes and probably should be
are a more targeted effect, but it always feels bad to play them for me so they're in the maybeboard for now
is really good for getting rid of the toolbox disenchant that will lose you the game, but is likely unreachable without major structural change to threshhold.
Not too sure about or , needs experimentation
This deck is splashing
for basically. Probably not worth
Amulet might be a cut