Sharuum the Hegemon - Mystery of the Sphinx
New cards for this version in bold

General
Sharuum the Hegemon

Beaters
Darksteel Colossus
Disciple of the Vault
Ethersworn Adjudicator
Filigree Angel
Inkwell Leviathan
Magister Sphinx
Memnarch
Platinum Angel
Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Sundering Titan

Board Control
Capsize
Damnation
Dispeller's Capsule
Duplicant
Executioner's Capsule
Mindslaver
Nevinyrral's Disk
Oblivion Stone
Pithing Needle
Return to Dust
Rite of Replication
Soulscour
Tormod's Crypt
Vindicate
Wrath of God

Drawing
Brainstorm
Fact or Fiction
Future Sight
Memory Jar
Sensei's Divining Top
Thirst for Knowledge

Tutoring
Artificer's Intuition
Demonic Tutor
Enlightened Tutor
Intuition
Mystical Tutor
Tezzeret the Seeker
Transmute Artifact
Trinket Mage
Vampiric Tutor

Acceleration
Armillary Sphere
Coalition Relic
Darksteel Ingot
Etherium Sculptor
Expedition Map
Gilded Lotus
Mana Crypt
Master Transmuter
Sol Ring
Solemn Simulacrum
Voltaic Key

Countermagic, Recursion, Utility
Counterspell (should be Mana Drain but I haven't spent the money for it yet)
Cryptic Command
Crucible of Worlds
Darksteel Forge
Force of Will
Lightning Greaves
Open the Vaults
Pact of Negation
Sculpting Steel
Tawnos's Coffin
Yawgmoth's Will

Land
Academy Ruins
Ancient Den
Arcane Sanctum
Azorius Chancery
City of Brass
Darksteel Citadel
Dimir Aqueduct
Drowned Catacomb
Fetid Heath
Flooded Strand
Glacial Fortress
Godless Shrine
Hallowed Fountain
Island
Jwar Isle Refuge
Kor Haven
Marsh Flats
Maze of Ith
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Mystic Gate
Orzhov Basilica
Plains
Polluted Delta
Reflecting Pool
Scrubland
Seat of the Synod
Sejiri Refuge
Strip Mine
Sunken Ruins
Swamp
Tolaria West
Tolarian Academy
Tundra
Underground Sea
Vault of Whispers
Wasteland
Watery Grave

Cuts: (3/28/09)
Commandeer
Counterspell
Debtors' Knell
Desertion
Dismiss
Draining Whelk
Hinder
Mortify
Rewind
Spelljack
Voltaic Key

Decided to cut the counters and go for a more straightforward beats victory for now.

Cuts: (4/19/09)
Skeleton Shard
Tormod's Crypt
Oblivion Stone
Arcbound Reclaimer
Brainstorm
Mind's Eye

Cut a couple of the recursion cards that were overkill. Cut Oblivion stone because it would blow up way too much of my board. Cut Brainstorm and Mind's Eye for Artificer's Intuition and Gifts - discard effects are pretty awesome in here.

Cuts: (5/2/09)
Arcbound Crusher -> Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Arcbound Ravager -> Filigree Angel
Courier's Capsule -> Intuition
Relic of Progenitus -> Tormod's Crypt

Cutting Ravager and Crusher because they just don't get there, and I need some more ways to gain life. Big beaters being attached to those ways are a definite plus. Relic getting swapped for Crypt because having to hit my own GY just makes me sad inside. Capsule coming out for Intuition because I'm an idiot and I have no idea why I didn't do that earlier.

Cuts: 11/12/09
Master of Etherium -> Counterspell
Sharding Sphinx -> Force of Will
Sphinx Sovereign -> Hinder
Sphinx Summoner -> Lightning Greaves
Triskelavus -> Yawgmoth's Will
Triskelion -> Wasteland
Austere Command -> Oblivion Stone
Engineered Explosives -> Brainstorm
Icy Manipulator -> Right of Replication
Scourglass -> Soulscour
Jace Beleren -> Future Sight
Liliana Vess -> Mystical Tutor
Gifts Ungiven -> Transmute Artifact
Azorius Signet -> Armillary Sphere
Coldsteel Heart -> Etherium Sculptor
Dimir Signet -> Expedition Map
Obelisk of Esper -> Gilded Lotus
Orzhov Signet -> Voltaic Key
Spectral Searchlight -> Crucible of Worlds
Crystal Shard -> Tawnos's Coffin
Sanctum Gargoyle -> Open the Vaults
Bloodstained Mire -> Strip Mine
Blinkmoth Nexus -> Kor Haven
Boreal Shelf -> Sejiri Refuge
Coastal Tower -> Glacial Fortress
Frost Marsh -> Jwar Isle Refuge
Petrified Field -> Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Salt Marsh -> Drowned Catacomb
Urza's Factory -> Maze of Ith
Windswept Heath -> Marsh Flats

I personally turned away from Sundering Titan, as noone likes their lands being blown up and you won't like being public enemy #1 because of that.

Sharuum is a very powerful general obviously and I am planning to do one in the future, too. Here's a short brainstorming of cards I already memorized for using later. Pick your favorites.

I don't like the more narrow counters in your list, e.g. Counterspell, Dismiss (this one is actually ok, but I think Sharuum.dec should be all about big and nasty machines) and Rewind.

-> Mishra's Workshop (obv. non-budget choice)
-> Mana Drain (obv. non-budget choice)
-> Thirst for Knowledge
-> Guardian Beast / Leonin Abunas / Hanna's Custody
-> Enlightened Tutor
-> Modular Monsters (read: Ravager + Crusher (!!), combined with Triskelion; Reclaimer also isn't bad)
-> Myr Retriever
-> Prison- and Stax-stuff
-> Karn, Silver Golem

Workshop -> Don't have
Mana Drain -> Don't have
Thirst for Knowledge -> I would play if I had a good idea what to cut, any suggestions?
Guardian Beast / Leonin Abunas / Hanna's Custody -> Again, possibilities, don't know what I'd cut though
Enlightened Tutor -> Man I feel like an idiot for forgetting this one, I could start cutting the more narrow counterspells like you suggested for this and some of the stuff above.
Modular Monsters -> I like this idea, these will likely make it in
Myr Retriever -> Seems really redundant when Sharuum does the same thing and I'm already running Skeleton Shard on top of that
Prison and Stax-stuff -> Sure, tell me to take out Sundering Titan, but add even more annoying stuff instead
Karn, Silver Golem -> Definite possibility, I already won one game off Tezzeret's ultimate, this might get in.

So on first pass, I think I'll cut Counterspell, Dismiss, and Rewind (they're all going in another deck anyway) for Ravager, Enlightened Tutor, and Arcbound Crusher to start. I haven't been a huge fan of the countermagic in here - I like to play my spells and honestly there isn't a whole lot I'm worried about people resolving, for the most part. I might cut more, I need to think about whether I want to keep the ones I have there in there or not.

Edit: Also, could you clarify a little on what you mean by "Prison / Stax stuff"? The things that immediately spring to mind hurt me more than they help me (Spheres, Smokestack).

Some suggestions + reasoning:

-> Mortify: you already have the relevant Capsules as well as multiple Tutoreffects to get them; addtionally, there are Vindicate as well as the Adjudicator

-> Debtor's Knell: Very cute, but feels more like a card for a pure controldeck

-> Voltaic Key: Time Vault is banned, I don't see any artifacts with overprized untapcosts, so what is this for?

-> I'd either choose Darkstell Colossus or Inkwell Leviathan; playing seems to be a bit redundant


-> see above


-> I'd also play Triskelion instead of Triskelavus then: shooting opponents to death won't cost a bazillion mana; on the other hand, Crusher triggers when creating tokens with the latter, so...


-> You're probably right with that; adding Ravager offers new possibilities, though.







Null Brooch! And then I get everything back when playing my general!


-> I didn't count the cards in your list, but I somehow assumed that you played a hell of a lot of artifact acceleration as well as Academy, City of Traitors, Temple of the False God and so on so that playing some Spheres or even Smokestack couldn't hurt. Smokestack probably isnt' that hot anymore with Crucible freshly deleted from the banned list.

EDIT:
One card that is really missing in your list is Disciple of the Vault. Adds a little more "Oomph" as well as alternative ways to win (Sharuum + Sculpting Steel while Disciple watches; Ravager obv. and so on).

You've got the Trinket Mage package, but it's missing a few gold standards:

Engineered Explosives
Tormod's Crypt
Pithing Needle

--->DJ

1) Okay, Mortify for Thirst works.
2) Debtors' Knell is something I want to try - I haven't managed to get it into play yet. If it turns out to be lackluster I'll just cut it.
3) Voltaic Key was another Trinket Mage target, but you're right, I'm not running the relevant cards to make it excessively stupid, so I think it's coming out.
4) Colossus and Inkwell redundancy I like - generally speaking I have to worry about either wrath effects or RFG effects, so I fetch whichever is more relevant.

I think this gives me room for the Abunas. Hanna's Custody I'm going to skip since I'm playing the modular stuff and I'd rather not draw into them and not be able to actually move the counters. I think I can find a spot for Triskelion as well as the Triskelavus.

I am playing a lot of artifact acceleration - I could probably support playing spheres if I can find reasonable cuts. Maybe Debtors' Knell comes out after all.

I actually had Disciple in there and cut him because of the infinite combo. I'm trying to decide if I want to risk the wrath of my playgroup to put him back in - if I combo out with him again I'll never be able to play this deck without immediately getting ganged up on again.



I'll have to try and find the slots for them. Thanks for pointing the good ones out. I don't play Trinket Mage very often so I forget the busted ones occasionally.

List in first post is now updated with beaters rather than counterspells. After thinking about it, I decided that in general I'd much rather play more threats and skip the countermagic, minus Cryptic Command because that's great for tapping and bouncing too. I'm keeping Sundering Titan in to use as a political tool to control the person who's offending the table the most at the time. Should that person be me, well...that's why it hits more than one land, right?

Suggestions

Artificer's Intuition and Salvaging Station have proven to be MVPs in my Sharuum deck.

Voyager Staff + Artifact lands + Tormod's Crypt

a little janky ( ) Roar of Reclamation + Tunnel Vision (cast on self naming Roar) is fun

I'm also a fan of Artificer's Intuition over Trinket Mage. I made the switch in my deck a while ago and I've never looked back. Also, i would suggest Mycosynth Lattice. This thing is ridiculous with some of the other cards you can run. With Karn you can stip mine everyone's land, with Clock of Omens and Tolarian Academy you make a ridiculous amount of blue mana. One game I made somewhere around 200 mana and I had a Memnarch out, I'm sure you can guess how that one ended.

Updated list in first post. I dunno what happened to half of it, but when I started updating my accelerants had disappeared. I think it was all there before, either way it's all there now. I can vouch for the awesome that is Artificer's Intuition, repeat tutors + putting stuff in the bin for Sharuum = win.

This deck will definitely be getting major updates in a week, since Reborn has some things that are just nuts (Sen Triplets might be the new general...)

A simple nutz card that has yet to get the ax in EDH:
Mind Over Matter

It works to generate infinite card draw with Arcanis (don't forget your Reliquary Tower) and it powers out some really really dumb turns when you have Tolarian Academy in play. With Master Transmuter it can produce 'X' Sundering Titans where X equals the number of Sharuum Targets still in your hand you need to reanimate. To be completely honest I always cut Artificer's Intuition for Mind Over Matter. Please let me know what other absolutely bonkers things you can do with it. I honestly expected the card to be banned when I turbo Mind into Tezzeret + Time Vault on turn 2.

A hit from the new set should be Time Sieve. I think that Myr Matrix makes this card completely possible in Sharuum, and other mechanics make it even better. If you play a more creature oriented build then Genesis Chamber becomes really nutty (i.e. Esperzoa and other bounce dudes). At the very least it is a time walk once a game. If you get Sharding Sphinx online, then you can go infinite

I really don't like Relic of Progenitus in Sharuum decks. You never want to use it's second ability, Moratorium Stone is almost always strictly better.

If you're going more for beatdown, maybe a Sigil of Distinction?

My problem is I want to be able to kill at least a single graveyard in a single activation. I discovered how unpleasant it is to lose my GY this weekend, so I might be going back to Crypt, especially since it's reusable via Sharuum.



I debated putting Mind Over Matter in here, but one of the reasons I like Artificier's Intuition so much is the fact that it comes down early easily and lets me get my mana all set up for excessive shenanigans in the midgame. I might decide to include it, but I wouldn't be cutting Artificer's Intuition for it.

I like Time Sieve, and if you're looking for silly infinite combos you should definitely include it, especially with Pentavus and Triskelavus. I'll probably end up putting it in eventually but I haven't decided exactly what's going in from Reborn yet.



Not a half bad idea, but I don't need it half the time (hello Magister Sphinx).

Cuts: (5/2/09)
Out: Arcbound Crusher --- In: Sphinx of the Steel Wind
Out: Arcbound Ravager --- In: Filigree Angel
Out: Courier's Capsule --- In: Intuition
Out: Relic of Progenitus --- In: Tormod's Crypt

Cutting Ravager and Crusher because they just don't get there, and I need some more ways to gain life. Big beaters being attached to those ways are a definite plus. Relic getting swapped for Crypt because having to hit my own GY just makes me sad inside. Capsule coming out for Intuition because I'm an idiot and I have no idea why I didn't do that earlier.

Sigil of Distinction might be going in soon, I can't decide what I'd cut. I do like the fact that I can fetch it off Artificer's Intuition and Trinket Mage though. The only problem is it's a terrible recursion target.