ZachSieg

This deck looks so fun to play but Angus Mackenzie NEEDS to be the commander!!!!

In al honesty, I'd completely drop the Exalted theme. You'd need two other exalted creatures on the field to bring him into two shot range while the same thing can be down with a Simic Charm or something similar. You have way too much ramp, a farseek and potentially rampant growth should suffice (only really to drop Rafiq turn 3). You have Sovereigns of Lost Alara but no Eldrazi Conscription? I would also cut most of the equipment except for Fire and Ice, Feast ad Famine, and Lightning Greaves while adding ways to tutor them such as Stoneforge Mystic, Enlightened Tutor, and Steelshaper's Gift. I'll post my list which is fairly competitive to show you an example. I've placed in two tournaments in the last few months with it! http://www.mtgvault.com/zachsieg/decks/rafiq-of-the-many-french-edh/

I think Medomai and Unexpectedly Absent can come out, they were never to much of a help. I've never really found a situation yet where Kiora is bad, even if I just -1 two turns in a row. I'll try to get a few more games in with it and see how it performs before I make the call on that. As far as Tez, its great because I can tutor a sword or Jitte and than drop artifact lands until he is killed. Sovereigns is one of the cards that ends up being the killing blow should the game drag on. I usually mulligan anything 4+ cmc away in my opening hand so I don't have to worry much about it being a dead draw for the most part. What would you think about swapping the signets out for the filter lands after I get them? Silence is sweet and I think I'll find as spot for it. Thankfully remand is being printed in Jace vs Vraska, I would find it hard for me to pay $15 for something like that. I'm going to proxy some of these cards and see how it goes! What do you think about Gaddock Teeg in here? It wouldn't hurt me too much and I can see it really screwing with my opponents game plan.

Now I need to start looking at the 1 for 1 swaps
-Unex Absent +Remand
-Medomai +Delay
-SoB&M +Memory lapse
-Swiftfoot +Lotus Cobra
-???? +?????
What would you take and put in its place?

I'd definitely like to pick a Fire and Ice up soon. Probably better than F&F IMO. Most of the time I wouldn't tutor for W&P but its certainly not something I mind top decking. I destroyed Xenagos, Prossh, and Thada Adel in the most recent tournament without much trouble. I 2-0 them in 15-20 minutes while most of the other games being played lasted a while. I had a tough game against Merieke. It was very controlling and drug the games on forever. It got to the point where I was playing on the draw which sucked put I ended up winning with a Glaring Spotlight unblockable Alpha Strike. Control is a challenge but still winnable. One guy plays a nasty Talrand deck that I know I would have a hell of a time playing against. As far as agro/voltron, Jenara outpaces most of them without much problem with my buddies Uril deck being the occasional exception. The Karador games were challenging. It didn't help that he got Survival out the last two games but the constant LD and removal was tricky. I had a hard time keeping anything on the board too. I haven't gone up against a fast token deck and I could foresee that being a bit tricky depending on how quick it is but my main concerns are mono blue control and decks that have a lot of LD and artifact destruction. As far as artifact hate goes, I have Qasali but that's about as far as it goes. As bad as it sounds, I don't even bother with what my opponent plays as long as it isn't a direct threat to me connecting with Jenara or a total game changer. Once it gets past mid game and into the late game, sometimes it forces me to sit back and build up Jenara which can get a little risky. And Advice on how to improve that aspect should the game drag on? I wasn't sure about putting high drop bombs in beings that I can kill them fairly soon but those could come in handy late game should it last that long.

Some other changes I'm going to make are replacing voyaging satyr with kiora's follower and adding a lotus cobra once I get one to replace something, possibly in the boots slot

As far as budget goes, I can't be buying $50+ cards every week but I could see myself spending about that much on cards for this deck every month or two. I'm not sure what banlist you are looking at but it is not banned under the 1v1 Duel Commander banlist the tournaments are run with. Beast Within is definitely going in for Rapid as soon as I can get a hold of one. I see where you are coming from with War and Peace but if my opponent has me on the defensive, that really has work in turning the tides in my favor and putting them on the defensive. Would you really rather see me drop W&P over B&M? If any of the swords seemed lacking in the deck, I thought it was body and mind. I also think W&P turns other creatures into threats. I've killed fairly many people through 30 damage if Jenara isn't working for me and that only speeds it up. Plus here is my thinking with the extra damage from it, Jenara w/ W&P swings for 5 unpumped. Say they have 4, 5ish cards in their hand, I'm still 3 piecing them without doing anything else to jenara besides giving it a counter or two. I could deal 30 to them before I'd even get to 21. I would rather be proactively beating w/ W&P then waiting around with open mana to protect her. You're looking at extra life, extra damage, and relevant protection vs a possibility of being able to protect her should someone attempt to cast a spot removal on her while leaving mana untapped and preventing you from adding counters/casting other threats. Sylvan Library is another card that will definitely go in once I pick one up but the Aqueous Form is mainly there for the 1 mana unblockable with the scry being an added bonus. I have found boots less and less useful since I've picked greaves up but am not quite set on if I want to cut it or not. I would have to find something decent to replace it with. I used to play Rafiq but I find Jenara greatly superior in the 1v1 format as there is a pretty big difference between 3 and 4 mana. I could be half way to 21 by turn 4 or 5 while Rafiq is still setting up. While the 2-3 hit kills with Rafiq are nice, you need the right conditions for it. That is where I've found Jenara's built in evasion superior to Rafiq's damage. Jenara aslo stays on the board a lot longer because it isn't an "OMG I NEED TO REMOVE THAT!!!1!!11" until often times its too late. I find Jenara to be more consistent and that's why I use her over Rafiq. Sylvan Library is definitely going in along with Beast Within. I'd like to continue to pick up more fetches and eventually the duals. Do you think 33 lands are enough? I never find myself getting mana screwed but I don't know if the extra lands would prove beneficial or if I'd be cutting more important things for them. As far as my competition goes, I've had no problem steamrolling people and I came in 4th out of 30ish. My only loss was to the guy playing Karador that came in first. First game I blew him out and the next two he destroyed my lands repeatedly and I couldn't bounce back from that. I'll look into the cards you suggested and maybe proxy them to see how it works but I really stand by W&P and Spotlight still. They have both proven to be very affective, I'm not sure if the things you suggested to replace them would have as big of an impact as they do.

It is for 1v1 Tournaments using the Duel Commander banlist which I believe Fastbond is legal in. I understand your points but I'll give my reasoning behind them and you can tell me if they're relevant or not. War and Peace is in there because in the French format, 30 life is a lot different than 40. The lifegain and extra damage have both proven to be useful and the protection is certainly relevant (does hinder a few enchantments being placed on jenara but that is a minor setback). Glaring Spotlight is needed for matchups with Geist, Uril and Thrun, along with other hexproof threats while the sac ability is relevant if the game is a stalemate and I need to get the killing blow through. I had a decent ramp package but I found it to be a little bit overkill as most of my cards fall in the 2-4 CMC range. I had taken that out to put in a small control package. I find Kiora helpful when I'm up against other voltron commanders and while there is better ramp, it also draws me a card that's either 1) a land to play with her and one less I top deck or 2) something that is going to help me win the game with Jenara. Also, not sure if you noticed, but I run the artifact lands so they can be tutored for with E tutor, Fabricate, Trinket Mage and Tezzeret. I'd like to pick up Minamo but as of now, Sisay can tutor Eiganjo. GSZ can plop down a few different creatures to ramp. As of now, I count 19 cards that either fix or ramp me. I try to get the most out of each slot in the deck so a lot of them have multiple functions. I'm not sure if adding more ramp would be a good thing unless it can add multiple functions to the deck. And ideas on some ramp cards that I could look at and consider? Thanks a bunch for the input!

Strip Mine is banned in French

I had one, traded it, then it jumps to $60........... :(

Have you thought about giving Nekusar infect with Phyresis or Grafted Exoskeleton or something similar? I find that to work well in my deck giving all of my opponents and infect counter whenever they draw a card!

Glen Elendra Archmage is just screaming to be abused in this!

I definitely need to get move removal, I got tired of playing Rafiq so I ended up selling most of my deck and Rafiq and a few weeks ago, I saw my Rafiq was still in the binder at my local gaming store so I bought him again and started putting another back together. There's a lot of cards I wish I still had. :/

Whoops thanks for catching that! I do have an obelisk of bant but I'm not sure because I'm usually fine with mana, I'd probably run a darksteel ingot instead though just because its indestructible. I would like sovereigns but I took apart my old rafiq deck and sold my eldrazi conscription so if I can get another I'll throw sovereigns in!

Elvish piper. I'd strongly consider her.

I wouldnt use arbor elves for that. Use archdruids, priest of titanias, etc..

That is a very solid card, ill have to squeeze that in somewhere! I'll probably sit down tomorrow and make all of these changes!

I have one of those, I wasn't sure if I wanted to run it or not though. I don't have many creatures and while I can animate my artifacts, it would just become unattached at the end of the turn. I can try it out, is the any card in there would replace with it?

Krark-Clan Ironworks looks to be pretty nasty, I might have to try that out!

Hmm I wrote up a big long response and somehow it managed to not post. -_- Anyway, Throne of Geth is more in there for the sac'ing. The proliferate does help with magistrate's scepter, otherworld atlas, karn liberated, and a few others, it's more for getting rid of artifacts that have served their use and become more of a hinderance such as Portcullis! It also works great with Spine of Ish Sah! If I do get rid of it, would you suggest anything else? Again, it's not really in there for the proliferate haha

Well I mean it helps with Magistrate's Scepter, Otherworld Atlas (those can also be done with the unlimited combo though), destroying Spine of Ish Sah so I can cast it again, and it can give Karn Liberated more loyalty among other things but I guess it's not too critical and I should probably replace it with something else! I also thought, say I have 2 creatures and Portcullis out and then I draw say a Blightsteel and can win next turn but I can't play it because of Portcullis, I can use it to get rid of portcullis. The same is true for other artifacts that can potentially hinder me although they mostly hinder other players. But if something I have is stopping me from doing something, I can just use Throne of Geth to sac it. Not sure on it though, would you have any ideas to replace it?