Season 17, Episode 13: Brew Session (Malcator, Purity Overseer) + Flashback (Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines)

The people have spoken, and they want Elephants! 1/1 Elephants to be exact. Malcator, Purity Overseer took first place in our last monthly vote, meaning it’s time to dust off the Golem tokens and see how Blade Splicer stacks up against the 2023 Modern and Pioneer metagame.

Of course, Malcator is more than just a Blade Splicer. The intriguing end-of-turn clause gives us something to strive for when simply blinking Malcator isn’t enough. Specific synergies, such as Saheeli Rai copying Malcator, or Urza’s Saga fetching Underworld Cookbook, make it much easier to generate 3 artifacts at once and generate Malcator’s bonus token. We examine five Pioneer decklists for the Phyrexian Elephant Wizard, and consider possible homes in Modern as well.

On the Flashback, Elesh Norn, March of the Machines continues her rampage in three of David’s lists. Doubling up your own triggers for profit will always be fun, but how did Elesh stack up as a hate piece against the rest of the format? Tune in to find out.

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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com

Timestamps

[3:26] Housekeeping

[5:31] Brew Session: Malcator, Purity Overseer

[7:06] Rules notes

[8:26] Key synergies

[16:44] Sketch 1: Sram’s Esper-tise

[29:22] Sketch 2: UW Tezzerator

[35:39] Sketch 3: Jeskai Saheeli Combo

[43:26] Sketch 4: 4c Saheeli Omnath

[48:23] Sketch 5: Bant Malcator Circle

[52:15] Malcator in Modern

[55:19] Flashback: Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines

[56:23] David’s GW Elesh Evolution

[1:03:24] David’s GW Elesh Ramp

[1:07:44] David’s Lotus Kiora Hellraiser 2.0

[1:19:00] Closing thoughts