MTG Salvation

History of the deck: Why is jmdt playing Grand Arbiter Augustin IV?

So this is the first blue deck I've made!!!! Since I always play black or green, I decided to branch out with my next deck and try blue. I originally thought about Nin, the Pain Artist since I don't have a red deck either, but I didn't like the way she played out so looked around and settled on Grand Arbiter Augustin IV (GA4). My first thought was to make a GA4 white weenie to utilize his ability to make my stuff cheaper, but I realized that just wouldn't have steam to take on a whole table. I decided to go full-on taxing and started looking in that direction. I've been putting together pieces for GA4 for about 2 months now and I finally have a working deck for the most part. Its still a bit rough and has a few filler cards, but its finally functional enough that I'd like to get some feedback to help refine my list.

Deck List

jmdt's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Commander: 4 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV Creatures: 2 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 3 Fatespinner 3 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner 3 Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant 4 Aetherplasm 4 Angel of Jubilation 4 Linvala, Keeper of Silence 4 Loxodon Gatekeeper 4 Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker 4 Phyrexian Metamorph 4 Windborn Muse 5 Spelltithe Enforcer 6 Admonition Angel 6 Consecrated Sphinx 7 Angelic Arbiter 7 Chancellor of the Annex 7 Drogskol Reaver 7 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 8 Avacyn, Angel of Hope 9 Blazing Archon 10 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth	Instants: 1 Brainstorm 1 Pongify 2 Counterspell 2 Cyclonic Rift 2 Memory Lapse 3 Capsize 3 Dissipate 3 Hinder 3 Spell Crumple 4 Return to Dust 4 Rewind Sorceries: 1 Preordain 4 Concentrate 4 Day of Judgement 4 Rite of Replication 5 Bribery 6 Recurring Insight Enchantments: 1 Mana Chains 1 Mystic Remora 1 Soul Snare 2 Luminarch Ascension 2 Rest in Piece 2 Stoney Silence 2 Suppression Field 3 Aura of Silence 3 Crackdown 3 Detention Sphere 3 Ghostly Prison 3 Propaganda 3 Rhystic Study 4 Leyline of Anticipation 4 Leyline of Sanctity 5 Sphere of Safety 5 Treachery	Artifacts: 1 Sol Ring 2 Torpor Orb Planeswalkers: 3 Jace Beleren 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 5 Jace, Memory Adept Lands: 0 Glacial Fortress 0 Seachrome Coast 0 Island - 18 0 Plains - 17

Breakdown of Card Choices

Tax/Lockdown:

• Propaganda - The original card that taxes attacks makes the opponent really choose when it comes to attacking.
• Ghostly Prison - Same as propaganda, but color-shifted to white. Whats better than two mana to attack me...four mana to attack me!
• Windborn Muse - Propaganda effect on a nice flying body
• Sphere of Safety - A unique propaganda effect. It is the only one that protects your planeswalkers along with your own life total. In a deck with a lot of enchantments like this one, X can become a large number in a hurry.
• Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker - Michiko is one unique twist on propaganda. instead of costing mana to attack, she costs permanents if they deal damage. She is enough to prevent tiny attacks by just sitting there.
• Angelic Arbiter - The good arbiter will prevent your opponents from attacking any turn they want to play a spell, which is generally quite often. She'll hold back a lot of attacks pointed your way, and when your opponents do attack, they get behond on resources.
• Fatespinner - Like Angelic Arbiter, Fatespinner costs your opponents some part of thier turn. Often, it is the attack phase.
• Blazing Archon - You can't get attacked. They may kill you, but it won't be with turning guys sideways while he's on the field.
• Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - She has a symetrical tax, so it hits you too, but when combined with GA4 and other taxing effects, she's all advantage for you.
• Spelltithe Enforcer - He takes the taxing one step further and forces the opponent to sac a permanent if they can't pay up.
• Chancellor of the Annex - Here you have a manditory tax of 1 for the opponent's spells to go off. Not bad for a pretty big flying angel.
• Rhystic Study - Such an awesome card. If the opponents skip the tax on anything it will be this guy and you will be drawing card for it.
• Erayo, Soratami Ascendant - This guy present's your opponents with a few choices. Either limit the spells they play, or they get thier 1st spell each turn countered.
• Angel of Jubilation - She's the anti-black hate card. She shuts down life payment for cards such as necropotence and bitterblossom. She also shuts down sac strategies from cards such as Ghave, Guru of Spores. On top of that, she is a flyer that buffs your field.
• Linvala, Keeper of Silence - If you opponent has a deck based around creatures with activated abilities, they will kill Linvala, or they will likely lose.
• Loxodon Gatekeeper - He prevents any shenigans with hasted creatures, and also sets the opponents mana back one turn.
• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite - Tokens; what tokens? Elesh either destroys or cripples any army of tokens. Her +2/+2 buff is also quite relevant and she can block almost anything.
• Soul Snare - Attacking when this guy is out makes you worry. It could easily turn into Avacyn or Kozeliek to rain on your parade.
• Luminarch Ascension - This card put a pretty harsh penalty on my opponent for not attacking. 4/4 fliers for 2 mana is always good. This guy makes a great win condition.
• Stoney Silence - Never have to worry about artifact shenanigans again.
• Suppression Field - This guy can hurt this deck a bit, but for the most part there aren't too many activated abilities present in the deck. This card taxes planeswalkers, fetch lands, Necropotence, and many of the strongest creatures in the game.
• Aura of Silence - Severely shuts down your opponent's artifact and enchantment based strategies.
• Crackdown - All but 2 of the creatures in the deck get around this card. Most other decks cannot say that. This card is effectively a one-sided creature lock down.
• Torpor Orb - People love to use ETB so they can blink them and recur them over and over for value. This card shuts down any and all ETB shenanigans.

Draw:

• Consecrated Sphinx - If this guy stays on the field for an extended period of time you will win. Sphinx insane card advantage and is a nice evasive 4/6 beater in its part time.
• Drogskol Reaver - Comes down for 5 with GA4 out, has evasion, hits for six, gains life, draws cards. He does everything we could want in a creature.
• Kozilek, Butcher of Truth - Just caasting this guy nets 4 cards in hand. He's here for that alone. The fact that he's also a 12/12 with annihilator, and protects the graveyard makes him invaluable and a likely win condition since this deck protects him well.
• Brainstorm - The second best draw spell printed after Ancestral Recall. Dig 3 cards for 1 mana. Great to set up early plays and get land drops you need.
• Preordain - Probably the next best draw spell after Brainstorm. IOt has the nice effects of letting you stick cards you do not want on the bottom of the library.
• Blue Sun's Zenith - At instant speed, it lets us hold mana upen for a counterspell, or counterspell threat, and we can draw to our heart's content at the end of our last opponent's turn. Since you can effectovely reuse it, you can play it for 2-3 cards ear;y and then use it again later for a huge haul.
• Concentrate - Divinations larger brother that draws three cards.
• Recurring Insight - When you play this you'll usually draw 3-4 cards and occasionally 7 or more...Twice.
• Mystic Remora - When you play this early, your opponents have no shot at paying the tax and you just draw every turn.
• Jace Beleren - If you group hug every so often, you have a draw engine that no one will usually ever mess with.
• Jace, the Mind Sculptor - He Brainstorms for free every turn, He messes with your opponent's draws, and oh yeah, If he's left unchecked he'll win you the game.
• Jace, Memory Adept - If you have your opponents basically locked down, he is great as a potential win condition of millingyour opponent out. Its slow, but this deck isn't winning fast anyways and graveyards are only a small concern.

Copy/Steal:

• Phyrexian Metamorph - The most flexible copy spell available since it targets artifacts and creatues and can come down for three mana if needed. Got for killing legendaries, copying swords, or getting your own version of the biggest fattie.
• Rite of Replication - What's better than one copy of a creature? 5 copies of that creature! This card can be part of some powerful plays and depending whe/how its used, its quite easily a win condition.
• Bribery - What's the best way to combat that Azusa deck that doesn't care about our taxing? Steal their biggest and baddest creature and beat them with it.
• Treachery - I love broken Urza's block cards. I can steal a creature and then untap the mana to hold for a counter or to play something else I like. This card is all upside.

Protection:

• Kira, Great Glass-Spinner - With Kira out, nothing short of a stack or removal or a wrath will kill my guys. I have a lot of high value creatures that I like to keep on the table and she does a great job seeing that that are tough to get rid of.
• Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant - If this guy flips (and thanks to 40 life thats a decent liklihood), our creatures are neigh invincible except to wrath effects.
• Avacyn, Angel of Hope - Once Avacyn Comes out, our liklyhood of winning increases a bunch. Barring poison counters, tucking, or exile, she protects all of our field and our life total with her 8/8 Vigelant body.
• Leyline of Sanctity - Having hexproof may seem useless, but when you are facing against Chandra or Blood Artistyou just sit there and smile.

Removal/Disruption:

• Admonition Angel - With the amount of card draw in this deck, there is generally no issue playing land. When we do play land, this 6/6 beater removes whatever permanent is being a thorn in our sides.
• Pongify - Replaces the enemies big nasty with a harmless 3/3 Ape token.
• Counterspell - The Original and still a classic. Best used sparingly to stop Wraths, infinite combos, or big spell we don't otherwise have answers to.
• Cyclonic Rift - This gives us the flexiblity to time walk an opponent and remove a nasty permanent early in the game if needed and the ability to just blow our opponents away late in the game.
• Memory Lapse - A counter that effectively time walks the opponent.
• Capsize - Once you have larger mana later in the game, this card will start annoying your opponents any making it impossible to do anything. If its in your hand, you always have somehting to do, and then do again later. I will almost never use this without the buyback unless the game is on the line
• Dissipate - Upgrade of Cancel with the nice exiling clause.
• Hinder - Gives the ability to tuck problematic generals and make cards hard to get back. Very Strong counter
• Spell Crumple - Effectively works the same as Hinder in letting us tuck problematic cards.
• Return to Dust - Lets us permanently remove up to two target artifacts or enchantments that are affecting our board position.
• Rewind - Its an expensive counter, but it sets up up to do a few other things.
• Day of Judgement - Resets the board when the deck gets overrun early.
• Mana Chains - taxes then opponent and removes a creature all in one card.
• Detention Sphere - Takes a problem permanent out of the game. IF tokens are an issue, it nukes a whole field of them.
• Rest in Peace - If an opponent is using graveyard shenanigans...they better have removal for Rest in Peace.

How you looked into Sphinx's Revelation for the awesome combination of drawing cards AND gaining life? What about Supreme Verdict, the uncounterable board wipe?

Quote from Lionheart

How you looked into Sphinx's Revelation for the awesome combination of drawing cards AND gaining life? What about Supreme Verdict, the uncounterable board wipe?

Sphinx's Revelation is on my radar. Quite honestly, I'm waiting for it to come down in price before snagging it up. Any suggestions on what to remove for it? It's likely drop 1 of Divination or Concentrate, but I'm not sure yet which is better.

Supreme Verdict is also on my radar to replace Day of Judgement eventually. Now is Supreme Verdict or Wrath of God the better card to have? I don't think I want both in this deck, but I'm still learning this whole UW control. It seems I'm mostly safe from hordes and as long as I can deal with the big nasties that wrath effects are mainly a safety button if the game gets out of control early that I will rarely need. A lot of the taxing comes from critters I generally do not want to lose and have no means to recur.

This deck list is still rough and I'm not to familiar with these colors, so any other suggestions?

There is Stroke of Genius and Fact or Fiction as options for card draw. As far as the sweepers go how good Supreme Verdict is depends on how many counter spells you play against. I'd prefer to play something more flexible myself like Austere Command since it can keep some of your guys alive if you need it to.

It seems like a crime not to run Back to Basics in a deck like this. Im assuming you really run all those basics though.

I picked up a few cards yesterday. I got Cyclonic Rift to swap in for Boomerang and I got Linvala, Keeper of Silence that I tentatively swapped in for Arrest. Wasn't sure what to swap for Linvala. What are your guys opinions on Arrest and the few similar ilk in this deck, and is there something better I can look into?

When I dig into my Azusa deck, I will likely swap the Sol Ring from there in for Armillary Sphere

Quote from XeroxedFool

It seems like a crime not to run Back to Basics in a deck like this. Im assuming you really run all those basics though.

That card is intriguing for sure. I'm not sure yet what I want to do with the land base yet. I always start with heavy basics and work from there based on how its tests. The two duals in there I happened to acquire in a large trade. I'd like Kor Haven and maybe Hallowed Fountain, but I really haven't looked at my other land options yet. If I don't have more than 20 or 25% non basics I will likely add in Back to Basics

I added Blue Sun's Zenith for Divination with good results. Instant speed lets you hold open mana for a counterspell, or atleast fake it. I'd like to eventually replace it with Sphinx's Revelation when the price goes down, but BSZ does ok for now. As a side note, if I try to mill my opponent with one of the jace's, BSZ can help speed up that win condition if needed.

I let a friend play the deck a few games while I tried out some of my other decks. This deck can get downright mean. Once the deck gets a few taxing cards out, it may not look like you've lost, but you probably have. The deck won't exactly win slow, but it makes it pretty darn hard to do much to stop it. Admonition Angel was absolutle brutal to play against, especially being limited in the cards you can play. Angel essentially took me out of the game in two separate matches. I did swords it one game, but not before I was too far in the hole.

I need to pick up a copy of Rest in Peace for a grave lockdown and so I can mill players with Memory adept without worrying about reprocussions.

So obviously Aven Mindcensor is a good card, but thoughts for this deck and a possible replacement?

Would Supreme Verdict only cost WU since GAAIV say" U spell cost 1 less, white spell cost 1 less"?

Quote from rxavage

Would Supreme Verdict only cost WU since GAAIV say" U spell cost 1 less, white spell cost 1 less"?

It only decreases colorless costs, so it would be UWW.

Quote from Donald

There is Stroke of Genius and Fact or Fiction as options for card draw. As far as the sweepers go how good Supreme Verdict is depends on how many counter spells you play against. I'd prefer to play something more flexible myself like Austere Command since it can keep some of your guys alive if you need it to.

I play against and edric deck with about 15 counterspells, so I can certainly see where Supreme Verdict would have value.

Do you guys think I need two wrath effects, or should 1 be sufficient for those moments? I have a ton of creatures I hate to lose, but at the same, you need to wrath, you need to wrath.

Does Aetherplasm deserve a slot in this list? In theory its a combo creature that scares away attacks, or ramps into a bigger creature, buit I'm not sure if It'd be stronger to just run something else.

Any other suggestions for the deck?

I made a few changes last weekend after a few trades.

Changes:

• Sol Ring for Armillary Sphere - Sol Ring allows turn 2 GA4. The card is just too good not to run here.
• Spell Crumple for Cancel - Strict upgrade in counter power for the same cost here.
• Detention Sphere for Oblivion Ring - DSphere give me a catch all that also can nuke a whole field of tokens without resorting to a wrath effect.
• Rest in Peace for Tormod's Crypt - If I'm not utilizing the graveyard, I might as well take it away from everyone.

Cards I'm considering removing if I find a better piece to throw in:

• Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant - If he comes early and auto flips he's a great means to protect my board position. As I don't currently have life gain, if I'm under 30 life he's basically a dead card otherwise.
• Atherplasm - I had high hopes for the card as an attack deterrent and/or ramp card, but instead its more of a 1/1 that doesn't innediately do anything.
• Memory Lapse/Rewind - are these the counters I really want to be running here? Obviously Mana Drain and Force of Will are superior, but they are out of my budget atm. Any less costly options to bolster my counters overall power?
• Blazing Archon - Do I really need a 9 CMC guy here with all the propaganda effects I have? He's good, but is he too redundant for what the dekc wants to do. I probably want to lower the curve a bit and he seems a prime candidate to move that direction.

Quote from Kamma

with the tax theme so strong here, I would cut the high curve threats and get some armageddon-like effects in, along with many mana stones and winter orb. I also like magus of the tabernacle/tabernacle.

I'm personally not a fan of Armageddon cards. The deck gets me the 'Oh that deck' look already. A few mana stones may not be the worst idea. I'd originally kept artifacts at a minimum since I'd planned to add Kataki, War's Wage but I decided against it ultimately since my friend who runs an all artifact deck would hate me. Another thing to think about, supression field would effectively shut off my mana rocks as well if I were to add up a bunch.

If Tabernacle wasn't $350 it would be a card to look at for sure. With ~1/5 creatures in my deck currently, would tabernacle effects be too damaging to my own field or would they slot in fine along with the rest of my taxing effects?

Blazing Archon Seems like an unnecessicarily high CMC card. With your taxing you probably want to run a lower curve where possible. You need to lock down the field as fast as possible and a 9 CMC doesn't hep that strategy.

You want your lockdown to be dependable, and neither Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant or Aetherplasm do that for you in this deck.

I picked up Cryptic Command cheap tonight for an upgrade in the counter department. I'm debating on what to swap for it. I can either swap it in for rewind or swap it in for another card and go up a counter. Any suggestions?

I had a thought looking at the case earlier. Would Kiega, the Tide Star be a good fit here, or would I be better off just putting in another theft spell?

Quote from jmdt

I picked up Cryptic Command cheap tonight for an upgrade in the counter department. I'm debating on what to swap for it. I can either swap it in for rewind or swap it in for another card and go up a counter. Any suggestions?

I had a thought looking at the case earlier. Would Kiega, the Tide Star be a good fit here, or would I be better off just putting in another theft spell?

Cryptic for rewind looks like a good swap, as long as the UUU doesn't bite you. You may want to look into more dual lands to make the deck more consistantly able to hit UUU. With all the enchantments you run, maybe look at Serra's Sanctum for some power plays.

Kiega is ok, but a card like Control Magic will give you more immediate value. Every card should immediately pain your opponents.

I think I'm going to work Pendrell Mists and Mana Web into my list to mess with people's mana a it more. Only testing will tell how much pendrell mists will effect my board presence. I may get Kataki War's Wage to add to the package, I may lose friends, but oh well, lol.

I'll swap Cryptic command in for Rewind for the time being. I don't think I need any more counters than 6 and rewind was my weakest options.

Any other suggestions, or mean cards I'm missing?

So lets talk lands for this deck. I need a few more duals for this deck, but how many is a good amount for a dual-color deck? The filter land and Nimbus Maze seem like good options, but haw far into cards like City of Brass do I need to go. running mostly basics, I'm not THAT bad off, but I do get mana screwed from time-to-time.

What are some good utility lands I can look toward? The tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is just not at all in my budget unfortunately. Cards like Kor Haven seem like the direction I want to go with utility lands.

How many enchantments total would I need to make Serra's Sanctum work. I have ~ 17 atm, and plans are in the next update to bump than number closer to around 20-21. Some games I have 4-5 enchantments sitting around, but others Sanctum would be a dead card. Thoughts?

Not going to lie, you will be a marked man when you run this deck lol. I built a very similar one and while I enjoyed hearing every angry sigh and grunt from people having to pay extra for stuff, It wasnt so fun always being the first out and having to wait for the next game lol.

There are definitly some cards I would consider running from the Taxing Dept.

Leonin Arbiter- Nothing more taxing than making people pay extra just to crack a fetch land or turn someones Demonic Tutor into a Diabolic Tutor lol

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - Sure it makes your stuff cost more too but her affect is negated by GV4, You stuff will STILL be cheaper and everyone elses stuff costs 2 more. Plus shes easier to cast than the Chancellor of the Annex.

Magus of the Tabernacle You were saying something about a Tabernacle?
Magus of the Moat
Silent Arbiter- "Slow your Role when you attack me"
Gwafa Hazzid, Profiteer - GV4 and him are Bros
Rishadan Cutpurse - Fun if you can fit Venser, The Sojouner in.
Frost Titan - 6/6 Beater that slows your Opps down AND TAXES them to remove seems right up your alley.

Something I noticed when I played my deck was that sometimes people would manage to get around having to pay more for stuff and would just start dropping threats. I added Restore Balance, Balancing Act and Ward of Bones to help with that

Some non-basics to consider.
Mystic Gate
Prahv, Spires of Order- Kinda expensive but hey they are in your colors
Mystifying Maze
Moorland Haunt - You said you dont use your Gy all that much so it couldnt hurt to get an instant Speed Flying Blocker.
Dust Bowl - Nothing like wrecking someones day by taking out their mana base...
Glacial Chasm The Upkeep Cost isnt pretty but sorta along the same lines as Kor Haven
Halls of Mist Propaganda-like (I actually just found this lol)
Kjeldoran Outpost - Make 1/1s on a land isnt the worse thing..
Mistveil Plains - No harm in having a little recursion. Sometimes its better to have a card back in your deck then sitting in the GY where you cant use it.
Rhystic Cave - Taxing on a land?
Soldevi Excavations- Scry on a Land
Tolaria West - Tutor for any land (or 0 Costed spell)

Quote from Helios52

Not going to lie, you will be a marked man when you run this deck lol. I built a very similar one and while I enjoyed hearing every angry sigh and grunt from people having to pay extra for stuff, It wasnt so fun always being the first out and having to wait for the next game lol.

There are definitly some cards I would consider running from the Taxing Dept.

Leonin Arbiter- Nothing more taxing than making people pay extra just to crack a fetch land or turn someones Demonic Tutor into a Diabolic Tutor lol

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - Sure it makes your stuff cost more too but her affect is negated by GV4, You stuff will STILL be cheaper and everyone elses stuff costs 2 more. Plus shes easier to cast than the Chancellor of the Annex.

Magus of the Tabernacle You were saying something about a Tabernacle?
Magus of the Moat
Silent Arbiter- "Slow your Role when you attack me"
Gwafa Hazzid, Profiteer - GV4 and him are Bros
Rishadan Cutpurse - Fun if you can fit Venser, The Sojouner in.
Frost Titan - 6/6 Beater that slows your Opps down AND TAXES them to remove seems right up your alley.

Something I noticed when I played my deck was that sometimes people would manage to get around having to pay more for stuff and would just start dropping threats. I added Restore Balance, Balancing Act and Ward of Bones to help with that

Some non-basics to consider.
Mystic Gate
Prahv, Spires of Order- Kinda expensive but hey they are in your colors
Mystifying Maze
Moorland Haunt - You said you dont use your Gy all that much so it couldnt hurt to get an instant Speed Flying Blocker.
Dust Bowl - Nothing like wrecking someones day by taking out their mana base...
Glacial Chasm The Upkeep Cost isnt pretty but sorta along the same lines as Kor Haven
Halls of Mist Propaganda-like (I actually just found this lol)
Kjeldoran Outpost - Make 1/1s on a land isnt the worse thing..
Mistveil Plains - No harm in having a little recursion. Sometimes its better to have a card back in your deck then sitting in the GY where you cant use it.
Rhystic Cave - Taxing on a land?
Soldevi Excavations- Scry on a Land
Tolaria West - Tutor for any land (or 0 Costed spell)

Thanks so much for your suggestions.

Well, when I decided to delve into blue for the 1st time, I decided to do it right, lol. Yeah, this deck will draw hate and ire for certain. People just don't like sitting there helpless. Its strong in testing multiplayer and 1v1, its been close to unbeatable.

How does Leonin Arbiter compare to Aven Mindcensor? I've been eying mincensor, but haven't found a hard copy yet. I currently run thalia, and she is great!!!

Cards like Gwafa Hazzid, Profiteer and Rishadan Cutpurse look and are great, however Since I run Torpor Orb and Supression Field I'm quite hesitant to run too many cards with ETB abilities or activated abilities. A can get away with activated abilities more, but if a card in in solely for its activated ability and field is out, it becomes almost useless. I've won games solely on Suppression Field locking down my opponents. How many ETB and activated ablilty cards can I get away with while running these hate cards?

On to land.

Dust Bowl would probably require me to add Crucible of Worlds to the deck. At that point I could go for the mild LD aspect with strip mine.

Mystic Gate is a definite addition to the mana base.

Glacial Chasm is an underrated card I run in Azusa. With Crucible of Worlds you can chain it where you don't pay the upkeep, you attack, then you replay it so no one else can attack you. Obviously this loses land drops, but there are times its worth it. Mystifying Maze is a great card for stopping attackers, assuming they have no crazy ETB effects (although we do have orb).

Kjeldoran Outpost is an interesting land. I don't like that it makes me sac a land, but a token make on a stick is nice, as is the ability to produce white mana. Its another that begs for crucible. Soldevi Excavations is also a very nice card with Crucible out (it looks like I need a 3rd crucible, lol)

Rhystic Cave is quite interesting, on one hand its taxing and a great dual land, but if we fail to launch, its a land that will effectively never produce mana, I will have to test this one.

If I get lands I need greatly, Tolaria West will become an auto include.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Booo! Hisss! GAA4!!!

Anyways now that my obligatory hate of the other good Azorious legendary has been addressed. I would suggest Sun Titan. You mentioned not having many ways of recursion.
Oblivion Ring also seems like it should be included.

So... what's your win condition?

I recently built a similar tax GAAIV deck and the only thing i'm doing with it is taxing, countering, and forcing people to sacrifice things.

I can't figure out how i will actually win. Are you swinging for general damage?

Is angel of jubilation good in your deck? I've been curious about her because in my meta alot of sacrifice shenanigans happen. No one in my group runs 'potence (yet, I'm working on getting a new one.) so the no-life-payment isn't a big issue.

I would suggest adding in Suppression Field as an on theme card.

With the number of enchantments in the deck, I would think that a copy of Hanna, Ship's Navigator and/or Replenish would be a good idea. After all, it looks like a single Back to Nature could go a long way to ruining your day if you don't have a counter in hand, or if they cast it with Boseiju.

Quote from mmapson125

Booo! Hisss! GAA4!!!

Anyways now that my obligatory hate of the other good Azorious legendary has been addressed. I would suggest Sun Titan. You mentioned not having many ways of recursion.
Oblivion Ring also seems like it should be included.

Yeah, GA4 is mean.

I actually removed O-Ring recently to add in Detention Sphere which functionally does the same thing. I've added in Rest in Peace to combat graveyard shenanigans so it makes me leay to run cards that primarily interact with the graveyard. Maybe I'm off base, but it seems like a nobo waiting to happen if I draw Sun Titan the turn after I drop Rest in Peace. Sun Titan is likely the best recursion engine if I did run one so it can return all my fun enchanments.

Quote from Shmo40

So... what's your win condition?

I recently built a similar tax GAAIV deck and the only thing i'm doing with it is taxing, countering, and forcing people to sacrifice things.

I can't figure out how i will actually win. Are you swinging for general damage?

Winning...yeah it seems as actually winning the game is the most difficult part for a tax deck. I can lock down the field and we all know I will win, but actually getting to that win can take 30 minutes or more as I finally draw into something that can actually kill someone.

I've had the most wins getting Luminarch Ascension on line. Once we get the field locked down, it only takes two go-arounds of the table to get it online and the we start overwhelming the field with tokens. If you drop it turn two, it could go active before anyone has an active response.

I added Kozilek, the Butcher mainly to have something big to swing at people once I have the table locked down. With the full on tax up, its annihilator ability is even more devestating than usual. Avacyn, Angel of Hope fills a similar role. Once she comes out, she can also beat people to death and gives my army the leeway to swing without too much worry.

Unfortunately after that, most of the other guys are mainly taxing or utility pieces that are on tinyish bodies. Other games I just plain nickle dime people to death. A killed a player before swinging 8 consecutive turns with Chancellor of the Annex. I've also killed players with the combination of like Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Windborn Muse over a dreadful many turns.

Quote from jakalova

Is angel of jubilation good in your deck? I've been curious about her because in my meta alot of sacrifice shenanigans happen. No one in my group runs 'potence (yet, I'm working on getting a new one.) so the no-life-payment isn't a big issue.

I would suggest adding in Suppression Field as an on theme card.

In my meta, angel of jubilation is a complete all-star. Shutting down sacrifice really hurts several of the decks in my meta and the black decks all run necropotence, so it hits those guys hard as well. Its a meta call kind of card, but if you see sacrifice of life payments happening, its a card that will be high value.

I do run suppression field; its been one of the strongest cards in the deck. The card is a complete beast. It slows down fetch lands, makes planeswalkers harder to use, it slows utility lands, and makes a number of creatures and artifacts very difficult to use. The card completly wrecks my friends Azusa deck and makes him want to throw somehting at me.

Quote from Xaios

With the number of enchantments in the deck, I would think that a copy of Hanna, Ship's Navigator and/or Replenish would be a good idea. After all, it looks like a single Back to Nature could go a long way to ruining your day if you don't have a counter in hand, or if they cast it with Boseiju.

I'll toss out the same basic thought I had earlier. Since I run suppression field, I tend to shy away from cards like Hannah, Ship's Navigator, and with Rest in peace I've essntially ignored the graveyard even when a card like Replenish makes perfect sense normally. In practice this approach has worked OK so far.

I haven't really tried to push the boundry though. There is probably a number of important grave recovery cards and cards with activated abilities I can run and not overly hinder myself. Suppression field and Rest in peaceare too good to remove, but I have also warped my deck around them. Does anyone have experience working around these symmetrical taxing effects?

I picked up Faerie Trickery to run in place of Memory Lapse. Lapse I've been liking less and less.

I also got a Pendrill Mists to try to slot into the deck. I can see myself going into a more enchantment based route with the deck.

I also may take a bit more open stance on working around my hate. I may consider cards like Sun Titan, Replenish, Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer, and Hannah, Ship's Navigator to add utility. 2-3 cards with activated abilities, GY interaction, or ETB's shouldn't hurt me too often.