Exalted triggers are until EOT, and both Rafiq and Finest Hour will trigger again during the second combat phase. So 3+1+1+DS = 10 for the first. 5+1+1+DS=14 for the second. And 24 total.
I played in a French tournament this weekend with Wydwen, the Biting Gale and did pretty mediocre – went to time and drew two matches, then had a bye in the third round (there were only 8 players, so it wasn’t a particularly long tournament). My deck was 80% finished, and I’d sleeved the night before – probably a big reason both my matches went to time. Anyway, I’ve got most of the pieces for two decks, Zur and Wydwen, both of which are pretty similar to the lists Emether runs on this forum. The main difference is that my Wydwen list runs more removal and edicts (the edicts especially help me with Geist). I enjoy running both of them, although Wydwen feels slightly more skill-intensive (I definitely lost at least one game based on what I chose not to counter) which isn't necessarily a good thing in a format that I only play once a month. My question for you guys, though, is which list you would rather run in a metagame that looks like this:
Nin (heavy control)
2 Geists, standard build
Akroma, AoF (land destruction) (apparently it’s pretty good, didn’t get a chance to play it)
GAAIV (control)
Zur (standard voltron)
Merieke Ri Berit (control)
Momir Vig (goodstuff, surprisingly controlling)
Doran (goodstuff)
As far as I could tell, it was a rather heavy control environment. I’m not sure if it’s the best place for a tempo deck, to be honest, as much as I like Wydwen. However, I haven’t really played enough of this format to be a good judge, and I don’t want to finish buying the last (rather expensive) pieces to either deck only to be unhappy with it later. So, out of the two listed, which would you run? Or are they going to be roughly equal in potency?
I like a lot of these suggestions. Proteus Staff and Intruder Alarm are particularly nasty. If I added Intruder Alarm, I think I would change my creature suite to be a little more tap heavy, which makes sense if I have an untap suite for Merieke anyway. In particular, I want to add:
Arcanis the Omnipotent - play a creature? I'll draw three.
Bloodline Keeper - this is actually a Kiki-Jiki/Splinter Twin type combo when Intuder Alarm is in play. Due to my league's rules, I can only make 9 vampires per turn, so four player game, 36 vampires... flip Keeper... untap my next turn with 149 power on the board. With flying. Spicy.
Stonehorn seems to lack a little umph in multiplayer. Even in the ideal scenario of Stonehorn+Deadeye, to lock out three opponents you need six mana each turn. I think I'd rather play ensnaring bridge and lock the creatures that matter from attacking every turn for no additional mana or cards.
I, too, would be interested in what other Merieke players use as win cons. Or do you just beat people with stolen creatures?
ChefStiX, how big is your Storm Herd usually? I ask because whenever I play in Esper colors, people gun for me because A) "Esper is scary/broken/combo-y" and B) early game I don't have the creature presence other decks have, so by the time I would be able to resolve a 10 CMC spell my life could be in the teens.
Favorite Playstyle (Aggro, Midrange, Control, Combo): Any, but partial to combo and control.
How Competitive (For Fun, Local Tournament, MTGO, PTQ/GP): Local tournaments. I'm just getting into the modern scene here, but I know people run Jund, UR storm, and some fringe stuff like elves and MBC.
Favorite Cards/Colors: Blue, usually combined with white or black. But I'm flexible.
Budget: As cheap as I can go without folding to certain decks for budget reasons. We'll say $150. Reason being I don't know how well supported Modern is in my area. I'm not buying Jund if there's a chance I'll only play every other month.
Staples Owned: A few shocks, swords, damnation. Not much, but I can trade in some legacy stuff if necessary.
I'm interested in UR Storm, RG Tron, and Burn. I think burn is the cheapest but I don't want a deck devoid of decision making. Burn seems really linear (Guide, swing, bolt bolt swing, etc? Burn players correct me if I'm wrong). UR Storm is linear but seems to reward tight play, which is very appealing to me.
So basically: fairly budget build, rewards tight play, can rumble with the big boys. Prefer combo/control, but the archetype is less important than how the deck plays out.
I think what differentiates Sphinx from something like PT is the risk involved to the player casting it. Sure, your PT might get stolen, copied, or reanimated, but not before it gets you Urborg/Coffers or whatever. In at least half the games that my Sphinx hits the field, it gets copied next turn, and guess who eats the trigger? Me, because I'm the jerk who played Magister Sphinx. Which is totally fair. So yeah, I've made the game very scary for one other player, but I've also taken the (significant) risk that MY life total is also going to be 10 very, very soon. It's a gamble, and certainly not an auto-win. Its political offensiveness has always struck me as a bit of an overreaction.
@amorphous: First and foremost, I want to say "keep going". Second, I want to say, "but make sure you use less valuable cards until you hone your skills!"
Now, for the actual critique, I have the following bullet points:
-Flesh out the detail more on extensions. What you have is basically a color that is close to a color from the regular card in a painted strip out from the original art.
-Practice your color matching
-Don't just extend (literally) the objects in the original art, but imagine what the scene could look like outside of the frame and paint that. How it is, it just looks like you're stretching the art to the end of the card and not putting thought into how the rest of the art should look (example: The smoke in Grim Monolith might twist and bend and dissipate, but as you've painted it, it's like a solid block of color and has no life of its own)
-Slow down. You don't need to finish a card or multiple cards a day. Several elements of your alters seem like you rushed to finish them (e.g. the fact that it seems like you painted the yawgmoth's will extension without looking at the original art--colors don't match, elements of the art don't match up at all, the odd black block at the top of the ancient tomb that ignores the fact that trees don't just stop without having leaves and branches and the fact that the sky transitions into black when it's dark, it doesn't just go from blue to dark black, etc)
Take your time, get some smaller brushes, pay attention to detail, and get back to work with some cheaper cards so you don't ruin any big money cards by being too ambitious (I did this, too, with cards like Baneslayer Angel when it was expensive and I'm sure other alterers did the same). Don't expect to be Klug or Demonium right off the bat...baby steps!
Thank you for the honest critique! I really appreciate it. Don't worry too much over my mauled Yawgmoth's Will... it's a gold bordered World Champs Deck card I bought to practice on, so it's not worth much. I definitely rushed a few of those cards, will need to work on that.
The scanned image definitely highlights poor color matching... the Will, for example, looks pretty decent in person but not nearly as good up close. I guess I need to get better lighting where I paint, so I can see the difference in vivo, so to speak.
I'll try to put your advice to work and paint something cleaner next week. Thanks again.
PS: I'll try to keep the questions to a minimum, since I don't think this is the right thread for them, but you mentioned using a smaller brush. I think I use size 1 and 0 for most everything. What size would you recommend?
I'd like to add to the string of new alters. These are my first attempts, and I would love feedback on what looks passable, what needs work, if anything really sticks out as "off," or whatever else you wanna tell me!
Sorry about the white flecks on the darker portions of the cards. It's just stubborn dust I couldn't get off my scanner.
I've been looking at a few other lists and had a few thoughts. Anyone want to comment on the following possible inclusions?
Ensnaring Bridge - is this better or worse than just wrathing the field? It stalls for time until I can bring out a win condition, but it also can just piss off the table. I think Austere Command is probably still better for this spot, but does anyone actually have experience running Bridge?
Nevinyrral's Disk - if I'm putting in Darksteel Forge, should I just add this too, perhaps in the place of Scourglass? I like that scourglass is asymmetrical even without forge out... but Forge+Disk just wrecks most decks I play against. Also blows things up the turn I play it if Voltaic Key is out.
Frantic Search - I'm not sure yet how badly this deck needs more draw spells, but this one is pretty good. A free spell that digs and lets me toss fuel into the graveyard seems nuts... but what to cut? I don't think it's better than any of my other draw spells. Maybe Ponder? The shuffle is nice, especially with Scroll Rack, but it could probably go.
Skullclamp - incredibly good interaction with Thopter-Sword: two cards for two colorless mana, repeatable. Given the relative lack of creatures this deck runs otherwise, though, is this just win more?
EDIT: I read Frantic Search as draw three, discard two. Since it's actually a much less ridiculous draw two, discard two, it's card disadvantage that this deck probably doesn't need.
EDIT: Other thoughts - I realized that this deck only has two ways to get rid of indestructible creatures - Duplicant and STP. Given that Ulamog shows up in probably 50% or more of the games I play, should I add more to combat it? Besides exile spells, I've been thinking about bounce spells... maybe Aether Spellbomb? It draws, bounces, and has recursion via salvaging station. Thoughts?
Other option is tuck spells. Oblation could be useful, since I can use it on myself in a pinch, but I'm worried it doesn't do enough. Hallowed Burial / Terminus? Seems like I don't want to shuffle my own creatures back into my library... but if I can hit Skittles, Rafiq, or Ulamog it might be worth it.
Thank you so much for such a well thought-out reply!
To respond to your points:
Intuition is definitely superior to Buried Alive. I think I overlooked it in the original list because it’s at the price point where I start to look for alternatives if possible, but I should probably just break down and buy the darn thing. It’s like a double entomb plus demonic tutor with a negligible downside! Absolutely nuts. Added to my acquire-list.
Darksteel Forge should probably be in the list if I’m not strictly combo. The thought of being protected by a swarm of indestructible flying thopters warms my heart a little. And as someone who has, from time to time, bounced an opponent’s Forge with that opponent’s Nev’s Disc trigger on the stack… hexproof would be nice. I like Leonin Abunas better than Indomitable Archangel, simply because he gives hexproof rather than shroud, which is relevant if I run Venser or Voyager Staff. He’s also a little less color intensive, which is especially nice given my budget land setup.
I agree that my draw spells haven’t been completely thought out. I threw in Thoughtcast because it’s such an efficient spell, but after goldfishing with this deck a ton I’m realizing that I usually have more mana than I know what to do with (and no cards in hand!). Recurring Insight has been a favorite in other decks. I’ll put it in. Phyrexian Arena is also solid. I’m still pretty fond of Vault. When I actually finish assembling the deck and play against real people we’ll see if it stays.
Consecrated Sphinx – I know that this card is really strong, if it sticks around. Which can be hit or miss. I also have comparatively fewer ways to recur it, since it’s the only organic sphinx on the list. Still probably warrants inclusion. Draws a removal spell that would have targeted something else, and nets me at least a couple of cards... I’ll take out impulse for it.
I put Open the Vaults in over Roar of Reclamation for two reasons. First, it’s 1 cmc less. Second, it recurs leyline of the void – one of the few ways this deck has to recur that half of my helm+leyline combo. Right now I can’t think of any decks in my meta that would benefit too much from the enchantments clause, but this is certainly something that I’ll keep an eye on and swap out as necessary.
I know where you’re coming from regarding the artifact lands. Right now there aren’t too many shatter effects in my meta, and the artifact lands are nice as a free Tezzeret tutor target, but if they start getting blown up too much I’ll swap them out.
Vampiric tutor is in the deck! Just in the wrong spot… moved to instants.
I debated between Venser and Staff for a while. I like that Voyager Staff interacts so nicely with the rest of my cog tutor+recursion package. It also protects Sharuum which, as you noted, may be less of an issue with your additions. At the same time, Venser’s other ability are both fantastic. I like the idea of using the -1 with a Blightsteel on the field as a “deal with this now or die” play. I might just through him in and keep the Staff, if there's room. We’ll see.
And yeah, the deck needs a heavy dose of mass removal. I guess I knew that, I just needed someone to objectively tell me what was OK to take out. Trading Post can go. Unburial Rites is probably redundant. I’d like to keep at least one reanimate spell in the deck, especially if I play more non-artifact creatures like Consecrated Sphinx and Leonin Abunas.
I've massively updated the list to the point that it's no longer recognizable as being the previous list. I took out the cutesy I-win combos like Helm-Leyline, which I found didn't synergize enough with the rest of the deck. I also took out Blightsteel. As a win condition, he was far too slow. The new deck focuses purely on synergy between cards (somethign esper does very well, beaten only perhaps by bant) and winning by grinding it out with creature beats.
I play in an EDH league every week at my LGS. They play by a points list, which actively discourages certain playstyles, namely combo. Here are the relevant point deductions (ie if you do these, you lose points. Considering first place in a 4-man pod is only 4 points, a single deduction is huge)
-1 Take three or more turns in a row (yeah. Can’t play Time Stretch. Ever.)
-1 Draw more than 10 cards in a turn (heard you liked Azami . Well, **** you.)
-1 Search your library 3 or more times in a turn (haha, you wanted to play Momir Vig ? Well, **** you.)
-1 Force an opponent to sac or destroy two or more lands in a turn (heard you wanted to play red. Well, **** you. Also, Eldrazi triggers don't count, so green still gets to nuke someone's board... weird)
-1 Do something other than tap land more than 10 times in a turn (this is the kicker. Almost every infinite combo is shut off. No palichron or any such shenanigans. No kiki jiki + untapper instant win. No sharuum gravestorm or disciple.)
Because infinite combo is essentially banned, green decks are rampant (see what I did there?). Azusa is the most popular commander, with two active players. Recently Ghave and Karador have also begun to make appearances, along with a smattering of other less common commanders, like Mayael. Another guy likes to tinker with various decks, but when he wants to bring the beats he takes out a very strong Rafiq deck. So yeah, as might be expected, when combos are taken off the table, green becomes the strongest color in EDH (if it wasn't already). I really like esper, though, and I wanted to make a deck that could win "fairly" without relying on ramp.
I've taken out some of the more durdley options, like Artificer's Intuition and Salvaging Station. I honestly think they fit better in a combo-oriented Sharuum deck that wants to pitch Sculpting Steel to find Lotus Bloom. Artificer's Intuition would be nice for those games when I draw Darksteel Forge turn one, but it often doesn't do enough, and furthermore it gets blown up easily, usually by me when I nuke the field with Disk. The new list tries to get out Darksteel Forge and Disk out quickly, because the decks that I run into most often have very few outs against it. Nobody else plays blue, so I don't worry about bounce. Few players play white, and even fewer pack Return to Dust. Ideally Darksteel Forge is an entomb target, but I run enough ramp that I can hardcast it easily if necessary.
Card Choices
A few cards are worth mentioning, mostly the non-artifacts that seem out of place in this list.
Future Sight - I wasn't sure about this card until I ran it. It's expensive, hard to recur, color heavy, and totally worth it. I draw the equivalent of 3-4 cards on average per turn with this out. It breaks my mirage tutors wide open. Vampiric Tutor becomes an instant speed, 1-mana demonic tutor. Additionally, it combos with Top and Etherium Sculptor. This is my favorite kind of combo: every piece is worth including on its own, but combined I can draw as many cards as I want (within league rules. Sigh) for free.
Sun Titan - he can recur things that Sharuum can't, like lands, Trinket Mage, Phantasmal Image, ANIMATE DEAD, and Rhystic Study. Moreover, he recurs things more often. He's also a well-costed beatstick with vigilance to protect my planeswalkers. He doesn't even necessarily die to disk. My favorite play with this guy is to blink him with Venser, blow up my opponents' boards with Forge-Disk, then blink him back in EOT, bringing back phantasmal image copying him, bringing back animate dead copying the best creature that just died on my opponent's side. Of course, that almost never happens, but when it does it's damn near impossible to lose.
Venser - this is my favorite card in the deck. He survives Disk. He blinks guys back at EOT, surviving my own wraths. He blinks PERMANENTS. I've used animate dead on a Wurmcoil Engine before, then blinked animate dead, ending the turn with 12 power on the board... then 18... then 24. Of course, he also blinks Sharuum. And Filigree Angel, which is usually good for 30 life per activation. His ultimate is also both useful and very easy to achieve. Even his -1 has uses.
The win-conditions are Disk/Forge followed by big creatures like SOTSW or Magister Sphinx, ThopterSword for blockers or to fuel Forgemaster or Time Seive, Time Seive + Thopter Assembly. In general, win through virtual or literal card advantage.
There are only a few cards I find questionable, and a few cards that I'm thinking about adding. If anyone would like to share their opinion on these, I would greatly appreciate it!
Questionable cards to remove:
Mox Diamond - I run 35 lands. Oftentimes early game this is fixing rather than acceleration, because it will force me to miss a land drop. It's also card disadvantage. I thought I could stomach it because of Crucible of Worlds, but the interaction hasn't come up enough. I'm thinking of cutting this for Chromatic Lantern or Coalition Relic.
Executioner's Capsule / Dispeller's Capsule - these are tutorable with Trinket Mage and Tezzeret, recurrable with ST, Sharuum, Open the Vaults, etc... but they're slow and kind of narrow. Excutioner's capsule in particular leaves me wondering if I wouldn't rather have either Swords to Plowshares or another wrath effect. Thoughts?
Rhystic Study - my opponents have all finally caught on to the game, and will almost always pay the tax. I want the card advantage more than the tax. Should I cut for Phyrexian Arena or Mystic Remora?
Consecrated Sphinx - I love it, I hate it. I've dropped it turn three thinking to gain an unbeatable lead, only to have it pathed, or worse, stolen with Gilded Drake (same guy also stole my Sphinx of the Steel Wind with Gilded Drake after bouncing it with Venser... I lost that game). He's fragile and a huge target. Should I cut it for Mind's Eye, which is much more resilient and less politically offensive?
Things I'm thinking about adding
Gilded Drake - it's not an artifact. I can't tutor for it easily (demonic and vampiric tutors notwithstanding). But it can be recurred with ST and bounced back to my control with Venser. I also play in a meta with lots of green, so there are ALWAYS big creatures to steal. I really like it, but I'm not sure it fits in the deck.
Read the Runes - I like this card as a way to sculpt my hand and discard sharuum targets. But I would probably cut a draw spell for it, and I'm not sure whether it's worth the loss in CA.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - I've been eyeing this guy for a while. Card advantage, bounce, and a win condition all in one. He's good, but is he good enough? Also, is he worth buying over something like, for example, a Tundra? Or a scrubland and two zendikar fetches?
Force of Will - another wallet-shredder I've been considering. My shop allows gold bordered cards in EDH, so price isn't a huge problem. However, is the card disadvantage worth it? There are very few cards in the deck that I'm 100% with exiling.
Sheoldred, Whispering One - again, not an artifact. But she is another recursion engine, and one with a sac effect too. I'm not actually sure I like the sac effect, since it encourages my opponents to get rid of her before my turn roles around. Still, a very strong card, and one that goes along with the theme of getting as much value out of cards as possible.
Thanks so much for the reply! I'll have to test the hair dryer technique next time I have something that needs to be sealed.
Another question that's been nagging me for a while, and which I haven't been able to find a decent answer to: how do you guys dig out the title text after painting over it? I'll give an example of what I'm talking about using an Exalted Angel altered by cardkitty (found here, hope this is sufficient citation: http://www.cardkitty.com/showcard.php?card_id=25592&type=borderless)
See how the "Exalted Angel" text has been perfectly carved out, very visible but also blending right into the background? I've tried just using a toothpick, but it's never nearly as crisp as the example above (usually take a little too much and expose the gray/brown background of the original card). I know part of it is just the fact that the above artist is ridiculously talented, but I'm wondering if there's also a trick to it that I'm missing. So do you guys use toothpicks or something else?
I tried searching the thread, but only came up with questions about protective coat brands instead of technique. So here goes.
Question for those of you who apply a clear coat finish to your alters:
I recently tried using Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic gloss to protect an alter, but I can't get a good balance between the coat being overly thick and it being spotted.
The first alter I sprayed ended up way too thick. It's smooth, but really really glossy and a little uneven in areas. Not wanting to ruin another alter, I tried again with an unpainted basic land. I did two very light coatings. That fixed the the glossiness. However, when I hold the card up to the light, instead of a smooth surface I can see hundreds of tiny pits where the spray went on unevenly. The pits are also slightly noticeable to touch unsleeved. Is this normal?
If not, what am I doing wrong? I hold the can about 8 inches from the card and do two quick sweeps for each coat.
I wish I could procure an image so you could see what I'm talking about, but the coating doesn't show up on a scan.
Exalted triggers are until EOT, and both Rafiq and Finest Hour will trigger again during the second combat phase. So 3+1+1+DS = 10 for the first. 5+1+1+DS=14 for the second. And 24 total.
Nin (heavy control)
2 Geists, standard build
Akroma, AoF (land destruction) (apparently it’s pretty good, didn’t get a chance to play it)
GAAIV (control)
Zur (standard voltron)
Merieke Ri Berit (control)
Momir Vig (goodstuff, surprisingly controlling)
Doran (goodstuff)
As far as I could tell, it was a rather heavy control environment. I’m not sure if it’s the best place for a tempo deck, to be honest, as much as I like Wydwen. However, I haven’t really played enough of this format to be a good judge, and I don’t want to finish buying the last (rather expensive) pieces to either deck only to be unhappy with it later. So, out of the two listed, which would you run? Or are they going to be roughly equal in potency?
Thanks!
Arcanis the Omnipotent - play a creature? I'll draw three.
Bloodline Keeper - this is actually a Kiki-Jiki/Splinter Twin type combo when Intuder Alarm is in play. Due to my league's rules, I can only make 9 vampires per turn, so four player game, 36 vampires... flip Keeper... untap my next turn with 149 power on the board. With flying. Spicy.
Stonehorn seems to lack a little umph in multiplayer. Even in the ideal scenario of Stonehorn+Deadeye, to lock out three opponents you need six mana each turn. I think I'd rather play ensnaring bridge and lock the creatures that matter from attacking every turn for no additional mana or cards.
I, too, would be interested in what other Merieke players use as win cons. Or do you just beat people with stolen creatures?
ChefStiX, how big is your Storm Herd usually? I ask because whenever I play in Esper colors, people gun for me because A) "Esper is scary/broken/combo-y" and B) early game I don't have the creature presence other decks have, so by the time I would be able to resolve a 10 CMC spell my life could be in the teens.
Thanks!
How Competitive (For Fun, Local Tournament, MTGO, PTQ/GP): Local tournaments. I'm just getting into the modern scene here, but I know people run Jund, UR storm, and some fringe stuff like elves and MBC.
Favorite Cards/Colors: Blue, usually combined with white or black. But I'm flexible.
Budget: As cheap as I can go without folding to certain decks for budget reasons. We'll say $150. Reason being I don't know how well supported Modern is in my area. I'm not buying Jund if there's a chance I'll only play every other month.
Staples Owned: A few shocks, swords, damnation. Not much, but I can trade in some legacy stuff if necessary.
I'm interested in UR Storm, RG Tron, and Burn. I think burn is the cheapest but I don't want a deck devoid of decision making. Burn seems really linear (Guide, swing, bolt bolt swing, etc? Burn players correct me if I'm wrong). UR Storm is linear but seems to reward tight play, which is very appealing to me.
So basically: fairly budget build, rewards tight play, can rumble with the big boys. Prefer combo/control, but the archetype is less important than how the deck plays out.
Thanks!
Thank you for the honest critique! I really appreciate it. Don't worry too much over my mauled Yawgmoth's Will... it's a gold bordered World Champs Deck card I bought to practice on, so it's not worth much. I definitely rushed a few of those cards, will need to work on that.
The scanned image definitely highlights poor color matching... the Will, for example, looks pretty decent in person but not nearly as good up close. I guess I need to get better lighting where I paint, so I can see the difference in vivo, so to speak.
I'll try to put your advice to work and paint something cleaner next week. Thanks again.
PS: I'll try to keep the questions to a minimum, since I don't think this is the right thread for them, but you mentioned using a smaller brush. I think I use size 1 and 0 for most everything. What size would you recommend?
Sorry about the white flecks on the darker portions of the cards. It's just stubborn dust I couldn't get off my scanner.
Ensnaring Bridge - is this better or worse than just wrathing the field? It stalls for time until I can bring out a win condition, but it also can just piss off the table. I think Austere Command is probably still better for this spot, but does anyone actually have experience running Bridge?
Nevinyrral's Disk - if I'm putting in Darksteel Forge, should I just add this too, perhaps in the place of Scourglass? I like that scourglass is asymmetrical even without forge out... but Forge+Disk just wrecks most decks I play against. Also blows things up the turn I play it if Voltaic Key is out.
Frantic Search - I'm not sure yet how badly this deck needs more draw spells, but this one is pretty good. A free spell that digs and lets me toss fuel into the graveyard seems nuts... but what to cut? I don't think it's better than any of my other draw spells. Maybe Ponder? The shuffle is nice, especially with Scroll Rack, but it could probably go.
Skullclamp - incredibly good interaction with Thopter-Sword: two cards for two colorless mana, repeatable. Given the relative lack of creatures this deck runs otherwise, though, is this just win more?
EDIT: I read Frantic Search as draw three, discard two. Since it's actually a much less ridiculous draw two, discard two, it's card disadvantage that this deck probably doesn't need.
EDIT: Other thoughts - I realized that this deck only has two ways to get rid of indestructible creatures - Duplicant and STP. Given that Ulamog shows up in probably 50% or more of the games I play, should I add more to combat it? Besides exile spells, I've been thinking about bounce spells... maybe Aether Spellbomb? It draws, bounces, and has recursion via salvaging station. Thoughts?
Other option is tuck spells. Oblation could be useful, since I can use it on myself in a pinch, but I'm worried it doesn't do enough. Hallowed Burial / Terminus? Seems like I don't want to shuffle my own creatures back into my library... but if I can hit Skittles, Rafiq, or Ulamog it might be worth it.
To respond to your points:
Intuition is definitely superior to Buried Alive. I think I overlooked it in the original list because it’s at the price point where I start to look for alternatives if possible, but I should probably just break down and buy the darn thing. It’s like a double entomb plus demonic tutor with a negligible downside! Absolutely nuts. Added to my acquire-list.
Darksteel Forge should probably be in the list if I’m not strictly combo. The thought of being protected by a swarm of indestructible flying thopters warms my heart a little. And as someone who has, from time to time, bounced an opponent’s Forge with that opponent’s Nev’s Disc trigger on the stack… hexproof would be nice. I like Leonin Abunas better than Indomitable Archangel, simply because he gives hexproof rather than shroud, which is relevant if I run Venser or Voyager Staff. He’s also a little less color intensive, which is especially nice given my budget land setup.
I agree that my draw spells haven’t been completely thought out. I threw in Thoughtcast because it’s such an efficient spell, but after goldfishing with this deck a ton I’m realizing that I usually have more mana than I know what to do with (and no cards in hand!). Recurring Insight has been a favorite in other decks. I’ll put it in. Phyrexian Arena is also solid. I’m still pretty fond of Vault. When I actually finish assembling the deck and play against real people we’ll see if it stays.
Consecrated Sphinx – I know that this card is really strong, if it sticks around. Which can be hit or miss. I also have comparatively fewer ways to recur it, since it’s the only organic sphinx on the list. Still probably warrants inclusion. Draws a removal spell that would have targeted something else, and nets me at least a couple of cards... I’ll take out impulse for it.
I put Open the Vaults in over Roar of Reclamation for two reasons. First, it’s 1 cmc less. Second, it recurs leyline of the void – one of the few ways this deck has to recur that half of my helm+leyline combo. Right now I can’t think of any decks in my meta that would benefit too much from the enchantments clause, but this is certainly something that I’ll keep an eye on and swap out as necessary.
I know where you’re coming from regarding the artifact lands. Right now there aren’t too many shatter effects in my meta, and the artifact lands are nice as a free Tezzeret tutor target, but if they start getting blown up too much I’ll swap them out.
Vampiric tutor is in the deck! Just in the wrong spot… moved to instants.
I debated between Venser and Staff for a while. I like that Voyager Staff interacts so nicely with the rest of my cog tutor+recursion package. It also protects Sharuum which, as you noted, may be less of an issue with your additions. At the same time, Venser’s other ability are both fantastic. I like the idea of using the -1 with a Blightsteel on the field as a “deal with this now or die” play. I might just through him in and keep the Staff, if there's room. We’ll see.
And yeah, the deck needs a heavy dose of mass removal. I guess I knew that, I just needed someone to objectively tell me what was OK to take out. Trading Post can go. Unburial Rites is probably redundant. I’d like to keep at least one reanimate spell in the deck, especially if I play more non-artifact creatures like Consecrated Sphinx and Leonin Abunas.
Changes
+ Damnation
+ Consecrated Sphinx
+ Recurring Insight
+ Phyrexian Arena
+ Darksteel Forge
+ Leonin Abunas
- Trading Post
- Thoughtcast
- Impulse
- Brainstorm
- Unburial Rites
- Diabolic Revelation
- Buried Alive
I play in an EDH league every week at my LGS. They play by a points list, which actively discourages certain playstyles, namely combo. Here are the relevant point deductions (ie if you do these, you lose points. Considering first place in a 4-man pod is only 4 points, a single deduction is huge)
-1 Take three or more turns in a row (yeah. Can’t play Time Stretch. Ever.)
-1 Draw more than 10 cards in a turn (heard you liked Azami . Well, **** you.)
-1 Search your library 3 or more times in a turn (haha, you wanted to play Momir Vig ? Well, **** you.)
-1 Force an opponent to sac or destroy two or more lands in a turn (heard you wanted to play red. Well, **** you. Also, Eldrazi triggers don't count, so green still gets to nuke someone's board... weird)
-1 Do something other than tap land more than 10 times in a turn (this is the kicker. Almost every infinite combo is shut off. No palichron or any such shenanigans. No kiki jiki + untapper instant win. No sharuum gravestorm or disciple.)
Because infinite combo is essentially banned, green decks are rampant (see what I did there?). Azusa is the most popular commander, with two active players. Recently Ghave and Karador have also begun to make appearances, along with a smattering of other less common commanders, like Mayael. Another guy likes to tinker with various decks, but when he wants to bring the beats he takes out a very strong Rafiq deck. So yeah, as might be expected, when combos are taken off the table, green becomes the strongest color in EDH (if it wasn't already). I really like esper, though, and I wanted to make a deck that could win "fairly" without relying on ramp.
Having said that, here is the list.
1 Sharuum the Hegemon
Lands (35)
3 Island
2 Swamp
2 Plains
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Watery Grave
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Windswept Heath
1 Bad River
1 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Phyrexia’s Core
1 Tolaria West
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Strip Mine
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Academy Ruins
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Reflecting Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Command Tower
1 Glimmervoid
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Ancient Den
1 Karn Liberated
1 Venser the Sojourner
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolus
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
Enchantments (3)
1 Animate Dead
1 Future Sight
1 Rhystic Study
Sorceries (8)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Windfall
1 Unburial Rites
1 Open the Vaults
1 Damnation
1 Recurring Insight
1 Austere Command
1 Transmute Artifact
Instants (10)
1 Cryptic Command
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Counterspell
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Intuition
1 Entomb
Artifacts (22)
1 Dispeller’s Capsule
1 Executioner’s Capsule
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Mana Crypt
1 Voltaic Key
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Oblivion stone
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Mox Opal
1 Mana Vault
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Darksteel Forge
1 Time Seive
1 Nevinyrral’s Disk
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Mox Diamond
1 Grim Monolith
1 Sol Ring
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Magister Sphinx
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Duplicant
1 Filigree Angel
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Sun Titan
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Trinket Mage
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Master Transmuter
1 Thopter Assembly
Deck by functionality
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Cryptic Command
1 Counterspell
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Intuition
1 Entomb
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Tolaria West
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Future Sight
1 Rhystic Study
1 Windfall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Recurring Insight
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolus
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Unburial Rites
1 Animate Dead
1 Open the Vaults
1 Academy Ruins
Ramp
1 Mana Crypt
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Mox Opal
1 Mana Vault
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Mox Diamond
1 Grim Monolith
1 Sol Ring
Utility
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Master Transmuter
1 Voltaic Key
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Venser the Sojourner
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Dispeller’s Capsule
1 Executioner’s Capsule
1 Oblivion stone
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Austere Command
1 Damnation
1 Duplicant
1 Karn Liberated
Win Conditions
1 Thopter Foundry
1 Sword of the Meek
1 Darksteel Forge
1 Time Seive
1 Thopter Assembly
1 Nevinyrral’s Disk
I've taken out some of the more durdley options, like Artificer's Intuition and Salvaging Station. I honestly think they fit better in a combo-oriented Sharuum deck that wants to pitch Sculpting Steel to find Lotus Bloom. Artificer's Intuition would be nice for those games when I draw Darksteel Forge turn one, but it often doesn't do enough, and furthermore it gets blown up easily, usually by me when I nuke the field with Disk. The new list tries to get out Darksteel Forge and Disk out quickly, because the decks that I run into most often have very few outs against it. Nobody else plays blue, so I don't worry about bounce. Few players play white, and even fewer pack Return to Dust. Ideally Darksteel Forge is an entomb target, but I run enough ramp that I can hardcast it easily if necessary.
Card Choices
A few cards are worth mentioning, mostly the non-artifacts that seem out of place in this list.
Future Sight - I wasn't sure about this card until I ran it. It's expensive, hard to recur, color heavy, and totally worth it. I draw the equivalent of 3-4 cards on average per turn with this out. It breaks my mirage tutors wide open. Vampiric Tutor becomes an instant speed, 1-mana demonic tutor. Additionally, it combos with Top and Etherium Sculptor. This is my favorite kind of combo: every piece is worth including on its own, but combined I can draw as many cards as I want (within league rules. Sigh) for free.
Sun Titan - he can recur things that Sharuum can't, like lands, Trinket Mage, Phantasmal Image, ANIMATE DEAD, and Rhystic Study. Moreover, he recurs things more often. He's also a well-costed beatstick with vigilance to protect my planeswalkers. He doesn't even necessarily die to disk. My favorite play with this guy is to blink him with Venser, blow up my opponents' boards with Forge-Disk, then blink him back in EOT, bringing back phantasmal image copying him, bringing back animate dead copying the best creature that just died on my opponent's side. Of course, that almost never happens, but when it does it's damn near impossible to lose.
Venser - this is my favorite card in the deck. He survives Disk. He blinks guys back at EOT, surviving my own wraths. He blinks PERMANENTS. I've used animate dead on a Wurmcoil Engine before, then blinked animate dead, ending the turn with 12 power on the board... then 18... then 24. Of course, he also blinks Sharuum. And Filigree Angel, which is usually good for 30 life per activation. His ultimate is also both useful and very easy to achieve. Even his -1 has uses.
The win-conditions are Disk/Forge followed by big creatures like SOTSW or Magister Sphinx, ThopterSword for blockers or to fuel Forgemaster or Time Seive, Time Seive + Thopter Assembly. In general, win through virtual or literal card advantage.
There are only a few cards I find questionable, and a few cards that I'm thinking about adding. If anyone would like to share their opinion on these, I would greatly appreciate it!
Questionable cards to remove:
Mox Diamond - I run 35 lands. Oftentimes early game this is fixing rather than acceleration, because it will force me to miss a land drop. It's also card disadvantage. I thought I could stomach it because of Crucible of Worlds, but the interaction hasn't come up enough. I'm thinking of cutting this for Chromatic Lantern or Coalition Relic.
Executioner's Capsule / Dispeller's Capsule - these are tutorable with Trinket Mage and Tezzeret, recurrable with ST, Sharuum, Open the Vaults, etc... but they're slow and kind of narrow. Excutioner's capsule in particular leaves me wondering if I wouldn't rather have either Swords to Plowshares or another wrath effect. Thoughts?
Rhystic Study - my opponents have all finally caught on to the game, and will almost always pay the tax. I want the card advantage more than the tax. Should I cut for Phyrexian Arena or Mystic Remora?
Consecrated Sphinx - I love it, I hate it. I've dropped it turn three thinking to gain an unbeatable lead, only to have it pathed, or worse, stolen with Gilded Drake (same guy also stole my Sphinx of the Steel Wind with Gilded Drake after bouncing it with Venser... I lost that game). He's fragile and a huge target. Should I cut it for Mind's Eye, which is much more resilient and less politically offensive?
Things I'm thinking about adding
Gilded Drake - it's not an artifact. I can't tutor for it easily (demonic and vampiric tutors notwithstanding). But it can be recurred with ST and bounced back to my control with Venser. I also play in a meta with lots of green, so there are ALWAYS big creatures to steal. I really like it, but I'm not sure it fits in the deck.
Read the Runes - I like this card as a way to sculpt my hand and discard sharuum targets. But I would probably cut a draw spell for it, and I'm not sure whether it's worth the loss in CA.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - I've been eyeing this guy for a while. Card advantage, bounce, and a win condition all in one. He's good, but is he good enough? Also, is he worth buying over something like, for example, a Tundra? Or a scrubland and two zendikar fetches?
Force of Will - another wallet-shredder I've been considering. My shop allows gold bordered cards in EDH, so price isn't a huge problem. However, is the card disadvantage worth it? There are very few cards in the deck that I'm 100% with exiling.
Sheoldred, Whispering One - again, not an artifact. But she is another recursion engine, and one with a sac effect too. I'm not actually sure I like the sac effect, since it encourages my opponents to get rid of her before my turn roles around. Still, a very strong card, and one that goes along with the theme of getting as much value out of cards as possible.
Another question that's been nagging me for a while, and which I haven't been able to find a decent answer to: how do you guys dig out the title text after painting over it? I'll give an example of what I'm talking about using an Exalted Angel altered by cardkitty (found here, hope this is sufficient citation: http://www.cardkitty.com/showcard.php?card_id=25592&type=borderless)
See how the "Exalted Angel" text has been perfectly carved out, very visible but also blending right into the background? I've tried just using a toothpick, but it's never nearly as crisp as the example above (usually take a little too much and expose the gray/brown background of the original card). I know part of it is just the fact that the above artist is ridiculously talented, but I'm wondering if there's also a trick to it that I'm missing. So do you guys use toothpicks or something else?
Question for those of you who apply a clear coat finish to your alters:
I recently tried using Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic gloss to protect an alter, but I can't get a good balance between the coat being overly thick and it being spotted.
The first alter I sprayed ended up way too thick. It's smooth, but really really glossy and a little uneven in areas. Not wanting to ruin another alter, I tried again with an unpainted basic land. I did two very light coatings. That fixed the the glossiness. However, when I hold the card up to the light, instead of a smooth surface I can see hundreds of tiny pits where the spray went on unevenly. The pits are also slightly noticeable to touch unsleeved. Is this normal?
If not, what am I doing wrong? I hold the can about 8 inches from the card and do two quick sweeps for each coat.
I wish I could procure an image so you could see what I'm talking about, but the coating doesn't show up on a scan.