I run a very similar deck to relative success. Geist isn't the most impactful general like Grand Augustin but at the same time it doesn't draw as much hate from the table and help ward off getting targeted early in the game. My general strategy for the deck is to get value early on with equipments and then play light control game to prevent combo decks winning with counter magic and keep aggro deck in check with wraths. The deck wins by surviving until there are only 2 players left and win by playing better blue cards, or winning off of the huge advantage generated by Consecrated Sphinx or a series of time warps.
Cards that I would suggest:
In addition to the equipments you listed I run Jitte, Sword of Light and Shadow and Sword of War and Peace.
Umezawa's Jitte: While Jitte isn't all that powerful in edh, the ability to ping down utility creatures and one shot someone out of nowhere with general damage is nice.
Sword of War and Peace: Although this sword isn't interested, it just has the fastest clock out of all the swords and the life gain helsp you race.
Sword of Light and Shadow: Light and Shadow is a interested option that usually isn't included in Geist decks but since my deck have a lot more creatures than the french EDH version, I feel light it deserves a spot. I also run Draft of Phantasm which interacts very well with Light and Shadow along with Spell Crumble. The deck is also loaded with very powerful 3 drops so the ability to tutor for one every turn is amazing. It basically turns it into a build your own Sunforger.
Other cards non equipment cards that I recommend looking into.
Sundial of the Infinite: I love Sundial of the Infinite, with Geist it lets you keep your angel token around every turn for the cost of one low mana. It also has cute interactions with cards like Venser blinking Oblivion Ring exiling return trigger on the stack and Thawing Glaciers exiling return to hand trigger. It also can protect you from spells cast on your time.
Time Spiral: Most of time it is just a free wheel of fortune for when you run out of gas, but once a while you get to cast it right after a cyclone rift and makes it a one sided board wipe that also tucks generals. Bonus points for castings it with Consecrated Sphinx out.
Phyrexian Metamorph: Clones are great, better while it can become another copy of Sword of X and Y
All the Manlands: Great for getting value off of your equipments post board wipes.
Sharuum the Hegemon
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Marath, Will of the Wild
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Geist of Saint Traft
Thassa, God of the Sea
Kaalia of the Vast
Trostani + doubling season + ajani goldmane lets you instant ultimate ajani making life total sized tokens both equal to 4x the life you started with. One of the most broken plays I've seen the deck make.
"Quote:
Originally Posted by genini1 View Post
"9/16/2007 If Tawnos's Coffin leaves the battlefield before its ability has resolved, it will exile the targeted creature forever, since its delayed triggered ability will never trigger.
So it exiles itself forever."
Actually, it exiles itself during the resolution of the ability. However, it is exiled before the delayed triggered is setuped by the ability (you do what's printed on the card in the order written). So the delayed trigger will never trigger."
Hmm, appears it won't help the coffin dodge removal unfortunately.
But it doesn't leave the battlefield before the ability resolves, the ability has to resolve for coffin to leave the battlefield. Therefore you will get it back.
Non artifact clones are not good enough to run in Sharuum. One of the main way of protecting the combo is to playing Sharuum reanimating Sculpting Steel/Phyrexian Metamorph, and since you can't do that with any other clone spells they just don't deserve a slot.
If you care about flavor, try Thassa's Emissary. Fits right into what you are trying to do too.
[CARD]
Gauntlet of Power[/CARD], Caged Sun, Extraplanar Lens are always good in mono color decks.
Sol Ring is a must and Solemn Simulacrum is a card that every deck should consider.
Druidic Satchel is a really fun card that works well with Thassa.
Thass'a scry and draw power makes Long Term Plan almost a Vampiric Tutor, an effect that mono blue lacks.
I've been considering it. It always seems slow when I play against it. Have you had a different experience with it?
From my experience, forgotten ancient seem harmless at first but when ignored can quickly get out of hand. A few Simic players I know use that card to great effect. Especially With a doubling season effect out, the counters no only doubles during the spell cast triggers but the counter transfer as well. As a result we often see 20/23 forgotten ancients which would transfer all of the counters to a Gyre Sage or a Kalonian Hydra or some other creature and winning them the game.
Although Marath, can't run too many counter doubling cards like Verol, I think it has enough synergy Marath and Doubling Season to worth a test. At worst, it will replenish 3-4 counters a turn which is still pretty good.
Also, what do you think of persist creatures? Two that stands to me out are Twilight Shepherd which will helps against boardwipes and Woodfall Primus which is just great all around value. Even something like Kitchen Finks might be decent enough to run as a part of the Birthing Pod package.
Forgotten Ancient is a great way to replenish Marath Counters when you don't want to cast him again. It can also get pretty ridicules when doubling season is in play.
What is everyone's opinion on Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon? I know he doesn't work towards a common win condition as Kaalia or rest of her deck but, it might be a good way to deal with a life gain deck that has gotten out of control late game. Since we don't want to run something like big Sorin and Kaalia's commander damage takes a forever to finish a player off.
I think with the amount of recursion we run he might be worth running testing because he is always a 3 turn clock and can be given haste and regeneration. Not to mention he only cost 5 mana and is easily castable without Kaalia.
I just got my hands on a copy of him recently and I think I'll test him in the deck for a while since I like the art so much.
Whip of Erebos - I like being able to give all of our huge guys lifelink and just make the crackback from other players that much easier to endure. It's a great way to re-use some of our ETB creatures, and cloudshift makes sure that the guy gets to stick around (though Angel of Serenity also works here).
Got my hands on a foil whip but have yet to draw it in a game, going to keep it in the deck to test it out for a while. The prospect of having Kaalia die then getting to use her again next turn for 4 mana is indeed very enticing. If anything it is another sort of lifelink and recursion which we are always looking for.
Nothing else really outstanding from the set, Read the Bones replaced Ancient Craving for me as I can cast it on curve to help find that pesky forth land if I kept a greedy hand.
There are plenty of good sharuum lists around (popular general after all) you should just have a look around.
A quick glance of the list you have seems that you are spreading a bit wide and thin on your combos. I used to do that and jam as many combos as I can in to my deck but it never worked that well.
Focus more on improving consistence with tutors, resilience with recursion and/or protection with control magic.
What are you using to trigger the sac effect on Dismiss? It was one of the cards I was considering until I realized Thassa's ability can only be used on creature you control. The mana cost on Dismiss is a lot, I can't see it being worth it without a way to abuse it.
A lot of the other player at the table will use Dimiss into dreams to kill creatures just because they can. Since it doesn't affect your creature if you can keep the enchantment around it is almost always guaranteed upsides.
I built a Thassa deck out after taking apart Talrand because he wasn't all that fun and people learned to kill/tuck him rather quickly and playing him late game is rather underwhelming. I took out a lot of the counters, cantrips and bonce spells to add in enchantments and big dumb beaters called it a deck.
Only played a hand full of games with Thassa so far but it has certainly been pretty fun. People usually don't care about her much as her abilities flies under the radar as being bad for EDH. (That is until a 5/5 blockable start hitting their precious planeswalkers). Scrying once every turn is actually pretty good at hand selection and kept me from mana flooding on multiple occasions or vice versa finding that land I needed.
Dismiss into Dreams has been a real break out card for me as a way to deal with voltron generals, indestructible/regenerate creatures and generally turning all my harmless trigger in to death bringing nemesis.
Curse of the Swine and Swan Song are fun and kinda in fits with Pongify and Rapid Hybridzation in the deck. Sure here have a bunch of dudes, not like you can block with them anyways.
I'm running Tidespout Tyrant as a beater/devotion/alternate wincondition by bouncing lands.
Proteus Staff is a reminisce card of Talrand which I used to cheat in big creature by tucking tokens, here it still provide answers to stuff that mono blue typical don't have. Also it turns our thieving magpies in to big dudes sometimes.
Ixidron as a blue board wipe and to take care of problematic generals and once again provide answers blue generally don't have. Also interacts interestingly with Thassa as the ability resolves before ETB so it doesn't count towards devotion and keeping Thassa safe most of the time.
Compare to your list I run a rather low creature count, my idea is to keep devotion count low to keep Thassa safe from creature exile until I need her as a beater or blocker for my planeswalkers.
betterblue cards, or winning off of the huge advantage generated by Consecrated Sphinx or a series of time warps.Cards that I would suggest:
In addition to the equipments you listed I run Jitte, Sword of Light and Shadow and Sword of War and Peace.
Umezawa's Jitte: While Jitte isn't all that powerful in edh, the ability to ping down utility creatures and one shot someone out of nowhere with general damage is nice.
Sword of War and Peace: Although this sword isn't interested, it just has the fastest clock out of all the swords and the life gain helsp you race.
Sword of Light and Shadow: Light and Shadow is a interested option that usually isn't included in Geist decks but since my deck have a lot more creatures than the french EDH version, I feel light it deserves a spot. I also run Draft of Phantasm which interacts very well with Light and Shadow along with Spell Crumble. The deck is also loaded with very powerful 3 drops so the ability to tutor for one every turn is amazing. It basically turns it into a build your own Sunforger.
Other cards non equipment cards that I recommend looking into.
Sundial of the Infinite: I love Sundial of the Infinite, with Geist it lets you keep your angel token around every turn for the cost of one low mana. It also has cute interactions with cards like Venser blinking Oblivion Ring exiling return trigger on the stack and Thawing Glaciers exiling return to hand trigger. It also can protect you from spells cast on your time.
Time Spiral: Most of time it is just a free wheel of fortune for when you run out of gas, but once a while you get to cast it right after a cyclone rift and makes it a one sided board wipe that also tucks generals. Bonus points for castings it with Consecrated Sphinx out.
Phyrexian Metamorph: Clones are great, better while it can become another copy of Sword of X and Y
All the Manlands: Great for getting value off of your equipments post board wipes.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Marath, Will of the Wild
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Geist of Saint Traft
Thassa, God of the Sea
Kaalia of the Vast
Why stop there, use Ajani, Caller of the Pride and get 8x life.
But it doesn't leave the battlefield before the ability resolves, the ability has to resolve for coffin to leave the battlefield. Therefore you will get it back.
If anything just run more dig/tutors.
Personally, I just have a cheap white weenie 1v1 deck in case someone wants to play french.
[CARD]
Gauntlet of Power[/CARD], Caged Sun, Extraplanar Lens are always good in mono color decks.
Sol Ring is a must and Solemn Simulacrum is a card that every deck should consider.
Druidic Satchel is a really fun card that works well with Thassa.
Thass'a scry and draw power makes Long Term Plan almost a Vampiric Tutor, an effect that mono blue lacks.
From my experience, forgotten ancient seem harmless at first but when ignored can quickly get out of hand. A few Simic players I know use that card to great effect. Especially With a doubling season effect out, the counters no only doubles during the spell cast triggers but the counter transfer as well. As a result we often see 20/23 forgotten ancients which would transfer all of the counters to a Gyre Sage or a Kalonian Hydra or some other creature and winning them the game.
Although Marath, can't run too many counter doubling cards like Verol, I think it has enough synergy Marath and Doubling Season to worth a test. At worst, it will replenish 3-4 counters a turn which is still pretty good.
Also, what do you think of persist creatures? Two that stands to me out are Twilight Shepherd which will helps against boardwipes and Woodfall Primus which is just great all around value. Even something like Kitchen Finks might be decent enough to run as a part of the Birthing Pod package.
I think with the amount of recursion we run he might be worth running testing because he is always a 3 turn clock and can be given haste and regeneration. Not to mention he only cost 5 mana and is easily castable without Kaalia.
I just got my hands on a copy of him recently and I think I'll test him in the deck for a while since I like the art so much.
Got my hands on a foil whip but have yet to draw it in a game, going to keep it in the deck to test it out for a while. The prospect of having Kaalia die then getting to use her again next turn for 4 mana is indeed very enticing. If anything it is another sort of lifelink and recursion which we are always looking for.
Nothing else really outstanding from the set, Read the Bones replaced Ancient Craving for me as I can cast it on curve to help find that pesky forth land if I kept a greedy hand.
There are plenty of good sharuum lists around (popular general after all) you should just have a look around.
A quick glance of the list you have seems that you are spreading a bit wide and thin on your combos. I used to do that and jam as many combos as I can in to my deck but it never worked that well.
Focus more on improving consistence with tutors, resilience with recursion and/or protection with control magic.
The recurable targeted spell/ability I have in the deck include Proteus Staff, Frost Titan, Tamiyo, Cephalid Constable, Tidespout Tyrant, Mistable Shinobi, Stolen Identity. Other than that there are single use kill spells like Pongify and bonce spells like Into the Roil.
A lot of the other player at the table will use Dimiss into dreams to kill creatures just because they can. Since it doesn't affect your creature if you can keep the enchantment around it is almost always guaranteed upsides.
Only played a hand full of games with Thassa so far but it has certainly been pretty fun. People usually don't care about her much as her abilities flies under the radar as being bad for EDH. (That is until a 5/5 blockable start hitting their precious planeswalkers). Scrying once every turn is actually pretty good at hand selection and kept me from mana flooding on multiple occasions or vice versa finding that land I needed.
Dismiss into Dreams has been a real break out card for me as a way to deal with voltron generals, indestructible/regenerate creatures and generally turning all my harmless trigger in to death bringing nemesis.
Curse of the Swine and Swan Song are fun and kinda in fits with Pongify and Rapid Hybridzation in the deck. Sure here have a bunch of dudes, not like you can block with them anyways.
I'm running Tidespout Tyrant as a beater/devotion/alternate wincondition by bouncing lands.
Thassa's Emissary because flavor.
Aetherling as a way to manipulate devotion count.
Extraplaner Lens as another mana doubler with snow lands
Proteus Staff is a reminisce card of Talrand which I used to cheat in big creature by tucking tokens, here it still provide answers to stuff that mono blue typical don't have. Also it turns our thieving magpies in to big dudes sometimes.
Ixidron as a blue board wipe and to take care of problematic generals and once again provide answers blue generally don't have. Also interacts interestingly with Thassa as the ability resolves before ETB so it doesn't count towards devotion and keeping Thassa safe most of the time.
Compare to your list I run a rather low creature count, my idea is to keep devotion count low to keep Thassa safe from creature exile until I need her as a beater or blocker for my planeswalkers.