Hello all Arcum Dagsson lovers out there. This is not a primer to Arcum Dagsson but if you like to read a primer you can go here: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=169174 This is by crz87 which I think is probably best contributor to making Arcum Dagsson competitive.
I will go over some theory into beating Zur the Enchanter and Rofellos. Whenever I see a Zur deck list there are usually two types; one that runs less counter, more “techy”enchantments to fetch (which I feel is unnecessary), and more creatures and the other whose only creature is Zur with lots of counter, and with the only necessary enchantments to win (see the two list below). The first Zur list an Arcum deck would face, I feel we are slightly favor just because those decks run less accelerant, higher casting cost counters, and more sorcery speed spells via creatures spells. The best Zur list I have seen so far is from:
These two Zur list have the capability to drop Zur turn 2 or 3 consistently
Have lots and low casting cost counters that can stop us from casting Arcum early
The best instance speed kills
The best tutors.
What I hated the most when testing against these two decks was playing Arcum turn 2 and 3 to only get it countered or killed end of turn. Then my opponent plays Zur on his turn and I can’t do anything about it since it now cost 6 to cast Arcum. Even if I did, Zur attacks the following turn and fetches prison term. After testing and more testing I concluded to beat Zur we must:
Have a greater threat density besides our general – now Zur can’t no just longer save their kill spells/counters for our general
More bounce spells to bounce prison term or an early Zur
Increase accelerators
The next few cards or so I bring up will just bring a smile to Arcum players. Cards that create more threat density are: pongify = I have always loved this card when it came out. This card is an instance speed kill spells for generals. If a Zur player rushes out Zur turn 2 or 3 we have a card that can stop them for the time being. These 2+ extra turns Zur players have to wait to recast Zur is huge. Turn three your opponent taps out to cast Zur and you eot pongify . Your turn cast Arcum if you can. If your opponent doesn’t have a kill spell because they decided to keep a fast Zur hand with no kills spell it usually is game.
waterfront bouncer This card has threat written all over it. When I originally thought of this card the first time I was hesitant. But after I played with it was so so good. You can usually get this guy under counters on turn 2 and this guy stops Zur in so many ways. WaterFront Bouncer usually demands an answer right away or Zur can’t be played at all. For example when I was playing my friend and he didn’t know I put this guy in the main deck, I dropped him on turn one via mox diamond and island. He didn’t even want to cast Zur on turn three because he was afraid I was going to play Dagsson the following turn if I bounced Zur eot. Waterfront bouncer is the answer to Zur early and allows Arcum players to keep hand we usually don’t since we have this guy to stop Zur. He also stripes a removal out of their hand which is good for us since that spell is not used on Arcum. If they save that removal spell for Arcum they can’t do anything with Zur since we’ll continually bounce Zur.
This next card you guys might laugh… Gilded Drake This is another card that brings a smile to my face…this little drake creates card advantage for us and stops Zur hard. Gilded drake creates card advantage for us by forcing our opponent to kill Zur with their own kill spells. Zur now cost 6 to replay and we just striped a card out of their hand. Best yet it stops an early Zur which we should win easily from here on out because if your opponent has kept a fast hand that bring Zur out in turn 2 or 3, that means their hand is mostly accelerant and they’ll be down to 2 or 3 cards. We can surely bet it is a counter, more lands, or accelerators. Zur is now in top deck mode and we can do our thing almost unimpeded.
After putting more threat density in my deck I also added two more bounce spells. Any bounce spell will stop early an early Zur or prison term on Arcum. I usually try to set up a win by punishing my opponent from making play errors or getting to greedy. For example I have an Arcum in play with prison term attach to it, with a few foddlers in play, guardian idol , millikin , and blinkmoth nexus plus lands. I have into the roil , memory jar , island, and mycosynth lattice in my hand. During his upkeep he plays vampiric tutor and grabs something. Draws, attack with Zur with diplomatic immunity and daybreak coronet attach to it. He fetches rule of law and I just smile because I won. Eot I cast into the roil targeting prison term he tries to counter it with forbid with buyback and I point to rule of law and remind my friend he had already played his one spell for the turn, vampiric tutor. Still eot I target millikin and tutor for Mindslaver . During my turn I activate mindslaver for the win. I take his turn hoping he doesn’t have necropotence in his hand because he doesn’t have 3 black to cast it. I see he doesn’t, proceed to draw, go to combat and attack with Zur, fetch for necro and pay the reminder 40+ life he has to draw from necro and win. The two bounce spells I added is echoing truth and into the roil which I highly recommend.
Okay now on with the deck list. I have a very very greedy deck list that utilizes as much as possible hence the low land count that would make others uneasy. I only have play 31 lands but never had problems with playing anything because I try to keep my curve low. The deck list will be in casting cost order because I prefer you guys to see the list that way. Without further ado
Tomorrow I’ll go over the Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary matchup and card choices and why. It is not that long but this is enough writing for me today. Questions please ask in the forums.
Mind if I use your decklist and posts for my matchup analysis against Zur/Rofellos? I haven't done much testing with those but I would like the advice on a fellow player with experience on which cards help beat Zur and other pesky generals. My list is just suited for a very general meta and yours is designed to slay Zur and Rofellos
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I like designing decks and I am primarily a control player. Using Drain to fight Workshops is like using Exclude to fight Dark Confidant.
Mind if I use your decklist and posts for my matchup analysis against Zur/Rofellos? I haven't done much testing with those but I would like the advice on a fellow player with experience on which cards help beat Zur and other pesky generals. My list is just suited for a very general meta and yours is designed to slay Zur and Rofellos
crz87 that is fine. You can use this for your matchup analysis against Zur/Rofellos. Nice primer you got going man.
From my play experience against Rofellos, Arcum is favored probably 60/40.
Rofellos is a deck that lives off of their opening seven. The way Rofellos win is buy time walking you via stunted growth , plow under , reap and sow on turn three and continue to play threats. If Rofellos opens up with big beats only, that should give us enough time to set up and win since they can't answer Arcum besides Masticore and/or Duplicant . The only instant speed artifact kill spells Rofellos has are Krosan Grip and Chord of Calling fetching Viridian Shaman or Viridian Zealot to destroy our artifact creature targets. The latter is harder to pull off because of the cost ability. Rofellos almost usually don't keep a hand unless there are three lands. This would mean they would have 4 other cards we really have to worry about if they didn't mulligan. With this knowledge, this gives us flexibility to do what ever we want since they have little outs to stop us.
The game plan on beating Rofellos. · Keep him out of play as long as possible. Rofellos plays high casting cost cards and the longer he is not in play the higher the chances of us winning because they won't be able to play anything. · Keep only hands that have an answer to turn 2 Rofellos or your turn 2 Arcum or turn 3 Arcum at the latest. Anything else, mulligan.
The same strategy I use against Zur I apply to Rofellos. I have cards that can come down on turn 2 that can either halt Rofellos' game plan or just plain stop them. Key cards in this match up are: pongify - kills Rofellos on the spot. For example turn 2 Rofellos comes into play eot pogify Rofellos. Now your opponent has to have 2 more land drops before they can play Rofellos again. By that time you have already played Arcum and ready to tutor the following turn for the nuts against Rofellos..explained below
Serrated Arrows - This card is here specifically for Rofellos. This keeps Rofellos of the battlefield almost permanently unless your opponent finds an answer. A turn 2 Dagsson and fetching for this on turn 3 guarantees a win unless Rofellos has any of the turn one plays above.
Gilded Drake - trades Rofellos for this guy and all your opponent can do is watch helplessly as you do your thing unimpeded. We will happily trade 3 damage a turn for Rofellos.
into the roil and echoing truth - these two keeps Rofellos off the board one turn. If you can do that and summon Arcum on turn 3 after bouncing Rofellos on eot opponents turn 2 you are in really good shape.
This is all I have for the Rofellos matchup. I’ll go over my card choices and why they should be in the deck tomorrow. I’ll try to post up pictures of my deck too since it is almost foiled out.
Replaced: 1 Misdirection > 1 Mana Drain. I finally got one Misdirection does have a place in this deck. I just can’t find room for it.
1 Myr Retriever > 1 Pilgrim’s Eye Deciding to cut between myr retriever and junk diver I decided it was best to cut the retriever. It doesn’t fly **important in blocking Vendilion Clique *** and I never played it early. I always wanted to wait until I have something to return from the graveyard so one artifact that does, junk diver, this is sufficient for the deck already.
Pilgrim’s Eye is an excellent pseudo trinket mage which is always good. My land count is low enough that fetching for a land from the eye is good plus he flies.
1 transmute artifact > 1 Expedition Map Transmute artifact has been underwhelming for me lately. Majority of the time I don’t have enough mana to pay for the tinker effect and when I do, I am way ahead. Expedition map has proven it’s worth to me, tutoring for Tolarian Academy always. Expedition map is Tolaria West #2. Remember Dagsson is crazy because of the enormous mana we can generate.
1 Island > 1 Helimar Depths Not much here. Just that Helimar Depths is worth a slot. Even though it comes into play tap the utility makes it worth it.
1 Fellwar Stone > 1 Everflowing Chalice Everflowing chalice is just basically a fellwar stone because if you are not playing against blue you are still tapping 2 mana for 1 colorless. However the chalice has an option of coming into play generating more mana than the fellwar stone. Because of the versatility it got the nod over the stone.
1 Arcbound Reclaimer > 1 Lodestone Golem Arcbound Relaimer again is like junk diver and myr retriever #3. I love it’s utility and will miss it. Crazy things I have done with the reclaimer is sacing memory jar and in response to that remove a counter from the reclaimer to put the jar back on top of the library. All this was done with Mind over matter in play…I won’t be able to pull this off any more but it is something I can live without. I know on crz87 Dagsson forum I said the Golem doesn’t deserve a spot but it does now after further testing. It is crazy good when he comes down on turn 2 or 3. It is another early turn soft lock that is needed to set up Dagsson.
What I will replaced: 1 thran dynamo > 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Thran Dynamo is a good card but it does not create a threat. We need to increase our threat density so every spell we play will either have to be counter or answered and thran dynamo just doesn’t do that. Jace on the other hand is crazy good...so good I don’t need to explain further.
I really admire this deck, but I wonder if you've considered a version for the 1v1 banned list used in France and for the tournaments on these forums. Considering that this is a list directly intended for 1v1 play, it hardly seems fair to use a banned list designed to balance multiplayer games only. I'd like to know how competitive this deck can be in the more balanced environment provided by the 1v1 banned list.
Obviously, these cuts hurt, though there's some advantage to not having to deal with opposing Mana Crypt/Sol Ring/Crucible of Worlds either. However, I think converting the deck to the 1v1 banned list is important to legitimize its strength. 1v1 with the multiplayer format is a broken format, precisely because decks like yours are able to break it. Who cares if you can dominate a broken format?
I really admire this deck, but I wonder if you've considered a version for the 1v1 banned list used in France and for the tournaments on these forums. Considering that this is a list directly intended for 1v1 play, it hardly seems fair to use a banned list designed to balance multiplayer games only. I'd like to know how competitive this deck can be in the more balanced environment provided by the 1v1 banned list.
Obviously, these cuts hurt, though there's some advantage to not having to deal with opposing Mana Crypt/Sol Ring/Crucible of Worlds either. However, I think converting the deck to the 1v1 banned list is important to legitimize its strength. 1v1 with the multiplayer format is a broken format, precisely because decks like yours are able to break it. Who cares if you can dominate a broken format?
By cutting mana crypt and sol ring you will be taking away some of the consistency in the deck. I wanna say these two are the bread and butter of acceleraters in the deck or any deck. These can power out Arcum fast enough to handle Rofellos or fast enough to get through counters. Without these two it will seem a turn slower but the cards can be supplemented depending on what the meta is. Regardless of the meta since Arcum is a turn slower without the two possibly add another 2cc accelerater e.g. mind stone and the such comes to mind and add another 2cc or 1cc bounce spell to handle early generals e.g. dispel , unsummon etc..
crucible of worlds This is a hard cut that I don't think can be replaced. Arcum is Arcum because of the incredible mana we can generate through Tolarian Academy and crucible is the only way we can get the academy back when it is striped. I would say Metal Worker would fill this slot but it doesn't give us the same insurance of protection to Tolarian Academy as crucible.
Staff of Domination - This card was always in and out of the deck. Sure it can do degenerate things and probably more versatile than the cards I would suggest to replace it but the main purpose I have used the staff was to draw my deck, combo and win. Any cards that says draw x would fill this slot because again the purpose is to draw your deck while generating inifinite mana and combo off. Mind sping , Braingeyser , prosperity , and Stroke of Genius comes to mind. This can be replaced without much problems.
Mindslaver - This can be cut. I don't think any one can recover from a Mindslaver lock but I don't do that with this card often. It is there for insurance purpose only when I am unsure of what my opponents will do. I rarely tutor for this because my Deck is built on trying to win by one or two tutors only since I don't have alot of foddlers (16 or 17 only) so every tutor counts. It was out and then back in for the Zur matchup. Not sure if you know but tutoring mindslaver and activating this while your opponent has just summon Zur, you most likely have won the game. All competitive Zur decks play Necropotence ...or at least they should. Take their turn attack with Zur fetch Necro and pay the remaining of their life to draw. Mindslaver is just tech for this matchup only.
Our playgroup allows everything besides the moxes and lotus. So I have tested and played Panoptic Mirror and Lion's Eye Diamond. Panoptic Mirror is only good if I am playing alot of non artifact spells which I am not so I never gave it a try. LED on the other I have tested and found it be underwhelming. Sure you can get your general out but LED is only fuel for combo (think TPS). I can't risk losing everything in my hand to get Arcum out and be in top deck mode with out a foddler. Plus I am not playing anything that would abuse LED such as cards with flashback.
Library of Alexandria is another card that I have tested and 50/50 on it. Arcum is all about being explosive and being explosive is having to play almost everything asap. The whole deck is center on getting Arcum out on turns 2-3. LoA is good but not in this deck. For example I would open with LoA, sol ring, manakin or some other 2 cc accelerator. Do I play LoA and just tap it to draw a card on my next turn or play sol ring into manakin and get Arcum out on turn 2. So this is a situation where I would hate to be in. I rather play just make the latter play, always in this deck.
Why cards are cut?
2 lands – My mana curve is very low. I don’t need a lot of lands plus the deck have plenty of accelerators. Also Tolarian Academy got banned. This did hurt the deck but not by much. Depending on the game state majority of my first Arcum fetch is usually Gilded lotus and then followed by Thran Dynamo even when Tolarian Academy wasn’t ban. Epochrasite – didn’t need another sac outlet plus he doesn’t affect the game state that much when he came into play. Power artifact, basalt monolith, nuisance engine, and rings of brighthearth – are pretty much dead cards when I draw them against majority of the ‘competitive’ decks unless I have the other piece of the combo out to generate infinite mana eg basalt monolith + rings or power artifact or power artifact + grim monolith. Nuisance engine was also not needed. You only need 3 tutors to lock up the game depending on the game state and I never tutored for this card. The deck will have plenty of sac outlets to allow you to control the game. These cards are usually considered a dead card in my opening 7 as I never want to see them. Staff of domination – Got the ban. A really great utility card. Never really tutored for it and I didn’t mind drawing into it or needed to draw into it. So it’s like a 50/50 thing. Will not affect the deck much. Serrated arrows – tech card against Rofelloys only. Since he is ban, the card is no longer needed in the deck. Arcanis the Omnipotent and Time Stretch – are win more cards that are usually considered a mulligan in my opening 7. I never want to see these two cards until after I’ve already controlled the game. These two cards haven’t been missed.
Why cards are added? sky diamond, mox opal, coldsteel heart, and thran dynamo. – With the lost of tolarian academy more accelerators are added to minimize the lost. This is actually better for the deck since we are accelerating. Speed is the only way to go and you’ll never be disappointed to have one of these in your opening 7. Cryptic command, Venser, Shaper Savant, and Jace the Mind Sculptor – are just great utility cards. Cryptic and Venser could be replaced if you really wanted them cut but I won’t advise so. brainstorm – useful card but can be cut. There are better draw cards in EDH. Just wanted to lower my curve and this made the cut. This can be replaced by misdirection if you are in a heavy direct removal meta or counter meta. Other cards that can easily replaced brainstorm is another 2cc bounce spell, 2cc counter spell preferably counterspell, commandeer, another 2cc accelerator, or another island. transmute artifact – useful card that is usually a dead draw until later in the game. Most likely tutor from this artifact is for winter orb after I have gilded lotus on the field or my opponents tap out to play something. This card can be cut for the same suggestions as brainstorm. Renegade Doppleganger and Thada, Adel Acquisitor - are answer it now creature with direct removal spells or be punished. Good answers for heavy direct removal environments and puts your opponents in tough situations. Either kill these two creatures now or save removal for Arcum. Renegade Doppleganger is a creature you want to open with since it’s basically a 2cc removal spell for opposing generals. Blue doesn’t have a lot of removal so this little guy is a super plus. Thada is just Thada, a great utility creature that strips a reserved direct removal spell for Arcum on it.
I will go over some theory into beating Zur the Enchanter and Rofellos. Whenever I see a Zur deck list there are usually two types; one that runs less counter, more “techy”enchantments to fetch (which I feel is unnecessary), and more creatures and the other whose only creature is Zur with lots of counter, and with the only necessary enchantments to win (see the two list below). The first Zur list an Arcum deck would face, I feel we are slightly favor just because those decks run less accelerant, higher casting cost counters, and more sorcery speed spells via creatures spells. The best Zur list I have seen so far is from:
chaostheory http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=181354 and OmniDreamer http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=158445 These are the two deck list that I have been playing extensively against because my friends have it, specifically chaostheory’s list with slight modifications. A Zur deck list similar to these two will give us trouble because of this:
Cards that create more threat density are:
pongify = I have always loved this card when it came out. This card is an instance speed kill spells for generals. If a Zur player rushes out Zur turn 2 or 3 we have a card that can stop them for the time being. These 2+ extra turns Zur players have to wait to recast Zur is huge. Turn three your opponent taps out to cast Zur and you eot pongify . Your turn cast Arcum if you can. If your opponent doesn’t have a kill spell because they decided to keep a fast Zur hand with no kills spell it usually is game.
waterfront bouncer This card has threat written all over it. When I originally thought of this card the first time I was hesitant. But after I played with it was so so good. You can usually get this guy under counters on turn 2 and this guy stops Zur in so many ways. WaterFront Bouncer usually demands an answer right away or Zur can’t be played at all. For example when I was playing my friend and he didn’t know I put this guy in the main deck, I dropped him on turn one via mox diamond and island. He didn’t even want to cast Zur on turn three because he was afraid I was going to play Dagsson the following turn if I bounced Zur eot. Waterfront bouncer is the answer to Zur early and allows Arcum players to keep hand we usually don’t since we have this guy to stop Zur. He also stripes a removal out of their hand which is good for us since that spell is not used on Arcum. If they save that removal spell for Arcum they can’t do anything with Zur since we’ll continually bounce Zur.
This next card you guys might laugh…
Gilded Drake This is another card that brings a smile to my face…this little drake creates card advantage for us and stops Zur hard. Gilded drake creates card advantage for us by forcing our opponent to kill Zur with their own kill spells. Zur now cost 6 to replay and we just striped a card out of their hand. Best yet it stops an early Zur which we should win easily from here on out because if your opponent has kept a fast hand that bring Zur out in turn 2 or 3, that means their hand is mostly accelerant and they’ll be down to 2 or 3 cards. We can surely bet it is a counter, more lands, or accelerators. Zur is now in top deck mode and we can do our thing almost unimpeded.
After putting more threat density in my deck I also added two more bounce spells. Any bounce spell will stop early an early Zur or prison term on Arcum. I usually try to set up a win by punishing my opponent from making play errors or getting to greedy. For example I have an Arcum in play with prison term attach to it, with a few foddlers in play, guardian idol , millikin , and blinkmoth nexus plus lands. I have into the roil , memory jar , island, and mycosynth lattice in my hand. During his upkeep he plays vampiric tutor and grabs something. Draws, attack with Zur with diplomatic immunity and daybreak coronet attach to it. He fetches rule of law and I just smile because I won. Eot I cast into the roil targeting prison term he tries to counter it with forbid with buyback and I point to rule of law and remind my friend he had already played his one spell for the turn, vampiric tutor. Still eot I target millikin and tutor for Mindslaver . During my turn I activate mindslaver for the win. I take his turn hoping he doesn’t have necropotence in his hand because he doesn’t have 3 black to cast it. I see he doesn’t, proceed to draw, go to combat and attack with Zur, fetch for necro and pay the reminder 40+ life he has to draw from necro and win. The two bounce spells I added is echoing truth and into the roil which I highly recommend.
Okay now on with the deck list. I have a very very greedy deck list that utilizes as much as possible hence the low land count that would make others uneasy. I only have play 31 lands but never had problems with playing anything because I try to keep my curve low. The deck list will be in casting cost order because I prefer you guys to see the list that way. Without further ado
1 Arcum Dagsson
Lands 31
8 Islands
1 Misty Rain Forest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Flooded Strand
1 Svyelunite Temple
1 Saprazzan Skerry
1 Maze of Ith
1 Gemstone Cavern
1 Polluted delta
1 Ancient tomb
1 City of Traitors
1 Seat of Synod
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
1 Tolaria Academy
1 Stripe Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Blinkmoth nexus
1 Mishra's Workshop
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Crystal Vein
1 Halimar Depths
Zero Casting Cost – 5
1 Mana Crypt
1 chrome mox
1 lotus petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Everflowing Chalice
One Casting Cost – 8
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Pithing needle
1 Mystical tutor
1 Voltaic Key
1 Pongify
1 Expedition map
1 Grim Monolith
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Defense Grid
1 Winter Orb
1 Manakin
1 Silver Myr
1 Millikin
1 Guardian Idol
1 Epochrasite
1 Etherium Scultpor
1 power artifact
1 Into the Roil
1 Echoing Truth
1 WaterFront Bouncer
1 Gilded Drake
1 Mana Drain
Three Casting Cost – 17
1 Trinket Mage
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Tangle Wire
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Timetwister
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Rushing River
1 Junk Diver
1 Scarecrone
1 Nuisance Engine
1 Skill Borrower
1 Staff of domination
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Pilgrim's Eye
1 Arcbound Reclaimer
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Master Transmuter
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Lodestone Golemn
1 Serrated Arrows
Five Casting Cost – 7
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Force of Will
1 Mishra's Helix
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Memory Jar
1 Future Sight
Six Casting Cost – 6
1 Planar Portal
1 Time Spiral
1 Mind over Matter
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 MindSlaver
Nine Casting Cost – 1
1 Darksteel Forge
Ten Casting Cost – 1
1 Time Stretch
Tomorrow I’ll go over the Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary matchup and card choices and why. It is not that long but this is enough writing for me today. Questions please ask in the forums.
EP
Using Drain to fight Workshops is like using Exclude to fight Dark Confidant.
VERY CHEAP LEGACY SALE (priced to move before April 09!)
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=8172551#post8172551
crz87 that is fine. You can use this for your matchup analysis against Zur/Rofellos. Nice primer you got going man.
Rofellos is a deck that lives off of their opening seven. The way Rofellos win is buy time walking you via stunted growth , plow under , reap and sow on turn three and continue to play threats. If Rofellos opens up with big beats only, that should give us enough time to set up and win since they can't answer Arcum besides Masticore and/or Duplicant . The only instant speed artifact kill spells Rofellos has are Krosan Grip and Chord of Calling fetching Viridian Shaman or Viridian Zealot to destroy our artifact creature targets. The latter is harder to pull off because of the cost ability. Rofellos almost usually don't keep a hand unless there are three lands. This would mean they would have 4 other cards we really have to worry about if they didn't mulligan. With this knowledge, this gives us flexibility to do what ever we want since they have little outs to stop us.
Cards I hate seeing on turn one by Rofellos is (because this neuters our game plan against Rofellos):
Sylvan Safekeeper - protects Rofellos
Wirewood Symbiote - protects Rofellos
Concordant Crossroads - gives Rofellos haste
The game plan on beating Rofellos.
· Keep him out of play as long as possible. Rofellos plays high casting cost cards and the longer he is not in play the higher the chances of us winning because they won't be able to play anything.
· Keep only hands that have an answer to turn 2 Rofellos or your turn 2 Arcum or turn 3 Arcum at the latest. Anything else, mulligan.
The same strategy I use against Zur I apply to Rofellos. I have cards that can come down on turn 2 that can either halt Rofellos' game plan or just plain stop them. Key cards in this match up are:
pongify - kills Rofellos on the spot. For example turn 2 Rofellos comes into play eot pogify Rofellos. Now your opponent has to have 2 more land drops before they can play Rofellos again. By that time you have already played Arcum and ready to tutor the following turn for the nuts against Rofellos..explained below
Serrated Arrows - This card is here specifically for Rofellos. This keeps Rofellos of the battlefield almost permanently unless your opponent finds an answer. A turn 2 Dagsson and fetching for this on turn 3 guarantees a win unless Rofellos has any of the turn one plays above.
Gilded Drake - trades Rofellos for this guy and all your opponent can do is watch helplessly as you do your thing unimpeded. We will happily trade 3 damage a turn for Rofellos.
Force of will - stops turn 2 Rofellos which is always good.
into the roil and echoing truth - these two keeps Rofellos off the board one turn. If you can do that and summon Arcum on turn 3 after bouncing Rofellos on eot opponents turn 2 you are in really good shape.
WaterFront Bouncer - continually bounce Rofellos.
This is all I have for the Rofellos matchup. I’ll go over my card choices and why they should be in the deck tomorrow. I’ll try to post up pictures of my deck too since it is almost foiled out.
1 Misdirection > 1 Mana Drain. I finally got one
Misdirection does have a place in this deck. I just can’t find room for it.
1 Myr Retriever > 1 Pilgrim’s Eye
Deciding to cut between myr retriever and junk diver I decided it was best to cut the retriever. It doesn’t fly **important in blocking Vendilion Clique *** and I never played it early. I always wanted to wait until I have something to return from the graveyard so one artifact that does, junk diver, this is sufficient for the deck already.
Pilgrim’s Eye is an excellent pseudo trinket mage which is always good. My land count is low enough that fetching for a land from the eye is good plus he flies.
1 transmute artifact > 1 Expedition Map
Transmute artifact has been underwhelming for me lately. Majority of the time I don’t have enough mana to pay for the tinker effect and when I do, I am way ahead.
Expedition map has proven it’s worth to me, tutoring for Tolarian Academy always. Expedition map is Tolaria West #2. Remember Dagsson is crazy because of the enormous mana we can generate.
1 Island > 1 Helimar Depths
Not much here. Just that Helimar Depths is worth a slot. Even though it comes into play tap the utility makes it worth it.
1 Fellwar Stone > 1 Everflowing Chalice
Everflowing chalice is just basically a fellwar stone because if you are not playing against blue you are still tapping 2 mana for 1 colorless. However the chalice has an option of coming into play generating more mana than the fellwar stone. Because of the versatility it got the nod over the stone.
1 Arcbound Reclaimer > 1 Lodestone Golem
Arcbound Relaimer again is like junk diver and myr retriever #3. I love it’s utility and will miss it. Crazy things I have done with the reclaimer is sacing memory jar and in response to that remove a counter from the reclaimer to put the jar back on top of the library. All this was done with Mind over matter in play…I won’t be able to pull this off any more but it is something I can live without.
I know on crz87 Dagsson forum I said the Golem doesn’t deserve a spot but it does now after further testing. It is crazy good when he comes down on turn 2 or 3. It is another early turn soft lock that is needed to set up Dagsson.
What I will replaced:
1 thran dynamo > 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
Thran Dynamo is a good card but it does not create a threat. We need to increase our threat density so every spell we play will either have to be counter or answered and thran dynamo just doesn’t do that. Jace on the other hand is crazy good...so good I don’t need to explain further.
You'd have to cut Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Crucible of Worlds, Staff of Domination, and Mindslaver. However, you could add Metalworker (and Library of Alexandria, Panoptic Mirror, Lion's Eye Diamond, if you want).
Obviously, these cuts hurt, though there's some advantage to not having to deal with opposing Mana Crypt/Sol Ring/Crucible of Worlds either. However, I think converting the deck to the 1v1 banned list is important to legitimize its strength. 1v1 with the multiplayer format is a broken format, precisely because decks like yours are able to break it. Who cares if you can dominate a broken format?
By cutting mana crypt and sol ring you will be taking away some of the consistency in the deck. I wanna say these two are the bread and butter of acceleraters in the deck or any deck. These can power out Arcum fast enough to handle Rofellos or fast enough to get through counters. Without these two it will seem a turn slower but the cards can be supplemented depending on what the meta is. Regardless of the meta since Arcum is a turn slower without the two possibly add another 2cc accelerater e.g. mind stone and the such comes to mind and add another 2cc or 1cc bounce spell to handle early generals e.g. dispel , unsummon etc..
crucible of worlds This is a hard cut that I don't think can be replaced. Arcum is Arcum because of the incredible mana we can generate through Tolarian Academy and crucible is the only way we can get the academy back when it is striped. I would say Metal Worker would fill this slot but it doesn't give us the same insurance of protection to Tolarian Academy as crucible.
Staff of Domination - This card was always in and out of the deck. Sure it can do degenerate things and probably more versatile than the cards I would suggest to replace it but the main purpose I have used the staff was to draw my deck, combo and win. Any cards that says draw x would fill this slot because again the purpose is to draw your deck while generating inifinite mana and combo off. Mind sping , Braingeyser , prosperity , and Stroke of Genius comes to mind. This can be replaced without much problems.
Mindslaver - This can be cut. I don't think any one can recover from a Mindslaver lock but I don't do that with this card often. It is there for insurance purpose only when I am unsure of what my opponents will do. I rarely tutor for this because my Deck is built on trying to win by one or two tutors only since I don't have alot of foddlers (16 or 17 only) so every tutor counts. It was out and then back in for the Zur matchup. Not sure if you know but tutoring mindslaver and activating this while your opponent has just summon Zur, you most likely have won the game. All competitive Zur decks play Necropotence ...or at least they should. Take their turn attack with Zur fetch Necro and pay the remaining of their life to draw. Mindslaver is just tech for this matchup only.
Our playgroup allows everything besides the moxes and lotus. So I have tested and played Panoptic Mirror and Lion's Eye Diamond. Panoptic Mirror is only good if I am playing alot of non artifact spells which I am not so I never gave it a try. LED on the other I have tested and found it be underwhelming. Sure you can get your general out but LED is only fuel for combo (think TPS). I can't risk losing everything in my hand to get Arcum out and be in top deck mode with out a foddler. Plus I am not playing anything that would abuse LED such as cards with flashback.
Library of Alexandria is another card that I have tested and 50/50 on it. Arcum is all about being explosive and being explosive is having to play almost everything asap. The whole deck is center on getting Arcum out on turns 2-3. LoA is good but not in this deck. For example I would open with LoA, sol ring, manakin or some other 2 cc accelerator. Do I play LoA and just tap it to draw a card on my next turn or play sol ring into manakin and get Arcum out on turn 2. So this is a situation where I would hate to be in. I rather play just make the latter play, always in this deck.
These are my 2 cents..
EP
Current deck list.
1 Arcum Dagsson
Lands 30
8 Islands
1 Misty Rain Forest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Flooded Strand
1 Svyelunite Temple
1 Saprazzan Skerry
1 Maze of Ith
1 Gemstone Cavern
1 Polluted delta
1 Ancient tomb
1 City of Traitors
1 Seat of Synod
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
1 Stripe Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Blinkmoth nexus
1 Mishra's Workshop
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Crystal Vein
1 Halimar Depths
Zero Casting Cost – 6
1 Mana Crypt
1 chrome mox
1 lotus petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Mox Opal
One Casting Cost – 9
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Pithing needle
1 Mystical tutor
1 Voltaic Key
1 Pongify
1 Expedition map
1 Brainstorm
1 Grim Monolith
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Defense Grid
1 Winter Orb
1 Manakin
1 Silver Myr
1 Millikin
1 Guardian Idol
1 Etherium Scultpor
1 Into the Roil
1 Echoing Truth
1 WaterFront Bouncer
1 Gilded Drake
1 Mana Drain
1 ColdSteel Heart
1 Sky Diamond
1 Renegade Doppleganger
1 Transmute Artifact
Three Casting Cost – 14
1 Trinket Mage
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Tangle Wire
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Timetwister
1 Rushing River
1 Junk Diver
1 Scarecrone
1 Skill Borrower
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Pilgrim's Eye
1 Thada, Adel Acquisitor
1 Arcbound Reclaimer
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Master Transmuter
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Jace the Mind Sculptor
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Venser Shaper Savant
1 Cryptic Command
Five Casting Cost – 7
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Force of Will
1 Mishra's Helix
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Memory Jar
1 Future Sight
Six Casting Cost – 5
1 Planar Portal
1 Time Spiral
1 Mind over Matter
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 MindSlaver
Nine Casting Cost – 1
1 Darksteel Forge
Cards that got axed
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Epochrasite
1 power artifact
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Nuisance Engine
1 Staff of domination
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Serrated Arrows
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
1 Time Stretch
Cards Added:
1 Brainstorm
1 ColdSteel Heart
1 Sky Diamond
1 Renegade Doppleganger
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Thada, Adel Acquisitor
1 Jace the Mind Sculptor
1 Venser Shaper Savant
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Cryptic Command
2 lands – My mana curve is very low. I don’t need a lot of lands plus the deck have plenty of accelerators. Also Tolarian Academy got banned. This did hurt the deck but not by much. Depending on the game state majority of my first Arcum fetch is usually Gilded lotus and then followed by Thran Dynamo even when Tolarian Academy wasn’t ban.
Epochrasite – didn’t need another sac outlet plus he doesn’t affect the game state that much when he came into play.
Power artifact, basalt monolith, nuisance engine, and rings of brighthearth – are pretty much dead cards when I draw them against majority of the ‘competitive’ decks unless I have the other piece of the combo out to generate infinite mana eg basalt monolith + rings or power artifact or power artifact + grim monolith. Nuisance engine was also not needed. You only need 3 tutors to lock up the game depending on the game state and I never tutored for this card. The deck will have plenty of sac outlets to allow you to control the game. These cards are usually considered a dead card in my opening 7 as I never want to see them.
Staff of domination – Got the ban. A really great utility card. Never really tutored for it and I didn’t mind drawing into it or needed to draw into it. So it’s like a 50/50 thing. Will not affect the deck much.
Serrated arrows – tech card against Rofelloys only. Since he is ban, the card is no longer needed in the deck.
Arcanis the Omnipotent and Time Stretch – are win more cards that are usually considered a mulligan in my opening 7. I never want to see these two cards until after I’ve already controlled the game. These two cards haven’t been missed.
Why cards are added?
sky diamond, mox opal, coldsteel heart, and thran dynamo. – With the lost of tolarian academy more accelerators are added to minimize the lost. This is actually better for the deck since we are accelerating. Speed is the only way to go and you’ll never be disappointed to have one of these in your opening 7.
Cryptic command, Venser, Shaper Savant, and Jace the Mind Sculptor – are just great utility cards. Cryptic and Venser could be replaced if you really wanted them cut but I won’t advise so.
brainstorm – useful card but can be cut. There are better draw cards in EDH. Just wanted to lower my curve and this made the cut. This can be replaced by misdirection if you are in a heavy direct removal meta or counter meta. Other cards that can easily replaced brainstorm is another 2cc bounce spell, 2cc counter spell preferably counterspell, commandeer, another 2cc accelerator, or another island.
transmute artifact – useful card that is usually a dead draw until later in the game. Most likely tutor from this artifact is for winter orb after I have gilded lotus on the field or my opponents tap out to play something. This card can be cut for the same suggestions as brainstorm.
Renegade Doppleganger and Thada, Adel Acquisitor - are answer it now creature with direct removal spells or be punished. Good answers for heavy direct removal environments and puts your opponents in tough situations. Either kill these two creatures now or save removal for Arcum. Renegade Doppleganger is a creature you want to open with since it’s basically a 2cc removal spell for opposing generals. Blue doesn’t have a lot of removal so this little guy is a super plus. Thada is just Thada, a great utility creature that strips a reserved direct removal spell for Arcum on it.