One of the big questions so far in Amonkhet Standard is what the best build of Aetherworks Marvel is. There’s the typical Temur builds, Bant builds, Elder Deep-Fiend builds, and much more. The question is where on the spectrum you want to be between a midrange deck with Aetherworks Marvel and an all-in combo deck. If you want to be closer to the midrange end of the spectrum, there’s an interesting take on Marvel that primarily features the Delirium shell with just a couple of slots devoted to Aetherworks Marvel.

B/G Aetherworks ? Amonkhet Standard | ProHilary, 5-0 Modern League

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Distended Mindbender
• 3 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
• 3 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 4 Rogue Refiner
• 4 Servant of the Conduit

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Liliana, Death's Majesty

• Instants (5)
• 1 Dissenter's Deliverance
• 4 Fatal Push

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Traverse the Ulvenwald
• 4 Attune with Aether

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Vessel of Nascency

• Artifacts (8)
• 4 Aetherworks Marvel
• 4 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot

• Lands (20)
• 1 Island
• 2 Swamp
• 3 Forest
• 2 Evolving Wilds
• 4 Aether Hub
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Botanical Sanctum

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 World Breaker
• 2 Bristling Hydra
• 2 Dispossess
• 2 Transgress the Mind
• 4 Negate
• 4 Tireless Tracker

Buy This Deck

Sure, eventually they’ll find a removal spell, but you’ve got Liliana, Death's Majesty to rebuy key creatures like Ishkanah, and you’re well set up to play a game long enough that you can actually cast Ulamog, especially if you throw a one-of Nissa's Renewal into the mix. Additionally, you have the backup plan of just emerging your Distended Mindbender, which is a great thing to do against opposing Control decks and Marvel Mirror, and the Delirium shell means that you’ve got Traverse the Ulvenwald to find the Mindbender when you need to strip key cards out of your opponent’s hand.

All told, if you’re looking for a less combotastic build of Aetherworks Marvel that has a little more play and the ability to value your opponent out of the game, this seems like an interesting take. You can play slower, more interactive games and are less likely to just die if you can’t find an Aetherworks Marvel. You absolutely give up some of the raw power of the more straightforward combo builds, but that may be worthwhile depending on what you expect to play against.