When you loop her with your metamorph or steel, you can do it unlimited times. You can logicially say you do it until it comes up with only eldrazi cards.
Also Abrupt Decay will take care of Rest in Peace and the like even if its a control deck running it, I cant think of any yard hate more than 3. Maybe your meta isnt playing much, but if you continue to play this deck I'm sure they will.
704.5k If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”
Sharuum has the unique ability to abuse this ruling by looping a itself or an artifact clone of itself through the yard. This rule goes into effect before ETB on the stack, meaning you have to put a Sharuum in the yard before the "Return target artifact from GY to play" goes off on the stack. So you can infinitely repeat this, which will give infinite triggers on something like Disciple of the Vault or provide infinite copies of Bitter Ordeal. Here, that is the deck's primary focus.
Disciple of the Vault: The preference to run this over Blasting Station is the cmc. This part of the combo needs to present before the Sharuum loop begins, and my personal preference is to pay as little as possible. By this time, a black mana is easy to spare. There's no real way I've found to make it easier to cast or cheat in Blasting Station that doesn't cost more precious slots. Mishra's Workshop will always pay for Sharuum's generic mana. The creature aspect obv makes it easier to target, but they already have Sharuum as a target. This is why we play lots of counterspells.
Dark Confidant: Bob is pretty obvious. We have a very low cmc avg and only get burned on a few cards. He helps push through counterspell trade games and comes down easier than Phyrexian Arena. He usually won't take removal priority and sit around to at least get you +1 card. I find that if mono green is in your meta you may be able to cut him since players are probably board wiping pretty regularly.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy: A looter is pretty great here, but Jace came and destroyed the standard. They didn't make the cut when all they could do was maybe smooth draws a bit or set up for combo, but sticking Snapcaster onto it and making it not die to ping made it an auto-include. Having the snapcaster be limited to our turn only is fine- it makes it easier to toss a counterspell or even Angel's Grace and still get use from it later, and without the 2cmc on top.
Notion Thief: Priceless tech in competetive metas. Wheels of some form are always present, us or them. 4 cmc isn't hard to have when an opponent goes for it early, and UB are our go to colors. Having him present on the board is a pita too, so during counter trade games he's great to have on board. Like Bob or Baby Jace, seeing them bite removal just means its safer to combo.
Phyrexian Metamorph Combo piece #1. Has some back up utility in copying an early Gilded Lotus or what have you. In a lot of cases, unless you can combo t1-t3, you're probably going to start seeing counterspells or removal, so investing in mana instead of holding out for other combo pieces can be better. The deck is fluid enough to find another piece, or Transmute Artifact it right into the yard paying for it with the rock you cloned.
Tormod's Crypt: Graveyard hate is a lot more universal than the average player seems to give it credit for. I can’t think of a competitive deck I’ve built that doesn’t at least invest a card or two in using what’s in the yard to my advantage, across all colors. Nihil Spellbomb is the other option (or redundancy if your meta demands) I chose Tormod just because my draw is comfortable enough to just need to clear what I need to or threaten to do so without investing mana. It turns on metal craft without mana too, though I think all that’s left for that is the mox.
Chrome Mox and friends: To save space, I’ll summarize the standard 0 cmc rocks in one since they’re common knowledge if you’re reading a competitive list besides LED/Bloom. Without green, this is out fast mana. Exiling a card or discarding a land is fine, and your priority is 2 blue mana>2 black mana>1 white mana.
Lion's Eye Diamond: Used after casting a wheel to float mana, or AN, as is standard. Here though, we have a few extra windows to use the card, though they’re high risk. The obvious is to spill a combo piece into the yard with Disciple on board, and ramp into Sharuum. This is super rare, but it tends to be telegraphed when you can. I really don’t advise it thought unless you’ve been able to scout for a FoW from where you expect it. It’s also possible to assemble combos if you play a few other cards, but I’ll cover that in the “other options” section.
Lotus Bloom: With it in yard, it can be brought back after the loop to cast Bitter Ordeal. This is technically the cheapest route to combo since all you'll need to pay for (assuming the clone is in yard already) is Sharuum. Unlike the Disciple of the Vault route, Bitter Ordeal can be cast after the Loop taking place. If you're trying to combo this way, it's the safest route.
Sensei’s Divining Top: Cliche commander staple and a combo piece with Helm of Awakening + Future Sight.
2 + cmc Mana Rocks: Well, I don’t need to say much. Our only way of ramping. Mana Vault and Grim Monolith are usually reserved for combo turns, but don't be afraid to use them where needed.
Helm of Awakening: A combo piece. I honestly couldn’t tell you a confident line of play to see where you can play it and not try and win that turn without winning someone else the game, but it is possible. I think it's a lot about if you know your table. Combo turns do usually involve 3+ spells, so this can pay for itself outside of intended areas.
Sculpting Steel: Combo piece #2. See Phyrexian Metamorph for the basic run down. I consider this a bit worse than PM because of spells like Negate.
Necropotence: Another standard, but we do need to be a bit careful. It turns off discard (which a lot of players don’t seem to remember) so getting your artifact clone needs to get in the yard by means besides things like baby Jace or Thirst for Knowledge. We have plenty of options, and even more on the bench, so don’t consider it too much of a hinderance. It’s just key to be aware. Don’t expect this to act like a tutor and dig for exactly what you need. It’s meant to keep you ahead. You want to find counter spells and draw, even be it discard. Play through and outpace players, don’t try and race their combo, unless something like Purphoros is on board, recurring damage and the life we spend on average is going to add up to 40 fast.
Future Sight: I was so against this card for so long because my one pet peeve- and something I think Sharuum would agree with is to give up info on my cards. This Sharuum deck is ages old and seen many, many iterations from flash to the engine core, and what it’s always been known for is having answers to everything, and my familiar pods debating if I have them or not. However, now that she’s purely competitive, Sharuum and I agreed this is the one that’s worth it. I didn’t believe the hype, but it’s fantastic outside of combo. Resolving a 5 cmc spell is a bit janky when it isn’t to combo, but it’s proven it’s worth. It can feel dead in hands where you can race for a combo, but then again a good amount of the deck will feel that way. We can rush combos but we also have a few tools to survive mid game. Sharuum’s ability isn’t just the combo.
Gitaxian Probe: Honestly, this is my favorite card. It’s what indirectly got me to understand competitive magic when I came back from playing as a kid, which was around the Onslaught block. The peek aspect is honestly priceless, there’s almost always a player who obviously needs to be checked to see what that counter spell is going to do- protect your combo or stop another. Players underrate peek because it can end up dead, but I really think there’s a lot to read in what people are playing, and tells for who to check. If you know your table well enough, it’s usually obvious. On the other end, when it feels anyone can have it, you need to watch for players who leave one or two mana up every turn. I frequently deal with 1 cmc counters, and players can telegraph when they’re playing safe rather than proactive.
Ponder and Preordain: More staples and two more of my favorites. These cards are honestly auto-include in any blue deck I build, even creature heavy decks now, like Marchesa, the Black Rose. They’re just real grease- they smooth early draws and late game. I find there’s never a time they’re dead. Silver bullets for FoW, any turn you don’t cast it you’re on your main plan, and rarely is there a turn I can’t spare a U, even that means just casting one of these then leaving 2-3 up to play through other players combos if my hand is full of control. They just pace with every stage of the game, no matter what’s happening.
Thoughtsieze: This has been more of a test, but a successful one. An extra check is great, and getting rid of whatever the removal/counter is even better. It’s also great for when someone else pulls ahead. Baby Jace flashes this back the most after counter spells and Silence.
Demonic Tutor and Grim Tutor: Don’t always tutor for combo pieces. You really need to judge the table before you use these, we have other tutoring abilities that can essentially only be used to tutor for combo pieces, so these are invaluable for grabbing what may be appropriate for the game at hand. I only tutor early if I pulled ahead early, or t1 with a 0 cmc rock- something where the risk is low.
Night’s Whisper: Cards that actually give you +1 card are awesome. As much as I love all my cantrips, this is where the real value is. It’s the easier to cast Sign in Blood, and with how often we need to fetch blue as a priority, that generic mana means a lot. Fast games it’s honestly better than Bob since you generate the +1 the same turn.
Transmute Artifact: This can do a lot more than just tutor the artifact you need. With the way it’s worded, you can actually have it act as an Entomb, letting whatever it is you tutored be sacrificed by not paying the difference with what you sacced to tutor. This obviously makes the process of getting a clone into the yard much easier. Again, reading the table is important. This is another value card you need to be guided by the game at hand. Just slamming the clone into the yard asap can be foolish in some games. Keep in mind the Future Sight combo has two artifact pieces and Thormod’s Crypt. I’ll mention again that a good play in long games is to let clones copy big mana rocks and eventually sac them off with this, which usually ramps in the process. (Possible leftover mana from the cloned rock + tutoring a mana rock.)
Bitter Ordeal: A combo piece and well, like the coolest card are of all time. To explain again, by doing our Sharuum clone loop, we get to have an unlimited amount of artifact creatures enter the Graveyard. So, our Bitter Ordeal can unquestionably exile every card from our opponent’s decks. It had mid-game value, exiling combo pieces from decks following, say a big Toxic Deluge. Careful however, of Shadow of Doubt. Ordeal searches the library. We push through Aven Mindcensor, which is obviously way more common.
Grim Tutor: Another Tutor. And expensive too. I don’t even know if I really needed it, but another black tutor over Fabricate seemed the way to go.
Timetwister: Another staple. One I think doesn’t need much explaining from me. The only thing that might be mentionable about how its unique in Sharuum is just that the GY shuffle clause is no big deal. You really don’t want to drop that clone into the yard til you’re ready to combo out. If you need to cast it to actually get a hand back, you have to accept having to do that stage over. With the amount of rocks we can spill out though, drawing a fresh seven minus the lands and rocks you have on board is pretty promising- certainly a better position than 2-3 cards and just digging for a piece slowly.
Toxic Deluge: Cheapest creature wipe we can run, plays through indestructible, elves dying. What more can you ask for? Another card to kind of gauge your table, be wary of someone who can pull out some kind of anthem/single target buff. Sometimes that one creature surviving will cost you the game. I honestly add 2 on if I don’t know the decks I’m facing well.
Windfall: We can benefit from a wheel that bins the old hand instead of shuffling, but so can other decks. I’d say its another card to gauge the table, but I have been fine doing it whenever, with a 50-50 ratio of beating Dies_to_Doomblade’s reanimation list, although the pilot is not nearly as skilled as he was, so take that with a grain of salt.
Yawgmoth's Will: Super Valuetown 64. With rocks, cantrips, rituals, and tutors, what you did to pave your way to t3/t4 will push you to be in a position to win or get a big push ahead. It's hard for me to say when isn't a good time to play it, I think I've been fortunate enough in my career when any time I draw it it's been nothing but value aside say opening hand. If it's drawn in AN, even a pile of 12-15 cards of this deck selected at random (minus the few cards you've put into play/yard) can usually win you the game when you can use them twice.
Dark Petition: I know its expensive and hurts off of Bob and AN, but it’s so worth it. Climbing to 5 is pretty easy here, and so is establishing spell mastery- even as early as t2. It seems risky, but it’s still a really awkward to set up Demonic Tutor. We lose out in that we can’t try and t1 or t2 it reliably like every other tutor, but again we want reach in competitive mid-game. The extra tutor is helpful, and yes, even the extra black mana that’s converted can be useful.
Pact of Negation: It honestly goes in and out. It really only has value on the combo turn, which kind of sucks, but with something like Tainted Pact, it kind of adds a little more reliability than FoW. I don’t always end up with a blue card in hand at all times, so being able to grab this has won me a bunch of games, but at the same time that was all before my games started going a few turns longer. I think it’s value may not be enough to survive the next great card we could add, but for now it has its place.
Angel’s Grace: It’s more than just a combo piece with AN. I’ve honestly seen more faces of frustration and confusion from Angel’s Grace plays in response to a mono green alpha strike or voltron swing. It obv won’t protect you from a good amount of combos, but hey, it is in here for the reason to combo with AN if needed.
Brainstorm: The cantrip of cantrips. With fetch lands, we can send off useless cards from our hand. It’s instant, which lets us bluff a counterspell. Another great staple that keeps your top decks smooth.
Chain of Vapor: It can be a bounce spell for opponents but….it can also ramp us if needed. Sac the tapped land to cast it another rock if you have enough positive on board (positive rocks being those that will tap for more than they cost to cast) It’s rare but, it is viable. I’m yet to see it turned back at me, but we run so few permanents worth targeting, its almost always safe to cast. A personal preference over Swords to Plowshares simply because bouncing something is usually about the same (getting rid of it for 1 turn is enough), can target more permanents, and the free life is still a valued currency. We aren't the only ones who can turn life into cards, and that 2-5 life can be 3-4 more cards on their AN.
Dark Ritual: It can really put you ahead if used properly. I’ve done something as stupid as using it to t1 a Bob and it ended up being the right choice. The way we can churn through cards and find what we need, having a spell that generates two mana, even limited to black, is a ton of value here.
Dispel: Usually combo protection, but obviously can stop other things. When this came in was when I really started to question the value of Pact of Negation. 9/10 it’s instant spells that try and interfere with our combo, and I can usually find the one mana. The upkeep cost of Pact is too rough to let it be used to stop another player’s combo and progress your following turn.
Flusterstorm: Wirrsturm in German…this is another awesome counter spell. Gets whatever removal targets us, stops tutors, and all for 1 to boot. Guaranteed to counter out the door. A personal favorite at this point.
Mental Misstep: I can’t tell you how many spells in high end competitive magic this card hits….it’s phenomenal. There is nothing more rewarding than countering a Sol Ring played t1 by the guy who won the roll. Players cut mana costs anywhere they can, so 1 cmc spells show up everywhere, just look at the list here. Ramp, Removal, protection, tutoring, filtering. I personally think it’s a must have. It doesn’t get weak late game either- things like Path to Exile, Vandalblast, and Return to Nature are a threat no matter what time they’re played. Paying 2 life to counter a Vandalblast a player invested 4 mana in can be a huge tempo swing. I’m gonna say the word Vandalblast one more time so you can understand why this card is especially important here.
Mystical Tutor: Staple. Be wary of telegraphing when you tutor Bitter Ordeal, best to win soon after.
Pull from Eternity: Certainly a meta card. If players aren’t playing GY hate, skip this. As much love as we show Bitter Ordeal, she is an unbiased lover. We’ll be the target of anyone running it too- it sees plenty of play outside of a combo piece. It’ll require a very large one aimed specifically at us to keep us out, and in most cases, it’ll never be large enough unless fed by a ramping dork deck, but in most cases like that they’re distributing the exile.
Silence: This is the card that always make me think White is absolutely a splash able color. It’s become less and less of a prevalent color in the deck, but games when I silence are the games I feel most confident in. It’ll put whoever is ahead behind, or draw out their counter spell. It also is one of the best combo turn protectors, requiring an immediate answer.
Spell Pierce: Possibly a meta card. My biggest threats are racing mana rocks and reanimation spells/enchantments, so this hits just about everything I need, save commanders. It obv ends up being a card with windows of usage, but t1-t3 casts rarely ever have 2 mana up afterwards. It doesn’t hit dorks, which is why I called it a meta card. If they were more prevalent for me, I might cut it.
Swan Song: Another staple. We don’t run walkers or swing into things so, at worst we get it thrown at us every turn out of spite. A lot of players will just save it for Chump blocking if the table calls for it, so we can avoid the damage sometimes.
Vampiric Tutor: Another one I probably don’t need to explain much. We don’t telegraph like with Mystical but players always assume the worst.
Cabal Ritual: The awkward big brother of Dark Ritual. It’s pretty easy to establish threshold, and provides a ton of mana in tandem with Yawg’s Will. I could understand it being cut from some lists, but I personally appreciate it, especially ing ames where I have Mana Vault tapped down already.
Counterspell: Counter stuff. 9/10 I use this for stopping other combos or annoying cards. Covering our combo with two blue mana can be a real stretch.
Impulse: Digging 4 at instant speed makes up for the 2 cmc. Being able to bluff a counter is great. Sadly the cards we see and don’t want go bottom deck, which can give you some hard choices. I personally prioritize combo stuff, but will take tutors over say a clone, in case the game suddenly isn’t in my favor or I top deck a redundant piece.
Lim-Dil’s Vault- I know, I’ll fix the link later. This card can set up wins or find whatever kind of piece you need. Sure it doesn’t actually draw but it’s instant speed so it just smooths your next draw. In the end it’s a possibly better Vampiric tutor for more life. I’ve never had to go past 7 or so to find a pile I really liked. This is another card you don’t want to always rely on finding combos. Many games finding a good pile of interaction is what will let you come out on top.
Mana Drain: Needs no explanation. If you have it, you’re running it.
Negate: As bad as commanders and dorks are, I think the biggest threats are all targetable by Negate. The wording is great, I doubt we’ll ever see a new card type like when planes walker came out, but it’ll still be targetable by this. I don’t think it’s worth swapping to Remove Soul even if you have a creature heavy meta, best to cut this and Pierce for appropriate board wipes.
Remand: Best used to either slow a player down early turns or put Sharuum back in hand if she’s countered to save us the extra 2. Can obviously act as a hard counter for combo turns if the player can’t cast it again, but I’ve found that to be what its used for the least.
Tainted Pact: Sort of a pet card. At the moment I’m running 2 islands, which sounds super janky, but I usually tutor one just because of stuff like Blood Moon. At any point I’d want to cast the Pact, I won’t have both islands in the deck. I just appreciate being able to tutor an island but also still have one in the deck in case of stuff like path or what have you, and not be obligated to grab the swamp. Anyways, the windows the card has is to risk a quick win, find a counter spell or w/e you need in Response to your combo turn, or winning outright with Lab man and some way to draw after you exile your deck.
Unsubtantiate: It’s not a worse remand. Remand cannot bounce a Narset coming down off of Cavern of Souls. It isn’t even the extra bounce that won a slot here. A lot of players who have a way to make a spell uncountable can rarely cast it a second time the same turn, and a lot of those times it’s the game ending play.
Frantic Search: Free discard for combo and ramps hard with Mishra’s Workshop. We always want to be digging, and this is always pleasant to see. A lot better in a build with High Tide, which is always on the fringe of the deck.
Intuition: Can set up fast wins acting as an expensive entomb, but also has the upside of using mutually assured destruction and having a player give you whats need to stop another player’s combo. This has become rarer and rarer, and with the amount of times it actually is an expensive Entomb, it makes me wanna just run that instead.
Thirst for Knowledge: Another awesome instant speed draw. Obv helps with combo, but it’s surely efficient to play it just to dig. In reality, the clone doesn’t really need to be in the yard for the combo to happen, Sharuum can be and board and cloned from hand, though that obviously is riskier and expensive mana wise. Point I meant to make was, don’t sit on this as if its sole purpose will be to put a clone in yard.
Ad Nauseam: This is a very greedy Ad Nauseam build. I’ve learned through researching many different reputable AN builds, and it really reigns supreme to make any cut to cmc you can. The 1 cmc spells that seem like they have smaller windows that going up to 2 reward you here. We want to take as many cards as possible and as early as possible. This card is critical to play right. I’ve won maybe a handful of games where what I put together was stopped, but in a lot of games where you’ve made that effort, even after being stopped, you will be impeded further. Play it only in an effort to win.
Force of Will: Another staple. It is a big bump for AN and Bob, but a counter spell we can use while tapped out from combo is great. We make sure our hand is as full as possible so that a card like this can be reliable.
When you loop her with your metamorph or steel, you can do it unlimited times. You can logicially say you do it until it comes up with only eldrazi cards.
Also Abrupt Decay will take care of Rest in Peace and the like even if its a control deck running it, I cant think of any yard hate more than 3. Maybe your meta isnt playing much, but if you continue to play this deck I'm sure they will.
Necrotic Sliver Too abuseable
Shadowborn Demon Sacs himself to be recast or gives you a 5/6 blocker the turn after.
Saffi Eriksdotter Don't even need to say.
704.5k If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”
Sharuum has the unique ability to abuse this ruling by looping a itself or an artifact clone of itself through the yard. This rule goes into effect before ETB on the stack, meaning you have to put a Sharuum in the yard before the "Return target artifact from GY to play" goes off on the stack. So you can infinitely repeat this, which will give infinite triggers on something like Disciple of the Vault or provide infinite copies of Bitter Ordeal. Here, that is the deck's primary focus.
Creature (6)
1 Disciple of the VaultFoil
2 Dark ConfidantFoil
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Laboratory ManiacFoil
4 Notion ThiefFoil
4 Phyrexian MetamorphFoil
Artifact (20)
0 Tormod's CryptFoil
0 Chrome MoxFoil
0 Lion's Eye Diamond
0 Lotus BloomFoil
0 Lotus PetalFoil
0 Mana CryptFoil
0 Mox DiamondFoil
0 Mox OpalFoil
1 Mana VaultFoil
1 Sensei's Divining TopFoil
1 Sol RingFoil
2 Azorius SignetFoil
2 Dimir SignetFoil
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Grim MonolithFoil
2 Helm of Awakening
2 Orzhov SignetFoil
2 Talisman of DominanceFoil
2 Talisman of ProgressFoil
3 Sculpting SteelFoil
Enchantment (2)
3 NecropotenceFoil
5 Future SightFoil
Sorcery (14)
1 Gitaxian ProbeFoil
1 PonderFoil
1 PreordainFoil
1 ThoughtseizeFoil
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Night's WhisperFoil
2 Transmute Artifact
3 Bitter OrdealFoil
3 Grim Tutor
3 Timetwister
3 Toxic DelugeFoil
3 Windfall
3 Yawgmoth's Will
5 Dark PetitionFoil
0 Pact of Negation
1 Angel's GraceFoil
1 BrainstormFoil
1 Chain of VaporFoil
1 Dark RitualFoil
1 DispelFoil
1 Flusterstorm (German)
1 Mental MisstepFoil
1 Mystical TutorFoil
1 Pull from EternityFoil
1 SilenceFoil
1 Spell PierceFoil
1 Swan SongFoil
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Cabal RitualFoil
2 CounterspellFoil
2 Cyclonic RiftFoil
2 ImpulseFoil
2 Lim-Dûl's Vault
2 Mana Drain
2 NegateFoil
2 Remand Foil
2 Tainted PactFoil
2 UnsubstantiateFoil
3 Frantic SearchFoil
3 Intuition
3 Thirst for KnowledgeFoil
5 Ad NauseamFoil
5 Force of Will
Lands (28)
0 Ancient TombFoil
0 Arid MesaFoil
0 Bloodstained MireFoil
0 City of BrassFoil
0 City of Traitors
0 Command TowerFoil
0 Flooded StrandFoil
0 Gemstone CavernsFoil
0 Godless ShrineFoil
0 Hallowed FountainFoil
0 Island (2)Foil
0 Mana ConfluenceFoil
0 Marsh FlatsFoil
0 Mishra's Workshop
0 Misty RainforestFoil
0 Polluted DeltaFoil
0 Seat of the SynodFoil
0 Scalding TarnFoil
0 Scrubland
0 Sunken RuinsFoil
0 SwampFoil
0 Tundra
0 Underground Sea
0 Urborg, Tomb og YawgmothFoil
0 Verdant CatacombsFoil
0 Watery GraveFoil
0 Windswept HeathFoil
The card by card break down:
Disciple of the Vault: The preference to run this over Blasting Station is the cmc. This part of the combo needs to present before the Sharuum loop begins, and my personal preference is to pay as little as possible. By this time, a black mana is easy to spare. There's no real way I've found to make it easier to cast or cheat in Blasting Station that doesn't cost more precious slots. Mishra's Workshop will always pay for Sharuum's generic mana. The creature aspect obv makes it easier to target, but they already have Sharuum as a target. This is why we play lots of counterspells.
Dark Confidant: Bob is pretty obvious. We have a very low cmc avg and only get burned on a few cards. He helps push through counterspell trade games and comes down easier than Phyrexian Arena. He usually won't take removal priority and sit around to at least get you +1 card. I find that if mono green is in your meta you may be able to cut him since players are probably board wiping pretty regularly.
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy: A looter is pretty great here, but Jace came and destroyed the standard. They didn't make the cut when all they could do was maybe smooth draws a bit or set up for combo, but sticking Snapcaster onto it and making it not die to ping made it an auto-include. Having the snapcaster be limited to our turn only is fine- it makes it easier to toss a counterspell or even Angel's Grace and still get use from it later, and without the 2cmc on top.
Laboratory Maniac: An alt win con. Cliche, but well, with the pieces we use it's the most viable one. Drawing deck with the Future Sight combo, Ad Nauseam+ Angel's Grace, and Tainted Pact.
Notion Thief: Priceless tech in competetive metas. Wheels of some form are always present, us or them. 4 cmc isn't hard to have when an opponent goes for it early, and UB are our go to colors. Having him present on the board is a pita too, so during counter trade games he's great to have on board. Like Bob or Baby Jace, seeing them bite removal just means its safer to combo.
Phyrexian Metamorph Combo piece #1. Has some back up utility in copying an early Gilded Lotus or what have you. In a lot of cases, unless you can combo t1-t3, you're probably going to start seeing counterspells or removal, so investing in mana instead of holding out for other combo pieces can be better. The deck is fluid enough to find another piece, or Transmute Artifact it right into the yard paying for it with the rock you cloned.
Tormod's Crypt: Graveyard hate is a lot more universal than the average player seems to give it credit for. I can’t think of a competitive deck I’ve built that doesn’t at least invest a card or two in using what’s in the yard to my advantage, across all colors. Nihil Spellbomb is the other option (or redundancy if your meta demands) I chose Tormod just because my draw is comfortable enough to just need to clear what I need to or threaten to do so without investing mana. It turns on metal craft without mana too, though I think all that’s left for that is the mox.
Chrome Mox and friends: To save space, I’ll summarize the standard 0 cmc rocks in one since they’re common knowledge if you’re reading a competitive list besides LED/Bloom. Without green, this is out fast mana. Exiling a card or discarding a land is fine, and your priority is 2 blue mana>2 black mana>1 white mana.
Lion's Eye Diamond: Used after casting a wheel to float mana, or AN, as is standard. Here though, we have a few extra windows to use the card, though they’re high risk. The obvious is to spill a combo piece into the yard with Disciple on board, and ramp into Sharuum. This is super rare, but it tends to be telegraphed when you can. I really don’t advise it thought unless you’ve been able to scout for a FoW from where you expect it. It’s also possible to assemble combos if you play a few other cards, but I’ll cover that in the “other options” section.
Lotus Bloom: With it in yard, it can be brought back after the loop to cast Bitter Ordeal. This is technically the cheapest route to combo since all you'll need to pay for (assuming the clone is in yard already) is Sharuum. Unlike the Disciple of the Vault route, Bitter Ordeal can be cast after the Loop taking place. If you're trying to combo this way, it's the safest route.
Sensei’s Divining Top: Cliche commander staple and a combo piece with Helm of Awakening + Future Sight.
2 + cmc Mana Rocks: Well, I don’t need to say much. Our only way of ramping. Mana Vault and Grim Monolith are usually reserved for combo turns, but don't be afraid to use them where needed.
Helm of Awakening: A combo piece. I honestly couldn’t tell you a confident line of play to see where you can play it and not try and win that turn without winning someone else the game, but it is possible. I think it's a lot about if you know your table. Combo turns do usually involve 3+ spells, so this can pay for itself outside of intended areas.
Sculpting Steel: Combo piece #2. See Phyrexian Metamorph for the basic run down. I consider this a bit worse than PM because of spells like Negate.
Necropotence: Another standard, but we do need to be a bit careful. It turns off discard (which a lot of players don’t seem to remember) so getting your artifact clone needs to get in the yard by means besides things like baby Jace or Thirst for Knowledge. We have plenty of options, and even more on the bench, so don’t consider it too much of a hinderance. It’s just key to be aware. Don’t expect this to act like a tutor and dig for exactly what you need. It’s meant to keep you ahead. You want to find counter spells and draw, even be it discard. Play through and outpace players, don’t try and race their combo, unless something like Purphoros is on board, recurring damage and the life we spend on average is going to add up to 40 fast.
Future Sight: I was so against this card for so long because my one pet peeve- and something I think Sharuum would agree with is to give up info on my cards. This Sharuum deck is ages old and seen many, many iterations from flash to the engine core, and what it’s always been known for is having answers to everything, and my familiar pods debating if I have them or not. However, now that she’s purely competitive, Sharuum and I agreed this is the one that’s worth it. I didn’t believe the hype, but it’s fantastic outside of combo. Resolving a 5 cmc spell is a bit janky when it isn’t to combo, but it’s proven it’s worth. It can feel dead in hands where you can race for a combo, but then again a good amount of the deck will feel that way. We can rush combos but we also have a few tools to survive mid game. Sharuum’s ability isn’t just the combo.
Gitaxian Probe: Honestly, this is my favorite card. It’s what indirectly got me to understand competitive magic when I came back from playing as a kid, which was around the Onslaught block. The peek aspect is honestly priceless, there’s almost always a player who obviously needs to be checked to see what that counter spell is going to do- protect your combo or stop another. Players underrate peek because it can end up dead, but I really think there’s a lot to read in what people are playing, and tells for who to check. If you know your table well enough, it’s usually obvious. On the other end, when it feels anyone can have it, you need to watch for players who leave one or two mana up every turn. I frequently deal with 1 cmc counters, and players can telegraph when they’re playing safe rather than proactive.
Ponder and Preordain: More staples and two more of my favorites. These cards are honestly auto-include in any blue deck I build, even creature heavy decks now, like Marchesa, the Black Rose. They’re just real grease- they smooth early draws and late game. I find there’s never a time they’re dead. Silver bullets for FoW, any turn you don’t cast it you’re on your main plan, and rarely is there a turn I can’t spare a U, even that means just casting one of these then leaving 2-3 up to play through other players combos if my hand is full of control. They just pace with every stage of the game, no matter what’s happening.
Thoughtsieze: This has been more of a test, but a successful one. An extra check is great, and getting rid of whatever the removal/counter is even better. It’s also great for when someone else pulls ahead. Baby Jace flashes this back the most after counter spells and Silence.
Demonic Tutor and Grim Tutor: Don’t always tutor for combo pieces. You really need to judge the table before you use these, we have other tutoring abilities that can essentially only be used to tutor for combo pieces, so these are invaluable for grabbing what may be appropriate for the game at hand. I only tutor early if I pulled ahead early, or t1 with a 0 cmc rock- something where the risk is low.
Night’s Whisper: Cards that actually give you +1 card are awesome. As much as I love all my cantrips, this is where the real value is. It’s the easier to cast Sign in Blood, and with how often we need to fetch blue as a priority, that generic mana means a lot. Fast games it’s honestly better than Bob since you generate the +1 the same turn.
Transmute Artifact: This can do a lot more than just tutor the artifact you need. With the way it’s worded, you can actually have it act as an Entomb, letting whatever it is you tutored be sacrificed by not paying the difference with what you sacced to tutor. This obviously makes the process of getting a clone into the yard much easier. Again, reading the table is important. This is another value card you need to be guided by the game at hand. Just slamming the clone into the yard asap can be foolish in some games. Keep in mind the Future Sight combo has two artifact pieces and Thormod’s Crypt. I’ll mention again that a good play in long games is to let clones copy big mana rocks and eventually sac them off with this, which usually ramps in the process. (Possible leftover mana from the cloned rock + tutoring a mana rock.)
Bitter Ordeal: A combo piece and well, like the coolest card are of all time. To explain again, by doing our Sharuum clone loop, we get to have an unlimited amount of artifact creatures enter the Graveyard. So, our Bitter Ordeal can unquestionably exile every card from our opponent’s decks. It had mid-game value, exiling combo pieces from decks following, say a big Toxic Deluge. Careful however, of Shadow of Doubt. Ordeal searches the library. We push through Aven Mindcensor, which is obviously way more common.
Grim Tutor: Another Tutor. And expensive too. I don’t even know if I really needed it, but another black tutor over Fabricate seemed the way to go.
Timetwister: Another staple. One I think doesn’t need much explaining from me. The only thing that might be mentionable about how its unique in Sharuum is just that the GY shuffle clause is no big deal. You really don’t want to drop that clone into the yard til you’re ready to combo out. If you need to cast it to actually get a hand back, you have to accept having to do that stage over. With the amount of rocks we can spill out though, drawing a fresh seven minus the lands and rocks you have on board is pretty promising- certainly a better position than 2-3 cards and just digging for a piece slowly.
Toxic Deluge: Cheapest creature wipe we can run, plays through indestructible, elves dying. What more can you ask for? Another card to kind of gauge your table, be wary of someone who can pull out some kind of anthem/single target buff. Sometimes that one creature surviving will cost you the game. I honestly add 2 on if I don’t know the decks I’m facing well.
Windfall: We can benefit from a wheel that bins the old hand instead of shuffling, but so can other decks. I’d say its another card to gauge the table, but I have been fine doing it whenever, with a 50-50 ratio of beating Dies_to_Doomblade’s reanimation list, although the pilot is not nearly as skilled as he was, so take that with a grain of salt.
Yawgmoth's Will: Super Valuetown 64. With rocks, cantrips, rituals, and tutors, what you did to pave your way to t3/t4 will push you to be in a position to win or get a big push ahead. It's hard for me to say when isn't a good time to play it, I think I've been fortunate enough in my career when any time I draw it it's been nothing but value aside say opening hand. If it's drawn in AN, even a pile of 12-15 cards of this deck selected at random (minus the few cards you've put into play/yard) can usually win you the game when you can use them twice.
Dark Petition: I know its expensive and hurts off of Bob and AN, but it’s so worth it. Climbing to 5 is pretty easy here, and so is establishing spell mastery- even as early as t2. It seems risky, but it’s still a really awkward to set up Demonic Tutor. We lose out in that we can’t try and t1 or t2 it reliably like every other tutor, but again we want reach in competitive mid-game. The extra tutor is helpful, and yes, even the extra black mana that’s converted can be useful.
Pact of Negation: It honestly goes in and out. It really only has value on the combo turn, which kind of sucks, but with something like Tainted Pact, it kind of adds a little more reliability than FoW. I don’t always end up with a blue card in hand at all times, so being able to grab this has won me a bunch of games, but at the same time that was all before my games started going a few turns longer. I think it’s value may not be enough to survive the next great card we could add, but for now it has its place.
Angel’s Grace: It’s more than just a combo piece with AN. I’ve honestly seen more faces of frustration and confusion from Angel’s Grace plays in response to a mono green alpha strike or voltron swing. It obv won’t protect you from a good amount of combos, but hey, it is in here for the reason to combo with AN if needed.
Brainstorm: The cantrip of cantrips. With fetch lands, we can send off useless cards from our hand. It’s instant, which lets us bluff a counterspell. Another great staple that keeps your top decks smooth.
Chain of Vapor: It can be a bounce spell for opponents but….it can also ramp us if needed. Sac the tapped land to cast it another rock if you have enough positive on board (positive rocks being those that will tap for more than they cost to cast) It’s rare but, it is viable. I’m yet to see it turned back at me, but we run so few permanents worth targeting, its almost always safe to cast. A personal preference over Swords to Plowshares simply because bouncing something is usually about the same (getting rid of it for 1 turn is enough), can target more permanents, and the free life is still a valued currency. We aren't the only ones who can turn life into cards, and that 2-5 life can be 3-4 more cards on their AN.
Dark Ritual: It can really put you ahead if used properly. I’ve done something as stupid as using it to t1 a Bob and it ended up being the right choice. The way we can churn through cards and find what we need, having a spell that generates two mana, even limited to black, is a ton of value here.
Dispel: Usually combo protection, but obviously can stop other things. When this came in was when I really started to question the value of Pact of Negation. 9/10 it’s instant spells that try and interfere with our combo, and I can usually find the one mana. The upkeep cost of Pact is too rough to let it be used to stop another player’s combo and progress your following turn.
Flusterstorm: Wirrsturm in German…this is another awesome counter spell. Gets whatever removal targets us, stops tutors, and all for 1 to boot. Guaranteed to counter out the door. A personal favorite at this point.
Mental Misstep: I can’t tell you how many spells in high end competitive magic this card hits….it’s phenomenal. There is nothing more rewarding than countering a Sol Ring played t1 by the guy who won the roll. Players cut mana costs anywhere they can, so 1 cmc spells show up everywhere, just look at the list here. Ramp, Removal, protection, tutoring, filtering. I personally think it’s a must have. It doesn’t get weak late game either- things like Path to Exile, Vandalblast, and Return to Nature are a threat no matter what time they’re played. Paying 2 life to counter a Vandalblast a player invested 4 mana in can be a huge tempo swing. I’m gonna say the word Vandalblast one more time so you can understand why this card is especially important here.
Mystical Tutor: Staple. Be wary of telegraphing when you tutor Bitter Ordeal, best to win soon after.
Pull from Eternity: Certainly a meta card. If players aren’t playing GY hate, skip this. As much love as we show Bitter Ordeal, she is an unbiased lover. We’ll be the target of anyone running it too- it sees plenty of play outside of a combo piece. It’ll require a very large one aimed specifically at us to keep us out, and in most cases, it’ll never be large enough unless fed by a ramping dork deck, but in most cases like that they’re distributing the exile.
Silence: This is the card that always make me think White is absolutely a splash able color. It’s become less and less of a prevalent color in the deck, but games when I silence are the games I feel most confident in. It’ll put whoever is ahead behind, or draw out their counter spell. It also is one of the best combo turn protectors, requiring an immediate answer.
Spell Pierce: Possibly a meta card. My biggest threats are racing mana rocks and reanimation spells/enchantments, so this hits just about everything I need, save commanders. It obv ends up being a card with windows of usage, but t1-t3 casts rarely ever have 2 mana up afterwards. It doesn’t hit dorks, which is why I called it a meta card. If they were more prevalent for me, I might cut it.
Swan Song: Another staple. We don’t run walkers or swing into things so, at worst we get it thrown at us every turn out of spite. A lot of players will just save it for Chump blocking if the table calls for it, so we can avoid the damage sometimes.
Vampiric Tutor: Another one I probably don’t need to explain much. We don’t telegraph like with Mystical but players always assume the worst.
Cabal Ritual: The awkward big brother of Dark Ritual. It’s pretty easy to establish threshold, and provides a ton of mana in tandem with Yawg’s Will. I could understand it being cut from some lists, but I personally appreciate it, especially ing ames where I have Mana Vault tapped down already.
Counterspell: Counter stuff. 9/10 I use this for stopping other combos or annoying cards. Covering our combo with two blue mana can be a real stretch.
Cyclonic Rift: Yup.
Impulse: Digging 4 at instant speed makes up for the 2 cmc. Being able to bluff a counter is great. Sadly the cards we see and don’t want go bottom deck, which can give you some hard choices. I personally prioritize combo stuff, but will take tutors over say a clone, in case the game suddenly isn’t in my favor or I top deck a redundant piece.
Lim-Dil’s Vault- I know, I’ll fix the link later. This card can set up wins or find whatever kind of piece you need. Sure it doesn’t actually draw but it’s instant speed so it just smooths your next draw. In the end it’s a possibly better Vampiric tutor for more life. I’ve never had to go past 7 or so to find a pile I really liked. This is another card you don’t want to always rely on finding combos. Many games finding a good pile of interaction is what will let you come out on top.
Mana Drain: Needs no explanation. If you have it, you’re running it.
Negate: As bad as commanders and dorks are, I think the biggest threats are all targetable by Negate. The wording is great, I doubt we’ll ever see a new card type like when planes walker came out, but it’ll still be targetable by this. I don’t think it’s worth swapping to Remove Soul even if you have a creature heavy meta, best to cut this and Pierce for appropriate board wipes.
Remand: Best used to either slow a player down early turns or put Sharuum back in hand if she’s countered to save us the extra 2. Can obviously act as a hard counter for combo turns if the player can’t cast it again, but I’ve found that to be what its used for the least.
Tainted Pact: Sort of a pet card. At the moment I’m running 2 islands, which sounds super janky, but I usually tutor one just because of stuff like Blood Moon. At any point I’d want to cast the Pact, I won’t have both islands in the deck. I just appreciate being able to tutor an island but also still have one in the deck in case of stuff like path or what have you, and not be obligated to grab the swamp. Anyways, the windows the card has is to risk a quick win, find a counter spell or w/e you need in Response to your combo turn, or winning outright with Lab man and some way to draw after you exile your deck.
Unsubtantiate: It’s not a worse remand. Remand cannot bounce a Narset coming down off of Cavern of Souls. It isn’t even the extra bounce that won a slot here. A lot of players who have a way to make a spell uncountable can rarely cast it a second time the same turn, and a lot of those times it’s the game ending play.
Frantic Search: Free discard for combo and ramps hard with Mishra’s Workshop. We always want to be digging, and this is always pleasant to see. A lot better in a build with High Tide, which is always on the fringe of the deck.
Intuition: Can set up fast wins acting as an expensive entomb, but also has the upside of using mutually assured destruction and having a player give you whats need to stop another player’s combo. This has become rarer and rarer, and with the amount of times it actually is an expensive Entomb, it makes me wanna just run that instead.
Thirst for Knowledge: Another awesome instant speed draw. Obv helps with combo, but it’s surely efficient to play it just to dig. In reality, the clone doesn’t really need to be in the yard for the combo to happen, Sharuum can be and board and cloned from hand, though that obviously is riskier and expensive mana wise. Point I meant to make was, don’t sit on this as if its sole purpose will be to put a clone in yard.
Ad Nauseam: This is a very greedy Ad Nauseam build. I’ve learned through researching many different reputable AN builds, and it really reigns supreme to make any cut to cmc you can. The 1 cmc spells that seem like they have smaller windows that going up to 2 reward you here. We want to take as many cards as possible and as early as possible. This card is critical to play right. I’ve won maybe a handful of games where what I put together was stopped, but in a lot of games where you’ve made that effort, even after being stopped, you will be impeded further. Play it only in an effort to win.
Force of Will: Another staple. It is a big bump for AN and Bob, but a counter spell we can use while tapped out from combo is great. We make sure our hand is as full as possible so that a card like this can be reliable.