MTG Salvation

Hey There MTG Fans!,

- This Commander deck is built to the theme of classic Azorius Control and can star anyone of three popularUW general's; Geist of Saint Traft, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, or Brago, King Eternal.

- Overall the Three decks are very similar but there are major differences between the way each general is ideally constructed and played out;
-GAAIV is slower and more focused on control, shutting out casting using stax effects and winning through soft locks.
-Giest is usually more agressive requiring a lower curve as well as healthy offensive support for the plan.
-Brago is focused on ETB tricks and plays slightly more synergist and big-bang'ish than the other 2, using revilark type combos and flickered planeswalkers to secure wins.

- Since my meta is fairly cutthroat and uses regular EDH rules, I have opted to take this deck primarily down GAA's path of 'good stuff' control. In support of Duel Commander (DC), I have designed the deck to be easily modified into a version staring the more popular/consistent general in DC, Geist of Saint Traft. To accomplish this, I have left the slower control and stax effects out of the deck in favour of more well rounded removal and support packages.

- The idea for either setup is simple, Control the first few turns, deny their mana rocks, land the general, and then support it to a win. Brago could still likewise star as the general in this play style, but there are quite a few cards that only really work well with him which have not been included and thus I have made no concessions for him; the deck would still play patently the same way if he was in charge though. While I do feel this diversification of two generals costs me a slight bit of proper tuning that would be gained from focusing on a single general; I prefer the flexibility of being able to play in both formats without having to double up on hundreds of dollars worth of cards. Since the core of all competitive U/W decks are almost identical anyway, games are won and lost largely based on skill and luck of the draw rather than on the few different card changes attributed directly to their generals.

- The deck is built strictly for competitive 1v1, staring Grand Arbiter for Regular EDH rules and Geist of Saint Traft for Duel Commander matches. Either way you split it, this deck has so much counter and removal that it can also still hold it's own in multiplayer matches up to 5 people.; not that I recommend it since U/W control is typically super boring and annoying in multiplayer and casual matchups.

- The play style is simple in theory but requires considerable knowledge of the potential cards your opponents will play, as well as knowing the limits of your own deck when deciding to counter now or kill it later. Both generals want to land on turn 3, but if your opponent is also playing blue this will most likely never happen unless they tap out randomly on T2. If casting the early general is a no go, be patient and selectively deny your opponents threats, put priority on cutting off their acceleration while still casting your own ramp. Cast the general when its safe or you have appropriate backup for it; don't forget that its no big deal if he does get countered or removed since you will gain card advantage +1. Continue the tricks until the general does land and then simply keep it on the board until you win.

- The deck has many choice pieces of removal and an equal amount of counterspells to go along with them. The removal package is constantly under review and I never seem completely satisfied with the balance between cmc's, type of cards they can hit, and the amount of global to point spells, among other factors. Likewise I am also unsure of what meta hate should be included, currently only Teferi's Response is present as meta hate since no matter where you go or what EDH format you're playing in there is always some form of land hate.







I look forward to any feedback about card choices, or themes, or whatever it is that you have to share! ~ Thank You in Advance

Hey!
Im currently working on the same deck which pretty much the same shell.

Im playing with the French rules and Augustin is my commander.

Personally I dont really like Rhystic study in a 1 on 1 matchup. Not a big fan of dawn charm neither. I would try to find a place to squeeze sphinx's revelation as it is just an awesome card. Return to dust is also the best artifact-enchantment removal and should be in the deck I think. Isochron also seems a bit out of place, I think I prefer having a card like Think Twice. The diamonds are also only ok.

Cards I would also consider :
Gilded Drake
Tamiyo the moon sage
Austere command (better than catastrophe or cataclysm)
Condemn
Miscalculation

Quote from galipeau12 »

Hey!
Personally I dont really like Rhystic study in a 1 on 1 matchup. Not a big fan of dawn charm neither. I would try to find a place to squeeze sphinx's revelation as it is just an awesome card. Return to dust is also the best artifact-enchantment removal and should be in the deck I think. Isochron also seems a bit out of place, I think I prefer having a card like Think Twice. The diamonds are also only ok.

Cards I would also consider :
Gilded Drake
Tamiyo the moon sage
Austere command (better than catastrophe or cataclysm)
Condemn
Miscalculation

Hey Thanks Galipeau,
- I definitely agree that Rhystic Study could be stronger and is much better in Mplayer. I could exchange this for the revelation maybe, they offer about the same amount of card advantage but in different ways. My only beef with S-revelation is that it feels like a win more card most of the time since you have to sit on the open mana, which yes you are doing already for counters, but then you are forced to tap out for it which can lead to a force spike or something lame happening. I'll have to put more thought into this one, after saying that maybe another brainstorm type effect is in order here instead..
- Return to dust is indeed powerful, I feel turned off by the cmc here in this deck but it might make its way back in anyway. I was running annul actually in this slot for awhile, seemed to work well but got cut for situational-ness.
- Isochron Scepter is irreplaceable. If it lands, its game over for the opponent since memory lapse, remand, counterspell, etc, or even the slightly subpar dawn charm locked onto there can cause people to concede immediately.
- Mana diamonds were a last ditch to fix the mana rock package, I am not happy with them either but the remaining untapped 2cmc or less mana rocks are equally bad, but also present an threat to my colour availability. (ie Fellwar Stone)
- Auster command was in the deck and got removed for high cmc and replaced by single target removal
- Tamiyo is good sometimes, but is win more for the most part.
- Condemn suffers from the 'fauna shaman' effect for removal. Oust is a better choice, but still subpar to the other removal options available.
- Miscalc has gone in and out repeatedly; I find in mirror match ups this is a dead card though, since every good blue player is always holding 2 mana open. other times I wish I had it in hand instead of say negate against agro decks.
- Gilded Drake, I have been courting this one for a long time, but I don't have one to play test with. since two of his best friends are already in the deck (venser and Sun titan), I think that ill make room for this guy, he will preform the same function as miscalc against agro, and additionally provide value in the mirror matches.

Edit: One change has now been made to the main deck list;
Out:
- Dawn Charm

In:
+ Gilded Drake

Thanks for Comments and Happy Crafting!