MTG Salvation

Revived this when I got tired of the other Temur commanders. (Malestrom Wanderer and Animer, Soul of the Elements); since both decks have too linear strategies. Got tired of the extra turns and blitz-like combos.
Current build focus of spell slinging. Admittedly Palinchron is still the main win condition, the the Wizard Tribal sub-theme adds a lot of powerful utility creatures to the deck.

Objectives
1. Accelerate using cheap spell-based ramp
2. Establish subtle control and card advantage
3. Copy and rre-utilize permanents and spells
4. Accumulate enough control cards to push a combo finish

Win Conditions
1. Palinchron-based combos
+ Riku
+ Deadeye Navigator
+ Phantasmal Image
+ Ghostly Flicker + Eternal Witness or Archaeomancer
+ High Tide + at least 5 Islands (duals) and 2 other lands

2. Turnabout-based combos
+ Deadeye Navigator + Eternal Witness or Archaeomancer
+ Archaeomancer + Riptide Laboratory + enough lands
+ Dualcaster Mage + Riptide Laboratory + enough lands

3. Ghostly Flicker + Dualcaster Mage + Land

4. Mana-dump: Venser, Shaper Savant + Riku
- Thanks to the new legend rule, Venser, Shaper Savant can bounce himself, while the Venser token that Riku produces will bounce another spell or permanent.

All of the combos generate infinite mana. You usually finish of by drawing a ton of cards, then pouring the mana to Venser, Shaper Savant, Capsize, Reiterate, Cryptic Command or Mystic Comfluence.



IV. Current Version Deck List

By Type:
[/SPOILER]

By Card Selection Breakdown:
[SPOILER] [/SPOILER]

V. Old Versions
v1.00
[SPOILER] [/SPOILER]

v1.10 (With Avacyn)
[SPOILER]- Sower of Temptation
- Genesis
- Forest
- Winding Canyons

+ Zealous Conscripts
+ Deadeye Navigator
+ Alchemist's Refuge
+ Desolate Lighthouse[/SPOILER]

v1.20 (Fine Tuning of Avacyn Components)
[SPOILER]- Zealous Conscripts
- Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
- Cloudstone Curio

+ Sakashima the Impostor
+ Fellwar Stone
+ Cavern of Souls[/SPOILER]

v1.30 - 2012/06/07
[SPOILER]
- Consecrated Sphinx
- Bribery
- Tooth and Nail
- Palinchron
- Deceiver Exarch

+ Sower of Temptation
+ Rite of Replication
+ Ghostly Flicker
+ Peregrine Drake
+ Zealous Conscripts[/SPOILER]

v1.40 - 2012/06/11
[SPOILER]
- Spell Crumple

+ Delay
[/SPOILER]

v1.50 - 2012/06/25
[SPOILER]
- Ghostly Flicker ---> Very tricky to use, subject to more testing
- Peregrine Drake ---> Removed this since Palinchron is Back
- Sower of Temptation ---> Still undecided if this should be permanent or not, I keep on moving it around
- Rhystic Study ---> Since this is a less spell control version and more board control, exchanged with Jace Beleren (MEAT SHIELD!)
- Delay ---> Same argument with above to exchange spell with board control
- Memory Lapse ---> Same argument with above to exchange spell with board control
- Negate ---> Same argument with above to exchange spell with board control
- Remand ---> Same argument with above to exchange spell with board control
- Misdirection ---> Same argument with above to exchange spell with board control
- High Tide ---> Too situational already. With the prevalence of land sweepers, I exchanged it yet again with a mana stone
- Desolate Lighthouse ---> Oboro is Back due to landfall!
- Island ---> Needed to be done to address influx of green spells (and removal of High Tide)

+ Palinchron
+ Consecrated Sphinx
+ Jace Beleren
+ Sakura Tribe Elder
+ Simic Signet
+ Garruk Wildspeaker
+ Avenger of Zendikar
+ Deranged Hermit
+ Acidic Slime
+ Seige-Gang Commander
+ Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
+ Forest
[/SPOILER]

v1.60 - 2012/07/12
[SPOILER]
- Jace Beleren
- Simic Signet
- Garruk Wildspeaker
- Avenger of Zendikar
- Deranged Hermit
- Acidic Slime
- Seige-Gang Commander
- Oracle of Mul Daya
- Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
- Forest

+ Rhystic Study
+ Deceiver Exarch
+ Delay
+ Memory Lapse
+ Negate
+ Remand
+ Misdirection
+ High Tide
+ Desolate Lighthouse
+ Island
[/SPOILER]

v1.70 - 2012/08/15
[SPOILER]
- Delay
- Memory Lapse
- Negate
- Remand
- Rite of Replication
- Zealous Conscripts
- Krosan Grip
- Sakura Tribe Elder
- Maze of Ith

+ Glen Elendra Archmage
+ Bribery
+ Tooth and Nail
+ Chaos Warp
+ Firespout
+ Oracle of Mul Daya
+ Mana Vault
+ Intuition
+ Jace, the Mind Sculptor
+ Ancient Tomb
[/SPOILER]

v1.80 - 2012/08/17
[SPOILER]
- Bribery
- Tooth and Nail
- Jace, the Mind Sculptor
- Ancient Tomb
- Firespout

+ Muldrifter
+ Trinket Mage
+ Engineered Explosive
+ Maze of Ith
+ Island
[/SPOILER]

v1.90 - 2012/11/13
[SPOILER]
- Engineered Explosives
- Coalition Relic
- Primeval Titan
- Rhystic Study
- Intuition

+ Muddle the Mixture
+ Cyclonic Rift
+ Inferno Titan
+ Mystic Remora
+ Chromatic Lantern
[/SPOILER]

v2.00 - 2013/03/21
[SPOILER]
- Maze of Ith

+ Thespian Stage
[/SPOILER]

So I tried the v1.30 build last Saturday. The games were pretty exciting.
There were less douchebag moments, having removed the "oops, I win" cards.

My next goal is to remove some counterspells for better interactivity.
The current CS are as follows:

Possible "Free Counterspells":
Force of Will ---> Obvious Inclusion
Misdirection ---> Functional Force of Will/Deflection
Pact of Negation ---> Obvious Inclusion
Mindbreak Trap ---> Bypasses "Cannot be countered" and Storm effects

2cc:
Mana Drain ---> Obvious Inclusion
Counterspell ---> The Basics
Memory Lapse ---> 1U = Easy to cast
Remand ---> 1U = Easy to cast + Cantrip (Has an infinite draw loop with my General)
Negate ---> 1U = Easy to cast

3cc:
Voidslime ---> Stops abilities
Hinder ---> Tucks Commanders and recurrable cards
Spell Crumple ---> Changed with Delay ---> 1U = Easy to cast

More than just Counterspells/Functional Counterspells:
Cryptic Command ---> Obvious Inclusion and combo's with Eternal Witness/my General
Venser ---> MVP, stops almost anything and combo's with Deadeye Navigator and Riptide Laboratory
Reiterate ---> Just too versitile and combo's with Turnabout

Order of cards too cut (by Priority):
1. Delay
2. Negate
3. Misdirection
4. Memory Lapse
5. Remand

Watcha think? I thinking of adding some dudes and more ramp cards.

I decided to change control styles, adding more board threats and board control cards (not sweepers though).
I still want this deck to more of a "Aggro-Control" type of deck rather than a passive one. I opted to focus more of board control/threat spells (like the Slime and Seige-Gang)

Oh, and I returned some cards which I think is not that broken (Palinchron, Consecrated Sphinx) once people realize that I'm playing Riku and everyone gangs up on me, hehe. I still need to "get there" in the long run, especially once everything else is exhausted.

Current changes from v1.40 is as follows:

v1.50 Changelog

- Ghostly Flicker ---> Very tricky to use, subject to more testing
- Peregrine Drake ---> Removed this since Palinchron is Back
- Sower of Temptation ---> Still undeciced if this should be permanent or not, I keep on moving it around
- Rhystic Study ---> Since this is a less spell control version and more board control, exchanged with Jace Beleren (MEAT SHIELD!)
- Delay ---> Same argument with above to exchange spell with board control
- Memory Lapse ---> Same argument with above to exchange spell with board control
- Negate ---> Same argument with above to exchange spell with board control
- Remand ---> Same argument with above to exchange spell with board control
- Misdirection ---> Same argument with above to exchange spell with board control
- High Tide ---> Too situational already. With the prevalence of land sweepers, I exchanged it yet again with a mana stone
- Desolate Lighthouse ---> Oboro is Back due to landfall!
- Island ---> Needed to be done to address influx of green spells (and removal of High Tide)

+ Palinchron
+ Consecrated Sphinx
+ Jace Beleren
+ Sakura Tribe Elder
+ Simic Signet
+ Garruk Wildspeaker
+ Avenger of Zendikar
+ Deranged Hermit
+ Acidic Slime
+ Seige-Gang Commander
+ Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
+ Forest

On with the testing!

Resotored to former build with a few revisions (particularly exchanging Oracle of Mul-daya with Sakura Tribe Elder). Local ban of TnN and Bribery still in effect.

Major update.

After doodling with the build, I've finally modified the build again.
I've been deducing whether or not the control build is as effective as it should be (as deck optimization has always been a primary concern of mine in all my decks).

I realized the problem may not be the deck at all, but my play style (I really have re-instruct myself to concept of the Social aspect of the EDH. @_@ I guess due to my exposure to exaggerated super-god-like-ultra-competative mono-U/BUG/Esper/Azorious/GBW decks in my LGS I have forgotten what commander was all about...)

Anyway... I decided to optimize the build again, but this time change my play style.

Still have no suggestions from MTGS community though. Although I'll keep reposting my updates until someone with interest pops up

Changelog:
v1.70

have you tried checking on supersonik's Primer? heres the link http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=329948 its very well detailed and you might want to check it out. you might find some good infos there to suit your play style. hope this helps

Quote from Nixj03

have you tried checking on supersonik's Primer? heres the link http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=329948 its very well detailed and you might want to check it out. you might find some good infos there to suit your play style. hope this helps

Yep, I've been in tuned with his primer ever since it started. I've been constantly changing my build for more than a year now (ever since Commander set was released).

Hoping to get more feedback though. We have very different perspectives on the build you see. I guess, based on his reference, my build will fall under the Seedborn-Wins archetype.

BTW, I see you're from the Philippines. Where is your LGS here?

Quote from 4evershinji

Yep, I've been in tuned with his primer ever since it started. I've been constantly changing my build for more than a year now (ever since Commander set was released).

Hoping to get more feedback though. We have very different perspectives on the build you see. I guess, based on his reference, my build will fall under the Seedborn-Wins archetype.

BTW, I see you're from the Philippines. Where is your LGS here?

well, the LGS nearest in my place (well i'm from alabang area) is NG ATC FNM, R4 Hobby shop and Zuran . but i rarely go to those LGS, i mostly play with a group of people from laguna area, (san pedro, pacita and some couple of friends near in my area).

i see your list is way more competitive and you have access with the staples cards, i guess how about trying the more token builds? i myself have been tweaking with it.

Quote from Nixj03

well, the LGS nearest in my place (well i'm from alabang area) is NG ATC FNM, R4 Hobby shop and Zuran . but i rarely go to those LGS, i mostly play with a group of people from laguna area, (san pedro, pacita and some couple of friends near in my area).

i see your list is way more competitive and you have access with the staples cards, i guess how about trying the more token builds? i myself have been tweaking with it.

Ooh, Alabang. I guess we haven't crossed paths before if thats the case.
My main play group usually meets every Saturday at Ortigas for our weekly all day EDH slug-fest. Sometimes even Sunday :D. I do occassionally visit LGSs as well (Mike O.s, Eton Regran, Mindstorm).

I've been an eternal player for the longest time, playing mostly Vintage and Legacy for the past 10 yrs. My playgroup and I started playing EDH around 4 yrs ago as well. The competitive nature of my decks may be attributed to these factors, although our politics have always been a blast.

On the issue of the build you suggested, I've had my hand in the token builds, (mainly playing Avenger of Zendikar, Siege-Gang Commander, Hornet Queen and Deranged Hermit for tokens) but scrapped it since the play-style of that type of build would be too similar to my Ghave Commander Deck. I'm interested in trying a more permanent/creature based Riku build, but may be not tokens. Once my playgroups competitive nature dies down, I'd be sure to try it again.

After just 2 days of testing, I realized how stupid Tooth and Nail and Bribery were again... hoping to remove them permanently this time even though I put myself at a disadvantage against other decks.

Anyway, another revised list.

v1.80 - 2012/08/17

I still feel that the decks douchebagginess is significant, but no longer outrageous. I wish I can remove Palinchron, but that just wrecks the deck too much... I did build Riku with that card in mind when Mirror Mastery first came out. Hopefully, the current list be a balance between efficiency and social acceptability in my playgroup. (looking good for now!)

Next objective: putting less hand control and more board muscle in the deck. Maybe the ff:

Sphinx of Uthuun
Chancellor of the Spires
Avenger of Zendikar (I MISS YOU!)

Keeping my fingers crossed so that I can sneak these babies in.

Been a while since my last update...

v1.90 - 2012/11/13

Been struggling with my girl friend's Sisay EDH deck recently, particularly on how early she resolves Iona, Shield of Emeria. Her deck has proven time and time again to wreck my early game strategies thanks to cheap ramp, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary/gaea's cradle, dosan, wasteland/strip mine. this eventually leads to her resolving Iona, Shield of Emeria naming blue which shuts down like 75% of my mid-late game strategy.

With this in mind, I thought of adding cheap removal to the bunch. so far, these cards popped up:

- Stingscourger - Red bouncer than can be tutored by ton of my cards
- Aether Spellbomb - can be tutored by trinket mage early on and recurred by academy ruins
- Voyeger's Staff - likewise, but can also blink my best budds

Any other suggestions? I'll be testing these out for the weeks to come.
Inferno Titan's been a blast to play in this deck. Too bad his green bro's gone.

Been a while since my last update!

I'll be retiring the deck for now (after exactly 9 revisions here in salvation).
Partially because of metagame changes #MLD. More so because of boredom and urge to try something new #Maelstrom Wanderer.

I'll be doing this to my other deliciously built EDH deck as well #Ghave, Guru of Spores, which will have to wait for posting. I'll be changing that one to either an Esper or Orzhov themed deck. Still pondering though.

Until next time!