Wandering Archaic

Creature — Avatar

Whenever an opponent casts an instant or sorcery spell, they may pay {2}. If they don't, you may copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

Azoth2099 on colorless commander

3 months ago

Here's some spice!

So, as with any other commander, if you want it to be efficient you're gonna need 4 things: Synergistic win conditions, card draw, mana ramp & tutors.

Unfortunately achieving any of these 4 things is going to be exceptionally difficult with no colors lol.

I would recommend changing the commander to Karn, Legacy Reforged, as well as adding a good amount of mana rocks like Mind Stone, Thought Vessel, & Thran Dynamo to help get you where you're going. Cards like Horizon Stone, Sword of the Animist & Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus could also be helpful. Cost reducers like Foundry Inspector, Mycosynth Golem & Cloud Key could be lumped in here as well.

Card draw however is going to be a total pain unless you have a ton of mana, which is why I put ramp first. Cards like The Immortal Sun, Chimil, the Inner Sun & Mind's Eye can provide a lot of value, but if you don't have the mana to power them out it's no bueno. There are cheaper options that will be easier to get out earlier in the game like The One Ring, Scroll Rack & Sensei's Divining Top to consider too.

Tutors and wincons...I am at a loss for. Outside of running some really brutal stax like God-Pharaoh's Statue, Trinisphere, Thorn of Amethyst & Karn, the Great Creator alongside a good ole beatdown strategy, I don't really see how colorless decks can win lol. Luckily there are lots of colorless stax and beaters for you to choose from.

Some additional value pieces to consider before I get out of here: Wandering Archaic  ^Flip, Forsaken Monument, Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Feast and Famine, Krark-Clan Ironworks & maybe even Blightsteel Colossus. Peace!

Azoth2099 on Bwatsizzle Maelstrom

3 months ago

Kalamax! Tight. Here's some recs:

Wandering Archaic  ^Flip, Flusterstorm, Flux Channeler, Twincast, Fork, Reverberate, Reiterate, Radstorm & Spellbinder.

I'd also recommend running some synergistic combos like Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal & Dualcaster Mage + Ghostly Flicker.

Good luck refining your list! Great commander choice.

NV_1980 on The Braided Siren's Song (Show n' Tell Theft)

4 months ago

Great Braids deck; +1! Mine is more Braids-centered than this one, but like you I have a soft-spot for theft-strategies so I applaud the combination and completely get it.

I've found Sakashima of a Thousand Faces to be of excellent value in my own Braids deck. Not just as a copy of Braids, but of my more powerful legendaries as well. For theft I've been using Sphinx Ambassador in my own deck to great effect. Also, Wandering Archaic  ^Flip has been very effective as it allows me to make use of opponents' spells without ever having to pay for it; I consider it theft in a way as well.

Anyways, keep it up with this great build! If you would like to check my deck, you can find it here.

trey12321 on Lathliss, the Hungry Queen

5 months ago

Azoth2099 thanks for the suggestions!

I think I'm more inclined to include rocks than rituals, I am a green player at heart and always prefer continual rather than burst ramp! Thran Dynamo is definitely one I'll be looking at, but I've also considered Heraldic Banner and Throne of Eldraine as solid options. The biggest issue I'm having is generally what to cut for them, the same issue I have for most of these options. Any suggestions there?

Treasonous Ogre isn't one I'd seen before, I'm definitely interested in that. Birgi, God of Storytelling  ^Flip seems more relevant if I'm trying to cast more than 2 spells in a turn, which in most cases I'm not and even then, the payoff seems too small for what the deck does generally speaking, I.E. ramp into Lathliss, then overwhelm the field with every dragon dropped after. Even most of the artifacts and enchantments currently tend to have pretty immediate effect.

I do tend to prefer to have my lands hit the field, though, so Tectonic Reformation seems mostly situationally useful. I tend to need more land draws than action draws with my current high curve, as I'm usually only doing 1 or 2 spells a turn and they're 5-8 CMC. Gamble for sure I'll be looking into, but to be honest I don't regularly find myself looking for any specific cards in the deck, my Sarkhan's Triumph is usually just finding my Utvara Hellkite, so a "win-more" situation generally, but I could see using it particularly for something like Sol Ring early to ramp more consistently. For those same reasons I couldn't really see justifying Fervent Mastery or Reckless Handling. I like being able to plan, and the random discard would be bad enough with Gamble. And yeah, Imperial Recruiter is fantastic but not so much here.

Molten Echoes 100%, I totally spaced that one. Sneak Attack seems good as well but I'd been running in mostly casual circles so I hadn't seriously considered including it before. Mana Echoes=better Birgi? Absolutely interested in this one now, I'd forgotten it existed as well! I'll be honest though, the Underworld Breach+draw spells/wheels is definitely outside of my desired playstyle with the deck, I don't tend to need anything differently than what I have in hand other than making sure I have a good mix of mana/spells in practice. I am running the Blood Moon, mostly because I happened to open the fancy foil one! My playgroups don't tend to justify a Price of Glory and all of my cards tend to be about equal in value, so I don't mind a few getting countered here and there. It tends to be board wipes that are the most impactful to me, or repeated removal of Lathliss, Dragon Queen. Stranglehold does seem good though, I may pick one up.

As far as Universal Automaton, I avoid changelings where possible mostly due to personal preference. I play a lot of tribal decks and it always feels a bit like cheating haha. I use it in decks that want multiple tribes though, like Rin and Seri, Inseparable. I assume you suggest Wandering Archaic  ^Flip in monocolored to specifically cover what the chosen color can't do? I.E. a red deck and Naturalize? I could see it being good, but also giving my opponents the ability to choose doesn't tend to work out too well for me, they tend to focus fire me no matter the game because I play politics whether I'm ahead or behind.

Thanks again for the suggestions, and if you have ideas for what to take out please let me know!

Azoth2099 on Lathliss, the Hungry Queen

5 months ago

trey12321

You need way more ramp in this list if you want it to be consistent with it's curve. Pyretic Ritual, Desperate Ritual, Seething Song & Battle Hymn are all great here. A few more rocks would do you some good as well, like Thran Dynamo & Basalt Monolith. The ones that you usually see in multicolor decks like Arcane Signet & Fellwar Stone are still pretty solid in monocolor builds that aren't {G}.

Treasonous Ogre & Birgi, God of Storytelling  ^Flip are classic {R} bangers that can help ramp you out, with the added benefit of pseudo card-draw on Birgi's flip side.

More card draw and tutors never hurts, either. Tectonic Reformation is pretty nice here since you're running so many lands, & Gamble is one of the best tutors in the game. Fervent Mastery is worth considering, but can obviously be especially punishing for non-graveyard decks. Reckless Handling is pretty nice if you're running some dank artifacts, which you are! Imperial Recruiter is another {R} classic that I wouldn't necessarily recommend for this iteration of your list, but may come in handy later.

Other enchantments to consider here in my opinion are Molten Echoes, Sneak Attack & Mana Echoes as grease for your deck engine. Running Underworld Breach would allow you to more comfortably run {R} draw pieces like Faithless Looting, Thrill of Possibility, Cathartic Reunion, Tormenting Voice, Wheel of Fortune, Magus of the Wheel & Wheel of Misfortune. Also certain stax pieces like Blood Moon, Price of Glory & Stranglehold to help shut down whatever your opponents are trying to do.

Universal Automaton seems like great value here as well, but I could understand not including it. Wandering Archaic  ^Flip on the other hand I would 100% recommend for any & all monocolor decks.

Good luck refining your list!

Azoth2099 on Naban Wizard Tribal

7 months ago

{U} Wizards were my 1st Commander archetype! Here some recs to help you get to, execute & get more value out of your stated wincons a bit faster:

Creatures: Stonybrook Banneret, Snapcaster Mage, Sea Gate Stormcaller, Micromancer, Archmage of Echoes & Wandering Archaic  ^Flip

Artifacts: Jeweled Amulet, Springleaf Drum, Pyre of Heroes, Urza's Incubator, Sensei's Divining Top & Cryptic Gateway

Enchantments: Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Parallel Thoughts, Kindred Discovery & Virtue of Knowledge

Instants: Long-Term Plans & Intuition (just proxy it, who cares lol)

Sorceries: Personal Tutor, Solve the Equation, Step Through, Fabricate, Merchant Scroll

Lands: Cavern of Souls

Incorporating some of the Tutors and card draw & Ramp here will get you there imho. Let me know what you think!

Azoth2099 on ♫ ♪ Grey grey, my world is grey ♫ ♪

7 months ago

enrico81

Hey man! Is there a reason that you're not running Wandering Archaic  ^Flip?

Azoth2099 on Narset's Work Out Plan

9 months ago

Bkotz

This version of Narset looks so fun, man!

One thing that I feel is fundamental when remembering Narset, Enlightened Exile's function as a Commander is that her ability gives you Graveyard hate as well as pseudo card draw by giving you access to your opponent's Graveyards as well as your own, meaning that you will always have card advantage as long as you protect your Commander.

That being said, I would definitely find room for Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Mother of Runes, Giver of Runes, & an abundance of Counterspells. Personally, I don't like spending more than 1 Mana for a Counterspell these days. Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, Dispel, Swan Song & An Offer You Can't Refuse provide a crazy ceiling of value for a single Mana. If you wanted to roll with 2-drops for budget reasons, though, Delay, Arcane Denial, Dovin's Veto & Negate are all easy to cast, & throw a wide net. Misdirection & Bolt Bend are also options here.

Secondly, Narset, Enlightened Exile can only trigger on your own turn, & you need to ensure that everything is going to go as planned. Grand Abolisher & Conqueror's Flail will lock your opponents out of your turn without giving your opponents the same utility like cards like Teferi, Time Raveler & Defense Grid notoriously do. Silence, Revel in Silence  ^Flip, Abeyance & Orim's Chant can do something similar for 1-2 Mana.

Speaking of Stax, there are a few concise, utilitarian pieces that you may want to consider. Drannith Magistrate, Sanctum Prelate, Archon of Emeria, Lavinia, Azorious Renegade, Boromir, Warden of the Tower, Aven Mindcensor & Containment Priest shut down a LOT of strategies. You'd be surprised how little most decks can do once you take away their ability to cheat stuff in, Tutor and/or cast things for free. Personally, every deck I have is heavily handicapped by all of those pieces. I wouldn't even be able to target them with removal if you played your cards right.

For noncreature Stax, you've got Chalice of the Void, Cursed Totem, Thorn of Amethyst, Deafening Silence, Grafdigger's Cage (which your Commander's ability gets around btw, very strong here), & Rule of Law as a few solid options.

You do need quite a bit more card draw, though. Scroll Rack & Sensei's Divining Top are obviously great, but the level of toolbox utility they actually give you in practice is even better than it seems! Archivist of Oghma, Faerie Mastermind & Ledger Shredder all give you card draw that scales with what your opponents are doing, which is fantastic. Other things like Deep Gnome Terramancer & Wandering Archaic  ^Flip do the same thing, though they technically aren't card draw. Hell, might as well throw Monologue Tax out there too since I'm talking about scaling.

There's also Careful Study, Frantic Search, Tolarian Winds, Faithless Looting, Cathartic Reunion, Burning Inquiry, Thrill of Possibility & Dragon's Rage Channeler, which are great synergy here!

Speaking of synergy, let's get into that! The foremost synergies for Narset, Enlightened Exile imho is Underworld Breach + Lion's Eye Diamond + Brain Freeze & Intuition, and much of the deck should be geared towards maximizing on that. They're all very easy to Tutor up via cards like Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Idyllic Tutor, Solve the Equation, Fabricate, Reshape, Transmute Artifact, Reckless Handling, Goblin Engineer & Gamble, in addition to being easy to recur via your Commander's ability. It's actually absurd, truly busted. I wouldn't recommend throwing Wheels like Wheel of Fortune or Windfall into the mix, though. They're very overrated, & you can just run Brain Freeze for the combo instead. No need to give all of your opponents a bunch of cards for free if you don't have to! Queen Kayla bin-Kroog is for sure worth consideration, though, if you choose to run Artifact Stax.

Maximizing on Underworld Breach, however, means running Storm. I'd recommend Birgi, God of Storytelling  ^Flip, Storm-Kiln Artist, Urabrask  ^Flip, Desperate Ritual, Pyretic Ritual & Seething Song to keep your Storm engine from shutting off. I personally don't condone Runaway Steam-Kin, as it's just too freaking slow & conditional compared to other options.

Additional Combat Phases would also be of great use here as opposed to trigger doublers like Strionic Resonator or something. Aggravated Assault, Waves of Aggression, World at War & Seize the Day are the only ones I'd consider running, though. You don't wanna load up on too many synergy effects when you can just Tutor for the best of them when the time's right, ya know?

Since you're running Dockside Extortionist, I'd also consider Cloudstone Curio. With one other Creature (like Spellseeker for example), you can produce infinite Treasures & ETBs with little effort, which is usually more than enough to get you to the finish line.

Your ramp package is looking solid enough, but I'd include 2 more Rocks as well as the rituals I named previously. Fellwar Stone is, functionally, a 5-color Rock for 2 Mana, which is absurd. I tend to not condone 3-drop rocks, with the exception of Chromatic Lantern, which was just reprinted recently and is currently super cheap.

Oh man, now that I think of it Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal gives your whole team infinite power and toughness via your Commander, as well as giving you infinite Mana if you have enough Rocks on the field. Maybe consider it lol.

Monastery Mentor seems to fit like glove here as well, offering some much needed redundancy and a surprising amount of board presence. It's kind of like Deep Gnome Terramancer or Wandering Archaic  ^Flip in the sense that it just provides waaaay more value while playtesting than you thought it was going to!

Also, consider giving yourself Hexproof with stuff like Witchbane Orb to protect your own Graveyard.

To summarize, I really think your best bet with this one is building a system that gets to either an Underworld Breach + Lion's Eye Diamond + Brain Freeze combo win or an Intuition win as quickly as possible, with other combos like Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter being strong potentialities on the way.

Cheers!