Vectis Dominator: A man who Wants to be Noticed

[Lelouch32]

Vectis Dominator: A Man who Desperately Wants to be Noticed

By: Corlando

When I started magic about three months ago, one of the things I did that helped me obtain some basic knowledge was to do research on the game and a few select cards. While doing this, I came across a number of cards named artifacts and I quickly fell in love with them. I don’t know if it was their abilities, the usually awesome artwork, or something else, but I did not care. I quickly began to do more research on artifact cards and creatures and I am now the owner of my prized Esper deck, which I like to call the Living Options deck. It excels in taking life, reviving artifacts, and allowing you to look through your library for a specific artifact creature. However, during my studies I stumbled across an artifact creature called Vectis Dominator. It seemed like an average card with a decent ability and I quickly threw it into my deck to explore its benefits. The results were lackluster and often frustrating leaving me asking, “Why was this card even made?” But is Vectis Dominator really that bad of a card? Is its true power just beyond the next turn? Or… is it a piece of junk that should and will never ever be used by any serious Magic player? This is what we will discuss on this installment of Cards n’Flux. My name is Corlando and I will be your guide into the inner workings of Vectis Dominator. Be mindful, a Pulp Fiction reference is incoming.

Vectis Domintar is the third best in a group of three cards that share the word Vectis in their names. The second best of these is Vectis Silencers, a 1/2 artifact creature with the ability to gain deathtouch after paying . The prominent card of this trio is Vectis Agents, , 4/3, artifact creature that becomes unblockable after taking -2 to their power and paying . Now why do I bring these two other cards up? Well with a name like Vectis Dominator you expect something extraordinary. Dominator is a powerful word. It triggers, in most minds, the idea of a man with great power standing over the weak with an iron fist ready to claim victory. This is close to the artwork, which Zoltan Boron and Gabor Szikszai put on the card. However, this little , 0/2, artifact wizard is all but dominating. Its ability reads, “: Tap target creature unless its controller pays 2 life.” This ability does seem to go well with the name, but in play it leaves much to be desired.

Looking at Vectis Dominator, it is easy to get excited about this card. The ability to deal 2 damage to your opponent if he or she does not tap their creature does seem like a great ability. If your opponent taps their creature then you would be open to attack with a bigger creature or something else even more sinister. If your opponent refuses to tap, you can deal 2 damage and chump block if necessary. It seems like you will be in an almost perfect win win situation, but that is not the case. The one problem with Vectis Dominator is the fact that it gives the opponent a choice; a choice that, in practice, will often be the one you don’t want them to pick. For example, if you have an opponent with a 3/3 flyer and you have mostly ground forces, if you try to tap the flyer the opponent will gladly take the damage so it can inflict more on you. If your opponent is low on health they will always tap making the battle drag on as each duelist waits for the opportune moment… no that was not the Pulp Fiction reference that was Pirates of the Caribbean, but I digress. The point is you have to put your opponent in a position where they will do what you want them to do. You will have to become a master manipulator, which is far harder to do than it sounds.

Before we go into how to fix Vectis Dominator, I would like to just speak my mind about the card for a few brief moments. Vectis Dominator reminds me of a man who is desperately trying to be cool, sort of like a man with great ideas but not enough spunk or authority to really act upon those ideas. I can’t help but picture a Vectis Domniator standing before a stampede of wild animals, rushing at him out of pure madness. The scene is tense to say the least. One little man standing against an on rushing wall of Trampling Baloths who have become lost, confused, and all the more dangerous. However, standing against this threat is one man, a Vectis Dominator who was petitioned by a small nearby town to deal with the creatures. Taking his stance, the Dominator's magic racing through him as he prepares to strike. Thrusting out one hand, the man shouts, “And you will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my fingers upon the!” Of course being as ineffectual as he is, the Vectis Dominator is quickly run over and is turned into a pancake so thin that even Wiley Coyote is impressed by the sheer flatness. Well what do you know a two for one, Looney Tunes and Pulp Fiction.

One of the best ways to manipulate your opponent is to punish them for whatever choice they make. What are some cards that can punish your opponent? Assassinate would be a great card to have with a Vectis Dominator deck. This little spell is only two mana and gives you the power to destroy target tapped creature. Having a creature destroyed to avoid damage will shake your opponent a bit, making them paranoid about tapping and hoping you don’t have another Assassinate in your pocket. Since we are going with annoying cards, I would also suggest Deny Reality. Deny Reality is a spell that returns target permanent to the owner’s hand and it has cascade. Cascade could be very useful, allowing you to summon something powerful or maybe just help you avoid a land spree. This card is great for whatever your opponent decides to do, allowing you to keep them frustrated. Speaking of other return cards, Clutch of the Undercity would be a fun one. At this card is a little color sensitive, but it also deals 3 damage to your opponent so it is kind of worth it. I will also point out Disperse which is a basic return spell for .

Another way to manipulate your opponents is to just hinder them. One of the best ways to do this is to use hand-eliminating spells. Mind Rot or Mind Shatter are two of the best cards for this type of stratagem. Mind Shatter is a little color expensive at and Mind Rot only causes two cards to be discarded, but it might be worth it. Of course since we are going to be playing with Esper colors why not bring in a few Esper Charms? These instant spells are great for many things such as gaining 2 cards, destroying an annoying enchantment, or having your opponent discard 2 cards. Such is the power of options. Since we are in the mood to hinder, two great artifacts for that are Cumberstone and Ethersworn Cannonist. Cumberstone is one of my favorite cards because it has the great ability to give all my opponent’s creatures -1/-0. I usually end up with 2 or 3 on the field so most of the time my opponents don’t even bother to attack. Ethersworn Canonist is great because not only is it an artifact creature, but your opponents are limited to only one nonartifact spell perturn. Am I the only one thinking this deck might end friendships?

With the spells and hindrance discussions done, let’s move onto creatures. We definitely need creatures that are not only powerful, but also multi-faceted. One thing that quickly comes to mind is Ethersworn Adjudicator. This , flying behemoth not only has great stats at 4/4, but it can also destroy target creature or enchantment by paying and tapping only to be untapped by paying . Definitely a must have card for this deck. Another card we might want in this deck would be Windwright Mage. This 2/2 wizard with lifelink might not be all that amazing, but while there is an artifact in your graveyard it gains flying. How are we to put an artifact card in our graveyard, just in case or opponent is being slow? The best thing to do is call in the capsules. Courier’s Capsule can gain you 2 cards, which will definitely be needed in this deck, Executioner’s Capsule will allow you to destroy target nonblack creature, and Dispeller’s Capsule can destroy target artifact or enchantment. The capsules have got us covered. If you can get a few, Master of Etherium would be a great card in this deck. The main problem with this deck right now is the fact that most of the creatures have stats that are under 2/2 meaning that if your opponent is packing a simple black spell known as Infest, you could lose your entire field. Infest is a sorcery that causes all creatures to have -2/-2 till the end of the turn. This can easily wipe out most of the creatures in this deck. Adding Master of Etherium, all artifact creatures will gain +1/+1 making them immune to this simple spell. And of course, what artifact deck would be complete without Etherium Sculptors. Four of these weak creatures will allow you to summon Ethersworn Adjudicators within the first 3 or 4 turns due to their lowering cost ability. Such an awesome card.

Alright, so let’s look at our deck:

Dominator Deck a.k.a Punishing Artifacts

Creatures:
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Vectis Dominator
4 Ethersworn Cannonist
4 Master of Etherium
4 Windwright Mage
3 Ethersworn Adjudicator

Lands:
6 Swamps
6 Islands
6 Plains
4 Arcane Sanctums

Other Artifacts:
4 Cumberstones
2 Couriers Capsule
2 Executioner’s Capsule (can be swapped with Dispeller’s Capsule)

Spells:
4 Esper Charm
4 Clutch of the Undercity
3 Assassinate

I did not do a monetary calculation for this deck because… I was lazy, but if you are interested in this deck I will gladly post the sum. Again, as with all my other decks, this deck is only meant as a foundational deck this has not even been tested so I have no idea how effective it would be. If only they had magic online programs that worked with MAC. Overall I think this deck has a lot of potential to make Vectis Dominator at least playable, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I find someone who makes this deck and easily replaces the Dominators with some more effective such as Esper Stormblades.

Before I close I would like to point out two other strategies that players might consider when playing Vectis Dominator. One strategy is just pure numbers. If you have 4 Vectis Dominators on the field and you target one creature, then you can possibly deal 8 damage to your opponent. Of course if we are talking about sheer numbers one card to look at would definitely be Rite of Replication. This sorcery has the ability to put a copy token on the field of a targeted creature. However, it also has a kicker of which once played will allow you to put 5 copy tokens on the field. This would be great with Vectis Dominator allowing you to deal anywhere from 10 to 18 damage if your opponent refuses to tap. Of course if you have Master of Etherium in the deck you might want to save it for him.

The other strategy involves the use of Thopter Foundry and Intruder Alarm. Thopter Foundry can give you one Thopter token after paying and sacrificing 1 nontoken artifact. Intruder Alarm makes all creatures not untap during the untap step and instead forces all to untap when a creature comes into play. After getting a few Vectis Dominators on the field along with Thopter Foundry and Intruder Alarm here is what you do. First wait for... you guessed it the opportune moment. First, tap all your Vectis Dominators hoping your opponent doesn't tap. If they do, stop right there, but if they do not pay and sacrifice any artifact other than Thopter Foundry. Doing this, will cause a token to come into play and cause your Vectis Dominators to untap. Trigger this over and over again until either your opponent is just gonna tap forever or you run out of artifacts to sacrifice. This technique should allow you to deal significant damage to your opponent if everything goes according to plan.

With that I will draw this installment of Cards n’Flux to a close. I am sorry this update is a day late and will aim to prevent that in the future. Just remember, “Etherium is Limited. Innovation is not.” This is Corlando signing out.

[NightLoki]

I really don't like this card. Giving your opponent choices tends to be bad (the big exception to that rule being Gifts Ungiven, but I digress). If it said T: Tap target creature, then I could see it being amazing. As it was printed, it wasn't even good in Draft or Sealed, which was a huge disappointment. With the choice, you give your opponent a chance to undermine your burn strategy (which you could do with dominators) or undermine your control strategy (which is what tapping a creature's meant for). It's just an awkward card in most situations, and I highly dislike it.

[Lelouch32]

I know, but I felt like going for a challenge and tried to make a deck where Vectis Dominator would at least be useful.

[NightLoki]

always remember: some cards just aren't. Still, it's a helpful reminder to test old things in new environments. Sometimes random cards become good. (Time Sieve did that when M10 came out)