All Hail The Progress Tyrant

[benjameenbear]

It's official: Phyrexia has tapped into Tezzeret's Planar Bridge technology and has infiltrated multiple planes. And with the advent of Return to Kamigawa, a new Praetor has revealed itself:

Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant

I immediately stopped what I was doing when I saw the card being hinted at in order to look new-Jin up, and I was absolutely stunned at what I read.

Mono-Blue now has its own better Kalamax. The ability to clone Artifact spells AND sorceries is NOT to be underestimated and I won't even mention the fact that you can counter 4 spells for FREE.

If that hasn't sunk in for you yet, give it a moment. The implied power of Jin-Gitaxias' abilities are absolutely AMAZING. Kalamax is one of my favorite EDH decks to pilot and the chance to transfer that play-style over to mono-Blue is hella exciting.

So, I'm here brewing a list to test out that will most likely supplant my Memnarch list as my go-to mono-Blue list. I may even go all-in and create a full-on Primer for Jin-Gitaxias if he plays out the way I think he will.

Anyways, on to the initial list! It's mostly just a brain dump at the moment of any good card I want to consider for the list, so I expect to heavily trim it down

Jin-Gitaxias, Combo-Control

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander

1 Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant

Mana Sources (16)

1 Jeweled Lotus

1 Mana Crypt

1 Chrome Mox

1 Sol Ring

1 Mana Vault

1 Voltaic Key

1 High Tide

1 Thought Vessel

1 Grim Monolith

1 Arcane Signet

1 Sapphire Medallion

1 Worn Powerstone

1 Basalt Monolith

1 Thran Dynamo

1 Solemn Simulacrum

1 Gilded Lotus

1 Coveted Jewel

Clone Effects/Copying Effects

1 Sculpting Steel

1 Twinning Staff

1 Phyrexian Metamorph

1 Primal Amulet

1 Sakashima of a Thousand Faces

1 Spark Double

Card Advantage/Card Draw

1 Brainstorm

1 Opt

1 Serum Visions

1 Consider

1 Impulse

1 Pull from Tomorrow

1 Rhystic Study

1 Thirst for Discovery

1 Silundi Vision

1 Fact or Fiction

1 Drawn from Dreams

1 Archmage Emeritus

1 Consecrated Sphinx

1 Dig Through Time

1 Treasure Cruise

Counterspells

1 Swan Song

1 Wash Away

1 Counterspell

1 Arcane Denial

1 Negate

1 Delay

1 Mana Drain

1 Muddle the Mixture

1 Fierce Guardianship

1 Disallow

1 Archmage's Charm

1 Force of Negation

1 Cryptic Command

1 Mystic Confluence

1 Force of Will

1 Misdirection

Tutors

1 Mystical Tutor

1 Merchant Scroll

1 Moonsilver Key

1 Solve the Equation

1 Intuition

1 Spellseeker

1 Trinket Mage

Win Condition

1 Time Warp

1 Nexus of Fate

1 Time Stretch

Removal

1 Pongify

1 Rapid Hybridization

1 Reality Shift

1 Cyclonic Rift

1 Snap

1 Resculpt

1 Blink of an Eye

1 Ravenform

1 Engulf the Shore

1 Aetherize

1 Evacuation

1 Aetherspouts

1 Hullbreaker Horror

Lands (34)

1 Academy Ruins

1 Mystic Sanctuary

1 Ancient Tomb

1 City of Traitors

30 Islands

Approximate Total Cost:

[Ertai Planeswalker]

In order to make such a deck interesting i would try to use his ability to tie your deck theme together. Cloning artifacts is a fun way to go, but which artifacts really become exponentially better when you clone them? Aetherflux Reservoir , Powerstone Shard , Sun Droplet come to mind.

Other good ones are Ugin's Nexus, Geode Golem, Mirrorworks and Mechanized Production.

[benjameenbear]

Great suggestions @Ertai Planeswalker! Here's my thoughts on the incomplete list I've been brewing and the cards you've suggested:

• Powerstone Shard is a good consideration for the list since Jin can clone it for profit. There's more powerful ramp pieces for this admittedly cutthroat Commander, so I want to keep this list as tight as possible even though it can't directly win via combo from the Command Zone.
• The Reservoir and Droplet aren't high-impact enough for what I want the deck to be doing. But, they are pretty cool when cloned via Jin's trigger!
• Ugin's Nexus will be a bust if it's cloned, since whichever copy of the card you keep will negate the extra turn.
• Geode Golem has merit since it can help cheat on Jin's cost, especially if it's died a few times. Certainly worth considering.
• Mirrorworks is just too mana intensive for what this deck is going to do. I'll reiterate that I'm seeing this decklist as a mono-Blue Kalamax, where the primary method of winning is taking infinite turns via Nexus of Fate and then beating down with Jin-Gitaxias with the rest of the deck being solely dedicated to ramp, removal, card advantage and counterspells. That's how my Kalamax list runs and it is extremely rewarding for me to play.

[kirkusjones]

Containment Construct seems like it could do serious work here. Or maybe my brain is just reeling with the possible shenanigans that card enables.

[Ertai Planeswalker]

Containment Construct seems like it could do serious work here. Or maybe my brain is just reeling with the possible shenanigans that card enables.

How does that thing combo with Jin? I don't see it.

[JovialJovian]

• Ugin's Nexus will be a bust if it's cloned, since whichever copy of the card you keep will negate the extra turn.

The way you are constructing the deck, you are correct that Ugin's Nexus is not a great fit.
But in an alternate imagining if the deck, a combo capable of returning the original to your hand after the copy gets legend-ruled away provides infinite turns.
Vedalken Mastermind could provide this service, and would also be available for returning other artifacts for re-duplication, in a build interested in maximizing the copying of artifacts.

[kirkusjones]

Containment Construct seems like it could do serious work here. Or maybe my brain is just reeling with the possible shenanigans that card enables.

How does that thing combo with Jin? I don't see it.

It doesn't combo with Jin, other than being an artifact. There's some looting in the deck that would turn it on, but for some reason my brain added LED to the list of fast mana which upon further review is not there.