Once upon a time, in a strange and far away place, there lived a fat and ugly frog
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar doesn't really put on a good face. At six mana, doing nothing impressive on his own and being strictly overshadowed in his home color by his Mistress, it's no surprise that poor Tom rarely gets called up to the table. The boost in consistency he provides - while unarguably enormous - is never incredibly relevant in a threat-packed goodstuff deck, especially when by 6 the average U build's card advantage is already outpacing its mana base.
In a kingdom without a king
As it stands right now, 99% of combo decks in multiplayer EDH make one of two concessions: they either require vulnerable pieces on the board or in the yard when they launch (Worldgorger, Mind over Matter, etc) or they need to untap with their one piece to go off (Hermit Druid, Zur, etc.). Traditional "engine" based combos which begin immediately and without consideration of board state are rare in EDH (limited almost entirely to incredibly single minded ad nauseum strategies). This is understandable; such engines tend to require an incredibly high level of consistency that appears impossible in 100 card singleton.
The frog just knew he was destined to do great things
Tomorrow's otherwise "win-moreish" ability gives us a shot at that elusive consistency.
Let's say we're running an engine such that we want every card drawn to meet some strict condition, and we can afford 1 in 3 cards in the build doing so. Then the chance of a good draw without Tom is (obviously) 33%, while with Tom it jumps to just over 70%. Over two draws, without Tom, we can expect to have hit two good cards 11% of the time, one good card a further 44% of the time, and blank the further 44%. With Tom we can expect two good cards 49% of the time, one good card a further 42% of the time, and to have blanked only 9% of the time.
Now let's say we can build a deck such that 60% of cards meet the condition of the engine (read 40 cards of freedom in EDH). What can we say about a string of 10 draws? Without Tom we hit 10 good cards 0.6% of the time; with him we hit 10 51% of the time. Without Tom we hit at least 7 good cards 38.2% of the time; with him we hit at least 7 99.74% of the time. Mischief managed.
If only he could find his place in the world
Unfortunately, there's an aspect of EDH we have yet to consider: color identity. Historically, successful engines have overwhelmingly been in black and green (Think Cadaverous Bloom, Necropotence, Fastbond, Survival of the Fittest, Ad Nauseum etc). Blue often participates in these decks, but has only rarely struck out on it's own. Two instances come to mind: High Tide and Dream Halls.
Both engines work by providing new utility to already useful cards; Halls turns blue cards-in-hand into virtual mana and Tide turns "free" spells and effects into mana surpluses. A mechanism which turns mana into blue cards-in-hand or free spells and effects at a net gain (ie consistent draw spells) then opens up a world of nigh infinite resources.
Thus begins our Fairy Tale
In the past month, I've had a ton of fun running Tomorrow decks across the combo/control spectrum. If you decide to run Tom and find he has a place in your meta I guarantee you a most excellent EDH experience.
*Aptitude*
And I hope that whets your appetite! Thanks for dropping by the primer; I hope I can convince to make this frog a prince. Before moving on let's make sure that you're in the right place.
You may enjoy playing Tomorrow if:
>You love enormous Johnny-tastic finishes following dynamic and thoughtful play.
>You hate the idea of leaving an important piece lying out on the field where everyone can see it for a turn.
>Your meta already plays combo generals such as Sharuum, Scion, or Sliver Queen and are looking for more variety at that speed.
> You meta hosts traditional control players who enjoy the challenge of a combo deck that plays close to the chest.
But not if:
>You want to participate in a combat step; if this deck untaps with creatures on board, something has usually gone wrong.
>You want an answer to every threat; this deck is not inevitable and peaks around turn 6. It is not the control.
>You don't like math.
>Your meta will disapprove of fast combo or mono-blue decks in general.
*Philosophy*
Still here? All right! I want to take some time to explain how I feel about Multiplayer Elder Dragon Highlander, in hopes that it will give perspective players a little more grounding and help them to understand the thought process behind the deck. If this is only going to bore you, feel free to skip ahead to the lists.
Much like in duels, where proper play depends not only on knowing the nature of your own deck in a vacuum but on your ability to compare it to the opponent's list and decide "who's the beatdown", it seems necessary (in my experience at least) in a free-for-all to scale all decks present at the table by some pacing metric and model your play in accordance.
Personally, I look at this scale in terms of "desired level of disruption" (DLD). There will be one deck in the game - the deck with the fastest and most consistent access to its win con - which is favored to take the victory in the complete absence of interaction of any kind (Its DLD is a minimum). There will be one deck in the game - generally more diverse than others in the scope of its plays - which is favored in the most stifling of environments (Its DLD is a maximum). The remaining decks populate a range in between, hoping for enough interaction to shut down the lists to one side of them on the continuum but not enough to favor the lists to the other.
Good players intuitively play to pull the game's actual level of disruption (ALD) in a favorable direction to them and win more, bad players let it ride and win less.
Good decks claim large portions of the DLD continuum and/or provide strong ways to influence the ALD in either direction and make good play easier, bad decks claim slivers of the DLD continuum and/or fail to effect the ALD much at all and make good play very difficult.
Under these considerations, I believe EDH is unique even among multiplayer formats. One hundred card singleton is differentiated from traditional 60 card formats in that a deck may reliably claim non-connected bit's of territory on the DLD line (Consider a 5c deck running both Hermit Druid combo and a Mass Land Destruction strategy: when actively trying to combo out the deck's DLD is almost certainly incredibly low; while dropping rocks and blowing up lands the deck's DLD is likely mid-to-high.)
When I build an EDH deck I try to prepare myself to claim as much of the DLD continuum as possible, and leave influencing the ALD, for the most part, to others at the table. I do this not because I dislike politics or control cards, but because I find it leads to the kind of varied, reactive "puzzle solving" game play I enjoy. This is, at the end of the day, why I chose Tomorrow over Azami or Jin G. The deck here is built along that line; I hope you'll find it suiting.
*Strategy Outline*
Winning
The ultimate plan of the deck - after achieving unlimited resources through Halls or Tide - is to launch the mono-U standard Mind Over Matter/Temple Bell combo, with Kozilek as enabler (Temple Bell is tapped to have every player draw a card, our draw is discarded to Mind Over Matter untapping Temple Bell and, if it's Kozilek, refilling our library, the process is repeated at instant speed until all opponents are drawing from empty libraries). If this is not sufficient, the deck also allows for a Tef/Pool lock followed up by beats and - in an extreme situation - chaining Windfalls for mass mill.
Playing Against Control
We're a combo deck, and so obviously sitting down against 70 counter spells is never going to be ideal. Faeries is simply a bad MU - as every deck must have - but we're not just dead to control by any means; our ability to launch big plays from small boards along multiple vectors often means allows us to take advantage of the slightest reprieve in disruption - provided we recognize it.
Because of our decks incredible filtering ability we can often have the best hand, even if it's 2 or 4 cards smaller than the table average. My most interesting start against a controlling table so far has involved T1 Preordain, T2 Impulse, T3 Snapcaster -> Preordain, T4 Phantasmal Image Snapcaster -> Impulse. Partially due to all of this glorious durdling, I prefer these games to disruption-free races even if I win considerably less often.
The primary goal against control is to gauge the relative strength of the present disruption against each of your combos and tutor accordingly. Prison strategies which add extra costs to spells preclude Dream Halls, as does heavy Enchantment hate. LD generally makes Tide unworkable, and yard removal blanks some of it's synergies. It is crucial to be aware of the path of least resistance.
Playing in a Race
I have won with this deck on turn 3, and I have lost on turn 3 playing it: in both cases a Mana Drain was involved. In games of Tempo, that's just life. Sometimes you get to the table and see Animar and Azusa and you just have roll with it.
On the bright side there are very, very few disruption-lite aggro/combo decks which are consistently faster than us. As we simply *cannot* hope to control big boards we mus, in the absence of third party disruption, race... which is something like a coin-flip. In my experience, our average draws are somewhat better than either of the above, our nut draws somewhat worse. Odds I don't mind.
The key here is simply tight play. Every incremental bit of advantage is huge so smart mulling to ensure turn one play, appropriately timing TTTT against draws, smart use of cantrips etc. are all huge.... luckily we're blue players and these things tend to come naturally!
Playing at Mixed Tables
The most common and most interesting scenarios in EDH involve both fast decks and oppressive decks, and it is in these scenarios that we shine. The key is tailoring your play to the situation created by your opponents, letting their goals be your goals and then being the first to capitalize on the results. Identify the big threat; is one player ahead on cards? Smooth things out with wheels but casually bring in Tomorrow for profit. Ahead on Mana? Share Helm (preparing for High Tide), and maybe bounce his rocks. Ahead on Tempo? Contribute a counter or too to the control effort and prepare to slip into aggressive mode with Halls as soon as the table is spent. Life is good.
Turning every card drawn into an Impulse is just nuts, and it's impossible not to start really loving Tom after a few times playing the deck. I sincerely hope this primer brings the poor frog some more play; he deserves it!
Deciding when to play the general is a function of your ability to continue drawing cards after the 6 mana investment. Obviously he comes down instantly with infinite mana, and very near-instantly after resolving Halls, in both cases quickly generating the win... but he can also occasionally be a strong play while still assembling pieces, provided your mana pool is deep enough.
I have yet to work out a formula for such preemptive plays, but I know that I seriously consider Tom before every Timetwister and Time Spiral.
Always keep in mind that, once Tom hits, you no longer draw cards. You don't feed opponents through Consecrated Sphinx and you can't be milled.
Dream Halls
The first builds of this deck eschewed other combos entirely in favor of playing the best Dream Halls possible. Although the threat of board-based and split-second Enchantment hate eventually overcame early concerns regarding the consistency of High Tide and the deck evolved away from that singular focus, Halls remains the primary engine and the center-point of the build. As we should all know by know, this card is bonkers and all of our play takes finding, playing, and winning with Halls into account.
The symmetric effect of the card is rarely relevant. We have priority after Halls resolves and will almost always use that to cast Tom or (if Tom is already on board) a very large draw spell. Enchantment destruction through halls and for halls in response hurts a little sure... but in the end they spent two cards and we got value anyway. Unless you're making very caviler choice against other mono blue decks, it shouldn't even come up.
High Tide
Originally, I struggled with the inclusion of High Tide because balancing the twin requirements of the engine - card draw and untap - seemed it would be significantly more difficult in EDH than it was in legacy (after all, we only get one Time Spiral). While this was true to some extent, and playing High Tide in EDH is a risky and complex (thus highly rewarding) endeavor, it is most certainly doable... especially with our boy Tomorrow in the mix.
Identifying the appropriate time to play Tide is a function of half a million variables we can't cover here... but I found it became rather intuitive with several plays of the deck. It may help that the answer was almost always "early on turn 5" or "early on turn 6" and probably usually "either" so I didn't come away with many negative results. The most interesting effect of combining Tide and Tom is how quickly it prompts accusations of lucky play; I'm finding increasingly comical to filter through something like 50 cards on a turn and still see opponents in shock when I have the next piece of the puzzle. I hope you enjoy the experience.
Mind Over Matter
A part of the winning combo, yes, but also a pseudo-Halls and an incredibly scary card to fit into an intuition pile. When I switched to MoM as a win condition (the deck originally played Laboratory Maniac as its finisher) I went out of my way to protect the card. I have since learned that its often best shoved in an opponents face, where it can be leveraged for some serious advantage.
Using the discard effect to generate mana and simulate Halls is a moderately acceptable practice with Tide and a last resort without. It seems to have worked out for me more often than not thus far... but then I guess that when I was in position to stick a card like Mind and then throw away my hand I was likely going to win anyway. I'll keep working here.
Counters
Force of Will - I don't think I can say anything novel about "the glue that holds legacy together" so I'll just make the standard plea that you neither over- nor under-respect this card. Force prevents losses, it does provide wins. Value accordingly. Flusterstorm - FS has no place in the faster matches, but is invaluable against control where you have both plenty of targets and tighter mana. A card which constantly impresses me.
Pact of Negation - If countering is at all important, there's not going to *be* a next upkeep. I absolutely love having Pact in hand when I cast Halls, and more often than not it's the poison picked when you have the chance to Intuition for it along with Force and Drain. Ah the rubbins.
Mana Drain - The best Tempo card in the format, and the fastest way to end a game. As the poster-child of "swingy", Drain would almost certainly be the first card banned were it suddenly the goal of the RC to create a stable competitive game. In the discussion of tutors, I'll talk about the dramatic change in our tempo that occurs in most games when we play either Intuition or Long Term Plans. The only more sudden change in pacing possible comes from a good Drain - usually during turn 3 - and it is just gruesome. You need to win on the turn drain pays out... which is just fine because you *will* win on the turn Drain pays out.
Trickbind and Mindbreak Trap - Our "cute" counters, rarely of use when we're on the war path, but worth the inclusion for the blow-outs they represent against some of the format's more popular combos. Trickbinding a Worldgorger as it leaves the field is the most ruthless play in EDH, and it feels so good. Properly timing Trap against another engine-based deck in the middle of their big turn is never easy but it's certainly a lot better trying than just dying.
Draw
The selection of draw cards is fairly straight forward, comprising of the format's best cheap deck organization (Ancestral Vision, Brainstorm, Impulse, Ponder, Preordain, and Shrine of Piercing Vision), cards the give us the filtering we want for Halls (Careful Consideration, Compulsive Research, Sift, and Thirst for Knowledge) or the costs we want for Tide (Ideas Unbound and Meditate) at mitigated drawbacks, and basically every "no-frills no-gimmicks" draw spell in the history of blue (Brilliant Plan, Concentrate, Counsel of the Soratami, Divination, Jace's Ingenuity, Opportunity, and Tidings). Filler, for the most part, played at obvious times for obvious reasons and with obvious results. Rush of Knowledge is almost always a draw six and might as well be valued as such; Recurring Insight is similar, although having the rebound as a worse case scenario is often a load off of a troubled mind. Frantic Search and Time Spiral combo with Tide (and Helm/Sapphire) in the ways we want, and usually without much thought. Timetwister and Time Reversal look symmetrical, but they're really not. Before Tom, our hands are usually too big to get value and we don't cast them; after Tom we dig thrice as deep and win. Really only three of the twenty seven draw spells are interesting at all.
Myojin of Seeing Winds
Myojin has the dubious distinction of being the only card that is regularly played through Halls more quickly than Tomorrow himself. Should Halls be removed in response to the first spell of the combo, Myojin avec counter and Tomorrow on the wings is still an incredibly threatening game state; certainly more frightening than anything involving MoSW in hand. A rarely relevant - but worthy - note.
Pulse of the Grid
With Halls and Tom and a sufficiently small hand, Pulse filters your entire library at instant speed. Pulse is perfect; it feels like it was made just for this combo. It is the go-to card in our darkest hour, and I've yet to encounter a situation with the deck which Pulse didn't just fix. It's just perfect.
Windfall
Windfall - in conjunction with Call to Mind, Relearn and Snapcaster - is our 11th hour win condition should one of both Mind Over Matter/Temple Bell and Tef/Pool be exiled. I have never actually come to that point playing the deck, but I can't help keeping a running the math of the play in the back of my mind as I go through the motions of simpler plays. Excited for the day it pays off.
Stuff
Knowledge Pool and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir - For those not familiar with the mechanics of the synergy between this pair of cards, it goes like this: facing both cards under your control, an opponent casts a card from his hand. Pool's ability triggers, and is placed on the stack, where it will remain until it fully resolves (rule 603.3), then, although the second effect generated by that ability would normally allow the opponent to cast any imprinted spell regardless of card type (Oracle ruling June 1, 2011) they are limited by Teferi, who's "only any time they could cast a sorcery" limitation requires an empty stack (rule 307.1). The stack still contains the (not yet fully resolved) Pool ability and so the opponent can do nothing. In the end, it is pointless for them to even attempt casting from their hand. They are stranded with on-board cards and generals.
A properly set up eot Teferi for an uninterrupted turn is usually enough of a "lock" to combo off, but should things go wrong with Mind Over Matter it takes a truly hyper-aggressive board to beat through Tef/Pool, an active Dream Halls and a big ol Eldrazi. This is back our plan B.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Temple Bell - completes the Mind over Matter combo, as described above, and Koz can go on the warpath if necessary. Palinchron - Palinchron is to EDH what Tarmogoyf is to Legacy: a creature which is incredibly easy to work with and which plays in strong synergy with the format's already-top-tier strategies. If this card didn't exist we'd still be playing Ancient Tomb, Helm of Awakening, Sapphire Medallion, Phantasmal Image, Phyrexian Metamorph, and of course High Tide and Dream Halls and all of these have favorable (often repeatable) interactions with chron... though *still* the card is about half as supported as in the average UG deck. Like Mana Drain, a card that we only have access to because the RC has very different priorities than the DCI.
Phantasmal Image - Fairly straight forward infinite mana setup with P-chron, assuming seven lands are available (six with either medallion or helm). Image (recent winner of the "Least Relevant Drawback in the History of Magic" award) can also bring early game utility in coming as a second Snapcaster or ganking a quick-out-of-the-gates opposing general.
Call to Mind, Relearn, and Snapcaster Mage - A little spell recursion goes a long way for us. The abilities to chain High Tides, build disgusting Intuition packages, double up on Mystical Tutors, and win with a series of Windfalls are all respectable. Snapcaster especially always seems to have a new trick to show off. Trading Relearn for Crystal Chimes should be appropriate for some metas.
Candelabra of Tawnos, Hurkyl's Recall and Phyrexian Metamorph - Board dependent mana-generators of various design, best applied all together and in the context of High Tide. Candelabra is perhaps the least useful outside of Tide, but the utility of making your artifact mana blue often can't be denied (and the rare combo with Ancient tomb doesn't hurt either). Recall won't often generate a whole card's worth of mana in the absence of Tide, but the blow outs it provides against rock-heavy decks are well worth it's inclusion. Metamorph's best target outside of Tide is usually going to be P-chron, for the 4+ mana net, but this is the most versatile clone of all time we're talking about: you're never gonna regret having him in hand.
Mystic Remora - The best reason to win the die roll, if I can stick Remora it is almost always worth keeping around through the first two upkeeps, and at least considering for the third. If you happen to have the political acumen to steer it between CA source and prison piece, all the better for you. Very little late game utility, obviously... but hey; a blue card is a blue card as far as Halls is concerned.
Rhysic Study - Tech which is swiftly becoming dated. If the novelty here has already worn off for your meta, don't try to force it. Still trying to settle on a replacement.
Helm of Awakening and Sapphire Medallion - I initially couldn't believe the ridiculous level of consistency these brought to a deck which is trying to chain medium-size spells. Now I guess I could show you the math... but it'd be nothing like seeing them in action for yourself. Tutors
During most games, casting Intuition or Long-Term Plans is the fulcrum of our play, and thus best seen as the point at which we begin to "go off". Prior to attempting one of these tutors we make non-threatening small-value plays, sitting our tempo somewhere around zero. Should either tutor resolve, every subsequent play becomes a "should-counter" which will contribute greatly to the sudden exponential growth in our resources and (hopefully) our winning. If the first three spells post tutor aren't dealt with, it's usually too late.
The take home message here is Tutor wisely! Don't LTP into on-the-board mill, or make useless bluffs with Intuition for the sake of half a turn. Don't put something third from the top if you can't dig three deep and don't confuse answers for threats, or offer a package mixed with both. Recursion is never bad in Int packages, but it's rarely best. Don't get fancy: nine games in ten, Halls is your best LTP target (and if you have Halls in hand, Myojin isn't second, a Counterspell is).
We can find either of these game-changers with tutors-for-tutors which play on their similar cost and card type (Merchant Scroll, Mystical Tutor and Drift of Phantasms) backed up, unfortunately enough, by some tutors-for-turors-for-turtors (Muddle the Mixture and Personal Tutor) because at the end of the day we are monocolored and can't have *all* the nice things. Thankfully most of these can also grab disruption or High-tide related action when needed, so we can't complain to much. Anyway, this package is ultimately large enough, fast enough, and mana-lite enough to get the job done.
In the search and shuffle category we also bring along Trinket Mage to take better advantage of our rocks and Fabricate and Tezzeret the Seeker to lend power and consistency to our combos: hopefully this is fairly straight forward.
Mana
Sol Ring *is* EDH and Mana Crypt and Mana Vault can't be wrong in a deck that doesn't ever expect to do much past turn 6. Ancient Tomb is the best land in the format, but if you're the kind of classy fellow who wants to run Islands and Islands alone I certainly won't blame you. I make mine snow-covered cause I like the picture on 'trice better; aspects of your meta might make for a more reasoned selection.
So basically, the deck folds to a resolved sadistic sacrament (unkicked)?
That's a bit harsh; many decks focused on combos are hindered by a Sacrament. Teferi losing his Knowledge Pool, Sharuum losing Phyrexian Metamorph and Sculpting Steel... You get the idea. They definitely don't lose their ability to win, though, which is what "fold" usually implies.
I personally like this idea and the choice of general. When I have more time, I'll be taking a more detailed look at the list.
Emmara is like the worst parts of Legends and Homelands got pregnant, aborted the fetus, tossed it in the trashcan, set it on fire and wrapped the corpse in a Dragon's Maze pack wrapper.
A very interesting and potent idea. I like it. I've tried to deck myself before in T&L (and have yet to succeed), but I'm trying to do it legit style.
With the number of spells going off here, have you considered adding a brain freeze to the deck as an alt wincon? It can be fun with Spelljack and snapcaster mage to re-use it.
Riptide Laboratory can also be useful for protecting your guys. The flash leyline and Vedalken Orrery can help sneak in your labratory maniac EOT, giving less people time to react, as does Winding Canyons.
I considered Brain Freeze originally; thanks to Tomorrow proofing you against Mill (but not against Maniac; ain't replacement effects fun? ;p) you only need enough copies to put everyone in range of a massive Windfall, which isn't all that hard. In the end though, the hassle of dealing with Eldrazi titans and the extra time it takes to combo off like this weren't worth it. If the Sadistic Sacrament "problem" actually realizes itself, I'll reconsider storm as alt-win.
Snapcaster Mage was also in the alpha versions of the deck. He would be ridiculous if you could use Halls to pay flashback costs. Alas this not the case, so Tiago is benched.
Maniac only needs to be played after you've set up Eye of the Storm with Mindbreak Trap and Stifle, so he has very very little to fear. Generally you'll start the combo on your first main, and move to the second after a particularly effective Mana Drain: you have time to work at sorcery speed.
It's really not that harsh to say. Even a praetor's grasp will end the deck. Getting rid of Teferi's Knowledge Pool means basically that he doesn't auto-win...even without it he is an incredibly solid general, same with Sharuum and sculpting steel. I could understand if he had multiple win-cons (in which case I would have said nothing) but so far he can literally win only one way.
There are a lot of cards he doesnt need anyway. Like, what is vivisection for? There's a grand total of 3 (correct me if im wrong) creatures in the entire deck and I didnt notice any theft effects. Mental Mistep...lol? It might be cute the first time, but you're pretty much asking to be bent over every time after that. To survive against an entire table, even against only 1 opponent, youre going to have to run ALOT more counterspells than that. And some propaganda effects.
Edit: If black and blue have no presence in your metagame, this could work (if youre very lucky), which isn't going to happen since theyre the 2 most popular magic colors. And thats assuming that the red/green/white decks don't beat you down before you combo off. It might seem harsh to say, but from the perspective of someone sitting across from you it isn't. Your deck is literally saying "I am a combo. If you do not kill me before I do my thing, you lose."
It's really not that harsh to say. Even a praetor's grasp will end the deck. Getting rid of Teferi's Knowledge Pool means basically that he doesn't auto-win...even without it he is an incredibly solid general, same with Sharuum and sculpting steel. I could understand if he had multiple win-cons (in which case I would have said nothing) but so far he can literally win only one way.
There are a lot of cards he doesnt need anyway. Like, what is vivisection for? There's a grand total of 3 (correct me if im wrong) creatures in the entire deck and I didnt notice any theft effects. Mental Mistep...lol? It might be cute the first time, but you're pretty much asking to be bent over every time after that. To survive against an entire table, even against only 1 opponent, youre going to have to run ALOT more counterspells than that. And some propaganda effects.
Edit: If black and blue have no presence in your metagame, this could work (if youre very lucky), which isn't going to happen since theyre the 2 most popular magic colors. And thats assuming that the red/green/white decks don't beat you down before you combo off. It might seem harsh to say, but from the perspective of someone sitting across from you it isn't. Your deck is literally saying "I am a combo. If you do not kill me before I do my thing, you lose."
This is probably one of the less harsh ways you could say that actually.
In practice, though, these simply aren't all the damning of concerns.
Ever Stifled a Worldgorger leaving the field? Wanna count the number of decks playing Stifle vs Sacrament? Wanna compare their manna costs?
Wanna tell me Worldgorger combo is bad?
I mean yes, sure, every combo deck has its silver bullet. It's not always an outright kill as it would be here - though it can be, obviously - but given *any* deck built around some synergy you should be able to name a counter strategy, often in the form of 1 cheap card, which drops it's win percentage below 15. You accept this or you don't play combo, and people continue to play (and win with) combo.
Why? Same reason that Lightning Bolt is better than Healing Salve: it's better to be active than reactive. A deck filled with nothing but combo hosing bullets is not much of a deck, especially when there're two other people at the table. Yes powerful and generic reaction (a la StP) in necessary for a healthy format, but "sacraments" and stifles are niche-y and few.
If play testing shows a need to up the counter count then we'll up the counter count. So far that has definitely not been the case. If testing shows Misstep has no utility, it will be cut. So far that has definitely not been the case. If testing shows that slots need to go to prison to beat aggro, they will. So far that has definitely not been the case. Vivisection, I'll freely admit, is an artifact of older, more creature heavy versions of the deck and should probably be cut. By luck of the draw, it just hasn't shown up recently and went unnoticed.
Mental Misstep is surprisingly effective in EDH. Next game you play, bring a notepad and write down every 1 mana cost spell you see. Someone actually drew up a list of common 1 drops (admittedly it was for 1v1 decklists, but many held for multi as well).
Most of it will be STP and PTE, but everyone running white runs both of those already, and they're darn good to counter.
Sensei's Divining Top and Sol Ring might not need to be countered, but I've never thought, "darn, if only I HADN'T destroyed that sol ring."
It's really not that harsh to say. Even a praetor's grasp will end the deck. Getting rid of Teferi's Knowledge Pool means basically that he doesn't auto-win...even without it he is an incredibly solid general, same with Sharuum and sculpting steel. I could understand if he had multiple win-cons (in which case I would have said nothing) but so far he can literally win only one way.
There are a lot of cards he doesnt need anyway. Like, what is vivisection for? There's a grand total of 3 (correct me if im wrong) creatures in the entire deck and I didnt notice any theft effects. Mental Mistep...lol? It might be cute the first time, but you're pretty much asking to be bent over every time after that. To survive against an entire table, even against only 1 opponent, youre going to have to run ALOT more counterspells than that. And some propaganda effects.
Edit: If black and blue have no presence in your metagame, this could work (if youre very lucky), which isn't going to happen since theyre the 2 most popular magic colors. And thats assuming that the red/green/white decks don't beat you down before you combo off. It might seem harsh to say, but from the perspective of someone sitting across from you it isn't. Your deck is literally saying "I am a combo. If you do not kill me before I do my thing, you lose."
I agree with Ticker, with only one wincon this deck folds to so many cards (most of which are Black or Blue) thus limiting the decks possibilies. The idea is very good and its nice to see a unique general but it wouldn't work in any meta that plays any of the cards that hate it out.
In practice, though, these simply aren't all the damning of concerns.
Ever Stifled a Worldgorger leaving the field? Wanna count the number of decks playing Stifle vs Sacrament? Wanna compare their manna costs?
Wanna tell me Worldgorger combo is bad?
I mean yes, sure, every combo deck has it's silver bullet. It's not always an outright kill as it would be here - though it can be, obviously - but given *any* deck built around some synergy you should be able to name a counter strategy, often in the form of 1 cheap card, which drops it's win percentage below 15. You accept this or you don't play combo, and people continue to play (and win with) combo.
Why? Same reason that Lightning Bolt is better than Healing Salve: it's better to be active than reactive. A deck filled with nothing but combo hosing bullets is not much of a deck, especially when there're two other people at the table. Yes powerful and generic reaction (a la StP) in necessary for a healthy format, but "sacraments" and stifles are niche-y and few.
If play testing shows a need to up the counter count then we'll up the counter count. So far that has definitely not been the case. If testing shows Misstep has no utility, it will be cut. So far that has definitely not been the case. Vivisection, I'll freely admit, is an artifact of older, more creature heavy versions of the deck and should probably be cut. By luck of the draw, it just hasn't shown up recently and went unnoticed.
Worldgorger is a combo that can be stopped and really screw the player, yes, but it is not the main/only wincon in decks that use it (if it is they deserve to lose). This deck also, as previously stated loses to more than one card. Praetor Grasp, Dissipate, Sadistic Sacrament, many, many hand disruption cards ESPECIALLY when you tutor for your wincon just flat out end the deck.
Like I previously stated I'm all for unique decks and creative ideas and I'm not trying to discourage you from playing the deck you made and enjoy but I'm just pointing out that in a "competitive" environment this deck will be a one trick pony, likely and easily hated out by the two most popular colors(especially in competitive edh).
Thing is, it looks to be rather quick on the beat. Once you play the Dream Halls you're aiming to win that turn. A fair portion of the draw is instant speed as well, making it able to (maybe) go off in response as well.
A few ideas: Long Term Plans: unconditional tutor, the 'drawback' is easily mitigated with a carefully planned anything that draws you cards. Shrine of Piercing Visions: Drop it early, rack up counters as you cycle stuff, enjoy a pocket 'dig you out of a hole' card.
Worldgorger is a combo that can be stopped and really screw the player, yes, but it is not the main/only wincon in decks that use it (if it is they deserve to lose). This deck also, as previously stated loses to more than one card. Praetor Grasp, Dissipate, Sadistic Sacrament, many, many hand disruption cards ESPECIALLY when you tutor for your wincon just flat out end the deck.
If your reduce 'Gorger to no permanents when they try to combo on turn 4 or 5, usually leaving them with 2 or fewer cards in hand, they are <1% to win. To suggest otherwise is goofy. There are 3 cards which counter triggered abilities: one of them even has split second, and all of them are played more commonly (and do a whole lot more) than Praetor's Grasp.
If you try to cast halls into a blue player with three mana up and don't have sufficient back-up of your own, you deserve to lose. Moral of the story is not to play like an idiot.
Halls is never tutored into hand: this isn't possible in blue. You purposefully aim not to draw the card until the turn you play it. If Halls comes up in your opening grip (which is probably a clear mull against Nath or similar) or your first couple draws organically and and someone aims discard at you (a decision which is probably wrong 90% of the time) then you take your lumps. Again, this is a generic criticism of combo which doesn't seem to hold the rest of the format back.
Bob: Thanks! Plans has been in the deck from day one (listed in "Helping Hands" above), but shrine probably deserves some serious consideration.
I guess we can agree to disagree because I feel Stifle, Trickbind and Voidslime are all played WAY less than Sadistic Sacrament or Praetor's Grasp.
I do agree that casting Dreams Halls into a Blue mage with 3 mana open would be stupid but was just pointing out a possibility.
With all this said, I play a lot of combo EDH and the cards mentioned, although they slow me down; would NEVER force me to scoop. Again, I'm not downing the idea I actually like Dream Halls decks a lot (especially this one, its well thought out and has potential) but I'm hoping to encourage you to add another wincon (just not sure what it could be).
Hey, I really appreciate that! If my experience backs up this theory, I'll certainly throw in Mind over Matter and whatever other blue goodstuffs de jour catch my eye.
I completely realize that the deck is on a rather shaky extreme end of the combo-deck spectrum, and that'll cost me from time... but hey if I wanted a deck that took it's time finding Shusher or Boseiju to back it's quadruple redundancy I'd play one. For a long time I've wanted a deck that either wins or burns on turn five, and that's what this is.
And, well, maybe I'm stopped, rather than slowed, by a few bullets... but I'm also far far more proof against permanent removal and yard hate than almost every other deck in the format. I need to stick one card, independently of board state, and I don't have to untap with it. That's unique, and that's got to be worth something >>
Anyway, I don't want to come off as overly defensive. There are a million issues with the deck, but so far the mentioned cards haven't been bleeps on the radar. My obvious and serious problems right now are a dearth of turn 4 instant-speed plays and learning to time my Ancestral appropriately (Turn one Ancestral is often wrong, which isn't obvious at first. Turn two ancestral means you Plans on the end-step before turn 6, immediately draw Halls, and go off, which is delicious.)
Hey, I really appreciate that! If my experience backs up this theory, I'll certainly throw in Mind over Matter and whatever other blue goodstuffs de jour catch my eye.
I completely realize that the deck is on a rather shaky extreme end of the combo-deck spectrum, and that'll cost me from time... but hey if I wanted a deck that took it's time finding Shusher or Boseiju to back it's quadruple redundancy I'd play one. For a long time I've wanted a deck that either wins or burns on turn five, and that's what this is.
And, well, maybe I'm stopped, rather than slowed, by a few bullets... but I'm also far far more proof against permanent removal and yard hate than almost every other deck in the format. I need to stick one card, independently of board state, and I don't have to untap with it. That's unique, and that's got to be worth something >>
Anyway, I don't want to come off as overly defensive. There are a million issues with the deck, but so far the mentioned cards haven't been bleeps on the radar. My obvious and serious problems right now are a dearth of turn 4 instant-speed plays and learning to time my Ancestral appropriately (Turn one Ancestral is often wrong, which isn't obvious at first. Turn two ancestral means you Plans on the end-step before turn 6, immediately draw Halls, and go off, which is delicious.)
In the end, the only real way to know if a deck will work well is to test it. I recommend at least proxying it first before you buy the thing, since at a glance this deck doesnt seem budget. If it works in your meta, so be it, but I think it is fair to say that it won't take much modification on part of your opponent to beat this deck. Cards like praetor's grasp/sadistic sacrament/nightmare incursion/jester's cap are just plain good cards, and discard effects scale to any level of metagame.
Ah, yes it might be prudent to speak a little on the intended meta.
While I would certainly build a tuned version of this deck irl if I was playing in a diverse and competitive environment, that's not the case. Attendees of EDH game days at LGSs don't tend to play anything that wasn't printed in the last 3 years - often not varying from 20 card mods of the summer pre-cons - and other than the two competitive standard players in my group of friends no one can really conceive of a deck worth more than $200. This deck hasn't really any place in either of these situations; it would be no one's definition of fun.
I am playing the deck on Cockatrice, in competitive multiplayer rooms, where it fits in very very nicely (and, in maybe 30 test games now, hasn't had its Halls exiled)
I don't think this is a good idea at all. If you want a good deck, play good cards with synergies. Build decks around cards, not ideas. When you play this deck, I guarantee the most common thing that happens is you will draw a card that does nothing because you haven't draw some other thing that synergizes with it. Then your opponents will give you a savage beatdown.
The problem with defining [EDH] by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
I like this deck, and its seems very well-thought-out.
Have you considered running Flusterstorm as a way of cheaply stopping counterspells once you start your engine running?
Along the same vein, Brain Freeze seems like it might be a way to win immediately off of Lab Maniac, or an alternate wincon that lets you insta-mill all your opponents once you've resolved enough draw spells.
Additionally, Fact or Fiction and Sphinx of Uthuun might be good additions as draw spells once you hit Dream Halls. I understand that they don't interact with Tomorrow, but they still generate card advantage and let you dig quite deep, making them likely better than some of your narrower cards like Aether Spellbomb and Voltaic Key.
Oh yeah, and where is Impulse? That card's about as close to Demonic Tutor as blue gets.
I had not considered Flusterstorm, which, thinking about it now with regards to some recent counter wars, was completely wrong. It'll be included immediately.
Impulse was in early, went out with Ponder and Preordain when I was concerned with their consistency in combo, and didn't return when those concerns abated. Another huge oversight >>
Brain Freeze I discussed on the first page. Still don't think it adds much.
I've probably wrestled with Fact or Fiction more than any other piece. I imagine it will continue to come in and out for a while, and then I'll write an essay on the final decision ;p
Voltaic Key is amazing and never dead: it's won me games. Spellbomb has yet to show up for me so I'm reserving judgement.
tedv:
Actively, this deck does four things: combos, tutors, filters and accelerates, in that order. If you're not comboing you're tutoring so that you can combo. If you're not tutoring you're filtering so that you can tutor. If you're not filtering you're accelerating so that you can filter.
Unless you can name a (non-reactive) card that doesn't do one of these things, I don't really have any idea by what you mean when you talk about cards that "do nothing". Every piece here contributes on it's on own.
Cool deck, I like it. Great use of Dream Halls by using a commander that breaks it (Halls is hard to not break, heh). Dream Halls is probably one of my favorite cards so it's fun to see new ways of using it. The people who are criticizing the deck are just writing it off before trying it. It would be cool if you wrote a few match reports to see how games actually go, or what types of things usually beat you.
So I just jumped onto Cockatrice, intending to cap a game as I went along and post it here. It was highly successful, but not particularly exciting or explorative (you'll see what I mean; it's two degrees from a goldfish). I'll post anyway - I did the work, I guess - and then go looking for some more interesting games:
Game:
3 Player EDH in an open room on 'trice. No specifications.
Which is a pretty decent hand. Intuition is technically the worst place to start a tutor chain, but it's still much better than nothing and the double cantrips are dandy. First mull (PP) is at -0 according to the host (Geist), so I throw back Foil and draw Thwart. Nice >>
Turn 1
Draw Scalding Tarn
Lead with Island into Preordain, saving shuffle interactions for when I have a little more info. See a couple of land and bottom them. Draw Time Spiral. Meh.
My opponents both land-go, which is highly encouraging.
Turn 2
Draw Island. Ponder to see Temple Bell and Concentrate, as well as another Isle. Acceleration for my Long Term Plans and a launching point to combo. Mise. Take the Bell first, leaving concentrate above the island I intend to shuffle away.
Turn 3
Nin plays his third mono-U source, whines, and transmutes a Tolaria West looking for red. He will never play a red spell this game.
I Draw the Concentrate and play Delta.
Geist attempts to Rhystic Study. I crack delta and Intuition in resp, grabbing Mystical Tutor, Merchant Scroll, and Drift of Phantasms. There are some lame jokes about tutoring for tutors but I get my scroll.
Turn 4
Nin casts Oblivion Stone (doesn't pay for Rhystic), which feels a lot like game. I draw and play an Island, then Scroll up my Long Term Plans (paying) while Geist plays Sad Robot
I draw Mana Crypt which makes Thwart a whole lot better, but only drop Seat of the Synod in the face of the stone. This adds a full turn to my clock, but at the pace of the game it doesn't feel like much.
Geist plays Sword of Feast and Famine and equips to Solemn, then swings at Nin, who stones in response. Tight play. This leaves them both tapped down so I Plans for Dream Halls at the end of Geist's turn.
Turn 6
Nin makes a mighty attempt to rebuild his board with Springjack Pasture. I draw my last Island and use it to play Temple Bell. Geist attempts, well, Geist but Nin counters with Rewind, then produces a goat.
Turn 7
Nin taps out to equip a Darksteel Plate to his goat (Neither Nin herself nor anything to give her haste are anywhere in sight). EOT I temple bell and hit Windfall.
My opponents are tapped down, and Geist has had a few strips torn out of him without a hint of possible response. I lay out the mana and play Halls. It resolves and Tomorrow follows without blue or white arguments of any kind. I go off without a hitch and they gg before I have to go too deep.
ETA: Not much luck tonight. Had a couple more games as above before I caught up with the usual crowd. Lost a quick one playing kingmaker between Hermit Druid Scion and Worldgorger Scion with my Pact, then in the rematch played a terribly extended experiment where, as I cast trade secrets to pick up a Planned for Halls for the win, the target decided to just draw out our libraries and play the counter war instead. I was the blue deck, of course, so it wasn't particularly close (he'd actually misunderstood the interaction between Snapcaster and Halls, so he thought he had a few more spells than he did) but it was enjoyable enough for us. Still, 5-1 on the evening; guess I can't complain too much.
Just played a set of 3 against Rage's Sharuum List, which was the first time I felt I was lagging considerably behind a control deck.
First game was quite interesting. The decision came rather early when I Force of Willed his Bribery. I have no idea if this is right in the abstract: I *think* it's very close and comes down to situational specifics. But in this case the other guy at the table was playing Sheoldred Stax, which in retrospect I think falls on the "let him take Tef" side of things. In any case, I think I played quite well afterwards, navigated three memory jars and ended up sitting pretty with Halls and Draw in hand waiting for an excess blue (as force would have been, even with Tef on the table)... then proceeded to draw islands and get blown out by Mind Slaver and contamination. Such is life.
Game two I mulled poorly (kept both of my Moxen, which I'll never do again) and Sharuum got to show off with a Bitter Ordeal.
Final game was far more balanced, with an early Hinder for Sharuum herself. I came to a point, 8 cards in hand and 10 mana open, where I could Halls with Trap or Myojin, looking at two blue decks with 8 cards between them. I played cautiously; Myo met a counter from the third party which ended up being the king-making play, as neither of us were able to stop Sharuum taking full control immediately after. In retrospect, I should have either gone for it or just held up the trap and waited; prolly the latter although I still don't think this deck has much business playing the control.
So in the end I'm generally left thinking about my rocks: on one hand, I hate the feeling of showing half the mana of another blue player... on the other, mana is not our principle resource, cards-in-hand is our principle resource. The Moxen and lotuses are definitely looking questionable and another game where I die having spent less then my full board's worth of mana on multiple early turns will push them over.
My apologies for the newb question, but how does this deck actually win?
As far as I can tell, you place your library in hand and play most of it with dream halls, but how do you actually win that turn? Lab maniac won't trigger while Tom is on the field.
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Decklist & Primer
*Introduction*
Once upon a time, in a strange and far away place, there lived a fat and ugly frog
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar doesn't really put on a good face. At six mana, doing nothing impressive on his own and being strictly overshadowed in his home color by his Mistress, it's no surprise that poor Tom rarely gets called up to the table. The boost in consistency he provides - while unarguably enormous - is never incredibly relevant in a threat-packed goodstuff deck, especially when by 6 the average U build's card advantage is already outpacing its mana base.
In a kingdom without a king
As it stands right now, 99% of combo decks in multiplayer EDH make one of two concessions: they either require vulnerable pieces on the board or in the yard when they launch (Worldgorger, Mind over Matter, etc) or they need to untap with their one piece to go off (Hermit Druid, Zur, etc.). Traditional "engine" based combos which begin immediately and without consideration of board state are rare in EDH (limited almost entirely to incredibly single minded ad nauseum strategies). This is understandable; such engines tend to require an incredibly high level of consistency that appears impossible in 100 card singleton.
The frog just knew he was destined to do great things
Tomorrow's otherwise "win-moreish" ability gives us a shot at that elusive consistency.
Let's say we're running an engine such that we want every card drawn to meet some strict condition, and we can afford 1 in 3 cards in the build doing so. Then the chance of a good draw without Tom is (obviously) 33%, while with Tom it jumps to just over 70%. Over two draws, without Tom, we can expect to have hit two good cards 11% of the time, one good card a further 44% of the time, and blank the further 44%. With Tom we can expect two good cards 49% of the time, one good card a further 42% of the time, and to have blanked only 9% of the time.
Now let's say we can build a deck such that 60% of cards meet the condition of the engine (read 40 cards of freedom in EDH). What can we say about a string of 10 draws? Without Tom we hit 10 good cards 0.6% of the time; with him we hit 10 51% of the time. Without Tom we hit at least 7 good cards 38.2% of the time; with him we hit at least 7 99.74% of the time. Mischief managed.
If only he could find his place in the world
Unfortunately, there's an aspect of EDH we have yet to consider: color identity. Historically, successful engines have overwhelmingly been in black and green (Think Cadaverous Bloom, Necropotence, Fastbond, Survival of the Fittest, Ad Nauseum etc). Blue often participates in these decks, but has only rarely struck out on it's own. Two instances come to mind: High Tide and Dream Halls.
Both engines work by providing new utility to already useful cards; Halls turns blue cards-in-hand into virtual mana and Tide turns "free" spells and effects into mana surpluses. A mechanism which turns mana into blue cards-in-hand or free spells and effects at a net gain (ie consistent draw spells) then opens up a world of nigh infinite resources.
Thus begins our Fairy Tale
In the past month, I've had a ton of fun running Tomorrow decks across the combo/control spectrum. If you decide to run Tom and find he has a place in your meta I guarantee you a most excellent EDH experience.
You may enjoy playing Tomorrow if:
>You love enormous Johnny-tastic finishes following dynamic and thoughtful play.
>You hate the idea of leaving an important piece lying out on the field where everyone can see it for a turn.
>Your meta already plays combo generals such as Sharuum, Scion, or Sliver Queen and are looking for more variety at that speed.
> You meta hosts traditional control players who enjoy the challenge of a combo deck that plays close to the chest.
But not if:
>You want to participate in a combat step; if this deck untaps with creatures on board, something has usually gone wrong.
>You want an answer to every threat; this deck is not inevitable and peaks around turn 6. It is not the control.
>You don't like math.
>Your meta will disapprove of fast combo or mono-blue decks in general.
Still here? All right! I want to take some time to explain how I feel about Multiplayer Elder Dragon Highlander, in hopes that it will give perspective players a little more grounding and help them to understand the thought process behind the deck. If this is only going to bore you, feel free to skip ahead to the lists.
Much like in duels, where proper play depends not only on knowing the nature of your own deck in a vacuum but on your ability to compare it to the opponent's list and decide "who's the beatdown", it seems necessary (in my experience at least) in a free-for-all to scale all decks present at the table by some pacing metric and model your play in accordance.
Personally, I look at this scale in terms of "desired level of disruption" (DLD). There will be one deck in the game - the deck with the fastest and most consistent access to its win con - which is favored to take the victory in the complete absence of interaction of any kind (Its DLD is a minimum). There will be one deck in the game - generally more diverse than others in the scope of its plays - which is favored in the most stifling of environments (Its DLD is a maximum). The remaining decks populate a range in between, hoping for enough interaction to shut down the lists to one side of them on the continuum but not enough to favor the lists to the other.
Good players intuitively play to pull the game's actual level of disruption (ALD) in a favorable direction to them and win more, bad players let it ride and win less.
Good decks claim large portions of the DLD continuum and/or provide strong ways to influence the ALD in either direction and make good play easier, bad decks claim slivers of the DLD continuum and/or fail to effect the ALD much at all and make good play very difficult.
Under these considerations, I believe EDH is unique even among multiplayer formats. One hundred card singleton is differentiated from traditional 60 card formats in that a deck may reliably claim non-connected bit's of territory on the DLD line (Consider a 5c deck running both Hermit Druid combo and a Mass Land Destruction strategy: when actively trying to combo out the deck's DLD is almost certainly incredibly low; while dropping rocks and blowing up lands the deck's DLD is likely mid-to-high.)
When I build an EDH deck I try to prepare myself to claim as much of the DLD continuum as possible, and leave influencing the ALD, for the most part, to others at the table. I do this not because I dislike politics or control cards, but because I find it leads to the kind of varied, reactive "puzzle solving" game play I enjoy. This is, at the end of the day, why I chose Tomorrow over Azami or Jin G. The deck here is built along that line; I hope you'll find it suiting.
Winning
The ultimate plan of the deck - after achieving unlimited resources through Halls or Tide - is to launch the mono-U standard Mind Over Matter/Temple Bell combo, with Kozilek as enabler (Temple Bell is tapped to have every player draw a card, our draw is discarded to Mind Over Matter untapping Temple Bell and, if it's Kozilek, refilling our library, the process is repeated at instant speed until all opponents are drawing from empty libraries). If this is not sufficient, the deck also allows for a Tef/Pool lock followed up by beats and - in an extreme situation - chaining Windfalls for mass mill.
Playing Against Control
We're a combo deck, and so obviously sitting down against 70 counter spells is never going to be ideal. Faeries is simply a bad MU - as every deck must have - but we're not just dead to control by any means; our ability to launch big plays from small boards along multiple vectors often means allows us to take advantage of the slightest reprieve in disruption - provided we recognize it.
Because of our decks incredible filtering ability we can often have the best hand, even if it's 2 or 4 cards smaller than the table average. My most interesting start against a controlling table so far has involved T1 Preordain, T2 Impulse, T3 Snapcaster -> Preordain, T4 Phantasmal Image Snapcaster -> Impulse. Partially due to all of this glorious durdling, I prefer these games to disruption-free races even if I win considerably less often.
The primary goal against control is to gauge the relative strength of the present disruption against each of your combos and tutor accordingly. Prison strategies which add extra costs to spells preclude Dream Halls, as does heavy Enchantment hate. LD generally makes Tide unworkable, and yard removal blanks some of it's synergies. It is crucial to be aware of the path of least resistance.
Playing in a Race
I have won with this deck on turn 3, and I have lost on turn 3 playing it: in both cases a Mana Drain was involved. In games of Tempo, that's just life. Sometimes you get to the table and see Animar and Azusa and you just have roll with it.
On the bright side there are very, very few disruption-lite aggro/combo decks which are consistently faster than us. As we simply *cannot* hope to control big boards we mus, in the absence of third party disruption, race... which is something like a coin-flip. In my experience, our average draws are somewhat better than either of the above, our nut draws somewhat worse. Odds I don't mind.
The key here is simply tight play. Every incremental bit of advantage is huge so smart mulling to ensure turn one play, appropriately timing TTTT against draws, smart use of cantrips etc. are all huge.... luckily we're blue players and these things tend to come naturally!
Playing at Mixed Tables
The most common and most interesting scenarios in EDH involve both fast decks and oppressive decks, and it is in these scenarios that we shine. The key is tailoring your play to the situation created by your opponents, letting their goals be your goals and then being the first to capitalize on the results. Identify the big threat; is one player ahead on cards? Smooth things out with wheels but casually bring in Tomorrow for profit. Ahead on Mana? Share Helm (preparing for High Tide), and maybe bounce his rocks. Ahead on Tempo? Contribute a counter or too to the control effort and prepare to slip into aggressive mode with Halls as soon as the table is spent. Life is good.
1 Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
Engines
1 Dream Halls
1 High Tide
1 Mind Over Matter
Counter
1 Force of Will
1 Flusterstorm
1 Mana Drain
1 Mindbreak Trap
1 Pact of Negation
1 Trickbind
Draw
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Brainstorm
1 Brilliant Plan
1 Careful Consideration
1 Compulsive Research
1 Concentrate
1 Counsel of the Soratami
1 Divination
1 Frantic Search
1 Ideas Unbound
1 Impulse
1 Jace's Ingenuity
1 Meditate
1 Myojin of Seeing Winds
1 Opportunity
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Pulse of the Grid
1 Recurring Insight
1 Rush of Knowledge
1 Shrine of Piercing Vision
1 Sift
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Tidings
1 Timetwister
1 Time Reversal
1 Time Spiral
1 Windfall
1 Knowledge Pool
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Temple Bell
1 Palinchron
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Call to Mind
1 Relearn
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Candelabra of Tawnos
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Mystic Remora
1 Rhysic Study
1 Helm of Awakening
1 Sapphire Medallion
Tutors
1 Intuition
1 Long-Term Plans
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Trinket Mage
1 Fabricate
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Personal Tutor
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Ancient Tomb
32 Snow-Covered Island
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
Turning every card drawn into an Impulse is just nuts, and it's impossible not to start really loving Tom after a few times playing the deck. I sincerely hope this primer brings the poor frog some more play; he deserves it!
Deciding when to play the general is a function of your ability to continue drawing cards after the 6 mana investment. Obviously he comes down instantly with infinite mana, and very near-instantly after resolving Halls, in both cases quickly generating the win... but he can also occasionally be a strong play while still assembling pieces, provided your mana pool is deep enough.
I have yet to work out a formula for such preemptive plays, but I know that I seriously consider Tom before every Timetwister and Time Spiral.
Always keep in mind that, once Tom hits, you no longer draw cards. You don't feed opponents through Consecrated Sphinx and you can't be milled.
Dream Halls
The first builds of this deck eschewed other combos entirely in favor of playing the best Dream Halls possible. Although the threat of board-based and split-second Enchantment hate eventually overcame early concerns regarding the consistency of High Tide and the deck evolved away from that singular focus, Halls remains the primary engine and the center-point of the build. As we should all know by know, this card is bonkers and all of our play takes finding, playing, and winning with Halls into account.
The symmetric effect of the card is rarely relevant. We have priority after Halls resolves and will almost always use that to cast Tom or (if Tom is already on board) a very large draw spell. Enchantment destruction through halls and for halls in response hurts a little sure... but in the end they spent two cards and we got value anyway. Unless you're making very caviler choice against other mono blue decks, it shouldn't even come up.
High Tide
Originally, I struggled with the inclusion of High Tide because balancing the twin requirements of the engine - card draw and untap - seemed it would be significantly more difficult in EDH than it was in legacy (after all, we only get one Time Spiral). While this was true to some extent, and playing High Tide in EDH is a risky and complex (thus highly rewarding) endeavor, it is most certainly doable... especially with our boy Tomorrow in the mix.
Identifying the appropriate time to play Tide is a function of half a million variables we can't cover here... but I found it became rather intuitive with several plays of the deck. It may help that the answer was almost always "early on turn 5" or "early on turn 6" and probably usually "either" so I didn't come away with many negative results. The most interesting effect of combining Tide and Tom is how quickly it prompts accusations of lucky play; I'm finding increasingly comical to filter through something like 50 cards on a turn and still see opponents in shock when I have the next piece of the puzzle. I hope you enjoy the experience.
Mind Over Matter
A part of the winning combo, yes, but also a pseudo-Halls and an incredibly scary card to fit into an intuition pile. When I switched to MoM as a win condition (the deck originally played Laboratory Maniac as its finisher) I went out of my way to protect the card. I have since learned that its often best shoved in an opponents face, where it can be leveraged for some serious advantage.
Using the discard effect to generate mana and simulate Halls is a moderately acceptable practice with Tide and a last resort without. It seems to have worked out for me more often than not thus far... but then I guess that when I was in position to stick a card like Mind and then throw away my hand I was likely going to win anyway. I'll keep working here.
Counters
Force of Will - I don't think I can say anything novel about "the glue that holds legacy together" so I'll just make the standard plea that you neither over- nor under-respect this card. Force prevents losses, it does provide wins. Value accordingly.
Flusterstorm - FS has no place in the faster matches, but is invaluable against control where you have both plenty of targets and tighter mana. A card which constantly impresses me.
Pact of Negation - If countering is at all important, there's not going to *be* a next upkeep. I absolutely love having Pact in hand when I cast Halls, and more often than not it's the poison picked when you have the chance to Intuition for it along with Force and Drain. Ah the rubbins.
Mana Drain - The best Tempo card in the format, and the fastest way to end a game. As the poster-child of "swingy", Drain would almost certainly be the first card banned were it suddenly the goal of the RC to create a stable competitive game. In the discussion of tutors, I'll talk about the dramatic change in our tempo that occurs in most games when we play either Intuition or Long Term Plans. The only more sudden change in pacing possible comes from a good Drain - usually during turn 3 - and it is just gruesome. You need to win on the turn drain pays out... which is just fine because you *will* win on the turn Drain pays out.
Trickbind and Mindbreak Trap - Our "cute" counters, rarely of use when we're on the war path, but worth the inclusion for the blow-outs they represent against some of the format's more popular combos. Trickbinding a Worldgorger as it leaves the field is the most ruthless play in EDH, and it feels so good. Properly timing Trap against another engine-based deck in the middle of their big turn is never easy but it's certainly a lot better trying than just dying.
Draw
The selection of draw cards is fairly straight forward, comprising of the format's best cheap deck organization (Ancestral Vision, Brainstorm, Impulse, Ponder, Preordain, and Shrine of Piercing Vision), cards the give us the filtering we want for Halls (Careful Consideration, Compulsive Research, Sift, and Thirst for Knowledge) or the costs we want for Tide (Ideas Unbound and Meditate) at mitigated drawbacks, and basically every "no-frills no-gimmicks" draw spell in the history of blue (Brilliant Plan, Concentrate, Counsel of the Soratami, Divination, Jace's Ingenuity, Opportunity, and Tidings). Filler, for the most part, played at obvious times for obvious reasons and with obvious results.
Rush of Knowledge is almost always a draw six and might as well be valued as such; Recurring Insight is similar, although having the rebound as a worse case scenario is often a load off of a troubled mind. Frantic Search and Time Spiral combo with Tide (and Helm/Sapphire) in the ways we want, and usually without much thought. Timetwister and Time Reversal look symmetrical, but they're really not. Before Tom, our hands are usually too big to get value and we don't cast them; after Tom we dig thrice as deep and win. Really only three of the twenty seven draw spells are interesting at all.
Myojin of Seeing Winds
Myojin has the dubious distinction of being the only card that is regularly played through Halls more quickly than Tomorrow himself. Should Halls be removed in response to the first spell of the combo, Myojin avec counter and Tomorrow on the wings is still an incredibly threatening game state; certainly more frightening than anything involving MoSW in hand. A rarely relevant - but worthy - note.
Pulse of the Grid
With Halls and Tom and a sufficiently small hand, Pulse filters your entire library at instant speed. Pulse is perfect; it feels like it was made just for this combo. It is the go-to card in our darkest hour, and I've yet to encounter a situation with the deck which Pulse didn't just fix. It's just perfect.
Windfall
Windfall - in conjunction with Call to Mind, Relearn and Snapcaster - is our 11th hour win condition should one of both Mind Over Matter/Temple Bell and Tef/Pool be exiled. I have never actually come to that point playing the deck, but I can't help keeping a running the math of the play in the back of my mind as I go through the motions of simpler plays. Excited for the day it pays off.
Stuff
Knowledge Pool and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir - For those not familiar with the mechanics of the synergy between this pair of cards, it goes like this: facing both cards under your control, an opponent casts a card from his hand. Pool's ability triggers, and is placed on the stack, where it will remain until it fully resolves (rule 603.3), then, although the second effect generated by that ability would normally allow the opponent to cast any imprinted spell regardless of card type (Oracle ruling June 1, 2011) they are limited by Teferi, who's "only any time they could cast a sorcery" limitation requires an empty stack (rule 307.1). The stack still contains the (not yet fully resolved) Pool ability and so the opponent can do nothing. In the end, it is pointless for them to even attempt casting from their hand. They are stranded with on-board cards and generals.
A properly set up eot Teferi for an uninterrupted turn is usually enough of a "lock" to combo off, but should things go wrong with Mind Over Matter it takes a truly hyper-aggressive board to beat through Tef/Pool, an active Dream Halls and a big ol Eldrazi. This is back our plan B.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Temple Bell - completes the Mind over Matter combo, as described above, and Koz can go on the warpath if necessary.
Palinchron - Palinchron is to EDH what Tarmogoyf is to Legacy: a creature which is incredibly easy to work with and which plays in strong synergy with the format's already-top-tier strategies. If this card didn't exist we'd still be playing Ancient Tomb, Helm of Awakening, Sapphire Medallion, Phantasmal Image, Phyrexian Metamorph, and of course High Tide and Dream Halls and all of these have favorable (often repeatable) interactions with chron... though *still* the card is about half as supported as in the average UG deck. Like Mana Drain, a card that we only have access to because the RC has very different priorities than the DCI.
Phantasmal Image - Fairly straight forward infinite mana setup with P-chron, assuming seven lands are available (six with either medallion or helm). Image (recent winner of the "Least Relevant Drawback in the History of Magic" award) can also bring early game utility in coming as a second Snapcaster or ganking a quick-out-of-the-gates opposing general.
Call to Mind, Relearn, and Snapcaster Mage - A little spell recursion goes a long way for us. The abilities to chain High Tides, build disgusting Intuition packages, double up on Mystical Tutors, and win with a series of Windfalls are all respectable. Snapcaster especially always seems to have a new trick to show off. Trading Relearn for Crystal Chimes should be appropriate for some metas.
Candelabra of Tawnos, Hurkyl's Recall and Phyrexian Metamorph - Board dependent mana-generators of various design, best applied all together and in the context of High Tide. Candelabra is perhaps the least useful outside of Tide, but the utility of making your artifact mana blue often can't be denied (and the rare combo with Ancient tomb doesn't hurt either). Recall won't often generate a whole card's worth of mana in the absence of Tide, but the blow outs it provides against rock-heavy decks are well worth it's inclusion. Metamorph's best target outside of Tide is usually going to be P-chron, for the 4+ mana net, but this is the most versatile clone of all time we're talking about: you're never gonna regret having him in hand.
Mystic Remora - The best reason to win the die roll, if I can stick Remora it is almost always worth keeping around through the first two upkeeps, and at least considering for the third. If you happen to have the political acumen to steer it between CA source and prison piece, all the better for you. Very little late game utility, obviously... but hey; a blue card is a blue card as far as Halls is concerned.
Rhysic Study - Tech which is swiftly becoming dated. If the novelty here has already worn off for your meta, don't try to force it. Still trying to settle on a replacement.
Helm of Awakening and Sapphire Medallion - I initially couldn't believe the ridiculous level of consistency these brought to a deck which is trying to chain medium-size spells. Now I guess I could show you the math... but it'd be nothing like seeing them in action for yourself.
Tutors
During most games, casting Intuition or Long-Term Plans is the fulcrum of our play, and thus best seen as the point at which we begin to "go off". Prior to attempting one of these tutors we make non-threatening small-value plays, sitting our tempo somewhere around zero. Should either tutor resolve, every subsequent play becomes a "should-counter" which will contribute greatly to the sudden exponential growth in our resources and (hopefully) our winning. If the first three spells post tutor aren't dealt with, it's usually too late.
The take home message here is Tutor wisely! Don't LTP into on-the-board mill, or make useless bluffs with Intuition for the sake of half a turn. Don't put something third from the top if you can't dig three deep and don't confuse answers for threats, or offer a package mixed with both. Recursion is never bad in Int packages, but it's rarely best. Don't get fancy: nine games in ten, Halls is your best LTP target (and if you have Halls in hand, Myojin isn't second, a Counterspell is).
We can find either of these game-changers with tutors-for-tutors which play on their similar cost and card type (Merchant Scroll, Mystical Tutor and Drift of Phantasms) backed up, unfortunately enough, by some tutors-for-turors-for-turtors (Muddle the Mixture and Personal Tutor) because at the end of the day we are monocolored and can't have *all* the nice things. Thankfully most of these can also grab disruption or High-tide related action when needed, so we can't complain to much. Anyway, this package is ultimately large enough, fast enough, and mana-lite enough to get the job done.
In the search and shuffle category we also bring along Trinket Mage to take better advantage of our rocks and Fabricate and Tezzeret the Seeker to lend power and consistency to our combos: hopefully this is fairly straight forward.
Mana
Sol Ring *is* EDH and Mana Crypt and Mana Vault can't be wrong in a deck that doesn't ever expect to do much past turn 6. Ancient Tomb is the best land in the format, but if you're the kind of classy fellow who wants to run Islands and Islands alone I certainly won't blame you. I make mine snow-covered cause I like the picture on 'trice better; aspects of your meta might make for a more reasoned selection.
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
Isperia, Supreme Judge: Control
Malfegor: Control
That's a bit harsh; many decks focused on combos are hindered by a Sacrament. Teferi losing his Knowledge Pool, Sharuum losing Phyrexian Metamorph and Sculpting Steel... You get the idea. They definitely don't lose their ability to win, though, which is what "fold" usually implies.
I personally like this idea and the choice of general. When I have more time, I'll be taking a more detailed look at the list.
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
With the number of spells going off here, have you considered adding a brain freeze to the deck as an alt wincon? It can be fun with Spelljack and snapcaster mage to re-use it.
Riptide Laboratory can also be useful for protecting your guys. The flash leyline and Vedalken Orrery can help sneak in your labratory maniac EOT, giving less people time to react, as does Winding Canyons.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Snapcaster Mage was also in the alpha versions of the deck. He would be ridiculous if you could use Halls to pay flashback costs. Alas this not the case, so Tiago is benched.
Maniac only needs to be played after you've set up Eye of the Storm with Mindbreak Trap and Stifle, so he has very very little to fear. Generally you'll start the combo on your first main, and move to the second after a particularly effective Mana Drain: you have time to work at sorcery speed.
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
There are a lot of cards he doesnt need anyway. Like, what is vivisection for? There's a grand total of 3 (correct me if im wrong) creatures in the entire deck and I didnt notice any theft effects. Mental Mistep...lol? It might be cute the first time, but you're pretty much asking to be bent over every time after that. To survive against an entire table, even against only 1 opponent, youre going to have to run ALOT more counterspells than that. And some propaganda effects.
Edit: If black and blue have no presence in your metagame, this could work (if youre very lucky), which isn't going to happen since theyre the 2 most popular magic colors. And thats assuming that the red/green/white decks don't beat you down before you combo off. It might seem harsh to say, but from the perspective of someone sitting across from you it isn't. Your deck is literally saying "I am a combo. If you do not kill me before I do my thing, you lose."
Isperia, Supreme Judge: Control
Malfegor: Control
This is probably one of the less harsh ways you could say that actually.
Ever Stifled a Worldgorger leaving the field? Wanna count the number of decks playing Stifle vs Sacrament? Wanna compare their manna costs?
Wanna tell me Worldgorger combo is bad?
I mean yes, sure, every combo deck has its silver bullet. It's not always an outright kill as it would be here - though it can be, obviously - but given *any* deck built around some synergy you should be able to name a counter strategy, often in the form of 1 cheap card, which drops it's win percentage below 15. You accept this or you don't play combo, and people continue to play (and win with) combo.
Why? Same reason that Lightning Bolt is better than Healing Salve: it's better to be active than reactive. A deck filled with nothing but combo hosing bullets is not much of a deck, especially when there're two other people at the table. Yes powerful and generic reaction (a la StP) in necessary for a healthy format, but "sacraments" and stifles are niche-y and few.
If play testing shows a need to up the counter count then we'll up the counter count. So far that has definitely not been the case. If testing shows Misstep has no utility, it will be cut. So far that has definitely not been the case. If testing shows that slots need to go to prison to beat aggro, they will. So far that has definitely not been the case. Vivisection, I'll freely admit, is an artifact of older, more creature heavy versions of the deck and should probably be cut. By luck of the draw, it just hasn't shown up recently and went unnoticed.
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
Most of it will be STP and PTE, but everyone running white runs both of those already, and they're darn good to counter.
Sensei's Divining Top and Sol Ring might not need to be countered, but I've never thought, "darn, if only I HADN'T destroyed that sol ring."
Here's the list: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=360897
EDIT: and here's a list of good 1 drop creatures: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=368687. Serra's Ascendant alone is a good misstep.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
I agree with Ticker, with only one wincon this deck folds to so many cards (most of which are Black or Blue) thus limiting the decks possibilies. The idea is very good and its nice to see a unique general but it wouldn't work in any meta that plays any of the cards that hate it out.
Worldgorger is a combo that can be stopped and really screw the player, yes, but it is not the main/only wincon in decks that use it (if it is they deserve to lose). This deck also, as previously stated loses to more than one card. Praetor Grasp, Dissipate, Sadistic Sacrament, many, many hand disruption cards ESPECIALLY when you tutor for your wincon just flat out end the deck.
Like I previously stated I'm all for unique decks and creative ideas and I'm not trying to discourage you from playing the deck you made and enjoy but I'm just pointing out that in a "competitive" environment this deck will be a one trick pony, likely and easily hated out by the two most popular colors(especially in competitive edh).
EDH
BGWGhave, Guru of SporesBGW
GUBMimeoDredgeGUB
GUMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
UThada Adel, AcquisitorU
BGSavra, Queen of the GolgariBG
BThe Comprehensive Guide to Black TutorsB
A few ideas:
Long Term Plans: unconditional tutor, the 'drawback' is easily mitigated with a carefully planned anything that draws you cards.
Shrine of Piercing Visions: Drop it early, rack up counters as you cycle stuff, enjoy a pocket 'dig you out of a hole' card.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
If your reduce 'Gorger to no permanents when they try to combo on turn 4 or 5, usually leaving them with 2 or fewer cards in hand, they are <1% to win. To suggest otherwise is goofy. There are 3 cards which counter triggered abilities: one of them even has split second, and all of them are played more commonly (and do a whole lot more) than Praetor's Grasp.
If you try to cast halls into a blue player with three mana up and don't have sufficient back-up of your own, you deserve to lose. Moral of the story is not to play like an idiot.
Halls is never tutored into hand: this isn't possible in blue. You purposefully aim not to draw the card until the turn you play it. If Halls comes up in your opening grip (which is probably a clear mull against Nath or similar) or your first couple draws organically and and someone aims discard at you (a decision which is probably wrong 90% of the time) then you take your lumps. Again, this is a generic criticism of combo which doesn't seem to hold the rest of the format back.
Bob: Thanks! Plans has been in the deck from day one (listed in "Helping Hands" above), but shrine probably deserves some serious consideration.
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
I do agree that casting Dreams Halls into a Blue mage with 3 mana open would be stupid but was just pointing out a possibility.
With all this said, I play a lot of combo EDH and the cards mentioned, although they slow me down; would NEVER force me to scoop. Again, I'm not downing the idea I actually like Dream Halls decks a lot (especially this one, its well thought out and has potential) but I'm hoping to encourage you to add another wincon (just not sure what it could be).
EDH
BGWGhave, Guru of SporesBGW
GUBMimeoDredgeGUB
GUMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryGU
UThada Adel, AcquisitorU
BGSavra, Queen of the GolgariBG
BThe Comprehensive Guide to Black TutorsB
I completely realize that the deck is on a rather shaky extreme end of the combo-deck spectrum, and that'll cost me from time... but hey if I wanted a deck that took it's time finding Shusher or Boseiju to back it's quadruple redundancy I'd play one. For a long time I've wanted a deck that either wins or burns on turn five, and that's what this is.
And, well, maybe I'm stopped, rather than slowed, by a few bullets... but I'm also far far more proof against permanent removal and yard hate than almost every other deck in the format. I need to stick one card, independently of board state, and I don't have to untap with it. That's unique, and that's got to be worth something >>
Anyway, I don't want to come off as overly defensive. There are a million issues with the deck, but so far the mentioned cards haven't been bleeps on the radar. My obvious and serious problems right now are a dearth of turn 4 instant-speed plays and learning to time my Ancestral appropriately (Turn one Ancestral is often wrong, which isn't obvious at first. Turn two ancestral means you Plans on the end-step before turn 6, immediately draw Halls, and go off, which is delicious.)
Finally, this is incredibly rough, but by Google comparison:
site:http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/ "'Official' Casual Formats > Commander (EDH) >" "Stifle" - 268 results
site:http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/ "'Official' Casual Formats > Commander (EDH) >" "Trickbind" - 221 results
site:http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/ "'Official' Casual Formats > Commander (EDH) >" "Praetor's grasp" - 188 results
site:http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/ "'Official' Casual Formats > Commander (EDH) >" "Sadistic Sacrament" - 178 results
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
In the end, the only real way to know if a deck will work well is to test it. I recommend at least proxying it first before you buy the thing, since at a glance this deck doesnt seem budget. If it works in your meta, so be it, but I think it is fair to say that it won't take much modification on part of your opponent to beat this deck. Cards like praetor's grasp/sadistic sacrament/nightmare incursion/jester's cap are just plain good cards, and discard effects scale to any level of metagame.
Isperia, Supreme Judge: Control
Malfegor: Control
While I would certainly build a tuned version of this deck irl if I was playing in a diverse and competitive environment, that's not the case. Attendees of EDH game days at LGSs don't tend to play anything that wasn't printed in the last 3 years - often not varying from 20 card mods of the summer pre-cons - and other than the two competitive standard players in my group of friends no one can really conceive of a deck worth more than $200. This deck hasn't really any place in either of these situations; it would be no one's definition of fun.
I am playing the deck on Cockatrice, in competitive multiplayer rooms, where it fits in very very nicely (and, in maybe 30 test games now, hasn't had its Halls exiled)
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
Have you considered running Flusterstorm as a way of cheaply stopping counterspells once you start your engine running?
Along the same vein, Brain Freeze seems like it might be a way to win immediately off of Lab Maniac, or an alternate wincon that lets you insta-mill all your opponents once you've resolved enough draw spells.
Additionally, Fact or Fiction and Sphinx of Uthuun might be good additions as draw spells once you hit Dream Halls. I understand that they don't interact with Tomorrow, but they still generate card advantage and let you dig quite deep, making them likely better than some of your narrower cards like Aether Spellbomb and Voltaic Key.
Oh yeah, and where is Impulse? That card's about as close to Demonic Tutor as blue gets.
I had not considered Flusterstorm, which, thinking about it now with regards to some recent counter wars, was completely wrong. It'll be included immediately.
Impulse was in early, went out with Ponder and Preordain when I was concerned with their consistency in combo, and didn't return when those concerns abated. Another huge oversight >>
Brain Freeze I discussed on the first page. Still don't think it adds much.
I've probably wrestled with Fact or Fiction more than any other piece. I imagine it will continue to come in and out for a while, and then I'll write an essay on the final decision ;p
Voltaic Key is amazing and never dead: it's won me games. Spellbomb has yet to show up for me so I'm reserving judgement.
tedv:
Actively, this deck does four things: combos, tutors, filters and accelerates, in that order. If you're not comboing you're tutoring so that you can combo. If you're not tutoring you're filtering so that you can tutor. If you're not filtering you're accelerating so that you can filter.
Unless you can name a (non-reactive) card that doesn't do one of these things, I don't really have any idea by what you mean when you talk about cards that "do nothing". Every piece here contributes on it's on own.
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
twitter.com/bccarlso
3 Player EDH in an open room on 'trice. No specifications.
Players (By turn order):
1) Nin, the Pain Artist
2) Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
3) Geist of Saint Traft
Pregame:
I open on with
Island
Seat of the Synod
Polluted Delta
Ponder
Preordain
Intuition
Foil
Which is a pretty decent hand. Intuition is technically the worst place to start a tutor chain, but it's still much better than nothing and the double cantrips are dandy. First mull (PP) is at -0 according to the host (Geist), so I throw back Foil and draw Thwart. Nice >>
Turn 1
Draw Scalding Tarn
Lead with Island into Preordain, saving shuffle interactions for when I have a little more info. See a couple of land and bottom them. Draw Time Spiral. Meh.
My opponents both land-go, which is highly encouraging.
Turn 2
Draw Island. Ponder to see Temple Bell and Concentrate, as well as another Isle. Acceleration for my Long Term Plans and a launching point to combo. Mise. Take the Bell first, leaving concentrate above the island I intend to shuffle away.
Gesit casts Trailblazer's Boots.
Turn 3
Nin plays his third mono-U source, whines, and transmutes a Tolaria West looking for red. He will never play a red spell this game.
I Draw the Concentrate and play Delta.
Geist attempts to Rhystic Study. I crack delta and Intuition in resp, grabbing Mystical Tutor, Merchant Scroll, and Drift of Phantasms. There are some lame jokes about tutoring for tutors but I get my scroll.
Turn 4
Nin casts Oblivion Stone (doesn't pay for Rhystic), which feels a lot like game. I draw and play an Island, then Scroll up my Long Term Plans (paying) while Geist plays Sad Robot
Turn 5
Nin draw-gos. He'll mystical tutor for a fabricate at some point along the way.
I draw Mana Crypt which makes Thwart a whole lot better, but only drop Seat of the Synod in the face of the stone. This adds a full turn to my clock, but at the pace of the game it doesn't feel like much.
Geist plays Sword of Feast and Famine and equips to Solemn, then swings at Nin, who stones in response. Tight play. This leaves them both tapped down so I Plans for Dream Halls at the end of Geist's turn.
Turn 6
Nin makes a mighty attempt to rebuild his board with Springjack Pasture. I draw my last Island and use it to play Temple Bell. Geist attempts, well, Geist but Nin counters with Rewind, then produces a goat.
Turn 7
Nin taps out to equip a Darksteel Plate to his goat (Neither Nin herself nor anything to give her haste are anywhere in sight). EOT I temple bell and hit Windfall.
Now I draw Halls and, with 6 lands and Temple Bell on the table my hand is:
Scalding Tarn
Mana crypt
Time Spiral
Thwart
Concentrate
Windfall
Dream Halls
My opponents are tapped down, and Geist has had a few strips torn out of him without a hint of possible response. I lay out the mana and play Halls. It resolves and Tomorrow follows without blue or white arguments of any kind. I go off without a hitch and they gg before I have to go too deep.
ETA: Not much luck tonight. Had a couple more games as above before I caught up with the usual crowd. Lost a quick one playing kingmaker between Hermit Druid Scion and Worldgorger Scion with my Pact, then in the rematch played a terribly extended experiment where, as I cast trade secrets to pick up a Planned for Halls for the win, the target decided to just draw out our libraries and play the counter war instead. I was the blue deck, of course, so it wasn't particularly close (he'd actually misunderstood the interaction between Snapcaster and Halls, so he thought he had a few more spells than he did) but it was enjoyable enough for us. Still, 5-1 on the evening; guess I can't complain too much.
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
First game was quite interesting. The decision came rather early when I Force of Willed his Bribery. I have no idea if this is right in the abstract: I *think* it's very close and comes down to situational specifics. But in this case the other guy at the table was playing Sheoldred Stax, which in retrospect I think falls on the "let him take Tef" side of things. In any case, I think I played quite well afterwards, navigated three memory jars and ended up sitting pretty with Halls and Draw in hand waiting for an excess blue (as force would have been, even with Tef on the table)... then proceeded to draw islands and get blown out by Mind Slaver and contamination. Such is life.
Game two I mulled poorly (kept both of my Moxen, which I'll never do again) and Sharuum got to show off with a Bitter Ordeal.
Final game was far more balanced, with an early Hinder for Sharuum herself. I came to a point, 8 cards in hand and 10 mana open, where I could Halls with Trap or Myojin, looking at two blue decks with 8 cards between them. I played cautiously; Myo met a counter from the third party which ended up being the king-making play, as neither of us were able to stop Sharuum taking full control immediately after. In retrospect, I should have either gone for it or just held up the trap and waited; prolly the latter although I still don't think this deck has much business playing the control.
So in the end I'm generally left thinking about my rocks: on one hand, I hate the feeling of showing half the mana of another blue player... on the other, mana is not our principle resource, cards-in-hand is our principle resource. The Moxen and lotuses are definitely looking questionable and another game where I die having spent less then my full board's worth of mana on multiple early turns will push them over.
EDH Lists and Primer for Azami's Familiar
As far as I can tell, you place your library in hand and play most of it with dream halls, but how do you actually win that turn? Lab maniac won't trigger while Tom is on the field.