So I haven't played Magic since Innistrad block and lately I've been feeling the itch to start playing again. I've been doing some research and mono black seems to be the deck that's the most competitive on a budget that can also evolve the most easily into a super competitive deck. My idea of "budget" is being able to cobble something together by trading what I've already got without spending a dime. So I did some research on the forums here and tried to get an idea of what works in the deck. Then I took my old trade binder,that I haven't even looked at in a couple of years, and started hitting up local game shops.
The first store that I went to is one that recently opened up in my area. It's small and the parking sucked but I was greeted by a hot chick that really seemed interested in getting a conversation going with me. Not the worst first impression. The showcase was pretty limited but I did see a few cards that I needed and when they started quoting me TCGplayer mid prices I knew that I wasn't wasting my time. I snapped up a couple of $3 pain seers and a $2 BTE. Then they pointed me to the uncommons/commons box. I proceeded to pull out several playsets of pretty much everything that I could want for $.10 a card in trade. When I was done the guy behind the register wanted $30. He went through my binder and pulled out a pretty small stack of stuff, called it good and I went on my way.
The second store that I went to is the most established shop in my area. They've been around forever and they're super fair. But they never want more than 4-8 of anything and they are slow to update prices (which can be good or bad for you). The big, redeeming quality is that the guy who runs the magic cards knows exactly what he wants so he can usually burn through a few thousand card collection in 20-30 minutes and have a number for you. I walked out of there with a playset of Desecration Demons, a couple of Heralds of Torment and a Blood Crypt (just in case).
The last shop that I went to is probably the premier magic shop in my area. They hold tournaments with huge turnouts, they have a big eBay presence and they're on the bleeding edge of pricing. Just don't go there on a night when they're holding a tournament. They handed me their buy list and told me to figure it out for myself. Going through my binders and trying to remember all of the set symbols myself was a very good exercise for me so I'm not complaining. They had everything that I needed to polish everything up. When I was done there this is the decklist that I ended up with:
Basically, I've tried to make this deck as balanced as possible in each stage of the game. I'll try to address some of your concerns:
Equipment: You won't change my mind about Sunforger. Sure, it costs a lot, it's slow and you run out of targets pretty fast once you get it online. For me, the versatility and the threat of what I can do with it are what gives it a permanent place in the deck. Have you ever had someone with a solid board presence and Avancyn, Angel of Hope on the board who wants nothing more than to cast that wrath? Sword of Body and Mind is by far the worst sword and it's always been on the chopping block. The pro blue and pro green are both relevant, though. The protections from Sword of War and Peace are even better and the abilities are never drawbacks even if they aren't particularly useful all the time. Basilisk Collar is probably going to get cut sometime soon, too. Tenza, Godo's Maul is another one that I consider cutting a lot but it's just so solid on Jor. Giving him trample is a beating and when you add in double strike he can start picking people off one turn at a time. Which leads me to Whispersilk Cloak. It's another one that I always think about cutting but it's proved itself so many times that I always keep it in. The shroud is very good but it's so easy to make Jor swing for 21+ that making him unblockable with shroud is just ridiculous. The boots aren't the worst. Jor is just like any other general. You want to protect him and the boots do that. They also give haste which is obviously important. Basically, they protect the important creature which ensures that all of the other creatures that you're swinging with are always much more scary.
Creatures: Stonehewer Giant is awesome. If he lasts for a couple of turns he can just get out of control. Razor Hippogriff and Sanctum Gargoyle are both good value creatures. They can get you back an artifact and they're flyers which is useful more often than you'd think. Elesh Norn is another versatile one that just does everything that this deck wants to do. It can be a one sided board wipe. It's an anthem. She also takes out an opposing Elesh Norn. Grand Abolisher is just kind of a value creature. He's cheap and he stops people from using tricks during your turn. The idea is to drop him early before people can do much about him or see him as much of a threat. Then by the time he's actually relevant you should have some way to protect him. Even in the late game he can stop a lot of shenanigans if you have cavern of souls out naming humans. Kazuul is just a rattlesnake that can hold people off. Even if evasion creatures do fly over the tokens they have to worry about Jor swinging back with a bunch of 3/3s. He's also good with Tenza, Godo's Maul. I like Solemn Simulacrum just because he's such a good value creature. He ends up making it into a lot of my decks. Wurmcoil Engine is just a beater that can be hard to deal with and it keeps metal craft turned on when it dies. Precursor Golem is in my MTGO Jor deck and I do like it. It's just too easy to deal with. Cloudgoat Ranger and Hero of Bladehold both keep going in and out. In my meta hero just gets an absolutely absurd amount of hate for some reason. It seems like whenever I play her I become an instant target and no one forgets that I played her for the rest of the game. I think I have the guy who won FNM for about two months straight with a GW token deck focused around her to thank for that.
Spells: I like my removal package where it's at. I've gone back and forth with Oblation but ultimately decided that it's drawback is just worse than swords, path and dispatch. Return to Dust is arguably the best enchantment/artifact removal spell in the format. Aura of Silence is fine but I think I'd play it in addition to rather than in place of Return to Dust. Seize the Day is a very good finisher since Jor is really the only creature that you need to untap. Savage Beating might make the cut in addition to it but it won't replace it. I don't really like "all in" cards like Tears of Rage and Firecat Blitz. Martial Coup might be better than Austere Command. Decree of Justice is probably the only token maker spell that I'd consider out of the ones you mentioned.
Land: I know I have a lot of colorless sources but to be honest I've never been color screwed. Half of the spells are colorless and there are enough rocks to help with fixing that it's not really a big deal.
Other stuff: I like Myr Turbine. It quickly and easily turns on metalcraft, it makes an army of dudes pretty quickly to attack with Jor and it can make chump blockers every turn. If I were to cut anything for Precursor Golem this would probably be the card. Rage Reflection has been on the chopping block since I put it in. I'll probably replace it with Savage Beating. Mirror Entity has gone in and out. It's just not that good when you're getting hated out and Jor ends up being the only thing that you can keep on the table. Alloy Myr and Scuttlemutt both seem like they'd be good fits. Especially, Scuttlemutt.
Thanks for the in depth breakdown. I agree with a lot of what you said. You seem to be more focused on making an all in aggro deck that just wants to kill everyone as fast as possible. I think you sacrifice a lot of consistency by going that route. It also makes you a bigger target. I've sacrificed quite a bit of explosiveness for more durability and recursion. It's still easy for me to have a big turn where I just win. I just have an easier time surviving to that point if I can't make that big turn happen before other players start establishing board presence. I'll be making some tweaks for sure.
Sunforger is one of the centerpiece cards of this deck... It just has so many synergies that play well with everything this deck is trying to do that I can't imagine cutting it. Especially, when Mistveil Plains is also a card. Those are two of the key cards that make this deck competitive in the late game. Eventually, you're going to hit enough fetches and tutors to get these two cards in play then you'll just be able to do whatever you want every turn whether it be exile a huge creature, kill an enchantment/artifact or just tutor for an enchantment or artifact every turn. I'm still on the fence about Master Warcraft but I've been in a lot of close games where that card would have won it for me. Sunforger makes me really want to try it out.
The biggest problem I've found with this deck is that it just plays too fair. I always feel like I'm short on mana because I'm paying full price for everything. Also, you're usually only killing one person at a time. Unless you've got an unblockable, 11/x Jor Kadeen with double strike and a million attack phases then it's hard to just kill everyone without taking a few turns to set it up. Meanwhile, you're the target because everyone sees it coming. Sunforger is the closest thing we have to an unfair card that can keep us alive late in the game when every other deck is going off. Master Warcraft plays right along with that strategy because it can buy you a turn and it can force someone to take out someone else AND leave them open to you finishing them. It just seems way too good not to include. I've also been running Odric, Master Tactician and he's been paying off nicely. Master Warcraft is much better.
This is the EDH deck that I've decided to foil out. Mine is pretty much finished but there are always tweaks to be made. Master warcraft is basically a sunforger target version of Odric that I've been thinking about putting in. Faith's Reward is probably also going in. Goblin Welder is definitely going in. That card is ridiculous in this deck with crucible of worlds and artifact lands as has already been mentioned. Ranger of Eos is definitely interesting but I don't know if it's good enough to make the cut.
When I first started playing my main go to deck was Erhnamgeddon. Ever since then I've always been a control player. Now I just play whatever deck I feel is the best in the format. I don't remember ever surprising myself by playing a certain archetype. If it's good why not play it?
If I owned one I'd do it all the time. I'm not renting a tux just to go to FNM. Although, if I ever happen to have one for a wedding or something then I'll definitely pimp it. I dress well most of the time and seem to get a lot of comments so most people who know me probably wouldn't be surprised to see me show up in a tux.
If you like having plenty of mana you should be playing green. If you like to do things that fly under the radar but that can keep you in the game indefinitely you should be playing blue. If you want removal spells that somehow work really well without making yourself a huge target then white is your answer. IMO, Bant is the best color combination for EDH.
Anyone who's ever played against Rafiq of the Many knows that he's completely absurd and easy to build around. That can actually be a liability, though, since everyone at the table will probably be gunning for you early. Jenara, Asura of War also seems pretty aggro centric although I can see people being able to do more subtle things with her. Either way, you probably want to build around her if you're playing her. Phelddagrif seems like the type of deck that you want to play to either completely demoralize a group (by beating them after giving them huge advantages over the course of the entire game) or to let you pick a winner after a night of wrecking face. Ragnar pretty much sucks. For me, though, I prefer a general that no one cares about. Maybe they don't even notice that he's been played. They still have to do powerful things if I do decide to play them, though. The other two bant generals fit this bill perfectly. Angus MacKenzie is awesome but he's also $30. He's also not Elesh Norn proof by himself which is a pretty big deal in my meta since she's ALL over. That leaves Rubinia Soulsinger who, in my opinion, is right on par with Angus at 1/100th of the price. She also survives Elesh Norn and can even steal her.
At the end of the day I wanted a deck that doesn't look like it's doing anything until it starts doing it. By then it's too late to do anything about it. There's been a lot of talk about limiting infinite combos in my store so it also has to do it without going infinite. So how do I pull that off? Well, here's the deck list.
The deck is pretty straightforward. It does need a lot of mana to get online but you've got mystical and personal tutor in there to cast your sweepers or to set up a miracle Terminus when you need to slow things down. Mana Reflection, Seedborn Muse and Mirari's Wake are in there to get you all of that mana that you're eventually going to need. Palincron is another one that I've been thinking about adding but he's too easy to go infinite with. Vorinclex is another option but my playgroup has all but banned him. He's miserable to play against and usually doesn't resolve or stick around long enough to do anything.
The tutor suite is pretty important to the deck. As was already mentioned, mystical tutor and personal tutor are both there to more easily get to sweepers. You can grab Bribery if you know that someone else is running something that's important to your plan (like Vorinclex or Seedborn Muse for instance). If not you still get someone's best creature which almost always turns out well. There are also times when setting up a miracle Temporal Mastery is extremely relevant. If you have control of the board and a ton of mana but you just need to start digging for answers you can even go grab Mystic Speculation.
Riptide Shapeshifter is essentially another tutor. The creature suite is set up to take full advantage of him. It does need a bit of tweaking to get perfect but for now it gets to all of the cards that I need when I need them almost every time. I'm almost never unhappy to name spirit and get either Karmic Guide, Seedborn Muse or Deadeye Navigator. If I need a counterspell I can name snake and get Mystic Snake. If I need a disposable clone I can name illusion and get Phantasmal Image. If I want a real one I can name shapeshifter and get a real one. If I want to start blowing stuff up I can name treefolk and get Woodfall Primus or ooze and get Acidic Slime. If I want to get the tutoring chain going strong I can get one of the best cards in the deck, Brutalizer Exarch. When he's bonded with Deadeye Navigator (who should be exactly what you go for when the exarch initially comes into play) he basically reads U1: Put target non-creature permanent on the bottom of it's owner's library or search your deck for a creature and put it on top of your library. If you manage to stick a Deadeye Navigator when you have enough mana out you have no business losing.
So how do you win? Essentially, it's a deck that uses and abuses ETB abilities. Once you get your engine running efficiently you'll be tucking or destroying or returning to hand 4-5 permanents per turn. Deadeye Navigator is a house here. Pair him with Restoration Angel and you can exile and ETB any of your creatures at will for U1. As was already mentioned above, with Brutalizer Exarch you can tuck their lands, enchantments, artifacts and planeswalkers at will or just search up a creature. With Reveillark you can recur most of the creatures in the deck. When you have [/c]Karmic Guide[/c] in play, too, you can recur anything. With Mystic Snake you can counter spells for U1. Got a Strip Mine in the graveyard? Hello Sun Titan. You can clone anything at will with your clones. Did I mention that you can permanently steal creatures with your general when you blink them? Snapcaster Mage or, even better, Eternal Witness also plays extremely well with him. Eternal Witness, Riftsweeper, Temporal Mastery and Personal Tutor/Mystical Tutor are an infinite turns combo but it's so durdly and easy to disrupt I don't mind including it. You can also bond him with Rishadan Brigand or Rishadan Footpad and...well...that should be pretty obvious.
I still need to work on the mana base. I'm not willing to buy the two most expensive shock lands yet since the price is going to tank in a couple of months if they get reprinted. The utility lands are pretty straightforward. Alchemist's Refuge is pretty insane in this deck. It lets you play Personal Tutor at instant speed which can be hugely relevant when you need it to set up a miracle next turn. It also lets you keep your mana untapped which has obvious applications. Academy Ruins is still in there because I use to have some stuff like Nevynril's Disk and Expedition Map in the original build. I can still use it to legend rule other people's Academy Ruin's but Vesuva is probably just better at that.
The deck does look like a huge pile of durdles but it's surprisingly consistent. There are enough ways to get to what you need to do when you need to do it. By the time you get everything online it's usually too late for anyone to do anything about it. There are a few things that I've been thinking about including. As I mentioned earlier Palincron and Vorinclex would both fit into the deck nicely but they're both a little over the top. Riptide Laboratory is probably just good enough to make the cut since the wizards that are in the deck are really good to be able to return to my hand. Trickbind is probably going to replace a counterspell. It screws over combo decks quite nicely and there are enough ways to get it back that it could potentially shut them down, completely. Last Word and Krosan Grip might also make the cut for the same reason. They're not as good as Trickbind but they can still buy you a turn. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage may also be good enough. Her -2 can be really good in group games and her +1 isn't horrible. Her ultimate is just ridiculously overpowered, though. If you get her emblem then it's pretty hard to lose. What does the hive mind think? Suggestions? Criticisms?
Brutalizer Exarch would also be very good in this deck. The biggest problem is, as stated, that mana dorks suck right now. You basically have to use a ramp shell. You should probably also splash white for day of judgement or possibly Terminus. With Brutalizer Exarch floating around you don't really care if you have to hit your fatty with Terminus when you're on the ropes. Deadeye Navigator is also very good. Mimic Vat just isn't very good. It seems good when it works but when it doesn't work it just sits there doing nothing. Runescarred Demon is also way too expensive to cast reliably. The biggest hurdle for this deck has got to be the mana. There's just way too much GG, UU and WW going on. Once you get Acidic Slime/Brutalizer Exarch online with Deadeye Navigator it only takes a few turns to completely shut your opponent down. At least against Venser/Stonehorn you can peel a removal spell. Against this your opponent's lands are just gone and you have enough big dudes in play to hold off most threats. I'm going to try it just for fun. I just wish that everything that's really good in the deck didn't cost 5-6 mana.
Relentless makes us resilient to sweepers, he's easy to cast and he's pretty versatile. Most people just play Primal Hunter for the card draw. 3 cards for 5 isn't a bad deal when you don't have access to any other draw. I've tried them both and it just doesn't seem like we need either one. There are better cards to fill the slots that these take up.
I don't really think that Snapcaster Mage is all that necessary. I love Deadeye Navigator but I think that this list is too tight for us to be able to fit him in. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is just better. I really like Bonfire of the Damned in this build. I also want to try out Vanishment. It seems like we'll have the mana to cast it normally when we need to and when we can miracle it it'll be awesome. The ability to so easily set up a miracle with Noxious Revival seems insane so I had to squeeze at least one of them in. The sweeper count may be too low for this deck to be really good but Glimmerpost should usually be enough to get us back in the game against fast decks and Frost Titan/Tamiyo can just lock most decks out if they get online.
The sideboard is obviously going to need some tweaking. Karn Liberated is an autoinclude in any wolf run deck's sideboard. Against UB control Glimmerpost comes out and Cavern of Souls and Ghost Quarter go in. Ghost Quarter may also be good against Slayer's Stronghold. A couple of my buddies have been testing it and they have nothing but high praise for the card so far. The rest of the board should be pretty straightforward.
I played Naya WRR for a while and loved it. I definitely prefer day of judgement over slagstorm. I recently switched to RG just to see how much more consistent it feels but slayer's stronghold might be enough to get me to try Naya again.
Mist Raven is good on it's own, too. I've been running it even without Wild Pair. It gets really good when you start blinking it when you start blinking it. It also allows you to use Venser on another target and easily return him to your hand.
There's a dude that lets you fetch a card that's been removed from the game. I can't remember his name right now, though. Maybe that's enough to make Temporal Mastery worth playing. We'd just need some Brainstorm effects to keep putting it back on top of our library when we want it there. Throw in some Terminus and Devestation Tide action and you've got another control element. Use stuff like Noxious Revival to recur the stuff that goes to your graveyard and blink the dude who brings back removed cards to get back Temporal Mastery. Jace, the mind sculptor would be good here. I'm probably delving into the territory of a completely different deck, though, so it's probably not as good as the Johnny in my head is making it sound.
Mist Raven seems like another good creature for the wild pair package. It's not quite as good as Venser but it works. I think maximizing that package might be a good idea. I'll probably throw in Academy Rector to add some consistency. It can also fetch up mana reflection or mirari's wake if we use wild pair to get it in the first place.
Brutalizer Exarch and Deadeye Navigator are both in my build. Those two are insane together. I'm also thinking about throwing in Deceiver Exarch. Get Deadeye online with him while you have Mana Reflection out and you've got infinite mana if you're running double mana lands. Then again, he's also a cleric and I might not always want to see him if I Riptide Shapeshifter and want the other one or vice versa.
Riptide Shapeshifter seems like it would be pretty good in this deck. If your deck is setup right that card is basically UU2: "put a creature from your library into play". With so many different creature types you should be able to find an answer whenever you need it. The deck seems pretty mana intensive so at the very least you should probably throw in mana reflection. I've been running that and Mirari's Wake in my Rubinia deck. I don't really like the one shot blink instants since there aren't that many ways to recur them. If you're going to run them then Isochron Scepter would probably be pretty good. Restoration Angel seems like an auto include, too.
My deck is kind of similar to yours but I don't have all of the "opponent's sac their stuff" effects. I will be making room for those. I also run counters rather than all of the blink instants. Overall, it's a pretty fun deck that fits my playstyle perfectly. Basically, I just sit back and look unassuming until I can take over the game. I'm not sure how I feel about all of the taxes. Unless you're already way ahead it's going to draw a ton of hate. It would be awesome in emperor, though. I'll be trying it out for sure.
I'm testing out Thopter Assembly. I prefer my tokens to be artifacts. It's a little slow but it's faster than most other artifact token generators and you don't have to pay anything or do anything else with it once you get it on the table to get your tokens. Precursor Golem is another one that I kind of like. It leaves you a little open for the occasional blowout but being able to enable metalcraft with one card is oh so good. I might give shrine of loyal legions a shot just because it's so awesome if you get it down early. Instigator Gang is pretty good in the deck. I've also been using Steelshaper's Apprentice as another equipment tutor. As long as I have enough mana to easily cast him he's awesome. Especially, if you've got equipment on the battlefield that gives haste. He's got a big butt and I use his ability to dodge removal/chump block more often than I use it to actually get something that I need. Boros Fury-Shield can be a blowout but most of the time the stuff that it would be really good against is hexproof or unblockable so I might take it out. It would be much better if both sides of it worked when you cast it with sunforger. Overall, my deck is pretty close to yours. I focus a little less on the token strategy and more on voltroning up Jor Kadeen but focusing more on the token aspect would probably make it better in multiplayer games.
The first store that I went to is one that recently opened up in my area. It's small and the parking sucked but I was greeted by a hot chick that really seemed interested in getting a conversation going with me. Not the worst first impression. The showcase was pretty limited but I did see a few cards that I needed and when they started quoting me TCGplayer mid prices I knew that I wasn't wasting my time. I snapped up a couple of $3 pain seers and a $2 BTE. Then they pointed me to the uncommons/commons box. I proceeded to pull out several playsets of pretty much everything that I could want for $.10 a card in trade. When I was done the guy behind the register wanted $30. He went through my binder and pulled out a pretty small stack of stuff, called it good and I went on my way.
The second store that I went to is the most established shop in my area. They've been around forever and they're super fair. But they never want more than 4-8 of anything and they are slow to update prices (which can be good or bad for you). The big, redeeming quality is that the guy who runs the magic cards knows exactly what he wants so he can usually burn through a few thousand card collection in 20-30 minutes and have a number for you. I walked out of there with a playset of Desecration Demons, a couple of Heralds of Torment and a Blood Crypt (just in case).
The last shop that I went to is probably the premier magic shop in my area. They hold tournaments with huge turnouts, they have a big eBay presence and they're on the bleeding edge of pricing. Just don't go there on a night when they're holding a tournament. They handed me their buy list and told me to figure it out for myself. Going through my binders and trying to remember all of the set symbols myself was a very good exercise for me so I'm not complaining. They had everything that I needed to polish everything up. When I was done there this is the decklist that I ended up with:
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Pack Rat
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
4 Herald of Torment
4 Pain Seer
4 Desecration Demon
3 Underworld Connections
4 Hero's Downfall
3 Duress
2 Ultimate Price
2 Bile Blight
2 Whip of Erebos
18 Swamp
4 Temple of Malice
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
So where do I go from here?
Equipment: You won't change my mind about Sunforger. Sure, it costs a lot, it's slow and you run out of targets pretty fast once you get it online. For me, the versatility and the threat of what I can do with it are what gives it a permanent place in the deck. Have you ever had someone with a solid board presence and Avancyn, Angel of Hope on the board who wants nothing more than to cast that wrath? Sword of Body and Mind is by far the worst sword and it's always been on the chopping block. The pro blue and pro green are both relevant, though. The protections from Sword of War and Peace are even better and the abilities are never drawbacks even if they aren't particularly useful all the time. Basilisk Collar is probably going to get cut sometime soon, too. Tenza, Godo's Maul is another one that I consider cutting a lot but it's just so solid on Jor. Giving him trample is a beating and when you add in double strike he can start picking people off one turn at a time. Which leads me to Whispersilk Cloak. It's another one that I always think about cutting but it's proved itself so many times that I always keep it in. The shroud is very good but it's so easy to make Jor swing for 21+ that making him unblockable with shroud is just ridiculous. The boots aren't the worst. Jor is just like any other general. You want to protect him and the boots do that. They also give haste which is obviously important. Basically, they protect the important creature which ensures that all of the other creatures that you're swinging with are always much more scary.
Creatures: Stonehewer Giant is awesome. If he lasts for a couple of turns he can just get out of control. Razor Hippogriff and Sanctum Gargoyle are both good value creatures. They can get you back an artifact and they're flyers which is useful more often than you'd think. Elesh Norn is another versatile one that just does everything that this deck wants to do. It can be a one sided board wipe. It's an anthem. She also takes out an opposing Elesh Norn. Grand Abolisher is just kind of a value creature. He's cheap and he stops people from using tricks during your turn. The idea is to drop him early before people can do much about him or see him as much of a threat. Then by the time he's actually relevant you should have some way to protect him. Even in the late game he can stop a lot of shenanigans if you have cavern of souls out naming humans. Kazuul is just a rattlesnake that can hold people off. Even if evasion creatures do fly over the tokens they have to worry about Jor swinging back with a bunch of 3/3s. He's also good with Tenza, Godo's Maul. I like Solemn Simulacrum just because he's such a good value creature. He ends up making it into a lot of my decks. Wurmcoil Engine is just a beater that can be hard to deal with and it keeps metal craft turned on when it dies. Precursor Golem is in my MTGO Jor deck and I do like it. It's just too easy to deal with. Cloudgoat Ranger and Hero of Bladehold both keep going in and out. In my meta hero just gets an absolutely absurd amount of hate for some reason. It seems like whenever I play her I become an instant target and no one forgets that I played her for the rest of the game. I think I have the guy who won FNM for about two months straight with a GW token deck focused around her to thank for that.
Spells: I like my removal package where it's at. I've gone back and forth with Oblation but ultimately decided that it's drawback is just worse than swords, path and dispatch. Return to Dust is arguably the best enchantment/artifact removal spell in the format. Aura of Silence is fine but I think I'd play it in addition to rather than in place of Return to Dust. Seize the Day is a very good finisher since Jor is really the only creature that you need to untap. Savage Beating might make the cut in addition to it but it won't replace it. I don't really like "all in" cards like Tears of Rage and Firecat Blitz. Martial Coup might be better than Austere Command. Decree of Justice is probably the only token maker spell that I'd consider out of the ones you mentioned.
Land: I know I have a lot of colorless sources but to be honest I've never been color screwed. Half of the spells are colorless and there are enough rocks to help with fixing that it's not really a big deal.
Other stuff: I like Myr Turbine. It quickly and easily turns on metalcraft, it makes an army of dudes pretty quickly to attack with Jor and it can make chump blockers every turn. If I were to cut anything for Precursor Golem this would probably be the card. Rage Reflection has been on the chopping block since I put it in. I'll probably replace it with Savage Beating. Mirror Entity has gone in and out. It's just not that good when you're getting hated out and Jor ends up being the only thing that you can keep on the table. Alloy Myr and Scuttlemutt both seem like they'd be good fits. Especially, Scuttlemutt.
Thanks for the in depth breakdown. I agree with a lot of what you said. You seem to be more focused on making an all in aggro deck that just wants to kill everyone as fast as possible. I think you sacrifice a lot of consistency by going that route. It also makes you a bigger target. I've sacrificed quite a bit of explosiveness for more durability and recursion. It's still easy for me to have a big turn where I just win. I just have an easier time surviving to that point if I can't make that big turn happen before other players start establishing board presence. I'll be making some tweaks for sure.
The biggest problem I've found with this deck is that it just plays too fair. I always feel like I'm short on mana because I'm paying full price for everything. Also, you're usually only killing one person at a time. Unless you've got an unblockable, 11/x Jor Kadeen with double strike and a million attack phases then it's hard to just kill everyone without taking a few turns to set it up. Meanwhile, you're the target because everyone sees it coming. Sunforger is the closest thing we have to an unfair card that can keep us alive late in the game when every other deck is going off. Master Warcraft plays right along with that strategy because it can buy you a turn and it can force someone to take out someone else AND leave them open to you finishing them. It just seems way too good not to include. I've also been running Odric, Master Tactician and he's been paying off nicely. Master Warcraft is much better.
Here's my current list.
1 Jor Kadeen
Creatures:
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Anger
1 Odric, Master Tactician
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Captain of the Watch
1 Seige-Gang Commander
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Sanctum Gargoyle
1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
1 Puresteel Paladin
1 Sun Titan
1 Razor Hippogriff
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Palladium Myr
1 Gold Myr
1 Iron Myr
Artifacts:
1 Boros Signet
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sunforger
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Mana Crypt
1 Tenza, Godo's Maul
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Batterskull
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mind's Eye
1 Caged Sun
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Opal
1 Skullclamp
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Myr Turbine
1 Austere Command
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Return to Dust
1 World at War
1 Seize the Day
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Dispatch
1 Path to Exile
Planeswalkers
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Elspet Knight-Errant
Enchanments:
1 Rise of the Hobgoblins
1 Rage Reflection
1 True Conviction
1 Land Tax
Land:
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Boros Garrison
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Kher Keep
1 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats
6 Plains
5 Mountain
1 Command Tower
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Kor Haven
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Buried Ruin
1 Ancient Den
1 Plateau
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
1 Slayer's Stronghold
1 Great Furnace
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Strip Mine
1 Tectonic Edge
Anyone who's ever played against Rafiq of the Many knows that he's completely absurd and easy to build around. That can actually be a liability, though, since everyone at the table will probably be gunning for you early. Jenara, Asura of War also seems pretty aggro centric although I can see people being able to do more subtle things with her. Either way, you probably want to build around her if you're playing her. Phelddagrif seems like the type of deck that you want to play to either completely demoralize a group (by beating them after giving them huge advantages over the course of the entire game) or to let you pick a winner after a night of wrecking face. Ragnar pretty much sucks. For me, though, I prefer a general that no one cares about. Maybe they don't even notice that he's been played. They still have to do powerful things if I do decide to play them, though. The other two bant generals fit this bill perfectly. Angus MacKenzie is awesome but he's also $30. He's also not Elesh Norn proof by himself which is a pretty big deal in my meta since she's ALL over. That leaves Rubinia Soulsinger who, in my opinion, is right on par with Angus at 1/100th of the price. She also survives Elesh Norn and can even steal her.
At the end of the day I wanted a deck that doesn't look like it's doing anything until it starts doing it. By then it's too late to do anything about it. There's been a lot of talk about limiting infinite combos in my store so it also has to do it without going infinite. So how do I pull that off? Well, here's the deck list.
1 Rubinia Soulsinger
Creatures:
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Primeval Titan
1 Sun Titan
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Twighlight Shepherd
1 Brutalizer Exarch
1 Acidic Slime
1 Karmic Guide
1 Riptide Shapeshifter
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Reveillark
1 Body Double
1 Rishadan Brigand
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Mystic Snake
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Clone
1 Restoration Angel
1 Rishadan Footpad
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Flickerwisp
1 Wood Elves
1 Man-o-War
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Riftsweeper
1 Mistmeadow Mage
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Mind Stone
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Conjurer's Closet
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Sensei's Divining Top
Enchantments:
1 Rhystic Study
1 Land Tax
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Wild Pair
1 Mana Reflection
Planeswalkers:
1 Venser, the Sojourner
Spells:
1 Temporal Mastery
1 Austere Command
1 Wrath of God
1 Mystic Speculation
1 Bribery
1 Terminus
1 Personal Tutor
1 Counterspell
1 Spell Crumple
1 Cryptic Command
1 Dissipate
1 Hinder
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Capsize
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Path to Exile
1 Return to Dust
3 Forest
3 Island
3 Plains
1 Brushland
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Temple Garden
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Grove
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Mystic Gate
1 Strip Mine
1 Maze of Ith
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Academy Ruins
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Nimbus Maze
1 Halimar Depths
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Savannah
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Shimmering Grotto
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Mirrodin's Core
The deck is pretty straightforward. It does need a lot of mana to get online but you've got mystical and personal tutor in there to cast your sweepers or to set up a miracle Terminus when you need to slow things down. Mana Reflection, Seedborn Muse and Mirari's Wake are in there to get you all of that mana that you're eventually going to need. Palincron is another one that I've been thinking about adding but he's too easy to go infinite with. Vorinclex is another option but my playgroup has all but banned him. He's miserable to play against and usually doesn't resolve or stick around long enough to do anything.
The tutor suite is pretty important to the deck. As was already mentioned, mystical tutor and personal tutor are both there to more easily get to sweepers. You can grab Bribery if you know that someone else is running something that's important to your plan (like Vorinclex or Seedborn Muse for instance). If not you still get someone's best creature which almost always turns out well. There are also times when setting up a miracle Temporal Mastery is extremely relevant. If you have control of the board and a ton of mana but you just need to start digging for answers you can even go grab Mystic Speculation.
Riptide Shapeshifter is essentially another tutor. The creature suite is set up to take full advantage of him. It does need a bit of tweaking to get perfect but for now it gets to all of the cards that I need when I need them almost every time. I'm almost never unhappy to name spirit and get either Karmic Guide, Seedborn Muse or Deadeye Navigator. If I need a counterspell I can name snake and get Mystic Snake. If I need a disposable clone I can name illusion and get Phantasmal Image. If I want a real one I can name shapeshifter and get a real one. If I want to start blowing stuff up I can name treefolk and get Woodfall Primus or ooze and get Acidic Slime. If I want to get the tutoring chain going strong I can get one of the best cards in the deck, Brutalizer Exarch. When he's bonded with Deadeye Navigator (who should be exactly what you go for when the exarch initially comes into play) he basically reads U1: Put target non-creature permanent on the bottom of it's owner's library or search your deck for a creature and put it on top of your library. If you manage to stick a Deadeye Navigator when you have enough mana out you have no business losing.
Wild Pair is another tutor. With Venser, Shaper Savant and Man-o'-war you can search up a lot of stuff. Riptide Shapeshifter can get Brutalizer Exarch or Seedborn Muse so that you don't have to use an activation on it. Cast a titan and get the other one or Woodfall Primus. It should only take you a few turns to get everything you need to win if you stick Wild Pair.
So how do you win? Essentially, it's a deck that uses and abuses ETB abilities. Once you get your engine running efficiently you'll be tucking or destroying or returning to hand 4-5 permanents per turn. Deadeye Navigator is a house here. Pair him with Restoration Angel and you can exile and ETB any of your creatures at will for U1. As was already mentioned above, with Brutalizer Exarch you can tuck their lands, enchantments, artifacts and planeswalkers at will or just search up a creature. With Reveillark you can recur most of the creatures in the deck. When you have [/c]Karmic Guide[/c] in play, too, you can recur anything. With Mystic Snake you can counter spells for U1. Got a Strip Mine in the graveyard? Hello Sun Titan. You can clone anything at will with your clones. Did I mention that you can permanently steal creatures with your general when you blink them? Snapcaster Mage or, even better, Eternal Witness also plays extremely well with him. Eternal Witness, Riftsweeper, Temporal Mastery and Personal Tutor/Mystical Tutor are an infinite turns combo but it's so durdly and easy to disrupt I don't mind including it. You can also bond him with Rishadan Brigand or Rishadan Footpad and...well...that should be pretty obvious.
I still need to work on the mana base. I'm not willing to buy the two most expensive shock lands yet since the price is going to tank in a couple of months if they get reprinted. The utility lands are pretty straightforward. Alchemist's Refuge is pretty insane in this deck. It lets you play Personal Tutor at instant speed which can be hugely relevant when you need it to set up a miracle next turn. It also lets you keep your mana untapped which has obvious applications. Academy Ruins is still in there because I use to have some stuff like Nevynril's Disk and Expedition Map in the original build. I can still use it to legend rule other people's Academy Ruin's but Vesuva is probably just better at that.
The deck does look like a huge pile of durdles but it's surprisingly consistent. There are enough ways to get to what you need to do when you need to do it. By the time you get everything online it's usually too late for anyone to do anything about it. There are a few things that I've been thinking about including. As I mentioned earlier Palincron and Vorinclex would both fit into the deck nicely but they're both a little over the top. Riptide Laboratory is probably just good enough to make the cut since the wizards that are in the deck are really good to be able to return to my hand. Trickbind is probably going to replace a counterspell. It screws over combo decks quite nicely and there are enough ways to get it back that it could potentially shut them down, completely. Last Word and Krosan Grip might also make the cut for the same reason. They're not as good as Trickbind but they can still buy you a turn. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage may also be good enough. Her -2 can be really good in group games and her +1 isn't horrible. Her ultimate is just ridiculously overpowered, though. If you get her emblem then it's pretty hard to lose. What does the hive mind think? Suggestions? Criticisms?
4 Rampant Growth
3 Vanishment
4 Ponder
2 Bonfire of the Damned
1 Noxious Revival
2 Galvanic Blast
Artifacts:
4 Sphere of the Suns
Creatures:
4 Primeval Titan
3 Frost Titan
1 Acidic Slime
4 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Land:
4 Hinterland Harbor
2 Rootbound Crag
4 Copperline Gorge
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Glimmerpost
2 Kessig Wolf-Run
2 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Forest
2 Island
1 Mountain
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Whipflare
1 Karn Liberated
2 Beast Within
2 Thrun the Last Troll
1 Bonfire of the Damned
I don't really think that Snapcaster Mage is all that necessary. I love Deadeye Navigator but I think that this list is too tight for us to be able to fit him in. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage is just better. I really like Bonfire of the Damned in this build. I also want to try out Vanishment. It seems like we'll have the mana to cast it normally when we need to and when we can miracle it it'll be awesome. The ability to so easily set up a miracle with Noxious Revival seems insane so I had to squeeze at least one of them in. The sweeper count may be too low for this deck to be really good but Glimmerpost should usually be enough to get us back in the game against fast decks and Frost Titan/Tamiyo can just lock most decks out if they get online.
The sideboard is obviously going to need some tweaking. Karn Liberated is an autoinclude in any wolf run deck's sideboard. Against UB control Glimmerpost comes out and Cavern of Souls and Ghost Quarter go in. Ghost Quarter may also be good against Slayer's Stronghold. A couple of my buddies have been testing it and they have nothing but high praise for the card so far. The rest of the board should be pretty straightforward.
Mist Raven seems like another good creature for the wild pair package. It's not quite as good as Venser but it works. I think maximizing that package might be a good idea. I'll probably throw in Academy Rector to add some consistency. It can also fetch up mana reflection or mirari's wake if we use wild pair to get it in the first place.
Brutalizer Exarch and Deadeye Navigator are both in my build. Those two are insane together. I'm also thinking about throwing in Deceiver Exarch. Get Deadeye online with him while you have Mana Reflection out and you've got infinite mana if you're running double mana lands. Then again, he's also a cleric and I might not always want to see him if I Riptide Shapeshifter and want the other one or vice versa.
My deck is kind of similar to yours but I don't have all of the "opponent's sac their stuff" effects. I will be making room for those. I also run counters rather than all of the blink instants. Overall, it's a pretty fun deck that fits my playstyle perfectly. Basically, I just sit back and look unassuming until I can take over the game. I'm not sure how I feel about all of the taxes. Unless you're already way ahead it's going to draw a ton of hate. It would be awesome in emperor, though. I'll be trying it out for sure.