MTG Salvation

I'm looking for feedback on the first draft of my 1DH deck, Take, Steal + Win.

This is a mono blue midrange deck that is has a heavy Control Magic theme. The group I'm playing with is saying that no cards allowed if their value is higher than $1.00 based on TCG mid price (including the Commander). We're allowing a bit of wiggle room on price if it's just one or two cards. Additionally because the value of cards fluctuates constantly, it's okay if things are a bit over.

Arcanis the Omnipotent is my commander for now, but I'm willing to change it and I see him as a placeholder, although I want to stay mono blue. Other commanders I'm considering are Padeem, Consul of Innovation and Lu Xun, Scholar General (for card advantage).

I'm also considering Keiga, the Tide Star for the sake of the theme but I'm not sure if it costs too much over the $1.00 limit.

I'm interested in hearing about alternate win conditions aside from the theft cards. I'm also interested in solid theft cards I am currently not running or cards that have synergy with them. I am also open to hearing about general hidden gems that are 1DH legal and would work well with my deck.

Meta Power Level: This is a fairly casual meta. I know it's 1DH, but I still feel it's worth mentioning because I'm usually a little more casual than the a lot of the posts I see here.

I don't want to increase the number of counter spells (I currently am running ~7). I also don't want to run tutors or infinite combos. Otherwise, any feedback or recommendations is greatly appreciated.

Nezahal is tough to remove, so that might be an option for general.

Other steal-y options:

• False Demise
  
• Fool's Demise

Quote from MRdown2urth »

Nezahal is tough to remove, so that might be an option for general.

Other steal-y options:

• False Demise
  
• Fool's Demise

Good suggestions, I certainly want to test those out. Unfortunately, mono blue has trouble forcing die triggers (especially on a budget).

---

I made a few changes to the deck:

Out:
Arcanis the Omnipotent: I wanted to change to a different commander because this is a budget deck that uses a lot of unconventional cards and Arcanis is a very powerful mono blue commander. I also was finding that he wasn't really sticking to the board. Because this deck doesn't run a lot of creatures, creature removal is often directed at the commander.
Tempest Djinn: It is a fun card and has solid evasion but it felt like a win more card while testing it. Additionally this deck runs 6 nonbasic
Beguiler of Wills: A little slow and also a little over $1.00. While it's a very powerful card, because this deck runs a small number of creatures (aside from the ones we end up stealing) it is hard to steal big things with it.

In:
Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign: A fun underused commander that is surprisingly effect. Mini Fact or Fiction on resolution, so even if he's immediately removed, we get value.
Windreader Sphinx: It provides synergy with Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign and can draw several cards in a game due to how ubiquitous flying creatures are in the format.
Sphinx of Magosi: Another sphinx for Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign that has built in card advantage along with the ability make itself bigger.

A couple more cards I want to consider making room for:

Monastery Siege: The "Dragons" mode seems good as a way to protect all of our enchantments, along with our mana rocks and commander. By taxing removal effects directed towards our permanents, we can slow down our opponents or even encourage them to use removal spells elsewhere.

High Market: This one is a little above $1.00 (TCG Mid for Commander 2015 version as of now is $1.19). It's really good sacrifice outlet that is difficult to interact with and we can use it to respond to our opponents removing our theft aura effects.

Thassa, God of the Sea: If the deck were to be optimized and taken out of 1DH,Thassa, God of the Sea would be an excellent commander as she is resilient, she provides card filtering and all of the blue enchantments grant devotion.