The deck comes from the idea that my group really likes the political aspect of games and forming short live alliances. Since my favorite style of play is control, I figured Gwafa would be the perfect fit for me.
The entire goal of this deck is to play out like a corrupt political system making as many friends as possible while keeping the rowdy ones quite with bribery. Then build up taxes and defenses gradually while the peasants... I mean opponents follow blindly like sheep. With your finishing blow just start getting rid of the up risers first with fat creatures or their own wincons that you steal out of their deck.
I am in the process of building this deck so please be exceptionally harsh so I don't buy a useless deck.
*note* my group has competitive decks and the two I worry about are kaalia of the vast and sharuum the hegemon
Also my budget is unlimited but I am not spending greater than $40 on a card unless it is heavily justified, just because adding 1 dual land makes my mana slightly more stable it is not justifiable to me */note*
Cool list, I bought a foil gwafa a while back but never got around to making the deck. First off, I'm glad to see aurification in there! That card is a hidden gem!
As far as suggestions go, my first cut is wu scout. It's a card I'd never seen before but it just doesn't do enough to warrant a slot. If you're desperate for that type of effect, best to make it reuseable like glasses of urza. Magus of the Tabernacle feels like a bit of a backfire card here. You're running 21 creatures plus the general and I could easily see people just sacrificing the creatures they have bribery counters on. Lost Auramancers seems like a painfully slow enlightened tutor. True Believer feels weak. If I'm a burn deck or black discard deck, I'll simply kill that puny 2/2 and cast all the spells I want at you. Aetherling would be a good fit in this deck as a slow but steady win condition that also dodges sweepers. Daxos of Meletis comes to mind for some reason, maybe because your general is also a 2/2 with an interesting ability. It seems he might be able to sneak in after you drop some bribery counters. I also feel the same way about Medomai the Ageless in the air. Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker is another nice effect for a pillowfort.
With such a strong pillow fort, I'd recommend replacing frost titan with tamiyo, the moon sage. In fact, I think the deck should run more planeswalkers in general, as they are one of U/W fort's best strengths. Jace, Architect of thought goes along with the fort theme and he's card advantage plus his ultimate is amazing.
I would replace mind control with the more versatile confiscate. With 18 enchantments, I'd say this deck is a good candidate for either replenish or skull of orm. Sudden Disappearance is a really cool card, but I don't think it fits here. Keep in mind that blinking all of your opponents stuff will reset any counters you've placed on it. I'm not sure what the intent of that card is in the deck, but sleep is a powerful tapout effect if that was what you were aiming for? Knowledge Exploitation seems a bit high cc to me, I'd probably run ancestral vision instead. Sphinx's Revelation is another option. Although your general is a rouge, I don't foresee you attacking with him too often, his tap ability is just too good.
And speaking of your general, I think right now that's your deck's biggest weakness. The easiest way to deal with bribery counters is to simply kill your general. I can see that happening A LOT. I recommend getting some equipment for him, preferrably hexproof and also a bit of haste because his ability is so good. 3 counterspells is also on the light end of the spectrum for where I want to be running defensive blue. Removal itself is a bit light, I would run detention sphere and a disenchant effect or two. You also have zero graveyard hate, which will be a problem against sharuum. I recommend rest in peace and maybe 1 or two more gy hosers. Also, legacy's allure feels painfully slow, I'd cut that one.
One card that would be particularly nasty in the build is Uba Mask. It would make the cards drawn from bribery counters a lot less useful, although maybe you don't want to do this for political reasons. I could also see this deck cutting some of its creatures and running more sweepers and possibly going with a small creature subtheme. Meekstone is pretty awesome in the build (excepting your few large creatures) because it doesn't affect your general and would be pretty hard on Kaalia. If it were my deck, I'd shift it away from so many creatures and move the wincons more towards planeswalkers. Also, planar cleansing seems bad because you run 18 enchantments and it will likely hurt you quite a bit. Just imagine cleansing your own oblivion ring!
Landwise, I'd run adakar wastes as another dual source and if budget isn't an object, you need to replace mystifying maze with the real deal, maze of ith. You don't want to accidentally blink your opponents' value creatures plus 4 mana is a lot. Anyway, hopefully a few of these ideas / cuts help!
The deck comes from the idea that my group really likes the political aspect of games and forming short live alliances. Since my favorite style of play is control, I figured Gwafa would be the perfect fit for me.
The entire goal of this deck is to play out like a corrupt political system making as many friends as possible while keeping the rowdy ones quite with bribery. Then build up taxes and defenses gradually while the peasants... I mean opponents follow blindly like sheep. With your finishing blow just start getting rid of the up risers first with fat creatures or their own wincons that you steal out of their deck.
1 Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer
//Artifact (6)
1 Contagion Engine
1 Font of Mythos
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Howling Mine
1 Norn's Annex
1 Sol Ring
//Creature (21)
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Azor's Elocutors
1 Clone
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Deathless Angel
1 Frost Titan
1 Gilded Drake
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Leonin Arbiter
1 Lost Auramancers
1 Magus of the Tabernacle
1 Mistmeadow Witch
1 Mother of Runes
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 True Believer
1 Windborn Muse
1 World Queller
1 Wu Scout
1 Arrest
1 Aurification
1 Blind Obedience
1 Control Magic
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Legacy's Allure
1 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Martial Law
1 Mind Control
1 Mind Unbound
1 Nevermore
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Pacifism
1 Propaganda
1 Sphere of Safety
//Instant (8)
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Ghostway
1 Hinder
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Path to Exile
1 Spell Crumple
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Acquire
1 Blatant Thievery
1 Bribery
1 Final Judgment
1 Planar Cleansing
1 Revoke Existence
1 Rite of Replication
1 Sudden Disappearance
1 Supreme Verdict
//Tribal Sorcery (1)
1 Knowledge Exploitation
//Land (37)
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Command Tower
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Homeward Path
12 Island
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Nimbus Maze
12 Plains
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rupture Spire
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Meadow
I am in the process of building this deck so please be exceptionally harsh so I don't buy a useless deck.
*note* my group has competitive decks and the two I worry about are kaalia of the vast and sharuum the hegemon
Also my budget is unlimited but I am not spending greater than $40 on a card unless it is heavily justified, just because adding 1 dual land makes my mana slightly more stable it is not justifiable to me */note*
As far as suggestions go, my first cut is wu scout. It's a card I'd never seen before but it just doesn't do enough to warrant a slot. If you're desperate for that type of effect, best to make it reuseable like glasses of urza. Magus of the Tabernacle feels like a bit of a backfire card here. You're running 21 creatures plus the general and I could easily see people just sacrificing the creatures they have bribery counters on. Lost Auramancers seems like a painfully slow enlightened tutor. True Believer feels weak. If I'm a burn deck or black discard deck, I'll simply kill that puny 2/2 and cast all the spells I want at you. Aetherling would be a good fit in this deck as a slow but steady win condition that also dodges sweepers. Daxos of Meletis comes to mind for some reason, maybe because your general is also a 2/2 with an interesting ability. It seems he might be able to sneak in after you drop some bribery counters. I also feel the same way about
Medomai the Ageless in the air. Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker is another nice effect for a pillowfort.
With such a strong pillow fort, I'd recommend replacing frost titan with tamiyo, the moon sage. In fact, I think the deck should run more planeswalkers in general, as they are one of U/W fort's best strengths. Jace, Architect of thought goes along with the fort theme and he's card advantage plus his ultimate is amazing.
I would replace mind control with the more versatile confiscate. With 18 enchantments, I'd say this deck is a good candidate for either replenish or skull of orm. Sudden Disappearance is a really cool card, but I don't think it fits here. Keep in mind that blinking all of your opponents stuff will reset any counters you've placed on it. I'm not sure what the intent of that card is in the deck, but sleep is a powerful tapout effect if that was what you were aiming for? Knowledge Exploitation seems a bit high cc to me, I'd probably run ancestral vision instead. Sphinx's Revelation is another option. Although your general is a rouge, I don't foresee you attacking with him too often, his tap ability is just too good.
And speaking of your general, I think right now that's your deck's biggest weakness. The easiest way to deal with bribery counters is to simply kill your general. I can see that happening A LOT. I recommend getting some equipment for him, preferrably hexproof and also a bit of haste because his ability is so good. 3 counterspells is also on the light end of the spectrum for where I want to be running defensive blue. Removal itself is a bit light, I would run detention sphere and a disenchant effect or two. You also have zero graveyard hate, which will be a problem against sharuum. I recommend rest in peace and maybe 1 or two more gy hosers. Also, legacy's allure feels painfully slow, I'd cut that one.
One card that would be particularly nasty in the build is Uba Mask. It would make the cards drawn from bribery counters a lot less useful, although maybe you don't want to do this for political reasons. I could also see this deck cutting some of its creatures and running more sweepers and possibly going with a small creature subtheme. Meekstone is pretty awesome in the build (excepting your few large creatures) because it doesn't affect your general and would be pretty hard on Kaalia. If it were my deck, I'd shift it away from so many creatures and move the wincons more towards planeswalkers. Also, planar cleansing seems bad because you run 18 enchantments and it will likely hurt you quite a bit. Just imagine cleansing your own oblivion ring!
Landwise, I'd run adakar wastes as another dual source and if budget isn't an object, you need to replace mystifying maze with the real deal, maze of ith. You don't want to accidentally blink your opponents' value creatures plus 4 mana is a lot. Anyway, hopefully a few of these ideas / cuts help!
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