Ghen, Arcanum Weaver

[NZB2323]

I'm very excited to have a Mardu enchantment commander, but I need your help to create the right deck. This is what I've come up with so far. I've got the Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond combo, the Necropotence/Solitary Confinement synergy, a bunch of hate cards, and enchantment removal, but this is just a rough draft for what I want the deck to be. Right now it feels like it has too many 3 drops and I know I'm missing something.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander 1

1 Ghen, Arcanum Weaver

Enchantments 33

1 Land Tax

1 Sanctum of stone fangs

1 Curse of Opulence

1 Authority of the Consuls

1 Stony Silence

1 Greater Auramancy

1 Darksteel Mutation

1 Ghostly Prison

1 Aura of Silence

1 Grasp of Fate

1 Oblivion Ring

1 Banishing Light

1 Tainted Remedy

1 Nevermore

1 Blood Moon

1 Solemnity

1 solitary confinement

1 Phyrexian Unlife

1 Karmic Justic

1 Necropotence

1 Crackdown

1 Smothering Tithe

1 No Mercy

1 Stranglehold

1 Sphere of Safety

1 Sigil of the Empty Throne

1 Elspeth Conquers Death

1 Painful Quandry

1 Exquisite Blood

1 Sanguine Blood

1 Liliana's Contract

1 Burning Sands

1 Etheral Absolution

Creatures 6

1 mother of runes

1 giver of runes

1 Starfield Mystic

1 Mesa Enchantress

1 Agent of Erebos

1 Doomwake Giant

Artifacts 10

1 Sol Ring

1 swiftfoot boots

1 lightning greaves

1 Arcane signet

1 boros signet

1 rakdos signet

1 orzhov signet

1 talisman of conviction

1 talisman of hierarchy

1 talisman of indulgence

Instants 13

1 Entomb

1 Path to Exile

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Enlightened Tutor

1 Despark

1 Boros charm

1 Rakdos charm

1 Kholaghan's Command

1 Anguished Unmaking

1 Generous Gift

1 Kaya's Guile

1 Utter End

Sorceries 4

1 Replenish

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Idyllic Tutor

1 Austere Command

Lands

1 command tower

1 vault of champions

1 spectator seating

1 Luxury Suite

1 arid mesa

1 marsh flats

1 bloodstained mire

1 sacred foundry

1 blood crypt

1 godless shrine

1 clifftop retreat

1 isolated chapel

1 dragonskull summit

1 kaves of koilios

1 battlefield forge

1 sulfurous springs

1 fetid heath

1 graven cairns

1 rugged prarie

1 hall of heliod's generosity

1 savai triome

1 bojuka bog

1 mountain

5 swamp

5 plains

Approximate Total Cost:

[weltkrieg]

You have a lot of potentially solid cards, but I am failing to see a coherent strategy. Ghen, arcanum weaver really feels like unexplored design space for BIG enchantment reanimator. For example, you could use a proactive enchantment based strategy to curse your opponents. You are in the 3 best colors (in my opinion) for such a strategy. Overwhelming Splendor is such a card, but far from the only one.

In such a case, you need looting/graveyard synergy (Entomb is noted) whereas a card like Gravebreaker Lamia is powerful, but somehow not present despite being as good as it is going to get for a card not named entomb. Other than that, I see a lot of griefer/stax enchantments, but they seem to do little besides making the table hate you. If you're going to be hated, then lock them out!

If you can, I would try to use smaller enchantments with powerful etb triggers then sacrifice them to ghen to get the bigger enchantments out later. Examples would include, but are not limited to:

Omen of the Dead
Sarcomancy
Animate Dead (note: doesn't say it has to be your creature that gets animated)
Oath of Chandra
Rise of the Hobgoblins (doubles as wincondition and loves to be reanimated)
Trial of Ambition
Treacherous Blessing

The constellation cards in black are often overcosted, so something like Thoughtrender Lamia becomes more viable when you're reanimating for 3 mana. Of course, if you kill enough creatures (or cause enough discard/mill), then hedonist's trove becomes a beating and you're only aiming to pay 3 for it AND it becomes reuseable.

I could keep going on and on, but I would pick a strategy or two and stick with it.

[3drinks]

How can we shift this into an Enduring Ideal deck?

Cons: no access to Wheel of Sun and Moon, Paradox Haze, or Copy Enchantment.

Those are some big strikes but the epic spell is strong enough, I think, that it should be a genuinely viable strategy.

[NZB2323]

How can we shift this into an Enduring Ideal deck?

Cons: no access to Wheel of Sun and Moon, Paradox Haze, or Copy Enchantment.

Those are some big strikes but the epic spell is strong enough, I think, that it should be a genuinely viable strategy.

I think these cards would be the best with Enduring Ideal:

• Captive Audience
• Debtors' Knell
• Eldrazi Conscription

I think I may go the other way though and play a bunch of low curve enchantments that have great value with Constellation creatures, Sigil of the Empty Throne, Sphere of Safety, and can be sacrifice fodder for Ghen. Something like:

Ghen, Prison Warden

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander 1

1 Ghen, Arcanum Weaver

Instants 5

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Enlightened Tutor

1 Boros Charm

1 Thrill of Possibility

Sorceries 3

1 Gamble

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Replenish

Creatures 8

1 Starfield Mystic

1 Mesa Enchantress

1 Grim Guardian

1 Fate Unraveler

1 Agent of Erebos

1 Gravebreaker Lamia

1 Doomwake Giant

1 Thoughtrender Lamia

Enchantments 46

1 Land Tax

1 Authority of the Consuls

1 Seal of Fire

1 Sarcomancy

1 On Thin Ice

1 Viper's Kiss

1 Hyena Umbra

1 Kaya's Ghostform

1 Circle of Flame

1 Deathgrip

1 Blind Obedience

1 Smoke

1 Greater Auramancy

1 Stony Silence

1 Seal of Cleansing

1 Darksteel Mutation

1 Reprobation

1 Journey to Nowhere

1 Seal Away

1 Phyrexian Arena

1 Necropotence

1 Blood Moon

1 Engineered Plague

1 Tainted Remedy

1 Ghostly Prison

1 Grasp of Fate

1 An-Zerrin Ruins

1 Cast Out

1 Gideon's Intervention

1 Ixalan's Binding

1 Stranglehold

1 No Mercy

1 Sigil of the Empty Throne

1 Curse of Marit Lage

1 The Eldest Reborn

1 Liliana's Contract

1 Elspeth Conquers Death

1 Conquer

1 Sphere of Safety

1 Liliana's Mastery

1 Martyr's Bond

1 Ethereal Absolution

1 Necromancer's Covenant

1 Debtors' Knell

1 Captive Audience

1 Eldrazi Conscription

Lands 37

1 Command Tower

1 Vault of Champions

1 Spectator Seating

1 Luxury Suite

1 bojuka bog

1 Serra's Sanctum

1 Bloodstained Mire

1 Marsh Flats

1 Arid Mesa

1 Plateau

1 Badlands

1 Scrubland

1 Godless Shrine

1 Sacred Foundry

1 Blood Crypt

1 Dragonskull Summit

1 Isolated Chapel

1 Clifftop Retreat

1 Caves of Koilos

1 Battlefield Forge

1 Sulfurous Springs

1 Graven Cairns

1 Fetid heath

1 Rugged Prairie

7 Snow-Covered Plains

5 Snow-Covered Swamp

1 Snow-Covered Mountain

Approximate Total Cost:

I also tried to cut down on the number of 3 drops since my last list had an extensive amount of 3 drops and both Ghen and his ability cost 3 mana.