Abstruse Archaic

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vintage Legal

Abstruse Archaic

Creature — Avatar

Vigilance

, : Copy target activated or triggered ability you control from a colourless source. You may choose new targets for the copy. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.)

TheBestMagicCard on Emrakul, the Promised End

4 months ago

Even though this card seems like an auto-include in this kind of deck, especially because I want a way to duplicate Eldazi cast triggers specifically, I haven't included Echoes of Eternity yet because:

1) It doesn't actually do anything when it enters, that is, it has no immediate effect after paying six mana for it...

2) Although I understand that it's copy ability is strong, it can just get too confusing, like, you need a bunch of unique tokens that you either have to use those erasable cards for, or just figure it out, and I just don't like keeping track of that. Maybe it's not a good reason to exclude this card, but I do consider that kind of thing when building decks... I don't really like +1/+1 counter or token-creature decks for this same reason...

3) It also copies triggered abilities of Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, and The One Ring, which I really don't like...

Is Abstruse Archaic still the best option for copying these kinds of things? I still keep it out for now, because it still didn't seem good enough when I included it... Things can change though...

darkemoji on Titans, The Clean-Up Crew

8 months ago

Profet93

A) Just another mana rock with sub-utility, acting as an equipment mid-to-late game.

B) Considered in the original decklist, however I've been favoring non-basic lands that offer side tech for the deck.

C) Not sure about this one. Nonbo with Abstruse Archaic and our own commander Kozilek, the Great Distortion.

D, E, F, G) Appreciate the thorough evaluation here of Chimil, the Inner Sun. Will play around your other suggestions against counterspells/interaction with Defense Grid and/or Cavern of Souls. For sure, I would consider these cards over Conqueror's Flail.

H) Noted! Might switch The Immortal Sun for Blinkmoth Urn.

I) Metalworker Very good card that ramps hard and can combo off with certain pieces in play. Current decklist runs pretty well without it due to the amount of fast mana, mana rocks, and cost reducers that are already in the deck.

TheBestMagicCard on Emrakul, the Promised End

11 months ago

Hehe, I just took out Wanderer's Twig, and Traveler's Amulet, for a sec, I think to try and fit in both Abstruse Archaic and Lithoform Engine, since Roaming Throne doesn't work like I first thought it did, but I got excited to copy abilities...

I was also able to fit Wayfarer's Bauble back in, which I think is ultimately better then the Twig and Amulet, but still isn't really that great, but same arguments to include it as the Twig and Amulet...

Yeah, um Environmental Sciences is a p BAD card, and I would probably never play it any other deck... but it happens to be a colorless Sorcery, which is kind of rare, so it's actually a hard-to-get-discount on Emrakul's casting cost... and it's cheap, and it gets a land... It's not a good card, but in this deck it kinda does a lot... Sojourner's Companion is similar to Environmental Sciences, in that it cost 2 to get a land into hand, and is also a p BAD card... But it can count as two card types in the graveyard for Emrakrul, and even though I think it will be done sparingly in the future, there will be better artifact lands that have yet to be printed...

I'm really trying to milk Emrakul's cost reduction in this deck, because I'm trying to ramp it out as soon as possible... I've won on turn 3 several times by casting Emy, because I had the ramp AND card types in the grave, to totally control the game state, mess everyones else up, and then just smash face... Getting infinite mana helps too... But yeah, the sooner you have the option to casy Emy the better, so that's why I'm still running bad colorless instants and sorceries...

I guess until there are more better colorless instants, sorceries, and tutors, I think I'm still going to run these jank cards, because they're still as good as it gets for now... But it does work! I rip face with this deck at the mall...

But heard! Thanks for the consideration and input!

TheBestMagicCard on Emrakul, the Promised End

11 months ago

So, after all that conversation and consideration, I did end up putting Temple of the False God in a special land slot, which I think rebalanced the land base to like 38 technical lands, but 4 of them being "special" because they are conditional and/or don't always produce land.

Also, I ended up deciding to put The One Ring in, because it's busted, and the deck wanted more card-draw anyways.

Now, I had always wanted a way to recur Eldrazi triggered abilities, and had considered cards like Strionic Resonator, or Abstruse Archaic, but I never felt like they really quite cut it...

Another option would be to return Eldrazi to my hand and re-cast them with bounce effects, but in colorless that's a little bit limited. Erratic Portal has been in and out of this deck a lot through the years, sometimes I thought it was worth the condition and mana price, and sometimes I didn't... but it always kind of seemed like the best option even if not great... I had also always cosidered Umbilicus and Blood Clock, but never really thought they'd be good enough to include.

But once I decided to put The One Ring in, it made a little more sense to put Umbilicus and Blood Clock in, even though I think this is a little janky, the fact that it also synergizes with Eldrazi was a bonus... so then I decided to put the original Ulamog and Kozilek in too, which I had previously excluded, just because I thought the new ones were a little more versatile, and I thought that Annihilator is a cheap and OP mechanic... but now with 3 ways to bounce Eldrazi back to re-cast, as well as The One Ring synergy, it seemed like a more viable strat...

And then they printed Roaming Throne. I've included this in the decklist as an Eldrazi, even though it isn't actually Eldrazi, so doesn't get noticed by Eye of Ugin or Eldrazi Temple, but you choose Eldrazi type as it enters, so it is an Eldrazi on the battlefield, even thought there is currently nothing that really synergizes with Eldrazi creature type on the battlefield, except this card. This is the ideal copy-an-effect card for Eldrazi! All the titans have triggered abilities, and this just automatically copies them if you choose Eldrazi as it's type, for free, whenever an ability triggers! It's so good, and makes the other janky bounce cards even more worth including. Imagine Emrakul's cast trigger copied, or Annihilator triggers... It's so much better then Abstruse Archaic or Strionic Resonator ultimately, because it's free, and happens every time instead of having to tap for just one ability once...

So now, yeah, I'm bouncing Eldrazi to recast and get triggers, and copying those triggers, and I think it works... I like it!

Ultimately, I added Temple of the False God, The One Ring, Umbilicus, Bloodclock, Roaming Throne, and oh yeah, Collector's Vault, because it's card draw, and discard, and makes treasures... Still trying it out, but it seems p versitile...

TheBestMagicCard on Emrakul, the Promised End

1 year ago

Hey Profet93, thanks for the comment!

I do think Rings of Brighthearth is a great card, but I've excluded it mostly because, on it's own, it doesn't do anything...

Forsaken Monument, for example, = infinite mana with Basalt Monolith, but is also an incredible ramp card on it's own. This is basically the same reason that I've also excluded it from my Atraxa - Planeswalkers-Poison-Proliferate-Turns, even though it seems like an auto-include in that deck as well, in my opinion. I like Rings of Brighthearth a lot, but I really don't like looking at it on the battlefield without a combo piece, it's just a dead card then.

Aside from infinite mana, there are a bunch of other abilities that it could copy, like Planar Bridge, etc... However, the Rings only copies activated abilities, and I would sooner include cards like Lithoform Engine or Abstruse Archaic, as these cards also copy triggered abilities, like the cast triggers on Eldrazi, specifically Ulamog and Emrakrul, or Unwinding Clock's untap. Lithoform Engine and Abtruse Archaic both have somewhat more utility than the Rings, but as of yet, I still haven't squeezed them in either, again because I still feel like they just aren't good enough on their own without another combo piece.

Voltaic Construct fits into this "doesn't really do anything on it's own" category as well, and arguably is an even worse include than the Rings, Engine, or Archaic, but it's a lot easier to tutor up with cards like Eye of Ugin, Sanctum of Ugin, and especially Scrapyard Recombiner. Voltaic Construct + Metalworker and two artifacts in hand = infinite mana, which is pretty easy to assemble, and Metalworker is just a house on it's own. Voltaic Construct can also count for towards Emrakrul's casting cost in the graveyard...

Ultimately, I would like to include any of these copy-an-ability cards, if not all of them, but when I have, it just feels bad to have them sitting around doing nothing. Also, I kind of don't really need to copy abilities like that, as it turns out. I've found this deck to be pretty strong, and copying abilities often seems kind of win-more and win-less at the same time. Copying doesn't always make as big of an effect as it might seem... although copying a Planar Bridge ability could put two combo pieces in, the Bridge can also chain out anyways that with Clock of Omens, which is also a really powerful card, even though it also fits into the "doesn't really do anything on it's own" category, but I think is still better than any of the afore mentioned cards ...

I haven't included Voltaic Key either, for the same reasons basically, although I think this is really a card that should be in here. I guess I've also partly not included Rings of Brighthearth because I haven't included Voltaic Key either. I would put the Key in before the Rings, but I'm still not sure about the Rings. I think I decided to include Unwinding Clock instead of Voltaic Key, because, even though it's more expensive, it is really really REALLY powerful!!! With Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter and mana rocks, this mimics Prophet of Kruphix, which I think is rightfully banned becuase it's way too powerful for one card...

The Top trick with the Rings is cool, and more card draw is definitely welcome in this deck. This combo ultimately reads, ": Draw a card", but... I guess I've just come to the conclusion that there are already kind of a lot of "doesn't do anything on it's own" cards in here, so I've had to really pick the most powerful ones, and I guess I feel like the Rings just aren't powerful enough even when they do work, as they can only be activated once per ability. Clock of Omens, for example, can untap something a bunch of times, effectively "copying" abilities by just untapping something and activating it again. Also, Sensei's Divining Top + Jhoira's Familiar and Mystic Forge combo to draw the deck out for no mana once assembled, and these two cards are powerful on their own.

I like Wayfarer's Bauble a lot, and still want to include it. I think it is ultimately much better than Wanderer's Twig and Traveler's Amulet, which are both admittedly kind of bad cards.
The only reason I really include these at all is to get an artifact in the graveyard for Emrakrul's mana cost reduction, and to ensure land drops. Notably, multiple cards of one type still only count for , so often times it's redundant anyways. I think the reason I kept the Twig and Amulet in instead of Wayfarer's Bauble, is I kind of see the Bauble as a mana rock that adds but costs, which I do not think is acceptable. The only rock that cost and makes which is included is The Celestus because it also has card draw attached to it, and it can be tutored for with Moonsilver Key, for the card draw.

Even though the Twig and Bauble aren't technically ramp, they do help ensure a land drop every turn, which is think is important. There's already 36 lands in the deck, which is a lot for how many mana rocks are included, but I really want a land drop every turn if I can help it. I've tried to minimize high mana cost cards, even though there's so much mana in here, because it's still possible to get mana screwed if you have just a bunch of expensive cards in hand and not enought mana! Technically there's 38 lands in here currently, but I've put Eye of Ugin and City of Traitors in their own "Special" category, as I consider them to act more like artifacts then lands, as they don't always do what just a land that taps for mana does. They're unreliable for just basic mana, I guess. I'm thinking of putting Temple of the False God in, and I would also include this in the "Special" category for the same reason, being that it can't always be relied upon for mana like a regular land...

The most recent addition has been The Irencrag, which I myself think is funny to fit in over any of these other cards, but the consistency of early ramp is too important. Assuming that mana rocks will continued to be printed, I wonder what the limit to include will be! I actually took out Foundry Inspector to do this, which I don't like doing, and I might try to fit the Inspector in again first. But I think Karn, Legacy Reforged is on the top of the list for inclusions. Even though the mana he makes can't be used to cast Eldrazi, he'll be a huge beater, and will help cast and activate all those expensive artifacts.

My ideas are just what I've found to work playing the deck, and are by no means like, the way the deck should be built though!

Thanks for the comment!!! Very relevant, and totally valid. I will definitely try to fit Voltaic Key in again though, and reconsider Rings of Brighthearth, but actually I'll try Manifold Key first!

I hope that provided some interesting insight into my cards choices...