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Prepare Your Anus, Here Comes Arcanis

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Control Counterspell Infinite Combo Island Mono-Blue Tap/Untap Tempo

Archmage-Eternal

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Commander: foil Arcanis the Omnipotent

Sorcery (10)

Land (28)

Welcome to the top-rated Arcanis deck on TappedOut!

Omnipotent.

This is my baby. Since late 2014, this has been the deck I've worked on. Funny enough, it was originally the blue 2014 EDH Precon, "Peer Through Time." It's...very different from that to say the least.

As stated, the deck originally began life in late 2014 as your bulk-standard Teferi, Temporal Archmage-led Peer Through Time list. I had started playing Magic that very same year, with the release of Journey into Nyx being the first release I was actively playing for. I was no good at standard and modern didn't appeal to me. But I took a hundred of the cards I had (which was quite difficult at the time) and made my very own Daxos of Meletis commander deck. I was hooked on the format.

When the C14 decks released that year I picked up Peer Through Time and Forged in Stone. While Forged was first, Peer was definitely my favorite. I made gradual changes all throughout the latter years of high school as I improved at the game and the big-brained plays required by such a deck became easier to understand. At that point in time the commander was Kaho, Minamo Historian. The deck was a weird amalgam of blue control pieces, overcosted counterspells, and extra turn cards. There wasn't a whole lot of synergy and Kaho herself was more a liability than an asset most of the time. You'd tutor up your absolute best spells only for her to eat a Doom Blade and you were locked out of those spells forever. It took quite a while for the deck to get even close to winning, not to mention the fact that the meta I was playing in was particularly cutthroat for its time.

After a couple years with Kaho and exactly zero tournament wins under my belt, I decided it was time to make some substantial changes. At that point I began cataloguing every change made to the deck. From new cuts or cards to even things like the specific version and language of cards--It's all documented here. From that point on I started leaning heavily more and more into the extra turn theme. Problem with Kaho is that she didn't gel very well with that theme and I needed something to help each extra turn go from just an Explore to something a little more worthwhile. Enter Arcanis the Omnipotent. He was stupid, mana expensive, out of meta, and definitely different from what I was used to. He ended up being exactly what this deck needed to catapult it from piddling kitchen-table nonsense to genuine tournament threat. Winning became a constant rather than the outlier.

With the closure of the store that hosted all the tournaments, progress on the deck slowed for a while. With nowhere to play there's no need to improve--yet, improve it did. Eventually I was inspired to change the deck one final time, removing the clunky and overcosted extra turns in favor of a faster, more synergistic deck. I lowered the overall CMC, added more and more fast mana, and made sure that every card had a purpose to further the game plan, which began to revolve more and more around Arcanis. I even bought a real Timetwister like some sort of insane person.

I still consider the best revision of this deck to be ones that include Paradox Engine, but that card's time has come and gone. Despite this, this deck continues to improve with one or two cards here or there. I don't know if one could consider this competitive (Most cEDH purists wouldn't), but it's a strong deck regardless. Arcanis isn't meta, isn't good on his own, and isn't easy to cast, but isn't the spirit of commander to take something you care about and make it work?

This deck has been a passion project now over six years in the making and I'm astounded at how far it's come. Please take a look and enjoy what I am so far calling my magnum opus. Every change I've made since late 2015 is chronicled at the bottom of this description. The updates vary in quality, tone, and length, but they contain the sum of my thoughts about most if not all the cards in this deck. I'm very proud of this deck and I hope you can enjoy seeing how it works and my thoughts on it just as much as I do.

Here's a small peek into the inner workings of the deck.

Combos

As stated earlier, the main goal of the deck is to go infinite in one of the following ways:

  • Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter . Both powerful cards on their own in the deck, but when combined it's a devastating game-winning combo. Provided you have some way of generating at least two in artifact mana, you can infinitely untap your board, leading to things like infinite draw, or infinite mana. Add Stroke of Genius to deck target player, then use Timetwister or Time Spiral and shuffle it back into your deck and do it again.

  • Paradigm Shift + Thassa's Oracle . Provided your graveyard is small enough, or you have the ability to shuffle it, this is an instant-win two card combo. With Arcanis onboard, you have a guaranteed 5 devotion. With how much the deck shuffles its grave or is able to draw through the rest of the library, I have no doubts that this will win more often than not when you resolve it.

  • Arcanis the Omnipotent + Mind Over Matter . This got added back in when Paradox Engine was banned. It's a simple enough combo to pull off, provided you're able to keep Arcanis alive for one full turn rotation and pay the hefty twelve mana required to get both pieces out. Tap Arcanis to draw three cards, discard a card to Mind Over Matter and target Arcanis to untap him. Rinse and repeat until your deck is in your hand. Then cast Thassa's Oracle and win, or revel in the fact that you drew your deck all by yourself and then die. This is definitely a tertiary wincon and I recommend trying the others first.

Notable Interactions and Gameplay

  • Pemmin's Aura with Arcanis. It's not a combo per se, but it's so incredibly strong that you're bound to win in a turn or two.

  • Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Aphetto Alchemist or Thousand-Year Elixir with Arcanis. Like the above, they're all another way to get extra draws off of Arcanis. It's especially useful at the end of turns or when you're in a pinch and just need those extra three cards.

  • Jeweled Lotus allows turn one or two Arcanis to be more of a reality than it ever was in the past. Lotus allows you to sidestep half of Arcanis' restrictive cost and get him on the table before anyone will have relevant answers, letting you net early game value and gain an early lead.

  • Counterspells in this deck are solely here to protect Arcanis, or prevent imminent game loss. A lot of counters in this deck are overly specific, such as cards like Mental Misstep or Spell Snare, specifically to keep them on the cheap end and make sure they can take care of relevant threats to your game plan. Misstep hits Swords to Plowshares, Snare hits Assassin's Trophy, so on and so forth. The deck plays defensively first, so keep that in mind should you try and pilot it.

And there you have it, a little glimpse into the deck. If you're interested in my thought processes and rationale into my card choices, check out the long timeline of cuts and decisions that influenced how the deck became what it is today. If you have any questions about card choices, notable exclusions, or have a neat idea you think would really make this deck work better, please leave a comment. I monitor this page frequently despite the updates being far and few between and I'm always happy to discuss things about my pet project.

Thank you so much for reading!

Deck Changes

Reflections and Changes

Y'know, it's interesting looking back on how far this deck has come. It's still strange to me that there was a time when winning was the exception, rather than the rule. I've also found that generally I enjoy playing it more, though not for the obvious reasons (winning more and whatnot). Generally I used to get super anxious and worried about playing Arcanis; as if losing would be the worst possible thing that could happen. I can't imagine getting that stressed out over the game anymore, though I wonder if that's because I don't really do tournaments anymore--I have my own little playgroup and usually just play with them (especially mid-COVID). Plus, I've also accepted that no deck is 100% perfect and that losses do happen. It took a bit of being humbled a few times and remembering what it was like losing every time to get used to that idea, as somewhat conceited as it makes me sound. Just the other day, my friend's budget Gaddock Teeg deck managed to stax-out Arcanis and I lost a very close game. But, it was one of my most fun and memorable games in recent memory.

I am curious how Arcanis would hold up at a tournament these days, with how much the format has changed in even just the last two years, but I don't know if that's a curiosity I'll be exploring any time soon. I did discover a new LGS about 15 minutes from my new apartment that hosts a Commander league which may be fun, but they have some bullshit points system that detracts points for things like going infinite. As a former TO, I loathe points systems like that (and not just because Arcanis goes infinite). They tend to stifle creativity and end up creating a more unfun deckbuilding experience, which is my favorite part. Saying I'm essentially not allowed to do certain things when, in my opinion, the spirit of Commander is freedom to do whatever you want just seems completely counterintuitive. It also opens up discussion about what people consider "infinite" (infinitely repeatable but optional like Arcanis the Omnipotent + Mind Over Matter versus infinite and not-optional like Animate Dead + Worldgorger Dragon ). All that said, I may still try it... after all, Paradigm Shift + Thassa's Oracle isn't infinite.

Anyway! On to the deck changes...

Out:

The more free counters get printed and placed into this deck, the less relevant Baral becomes. In my testing, he exists solely as a body due to his digging power not really being enough to be relevant and his cost reduction not really helping me all that much on non-High Tide turns. I'm also generally only casting counterspells defensively to protect Arcanis these days, which means that Baral's second ability is usually only relevant once or twice a game.

In:

I generally ignored Strixhaven, because I'm someone who isn't really a fan of Harry Potter. You can say it's completely original, Wizards, but we all know you're just doing what you usually do--hopping on the bandwagon about three to five years too late. They did it with the Gatewatch and the Avengers, they did it with Strixhaven and Harry Potter, they're doing it with Kamigawa Neon Dynasty and Cyberpunk, and I guarantee in like three years we'll have some sort of Stranger Things knockoff set.

But, er, yeah. The card. I like tutors and I feel like the deck has been lacking them as of late. We'll see how this does.

That's all folks, see you next year (at this rate)!

Well This is Awkward

So as we all know, Jeweled Lotus came out to a resounding "kicking and screaming" from casual players and collective "neat" from competitive ones. As I always do when good cards come out, I sat down to work on this list (of course). As I was looking through the deck (which I admittedly don't play as much as I used to), I noticed a discrepancy between the digital list and the physical one. I cut Muddle the Mixture a good while ago, yet it remained on the list. "Great," I thought, "Easy enough to add Lotus." Then I realized that if Muddle is missing from the deck, that means that either I forgot to update the list for whatever I swapped Muddle for, or I've been down a card this whole time. With that, the great list sorting of 2020 began. Turns out, my Opt is gone. Also, I made some changes a bit ago that I forgot to document. So with that in mind, let's hop into the changes.

Out:

I'm fairly certain I cut this back when Spellseeker was spoiled, so it was a while ago. I guess I just never remembered to update the list.

I lost my Opt. I'm not exactly certain what happened to it, but when comparing the physical deck with the list, it was the one card I was missing that I know I didn't cut. It was a mediocre draw spell at best and while I feel it still has a place in the deck, I've been playing it for possibly over a year now without it and have not been any worse off. So I'll cut it for now and see if I feel like I need it down the road.

Uhm, just one. I'm not cutting all Islands. I haven't ascended that far yet.

In:

Grabs Dramatic Reversal. It can grab other things too, but especially Dramatic Reversal.

This one's a controversial card at the moment. By my assessment of the card, it's little more than a slightly better Dark Ritual for most mono-colored decks. Still the prospect of a turn 3 Arcanis is certainly enticing. The card definitely has a home in mono-colored decks, at the very least.

I didn't pay a whole lot of mind to Eldraine when it first came out, but the more cards I see from the set, the more I appreciate all the toys it gave us. This goes into just about every mono blue deck in existence and in most instances will enter untapped pretty frequently. I felt just cutting an Island would be best and so far that's been fairly accurate. It's been in the deck for a few months, I just forgot to update the list to add it.

Other Considerations:

This card is better Smothering Tithe with Flash. It wants to be in every oppressive blue deck ever and in a pod of four players will always net you stupid value. But at the same time, this deck tends to play very defensively and doesn't interact with the rest of the table unless they interact with it. It's the same reason I cut Back to Basics, it just makes the deck more of a target and doesn't do a whole lot to further the game plan. We'll see whether this makes it in or not. My gut tells me not yet, but who knows? Maybe I'll end up making this a more interactive version of itself one day.

That's all for this time folks. Here's hoping 2021 brings us more toys to play with and less bullshit marketing-driven decisions from Wizards.

UPDATE JULY 2021: YOU ALL LAUGHED AT ME FOR NOT INCLUDING HULLBREACHER. NOW LOOK WHERE YOUR PRECIOUS HULLBREACHER IS NOW? Err, yeah they banned it. Safe to say it's not going into the deck any time soon.

Holy shit, the RC banned Flash

The absolute madmen, I didn't think they'd do it. Few new cards coming out with Ikoria, which means new fun things for Arcanis. Let's get right into it:

Out:

This feels real bad, I love this card. But with Paradox Engine banned, it's doing less and less for me. The most it's able to really net me is the ability to cheat out Isochron Scepter, and even then it doesn't work all the time.

Yeah, this one should've been cut when PEngine got banned, I just wasn't paying enough attention back then.

In:

CONSUME FREE COUNTER

I love the Kite. He's a good boy. Also running Lightning Greaves feels too bad for me, especially since it locks me out of Mind Over Matter. That's like a tertiary wincon, so it's not that big a deal but it still bugs me.

That's it for now. I'd expect more updates from me sooner than later, stimulus check be lookin' fine doh.

Also, remember what I said last time about being cooped up for 6 months in the house? NOW YOU KNOW. Have a happy quarantine all! Just remember: You're living through world history!

-sigh-

Wizards Won't Stop Printing Busted Shit

Yet again, another set and another card that has the potential to warp the format. Absolutely no doubt in my mind that Oracle is going to make Flash/Hulk decks already more powerful than they are. Will the RC respond with a Flash ban? Probably not. Hey, at least Arcanis gets a new toy. I'm still salty about Paradox being gone, but this makes it sting less.

Oh yeah, and I quit my job at the game store. I ended up tearing all the ligaments in my right leg and it left me pretty much house-bound for six months. Not exactly something that's conducive to running a store. So I've got a new job now and I'm well on the road to recovery. Still can't run, but could I before?

Out

I still think Annul is a fine and dandy card for fucking up someone's day, but the fact that every other deck isn't playing Paradox Engine anymore makes it significantly worse. Not to mention, the more I play this deck the more I realize it desperately wants to play more defensive counters--namely in protecting Arcanis. Annul is definitely more of an offensive counter. So, I cut it.

It was either Compass or Prismatic Lens, but in the end Compass lost due to entering tapped. Arcane Signet is pretty much a direct upgrade to this, so it wasn't a very hard choice.

This was a difficult decision to make, as B2B screws over so many people in a single pod. But, I desperately needed the slot and B2B doesn't do a whole lot to further my own gameplan or protect Arcanis. It significantly hinders the board most of the time, but it does paint a large target on my head. If I could run it again, I would. But for now, it's coming out.

I still like this counterspell. I'm at a difficult part with this deck where every cut is a hard choice. Very little are there instances where I'm like "Oh yeah, direct upgrade." That said, Force of Negation exists now. That card will be much better at protecting Arcanis than Remand, which is why Remand is going away.

In:

This card is pretty much a strict upgrade to Laboratory Maniac. And even when I can't win with it, it's pretty good at digging especially if I have Arcanis.

Combine this card with the aforementioned Oracle and you win, if your graveyard is the right size or you can draw the right amount. With this deck? You'll be fine.

This card should be in every commander deck. Untapped color source for two mana is outrageous. Now if only it came in foil...

This is a whacko card and I still can't believe it actually made it to print. Protect Arcanis for FREE not on my turn? Well hot dog. This deck gets better with every free counter.

That's it for changes this time around. See y'all when Wizards prints more busted shit in Ikoria.

Rest in peace, Paradox Engine

Still can't believe they banned it. In my opinion I believe the rules committee is off their rockers, but I guess the format is still better without Wizards fucking it up like they have every other format so far this year.

But, that means changes have to be made. As much as I don't want to, I have to make sure my deck is legal.

Out:

Goodbye, old friend.

In:

-sigh-

New Store, New Style

Updating this a good bit, blowing the dust and the cobwebs off.

So, for the time being I'm managing Magic for a new LGS! Super interesting, and apparently some of the regulars are even checking out this deck. Hey fellas, thanks for looking around.

... and no, I try not to play this on the clock. That would be rude.

As for these changes, they were decided mostly by changes in my new meta, my own observations, or discussions with a certain Archwizard. I've also decided to, once again, merge the online list with the physical. Making changes is significantly harder when you have to sift through the deck as you have no real point of reference.

I won't list how the physical list differs from the list on here in this section, so I'll just state which changes I've made to the physical list and be done with it.

Out:

"Wha!? How do you cut Lab Man? Do you even win anymore?" - You

Don't worry, I've added more win conditions to compensate. Lab Man is an adorable card with a fantastic win con. The issue is, he's essentially banned at my store. I could go on and on about my disdain for house-ruling certain cards out of the local meta but I'm not going to waste my time on that. Besides being essentially banned, he is also a very very dead draw if I'm not ready to go off just yet. Too dead, in fact. My goal here is to try and get more gas in the deck so it can work slightly better when independent of Arcanis. Lab Man is a super feels-bad card to draw when you're out of gas, and that's why he's being cut.

"Okay, he's lost his mind."

Well yeah, but that isn't why I cut MoM. With the cutting of Lab Man, MoM was an obvious cut. It's a very powerful engine, but the main thing I've noticed is that a lot of the time I will have to spend an entire turn casting either it or Arcanis, and like I mentioned about Lab Man before, it's awful to draw when you're not ready. It being one of the most cost-intensive cards in the deck also helps with that.

Eugh, I hate cutting rocks. This was a difficult one, but you know I had to do it to 'em. Everflowing is a very mediocre rock. Plain and simple, really.

This one kinda hurt, I hate to cut a counterspell (and a hard counter at that) but it was for the greater good. Arcane D gives my opponents resources, drawing them two cards. If it were just strictly better Dream Fracture for two, then sure I'd do it. But if the cost is drawing my opponent two cards, then that cost is too damn high. Man, just in time for the new foil printing too. Damn.

In:

Does this make sense at all? No? Okay, well, think about this. Paradox Engine. Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal. Mill my opponents, don't even need Arcanis. But there are other benefits to running it, such as recurring cards such as Timetwister and the following card.

Yes, I've spoken about the card before and my disdain for it. I decided it was time to reevaluate it after swapping over to a much better source of infinite mana generation. One of my new win conditions is to generate infinite mana and continually cast Stroke using things like Timetwister and Codex Shredder to get it back in my hand. Overall it takes longer to accomplish than Lab Man but seems to be more cost effective and efficient.

Speaking of reevaluating cards I dismissed, I realized I haven't given this bad boy a chance since Temporal Arcanis. It removes the biggest downside to Arcanis, and allows an extra activation to boot. This should significantly speed up Arcanis turns and even give the potential to win a turn earlier, but it will paint a rather large target on my head. Let's see how it does.

That's about it for now. Oh, and in case anyone wonders, I've decided to do away with the video updates. I'll leave the previous one up but it takes way more effort than I'm able to put in these days.

Until next time!

I'm Not Dead, It Just Seems That Way

I'm alive! I swear! I've just been in... let's say a Magic hibernation. Due to increased work hours, and lack of places to play Magic has kinda taken a back seat for a while. I'm also a bit overwhelmed by the amount of decks I have and the work most of them need (I have about 23 decks total! Most of them are unfinished or very casual, I don't even feel comfortable posting most of them here!).

I'm going to try to stay up-to-date, though Arcanis hasn't changed much as he's been sitting in his deckbox for a while. I feel so bad about that, though. I'm going to be trying to get back into the game once again, since I've gotten a new job and a few less hours!

I'm going to try to stay active in terms of Youtube as well, though the effort of editing little gags and just interesting visual information into even three or four minute videos is great, almost too great for the little I get out of it. I'll try and finish the current projects I've had sitting on my Video HDD for a while, and then contemplate where I'd like to go. I'm going to start branching out into other formats so I can be a little more well-rounded (as well as actually play the damn game as most of the people at the next closest store are heathens who only like standard).

Sorry about the radio silence folks! I'll try to keep on top of things!

Here Comes the Money

...in a manner of speaking. I'm diverging the paper list and the tappedout list to be a little different from one another. The TO list will be what I'm striving for the deck to be, and what it will eventually turn into. It's all a matter of time. Why wait until I have the cards to share what I've got in my head? That said, I will keep all versions accurate to ones that I have, so pricing-wise it'll be the same. Never use that to judge a deck, though!

Video coming shortly, just awaiting equipment to arrive, and I'll get right on it. In the meantime, here's what's changing. Edit: Er, well, it's been four months and the video still isn't done. Sorry! I'll get it soon, I swear.

Going in:

Coming Out:

Sideboarded because memes:

And that's that! I think the deck is almost as competitive that Arcanis can get, bar none. New video later this week, I promise!

Video Updates

Yes, as the title may imply, I'm now doing video updates for each of my decklists as they come out. This was actually a hefty one, but I'll say why in the video, getcha to watch it and all that ;)

I cut the following:

I added:

Addendum (4/8/17) - Cut Scroll Rack for a Timetwister Proxy. It's a minor enough change that I don't feel justified making a video, but I pulled the trigger on a proxy Timetwister. It's not real, but I wanted something I could actually run in the deck that wasn't a little slip of paper. I'm going to buy a real one before the year is out. Don't sue me.

If you wanna know why I added/removed these cards, go ahead and check out the video update if you've got some time to listen to my ramblings right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOmoUopDAqE

A New Year, A New Arcanis

Well, my best bud user:Human_Wizard has been home for the new year, and he's been really gearing his Azami list (Arcanis' sister deck) towards competitive. He cut the Temporal theme and went completely insane, buying into control with things like Candelabra of Tawnos and soon Timetwister. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little jealous, but isn't jealousy what's driven this deck, really? I mean, maybe not 'jealousy' per se, but more the ambition to beat user:Human_Wizard at his own game, destroying every other opponent in the process.

So, I've reworked Arcanis. Before you freak out: No, I've not removed the Temporal theme. I still believe that is one of the strongest things this deck can do, as each time you untap you only become more deadly. That being said, with the collapse of my old store (RIP Ice Imports East Windsor), I've had no meta to push me. As mentioned earlier, my buddy is home from college, and has changed his deck yet again, so I'm calling his bluff and reworking the deck. His deck is very fast, and control-y, which is something Arcanis isn't really used to. My old store was very aggro based, so I believe gearing the deck to be more 'any-meta' friendly is a good idea (Maybe friendly isn't the best word).

I'm adding a lot more countermagic and removing a lot of the useless bits from the deck. A lot of the cards that either do nothing at a certain point in the game or are just 'win more' cards.

Here's what's changing:

Removing Willbender, Maze of Ith, Trickbind, Riptide Laboratory, Gilded Lotus, Foil (this one was especially hard--who cuts foil Foil!?), Archaeomancer, Cryptic Command, Thran Dynamo, Jace, the Mind Sculptor (again, another difficult one to cut), Blue Sun's Zenith, Personal Tutor, and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir.

In their places: Pact of Negation, Whir of Invention, Mental Misstep, Spell Pierce, Dispel, Paradox Engine, Chain of Vapor, Trophy Mage, Flusterstorm, Remand, Annul, Dig Through Time, Baral, Chief of Compliance and an Island.

When I inevitably get to writing my primer, I'll explain my rationale, but rest assure I've tested with all these changes, and it's been quite enlightening. As opposed to just ramping for the first four turns, I have both disruption and defense. It's quite a refreshing change to Arcanis that is, ultimately, more healthy for the deck.

RIP in pepperoni foil Foil, you will not be forgotten.

Merry Christmas! Scalding Tarn was finally added, completing the deck!

...but is it truly complete?

So, after a couple months of nothing, I've decided to update a little. I cut Staff of Domination, as it's essentially become a dead card without Metalworker. In its place is Artificer's Intuition. It lets me filter rocks/artifacts for fast mana, and can grab Sensei's Divining Top as well. It's tested well, so I think I'll keep it in here.

The rest of the changes are pimping, a couple foils (and a masterpiece Scroll Rack! Shiny, shiny).

Added Isochron Scepter, finally finishing off the Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter combo. In order to make this work, I removed another combo piece: Metalworker. As lovely as this card is, it's kinda stopped working and proved itself just a tad too slow for this deck. That being said, it'll find a lovely home in my Karn, Silver Golem deck.

Also, if it wasn't already apparent, I'm aiming to foil this deck out. And yes, I have in fact gone off the deep end. I've been adding pimpy versions of some of the cheaper cards, slowly working my way up to the more cost intensive stuff. All it takes is money... Also winning tournaments help. Went to the same store I won Glen Elendra Archmage and totally destroyed their tournament. Shout out to my girlfriend for paying my entry fee and playing along with me.

Rarely have I actually been hyped for a set as much as I am for Kaladesh. The cards (sans Inventions) may not be worth all that much, but it's an EDH player's dream.

Even rarer is a card I like for Arcanis. And at the mythic rarity of all that, is a card that's really really good in this deck: Dramatic Reversal.

In most cases, this is used as a better self-Turnabout, and can even be essentially Time Walk, as it untaps not only your mana rocks but Arcanis as well.

I've cut Glen Elendra Archmage for it. It was a very hard decision, but after some deliberation with a few friends of mine we came to the conclusion that Reversal fits much better in here. Glen Elendra never really... did anything, other than waste 4 mana. So, while it's bittersweet to cut a $20-30 card for a common from a brand new set, I'll say that the deck will be much better without it.

*Removed two Islands for Tolaria West and Misty Rainforest. Happy birthday to me! I'm using Tolaria West as Trinket Mage number 2. Keep in mind that it's the FTV printing, TappedOut just doesn't have it available as of my writing this.

*Removed an Island for Tolaria. It's an untapped blue source that may or may not ever come in handy.

*Removed Remand for Unsubstantiate. I'm amazed that Wizards actually gave us a decent blue card for once. Way to go, WoTC

*Removed Azami, Lady of Scrolls for Frantic Search. Azami was 5 mana draw one, whereas Frantic Search is free looting. This one wasn't too hard.

This is it. Finally, after all these years, I can say that I proudly own Mana Drain. It took time, and a whole lot of money, but I tracked down the card that's been on my #1 hit list for Arcanis for the longest time. I cut Stifle because it had what I will here on out call the "Clique problem." When I had it, I never needed it and it took a backseat to other more powerful spells. Mana Drain is arguably the best counterspell in the game, being strictly better than Counterspell itself. Well, with this card in, I'm going to call it quits on buying new things for Arcanis for a while. My budget is about to get stricter, and there aren't really any more cards I need for him (with the exception of Capture of Jingzhou). Sure, I'll most likely throw in the rest of the blue Fetches if/when I get my hands on them, but in terms of actual spells, I'm... done.

*I also removed Boseiju, Who Shelters All again for an Island. There are barely any counterspells in my meta anymore. It's all aggro.

This is it, people. It's been a hell of a ride.

*removed Vendilion Clique for Misdirection. Clique was always underperforming. I'd never want to cast it and always wanted to have something else in hand whenever I did have it. It became a "if-I-have-more-mana" type card, which is typically a sign that it's a good card to cut. While discussing which card to replace it with, Misdirection came up. As essentially another free defensive counterspell with the ability to steal other people's abilities, it was a shoe-in (Sorry, Stoic Rebuttal).

*Removed an Island for Ancient Tomb.

Well, I opened my box of Eternal Masters. I opened a lot of good stuff, but most of it was already in Arcanis. It DID let me, however, have my choice in artwork. So I may have both Force of Wills (excluding the promo), but the EMA one is much nicer. I said that for a lot of things, except for counterspell (I love the surprised Mercadian lady).

Other things I've added are Mana Crypt and Temporal Manipulation. The reprints of both of those, plus graduation money, let me finally bite the bullet and buy both. I removed Merchant Scroll and Windfall. They're both very situational sorceries, and more often than not I'd use Scroll to grab another tutor. Here's hoping it goes well without them.

I removed Mana Severance for Maze of Ith, mainly because of peer pressure. Also, Maze is incredible in my meta; uncounterable "fog" is super strong.

*Side note: There's an issue with TappedOut that makes the Serum Visions promo price set to the price of a normal foil Serum Visions. I've since set it to non-foil, but in the deck it is, in fact, foil (Ditto for Temporal Manipulation)

Geez, it's been a while since I updated. Anyhoo, let's start this off.

*Cut Reset for Teferi, Temporal Archmage. Hey, look at that! The OG commander of the deck is back in! Teferi is a powerhouse that essentially pays for himself. With the ability to open up mana AND also untap Arcanis, he can be a game-finisher. Reset usually untapped 3-4 lands max, and it was more of a dead draw than anything.

*Removed Spell Crumple + Hinder for Memory Lapse + Swan Song. Three mana counters can make or break a game. With only 1-2 mana counterspells in the entire deck, it opens up a lot more mana. Since I'm no longer running Tunnel Vision, the whole fateseal-to-the-bottom tactic is kinda passe.

*Cut Savor the Moment for Pemmin's Aura. I'll take a draw/evasion engine over Explore for 3 mana any day.

*Also got myself a new pimpy OG foil Arcanis!

Arcanis is certainly getting better. As he's been getting better, he's needed less and less changes. I can proudly say I'm nearly done.

In the meantime, Peregrine Drake was removed. I never was a fan of pure combo pieces, and the I never got the wombo-combo off (I'd usually hit Mind over Matter beforehand). I replaced it with one of the few things that can handle split second (Looking in your direction, Krosan Grip.

Willbender now has a happy home.

*Cut Pithing Needle for Mana Vault. Finally got my hands on one, and replacing the non-rock 1-mana artifact made sense. It's kinda situational.

*Cut Worn Powerstone for Reset. As nice as rocks are, (rock tribal for life) I really think Reset will have a nice home in the deck.

*Removed Reality Shift for Scroll Rack. Mom surprised me with this! I am super excited to have it, and now I've got all the reserved list cards I was worried about (Except the damned Grim Monolith). [UPDATE]: Scroll Rack isn't reserved.

*Removed Serum Visions for Star Compass. MORE ROCKS FOR THE ROCK GOD

*Removed an Island for Boseiju, Who Shelters All. Uncounterable things are great. Don't remember why I removed this.

The deck, err, did very poorly at the Invitational. Sadly, I went up against Yisan once and then two Animars. I dropped after losing all three rounds, and instead absolutely destroyed the regular tournament. Oh well.

I won a tournament at a different game store. Turns out their prize support is much more different than mine, and I got $20 in store credit. As my luck would have it, they happened to have a Glen Elendra Archmage, a card I've wanted for a while. I noticed while playing that I got flooded a good bit, so I cut one Island.

*Removed Future Sight and Cloud Key. What with my commander being a combo piece himself, I no longer need as many combos as I had before. I also added in two more islands, due to necessity. I may be running Mana Severance, but early game mana-screw can't really be saved by rocks.

*Also removed Wayfarer's Bauble due to underperformance.

*Removed Tunnel Vision for Delay.

I went to my LGS for a tournament, and the TO informally requested I don't run Arcanis. I suppose that's a testament to his power.

My girlfriend surprised me with a Metalworker! I'm super happy, as he's about to triple in price (Thanks Eternal Masters). She's incredible~

Still need a 'rack before that doubles, but I digress.

I removed Fact or Fiction for it.

*Made another trip to my LGS, and damn did Arcanis take off. I tied for second place overall, swept three games, but two of them were before turn 6, so I only got half-points. Before the tournament, I cut Rewind, Snap, and two Islands. In their place, I put in Trinket Mage, Prismatic Lens and put Stifle back in.

*I swapped Stroke of Genius for Blue Sun's Zenith, just because of the shuffle. I usually have no trouble achieving the triple blue cost, either.

*Sad Robot was just a tad overcosted, and I managed to get an even better Artifact. I acquired a Staff of Domination in a trade with a friend, and it means I have a new wincon with Rings/Monolith combo.

*Removed Vedalken AEthermage for Trickbind.

A friend of mine who also plays mono blue (We build our decks to race one another) showed me a very unassuming little guy who is actually a whole lot bigger than he seems.

*Archaeomancer is now in the deck. I cut Rhystic Study, mainly because people play around it, and it's rather slow. But I'm keeping it in the 'sideboard' I have for Duel Commander. The deck converts very simply and easily to 1v1, I must say. Anyways, my buddy showed me a neat little combo. Ever since I started taking the "extra turn tribal" route, I've wanted an infinite turn combo. Well, this is it. Archaeomancer + Riptide Laboratory + Time Warp. Absolutely disgusting. He works even better with Deadeye Navigator, too. The combo is relatively difficult to pull off, but then again, so is Future Sight + Sensei's Divining Top + Cloud Key.

*Removed Familiar's Ruse for Pithing Needle. I realized that since Kaho is gone, it'll be incredibly detrimental to me because of the amount of creatures I actually run. Pithing Needle is there mainly to deal with problem commanders like Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard or Azami, Lady of Scrolls.

Well, I've had so much mana that I've replaced Sea Gate Wreckage with Mana Severance. Lands become more of a liability later into the game once your deck gets going.

Another thing, Expedition Map was way too slow compared to Wayfarer's Bauble I've replaced it with Solemn Simulacrum. Sad robot is an EDH staple, and it's easy to see why. He's a blocker, ramp AND card draw. He has a nice home in the deck.

Considering Pithing Needle.

This one's a big one. Say goodbye to Kaho, Minamo Historian, and hello to Arcanis the Omnipotent. Kaho will be missed, and I loved the reaction whenever someone saw her on the table, but Arcanis allows for so much more card draw, along with being a combo piece. Thanks for the fun, Kaho. Maybe I'll put you back in sometime, but for now, the deck needs to get faster. Arcanis is the way to do this.

*Removed a bunch of expensive counterspells and Kaho pieces for Silver Myr, Sky Diamond, Fractured Powerstone, Worn Powerstone, Coldsteel Heart and Fellwar Stone. Finally got around to my LGS to buy more pieces and play, and the majority of the time I won around turn 5. (Except for that one game where I had to keep a no-land hand...)

*I continue to update the deck because of the new Mulligan. I have piles of unsorted cards still left over from the deck, and it makes me sick to see them. So many good cards rendered practically unplayable because the EDH committee is a bunch of monkeys.

*Removed Strionic Resonator for Wayfarer's Bauble. Getting a basic on the field a turn early is always good when ramp is required, even if it's tapped.

*Side Note: I'm surprised how well Tezzeret the Seeker is working. I've won using his -5 multiple times when playtesting alone or with my girlfriend. His +1 is a huge boon as well, and the -X is usually a -0 or a -1, letting me grab fast mana and use it too. Now that I've got a bunch of rocks, I'm glad to have him back in the deck.

*The new mulligan is killing me. As much as I told myself that I could survive without major changes, I think I need to modify significantly. This started with the adding of more rocks.

Removed Stifle, Trickbind and Interdict for Expedition Map, Mind Stone, Everflowing Chalice and Thought Vessel.

*Replaced Leyline of Anticipation with Tezzeret the Seeker. One thing I noticed when playing is that Leyline almost never gets cast. It's nice when it's in my opening hand, but other than that it's a wasted slot. Tezzeret can at least grab moxen and untap my rocks.

*My girlfriend continues to buy me cards. She's seriously the best thing that's happened to me in a while.

Oh, and I added the Walk the Aeons she gave me. Replaced Gitaxian Probe.

*After adding the cards my girlfriend gave me, I made a few cuts. Tamiyo, the Moon Sage did nothing but die, or draw me one to two cards. I'm considering adding Tezzeret the Seeker back in, as he's able to help me ramp real well with all the artifact mana I use.

*Thousand-Year Elixir untapped Kaho and Arcanis the Omnipotent, but really did nothing else. I cut it reluctantly to add in faster cards that have more of an immediate effect.

*I added a rather risky card, that I'm still playtesting with. Sea Gate Wreckage is hopefully going to do work. I typically have one to two colorless mana sources available, and having an anti-Library of Alexandria would be a great effect when I need it.

*I used to run Last Word, but found the mana cost oppressive. Luckily, Wizards realized this and gave us Overwhelming Denial. With this deck, it will almost always be two mana, which I absolutely love.

*My girlfriend also gave me a Personal Tutor!

*My girlfriend gave me a Time Spiral!

*Added Strionic Resonator to abuse Kaho's ETB effect. Grabs 6 instants as opposed to 3.

*Snap is top-quality Blue removal. Free bounce? Yes, please.

*Familiar's Ruse is now an auto-grab with Kaho. When her instants are all used up, bounce her and counter a spell while you're at it.

*Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is a game winner. Suddenly you can flash in your commander or Arcanis + Azami and nobody can counter (though the latter part is more important.)

*Part the Waterveil. I DEMAND MORE TURNS.

*Windfall because I more often than not power out my hand in 2-3 turns. Still need a Time Spiral.

*Removed Squelch, Truth or Tale, Spellskite, Telling Time and a couple others that I can't quite remember.

*After talking with a friend of mine over at my LGS, I added Rapid Hybridization so I can have more Reality Shift-type effects. Makes Kaho a little more Toolbox-y.

*Removed Tezzeret the Seeker for Fabricate. I typically paid 5 to just grab a Mox and then have him die. I'd rather just pay 3 and have the ability to do something else.

*I added a ton more cantrips since last time, and the deck is running a lot smoother. I've been placing higher and higher at my LGS, even though I run what is considered there to be a janky commander. I'm happy to be putting the naysayers in their place.

*I've added more Stifle-like effects. I feel like the added "Can't activate it again" upside that Trickbind and Interdict have are worth the extra mana, and Squelch's cantrip is great.

*Mindbreak Trap would more often than not cost 4 and not 0 like I hoped it would. Not that many storm decks at my LGS, so I cut it.

*Jace, Vryn's Prodigy   is pretty bad at doing things in this deck. He's okay once he flips, but the majority of the time, he just kinda sits there plus-ing until I can flash back a draw spell and still pay for it. Sure, I can overload a Cyclonic Rift in there, but the work to get to that point is just too much. Looting is almost useless because I'm always losing value and never getting card advantage. Arcanis the Omnipotent draws 3 and is a combo piece.

*But Arcanis the Omnipotent has a pretty high CMC. What to do about that? Well, I cut a card I've always loved, but was never able to really play. Omniscience is amazing. Always will be. It's a silly but powerful blue enchantment, and I was sad to cut it. The issue is, I'm spending the majority of my mana to cast an opponent's counterspell from their hand. That's usually what happens. And when it does hit, the deck can't draw nearly fast enough to make it relevant. I'll miss it, but all-in-all, a decent cut.

*I really love my full art lands, but I'm considering running Snow-Covered Islands and Extraplanar Lens. It doubles my mana, but nobody else's (if they're not running them too, that is). If only Wizards would print full-art snow lands. Then I wouldn't be in this predicament.

And that's a wrap, folks! Thanks again for reading, and as always, suggestions are appreciated! Don't forget to give a cheeky 'lil upvote, and maybe let me know what you think.

Have a good one!

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Revision 42 See all

(2 years ago)

-1 Baral, Chief of Compliance main
+1 Solve the Equation main
Top Ranked
Date added 8 years
Last updated 1 year
Key combos
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

8 - 0 Mythic Rares

31 - 0 Rares

23 - 0 Uncommons

14 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 1.94
Tokens Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Morph 2/2 C
Folders idea decks, EDH, Commander, things i found, Cool stuff, Commander Deck, edh, edh, control, commander decks
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