Ever since Thousand-Year Elixer was first spoiled I've found it an interesting positive one sided card which is playable in multiples(thanks to the untap ability). So i've been looking for the best way to use it, mana acceleration creatures like Llanowar Elves or Smokebraider work well, draw and looting creatures like Merfolk Looter, Arcanis, the Omnipotent, Magus of the Bazaar and Fa'adiyah Seer are also nice, however none of them were strong enough to justify running the elixer in a deck(even with several different useful tap creatures).
I finally found the best combination with Thousand-Year Elixer:
Ovinomancer is a very funny and often forgotten card from Visions which returned to standard in Timespiral Timeshifted. It has the fantastic tap ability of:
T, return Ovinomancer to it's owners hand: Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. That creature's controller puts a 0/1 green Sheep creature token into play.
The reason it never saw play was it's excessive drawback of:
When Ovinomancer comes into play, sacrifice it unless you return three basic lands you control to their owner's hand.
This is a 187 ability so when Ovinomancer comes into play it goes onto the stack and if Ovinomancer has haste(or an approximation) thanks to Thousand-Year Elixer it can in response T return itself and fizzle the sacrifice/return 3 lands drawback.
This turns Ovinomancer into a 2U sorcery which reads "Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. That creature's controller puts a 0/1 green Sheep creature token into play. Return this card to your hand."
A cheap reusable blue spell which destroys creatures and gives 0/1 tokens is a pretty good thing. I haven't worked out a deck yet but even if I can't make it good enough for constructed it's sure to be fun in casual and worth taking along to an FNM for the hell of it.
I thought I would try a UW deck with it in since Mangara of Corondor is another gem with Thousand-Year Elixer(allows him to be used instantly and the untap ability allows him to remove 2 permanents).
The Wanderwine Hub triggers of both Merfolk Looter and Crib Swap or is just a Coastal Tower. The deck uses the AEthermage to help find Ovinomancer or Mangara(It can also find Crib Swap) and digs through the deck with Annelid, Foresee, Ponder and Merfolk Looter. Wrath of God and Crib Swap should together with random creatures should stall an aggro deck long enough to get Ovinomancer and/or Mangara going.
The deck is designed for aggro and it's sideboard would probably be mainly counters against a control matchup.
It's a slow deck which should stabilize the board and then end up beating down with Factory Tokens or one of the 2 Incarnations.
Ovinomancer is cool with Elixir, but I'm worried about it being a dead draw if you don't draw / fail to resolve the Elixir.
I'm testing an Elixir deck with Mangara, Royal Assassin (can hold off an army of weenies all by himself) and all-star Merieke Ri Berit. The optimal opening is:
Turns 1/2: drop vivid land's (cipt), play ponders and/or chromatic stars.
Turn 3: Elixir.
Turn 4: Merieke. Take a creature. Untap (it dies). Take another creature.
This opening isn't as rare as I thought it would be, because of Ponder and Chromatic Star.
Mangara and the Assassin can replace Merieke, and all these creatures are viable board-controllers even without the Elixir.
I also run some Elixir wannabes:
Rings of Brighthearth lets all those creatures work their magic twice a turn (Merieke can take, and keep, two creatures). It's no Elixir (no haste, 2 mana to "untap"), but it works in a pinch.
Momentary Blink lets Mangara and Merieke do double-duty, while also protecting them from removal (a big concern for this deck).
If you're about to pounce on someone who said card A was "strictly better" than card B, and treat them to some convoluted counter-example, please don't.
"Strictly better" does not mean "better in every possible in-game situation."
It means "better in every possible deck, vs. every plausible meta-game."
So if you can't actually think of a deck-building situation where you'd prefer card B to card A, then please spare us the Mindslaver.
Ovinomancer is cool with Elixir, but I'm worried about it being a dead draw if you don't draw / fail to resolve the Elixir.
This is true which is why i'm only running 2 copies of Ovinomancer in the deck(I can wizardcycle, scry, loot or draw for him). While he is dead without Elixer, Royal Assassin, Merieke Ri Berit and even Mangara of Corondor are weak without the Elixer and Ovinomancer has the major benefit over them of being impossible to respond to(barring split second removal) thanks to bouncing itself as part of the cost of it's tap ability. It also has the advantage of being able to target and destroy almost any creature(any creature without shroud, indestructible or protection from blue or creatures) as many times as you want for only 2U a time.
I love your decks use of Merieke, and the addition of Momentary Blink is great in your version, however your land base is horribly vulnerable and painful, Rings of Brightearth is only ever a win more card(Elixer gets around the fundamental problem of being a vulnerable tap ability creature without haste as well as giving a 2nd use while Rings only does the less important 2nd use part). The biggest problem is that without Elixer or even with Elixer the deck is too slow to come back from a fast aggro deck especially if the deck is packing burn, Merieke and Assassin are great but any burn spell/removal spell deals with them before they do much and allows the aggro deck to continue its assault. Your deck needs removal or stall which isn't creature based or reliant on the Elixer. Wrath, Damnation, Oblivion Ring, Slaughter Pact, Terror, Shriekmaw, Unsummon, Holy Day and so on can all help you stabilize before gaining control of the board with your tap ability creatures.
I should just add one thing - with Merieke, if you untap her and tap her to take another creature again before the first activation has resolved, you can actually keep both creatures. As long as she is tapped when an ability resolves and doesn't untap again, the creature will stay in play.
I should just add one thing - with Merieke, if you untap her and tap her to take another creature again before the first activation has resolved, you can actually keep both creatures. As long as she is tapped when an ability resolves and doesn't untap again, the creature will stay in play.
UMMM what? im so confused by what you said with this. If its what i tihnk yo said then no you called this ruling wrong .... but i still am not sure what you said so... what did you say?:)
Great ideas Machius. Lots of cool synergy there. I would stay with UW (although black is tempting..) and consider adding Blink.
Myself, I want to use the Elixir with one of my elf decks. Right now it uses Lightning Greaves. I drop a mana elf, equip it, tap for a bunch of mana, play more elves, and move the greaves to them. Basically it lets everything have haste, one at a time. I'm not sure which is better, greaves or elixir. Greaves grants shroud, but the elixir could let me use a creature a second time. I'm going to test the elixir and see if it's better.
I should just add one thing - with Merieke, if you untap her and tap her to take another creature again before the first activation has resolved, you can actually keep both creatures. As long as she is tapped when an ability resolves and doesn't untap again, the creature will stay in play.
UMMM what? im so confused by what you said with this. If its what i tihnk yo said then no you called this ruling wrong .... but i still am not sure what you said so... what did you say?:)
The trick is as follows:
1. Tap Merieke Ri Berit
Stack: Merieke ability (targeting creature #1)
Ovinomancer has the major benefit over them of being impossible to respond to(barring split second removal) thanks to bouncing itself as part of the cost of it's tap ability.
Would even split second hinder you? I think after Ovinomancer resolves and his trigger goes on the stack, you get priority - and can bounce him before the opponent plays anything, split second or not.
I love your decks use of Merieke, and the addition of Momentary Blink is great in your version, however your land base is horribly vulnerable and painful, Rings of Brightearth is only ever a win more card(Elixer gets around the fundamental problem of being a vulnerable tap ability creature without haste as well as giving a 2nd use while Rings only does the less important 2nd use part). The biggest problem is that without Elixer or even with Elixer the deck is too slow to come back from a fast aggro deck especially if the deck is packing burn, Merieke and Assassin are great but any burn spell/removal spell deals with them before they do much and allows the aggro deck to continue its assault. Your deck needs removal or stall which isn't creature based or reliant on the Elixer. Wrath, Damnation, Oblivion Ring, Slaughter Pact, Terror, Shriekmaw, Unsummon, Holy Day and so on can all help you stabilize before gaining control of the board with your tap ability creatures.
Thanks for those tips!
I'm not sure what I can do about the mana base if I want to play Merieke (and I'm not willing to give her up yet), but I will definitely let go of the Rings in favour of straight removal, more drawing/filtering, and maybe even an Ovinomancer or two...
Quote from KingTurtle »
I should just add one thing - with Merieke, if you untap her and tap her to take another creature again before the first activation has resolved, you can actually keep both creatures. As long as she is tapped when an ability resolves and doesn't untap again, the creature will stay in play.
Good point, never thought of that!
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If you're about to pounce on someone who said card A was "strictly better" than card B, and treat them to some convoluted counter-example, please don't.
"Strictly better" does not mean "better in every possible in-game situation."
It means "better in every possible deck, vs. every plausible meta-game."
So if you can't actually think of a deck-building situation where you'd prefer card B to card A, then please spare us the Mindslaver.
I actually posted that Ovinomancer was the perfect companion to Thousand-Year Elixir in the thread that spoiled the elixir.
But yes, Merike and Mangara are also two good things to elixir with, effectively giving you a creature that can destroy a creature every turn (merike, whenever she untaps she kills what she's holding), or a card that says "1WW: Remove two target permanents and this card from the game"
Now, if only there were a more reliable way to get the elixir into your hand/play...
And if only this deck had any game whatsoever against control decks.
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So um.. how exactly would this deck beat lets say.. your deck yaron beat UW control that just counters everything wraths and plays something like sacred mesa. Your only non-dead card against them is mangara so you will never resolve that if they know that is the only thing they need to bother to counter. It isn't good having matchups with a 95%+ loss rate. (the 5% is extreme mana screw for your opponent since even your god hand is gonna lose due to having nothing in the deck but ponder and star below 3 mana and no acceleration)
Machius' version atleast has 4 win conditions in addition to the non-dead mangaras plus two of them get shuffled back in unless countered by faerie trickery.
True, but while they both cost 2, rather than 3, 1 requires you to already have a creature out and is very vulnerable to a 2-for-1, and the other will slow down any even-costed creatures you would hope to play. That, and the elixir interacts with other CiP creatures much better, and it costs colorless, and so is more flexible.
True, but while they both cost 2, rather than 3, 1 requires you to already have a creature out and is very vulnerable to a 2-for-1, and the other will slow down any even-costed creatures you would hope to play. That, and the elixir interacts with other CiP creatures much better, and it costs colorless, and so is more flexible.
So don't play even-costed creatures. The only useful one suggested by this thread is Looter, I think.
Yes, Elixer > Prerogative, but Elixer+Prerogative > Elixer. Consistency is key.
R_E, i'm definitely sticking with a 2 color deck like the UW version, and i've been trying to work Momentary Blink into the deck. Black is very tempting but not tempting enough for me to try 3 colors, it might be possible but I prefer a more streamlined deck.
A UB version could be interesting though Royal Assassin and Dralnu, Lich Lord are both very useful with Elixer. Damnation works equally well as Wrath of God effect and Slaughter Pact etc. are a fair substitute for Crib Swap. You also get the added protection of Thoughtseize vs Control and the option of Diabolic Tutor to search out your deck pieces. The biggest problem with the UB version is the loss of Mangara of Corondor's ability to deal with any permanent and the ability to side/maindeck other answers to artifacts/enchantments like Disenchant, Oblivion Ring etc.
The other ways of giving all creatures haste are red when the best tap creatures are U, W and B. Emblem of the Warmind is weak since it requires a creature to enchant and dies easily if your opponent has creature removal for that creature. Ashling's Perogative is interesting, but it's also a symmetrical effect meaning it can potentially benefit your opponent more than yourself(Hasted Spectral Force the turn after you play Perogative is not a pleasant thing), it also stops you from using Merfolk Looter to dig through your deck(slows it down anyway). Elixer is colorless, cheap and useful in multiples thanks to it's untap a creature ability.
The only thing that's really stopping this deck is the lack of a good universal Tutor, Drift of Phantasms would have been perfect in this deck fetching both the Elixer and all the good 3cc creatures Ovinomancer, Mangara of Corondor and so on.
4. Tap Merieke Ri Berit
Stack: Merieke ability (targeting creature #2)
Merieke ability (targeting creature #1)
5. Let the abilities resolve. Both creatures are yours as long as Merieke remains tapped.
Yes, it works.
You're forgetting to stack Merieke's triggered ability when it untaps on step 3. The one that destroys the creature? Yep. So it doesn't work exactly like that, because the "you control" clause doesn't say "as long as she's tapped", it says "as long as you control her", and the moment it untaps it will not lose control of the creature but will stack the triggered destroy ability. You can still sac it, though.
You're forgetting to stack Merieke's triggered ability when it untaps on step 3. The one that destroys the creature? Yep. So it doesn't work exactly like that, because the "you control" clause doesn't say "as long as she's tapped", it says "as long as you control her", and the moment it untaps it will not lose control of the creature but will stack the triggered destroy ability. You can still sac it, though.
The destroy ability is part of the gain control ability. If you don't let the gain control ability resolve first, untapping does nothing.
Gatherer seems to say otherwise. Look at the bottom:
9/25/2006 If Merieke becomes untapped, its "destroy" ability will trigger, but you won't lose control of the creature you took before it's destroyed.
Thats assuming you've had the ability resolve and gain control of the creature.
When her steal ability resolves it sets up the trigger ability for when it uptaps, if it hasn't resolved it doesn't exist.
MMM, I got it now. Sorry for the temporary loss of stack-knowledge...
Even destroying one of them, it's still good, BTW.
I had a fun deck built around that very idea in Legacy. It used Concordiant Crossroads and Aether Vial. The game win was Brand and Coat of Arms then attack. Actually creamed some guys tournie Goblin Deck. It is a fun strategy. I suggest adding Teferi since you don't have access tyo Vial.
Thanks Sakura, the decks pretty tight but Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is definitely worth a maindeck slot(The original list was going to have him sideboard), especially with Vedalken AEthermage to tutor for him.
Great ideas Machius. Lots of cool synergy there. I would stay with UW (although black is tempting..) and consider adding Blink.
Myself, I want to use the Elixir with one of my elf decks. Right now it uses Lightning Greaves. I drop a mana elf, equip it, tap for a bunch of mana, play more elves, and move the greaves to them. Basically it lets everything have haste, one at a time. I'm not sure which is better, greaves or elixir. Greaves grants shroud, but the elixir could let me use a creature a second time. I'm going to test the elixir and see if it's better.
If you run Priests of Titania then I highly recommend the Elixir. Massive mana generation = good times.
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"One skilled at battle takes a stand in the ground of no defeat
And so does not lose the enemy's defeat.
Therefore, the victorious military is first victorious and after that does battle.
The defeated military first does battle and after that seeks victory."
Wow, how amazing. I mean the cards it goes well with are pretty horrible on their own, but with the elixer thrown in they become pretty amazing. Defiantly something I am going to tinker with.
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I finally found the best combination with Thousand-Year Elixer:
Ovinomancer!
Ovinomancer is a very funny and often forgotten card from Visions which returned to standard in Timespiral Timeshifted. It has the fantastic tap ability of:
T, return Ovinomancer to it's owners hand: Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. That creature's controller puts a 0/1 green Sheep creature token into play.
The reason it never saw play was it's excessive drawback of:
When Ovinomancer comes into play, sacrifice it unless you return three basic lands you control to their owner's hand.
This is a 187 ability so when Ovinomancer comes into play it goes onto the stack and if Ovinomancer has haste(or an approximation) thanks to Thousand-Year Elixer it can in response T return itself and fizzle the sacrifice/return 3 lands drawback.
This turns Ovinomancer into a 2U sorcery which reads "Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. That creature's controller puts a 0/1 green Sheep creature token into play. Return this card to your hand."
A cheap reusable blue spell which destroys creatures and gives 0/1 tokens is a pretty good thing. I haven't worked out a deck yet but even if I can't make it good enough for constructed it's sure to be fun in casual and worth taking along to an FNM for the hell of it.
Machius proudly supports R_E's right to Rumour!
...
Actually though, wow, that's pretty awesome; i've always like Ovinomancer and my latest solution to use him was trickbind
Eh, he's a casual card anywayz.
2x Urza's Factory
4x Adarkar Wastes
4x Wanderwine Hub
5x Island
7x Plains
4x Merfolk Looter
4x Vedalken AEthermage
3x Mangara of Corondor
2x Ovinomancer
4x Cryptic Annelid
1x Guile
1x Purity
4x Ponder
4x Crib Swap
3x Thousand-Year Elixer
4x Wrath of God
4x Foresee
The Wanderwine Hub triggers of both Merfolk Looter and Crib Swap or is just a Coastal Tower. The deck uses the AEthermage to help find Ovinomancer or Mangara(It can also find Crib Swap) and digs through the deck with Annelid, Foresee, Ponder and Merfolk Looter. Wrath of God and Crib Swap should together with random creatures should stall an aggro deck long enough to get Ovinomancer and/or Mangara going.
The deck is designed for aggro and it's sideboard would probably be mainly counters against a control matchup.
It's a slow deck which should stabilize the board and then end up beating down with Factory Tokens or one of the 2 Incarnations.
Machius proudly supports R_E's right to Rumour!
I'm testing an Elixir deck with Mangara, Royal Assassin (can hold off an army of weenies all by himself) and all-star Merieke Ri Berit. The optimal opening is:
Turns 1/2: drop vivid land's (cipt), play ponders and/or chromatic stars.
Turn 3: Elixir.
Turn 4: Merieke. Take a creature. Untap (it dies). Take another creature.
This opening isn't as rare as I thought it would be, because of Ponder and Chromatic Star.
Mangara and the Assassin can replace Merieke, and all these creatures are viable board-controllers even without the Elixir.
I also run some Elixir wannabes:
Rings of Brighthearth lets all those creatures work their magic twice a turn (Merieke can take, and keep, two creatures). It's no Elixir (no haste, 2 mana to "untap"), but it works in a pinch.
Momentary Blink lets Mangara and Merieke do double-duty, while also protecting them from removal (a big concern for this deck).
Here's my most recent list for reference:
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Underground River
4 River of Tears
4 Vivid Meadow
2 Vivid Marsh
4 Mangara of Corondor
4 Merieke Ri Berit
2 Arcanis the Omnipotent
4 Momentary Blink
4 Thousand-Year Elixir
4 Rings of Brighthearth
4 Ponder
4 Chromatic Star
If you're about to pounce on someone who said card A was "strictly better" than card B, and treat them to some convoluted counter-example, please don't.
"Strictly better" does not mean "better in every possible in-game situation."
It means "better in every possible deck, vs. every plausible meta-game."
So if you can't actually think of a deck-building situation where you'd prefer card B to card A, then please spare us the Mindslaver.
Thank you!
This is true which is why i'm only running 2 copies of Ovinomancer in the deck(I can wizardcycle, scry, loot or draw for him). While he is dead without Elixer, Royal Assassin, Merieke Ri Berit and even Mangara of Corondor are weak without the Elixer and Ovinomancer has the major benefit over them of being impossible to respond to(barring split second removal) thanks to bouncing itself as part of the cost of it's tap ability. It also has the advantage of being able to target and destroy almost any creature(any creature without shroud, indestructible or protection from blue or creatures) as many times as you want for only 2U a time.
I love your decks use of Merieke, and the addition of Momentary Blink is great in your version, however your land base is horribly vulnerable and painful, Rings of Brightearth is only ever a win more card(Elixer gets around the fundamental problem of being a vulnerable tap ability creature without haste as well as giving a 2nd use while Rings only does the less important 2nd use part). The biggest problem is that without Elixer or even with Elixer the deck is too slow to come back from a fast aggro deck especially if the deck is packing burn, Merieke and Assassin are great but any burn spell/removal spell deals with them before they do much and allows the aggro deck to continue its assault. Your deck needs removal or stall which isn't creature based or reliant on the Elixer. Wrath, Damnation, Oblivion Ring, Slaughter Pact, Terror, Shriekmaw, Unsummon, Holy Day and so on can all help you stabilize before gaining control of the board with your tap ability creatures.
Machius proudly supports R_E's right to Rumour!
UMMM what? im so confused by what you said with this. If its what i tihnk yo said then no you called this ruling wrong .... but i still am not sure what you said so... what did you say?:)
Yes i am the same guy who trades/sells on MOTL AND Wizards of the Coast and i trade on POJO.
Myself, I want to use the Elixir with one of my elf decks. Right now it uses Lightning Greaves. I drop a mana elf, equip it, tap for a bunch of mana, play more elves, and move the greaves to them. Basically it lets everything have haste, one at a time. I'm not sure which is better, greaves or elixir. Greaves grants shroud, but the elixir could let me use a creature a second time. I'm going to test the elixir and see if it's better.
.
I was going to post the same suggestion as you.
The trick is as follows:
1. Tap Merieke Ri Berit
Stack: Merieke ability (targeting creature #1)
2. Activate Thousand-Year Elixir
Stack: Elixir ability (targeting Merieke)
Merieke ability (targeting creature #1)
3. Let Elixir ability resolve. Merieke untaps.
Stack: Merieke ability (targeting creature #1)
4. Tap Merieke Ri Berit
Stack: Merieke ability (targeting creature #2)
Merieke ability (targeting creature #1)
5. Let the abilities resolve. Both creatures are yours as long as Merieke remains tapped.
Yes, it works.
Would even split second hinder you? I think after Ovinomancer resolves and his trigger goes on the stack, you get priority - and can bounce him before the opponent plays anything, split second or not.
Thanks for those tips!
I'm not sure what I can do about the mana base if I want to play Merieke (and I'm not willing to give her up yet), but I will definitely let go of the Rings in favour of straight removal, more drawing/filtering, and maybe even an Ovinomancer or two...
Good point, never thought of that!
If you're about to pounce on someone who said card A was "strictly better" than card B, and treat them to some convoluted counter-example, please don't.
"Strictly better" does not mean "better in every possible in-game situation."
It means "better in every possible deck, vs. every plausible meta-game."
So if you can't actually think of a deck-building situation where you'd prefer card B to card A, then please spare us the Mindslaver.
Thank you!
But yes, Merike and Mangara are also two good things to elixir with, effectively giving you a creature that can destroy a creature every turn (merike, whenever she untaps she kills what she's holding), or a card that says "1WW: Remove two target permanents and this card from the game"
Now, if only there were a more reliable way to get the elixir into your hand/play...
And if only this deck had any game whatsoever against control decks.
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Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
Machius' version atleast has 4 win conditions in addition to the non-dead mangaras plus two of them get shuffled back in unless countered by faerie trickery.
True, but while they both cost 2, rather than 3, 1 requires you to already have a creature out and is very vulnerable to a 2-for-1, and the other will slow down any even-costed creatures you would hope to play. That, and the elixir interacts with other CiP creatures much better, and it costs colorless, and so is more flexible.
Post Shards of Alara combos here please, for the convenience of the forum-goers
GENERATION 11: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig and add 1 to the generation. social experiment.
So don't play even-costed creatures. The only useful one suggested by this thread is Looter, I think.
Yes, Elixer > Prerogative, but Elixer+Prerogative > Elixer. Consistency is key.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
R_E, i'm definitely sticking with a 2 color deck like the UW version, and i've been trying to work Momentary Blink into the deck. Black is very tempting but not tempting enough for me to try 3 colors, it might be possible but I prefer a more streamlined deck.
A UB version could be interesting though Royal Assassin and Dralnu, Lich Lord are both very useful with Elixer. Damnation works equally well as Wrath of God effect and Slaughter Pact etc. are a fair substitute for Crib Swap. You also get the added protection of Thoughtseize vs Control and the option of Diabolic Tutor to search out your deck pieces. The biggest problem with the UB version is the loss of Mangara of Corondor's ability to deal with any permanent and the ability to side/maindeck other answers to artifacts/enchantments like Disenchant, Oblivion Ring etc.
The other ways of giving all creatures haste are red when the best tap creatures are U, W and B. Emblem of the Warmind is weak since it requires a creature to enchant and dies easily if your opponent has creature removal for that creature. Ashling's Perogative is interesting, but it's also a symmetrical effect meaning it can potentially benefit your opponent more than yourself(Hasted Spectral Force the turn after you play Perogative is not a pleasant thing), it also stops you from using Merfolk Looter to dig through your deck(slows it down anyway). Elixer is colorless, cheap and useful in multiples thanks to it's untap a creature ability.
The only thing that's really stopping this deck is the lack of a good universal Tutor, Drift of Phantasms would have been perfect in this deck fetching both the Elixer and all the good 3cc creatures Ovinomancer, Mangara of Corondor and so on.
Machius proudly supports R_E's right to Rumour!
You're forgetting to stack Merieke's triggered ability when it untaps on step 3. The one that destroys the creature? Yep. So it doesn't work exactly like that, because the "you control" clause doesn't say "as long as she's tapped", it says "as long as you control her", and the moment it untaps it will not lose control of the creature but will stack the triggered destroy ability. You can still sac it, though.
The destroy ability is part of the gain control ability. If you don't let the gain control ability resolve first, untapping does nothing.
http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=2733
Gatherer seems to say otherwise. Look at the bottom:
9/25/2006 If Merieke becomes untapped, its "destroy" ability will trigger, but you won't lose control of the creature you took before it's destroyed.
MMM, I got it now. Sorry for the temporary loss of stack-knowledge...
Even destroying one of them, it's still good, BTW.
Machius proudly supports R_E's right to Rumour!
And so does not lose the enemy's defeat.
Therefore, the victorious military is first victorious and after that does battle.
The defeated military first does battle and after that seeks victory."
GWUPhelddagrif----------------GWRhys, the Redeemed----------UBRLord of Tresserhorn--------XKozilek, Butcher of Truth
WUBRGProgenitus---------------BGWKarador, Ghost Chieftain---URGIntet, the Dreamer---------RGWort, the Raidmother
BGSavra-----------------------RGMarhault Elsdragon----------UTeferi, Mage of Zhalfir------UWHanna, Ship's Navigator
BSkithiryx the Blight Dragon--RWUZedruu the Greathearted----BRelentless Rats------------BRUNicol Bolas