Spine is better than o-ring in the fact that it permanently removes.
Whereas o-ring could be removed for an alpha when you lease want/expect it. Also hasI lastability. And interaction with blinks. Does that warrant the extra mana? that one is up to you
Do you have a reliable or consistant way to get rid of Illusions of Grandeur, and Delussions...Besides swiping the board (yourself or someone else) and Venser?
Is it enough? How about some bounce?
Illusions of Grandeur removes itself eventually thanks to cumulative upkeep. Delusions is both weaker and doesn't self-destruct, so I'm a lot less attracted to it.
Whenever I look at the deck to make cuts, the same thought crosses my mind about Delusions of mediocrity. But in practice it's been functioning well enough to warrant inclusion. It comes down, gives me a healthy chunk of life, and probably gets donated. Then it serves as a complicated-to-destroy source of card draw for Zedruu. Once, I've had an opponent kill it to knock out an opponent who had slipped into the red zone. And once, it got caught up in a Planar Cleansing. Actually, I wish I had held onto it a little longer, as I could have donated it to the offending board-wiper in response to his mass removal spell, like a weird, blue, 10 point, instant-speed banefire.
I wonder if an enchantress theme is a good idea for this deck because of the Zedruu synergy. Not saying you should change up everything now but there are definitely benefits to be had focusing on that permanent type, not the least of which is Mesa Enchantress and Serra's Sanctum and friends.
Enchantress is definitely a direction the deck could move in. Mesa Enchantress, Lost Auramancers, Academy Rector and Hanna, Ship's Navigator could prove really strong in here. I might need a few more enchantments to justify it. I would be wary of Serra's Sanctum, though. I'd be a sad panda if I tapped it expected a ton of W and got nothing because I'd given all of my enchantments to unwilling recipients.
Taking about politics...All the enchantments above seem preatty cool for defending yourself, but They are converting the deck into a griefer deck, wich is really different from a political one.
Have I somehow indicated that this was a political build? Sure, you can bring Zedruu the Greathearted in that direction, but it's pretty clear from the card choices that donating that pyromancer's swath or a steel golem is a fairly grief-tastic strategy. Like I've said numerous times, I'm interested in using Zedruu as the draw engine and combo-enabler of a control deck, not as a political tool to make allies at the table.
Spine is better than o-ring in the fact that it permanently removes.
Whereas o-ring could be removed for an alpha when you lease want/expect it. Also hasI lastability. And interaction with blinks. Does that warrant the extra mana? that one is up to you
Spine of Ish-Shah is way too expensive for the effect. I can deal with pretty much every permanent type in this deck, and I don't need to tap out for 7 mana to do it. The only deck I truly loved it in was Bosh, Iron Golem.
So five, why not sol ring and guilded lotus over inferior land ramp like journeyer's kite and pilgrim eye? Is it for basic land donation targets?
Also thinking about words of worship in my deck, esp. With consecrated sphinx and a way to not worry about regulating my draw. Also why no dissipate or faerie trickery? did you cut them?
Spine is better than o-ring in the fact that it permanently removes.
Whereas o-ring could be removed for an alpha when you lease want/expect it. Also hasI lastability. And interaction with blinks. Does that warrant the extra mana? that one is up to you
Permantly removes???....Since when? The only way you can do that on EDH is exiling the target.
Yes, you can blink it with the only card in the list: Venser...At least o-ring is way more tutorable.
@Fivecolorjunk
Steel Golem is fine since you are giving the opponent a Creature to attack, but there is colateral damage. Pyromancer's Swath type of cards have to be in the deck too...to have counterpunch or final blows. It's Propaganda type of cards the ones i'm refering to...They just sit there, and even if you donate it, the effect is bland as its best.
I really dont want to make an argument, but aren't we playing EDH here? The spine of ish sahonly costs 7 mana and that is all colorless. Temple of the False God? Sol Ring? Each reduce it by 2. As we are talking Multiplayer (vs heads up), 7 mana really is not asking for much. And destroying the permanent does get it off the board even if the spine is removed/destroyed/bounced itself (journey/ring cant say the same). Granted, the spine only destroyed the permanent, so any graveyard action can get it back.
So five, why not sol ring and guilded lotus over inferior land ramp like journeyer's kite and pilgrim eye? Is it for basic land donation targets? Also why no dissipate or faerie trickery? did you cut them?
I like sol ring, and lord knows I have enough of them thanks to the commander precons (6x!? I used to have to share my singleton between three decks at one point.) That said, in a color intensive deck like this one, the artifacts are there for color fixing and keeping things moving smoothly more than acceleration. I could potentially drop a land for a sol ring, though.
I like Pilgrim's Eye for the simplicity of it. 3 mana curves well and saves bad hands, gets me any color basic land, a chump blocker and a donate target. I may drop it for Manalith with M12 comes out. Gilded Lotus is slow and not really necessary for this style of deck. I have no immediate need to ramp to 9 mana. Journeyer's Kite, if you have not tried it, is one of the most solid mana fixers, nay, the most solid cards in edh. Repeatable, colorless, instant-speed mana fixing and deck thinning. Doesn't get much better than that.
I'm not particularly sure which of my general-purpose counterspells is worse than Faerie Trickery or Disspiate. Maybe counterspell? 2 mana is like a million mana less than 3 mana. Not Forbid, as I can buy that back easily with the extra card draw, nor the tuck counterspells. The rest of them are unique enough that they don't compare apples to oranges to either of the exile counterspells. If I decide to add more countermagic, they'll probably work. I'm not sure if either of the are "must run" though.
I really dont want to make an argument, but aren't we playing EDH here? The spine of ish sahonly costs 7 mana and that is all colorless. Temple of the False God? Sol Ring? Each reduce it by 2. As we are talking Multiplayer (vs heads up), 7 mana really is not asking for much. And destroying the permanent does get it off the board even if the spine is removed/destroyed/bounced itself (journey/ring cant say the same). Granted, the spine only destroyed the permanent, so any graveyard action can get it back.
Just my 2c
In lots of decks, Spine of Ish Shah is a fine answer to lots of permanents they wouldn't normally be able to kill. Mono green, mono red and mono black love the spine for fixing the holes in their defenses. But in WUR, I've got access to spells that can already deal with stuff for far less mana and at instant speed. Tapping out and leaving myself/zedruu open to a host of threats that I can't counter is not worth it. And in regards to Zedruu donating, that's 7WUR to kill a permanent and maybe draw cards? I know Oblivion Ring has some vulnerability issues, but 2WWUR is a world of difference in this case. The most attractive point in its favor is Venser the Sojourner tricks, which are definitely cool.
My rule of thumb in regular magic is that if you're paying 5+ mana for anything, it damn better win you the game. In EDH, that number is upped to 7. If I spend 7+ mana on something in EDH, it better give me a foot massage, make me a full english breakfast, and then win me the game.
I'm not saying it isn't a worthy EDH card, because it is. But not in a blue/x deck that has cheaper ways of dealing with the exact same permanents.
While the ramp from gilded is nice, the real benefit is that it smooths out casting costs greatly without the need for super manabase. Insurrection/Cryptic Command becomes easy, and the only double colored spells are niv and venser. Not to mention almost every instant is in the 3CC single colored range, and almost every spell is a double colored mana casting cost. Also tricks with venser. In fact the only deck I really hate it in is rafiq due to all the multi-color nonsense going on.
I admit I didn't give Journeyer's Kite a chance, tbh this is the first non-tap out deck i've played so being able to grab a land before my turn with the mana will be worth the effort. I see the merit, I'll give it a shot ;P I'm personally running land tax over pilgrim's, only because it's insanely easy to trigger and only costs W. Oh and it plays well with mistveil plains as well as fills your hand with fodder for gambles, especially with paradox haze up. In fact, I love everything about land tax.
And I agree Spine of Ish Shah is bad, just oblivion ring isn't strictly better.
One card I haven't seen mentioned, which is both a pet card of mine and just won me a game today upon resolution is Thieves' Auction. Essentially, its like Warp World from the token player's point of view. Just make sure Zedruu is out of play when you cast it. Here are some reasons I play it:
1) Unlike Warp World, it rewards the player with the fewest permanents in play, as ever player ends up with the same number of permanents +-1. After ~10 games with Zedruu, i've noticed our side of the board is relatively empty, as it is usually only occupied (in my case) by Zedruu, a propaganda effect, and a few mana stones, and of course some lands. In contrast, our opponents have creature hoards, tons of enchantments, or equipments up the wazu.
2) after you equalize the board, you play Zedruu. Bam. You get tons of cards and life each turn, and can beat the crap out of your opponents with their stuff.
Downsides:
1) tripple red. It hurts, but like Insurrection, it usually wins the game when it resolves.
2) Expensive. But what game-winning bombs aren't?
Sorry if this has been brought up before. Love what you're doing with Zedruu, and I love playing him as well!
I think Ward of Bones is amazing here. Give away things that are not threats and make it so the opponents can't play their own at the same time? Seems good.
Problem with cards like ward of bone is they don't help you win the game, simply cause people to add a big red target to your head. In fact, by griefing everyone you've now put a huge target on your head. Once the ward is gone, people are gonna gun-ho for you and you'll have little or no responses to it.
Cards like propaganda are much better politically because they deter people from attacking you, not punish everyone else equally while not advancing your boardstate.
Three Dreams for Temporal Isolation, Arrest and Faith's Fetters? May prompt the addition of more auras? I'm curious about the vows (Vow of Lightning and friends), have those proven unsuccessful for you?
Actually, I suppose an important question is, what is/isn't working for you?
Vows lose their effect if they are donated, so I think Zendruu should throw them away in favor of pacifism like cards instead that don't matter who controls the aura.
One card I haven't seen mentioned, which is both a pet card of mine and just won me a game today upon resolution is Thieves' Auction.
You know, my original concern was that an opponent would just snag zedruu first, but it looks like you get first pick here. Have you had any problems with guys like flametongue kavu crashing the party after you manage to stick zedruu on your side? If you say it's tested well, I'm intrigued.
Actually, I suppose an important question is, what is/isn't working for you?
That's a good question. Well, I would say, style wise, I'm used to significantly more aggressive decks. Zedruu is a slow, grinding deck that, even when you've passed along a damning permanent like steel golem or pyromancer's swath sits and watches the opponents squirm for a few turns while you draw a ton of cards and finish up the game. Not exactly something you want to do too early in the game. You have to sit back and let things play out before you can start pissing people off, for sure.
As for the deck construction, the biggest boon and flaw is the enchantment based removal. It's great to throw an arrest on a general whose color identity cannot handle enchantments, for example. It's significantly better than straight up killing it and sending it back to the command zone for re-casting. And drawing cards from them is great. But, dear lord does haste put a crimp in this plan. And haste is everywhere in edh. Having to make your removal decisions during your main phase sucks. Kismet, Frozen Aether, Uphill Battle and Urabrask, the Hidden might work to solve this problem a bit.
I could just be a little skittish as someone in my playgroup runs Skitheryx, the Blight Dragon, which forces basically everyone to run just a little more quick spot removal than they normally would. I may include a Soul Snare myself for that reason.
The real stars of the deck are the land exchange cards. It's like a little insurance policy that you'll be able to draw cards from Zedruu for the rest of the time that player is in the game. You can be quiet about it, exchanging plains for plains, or you can swap a land for their bounceland to accelerate and mana screw an opponent. Snagging a homeward path is always nice, too.
The deck is definitely working. I think I need more big-game multiplayer testing to see how much people really hate it. If it starts getting a reputation, I may need to include Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, and other cards of that ilk. But I'm not 100% sure if I need them, yet.
You know, my original concern was that an opponent would just snag zedruu first, but it looks like you get first pick here. Have you had any problems with guys like flametongue kavu crashing the party after you manage to stick zedruu on your side? If you say it's tested well, I'm intrigued.
The easy thing to do is through Zedruu into a bad combat right before you plan to use Thieves' Auction, like blocking a 4/4 or something, so he goes to the command zone and doesn't get redistributed. Once the whole board state is screwed up, then replay Zedruu. People will have your stuff, because honestly, most of our nonland permanents suck without Zedruu. Just take other people's stuff first and force them to take yours.
One convient solution i've used to hastey Generals (like Skittles) is temporal isolation, which looking at your list i see you have. Either way, you can tell the hasty player that if they attack you, you will personally kill whatever it is thats attacking you on your next turn. I personally run 4.5 Propaganda effects (propaganda, Ghostly Prison, Windborn Muse, Collective Restraint, Copy Enchantment) because my meta is freaking swarming with token decks (pun intended ;)), but they help quite a bit with hasty dudes as well. If your opponent just paid a ton of mana to play their dude, they probably don't have an extra 2 or 4 to hit you over getting to hit your opponent for free. Then if the creature is a problem, you can deal with it on your turn.
In a multiplayer setting, people see Zedruu, laugh a bit, and procede to beat the crap out of the other players, leaving you well enough alone. As long as you don't do anything absurd, say, tutor for thought lash, no one is going to come out and kill you. And in the case that some sadistic player decides to randomly kill you for no reason, Propaganda effects make them pay for it. The best way to play Zedruu is like a group hug deck of sorts, spend the early turns switching around a few lands, dealing with threats to the table, such as earthcraft, mind over matter, other answer-or-die cards. Once you've given your opponents a bunch of cards, then play Zedruu. Then win.
I tried it for a bit, but it was way too slow. 5 mana is a lot. In all of the games i ran him, i never unmorphed him. He always got wrathed away before i had 5 mana to spare.
I was going through my cards trying to build something more political/fun with this legend in mind and came across Enduring Renewal, and thought about this thread. That could be a nightmare for someone depending on their deck this could outdo Grid Monitor and friends.
That's a good question. Well, I would say, style wise, I'm used to significantly more aggressive decks. Zedruu is a slow, grinding deck that, even when you've passed along a damning permanent like steel golem or pyromancer's swath sits and watches the opponents squirm for a few turns while you draw a ton of cards and finish up the game. Not exactly something you want to do too early in the game. You have to sit back and let things play out before you can start pissing people off, for sure.
My previous suggestion still stands. Auras for your own creatures. You know what's better than Zedruu gaining you life and cards? Zedruu doing all of that while swinging in the red zone.
As for the deck construction, the biggest boon and flaw is the enchantment based removal. It's great to throw an arrest on a general whose color identity cannot handle enchantments, for example. It's significantly better than straight up killing it and sending it back to the command zone for re-casting. And drawing cards from them is great. But, dear lord does haste put a crimp in this plan. And haste is everywhere in edh. Having to make your removal decisions during your main phase sucks. Kismet, Frozen Aether, Uphill Battle and Urabrask, the Hidden might work to solve this problem a bit.
What about Mystic Restraints as a flashable tapping lockdown card? Alternatively, some steal effects like Act of Agression and Blind with Anger can be combined with zedruu for a political purpose. (If you give it to someone else, then you can't give it back to the original owner at end of turn.)
I could just be a little skittish as someone in my playgroup runs Skitheryx, the Blight Dragon, which forces basically everyone to run just a little more quick spot removal than they normally would. I may include a Soul Snare myself for that reason.
Hinder and that new card that does the same thing?
The real stars of the deck are the land exchange cards. It's like a little insurance policy that you'll be able to draw cards from Zedruu for the rest of the time that player is in the game. You can be quiet about it, exchanging plains for plains, or you can swap a land for their bounceland to accelerate and mana screw an opponent. Snagging a homeward path is always nice, too.
I shoved in Pithing Needle as an extra answer card that can also take out homeward path. That would also take care of Skitheryx, the Blight Dragon if you need to stop his haste. Only gonna work on guys who can get haste as an activated ability though.
The deck is definitely working. I think I need more big-game multiplayer testing to see how much people really hate it. If it starts getting a reputation, I may need to include Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, and other cards of that ilk. But I'm not 100% sure if I need them, yet.
Those cards also happen to stop token decks from getting too crazy.
A friend of mine mentioned in my Zedruu the Greathearted thread in the 1v1 forum, and it sounded good, so I figured I'd throw it in here. Zur's Weirding. Secret tech. Think about it, tell me your thoughts.
Sounds like a bad version of pyromancer's swath and words of war. Sure you can lock them out of draws, but if (s)he has any sort of okay board position you are losing all your good **** too. I suppose it could work in theory since you're still gaining tons of life and will be drawing a lot more cards than your opponent a turn, but man that's too much of a gamble for my taste.
Has any one thought of Lightmine Field? It helps to control swarm decks and is a nice donation target.
Also, Meishin, the Mind Cage is pretty cool, too. You usually have a ton of cards in hand so everything becomes a 0/X. Late game, just donate to a player with few cards in hand and play a win condition.
Palliation Accord has worked wonders in testing. With a Ghostly Prison or two on the table you just build up counters until you can prevent 30 or 40 damage.
Lightmine Field gets discussed. It fills the same spot as Ghostly Prison for stopping swarm decks, but doesn't make a difference for bigger things, so I ended up discarding the idea.
Palliation Accord seems like an interesting idea. Might fiddle around with it.
Whereas o-ring could be removed for an alpha when you lease want/expect it. Also hasI lastability. And interaction with blinks. Does that warrant the extra mana? that one is up to you
RG Wort, the Raidmother GR - 1v1
UGW Rafiq of the Many WGU - Multiplayer
BW Ghost Council of Orzhova WB - Multiplayer
Whenever I look at the deck to make cuts, the same thought crosses my mind about Delusions of mediocrity. But in practice it's been functioning well enough to warrant inclusion. It comes down, gives me a healthy chunk of life, and probably gets donated. Then it serves as a complicated-to-destroy source of card draw for Zedruu. Once, I've had an opponent kill it to knock out an opponent who had slipped into the red zone. And once, it got caught up in a Planar Cleansing. Actually, I wish I had held onto it a little longer, as I could have donated it to the offending board-wiper in response to his mass removal spell, like a weird, blue, 10 point, instant-speed banefire.
As for my own ways to kill it, Venser, the Sojourner and Capsize are definitely best. But, in a pinch, Oblivion Ring, Return to Dust, Orim's Thunder or Dismantling Blow work just fine.
Enchantress is definitely a direction the deck could move in. Mesa Enchantress, Lost Auramancers, Academy Rector and Hanna, Ship's Navigator could prove really strong in here. I might need a few more enchantments to justify it. I would be wary of Serra's Sanctum, though. I'd be a sad panda if I tapped it expected a ton of W and got nothing because I'd given all of my enchantments to unwilling recipients.
Have I somehow indicated that this was a political build? Sure, you can bring Zedruu the Greathearted in that direction, but it's pretty clear from the card choices that donating that pyromancer's swath or a steel golem is a fairly grief-tastic strategy. Like I've said numerous times, I'm interested in using Zedruu as the draw engine and combo-enabler of a control deck, not as a political tool to make allies at the table.
Spine of Ish-Shah is way too expensive for the effect. I can deal with pretty much every permanent type in this deck, and I don't need to tap out for 7 mana to do it. The only deck I truly loved it in was Bosh, Iron Golem.
Also thinking about words of worship in my deck, esp. With consecrated sphinx and a way to not worry about regulating my draw. Also why no dissipate or faerie trickery? did you cut them?
RG Wort, the Raidmother GR - 1v1
UGW Rafiq of the Many WGU - Multiplayer
BW Ghost Council of Orzhova WB - Multiplayer
Permantly removes???....Since when? The only way you can do that on EDH is exiling the target.
Yes, you can blink it with the only card in the list: Venser...At least o-ring is way more tutorable.
@Fivecolorjunk
Steel Golem is fine since you are giving the opponent a Creature to attack, but there is colateral damage. Pyromancer's Swath type of cards have to be in the deck too...to have counterpunch or final blows. It's Propaganda type of cards the ones i'm refering to...They just sit there, and even if you donate it, the effect is bland as its best.
Just my 2c
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I like sol ring, and lord knows I have enough of them thanks to the commander precons (6x!? I used to have to share my singleton between three decks at one point.) That said, in a color intensive deck like this one, the artifacts are there for color fixing and keeping things moving smoothly more than acceleration. I could potentially drop a land for a sol ring, though.
I like Pilgrim's Eye for the simplicity of it. 3 mana curves well and saves bad hands, gets me any color basic land, a chump blocker and a donate target. I may drop it for Manalith with M12 comes out. Gilded Lotus is slow and not really necessary for this style of deck. I have no immediate need to ramp to 9 mana. Journeyer's Kite, if you have not tried it, is one of the most solid mana fixers, nay, the most solid cards in edh. Repeatable, colorless, instant-speed mana fixing and deck thinning. Doesn't get much better than that.
I'm not particularly sure which of my general-purpose counterspells is worse than Faerie Trickery or Disspiate. Maybe counterspell? 2 mana is like a million mana less than 3 mana. Not Forbid, as I can buy that back easily with the extra card draw, nor the tuck counterspells. The rest of them are unique enough that they don't compare apples to oranges to either of the exile counterspells. If I decide to add more countermagic, they'll probably work. I'm not sure if either of the are "must run" though.
In lots of decks, Spine of Ish Shah is a fine answer to lots of permanents they wouldn't normally be able to kill. Mono green, mono red and mono black love the spine for fixing the holes in their defenses. But in WUR, I've got access to spells that can already deal with stuff for far less mana and at instant speed. Tapping out and leaving myself/zedruu open to a host of threats that I can't counter is not worth it. And in regards to Zedruu donating, that's 7WUR to kill a permanent and maybe draw cards? I know Oblivion Ring has some vulnerability issues, but 2WWUR is a world of difference in this case. The most attractive point in its favor is Venser the Sojourner tricks, which are definitely cool.
My rule of thumb in regular magic is that if you're paying 5+ mana for anything, it damn better win you the game. In EDH, that number is upped to 7. If I spend 7+ mana on something in EDH, it better give me a foot massage, make me a full english breakfast, and then win me the game.
I'm not saying it isn't a worthy EDH card, because it is. But not in a blue/x deck that has cheaper ways of dealing with the exact same permanents.
I admit I didn't give Journeyer's Kite a chance, tbh this is the first non-tap out deck i've played so being able to grab a land before my turn with the mana will be worth the effort. I see the merit, I'll give it a shot ;P I'm personally running land tax over pilgrim's, only because it's insanely easy to trigger and only costs W. Oh and it plays well with mistveil plains as well as fills your hand with fodder for gambles, especially with paradox haze up. In fact, I love everything about land tax.
And I agree Spine of Ish Shah is bad, just oblivion ring isn't strictly better.
RG Wort, the Raidmother GR - 1v1
UGW Rafiq of the Many WGU - Multiplayer
BW Ghost Council of Orzhova WB - Multiplayer
1) Unlike Warp World, it rewards the player with the fewest permanents in play, as ever player ends up with the same number of permanents +-1. After ~10 games with Zedruu, i've noticed our side of the board is relatively empty, as it is usually only occupied (in my case) by Zedruu, a propaganda effect, and a few mana stones, and of course some lands. In contrast, our opponents have creature hoards, tons of enchantments, or equipments up the wazu.
2) after you equalize the board, you play Zedruu. Bam. You get tons of cards and life each turn, and can beat the crap out of your opponents with their stuff.
Downsides:
1) tripple red. It hurts, but like Insurrection, it usually wins the game when it resolves.
2) Expensive. But what game-winning bombs aren't?
Sorry if this has been brought up before. Love what you're doing with Zedruu, and I love playing him as well!
UR Storm WUBRG Sunnyside Up W Death+Taxes BR 7->0:60 Discard
EDH
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Cards like propaganda are much better politically because they deter people from attacking you, not punish everyone else equally while not advancing your boardstate.
RG Wort, the Raidmother GR - 1v1
UGW Rafiq of the Many WGU - Multiplayer
BW Ghost Council of Orzhova WB - Multiplayer
Actually, I suppose an important question is, what is/isn't working for you?
RG Wort, the Raidmother GR - 1v1
UGW Rafiq of the Many WGU - Multiplayer
BW Ghost Council of Orzhova WB - Multiplayer
You know, my original concern was that an opponent would just snag zedruu first, but it looks like you get first pick here. Have you had any problems with guys like flametongue kavu crashing the party after you manage to stick zedruu on your side? If you say it's tested well, I'm intrigued.
PS: Awesome sig. Loving the Zedruu quotes.
That's a good question. Well, I would say, style wise, I'm used to significantly more aggressive decks. Zedruu is a slow, grinding deck that, even when you've passed along a damning permanent like steel golem or pyromancer's swath sits and watches the opponents squirm for a few turns while you draw a ton of cards and finish up the game. Not exactly something you want to do too early in the game. You have to sit back and let things play out before you can start pissing people off, for sure.
As for the deck construction, the biggest boon and flaw is the enchantment based removal. It's great to throw an arrest on a general whose color identity cannot handle enchantments, for example. It's significantly better than straight up killing it and sending it back to the command zone for re-casting. And drawing cards from them is great. But, dear lord does haste put a crimp in this plan. And haste is everywhere in edh. Having to make your removal decisions during your main phase sucks. Kismet, Frozen Aether, Uphill Battle and Urabrask, the Hidden might work to solve this problem a bit.
I could just be a little skittish as someone in my playgroup runs Skitheryx, the Blight Dragon, which forces basically everyone to run just a little more quick spot removal than they normally would. I may include a Soul Snare myself for that reason.
I'm becoming more and more satisfied with the core of finishers, though. I'm still trying stuff out and trying to acquire another Akroma, angel of wrath and an Inkwell Leviathan. Bogardan Hellkite is actually fine, but there are probably better options. I may try Numot the Devastator in that slot. Sun Titan, Keiga the Tide Star, Yosei the Morning Star, Niv Mizzet the Firemind, Psychosis Crawler, Insurrection and Storm Herd all come highly recommended. I have not drawn Rite of Replication yet, but I've played with it before and it has performed for me in the past.
The real stars of the deck are the land exchange cards. It's like a little insurance policy that you'll be able to draw cards from Zedruu for the rest of the time that player is in the game. You can be quiet about it, exchanging plains for plains, or you can swap a land for their bounceland to accelerate and mana screw an opponent. Snagging a homeward path is always nice, too.
The deck is definitely working. I think I need more big-game multiplayer testing to see how much people really hate it. If it starts getting a reputation, I may need to include Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, and other cards of that ilk. But I'm not 100% sure if I need them, yet.
The easy thing to do is through Zedruu into a bad combat right before you plan to use Thieves' Auction, like blocking a 4/4 or something, so he goes to the command zone and doesn't get redistributed. Once the whole board state is screwed up, then replay Zedruu. People will have your stuff, because honestly, most of our nonland permanents suck without Zedruu. Just take other people's stuff first and force them to take yours.
One convient solution i've used to hastey Generals (like Skittles) is temporal isolation, which looking at your list i see you have. Either way, you can tell the hasty player that if they attack you, you will personally kill whatever it is thats attacking you on your next turn. I personally run 4.5 Propaganda effects (propaganda, Ghostly Prison, Windborn Muse, Collective Restraint, Copy Enchantment) because my meta is freaking swarming with token decks (pun intended ;)), but they help quite a bit with hasty dudes as well. If your opponent just paid a ton of mana to play their dude, they probably don't have an extra 2 or 4 to hit you over getting to hit your opponent for free. Then if the creature is a problem, you can deal with it on your turn.
In a multiplayer setting, people see Zedruu, laugh a bit, and procede to beat the crap out of the other players, leaving you well enough alone. As long as you don't do anything absurd, say, tutor for thought lash, no one is going to come out and kill you. And in the case that some sadistic player decides to randomly kill you for no reason, Propaganda effects make them pay for it. The best way to play Zedruu is like a group hug deck of sorts, spend the early turns switching around a few lands, dealing with threats to the table, such as earthcraft, mind over matter, other answer-or-die cards. Once you've given your opponents a bunch of cards, then play Zedruu. Then win.
Thanks :D. Its a growing list.
UR Storm WUBRG Sunnyside Up W Death+Taxes BR 7->0:60 Discard
EDH
GU Vig RWU Zedruu BR Olivia
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UR Storm WUBRG Sunnyside Up W Death+Taxes BR 7->0:60 Discard
EDH
GU Vig RWU Zedruu BR Olivia
Play Magic online free with GCCG!
Download it here -- (My Username is ShinkyP)
Trade Thread: Here!
UWGrand Arbiter Augustin IV-Last edit 12/02/11
RStarke of Rath - Last edit 11/30/11
GAzusa, Lost but Seeking - Last Edit 11/29/11
BPatron of the Nezumi - Last edit 11/29/11
My previous suggestion still stands. Auras for your own creatures. You know what's better than Zedruu gaining you life and cards? Zedruu doing all of that while swinging in the red zone.
What about Mystic Restraints as a flashable tapping lockdown card? Alternatively, some steal effects like Act of Agression and Blind with Anger can be combined with zedruu for a political purpose. (If you give it to someone else, then you can't give it back to the original owner at end of turn.)
Hinder and that new card that does the same thing?
Finishers are fine. We can stop talking about Theives' Auction. Got it.
I shoved in Pithing Needle as an extra answer card that can also take out homeward path. That would also take care of Skitheryx, the Blight Dragon if you need to stop his haste. Only gonna work on guys who can get haste as an activated ability though.
Those cards also happen to stop token decks from getting too crazy.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
RG Wort, the Raidmother GR - 1v1
UGW Rafiq of the Many WGU - Multiplayer
BW Ghost Council of Orzhova WB - Multiplayer
Also, Meishin, the Mind Cage is pretty cool, too. You usually have a ton of cards in hand so everything becomes a 0/X. Late game, just donate to a player with few cards in hand and play a win condition.
Palliation Accord has worked wonders in testing. With a Ghostly Prison or two on the table you just build up counters until you can prevent 30 or 40 damage.
Patron of the Kitsune and Righteous Cause tend to work as well as Palliation Accord but paint a larger target on you while providing a more permanent bonus.
U/W/r Control
Wolf Run Red
Hypergeometric Calculator - Mana Math's Best Friend
Palliation Accord seems like an interesting idea. Might fiddle around with it.