[EDH] Arcum Dagsson - Prison Tinkerer

[GGoober]

So Arcum was my second EDH general (first general was Rhys the Redeemed). A few years ago, I worked on a pretty competitive and cutthroat list that did well for me. Ever since Tolarian Academy and Staff of Domination were banned, I took the deck apart and stopped playing EDH for a good number of years. Recently, my Legacy playgroup has expressed EDH interest, and I decided to sleeve back Dagsson. With a few years of experience playing Legacy and Eternal format, I would say that the list was much more streamlined than before.

This list is well capable for multiplayer games as well, but I would not advise bringing it to a casual group.


[1 GENERAL]
1 Arcum Dagsson

[35 LAND]
12 Island
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Academy Ruins
1 Buried Ruin
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Petrified Fields
1 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Rishadan Port
1 Dustbowl
1 Crystal Vein
1 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
1 Mishra's Workshop
1 Tolaria West

[15 NON-ARTIFACT]
1 Pact of Negation
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mana Drain
1 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fabricate
1 Intuition
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Mind over Matter
1 Time Spiral
1 Future Sight
1 Magus of the Future
1 Power Artifact

[24 ACCELERANT]
1 Lotus Petal
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Mox Opal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Guardian Idol
1 Manakin
1 Millikin
1 Plague Myr
1 Silver Myr
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mind Stone
1 Alloy Myr
1 Palladium Myr
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Thran Dyanmo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Voltaic Key
1 Filigree Sages
1 Clock of Omens
1 Cloud Key

[8 PRISON/OTHERS]
1 Spellskite
1 Possessed Portal
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Darksteel Forge
1 Phyrexian Revoker

[11 CARD ADVANTAGE]
1 Expedition Map
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Myr Retriever
1 Junk Diver
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Memory Jar
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Planar Portal
1 Master Transmuter
1 Myr Turbine
1 Rings of Brighthearth

[6 REMOVAL]
1 Pithing Needle
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Nevinryal's Disk
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Duplicant
1 Spine of Ish Sah



Here's the decklist/deck-analysis on my google spreadsheet:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spre...hl=en_US#gid=6

The way that I play Arcum is:

1. Play all the best accelerants the format has to offer
2. Play all the creature accelerants that ACCELERATE Arcum i.e. 2cmc Myrs
3. Have a focused combo plan (essentially, it's really Rings+Basalt+SDT, Possessed Portal)
4. Card-efficient combo (i.e. you want combos that have components that are not worthless on their own)
5. Every other card in the deck has to pull its weight and be amazing when drawn.

ACCELERANTS

Without a doubt, every competitive cutthroat EDH deck should play:
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Opal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mind Stone
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Thran Dyanmo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Voltaic Key


I don't support Chrome Mox due to my tremendously low blue count. The other Arcum-related accelerants are:
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Guardian Idol
1 Manakin
1 Millikin
1 Plague Myr
1 Silver Myr
1 Alloy Myr
1 Palladium Myr
1 Filigree Sages
1 Clock of Omens
1 Cloud Key

MYRS
The 2cmc Myrs are mandatory in Arcum. They accelerate him out a turn faster and feed him for tutoring. The 3cmc Myrs are less impressive but could create the mana required for situations where you do not draw your 4th landdrop otherwise i.e. it's to decrease variance of not being able to cast Arcum. Alloy Myr is the weakest slot but can't be replaced unless they are printing more artifact creature accelerants.


FILIGREE SAGES
Filigree Sages is there because it is completely busted with a Power Artifact (untapping Gilded Lotus) or when you have infinite mana out with Mycosynth Lattice, you can start untapping Planar Portal or Arcum and play out your whole deck).


CLOCK OF OMENS
This card is really busted, despite looking like a bad Voltaic Key initially. I would prefer an 'untap all artifacts' effect but it doesn't seem that such alternatives exist that allow you to untap artifacts at instant speed. With a Mycosynthe Lattice in play, this card because hilarious (you can tap your lands to untap Arcum and other things etc).


NON-ARTIFACT

1 Pact of Negation
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mana Drain
1 Force of Will
1 Misdirection
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Fabricate
1 Intuition
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Mind over Matter
1 Time Spiral
1 Future Sight
1 Magus of the Future
1 Power Artifact

PERMISSION
Permission package includes the mandatory: Pact of Negation, Mana Drain, FoW, Misdirection. Hinder was initially in the list but was much inferior to Muddle the Mixture since you are really not interested in a 3cmc counterspell v.s. a 2cmc version that could tutor for combo pieces such as Grim Monolith, Power Artifact or Mana Drain


TUTORS
The other cards need no explanation. MTutor, Intuition, Fabricate are powerful tutors, Tezzeret allows you to win games without ever having to activate Arcum (go grab Rings of Brighthearth first, and setup for Rings+Basalt+SDT win). Mind Over Matter is completely stupid in the format. Time Spiral, Future Sight/Magus of the Future gives huge card advantage.


FUTURE SIGHT
I play 2x Future Sight effects because resolving one already guarantees huge card advantage above your opponents, and supports the Etherium Sculptor/Cloud Key + SDT combo. (Remember that you want to play combo shells that don't have worthless combo components. This is the reason why I don't play Mind Over Matter + [cards]Temple Bell[cards] + Eldrazi combo because the Temple Bell/Eldrazi is really terrible on their own).

I used to run Mind's Eye but has since taken it out because I am never tinkering for Mind's Eye with Arcum and if I needed cards from Arcum, Memory Jar is the prime target with Arcum. Therefore drawing Mind's Eye because much inferior to drawing Magus of the Future (Magus replaced Mind's Eye).



PRISON
1 Static Orb
1 Mindslaver
1 Possessed Portal
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Karn, Silver Golem
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Darksteel Forge


POSSESSED PORTAL
I used to play Winter Orb, in fact, I was the first person on MTGS that suggested that the crucial piece for a successful Arcum list was really revolving around Winter Orb. Things have changed since then because the old strategy of going Winter Orb+Tangle Wire into Candelabra of Tawnos and Tolarian Academy was just way too slow. Winter Orb also did not get around competitive decks that played out its artifact mana fast. In replacement, Static Orb proved to be much devastating, but is still the weakest slot that could be cut from the list.

The true prison replacement in this list that allowed me to cut down on 2 card slots in my older lists (Tangle Wire, Smokestack) was Possessed Portal. Getting a turn 3 Possessed Portal is backbreaking. Portal ensures that the game state never advances and only retards for both players. However, since you have a tutoring general in play that usually comes out faster than opposing generals (due to the monoU and heavy artifact/accelerant-theme to Arcum), you can lock people out much faster without the need to go through multiple turns under a Winter Orb to find your combo pieces while maintaining the lock.

Possessed Portal is perhaps one of the three targets that you always tinker first. If it sticks, Tinkering up a Spine of Ish Sha when you have 7 mana available allows you to sac Spine, play spine and put them back to ground zero. Otherwise tutoring Crucible of Worlds or Myr Turbine also creates the lock.


MYCOSYNTHE LATTICE
Mycosynthe Lattice is another busted card that you tutor up as a finishing combo. I seldom find myself going the Mycosynthe Lattice + Darksteel Forge + Nevinrryal's Disk combo these days. It is great to have a backup assymetrical boardwipe/wincon and it is the only reason why the combo is still there (Disk/Forge themselves are not bad cards in this deck). Lattice is really used to power out combo win conditions such as:

- Lattice + Clock of Omens + Arcum etc
- Lattice + infinite colorless mana allows you to cast everything in your deck (even Mind Over Matter. The mana-fixing of Lattice is huge to powering out the heavy-U combos).
- Lattice + Karn

Arcum is really nothing without Lattice in the list. Lattice fulfills all the combo/accelerant/prison that the deck ever needs.


CARD ADVANTAGE
1 Expedition Map
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Myr Retriever
1 Junk Diver
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Memory Jar
1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
1 Planar Portal
1 Master Transmuter
1 Myr Turbine
1 Rings of Brighthearth


EXPEDITION MAP
Primarily fetches Mishra's Workshop or Strip Mine (with Crucible lock). With M12, fetching Buried Ruins makes the Map incredibly powerful. Buried Ruins is ages better than Academy Ruins in this deck.

TOP
Great by itself, but a combo piece for Future Sight/Magus of the Future + Top or Rings of Brighthearth+Basalt Monolith+Top (this combo is tutorable by Arcum/Tezzeret). Sometimes I wonder why Top isn't banned in this format.

MYR RETRIEVER/JUNK DIVER
I used to run crap like Copper Gnomes but these little dudes are incredibly powerful in the deck. They can sustain a few critters for Arcum to sac, or recur Jars and more powerful artifacts

MEMORY JAR
Why is this unbanned in EDH? Used primarily when you have tons of artifact mana out to play out your hands (not too hard for this deck), or used in conjunction with Mind Over Matter to untap lots of Gilded Lotus

PLANAR PORTAL
Tutored out in the late-game to assemble combos involving cards that are otherwise untutorable such as Mind Over Matter and Future Sight. With Infinite colorless mana out and an untapper e.g. Clock of Omens, you can win games from there.

MYR TURBINE
This card is one of the top 5 most frequently tutored pieces. It allows you to tinker every turn. It replaced the old Nuisance Engine since it does not need mana investment to make a token. Also, it allows my deck to be even more Myr-themed so my Myr tokens and Myr Life counters look more awesome.

RINGS OF BRIGHTHEARTH
The most busted card in the format. In any deck, this card should always be played. It's both fun, and tremendously broken with ANYTHING (Planeswalkers/Stripmines/Planar Portal/Arcum/Clock of Omens etc)