Once you obtain one of these primary combos, there are any number of ways to win with them. With any unlimited draw, you can get Laboratory Maniac and finish the game, or a creature with Diviner's Wand can deliver a killing blow, or you can dig up any other combo you can think of. With unlimited mana, you can do virtually anything, especially if you also have unlimited draw on the table. Talrand, Sky Summoner can produce unlimited tokens in the right conditions for a stylish win. Lots of redundancy and backup.
The deck has a really low mana curve which is nice. I've been thinking of dropping little Jace for another counterspell, possibly Muddle the Mixture since it fetches some nice things, but not quite sold on that yet.
Aug 5 2012
-Ponder
-Brainstorm
-Jace Beleren
-Stroke of Genius
-Cancel
-Brain Freeze
Hi there. I like your list but do have a few of questions and comments:
Why, oh why, are you running Cancel? At the very least, run Dissipate for the same CMC, or better yet, Mana Drain, Remand, Negate (sort of conditional, but still very good), Arcane Denial, or another counterspell if you find you need it.
No love for Extraplanar Lens over the Gauntlet or Caged Sun? With your snow-covered islands, Extraplanar Lens is more efficient than either of the other mana doublers. Also, Treasure Mage can fetch your Caged Sun and is a wizard.
Mana Crypt is pretty sweet for powering out Azami quickly, and Cavern of Souls seems like a good idea for your wizards when playing against other U decks.
Brain Freeze doesn't seem worth running to me in multiplayer, but I haven't ever tested it so I could be wrong.
Agree on Cancel. I'd replace it with Mana Drain, but I only have one which is in another deck. Dissipate is technically better so maybe I will do that in the meantime. And outside of Muddle the Mixture, I don't like the idea of conditional counterspells in this deck.
I used to run Extraplanar Lens, but the mana doublers get axed a lot, and I didn't like getting 2-for-1'd constantly. Mana Crypt is in the same boat as Mana Drain--only have one. Good call on Cavern of Souls, I'll put that at the top of the list. I would run Treasure Mage if it had more than one target.
The Brain Freeze can actually be quite deadly. With the Top\Key\Future Sight combo, there are usually enough cards left in the deck to deck 2 people. Palinchron combo makes it unlimited. It's proven to be a reliable finish in my group. And as for Strip Mine\Wasteland + Crucible: while technically a combo, it's not unlimited. And outside of this combo, Crucible is generally useless. There's also the issue of it being a little TOO mean.
Not looking forward to getting foil Cavern of Souls. Pricey stuff.
Hi there. I have some recommendations for your deck.
Consider some deck manipulation. I've had great success with Soothsaying. You can look several cards deep and find your combo pieces EOT. You can also shuffle your library, which is just amazing if you're not drawing into anything. Scroll Rack is also good and you can Fabricate for it.
As far as your counterspells go, why are you not running Mindbreak Trap? It wins counter wars and deals with uncounterable stuff (makes Boseiju Who Shelters All less powerful.) Consider Negate as well. It doesn't get nearly enough credit. It's super good in this format.
Since you're running 30 basic lands, maybe Gauntlet of Power might be better for you. It costs one less than Caged Sun. Extraolanar Lens is also a possibility, though it doesn't pump your creatures.
I'd run Blue Sun's Zenith over Stroke of Genius, since it shuffles your library. Rhystic Study is also a good way to draw cards if people aren't paying attention.
Finally, Opposition and Propaganda are super popular in more tribal Azami builds because they can make the game completely one-sided.
I do just-so-happen to have a foil Soothsaying. I think you're right about having a couple more shuffle and manipulation effects. Also love the Blue Sun's Zenith suggestion for this purpose. And Propaganda seems like an excellent choice as well.
So, I believe I will do this:
-Ponder
-Jace Beleren
-Stroke of Genius
-Cancel
Curve is preserved while gaining better stuff. We may also cut Brainstorm in favor of Scroll Rack since it not only promises multiple uses, it can also be fetched by Muddle the Mixture which I have been thinking of swapping in but holding off because of so few targets. Negate is also not a bad idea: I might swap Brain Freeze for that. The deck has a lot of ways to win already, and more counters would certainly be nice. I like where this is going.
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
Creatures
1 Archaeomancer
1 Augur of Bolas
1 Echo Mage
1 Fatestitcher
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Graceful Adept
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Lighthouse Chronologist
1 Magus of the Future
1 Palinchron
1 Patron Wizard
1 Rimewind Taskmage
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Stonybrook Banneret
1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Trinket Mage
1 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Voidmage Husher
1 Voidmage Prodigy
1 Willbender
1 Caged Sun
1 Cloud Key
1 Diviner's Wand
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Grim Monolith
1 Mana Vault
1 Scroll Rack
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
Instant
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Capsize
1 Counterspell
1 Cryptic Command
1 Forbid
1 Force of Will
1 Hinder
1 Long-Term Plans
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Negate
1 Pact of Negation
1 Rewind
1 Spell Crumple
1 Call to Mind
1 Fabricate
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Time Stretch
1 Time Warp
Planeswalker
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
Enchantment
1 Future Sight
1 Mind Over Matter
1 Power Artifact
1 Propaganda
1 Soothsaying
Land
30 Snow-Covered Island
1 Halimar Depths
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Mutavault
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
The big combos:
Sensei's Divining Top + Cloud Key + Future Sight or Magus of the Future = high storm count and unlimited card draw
Grim Monolith + Power Artifact = unlimited colorless mana
Palinchron + Caged Sun or Gauntlet of Power = Unlimited U
Riptide Laboratory + Archaeomancer + Time Stretch or Time Warp = unlimited turns
Azami, Lady of Scrolls + Mind over Matter = unlimited card draw
Once you obtain one of these primary combos, there are any number of ways to win with them. With any unlimited draw, you can get Laboratory Maniac and finish the game, or a creature with Diviner's Wand can deliver a killing blow, or you can dig up any other combo you can think of. With unlimited mana, you can do virtually anything, especially if you also have unlimited draw on the table. Talrand, Sky Summoner can produce unlimited tokens in the right conditions for a stylish win. Lots of redundancy and backup.
The deck has a really low mana curve which is nice. I've been thinking of dropping little Jace for another counterspell, possibly Muddle the Mixture since it fetches some nice things, but not quite sold on that yet.
Aug 5 2012
-Ponder
-Brainstorm
-Jace Beleren
-Stroke of Genius
-Cancel
-Brain Freeze
+Soothsaying
+Scroll Rack
+Propaganda
+Blue Sun's Zenith
+Mindbreak Trap
+Muddle the Mixture
Why, oh why, are you running Cancel? At the very least, run Dissipate for the same CMC, or better yet, Mana Drain, Remand, Negate (sort of conditional, but still very good), Arcane Denial, or another counterspell if you find you need it.
No love for Extraplanar Lens over the Gauntlet or Caged Sun? With your snow-covered islands, Extraplanar Lens is more efficient than either of the other mana doublers. Also, Treasure Mage can fetch your Caged Sun and is a wizard.
Mana Crypt is pretty sweet for powering out Azami quickly, and Cavern of Souls seems like a good idea for your wizards when playing against other U decks.
Brain Freeze doesn't seem worth running to me in multiplayer, but I haven't ever tested it so I could be wrong.
Lastly, if you're going to run Strip Mine and Wasteland, you might as well throw in Crucible of Worlds for yet another combo.
This "love" intrigues me. Teach me to fake it.
UR Nin, the Pain Artist
WUB Zur the Enchanter (Retired)
UB Oona, Queen of the Fae (Pseudo-Retired)
I used to run Extraplanar Lens, but the mana doublers get axed a lot, and I didn't like getting 2-for-1'd constantly. Mana Crypt is in the same boat as Mana Drain--only have one. Good call on Cavern of Souls, I'll put that at the top of the list. I would run Treasure Mage if it had more than one target.
The Brain Freeze can actually be quite deadly. With the Top\Key\Future Sight combo, there are usually enough cards left in the deck to deck 2 people. Palinchron combo makes it unlimited. It's proven to be a reliable finish in my group. And as for Strip Mine\Wasteland + Crucible: while technically a combo, it's not unlimited.
Not looking forward to getting foil Cavern of Souls. Pricey stuff.
Yeah, in my Azami deck, I also run the Planar Portal combo with Beacon of Tomorrows to take infinite turns, so Treasure Mage is slightly more useful :).
This "love" intrigues me. Teach me to fake it.
UR Nin, the Pain Artist
WUB Zur the Enchanter (Retired)
UB Oona, Queen of the Fae (Pseudo-Retired)
Consider some deck manipulation. I've had great success with Soothsaying. You can look several cards deep and find your combo pieces EOT. You can also shuffle your library, which is just amazing if you're not drawing into anything. Scroll Rack is also good and you can Fabricate for it.
As far as your counterspells go, why are you not running Mindbreak Trap? It wins counter wars and deals with uncounterable stuff (makes Boseiju Who Shelters All less powerful.) Consider Negate as well. It doesn't get nearly enough credit. It's super good in this format.
Since you're running 30 basic lands, maybe Gauntlet of Power might be better for you. It costs one less than Caged Sun. Extraolanar Lens is also a possibility, though it doesn't pump your creatures.
I'd run Blue Sun's Zenith over Stroke of Genius, since it shuffles your library. Rhystic Study is also a good way to draw cards if people aren't paying attention.
Finally, Opposition and Propaganda are super popular in more tribal Azami builds because they can make the game completely one-sided.
UAzami, Locus of All KnowledgeU
BMarrow-Gnawer, Crime Lord of ComboB
WBRTariel, Hellraiser StaxWBR
Annul is really good in EDH
So, I believe I will do this:
-Ponder
-Jace Beleren
-Stroke of Genius
-Cancel
+Soothsaying
+Propaganda
+Blue Sun's Zenith
+Dissipate *or* Mindbreak Trap
Curve is preserved while gaining better stuff. We may also cut Brainstorm in favor of Scroll Rack since it not only promises multiple uses, it can also be fetched by Muddle the Mixture which I have been thinking of swapping in but holding off because of so few targets. Negate is also not a bad idea: I might swap Brain Freeze for that. The deck has a lot of ways to win already, and more counters would certainly be nice. I like where this is going.