cEDH Grand Arbiter Storm

Commander / EDH Combo Competitive Primer WU (Azorius)

TheWombatofCombat

Lands (30)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 8x Island
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mystic Gate
• 1x Nimbus Maze
• 3x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Windswept Heath

Tutors (10)

• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker
• 1x Transmute Artifact
• 1x Tribute Mage
• 1x Trinket Mage
• 1x Whir of Invention

Board Interaction (5)

• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Utility (15)

• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Drannith Magistrate
• 1x Karn, the Great Creator
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Narset, Parter of Veils
• 1x Narset Transcendent
• 1x Rest in Peace
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 1x Teferi, Master of Time
• 1x Teferi, Time Raveler
• 1x Venser, the Sojourner
• 1x Verity Circle

Spell Interaction (12)

• 1x Delay
• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Trickbind

Dig Spells (6)

• 1x Azor, the Lawbringer
• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Emergency Powers
• 1x Finale of Revelation
• 1x Sphinx's Revelation
• 1x Stroke of Genius

Commander (1)

Rocks (13)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Jeweled Amulet
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Progress

Combo Pieces (8)

• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Mycosynth Lattice
• 1x Nexus of Fate *list*
• 1x Power Artifact
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Tidespout Tyrant

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Maybeboard

Other Combos (5)

• 1x Grindstone
• 1x Helm of Obedience
• 1x Memnarch
• 1x Painter's Servant
• 1x Rest in Peace

Other Stax (3)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Dovin, Hand of Control

Currently Testing (2)

• 1x Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1x Walking Ballista

Combat Meta (2)

• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Propaganda

Board Interaction (1)

• 1x Reflector Mage

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An atypical approach for a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV helmed deck. In this build we ditch many of the stax effects that are typically used in favor of a more proactive approach. This deck uses a midrange control strategy with Grand Arbiter to keep your opponents out of combo range, then uses a variety of storm-like effects to build into a win in one turn. With flash banned, this deck has a lot more viability to respond to the combo decks that are left in the meta and still advance its own game plan. That said, if enough blood pod decks or combat-focused decks start to dominate, the list can become weak to those sorts of decks without some changes.

Why You Would Want to Play this Deck

1. If you are a player who really likes the control style play of Azorius, but lament the typical lack of win conditions, this deck might be for you.
2. If you want to play a cEDH capable deck, but also like using a lot of interesting planeswalkers, this deck might be for you.
3. If your meta plays a lot of combo, and is not a combat-focused meta, this deck might be for you.

How to Play this Deck

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV itself shuts down a lot of storm-style combos, and provides early game help in keeping you and your table-mates alive long enough for you to win. Often times, the determination of whether an opening hand is good or not hinges on the ability to get your commander on the board on turn 2 or 3. If your hand only has lands and no ramp, it better have enough disruption to get you to turn 4.

Typically you are looking for some ramp, some interaction, and some way to see more cards, as your commander itself is not a draw outlet. Granted, seeing more cards doesn't necessarily mean drawing them - Sensei's Divining Top and wheel type effects are both great in this deck in that they give you advantage on cards you can use.

You'll notice there aren't a lot of stax effects in this deck. That is what separates this strategy from a typical grand arbiter stax list. This is intentional. For one, fewer stax effects will earn you less hate at the table, but it also gives you more flexibility to interact with other players through interaction rather than static effects. Additionally, it allows you to run more cards that function as win conditions instead. The goal of this deck is not to grind out a 3-hour game and eventually win through attrition. The goal is to get the game to turn 4-8 through interaction, and then aggressively win yourself.

So, early game, disrupt game-twisting spells, and obviously game winning spells, but don't needlessly throw interaction around on a whim. Focus on getting out things like Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, either Teferi, Venser, etc. which can give you increasing board and card advantage over the middle turns. Ones you have critical mass, go for whichever combo you have partially assembled.

Winning the Game

There are a couple of different lines that can intertwine with each other to win the game. One involves getting infinite mana and a draw spell, and the other involves infinite turns with nexus of fate, and some way to advance the board state. So, for infinite mana, you can assemble:

Infinite Mana and an Outlet

Assemble one of the following (or similar)

Basalt Monolith, Rings of Brighthearth

or

Isochron Scepter, Dramatic Reversal, +enough mana rocks to produce 3 mana or sensei's divining top

or

Power Artifact + Grim Monolith or Basalt Monolith

Once you have infinite mana, use a draw spell to draw most of your deck, and then use Blue Sun's Zenith to draw out your opponents. Alternatively, you can use Capsize repeatedly to bounce everyone's permanents and hold up the ability to make infinite mana on each turn to continue to do that to bounce each player's lands. Remember, buyback won't give you the card back if the spell doesn't resolve so if you have the ability to not pass the turn at all, do everything you can to get there.

Infinite Turns and an Outlet

Alternatively, you can combo through multiple iterations of Nexus of Fate. With isochron scepter imprinting mystical tutor, and enough mana to cast Nexus of Fate, you typically just need one additional piece to then have the game under control. This can be Teferi, Time Raveler, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Venser, the Sojourner, Narset Transcendent, Tezzeret the Seeker, Future Sight. Each of these cards provide enough value on their own to justify playing them, but on the board with infinite turns they can end the game. The planeswalkers have powerful emblems, or the ability to get all the artifacts out of your deck, or the ability to bounce your opponents permanents and draw cards, all win through inevitability.

Lockdown

One additional combo in the deck is the two card combo of Karn, the Great Creator and Mycosynth Lattice - this is the weakest combo in the deck, because of the mana requirement, but Karn itself is a good stax piece on its own. With both in play your opponents won't be able to activate abilities or generate any mana, which is about as hard of a lock as you can get. Its the weakest combo but sometimes its the right one to go for.

Tidespout Tyrant

Tidespout Tyrant really does a lot in this deck if you are able to resolve it. With all the mana positive rocks we have you can use him to generate infinite mana, then if you have some kind of draw outlet to continue casting spells, you can start bouncing your opponents permanents. You can also bounce several of the planeswalkers that also have bounce/draw effects on them to keep chaining. Note this also bounces everything with dramatic reversal assembled.

An example of how this works, note there are a lot of possibilities:

1. Resolve Tidespout Tyrant
2. Cast any spell
3. Use the Tidespout Tyrant trigger to bounce Mana Crypt, tapping for 2 colorless in response
4. Cast Mana Crypt
5. Use the Tidespout Tyrant trigger to bounce Sol Ring tapping for two colorless in response
6. Cast Sol Ring
7. Repeat 3-6 for infinite colorless
8. Bounce a colored mana source, like Talisman of Dominance, Mox Opal, or even Gilded Lotus
9. Recast it, loop the same for infinite colored mana
10. Bounce a Planeswalker that draws a card, like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria or Narset, Parter of Veils
11. Cast those new fun cards you just drew to bounce your opponents' permanents while advancing your game plan.

Heliod/Ballista

A combo that could replace Karn/Mycosynth if Karn isn't particularly impactful in your meta is Walking Ballista and Heliod, Sun-Crowned. With enough mana to cast ballista for X=2 or 3, and mana to give it lifelink, you can use it to deal infinite damage. This is easier to tutor for but neither piece is particularly useful on its own. Ballista is an alternative infinite mana outlet but Heliod is a dead draw most of the time. I am currently testing this in place of the mycosynth lattice lock.

If doing this, I tend to swap out Narset's Reversal or Capsize with walking ballista, and keep Karn, the Great Creator in the list.

Thanks to valence for help in shaping the deck as well.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	19 - 0 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.56
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Narset Transcendent, Emblem Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Emblem Venser, the Sojourner, Treasure
Folders	cEDH Archetypes, Commander