I will start off with the disambiguation of "non-combo" as there is a wide range of interpretation as to what constitutes a combo. For this thread a combo will detonate any interaction of cards that produces a "degenerate" outcome that diminishes player interaction (e.g. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed's interaction with Triskelion to ping all opponents for an arbitrarily large amount of damage.)
Secondly, I would like to address the purpose of this deck list. By no means do I expect my deck list to be the best. I wish only to discuss what optimal cards there are to choose from, and to produce a great deck list and many great variant cards and interactions to use to mold it to any meta.(i.e. I wish to create an "Omni-board" to use with different multiplayer metas, with emphasis on interacting with my opponents and creating "good times.")
Now down to business: The deck and my theories on playing it. (my decklist will contain only cards that I own)
1 Volrath's Stronghold - Great creature recursion for only a three mana investment, it does hinder your draw per turn slightly, introducing no new cards into your resources, but typically, if you are getting back what you need anyway, this isn't a problem.
1 Tolaria West - Tutors up a different utility land, or a Tormod's Crypt if you have a heavy graveyard Meta.
1 Cephalid Coliseum - This card still needs some testing on my part, but the 1 damage is rarely relevant, and threshold is more often than not had, so it's a nice way to draw and discard when needed.
I doubt any comments are needed here, save for the fact that I run the Legends lands: Tolaria, Urborg, and pendlehaven. I run these for aesthetic reasons; I love the arts. They don't come into play tapped, so they basically replace a basic land. I understand that they are more easily removed by means of vesuva and other Legendary LD options, but I have not encountered a significant amount of that in any of the meta's I've been a part of, and you would be surprised how often they become relevant, save for tolaria, tolaria is just useless XD.
1 Havengul Lich - Little bit expensive at 5cmc, but well worth the effect imho. I prefer this guy over Geth, Lord Of the Vault, because he is a little cheaper to play, and allows me to cast cards from my graveyard. While Geth is great in that he can get artifacts, and mill your opponents, I really want to target my yard. This is a just a preference call, your deck would be no better or worse for having Geth in this slot, and in an artifact heavy meta, I would probably recommend Geth over Lich.
1 Body Double - Kind of like an Un-Clone, it finds things in graveyards instead of play, seeing as I often mill myself and everyone around me, and the wrath effects are abundant in EDH, this is just a perfect clone effect for this deck.
1 Animate Dead - one of the best reanimation spells out there, a staple in this deck IMHO.
1 Victimize - probably the most powerful reanimation spell in this deck, I would never concider running this deck without it.
1 Reanimate - discounting life total, this is the most efficient reanimation spell in Magic, and again, is a staple in this deck.
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One - Sheoldred is a powerhouse at her worst. Sacing off dudes your oppoents control for you to reanimate with your spells, and getting your dudes back all in one 7cmc package. She does not often live for more than a turn or two, but by then she has already generated significant advantage. And her swampwalk ability with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play is nothing to shrug off.
1 Dance of the Dead - Animate Dead's little brother, it's not quite as good, requiring an upkeep cost of 1B to untap the creature, this is rarely a problem, as more often than not, it is reanimating something that I never really intended to swing with anyway. And if the swing is needed, the cost is hardly a hindrance.
1 Necromancy - 3cmc is about as high as I'm willing to pay for a single target reanimation spell, but this one takes the cake with being instant speed as well, I mentioned the interaction with Kederekt Leviathan before, which is a powerful play (perhaps too powerful). I rarely want to cast it for instant speed, in order to get the full use out of it, but the option is always nice.
1 Living Death - My favorite play with living death is to clone my Mirror-Mad Phantasm, activating it, milling my entire library, and then casting living death. I've been playing this less and less now that I only have Timespiral as a way to shuffle my graveyard back into my library, but it's always a hilarious play.
1 Genesis - Par none, this is my favorite way to get creatures back into my hand.
1 Phyrexian Reclamation - Cheaper than Gensis, this is a wonderful way to reuse those ETB effect, and with a sac outlet in play, I end up having to watch my life total because of too many activations of this card.
1 Yawgmoth's Will - Probably the most broken card in this list, at worst, it is an early game regrowth for 2B; late game, it is a powerhouse that will give you more advantage than you have mana to use. I typically try to use my enchantment based reanimation with this, in order to dodge the the exile. It's a one shot card, but it well worth it.
1 Eternal Witness - This is my favorite card in M:tG, and with about 11 different ways to get it into your hand/play/yard, I chose to play it and forgo Archaeomancer and Snapcaster Mage altogether.
1 Life from the Loam - Great way to get utility lands back, or find mana if you are missing your land drops.
1 Altar of Dementia - Great sac outlet. Allows you to sac off your dudes in response to a board wipe, and mill someone, getting that extra use out your creatures. Also very useful to use this outlet to sac creatures into your yard, to then reanimate them or bring them back to your hand for more ETB effects.
1 Hermit Druid - In my current list, I run too many basics for this to be the powerhouse it is in 5cHermit, but it does mill some and it's always nice to find another land.
1 Mirror-Mad Phantasm - This is more of a "I want to play this card, so I'm going to" type selection. Though I have not been dissapointed by it yet. My favorite play with this card is using Bribery to find a clone in an opponent's deck, cloning this, activating it, and milling their entire library.
1 Attunement - I dislike this card, to put it simply, but it does it job well. It draws me cards and discards me even more. It's card disadvantage if I don't discard it along with the other 3, but it gives me the option of continuing to use it, netting -1 cards per use. But if you are in a pinch, and you need to fill your yard or are looking for that answer, there are few options short of a tutor that are better.
1 Mesmeric Orb - I love this card, this is another card that I'm playing simply because I want to, which IMHO is how EDH should be played. I love milling myself, but I love to watch my opponents squirm as they untap their permanents and see their cards be milled into their yard for me to abuse. If I find myself in a meta that uses strategies similar to mine, such a Karador or Sharuum, then I typically take this card out for Leyline of the void.
1 Buried Alive - Most efficent way to get critters into your yard. it's a staple in this deck if there ever was one.
1 Traumatize - again, typically comes out for graveyard hate should I find myself in a meta full of graveyard decks, besides that, it is a fun card to play, often enough on myself. It is one of the weaker cards in the deck and may see a cut soon.
1 Insidious Dreams - this Tutor does it all. Discards my critters from my hand while finding me the reanimation spells or answers that I need. Great for EOT to mill creatures into my yard by placing them on top of my library. I rarely discard more than 1 or two cards to this, but it gets its job done, and is a wonderful way to set up your next couple of turns.
1 Entomb - Not as efficient as as buried alive, but it can also find things like Life From the Loam, or a land to get back with said life from the loam. It's a great staple card for this deck.
1 Vampiric Tutor - nothing needs to be said here, just one of the best tutors available. Remember to use it EOT when you know what you need.
1 Demonic Tutor - Simpy the best tutor in the format IMHO.
1 Survival of the Fittest - Another one of those powerhouses that becomes an immediate target when it hits the board. Make sure you have mana open to activate it's ability when you play this card, because I would not expect it to survive a turn, and if it does, then you are probably going to win the game.
1 Mystical Tutor - Not as good as Vampiric, but it gets the job done.
1 Intuition - I love this card, it takes a bit of skill to use, but once you get the hang of it you never get stuck with something you don't need. Remember to make the selections as difficult for your oppoent as possible. Nab things like eternal witness and reanimation spells + a fattie. Another strategy is to get three cards that do the same thing. Like animate dead, necromancy, and dance of the dead, Then, there are no good/bad choices for you opponent.
1 Chord of Calling - Eternal witness number 2. That is more of a joke than anything, but I do find myself naming E-wit with this more than another other card. But it is always nice to EOT find that massacre wurm to game a token playing opponent.
1 Greater Good - I don't play much draw power in this deck, instead selecting ways to mill myself. But for the draw power I do have, I make it count. Greater good is probably the most power draw spell in the format. Acting as a sacrifice outlet as well, it will draw through your deck if you are not careful. Make full use of this card, because It wont be out long. Use it to sac your blockers (unless you need what it's blocking dead) to net card advantage. Discard your fatties and hopefully draw into some answers.
1 Fact or Fiction - Similar to intuition, this card is here to give your opponents hard choices. And since you get to choose which hit your hand, there never really is a good choice for you opponent. This is the weakest of the draw power spell I have, and could see a cut, but unlikely. EOT Fact or Fiction is just too good.
1 Consecrated Sphinx - This is the only card that rivals greater good in draw power in EDH IMHO, and it certainly does it job. Greaves this baby up and watch your hand overflow.
1 Time Spiral - This is my OS button. If I find myself overextended on mill (mirror mad) I can use this to reset the game for myself. Nabbing myself a new hand and new library. This card is bonkers with Consecrated Sphinx out.
1 Sol Ring - I've heard arguments that this card is a dead draw late game, and sometimes it is. But it is more often than not a wonderful excellerant. And is really a staple in all EDH decks.
1 Mana Vault - Same argument as sol ring. Though I do find myself just taking damage from it after the fist use, simply because there are more important ways to use that 4 Mana. I've been contemplating taking this out for another land find card, but I can't justify it yet.
1 Skyshroud Claim - One of the best landfind cards in the format. Finds your duals and leaves them untapped.
1 Cultivate - pretty boring here, but it does put you ahead a land, and finds you another. It's a nice two for one draw pseudo-draw spell that ensures your lands of the color you need. I would not run less than 6 basic lands in a deck running this card.
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder - Might take this out for farseek, because it finds duals, but this card is recurable though Phyrexian Reclamation and can double as a blocker.
1 Tornado Elemental - Pretty much unblockable, with a decent P/T and clears the field of most flyers.
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon - Hasted, flying, regeneration, with infect, enough said. This card is scary with 6 counters placed on it.
1 Thornling - It does everything mimeoplasm wants to do. Morphling is another option in this slot, and honestly just as effective, but wrath effects are more prevalent in my meta.
1 Krosan Grip - This is a pretty common staple among deck that run green. Originally, I was using to stop the triskelion mikaeus combo, but it didn't take them long to figure out to retain priority with each activation. Regardless, I found I was more often using it to answer other enchantment/artifact hate effects, so it's probably going to stay in the build. Though I might end up replacing it with trickbind, as the Mike and trike combo off of tooth and nail is still quite popular (sigh... I hate combo).
1 Kederekt Leviathan - great way to bounce the field with a reanimation spell, and it has built in recursion!
1 Acidic Slime - Wonderful destruction card, easily recurred. If your feeling mean, you can use something like dead-eye navigator to wreck someones mana base, but don't do this too often, you won't be in that group for long if you do.
1 Woodfall Primus - probably my favorite noncreatre removal, gets around that nasty "if this enchantment is discarded" type thing from animate dead, at one point in time I had Hex Parasite in my deck, and it quite effective that way. I have since taken parasite out, as that was it's only interaction, but it certainly is an option.
1 Terastodon - Not as good as woodfall, but it does hit hard and fast.
1 Massacre Wurm - Just wrecks token players. You could drop this card if you don't have any token players in your meta, but it also is nice to pair with dead-eye, you can pretty much kill anything with a few activations of dead-eye's bounce.
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur - Makes you opponents discard their hands (unless they have reliquary tower out, but that's what slime is for anyways). And draws you seven cards a turn, not too shabby.
1 Life's Finale - bit costly for a wrath effect, but it lets me choose some tastey reanimation targets in an oppoents graveyard.
1 Nevinyrral's Disk - Just a basic wrath effect. Does not hit planeswalkers, but still, it gets the job done. Can be answered before it goes off, but I tend to play this early game,a and just force an answer for it out of an oppoents hand. Or let them walk right into it, up to them.
1 Cyclonic Rift - Decent bounce card, and fenominal for its overload.
1 Evacuation - Might get taken out for damnation, but instant speed answers to hasted lethal damage is relevant more often than I'd like.
1 Shred Memory - probably the best piece of graveyard hate tech I have found yet. A very relevant tutor for this deck, transmuting for 2 cmc cards. With targets such as animate dead, dance of the dead, survival of the fittest, it is perfect for this slot. not to mention, which the graveyard as EDH's most abusable resource, every deck needs a bit of graveyard hate, and while this is a good piece of it, this probably needs a little bit more.
1 Riftsweeper - inevitably, important things will get exiled, in fact in The Mimeoplasm I intend it, and this is the best way to get it back. It also has nice interaction with suspend and rebound spells, this is the card Jhoira of the Ghitu want's to see the least.
1 Lightning Greaves - Recent addition (surprisngly), Hasting my creatures while also protecting them for 2 is never bad. I'm still on the wall about this card, as most of the things that want haste in my deck, already have it. But the protection is valuable.
1 Deadeye Navigator - Bordering on my "degenerate" definition, this card is the most likely to see the Ban Hammer on this list. I have heard many playgroups complain about how borked this card is, and I agree. It could see a cut, as it's only function is to be abused, and doesn't really help the deck do anything it wasn't already doing, just in a more borken fashion. (the broke misspellings were typos, I guess it's so broken, it broke broke)
1 Bribery - Just a general "goodstuff" card, it keeps people from putting things like eldrazi in their deck, and punishes them for doing it if they do. Typically, there is always a relevant target in some opponents deck for this card, and until such a time that there no longer is, It will stay in the deck.
1 Avenger of Zendikar - Big guy, love to sac and replay over and over with greater good and phyrexian reclamation. The most bang for your buck you will find in an agro creature (save for the general of this deck)
1 Brawn - Bit sketchy, but trample is never bad; it's easy to put into the yard.
1 Rite of Replication - a 4cmc clone is never bad, but it does target. It's in here for the kicker, and rarely gets played without it.
1 Sakashima the Impostor - IMHO, this is the best CLONE in the format. Yes that right, CLONE, not general killer. I hate how clones status has been reduced to that of a terminate for generals. Yes, using a clone as a way to get rid of a general is a great idea. First a foremost, a clone's function should be to, uh... clone? And nothing does it better than this card. With built in recursion, this card does it all: Copies ETB effects and opponents powerful legendary creatures (or your own, Sheoldred anyone?). Phyrexian Metamorph is a close second, but TBH, this card should be run alongside sakashima, not in place of.
1 Forbid- Reusable counter that allows you to discard your fatties, love it.
1 Mimic Vat - it is quite a removal target, I dislike exiling my own cards with this, because typically this gets removed quickly and I can typically get more use out of my owns cards with different interactions. It's in here to abuse my OPPONENTS ETB creatures, or exile that problem creature that I really just would rather stay dead.
After each of these pieces make it through testing, the ones that I find to be a solid choice will make it to the Omni-Board list. Wurmcoil Engine - I need more beats in this deck, and this is one of the best.
Grave Titan - Same argument as wurmcoil; Not sure If I would run both.
Disciple of Bolas - Looks like great card draw/life gain with reuseability, I think I will replace a lesser piece of card draw with this.
Worldly Tutor - One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is putting too many tutors in their deck, and watering down the threats they can produce. That is what is keeping this out of my deck atm; I don't want too many tutors. After some testing, this might come out for one of the weaker tutors (e.g. insidious dreams.)
1 Spike Weaver - In an agro heavy meta, this card is pretty good. I've seen it used, and I've hated seeing it in play, which means I'll love having it play myself. Though using The Mimeoplasm to reanimate this is probably not the best of options, 10+ fog effects on a stick would certainly be interesting.
1 Stitch together - You could do worse than getting a creature back into your hadn for BB, add threshold to it, and you get a very efficient recursion spell, I dislike that it only targets my graveyard, and I consider it the weakest of the reanimation in this deck, I don't intend to remove it anytime soon, though I may end up having too in order to fit in cards that I intend on obtaining.
Cauldron of Souls - Seems like a nice way to reuse many of my ETB effects with a sac outlet, or to survive a wrath.
Stormtide Leviathan - Unblockable creature with a moat affect attached to it, sounds perfect for a reanimation deck and even better for Mimeoplasm. This might replace tornado elemental, though they each answer a different kind of threat, I'm really not sure what would better come out for this card though.
Reins of Power - Great way to steal a victory, a must have inclusion if you have a heavy aggro/token meta that likes to swarm the field with creatures. It can also produce very nice combat tricks, using an opponents creatures to block and be killed, instead of yours.
Mystic Remora - Has the potential to draw you an incredible amount of cards for just a U, and paying the upkeep cost a time or two is no big deal for the amount of advantage you get.
Rhystic Study - Proven to be great draw power, but I hate asking people if they are going to pay for the study or not, and feel like a **** if I don't and just draw when they don't announce the payment of it.
Gilded Drake - Steal a dude, then kill drake, and rinse and repeat. Too good not to use, I don't currently own one, but I can't imagine myself not playing this guy when I get one, so I need to go ahead and find a place for him (I plan to purchase one shortly)
Death (Life/Death) - I'm still not convinced on this card, great reanimation, but I can't target opponents graveyards, albeit, I don't often "need" to, I just like doing it.
Reito Lantern - Great way to remove threats from an opponents yard, while doubling as a way to protect the useful cards in my graveyard from exile, or to prepare them to be gotten with one of my tutors.
Oracle of Mul Daya - Surprisingly, I don't actually own one of these atm
Beast Within - Great removal, no reason not to play it.
The Swords Of Beat and Face - Little bit pricey for me atm, but great evasion and triggered abilities.
Crystal Shard - Great protection for my creatures, and can be used to reuse ETB effects, again, I need room for it.
There are many cards that are just outside of my price range right now, such as Imperial Seal and Grim Tutor, that if I owned, would be in the deck. typically, I won't seek a card out if it is over $50.
For these tips I would like to point out that killing all of my opponents as quickly and efficiently as I can is NOT my game plan, if it were, I probably would be playing 5cHermit or some BS like that. Some of the things I will go over is very basic, other things are simply my opinion.
Typically, my first couple of turns consist of playing mana rocks and ramp spells. If my opening hand allows, one of this decks most powerful plays is, T1 EntombJin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, T2 reanimation spell. This is the card you want to fight to have in play at all times. Though this is unlikely, it will pretty much ensure that you win the game. If a Reliquary Tower hits play, break it, as an arbitrarily large hand size minus seven is still arbitrarily large number, meaning Jin will have no effect on any player who has one in play.
Try not to overextend in the early game, graveyard hate is (or should be) in just about every deck, and expect to be the one to get hit by everyone's hate. I've been considering using Reito Lantern has graveyard hate and as protection from it, using it to both remove threats from other player's graveyards, while using it to tuck mine away when my yard get targets by removal.
Save your early game targeted removal for REAL threats, I know it seems like a good idea to break that Winter Orb or Frozen Aether but this deck does not pack much of it, and typically, Leyline of the Void, Tormod's crypt, and Relic of Progenitus will be the targets for your removal, forcing them to use their removal too early, or getting no use out of it at all. Once you feel that you have dealt with people's removal, or they will be too slow to use it (having none in play mid game) then go ahead and try and take out some threats with your Woodfall Primus or Terastodon. While you could use these with Deadeye Navigator to remove pretty much all opponents mana bases, try to refrain from doing so, as this will usually result in a boring game, or, you just lose anyway, as everyone will target you with everything they have, no matter how good you are, 3 vs 1 is usually a losing battle.
Do play Mesmeric Orb Turn 1 if you can lol. This card is just a blast for me to play. There really isn't a more efficient way to mill yourself and your opponents. For just a two mana investment, unanswered, it will quickly get out of hand. This is the kind of card you get back with Academy Ruins after it has been destroyed.
Attempt to use your Instant speed tutors and draw power at the end of your opponent(s) turn, I see way too many people use these during their main phase, when they could just simply have cast them beforehand, and saved the mana. Remember, you can respond to your draw step with Vampiric Tutor and Mystical Tutor, and draw the card you need.
When getting ready to cast your general, grab a target that can protect itself as the copy. Make sure it's something that is indestructible, or shroud or regenerate (I tend to like indestructible and regenerate over shroud, as these dodge more wrath effects). If you can't find that, go for something that has trample or is unblockable or close enough, such as Tornado Elemental. Haste is great, but not as important as flying or the aforementioned attributes. Don't forget to search your opponents graveyards, and at least, try to get your extra counters from their yard, and not yours (with the exception of Lord of Extinction.) I tend to dislike early game casts of The Mimeoplasm, as typically, these don't have much power in them, and it's a poor use a reanimation spell, when you have far cheaper and more efficient ways to do it. Don't hesitate if you have some good targets, but do wait for them.
Don't be afraid to put The Mimeoplasm in your graveyard to get back with Volrath's Stronghold and other recursion effects. But do make sure you have a way to recur him then, and not wait. Nothing worse than having him in the yard without a way to get him back.
Hold off on your tutors till mid game. Every once in a while you will see a first turn tutor from me, and if you do, know something big is about to happen (either that, and im searching for a sol ring for a turn 2 Skyshroud Claim). The reason I suggest this is because typically you do not know what you need at the start of the game. There may be plenty of things you would like to have, such as a sol ring, but refrain from doing so unless you really do need that mana to cast something immediate or especially good when cast in the first couple of turns (such as Skysrhoud Claim). You will see significant more impact from your tutors mid game, to search up an answer to an endgame threat or enable a game breaking play on your part.
Those are all the tips I can think of for playing this deck effectively. I will update this post the more I test the deck, and the more information I get via this forum.
I'm not sure if I have enough ramp, currently, my argument is if I keep a low mana curve, I won't need much ramp. Though I wonder: if I take that route, is it even worth really running any ramp? Early game, seeing something like skyshroud claim or cultivate it awesome; late game however, It is a rather dead draw. Should I replace my ramp with cheaper card draw? These are questions I can only answer myself with more testing.
The counterspells, I'm finding that with only two, it is pretty much futile, it would be better to just break what they have played, or to figure out a different answer, they spend way too much time in my hand, and tie up my mana, though I may end up going in the opposite route, and add in a counterspell package consisting of ~10 counters, to actually make them have a standing impact on the game, I'm not sure yet.
I can't decide If I have cards like mimic vat and bribery in because the deck is lackluster, or because they are that good. I think it is probably the latter, the deck seems to goldfish too much, while top decking one of these is always nice in that situation, I think I'd rather add in things that prevent me from goldfishing too much.
- 1 Nezumi Graverobber
+1 Lightning greaves Nezumi Graverobber - It seems to be underwhelming to me, it's chunky graveyard removal, being 1B, and all to often is unable to flip. While it is then nice reanimation, it then loses its ability to be graveyard hate.
A friend convinced me to add in greaves, Not 100% sold on them, as most of the things that I want hasted already are, it does add protection at a small cost, with the added affect of haste for things like hermit druid.
Traumatize wasn't really pulling it's weight. There always seemed to be better things to do than cast it. Spitting Image, I really do like the card, great advantage out of it, but I needed a slot for altar of dementia, which was a more important addition. I will probably end up adding Spitting Image back sometime though.
-1 stitch together
+1 Krosan Grip
Needed room for grip, and Stitch was probably the weakest link in the deck, great reanimation spell, but the deck probably have enough of them as it is, and better ones at that.
This is an incomplete section that will consist of the "Omni-board," or collection of great variant cards for this deck. I will also place other deck-lists that I find/ are submitted to this thread that I think are well built.
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Hello and welcome to my The Mimeoplasm deck!
I will start off with the disambiguation of "non-combo" as there is a wide range of interpretation as to what constitutes a combo. For this thread a combo will detonate any interaction of cards that produces a "degenerate" outcome that diminishes player interaction (e.g. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed's interaction with Triskelion to ping all opponents for an arbitrarily large amount of damage.)
Secondly, I would like to address the purpose of this deck list. By no means do I expect my deck list to be the best. I wish only to discuss what optimal cards there are to choose from, and to produce a great deck list and many great variant cards and interactions to use to mold it to any meta.(i.e. I wish to create an "Omni-board" to use with different multiplayer metas, with emphasis on interacting with my opponents and creating "good times.")
Now down to business: The deck and my theories on playing it. (my decklist will contain only cards that I own)
The Deck List
Deck Stats
5 The Mimeoplasm
Reanimation
1 Reanimate
2 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead
3 Necromancy
3 Victimize
5 Body Double
5 Havengul Lich
5 Living Death
7 Sheoldred, Whispering One
Recursion
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
2 Life from the Loam
3 Yawgmoth's Will
3 Eternal Witness
5 Genesis
What Fills Up the Yard
1 Entomb
2 Altar of Dementia
2 Hermit Druid
2 Mesmeric Orb
3 Attunement
3 Buried Alive
5 Mirror-Mad Phantasm
Tutors
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Survival of the Fittest
3x Chord of Calling
3 Intuition
4 Insidious Dreams
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Greater Good
6 Consecrated Sphinx
6 Time Spiral
Mana fixing/ramp/rocks
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
3 Cultivate
4 Skyshroud Claim
Mimeoplasm Reanimation targets
5 Lord of Extinction
5 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
5 Thornling
7 Tornado Elemental
Destruction/answers
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Shred Memory
3 Krosan Grip
4 Nevinyrral's Disk
5 Acidic Slime
5 Evacuation
6 Massacre Wurm
6 Life's Finale
8 Kederekt Leviathan
8 Woodfall Primus
8 Terastodon
10 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
General Utility/Good Stuff
2 Riftsweeper
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Forbid
3 Hinder
3 Mimic Vat
4 Brawn
4 Rite of Replication
4 Sakashima the Impostor
5 Bribery
6 Deadeye Navigator
7 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Strip Mine
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Tolaria West
1 Cephalid Coliseum
Mana Lands
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Grove
1 Pendelhaven
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Urborg
1 Verdant Catacombs
7 Forest
7 Swamp
5 Island
1 Tolaria
1 Darkwater Catacombs
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
1 Strip Mine - The best LD, period.
1 Volrath's Stronghold - Great creature recursion for only a three mana investment, it does hinder your draw per turn slightly, introducing no new cards into your resources, but typically, if you are getting back what you need anyway, this isn't a problem.
1 Tolaria West - Tutors up a different utility land, or a Tormod's Crypt if you have a heavy graveyard Meta.
1 Cephalid Coliseum - This card still needs some testing on my part, but the 1 damage is rarely relevant, and threshold is more often than not had, so it's a nice way to draw and discard when needed.
I doubt any comments are needed here, save for the fact that I run the Legends lands: Tolaria, Urborg, and pendlehaven. I run these for aesthetic reasons; I love the arts. They don't come into play tapped, so they basically replace a basic land. I understand that they are more easily removed by means of vesuva and other Legendary LD options, but I have not encountered a significant amount of that in any of the meta's I've been a part of, and you would be surprised how often they become relevant, save for tolaria, tolaria is just useless XD.
1 Havengul Lich - Little bit expensive at 5cmc, but well worth the effect imho. I prefer this guy over Geth, Lord Of the Vault, because he is a little cheaper to play, and allows me to cast cards from my graveyard. While Geth is great in that he can get artifacts, and mill your opponents, I really want to target my yard. This is a just a preference call, your deck would be no better or worse for having Geth in this slot, and in an artifact heavy meta, I would probably recommend Geth over Lich.
1 Body Double - Kind of like an Un-Clone, it finds things in graveyards instead of play, seeing as I often mill myself and everyone around me, and the wrath effects are abundant in EDH, this is just a perfect clone effect for this deck.
1 Animate Dead - one of the best reanimation spells out there, a staple in this deck IMHO.
1 Victimize - probably the most powerful reanimation spell in this deck, I would never concider running this deck without it.
1 Reanimate - discounting life total, this is the most efficient reanimation spell in Magic, and again, is a staple in this deck.
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One - Sheoldred is a powerhouse at her worst. Sacing off dudes your oppoents control for you to reanimate with your spells, and getting your dudes back all in one 7cmc package. She does not often live for more than a turn or two, but by then she has already generated significant advantage. And her swampwalk ability with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play is nothing to shrug off.
1 Dance of the Dead - Animate Dead's little brother, it's not quite as good, requiring an upkeep cost of 1B to untap the creature, this is rarely a problem, as more often than not, it is reanimating something that I never really intended to swing with anyway. And if the swing is needed, the cost is hardly a hindrance.
1 Necromancy - 3cmc is about as high as I'm willing to pay for a single target reanimation spell, but this one takes the cake with being instant speed as well, I mentioned the interaction with Kederekt Leviathan before, which is a powerful play (perhaps too powerful). I rarely want to cast it for instant speed, in order to get the full use out of it, but the option is always nice.
1 Living Death - My favorite play with living death is to clone my Mirror-Mad Phantasm, activating it, milling my entire library, and then casting living death. I've been playing this less and less now that I only have Timespiral as a way to shuffle my graveyard back into my library, but it's always a hilarious play.
1 Genesis - Par none, this is my favorite way to get creatures back into my hand.
1 Phyrexian Reclamation - Cheaper than Gensis, this is a wonderful way to reuse those ETB effect, and with a sac outlet in play, I end up having to watch my life total because of too many activations of this card.
1 Yawgmoth's Will - Probably the most broken card in this list, at worst, it is an early game regrowth for 2B; late game, it is a powerhouse that will give you more advantage than you have mana to use. I typically try to use my enchantment based reanimation with this, in order to dodge the the exile. It's a one shot card, but it well worth it.
1 Eternal Witness - This is my favorite card in M:tG, and with about 11 different ways to get it into your hand/play/yard, I chose to play it and forgo Archaeomancer and Snapcaster Mage altogether.
1 Life from the Loam - Great way to get utility lands back, or find mana if you are missing your land drops.
1 Altar of Dementia - Great sac outlet. Allows you to sac off your dudes in response to a board wipe, and mill someone, getting that extra use out your creatures. Also very useful to use this outlet to sac creatures into your yard, to then reanimate them or bring them back to your hand for more ETB effects.
1 Hermit Druid - In my current list, I run too many basics for this to be the powerhouse it is in 5cHermit, but it does mill some and it's always nice to find another land.
1 Mirror-Mad Phantasm - This is more of a "I want to play this card, so I'm going to" type selection. Though I have not been dissapointed by it yet. My favorite play with this card is using Bribery to find a clone in an opponent's deck, cloning this, activating it, and milling their entire library.
1 Attunement - I dislike this card, to put it simply, but it does it job well. It draws me cards and discards me even more. It's card disadvantage if I don't discard it along with the other 3, but it gives me the option of continuing to use it, netting -1 cards per use. But if you are in a pinch, and you need to fill your yard or are looking for that answer, there are few options short of a tutor that are better.
1 Mesmeric Orb - I love this card, this is another card that I'm playing simply because I want to, which IMHO is how EDH should be played. I love milling myself, but I love to watch my opponents squirm as they untap their permanents and see their cards be milled into their yard for me to abuse. If I find myself in a meta that uses strategies similar to mine, such a Karador or Sharuum, then I typically take this card out for Leyline of the void.
1 Buried Alive - Most efficent way to get critters into your yard. it's a staple in this deck if there ever was one.
1 Traumatize - again, typically comes out for graveyard hate should I find myself in a meta full of graveyard decks, besides that, it is a fun card to play, often enough on myself. It is one of the weaker cards in the deck and may see a cut soon.
1 Insidious Dreams - this Tutor does it all. Discards my critters from my hand while finding me the reanimation spells or answers that I need. Great for EOT to mill creatures into my yard by placing them on top of my library. I rarely discard more than 1 or two cards to this, but it gets its job done, and is a wonderful way to set up your next couple of turns.
1 Entomb - Not as efficient as as buried alive, but it can also find things like Life From the Loam, or a land to get back with said life from the loam. It's a great staple card for this deck.
1 Vampiric Tutor - nothing needs to be said here, just one of the best tutors available. Remember to use it EOT when you know what you need.
1 Demonic Tutor - Simpy the best tutor in the format IMHO.
1 Survival of the Fittest - Another one of those powerhouses that becomes an immediate target when it hits the board. Make sure you have mana open to activate it's ability when you play this card, because I would not expect it to survive a turn, and if it does, then you are probably going to win the game.
1 Mystical Tutor - Not as good as Vampiric, but it gets the job done.
1 Intuition - I love this card, it takes a bit of skill to use, but once you get the hang of it you never get stuck with something you don't need. Remember to make the selections as difficult for your oppoent as possible. Nab things like eternal witness and reanimation spells + a fattie. Another strategy is to get three cards that do the same thing. Like animate dead, necromancy, and dance of the dead, Then, there are no good/bad choices for you opponent.
1 Chord of Calling - Eternal witness number 2. That is more of a joke than anything, but I do find myself naming E-wit with this more than another other card. But it is always nice to EOT find that massacre wurm to game a token playing opponent.
1 Greater Good - I don't play much draw power in this deck, instead selecting ways to mill myself. But for the draw power I do have, I make it count. Greater good is probably the most power draw spell in the format. Acting as a sacrifice outlet as well, it will draw through your deck if you are not careful. Make full use of this card, because It wont be out long. Use it to sac your blockers (unless you need what it's blocking dead) to net card advantage. Discard your fatties and hopefully draw into some answers.
1 Fact or Fiction - Similar to intuition, this card is here to give your opponents hard choices. And since you get to choose which hit your hand, there never really is a good choice for you opponent. This is the weakest of the draw power spell I have, and could see a cut, but unlikely. EOT Fact or Fiction is just too good.
1 Consecrated Sphinx - This is the only card that rivals greater good in draw power in EDH IMHO, and it certainly does it job. Greaves this baby up and watch your hand overflow.
1 Time Spiral - This is my OS button. If I find myself overextended on mill (mirror mad) I can use this to reset the game for myself. Nabbing myself a new hand and new library. This card is bonkers with Consecrated Sphinx out.
1 Sol Ring - I've heard arguments that this card is a dead draw late game, and sometimes it is. But it is more often than not a wonderful excellerant. And is really a staple in all EDH decks.
1 Mana Vault - Same argument as sol ring. Though I do find myself just taking damage from it after the fist use, simply because there are more important ways to use that 4 Mana. I've been contemplating taking this out for another land find card, but I can't justify it yet.
1 Skyshroud Claim - One of the best landfind cards in the format. Finds your duals and leaves them untapped.
1 Cultivate - pretty boring here, but it does put you ahead a land, and finds you another. It's a nice two for one draw pseudo-draw spell that ensures your lands of the color you need. I would not run less than 6 basic lands in a deck running this card.
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder - Might take this out for farseek, because it finds duals, but this card is recurable though Phyrexian Reclamation and can double as a blocker.
1 Lord of Extinction - The ass is fat.
1 Tornado Elemental - Pretty much unblockable, with a decent P/T and clears the field of most flyers.
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon - Hasted, flying, regeneration, with infect, enough said. This card is scary with 6 counters placed on it.
1 Thornling - It does everything mimeoplasm wants to do. Morphling is another option in this slot, and honestly just as effective, but wrath effects are more prevalent in my meta.
1 Krosan Grip - This is a pretty common staple among deck that run green. Originally, I was using to stop the triskelion mikaeus combo, but it didn't take them long to figure out to retain priority with each activation. Regardless, I found I was more often using it to answer other enchantment/artifact hate effects, so it's probably going to stay in the build. Though I might end up replacing it with trickbind, as the Mike and trike combo off of tooth and nail is still quite popular (sigh... I hate combo).
1 Kederekt Leviathan - great way to bounce the field with a reanimation spell, and it has built in recursion!
1 Acidic Slime - Wonderful destruction card, easily recurred. If your feeling mean, you can use something like dead-eye navigator to wreck someones mana base, but don't do this too often, you won't be in that group for long if you do.
1 Woodfall Primus - probably my favorite noncreatre removal, gets around that nasty "if this enchantment is discarded" type thing from animate dead, at one point in time I had Hex Parasite in my deck, and it quite effective that way. I have since taken parasite out, as that was it's only interaction, but it certainly is an option.
1 Terastodon - Not as good as woodfall, but it does hit hard and fast.
1 Massacre Wurm - Just wrecks token players. You could drop this card if you don't have any token players in your meta, but it also is nice to pair with dead-eye, you can pretty much kill anything with a few activations of dead-eye's bounce.
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur - Makes you opponents discard their hands (unless they have reliquary tower out, but that's what slime is for anyways). And draws you seven cards a turn, not too shabby.
1 Life's Finale - bit costly for a wrath effect, but it lets me choose some tastey reanimation targets in an oppoents graveyard.
1 Nevinyrral's Disk - Just a basic wrath effect. Does not hit planeswalkers, but still, it gets the job done. Can be answered before it goes off, but I tend to play this early game,a and just force an answer for it out of an oppoents hand. Or let them walk right into it, up to them.
1 Cyclonic Rift - Decent bounce card, and fenominal for its overload.
1 Evacuation - Might get taken out for damnation, but instant speed answers to hasted lethal damage is relevant more often than I'd like.
1 Shred Memory - probably the best piece of graveyard hate tech I have found yet. A very relevant tutor for this deck, transmuting for 2 cmc cards. With targets such as animate dead, dance of the dead, survival of the fittest, it is perfect for this slot. not to mention, which the graveyard as EDH's most abusable resource, every deck needs a bit of graveyard hate, and while this is a good piece of it, this probably needs a little bit more.
1 Riftsweeper - inevitably, important things will get exiled, in fact in The Mimeoplasm I intend it, and this is the best way to get it back. It also has nice interaction with suspend and rebound spells, this is the card Jhoira of the Ghitu want's to see the least.
1 Lightning Greaves - Recent addition (surprisngly), Hasting my creatures while also protecting them for 2 is never bad. I'm still on the wall about this card, as most of the things that want haste in my deck, already have it. But the protection is valuable.
1 Deadeye Navigator - Bordering on my "degenerate" definition, this card is the most likely to see the Ban Hammer on this list. I have heard many playgroups complain about how borked this card is, and I agree. It could see a cut, as it's only function is to be abused, and doesn't really help the deck do anything it wasn't already doing, just in a more borken fashion. (the broke misspellings were typos, I guess it's so broken, it broke broke)
1 Bribery - Just a general "goodstuff" card, it keeps people from putting things like eldrazi in their deck, and punishes them for doing it if they do. Typically, there is always a relevant target in some opponents deck for this card, and until such a time that there no longer is, It will stay in the deck.
1 Avenger of Zendikar - Big guy, love to sac and replay over and over with greater good and phyrexian reclamation. The most bang for your buck you will find in an agro creature (save for the general of this deck)
1 Brawn - Bit sketchy, but trample is never bad; it's easy to put into the yard.
1 Rite of Replication - a 4cmc clone is never bad, but it does target. It's in here for the kicker, and rarely gets played without it.
1 Sakashima the Impostor - IMHO, this is the best CLONE in the format. Yes that right, CLONE, not general killer. I hate how clones status has been reduced to that of a terminate for generals. Yes, using a clone as a way to get rid of a general is a great idea. First a foremost, a clone's function should be to, uh... clone? And nothing does it better than this card. With built in recursion, this card does it all: Copies ETB effects and opponents powerful legendary creatures (or your own, Sheoldred anyone?). Phyrexian Metamorph is a close second, but TBH, this card should be run alongside sakashima, not in place of.
1 Forbid- Reusable counter that allows you to discard your fatties, love it.
1 Hinder - tuck a general, great EDH tech.
1 Mimic Vat - it is quite a removal target, I dislike exiling my own cards with this, because typically this gets removed quickly and I can typically get more use out of my owns cards with different interactions. It's in here to abuse my OPPONENTS ETB creatures, or exile that problem creature that I really just would rather stay dead.
After each of these pieces make it through testing, the ones that I find to be a solid choice will make it to the Omni-Board list.
Wurmcoil Engine - I need more beats in this deck, and this is one of the best.
Grave Titan - Same argument as wurmcoil; Not sure If I would run both.
Disciple of Bolas - Looks like great card draw/life gain with reuseability, I think I will replace a lesser piece of card draw with this.
Worldly Tutor - One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is putting too many tutors in their deck, and watering down the threats they can produce. That is what is keeping this out of my deck atm; I don't want too many tutors. After some testing, this might come out for one of the weaker tutors (e.g. insidious dreams.)
1 Spike Weaver - In an agro heavy meta, this card is pretty good. I've seen it used, and I've hated seeing it in play, which means I'll love having it play myself. Though using The Mimeoplasm to reanimate this is probably not the best of options, 10+ fog effects on a stick would certainly be interesting.
1 Stitch together - You could do worse than getting a creature back into your hadn for BB, add threshold to it, and you get a very efficient recursion spell, I dislike that it only targets my graveyard, and I consider it the weakest of the reanimation in this deck, I don't intend to remove it anytime soon, though I may end up having too in order to fit in cards that I intend on obtaining.
Cauldron of Souls - Seems like a nice way to reuse many of my ETB effects with a sac outlet, or to survive a wrath.
Stormtide Leviathan - Unblockable creature with a moat affect attached to it, sounds perfect for a reanimation deck and even better for Mimeoplasm. This might replace tornado elemental, though they each answer a different kind of threat, I'm really not sure what would better come out for this card though.
Reins of Power - Great way to steal a victory, a must have inclusion if you have a heavy aggro/token meta that likes to swarm the field with creatures. It can also produce very nice combat tricks, using an opponents creatures to block and be killed, instead of yours.
Mystic Remora - Has the potential to draw you an incredible amount of cards for just a U, and paying the upkeep cost a time or two is no big deal for the amount of advantage you get.
Rhystic Study - Proven to be great draw power, but I hate asking people if they are going to pay for the study or not, and feel like a **** if I don't and just draw when they don't announce the payment of it.
Gilded Drake - Steal a dude, then kill drake, and rinse and repeat. Too good not to use, I don't currently own one, but I can't imagine myself not playing this guy when I get one, so I need to go ahead and find a place for him (I plan to purchase one shortly)
Death (Life/Death) - I'm still not convinced on this card, great reanimation, but I can't target opponents graveyards, albeit, I don't often "need" to, I just like doing it.
Reito Lantern - Great way to remove threats from an opponents yard, while doubling as a way to protect the useful cards in my graveyard from exile, or to prepare them to be gotten with one of my tutors.
Oracle of Mul Daya - Surprisingly, I don't actually own one of these atm
Beast Within - Great removal, no reason not to play it.
Sensei's Divining Top - If I owned it, I'd find a spot for it.
Academy Ruins - when I own it, it will go in
Wasteland - Working on getting one.
Damnation - Working on it
Pernicious Deed - Ditto
The Swords Of Beat and Face - Little bit pricey for me atm, but great evasion and triggered abilities.
Crystal Shard - Great protection for my creatures, and can be used to reuse ETB effects, again, I need room for it.
There are many cards that are just outside of my price range right now, such as Imperial Seal and Grim Tutor, that if I owned, would be in the deck. typically, I won't seek a card out if it is over $50.
For these tips I would like to point out that killing all of my opponents as quickly and efficiently as I can is NOT my game plan, if it were, I probably would be playing 5cHermit or some BS like that. Some of the things I will go over is very basic, other things are simply my opinion.
Typically, my first couple of turns consist of playing mana rocks and ramp spells. If my opening hand allows, one of this decks most powerful plays is, T1 Entomb Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, T2 reanimation spell. This is the card you want to fight to have in play at all times. Though this is unlikely, it will pretty much ensure that you win the game. If a Reliquary Tower hits play, break it, as an arbitrarily large hand size minus seven is still arbitrarily large number, meaning Jin will have no effect on any player who has one in play.
Try not to overextend in the early game, graveyard hate is (or should be) in just about every deck, and expect to be the one to get hit by everyone's hate. I've been considering using Reito Lantern has graveyard hate and as protection from it, using it to both remove threats from other player's graveyards, while using it to tuck mine away when my yard get targets by removal.
Save your early game targeted removal for REAL threats, I know it seems like a good idea to break that Winter Orb or Frozen Aether but this deck does not pack much of it, and typically, Leyline of the Void, Tormod's crypt, and Relic of Progenitus will be the targets for your removal, forcing them to use their removal too early, or getting no use out of it at all. Once you feel that you have dealt with people's removal, or they will be too slow to use it (having none in play mid game) then go ahead and try and take out some threats with your Woodfall Primus or Terastodon. While you could use these with Deadeye Navigator to remove pretty much all opponents mana bases, try to refrain from doing so, as this will usually result in a boring game, or, you just lose anyway, as everyone will target you with everything they have, no matter how good you are, 3 vs 1 is usually a losing battle.
Do play Mesmeric Orb Turn 1 if you can lol. This card is just a blast for me to play. There really isn't a more efficient way to mill yourself and your opponents. For just a two mana investment, unanswered, it will quickly get out of hand. This is the kind of card you get back with Academy Ruins after it has been destroyed.
Attempt to use your Instant speed tutors and draw power at the end of your opponent(s) turn, I see way too many people use these during their main phase, when they could just simply have cast them beforehand, and saved the mana. Remember, you can respond to your draw step with Vampiric Tutor and Mystical Tutor, and draw the card you need.
When getting ready to cast your general, grab a target that can protect itself as the copy. Make sure it's something that is indestructible, or shroud or regenerate (I tend to like indestructible and regenerate over shroud, as these dodge more wrath effects). If you can't find that, go for something that has trample or is unblockable or close enough, such as Tornado Elemental. Haste is great, but not as important as flying or the aforementioned attributes. Don't forget to search your opponents graveyards, and at least, try to get your extra counters from their yard, and not yours (with the exception of Lord of Extinction.) I tend to dislike early game casts of The Mimeoplasm, as typically, these don't have much power in them, and it's a poor use a reanimation spell, when you have far cheaper and more efficient ways to do it. Don't hesitate if you have some good targets, but do wait for them.
Don't be afraid to put The Mimeoplasm in your graveyard to get back with Volrath's Stronghold and other recursion effects. But do make sure you have a way to recur him then, and not wait. Nothing worse than having him in the yard without a way to get him back.
Hold off on your tutors till mid game. Every once in a while you will see a first turn tutor from me, and if you do, know something big is about to happen (either that, and im searching for a sol ring for a turn 2 Skyshroud Claim). The reason I suggest this is because typically you do not know what you need at the start of the game. There may be plenty of things you would like to have, such as a sol ring, but refrain from doing so unless you really do need that mana to cast something immediate or especially good when cast in the first couple of turns (such as Skysrhoud Claim). You will see significant more impact from your tutors mid game, to search up an answer to an endgame threat or enable a game breaking play on your part.
Those are all the tips I can think of for playing this deck effectively. I will update this post the more I test the deck, and the more information I get via this forum.
I'm not sure if I have enough ramp, currently, my argument is if I keep a low mana curve, I won't need much ramp. Though I wonder: if I take that route, is it even worth really running any ramp? Early game, seeing something like skyshroud claim or cultivate it awesome; late game however, It is a rather dead draw. Should I replace my ramp with cheaper card draw? These are questions I can only answer myself with more testing.
The counterspells, I'm finding that with only two, it is pretty much futile, it would be better to just break what they have played, or to figure out a different answer, they spend way too much time in my hand, and tie up my mana, though I may end up going in the opposite route, and add in a counterspell package consisting of ~10 counters, to actually make them have a standing impact on the game, I'm not sure yet.
I can't decide If I have cards like mimic vat and bribery in because the deck is lackluster, or because they are that good. I think it is probably the latter, the deck seems to goldfish too much, while top decking one of these is always nice in that situation, I think I'd rather add in things that prevent me from goldfishing too much.
- 1 Nezumi Graverobber
+1 Lightning greaves
Nezumi Graverobber - It seems to be underwhelming to me, it's chunky graveyard removal, being 1B, and all to often is unable to flip. While it is then nice reanimation, it then loses its ability to be graveyard hate.
A friend convinced me to add in greaves, Not 100% sold on them, as most of the things that I want hasted already are, it does add protection at a small cost, with the added affect of haste for things like hermit druid.
-1 Traumatize
-1 Spitting Image
+1 Rift Sweper
+1 Altar of dementia
Traumatize wasn't really pulling it's weight. There always seemed to be better things to do than cast it. Spitting Image, I really do like the card, great advantage out of it, but I needed a slot for altar of dementia, which was a more important addition. I will probably end up adding Spitting Image back sometime though.
-1 stitch together
+1 Krosan Grip
Needed room for grip, and Stitch was probably the weakest link in the deck, great reanimation spell, but the deck probably have enough of them as it is, and better ones at that.
This is an incomplete section that will consist of the "Omni-board," or collection of great variant cards for this deck. I will also place other deck-lists that I find/ are submitted to this thread that I think are well built.