MTG Salvation

This is a mono blue combo deck. For those who dislike such things, you have been warned.




Pretty stock, for the most part. Gameplan is power out Arcum with protection or haste and start tutoring. If I don't need a silver bullet, I'll get Myr Turbine first, then Rings of Brighthearth so I can copy the Turbine's token ability and then Arcum's tutor to get Sensei's Divining Top and Basalt Monolith to draw my deck and Blue Sun's Zenith my opponent to death. I'm running Blightsteel Colossus and Mycosynth Lattice/Darksteel Forge/Nevinyrral's Disk as alternate win-cons.

I'll maybe write more later. In the meantime, feel free to point out why I'm a moron for running x card or strategy over y card/strategy.

Edit: Made a small change before the tournament tomorrow: -Saprazzan Skerry, +Gitaxian Probe.

Been trying to make that deck workable in 1v1 but playing against blue is a really hard matchup...

I have a question for some of the experienced 1v1 EDH Arcum pilots out there: is Arcum a tier 1 general? It seems, based on 1v1 tournament results, that he is not. What is the reason for this? I would think that since he is a U tinkering general, with loads of mana acceleration in the form of mana-dorks, that he should be, especially since the french banned list doesn't really hit anything critical for Arcum. Is the reason that he is not tier 1 because he simply has less counterspells than the other mono U generals?

Despite that Arcum is a blue general, he is more on permanent (artifacts nonetheless). You have to juggle with Counterspells, artifact creatures and monartifact creatures.

Unlike Zur which he can survive with few enchantments and more on control, Arcum relies on cheap creatures to get expensive noncreature artifacts. Zur's big guns on enchantments cost 4- cmc whereas Arcum's big guns cost 4+.

Arcum also lacks the speed as the combo relies on having 2+ permanents.

Those are the few reasons why he hasn't been on top on a competitive 1v1 scene.

Quote from Dr. Zoidberg

I have a question for some of the experienced 1v1 EDH Arcum pilots out there: is Arcum a tier 1 general? It seems, based on 1v1 tournament results, that he is not. What is the reason for this? I would think that since he is a U tinkering general, with loads of mana acceleration in the form of mana-dorks, that he should be, especially since the french banned list doesn't really hit anything critical for Arcum. Is the reason that he is not tier 1 because he simply has less counterspells than the other mono U generals?

His ability is worthless with the plethora of removal used by the french 1v1 scene. You're unlikely to get any activations out of him, or if you do the target will die in response and you're down a card and a turn.

Also, the French list bans Top, which removes Arcum's most reliable combo.

Which leaves to regular list... Meaning you have to deal with Hermit Druid and other faster and more broader deck lists...

Quote from Acardus

Which leaves to regular list... Meaning you have to deal with Hermit Druid and other faster and more broader deck lists...

Fortunately, no one in my meta plays those decks. The biggest dog that I have to contend with is Wanderer, and that is a stupidly easy matchup for any reasonably fast combo deck.

Quote from ApocryphaEffect

Also, the French list bans Top, which removes Arcum's most reliable combo.

I didn't realize that Top was banned under the french rules...that sucks for Arcum. Also, thanks everyone for answering my question about Arcum not being tier 1.

I briefly played Arcum under the French banlist/rules. Beyond the issues with keeping him and his target on the board for the ability to resolve, the biggest issue I found was that there really wasn't a way to win with his first activation (contrast this to Zur, who probably wins 90% of games in which his ability triggers). Mindslaver is the closest to an "I win" target, but even if you significantly set back your opponent with it, you're both playing the topdecking game for the next few turns, and when you're topdecking things like Shield Sphere, you're not going to win that battle.

Super fun to mess around with though, and certainly if you like having your matches decided one way or another within the first 9 minutes of a round, it may be a fun choice.

mana vault is frenchbanned :/

... but not in Regular list


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@ApocryphaEffect: tell us your matchups in your tourneys. Few decks (in a nonhyper but still competitive 1v1 like my lgs) that are usually popular are Azami, RUG'S Maelstrom Wanderer and Riku of Two Reflections, Captain Sisay, Thrax, Jin and Iname.

Usually, that'll reflect on what you can do to determine what changes must be made in your deck.

I haven't faced all of those, and the ones I have I haven't tested against extensively so take this with a grain of salt.

Wanderer is the one I've played most, and this deck wrecks them. They are a very non-interactive deck. So is Arcum. Except Arcum is faster and can devote more slots to singleton answers like Ensnaring Bridge.

Sisay has been relatively easy too. They play a very similar strategy, but I think Arcum has the edge here too. There are only a few must answer cards they can tutor up, and none of them immediately ends the game. Power out Arcum, and try to keep a counter up for the Mindslaver/Iona/Elesh Norn they will inevitably try to tutor up. They aren't loaded with removal, so Arcum usually sticks even without protection. Shackles is excellent here, since you can steal Sisay and then go find your own Mindslaver.

There aren't any Iname players where I am, but if there were I'd just play Tormod's Crypt and call it a day. Easy match as long as you can dodge a couple Doom Blades.

Azami can be rough, but if you can get Arcum on board they only have a few ways to deal with him (usually involving theft effects). Cavern of Souls is excellent here. I've tried Defense Grid in the past, but It's not that great. Cheap counters like Dispel are also very good here.

My hardest matchup so far has been Edric. They can do very disgusting things with a turn one Sol Ring, and its very hard for the current version of the deck to stop. I need to think about how best to approach this matchup, but my inclination is the run more mana rocks and just try to be faster. UG doesn't have much removal, so dropping Arcum the turn they tap out for Edric /should/ be enough to get an edge, but you still have to deal with their masssive card draw or they will find an answer. One-Eyed Scarecrow is super janky but it might find it's way in just because of how bad the Edric match is.

So your local meta isn't that competitive? The ones I played is bit on the cutthroat. So our experience is different. To me, blue and speed are Arcum's weaknesses.


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For Edric, I used Contagion Engine against his weenies if I'm quick enough... and that was before Cavern of Souls was revealed.