[deck] Arcane Control

[Negator131]

Here's the decklist. I'm sort of a multiplayer Johnny - Spike; I like building decks around block / underused mechanics and make them winners. So, without further ado, here goes:

SpliceIsPureCardAdvantage.dec

Arcane - 11
4 Peer Through Depths
4 Kodama's Reach
2 Cranial Extraction
1 Rend Flesh

Spliceable - 8
4 Glacial Ray
2 Horobi's Whisper
1 Wear Away
1 Consuming Vortex

Spirit Backup - 8
4 Thief of Hope
3 Hana Kami
1 The Unspeakable

Non-Arcane Non-Spirit - 14
4 Force of Will
4 Accumulated Knowledge
R Demonic Tutor
R Fact or Fiction
4 Birds of Paradise

Land - 19
4 Polluted Delta
4 Tropical Island
3 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All

The main problem with the deck is its lack of a true finisher. Thief of Hope in multiples is generally gg's, as is a protected The Unspeakable. However, neither are particularly easy to attain. The most common path to victory in this deck is splicing three or four Glacial Rays onto multiple Arcane spells. The Unspeakable costs 6UUU, and double Thief isn't easy in a deck with so little card draw.

This deck is really trying to be strong, but it needs a little more oomph, so to speak. A little more power. With all the Kamigawa-block cards held together by so few older, truly powerful cards, this is understandable. Now, on to the oddball card choices, as there are a few.

Thief of Hope?
He provides the extra life loss I really need to finish the currently targetted opponent, keeps me alive in the late game, beats for two, and Soulshifts back Hana Kami. He slices, he dices, he even makes Julienne Fries!

The Unspeakable?
I'm not gonna lie, I don't like this guy either. However, he was the finisher that was most synergistic with my deck. The only real problem with him in my book is... his INSANE mana cost. 6UUU. If anyone can suggest a better true win condition, by all means do. For now, it's just this guy.

No Intuition with AK's?
This is a metagame call. A lot of my opponents play semi-control decks with AK's, and I find it easier to capitalize off the situation when I'm not tempted to Intuition for 3x AK. As the Hulk mirror illustrates, the person to Intuition first will lose, almost assuredly, and my opponents don't even have the option, as they don't run Intuition by virtue of not owning any. I would run it in a more aggro-dominated environment, however.

Boseiju?
Again, I play in a control-dominated metagame, and the tempo swing from a countered Peer through Depths // Glacial Ray // Glacial Ray // Horobi's Whisper on their endstep is GARGANTUAN. Demonic Tutor for Boseiju has won me games I had no business winning.

Five basics in a deck with four Kodama's Reaches?
Because of the way the splice mechanic works, and how colored mana-intensive it is, I really need lots of sources of all four colors in my deck. I've simply resigned myself to the last two Reaches being relatively dead in my deck in the interest of mana stability, and lack of a better option.

Comment away! Any input would be extremely appreciated.

[Ephraim]

It looks as though this deck may not deal combat damage all that much. If you could squeeze in an evasive creature or two -- Gibbering Kami, Soratami Mirror Guard, or Minamo Sight-Bender, you might be able to make a potent finisher out of Umezawa's Jitte. Make the equipped creature unblockable with Sight-Bender or Mirror-Guard to get two charge counters each turn until you build up enough to pump the creature to lethal proportions for the kill -- plus the Jitte offers potent control options in the meanwhile.

[Jacob Orlove]

If you could squeeze in an evasive creature or two -- Gibbering Kami, Soratami Mirror Guard, or Minamo Sight-Bender, you might be able to make a potent finisher out of Umezawa's Jitte.

Why do you need evasion for the Jitte? It triggers on any combat damage, not just to players.

[Negator131]

Umezawa's Jitte doesn't seem particularly synergistic with the deck, as it only runs eight creatures, four of which I really don't want to attack with.

As a sidenote, I'm testing Callow Jushi // Jaraku the Interloper in place of some Thieves of Hope (maybe as a 2/3 Jushi / Thief ratio) and they're looking pretty impressive. Any thoughts? For those that don't know:

Callow Jushi - 1UU
Creature - Human Wizard
Whenever you play a spirit or arcane spell, you may put a ki counter on Callow Jushi. At end of turn, if there are two or more ki counters on Callow Jushi, you may flip it.
2/2
//
Jaraku the Interloper
Legendary Creature - Spirit.
Remove a ki counter from Jaraku the Interloper: Counter target spell unless its controller pays 2.
3/4

Also, I want to find a slot for Yawgmoth's Will. It's..  well, it's Yawgmoth's Will. It's also quite broken in this deck because replaying multiple expended Peer through Depths is pretty amazing, along with replaying Accumulated Knowledge for four and three. And replaying expended Hana Kamis for later recursion. And... it's Yawgmoth's Will, use your imagination .

[Randomatmmachine]

I am a big fan of the following as finishers
Sashikma the Imposter
--> Can copy Kiki Jiki, Darksteel Colossus, Anything, then be returned to hand for BB2
Also
Shaperstealer is also an interesting choice I am running
--> Can block and destroy any creature it comes in contact with it takes on the copies power and toughness
Why Not
Kira the Great Glassspinner
--> all of a sudden talk about card advantage, it gives all your creatures a little help
- Random -

[yawgwin]

Ire of Kaminari is a pretty good finisher. I've been testing an arcane based deck for casual play that uses dampen thought to splice and mill your own cards into the yard. Once you get a decent splice engine down with that, it's not too hard to finish the game with an Ire. My build is obviously going to look very different. But I think replacing the Unspeakable and maybe 1 Kodama's Reach with 2 Ire of Kaminari will drastically change the time is takes you to win games.

[Ephraim]

Ire of Kaminari is a pretty good finisher. I've been testing an arcane based deck for casual play that uses dampen thought to splice and mill your own cards into the yard. Once you get a decent splice engine down with that, it's not too hard to finish the game with an Ire. My build is obviously going to look very different. But I think replacing the Unspeakable and maybe 1 Kodama's Reach with 2 Ire of Kaminari will drastically change the time is takes you to win games.

I concur. Since you're not running Hana Kami, your graveyard is liable to fill up with arcane spells. I have found that Ire of Kaminari is a very reliable way to deal 5+ damage under such circumstances. Although red seldom lacks for late-game finishers, since it has access to Blaze and Fireball, it is nice to have a late-game finisher that doesn't take up all of your mana.

[Randomatmmachine]

Ire of Kaminari is a pretty good finisher. I've been testing an arcane based deck for casual play that uses dampen thought to splice and mill your own cards into the yard. Once you get a decent splice engine down with that, it's not too hard to finish the game with an Ire. My build is obviously going to look very different. But I think replacing the Unspeakable and maybe 1 Kodama's Reach with 2 Ire of Kaminari will drastically change the time is takes you to win games.

I concur. Since you're not running Hana Kami, your graveyard is liable to fill up with arcane spells. I have found that Ire of Kaminari is a very reliable way to deal 5+ damage under such circumstances. Although red seldom lacks for late-game finishers, since it has access to Blaze and Fireball!

So here we are after I rebuilt the Ire Deck.
So you all seemed right on:

i.e.
Cranial Extraction ----- > Ire

How do I win?
Well I won a few times against the following:

White Weenie x 12
Black Hand x 13

With out the rebuild, mainly through decking the opponent.
Or
By direct damage with lava spike and glacial ray.  This lead to frustrated opponents.

So after I lost to the following:

Mono Blue x 15
Blu Tron x 20
Tooth x 12
Gifts x 9

I rebuilt the deck please see below:

4 x Ire of Kamiari
4 x Desperate Ritual
4 x Glacial Ray
4 x Ideas Unbound
4 x Peer Thru the Depths
2 x Murmurs From Beyond
2 x Eerie Procession
1 x Umzewas Jitte
1 x Generals Kabuto
1 x Tatsuma, The Dragons Fang
4 x Manriki – Ugarwri
3 x Godo, the Bandit Warlord
2 x Sashikma, the Imposter
2 x Shard Phoniex
1 x Shivan Reef
2 x Quicksand
10 x Mountain
9 x Island

This build has been even more successful.  I can handle the mono green madness, and gifts decks or tron decks.

Actually this deck can thrash white and black weenie hordes. (Which it has been doing)!!!!
Hint = Shard Phoneix

Mono Blu will always be a little problem --- > Counter Magic
Tooth --- > have started to win Shashikma copies darksteel colossus, kiki jikis, or anything can swing for the win
Gifts --- >The bane of this deck cranial extraction is in this deck in mulitiples --- > So when the opponent CE = Ire thinking they have stripped me of the win I surprise them with the godo .. generals kabuto .. etc
Blu Tron (very popular) --- > Sashikma helps copy, Manriki – Ugarwri too destroy pesky equipment like the jitte or swords,

Overall the rebuild is fun and people enjoy playing against the deck.

Anyway! I took the floors advice and rebuilt.
Please go ahead and try it.
Tell me more.

-Random-