I would try to squeeze in a copy of Mnemonic Wall or Izzet Chronarch in there. They work well with Ghostway especially to create a recurring Zedruu safety net.
Pyromancer's Swath doesn't seem that evil. You would have to donate it on your turn to avoid losing your hand, so the person would have at least a turn to play their good spells or get rid of the swath. It's like the blue Praetor but with more warning and for less mana.
Pyromancer's Swath triggers at the end of every turn, so they likely won't see another of their main steps with the same hand.
Also, remember that Swath comes back to you if that opponent is eliminated, this has been pretty detrimental to me a few times near the end of games.
Not going to read over the entire thread to check, but has Leyline of Anticipation been brought up for blue yet? If a deck has access to blue it's pretty much strictly better than Vedalken Orrery (in addition to the free opening hand cheat into play enchantments are generally a little more immune to removal).
Orrery found its way onto the list, and both are generally "destroy this soon" cards when they hit play.
My store had a dollar rare bin out today, so I flipped through and wondered why I had never heard of Ixidron before. I slipped it into my Zedruu deck and quickly discovered it's amazing qualities (especially combined with Tawnos's Coffin or any other blink heavy decks).
Blue wrath (effectively), leaves you with a giant, and traps generals face down.
Thanks for the suggestion. I just snagged a copy off ebay and will be including it in my deck. If I am thinking correctly (I've been pretty off as of late), the only drawback to exiling Zedruu with this is that it will return her tapped with summoning sickness. That being said, I dont use her aggressively, but I will be disappointed not to donate things the turn I bring her back. Each wrath could effectively shut her down for a turn.
You can still use her to donate even if she is tapped. Unless you planned on swinging with her, the tap effect doesn't really affect Zedruu at all.
I had my first round of actual play and it was a bit disappointing. In my [wrath-heavy] play group Zedruu died way too many times. Not because she was threatening anything, but more of a casualty of war/wraths (including cards like hallowed burial).
Also note that Darksteel Plate is a removal magnet regardless of the fact that the general is only a 2/4. In 3 games of play I managed to give away 1 soldier token and 1 rust elemental (not in the same game). The rust died before I could draw even 1 card and the soldier lasted for 2 rounds.
Oh, and in one game someone windfalled forcing me to discard grid monitor and then next turn cast living death killing Zedruu and dropping grid monitor into play effecting locking out Zedruu from being cast and locking me out of the game...
Totem armor can prevent you creature dying in [most] wraths and Hanna, Ship's Navigator can recover them from the grave. I am looking at eel umbra as it has flash. I'm also contemplating eland umbra to give Zedruu a bigger butt. Also note that umbras can be donated once on your general is enchanted and can be searched out with wild research.
If you can find one, Tawnos's Coffin has been an all star for me both for it's blinking abilities for etb creature effects, as well as protecting Zedruu. Remember that it's a great rattlesnake deterrent for attackers as well, as well as an awesome political tool for opponent's etb effects.
EDIT:
For clarification, Rule 800.4a states:
800.4a. When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game, all spells and abilities controlled by that player on the stack cease to exist, and any effects which give that player control of any objects or players end. Then, if there are any objects still controlled by that player, those objects are exiled. This is not a state-based action. It happens as soon as the player leaves the game. If the player who left the game had priority at the time he or she left, priority passes to the next player in turn order who’s still in the game.
This means that your Pyromancer's Swath would be exiled and not returned to your board (good because you no longer would be effected by it, but bad because you cannot use it again).
I'm pretty sure that's the part that returns Pyromancer's Swath back to you. Keep in mind you still own any cards you donate. So Pyromancer's Swath is not removed from the game after.
It's been pretty detrimental for me a few games going into the final phases of the game and getting this card returned to me.
Also, on a similar vein, can anyone clarify what would happen to a Taniwha that has been donated to another player, but is phased out when they are eliminated?
The only thing I can think you may want to include is reference to Rule 800.4a (interactions in multiplayer games when an opponent leaves the game and how that impacts permanents that you "donated" to him/her)
Agreed, it's one of the biggest reasons I took out Pyromancer's Swath from my deck.
The more I've been trying it out the more I've been shifting my deck more heavily toward the blink sub-theme available to this deck. Many of our donate targets have triggered abilities when they come into play already that would love to be reused, not to mention we can get more use out of our Glen-Elendra Archmages etc. Blink effects are also built in safety nets for Zedruu already, a few of them also work defensively against opposing creatures
Small update here with some new ideas from the thread. Pilgrim's Eye turned into Expedition Map, which looks a lot more attractive now that I've upped the amount of utility lands. Donate and Delusions of Mediocrity were underperforming, so they got axed for the more flexible Copy Enchantment and Mystic Restraints. Hallowed Burial is fine, but I wanted it back in another deck so I switched it for Rout, which may be better for the instant speed when I need it. Finally, Bogardan Hellkite got swapped for Eternal Dragon, who is a little more resilient, fixes my mana, and fetches the powerful Mistveil Plains. Nothing personal against the b dragon, whom I love, but I need e dragon's utility.
I also wanted to make space for Inkwell Leviathan and/or Aeon Chronicler, but we'll see what I can shake out to make room at a later time. The manabase is also accurately updated with some new additions. Still working on getting a Scalding Tarn on the cheap!
Do you guys really feel the need to run that much protection for Zedruu? I've found that counterspells on the back of her draw power is suitable. I generally have enough mana for recasts over a long game since I don't cast Zedruu very early. I'll probably add Swiftfoot Boots in addition to Lighting Greaves when M12 comes out.
Since this is EDH, there's going to be multiple branching strategies regarding keeping the general on the board, I feel it would be wrong to limit an EDH deck to an "optimal" strategy (in our example, a decklist high in countermagic is frowned upon in many casual circles).
A list of generally usable non-countermagic cards to protect Zedruu would be nice to include.
Also, does thought lash still get an age counter on it before all this happens or is that part also nullified if it's under someone else's control? Not that this will matter much as I'm assuming it'll be sacrificed next turn regardness since the opposing player won't have a library to keep it alive with anyway, so it would still be a one-shot eliminator unless we bounce or Venser it before their next draw step.
Pyromancer's Swath triggers at the end of every turn, so they likely won't see another of their main steps with the same hand.
Also, remember that Swath comes back to you if that opponent is eliminated, this has been pretty detrimental to me a few times near the end of games.
Orrery found its way onto the list, and both are generally "destroy this soon" cards when they hit play.
Blue wrath (effectively), leaves you with a giant, and traps generals face down.
You can still use her to donate even if she is tapped. Unless you planned on swinging with her, the tap effect doesn't really affect Zedruu at all.
Guess you're 0-3 now
Can someone actually confirm that this works? I was told phasing in doesn't trigger ebt abilities.
If you can find one, Tawnos's Coffin has been an all star for me both for it's blinking abilities for etb creature effects, as well as protecting Zedruu. Remember that it's a great rattlesnake deterrent for attackers as well, as well as an awesome political tool for opponent's etb effects.
I'm pretty sure that's the part that returns Pyromancer's Swath back to you. Keep in mind you still own any cards you donate. So Pyromancer's Swath is not removed from the game after.
It's been pretty detrimental for me a few games going into the final phases of the game and getting this card returned to me.
Also, on a similar vein, can anyone clarify what would happen to a Taniwha that has been donated to another player, but is phased out when they are eliminated?
Agreed, it's one of the biggest reasons I took out Pyromancer's Swath from my deck.
Tawnos's Coffin
Momentary Blink
Voyager Staff (Tutorable via Trinket Mage)
Mistmeadow Witch
Venser, the sojourner
(Note that almost all of these are reusable)
Targets
Glen-Elendra Archmage
Duplicant
Vedalken Plotter
Trinket Mage
Bogarden Hellkite (Good clock with Mistmeadow Witch/Tawnos's Coffin)
Venser, Shaper Savant
Mnemonic Wall/Izzet Chronarch
Duergar Hedge-Mage
REVEILLARK!!!!!!!!
Since this is EDH, there's going to be multiple branching strategies regarding keeping the general on the board, I feel it would be wrong to limit an EDH deck to an "optimal" strategy (in our example, a decklist high in countermagic is frowned upon in many casual circles).
A list of generally usable non-countermagic cards to protect Zedruu would be nice to include.
I realize your particular build doesn't put too much emphasis on protection, but many builds I've come across use it pretty extensively.