Ardenn & Ishai: Scalable, Political, Interactive & Voltron-deck

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RogHimself
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Post by RogHimself » 3 years ago

Hi Everyone,

I would like to share a fresh decklist with you, it's one that I've been brewing for the last couple of days, and is one that I haven't seen anywhere else yet. I wanted to go a different route with Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, than the usual red-voltron deck that's been going around everywhere. One might say it's comparable to running Bruna as a commander, but with a lower curve, more politics, and more than one voltron-target. A big pro that Ardenn has is that it scales nicely during the early, mid and late game: you're not being punished for placing your disruptive enchantments on "low"-cost threats early game, since you can move these around on other threats as the game goes.

Ardenn's enchantments
Approximate Total Cost:

In summary, it's a deck that's focused on enchantments and equipment..... *YAWN*......... please bear with me though. The enchantments and equipment's have been selected carefully for them to be multi-purpose: I want most of them to be useable on my own creatures (my commander Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker preferably, to get in for some sweet commander damage), but also on my opponents threats. The strategy for the deck is to let my opponents battle it off by boosting their creatures and deny their attacks on me (like Psychic Impetus), or incentivize attacks on my opponents so they choose for that themselves (Curse of Verbosity). Once one or two opponents are down, I want to place a lot of these enchantments and equipments with Ardenn's ability on one of my own creatures to finish them off efficiently.

Some honorable mentions:

- Pariah: stick it on an enemy creature, preferably one that I made indestructible with Darksteel Plate so I won't lose life or my Fog Bank to deviate combat damage.
- Spellskite, Mother of Runes (also usable on an attacking goaded enemy's creature to drain the defending player's life) and Bastion Protector can drop before I drop my commander, to give a first layer of protection
- Mirror Mockery: Place this on an enemy threat, suddenly this threat is only looking at my opponent(s) instead of at me. Fog bank serves a similar role, why attack me when you won't get damage in anyway?
- Duelist's Heritage: Nothing beats giving an enemy's creature double strike once's he declared his attackers (which he was forced to with one of the Goad enchantments). Great political tool as well.
- Inkmoth Nexus: Change your land into a 1/1 infect creature before combat, drop all enchantments and equipment on it with Ardenn and slam for victory (make sure you win, because end of turn all goes to the graveyard)
- Infiltration Lens & Skullclamp: send to an enemy creature with Ardenn and get some good draws. If opponent doesn't block the infiltration lens, all good, we like to see some damage get in. Skullclamp serves as a form of removal in this case as well.
- True-Name Nemesis, Kor Spiritdancer & Heavenly Blademaster: Great finishers beside my commander.
- Estrid's Invocation on Sage's Reverie? Hell yes, card advantage through the roof. Estrid also fits the whole scaling nicely theme since you can re-choose a new target based on that current needs everytime it's my turn. Also good synergy witht Archon of Sun's Grace - lifelink tokens every round!
- Assault Suit: Place it on Ishai, pass it around to your opponents, sweet commander damage made even on opponents' turn. Also gives my commander haste and a nice stat boost. Note I can also play this on my opponents commanders with Ardenn's ability.
- Spirit Link: put on opponents creatures to nullify attacks on me
- Flickering Ward, good all-round synergy in the deck, and a nice little draw engine with Kor Spiritdancer
- Parallax Wave, great flexible removal, used as a 4 mana-5 target removal to get in for the kill, or play slowly and eliminate 1 threat for 5 turns. Also recurrable with Starfield of Nyx.
- Imagine.. turn 3 Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, then turn 4 immediately attach Helm of the Host with Ardenn's ability on whichever creature on the board and start generating tokens. Yes it works like this! :)

My intention for it is to be a fun interactive deck, but also one that has some good win-potential. Since I'm not an experienced deck-builder I'm really curious what you think about it, does it have potential? Or do you see certain weaknesses or improvements?

G'day!
Last edited by RogHimself 3 years ago, edited 8 times in total.

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RogHimself
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Post by RogHimself » 3 years ago

Added Mystic Remora, since card draw is so important in this deck. This also functions as a nice little engine with Starfield of Nyx or Estrid's Invocation

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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 3 years ago

Your foil tags or whatever you tried to do for your commanders isn't working (also, this is just my opinion, but I don't think anyone really cares whether you have them in foil - it's the list that matters).

I like a lot of the cute equipment that work really wonkily when attached to enemy creatures - helm, clamp, assault suit...Pariah's Shield really ought to be on there. There's also some really funny stuff going on - I think - with equipment like Seraphic Greatsword that generates tokens - you get the token, I think it's still tapped, but obviously not attacking. So that might be worth including as well. Basically anything with sweet triggers (incl swords of X and Y if you can afford them) that don't care whether you're the creature's controller seem hilarious.

Less sold on some of the auras. A lot just look too low-impact to be worth it imo. spirit link, battle mastery - I mean, you get free attachment anyway with Ardenn, why not use Fireshrieker (or hell, Grappling Hook - the extra mana might actually be worth it here). Being able to move the auras is neat, but the bigger issue is that they'll get trashed against removal, and you have very few ways to stop that from happening. Equipment seems a lot safer of an investment to me.

I'd also run at least a few more counters. One Bane of Progress and you're pretty rekt.

Not sure about Ishai. He's fine I guess, but honestly he can be a bit of a removal magnet once he gets big, and he's not giving you a lot that you need. If you want to beat face with your commander and unlock more colors, Kraum, Ludevic's Opus might be your best choice - could 1-shot people out of nowhere. Alternately, if you want a lower threat profile and to stay in a simple 2-color CI, Esior, Wardwing Familiar might be the best option. Gives you nice turn 2 and 3 plays, and it'll also make you significantly less vulnerable to targeted removal, while also giving people a lot less motivation to use it.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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not-a-cube
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Post by not-a-cube » 3 years ago

RogHimself wrote:
3 years ago

- Imagine.. turn 3 Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, then turn 4 immediately attach Helm of the Host with Ardenn's ability on whichever creature on the board and start generating tokens. Yes it works like this! :)
I might be wrong, but this would only make tokens the next turn? which gives your opponents an entire turn to deal with it. Because both abilities trigger at the same moment, at which point the helm isn't attached and does nothing? It wouldn't trigger again after Ardenn resolves.

Still i like the idea and Ardenn does look like an interesting commander.
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RogHimself
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Post by RogHimself » 3 years ago

@DirkGently

Removed the foil tags so they are better visible.

You're right that the aura's are more vulnerable than equipments. Still I've opted to go with as much enchant aura's as possible, because they synergize well with Kor Spiritdancer and others like Archon of Sun's Grace or Protean Thaumaturge, and also with my graveyard recursion. To compensate I tried to add in as much graveyard-to-battlefield recursion as possible, hence cards like Retether and Starfield of Nyx (other recursion-cards works on the artifacts as well, like Open the Vaults and Sevinne's Reclamation. An advantage that the aura's have compared to the equipment, is that I don't need Ardenn for them to equip them to an enemy, which plays a big role in these graveyard recursion cards. Besides a downside of Ardenn is that you can only target 1 permanent every combat (on which you want to attach something), so my thought was that I want aura's to be in place as much as possible on enemy creatures, and leave them as is, and use the equipments on different threats.

I'm not sure I agree with you on Spirit Link being weak. Placing this aura on a high statted opposing creature kind of 'stalls' this creature, since attacks will only help me? Only for one mana.

Also you're right about Ishai not being the best commander ever, though I'm hoping he will play his role in this deck. He's only there to get boosted just enough so that my aura's and EQ's will get him to 11 (+double strike) damage in one round. The only reason to play him is when I want to go in for the kill, so people will only have 1-2 turns to remove him. One sidenote I'll have to make is that my playgroup doesn't play too much removal, which should improve my chances drastically. I understand in more competitive playgroups this will be too weak.
Last edited by RogHimself 3 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

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RogHimself
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Post by RogHimself » 3 years ago

not-a-cube wrote:
3 years ago
RogHimself wrote:
3 years ago

- Imagine.. turn 3 Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, then turn 4 immediately attach Helm of the Host with Ardenn's ability on whichever creature on the board and start generating tokens. Yes it works like this! :)
I might be wrong, but this would only make tokens the next turn? which gives your opponents an entire turn to deal with it. Because both abilities trigger at the same moment, at which point the helm isn't attached and does nothing? It wouldn't trigger again after Ardenn resolves.

Still i like the idea and Ardenn does look like an interesting commander.
Actually I'm pretty sure it works like this:

I play the helm on turn 4. Combat phase starts. The helm triggers & Ardenn's ability triggers. I prioritize Ardenn's trigger first (choosing the helm to equip on creature X) and after that the helm ability resolves with creature X assigned as the equipped creature thus the token.

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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 3 years ago

I concur with your understanding of the helm rules. If the helm said "if helm is equipped, make a copy" then it wouldn't trigger in time, but since it will always trigger even when unequipped, you can just stack them so that it will resolve last and copy whatever you target.

Tbh I'm unmoved by the enchantress triggers - you don't get to run enough of them, and a lot of the triggers just aren't that exciting imo. I mean kor spiritdancer is probably your best one, and it's mostly worse than Sram, Senior Edificer or Puresteel Paladin. Equipment also just seems so much more interesting since it normally can't equip enemy creatures - so there are really unexpected interactions. You could put Sword of the Paruns on an enemy creature to keep it tapped down while buffing your team, lol. Whereas something like spirit link on an enemy creature is a thing already without ardenn being involved, and tbh he doesn't make it much better (and it's a very weak play normally). All he lets you do is play it on a suboptimal target early before moving it onto a better target later, which usually won't be very impactful.

To me, the things that could make a more aura-focused version of Ardenn reasonable would be:

going all-in GW+ enchantress
triggers on every re-enchant like Bramble Elemental and Brood Keeper (I don't think there are enough of these to be truly exciting though)

UW just doesn't have the payoffs.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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Antis
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Post by Antis » 3 years ago

DirkGently wrote:
3 years ago
going all-in GW+ enchantress
...
UW just doesn't have the payoffs.
Or they could go Bant with Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix as the partner, That would allow them to play all the green Enchantress stuff and then get mana for all the extra cards drawn from those.

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DirkGently
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Post by DirkGently » 3 years ago

That's why I put the plus sign there, to indicate extra colours would be fine.
Perm Decks
Phelddagrif - Kaervek - Golos - Zirilan

Flux Decks
Gollum - Lobelia - Minthara - Plargg2 - Solphim - Otharri - Graaz - Ratchet - Soundwave - Slicer - Gale - Rootha - Kagemaro - Blorpityblorpboop - Kayla - SliverQueen - Ivy - Falco - Gluntch - Charlatan/Wilson - Garth - Kros - Anthousa - Shigeki - Light-Paws - Lukka - Sefris - Ebondeath - Rokiric - Garth - Nixilis - Grist - Mavinda - Kumano - Nezahal - Mavinda - Plargg - Plargg - Extus - Plargg - Oracle - Kardur - Halvar - Tergrid - Egon - Cosima - Halana+Livio - Jeska+Falthis+Obosh - Yeva - Akiri+Zirda - Lady Sun - Nahiri - Korlash - Overlord+Zirda - Chisei - Athreos2 - Akim - Cazur+Ukkima - Otrimi - Otrimi - Kalamax - Ayli+Lurrus - Clamilton - Gonti - Heliod2 - Ayula - Thassa2 - Gallia - Purphoros2 - Rankle - Uro - Rayami - Gargos - Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa - Ashling1 - Angus - Arcum - Talrand - Chainer - Higure - Kumano - Scion - Teferi1 - Uyo - Sisters
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote
Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena
Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6

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RogHimself
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Post by RogHimself » 3 years ago

Deck actually works like a charm.. Won 4 out of 5 games at my LGS last night. Could've been cause of low power levelled decks of my opponents though.

Actually I've taken DirkGently's advise into consideration and will go for a more sturdy build with less auras, and more equipments, and more focus on pillowfort, even though yesterday's games went smoooov as butter.

For those who are interested this new build can be found here. Might dedicate a new topic for it once I play tested it some more and optimized it further.

https://deckstats.net/decks/127223/1846 ... equipments

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