I think there are multiple ways to build and there aren't many cards that are absolutely required in every build. It's kind of up to the way you want to play
Dechs has the most comprehensive guide on Zedruu that I've ever seen. I'll throw you a link but the current guide on here isn't updated anymore since he left the forum. I think he's on dies to removal now.
Personally I like to play lots of instants and try to play draw go and just use Zedruu as a draw engine plus good times generator. Sunforger is kind of cool in this case and wild research is awesome. I'd skip the swath and illusions though they aren't actually that useful. I'd prefer to donate things like statecraft that aren't too terrible to have on my side and help out a lot in certain situations.
Another note, try to get a good manabase. I struggle to cast Zedruu and activate her ability because of all the rwu costs. That one lamp that makes your lands generate any color mana is helpful.
If you want to play draw go I would play way more draw spells. Cram as much as you can in. Jace's Ingenuity, steam augury and weave fate are fine cards.
Also Nullify seems good and depending on the meta you can maindeck negates.
Dig Through Time is sick but you might want to only play like 2 unless you think you can play enough spells to delve it often.
I've been lurking this thread for quite a while and felt like popping in.
It's probably too slow and leaves us vulnerable, but I like the effect of Hypersonic Dragon. It's almost like Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir for sorcery spells and gets better if you play Teferi. We could use it to combo off at the last possible moment. With Volute we can rewind our opponent's stuff from the graveyard if we need to. It attacks. You can also do the Worldfire thing with it.
Control decks typically require card advantage. You can't just trade 1-for-1 and then drop a finisher. Unless your plan is for blowouts with sweepers every game.
The weird thing is barring something completely unexpected conceding is completely natural in every format this game is played in. Only in edh do some people see it as poor sportsmanship. I don't mind losing I just hate playing a game in which I've already lost for 20 extra minutes so that other players can gain an advantage out of me like some sort of pinata that spews land untaps and life points.
There are definitely a lot of groups of people in this discussion. Some people don't think it's okay to concede ever and that everyone should be forced to play until they are dead. At least socially because you'll be ostracized if you concede with no cards and hand and no permanents because you're a wet blanket.
Edit: I wasn't trying to derail the thread. It doesn't matter anyway because anybody who is set in their opinion about the topic probably isn't going to change their mind.
I have a problem of doing this unintentionally. I'm used to the 1v1 mindset where when I lose I scoop. People get mad at me because they want me to continue playing when I'm crippled until they decide to kill me off.
Exiling is better than straight up mill for sure since you don't risk giving them gas. I'm just wondering if it can be considered disruption for the same reason mill isn't really disruption. You don't know what you're going to exile. It could just as easily be cards they need or don't need.
If you aren't running psychic spiral you really need extra aetherlings in case you get a pile like (aetherling, spell, land, land, land) twice in a row or they seize an aetherling. In that case if you have no more win conditions you are SOL. It's kind of a deckbuilding constraint of running augury.
I spend a lot of time watching people play magic on youtube and twitch and I'm always disappointed that I can't find much modern stuff. Even though I'm not particularly interested in playing your deck it is really awesome to watch it develop. Also the overall quality of the videos seems to be improving as you do more of them.
Before I saw this thread I was working on a similar deck with Glissa, The Traitor as the commander with nath+sadistic in the deck. I figure smokestack will cause a lot of triggers for glissa so we can use her to break the symmetry of the stax effects while protecting the pieces. Also since she costs a lot less than Nath we can put out pressure quicker. We can start beating on somebody with a sword or jitte while they are held down by smokestack. I think she has a lot less midgame power than Nath though. The Elf tribal synergy is also kind of cool.
Either way, I don't care what people think my deck is doing. If knowledge of my gameplan (whether correct) is enough to shut down my gameplan, then it's not a good enough gameplan. If someone wants to hate me off the table and probably throw away his game in the process, it's not my problem. I'll still throw out my defenses and probably stabilize before he has the chance to kill me, then I'll clean up the table. Or I won't. No big deal, we shuffle up and play some more.
I've been lurking following this thread and I just wanted to pop and and say this seems like really good advice. A good plan should be good even when your opponent has perfect information.
I've found that I draw a disproportionate amount of hate with Zedruu from the whole table. My list runs counterspells as protection and doesn't use the enduring ideal combo. I used an entire hand of counterspells plus lightning greaves trying to protect Zedruu and only drew one card off her the whole game. I'm thinking about trying out the enduring ideal plan just because it makes the deck a lot more resilient.
Dechs has the most comprehensive guide on Zedruu that I've ever seen. I'll throw you a link but the current guide on here isn't updated anymore since he left the forum. I think he's on dies to removal now.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/217157-pristaxcontrombmodruu-because-zedruu-is-her-own
Personally I like to play lots of instants and try to play draw go and just use Zedruu as a draw engine plus good times generator. Sunforger is kind of cool in this case and wild research is awesome. I'd skip the swath and illusions though they aren't actually that useful. I'd prefer to donate things like statecraft that aren't too terrible to have on my side and help out a lot in certain situations.
Another note, try to get a good manabase. I struggle to cast Zedruu and activate her ability because of all the rwu costs. That one lamp that makes your lands generate any color mana is helpful.
Also Nullify seems good and depending on the meta you can maindeck negates.
Dig Through Time is sick but you might want to only play like 2 unless you think you can play enough spells to delve it often.
And finally for silly suggestions: pearl lake ancient, fleetfeather cockatrice as potential finishers
It's probably too slow and leaves us vulnerable, but I like the effect of Hypersonic Dragon. It's almost like Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir for sorcery spells and gets better if you play Teferi. We could use it to combo off at the last possible moment. With Volute we can rewind our opponent's stuff from the graveyard if we need to. It attacks. You can also do the Worldfire thing with it.
There are definitely a lot of groups of people in this discussion. Some people don't think it's okay to concede ever and that everyone should be forced to play until they are dead. At least socially because you'll be ostracized if you concede with no cards and hand and no permanents because you're a wet blanket.
Edit: I wasn't trying to derail the thread. It doesn't matter anyway because anybody who is set in their opinion about the topic probably isn't going to change their mind.
I'm still not sure about it.
I've been lurking following this thread and I just wanted to pop and and say this seems like really good advice. A good plan should be good even when your opponent has perfect information.
I've found that I draw a disproportionate amount of hate with Zedruu from the whole table. My list runs counterspells as protection and doesn't use the enduring ideal combo. I used an entire hand of counterspells plus lightning greaves trying to protect Zedruu and only drew one card off her the whole game. I'm thinking about trying out the enduring ideal plan just because it makes the deck a lot more resilient.