Martial Arcanist Taigam

Commander / EDH Budget WU (Azorius)

Aqveteig

Land (34)

• 1x Ancient Den
• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Cathedral of War
• 1x Command Tower
• 13x Island
• 1x Nimbus Maze
• 10x Plains
• 1x Port Town
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Sejiri Refuge

Buff (9)

• 1x Aqueous Form
• 1x Cathedral of War
• 1x Gift of Immortality
• 1x Runechanter's Pike
• 1x Shadow Rift
• 1x Shielded by Faith
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x True Conviction

Cantrip (7)

• 1x Azorius Charm
• 1x Grip of the Roil
• 1x Repel the Darkness
• 1x Repulse
• 1x Shadow Rift
• 1x Shelter
• 1x Voyage's End

Protection (5)

• 1x Amulet of Safekeeping
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Monastery Siege
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Shelter

Value (3)

• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Not Forgotten
• 1x Primal Amulet  ^Flip

Tempo (13)

• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Azorius Charm
• 1x Baral's Expertise
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Disperse
• 1x Grip of the Roil
• 1x Hurkyl's Recall
• 1x Repulse
• 1x Sleep
• 1x Snap
• 1x Unexpectedly Absent
• 1x Unsummon
• 1x Voyage's End

Ramp (9)

• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Curious Homunculus  ^Flip
• 1x Jace's Sanctum
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Whir of Invention

Boardwipe (6)

• 1x Divine Reckoning
• 1x River's Rebuke
• 1x Single Combat
• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Tragic Arrogance
• 1x Wash Out

Wincon (5)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Metallurgic Summonings
• 1x Myth Realized
• 1x Sentinel Tower
• 1x Talrand, Sky Summoner

Commander (1)

Draw (10)

• 1x Anticipate
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chart a Course
• 1x Counsel of the Soratami
• 1x Divination
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Plea for Power
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Telling Time

Removal (8)

• 1x Crib Swap
• 1x Disenchant
• 1x Fragmentize
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Revoke Existence
• 1x Sentinel Tower
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Lifegain (4)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x True Conviction

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Maybeboard

Other (2)

• 1x Dovescape
• 1x Fellwar Stone

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Bounce, lock, spellslinger, aggro? An odd combination born from Taigam's unique ability. Attack, get double value for it. This Taigam is build for strong focused meta. We shy away from the infintie turn combo and the Dovescape lock to avoid being archenemy turn zero.

This deck revolves around rebound to generate values from each spells. It's a challenging deck to pilot, for it not only relies on the commander, it forces him to attack every turn. A good chunk of the spells are divided between cantrips to keep Taigam alive, and bounce spell to keep him alive by sending the blockers back into the opponent's hand. Each Succesful combat phase will give those spells rebound so they next turn they can preemptively be used for an even easier combat phase.

As in standard Azorius fashion, we are expected to lock the table. For the sake of our opponents, this will be a tempo lock rather than a hard one. While less effective than what the colour pair can offer, it is also much more enjoyable for our adversaries. To that end, we follow three strategies. The first one is bounce and rebound, using spells like Disperse in conjunction with Taigam. In a second time, we create a pillowfort with Propaganda , Monastery Siege and the like. Third, we use spells like Authority of the Consuls to disable any overly hasty opponent.

Playing white-blue, choices in the ramp are not the nicest beside going full artifact. A quick improvement to the deck would be to replace many of the ramp by mana rocks with 2 CMC or less to get Taigam out on turn 3. I went with something a bit different. While more effective in the long run, getting Taigam a turn early is definitely more powerful. We have a couple of unique spells ramp spells in Smothering Tithe , Whir of Invention that can fetch artifacts land on the rebound (X=0). Mitotic Manipulation could have been interresting to search a basic land in the top 7 cards of the library, but the deck is happy once it has 4 mana.

For the win condition, we can go in two directions. First there is spell value with Aetherflux Reservoir , Sentinel Tower and Myth Realized . Sphinx-Bone Wand was an option, but it comes too late in the game. Second way is through creature swarm. Talrand, Sky Summoner and Metallurgic Summonings enable such strategy. While the Ammulet of Safekeeping is counter productive in that regard, in a token heavy meta it proves invaluable. Last, we can win through commander damage with the various buff applied to Taigam and the turns gained from bouncing so many things back to hand.

Speaking of buffs, we have a few ways of buffing Taigam, most of them are utility buffs. But still enough to speed up the clock marginally. Most importantly are those that protect Taigam like Gift of Immortality , Shielded by Faith , and Swiftfoot Boots . Although the shroud in the later can be problematic at time. Shroud is the reason we do not run Lightning Greaves , we want to target Taigam and lack the creatures to unequip it. Runechanter's Pike will be the star of the show, allowing Taigam to swing for lethal.

For Duel Commander, replace: True Conviction by Dovescape (better win con) Sol Ring by Fellwar Stone (for legality)

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 0 Rares 26 - 0 Uncommons 21 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.70
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Construct X/X C, Drake 2/2 U, Shapeshifter 1/1 C, Spirit 1/1 W, Treasure