Intro
Once there were some in seek of Immortality
They looked up in the Heavens, blinded by the light of an ethernal life
But they found themselves unworthy in front of the Gods bringers of Life.
In despair, they sank in the darkest holes
In search of the strongest necromancers and their dark powers
But they found themselves prey of the Dark Gods will.
Hopeless, they searched the knowledge of the ancient Sphinxes
And together, they found the long sought Immortality
Where no God had influence.
They found Immortality in the galvanic alchemy of metalcraft
Where their flesh became metal
And their blood became electricity
And their veins became wires
And their mind became empty.
They found no pain or joy in the cold embrace of steel
There was nothing but a goal in their clean, mathematical brain.
Adrift in their new bodies, they are now ready to shape the world
as their own image.
This deck builds around some interesting combos, and its General,
Sharuum the Hegemon
, is very useful in getting them on fast.
Also, NO INFINITE COMBOS! Sign today for Sharuum's EDH decks with no Disciple of the Vault, Altar of the Brood and Bitter Ordeal alike. Noone likes to play against these jokes.
Accelerators
The deck tries to build mana with Gilded Lotus, Sol Ring, Thran Dynamo, Coalition Relic and Tezzeret the Seeker , that are very useful in getting the right amount amount of mana in the right combination. Sol Ring can be easily tutored with Tezzeret the Seeker and Trinket Mage, and both Gilded Lotus and Thran Dynamo can be found quite fast with Arcum Dagsson, Fabricate, etc.
Control
Your control of the game should be assured with
Ethersworn Adjudicator
, Ethersworn Canonist (which is also very easy to tutor and play in the first turns), Sen Triplets (that can be your General in 1vs1 matches) and basically every Instant and Sorcery that isn't a tutor.
Since you won't have lots of creatures on the battlefield you should be free to clear the battlefield with Wrath of God / Supreme Verdict / Damnation everytime you think you are in danger to suffer too much combat damage.
Pithing Needle is perfect to keep Planeswalkers and some other Generals silent.
For a clean removal of a single opponent, Hurkyl's Recall + Mycosynth Lattice
is the quickest way.
Toolbox
Useful cards to accelerate your game and the setup you want to have are Gift of Immortality which can be paired with
Sharuum the Hegemon
and Arcum Dagsson to both return Artifacts from your Graveyard and get them free into play from your Library. Magister Sphinx is great to bring one or more opponent to 10 life, Solemn Simulacrum is great to be used as scrap material for Arcum Dagsson or as suicidal bomb with Gift of Immortality. Wurmcoil Engine and
Sharuum the Hegemon
itself work great in the same way.
Combo examples:
I've also chosen a few cards that don't really work with the rest of the deck but work greatly in Commander, such as Sheoldred, Whispering One (a great creature to have when you can keep sacrifing creatures with Arcum Dagsson, Animate Dead, Greed, Detention Sphere.
Artifacts and cards that indeed work well with the deck and can keep you alive while finding the right combo are Tezzeret the Seeker (untap Gilded Lotus, fetch Artifacts lands and cost Artifacts) and Master Transmuter (used to bump
Sharuum the Hegemon
every turn for free Artifacts from Graveyard, save single Artifacts from removals, play for free Darksteel Forge), Platinum Angel.
Jace, Memory Adept +1 ability works great with Sensei's Divining Top to draw and to put in the graveyard artifacts to summon with
Sharuum the Hegemon
. Also his second ability can fill the graveyard quicker to be used with the General and also his third ability is useful to fill both the hand and the graveyard. Once graveyard is big enough,
Sharuum the Hegemon
, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Beacon of Unrest, Rise of the Dark Realms and Animate Dead come all very useful. Even Academy Ruins can be used as a Demonic Tutor for artifacts in the graveyard.
Jace's 0 can also be very useful if you target yourself to mill some Artifacts... it's quite a gamble, but it can help.
Venser, the Sojourner is a great utility piece that works well with ETB creatures such as
Sharuum the Hegemon
or to untap key permanents like Gilded Lotus. And of course, his -8 ability works just great in EDH.
Liliana Vess has everything you need to both control your opponent in 1vs1 situations, tutor combo cards and Miracle cards like Mystical Tutor (see below), and a free Rise of the Dark Realms.
Mystical Tutor
+
Temporal Mastery
or Mystical Tutor
+
Terminus
are perfect combos for Mystical Tutor and Miracle ability, just be sure to use it right before your turn starts for maximum surprise effect.
In a similar way to Mystical Tutor or Sensei's Divining Top, Lim-Dul's Vault is great tutor in every moment of the game. Having 5 cards in any order is at any time a very, very good anticaption on your game, and the life loss is neglectable. Just be sure not to shuffle your library after you cast it, in example playing Solemn Simulacrum.
Buried Alive is a great card for this deck also.
Sharuum the Hegemon
's ability is great but sometimes your graveyard is just empty from artifacts. So what's better than fill it yourself? Get a free Solemn Simulacrum, Wurmcoil Engine, Memnarch, Sen Triplets or Platinum Angel today!
Win the Game
Well, time for the game-winning combos.
In 1vs1 situations, Master Transmuter + Mindslaver + Sharuum the Hegemon
can control all the opponent's turns by paying from 5 to 6 mana per turn. With 12 mana, you can do the same just by using Academy Ruins + Mindslaver
.
Mycosynth Lattice is the card in multiplayer you want to have and keep safe for your own victory. With this card up and running you can:
With Unwinding Clock (sideboard), 3 Artifacts and a single Artifact land/manarock you can clean the table every single turn, even not yours, by using:
Unwinding Clock + Darksteel Forge + Mycosynth Lattice + Nevinyrral's Disk
+ 1 Artifact Land / Manarock.
Suggestions
Suggestions and comments are welcome. Just notice that I wanted to used only "Modern" graphic cards or old cards with "modern" reprints (Mystical Tutor i.e.)
Various other ideas and Maybeboard
There are plenty of cards that may find place in this deck. Literally the real maybeboard should be bigger than the deck itself. I'll ist some of the most interesting ideas that aren't in play at the moment:
Ad Nauseam - In desperate situations it is perfect to draw any number of cards without dying thanks to Platinum Angel, since the life loss it's not a cost, but, as said, a loss.
Entomb / Mox Opal - To be added to the maindeck as soon as I get 'em.
Hindering Light
- Countering in multiplayer games is a problem. You lose one card to make an opponent lose another one, but the other players take the greater advantage. This one instead doesn't let you lose anything, and it still count as counter for yourself only. Good, should be tested.
Propaganda / Ghostly Prison / Norn's Annex / Crawlspace / Silent Arbiter - Too good against quick swarm decks, sometimes useless (i.e. against this kind of deck).
Kuldotha Forgemaster - Top tier artifact, it loses much in this deck since, unless with Mycosynth Lattice I don't run many artifacts on the battelfiend at once or if do, it's because I need them. With tokens would work great.
Reshape - Great card too, same problem. Sometimes sacrifing an artifact is neglictable (Gift of Immortality, Artifact lands) but other times it is not. Also it's quite costy for its effect.
Mirrorworks - Another top tier artifact, works too well with
Sharuum the Hegemon
to copy her ability. Too many times I have more important artifacts to play than it though, so I've putted it aside for now.
Muzzio, Visionary Architect - The ability costs a bit too much, and it had a sense when there was Darksteel Colossus as a wincon. Checking the first 11 cards is great, now there is still Darksteel Forge to check 9, but the average costs of the artifacts made me put it away.
Platinum Emperion - Great card, doesn't prevent Commander damage though, and you can't pay life. 5/10 would play it again.
Reanimate - Holy #@[ so good to reanimate creatu-HOLY #@[ the lifeloss man!
Mind's Eye - Same discussion as for Mirrorworks. Useful, but I have better things to play/tutor.
Sideboard is for 1 vs 1 matches