I have been playing EDH for a short time now utilizing a sliver deck. My meta is comprised of Zur, Sharuum, Rofellos, Niv-Mizzet, and Jhoira decks. To combat these decks I have decided to build the Arbiter deck. This is my first revision of the deck and would like some opinions. Keep in mind this is not for dueling.
Thank you all for the suggestions you have made. I am anxious now to try out this version "2.0" of the deck. Just to clarify for anyone planning on building this deck, there is a few ways to go about it. I decided to go for a denial theme. Causing you opponents to lose their board, keep their spells expensive enough so they can't cast them, and when they can pay for a spell it gets countered is the theme of this deck.
A couple other cards to help you slow things down that would fit the deck are Arcane Labratory, Rule of Law, Portcullis and War Tax. Portcullis is just fun, especially if you can keep it on the board, and gain control of the creatures there. Fabricate is a good tutor as is Enlightened Tutor. i like the deck idea, because its not a total lock down, but its good fun to make others suffer, but yet they can play.
I understand the suggestions you have made and for the most part I agree, the problem I have is that I can only fit 100 cards into the deck. Are there any cards on my list that seem subpar compared to what's available?
You have a pretty solid build, and i only see a few cards that don't do alot for me, without changing your make up. I would add Capsize for Flicker for sure though. I don't care for brainstorm, it's just so limited in its use, I'd rather have something I can recur or search like fabricate or enlightened tutor. I used to love story circle, but Pithing needle changed my mind on that card. Why not Cryptic Command for Dismiss? Much better utility card. Last one form me is Mind Stone. I just think there are better cards, because there are way better mana fixers and better draw cars. I love war tax, especially with all you other effects. As long as you have mana free, they won't be attacking.
Just counted your lands....29, isn't that a little light? even with the mana fixers, it seems a little low to me. If you want to add two lands try Vesuva and Magosi, the Waterveil. Let them combo off and take three turns in a row, while you skip a turn building it. Once its done, you will be about ready to do it again in a few turns. Its great after a big board wipe.
So I have played a few games and will play more this upcoming weekend. I must say this deck can completely lock down the field. I've never felt so good than sitting down at a table with two zur decks and a jhoira deck and shutting them down. Eventually the roffelos deck was able to obtain enough mana to eliminate the two zur decks, then we ganged up on jhoira. After that was settled my proxied "Jace mindsculptor" had enough counters to make him shuffle all 2 cards into his library and I decked him ftw. Has anyone else had similar success with an arbiter deck?
Sakashima the Imposter - To copy your general Copy Artifact - To copy spheres Sculpting Steel - To copy spheres Humility - To make your opponents generals garbage Winter Orb - To kill your opponents with boredom. Trust me, it works. Blinkmoth Well - To tap Winter Orb Mystic Remora - To draw cards. A lot of cards.
More lands - To cast your spells Land Tax - To, um..., it's land tax, just play it. Arcane Denial - 2 mana Dismiss with a built in apology. Stripmine - Good with Crucible Wasteland - Also good with Crucible Trickbind - I value Stifle effects very highly, even moreso in multiplayer
Cuts:
Chalice of the Void - Assuming you are using this to lock out generals, if so there are better options. If not, I don't like this card much at all. Feldon's Cane - What is this doing for you exactly? Memory Jar - Blue has much better card draw options. Not very good vs. Sharuum & Niv-Mizzet either. Planar Cleansing - Wipes your board position, I can't see that being something you want to be doing often. Condescend - There's got to be a better counter you can run than this even with your mana denial theme. Dissipate - Was Cancel 90% of the time for me Dovescape/Guile - Cute but you could just run Iona, Shield of Emeria instead. Both of those combo pieces just aren't very good on their own. Hurkyl's Recall - Rebuild is better but I wouldn't run either. Last Word - I expect more out of my 4 mana counterspells. If you want to win counter battles that badly just run Misdirection. Overrule - I'd rather just play Absorb.
"10/4/2004 Even lands that are also creatures are affected by this card's ability."
Edit: And from the comprehensive rules:
"112.3d Static abilities are written as statements. They're simply true. Static abilities create continuous effects which are active while the permanent with the ability is on the battlefield and has the ability, or while the object with the ability is in the appropriate zone."
"10/4/2004 Even lands that are also creatures are affected by this card's ability."
Edit: And from the comprehensive rules:
"112.3d Static abilities are written as statements. They're simply true. Static abilities create continuous effects which are active while the permanent with the ability is on the battlefield and has the ability, or while the object with the ability is in the appropriate zone."
Sorry, I didn't mean to say ruling. I meant Oracle wording. The oracle wording says, "As long as Winter Orb is untapped", which answers why tapping it, will allow someone to untap their lands for a turn. It's still a static effect and all, but it can simply be turned off. It's basically just temporarily losing the ability to keep lands tapped.
Besides if all else fails, remember: If a card conflicts with the rules of the game, the card wins.
Sorry, I didn't mean to say ruling. I meant Oracle wording. The oracle wording says, "As long as Winter Orb is untapped", which answers why tapping it, will allow someone to untap their lands for a turn. It's still a static effect and all, but it can simply be turned off. It's basically just temporarily losing the ability to keep lands tapped.
Besides if all else fails, remember: If a card conflicts with the rules of the game, the card wins.
Yeah I totally missed that the text on the card itself was updated.
Sakashima the Imposter - To copy your general Copy Artifact - To copy spheres Sculpting Steel - To copy spheres Humility - To make your opponents generals garbage Winter Orb - To kill your opponents with boredom. Trust me, it works. Blinkmoth Well - To tap Winter Orb Mystic Remora - To draw cards. A lot of cards.
More lands - To cast your spells Land Tax - To, um..., it's land tax, just play it. Arcane Denial - 2 mana Dismiss with a built in apology. Stripmine - Good with Crucible Wasteland - Also good with Crucible Trickbind - I value Stifle effects very highly, even moreso in multiplayer
Cuts:
Chalice of the Void - Assuming you are using this to lock out generals, if so there are better options. If not, I don't like this card much at all. Feldon's Cane - What is this doing for you exactly? Memory Jar - Blue has much better card draw options. Not very good vs. Sharuum & Niv-Mizzet either. Planar Cleansing - Wipes your board position, I can't see that being something you want to be doing often. Condescend - There's got to be a better counter you can run than this even with your mana denial theme. Dissipate - Was Cancel 90% of the time for me Dovescape/Guile - Cute but you could just run Iona, Shield of Emeria instead. Both of those combo pieces just aren't very good on their own. Hurkyl's Recall - Rebuild is better but I wouldn't run either. Last Word - I expect more out of my 4 mana counterspells. If you want to win counter battles that badly just run Misdirection. Overrule - I'd rather just play Absorb.
I definitely liked the majority of your suggestions. This is the feedback I've been looking for. Although I'd hate to unsleeve my foil memory jar/chalice I agree with your advice. I plan on placing wastelands in the deck as soon as I get a hold of a foil one.
1x Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Artifacts
1x Coalition Relic
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Damping Matrix
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Grim Monolith
1x Lotus Petal
1x Mana Vault
1x Mindslaver
1x Nevinyrral's Disk
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Sol Ring
1x Sphere of Resistance
1x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Worn Powerstone
Enchantments
1x Aether Barrier
1x Aura of Silence
1x Decree of Silence
1x Ghostly Prison
1x Humility
1x Land Tax
1x Mystic Remora
1x Propaganda
1x Rhystic Study
1x Rule of Law
1x Teferi's Moat
1x Treachery
1x War Tax
1x Armageddon
1x Austere Command
1x Blatant Thievery
1x Capsize
1x Cataclysm
1x Catastrophe
1x Day of Judgment
1x Fabricate
1x Hallowed Burial
1x Martial Coup
1x Merchant Scroll
1x Rout
1x Wrath of God
Instants
1x Absorb
1x Arcane Denial
1x Condemn
1x Counterspell
1x Cryptic Command
1x Desertion
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Evacuation
1x Forbid
1x Force of Will
1x Hinder
1x Mana Drain
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Sunder
1x Trickbind
Creatures
1x Glowrider
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Loxodon Gatekeeper
1x Ophidian
1x Palinchron
1x Spelltithe Enforcer
1x Trinket Mage
1x Windborn Muse
1x Jace Beleren
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1x Tezzeret the Seeker
32 Lands
1x Academy Ruins
1x Adarkar Wastes
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Celestial Colonnade
1x Dust Bowl
1x Exotic Orchard
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Magosi, the Waterveil
1x Maze of Ith
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Rishadan Port
1x Sejiri Refuge
1x Stripmine
1x Tolaria West
1x Tolarian Academy
1x Vesuva
8x Plains
8x Island
Update: 2/3/10 Implemented some more changes.
Thank you all for the suggestions you have made. I am anxious now to try out this version "2.0" of the deck. Just to clarify for anyone planning on building this deck, there is a few ways to go about it. I decided to go for a denial theme. Causing you opponents to lose their board, keep their spells expensive enough so they can't cast them, and when they can pay for a spell it gets countered is the theme of this deck.
Numot, Multi-control
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=215349
It seems like a well-placed Nevinyrral's Disk or Shattering Spree could really wreck you with such a large portion of your mana coming from artifacts.
Sakashima the Imposter - To copy your general
Copy Artifact - To copy spheres
Sculpting Steel - To copy spheres
Humility - To make your opponents generals garbage
Winter Orb - To kill your opponents with boredom. Trust me, it works.
Blinkmoth Well - To tap Winter Orb
Mystic Remora - To draw cards. A lot of cards.
More lands - To cast your spells
Land Tax - To, um..., it's land tax, just play it.
Arcane Denial - 2 mana Dismiss with a built in apology.
Stripmine - Good with Crucible
Wasteland - Also good with Crucible
Trickbind - I value Stifle effects very highly, even moreso in multiplayer
Cuts:
Chalice of the Void - Assuming you are using this to lock out generals, if so there are better options. If not, I don't like this card much at all.
Feldon's Cane - What is this doing for you exactly?
Memory Jar - Blue has much better card draw options. Not very good vs. Sharuum & Niv-Mizzet either.
Planar Cleansing - Wipes your board position, I can't see that being something you want to be doing often.
Condescend - There's got to be a better counter you can run than this even with your mana denial theme.
Dissipate - Was Cancel 90% of the time for me
Dovescape/Guile - Cute but you could just run Iona, Shield of Emeria instead. Both of those combo pieces just aren't very good on their own.
Hurkyl's Recall - Rebuild is better but I wouldn't run either.
Last Word - I expect more out of my 4 mana counterspells. If you want to win counter battles that badly just run Misdirection.
Overrule - I'd rather just play Absorb.
I thought the rule that stated that tapping artifacts turns off continuous effects was removed a long time ago.
Read the ruling on Winter Orb?
Pauper Cube
I cube, I play EDH, and I can't afford Legacy. The other formats can suck it.
Can you quote the one you're talking about?
The only one I see on gatherer is this:
"10/4/2004 Even lands that are also creatures are affected by this card's ability."
Edit: And from the comprehensive rules:
"112.3d Static abilities are written as statements. They're simply true. Static abilities create continuous effects which are active while the permanent with the ability is on the battlefield and has the ability, or while the object with the ability is in the appropriate zone."
Winter Orb
Artifact, 2
As long as Winter Orb is untapped, players can't untap more than one land during their untap steps.
Sorry, I didn't mean to say ruling. I meant Oracle wording. The oracle wording says, "As long as Winter Orb is untapped", which answers why tapping it, will allow someone to untap their lands for a turn. It's still a static effect and all, but it can simply be turned off. It's basically just temporarily losing the ability to keep lands tapped.
Besides if all else fails, remember: If a card conflicts with the rules of the game, the card wins.
Pauper Cube
I cube, I play EDH, and I can't afford Legacy. The other formats can suck it.
Yeah I totally missed that the text on the card itself was updated.
I definitely liked the majority of your suggestions. This is the feedback I've been looking for. Although I'd hate to unsleeve my foil memory jar/chalice I agree with your advice. I plan on placing wastelands in the deck as soon as I get a hold of a foil one.
KAALIA SMASH!
Intet dreams of times ahead
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