So this is my azorius deck. This is the second control deck I've built, working out a lot better than the first. I decided to build Hanna over Grand Arbiter Agustin IV because I've been on the opposing end of him a bit much to really want to see him again.The deck is designed to use its general to its advantage without being overly reliant. Once upon as time the list was budgetized but over time I've slowly started acquiring some of the more pricey cards. I still don't have a Tundra for the deck but I would no longer call it budget. I play a lot in a pretty competitive store.
To Play This Deck or Not To Play This Deck?
This deck runs countermagic and pillowfort effects. As such the game plan is to feel in control while slowly establishing board position. While the deck's board state may not always look scary, it keeps other decks from establishing scary board positions as well. If you like to be political, this deck works to your benefit as it doesn't work towards building a large board presence as much as keeping itself safe.
Reasons to play this deck:
- You like to control the board
- You like to combo out to win
- You think enchantments are cool and couldn't care less about creatures.
- You like having a general that supplies excellent utility but is not necessary to win.
- You like to interact with others but don't find it quite so fun when they mess with you...hypocrite
Reasons not to play this deck:
- You don't like playing control
- Your playgroup hates when things interfere with their mana sources
- You want to swing with big heavy creatures
- You don't like when the stack gets cluttered.
- You believe that the general should always play an integral role to the deck
Other U/W generals of note include:
UWGrand Arbiter Agustin IV: He is probably the most common U/W general and I can see why. He's super strong at the helm of a control deck. I have seen him hit the board turn one and its frightening. That being said he's almost too good. When people overcome the taxing effect he becomes a quick target. Personally I hate seeing my general die that much. The other thing that happens a lot with him is people don't remember to pay extra. This can lead to a lot of shenanigans that shouldn't have actually been allowed which can be a hassle to try to rectify and make it not worth it. GAA4 now has his own primer found here - http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10136397
UWRasputin Dreamweaver: Another popular choice...Okay, I will admit this guy is sweet if you can find him, but he typically helms a blink deck. If that's what you're looking for you are already in the wrong spot. Also, I would say that deck doesn't get started as quickly as this one (though to be fair, it probably does more mid game then Hanna does). He would be my second choice for an Azorious general but not for a control deck like this. He also has a primer - http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=8725713
UWBruna, Light of Alabaster: This is certainly a very strong general for a very strong enchantment themed edh deck. Unfortunately she leads a very different kind of enchantment deck. One that likes to suit up the general and get through for massive damage. This primer can be found here - http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=429817
UWGwafa Hazid: I got suggested a couple of times during deck construction to run him instead. I will admit he's not a bad choice for a pillowfort general, in case the rest goes wrong, but I am not a fan. If he could target your own utility creatures so that you could draw cards I would like him but it just feels to me like he doesn't progress your strategy any and helps the opponents draw cards.
How has the deck evolved over time?
Well, it's gotten a lot better. I have been playing Magic since the end of Time Spiral and got into edh around the time Scars of Mirrodin was out. I started building this deck probably around October 2012 and its been one of, if not, my primary deck since then. The first couple games I played with the deck went well. I thought I was onto something awesome until I took it from the comforts of my kitchen table to the local game store. I lost every game. People would combo off faster than I could deal with. Not only that but I was getting super out-controlled. I realized something had to be done after a while when I felt like I couldn't answer anything. I counted my counterspells, it turned out in my worry of putting too many in with nothing else to do I had put too few in. I started to add some, but I made myself keep from putting in sub-par cards to up my count. Over time I collected a counter suite that has been working out well for me. I also dropped some of the answers to include a few more ways to win myself. While certainly not guaranteed to win every game its certainly not a deck I use in my first game with people I am just meeting.
Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Standstill, and Recurring Insight make for my small, but powerful draw suite. Remora and Rhystic Study are very nice early game cards. If one is in your starting hand get it out ASAP. These two are nice because you can use copy enchantment to double the power (works better on Rhystic thanks to the cumulative upkeep on Remora). Some people would argue that these aren't the best because your opponents can play around them but even if they do choose to just pay the mana you are still slowing them down a turn which can honestly win you the game. I owe Rhystic Study a lot of my wins. Standstill is also nice because it encourages people not to cast spells and whenever it does get cracked you can recur it with Hanna for added value. Recurring Insight is a situational card but its great in my meta. People always have full hands. If this isn't the case in your meta I would replace it with Consecrated Sphinx which gets the added advantage of being a beater but playing him in my group is always risky. He tends to just eat removal (that could be going at an opponent) or be taken from you.
Pillow Fort:
Ghostly Prison and Propaganda help a lot to keep me alive early game and Sphere of Safety saves my hide late game. While my meta is not creature heavy, there are some Edric, Spymaster of Trest decks that scare lots of people yet have never been able to beat me due to these simple answers. They also help keep our two planeswalkers around and help us get Luminarch Ascension active and keep us alive when our combo hits.
These are essentially more answers but they answer a lot at once. Wrath of God, Supreme Verdict, and Day of Judgement should make sense to most. Sometimes those pesky aggro decks get too many guys down and you start to worry. Little is better than getting rid of all of them at once. Austere Command is amazing. There's so much utility on this one card. Whatever is scariest can go away. Don't forget, even if you choose enchantments, its okay, you can recur them. It will be a slow rebuilding process but you can do it. Cyclonic Rift is also a great board wipe that leaves you unscathed. Terminus is incredibly useful to get rid o troublesome indestructible creatures or ones that can regenerate.[/CARD] Finally Oblivion Stone is the last wipe, its very strong as it hits everything. The reason I like this card so much is its recoverable. I can get it back to my hand with Hanna or return it to the field with Sun Titan.
Counterspells:
I'm only running 9 counterspells. You can add more but I find a lot of times in my games people assume I have countermagic available if I just leave a few lands anyways or somebody else will usually answer anything too terrifying before priority gets to me. That being said, having the ability to counter should definitely not be overlooked. As my counters I run Pact of Negation(the 0 cost has saved me plenty), Counterspell (got to love the classics), Muddle the Mixture (which has the bonus of transmute), Dissipate (exiling things can be very nice), Hinder, Spell Crumple (you can Tunnel Vision them after the last two), Render Silent (who doesn't love telling bothersome opponent's to shut up), and Cryptic Command(a card that does everything.) and Force of Will. (Its a free counterspell. Why wouldn't I run this?)
Tutors:
Enlightened tutor hits 38 cards total. Idyllic Tutor and Academy Rector hit 25 cards. Mystical Tutor hits 20 cards. These tutors are all low cmc. Academy Rector is particularly awesome as it puts the enchantment (which is almost always Omniscience) straight into play. Two of them are instant speed so you can do them at the end of an opponents turn or in response to a draw and they fit on isochron scepter.
Sol Ring and Mana Vault are staples. Dropping one of them in the first two turns gives you a massive advantage as you set up two turns ahead of your opponent. Azorius Signet, Talisman of Progress, and Azorius Keyrune are nice as mana rocks that tap for color and the keyrune has the added benefit of being a potential attacker. The artifact lands are included because of their interactions with Tezzeret, the Seeker. The manlands are included as another way of attacking your opponents. They are especially great after a board wipe
Notable Exclusions:
Dovescape+Guile combo: While I am a fan of guile I don't like the thought of running such a costly card that could get removed before having any effect and Dovescape is actually bad for the deck outside of the combo.
Maze of Ith: Hasn't seemed necessary yet, would rather have my land tap for mana for now.
Mindslaver: This is a one card combo with my general to lock somebody out of the game. Yes it costs a bunch of mana but it ends the game for somebody. I think its too boring personally though if you're spikier than I, go for it.
Humility: This is a very solid card. It hurts a lot of decks but more often than not the decks I see run few creatures and I have enough answers that are more versatile.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor: Just a really good card. I don't know where I would squeeze it in though.
Cards to Consider for More Creature Heavy Metas:
Invoke Prejudice: It's a great card for this deck. Since this deck only runs six creatures chances of having one out at any given moment is small meaning it effectively makes creatures cost twice as much.
Collective Restraint: It may seem odd that I run Propaganda and not this. First, it costs one more and second there's no guarantee it will have as much effect, and if lands get wiped this card just died.
Rout: All things considered this is a pretty sweet board wipe. The fact that you can play it at instant speed is nice but I tried to keep the average casting cost of the deck down and this costs more than Wrath of God or Day of Judgment which can still potentially be cast at instant speed in this deck.
Essence Scatter: A limited spell, but if you are in a creature heavy meta then it can possibly end up being a better counterspell. (Better as you can use white mana)
Strategy:
During the early game, this deck runs much like any other deck. It attempts to drop a few mana rocks and set up a good board state to ensure it will get what it needs. Hopefully something along the lines of sensei's divining top or rhystic study will be on your field by turn three. At this point control of the board is your goal. Counter things that are scary. Never forget, that countering ramp is okay. Some people will say counter what they ramp into but you don't need to counter what they can't afford to cast. You should never really feel rushed to play Hanna, she is sort of a luxury. Get her out when you can but try to keep counter magic open. Note that you don't need to wait for ways to protect her because they aren't coming. I used to have protection in here for her but unlike a lot of powerful generals she doesn't scream "kill me." Ideally your important enchantments and artifacts won't leave the field anyways, and as such the deck will sometimes even have game's where she is nothing more than a figurehead (she does still get used from time to time though.)
As the game progresses try to keep people wary. Don't play out your hand just because you can. If you hold back two lands for instance, people, might suspect you are holding countermagic. Even more fun can be to bait people into casting into your pact of negation though. Don't feel the need to counter things just because you can. This will make you run out of counters very quickly. Don't forget that you can answer things that make in onto the field to.
Games need to end sooner or later. If things go your way, you'll be the one ending it but it certainly won't be in a quick manner. The setup to combo off might take a while. If there are other blue mages around you'll need to keep mana open to counter their potential counters but otherwise this is when you try to combo off. (Note that green and white players could also be running instant speed naturalize-effects) Hopefully nothing will interfere with your victory but remember if something does you have your general to recur stuff from the grave
The most important part of the strategy is don't let enchantment hate resolve unless Hanna is on the field, especially if it's Aura Shards. If aura shards or other repeatable enchantment hate such as Trygon Predator hits the field answer it with a detention sphere or O-ring type effect. If given the opportunity, respond to these cards before trying to combo off as you don't want to be disrupted
Parallax Wave, Parallax Tide, and Opalescence together result in an exiling of all opposing lands and creatures. Activate Parallax Tide to remove five lands. In response to the triggers remove it under Parallax Wave since its a creature. The Parallax Wave trigger resolves first so the Tide gets exiled before the lands. Since the Tide is not on the field when the ability resolves these lands can never get returned. You can then return the Tide by removing Parallax Wave to itself. Rinse and repeat this until your opponents lands are gone. (note: if you stack the triggers a bit differently so that the lands would reenter you can produce infinite mana). Now remove 4 creatures to Parallax Wave and with the triggers still on the stack remove Wave to itself. Since the Wave would resolve first it would leave and reenter as a new wave and leave the four creatures exiled forever. Again, note if stacked ever so slightly differently so that the creatures reenter you can get infinite etb effects. Not great in this deck, but worth noting. Also, note a much slower version can be done using claws of gix and Hanna instead of Opalescence.
Hinder or Spell Crumple followed by Tunnel Vision effectively mills your opponent out. Technically this leaves them alive but if they attempt to draw more than a single card they will lose. (Be weary of graveyard based strategies.)
Opalescence paired with Enchanted Evening results in the removal of all cards in play with a cmc of 0 including lands. When you do this you should have a good board position. In an ideal situation you will have Omniscience out so that you can still cast spells. If you have a Propaganda effect, your opponents can't swing at you and then you can attack them with your field of enchantment creatures.
Cast Tunnel Vision into Replenish or Open the Vaults. Hopefully this will flip a win condition onto your board, but if not it will almost always still put you in a winning situation.
Dealing With the Unfavorable
Despite the fact that it has already been mentioned, I would like to start by saying Aura Shards is one of the biggest pains we might have to face. It's a very strong card and a lot of decks that are creature heavy or token based will run it against you. Seeing it in a token deck is a lot worse than in a creature heavy deck. In either case Greater Auramancy will buy an activation if its on the field. (note: I removed this card) If you're not holding an answer, tutor one the first chance you get. Your best bet is to exile it forever with an enchantment and Claws of Gix. Don't forget that if the board gets wiped while you have this card under an Oblivion Ring or something similar it will come back and keep you out of the game. The best thing you can do is to counter this card but if it hits the field you just need to fight your way through it.
Voltron decks are a problem for a lot of decks. Considering the deck doesn't run many creatures it seems like they would be a major problem but they can be dealt with like anything else. It's fairly obvious when a general is going to be voltron'd up. If you have one in hand, Hinder or Spell Crumple will make a lot of these decks cry. If the general does hit the field, all is far from lost. The general can be exiled by a large number of cards so attempt to do that ASAP. My personal favorite way to deal with these generals is to Prison Term them so they can't just be recast. I also try to keep things that provide shroud or hexproof off the table in these cases so the creatures remain susceptible to removal. Terminus is also great in this match.
Zur the Enchanter is a rough general to deal with but it's quite possible.The biggest problem I've noticed in this matchup is that he can tutor up grave hate when he swings. He also has a lot of counterspell backup so you have to be careful. If you can keep Zur from resolving or attacking that's the best way to go though it's not always possible. When my friend had his deck together it was a pretty even matchup. Aura thief becomes a champion in this matchup.
Token swarm decks seem like they would be an issue but this is actually probably our best matchup. There's enough board wipes where the thought of a token army being able to attack for lethal is almost laughable. Even when there isn't a boardwipe at the ready the Ghostly Prison effects will hold back a lot of the aggression.
Grand Arbiter Agustin IV is an interesting matchup. I just played a tuned deck that was capable of first turn Arbiter. I have to say the thought of that is frightening. The matchup seems to be in our favor though. The fact to be wary of is that he packs as much control as we do if not more. When it can be avoided you can't put anything important down without counterspells to back it up.
Changelog:
2-4-2013
- Lightning Greaves / + Rings of Brighthearth: Greaves was included more as an autoinclude than as something I thought about. Honestly, there are three creatures I care about sticking. They just don't seem relevant enough. People rarely target Hanna. I am not reliant on her and while the haste is nice its usually not too important. Besides, casting her for five or seven is not too tough. It also keeps Sun Titan safe, but he gets removed in response to targeting half the time anyways, same with Lost Auramancers who might get pitched for being too slow soon anyways. Rings on the other hand combos for infinite mana with Basalt Monolith which helps provide the countermagic mana to keep my creatures safe anyways and do more. It also lets me activate Hanna twice.
- Swiftfoot Boots / + Vedalken Orrery: Swiftoot is leaving for being a costlier greaves. Vedalken Orrey is redundant with Leyline of Anticipation, but I heard both consistency and the ability to be reactionary are nice in control.
- Parallax Tide / + Serra's Sanctum: An odd swap. I was on the fence on adding another land. With the changes I'm making the avg cmc is going up just a bit so I thought having another land, especially such a useful one would be nice. While Parallax Tide has cemented me games, it also felt like a dead draw in just as many if not more, which is something I don't think I can say about any other card in the list.
- Island / + Seat of the Synod: Seat is an island that is tutorable by Trinket Mage and is potentially recoverable after a cataclysm type effect
-rings of brighthearth: I was clearly not thinking when I put this back in. Without Basalt monolith it doesn't go infinite
-Lost Auramancers: When it went off I was always really pleased but it almost never went off. It was always answered too fast. It has the opposite issue of its older sibling, everybody wants to kill it.
-Marytr's Bond: When it does see play it does work but Karmic Justice goes off quicker. This might get changed back but who knows?
-Enduring Ideal: I was so happy everytime I played this card...until the turn after it resolved. One spell a turn just isn't fast enough when you can't counter things.
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+Tezzeret the Seeker: As stated this seems to just be an all-around power house for me, tutor, ramp, distract, he does it all. So long Lost Auramancers
+ Copy Artifact: Does it really need an explanation? It can become a two drop...well anything...and if I get bored with it I can destroy it and make it something new.
+Parallax Tide: I hadn't actually gotten around to updating my paper list to match this one before my last game and this card won my heart again. I took it out sort of because I was tired of it and it didn't seem relevant without claws of gix but I was wrong. Shorting somebody of a mana color or utility land for their turn can be devastating. Plus if you can drop it on say the second turn, chances are the game is yours.
2-15-2013
-This is an odd change. When playing the deck I noticed a copy of Lightning Greaves still in the deck. I was fairly sure I had everything in the deck that was supposed to be in though. I went through and counted 100 cards and everything. Turns out the land count in this deck was listed as 35 instead of 34 despite only having listed 34 so when I can get my hands on it Back to Basics is going in, Greaves is coming out...again...perhaps I should do the updates here after my paper list...hmmm...
-Aura Thief (a hopeful win con)will get his moment in the sun replacing Decree of Silence, which as pointed out, is a bit costly.
-Azorious Guildgate can become Faerie Conclave (trying to avoid adding non-basics while adding man lands)
-Seachrome Coast is becoming Celestial Colonnade: see above
-Glacial Fortress is becoming Inkmoth Nexus
-Nimbus Maze can be Blinkmoth Nexus
2/19/2013
+ Mystic Remora: more draw
+ Dance of Many: repeatable general removal
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- Voltaic Key: offered great ramp with mana vault but outside of that it was rarely useful.
-Foil: least favorite counterspell in the deck. I frequently didn't have islands to pay, and in most cases I usually didn't want to pay four mana either, with rewind I get the mana back so I like it more. Also rewind can untap manlands
2/23/2013
-Karmic Justice: good but not as relevant as I would have liked after all. The thing that was great with Martyr's Bond was I could destroy my own stuff and screw with everyone else. Karmic Justice, while nice in the fact it comes out sooner and I get to pick a target is much easier for people to play around
+Parallax Wave: I originally did not include this because it only hit creatures and in a combo heavy meta like mine that's not always relevant and sometimes you might be scared of etb effects but it was just brought to my attention how nicely it interacted with Parallax Wave and Oplaescence, just managing to secure it a place.
3/19/2013
-Island / +Tamiyo, the Moon Sage: I can keep her reasonably protected and if her ultimate goes off while Omniscience is around any counterspell would provide a lock on the board (Pact of Negation would still kill you).
-Honden of Seeing Winds /+Standstill this trade should result in earlier, more explosive card draw.
-Brainstorm/ +Mystical Tutor This card can search for so many cards in this deck. It can also be stuck on Isochron Scepter and the card can go straight to my hand with top out. Brainstorm just wasn't doing enough
-Drift of Phantasms / +Phyrexian Metamorph Somehow Metamorph got cut from the list, something happened and I was running 101 cards. Uhoh! Metamorph never was out of my paper list but he was listed on here. No clue how that happened but I thank Falks for bringing this to my attention. I just double counted the paper list and what I have listed here for accuracy. Drift of Phantasms got cut as it was slow for what it did. If transmute was instant speed I would have kept it.
-Evacuation / +Austere Command for one mana you get a more permanent and more versatile solution
3/20/2013
-Duplicant / +Force of Will FoW is a card I have been wanting for a while. Duplicant is a good card but seemed less than necessary for me. The deck can answer creatures in enough ways that Duplicant can be removed.
3/21/2013
-Dance of Many / +Hinder Dance of many seems great in theory but has shown up to my hand and I have almost never wanted to cast it. Hinder offers another counterspell and another wincon. If you hinder an opponent you can Tunnel Vision them to flip their entire deck into their yard and watch them mill them-self out.
-Greater Auramancy / +Terminus: I came to the conclusion. I don't see a lot of spot removal aimed at enchantments, and if something is super important I can always recur it or counter the spell targeting it. Terminus has been great for me. It deals with voltron generals and it can be miracle cast on other's people turn's. Note: the order of cards put on the bottom doees not have to be revealed so it does not always work with tunnel vision
12/16/2013
I made a lot of changes today. Most of them have been tested for a while though. I added Heliod as a threat. He's very good with Serra's Sanctum I also added Sigil of the Empty Throne as another win condition. I cut back to basics as it usually either won or did absolutely nothing so it was pretty boring. Due to this cut I fiddled with the mana base some. I replaced Rewind with Render Silent because it's awesome. I also cut Journey to Nowhere for an additional land slot because I rarely used it.
4/19/2013
Well, Theros block ended up being a disappointment, it offered up only four cards I would consider and only one that made the cut. I'm cutting prison term, azorius keyrune, and mana vault for mana drain, mana crypt, and scroll rack. The first three were cards that never thrilled me and the later three were ones I've wanted to fit in for a while. Oh, and I cut an Island for a tundra.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, offer advice, and ask any questions. I'm open to advice and am ready to explain any card choices I made.
- Lightning Greaves / + Rings of Brighthearth: Greaves was included more as an autoinclude than as something I thought about. Honestly, there are three creatures I care about sticking. They just don't seem relevant enough. People rarely target Hanna. I am not reliant on her and while the haste is nice its usually not too important. Besides, casting her for five or seven is not to tough. It also keeps Sun Titan safe but he gets removed in response to targeting half the time anyways, same with Lost Auramancers who might get pitched for being too slow soon anyways. Rings on the other hand combos for infinite mana with Basalt Monolith which helps provide the countermagic mana to keep my creatures safe anyways and do more. It also lets me activate Hanna twice.
-Swiftfoot Boots / + Vedalken Orrery: Swiftoot is leaving for being a costlier greaves. Vedalken Orrey is redundant with Leyline of Anticipation but I heard both consistency and the ability to be reactionary are nice in control.
- Parallax Tide / + Serra's Sanctum: An odd swap. I was on the fence on adding another land. With the changes I'm making the avg cmc is going up just a bit so I thought having another land, especially such a useful one would be nice. While parallax Tide has cemented me games its also felt like a dead draw in just as many if not more, which is something I don't think I can say about any other card in the list.
- Island / + Seat of the Synod: Seat is an island that is tutorable by Trinket Mage and is potentially recoverable after a cataclysm type effect
needsAttunement for more digging power. Works great with your general and Replenish.
Private Mod Note
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current EDH decks
Sek'kuar reanimator
Treva enchantress
Wort the raid mother, Goblin aggro/combo
Arcum Dagsson, the deck you love to hate
Kamahl, fist of Krosa: the token tidal wave
Oros, the hate dragon (WIP, started 12/18/12)
As yet to be determined 7th deck, being debated
Land count is too low. Personally, I'd take out most of the counters altogether - They don't work well in this deck because you want to be casting things on your turn, meaning you won't have mana open for counters.
You can take a look at my list (Though not updated in a while), or Gaka's primer for more suggestions.
My land count is not too low. I agree its on the low side but so is my average cmc. I originally had more in and they needed to be cut. I have contemplated adding one more in but no more than that. Between mana rocks and lands I'm usually fine. The counters actually work rather well for me. Keeping the mana open isn't too difficult. It does work a lot smoother with leyline out though so perhaps I should get a vedalken orrery. Looking through your list though I need to get my hands on a Serra's Sanctum.
Possible Additions: Rings of Brighthearth - Produces infinite mana. I took it out because it seemed irrelevant but since I have added more counterspells I like to keep my mana open for counter magic.
Remand - Another Card to put on Isochron Scepter. It also draws me another card which is always nice.
1 island - probably 1 in every 5 games I wish I had one more land, though if I could work in Serra's Sanctum or rings this would likely become irrelevant
Possible Subtraction: Parallax Tide - This card combos with claws of gix to hate on lands but honestly there are things I'd usually rather be doing with that 4 mana, even if it just bluffing.
Very well. I have only used it as a straight counterspell once or twice but its been a wonderful enchantment. It usually helps keep my things safe for a turn or two. Even if people have unimportant cards to throw at it they are wasting their mana. It has stopped my opponents from comboing off or protected me when going off multiple times. Also f you have the mana to return it with Hanna on an enemy's turn and cast it again it serves as a soft lock of sorts, albeit an expensive one.
Also on an unrelated note what kind of music do you do? (I'm a music major)
Well some edits were made to hopefully help the deck run even smoother. (note to self: do new avg cmc calculation)
Gatecrash is out and while it didn't bring Hanna any new toys, two cards definitely caught my eye.
Blind Obedience - This card is great. If I would add any gatecrash card it would be this one. I see it as a better kismet. Unfortunately I don't think it would do much to the waves of combo decks I see on a regular basis. It would work really well in a more aggro based meta where the extort would also become more useful. Its not going in now, but this card may get revisited.
The second card of interest is Illusionist's Bracers - This card is awesome. Getting two things back to hand for the price of one is awesome. I don't think Hanna gets turned sideways quite enough to make this worth it but I will be paying attention to that in my next few games
Counterbalance - as any legacy player knows this card is nuts with Sensei's Divining Top but is it worth it without also running scroll rack and other similar effects? I mean, I can get top out pretty regularly because of Trinket Mage and it still seems it would serve its use either way.
Tezzeret the Seeker - I'm almost positive this needs to be put in. I have 17 artifacts in the current list. Out of those it could tutor everything to the field instantly except duplicant. Or it could even just untap my mana vault and sol ring. Seems really good. Seems like a five mana answer to a lot or late game ramp.
Blind Obedience - It slows my opponents down and has extort so my countermagic can hurt people. This is probably the one I am most on the fenc for but still seems sweet
Its nice sometimes to make them draw a bad spell next turn.
Also works better with Snapcaster which I think should be in there.
Fact or Fiction > Recurring Insight. FoF is pretty much an auto-include in any blue deck..plus the cards that go to the graveyard aren't necessarily lost due to Hanna.
Wow, Karmic Justice was a pretty big oversight, I was actually wondering how much I liked Martyr's Bond for 6 mana since I'm trying to keep the average cmc down. There is the con it only hurts who hurt me but still.
I do like faith healer quite a bit too, not so much barrin as he is a bit mana intensive for my taste. Arenson's Aura is neat, though not necessarily relevant enough in my mana though it would be a transmute target...hmmm...on the fence
Copy Artifact was left off because I only had a few mana rocks when I first made the deck but I agree, its going in, especially if I do get a tezz,
As awesome as FoF is, in my meta recurring insight is superior I believe. People usually keep cards in hand and play a bit more reactionary
Iffy on Aura thief, I'll probably get him and test him out, see how useful he is not in tandem with enchanted evening and go from there. Hmm, I have a lot of trading/buying to do. I'll figure out whats getting swapped for what later. Hope the good ideas keep coming
Planned changes
-rings of brighthearth: I was clearly not thinking when I put this back in. Withough Basalt monolith it doesn't go infinite
-Lost Auramancers: When it went off I was always really pleased but it almost never went off. It was always answered to fast. its got the opposite issue of its older sibling, everybody wants to kill it.
-Marytr's Bond: When it does see play it does work but Karmic Justice goes off quicker. This might get changed back but who knows?
-Enduring Ideal: I was so happy everytime I played this card...until the turn after it resolved. One spell a turn just isn't fast enough when you can't counter things.
////
+Tezzeret the Seeker: As stated this seems to just be an all-around power house for me, tutor, ramp, distract, he does it all. So long Lost Auramancers
+ Copy Artifact: Does it really need an explanation? It can become a two drop...well anything...and if I get bored with it I can destroy it and make it something new.
+Parallax Tide: I hadn't actually gotten around to updating my paper list to match this one before my last game and this card won my heart again. I took it out sort of because I was tired of it and it didn't seem relevant without claws of gix but I was wrong. Shorting somebody of a mana color or utility land for their turn can be devastating. Plus if you can drop it on say the second turn, chances are the game is yours.
I'd run Dance of Many anyway. It's a cheap clone that it good for taking out generals that come down in the first couple of turns. And if you manage to have Claws out, it's a 2 mana clone with no drawback.
Private Mod Note
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My apologies, children, for I am afraid I cannot save you all.
More often that not I don't see many generals come out in the first few turns, the main culprits being Rhys, the Redeemed and Gran Arbiter Agustin IV. My deck tends not to care to much about Rhys decks, as it hides behind propaganda effects and for most generals I am content to just counter them. It is a solid card and perhaps the fact I can return it will earn it a spot in the deck later, but not at the moment. Any other ideas? So far all of them have been pretty good, even if not necessarily implemented
So I made all the changes I said but I was only able to get one game in today. I didn't really see any of the new cards but I realized I need to be running Mystic Remora for more card draw
What's the reason for having no Back to Basics in your list?
I see you have ~25 basics, which means you have the capibility to effecfively run it. You are running a lockdown deck bases on enchantments with a considerable of counter-magic as additonal defense.
I am not running it simply because nobody has pointed it out to me yet and I did not think of it on my own. That would be really good against a good amount of decks I play against. Any idea of what you might cut for it?
I am not running it simply because nobody has pointed it out to me yet and I did not think of it on my own. That would be really good against a good amount of decks I play against. Any idea of what you might cut for it?
I'd take out Decree of Silence unless you have a heavy blue meta. Its amazing that it counters a spell upon cycling, but at the cost of 6 mana? Only worth in mono blue or mostly dual or tri-coloured decks.
What is your meta like? Non-basic lands in each and every deck?
Back to Basics works well for me in tri-coloured decks.
I'd suggest removing most the dual lands like Seachrome Coast or anything that comes into play. I mean how bad are you hurting for UUU on the early turns?
If you want alternate win conditions; man-lands get the job done.
I see this deck of a mix of pillow fort/control variant. So Faerie Conclave, Mishra's Factory would make a good of mana late game or even early game when you have nothing to cast.
Despite my defending of it on page one there's a good chance you're right about decree. Every deck has non-basics, some more so than others but when I play at my local store, half of the games I see result in their fair share of abu duals and shutting off Cabal Coffers is never a bad idea. I can probably cut my dual-colored lands. In a two color deck I should be fine. I will just make sure to replace them with islands so it works.
Adding too many man lands seems to go against the adding of back to basic but they would provide a useful (albeit) backup win con. Though I think Faerie Conclave, Celestial Colonnade, Blinkmoth Nexus, and Inkmoth Nexus seem like the ones to use to me as they can fly and would be more likely to get through.
A bit of backstory:To Play This Deck or Not To Play This Deck?
This deck runs countermagic and pillowfort effects. As such the game plan is to feel in control while slowly establishing board position. While the deck's board state may not always look scary, it keeps other decks from establishing scary board positions as well. If you like to be political, this deck works to your benefit as it doesn't work towards building a large board presence as much as keeping itself safe.
Reasons to play this deck: Reasons not to play this deck:Other U/W generals of note include:How has the deck evolved over time?
#'s =cmc
3 Hanna, Ship's Navigator
Creatures (5)
3 Trinket Mage
4 Academy Rector
4 Phyrexian Metamorph (foil)
5 Aura Thief (*)
6 Sun Titan (foil)
Artifacts (12)
0 Claws of Gix
0 Mana Crypt
0 Tormod's Crypt
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei's Divining Top (french)
1 Sol Ring
2 Azorius Signet
2 Isochron Scepter (Japanese)
2 Scroll Rack
2 Talisman of Progress
3 Oblivion Stone
4 Vedalken Orrery
Enchantments (22)
1 Land Tax
1 Mystic Remora
2 Copy Artifact
2 Luminarch Ascension
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Standstill
3 Aura of Silence
3 Copy Enchantment
3 Detention Sphere
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Propaganda
3 Rhystic Study
4 Heliod, God of the Sun
4 Leyline of Anticipation
4 Opalescence
4 Parallax Tide
4 Parallax Wave
5 Enchanted Evening
5 Sigil of the Empty Throne
5 Sphere of Safety
10 Omniscience
0 Pact of Negation (5)
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Counterspell
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Mana Drain
2 Muddle the Mixture
3 Dissipate (Japanese)
3 Hinder
3 Render Silent
3 Spell Crumple
4 Cryptic Command (magic player rewards)
5 Force of Will
Sorceries (10)
3 Idyllic Tutor
4 Day of Judgment
4 Replenish
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Wrath of God
6 Austere Command
6 Open the Vaults
6 Recurring Insight
6 Terminus
6 Tunnel Vision
Planeswalkers (1)
5 Tezzeret the Seeker
Lands (34)
1 Ancient Den
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Command Tower
1 Faerie Conclave
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Inkmoth Nexus
11 Island (zendikar)
1 Minamo, Scool at Water's Edge
9 Plains (zendikar)
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Tolaria West
1 Tundra
A Few Card Choices:
Draw Suite: Pillow Fort: Answers: Board Wipes: Counterspells: Tutors: Planeswalkers: Mana Sources: Notable Exclusions:
Wish List:
Cards to Consider for More Creature Heavy Metas:
Strategy:
A More Detailed Explanation of Winning
Dealing With the Unfavorable
Changelog:
2-4-2013
- Lightning Greaves / + Rings of Brighthearth: Greaves was included more as an autoinclude than as something I thought about. Honestly, there are three creatures I care about sticking. They just don't seem relevant enough. People rarely target Hanna. I am not reliant on her and while the haste is nice its usually not too important. Besides, casting her for five or seven is not too tough. It also keeps Sun Titan safe, but he gets removed in response to targeting half the time anyways, same with Lost Auramancers who might get pitched for being too slow soon anyways. Rings on the other hand combos for infinite mana with Basalt Monolith which helps provide the countermagic mana to keep my creatures safe anyways and do more. It also lets me activate Hanna twice.
- Swiftfoot Boots / + Vedalken Orrery: Swiftoot is leaving for being a costlier greaves. Vedalken Orrey is redundant with Leyline of Anticipation, but I heard both consistency and the ability to be reactionary are nice in control.
- Parallax Tide / + Serra's Sanctum: An odd swap. I was on the fence on adding another land. With the changes I'm making the avg cmc is going up just a bit so I thought having another land, especially such a useful one would be nice. While Parallax Tide has cemented me games, it also felt like a dead draw in just as many if not more, which is something I don't think I can say about any other card in the list.
- Island / + Seat of the Synod: Seat is an island that is tutorable by Trinket Mage and is potentially recoverable after a cataclysm type effect
- Plains / + Ancient Den: See above
- Plains / + Seachrome Choast: mana fixing
2-13-2013
-Lost Auramancers: When it went off I was always really pleased but it almost never went off. It was always answered too fast. It has the opposite issue of its older sibling, everybody wants to kill it.
-Marytr's Bond: When it does see play it does work but Karmic Justice goes off quicker. This might get changed back but who knows?
-Enduring Ideal: I was so happy everytime I played this card...until the turn after it resolved. One spell a turn just isn't fast enough when you can't counter things.
////
+Tezzeret the Seeker: As stated this seems to just be an all-around power house for me, tutor, ramp, distract, he does it all. So long Lost Auramancers
+Karmic Justice: see Martyr's Bond
+ Copy Artifact: Does it really need an explanation? It can become a two drop...well anything...and if I get bored with it I can destroy it and make it something new.
+Parallax Tide: I hadn't actually gotten around to updating my paper list to match this one before my last game and this card won my heart again. I took it out sort of because I was tired of it and it didn't seem relevant without claws of gix but I was wrong. Shorting somebody of a mana color or utility land for their turn can be devastating. Plus if you can drop it on say the second turn, chances are the game is yours.
2-15-2013
-Aura Thief (a hopeful win con)will get his moment in the sun replacing Decree of Silence, which as pointed out, is a bit costly.
-Azorious Guildgate can become Faerie Conclave (trying to avoid adding non-basics while adding man lands)
-Seachrome Coast is becoming Celestial Colonnade: see above
-Glacial Fortress is becoming Inkmoth Nexus
-Nimbus Maze can be Blinkmoth Nexus
2/19/2013
+ Dance of Many: repeatable general removal
////
- Voltaic Key: offered great ramp with mana vault but outside of that it was rarely useful.
-Foil: least favorite counterspell in the deck. I frequently didn't have islands to pay, and in most cases I usually didn't want to pay four mana either, with rewind I get the mana back so I like it more. Also rewind can untap manlands
2/23/2013
+Parallax Wave: I originally did not include this because it only hit creatures and in a combo heavy meta like mine that's not always relevant and sometimes you might be scared of etb effects but it was just brought to my attention how nicely it interacted with Parallax Wave and Oplaescence, just managing to secure it a place.
3/19/2013
-Honden of Seeing Winds /+Standstill this trade should result in earlier, more explosive card draw.
-Brainstorm/ +Mystical Tutor This card can search for so many cards in this deck. It can also be stuck on Isochron Scepter and the card can go straight to my hand with top out. Brainstorm just wasn't doing enough
-Drift of Phantasms / +Phyrexian Metamorph Somehow Metamorph got cut from the list, something happened and I was running 101 cards. Uhoh! Metamorph never was out of my paper list but he was listed on here. No clue how that happened but I thank Falks for bringing this to my attention. I just double counted the paper list and what I have listed here for accuracy. Drift of Phantasms got cut as it was slow for what it did. If transmute was instant speed I would have kept it.
-Evacuation / +Austere Command for one mana you get a more permanent and more versatile solution
3/20/2013
-Duplicant / +Force of Will FoW is a card I have been wanting for a while. Duplicant is a good card but seemed less than necessary for me. The deck can answer creatures in enough ways that Duplicant can be removed.
3/21/2013
-Dance of Many / +Hinder Dance of many seems great in theory but has shown up to my hand and I have almost never wanted to cast it. Hinder offers another counterspell and another wincon. If you hinder an opponent you can Tunnel Vision them to flip their entire deck into their yard and watch them mill them-self out.
5/14/2013
+Reliquary Tower / -Plains: I need to stop pitching cards. My hand has been getting larger than seven cards a lot lately.
+Serra's Sanctum / - Island: Its our decks Gaea's Cradle
6/01/2013
-Greater Auramancy / +Terminus: I came to the conclusion. I don't see a lot of spot removal aimed at enchantments, and if something is super important I can always recur it or counter the spell targeting it. Terminus has been great for me. It deals with voltron generals and it can be miracle cast on other's people turn's. Note: the order of cards put on the bottom doees not have to be revealed so it does not always work with tunnel vision
12/16/2013
I made a lot of changes today. Most of them have been tested for a while though. I added Heliod as a threat. He's very good with Serra's Sanctum I also added Sigil of the Empty Throne as another win condition. I cut back to basics as it usually either won or did absolutely nothing so it was pretty boring. Due to this cut I fiddled with the mana base some. I replaced Rewind with Render Silent because it's awesome. I also cut Journey to Nowhere for an additional land slot because I rarely used it.
4/19/2013
Well, Theros block ended up being a disappointment, it offered up only four cards I would consider and only one that made the cut. I'm cutting prison term, azorius keyrune, and mana vault for mana drain, mana crypt, and scroll rack. The first three were cards that never thrilled me and the later three were ones I've wanted to fit in for a while. Oh, and I cut an Island for a tundra.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, offer advice, and ask any questions. I'm open to advice and am ready to explain any card choices I made.
2-4-2013
- Lightning Greaves / + Rings of Brighthearth: Greaves was included more as an autoinclude than as something I thought about. Honestly, there are three creatures I care about sticking. They just don't seem relevant enough. People rarely target Hanna. I am not reliant on her and while the haste is nice its usually not too important. Besides, casting her for five or seven is not to tough. It also keeps Sun Titan safe but he gets removed in response to targeting half the time anyways, same with Lost Auramancers who might get pitched for being too slow soon anyways. Rings on the other hand combos for infinite mana with Basalt Monolith which helps provide the countermagic mana to keep my creatures safe anyways and do more. It also lets me activate Hanna twice.
-Swiftfoot Boots / + Vedalken Orrery: Swiftoot is leaving for being a costlier greaves. Vedalken Orrey is redundant with Leyline of Anticipation but I heard both consistency and the ability to be reactionary are nice in control.
- Parallax Tide / + Serra's Sanctum: An odd swap. I was on the fence on adding another land. With the changes I'm making the avg cmc is going up just a bit so I thought having another land, especially such a useful one would be nice. While parallax Tide has cemented me games its also felt like a dead draw in just as many if not more, which is something I don't think I can say about any other card in the list.
- Island / + Seat of the Synod: Seat is an island that is tutorable by Trinket Mage and is potentially recoverable after a cataclysm type effect
- Plains / +Ancient Den: See above
- Plains / +Seachrome Choast: mana fixing
avg spell cmc = 3.00 (rounded slightly)
# of spells with:
0 cmc - 3
1 cmc - 10
2 cmc - 12
3 cmc - 18
4 cmc - 11
5 cmc - 6
6 cmc - 5
7 cmc - 0
8 cmc - 0
9 cmc - 0
10 cmc - 1
Sek'kuar reanimator
Treva enchantress
Wort the raid mother, Goblin aggro/combo
Arcum Dagsson, the deck you love to hate
Kamahl, fist of Krosa: the token tidal wave
Oros, the hate dragon (WIP, started 12/18/12)
As yet to be determined 7th deck, being debated
Also what are people's thoughts on remand?
You can take a look at my list (Though not updated in a while), or Gaka's primer for more suggestions.
Commander/EDH:
WU Hanna, Ship's Navigator WU
GW Saffi Eriksdotter GW
BW Selenia, Dark Angel BW
W Heliod, God of Sun W
Retired:
Jenara, Asura of War Thada Adel, Acquisitor Jaya Ballard, Task Mage Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero Lyzolda, the Blood Witch Akroma, Angel of Wrath Nath of the Gilt-Leaf Tajic, Blade of the Legion Selvala, Explorer Returned Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Tiny Leaders:
W Mangara of Corondor W
What are some of the stronger cards vs. cards that may be on the cutting block?
I write EDH articles on EDHREC and MTGCasualPlay. I hope you like them!
EDH DECKLISTS
RGWUril, the Miststalker WBRKaalia of the Vast Sunforger WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUGDerevi, Empyrial TacticianWUBRGSliver Queen EDH
UB Wrexial, the Risen DeepWU Hanna, Ship's NavigatorWGSigarda, Host of Herons EnchantressWULavinia, of the Tenth
RRPurphoros, God of the ForgeBBChainer, Dementia MasterWWEight-and-a-Half TailsUUMuzzio, Visionary ArchitectGGJolrael, Empress of Beasts
BGVhati il-DalRWTajic, Blade of the LegionUBRZurgo HelmsmasherUBDaxos the ReturnedWBKarlov of the Ghost CouncilWUBruna, Light of Alabaster
RWAurelia Angel Tribal URJhoira Chaos Deck UGVorel +1 Counters BRGProssh Tokens
UBRGwendlyn Discard EDH URG Surrak Dragonclaw UBLazav Mill EDH WUBrago Flicker EDH Deck
Rings of Brighthearth - Produces infinite mana. I took it out because it seemed irrelevant but since I have added more counterspells I like to keep my mana open for counter magic.
Remand - Another Card to put on Isochron Scepter. It also draws me another card which is always nice.
1 island - probably 1 in every 5 games I wish I had one more land, though if I could work in Serra's Sanctum or rings this would likely become irrelevant
Possible Subtraction:
Parallax Tide - This card combos with claws of gix to hate on lands but honestly there are things I'd usually rather be doing with that 4 mana, even if it just bluffing.
Also on an unrelated note what kind of music do you do? (I'm a music major)
Gatecrash is out and while it didn't bring Hanna any new toys, two cards definitely caught my eye.
Blind Obedience - This card is great. If I would add any gatecrash card it would be this one. I see it as a better kismet. Unfortunately I don't think it would do much to the waves of combo decks I see on a regular basis. It would work really well in a more aggro based meta where the extort would also become more useful. Its not going in now, but this card may get revisited.
The second card of interest is Illusionist's Bracers - This card is awesome. Getting two things back to hand for the price of one is awesome. I don't think Hanna gets turned sideways quite enough to make this worth it but I will be paying attention to that in my next few games
Counterbalance - as any legacy player knows this card is nuts with Sensei's Divining Top but is it worth it without also running scroll rack and other similar effects? I mean, I can get top out pretty regularly because of Trinket Mage and it still seems it would serve its use either way.
Tezzeret the Seeker - I'm almost positive this needs to be put in. I have 17 artifacts in the current list. Out of those it could tutor everything to the field instantly except duplicant. Or it could even just untap my mana vault and sol ring. Seems really good. Seems like a five mana answer to a lot or late game ramp.
Blind Obedience - It slows my opponents down and has extort so my countermagic can hurt people. This is probably the one I am most on the fenc for but still seems sweet
Its nice sometimes to make them draw a bad spell next turn.
Also works better with Snapcaster which I think should be in there.
Fact or Fiction > Recurring Insight. FoF is pretty much an auto-include in any blue deck..plus the cards that go to the graveyard aren't necessarily lost due to Hanna.
If you want to go all in on the 'sacrifice an enchantment for value', you might consider Faith Healer and Barrin, Master Wizard or Arenson's Aura as sac outlets. In addition to Oblivion Ring and kinn, you can run Parallax Wave, Hatching Plans and Dance of Many.
Aura Thief to combo with Enchanted Evening?
Copy Artifact is pretty good too.
I do like faith healer quite a bit too, not so much barrin as he is a bit mana intensive for my taste. Arenson's Aura is neat, though not necessarily relevant enough in my mana though it would be a transmute target...hmmm...on the fence
Copy Artifact was left off because I only had a few mana rocks when I first made the deck but I agree, its going in, especially if I do get a tezz,
As awesome as FoF is, in my meta recurring insight is superior I believe. People usually keep cards in hand and play a bit more reactionary
Iffy on Aura thief, I'll probably get him and test him out, see how useful he is not in tandem with enchanted evening and go from there. Hmm, I have a lot of trading/buying to do. I'll figure out whats getting swapped for what later. Hope the good ideas keep coming
-rings of brighthearth: I was clearly not thinking when I put this back in. Withough Basalt monolith it doesn't go infinite
-Lost Auramancers: When it went off I was always really pleased but it almost never went off. It was always answered to fast. its got the opposite issue of its older sibling, everybody wants to kill it.
-Marytr's Bond: When it does see play it does work but Karmic Justice goes off quicker. This might get changed back but who knows?
-Enduring Ideal: I was so happy everytime I played this card...until the turn after it resolved. One spell a turn just isn't fast enough when you can't counter things.
////
+Tezzeret the Seeker: As stated this seems to just be an all-around power house for me, tutor, ramp, distract, he does it all. So long Lost Auramancers
+Karmic Justice see: Martyr's Bond
+ Copy Artifact: Does it really need an explanation? It can become a two drop...well anything...and if I get bored with it I can destroy it and make it something new.
+Parallax Tide: I hadn't actually gotten around to updating my paper list to match this one before my last game and this card won my heart again. I took it out sort of because I was tired of it and it didn't seem relevant without claws of gix but I was wrong. Shorting somebody of a mana color or utility land for their turn can be devastating. Plus if you can drop it on say the second turn, chances are the game is yours.
I see you have ~25 basics, which means you have the capibility to effecfively run it. You are running a lockdown deck bases on enchantments with a considerable of counter-magic as additonal defense.
EDH
BWG Doran Suicide Tempo BWG
BUW Sharuum Midrange Control BUW
I am not running it simply because nobody has pointed it out to me yet and I did not think of it on my own. That would be really good against a good amount of decks I play against. Any idea of what you might cut for it?
I'd take out Decree of Silence unless you have a heavy blue meta. Its amazing that it counters a spell upon cycling, but at the cost of 6 mana? Only worth in mono blue or mostly dual or tri-coloured decks.
What is your meta like? Non-basic lands in each and every deck?
Back to Basics works well for me in tri-coloured decks.
I'd suggest removing most the dual lands like Seachrome Coast or anything that comes into play. I mean how bad are you hurting for UUU on the early turns?
If you want alternate win conditions; man-lands get the job done.
I see this deck of a mix of pillow fort/control variant. So Faerie Conclave, Mishra's Factory would make a good of mana late game or even early game when you have nothing to cast.
EDH
BWG Doran Suicide Tempo BWG
BUW Sharuum Midrange Control BUW
Adding too many man lands seems to go against the adding of back to basic but they would provide a useful (albeit) backup win con. Though I think Faerie Conclave, Celestial Colonnade, Blinkmoth Nexus, and Inkmoth Nexus seem like the ones to use to me as they can fly and would be more likely to get through.