Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp Tempo

Casual Artifact Djinn Mono-Blue Tempo

Sky_Blue_Skies

Creature (22)

• 2x Hope of Ghirapur
• 4x Etherium Sculptor
• 4x Voltaic Servant
• 4x Tempest Djinn
• 4x Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
• 4x Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp

Artifact (10)

• 2x Witching Well
• 2x Blackblade Reforged
• 2x Smuggler's Copter
• 4x Whispersilk Cloak

Sorcery (4)

• 4x Preordain

Land (24)

• 24x Island

---

As my username suggests, I have a lot of love for creature-oriented skies decks and I really enjoy thinking up alternate versions of this old archetype. The release of Dominaria really inspired me in this connection as it represented the first time in which Wizards appears to have truly reformulated their approach to the Djinn creature type in a way that signals its full potential for skies decks. While Djinn cards printed since Arabian Nights have largely continued in that set's conception of Djinn as "blue demons" in term of their design and (drawback-oriented) playability, Tempest Djinn and Zahid, Djinn of the Lamp indicate a return to their original conception as efficient blue finishers for decks that win based on tempo and evasion. While neither card has seen much competitive play outside of standard (a fact which I could not care less about), both fit reasonably well into a mono-blue artifact-based build in which early draw-fixing and careful planning of plays can reasonably ensure that turn four or five finds you swinging with powerful, evasive creatures which can end the game in a hurry unless opponents find effective answers. While this particular build features little interaction in the form of removal or counters, I have, through successive drafts, worked out a decklist that makes a turn 3 Tempest Djinn , a turn 4 Zahid or Traxos, Scourge of Kroog , and a turn five equipment-laden swing for the throat quite likely.

As a huge fan of MTG's djinns of earlier days, I have to say that this remains my all time favourite of my original brews. In retrospect, I think it was also the build which helped me truly understand the intricacies of deckbuilding as an art form. At the same time, cards like Zahid and Tempest Djinn mean a great to me as they were the kind of blue creatures I had always wanted to play with as a beginner player back in the early 2000s. Having discovered Magic through friends with older collections that included copies of the original Leviathan, I found myself briefly drawn to creature-heavy black and green decks despite my overwhelming interest in blue's flavor themes largely because of the general inefficiency of blue creatures in the pre-modern era. (Yes, I was one of those kids who wanted to play Magic with efficient, evasive BLUE creatures before Ravnica Block.) Luckily for me, the design of these creatures implies that this form of gameplay is finally being pushed further by Wizards.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Casual legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.67