Wandering Archaic

Creature — Avatar

Whenever an opponent casts an instant or sorcery spell, they may pay {2}. If they don't, you may copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Brawl	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

DreadKhan on Ertai the Corrupted

2 days ago

I sometimes wonder if Spurnmage Advocate could ever find a home, but seeing this deck makes me wonder if it might fit in here as a deterrent of attackers that can be sacrificed to counter something if you're desperate, it's only W to cast and the downside interacts incredibly well with your Stax effects. For example, if you have Rule of Law out, you can usually give people things like Ponder, as long as they are Sorceries they are almost worthless, if you have an effect that makes lands enter tapped you can give them Fetchlands with a smile. Other Stax/Hatebears let you pick other cards as situationally bad. Another upside of Rule of Law + Advocate is the opponent can't flood the board easily, making the deterrent more effective over time. This advocate is also good with your Drumbellower, especially since it doesn't use extra mana to activate it's ability.

Have you considered tossing Zur the Enchanter in here? You have quite a few small enchantments (18? I run Zur in a deck that can find about 12 cards, and he's an all-star in there), so if you resolve him it could feel pretty good.

Do people play a lot of interaction in your meta? If so I really love having Wandering Archaic  ^Flip out with Rule of Law, it makes it interaction a lot worse vs you, and much better vs most of your opponents.

I'm going to have to fiddle around with your list at some point, I've wondered how effective a competitive deck this Ertai would make, the effect is very strong, and the colours are strong enough, I guess Zur just caught my eye first and I built that way back, and cEDH lists are pricey! Anyways, cool deck idea, hopefully you can keep it updated/polish it up as you notice issues.

Azoth2099 on colorless commander

4 months ago

Here's some spice!

So, as with any other commander, if you want it to be efficient you're gonna need 4 things: Synergistic win conditions, card draw, mana ramp & tutors.

Unfortunately achieving any of these 4 things is going to be exceptionally difficult with no colors lol.

I would recommend changing the commander to Karn, Legacy Reforged, as well as adding a good amount of mana rocks like Mind Stone, Thought Vessel, & Thran Dynamo to help get you where you're going. Cards like Horizon Stone, Sword of the Animist & Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus could also be helpful. Cost reducers like Foundry Inspector, Mycosynth Golem & Cloud Key could be lumped in here as well.

Card draw however is going to be a total pain unless you have a ton of mana, which is why I put ramp first. Cards like The Immortal Sun, Chimil, the Inner Sun & Mind's Eye can provide a lot of value, but if you don't have the mana to power them out it's no bueno. There are cheaper options that will be easier to get out earlier in the game like The One Ring, Scroll Rack & Sensei's Divining Top to consider too.

Tutors and wincons...I am at a loss for. Outside of running some really brutal stax like God-Pharaoh's Statue, Trinisphere, Thorn of Amethyst & Karn, the Great Creator alongside a good ole beatdown strategy, I don't really see how colorless decks can win lol. Luckily there are lots of colorless stax and beaters for you to choose from.

Some additional value pieces to consider before I get out of here: Wandering Archaic  ^Flip, Forsaken Monument, Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Feast and Famine, Krark-Clan Ironworks & maybe even Blightsteel Colossus. Peace!

Azoth2099 on Bwatsizzle Maelstrom

4 months ago

Kalamax! Tight. Here's some recs:

Wandering Archaic  ^Flip, Flusterstorm, Flux Channeler, Twincast, Fork, Reverberate, Reiterate, Radstorm & Spellbinder.

I'd also recommend running some synergistic combos like Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal & Dualcaster Mage + Ghostly Flicker.

Good luck refining your list! Great commander choice.

NV_1980 on The Braided Siren's Song (Show n' Tell Theft)

5 months ago

Great Braids deck; +1! Mine is more Braids-centered than this one, but like you I have a soft-spot for theft-strategies so I applaud the combination and completely get it.

I've found Sakashima of a Thousand Faces to be of excellent value in my own Braids deck. Not just as a copy of Braids, but of my more powerful legendaries as well. For theft I've been using Sphinx Ambassador in my own deck to great effect. Also, Wandering Archaic  ^Flip has been very effective as it allows me to make use of opponents' spells without ever having to pay for it; I consider it theft in a way as well.

Anyways, keep it up with this great build! If you would like to check my deck, you can find it here.

trey12321 on Lathliss, the Hungry Queen

6 months ago

Azoth2099 thanks for the suggestions!

I think I'm more inclined to include rocks than rituals, I am a green player at heart and always prefer continual rather than burst ramp! Thran Dynamo is definitely one I'll be looking at, but I've also considered Heraldic Banner and Throne of Eldraine as solid options. The biggest issue I'm having is generally what to cut for them, the same issue I have for most of these options. Any suggestions there?

Treasonous Ogre isn't one I'd seen before, I'm definitely interested in that. Birgi, God of Storytelling  ^Flip seems more relevant if I'm trying to cast more than 2 spells in a turn, which in most cases I'm not and even then, the payoff seems too small for what the deck does generally speaking, I.E. ramp into Lathliss, then overwhelm the field with every dragon dropped after. Even most of the artifacts and enchantments currently tend to have pretty immediate effect.

I do tend to prefer to have my lands hit the field, though, so Tectonic Reformation seems mostly situationally useful. I tend to need more land draws than action draws with my current high curve, as I'm usually only doing 1 or 2 spells a turn and they're 5-8 CMC. Gamble for sure I'll be looking into, but to be honest I don't regularly find myself looking for any specific cards in the deck, my Sarkhan's Triumph is usually just finding my Utvara Hellkite, so a "win-more" situation generally, but I could see using it particularly for something like Sol Ring early to ramp more consistently. For those same reasons I couldn't really see justifying Fervent Mastery or Reckless Handling. I like being able to plan, and the random discard would be bad enough with Gamble. And yeah, Imperial Recruiter is fantastic but not so much here.

Molten Echoes 100%, I totally spaced that one. Sneak Attack seems good as well but I'd been running in mostly casual circles so I hadn't seriously considered including it before. Mana Echoes=better Birgi? Absolutely interested in this one now, I'd forgotten it existed as well! I'll be honest though, the Underworld Breach+draw spells/wheels is definitely outside of my desired playstyle with the deck, I don't tend to need anything differently than what I have in hand other than making sure I have a good mix of mana/spells in practice. I am running the Blood Moon, mostly because I happened to open the fancy foil one! My playgroups don't tend to justify a Price of Glory and all of my cards tend to be about equal in value, so I don't mind a few getting countered here and there. It tends to be board wipes that are the most impactful to me, or repeated removal of Lathliss, Dragon Queen. Stranglehold does seem good though, I may pick one up.

As far as Universal Automaton, I avoid changelings where possible mostly due to personal preference. I play a lot of tribal decks and it always feels a bit like cheating haha. I use it in decks that want multiple tribes though, like Rin and Seri, Inseparable. I assume you suggest Wandering Archaic  ^Flip in monocolored to specifically cover what the chosen color can't do? I.E. a red deck and Naturalize? I could see it being good, but also giving my opponents the ability to choose doesn't tend to work out too well for me, they tend to focus fire me no matter the game because I play politics whether I'm ahead or behind.

Thanks again for the suggestions, and if you have ideas for what to take out please let me know!

Azoth2099 on Lathliss, the Hungry Queen

7 months ago

trey12321

You need way more ramp in this list if you want it to be consistent with it's curve. Pyretic Ritual, Desperate Ritual, Seething Song & Battle Hymn are all great here. A few more rocks would do you some good as well, like Thran Dynamo & Basalt Monolith. The ones that you usually see in multicolor decks like Arcane Signet & Fellwar Stone are still pretty solid in monocolor builds that aren't {G}.

Treasonous Ogre & Birgi, God of Storytelling  ^Flip are classic {R} bangers that can help ramp you out, with the added benefit of pseudo card-draw on Birgi's flip side.

More card draw and tutors never hurts, either. Tectonic Reformation is pretty nice here since you're running so many lands, & Gamble is one of the best tutors in the game. Fervent Mastery is worth considering, but can obviously be especially punishing for non-graveyard decks. Reckless Handling is pretty nice if you're running some dank artifacts, which you are! Imperial Recruiter is another {R} classic that I wouldn't necessarily recommend for this iteration of your list, but may come in handy later.

Other enchantments to consider here in my opinion are Molten Echoes, Sneak Attack & Mana Echoes as grease for your deck engine. Running Underworld Breach would allow you to more comfortably run {R} draw pieces like Faithless Looting, Thrill of Possibility, Cathartic Reunion, Tormenting Voice, Wheel of Fortune, Magus of the Wheel & Wheel of Misfortune. Also certain stax pieces like Blood Moon, Price of Glory & Stranglehold to help shut down whatever your opponents are trying to do.

Universal Automaton seems like great value here as well, but I could understand not including it. Wandering Archaic  ^Flip on the other hand I would 100% recommend for any & all monocolor decks.

Good luck refining your list!

Azoth2099 on Naban Wizard Tribal

8 months ago

{U} Wizards were my 1st Commander archetype! Here some recs to help you get to, execute & get more value out of your stated wincons a bit faster:

Creatures: Stonybrook Banneret, Snapcaster Mage, Sea Gate Stormcaller, Micromancer, Archmage of Echoes & Wandering Archaic  ^Flip

Artifacts: Jeweled Amulet, Springleaf Drum, Pyre of Heroes, Urza's Incubator, Sensei's Divining Top & Cryptic Gateway

Enchantments: Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Parallel Thoughts, Kindred Discovery & Virtue of Knowledge

Instants: Long-Term Plans & Intuition (just proxy it, who cares lol)

Sorceries: Personal Tutor, Solve the Equation, Step Through, Fabricate, Merchant Scroll

Lands: Cavern of Souls

Incorporating some of the Tutors and card draw & Ramp here will get you there imho. Let me know what you think!

Azoth2099 on ♫ ♪ Grey grey, my world is grey ♫ ♪

8 months ago

enrico81

Hey man! Is there a reason that you're not running Wandering Archaic  ^Flip?