I don't actually have enough Wizards to make Azami work effectively, and Azami dies to most of my sweepers. Sower also got changed for a cheaper, better non-Wizard version. Swerve is a better "counterspell" than Dualcaster Mage while giving up some utility to copy powerful spells. Since I run counters mainly for protection, I think I'll try out Swerve instead.
Tamiyo is good, but slow. Tomorrow would help a lot in the first few spells after casting Arjun, when my hand is still only 2-3 cards.
My list has zero max hand size effects like Reliquary Tower, so Kozilek can act as an uncounterable (or less easily countered) Elixir which occasionally I can cast as well. I mean, I have hardcast Omniscience before
The wizards weren't really helping against early aggro, mid-game aggro and generaly aggro of any sort, so I dialed up on the board control and mana rocks to get them in there.
Also, apologies to Chasm Skulker. It's an all-star, being either a big beater, an army in a can, or one removal spell down for the opponent. Most of my wins have been either through aggro with Chasm Skulker or more usually Arjun himself. While Lab Man and friends are cute, a 5/5 flying beatstick usually helps close out the game pretty fast after the opponent has had most of their stuff nuked with Starstorm/stolen with Vedalken Shackles or something similar.
Magus of the Future was judged too fragile, whereas Deadeye Navigator stays in over most of the combo pieces because it functions decently well as protection and can combo with some things like Venser, Shaper Savant/Glen Elendra Archmage that stay in due to utility. Other than that, most of the changes are self explanatory.
Angel's Grace is to survive a turn against combo (Scapeshift, Twin, Hive Mind Pact etc). I'm liking it less and less though, since most Modern combo decks run red to Bolt me the turn after (so it is really only good against Amulet Bloom).
Rest in Peace is for Eldrazi and also to hose graveyard strategies (Living End, etc). Limited utility, but being the best at what it does lets it justify a slot.
If you are running interaction maindeck, then definitely Detention Sphere over Nevermore. Nevermore requires you to know what you want to hit first. Sometimes the answer is obvious (Karn/Ugin against Twin), sometimes less so (Siege Rhino, Zulaport Cutthroat). I see G1 more as a "scout" game so I can see their tech or Memoricide to see their whole deck, then hit them with it in G2. I think it is also a meta call since you aren't really expecting much hosers in G1 (most Modern decks run creature kill, not many ways to kill enchantments) save Oblivion Stone/Ugin so I guess I can afford to run only the Leylines and a Memoricide.
Okay, first impressions:
- Biggest problem is running out of gas. By the time Arjun comes out, my hand is only 2 or 3 cards which is pitiful.
- Second biggest problem is early aggro (as expected)
- Swarm tactics are also a problem. Anything like Izzet Staticaster, but more powerful?\
- Archmage Ascension is not very good, 6 turns for it to come online is a loooong time.
- Ditto with Chasm Skulker, but I haven't seen it very often.
- Future Sight/Magus of the Future is great - if they stick
I've changed my list to Esper. Some notes:
- Rite of Flourishing's ramp is missed - that's why most of the 3 mana fogs like Safe Passage and Riot Control got cut for Holy Day and Pollen Lullaby.
- As a result, I probably have more game against control/Tron/key hatecards but less game again Burn. But will 3x maindeck leylines and a 4th in SB be enough to hold off the red menace?
- Pollen Lullaby could be Darkness, I guess. But being sometimes 2 fogs in one has its merits.
- Contrary to what I earlier thought, I have no problem protecting Jace Beleren and sometimes he helps me win on my turn by forcing the opponent to draw.
I haven't seen anyone offer up Jushi Apprentice (sorry I don't know how to do links) Spiraling Embers and Master the Way also sort of embrace all the card draw. At least that's what I plan to do.
Fixed, next time use card tags: [.card](name of card)[/card] (without the full stop in the first square bracket).
Iteration 2 is up, with a wizard tribal subtheme. Hopefully, this solves the problem of early defenses since Omenspeaker, etc make good speed bump, if nothing else
Why no Mind over Matter since I have Azami? Because Arjun does a good job of card draw all my himself. Capsize became Venser, Shaper Savant.
Also, all the creatures means Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir becomes more useful (:
Kalkris: I have the feeling all my Arjun iterations so far are a bit light on the ground, as well. I'm not sure if a Wizard theme would help (sorry, I'm not so keen on playing chaos :p). On the topic of chaos, no Eye of the Storm?
Also in general, making sure to have ways to remove our own draw doublers is also important. Capsize and Chain of Vapor have proven themselves worthy in this regard. I tended to win every game I was able to cast and protect a draw doubler, but I also just lost a game because I couldn't get rid of it and died. I had one hilarious game where I had zero cards in my library thanks to Thought Reflection and Moonring Mirror, and I won by bouncing my own Thought Reflection and finshing off my opponents with a Snapcaster Mage outfitted with a Sword of Feast and Famine, casting Blue Sun's Zenith for 0 without Arjun on the field each turn in order to not draw out and die.
Did you have Laboratory Maniac in your 99? If you had Lab Man (even better, with Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir) somewhere, couldn't you have cast Lab Man with flash before eventually decking yourself to win?
Sorry, how does Moonring Mirror help? Example, I have Arjun and the mirror out and 7 cards in hand. I play a spell, put 6 cards on the bottom of library, then exile 6 cards with the Mirror. Doesn't that leave me with no hand until my next upkeep, when I can get back those 6 cards?
But on the subject of infinite combos that interact favorably with Arjun, throw in Tidespout Tyrant. With Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, and Sol Ring, any 2 of those with Tidespout Tyrant makes infinite colorless mana (or colored with an Izzet Signet added on top) by route of infinite casts. With Arjun, that's roughly equivalent to every card in your hand being a free tutor, so you can go get any draw trigger win condition and end the game immediately. If you have Arjun and Tidespout Tyrant and don't have 2 of those rocks, you can get then very quickly, because you can bounce permanents you don't need back to your hand to keep your hand size from diminishing while you dig. In my Zedruu deck, I've won more than 1 game with 1 or 2 lands left by digging with Mindmoil with Tidespout Tyrant and Warstorm Surge in play looking for the Memnite I needed to kill the table. Trust me, it works.
Turnabout + Reiterate is another one that combos to infinite mana by casting a spell repeatedly, which means it automatically finds you the win condition if you still have at least 1 card in hand.
And you will always find the combo pieces if you can stick Arjun and protect him. I'm entirely positive that this deck does not need 8 slots dedicated to tutors. I'd argue against playing any tutors, frankly. If you have a good amount of cards in hand, you'll find a win condition basically guaranteeed. As you are now, the cheapest spell in your "draw power" even capable of replacing itself is Future Sight. With a draw curve like that, you'll get to Arjun with 2 or 3 cards in hand and the Mindmoiling won't actually accomplish anything. If you play things like Fact or Fiction, or even something like Ponder, you can get deeper into the deck than Future Sight is going to get you before Arjun is out and you're trying to dig for the win condition.
Great ideas, thanks! Since Arjun's specialty is card selection, you raise a good question - are tutors even necessary? Having no experience with similar generals (Zedruu, Tomorrow) I have no idea, but reducing tutor slots would free up a lot of space for things I want to be playing, hmmm... Needs playtesting, heh.
Somehow, Reins of Power is less useful - maybe I'm not seeing so many hexproof generals now that the Narset wave has died down somewhat.
Otherwise, strict power upgrades.
Yep, I think flash enablers like orrery and Leyline of Anticipation (even Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir) are super important here. If you would deck yourself just dump a Lab Man on the board and auto win.
You need Red (or Concordant Crossroads) to give all the creatures you'll be dumping on to the battlefield haste.
Green also has a lot of good token producers and can dump lands onto the battlefield which count towards your Warp World.
Beyond this, if you want to add another colour or not it's up to you and your general choice I guess.
May I suggest white for Containment Priest and the instant version which I don't recall offhand? That would be evil
- Azami, Lady of Scrolls
- Dualcaster Mage
- Sower of Temptation
+ Consecrated Sphinx
+ Swerve
+ Gilded Drake
I don't actually have enough Wizards to make Azami work effectively, and Azami dies to most of my sweepers. Sower also got changed for a cheaper, better non-Wizard version. Swerve is a better "counterspell" than Dualcaster Mage while giving up some utility to copy powerful spells. Since I run counters mainly for protection, I think I'll try out Swerve instead.
- Archaeomancer
- Elixir of Immortality
- Crawlspace
+ Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
+ Blue Sun's Zenith
+ Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
+ Caldera Hellion
Tamiyo is good, but slow. Tomorrow would help a lot in the first few spells after casting Arjun, when my hand is still only 2-3 cards.
My list has zero max hand size effects like Reliquary Tower, so Kozilek can act as an uncounterable (or less easily countered) Elixir which occasionally I can cast as well. I mean, I have hardcast Omniscience before
In:
The wizards weren't really helping against early aggro, mid-game aggro and generaly aggro of any sort, so I dialed up on the board control and mana rocks to get them in there.
Also, apologies to Chasm Skulker. It's an all-star, being either a big beater, an army in a can, or one removal spell down for the opponent. Most of my wins have been either through aggro with Chasm Skulker or more usually Arjun himself. While Lab Man and friends are cute, a 5/5 flying beatstick usually helps close out the game pretty fast after the opponent has had most of their stuff nuked with Starstorm/stolen with Vedalken Shackles or something similar.
Magus of the Future was judged too fragile, whereas Deadeye Navigator stays in over most of the combo pieces because it functions decently well as protection and can combo with some things like Venser, Shaper Savant/Glen Elendra Archmage that stay in due to utility. Other than that, most of the changes are self explanatory.
Angel's Grace is to survive a turn against combo (Scapeshift, Twin, Hive Mind Pact etc). I'm liking it less and less though, since most Modern combo decks run red to Bolt me the turn after (so it is really only good against Amulet Bloom).
Rest in Peace is for Eldrazi and also to hose graveyard strategies (Living End, etc). Limited utility, but being the best at what it does lets it justify a slot.
If you are running interaction maindeck, then definitely Detention Sphere over Nevermore. Nevermore requires you to know what you want to hit first. Sometimes the answer is obvious (Karn/Ugin against Twin), sometimes less so (Siege Rhino, Zulaport Cutthroat). I see G1 more as a "scout" game so I can see their tech or Memoricide to see their whole deck, then hit them with it in G2. I think it is also a meta call since you aren't really expecting much hosers in G1 (most Modern decks run creature kill, not many ways to kill enchantments) save Oblivion Stone/Ugin so I guess I can afford to run only the Leylines and a Memoricide.
- Biggest problem is running out of gas. By the time Arjun comes out, my hand is only 2 or 3 cards which is pitiful.
- Second biggest problem is early aggro (as expected)
- Swarm tactics are also a problem. Anything like Izzet Staticaster, but more powerful?\
- Archmage Ascension is not very good, 6 turns for it to come online is a loooong time.
- Ditto with Chasm Skulker, but I haven't seen it very often.
- Future Sight/Magus of the Future is great - if they stick
- Rite of Flourishing's ramp is missed - that's why most of the 3 mana fogs like Safe Passage and Riot Control got cut for Holy Day and Pollen Lullaby.
- As a result, I probably have more game against control/Tron/key hatecards but less game again Burn. But will 3x maindeck leylines and a 4th in SB be enough to hold off the red menace?
- Pollen Lullaby could be Darkness, I guess. But being sometimes 2 fogs in one has its merits.
- Contrary to what I earlier thought, I have no problem protecting Jace Beleren and sometimes he helps me win on my turn by forcing the opponent to draw.
Discuss away!
4 Ethereal Haze
4 Holy Day
4 Pollen Lullaby
2 Riot Control
2 Supreme Verdict
Turbo
4 Howling Mine
3 Dictate of Kruphix
2 Jace Beleren
3 Temple Bell
Lands
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Isolated Chapel
3 Drowned Catacomb
1 Swamp
5 Island
5 Plains
1 Memoricide
3 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Sphinx's Tutelage
4 Rest in Peace
2 Angel's Grace
3 Nevermore
3 Memoricide
1 Jester's Cap
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Leyline of Sanctity
For instructions, see : http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/646532-how-to-create-take-over-primers
Fixed, next time use card tags: [.card](name of card)[/card] (without the full stop in the first square bracket).
Iteration 2 is up, with a wizard tribal subtheme. Hopefully, this solves the problem of early defenses since Omenspeaker, etc make good speed bump, if nothing else
Why no Mind over Matter since I have Azami? Because Arjun does a good job of card draw all my himself.
Capsize became Venser, Shaper Savant.
Also, all the creatures means Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir becomes more useful (:
Also, how about actual wheels like Wheel of Fortune, Reforge the Soul and the new Magus of the Wheel?
Kalkris: I have the feeling all my Arjun iterations so far are a bit light on the ground, as well. I'm not sure if a Wizard theme would help (sorry, I'm not so keen on playing chaos :p). On the topic of chaos, no Eye of the Storm?
Did you have Laboratory Maniac in your 99? If you had Lab Man (even better, with Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir) somewhere, couldn't you have cast Lab Man with flash before eventually decking yourself to win?
Great ideas, thanks! Since Arjun's specialty is card selection, you raise a good question - are tutors even necessary? Having no experience with similar generals (Zedruu, Tomorrow) I have no idea, but reducing tutor slots would free up a lot of space for things I want to be playing, hmmm... Needs playtesting, heh.
I keep trying to find a home for Aether Flash (early defence, maybe?) but so far it hasn't been successful :s
- Reins of Power
- Control Magic
+ Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
+ Treachery
Somehow, Reins of Power is less useful - maybe I'm not seeing so many hexproof generals now that the Narset wave has died down somewhat.
Otherwise, strict power upgrades.
Yep, I think flash enablers like orrery and Leyline of Anticipation (even Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir) are super important here. If you would deck yourself just dump a Lab Man on the board and auto win.
Green also has a lot of good token producers and can dump lands onto the battlefield which count towards your Warp World.
Beyond this, if you want to add another colour or not it's up to you and your general choice I guess.
May I suggest white for Containment Priest and the instant version which I don't recall offhand? That would be evil