“I was born more powerful than you could ever imagine to be.”
Art:Arcum Dagsson
by Pete Venters
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Arcum Dagsson used to be a very popular CEDH commander but was no doubt slowed down by banning Paradox Engine
. While I agree that this deck is outdated, I really wanted to resurrect it using some of the cards, combos, and knowledge we have in 2023. While we don’t have many new cards, we have some newer sweet tech. While our win cons and combos are by no means new, they are strong ways to end the game. Despite all of its issues and weaknesses, I have had a lot of fun with this deck at my LGS and with friends. Here’s to the old! Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Arcum Dagsson Artifact Combo!
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Why Arcum Dagsson?
Arcum Dagsson is a strong commander who is also the main combo enabler in our deck, being able to sacrifice one of our cheap creatures like Memnite
and Ornithopter
and grab a sweet artifact like Spine of Ish Sah
or Chromatic Orrery
and combo off. Arcum can also be easily cast with something like a bunch of rocks and a Lotus Petal
or a land and a Jeweled Lotus
. Arcum is strong and often one of the first things we can cast when we have the mana.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck! The infinite combos and loops in the deck are listed below in the “Main Win Conditions” Section.
Creatures:
Most of our artifacts are nothing but sacrifice fodder to Arcum, especially cards like Memnite and Ornithopter, but we do have some that help our game plan. One of my favorite creatures is K-9, Mark I
, which is cheap, an artifact, and protects Arcum. Silver Myr
and Ornithopter of Paradise
are cheap, can come down on turn one depending on what rocks we have, and produce mana to cast spells or Arcum. If we have a lot of artifacts in our hand, cards like Metalworker
allow us to produce a ton of colorless mana. Spellskite
is another way to protect Arcum from single-target removal.
Planeswalkers:
We only have two Planeswalkers, but they are both really strong. To start, we have Narset, Parter of Veils
, which is one of our “stax” pieces that can be a nuisance for spell slinger or storm-style decks. Tezzeret the Seeker
is a great way to untap hard to untap rocks like Grim Monolith
or Mana Vault
. Additionally, we can search for an artifact under five when he comes out and put it into play.
Instants:
One of my favorite instants in the deck is Tidal Bore
since it is nearly always free and a free way to untap Arcum. It is the perfect card for this deck! The rest of our instant package is mostly counterspells. I have been having a lot of success with Stern Scolding
, which isn’t played in every CEDH deck but is extremely strong. I have been testing Stifle
in CEDH for a while and really like this card. There is no right time to use this, but is strong pretty much always against a variety of triggers. Some of the classic counterspells in the deck are Fierce Guardianship
, Force of Will
and Mental Misstep
. These cheap and strong counters help us protect Arcum and our combos.
Sorceries:
My favorite sorcery in the deck is Step Through
, which we almost always use to wizard cycle and grab Filigree Sages
, which is one of our key combo pieces. Since we produce a ton of mana through artifacts, we can use Transmute Artifact
to grab any artifact we want. Depending on how much mana we have, we can often pay the difference and grab a combo piece or key artifact very early. Merchant Scroll
is typically used to grab Dramatic Reversal
and can help us quickly set up another combo. Timetwister
is a blue CEDH staple in many decks, and for us, it’s a great way to refill our hands, get more cards to cast, and hopefully find some combos.
Artifacts:
Let’s start by talking about some of our Stax pieces. The best and most expensive is God-Pharaoh's Statue
, which can be an absolute killer for various decks. In addition, we have Grafdigger's Cage
, which is undoubtedly a tech card, but in my meta, I found this card to be very strong. Torpor Orb
doesn’t harm us and hurts our opponents. This is deck-dependent and may not be huge in all matchups. This next one is the ultimate tech card in our deck in Karn's Sylex
. I run into many K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
, so this card is crazy strong against them and makes them fight fairly. We are an Arcum deck, so we have to have an absolute ton of mana rocks like Mana Crypt
, Mana Vault, Mox Opal
and Mox Diamond
. We are an artifact deck, so The One Ring
is another card that goes into the auto-include pile. This card does it all and is especially strong when cast on turn one or two.
Enchantments:
We only have two enchantments in Rhystic Study
and Mystic Remora
not much to say about these staples. We are in a much better position when one of these is on the field, and these cards can be game-warping on their own.
Land Base:
We are slightly different from your average CEDH deck since we run more than one basic. We have a simple land base held up by our artifact mana, so having basics just to cast Arcum or counterspells is good enough for us. Our most important land is Minamo, School at Water's Edge
since for one mana we can get a re-tap on Arcum and keep grabbing key artifacts. Ancient Tomb
and City of Traitors
allow us to get some early mana and continue committing rocks to the board. Since we are an artifact deck, we had to include Urza's Saga
, a great card for any artifact deck. Inventors' Fair
is a card I don’t see in many Arcum lists, but since we produce a ton of mana, I really like it to tutor up an artifact. We have a simple but effective land base that I have found in conjunction with all of our artifact mana, which is quite strong.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Can combo off pretty quickly
- A ton of artifact ramp
- A ton of ways to protect our combo
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Weak to artifact hate
- While we have a little bit of stax to slow down our opponents, we are especially weak to Collector Ouphe
and Null Rod style effects - Weak to Praetor's Grasp
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
This is CEDH, so of course, we have some combos. While we have some cards that interact really well with each other, we have two infinite combos that establish infinite mana, and once we have that, we can use payoff cards like Walking Ballista
and Thassa's Oracle
to close out games. Below are all of the combos in the deck explained:
Filigree Sages + Chromatic Orrery
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield.
Steps:
- Activate Chromatic Orrery’s first ability by tapping it, adding 5.
- Activate Filigree Sages by paying 2U, untapping Chromatic Orrery.
- Repeat for infinite colored and colorless mana.
- Once you have infinite mana, you may activate Chromatic Orrery’s last ability by paying 5, drawing cards for each color among permanents you control.
Results:
Infinite colored mana. Infinite colorless mana. Infinite card draw.
Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter
Requires:
Isochron Scepter on the battlefield. Dramatic Reversal exiled by Isochron Scepter. Nonland permanents you control can tap to produce at least 3.
Steps:
- Activate all mana-producing nonland permanents you control by tapping them, adding at least 3.
- Activate Isochron Scepter by paying 2 and tapping it, casting a copy of Dramatic Reversal without paying it’s mana cost.
- Resolve Dramatic Reversal, untapping all nonland permanents you control.
- Repeat.
Results:
Infinite mana nonland permanents you control can produce. Infinite storm count. Infinite magecraft triggers. Infinite untap of nonland permanents you control.
Conclusion:
Arcum Dagsson certainly isn’t the same commander they once were when we had the almighty Paradox Engine in the format. Even though this may not be the most powerful CEDH deck, I have had a ton of fun piloting this one, and I get a lot of funny looks when I play it! This deck is certainly not meta-warping and is not the strongest option out there, but if you are looking for a classic CEDH commander, then Arcum is the one for you. Thanks for reading to the end, and thanks for your support!