This deck, used for duels tournaments which often occur in France, was originally a Sharuum deck, until most people figured out that 80% of the top 8 decks were running a large artifact theme (Arcum Daggson, Sharuum, Erayo...). People are now playing massive artifact-hate and graveyard-hate, so the deck went to change as I had to cut many artifacts and change general.

Note our banlist is different from the multiplayer one.

General
Dromar, the Banisher

Win conditions
Cards that allow to put pressure on the opponent and win if he can't deal with them.
Yosei, the Morning Star
Palinchrone
Bribery
Tezzeret the seeker
(and Dromar of course)

Board destruction
All the cards that can wipe the board away or deny opponent's mana.
Cataclysm
Balance
Winter Orb (doesn't destroy, but it's almost like Armagueddon when cast)
Catastrophe
Soulscour
Armagueddon
Mind Shatter

Utility spells
Those spells often have a great effect on the game when cast, or with some time they start to be a great card advantage engine, or they simply allow to make better game starts.
Stroke of Genius
Braingeyser
Future Sight
Yawgmoth's Will
Time Spiral
Memory Jar
Sensei's Divining Top
Solemn Simulacrum
Voltaic Key
Jace Beleren
Elspeth, Knight Errant
Capsize
Time Warp

Dealing with threats
Preventing opponents to go infinite mana, to flip Erayo, to dig with Arcum, to abuse graveyard...
Duress
Thoughtseize
Castigate
Pithing Needle
Faith's Fetters
Vindicate
Oblivion Ring
Executioner's Capsule
Swords to Plowshares
Treachery
Phyrexian Furnace
Scrabbling Claws
Counterspell
Mana Drain
Dromar's Charm
Dismiss
Disenchant
Dismantling Blow

Deck digging
Fast card drawing, tutors...
Demonic Tutor
Liliana Vess
Trinket Mage
Enlightened Tutor
Mystical Tutor
Impulse
Frantic Search
Thirst for Knowledge
Deep Analysis
Fact or Fiction
Read the Runes

Mana acceleration
Those cards which allow a turn 3 Dromar and to survive all Armagueddon-like spells.
Mana Crypt
Mana Vault
Grim Monolith
Thran Dynamo
Gilded Lotus
Fellwar Stone
Azorius Signet
Dimir Signet
Orzhov Signet
Darksteel Ingot

Lands
Mainly non-basic lands. Signets and other artifacts allow to survive those numerous Blood Moon and Ruination that are mainly played...
Tolarian Academy (best win condition)
Tolaria West
Academy Ruins
Flagstones of Trokair
Kor Haven
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Dust Bowl
Tundra
Scrubland
Underground Sea
Aquatic Tomb
Godless Shrine
Hallowed Fountain
Mystic Gate
Underground River
Adarkar Wastes
Arcane Sanctum
Glimmervoid
Flood Plain
Tainted River
Flooded Strand
Polluted Delta
Darksteel Citadel
Synod Sanctum
Vault of Whispers
Ancient Dren
Plains
Swamp
Island (x5)


This is what I plan to play for a tournament on 21st December. Any ideas are welcome.

Here is the "official" banlist for EDH tournaments in France :

Mana acceleration :
* Black Lotus
* Mox Emerald
* Mox Jet
* Mox Pearl
* Mox Ruby
* Mox Sapphire
* Sol Ring

Tempo acceleration :
* Time Walk

Card drawers and tutors :
* Timetwister
* Yawgmoth's Bargain
* Ancestral Recall
* Necropotence
* Tinker
* Gifts Ungiven
* Protean Hulk

Brute force :
* Mindslaver
* Crucible of Worlds
* Mind Twist
* Sundering Titan
* Upheaval

Anti-general :
* Riftsweeper
* Karakas

what is your meta like?

why no wrath effects with so few creatures?

i don't see how you can win vs. a voltron type deck.

duplicant?
proteus staff?

Is Sway of the stars banned in the meta?

If not then you should play it

No wraths because in the meta, most decks kill by powering a fast combo, and those who win through damage are, like Doran, using mainly their general, so Swords to Plowshares and crash-blockers (Solemn Simulacrum) are better.

I hesitated a lot for Duplicant, in fact it's the last card I've cut. Maybe I'll reintroduce it after a few more playtestings.

Proteus Staff sounds like a good idea, but now 50% of the decks are playing Null Rod and massive artifacts-hate. So I try to reduce the number of artifacts to its minimum.

Sway the Stars isn't banned, this sounds like a nice idea but, for 10 mana, it's not as good as Soulscour. And I don't want too many 10-mana spells. I'll think about it, though, maybe I'll cut some other spell.

Thanks for advice ! 9 days remaining till tournament !

for a combo-rich meta, consider jester's cap, ? graveyard hate depending on the types of combos

more counterspells, especially force of will? repeal is a cantrip that can screw up a lot of combos.

Jester's Cap sounds like a good idea, I'll think about it. I'll soon update the decklist.

Why are you playing with such slow cards? I always assumed that you would know better, based on your PM's.

Your strategy is basically trying to wipe out the opponent's board and then winning with planeswalkers, correct? However, there are a lot of spells that you use which are not very efficient. For example. when you tap out for Braingeyser, an opponent can just as easily Misdirection it to himself. A lot of your expensive spells can be taken out by simple Counterspells, which, I assume is the most popular archtype in your area. In that case, it would be more wise to play all the instant versions of cards, or at least, for spells that can only be played as sorceries, reduce their cost to 4 or less. Also, there's no disruption. I would suggest something like Aven Mindcensor, which is a quick drop, and very difficult effect to get around.

If I were to rebuild this deck, I would build it so that it revolves around planeswalkers, counterspells and disruption. Cards such as Yixlid Jailer and Aven Mindcensor are both quick beatsticks and big disruption. Another big disruptive card is Null Rod, as this stops most of the artifact decks completely, as does Damping Matrix. I am not a big fan of all your heavy mass removal, as the only card I like is Armageddon. Ravages of War is functionally the same card. I would use certain Vintage blue staples such as Ponder, Merchant Scroll, etc. as well, because they are simply so efficient. In terms of counterspells, I suggest Arcane Denial, because a lot of time, you are simply playing a useless artifact like a signet, then countering it, and using Arcane Denial as a Thirst for Knowledge. An easy combination could be using Mystical Teachings with Teferi and just have a counterspell lock. Also, you happen to have the Executioner's Capsule. I'm assuming that you find this with Trinket Mage. However, I'm surprised you're not using Aether Spellbomb as well. In that case, you can also combo this out with Auriok Salvagers. In that case, Wayfaerer's Bauble might as well be in as well.

Best advice? Just look for blue spells from my deck to play. We don't have the same ban list, but in terms of metgame, it should be fairly similar, and all my spells are the most powerful anyway.

Well, it seems like I didn't explain you really well how the metagame went in my area. Decks are fast, faster than mine, in general. Yes. Erayo or Arcum, often. But most decks don't play counterspells, or play as few as possible, concentrating on acceleration. I've almost never been countered Braingeyser, and never been redirected it once. It made me win several times through the Palinchrone/Academy combo, it's a good spell when you have unlimited mana.
Furthermore, our mulligan system is very particular ("Normandy Mulligan" as I explained to you by PM) and allows some really big spells as you can shift them off from starting hand. Playing Soulscour is not a problem, in that case.


I forgot this one, you're right.


Agree on Damping Matrix, not on Null Rod. This deck heavily relies on artifact mana acceleration. Null Rod prevents from taking mana from all signets, monoliths and artifact-lands.


I have to strongly disagree here, as I won most of my games by playing Cataclysm or Soulscour. And with artifact acceleration, Soulscour can come very, very fast.


Agree here, but I don't have any, and my friend who has it plays it in her Isamaru deck.


Agree, except I really have to cut cards off to get that goal. Places aren't cheap.


The deck doesnt heavily relies on counterspells. Just a few ones, to have opponents play around and sometimes get rid of big threats. It's not a control deck, it aims to play powerful spells quickly with artifact mana acceleration.


As I said in the first post, too many players are playing Damping Matrix and Null Rod, I don't want to rely too heavily on artifacts. They're useful for acceleration, that's all.

The simple goal of this deck is to be able to drop a Cataclysm-like spell that will tear the board into pieces. Planeswalkers are numerous because there are so few beatdown decks that most of the other decks can't deal with them efficiently.

I still keep in mind Aven Mindcensor, Yixlid Jailer and Damping Matrix. About the Matrix, I'll certainly cut off Trinket Mage and Executioner's Capsule to avoid bad interactions between those. It would allow some place for a Mindcensor.

Chalice of the Void
Rebuild
Abeyance
Engineered Explosives

I've cut out Engineered Explosives since the "artifacts-with-abilities-cutting" change.
Chalice of the Void, why not, but it may also make my cards useless, it's not always easy to put it on the right number.

Rebuild is a nice Idea, I'll try to find out a place for it. Maybe it could allow Mind's Desire to be played.
Abeyance is really nice, a shame I never thought about this one, a great find !

If I find enough places to add some interesting cheap instants, maybe I'll put a place for Isochron Scepter, despite its "artifact-with-activated-abilities" problem.

Try Annul.

If your metagame is truly full of artifacts as you say, this should be a very useful spell. Especially if you're on the draw; this will come out of nowhere to screw over somebody.

Sounds good too. Added to the "to do" list.

Damn, I'll have to change a lot of things...

Over Thran Dynamo, use Mind Stone; it is faster on average, and has a use even if you topdeck it.

Use Eternal Dragon rather than..a lot of the win conditions you use. It smooths out mana and is a recurring threat. You can save 2+ spaces by replacing many win conditions with this instead.

Tangle Wire.

I can tell you right now, you will lose to those artifact decks that you mention if you keep playing inefficient win conditions and spells like this. In order to win, you have to play the most disruption, play lots of things at instant speed, or just lower your curve to match your opponent.

Having wandered around some EDH groups near my area, Sunday's tournament will be full of artifacts-hate (Null Rod, Fracturing Gust and Energy Flux in particular). Knowing that, I'll remove more artifacts, especially those which don't really do that much work or rely on an activated ability (Solemn Simulacrum, Executioner's Capsule, Trinket Mage, Thran Dynamo, Memory Jar).
I've seen quite more aggressive decks than usual (Isamaru, Sygg, goblins, Doran), so I'll get a little bit more defense.

To remove :
- Solemn Simulacrum
- Executioner's Capsule
- Trinket Mage
- Thran Dynamo
- Memory Jar
- Yosei, the Morning Star
- Jace Beleren
- Elspeth, Knight Errant

To add :
- Annul
- Aven Mindcensor
- Damping Matrix
- Wrath of God
- Mystical Teachings
- Merchant Scroll
- Ponder
- Disrupt

I don't own any Abeyance nor any Tangle Wire, and it'll be hard to find any before the tournament.

EDIT : Maybe I'll replace Palinchrone by Eternal Dragon, not sure yet. The best "win condition" remains Cataclysm or Soulscour, which often result in opponent conceding the game.
The dragon allows to search for a land early game, the Palinchrone allows to counterspell and bounce itself from removals...

I don't think you need to remove solemn simulacrum. Nobody will spend an hate for a morph.