Sorry for double posting, but wanted to share my list. The basic idea is to seal myself of of the rest of the game with the pillowfort package (Propaganda, Solitary Confinement, etc.), make friends by letting everyone draw cards and helping players out a bit. This way, in essence, I try to give everyone enough gas to keep the table balanced, let players take each other out and when necessary, and finally take over the game with a janky wincon once I have the pieces to do so.
Like I said, I've only played it a couple of times up to now, but I like the list a lot. Still looking for some cards like the draw doublers to make it more explosive.
Tnx for the answers. I might start running Anvil again in a while then, since I really, really like the card.
For now, I don't see myself jumping throught all the Barren Glory hoops, but might start working on that later. For now, my wincons are Laboratory Maniac, Hive Mind and the pacts, an occasional Illusions of Grandeur (yes, I'm running that: my meta tends to be a bit political, and I like to punish the player who's on top and teeming up with the rest of the table), Aetherflux Reservoir and Approach of the Second Sun (working on ways to make that one reliable).
Not really on your level on playing this deck yet, but it's one of few decks I've come to instantly like (props!) so I'd really love to join the discussion and learn more about the way to play it. One thing to note is: I really don't want to go the infinite way: my playgroup hates that, and I probably do so most of all :). What I do like for my build is janky win cons. I'm still working on a way to use Approach of the Second Sun reliantly, and pulled my first win of of the Hive Mind / Pact of the Titan vs a mono white deck last week. That felt good.
On topic: I actually cut Anvil of Bogardan myself because it lets everybody else skip their discard phase as well. This way, I should be the one able to keep my hands with more than seven cards, while everybody else is flooded with cards and has to discard a lot. I do combine this with some extra graveyard hate. This suits my meta because there are some quite graveyard-heavy decks anyway.
Am I overlooking something; is this bad reasoning?
I feel like I wanna abuse Apex of Power. It's another draw-seven. It's just that we won't be able to work around the steep mana cost, and we can't copy or use it twice either.
Yeah, I've been looking into Oracle too. I l'd love to see it combined with Sensei's Divining Top in order to secure extra land drops. However I'd be reluctant in activating his ability before turn 6 or so, since losing our wincon 6-drops to our own guy would be quite a bummer.
Finally put Zedruu to the test yesterday and had a blast. Was able to hand someone a Statecraft when he alpha striked with eighteen 12/12 saproling tokens, then copied it with Clever Impersonator and gave it to a second player too once he got out of hand. Unfortunately wasn't able to win the game - a Notion Thief on the other side of the table brought my carddraw to a halt and gave the Lazav player a win eventually.
I'm having the same doubts about Stolen Strategy. It's a lot of value though if it sticks around. No idea what it should replace though. I'm kinda thinking something like Mind's Eye?
For another weird wincon, I'm going to test Tunnel Vision, either playing it on myself to dig for a wincon, playing it on myself when Laboratory Maniac is in play and I know what's on the bottom, or playing it on an opponent after having Banishing Stroked something. Especially looking forward to the last option, off course.
Planning on putting my list together partly based on OP in the upcoming week or two and very much excited to start playing it!
Hey guys. First time posting on this thread, been thinking for a while to build a huge deck and always found Zedruu intriguing. What I didn't find as a wincon up to now, and what I'm definately planning to play myself, is a combination of Hive Mind and Pact of Negation and it's kin. It fits the control element, the chaos element ánd is an odd wincon. Any thoughts?
Ahw man, how did things ever get so far? I completely forgot about Shadowmage Infiltrator. Finkel's invitational card should definitely be in your list. You could consider doing more things like this (and Ophidian), with cards like Curiosity and Coastal Piracy.
Ghe. I actually built this a while ago. Not very powerful in a competitive environment but very cool to pull of. Still looking for a legends version of Dakkon to make the real thing.
Second: this makes me really curious. How dit you do it? Where did you get the art? Who did the wording? So many questions, so many kudos.
Like I said, I've only played it a couple of times up to now, but I like the list a lot. Still looking for some cards like the draw doublers to make it more explosive.
1 Zedruu the Greathearted
Creature
1 Humble defector
1 Vedalken Plotter
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Walking Archive
1 Swans of Bryn Argoll
1 Kami of the Crescent Moon
1 Windborn Muse
1 Azor's Elocutors
1 Baird, Steward of Argive
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
Enchantment
1 Illusions of Grandeur
1 Delusions of Mediocrity
1 Statecraft
1 Wild Research
1 Imprisoned in the Moon
1 Hive Mind
1 Dictate of Kruphix
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Propaganda
1 Collective Restraint
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Diplomatic Immunity
1 Aurification
1 Dissipation Field
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Cast Out
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Font of Mythos
1 Venser's Journal
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Sphere of the Suns
1 Howling Mine
1 Temple Bell
1 Azorius Signet
1 Boros Signet
1 Izzet Signet
1 Azorius Cluestone
1 Boros Cluestone
1 Izzet Cluestone
1 Sol Ring
1 Crook of Condemnation
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Mask of Avacyn
1 Proteus Staff
Sorcery
1 Approach of the Second Sun
1 Tunnel Vision
1 Fabricate
1 Political Trickery
1 Long-Term Plans
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Time Reversal
Instant
1 Shifting Borders
1 Intervention Pact
1 Pact of the Titan
1 Banishing Stroke
1 Hinder
1 Dream Fracture
1 Firestorm
1 Mirrorweave
1 Oblation
1 Chaos Warp
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Boros Garrison
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Mystic Monastery
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Kor Haven
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Reliquary Tower
7 Island
5 Mountain
6 Plains
For now, I don't see myself jumping throught all the Barren Glory hoops, but might start working on that later. For now, my wincons are Laboratory Maniac, Hive Mind and the pacts, an occasional Illusions of Grandeur (yes, I'm running that: my meta tends to be a bit political, and I like to punish the player who's on top and teeming up with the rest of the table), Aetherflux Reservoir and Approach of the Second Sun (working on ways to make that one reliable).
I'll see if I can post my list anytime soon.
On topic: I actually cut Anvil of Bogardan myself because it lets everybody else skip their discard phase as well. This way, I should be the one able to keep my hands with more than seven cards, while everybody else is flooded with cards and has to discard a lot. I do combine this with some extra graveyard hate. This suits my meta because there are some quite graveyard-heavy decks anyway.
Am I overlooking something; is this bad reasoning?
Thoughts?
Great game though, really liked this.
Planning on putting my list together partly based on OP in the upcoming week or two and very much excited to start playing it!
Anyhow. For draw and selection you should probably consider:
Time Spiral
Stroke of Genius
Braingeyser
Windfall
Greed
Vampiric Tutor
Demonic Tutor
Mystical Tutor
Gush
Yawgmoth's Will
Scroll Rack
Memory Jar
Happy building