So who is Barrin, Master Wizard first off, he's a 1/1 that costs, 1, Blue, Blue, is a Wizard and has the ability pay 2 mana, sacrifice a permanent and return target creature to it's owner's hand, this is key for the deck, the power/toughness factor is a little slim but it will work in the deck's favor by providing boosts and bonuses with various other cards in the format. As you may first think, Barrin of course is a wizard, so automatically we can look at the various wizards in Magic's long running history, some of whom are also famous generals in their own right, there's Azami, Lady of the Scrolls, Erayo, Soratami Ascendant and my personal favorite, Arcanis the Omnipotent, automatically these three are going to lend themselves to the 99 other cards in the build, since each one is quite useful in it's own regard.
Now for the purposes of this article I will outline the core essentials that Barrin requires to function as a general or as part of the 99, since this deck has quite a few legendaries we can work off except Erayo since she is banned as a general, so 2 out of the 3 isn't that bad at all. For a few of the essentials, these two cards are a must have, Glided Drake and Crystal Shard, these allow you to basically steal whatever you want and ensure that you get the best and biggest creatures on the board as well as control opposing attackers, allow me to explain how this combination works, Steal a creature with Drake, then use the creature to either hit or deal damage, sacrifice to barrin's ability and get your drake back, or there is the easier way of Sharding your drake, sacrificing your stolen creature after it's done it's business and bouncing another opposing creature in the process, controlling the board state to a point where you will be pleased with the results, so here's our list as it is now.
Creatures
Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Artifacts
Crystal Shard
Most mono color decks need some form of recovery when things go wrong and what better recovery method then a use of a Eldrazi, preferrably Kozilek, Butcher of Truth to reshuffle our graveyard into our library should something bad absolutely happen to us, like a Wrath of God, Akroma's Vengeance, etc, plus the amount of ramp we are throwing into this deck kinda makes it super easy to cast him when we need him. Though blue has access to very few sweeper spells, none stand out better then Evacuation, need a mass bounce spell at a pinch, this is the spell of choice, plus we have ways to reuse our spells over and over again, so again let's update the list
Creatures
Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Artifacts
Crystal Shard
Spells
Evacuation
Personally since we are running Blue we have access to some of the better more recent cards in the game, including one Rite of Replication for the late game, blue mages personally love this spell for it's kicker cost and the fact it's a spell means with what we will add later allows us to play it probably twice during the entire game. However spell wise i'm sure we can find some decent counter spells to add in since we are blue, because we all know, blue loves counter spells, what better counter spell to start with then Counterspell, yes the original bad ass counter spell in magic, perfectly costed as well at 2 blue, allows us to hard counter stuff that's a problem child, as well as the fact it's a spell allows for even more versatility in game. Most blue mages agree though in Elder Dragon Highlander there can be no better counter spell then Cryptic Command, I tend to disagree on this fact but, the command is welcome in the deck because of it's dual effects which are kinda nice, so let's update the list.
Creatures
Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Artifacts
Crystal Shard
Spells
Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
How about our artifacts though, they are looking quite barren, well here's a few I can of course recommend, the first being the most obvious choice Sol Ring, it's been a EDH staple since it was first printed, well rounded, well costed and allows us to ramp into some of the better spells of the deck, another i feel is better then it's Time Spiral predecessor is Caged Sun this basically replaces Gauntlet of Power in the build, is cheaper cost wise and doesn't give your opponents that essential mana ramp, plus the +1/+1 boost is kinda nice for what we have in mind. Now if you have the money the recommended card of choice for this build also is Glided Lotus, yes that 5 mana artifact that pumps out 3 of 1 color, considering it's price these days is sitting around the 12 dollar mark, it's still nice to have as a fall back plan should your lands get destroyed, speaking of lands, we've got none as of right now, so let's throw out a few general lands to add into the deck.
The land base is quite simple, a bunch of basics along with the recommended lands I suggest here, Temple of the False God, Magosi, the Waterveil, for the extra turn factor, Reliquary Tower to ensure we never have to discard and finally Minamo, School at Water's Edge so we can untap the various legendary permanents we throw into this deck, the recommended basic land count should sit either at 27 or 28 basics and if you can afford get a Maze of Ith but odds are you aren't going to be able to afford considering it's 50 dollars per copy. So now our deck is starting to take some shape or form, we have our precious land base sitting at 32 lands, which is very nice, we've got some supporting artifacts to help us, here is how the deck looks now.
Creatures
Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Artifacts
Crystal Shard
Caged Sun
Glided Lotus
Sol Ring
Spells
Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Lands
Temple of the False God
Magosi, the Waterveil
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Reliquary Tower
28 Islands
Let's touch back on the spell base for a while, we have quite some valuable spells for the format in terms of counter spells, Cancel, Dissipate, Draining Whelk, Pact of Negation, if you can afford it, Spell Crumple, Hinder just to name a few of the many available counter spells we can offer for the deck, plus with Draining Whelk it's a counter spell on a body, so technically it's reusable in the deck, so that should alone give it a spot in the deck right, right. so Draining Whelk is a auto include for the build, so that is quite useful to us, since the whelk can get big, be reused for a new spell later on and continue the counter spell war. Hinder is just great because the spell you counter gets tucked to the bottom of the library, Cancel is just straight up casual but it's still a good spell because of it's versatility in the build, Dissipate does the exact same thing as cancel, but with a bit of a twist, sends it to the exile zone, Spell Crumple is funny to play since it acts much the same way as Hinder. Pact of Negation though you don't pay the cost for the spell till your upkeep can screw you if you don't have the appropriate mana by your next upkeep, because of it's auto lose clause, so we should probably avoid this particular spell. so again let's update the list once more.
Creatures
Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Draining Whelk
Artifacts
Crystal Shard
Caged Sun
Glided Lotus
Sol Ring
Spells
Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Cancel
Hinder
Dissipate
Spell Crumple
Lands
Temple of the False God
Magosi, the Waterveil
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Reliquary Tower
28 Islands
The build is coming along quite nicely, considering how fast it's coming together, we currently sit at 50 of 99 cards, meaning we can add 49 more to the basis of the deck, which isn't that bad honestly. Here mono blue looked quite difficult to build, but now let's touch a bit more on the creatures because we're going to be abusing enter the battlefield effects for this deck, we need creatures that do a sufficent job at either stealing, triggering when they enter the battlefield or my personal favorite trigger upon going to the graveyard, let's look at a few choices for this deck.
If you were intending on stealing things, Thada Adel, Acquisitor is probably the best creature for the job, 3 mana, she steals any artifacts from a opponent whom she deals damage to and the Islandwalk factor isn't half bad, even though she already has a build based around her, she is a most welcome addition to this deck. For the most part there is also the choice of Snapcaster Mage, he basically makes our spell base doubled because of the simple flashback ability printed on him, plus he has Flash as well, allowing us to basically do whatever we want as a response to a casting. Not of course forgetting about the big mac daddy of flash, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir as well, he basically makes counter spells a thing of the past in terms of worries for you, plus granting flash to all non lands is kinda nice on a 3/4 body. Snappy however may be a bit out of the price range we want, but he's kind of essential to a wizard build, just due to what he does in a sense. so we will add him to the essential tribal theme list for now.
Creatures
Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Draining Whelk
Snapcaster Mage
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Artifacts
Crystal Shard
Caged Sun
Glided Lotus
Sol Ring
Spells
Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Cancel
Hinder
Dissipate
Spell Crumple
Lands
Temple of the False God
Magosi, the Waterveil
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Reliquary Tower
28 Islands
We are most likely going to need some form of wrath type spell, or way to deal with opposing threats in the format, All is Dust is probably our best option for when the board gets a little too out of control, plus it only hits colored permanents, so your artifact ramp, plus Kozilek will be safe and sound. Even though it costs a mere 7 mana, at sorcery speed it can still be quite effective in our build, plus dealing with those nasty big threats like the Mimeoplasm, Animar and of course Riku of Two Reflections players is kind of appreciated here. Another intersting creature for the deck is of course Grand Architect, he's basically a lord creature, granting all our blue creatures +1/+1 plus he's a great Rite target, but we don't need his partner in crime Pili-Pala at all, so we are going to exclude the combo from this deck.
Creatures
Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Draining Whelk
Snapcaster Mage
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Grand Architect
Artifacts
Crystal Shard
Caged Sun
Glided Lotus
Sol Ring
Spells
Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Cancel
Hinder
Dissipate
Spell Crumple
All is Dust
Lands
Temple of the False God
Magosi, the Waterveil
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Reliquary Tower
28 Islands
A few of the really fun spells for the deck haven't been included as of yet, Ray of Command which is basically the Blue version of Act of Aggression except better, Extraplanar Lens to provide a bit more ramp for the build and of course Tidespout Tyrant to provide that extra bouncy feel for spells you play, these three particular spells are what I like to refer to as auto includes into the deck, these should at least be a part of the 99, regardless of what you are thinking, so far we are looking quite budget for what we are doing, considering this list right now is about 250 dollars tops, including the biggest bomb Snapcaster Mage, so let's update the list one final time.
Creatures
Azami, Lady of the Scrolls [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Arcanis the Omnipotent [Can be one of the two alternate generals for the build.]
Glided Drake
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Draining Whelk
Snapcaster Mage
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Grand Architect
Tidespout Tyrant
Artifacts
Crystal Shard
Caged Sun
Glided Lotus
Sol Ring
Extraplanar Lens
Spells
Evacuation
Rite of Replication
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Cancel
Hinder
Dissipate
Spell Crumple
All is Dust
Ray of Command
Lands
Temple of the False God
Magosi, the Waterveil
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Reliquary Tower
28 Islands
This particular finalized list is the core of our deck, this is pretty much how Barrin should start, enough spells to provide some comfort, you can add combos if you wish, make improvements, add a land or two here, etc but with these basics you should be floating enough mana and that to do it without making huge alterations to the land base itself, creatures can of course vary from time to time, but Barrin is all about bouncing and controlling the game state, this basic shell is for 1 vs 1 and 3 way multiplayer match ups only, for the 4 player and up match ups, i'd suggest adding in the following 6 cards.
- Lighthouse Chronologist
- Contagion Engine
- Contagion Clasp
- Clone
- Phyrexian Metamorph
- Mimic Vat
These particular 6 cards are designed for Multiplayer 4 way matchups and of course the 1 vs 1 and 3 way multiplayer builds of the deck, you can of course add infinite combos to the deck such as Time Stretch/Memonic Wall and the previously mentioned Grand Architect/Pili-Pala infinite mana combo, but it is surely going to get you hated out at your local group where you may play this build, this build was designed with Blue players best ideals in mind and for fun of course, because we all know Elder Dragon Highlander is all about fun, with that however it is time to end this primer, so until next primer this is vergil signing off.
Remember, if you do follow this primer, please do post a list in the comments below, i'd love to see the outcomes of how you built this particular general.
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