Hello! If you're reading this it's for one of four reasons:
A) Your EDH playgroup has gotten out of hand and people are basically seeing who can assemble a combo the quickest. They should be punished for this.
B) You want a highly competitive 1v1 deck that stays relevant as new sets are printed and you really like old school U/W control.
C) You hate people and have no desire to make friends, you need a deck that suits your personality.
D) You have a copy of The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and no clue what to do with it because you don't want to build Lands
This post will not be filled with flashy banners or awesome templating. It is filled only with the hatred and contempt of other people contained within these 100 cards:
Grand Arbiter's strategy is timeless. No matter what sick combo comes along or what big dumb creature gets printed, your opponents have to actually cast them. It doesn't matter what your opponent is playing, it doesn't matter how many cards are in their hand, it doesn't matter what their life total is. None if this matters if all their spells cost 3 more to cast, they can only untap one land a turn, and anything they manage to get on the board they have to pay upkeep for anyway. GA's strategy is always relevant. Even against decks that are designed to be low-cost hyper-aggro, these decks run into a suite full of sweepers, and anti-aggro hate cards.
You like decks where you win because the opponent scooped to the board state half the time.
You like ultimating planeswalkers, which as it turns out, is pretty easy to do if there's no lands on the field to let your opponents cast things to stop them.
Downsides:
Old cards are expensive and this deck pretty much requires a few high dollar ones including Tabernacle and Ravages of War.
This deck is primarily a 1v1 deck. 1v2 is a challenge, but reasonable and makes for fun games. 1v3 considered "hard mode". And yes, it is 1v3, not 1v1v1v1, because when the other three people see/experience the deck for the first time, thy're not eager to keep you around.
This deck is not a casual deck. It is not a friendly deck. You might not get to play it very often unless your existing friends are sick individuals.
If you like playing aggro, this deck is not for you. However, if you like combo, there's enough wicked synergies that you might like the deck. None of them end the game on the spot, but some of them make opponents scoop on the spot.
History:
This deck was originally designed as the EDH format was first starting to kick into competitive mode a few years ago after taking off. This happens to many playgroups as the arms race evolves and casual decks need to stop being so casual, because even the most Timmy of all players gets tired of losing; and broken, less fun cards are added until eventually everyone is playing something super spikey. This deck was designed in response to that. In order to compete against it, a deck MUST interact or it'll find itself locked out very, very quickly. This list is most honed for a 1v1 competitive environment, but it's possible to take down a table of 2 or 3, and some of the cards in it were chosen to allow the deck to function in different environments besides 1v1. Many EDH players like to play midrange to high CMC spells, ramoing into Eldrazi, Tooth and Nail and so on. Others like to try to undercut these strategies by playing turbo-aggro approaches and I wanted a weapon that could combat any strategy. It turns out that decks that try to be so honed and focused on executing their own game plan just fold when they can't cast spells. Countermagic based decks REALLY hate having to pay more mana for everything. And aggro strategies hate the fact that it's much harder to play one creature per turn, let alone two when all their stuff costs two more mana and they have to pay upkeep just to keep things on the board. The deck is incredibly hostile to any deck that does not play a strong focus on interacting with permanents very early on.
The deck was designed with low/efficient mana costs in mind to execute its strategy as quickly as possible with or without GA on the table and to recover from or operate underneath Armageddon/Orb effects, which are plentiful in this build.
This deck has been constructed, tuned, and tweaked for about 2 years now, and has been played against a wide variety of decks that run the gamut from Radha Land Destruction, Sharuum Combo, Karador, Kaalia, Narset, Wort Goblin Aggro, Kikki combo, Clique control, and everything else. I've never felt like the underdog and I've always been perceived as the threat.
The General: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is a general that is often turned to for his tax ability, and the second ability is often overlooked. It comes in handy every now and then, sure, but for the most part people stop reading after his first line. This deck aims to capitalize on both abilities to turn a tempo swing into a hard lock very quickly. While GA is an important piece of the deck, the deck can function without him.
However, the deck was designed to cast him as soon as possible, because a T2 GA is pretty backbreaking. The deck was also designed to maximize his spell reduction ability to enable you to play powerful gamebreaking spells more quickly than you really should, and to help create asymmetrical board states when playing cards like Thorn of Amethyst and Winter Orb. It's really annoying to have to deal with Grand Arbiter coming down on turn 2, shutting off the Maelstrom Pulse in your hand, and then having an Armageddon hit the next turn because it only costs 2W now.
Outside of common sense exceptions, Grand Arbiter should almost always be cast as soon as you have the mana for him, the early game is where he creates the most impact.
The Deck:
It just so happens that the mana rocks and ramp pieces that help push out GA early are also integral in STAX strategies. Armageddon doesn't bother you nearly as much when all your spells cost 1 less and you have an Azorius Signet and Darksteel Citadel on the board. Neither does Winter Orb for that matter. For some reason your opponents don't tend to like it very much though.
It also just so happens that having a bunch of permanents on the board is pretty cool when you cast smokestack. Or Tangle Wire. For those of you who have never played a strategy with these cards, allow me to explain how these cards that seem symmetrical on the surface are really anything but by stacking your triggers wisely.
Scenario:
You used a T2 Azorious Signet to cast into a T3 Grand Arbiter on the play. Your opponent can't cast anything yet. You untap on T4, cast Etherium Sculptor for U due to GA's second ability, and also play Tangle Wire here. If you're really cool, you played a land and a Thorn of Amethyst or Sphere of Resistance here too since Sculptor makes each of those cost 1 less. You pass. Your opponent must tap everything they have to Tangle Wire, even if you didn't play a Thorn, they're definitely not casting anything anytime soon. They play a land and pass.
Here's what you do now: Stack the triggers on Tangle Wire so that you remove a fade counter from Wire, and then tap Tangle Wire to itself, the Sculptor, and depending on what you want to do, either Grand Arbiter or a land, but ideally the Thorn of Amethyst if you had it. You still have plenty of mana to play spells and Tangle Wire will buy you at least two more turns of tapping down everything your opponent has, or enough of it that they can't play spells through GA and Thorn.
Now, this is a little bit on the Christmastime side of play sequences, but the illustrative fact remains that you can always remove the fade counter from Tangle Wire, and then tap Tangle Wire to itself, meaning that when you untap the first time with TW, you're only tapping down TWO actual relevant permanents, while your opponent is tapping down far more. Smokestack works the same way with its triggers. The turn after you cast smokestack, choose to sacrifice to smokestack first (0 counters=0 sacrifices) and then add a counter to it.
This is GA's primary ideal gameplan. Ramp into GA before anyone has a chance to play anything, then play something that slows the game dramatically or makes life more miserable for opponents, and then cast a spell that seals the deal like Armageddon. All the while, Grand Arbiter attacks in unopposed.
Still, things don't always go as planned, but that's ok. The deck has plenty of cruel tricks up its sleeve. While I won't cover every card in the deck unless someone wants to ask about it, I'll point out some key highlights and plays.
Land Equilibrium:
Land Equilibrium is a backbreaking card against a lot of decks. If you have one in your opener and a mana rock or two, it's pretty much a snap keep as it creates a very quick hardlock. I'll illustrate the extreme nut scenario:
T1: Tundra/Sol Ring
T2: Island/GA
T3: Land Equilibrium
Your opponent is now capped at no more than two land with all their spells costing one more. Have fun with that.
Of course, that's on the extreme end, and Land Equilibrium might be a bad lategame topdeck. Unless of course you follow it up with an Armageddon. Now no one can play a land until you do.
Crucible of Worlds:
One of the best cards in the deck. Aside from the obvious Strip Mine shenanigans, it's a pretty good card on the table when blowing up lands with Armageddon effects. But it's downright unfair with Smokestack. Also, it's another one of those permanents that don't mind being tapped to Tangle Wire. And it makes for a faster Thawing Glaciers when combined with fetches!
Gush: I like to float mana off of two islands, cast Gush and bounce them to my hand, draw two cards, then use the mana to cast Armageddon, then replay one of the islands. Or use it with Scroll Rack to turn extra lands into extra cards.
Thalia: A lot of players are used to rolling out Thalia T2 if it's in their opener. Don't. Play GA first and use GA to make Thalia only cost 1. Unless you've got a rock or something and playing Thalia first doesn't change the turn GA comes down.
Parallax Tide: Weird card, but versatile. Use it to exile your opponent's lands at will to buy time in a similar fashion to Tangle Wire, or use it to exile your own lands and then blow up all lands off of Armageddon, then get all your exiled ones back the next turn when Tide gets sacrificed.
Mana Crypt: Use this card carefully. It's obviously terrific in this deck, by enabling but this deck is also designed to make games go long, so don't just run it out because you drew it. You don't have that many ways in your own deck to deal with it should your life total start getting low.
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale: There's really just not a good substitute for this card. It's an uncounterable effect that when combined with land denial from Orb or 'Geddon effects can wipe out creatures as well as a Wrath of God. You can search for it via transmuting Tolaria West too! It recurs off of Crucible as well. I love using Winter Orb and Tabernacle to force people to choose between keeping a creature, or untapping a single land to try and play a spell. If you don't have one and don't want to proxy it, Pendrell Mists is the best substitute and at least pitches to Force. It's not necessary to have both in the deck. Don't play Magus of the Tabernacle, he has to pay for himself every turn.
Slow Motion: OMFG this card is ridiculous in this deck. It also self-recurs. It's too easy to set up a state where an opponent can't pay for the creature at all, or can pay for the creature but do nothing else. Combine it with Tabernacle to make people real mad.
Crystal Shard: Protect your dudes, or use it to threaten them with making all their dudes cost essentially two more mana (use it the turn they cast it, then untap with Shard and use it again). Sun Titan can recur it too!
Sunder: Don't forget that this card is an instant! Makes for some really awkward times on your opponent's end.
Winter Orb et al: Orb effects should be timed to be the most devastating. Wait for your opponent to tap out for something (which they have to do most of the time to pay for all the taxes to play anything anyway). Counter/Remand it you can, then untap and drop the Orb on them. Maybe cast Slow Motion on the creature they just tapped out to play if you want.
Why not.....?
Cards that were considered, and why they weren't chosen:
Invoke Prejudice: The UUUU CC doesn't benefit from GA and is hard to cast. Even so, the deck already presents a hostile environment to creatures. Not worth it in this build.
Cryptic Command: This is one of the closest cards to making it into the list and I can't fault anyone who wants to include it. My feeling however, is that with all the colorless mana sources the deck plays, the UUU is a little rough for a deck trying to operate under Winter Orb and 'Geddon effects and it competes with GA at the 4 slot.
Defense Grid: Originally was in the list, but GA doesn't offset it enough to let you play your own instants/counterspells. Could warrant inclusion in control heavy metas. Mana Web helps substitute this role a little bit if you can cast more than one spell a turn, and Boseiju is also in the deck so I decided it wasn't worth it anymore.
Frost Titan: Frost Titan or any other traditional finisher isn't needed frankly. Including them dilutes the focus of the deck. The finishers that are included are there because they contribute to the lock (Sun Titan/Lodestone Golem). GA will get wins for you about 60% of the time with people that don't scoop anyway. Some of the 'walkers also serve this role well. Even if you did include them, the best options tend to be 6 mana or up, and again, I've kept the CMCs of this deck down to operate alongside 'geddon and orb.
Thassa, God of the Sea: Was originally included, then cut, but may find her way back again. She was originally included for her scrying ability to help find lock pieces for free, plus she's just dirty with Sensei's Divining Top, and she can make GA unblockable should your opponent try to stabilize just as you were about to win. Every now and then she comes online as a creature too. I'm testing Narset in her place instead, since I feel Narset hits with her +1 most of the time and actively draws cards, making it just as dirty as Thassa with Top, and the spells you can rebound with her seem pretty good anyway.
Mana Short: With so many orb effects, I keep wanting to put this in. Mana Web is currently occupying that slot as a more permanent effect as opposed to the one-shot effect offered by Mana Short.
Matchups:
You don't really have a BAD matchup against anything, however, what you're playing against will determine the cards you want to find during the course of the game. One of the best things about GA is that the standard game plan is pretty much the same and equally effective against a variety of decktypes, but you fare the best against midrange or big creature strategies (Mayael) and hyperfast aggro strategies (Wort, Fish, Kaalia, etc). The two matchups I struggle the most against are Radha land destruction and Vendilion Clique counter/control. These matchups are basically winning the dice rolls. Everything else you should be either favored or heavily favored.
There are certain cards though, that you should be on the lookout for and deal with as soon as possible:
Nonland/noncreature sources of mana: Removing these is the highest priority, but ideally they never get cast to begin with. They help your opponent play through your 'geddons and winter orbs. Creature based mana sources then to be dealt with pretty easily, but the deck doesn't have a ton of ways to break artifacts and enchantments, though there are some. Cataclysm does it en masse, so if things get too out of hand, this is your go-to reset button, but it'll always leave one, so hopefully you have a way to break it as well.
Anything that helps your opponent find lands or ramp. You don't want your opponent to have a Crucible of Worlds after an Armageddon, or a Courser of Kruphix for that matter.
Your goal with GA should always be to keep your opponents taxed out and unable to further contribute to the board. You can deal with what managed to sneak onto it later, the high priority should always be to apply pressure to opponent's resources. This causes them to either overcommit or be taxed out of the game. Armageddon punishes them if they overcommit lands to play through Sphere and GA, and not getting to play Magic is what happens if they don't.
Yeah, there's a lot of different ways to build the deck so I wanted to see if there was much interest in a Stax version, since Stax seems to be a fairly popular archetype anyway. I'm surprised I haven't seen more dedicated Stax lists featuring GA, usually you see more traditional u/w control with him as a general. Evidently there's not, which isn't surprising since this is an extremely anti-social build.
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EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
One card I think you should take into serious consideration is cards that restrict attacks such as Silent Arbiter, Ensnaring Bridge, and/or Crawlspace. I've started testing stax, and personally, I've stalled games fairly well with Silent Arbiter.
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Vive, vale. Siquid novisti rectius istis,
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
I used to have Silent Arbiter in there and had considered Moat and Ensnaring Bridge...the problem however is that all these cards keep GA from attacking. If I wanted more of these effects, I'd probably sleeve up a copy of Ghostly Prison in addition to Propaganda since these effects are one-sided and don't bother you once you hit a sweeper. The deck taxes lands so heavily that Propaganda and Prison might as well be Moat for all intents and purposes on your opponent's end. If the deck fires off correctly, there's a decent chance your opponent might not even be able to ever summon anything to begin with.
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Hmm, very interesting list. I'd love to watch a few matches.
Are there any finishers that I'm missing or is everybody just scooping after a back-breaking lock?
What does the end-game look like?
Be careful wishing to watch a STAX match...
The idea of STAX is to induce scoop phase more than to actually seek a traditional win. If forced, the primary win condition is keeping the board locked while beating with Grand Arbiter... for... as... long... as... it... takes.
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Vive, vale. Siquid novisti rectius istis,
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~~~~~
So the way the games play out varies depending on your opener, but usually involves a quick Grand Arbiter (T2 or T3) followed by a sphere or winter orb effect. GA reduces your costs, negating the effect of the sphere, plus you have whatever mana rock you used to roll GA out early, while all your opponent's spells cost two more. GA begins beating down while you try to find a way to seal the deal in the form of Armageddon or such. If you don't have the 'geddon, additional tax effects are often just as good. Your opponent has to sink a lot of mana into casting anything, at which point winter orb comes down and punishes them even farther, whether or not the spell resolves. While 11 turns seems like a lot to have to bash in with GA, 11 turns often isn't enough for an opponent to catch up again.
If GA isn't able to come down early or gets answered or an opponent starts building up, the deck aims at stretching out the game long enough to find a reset button like Cataclysm and goes back to the original plan.
Sometimes hardlocks get established which prompts scoops, or the deck hits a smokestack/strip mine/crucible/Sun Titan combo that grinds an opponent to a position where all they can do is scoop. And sometimes a quick Lodestone Golem comes down after GA and speeds the clock up.
Honestly, the 1v1 games tend to not go super long, it's usually pretty apparent how boned the opponent is and they scoop before GA can clock them for 11 turns. Sometimes they try to fight, but since a lot of turns are "draw, go" from your opponent their turns tend to go pretty quickly, and your turns consist of finding things to further solidify your board state.
The games that take a long time are the ones where you have some miserable stuff down, like winter orb, but your opponent has managed to find an answer to GA one or more times and you're starting to need to find one of the few alternate wincons while keeping the board clean. I've gotten there with Trinket Mage before.
Kill them as quickly as possible, but only when you're ready. Spend as much time as you need to to get to that point, but don't rush things.
The cool thing about this deck is that no matter what you're matched up against, the gameplan tends to be universally effective. Mono blue can sometimes require some adjustments to playstyle, but sticking spheres against them makes their counterspells costly and inefficient.
Updated: New inclusions are Trophy Mage, Sword of Feast and Famine, and testing Quicksmith Spy.
Trophy Mage is basically Stoneforge Mystic but better in this deck and can tutor a wide swath of artifacts, including the SoFaF. While he doesn't cheat them into play like Stoneforge does, he does provide versatility in what he can fetch. Stoneforge herself has not been included because there's only one piece of equipment in the whole deck; SoFaF and drawing the SoFaF before the mystic feels bad. In order to justify her, I'd need to play at least one other equipment that's as good as SoFaF, ideally another 3 cost one so Trophy Mage can also find it, and that kind of limits me to the Swords, of which the best option is probably SoFi, but the effects just aren't good enough to make me want to make the space for both Stoneforge AND another sword/piece of equipment. Originally the deck was more creature light, which was why SoFaF was excluded, but since its creature count has increased slightly, it's made suiting something up more reliable and turns GA into a quick clock, especially when comboing with any of the various Winter Orb effects the deck features.
Quicksmith Spy is testing. She combos extremely well with Winter Orb, and gives cards like Crucible or Worlds or Thorn of Amethyst something to do besides just sit there, but she does require one of these cards present to actually be worthwhile, though giving Sol Ring the ability to tap to draw a card isn't the worst thing. Still, she isn't as impactful when she hits the board unless you happen to have your Winter Orb out. She's needing more testing time, but so far seems promising.
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A) Your EDH playgroup has gotten out of hand and people are basically seeing who can assemble a combo the quickest. They should be punished for this.
B) You want a highly competitive 1v1 deck that stays relevant as new sets are printed and you really like old school U/W control.
C) You hate people and have no desire to make friends, you need a deck that suits your personality.
D) You have a copy of The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and no clue what to do with it because you don't want to build Lands
This post will not be filled with flashy banners or awesome templating. It is filled only with the hatred and contempt of other people contained within these 100 cards:
5 Island
3 Plains
1 Kor Haven
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Temple of the False God
1 Flooded Strand
1 Tundra
1 Polluted Delta
1 Mystic Gate
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Vesuva
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Wasteland
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Tolaria West
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Arid Mesa
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Rishadan Port
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Strip Mine
1 Command Tower
1 Maze of Ith
Artifact: (21)
1 Mana Crypt
1 Scroll Rack
1 Mind Stone
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sol Ring
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Tangle Wire
1 Static Orb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Azorious Signet
1 Voltaic Key
1 Crystal Shard
1 Mana Vault
1 Torpor Orb
1 Winter Orb
1 Forcefield
1 Grim Monolith
1 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Sphere of Resistance
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Web
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV (Commander)
1 Lodestone Golem
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Hokori, Dust Drinker
1 Vryn Wingmare
1 Hannah, Ship's Navigator
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Trinket Mage
1 World Queller
1 Sun Titan
1 Trophy Mage
1 Quicksmith Spy (testing)
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
Sorceries:(7)
1 Ravages of War
1 Catastrophe
1 Cataclysm
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
1 Armageddon
1 Terminus
Instants:(10)
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Sunder
1 Arcane Denial
1 Gush
1 Remand
1 Force of Will
1 Return to Dust
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Mana Drain
1 Enlightened Tutor
Planeswalkers:(4)
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Tezzeret, the Seeker
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Narset, Transcendent
1 Stasis
1 Aura of Silence
1 Rhystic Study
1 Detention Sphere
1 Propaganda
1 Land Equilibrium
1 Cloud Cover
1 Slow Motion
1 Rising Waters
1 Parallax Tide
Benefits of playing this deck:
Grand Arbiter's strategy is timeless. No matter what sick combo comes along or what big dumb creature gets printed, your opponents have to actually cast them. It doesn't matter what your opponent is playing, it doesn't matter how many cards are in their hand, it doesn't matter what their life total is. None if this matters if all their spells cost 3 more to cast, they can only untap one land a turn, and anything they manage to get on the board they have to pay upkeep for anyway. GA's strategy is always relevant. Even against decks that are designed to be low-cost hyper-aggro, these decks run into a suite full of sweepers, and anti-aggro hate cards.
You get to play old school U/W control cards. Armageddon. Force of Will. Mana Drain. The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. Cards that make old players smile when they walk up to watch your game and see you holding them in your hand. I love a deck designed to use a bunch of really old cards and the way they interact with new ones. I want to use Narset, Transcendent to rebound Gush. I want use Tamiyo, the Moon Sage and Winter Orb.
You like decks where you win because the opponent scooped to the board state half the time.
You like ultimating planeswalkers, which as it turns out, is pretty easy to do if there's no lands on the field to let your opponents cast things to stop them.
Downsides:
Old cards are expensive and this deck pretty much requires a few high dollar ones including Tabernacle and Ravages of War.
This deck is primarily a 1v1 deck. 1v2 is a challenge, but reasonable and makes for fun games. 1v3 considered "hard mode". And yes, it is 1v3, not 1v1v1v1, because when the other three people see/experience the deck for the first time, thy're not eager to keep you around.
This deck is not a casual deck. It is not a friendly deck. You might not get to play it very often unless your existing friends are sick individuals.
If you like playing aggro, this deck is not for you. However, if you like combo, there's enough wicked synergies that you might like the deck. None of them end the game on the spot, but some of them make opponents scoop on the spot.
History:
This deck was originally designed as the EDH format was first starting to kick into competitive mode a few years ago after taking off. This happens to many playgroups as the arms race evolves and casual decks need to stop being so casual, because even the most Timmy of all players gets tired of losing; and broken, less fun cards are added until eventually everyone is playing something super spikey. This deck was designed in response to that. In order to compete against it, a deck MUST interact or it'll find itself locked out very, very quickly. This list is most honed for a 1v1 competitive environment, but it's possible to take down a table of 2 or 3, and some of the cards in it were chosen to allow the deck to function in different environments besides 1v1. Many EDH players like to play midrange to high CMC spells, ramoing into Eldrazi, Tooth and Nail and so on. Others like to try to undercut these strategies by playing turbo-aggro approaches and I wanted a weapon that could combat any strategy. It turns out that decks that try to be so honed and focused on executing their own game plan just fold when they can't cast spells. Countermagic based decks REALLY hate having to pay more mana for everything. And aggro strategies hate the fact that it's much harder to play one creature per turn, let alone two when all their stuff costs two more mana and they have to pay upkeep just to keep things on the board. The deck is incredibly hostile to any deck that does not play a strong focus on interacting with permanents very early on.
The deck was designed with low/efficient mana costs in mind to execute its strategy as quickly as possible with or without GA on the table and to recover from or operate underneath Armageddon/Orb effects, which are plentiful in this build.
This deck has been constructed, tuned, and tweaked for about 2 years now, and has been played against a wide variety of decks that run the gamut from Radha Land Destruction, Sharuum Combo, Karador, Kaalia, Narset, Wort Goblin Aggro, Kikki combo, Clique control, and everything else. I've never felt like the underdog and I've always been perceived as the threat.
The General:
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is a general that is often turned to for his tax ability, and the second ability is often overlooked. It comes in handy every now and then, sure, but for the most part people stop reading after his first line. This deck aims to capitalize on both abilities to turn a tempo swing into a hard lock very quickly. While GA is an important piece of the deck, the deck can function without him.
However, the deck was designed to cast him as soon as possible, because a T2 GA is pretty backbreaking. The deck was also designed to maximize his spell reduction ability to enable you to play powerful gamebreaking spells more quickly than you really should, and to help create asymmetrical board states when playing cards like Thorn of Amethyst and Winter Orb. It's really annoying to have to deal with Grand Arbiter coming down on turn 2, shutting off the Maelstrom Pulse in your hand, and then having an Armageddon hit the next turn because it only costs 2W now.
Outside of common sense exceptions, Grand Arbiter should almost always be cast as soon as you have the mana for him, the early game is where he creates the most impact.
The Deck:
It just so happens that the mana rocks and ramp pieces that help push out GA early are also integral in STAX strategies. Armageddon doesn't bother you nearly as much when all your spells cost 1 less and you have an Azorius Signet and Darksteel Citadel on the board. Neither does Winter Orb for that matter. For some reason your opponents don't tend to like it very much though.
It also just so happens that having a bunch of permanents on the board is pretty cool when you cast smokestack. Or Tangle Wire. For those of you who have never played a strategy with these cards, allow me to explain how these cards that seem symmetrical on the surface are really anything but by stacking your triggers wisely.
Scenario:
You used a T2 Azorious Signet to cast into a T3 Grand Arbiter on the play. Your opponent can't cast anything yet. You untap on T4, cast Etherium Sculptor for U due to GA's second ability, and also play Tangle Wire here. If you're really cool, you played a land and a Thorn of Amethyst or Sphere of Resistance here too since Sculptor makes each of those cost 1 less. You pass. Your opponent must tap everything they have to Tangle Wire, even if you didn't play a Thorn, they're definitely not casting anything anytime soon. They play a land and pass.
Here's what you do now: Stack the triggers on Tangle Wire so that you remove a fade counter from Wire, and then tap Tangle Wire to itself, the Sculptor, and depending on what you want to do, either Grand Arbiter or a land, but ideally the Thorn of Amethyst if you had it. You still have plenty of mana to play spells and Tangle Wire will buy you at least two more turns of tapping down everything your opponent has, or enough of it that they can't play spells through GA and Thorn.
Now, this is a little bit on the Christmastime side of play sequences, but the illustrative fact remains that you can always remove the fade counter from Tangle Wire, and then tap Tangle Wire to itself, meaning that when you untap the first time with TW, you're only tapping down TWO actual relevant permanents, while your opponent is tapping down far more. Smokestack works the same way with its triggers. The turn after you cast smokestack, choose to sacrifice to smokestack first (0 counters=0 sacrifices) and then add a counter to it.
This is GA's primary ideal gameplan. Ramp into GA before anyone has a chance to play anything, then play something that slows the game dramatically or makes life more miserable for opponents, and then cast a spell that seals the deal like Armageddon. All the while, Grand Arbiter attacks in unopposed.
Still, things don't always go as planned, but that's ok. The deck has plenty of cruel tricks up its sleeve. While I won't cover every card in the deck unless someone wants to ask about it, I'll point out some key highlights and plays.
Land Equilibrium:
Land Equilibrium is a backbreaking card against a lot of decks. If you have one in your opener and a mana rock or two, it's pretty much a snap keep as it creates a very quick hardlock. I'll illustrate the extreme nut scenario:
T1: Tundra/Sol Ring
T2: Island/GA
T3: Land Equilibrium
Your opponent is now capped at no more than two land with all their spells costing one more. Have fun with that.
Of course, that's on the extreme end, and Land Equilibrium might be a bad lategame topdeck. Unless of course you follow it up with an Armageddon. Now no one can play a land until you do.
Crucible of Worlds:
One of the best cards in the deck. Aside from the obvious Strip Mine shenanigans, it's a pretty good card on the table when blowing up lands with Armageddon effects. But it's downright unfair with Smokestack. Also, it's another one of those permanents that don't mind being tapped to Tangle Wire. And it makes for a faster Thawing Glaciers when combined with fetches!
Sun Titan: Too good not to include. Tangle Wire forever. Strip Mine forever. Smokestack forever. Stasis forever. Winter Orb forever. No friends forever.
Gush: I like to float mana off of two islands, cast Gush and bounce them to my hand, draw two cards, then use the mana to cast Armageddon, then replay one of the islands. Or use it with Scroll Rack to turn extra lands into extra cards.
Thalia: A lot of players are used to rolling out Thalia T2 if it's in their opener. Don't. Play GA first and use GA to make Thalia only cost 1. Unless you've got a rock or something and playing Thalia first doesn't change the turn GA comes down.
Parallax Tide: Weird card, but versatile. Use it to exile your opponent's lands at will to buy time in a similar fashion to Tangle Wire, or use it to exile your own lands and then blow up all lands off of Armageddon, then get all your exiled ones back the next turn when Tide gets sacrificed.
Time Elemental/Hannah: Recur dumb things for hardlocks like Stasis, Winter Orb, etc
Tolaria West: Transmute targets include Tabernacle and Maze of Ith.
Ravages of War/Catastrophe/Cataclysm: Notice how many times I cite Armageddon as an important part of the deck? You need to run these cards too!
Mana Crypt: Use this card carefully. It's obviously terrific in this deck, by enabling but this deck is also designed to make games go long, so don't just run it out because you drew it. You don't have that many ways in your own deck to deal with it should your life total start getting low.
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale: There's really just not a good substitute for this card. It's an uncounterable effect that when combined with land denial from Orb or 'Geddon effects can wipe out creatures as well as a Wrath of God. You can search for it via transmuting Tolaria West too! It recurs off of Crucible as well. I love using Winter Orb and Tabernacle to force people to choose between keeping a creature, or untapping a single land to try and play a spell. If you don't have one and don't want to proxy it, Pendrell Mists is the best substitute and at least pitches to Force. It's not necessary to have both in the deck. Don't play Magus of the Tabernacle, he has to pay for himself every turn.
Slow Motion: OMFG this card is ridiculous in this deck. It also self-recurs. It's too easy to set up a state where an opponent can't pay for the creature at all, or can pay for the creature but do nothing else. Combine it with Tabernacle to make people real mad.
Crystal Shard: Protect your dudes, or use it to threaten them with making all their dudes cost essentially two more mana (use it the turn they cast it, then untap with Shard and use it again). Sun Titan can recur it too!
Sunder: Don't forget that this card is an instant! Makes for some really awkward times on your opponent's end.
Winter Orb et al: Orb effects should be timed to be the most devastating. Wait for your opponent to tap out for something (which they have to do most of the time to pay for all the taxes to play anything anyway). Counter/Remand it you can, then untap and drop the Orb on them. Maybe cast Slow Motion on the creature they just tapped out to play if you want.
Why not.....?
Cards that were considered, and why they weren't chosen:
Invoke Prejudice: The UUUU CC doesn't benefit from GA and is hard to cast. Even so, the deck already presents a hostile environment to creatures. Not worth it in this build.
Cryptic Command: This is one of the closest cards to making it into the list and I can't fault anyone who wants to include it. My feeling however, is that with all the colorless mana sources the deck plays, the UUU is a little rough for a deck trying to operate under Winter Orb and 'Geddon effects and it competes with GA at the 4 slot.
Defense Grid: Originally was in the list, but GA doesn't offset it enough to let you play your own instants/counterspells. Could warrant inclusion in control heavy metas. Mana Web helps substitute this role a little bit if you can cast more than one spell a turn, and Boseiju is also in the deck so I decided it wasn't worth it anymore.
Frost Titan: Frost Titan or any other traditional finisher isn't needed frankly. Including them dilutes the focus of the deck. The finishers that are included are there because they contribute to the lock (Sun Titan/Lodestone Golem). GA will get wins for you about 60% of the time with people that don't scoop anyway. Some of the 'walkers also serve this role well. Even if you did include them, the best options tend to be 6 mana or up, and again, I've kept the CMCs of this deck down to operate alongside 'geddon and orb.
Thassa, God of the Sea: Was originally included, then cut, but may find her way back again. She was originally included for her scrying ability to help find lock pieces for free, plus she's just dirty with Sensei's Divining Top, and she can make GA unblockable should your opponent try to stabilize just as you were about to win. Every now and then she comes online as a creature too. I'm testing Narset in her place instead, since I feel Narset hits with her +1 most of the time and actively draws cards, making it just as dirty as Thassa with Top, and the spells you can rebound with her seem pretty good anyway.
Mana Short: With so many orb effects, I keep wanting to put this in. Mana Web is currently occupying that slot as a more permanent effect as opposed to the one-shot effect offered by Mana Short.
Matchups:
You don't really have a BAD matchup against anything, however, what you're playing against will determine the cards you want to find during the course of the game. One of the best things about GA is that the standard game plan is pretty much the same and equally effective against a variety of decktypes, but you fare the best against midrange or big creature strategies (Mayael) and hyperfast aggro strategies (Wort, Fish, Kaalia, etc). The two matchups I struggle the most against are Radha land destruction and Vendilion Clique counter/control. These matchups are basically winning the dice rolls. Everything else you should be either favored or heavily favored.
There are certain cards though, that you should be on the lookout for and deal with as soon as possible:
Nonland/noncreature sources of mana: Removing these is the highest priority, but ideally they never get cast to begin with. They help your opponent play through your 'geddons and winter orbs. Creature based mana sources then to be dealt with pretty easily, but the deck doesn't have a ton of ways to break artifacts and enchantments, though there are some. Cataclysm does it en masse, so if things get too out of hand, this is your go-to reset button, but it'll always leave one, so hopefully you have a way to break it as well.
Anything that helps your opponent find lands or ramp. You don't want your opponent to have a Crucible of Worlds after an Armageddon, or a Courser of Kruphix for that matter.
Anything that helps your opponents untap lands: Prophet of Kruphix and Seedborne Muse cause your Winter Orb to backfire. Kill onsite if possible.
Your goal with GA should always be to keep your opponents taxed out and unable to further contribute to the board. You can deal with what managed to sneak onto it later, the high priority should always be to apply pressure to opponent's resources. This causes them to either overcommit or be taxed out of the game. Armageddon punishes them if they overcommit lands to play through Sphere and GA, and not getting to play Magic is what happens if they don't.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
The idea of STAX is to induce scoop phase more than to actually seek a traditional win. If forced, the primary win condition is keeping the board locked while beating with Grand Arbiter... for... as... long... as... it... takes.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
If GA isn't able to come down early or gets answered or an opponent starts building up, the deck aims at stretching out the game long enough to find a reset button like Cataclysm and goes back to the original plan.
Sometimes hardlocks get established which prompts scoops, or the deck hits a smokestack/strip mine/crucible/Sun Titan combo that grinds an opponent to a position where all they can do is scoop. And sometimes a quick Lodestone Golem comes down after GA and speeds the clock up.
Honestly, the 1v1 games tend to not go super long, it's usually pretty apparent how boned the opponent is and they scoop before GA can clock them for 11 turns. Sometimes they try to fight, but since a lot of turns are "draw, go" from your opponent their turns tend to go pretty quickly, and your turns consist of finding things to further solidify your board state.
The games that take a long time are the ones where you have some miserable stuff down, like winter orb, but your opponent has managed to find an answer to GA one or more times and you're starting to need to find one of the few alternate wincons while keeping the board clean. I've gotten there with Trinket Mage before.
Kill them as quickly as possible, but only when you're ready. Spend as much time as you need to to get to that point, but don't rush things.
The cool thing about this deck is that no matter what you're matched up against, the gameplan tends to be universally effective. Mono blue can sometimes require some adjustments to playstyle, but sticking spheres against them makes their counterspells costly and inefficient.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave
Trophy Mage is basically Stoneforge Mystic but better in this deck and can tutor a wide swath of artifacts, including the SoFaF. While he doesn't cheat them into play like Stoneforge does, he does provide versatility in what he can fetch. Stoneforge herself has not been included because there's only one piece of equipment in the whole deck; SoFaF and drawing the SoFaF before the mystic feels bad. In order to justify her, I'd need to play at least one other equipment that's as good as SoFaF, ideally another 3 cost one so Trophy Mage can also find it, and that kind of limits me to the Swords, of which the best option is probably SoFi, but the effects just aren't good enough to make me want to make the space for both Stoneforge AND another sword/piece of equipment. Originally the deck was more creature light, which was why SoFaF was excluded, but since its creature count has increased slightly, it's made suiting something up more reliable and turns GA into a quick clock, especially when comboing with any of the various Winter Orb effects the deck features.
Quicksmith Spy is testing. She combos extremely well with Winter Orb, and gives cards like Crucible or Worlds or Thorn of Amethyst something to do besides just sit there, but she does require one of these cards present to actually be worthwhile, though giving Sol Ring the ability to tap to draw a card isn't the worst thing. Still, she isn't as impactful when she hits the board unless you happen to have your Winter Orb out. She's needing more testing time, but so far seems promising.
EDH: Grand Arbiter $tax, Freyalise Stompy, Mimeoplasm Death From the Grave