When the mono-colored commander products were released I wasn't sure which one I'd get. But I bought the blue one and it turned out to be pretty strong and a lot of fun. I pretty quickly wanted to turn it into a blue Planeswalkers deck based around
Teferi, Temporal Archmage's ultimate ability. I made it into kind of a pillow fort, with some planeswalkers, proliferate, and bounce spells. Which leads me to this:
Blue Bounce is Awesome.
Aetherspouts is the best card since
cyclonic rift. Plus there's also
aetherize,
evacuation,
wash out,
capsize,
cryptic command, and those are just the good ones.
Teferi, Temporal Archmage1. walkers
jace, memory adeptjace, architect of thoughtjace, the mind sculptorTamiyo, the moon sagetezzeret the seekerkarn liberatedCould also add
Ugin, the spirit dragon and maybe
jace beleren. Basically there's no bad blue/colorless planeswalkers. Except that one...
2. creatures
trinket magesolemn simulacrumfog bankguard gomazoawall of frostsilent arbiterviral drakephyrexian metamorphvesuvan shapeshiftersphinx of magosiwindreader sphinxJust some utility and pillow fort guys. With all the mana this deck generates, a mana sink like
viral drake or
sphinx of magosi is pretty good.
3. counters
arcane denialcounterspelldream fracturefuel for the causecryptic commandmindbreak trapMaybe another one is a good idea. Mostly just to protect the walkers.
4. creature control
meekstonetorpor orbcyclonic riftcapsizeportcullisdomineering willaetherizeillusionist's gambittreacheryaetherspoutsevacuationblatant thieverycurse of the swineBasically this is the amazing bounce suite, which I've come to think of as pretty unbeatable. Stealing / copying the biggest thing on the table is also a good way to protect some planeswalkers and stall while they activate.
Blatant thievery lets you take other planeswalkers!
5. planeswalker synergy
contagion claspinexorable tidecontagion enginerings of brighthearththe chain veildarksteel reactorcopy artifactcopy enchantmentclever impersonatorThe big proliferate effects, plus ways of copying them.
Clever impersonator can copy an opposing planeswalker.
The chain veil turns out to be a combo enabler. :/
6. draw & utility
leyline of anticipationtezzeret's gambitstroke of geniusblue sun's zenithtime spiralrecallLeyline of anticipation is on theme... if
Teferi, Temporal Archmage gets the emblem off, then you're activating walkers at instant speed, so you might as well cast everything else at instant speed, too.
Recall is sort of an under-used card, and it's not the strongest thing around, but it's one way of getting a planeswalker out of the yard in blue.
7. ramp
everflowing chaliceexpedition mapsol ringmana vaultcoldsteel heartsapphire medalliongrim monolithunstable obeliskcommander's spheredarksteel ingotthran dynamogilded lotusdreamstone hedronRamp is basically what makes the deck work. All these can be untapped with the general for big gains. And
everflowing chalice is fun with proliferate.
8. land
thawing glaciersarcane lighthouseacademy ruinsmaze of ithreliquary towertolaria westdust bowltemple of the false godnykthos, shrine to nyx26 islands
Thawing Glaciers is pretty key. Getting to use that multiple times per turn is just awesome. The maze is pretty integral to the pillow fort idea; and the
arcane lighthouse is great for enabling your bounce/theft stuff to work when it has to.
adds :
relic of progenitusProbably need another grave-hate card. Another option is another cheap
timetwister effect.
Main Idea.Stall and bounce and make it tough for people to attack while ticking up teferi toward the ultimate. Usually the deck gets off to a fast start with something like Turn 1/2
mana vault and then turn-3
Teferi, Temporal Archmage, untap the
mana vault and three islands, then use those to play something that protects teferi, like a wall or a sphinx or something. Then use teferi's +1 to find another walker and start working toward the ultimates. Win with planeswalker ultimates, or perhaps proliferating the
darksteel reactor.
Some good tricks: you can untap
thawing glaciers and use it multiple times in a turn. Stuff like
aetherspouts,
aetherize, and
illusionist's gambit are really sweet untargetted effects that basically never fail. They're much better than a blue
fog.
Copy enchantment on
inexorable tide is pretty amusing. You'll need at least at minimum a Level-2 judge if you have
Portcullis and an opponent playing
Brago, King Eternal.
The Chain Veil seems good, but basically it turns out to be pretty bad without
Tezzeret the Seeker, and then it just goes infinite. So... if you're not into infinite combos, I suggest cutting the chain veil. Which is sad, and all, cause when else are you gonna use it? But you gotta face facts.
Anyway, the deck is pretty fun and surprisingly strong, without (usually) being overpowering or resorting to lame combos. Really a pretty good way to play blue control.