MTG Salvation

I have been going through a bit of house cleaning with regards to my EDH decks. I have been trying different color combinations and I have had a few deck that were fun but ultimately just did not perform as I wanted them to. Some could have been made better by shoring up the weaknesses but then I needed to cut down on the core of the deck and it just felt that to make them better it took away from the reason for playing the deck to begin with.

Because of this, I ended up down to 6 decks (7 including my never-played Narset deck). And, while these decks are fun and I have them all basically where I want them to be, I found that I would sometimes get "bored" with the decks I had and just wanted something more or different.

I currently have 2 control decks, 2 attrition/midrange decks, and 2 aggro decks, so I was trying to find a deck archetype or playstyle that was different than what I had as well as trying to find a color combination that was different than what I had. After going through all the available generals, I narrowed down the choices to about 25 possible generals. In the end, I looked towards Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest as a way to give me a different color combination (I don't play Narset, Enlightened Master often so I ignored her) as well as a different playstyle: Spellslinger. I have never ran a true spellslinger deck. I have my control decks, but this is one that is meant to be proactive rather than reactive.

So, here is my list:



The main thing with the deck as of now is that I have a bit of an equipment sub-theme that I am not sold on. I like it, but I am not sure if it would be better to just add in more Instants and Sorceries instead. So far, the Swords have been fantastic so it is isn't that they don't work; it is more that it makes the deck feel less like a spellslinger deck and more voltron.

Another thing I am thinking of trying to make work is more X spells. Specifically, ones that make tokens like White Sun's Zenith. I think being able to swing with a bunch of cats (and have Jeskai Ascendancy pump them all up) can help close out games.

I will be actively working on it for a little while so there may be a few more updates pretty close to this initial post. As always, I am open to suggestions and I may add in a quick summary of the overall card choices in the next post a little later in case I change anything significant about it.

Here is a quick run down of the card choices:

• Equipment - As mentioned, this makes my deck feel more Voltron than I would like, but there are only 8 equipment (and Clamp is just there for tokens) so it probably isn't as pervasive as I think it is. The choices are pretty common and the most important one is probably Sunforger as it allows more spells to be cast as well as a way to answer more threats.
• Counter Magic - I went light on counter magic but I did include some choices solely because they can be gotten off Sunforger. Absorb, Render Silent, and Counterflux are good choices for that. Arcane Denial is in because it is cheap and draws me a card and Mana Drain is just awesome. Disallow is versatile though I wish there was some white or red spell that could counter abilities.
• Removal - I may have gone a little heavy on removal. Enough that there are very few spells that actively make Shu Yun better. I like having the amount of removal I have to deal with my opponents' stuff, but I could see where some of this may need to be slimmed down to increase the spells for Shu Yun and my other creatures.
• Creatures - The main ones here are Talrand, Young Pyromancer, and Monastery Mentor. These give me a board presence while casting my spells. Jori En helps me draw cards and Taigam helps me cast my spells again. Burnished Hart and Solemn are there for ramp. Stoneforge of course gets me my equipment.
• Everything Else - Hopefully everything else is self explanatory. I am pretty happy with the current card choices, but I am sure there are some that can be better.

I think that is absolutely hilarious, because I did the same thing yesterday! I used to run Hunding Gjornersen's Zedruu Voltron list but he stopped updating it, and I made a Bantchantress deck so I figured "why run 2 enchantment focused decks?"

I never had a Spellslinger deck so I went for it. I picked Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest also. I'm building it here before finalizing the list and getting the stuff I'm missing.

I play a similar list to Action_Mane's IRL as well. Some notable things from his list that you're missing:

Cost-reducers - Baral, Chief of Compliance, and I also play Grand Arbiter Augustin IV. Even something like Primal Amulet can be cute, if not a tad expensive. Both help you cast more spells in a turn for splashy Jeskai Ascendancy or Monastery Mentor plays.

Rebound & flashback spells - since generating Prowess triggers here is the name of the game, spells that pull double-duty are pretty tech. I'm more partial to flashback spells since I can control the timing, and Faithless Looting and Mystic Retrieval are two of my favorite. Emerge Unscathed is likely the best rebounder to run if nothing else since it blanks a point removal spell pointed at things like Shu Yun or one of your value critters.

One thing I do that I would say is fairly uncommon to Shu Yun lists - I run a healthy (3-4 spell) dose of Pyroclasm type effects. Most of your key critters - Shu Yun, Mentor, Baral, Grand Arbiter, etc. - survive 2 damage red sweepers and these work wonders in metas filled with token or elfball type decks.

I am running Primal Amulet mostly for the copy spell effect, but the cost reduction is good too. I guess I don't really like too many cost reducers (especially in creature form) but it might be a mistake not to run more.

I started looking towards more Rebound spells as well (and I didn't even think of Flashback). To make room for these, I think I need to remove the equipment package. The cards I am looking at adding to work better with casting spells are:

• 1 Emerge Unscathed
  
• 1 Docent of Perfection
  
• 1 Trail of Evidence
  
• 1 Metallurgic Summonings
  
• 1 Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper
  
• 1 Distortion Strike
  
• 1 Center Soul
  
• 1 Slip Through Space
  

I think Faithless Looting should definitely find a spot though. I already like the card, it is 1 mana (3 to flash it back) and digs me deeper. I am not sure of all the cards above, so maybe one of those can be Looting.

As for Pyroclasm effects, do you run these instead of general Wrath effects? I could see maybe cutting Wrath of God and Supreme Verdict (I really want to keep Austere Command) to make room for Pyroclasm and Volcanic Fallout but it seems that these hit fewer creatures that it could leave the opponent's with things that I need to get rid of.

Quote from WizardMN »

As for Pyroclasm effects, do you run these instead of general Wrath effects? I could see maybe cutting Wrath of God and Supreme Verdict (I really want to keep Austere Command) to make room for Pyroclasm and Volcanic Fallout but it seems that these hit fewer creatures that it could leave the opponent's with things that I need to get rid of.

In addition to 2-3 hard Wrath effects. I tend to run a more control-heavy spellslinger package in lieu of more combat tricks. I think my build runs Terminus (pretty spicy if you're running Mystical Tutor), Supreme Verdict, and Austere Command.

I have decided to go with these changes for now. Some are questionable so they could be cut later, but they seem to work with the deck fairly well:

• Emerge Unscathed - Gives a creature protection at Instant timing which triggers things I might need. It also has Rebound so I can do it again next turn.
• Center Soul - This is basically another Emerge Unscathed so the same reasons apply here.
• Distortion Strike - Helps get damage through and has Rebound so it counts as 2 spells for anything that cares about casting a spell.
• Slip Through Space - Helps get damage through and trades in Rebound for a card which I think is a worthwhile trade. Both this and Distortion Strike can be the spell that is needed to "one-shot" an opponent if they are at a low enough life total or high enough commander damage already.
• Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper - This is a card that gives me another benefit for casting Instants and Sorceries. I am not sure if it is that great as it opens up my lands to being destroyed. I might not keep this one around for too long, but I wanted to give it a try.
• Metallurgic Summonings - This is a bit better than Noyan Dar in that it doesn't animate lands and, later in the game, I could get all my Instants and Sorceries back to do it all again. This one seems like a very good card for this type of deck so I hope it pans out.
• Trail of Evidence - Early playtesting show that the Clue token is hugely beneficial to the deck's consistency and resiliency. So much so that when I got it down, I ended up not needing any Wheel effects as my hand stayed full from all the clues.
• Docent of Perfection - This is another Talrand/Pyromancer/Mentor (albeit for a little more mana) but it also pumps up the tokens it creates and can create a very formidable army.

And, I cut these cards:

• Sword of Light and Shadow, Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Feast and Famine, & Sword of War and Peace - I needed to make room for the spell based effects above and the Equipment package took up too much room.
• Lightning Greaves - Giving Shu Yun Shroud is great for protection, but then I can never cast things targeting him. Most likely, this should be Swiftfoot Boots but I want to give it a try with just protecting him with spells.
• Stoneforge Mystic - With removing the 5 equipment above Stoneforge is almost unnecessary.
• Return to Dust - I have enough hate as it is and, while this card is good, I don't think it is absolutely necessary. And I wanted to make room for the cards above.
• Disallow - I don't think I need this counterspell. Rarely should it matter and I like the rest of the counterspells better.

I think some of the suggestions above are worthwhile, but I want to get a few more games in with this list to determine anything more I might need to change or add.

I'm just making my list in theory, I haven't had a chance to play test it at all. I've gotta sort out how it fits in my closed meta and what tools it needs to thrive there. Some cards seem bad (Metallurgic Summonings) that may actually be really good. So I'm interested in hearing about other players and what lessons they learned and what cards they play.

Metallurgic Summonings is good. Relying solely on one-shotting people with Shu Yun is a glass cannon that seems like it fails more than it works for me. I'd honestly say going wide with Mentor/Summonings tokens gives more wins than anything. Either one with an active Jeskai Ascendancy out can close out games pretty quick.

As for Summonings, my thought is mostly what Bismuth alludes to: it is a way to go wide that works well with Ascendancy and gives the deck a bit of resiliency if Shu Yun can't stick.

The biggest thing for me is being 5 mana, but getting a "free" creature on every Instant and Sorcery spell seems like it makes it even harder for opponents to deal with the board state. And, since it is not a creature like all the other token producers, a Board Wipe hurts much less as we can easily rebuild with it after having all our creatures destroyed.

Overall, I think it is a good card for this type of deck for quite a few reasons. I am not looking forward to having to keep track of the power and toughness of 10 different tokens though

I think I want to find a spot for Secure the Wastes and White Sun's Zenith as well. They work well to give a huge token with Summonings, they support the go wide strategy that Summonings/Mentor/Talrand/etc. support, and can be cast at the end of my opponent's turn to get a "surprise" army to help close out games.

After a but more thought and goldfishing, I have decided to cut Noyan Dar and add in White Sun's Zenith. As mentioned above, it gives me another spell to trigger my stuff while still also giving me a way to just spit out an army on my opponents' turns as I needed. Noyan Dar just doesn't seem all that great as I don't want to open too many lands to destruction so he just makes one land really big. And then it can be chumped pretty easily. Zenith just seems much better.

After playing a bit more, I have realized Taigam is not as good as I thought he was. His ability to make my spells uncounterable is great, but the Rebound part is too hard to reliably pull off. And there are a number of spells I don't want to Rebound anyway. I have decided to cut him in favor of another "answer" spell: Dismantling Blow. This allows me to blow up artifacts and enchantments, lets me draw cards, and I can fetch it off Sunforger (and still draw cards that way). It seems like a better card for the slot, so I will see how it plays out.

One of my friends at my locals recently built a Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest Spellslinger deck utilizing Firesong and Sunspeaker with Soulfire Grand Master that performs really well If you're able to get them out. With Monastery Mentor and a haste enabler you could potentially go infinite with Dragonrage since Soulfire Grand Master essentially gives all your instant and sorcery spells Buyback.