Generally, when people build decks, they try and minimize the random factors from game to game. More card draw, more tutoring, multiple pieces with similar functions so there is some kind of consistent gameplan.
Hakim is not this.
Hakim gets hit on several easily identified avenues of attack. Spot removal? Hakim is in trouble. Tuck effect? Hakim is in trouble. Enchantment hate? Hakim is in trouble. Graveyard hate? Hakim is in trouble. Pretty much any kind of disruption can make Hakim sit in a corner and cry for a bit. Add in that this is a mono-U deck, with all the horrifying combos and icy consistency that that generally implies, and odds are Hakim gets hated off the table before he can do anything most games.
BUT! There's hope. While Hakim crumples like tissue paper before any kind of serious opposition, he can also be assembled into a rickety death ray of questionable power! Awe-inspiring combos such as Pemmin's Aura + Psionic Gift make even hardened control players weep impotently when Hakim successfully jumps through the series of needlessly complicated hoops to assemble them! What pile of creatures can stand in the awesome presence of Eldrazi Conscription? Gazing upon Hakim in his glory is as gazing upon a cardboard cutout of God himself.
So yeah, Hakim. He's not going to stand up to any kind of serious meta with this build, but it's entertaining as hell to play and the payoff for pulling any of the janky combos together is fantastic. If I were to turn this into a serious deck rather than the low budget pile it currently is, I'd:
-add gems like Intuition
-replace a lot of the creature looting with instant speed options that dig a little deeper like Compulsive Research, Frantic Search, Thirst for Knowledge, etc
-add some more counterspells
-cut some of the weaker auras
-improve the mana rocks and lands
-basically, turn it into a serious blue control deck with a few slots devoted to Hakim as a finisher
As the deck stands, the general idea is to lay low, setup with looters, and try and flash Hakim in eot so you can either throw a couple serious voltron auras on him, pull together a draw engine (Freed from the Real/Sisay's Ingenuity/Traveler's Cloak + an untapper), or assemble one of the fireballs (Pemmin's Aura/Freed from the Real + Hermetic Study/Psionic Gift) and try and burn everyone out over a couple of turns. Tezz/Trinket Mage find Elixir of Immortality as a token defense against grave hate if it looks to be a problem, and the limited countermagic is used primarily to protect Hakim until there's an opportunity to get a protective aura on him.
Hakim is pretty low on the totem pole when it comes to me upgrading decks right now and is mostly up here just so I can stop having a general in my sig without an associated link, but I'd be happy to consider whatever anyone has to say about him or answer questions about the deck. Thanks for reading!
EDIT: Because I had nothing better going on, I made a meaner version of Hakim. The above is my low budget paper list, below is where I would start if I wanted to make him competitive.
As you can probably see, it loses all the cute stuff from above in favor of much heavier control. It's designed to play out largely at instant speed, using looting effects to set up a Hakim win with counter support. As of now, there's nothing infinite (which is a meta call for me). If I were to go that route, Temple Bell would likely make its way in to finish off the combo with MoM. Extra turns are under serious consideration for the ability to drop Hakim, then take an extra turn and suit him up. I'm actually more interested in improvements to this list at the moment, as it's entirely theory right now.
Hakim is not this.
Hakim gets hit on several easily identified avenues of attack. Spot removal? Hakim is in trouble. Tuck effect? Hakim is in trouble. Enchantment hate? Hakim is in trouble. Graveyard hate? Hakim is in trouble. Pretty much any kind of disruption can make Hakim sit in a corner and cry for a bit. Add in that this is a mono-U deck, with all the horrifying combos and icy consistency that that generally implies, and odds are Hakim gets hated off the table before he can do anything most games.
BUT! There's hope. While Hakim crumples like tissue paper before any kind of serious opposition, he can also be assembled into a rickety death ray of questionable power! Awe-inspiring combos such as Pemmin's Aura + Psionic Gift make even hardened control players weep impotently when Hakim successfully jumps through the series of needlessly complicated hoops to assemble them! What pile of creatures can stand in the awesome presence of Eldrazi Conscription? Gazing upon Hakim in his glory is as gazing upon a cardboard cutout of God himself.
1 Hakim, Loreweaver
//Creatures
1 Academy Researchers
1 Cephalid Looter
1 Dreamscape Artist
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Iridescent Drake
1 Merfolk Looter
1 Murder of Crows
1 Overtaker
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Rayne, Academy Chancellor
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Rootwater Shaman
1 Sakashima the Impostor
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Stronghold Biologist
1 Stronghold Machinist
1 Thought Courier
1 Trinket Mage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Waterfront Bouncer
//Non-Aura Enchantments
1 Honden of Seeing Winds
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Mind Unbound
1 Arcanum Wings
1 Auramancer's Guise
1 Crab Umbra
1 Diplomatic Immunity
1 Drake Umbra
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 False Demise
1 Flight of Fancy
1 Freed from the Real
1 Hermetic Study
1 Infiltrator's Magemark
1 Leaden Fists
1 Pemmin's Aura
1 Protective Bubble
1 Psionic Gift
1 Second Wind
1 Sigil of Sleep
1 Sisay's Ingenuity
1 Traveler's Cloak
1 Vanishing
//Artifacts
1 Caged Sun
1 Coalition Relic
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sol Ring
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
//Instants
1 Counterspell
1 Cryptic Command
1 Evacuation
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Hinder
1 Muddle the Mixture
//Sorceries
1 Inundate
1 Recurring Insight
1 Wash Out
//Lands
1 Buried Ruin
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terrain Generator
32 Island
So yeah, Hakim. He's not going to stand up to any kind of serious meta with this build, but it's entertaining as hell to play and the payoff for pulling any of the janky combos together is fantastic. If I were to turn this into a serious deck rather than the low budget pile it currently is, I'd:
-add gems like Intuition
-replace a lot of the creature looting with instant speed options that dig a little deeper like Compulsive Research, Frantic Search, Thirst for Knowledge, etc
-add some more counterspells
-cut some of the weaker auras
-improve the mana rocks and lands
-basically, turn it into a serious blue control deck with a few slots devoted to Hakim as a finisher
As the deck stands, the general idea is to lay low, setup with looters, and try and flash Hakim in eot so you can either throw a couple serious voltron auras on him, pull together a draw engine (Freed from the Real/Sisay's Ingenuity/Traveler's Cloak + an untapper), or assemble one of the fireballs (Pemmin's Aura/Freed from the Real + Hermetic Study/Psionic Gift) and try and burn everyone out over a couple of turns. Tezz/Trinket Mage find Elixir of Immortality as a token defense against grave hate if it looks to be a problem, and the limited countermagic is used primarily to protect Hakim until there's an opportunity to get a protective aura on him.
Hakim is pretty low on the totem pole when it comes to me upgrading decks right now and is mostly up here just so I can stop having a general in my sig without an associated link, but I'd be happy to consider whatever anyone has to say about him or answer questions about the deck. Thanks for reading!
EDIT: Because I had nothing better going on, I made a meaner version of Hakim. The above is my low budget paper list, below is where I would start if I wanted to make him competitive.
1 Hakim, Loreweaver
//Creatures
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
1 Sphinx of Uthuun
1 Trinket Mage
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
//Non-Aura Encahntments
1 Compulsion
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Mind Over Matter
//Auras
1 Crab Umbra
1 Drake Umbra
1 Diplomatic Immunity
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Freed from the Real
1 Hermetic Study
1 Pemmin's Aura
1 Protective Bubble
1 Psionic Gift
1 Vanishing
//Artifacts
1 Caged Sun
1 Coalition Relic
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Sky Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Star Compass
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
//Instants
1 Capsize
1 Careful Consideration
1 Catalog
1 Counterspell
1 Cryptic Command
1 Evacuation
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Foil
1 Forbid
1 Force of Will
1 Frantic Search
1 Hinder
1 Intuition
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Pact of Negation
1 Sift Through Sands
1 Thirst for Knowledge
//Sorceries
1 Compulsive Research
1 Deep Analysis
1 Fabricate
1 Inundate
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Recall
1 Recurring Insight
1 Wash Out
1 Academy Ruins
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Dust Bowl
1 Flooded Strand
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mouth of Ronom
1 Polluted Delta
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrying Sheets
1 Strip Mine
1 Tolaria West
1 Wasteland
1 Winding Canyons
24 Snow-Covered Island
As you can probably see, it loses all the cute stuff from above in favor of much heavier control. It's designed to play out largely at instant speed, using looting effects to set up a Hakim win with counter support. As of now, there's nothing infinite (which is a meta call for me). If I were to go that route, Temple Bell would likely make its way in to finish off the combo with MoM. Extra turns are under serious consideration for the ability to drop Hakim, then take an extra turn and suit him up. I'm actually more interested in improvements to this list at the moment, as it's entirely theory right now.