Only once in my life have I bought a Magic card for more than 10 Euros; and it was Rasputin himself. I love the card and everything it does, massive mana acceleration in Azorius...it's crazy. I'm not a control player most of the time, at least not traditional defensive control, but for this I tried going in the more controlly route, with as an end result this deck. It does lack a bit of an early game, so I could use some help patching that up. This is also a Paper deck, so I don't have unlimited budget (Hence no Tundra)
General Attributes
Quick game likeness - 2/10 - This deck is slow as molasses, but that's the whole gameplan right there.
Newbie feasibility - 5/10 - While not too complicated, there's some decisions to be made that someone new to the deck won't immediately see.
Commander dependency - 6/10 - Rasputin is mostly there for the quick mana burst, but he can win through general damage too. The deck can win without him, though.
'Scare' Ranking - 6/10 - It's a 7-mana-boost in Azorius. Of course it's going to draw attention. However, he doesn't have a huge bad reputation, so there's that.
Multiplayer mode - 7/10 - The deck does get worse once over 4 players are on the table. Does surprisingly decent in one on one games, though it's too slow for tuned French decks.
Expensiveness - 7/10 - This is not a cheap deck. At least it doesn't need Fetchlands or the like, but still.
Game Play Attributes
Acceleration - 6/10 - The only big acceleration comes from Rasputin. But it's VERY explosive.
Library Searching - 2/10 - Aside from a few land searchers, this deck prefers to just take 25% of the deck into the hand.
Board Control - 8/10 - Mostly on the non-creature way, though there is some creature removal as well.
Spell Control - 7/10 - It doesn't run a lot of counterspells, but can hit the things that it needs to hit most of the time.
Card Advantage - 10/10 - The absolute nr. 1 thing this deck is good at. Drawing 12 cards on turn 6 is not uncommon.
Linearity - 5/10 - The first step is simple. Get to 6 mana and try to get Rasputin out with some protection. After that, the world opens up.
Combo potential - 9/10 - There are a few I Win combos, and the deck has the drawpower to dig into them.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I'm seriously wondering about the effectiveness of a Karn Liberated. On the one hand, this deck can cast him easily. On the other, I don't think he scales too well in multiplayer...thoughts?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I'm not convinced by Karn Liberated as a 'good' EDH card in general. He's fine in decks that lack other ways to do what he does (mainly exiling permanents), but he's slow and in my experience draws a lot of attention and, consequently, fire.
On the other hand, I have been seriously impressed by Profound Journey. I play it in my Karador, Ghost Chieftain build and it managed to completely derail the game on several occasions.
Gave the deck a fair bit of an overhaul, including a snow-land-setup, cutting out poor duals, etc etc. Comments very much desired.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
It's too easy. I don't mind winning out of nowhere but I'd rather work for it, and saying "Drop Displacer, gg well played" isn't really fun.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
It's too easy. I don't mind winning out of nowhere but I'd rather work for it, and saying "Drop Displacer, gg well played" isn't really fun.
Understandable that you don't want to play Dispacer. I run him in my Rasputin deck but I've actually yet to enable the infinite combo with him anyway. The only times I think I would be able to utilize the mana is if I have excess blue mana for my "Draw X" spells or with Gemstone Array, both of which have yet to happen yet. I intentionally want to make it hard and very conditional to actually win with the infinite colorless mana, so yeah.
Card suggestions: Tezzeret the Seeker is essential for a Rasputin Build. Even with your spread, getting a Crystal Shard from your deck is powerful.
Your build is also missing Mystical Tutor to further enable Entreat the Angels, or as a backup versus a giant board state in your upcoming turn. Ghostway is key. Even the new Eerie Presence will work as well. Mirror Entity works with Sun Titan/Reveillark/Karmic Guide, and his X can be a potential blow-out following an EoT White Sun's.
Finally--and this may be hit or miss--Diluvian Primordial is nothing to sneeze at.
Cut suggestions: Avacyn herself I feel is a bit of an odd touch here. Seeing your roster this is the only deck aside from your 5-color that runs White so I can see why you want her around since you have her available.
I've never had a lot of luck with Vedalken Shackles. Faerie Trickery feels redundant. Plus, you have four 3-CMC Counterspells. That's a little too clogged in that aspect. Adarkar Valkyrie is great but I'm wondering if she's doing any work for you though.
Generally speaking, if you follow Rasputin up with Displacer, you're going to have blue available, and you're going to be able to draw a lot of cards. This auto-draws into Gemstone Array, so...yeah, every time I drew into him it was GG.
Tezzeret; I've tried him and I don't know about him. He's not a bad card, I'm just not sure.
Yeah, Mystical Tutor is a card I need to pick up in my next batch of orders. Nobody has it for trade and my LGS is fresh out of them, so there's that.
Ghostway and Presence are oddballs - my deck isn't as focussed on blinking as some other Rasputin (or most Brago) builds. I've tested Ghostway in the past but never felt like it actually works well.
Mirror Entity for me is like the Displacer for you; I never seem to have gotten it at the right time. It's power is undeniable, this holds truth, maybe I should retry it.
Diluvian Primordial rarely works at my meta. Not enough spell-based decks; most that are around are mine.
Avacyn has won games for me, so she's staying in. Boardwipes are common enough at my LGS to want to shield against it. She usually comes out when I have a dominant field and solidifies the win for me.
Shackles are the bees knees at my LGS due to a lot of low-power generals. Meren has become especially popular so stealing her to nerf a deck while bolstering my own always feels great.
You're probably right on Trickery. Void Shatter has taken its place and this is likely to be cut for the tutor.
The fun part about Valkyrie is that she also hits opposing creatures that are about to die. This adds fun mindgames, and she's Scrying Sheetable, so there's that.
Thanks for the input.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Only once in my life have I bought a Magic card for more than 10 Euros; and it was Rasputin himself. I love the card and everything it does, massive mana acceleration in Azorius...it's crazy. I'm not a control player most of the time, at least not traditional defensive control, but for this I tried going in the more controlly route, with as an end result this deck. It does lack a bit of an early game, so I could use some help patching that up. This is also a Paper deck, so I don't have unlimited budget (Hence no Tundra)
General Attributes
Quick game likeness - 2/10 - This deck is slow as molasses, but that's the whole gameplan right there.
Newbie feasibility - 5/10 - While not too complicated, there's some decisions to be made that someone new to the deck won't immediately see.
Commander dependency - 6/10 - Rasputin is mostly there for the quick mana burst, but he can win through general damage too. The deck can win without him, though.
'Scare' Ranking - 6/10 - It's a 7-mana-boost in Azorius. Of course it's going to draw attention. However, he doesn't have a huge bad reputation, so there's that.
Multiplayer mode - 7/10 - The deck does get worse once over 4 players are on the table. Does surprisingly decent in one on one games, though it's too slow for tuned French decks.
Expensiveness - 7/10 - This is not a cheap deck. At least it doesn't need Fetchlands or the like, but still.
Game Play Attributes
Acceleration - 6/10 - The only big acceleration comes from Rasputin. But it's VERY explosive.
Library Searching - 2/10 - Aside from a few land searchers, this deck prefers to just take 25% of the deck into the hand.
Board Control - 8/10 - Mostly on the non-creature way, though there is some creature removal as well.
Spell Control - 7/10 - It doesn't run a lot of counterspells, but can hit the things that it needs to hit most of the time.
Card Advantage - 10/10 - The absolute nr. 1 thing this deck is good at. Drawing 12 cards on turn 6 is not uncommon.
Linearity - 5/10 - The first step is simple. Get to 6 mana and try to get Rasputin out with some protection. After that, the world opens up.
Combo potential - 9/10 - There are a few I Win combos, and the deck has the drawpower to dig into them.
6 Rasputin Dreamweaver
Creatures:
2 Mistmeadow Witch
2 Knight of the White Orchid
2 Gilded Drake
3 Burnished Hart
3 Raven Familiar
3 Stonecloaker
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Kor Cartographer
4 Archaeomancer
5 Karmic Guide
5 Reveillark
5 Mulldrifter
5 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
5 Ephara, God of the Polis
5 Mnemonic Wall
6 Sun Titan
6 Deadeye Navigator
6 Adarkar Valkyrie
7 Luminate Primordial
7 Angel of Serenity
8 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
10 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
10 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Artifacts:
1 Sol Ring
1 Expedition Map
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
2 Coldsteel Heart
2 Azorius Signet
2 Thought Vessel
3 Diviner's Wand
3 Crystal Shard
3 Vedalken Shackles
4 Gemstone Array
5 Conjurer's Closet
4 Leyline of Anticipation
Sorceries:
2 Martial Coup
2 Braingeyser
2 Mind Spring
3 Entreat the Angels
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Wrath of God
4 Day of Judgment
4 Decree of Justice
6 Austere Command
Instants:
0 Pact of Negation
1 Path to Exile
1 Swan Song
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Arcane Denial
3 Render Silent
3 Sphinx's Revelation
3 White Sun's Zenith
3 Dissipate
3 Faerie Trickery
3 Void Shatter
3 Capsize
3 Blue Sun's Zenith
3 Stroke of Genius
4 Vanish into Memory
4 Fact or Fiction
5 Desertion
5 Venser, the Sojourner
6 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
8 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Lands:
1 Command Tower
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Temple of the False God
1 Scrying Sheet
1 Mouth of Ronom
1 Boreal Shelf
1 Tolaria West
13 Snow-covered Plains
13 Snow-covered Island
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
On the other hand, I have been seriously impressed by Profound Journey. I play it in my Karador, Ghost Chieftain build and it managed to completely derail the game on several occasions.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Understandable that you don't want to play Dispacer. I run him in my Rasputin deck but I've actually yet to enable the infinite combo with him anyway. The only times I think I would be able to utilize the mana is if I have excess blue mana for my "Draw X" spells or with Gemstone Array, both of which have yet to happen yet. I intentionally want to make it hard and very conditional to actually win with the infinite colorless mana, so yeah.
Card suggestions:
Tezzeret the Seeker is essential for a Rasputin Build. Even with your spread, getting a Crystal Shard from your deck is powerful.
Your build is also missing Mystical Tutor to further enable Entreat the Angels, or as a backup versus a giant board state in your upcoming turn.
Ghostway is key. Even the new Eerie Presence will work as well.
Mirror Entity works with Sun Titan/Reveillark/Karmic Guide, and his X can be a potential blow-out following an EoT White Sun's.
Finally--and this may be hit or miss--Diluvian Primordial is nothing to sneeze at.
Cut suggestions:
Avacyn herself I feel is a bit of an odd touch here. Seeing your roster this is the only deck aside from your 5-color that runs White so I can see why you want her around since you have her available.
I've never had a lot of luck with Vedalken Shackles.
Faerie Trickery feels redundant. Plus, you have four 3-CMC Counterspells. That's a little too clogged in that aspect.
Adarkar Valkyrie is great but I'm wondering if she's doing any work for you though.
Tezzeret; I've tried him and I don't know about him. He's not a bad card, I'm just not sure.
Yeah, Mystical Tutor is a card I need to pick up in my next batch of orders. Nobody has it for trade and my LGS is fresh out of them, so there's that.
Ghostway and Presence are oddballs - my deck isn't as focussed on blinking as some other Rasputin (or most Brago) builds. I've tested Ghostway in the past but never felt like it actually works well.
Mirror Entity for me is like the Displacer for you; I never seem to have gotten it at the right time. It's power is undeniable, this holds truth, maybe I should retry it.
Diluvian Primordial rarely works at my meta. Not enough spell-based decks; most that are around are mine.
Avacyn has won games for me, so she's staying in. Boardwipes are common enough at my LGS to want to shield against it. She usually comes out when I have a dominant field and solidifies the win for me.
Shackles are the bees knees at my LGS due to a lot of low-power generals. Meren has become especially popular so stealing her to nerf a deck while bolstering my own always feels great.
You're probably right on Trickery. Void Shatter has taken its place and this is likely to be cut for the tutor.
The fun part about Valkyrie is that she also hits opposing creatures that are about to die. This adds fun mindgames, and she's Scrying Sheetable, so there's that.
Thanks for the input.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.