This is my take on a control deck built to play politics, led by Tasigur, the Golden Fang. The intention of this deck is to build and utilize political capital by playing as the law enforcement of the game. Keep your opponents from assembling what they need to win by talking their other opponents into giving back your control elements.
The deck will eventually empty into the graveyard. This is to be expected, so there needs to be a way to prevent losing. The easy solution is to play laboratory maniac, but this would remove one source of the deck's ways to mitigate early game threats. The "campaign promise" of no dedicated win condition can prevent a surprising amount of initial aggression. The answer is to return cards in your graveyard to your library in time to draw them. I must admit that I stole the idea to use academy ruins and/or volrath's stronghold from DirkGently (decklist here). The problem now is fueling those two lands without giving other players choices which could disrupt your life supporting engine. The answer is to play lands which are sacrifice outlets, such as phyrexia's core or high market, and the appropriate lands to recur: vault of whispers and dryad arbor respectively. These lands are recurable in other ways, so the synergy is rather robust.
While there is not a dedicated win condition, a typical win has been extorting players to death with crypt ghast, while recurring or buyback-ing the spell being cast. This is surprisingly on-theme, as the deck slowly transitions from an "elected official" into an overbearing tyrant that taxes people to death. As you might expect, I'm somewhat concerned about replay-abiltiy of this deck in a small playgroup.
Saw in another thread regarding PoK that you replaced it with Awakening. I'm a bit wary of doing that, but I do need to test it soon. How is it working out for you?
Awakening has resolved twice since the banning in this deck. In both cases it has sealed the fate of the game. Despite the symmetry, Tasigur is somewhat uniquely suited to capitalize both on the opportunity to respond and acts as a mana sink when a reaction isn't necessary. It also makes the deck draw a significantly reduced threat level, as Prophet used to draw ire and concern.
The symmetry makes this deck more palpable to my group, while the untapping allows the reactive control option to remain entirely capable.
My list is still very similar, but the life support engine has been consolidated entirely into the lands, via a combination of artifact lands, academy ruins, and dust bowl. I also now run logic knot to prune the graveyard and turnabout to accelerate the "winning stage" when everyone else is locked out. Recurring turnabout with crypt ghast out is much faster than they waiting for me to grind out the win.
Indeed I remember your comments in DirkGently's thread about the artifact lands and decided to run them. One game I had to eke out a survival by copying Phyrexia's Core with Thespian's Stage and keep sacrificing and replaying an artifact land with Azusa in play.
The only thing I'm considering cutting is Capsize. So far my endgames devolve into casting that multiple times so I can grind out a win with combat, but that gets pretty boring, actually. Not sure if that's any different than delving away all but a handful of answers and continually making an opponent give them back to do the same thing, though.
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Instants (41)
1 Beast Within
1 Capsize
1 Constant Mists
1 Counterspell
1 Crop Rotation
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Deglamer
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Dismember
1 Dissolve
1 Dissipate
1 Entomb
1 Evacuation
1 Forbid
1 Force of Will
1 Hinder
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Into the Roil
1 Intuition
1 Krosan Grip
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Memory Plunder
1 Murderous Cut
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Rewind
1 Reality Shift
1 Plasm Capture
1 Pongify
1 Putrefy
1 Silence the Believers
1 Stifle
1 Sudden Spoiling
1 Sultai Charm
1 Tragic Slip
1 Trickblind
1 Undermine
1 Unrevel the Aether
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Voilslime
1 Wipe Away
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Gaze of Granite
1 Head Games
1 Life from the Loam
1 Toxic Deluge
Artifacts (4)
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Sol Ring
1 Torpor Orb
Creatures (4)
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Crypt Ghast
1 Prophet of Kruphix
1 Seedborn Muse
Enchantments (4)
1 Burgeoning
1 Exploration
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Training Grounds
Lands (40)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Barren Moor
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Breeding Pool
1 Command Tower
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Strand
3 Forest
1 Haunted Fengraf
7 Island
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Opulent Palace
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Phyrexia's Core
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Strip Mine
3 Swamps
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Tree of Tales
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
The deck will eventually empty into the graveyard. This is to be expected, so there needs to be a way to prevent losing. The easy solution is to play laboratory maniac, but this would remove one source of the deck's ways to mitigate early game threats. The "campaign promise" of no dedicated win condition can prevent a surprising amount of initial aggression. The answer is to return cards in your graveyard to your library in time to draw them. I must admit that I stole the idea to use academy ruins and/or volrath's stronghold from DirkGently (decklist here). The problem now is fueling those two lands without giving other players choices which could disrupt your life supporting engine. The answer is to play lands which are sacrifice outlets, such as phyrexia's core or high market, and the appropriate lands to recur: vault of whispers and dryad arbor respectively. These lands are recurable in other ways, so the synergy is rather robust.
While there is not a dedicated win condition, a typical win has been extorting players to death with crypt ghast, while recurring or buyback-ing the spell being cast. This is surprisingly on-theme, as the deck slowly transitions from an "elected official" into an overbearing tyrant that taxes people to death. As you might expect, I'm somewhat concerned about replay-abiltiy of this deck in a small playgroup.
Kemba | Linvala | Talrand | Geth | Krenko | Zada | Patron of the Orochi | Medomai | Athreos | Gisela | Trostani | Nin | Silumgar | Kaervek | Jarad | Xenagos | Sydri | Narset | Roon | Zurgo | Ghave | Marath | Uril | Tasigur | Animar | Riku | Riku | Sek'Kuar | Cromat
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
The symmetry makes this deck more palpable to my group, while the untapping allows the reactive control option to remain entirely capable.
My list is still very similar, but the life support engine has been consolidated entirely into the lands, via a combination of artifact lands, academy ruins, and dust bowl. I also now run logic knot to prune the graveyard and turnabout to accelerate the "winning stage" when everyone else is locked out. Recurring turnabout with crypt ghast out is much faster than they waiting for me to grind out the win.
Kemba | Linvala | Talrand | Geth | Krenko | Zada | Patron of the Orochi | Medomai | Athreos | Gisela | Trostani | Nin | Silumgar | Kaervek | Jarad | Xenagos | Sydri | Narset | Roon | Zurgo | Ghave | Marath | Uril | Tasigur | Animar | Riku | Riku | Sek'Kuar | Cromat
The only thing I'm considering cutting is Capsize. So far my endgames devolve into casting that multiple times so I can grind out a win with combat, but that gets pretty boring, actually. Not sure if that's any different than delving away all but a handful of answers and continually making an opponent give them back to do the same thing, though.
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko