I just realized that I had marked down a vote to cut 1 Dig Through Time in a previous post that I did not mean to. I am correcting that mistake Dig Through Time is now at 1@-1 where it should be.
Also Scrabbling Claws and Phyrexian Furnace are not the same. Furnaces tap ability specifically exiles the bottom card of someone's graveyard while Claws let's the person pick which card. This matters for two reasons. First it adds unnecessary complexity to the game because the card cares about graveyard order. If you are playing this you have to keep your graveyard in order and make sure your opponents all do the same. It's just a hassle. Second and more importantly is that if we wanted to use this cars on ourselves to get rid of an alignment in our graveyard we would have to use the second ability unless Hedron Alignment happened to be the bottom card in our graveyard. There could be corner cases where we are playing against graveyard centric decks where we would need to keep the claws available to stop our opponent. In these cases we don't want to be forced into using the second ability just to get an alignment into the graveyard. Scrabbling Claws is just strictly better on this deck.
Not sure how I feel about Vengeful Dreams but we are short on discard spells and answers to creatures so I'm willing to give it a chance.
I'm voting to cut Deep Analysis. There is nothing wrong with this card, I just think we need space and the fact that this costs us life is a downside. I'm adding 2 Sphinx's Revelation to finish of the deck and put us into card cutting mode. This card both gains us life and draws us cards. The deck has plenty of card draw but so far no life gain so I can see this being very useful to stabilize.
I don't think we need Phyrexian Furnace. If we were going to run any effect like this it should be Scrabbling Claws, that said I just don't think we need this effect when we have all these digs and force of wills so I'm voting to cut them both. I'm adding our third wrath effect to round out that gifts package.
So I'm also going to vote to cut 1 Day of Judgment because we need to diversify our wrath package so we can gifts for wraths. We can also cut the Propaganda down to 1. Someone should probably add a Ghostly prison though, I think 2 is the right number for this effect.
I'm adding 1 Supreme Verdict. We want 3 wraths I think and Verdict is probably our best bet. Pitches to force of will and is uncounterable.
So for like 3 days I've been distracted by Commander 2016 spoilers so I hadn't checked this post. Apparently I have nothing to fear since no one else checked it either. Voting to cut 2 Auramancer and I'm adding 1 Monk Idealist. I think 2 is the right number for this effect and giving them different names will make them synergize better with the Gifts Ungiven that we still aren't running. The deck doesn't feel nearly done and we're pretty close to hitting that 75 mark. I think we should attempt to cut some cards. I also believe we should add the Gifts and a wrath package.
I like the red one better. I'm not very familiar with what is and isn't good in this kind of deck. I think you need more ways to find Wild Pair though. You're just playing a deck full of dorks without it. I'd also suggest something akin to Endless One. You can choose how much mana you pay into it and that will give you a nifty sort of toolbox effect.
So for starters I suggest you pick either aggro or control. Technically decks like Faeries can blend aggro and control pretty well but those types of decks tend to be VERY expensive since you basically have to run all the best cards from both worlds. Your deck looks kind of budget. How much are you willing to spend on this? How extensive is your current collection?
Adding 4 Azorius Chancery. This functionally generates card advantage for us and provides us with a bit of ramp when we combo it with our Frantic Searches. I'll also agree to cut our Gitaxian Probe. It's nice that it fills pur graveyard and gives us information but we're a combo control deck so we need all of our cards to contribute to our win condition.
We could run Extract maybe? It probably wouldn't be too bad as a one of that we could fetch with Gifts. It has the upside of being able to target an opponent if we already have an alignment in exile.
At this point I think I'm just going to keep tweaking the manabase and let others account for the cards. I'm going to add 4 Flooded Strand to the deck. These will helps us fuel delve and also create a stepping stone for us to play a third color.
I'm going to add 4 Temple of Enlightenment to the deck. It seems that we are currently UW at the very least so some fixing is in order. Temples are useful for smoothing our draws out and helping us find our combo cards.
I'm not adding them since these were other peoples suggestions but I like the idea of Gifts Ungiven as a pseudo Intuition replacement and Angelic Purge as a way to sacrifice or exile redundant alignments and as an all around decent control card. If we do add Gifts we could reasonably replace half our Propagandas with Ghostly Prisons in the off chance we find ourselves wanting to tutor for one of those.
As for budget restrictions I'm going to say any card not on the reserved list is fair game. That should keep the deck budget enough for my taste.
I hate to be that guy, but Intuition is on the reserved list. It's one of the best cards so far, but I'm just throwing that out there.
I also have no idea if this is supposed to fit into a specific format (Dig through time is not legacy legal, and is restricted in vintage).
I don't mean to be negative, I like this card as a theme. These are just observations, and perhaps I'm over thinking it.
I'm just going to add 4x Ponder. It helps us fill the graveyard for dig through time by being a cheap spell that cantrips while also filtering card draws.
side note: ponder is also restricted in vintage, but legal in legacy if this ends up fitting into a specific format, numbers may need to be trimmed.
Oh. So it is. Intuition is on the reserved list so it can't be part of the deck. That is kind of unfortunate. That makes the current deck is as follows.
I want to add 4 Dig Through Time to the deck. It allows us to exile an Alignment from our graveyard while digging for either more alignments, ways to get them, or just other useful cards. I'd imagine this will end up being some kind of control shell since there is no way this deck will be fast enough that we can just ignore our opponents, to that end Dig through time will also generate CA at instant speed.
I feel so lucky to be making this GMAD. The last GMAD was the first one I had ever participated in and I already get to do my own. Thank you everyone.
I've been curious as to what the best way to make a Hedron Alignment deck would be since the card was spoiled. So I want to make a deck around this card where the only conceivable way for the deck to win is with Hedron Alignment. This card should be plan A,B,C, and D. I don't care what colors the deck ends up being. As for budget restrictions I'm going to say any card not on the reserved list is fair game. That should keep the deck budget enough for my taste.
I think that aside from the generic gear up and kill you version of the deck, a lot of people tend to overestimate his value in multiplayer. When you aren't trying to ride him to victory, he's just an efficient value engine that is easily answered. At one time he was the scourge of the format, but the increase in volume and power of legendary creatures in recent printings has left him a bit outclassed. His real power lies in the fact that once active you can advance your boardstate/answer threats while still leaving mana open for more answers, and recently there have been a lot of generals that give you free value. If you are going to search for the same thing everytime to make him impossible to kill and hit for a lot of damage, then expect people to target you. If you're just swinging for one and getting a few value cards, then people won't pay him much mind. He is a bit notorious so people who aren't wise to your deck will generally have an expectation of broken things. I like to switch between him and Dromar, the Banisher for my esper deck depending on the matchups. If you do play him, I highly suggest playing Bitterblossom and a Solitary Confinement to go along with the Phyrexian Arena. If you just want evasive beats, then I'd suggest going for Dromar, the Banisher as he'll draw less hate, has a powerful effect, and is a four turn clock on his own.
I can't agree with this at all. As someone who plays highly competitive EDH Zur is the absolute most terrifying general to be sitting across from. Nine times out of ten the deck will only actually have 3-5 targets to get with Zur. His true power relies in how consistent he makes your deck via tutoring. Most of the time Zur just reads as a Necropotence in your command zone. Once you have necro in play you draw up a huge portion of your library and win via some combo with counter backup.
If you're playing Zur and your intention is just to get incremental value out of him then you're playing a very fair version of Zur and not a tuned list. These types of players tend to be the 75% type. Zur should win you the game after you get your first swing in.
All that said if your intention is to play a depowered version of Zur I wouldn't advise it. His perceived power level is, rightly, astronomical. Most people see Zur at a table and they will do everything in their power to make sure you don't get to swing with him. I'm sorry but if you're not playing cEDH or at the very least a 75% version of Zur you should just play something else.
I just realized that I had marked down a vote to cut 1 Dig Through Time in a previous post that I did not mean to. I am correcting that mistake Dig Through Time is now at 1@-1 where it should be.
Also Scrabbling Claws and Phyrexian Furnace are not the same. Furnaces tap ability specifically exiles the bottom card of someone's graveyard while Claws let's the person pick which card. This matters for two reasons. First it adds unnecessary complexity to the game because the card cares about graveyard order. If you are playing this you have to keep your graveyard in order and make sure your opponents all do the same. It's just a hassle. Second and more importantly is that if we wanted to use this cars on ourselves to get rid of an alignment in our graveyard we would have to use the second ability unless Hedron Alignment happened to be the bottom card in our graveyard. There could be corner cases where we are playing against graveyard centric decks where we would need to keep the claws available to stop our opponent. In these cases we don't want to be forced into using the second ability just to get an alignment into the graveyard. Scrabbling Claws is just strictly better on this deck.
Not sure how I feel about Vengeful Dreams but we are short on discard spells and answers to creatures so I'm willing to give it a chance.
I'm voting to cut Deep Analysis. There is nothing wrong with this card, I just think we need space and the fact that this costs us life is a downside. I'm adding 2 Sphinx's Revelation to finish of the deck and put us into card cutting mode. This card both gains us life and draws us cards. The deck has plenty of card draw but so far no life gain so I can see this being very useful to stabilize.
1 Auramancer
1 Monk Idealist
4 Wall of Omens
4 Snapcaster Mage
Instants (25):
4 Force of Will
1 Pull from Eternity
1 Noxious Revival
4 Dig Through Time (1 @ - 1)
4 Counterspell
4 Frantic Search
4 Gifts Ungiven
2 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Vengeful Dreams
4 Ponder
1 Deep Analysis (1 @ -1)
1 Day of Judgment (1 @ -1)
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
Enchantments (6):
4 Hedron Alignment
1 Propaganda
1 Ghostly Prison
2 Phyrexian Furnace (1@-2)
Lands (24):
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Flooded Strand
4 Azorius Chancery
12 Seat of the Synod
1 Auramancer
1 Monk Idealist
4 Wall of Omens
4 Snapcaster Mage
Instants (22):
4 Force of Will
1 Pull from Eternity
1 Noxious Revival
4 Dig Through Time (2 @ - 1)
4 Counterspell
4 Frantic Search
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Ponder
1 Deep Analysis
1 Day of Judgment
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Wrath of God
Enchantments (6):
4 Hedron Alignment
1 Propaganda
1 Ghostly Prison
2 Phyrexian Furnace (1@-2)
Lands (24):
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Flooded Strand
4 Azorius Chancery
12 Seat of the Synod
I'm adding 1 Supreme Verdict. We want 3 wraths I think and Verdict is probably our best bet. Pitches to force of will and is uncounterable.
1 Auramancer
1 Monk Idealist
4 Wall of Omens
Instants (22):
4 Force of Will
1 Pull from Eternity
1 Noxious Revival
4 Dig Through Time (2 @ - 1)
4 Counterspell
4 Frantic Search
4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Ponder
1 Deep Analysis
1 Day of Judgment
1 Supreme Verdict
Enchantments (5):
4 Hedron Alignment
1 Propaganda
Artifacts (2):
2 Phyrexian Furnace
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Flooded Strand
4 Azorius Chancery
12 Seat of the Synod
3 Auramancer (1 @ -2)
1 Monk Idealist
4 Wall of Omens
Instants (17):
4 Force of Will
1 Pull from Eternity
4 Dig Through Time
4 Counterspell
4 Frantic Search
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe (2 @ -4)
1 Deep Analysis
Enchantments (8):
4 Hedron Alignment
4 Propaganda
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Flooded Strand
4 Azorius Chancery
12 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
3 Auramancer
4 Wall of Omens
Instants (17):
4 Force of Will
1 Pull from Eternity
4 Dig Through Time
4 Counterspell
4 Frantic Search
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe (2 @ -4)
1 Deep Analysis
Enchantments (8):
4 Hedron Alignment
4 Propaganda
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Flooded Strand
4 Azorius Chancery
12 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
3 Auramancer
4 Wall of Omens
Instants (13):
4 Force of Will
1 Pull from Eternity
4 Dig Through Time
4 Counterspell
4 Ponder
4 Gitaxian Probe
Enchantments (8):
4 Hedron Alignment
4 Propaganda
4 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Flooded Strand
16 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
I'm not adding them since these were other peoples suggestions but I like the idea of Gifts Ungiven as a pseudo Intuition replacement and Angelic Purge as a way to sacrifice or exile redundant alignments and as an all around decent control card. If we do add Gifts we could reasonably replace half our Propagandas with Ghostly Prisons in the off chance we find ourselves wanting to tutor for one of those.
The current deck is as follows.
3 Auramancer
Instants (13):
4 Force of Will
1 Pull from Eternity
4 Dig Through Time
4 Counterspell
4 Ponder
Enchantments (8):
4 Hedron Alignment
4 Propaganda
4 Temple of Enlightenment
20 Seat of the Synod
Oh. So it is. Intuition is on the reserved list so it can't be part of the deck. That is kind of unfortunate. That makes the current deck is as follows.
3 Auramancer
Instants (13):
4 Force of Will
1 Pull from Eternity
4 Dig Through Time
4 Counterspell
4 Ponder
Enchantments (8):
4 Hedron Alignment
4 Propaganda
24 Seat of the Synod
4 Hedron Alignment
4 Force of Will
4 Intuition
1 Pull from Eternity
4 Dig Through Time
I've been curious as to what the best way to make a Hedron Alignment deck would be since the card was spoiled. So I want to make a deck around this card where the only conceivable way for the deck to win is with Hedron Alignment. This card should be plan A,B,C, and D. I don't care what colors the deck ends up being. As for budget restrictions I'm going to say any card not on the reserved list is fair game. That should keep the deck budget enough for my taste.
4 Hedron Alignment
Just play Hallowed Burial
I can't agree with this at all. As someone who plays highly competitive EDH Zur is the absolute most terrifying general to be sitting across from. Nine times out of ten the deck will only actually have 3-5 targets to get with Zur. His true power relies in how consistent he makes your deck via tutoring. Most of the time Zur just reads as a Necropotence in your command zone. Once you have necro in play you draw up a huge portion of your library and win via some combo with counter backup.
If you're playing Zur and your intention is just to get incremental value out of him then you're playing a very fair version of Zur and not a tuned list. These types of players tend to be the 75% type. Zur should win you the game after you get your first swing in.
All that said if your intention is to play a depowered version of Zur I wouldn't advise it. His perceived power level is, rightly, astronomical. Most people see Zur at a table and they will do everything in their power to make sure you don't get to swing with him. I'm sorry but if you're not playing cEDH or at the very least a 75% version of Zur you should just play something else.