Grand Arbiter EDH

by Wishwreath on 05 February 2012

Main Deck (99 cards)

Sideboard (1 card)

Creatures (1)

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Deck Description

Just getting started in EDH, but making as valid of an attempt at my first commander deck as possible. Here are many of the deck mechanics and combos possible, as well as explaining the deck as well as possible.

The deck is full of control of a lot of types, including counters, land destruction, creature control and exchange, board sweepers, etc.

One main combo is to give creatures protection from white and play Dimensional Breach (or Martial Coup or Day of Judgement) to sweep the opponents board. Protection can be given with Glory in the graveyard(either letting it die, countering it yourself, or killing it with High Market), Dominaria's Judgement, removing your creatures from play beforehand with Ghostway, or using Safe Haven a few times on key creatures and bringing them back for free(the least desirable option for this, but Safe Haven can also keep important creatures safe from removal). And then start swinging.

Another win con is the obvious Felidar Sovereign, with lots of life gain in the deck as well as Invincible hymn it's pretty easy to gain life.

Another option is with mana denial through Strip Mine, Wasteland, Ghost Quarter, and Crucible of Worlds. These pieces if not found early can be searched with Parallel Thoughts and drawn fairly easily. Parallel Thoughts is also useful on its own.

The deck gets lots of draw with Ponder, Preordain, Rhystic Study, and cycling lands.

Sun Titan works great with the 3 drop creatures, and almost all of the artifacts in case they get destroyed. Clone, Phantasmal Image, and Phyrexian Metamorph can copy important creatures or kill of your opponents legendaries. Windborn Muse, Spelltithe Enforcer, and Loxodon Gatekeeper also help with lockdown, and are even better with Grand Arbiter Augistin IV in play.

Zuran Orb is there to help gain a bit of life if needed, and useful before casting Dimensional Breach. Also good for gaining some more life points for Felidar Sovereign.

Library Manipulation with Sensei's Divining Top and Soldevi Excavations, as well as multiple ways to find the basic lands, mainly with Thawing Glaciers which is great for thinning the deck. EDIT: Newly added Mystic Speculation for scry, thanks to RaiderKrom for the recommendation.

Trinket Mage, Fabricate, Merchant Scroll, and Enlightened Tutor are good for deck thinning and finding answers.

Finally, Venser is extremely useful with things like Trinket Mage, Mulldrifter, Sejiri Refuge, Sun Titan, Solemn Simulacrum, Karmic Guide, Sphinx of Lost Truths, Snapcaster Mage, and any flyer when Archon of Redemption is out. His second ability is equally good if i can't get a board sweep, and his final ability is... well.... his final ability

The mana curve is strange, but Grand Arbiter Augistin IV makes it much easier to play.

So far the deck has been a blast to play and has done pretty well in the short time i've been playing with it, but I would appreciate any comments and critiques!

Note: Meteor Crater will be replaced with Tundra once I get another one.

Deck Tags

  • EDH

Deck at a Glance

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Mana Curve

Mana Symbol Occurrence

4838000

Card Legality

  • Not Legal in Standard
  • Not Legal in Modern
  • Legal in Vintage
  • Not Legal in Legacy

Deck discussion for Grand Arbiter EDH

your one card over
and add a serra asendent, and a venser

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Posted 05 February 2012 at 06:45

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Oh whoops you're right, I am over. Not exactly sure what I want to take out though...

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Posted 05 February 2012 at 07:09

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took out gitaxian probe. I already have a lot of draw and i never know when 2 life may come back to haunt me

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Posted 05 February 2012 at 18:47

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I'd add a Thalia from Dark ascension and maybe throw in an elixir of immortality... That apart It seems that you may need some more lands that dont enter tapped since that isnt doing you any favors and you can't count on the amulet of vigor. I would suggest:

Hallowed fountains
Moorland Haunts
Mystic gate
More islands/plains

Overall, its nice to have multiple win conditions but perhaps you need to settle on more focused tactics since you really have no way to really predict draws short of truly abusing cards like ponders and preordains and scrying... Hopefully, you've seen my last reply on my deck and understand that I could easily be wrong but its just one opinion..

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Posted 06 February 2012 at 12:22

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I would also add the following scry cards since they'd probably help:
serum visions
mystic speculation
eye of the watcher
Judge unworthy
crystal ball

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Posted 06 February 2012 at 12:24

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Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it.

I tried Moorland Haunts but I don't really want to get rid of creatures from my graveyard since I can bring a lot back. Once I get my other tundra I can switch out meteor crater, and hallowed fountain would be nice, I guess switching out coastal tower. I've been able to get the Amulet of Vigor out in every game so far, but it would be nice to not NEED it all the time.

Crystal Ball seems awesome actually. I think I could also use parallel thoughts as a tutor spell to find stuff, and find a place for brainstorm to draw the pile before parallel thoughts can be destroyed. That way I can find anything useful when parallel thoughts is in my hand. Thoughts?

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Posted 06 February 2012 at 15:35

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And with crucible and Zuran orb out, perhaps I could find room for glacial chasm?

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Posted 06 February 2012 at 15:52

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EDH decks with not a lot of creatures should have as many board sweepers as possible. I'd try and find room for wrath of god (better than Day), All is Dust, and others. Also, Ulamog and blightsteel colossus really ought to be in every EDH deck. Blue Sun's zenith for some recurring card draw, spells like confiscate or mind control, and possibly, if there's room Jace Beleren for more card draw, and consecrated sphinx for yet more card draw.
For this sort of slower, control type EDH deck, card advantage is the main advantage that you'll have over other creature-heavy decks (like mine)

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Posted 07 February 2012 at 12:11

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I have a wrath and a blue sun I can put in, and consecrated sphinx would be sweet, but I don't know what I can take out for them. Any suggestions?

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Posted 07 February 2012 at 15:40

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Invincible Hymn, and Amulet of Vigour are not as useful as wrath or consecrated sphinx, in my opinion at least

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Posted 08 February 2012 at 01:45

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I like Amulet of Vigor since most of my lands come in tapped, and i feel like getting set back a turn might be harmful due to that. I can easily cut out invincible hymn for consecrated sphinx though, thanks for the help!

Anything else i could take out for wrath?

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Posted 08 February 2012 at 02:26

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