[Obey] - Competitive Control

Commander / EDH* Combo Competitive Control Infinite Combo Stax WU (Azorius)

deadmanwaltzing

Artifact (22)

• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Chrome MoxGC
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Grim MonolithGC
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana VaultGC
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mox DiamondGC
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Paradox Engine
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Silent Gravestone
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Staff of Domination
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Torpor Orb
• 1x Voltaic Key

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Blind Obedience
• 1x Counterbalance
• 1x Future Sight
• 1x Humility
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic StudyGC

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Narset Transcendent
• 1x Tezzeret the Seeker

Instant (20)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic RiftGC
• 1x Disenchant
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Enlightened TutorGC
• 1x Force of WillGC
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Into the Roil
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical TutorGC
• 1x Negate
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Sphinx's Revelation
• 1x Stroke of Genius
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Personal Tutor
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Supreme Verdict
• 1x Terminus
• 1x Time Spiral
• 1x Timetwister
• 1x Transmute Artifact
• 1x Wrath of God

Commander (1)

Land (30)

• 1x Ancient TombGC
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Inventors' Fair
• 10x Island
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mystic Gate
• 5x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Tundra
• 1x Windswept Heath

Creature (5)

• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Etherium Sculptor
• 1x Ethersworn Canonist
• 1x Spellseeker
• 1x Trinket Mage

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List correct as of 16/08/2018

Current 'spice' inclusions:

1) Narset Transcendent - High starting loyalty, attractive up and down ticks as well as a tertiary win condition in a locked down board, ability to cast her for 2 mana through GAA4 is very appealing. Given rise of BloodPod style decks - likely to be pressured down fast, however - rebound on a wrath, a big draw spell or even spot removal is often is very appealing. She's good. I'm also looking at testing Teferi as a decent draw engine that replaces himself easily and is a minimal mana investment with GIAV on the field.

~~~~~~~ Link to the budget (~$300) version of the deck can be found here. ~~~~~~~

This is my take on Grand Arbiter Augustin IV. I've been playing various incarnations of this deck for the last two years on a very regular (almost daily) basis. The list has gone through many iterations, but I really feel like this is the most competitive version of the deck currently flying around the internet. There are a couple of spicy inclusions - but for the most part; this is a sleek, powerful beast. Able to throw out back-breaking disruption whilst looking to close out the game with a combo finisher whilst your opponents are still off-kilter.

This deck is designed to be as competitive as the Commander allows. It is not a deck that every play group will enjoy playing against as it employs infinite combos, stax engines and very powerful and/or expensive cards. It is however, incredibly rewarding to play, and very challenging to master. Unlike a lot of high-tier commander decks, you’ll often find yourself in a reactive role, answering threats faster than your opponents can deploy them – if you want to play an incredibly interactive game of competitive EDH, then this is the deck for you. The basic premise of the deck is:

1) Deploy fast mana:

The deck has a high mana rock count. Between Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mox Diamond & Mana Crypt - with a good opening you can start turn 2 or 3 with an obscene quantity of mana. Coupled with an early casting of your Commander – you can cut into your opponents’ mana efficiency heavily. Mystic Remora is a cEDH all-star, dropping the happy lil fish T1 can singlehanded win you the game in the right pod. (read: most pods)

2) Deploy ‘stax’ pieces:

Despite the Commander’s fearsome reputation as a stax general – this deck is difficult to call a true ‘stax’ deck. It lacks many of the signature pieces of such strategies, from Smokestack itself, to Winter Orb, Stasis etc. The reason for which is that many decks are better able to break ‘stax parity’ than you are (the principle which states that to play such crippling cards, you need to ensure they don’t affect you equally negatively.) Instead, you play a streamlined suite of low cost spells designed to cripple a broad cross-section of strategies incredibly effectively. Cards such as Back to Basics and Humility are great examples of this, your deck is built to accommodate them, either through low creature count or high number of basic land, the right card resolving at the right time can win you the game single-handedly.

Killing strategies:

Creature based combo (Twin, elfball, flashhulk/hulkweaver etc):
Cursed Totem
Humility
Torpor Orb flex slot, cuttable if not meta-relevant
Grafdigger's Cage
Wrath of God
Supreme Verdict
Swords to Plowshares
Grafdigger's Cage

Storm:
Ethersworn Canonist
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Flusterstorm
Aura of Silence
Relic of Progenitus
Back to Basics

Stax:
Narset Transcendent flex slot, cuttable if not meta-relevant
Capsize flex slot, cuttable if not meta-relevant
Disenchant flex slot, cuttable if not meta-relevant
Cyclonic Rift
Aura of Silence
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

For Everything else:
There's Counterspells

3) Combo out:

The deck’s win condition is Isochron Scepter & Dramatic Reversal a combo, which, in combination with any mana rocks which tap for a total of 3 or more, nets you infinite mana. Your outlet can then be:

Draw your deck w/ Sensei's Divining Top - activate top, in response, activate Scepter, which untaps top, tap top again, stack enough top draw triggers to draw your entire deck.
You can also do this with Staff of Domination, Rev or Stroke of Genius.
Inventors' Fair can find you your top or staff, or even the Scepter itself.
~~~~
You then extort all of your Dramatic Reversal's using Blind Obedience - killing every opponent at the table.
~~~~
You can also lock everyone out of playing permanents by Capsize'ing their entire board, playing GAA4, so they're locked out of everything except 0 mana spells. You can also play Copy Artifact as a copy of scepter, imprint Swan Song - Swan Song one dramatic reversal a billion times - creating a billion 2/2 birds and swinging for lethal the following turn. Basically, you can win however the hell you want once you get your combo online. It's sweet.

If combo pieces are in the graveyard when you go off, you can use Time Spiral or Timetwister to shuffle your graveyard back into your library and then re-starting the combo. The deck has a large quantity of tutors to assist in finding combo pieces, or silver bullets to deal with opponents as necessary. Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Merchant Scroll, Fabricate, Tezzeret the Seeker and others can all give you tools to win if they resolve.

The deck is dynamic and highly interactive with a highly flexible and relatively robust game plan. I've loved piloting the deck and I would highly recommend the deck to anyone looking to win Commander games, and improve as a Magic player whilst you do so.

Top Ranked	Achieved #22 position overall 7 years ago
Date added	9 years
Last updated	5 years
Exclude colors	BRG
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	20 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.26
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Emblem Narset Transcendent, Manifest 2/2 C
Folders	Interesting Commander Decks, Inspiration, GAAIV, Saved Decks from Others, GAA4, Commander, EDH, Arbiter, Interests, Take Note