I've seen quite a few Arcum decks posted here on MTGS, and have noticed that a lot seem to run rather sub-optimal cards that are not core to the combo/control heart. The key-element is to get Arcum online and bring up Darksteel Forge followed by Nevinyrral's Disk. If you can get Mycosynth Lattice as well, even better. Playing cards that don't buy you time, assist in assembling, or protect this combo only server to dilute the deck.
Here's my list, as well as explanations of the choices:
-Strip Mine/Wasteland: destroy "trouble" lands and combos with Crucible
-Bandit Lord: Allow your Arcum to sneak past counters and haste-past removal
-Inkmoth/Blinkmoth/Factory: double as Arcum fodder for tinkering
-All is Dust: most times, this will not destroy any of your cards on the board. It's the idea board-wipe
-Manakin/Plague-Myr/Milikin/Silver-Myr/Walking Atlas: mana acceleration and Arcum-fodder
-Tutor package: all the best sorcery/artifact tutoring spells that blue has
-Counterspells: all the best 3 or less CC counters
-Prison cards: If you can't get your Darksteel Forge/Nev's Disk combo in place right away, you can stall easily with Ensnaring Bridge, Winter Orb, Static Orb, or Meekstone.
-Haste/Protection: Between two pairs of boots and the Thousand Year Elixir, you will often be able to haste your Arcum into the combo and keep him safe
-Creatures: all chosen to be cheap and work well as Arcum fodder, or as utility (like Metamorph and Transmuter). Karn is your major win-con after establishing a Disk-lock. Spellskite keeps your Arcum (and yourself) safe with its misdirection ability
Hi,
I'm new here and I posted an arcum deck too but wasn't getting any replies. I'm new to EDH too but for what its worth, here are my thoughts:
For starters, when you post a deck use the [deck ] [/ deck] tags. It looks better and people will be more inclined to comment.
I'd put in 4 fetchlands. And workshop, if you can afford it.
You might consider removing a blue tutor and replacing it with merchant scroll. You don't lose a card that way.
Ward of bones looks to me like a weak way of slowing down opponents. Since your deck has myr turbine and will often tinker for it quickly, possessed portal is better in my opinion.
palladium myr is a decent mana accelerant/arcum target. You might consider cutting one of your weaker cards for it, such as propaganda or faerie trickery.
I would definately keep the voltaic key. It generates mana with the vaults, it makes nevy's disk useable when it enters play, and when mycosynth lattice is out it untaps anything - such as arcum. Very versatile. Clock of omens is another card to consider too.
My new favorite card is rings of brighthearth. It generates infinite mana with basalt monolith. And if you have basalt monolith + sensei's divining top you can draw your entire deck. It makes fetchlands fetch 2 lands instead of one. It makes arcum bring two artifacts into play instead of one. Copper gnomes puts 2 artifacts in play. Tezzeret puts 2 artifacts in play. Myr retriever/junk diver gets you 2 artifacts. I could go on but I think I made my point.
Epochrasite is useful for arcum because it gives arcum fodder every 3 turns. But since you have myr turbine for that you might consider getting rid of it.
Power artifact is hard to tutor for (muddle the mixture will do the trick though) but the ability to make infinite mana with the vaults is huge, especially when mycosynth lattice is in play so you can cast blue spells too.
You run more counterspells than I do. Personally I'd cut dissipate and faerie trickery for things like spine of ish sah, sculpting steel, or thirst for knowledge. But that's personal preference I suppose.
Edit: I also recommend future sight for card draw. On its own, its great. If you also have sensei's divining top in play you have: 1, draw a card. With SDT and etherium sculptor in play you have: 0, draw a card. That's insane.
1. Fetches would be great, but I'm so low on Islands already that I'm concerned with too much thinning. I'll give them a shot and see if it works. I have a Workshop...but I found that most times I would rather draw a blue source than have the mana to hard cast my artifacts. Perhaps I'll give it another shot, but initially I was incredibly annoyed to have a land that couldn't contribute to casting Arcum.
2. Merchant Scroll is nice, but I don't really have anything important to fetch with it. While Personal Tutor is card-disadvantage, it does grab sorceries, which are the blue cards I'd be looking for.
3. Ward of Bones has been excellent for an early game slowing piece. If I don't think I can reliably get off my combo, I'll grab that first to keep my opponents backed up.
4. Rings of Brighthearth would be a great addition...but I feel that falls under the win-more category. I don't needed it for any of my critical plays, and while it has a lot of utility, I'm not looking to draw the game out. The same issue applies to Power Artifact...great if I can get the combo, but not critical to the deck.
5. I actually ended up adding Dissipate and Faerie Trickery the other day primarily because I needed to ensure I had at least one counter to protect my combo. One well placed Dust to Dust and your chances of winning plummet. With 10 Counters, I almost always have at least one on-hand.
6. Palladium Myr actually looks pretty good. I think I'll cut Propaganda for it.
Playtested this list some more in anticipation of the weekly EDH tournament in my area. So far so good...the fetches work well to smooth out the draws, and when Crucible comes online they work wonders.
I'm still not sold on the Propaganda spot...primarily because it seems to random to have a card I can't tutor for in the deck. I was thinking of other defensive options to run in it's place:
Portcullis: could be decent against creature-heavy decks Meekstone: stops my Karn and Memnarch, but I don't really need either to be untapped in order to use them Planar Portal: hard locks are always nice. Forcefield: anyone have experience with this card?
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"Never let your sense of morals keep you from doing what is right" -Salvor Hardin
Do you play at Gaming Etc? I think I've played you in the weekly... I was playing Azusa.
I think the list looks solid, and my only real suggestions are to take out the CIPT lands for non CIPT and run more mana rocks. CIPT lands such as lonely sandbar, Remote isle, and Svyleunite Temple seem alright due to their ability to ramp and filter, but when you are trying to sculpt that early to mid game combo, the loss in tempo will more often then not set you back a whole turn. I would honestly replace these with islands. In the same vein I would switch up your acceleration package to better boost your decks tempo. I would take out your mana myr because they do not tap the turn they come into play and are more susceptible to removal, and run 2cc mana rocks such as Fellwar stone, Mind Stone, Coldsteel Heart (snow permanent for scrying sheets), etc... You could probably get away with cutting Voltaic Key, Expedition Map, and Epochrasite to bring this count to 11. Tapping Arcum on turn 4 consistently should be a priority, and making both of these changes will help without losing anything substantial.
Regarding Mana Rocks: My only issue is that Arcum needs artifact creatures to Tinker with...and the Myr allow me to have fodder that double as somewhat-slow acceleration. Without the Myr, I don't have enough creatures to guarantee being able to activate Arcum.
Regarding CIPT lands: Great point...I'm swapping out the cycle/sac lands for Islands.
Regarding Argivian Restoration: With Tolarian Ruins, Junk Diver, Myr Retriever, and Arcbound Reclaimer, I can get back artifacts if needed. I can't see making room for this card.
I'm pretty tempted to cut Voltaic Key...but it's been pretty good. Untapping Disk (or Arcum with Lattice in play) is pretty amazing. However, the use is conditional and may not be worth the spot.
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"Never let your sense of morals keep you from doing what is right" -Salvor Hardin
I have actually been playing this deck for quite some time now. It orriginated as a 1v1 deck, but it has sort of blossomed into a multiplayer deck. Let me just start off my saying that this deck is nuts. I was just at an EDH semi-casual event at my local shop, and locked down 5 players at once. I am going to post what an optimal list is (pretty close to what mine is). The mana-base is not final, but is as Island-heavy as you can make it. (BTW, feel free to ask about any card choices. I love talking about this d*ck I MEAN DECK... :P)
Can't believe I forgot about Walking Atlas! I'll definitely try him out.
Meekstone is a card I've considered, but it seems a win-more option. Honestly, I'd rather play an ensnaring bridge that I know won't mess with my Karn or Memnarch. Perhaps I'll give it a shot and see if it fits well.
Unwinding Clock and Kill Switch sound nice, but at the stage where they would be useful I should already have won.
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"Never let your sense of morals keep you from doing what is right" -Salvor Hardin
BTW, about Walking Atlas; there is a cute little story about me playing a 4 person EDH game and me flipping out because the card reads: 'Creature - Construct', 'till our local judge told me the errata
Pact of Negation and Fact or Fiction are must-haves for this deck. The ability to counter while tapped out is integral, and the draw from Fact or Fiction can't be beat, especially at instant-speed.
Walking Atlas has been amazing...great recommendation!
I still feel like this deck needs more counterspells. Protection and Ramp combined with the core combo are what this deck should focus on...the other stuff is nice, but not as important.
I'm currently only running one major win condition (Karn, Silver Golem) and that's been fine. Once I have the board locked down, I have all the time in the world to find him and win.
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"Never let your sense of morals keep you from doing what is right" -Salvor Hardin
I still feel like this deck needs more counterspells. Protection and Ramp combined with the core combo are what this deck should focus on...the other stuff is nice, but not as important.
Yeah, this is basically what keeps me up at night But the other thing that I also think is more fun to think of, is how fast you can combo off once you can use Arcum Dagsson. I think my spoiled card is the real deal now. Better than Mind Over Matter as you can search for it. With Mycosynth Lattice, I can see this getting really stupid, really fast.
Clock of Omens is a great card...but it only proves its full worth once you have Lattice in play. Really, at that point, the game should already be won. Otherwise, what else are you tapping? I guess if you grabbed Lattice second you could use the Clock to combo out if you can generate enough Arcum untapping...I'll have to try it out.
As far as an alternative to Twister...Time Spiral is just too slow for this deck's purpose of comboing out. Maybe you could run a Frantic Search in its spot?
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"Never let your sense of morals keep you from doing what is right" -Salvor Hardin
This deck has come together nicely, and can consistently combo-out the win by turn 5-6, which is exactly where the deck should be.
I can't reiterate enough...the focus of the deck needs to be tight, and if a card doesn't really fit one of the main categories (combo-parts, counters, protection, mana-ramp, delay/hinder opponents) than it's just not worth running.
Right now, I have my four cards that are on my to-cut list:
1. Mindslaver: Yes it's powerful, but it's a win more when you're already running your combo
2. Ward of Bones: just doesn't do enough. If I'm tutoring, that's never going to be my target. By late-game, it becomes irrelevant to the focus of this deck.
3. Memnarch: another great card, but just not as needed in this deck
4. Duplicant: this one I'm rather hesitant to cut, as it's a great answer-all to most creatures.
1. It copies combo pieces for backup (protection, rather)
2. It copies early-threat creatures like Eldrazi that can wreck your board and plans
3. It kills Generals
Overall, it's been a great fit. At the worst-case, it copies a mana-ramp artifact that an opponent plays.
As of yesterday, I've cut Ward of Bones and Mindslaver for Propaganda and Meekstone. Games quickly devolved into 3 vs 1 contests, and anything I can do to stall/slow my opponents while I assemble the combo is worth running. Ward of Bones was just too slow.
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"Never let your sense of morals keep you from doing what is right" -Salvor Hardin
You run a couple cards that I don't and I wouldn't mind your opinions on them if you would.
How are Swiftfoot Boots working out for you? I'm thinking of adding them to mine.
How often do you cast All Is Dust and is it any good? I find it odd that you think Time Spiral, which is a free spell, is too slow for your combo but a 7-mana sorcery that probably kills your general warrants a spot.
As for cards I think you could do without, I don't see how Memnarch helps you combo out. I find him super slow, mana-intensive, and pretty easy to get rid of. I love the guy but I realized I was keeping him in for sentimental reasons for how good he was with Academy. Also, I think Reshape is terrible. What do you usually go get with it?
1. Swiftfoot Boots are basically Lightning Greaves #2. Not as good, but you need to protect Arcum...so they are must-have for the deck.
2. All is Dust is my game-reset button. I RARELY need it, but there are times when I've had to tutor for it because I couldn't combo in time and the board is starting to overwhelm me. At 7 colorless, I can power it out, and 99% of my permanents (mainly artifact acceleration) are colorless.
3. Walking Atlas is pretty good. There are only four runnable Manakin/Myr that can double as Arcum fodder. Atlas provides the same role and allows for early ramp. Any game where I draw him or a Myr/Manakin in the opening hand is over by the 4th or 5th turn.
4. Memnarch was cut...he's totally worthless in this deck.
5. Reshape is a backup tutor piece. I've used it early on to grab Pithing Needle or Sol Ring, and late-game to grab combo pieces. This deck needs to run every tutor possible, and Reshape is one of them.
6. Regarding Time Spiral. I have nothing against the card, but at 6 mana it's too slow. Timetwister I can cast early (often turn two after playing acceleration) to get a new hand and combo out. By the time I can cast Spiral, I should have already run. That being said...I'd run it as a backup if I didn't already have Timetwister in the deck.
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"Never let your sense of morals keep you from doing what is right" -Salvor Hardin
Here's my list, as well as explanations of the choices:
1 Arcum Dagsson
Mana:
19 Snow-covered Island
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Buried Ruin
1 Tolaria West
1 Academy Ruins
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
1 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Mishra’s Factory
1 Seat of Synod
1 Mishra's Workshop
Mana Acceleration:
1 Mana Vault
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Opal
1 Grim Monolith
1 Expedition Map
1 Manakin
1 Plague Myr
1 Milikin
1 Silver Myr
1 Walking Atlas
1 Reshape
1 Trinket Mage
1 Fabricate
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Tezzeret, the Seeker
1 Personal Tutor
Counterspells:
1 Force of Will
1 Pact of Negation
1 Misdirection
1 Mana Drain
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Hinder
1 Spell Crumple
1 Counterspell
Other Blue Cards:
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Timetwister
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Impulse
Protection:
1 Propaganda
1 Wipe Away
1 All is Dust
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Static Orb
1 Winter Orb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Meekstone
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Myr Turbine
1 Memory Jar
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Darksteel Forge
1 Sensei’s Diving Top
1 Thousand Year Elixir
1 Nevinyrral’s Disk
Other Artifact Creatures:
1 Junk Diver
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Myr Retreiver
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Master Transmuter
1 Arcbound Reclaimer
1 Scarecrone
1 Spellskite
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Copper Gnomes
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Etherium Sculptor
Choices:
-Strip Mine/Wasteland: destroy "trouble" lands and combos with Crucible
-Bandit Lord: Allow your Arcum to sneak past counters and haste-past removal
-Inkmoth/Blinkmoth/Factory: double as Arcum fodder for tinkering
-All is Dust: most times, this will not destroy any of your cards on the board. It's the idea board-wipe
-Manakin/Plague-Myr/Milikin/Silver-Myr/Walking Atlas: mana acceleration and Arcum-fodder
-Tutor package: all the best sorcery/artifact tutoring spells that blue has
-Counterspells: all the best 3 or less CC counters
-Prison cards: If you can't get your Darksteel Forge/Nev's Disk combo in place right away, you can stall easily with Ensnaring Bridge, Winter Orb, Static Orb, or Meekstone.
-Haste/Protection: Between two pairs of boots and the Thousand Year Elixir, you will often be able to haste your Arcum into the combo and keep him safe
-Creatures: all chosen to be cheap and work well as Arcum fodder, or as utility (like Metamorph and Transmuter). Karn is your major win-con after establishing a Disk-lock. Spellskite keeps your Arcum (and yourself) safe with its misdirection ability
Considering adding:
March of the Machines
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
I'm new here and I posted an arcum deck too but wasn't getting any replies. I'm new to EDH too but for what its worth, here are my thoughts:
For starters, when you post a deck use the [deck ] [/ deck] tags. It looks better and people will be more inclined to comment.
I'd put in 4 fetchlands. And workshop, if you can afford it.
You might consider removing a blue tutor and replacing it with merchant scroll. You don't lose a card that way.
Ward of bones looks to me like a weak way of slowing down opponents. Since your deck has myr turbine and will often tinker for it quickly, possessed portal is better in my opinion.
palladium myr is a decent mana accelerant/arcum target. You might consider cutting one of your weaker cards for it, such as propaganda or faerie trickery.
I would definately keep the voltaic key. It generates mana with the vaults, it makes nevy's disk useable when it enters play, and when mycosynth lattice is out it untaps anything - such as arcum. Very versatile. Clock of omens is another card to consider too.
My new favorite card is rings of brighthearth. It generates infinite mana with basalt monolith. And if you have basalt monolith + sensei's divining top you can draw your entire deck. It makes fetchlands fetch 2 lands instead of one. It makes arcum bring two artifacts into play instead of one. Copper gnomes puts 2 artifacts in play. Tezzeret puts 2 artifacts in play. Myr retriever/junk diver gets you 2 artifacts. I could go on but I think I made my point.
Epochrasite is useful for arcum because it gives arcum fodder every 3 turns. But since you have myr turbine for that you might consider getting rid of it.
Power artifact is hard to tutor for (muddle the mixture will do the trick though) but the ability to make infinite mana with the vaults is huge, especially when mycosynth lattice is in play so you can cast blue spells too.
You run more counterspells than I do. Personally I'd cut dissipate and faerie trickery for things like spine of ish sah, sculpting steel, or thirst for knowledge. But that's personal preference I suppose.
Edit: I also recommend future sight for card draw. On its own, its great. If you also have sensei's divining top in play you have: 1, draw a card. With SDT and etherium sculptor in play you have: 0, draw a card. That's insane.
Hope that helped.
My G Yisan, the Bard of Death G deck.
My BUGWR Hermit druid BUGWR deck.
Here's my thoughts on the suggestions you posted:
1. Fetches would be great, but I'm so low on Islands already that I'm concerned with too much thinning. I'll give them a shot and see if it works. I have a Workshop...but I found that most times I would rather draw a blue source than have the mana to hard cast my artifacts. Perhaps I'll give it another shot, but initially I was incredibly annoyed to have a land that couldn't contribute to casting Arcum.
2. Merchant Scroll is nice, but I don't really have anything important to fetch with it. While Personal Tutor is card-disadvantage, it does grab sorceries, which are the blue cards I'd be looking for.
3. Ward of Bones has been excellent for an early game slowing piece. If I don't think I can reliably get off my combo, I'll grab that first to keep my opponents backed up.
4. Rings of Brighthearth would be a great addition...but I feel that falls under the win-more category. I don't needed it for any of my critical plays, and while it has a lot of utility, I'm not looking to draw the game out. The same issue applies to Power Artifact...great if I can get the combo, but not critical to the deck.
5. I actually ended up adding Dissipate and Faerie Trickery the other day primarily because I needed to ensure I had at least one counter to protect my combo. One well placed Dust to Dust and your chances of winning plummet. With 10 Counters, I almost always have at least one on-hand.
6. Palladium Myr actually looks pretty good. I think I'll cut Propaganda for it.
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
I dropped four islands and added four fetches. So far, it's worked well...and has been absolutely amazing when I have Crucible in play
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
I'm still not sold on the Propaganda spot...primarily because it seems to random to have a card I can't tutor for in the deck. I was thinking of other defensive options to run in it's place:
Portcullis: could be decent against creature-heavy decks
Meekstone: stops my Karn and Memnarch, but I don't really need either to be untapped in order to use them
Planar Portal: hard locks are always nice.
Forcefield: anyone have experience with this card?
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
I think the list looks solid, and my only real suggestions are to take out the CIPT lands for non CIPT and run more mana rocks. CIPT lands such as lonely sandbar, Remote isle, and Svyleunite Temple seem alright due to their ability to ramp and filter, but when you are trying to sculpt that early to mid game combo, the loss in tempo will more often then not set you back a whole turn. I would honestly replace these with islands. In the same vein I would switch up your acceleration package to better boost your decks tempo. I would take out your mana myr because they do not tap the turn they come into play and are more susceptible to removal, and run 2cc mana rocks such as Fellwar stone, Mind Stone, Coldsteel Heart (snow permanent for scrying sheets), etc... You could probably get away with cutting Voltaic Key, Expedition Map, and Epochrasite to bring this count to 11. Tapping Arcum on turn 4 consistently should be a priority, and making both of these changes will help without losing anything substantial.
Also, what are your thoughts on Argivian Restoration?
EDH:
[Competitive] Azusa, Lost but Seeking (54 Lands)
[Competitive] Azami, Lady of Scrolls (Time Warp combo/control)
[Competitive] Kruphix, God of No (True EDH DrawGo)
Regarding Mana Rocks: My only issue is that Arcum needs artifact creatures to Tinker with...and the Myr allow me to have fodder that double as somewhat-slow acceleration. Without the Myr, I don't have enough creatures to guarantee being able to activate Arcum.
Regarding CIPT lands: Great point...I'm swapping out the cycle/sac lands for Islands.
Regarding Argivian Restoration: With Tolarian Ruins, Junk Diver, Myr Retriever, and Arcbound Reclaimer, I can get back artifacts if needed. I can't see making room for this card.
I'm pretty tempted to cut Voltaic Key...but it's been pretty good. Untapping Disk (or Arcum with Lattice in play) is pretty amazing. However, the use is conditional and may not be worth the spot.
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
+1 Courier Capsule: Amazing draw that's easy to recur!
+1 Rhystic Study: Have yet to draw it, but seems good in theory
+1 Thirst for Knowledge: More draw
-1 Personal Tutor: Underwhelming
-1 Propaganda: Un-tutorable in the deck makes it too much of a random draw
-1 Faerie Trickery: Don't need so many counters
Also cut the CIPT lands and Petrified Field for more Islands.
As of this week, I'm still undefeated after playing this deck for three weeks at our local game shop's tournament.
The next change I'm considering is cutting Voltaic Key...
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
Cards I want to add:
- Kill Switch (has synergy with Unwinding Clock)
- Planar Portal (added Null Brooch, and this card is basically an over-costed Null Brooch in this deck; if there was a time limit, I might add this to search for Tezzeret, the Seeker to actually end the game)
- Pithing Needle / Spine of Ish Sah (not completely sure what they would be for, but they seem somewhat usefull)
- Lotus Petal (not completely worse than the other mana ramp artifacts, but still worse; I guess it would be for going all in on the combo)
- Fact or Fiction (great CA, but in general I would only be looking for a counterspell)
- Thirst For Knowledge (see above)
- Pact of Negation (a decent way to stop interactions; can be relatively costly though)
- Back to Basics (yeah...)
- Mox Opal (see Lotus Petal)
1 Arcum Daggson
Key Cards - 5 -
1 Nevineral's Disk
1 Darksteel Forge
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Mindslaver
1 Myr Turbine
Artifact Suppresion - 2 -
1 Winter Orb
1 Static Orb
Other Artifacts - 7 -
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Voltaic Key
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Scroll Rack
1 Null Brooch
1 Unwinding Clock
1 Neurok Stealthsuit
Mana Ramp - 5 -
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mind Stone
Utility Cards - 4 -
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Into the Roil
1 High Tide
1 Mind Over Matter
Arcum Enablers - 3 -
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Tezzeret, the Seeker
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Counterspells - 11 -
1 Force of Will
1 Foil
1 Thwart
1 Daze
1 Spell Pierce
1 Flusterstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Cryptic Command
1 Mana Drain
Draw Spells - 9 -
1 Anscestral Vision
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Brainstorm
1 Frantic Search
1 Lat-Nam's Legacy
1 Gush
1 See Beyond
1 Rhystic Study
Tutors - 4 -
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fabricate
1 Trinket Mage
Time Manipulation Effects - 3 -
1 Time Warp
1 Capture of Jingzhou
1 Temporal Manipulation
1 Manakin
1 Milikin
1 Silver Myr
1 Plague Myr
1 Walking Atlas
Artifact Creatures - 7 -
1 Myr Sire
1 Perilous Myr
1 Necropede
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Spellskite
1 Ornithopter
1 Shield Sphere
Lands - 32 -
20 Island
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Academy Ruins
1 Buried Ruin
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
__________________
Edits:
08/20/11
Removed:
- Meekstone
- Jace Beleren
- Time Stop
- Ward of Bones
- Propaganda
- Thirst For Knowledge (moved)
- Memnite
Added:
- Null Brooch
- Mind Over Matter
- Unwinding Clock (Testing)
- Lat-Nam's Legacy
- 3 Island
09/11/11
Removed:
- Ensnaring Bridge
Added:
- Mana Drain
__________________
Meekstone is a card I've considered, but it seems a win-more option. Honestly, I'd rather play an ensnaring bridge that I know won't mess with my Karn or Memnarch. Perhaps I'll give it a shot and see if it fits well.
Unwinding Clock and Kill Switch sound nice, but at the stage where they would be useful I should already have won.
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
Mind Over Matter (amazing)
Null Brooch (amazing)
Fact or Fiction (iconic)
Lat-Nam's Legacy (different See Beyond)
Pact of Negation (not entirely sold on this one yet)
You were probably right about Meekstone, and Kill Switch probably won't make it either, but Unwinding Clock is basically Voltaic Key / Thousand-Year Elixir v2.0 (which is what I get reasonably soon after Myr Turbine / Mycosynth Lattice anyways). Still need to test some of these things though.
BTW, about Walking Atlas; there is a cute little story about me playing a 4 person EDH game and me flipping out because the card reads: 'Creature - Construct', 'till our local judge told me the errata
Walking Atlas has been amazing...great recommendation!
I still feel like this deck needs more counterspells. Protection and Ramp combined with the core combo are what this deck should focus on...the other stuff is nice, but not as important.
I'm currently only running one major win condition (Karn, Silver Golem) and that's been fine. Once I have the board locked down, I have all the time in the world to find him and win.
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth = Infinite Mana(saw this on a video; knew I shouldn't trust those who make sub-optimal Arcum Dagsson builds :/)Maybe if Staff of Domination was un-banned? Idk, I am sure there is some way to use it.
Now, this is a card that I actually saw a while ago, but for some reason my brain dropped this card out of existence...
Clock of Omens
Is this card as broke' as I think it is?
Yeah, this is basically what keeps me up at night But the other thing that I also think is more fun to think of, is how fast you can combo off once you can use Arcum Dagsson. I think my spoiled card is the real deal now. Better than Mind Over Matter as you can search for it. With Mycosynth Lattice, I can see this getting really stupid, really fast.
As far as an alternative to Twister...Time Spiral is just too slow for this deck's purpose of comboing out. Maybe you could run a Frantic Search in its spot?
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
As anticipated, Walking Atlas is a perfect fit, and rounds out the early mana-accelerating Arcum fodder nicely.
Next steps for this deck is increasing the combo/control redundancy. This may mean cutting things like Ward of Bones for more counters/draw.
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
I can't reiterate enough...the focus of the deck needs to be tight, and if a card doesn't really fit one of the main categories (combo-parts, counters, protection, mana-ramp, delay/hinder opponents) than it's just not worth running.
Right now, I have my four cards that are on my to-cut list:
1. Mindslaver: Yes it's powerful, but it's a win more when you're already running your combo
2. Ward of Bones: just doesn't do enough. If I'm tutoring, that's never going to be my target. By late-game, it becomes irrelevant to the focus of this deck.
3. Memnarch: another great card, but just not as needed in this deck
4. Duplicant: this one I'm rather hesitant to cut, as it's a great answer-all to most creatures.
Meekstone, Propaganda, or more counters would fill these spots.
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
1. It copies combo pieces for backup (protection, rather)
2. It copies early-threat creatures like Eldrazi that can wreck your board and plans
3. It kills Generals
Overall, it's been a great fit. At the worst-case, it copies a mana-ramp artifact that an opponent plays.
As of yesterday, I've cut Ward of Bones and Mindslaver for Propaganda and Meekstone. Games quickly devolved into 3 vs 1 contests, and anything I can do to stall/slow my opponents while I assemble the combo is worth running. Ward of Bones was just too slow.
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
Wipe Away: This deck needs at least one answer to a problem permanent like Pithing Needle or Meddling Mage
Brainstorm: instant-speed sifting and allows me to put back combo pieces from my hand. Amazing with fetchlands
Overall, the list looks as perfected as I can imagine...any suggestions would be much appreciated
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
How are Swiftfoot Boots working out for you? I'm thinking of adding them to mine.
How often do you cast All Is Dust and is it any good? I find it odd that you think Time Spiral, which is a free spell, is too slow for your combo but a 7-mana sorcery that probably kills your general warrants a spot.
How is Walking Atlas?
As for cards I think you could do without, I don't see how Memnarch helps you combo out. I find him super slow, mana-intensive, and pretty easy to get rid of. I love the guy but I realized I was keeping him in for sentimental reasons for how good he was with Academy. Also, I think Reshape is terrible. What do you usually go get with it?
EDH: U Arcum Dagsson (primer!) U
2. All is Dust is my game-reset button. I RARELY need it, but there are times when I've had to tutor for it because I couldn't combo in time and the board is starting to overwhelm me. At 7 colorless, I can power it out, and 99% of my permanents (mainly artifact acceleration) are colorless.
3. Walking Atlas is pretty good. There are only four runnable Manakin/Myr that can double as Arcum fodder. Atlas provides the same role and allows for early ramp. Any game where I draw him or a Myr/Manakin in the opening hand is over by the 4th or 5th turn.
4. Memnarch was cut...he's totally worthless in this deck.
5. Reshape is a backup tutor piece. I've used it early on to grab Pithing Needle or Sol Ring, and late-game to grab combo pieces. This deck needs to run every tutor possible, and Reshape is one of them.
6. Regarding Time Spiral. I have nothing against the card, but at 6 mana it's too slow. Timetwister I can cast early (often turn two after playing acceleration) to get a new hand and combo out. By the time I can cast Spiral, I should have already run. That being said...I'd run it as a backup if I didn't already have Timetwister in the deck.
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control
-Memnarch is gone, Preordain is in. The deck needs to combo-out quickly, and Preordain and Brainstorm help smooth out early turns
Optimal Arcum-Control
Teferi, Lockdown Mage
Animar, Aggro-Combo Beatdown
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV: Total Control
5-Color Control