Arjun Says, Let's Play Everything

Commander / EDH Casual Hive Mind Multiplayer Theme/Gimmick UR (Izzet)

Sarkhan_Dragonclaw348

Lands (42)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Haunted Fengraf
• 17x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 8x Mountain
• 1x Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Swiftwater Cliffs
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Vivid Crag
• 1x Vivid Creek

Card Advantage (5)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Dictate of Kruphix
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Omenspeaker
• 1x Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar

Cardcycling (5)

• 1x Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
• 1x Possibility Storm
• 1x Sin Prodder
• 1x Warp World
• 1x Whirlpool Warrior

Pseudo-ramp (18)

• 1x Braids, Conjurer Adept
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Dream Halls
• 1x Epic Experiment
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Generator Servant
• 1x Goblin Electromancer
• 1x Hedron Crawler
• 1x Izzet Cluestone
• 1x Izzet Keyrune
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Nivix Guildmage
• 1x Omniscience
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Wild Evocation

Tactical (8)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Goblin Diplomats
• 1x Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
• 1x Mercurial Chemister
• 1x Paradox Haze
• 1x Shunt
• 1x Volcanic Vision

Alternate Commander (3)

• 1x Melek, Izzet Paragon
• 1x Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
• 1x The Locust God

Commander (1)

Thievery (13)

• 1x Act of Treason
• 1x Blatant Thievery
• 1x Bribery
• 1x Diluvian Primordial
• 1x Eternal Dominion
• 1x Fool's Demise
• 1x Mass Mutiny
• 1x Molten Primordial
• 1x Order of Succession
• 1x Puca's Mischief
• 1x Scrambleverse
• 1x Stolen Goods
• 1x Telemin Performance

Copies (5)

• 1x Fork
• 1x Hive Mind
• 1x Meletis Charlatan
• 1x Swarm Intelligence
• 1x Tempt with Reflections

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Maybeboard

Other (19)

• 1x Charmbreaker Devils
• 1x Fathom Trawl
• 1x Goblin Game
• 1x Haunted Fengraf
• 1x Impact Resonance
• 1x Intellectual Offering
• 1x Mages' Contest
• 1x Mind Unbound
• 1x Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind
• 1x Order of Succession
• 1x Precognition
• 1x Shunt
• 1x Spellbound Dragon
• 1x Steam Augury
• 1x Teetering Peaks
• 1x Telemin Performance
• 1x Thought Reflection
• 1x Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
• 1x Volcanic Vision

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"Sometimes a little chaos is in order."

-Wizards of the Coast, on Scrambleverse

According to Arjun, mana costs don't matter! For that reason, once he's on the battlefield, the idea is to mercilessly turn the battlefield into a realm of chaos. Playing cards from your opponents' libraries, stealing their creatures, and causing mass panic sound good? This is just what you want.

Make no mistake, this is not a deck with a strategy to win. This is a deck that says, "Hey, want to play a fun game? It's called 'Nobody Gets to do What They Want.' " Commander is a multiplayer format, and what everyone likes (or hates) is a really weird deck strategy. Thus, this deck only really gets started around when you cast your commander, which is pretty late in a two-player game. It doesn't fit in very many competitive places because it doesn't get started quickly. The more players, the better for this deck, which may actually get a little tricky if you pull of winning with such annoying tactics.

So, disclaimer aside, let's see what this deck has.

Ramp

Ramp is hard in red and blue. There are plenty of artifacts that give you what you want, but I put all my mana dorks into the pseudo-ramp section, because they don't do normal ramp as a general rule. Braids, Conjurer Adept and Dream Halls are two well-versed cards that allow you to cast some cool stuff. So, in the early game, what you want to have is an assortment of lands, preferably slow dual lands, and some pseudo-ramp cards. Once you cast the commander, Arjun, things can get interesting. You are bound to see a lot of your deck, so the idea is to play the most relevant card you have in your hand. Combos are hard to land with Arjun in play, so you should try getting solid enchantments down first to improve your odds. If possible, grab the star of the deck, Wild Evocation. It'll give you the chance to cast something really powerful every turn, or even twice every turn if you have out Paradox Haze. Hive Mind also sets up a nice combo with Eternal Dominion, forcing each player to use cards from their opponents' decks only!

Thievery

There is a lot of stealing going on in Arjun's deck--just take a look at the section: Bribery. Diluvian Primordial. Mass Mutiny. Molten Primordial. Puca's Mischief. Scrambleverse.Stolen Goods.Order of Succession. These will be your entire source of removal, since there is practically nothing else doing the job. Any and all creatures you steal are going to be front-lines attackers and essentially dispensable--more dispensable than your own creatures, at least. You'll want to save the ones giving you bonuses while they're on the battlefield, and your copiers (like Meletis Charlatan and Nivix Guildmage) and forms of mana dorks (like Braids, Conjurer Adept and Goblin Electromancer) will work better on the playing field than in your graveyard. Elixir of Immortality is going to let you re-use the cards taken out by board wipes, so creatures can come back even if they're killed--and instants and sorceries are already being .

Cardcycling

One thing you'll notice is the massive amount of cards you draw, and how you only get to see most of them for a fraction of a second before you draw an entirely new hand. Cards go through your hand so fast, I've made a category for the ones that do it best: cardcycling. Cards like Whirlpool Warrior, Etherium-Horn Sorcerer, and Possibility Storm make up an ever-changing hand that really can't assure you of anything. This game of chance makes the deck either fun or agonizing to play, depending on your mindset, because you are rarely going to have a card in your hand at the time you want it. That being said, you'll definitely see it again--and probably have many chances to cast it. This makes playtesting rather simple because after about fifteen turns, all you've got left are the cards you just didn't want to cast. They're going to be either there or in your graveyard from powering Dream Halls. You may go through four or five hands before ending your turn! Due to this, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and Sphinx's Tutelage were put into the deck, mainly to maximize the affects of the cardcycling and extreme card draw.

Combos

Like most decks, this one has a wealth of interesting combinations of cards. The reason, in fact, that the deck is so enchantment- and creature-heavy while being blue-red is that it sets itself up for making those sorceries incredibly powerful.

First: Eternal Dominion + Hive Mind (+ Paradox Haze)

This combo requires Paradox Haze and Hive Mind to be on the battlefield before casting the sorcery. When you do, everyone copies the spell, so if it resolves, the entire game changes: nobody can cast spells; all they can do is (once on your upkeep) grab a permanent from another player's deck and put it onto the battlefield under their control. Abilities may be activated, but any instants and sorceries are useless at this point in the game. Since your deck should have few permanents left, people won't steal your cards as much--and therefore, you'll run out of cards slower. Make sure you have an Elixir of Immortality on the battlefield, just in case a board-wipe comes along or you run out of cards.

Second: Swarm Intelligence + Epic Experiment (+ Meletis Charlatan + Nivix Guildmage + Fork etc.)

Again, Swarm Intelligence needs to be on the battlefield first. When you cast Epic Experiment, you get an extra one. If you pay 8UR, you can look at the top eight cards of your library, cast all the instants and sorceries there and copy them, and then do it again. It quadruples the value of the card, since not only can you play it twice, you can play the cards it lets you cast twice as well. If you add Meletis Charlatan or another copy ability, you get even more free spells! Note that Swarm Intelligence doesn't apply to copies; otherwise this would go infinite. But Fork...with Fork, you can copy Epic Experiment twice as you cast it due to Swarm Intelligence, giving yourself four copies of the card--enough to be likely to cast every single instant or sorcery in your deck! (Also note that casting Epic Experiment with X=8 means being unable to cast Eternal Dominion as it costs 7UUU.)

Third: Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and The Locust God + Arjun and other wheels

You know what wheels are, right? They replace the cards in your hand with a new set. Whirlpool Warrior is one; Arjun is another. The Locust God and Niv-Mizzet are added benefits to this, as your Locust God creates little hasty flying insects, and Niv-Mizzet deals damage to creatures/players. Since wheel effects draw lots of cards for a lower mana cost, these are more powerful than normal. Copying your draw spells (when they're instants/sorceries) will lead to even stronger effects.

Fourth: Paradox Haze

I'm sure you saw this and knew there were tons of other combos this card has. Yes, it makes for lots of shenanigans. Wild Evocation is the favorite; Sin Prodder and Braids, Conjurer Adept are others. For the first and third ones, it seems as if the spell affects people equally, but with this card, you get more of the benefits than they do. A good card for Group Hug strategies.

Alternate Commanders

There are four other creatures you can use as the commander for this deck. They are:

The Locust God

Melek, Izzet Paragon

Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind

The Locust God does a good job of giving you what you don't have much of: creatures. Drawing six cards every turn? You've got six pesky fliers each turn too. If he's killed, you can just return him to your hand instead of to the command zone, which means you don't need to pay that extra two, four, six mana that you might have to shell out otherwise. He's okay--just doesn't have quite the amount and type of benefits the deck wants.

Melek is a fun commander as well. He also makes it obvious what you're about to draw, but you can also cast those instans/sorceries from the top of your deck. When you do, you get an extra--think about two Briberys or two Epic Experiments: that's very pleasing, isn't it? That being said, a 2/4 isn't the greatest at keeping your opponent from killing it, particularly this deck with few defenses, and there aren't terribly many instants and sorceries in the deck. Either way, his effect is nice to have during any point in the game, so he could make for a good commander in this deck.

Niv-Mizzet can be quite interesting. For six mana with lots of color restriction, he's the hardest-to-cast commander you can use here. But he takes an opponent down a notch every time you draw a card, which is easily more than a hundred times. He can even take out some of your opponent's creatures, which makes for a great addition to this removal-light deck already. A 4/4 body also gives him an edge in both combat and removal-resistance over Melek, but if someone does manage to kill him, it's going to be tricky to get him back onto the battlefield efficiently.

Strategy

This deck's playstyle revolves around the decks it's facing. Sometimes it will have a great matchup, like a creature-heavy deck that sports little defenses against Act of Treason and Mass Mutiny, and other times it will run into a wall with a blue or white control deck that hates anything random. In the case of the more common games of four players or so, you will want to be friends with whichever person is most threatening to your deck--again, probably the one that can defend your many instants and sorceries (mainly sorceries). You are going to be taking advantage of any deck that is all tapped out or has nothing to counteract your spells, so anyone that can should be dealt with carefully.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Exclude colors	WBG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.34
Tokens	Copy Clone, Insect 1/1 UR