Create a fun multiplayer deck, that can become a decent duel deck with only a few minor substitutions.
Aside: My Definition of a Fun Deck:
A deck that I enjoy playing, that others enjoy playing against (So keep the Stax under control, and focus more on creatures that are impossible to kill). I like synergies and combos, but not infinite combos. More cool little interactions and rules quirks than omfgmindlslaverlockrrr.
I enjoy decks with: Big Creatures and massive Token Swarms, fortunately, Green and Black both deliver.
I want to explore a deck with lots of Sac and Recur effects. Re-using my creatures as many times as needed to thwart the many board wipes prevalent in Commander games.
Lots of ETB and LTB effects, Sacrifice outlets, recursion, Reanimator effects to sneak fatties out early, etc.
Gameplan: Lock the board down with multiple grave pact effects, and other removal. Dump large creatures into the GY and reanimate to start chipping away at opponents health, or build up a large token army and overrun for the win. Overwhelming Stampede is rather nasty with a single Doomgape and a swarm of 1/1's.
So:
Others:
So that means I can play Pearl Shard in my Arcum deck then, right?
This is my current list, I like it a lot but there is definitely room for improvement.
2x Bloodstained Mire
4x Dismal Backwater
3x Island
4x Polluted Delta
4x Radiant Fountain
3x Swamp
4x Temple of Deceit
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Clever Impersonator
2x Prognostic Sphinx
4x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1x Jace, the Living Guildpact
3x Bile Blight
2x Dig Through Time
3x Dissolve
4x Hero's Downfall
2x Jace's Ingenuity
2x Murderous Cut
4x Sign in Blood
4x Thoughtseize
1x Perilous Vault
1x Dig Through Time
1x Dissolve
4x Drown in Sorrow
1x Liliana Vess
3x Negate
1x Perilous Vault
3x Pharika's Cure
1x Silence the Believers
+ Copper Gnomes
+ Trinket Mage
+ Metalworker
+ Pithing Needle
+ Powder Keg
+ Ratchet Bomb
+ Ponder
+ Preordain
+ Mana Drain
+ Force of Will
+ Dust Bowl
+ Tectonic Edge
- Serrated Biskellion
- Master Transmuter
- Golem Artisan
- Mox Opal
- Grafdigger's Cage
- Batterskull
- Contagion Engine
- Delay
- Mana Leak
-2 Island
Mainly cutting some awkward cards or cards that weren't pulling their weight in my meta anymore. I haven't played much lately though, so my changes may not have been right. I'm particularly concerned about the Island count for Vedalken Shackles. The additional land destruction lands might not be powerful enough to warrant an inclusion, but I'd like to try them again. I'd also like to get a Seat of the Synod into the list. Mishra's Helix is a card I tried in the past with reasonable success and I would like to try it again. With enough ramp, it buys you infinite turns to set up. Batterskull is the most suspect cut, IMO and if Powder Keg/Ratchet Bomb don't work out I will likely be adding Batterskill back in.
1 Arcum Dagsson
Creatures:
1 Copper Gnomes
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Manakin
1 Millikin
1 Myr Retriever
1 Plague Myr
1 Silver Myr
1 Spellskite
1 Junk Diver
1 Metalworker
1 Trinket Mage
1 Masticore
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Duplicant
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Blightsteel Colossus
Artifacts:
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault
1 Pithing Needle
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Grim Monolith
1 Guardian Idol
1 Lighting Greaves
1 Mind Stone
1 Powder Keg
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Winter Orb
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Staff of Domination
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Trading Post
1 Myr Turbine
1 Mindslaver
1 Spine of Ish Sah
1 Pact of Negation
1 Brainstorm
1 Dispel
1 Flusterstorm
1 Spell Pierce
1 Swan Song
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Mana Drain
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Force of Will
Sorceries:
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Reshape
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Fabricate
Planeswalkers:
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Karn Liberated
Lands:
1 Academy Ruins
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Cavern of Souls
1 City of Traitors
1 Crystal Vein
1 Dread Statuary
1 Dust Bowl
1 Flooded Strand
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
18 Snow-Covered Island
1 Strip Mine
1 Svyelunite Temple
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Wasteland
<.<
You can cast Dig Through Time on turn 4/5 pretty reliably. You just need to do some combination of 4 of the folowing: Crack a fetch, play a discard spell, play a removal spell, chump block with a creature.
But the card overall is not conditionally useful because one of the modes is /always/ live. The same reason Azorius Charm was good. The Condemn mode was pretty conditional, the Lifelinki mode even more so, but because you could cycle, it was never dead.
Chained to the Rocks becomes basically unplayable post rotation, anyway. Outside of R-splash-W decks, you can't support the mountain count Chained requires.