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Anyone who has experience in the Commander realm will tell you the
Arcum Dagsson
is a powerful force to be reckoned with, and if you have little-to-no experience in Commander then be prepared to have your mind made up for you. Arcum has the unique ability to TUTOR, or search for particular things, which is a valuable trait to have. He is somewhat limited in his tutoring, though, in that you must sacrifice an artifact creature and in return you get a non-creature artifact. Some may think, "why would I get rid of a blocker for something like
Arcum's Sleigh
?" Good point, but insert $#!+y Morpheus meme what if I told you some non-creature artifacts are infinitely better than even the biggest blockers, especially when they combo off of one another? Intrigued? Keep reading.
Below is a list of important and potentially game ending combos that can be acquired ridiculously fast with Arcum, assuming your friends don't hit you with a turn 2
Blue Sun's Zenith
, in which case they aren't really your friends, more like people you keep around in case a bear attacks and you need a sacrifice to the pagan woodland Gods.
Rings of Brighthearth
+
Basalt Monolith
+
Staff of Domination
= Infinite Draw/Tap/Untap/Mana/Life
.
This will be the combo that forms the foundation of everything else you do. Ramp up early and cast Arcum on turn 3 or 4, preferably using
Hall of the Bandit Lord
or with
Lightning Greaves
already waiting on him. Then tutor for Rings first, that way you can double tutor Monolith and Staff, assuming you have 2 creatures to sacrifice. Then tap Monolith for 3 mana, pay to untap Monolith and use another 2 mana from another source to copy the untap using Rings, then tap Monolith again and you've gained net 1 colorless mana. Repeat this an infinite number of times and you now have infinite mana. Then you can use the Staff to it's fullest potential. Draw until you come across
Walking Ballista
and reduce your opponents to a smoldering pile of ash, or cast
Laboratory Maniac
and draw out your whole deck for the insta-win!
Sol Ring
+
Paradox Engine
+
Isochron Scepter
+
Counterspell
= Infinite Counters
.
First thing's first, Paradox Engine will probably eventually be banned because it's so insanely overpowered, in which case you will be forced to fall back on
Filigree Sages
. But this combo will probably make people hate you the same way folks in Arizona hate wool socks.
Mycosynth Lattice
+
Darksteel Forge
+
Nevinyrral's Disk
= Board Wipe
.
I know I said the last one would make people hate you, but there's nothing like watching someone work so hard to get a board full of whoop @$$, and then watching them realize it's all going the way of the Dodo, even their lands. What's even better is that you keep all of your stuff, and to make this combo even better you could mix in
Padeem, Consul of Innovation
so that opponents who manage to survive can't target anything you own.
Pariah's Shield
is smart to include as well so that a creature can soak up any direct Commander damage that may cause you to lose the game.
.
A little more explanation for non-essential card choice:
Creatures like
Silver Myr
and
Manakin
will help you ramp for mana needed to cast Arcum, then can serve as fodder for his tuto ability. Artifacts like
Armillary Sphere
are nearly useless in my opinion considering they end up in your hand rather than on the field, making
Prismatic Lens
a much better choice considering you can immediately start benefitting from extra mana.
Fetch Lands like
Flooded Strand
make sense because they help thin out your deck and make your draws better, but practically the price make make these hard to come by.
Citanul Flute
is a good option for tutoring creatures given that Arcum can grab it for you, and it is a cheaper alternative to
Planar Portal
. Some would say "well at least with the Portal I can get non-creature cards." True, but considering only 3% of this deck is anything other than Creature, Artifact or Land, if you really need Portal that bad then you're playing Arcum wrong in the first place.
Mystical Tutor
is really only around in case you can't get to
Counterspell
using the Staff. It could honestly be switched for anything else and 999 times out of 1,000 you wouldn't care.
Illusionist's Bracers
are a great option if you want to copy Arcum's ability, and
Unwinding Clock
will let you untap everything you own assuming Lattice is also on the field.
Sands of Time
is also an option if you want to sit alone at the lunch table.
Merchant's Dockhand
is great if you want to play the long game and find things like
Cyclonic Rift
and Couterspell for more casual play. Typically if I don't play competitive I go for a
Metalwork Colossus
+
Suspicious Bookcase
combo.
.
Cards that I could add:
I get lots and lots of recommendations for things like
Myr Turbine
,
Mindslaver
,
Jester's Cap
,
Sensei's Divining Top
,
Memnarch
,
Tezzeret the Seeker
and
Declaration of Naught
.
Honestly the deck is quick and efficient enough that I don't really need them, but I can appreciate what they could offer to the effectiveness of the deck.
.
I do not claim to have come up with any combos listed above, nor do I declare this deck to be in a perfected state. Test it and adapt it to your preferred taste. I hope you enjoyed my deck/playstyle description and I appreciate you taking the time to visit and read my build.
