Pretty Savage
Commander / EDH*
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More on Jin —Sept. 4, 2021
So, it looks like Altar of the Brood is perfect for what I'm looking for as a win con with Dramatic Scepter, could just run blasting station as a backup maybe.
So, here would be the deck's overall plan: Switching between cEDH and EHD would require cutting 24-30 cards for better/different cards, though some of the deck obviously can stay as is, so there would be a short downtime while I re-sleeve, but that seems fine to let me have a 2nd cEDH deck (that is more traditional, but probably not very strong).
The cEDH deck would try to ramp to Talrand, and would run proxies of key pricey artifacts and Ancient Tomb, to speed up Proteus Staff. Once the Staff is out, what I do depends on what I pull. If I get the Sphinx, I get a free card and untap, so I likely will just reactive Staff unless I've got a mitt full of interaction already, because drawing 7 more cards will almost guarantee I have some. Next turn, I use Staff to either get Jin (if I had the interaction already) or just set my draws (8 cards) and set up for untapping. Then, when I draw my 7, if Jin was already out I will have my combo in hand, including Shimmer Myr to combo off. I shouldn't need interaction anymore, since Jin will have wiped out people's hands usually. If Jin came out this turn, I probably am going to set up Sunder with protection (using it during the first player's turn), along with a bit of fast mana to ensure I can reset and win next turn. If I have another turn to play, it's because Jin came out last turn, I can now set up and just combo off, with nobody having a hand to interact with. I think it'll be hard to set up before turn 3, and it's not until Jin actually makes it through a turn cycle that I have his real payoff, and if I whiff on the 7 cards, I might not have the interaction I desperately need for him to survive (I expect I'll need 3 counters to keep Jin alive, since everyone else is probably done if he sticks), so I am expecting to be running a TON of countermagic, hoping for ~20 of various sorts, to reliably have 2/draw them with Jin when I need them. I feel like with that many, draw 8 will usually mean I can do something. Not sure if I want Helm of Awakening in here, it's not a bad card, it's just too symmetrical I worry, though it can reduce the mana needed to combo off, at the cost of adding a card (it costs 2, but shaves 2 off the combo and 1 off Mana Vault and Grim Monolith, which then generate 5 new mana vs 3 without Helm, so it does work. It also helps Sol Ring, so it probably is good enough to think about. Still, casting Shimmer Myr and Helm costs 5 mana, I probably won't have that after I Sunder, so that is worth keeping in mind.
Is this good enough? Probably not really, but the potential to run a huge amount of countermagic would be a good foil to my existing cEDH deck, which is very light on it.