Sharuum was my first EDH general, and for a dumb reason. I played a little MTG back in middle school (around Odyssey block) and got back into it last year in Zendikar. My friend had an Esper aggro deck with a bunch of Sphinx Summoners, Glaze Fiends, and Thopter Foundry. I really liked the gold/bluish grey card borders for the Esper artifacts. So for my first EDH deck I started out with an Esper aggro/control deck whose general was Sen Triplets, and after refining it for a few months I ended up with this combo control deck.
You might like Sharuum if:
- You like a powerful and diverse card pool filled with many of the best cards in Magic.
- You like a deck that can handle any threat and adapt to any situation.
- You like being able to operate your strategy regardless of what your opponent tries to do.
- You like being able to win the game in a single turn, even when in the red zone.
- You like a general that, in a pinch, can put your opponent on a quick clock.
You might not like Sharuum if:
- You don't like infinite/game ending combos. Those happen. A lot.
- You don't like being hated out of a game. Sharuum (and most other blue generals) can draw some mean looks.
- You don't like being easily hated. Playing a deck with a heavy artifact theme is subject to a lot of staple removal.
She's big. This gigantic robot sphinx woman demands respect. A 5/5 flier, even in EDH, is a force to be reckoned with. And she has a good ability that opens the deck up to plenty of recursion strategies. Thirst for Knowledge can read "2U Instant: Draw 3 cards". Sculpting Steel reads "3 Artifact: If you control a permanent named Disciple of the Vault or Extractor Demon, you win the game".
Cast Sculpting Steel targeting Sharuum, or have Sharuum bring back Steel from the yard targeting Sharuum, the copy's ETB trigger goes on the stack, then they die to the legend rule. Trigger resolves, bring back Sharuum, Sharuum's trigger brings back Steel, repeat.
Then you either mill for infinity, exile infinite cards from your opponent's deck, or they lose infinite life, or swing with an infinite/infinite+1 unblockable hulk.
11/09/10
-1 Filigree Angel
-1 Bojuka Bog
-1 Azorius Chancery
-1 Halimar Depths
+1 Gemstone Mine
+1 City of Brass
+1 River of Tears
+1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
I mean, as long as you're including a list of cards you would rather be running if you had the cash... these seem pretty pertinent to combo-ing off, and they make up the foundation of my Scion deck (there's a thread here).
I do not know if it is a mistake, but your "Plan A" does not work without Sculpting Steel inside the deck I guess, maybe with Rite of Replication but then you should change your description of the deck.
I'm not sure about which part confuses you, but Sculpting Steel works just fine, whereas Rite of Replication would not. The Sharuum token(s) would cease to exist once they entered the graveyard and would not be target-able for recursion.
Well, I just looked through the list and didn't see Sculpting Steel in there, although it is obviously the most common way to kill your opponent. That part confused me.
I'm sorry; I misread your post and thought you were saying that Sculpting Steel and Sharuum were not a compatible combo. I assumed that both were in the list.
Also, to the deckbuilder: Lim-Dul's Vault is another combo enabler.
You seem to have a decent amount of experience with this deck, i have been playing it for a couple years myself so i have a question for you...how do you like the thopter combo? I have tried it a few times and it just seemed overly clunky compared to some options out there. I use 2 sculpting steel combos, futersight top combo, and temple bell with mind over matter atm so these would be the combos thopters would have to beat out to get in the deck.
I've skimped on the artifact fatties for a reason: It's not designed to beat down. Those both would probably be better than DSC though, and I might be able to make room seeing as they both work in certain matchups-- Inkwell versus lots of spot removal, Steel Wind versus G/R, and there is a lot of Intet/Rhys in my meta...
You seem to have a decent amount of experience with this deck, i have been playing it for a couple years myself so i have a question for you...how do you like the thopter combo? I have tried it a few times and it just seemed overly clunky compared to some options out there. I use 2 sculpting steel combos, futersight top combo, and temple bell with mind over matter atm so these would be the combos thopters would have to beat out to get in the deck.
Thopter combo is very slow, I don't actively break it out unless I naturally draw a couple pieces of it. If I drop T2 Foundry and someone forces me to discard and I can pitch Sword, I'll go balls deep with it. I'm debating adding ObeyLine, and Mind over Bell (which would require me to add an Eldrazi, which might not be bad seeing as this deck ramps with artifact mana fairly quickly). I'll see what chaff I can cut. Some of the creatures are underwhelming: Sanctum Gargoyle is sometimes nice but why play him when I can just cast Sharuum 2 turns later? And like I said above, Thada is great in the color mirror, but otherwise not so much. As far as non-creatures, Rhystic Study ends up being not very good in 1v1 unless I drop it T2/3. Dispel feels weak, but that will probably be cut when I get a Cryptic Command. Or maybe Pact of Negation. Surprisingly a card I might drop is Open the Vaults. I have not tested running it alongside Tunnel Vision, but I feel like I run so few creatures it won't be a game ender immediately, and T6/7 is kind of slow to combo out if it's not going to win for me.
Ok thanks for the input. Mind Bell is my favorite combo in my deck atm, bell imo is a really strong card on its own...with the amount of untapping we can do with the deck it becomes a very powerful draw engine even if you give your opponents cards too it is worth it imo. Mom is also good in the deck because of all the artifact mana used and it can even stop stuff your opponents are doing if need be. Plus this combo not only insta mills but it lets you play your whole deck, so just in case your opponent somehow lives through the mill they will die to another combo. The combo is almost like playing an azami deck within sharuum.
Updated. Got some new stuff in there, including some better lands to smooth out the mana base (shocks/filters, fewer tap lands and Rav karoos removed).
Updated. Got some new stuff in there, including some better lands to smooth out the mana base (shocks/filters, fewer tap lands and Rav karoos removed).
Although Rhystic Study is a complete house in multiplayer, I didn't like it for some reason. I feel bad always having to ask "are you paying 1 extra" everytime someone casts a spell. A lot of times, I'd just purposely ignore the trigger. So, I ended up taking it out (which hurts even more since I actually have a foil one). If there was ever a competitive EDH tourney or something, I'd put it back in. But for casual games among buddies, it was more annoying than fun. And isnt' that what EDH is about?!
@Magique: If I have to ask permission to get extra cards, so be it. But Necro is already in, it's too good to pass up. Rhystic Study will probably be dropped for Intuition whenever I find one.
@Dalamar_85: Good point. I have a lot of artifact mana left over from when this deck was awful (Borderposts, Obelisk) that I should probably replace. Just gotta find an Ingot, I know I have a couple sitting around somewhere. Master Transmuter was in the list back when it was more creature-heavy. I might try her out again, now that most of the creatures have decent ETB abilities. I run few basics so I can really blow people up with "blinking" Sundering Titan. I could probably do something like:
-1 Fieldmist Borderpost (it sucks)
-1 Mistvein Borderpost (it sucks)
-1 Obelisk of Esper (it kind of sucks)
-1 Rhystic Study (mostly irrelevant in 1v1)
-1 Glassdust Hulk (only kills one person)
+1 Intuition (super awesome and can easily set up a kill, grabbing Sculpting Steel, Extractor Demon, and anything else)
+1 Darksteel Ingot (strictly better than Obelisk)
+1 Master Transmuter (I'll try her out again; I really like the art so why not? :P)
+1 Gilded Lotus (pretty cool too)
+1 Ancestral Vision (been wanting to put this in)
EDIT: Actually, I guess it's banned on the French list. But my store uses the multiplayer ban list even for 1v1 matches, so as far as I'm concerned it's legal. Hence why I still have Sol Ring on this list, and Sol Ring and Mindslaver in my Sisay deck.
I have always loved artifact combos and blue control so sharuum is a perfect general for my competetive edh. One beautiful gem I found organizing my old stuff was mana web and I thought it would be good in the side board. Then one day I found myself wanting mana web before sideboarding and realized that it was good enough for main deck play. I have never regreted it since and found that mana web with urborg is some times even better than teferi on the board. You should give it a shot. Mostly helps against blue.
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Brute force can sometimes knock down a locked door, But Knowledge is a skeleton key. ~Jace Beleren~
I assume your second win con involves a 1 cost artifact of some kind? Imma probably jam a tendrils in my deck, thats a cool combo. I was just using top with future sight to draw infinite cards.
Sensei's Divining Top. You play it off the top for free, bounce it to draw a card, then play it again for free, etc. You storm for however many cards you want to draw.
Sharuum was my first EDH general, and for a dumb reason. I played a little MTG back in middle school (around Odyssey block) and got back into it last year in Zendikar. My friend had an Esper aggro deck with a bunch of Sphinx Summoners, Glaze Fiends, and Thopter Foundry. I really liked the gold/bluish grey card borders for the Esper artifacts. So for my first EDH deck I started out with an Esper aggro/control deck whose general was Sen Triplets, and after refining it for a few months I ended up with this combo control deck.
You might like Sharuum if:
- You like a powerful and diverse card pool filled with many of the best cards in Magic.
- You like a deck that can handle any threat and adapt to any situation.
- You like being able to operate your strategy regardless of what your opponent tries to do.
- You like being able to win the game in a single turn, even when in the red zone.
- You like a general that, in a pinch, can put your opponent on a quick clock.
You might not like Sharuum if:
- You don't like infinite/game ending combos. Those happen. A lot.
- You don't like being hated out of a game. Sharuum (and most other blue generals) can draw some mean looks.
- You don't like being easily hated. Playing a deck with a heavy artifact theme is subject to a lot of staple removal.
Sharuum the Hegemon
She's big. This gigantic robot sphinx woman demands respect. A 5/5 flier, even in EDH, is a force to be reckoned with. And she has a good ability that opens the deck up to plenty of recursion strategies. Thirst for Knowledge can read "2U Instant: Draw 3 cards". Sculpting Steel reads "3 Artifact: If you control a permanent named Disciple of the Vault or Extractor Demon, you win the game".
1x Sharuum the Hegemon
Win Condition #1
1x Sculpting Steel
Plus one of the following:
1x Bitter Ordeal
1x Extractor Demon
1x Glassdust Hulk
1x Disciple of the Vault
Win Condition #2
1x Future Sight
1x Etherium Sculptor (or)
1x Helm of Awakening
1x Tendrils of Agony
Win Condition #3
1x Thopter Foundry
1x Sword of the Meek
1x Time Sieve
Creatures that are mostly just creatures (1)
1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Big Dudes (3)
1x Sundering Titan
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1x Magister Sphinx
Counters (7)
1x Dispel
1x Counterspell
1x Negate
1x Stoic Rebuttal
1x Hinder
1x Soul Manipulation
1x Cryptic Command
Utility Stuff (1)
1x Voltaic Key
Card Draw/Tutors (22)
1x Trinket Mage
1x Rhystic Study
1x Tezzeret the Seeker
1x Liliana Vess
1x Necropotence
1x Phyrexian Arena
1x Enlightened Tutor
1x Fact or Fiction
1x Mystical Teachings
1x Vampiric Tutor
1x Ancestral Vision
1x Demonic Tutor
1x Mystical Tutor
1x Thirst for Knowledge
1x Lim-Dul's Vault
1x Courier's Capsule
1x Ponder
1x Beseech the Queen
1x Fabricate
1x Diabolic Tutor
1x Thoughtcast
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Spin Into Myth
1x Rite of Replication
1x Dispeller's Capsule
1x Duplicant
Mass Removal (5)
1x Wrath of God
1x Damnation
1x Day of Judgment
1x Austere Command
1x Decree of Pain
Acceleration (7)
1x Coalition Relic
1x Mana Vault
1x Sol Ring
1x Azorius Signet
1x Dimir Signet
1x Darksteel Ingot
1x Thran Dynamo
Lands (36)
1x Academy Ruins
1x Ancient Den
1x Arcane Sanctum
1x Caves of Koilos
1x City of Brass
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Drowned Catacomb
1x Fetid Heath
1x Gemstone Mine
1x Glacial Fortress
1x Godless Shrine
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Marsh Flats
1x Mystic Gate
1x Reliquary Tower
1x River of Tears
1x Seat of the Synod
1x Sunken Ruins
1x Underground River
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Vault of Whispers
1x Vivid Creek
1x Vivid Meadow
5x Island
4x Swamp
4x Plains
The game plan is pretty straight forward. Combo out in one of a bunch of ways and kill the opponent.
Plan A: Sharuum the Hegemon + Sculpting Steel + One of the following...
- Bitter Ordeal
- Disciple of the Vault
- Extractor Demon
- Glassdust Hulk
Cast Sculpting Steel targeting Sharuum, or have Sharuum bring back Steel from the yard targeting Sharuum, the copy's ETB trigger goes on the stack, then they die to the legend rule. Trigger resolves, bring back Sharuum, Sharuum's trigger brings back Steel, repeat.
Then you either mill for infinity, exile infinite cards from your opponent's deck, or they lose infinite life, or swing with an infinite/infinite+1 unblockable hulk.
Plan B: Future Sight + Helm of Awakening + Sensei's Divining Top. Play the top for free, put it on top and draw a card, play it off the top for free, repeat until you hit Tendrils of Agony, and storm them for a lot.
Plan C: Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek + Time Sieve. Take some turns, swing with some dudes, etc.
Plan D: Artifact Beats. Sharuum does swing for 5, after all.
Plan E: Tezzeret ultimate. This doesn't happen much.
11/10/10
-1 Vivid Marsh
-1 Obelisk of Esper
-1 Mistvein Borderpost
-1 Fieldmist Borderpost
+1 Ancestral Vision
+1 Necropotence
+1 Marsh Flats
+1 Darksteel Ingot
11/09/10
-1 Filigree Angel
-1 Bojuka Bog
-1 Azorius Chancery
-1 Halimar Depths
+1 Gemstone Mine
+1 City of Brass
+1 River of Tears
+1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
10/28/10
-1 Everflowing Chalice
+1 Decree of Pain
10/17/10
-1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
-1 Darksteel Colossus
+1 Sundering Titan
+1 Helm of Awakening
10/9/10
-1 Orzhov Basilica
-1 Dimir Aqueduct
-1 Magus of the Future
+1 Sunken Ruins
+1 Fetid Heath
+1 Future Sight
10/6/10
-1 Executioner's Capsule
+1 Mystical Tutor
10/1/10
-2 Island
-1 Scourglass
+1 Underground River
+1 Mystic Gate
+1 Cryptic Command
9/25/10
-1 Mind's Eye
-1 Master Transmuter
-1 Kiku's Shadow
-1 Take Possession
-1 Ethersworn Canonist
-1 Lotus Petal
-1 Skullclamp
-1 Armillary Sphere
+1 Plains
+1 Thirst for Knowledge
+1 Coalition Relic
+1 Godless Shrine
+1 Demonic Tutor
+1 Vampiric Tutor
+1 Wrath of God
+1 Lim-Dul's Vault
9/8/10:
-1 Plains
-1 Swamp
+1 Hallowed Fountain
+1 Academy Ruins
Lover of EDH, hater of whiny EDH players.
I mean, as long as you're including a list of cards you would rather be running if you had the cash... these seem pretty pertinent to combo-ing off, and they make up the foundation of my Scion deck (there's a thread here).
I'm not sure about which part confuses you, but Sculpting Steel works just fine, whereas Rite of Replication would not. The Sharuum token(s) would cease to exist once they entered the graveyard and would not be target-able for recursion.
And to the first poster, I don't play on mws but I will probably bring some proxies next time I play just to see how it goes.
Lover of EDH, hater of whiny EDH players.
I'm sorry; I misread your post and thought you were saying that Sculpting Steel and Sharuum were not a compatible combo. I assumed that both were in the list.
Also, to the deckbuilder: Lim-Dul's Vault is another combo enabler.
Ooh, and Sphinx of the Steel Wind!
GWR Mayael the Anima GWR
WUG Rafiq of the Many WUG
Sharuum the Hegemon
Mayael the Anima
Wort, Boggart Auntie
Sliver Overlord
Drana Kalastria Bloodchief
99 mountain Ashling
I've skimped on the artifact fatties for a reason: It's not designed to beat down. Those both would probably be better than DSC though, and I might be able to make room seeing as they both work in certain matchups-- Inkwell versus lots of spot removal, Steel Wind versus G/R, and there is a lot of Intet/Rhys in my meta...
Thopter combo is very slow, I don't actively break it out unless I naturally draw a couple pieces of it. If I drop T2 Foundry and someone forces me to discard and I can pitch Sword, I'll go balls deep with it. I'm debating adding Obey Line, and Mind over Bell (which would require me to add an Eldrazi, which might not be bad seeing as this deck ramps with artifact mana fairly quickly). I'll see what chaff I can cut. Some of the creatures are underwhelming: Sanctum Gargoyle is sometimes nice but why play him when I can just cast Sharuum 2 turns later? And like I said above, Thada is great in the color mirror, but otherwise not so much. As far as non-creatures, Rhystic Study ends up being not very good in 1v1 unless I drop it T2/3. Dispel feels weak, but that will probably be cut when I get a Cryptic Command. Or maybe Pact of Negation. Surprisingly a card I might drop is Open the Vaults. I have not tested running it alongside Tunnel Vision, but I feel like I run so few creatures it won't be a game ender immediately, and T6/7 is kind of slow to combo out if it's not going to win for me.
Lover of EDH, hater of whiny EDH players.
Sharuum the Hegemon
Mayael the Anima
Wort, Boggart Auntie
Sliver Overlord
Drana Kalastria Bloodchief
99 mountain Ashling
-1 Plains
-1 Swamp
+1 Hallowed Fountain
+1 Academy Ruins
Lover of EDH, hater of whiny EDH players.
Lover of EDH, hater of whiny EDH players.
Debating the merits of Sundering Titan over DSC and Sphinx of the Steel Wind over Filigree. Also, probably ditching Rhystic Study for Necropotence. Opinions?
Lover of EDH, hater of whiny EDH players.
Lover of EDH, hater of whiny EDH players.
Although Rhystic Study is a complete house in multiplayer, I didn't like it for some reason. I feel bad always having to ask "are you paying 1 extra" everytime someone casts a spell. A lot of times, I'd just purposely ignore the trigger. So, I ended up taking it out (which hurts even more since I actually have a foil one). If there was ever a competitive EDH tourney or something, I'd put it back in. But for casual games among buddies, it was more annoying than fun. And isnt' that what EDH is about?!
WUB Sharuum the Hegemon
BGW Karador, Ghost Chieftain
@Dalamar_85: Good point. I have a lot of artifact mana left over from when this deck was awful (Borderposts, Obelisk) that I should probably replace. Just gotta find an Ingot, I know I have a couple sitting around somewhere. Master Transmuter was in the list back when it was more creature-heavy. I might try her out again, now that most of the creatures have decent ETB abilities. I run few basics so I can really blow people up with "blinking" Sundering Titan. I could probably do something like:
-1 Fieldmist Borderpost (it sucks)
-1 Mistvein Borderpost (it sucks)
-1 Obelisk of Esper (it kind of sucks)
-1 Rhystic Study (mostly irrelevant in 1v1)
-1 Glassdust Hulk (only kills one person)
+1 Intuition (super awesome and can easily set up a kill, grabbing Sculpting Steel, Extractor Demon, and anything else)
+1 Darksteel Ingot (strictly better than Obelisk)
+1 Master Transmuter (I'll try her out again; I really like the art so why not? :P)
+1 Gilded Lotus (pretty cool too)
+1 Ancestral Vision (been wanting to put this in)
Lover of EDH, hater of whiny EDH players.
http://www.dragonhighlander.net/rules.php
EDIT: Actually, I guess it's banned on the French list. But my store uses the multiplayer ban list even for 1v1 matches, so as far as I'm concerned it's legal. Hence why I still have Sol Ring on this list, and Sol Ring and Mindslaver in my Sisay deck.
Lover of EDH, hater of whiny EDH players.
Brute force can sometimes knock down a locked door,
But Knowledge is a skeleton key.
~Jace Beleren~
Sensei's Divining Top. You play it off the top for free, bounce it to draw a card, then play it again for free, etc. You storm for however many cards you want to draw.
Lover of EDH, hater of whiny EDH players.