Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist

Legendary Creature — Kor Scout

At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may attach any number of Auras and Equipment you control to target permanent or player.

Partner (You can have two commanders if both have partner.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	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
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

Neotrup on If I give control of …

5 months ago

Changing control of a curse with something like Donate will not change who it's attached to, only who controls it. With most curses, control doesn't really matter (some like Curse of Misfortunes or Curse of Leeches  ^Flip do care who controls them). In order to change what an aura is attached to, the spell would need to state that like Aura Graft does, however the only thing I can find to do that would be Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist which requires you to still control the curse, and is not available within Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor's color identity.

Apoptosis on Gear Up!

5 months ago

Specific changes. All of these changes optimize card draw, tutoring, protection to board state, create synergies and infinite combos, and optimization to allow instant speed responses.

OUT: Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist (thought this would be awesome, disappointed in performance) Assemble the Players (sub-optimal card draw) Aurelia's Fury Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus (land drops have not been a problem and by the time I draw it, I needed something else) Brimaz, King of Oreskos (love this guy, but had to cut) Chained to the Rocks Elbrus, the Binding Blade  ^Flip (obtained better equipment) Fellwar Stone Hixus, Prison Warden (never happy when I had this in hand because you need to let the damage land, plus you fail to build board state when waiting to draw a punch) Illusionist's Bracers (I realized there was little in this deck that this could help) Kemba, Kha Enduring (I want the option of where the equipment goes) Kjeldoran Outpost (did help create a chump blocker and spend unused mana, but I didn't like losing the land) Lapse of Certainty (replaced with better options, but I love this card) Lightning Helix Path of Mettle  ^Flip (never had good results) Prophetic Flamespeaker (under-performed) Puresteel Paladin (tough cut) Purphoros, God of the Forge (under-performed) Rogue's Passage Sea Gate Wreckage Silverblade Paladin (love this guy, tough cut) Sram, Senior Edificer (very tough and recent cut for Leonin Shikari and Merry, who are just better but I may put back in) Sword of the Animist (land drops have not been a problem and by the time I draw it, I needed something else) Wingmate Roc (love it but under-performed)

In: Esper Sentinel (card draw) Leonin Shikari (instant speed equiping is amazing) Merry, Esquire of Rohan (card draw) Enlightened Tutor (great for combos/synergies) Sigarda's Aid (so great) Pyrohemia (this card is a beast with Iroas! Even without Iroas must people don't have easy ways to deal with enchantments and this is a wraith on a stick. I've added it to all of my red decks and it's cousin (Pestilence) to my black decks in a slot I would normally hold for a wraith) Teferi's Protection (protect the board state) Excalibur, Sword of Eden Fighter Class (tutor!) Angelic Skirmisher (lifelink to stretch game and facilitates infinite combos) Splendor Mare (put it on Reckoner or Spitemare, give them indestructable, and gain infinite life, or move it to pyrohemia with nesting grounds to get massive amounts of life as you flamethrower the whole table!!) Mask of Avacyn (better option then shroud from boots, you need to be able to dynamically react/voltron) Mob Rule (this just finishes games) Smothering Tithe (ramp) Sunforger (some say you must build around this, I say you use this as a key tutor for when you need an instant) Nesting Grounds Spitemare The One Ring (card draw, duh) Minas Tirith (card draw) Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion (value engine, mana dump) Phyrexian Vindicator (beefy flier, helps get Iroas online, and difficult to remove) War of the Last Alliance (tutor) Hall of Heliod's Generosity (bring back pyrohemia and flamethrower the world all over again!!) Mask of Memory (card draw) Boromir, Warden of the Tower (protect board state)

Gidgetimer on Pattern Recognition #337 - Not …

8 months ago

Bad news about how Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist interacts with Pacifism. Ardenn specifically says "auras and equipment you control"

Crow_Umbra on

1 year ago

Hi there, welcome to Tappedout and Isshin brewing. I saw your deck and thought I'd offer some suggestions. By the looks of your deck, you have an emphasis on utilizing equipment, but your creatures don't really support that too well.

I think it could be helpful to first determine if you want to have more of an emphasis on the equipment aspect, or go more creature heavy and open up more attack trigger shenangians that Isshin is capable of. A few general suggestions off the top:

• If you do decide to go more of the equipment route, I think it could be helpful to add stuff like Puresteel Paladin, Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, or Sigarda's Aid, depending on your budget. Equipments can be mana intensive to cast, then equip. These types of effects can help you get around those Equip costs.

• I think you could drop (most) of the equipments, and instead go more creature heavy. Myriad creatures like Hammers of Moradin and Elturel Survivors are great in Isshin, since Myriad gets an additional trigger from him. Myriad creatures are all fairly budget friendly, with the exception of Battle Angels of Tyr

• The other great thing about Myriad and other effects that create creature tokens that enter tapped and attacking, is that you can combine them with enter the battlefield group slug damage like Impact Tremors and Witty Roastmaster. Additionally, Devilish Valet can be a serious beater that can outright kill opponents depending on how many creature tokens you pump out on your attack swings.

I hope these suggestions are a helpful starting point. I'd be happy to offer some additional feedback if you would like it. Isshin is one of my favorite commanders of the past year, so you're in for a fun time.

eliakimras on Wyleth, Boros Voltron

1 year ago

Hello fellow Wyleth, Soul of Card Draw player!

I'm glad you got both Wyleth's and Aesi's precons for a good price. They are reeeeally explosive in gameplay with a few upgrades.

I play a lot of this bad boy, and I want to suggest some swaps below 3 USD for you to take it to a higher ground:

First of all, the ramp. I found out that 2 CMC, untapped ramp is the best for Wyleth. Since he draws so many cards, he can chain rocks and voltron pieces in the same turn, so his next turn is even more explosive than the last one. I almost always have more mana than the Green decks in my pod.

• Oreskos Explorer -> Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip (you can get this to flip easily on turn 4)
• Kor Cartographer (too slow) -> Arcane Signet
• Emeria Shepherd (Voltron decks need a REALLY good reason to run cards above 3 mana in their builds) -> Starnheim Courser (this allows you to storm out of control. It is another body to voltron if needed)
• Keeper of the Accord (the token is irrelevant for you and, with Wyleth's card draw, you won't be behind in land drops) -> Talisman of Conviction

You should run boardwipes that hits your stuff the least:

• Tragic Arrogance (no need to destroy your own stuff) -> The Eternal Wanderer's ult
• Disenchant -> Heliod's Intervention
• Ironclad Slayer (we'll compensate him in the landbase) -> Vandalblast

Also, you can streamline your removal package. All of those are fetchable by Sunforger:

• Wear / Tear (good removal, but you already have more flexible options) -> Reprieve (that's one hell of a card to fetch out with Sunforger)
• Hyena Umbra (still vulnerable to exile and bounce effects) -> Blacksmith's Skill (all-around protection)

More/better auras and equipment

• Temur Battle Rage is a cute combat trick, but Battle Mastery is permanent and triggers Wyleth.

• Same to Reyav, Master Smith: one thing I've learned is to only rely on other card types for things Auras and Equipments can't do. All That Glitters, most of the time, performs better than him.

• Infuriate -> Thran Power Suit (same reason as above)

• Adeline, Resplendent Cathar (lost to her yesterday, but she does not give value here) -> Empyrial Armor (Wyleth gets huge with this)

• Kor Duelist -> Empyrial Plate (same as above)

• Ring of Thune -> Shielded by Faith

• Gimli's Axe -> Maul of the Skyclaves
• Argentum Armor (too expensive to cast) -> Mirror Shield (hexproof is crucial on a Voltron build)

Cheating equip costs

• Brass Squire (having to wait a turn to use his ability is rough) -> Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist
• Kemba, Kha Regent (too slow for a Voltron build) -> Bruenor Battlehammer

If you really need to protect yourself against attacks, Ghostly Prison is a way better Palace Guard.

More utility lands

• Minas Tirith (Wyleth draws enough cards already. Also, most of the time, you will only have a single creature on the field) -> Axgard Armory (tutor on a land)
• Plains -> Sejiri Shelter  ^Flip (a protection spell stapled onto a land)
• Mountain -> Buried Ruin (Ironclad Slayer's removal is avenged!)
• Plains -> Mistveil Plains (it can return instants back to the deck to be fetched again by Sunforger)
• Mountain -> Great Furnace (synergy with All That Glitters and Puresteel Paladin)
• Plains -> Ancient Den (same as above)

Delphen7 on Pattern Recognition #289 - Voltron …

1 year ago

I think speed is the most important part of Voltron. The strategy needs to rack up the damage as quickly as possible to avoid giving opponents time to respond to your threat(s). This means cheating on costs, and playing very cheap commanders that are hard to interact with.

Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh, and Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, for example, are a very difficult pair to interact with, because they can cheat costs (Colossus Hammer :D ), have evasion, and are low CMC. The first turn is spent playing them, and subsequent turns are spent building up your threats. If they are removed, you can esaily recast them, or use Ardenn to make another random creature a massive threat

Commanders like Balan, Wandering Knight, or Uril, the Miststalker are slow(er), don't intrinsically have evasive abilities, and require you to wait on them to build up, so once they're gone you're severely set back.

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Sometimes you're not fast enough though, and Voltron tends to turn into a very political deck at that point as you try to get opponents to let your threat stick in order to deal with other opponents. "If you don't remove my creature I can stop player C from winning next turn".

You usually still lose at this point though if everyone knows what they're doing. Speed is of the essence.

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This is why I love utilizing other players combats. You could limit yourself to one combat, but cards like Assault Suit can quadruple how fast you're killing your opponents (and has the perk of preventing the pesty sacrifice that was mentioned).

This is also why Slicer, Hired Muscle  ^Flip has been so competitive, because it's Assault Suit built into a commander with incredibly aggressive stats -- 28 damage a turn cycle is more than most decks can do with lots of setup, and that's just the minimum. It can come down turn 1, and no one wants to remove it because everyone wants to use it. It's free damage!

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Voltron, while more direct than a Giant Growth, does tend to play a lot of the same head games with people to make your creature stick as long as possible.

Enral on Ardenn's attach ability on creature …

1 year ago

Can Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist's attach ability target a creature (Sword of Fire and Ice equipped giving pro red) with a red equipment like The Reaver Cleaver?

I am thinking that since the ability is from a white source (Ardenn), this is a legal target and the equipment would be successfully attached am I correct?

Crow_Umbra on ¿Attacks? ¡Double them!

2 years ago

The ratios on your Isshin build are kinda tripping me out hahaha. I don't think I've seen any others with this kind of ratio of lands to spells.

I think you could cut down to like 36ish lands, especially with some of the fast mana rocks you're already running. You could probably swap out a few of those for Talisman of Indulgence and the others in the Mardu color cycle.

Some other more general recommendations:

• Hall of Heliod's Generosity could be a banger here with the higher ratio of Enchantments you're running.

• Vault of the Archangel could also be decent for the keyword anthems.

• Reconnaissance is a general banger that is at home in basically in any Isshin build variant. This article details some of the timing rules that make it so good for protecting your creatures and as a pseudo-Vigilance anthem

• I think Leonin Shikari, Puresteel Paladin, Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, & Sram, Senior Edificer could all be excellent support for your Voltron Equipment theme.

• Lastly, I think you could benefit from running some more instant speed removal & interaction. At least Teferi's Protection or Clever Concealment can do some work in protecting all of your permanents. Those Vandalblasts and creature wipes will hurt bad.

Hope these suggestions are helpful