I've been in the process of collecting decks recently. I'd like to end up with three: a deck with a built-in limitation which I can play when I want a challenge, a non-combo goodstuff deck that can be played with an unknown group, and a soul-crushing combo deck for GPs, SCG opens, and local tournaments. MBC and Jenara have fit the bill nicely for my first two decks, but finding a competitive combo deck which I enjoy playing has been tricky.
An obvious choice for the third deck would be Hermit Druid. However, I don't like Hermit Druid's linear, hyperfocused playstyle, and I also can't afford the deck. I also think that many people who haven't played against it overvalue its resiliency. It's resilient, but against a prepared 4-man pod it's not as easy as it sounds. I've tried Sharuum, voltron lock-out Zur, Oona, BUG hermit druid, and Arcum. They're all good decks, but none of them really clicked with me, and several felt too fragile to actually work at a real table. As I scoured decklists and "degenerate generals" threads, a common theme that cropped up along with Hermit Druid was Ad Nauseam. That perked my interest. I play TES in legacy, so drawing 20 cards turn 2 and storming out before a single creature gets cast holds a special place in my heart. There wasn't a whole lot of consensus on what Ad Nauseam combo in EDH means, though. Is it this? That deck is fast, but even more disruptable than Hermit Druid. The fact that the author sat down at a few casual tables and won proves nothing. Is it this? Kuma's Oona list seems like a much better proposition than the cutesy monoblack list - more backup plans, a better color combo... but is it optimal?
What I really wanted with a third color, specifically white. Why splash white, when all the tutors and combos are in UB and Oona is a free infinite outlet? The extra tutors (enlightened) are nice, as is the superior protection (silence, grand abolisher). The real draw, however, is the general choice. Zur enables the deck. He tutors necropotence, which then draws 20 cards. For a long time, I didn't understand how necropotence works. I would throw it in a deck and use it to stay at 7 cards, losing 3 or 4 life at a time. Kind like a super Phyrexian Arena. That was wrong. Necropotence is a one-shot wonder. Draw 20, win next turn. That's what it does in Zur. Draw 20, find an infinite mana combo, combine it with an infinite draw combo, draw your deck, then generate infinite storm with Tidespout Tyrant and kill the table with Tendrils of Agony.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here is the deck. It's not your average Zur build. In fact, there are only 4 Zur targets. This is a U/B storm deck splashing white. Zur is highly useful and worth splashing for, but he is unnecessary to win and often serves only as a distraction. It was modeled off this, which I thought was an excellent starting point. The problem with the deck in the link, in my opinion, is that he fell prey to pet cards. The "all blue mana" theme wasn't optimal, and I didn't like the Charbelcher backup plan. I also didn't think he had enough protection, either for Zur or his combos. Finally, there were a few cards that really didn't seem necessary (Rushing River) along with a few glaring omissions (Rings and Staff of Domination, Transmute Artifact).
There's nothing really new here. Step one is usually draw a lot of cards, either through Zur->Necro, Ad Nauseam, Recurring Insight, etc in order to find:
Power Artifact (can also be tutored by Zur) + Grim Monolith/Basalt Monolith
or
Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith
or
Tidespout Tyrant + two artifacts that net mana
then find
Stroke of Genius
or
Staff of Domination
or
Future Sight / Magus of the Future + Sensei's Divining Top
or
Rings of Brighthearth + Sensei's Divining Top
to draw your deck and kill them using
Tendrils of Agony
If Tendrils has been exiled somehow, you might also play Staff of Domination, then stroke one person, then Time Spiral, redraw your deck with Staff, stroke someone else, then snapcast-stroke the third opponent.
It's possible that another win-con would be useful here, such as Phyrexian Metamorph to make another tidespout and bounce all other permanents, or even just exsanguinate.
The above sequence isn't the only way to win. We also have:
Cloud Key / Helm of Awakening + Top + Magus / Future Sight
Draw your deck, storm count around 80, play out free artifacts then Tendrils for lethal.
Other random cards:
Solitary Confinement - makes you untouchable with necropotence. Second Zur target unless you can fetch Power Artifact and win. Gets around targetted Hermit Druid, Oona, Sharuum, all decks that use the combat step... not bad.
Mind over Matter - sometimes I find myself with infinite mana, infinite draw, and no colored mana. In this situation, I can cast Gilded Lotus, tap it to play MOM, then just discard lands to get as much colored mana as I want. Also works very well after an ad nauseam or during the end step after necropotence draws a bunch. For instance if the 20 you drew isn't going to win the game, you could pitch 13 to untap everything then hold on to a fact or fiction to draw more. Lastly, you can use it in conjunction with Top as a one-sided Windfall - pitch your hand to put that many untap triggers on top, then draw that many cards.
Mind's Desire - this can be used unfairly, such as halfway through a future-top combo, or fairly, after, for example, laying out a bunch of mana rocks into a time spiral. Once storm count reaches about 5, you begin to hit either combo pieces or more draw, which can quickly turn what looked like a value play into a game-ending one.
Mind Twist - this is probably self-explanatory. The deck ramps very quickly, but it's not always safe to go off against a MUC player with a grip of cards. Mind Twist baits out of a counter at worst, and knocks a player out of the game at best.
Sample Hand
Talisman of Progress, Seat of the Synod, Talisman of Dominance, Misty Rainforest, Dark Ritual, Swamp, Snap.
Lots of fast mana, looks like an early zur into necropotence is the way to go.
Keep, draw Necropotence. Well, that changes things. We could go for turn 1 necro here, but that's almost certainly a mistake. Instead, swamp, dark rit, talisman tapped, talisman. Turn 2, draw Underground Sea. Play it, taking 1 off talisman to play necropotence. Lose 20, draw 20. Lose one to brainstorm EOT before discarding. Keep: Transmute Artifact, Tidespout Tyrant, Chrome Mox, Ancient Tomb, Staff of Domination, Helm of Awakening. Turn 3, play Ancient Tomb, tap it for Helm of Awakening. Tap other two lands for frantic search, find basalt and a land, pitch land chrome mox. Play basalt, look dejected because the turn 3 win didn't pan out. Draw some cards. Turn 4 untap, transmute into rings, play staff and get infinite life, draw your deck, proceed to win.
Where to go from here
My primary concern right now is the lack of true win-cons. This deck is highly susceptible to Jester's Cap and doesn't really have a backup plan. I kind of want to fit in Helm-Leyline as an easily tutorable win-con that doesn't require infinite (note that if I am infinite but Tendrils/Stroke got capped I can still mill the table in one turn with MOM). Another option is Phyrexian Metamorph, for the Tidespout combo described earlier.
I also think it might be possible to cut High Tide and Turnabout. They were in the deck I modeled this one after, but in a deck with 30 lands that wants to win with 3-4 of them in play, I question their usefulness. If I cut High Tide I could further tweak the manabase in order to run Tainted Pact. On the other hand, the deck is extremely blue-hungry, so it's possible that making these changes would be a mistake.
It's possible that Lotus Bloom needs to be in here, too. There have been a few games that Transmute into Bloom could have gotten me that one extra blue needed for Power Artifact into Stroke.
Any thoughts on inclusions or cuts?
Edit:
-Snap
-Hall of the Bandit Lord
-Phyrexian Arena
-Plains
I wanted one more land. The basic plains was unnecesary, so I added an off-color fetch. I don't want to add the full contingent of off-colored fetches yet because I want the basic island counter high. Arena was way too slow, and Hall of the Bandit Lord's lack of colored mana and CIPT clause was too back-breaking in this sort of deck. Added another tutor and metamorph as both ramp and a win-con.
Looks pretty good google Bryant's broken pile of cards in the comments near the end is a similar list good resource if you have not already used it. Just looking over the list is probly add remand over something and candelabra if you can afford it. Fact or fiction seems slow that's 1 cut.
I do not have very much experience with super cut throat edh storm, so take all of what I say with a grain of salt. I also enjoyed looking through bryants broken pile in the past. And uhhh I apologize in advance as this post got a little messy - just throwing out random ideas, do not feel the need to respond to all this junk.
While not the best card, if you end up with infinite colorless in lots of ways, Gemstone array can be a silver bullet out of that. Bog initiate and initiates of the ebon hand work for black. Cloud of faeries can fix any color a little, and ramps if you have lands that t for 2. Similar to helm of awakening, Sapphire medallion or NIghtscape familiar are getting a little fringe but could offer 'ramp' for the combo turn. Back on point, I think Cabal Ritual is fantastic.
I have used quicken in a more casual storm deck for a while, which prompted me to add a leyline of anticipation recently. The results have been fantastic, and lets you play a much more responsive game... the latter might be worth thinking about here.
What stops this deck? Rule of Law type cards, 3sphere type cards and possibly gy hate? I don't think I am missing much except the obvious faster combos / countered to death. At least in my meta I feal I have need to fight through those things (even if "fight" just means bounce spells at the start of my combo turn). The snap you apparently cut was my favorite card to do this with... damn i hate looking at yawg win in my hand with Rest in Peace on the board. (And if you dont need anything off the board, snap your cheap rocks for mega ramp.. I urge you to reconsider this one.)
re Jesters cap: either include 4 win cons or stifle and trickbind? stifle also stops relic of progenitus and tormods crypt. (tormods crypt/ nihil spellbomb might be good in your deck for you to fight other combos with and are also not completely crap on your storm turn?) Temporal fissure could act as another tidespout style of kill card if you need more density of win cards.
Anyways, all in all, your list looks like a blast, thanks for sharing!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current edh decks
Gitrog Lands
Merieke Ri Berit Flicker
Ramos, Dragon Engine Storm
Another alternative to Gemstone Array/Bog Initiate is Candelabra of Tawnos (assuming money isn't an issue). I suggest this mainly because you already run Rings of Brighthearth and if you add Magosi, the Waterveil you end up with yet another backup combo. I think it's an incredibly underrated trick that doesn't limit the right deck in any way.
Looks pretty good google Bryant's broken pile of cards in the comments near the end is a similar list good resource if you have not already used it. Just looking over the list is probly add remand over something and candelabra if you can afford it. Fact or fiction seems slow that's 1 cut.
I looked at the first few pages of Bryant's list when I was considering straight UB storm... guess I should have followed through to the end. Lot of good stuff there, will probably update the OP with some changes once I've digested it all. I think FOF is alright, perhaps a little slow except when I have explosive hands and can FOF turn 2... but t2 zur is almost always the better play. Might swap it out for impulse for cheaper dig.
What stops this deck? Rule of Law type cards, 3sphere type cards and possibly gy hate? I don't think I am missing much except the obvious faster combos / countered to death. At least in my meta I feal I have need to fight through those things (even if "fight" just means bounce spells at the start of my combo turn). The snap you apparently cut was my favorite card to do this with... damn i hate looking at yawg win in my hand with Rest in Peace on the board. (And if you dont need anything off the board, snap your cheap rocks for mega ramp.. I urge you to reconsider this one.)
Unfortunately, snap only targets creatures. It's useful if there is a Teeg or Thalia on the board, and it's nice to reuase Snapcaster, but honestly hatebears of that nature come up so infrequently that it seemed like a wasted slot. Chain of Vapor does what you're describing much better - you can sac a bunch of lands to replay free artifacts, then finish the chain by bouncing a problematic permanent.
I'll have to think about Candelabra. The thing is, Oona often runs it because the win condition is more color heavy than it is here (UUUUUU to cast oona then mill a 4-man pod). So candelabra makes more sense in that sort of build. The Magosi combo is actually pretty sweet, and I like that it's relatively difficult to interact with. CIPT lands are really, really bad for this deck, although the fact that it makes blue is somewhat redeeming. It's a tough call. If candel went in magosi is a shoe-in, but candel might be redundant. Will need to test it.
Also thinking of going back down to 30 lands and adding Land Tax, which made an appearance in several of the decks in Bryant's thread. If tax goes in, Scroll Rack becomes even better than it normally is, possibly to the point that it merits inclusion. These sort of changes have the potential to slow down the deck but also make it more consistent. I'm getting a bit of a glass cannon feeling in testing.
Unfortunately, snap only targets creatures. It's useful if there is a Teeg or Thalia on the board, and it's nice to reuase Snapcaster, but honestly hatebears of that nature come up so infrequently that it seemed like a wasted slot. Chain of Vapor does what you're describing much better - you can sac a bunch of lands to replay free artifacts, then finish the chain by bouncing a problematic permanent.
Doh, excuse my poor posting there. I can remember echoing truth and chaining my rocks.. but somehow I apparently forgot what my snap did. One of my roomates plays teeg, another friend is sure to include plenty of hate bears, so somehow I confused my bounces.
I think I should go reread Bryants thread too. Keep us updated on deck changes and how it does.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current edh decks
Gitrog Lands
Merieke Ri Berit Flicker
Ramos, Dragon Engine Storm
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
An obvious choice for the third deck would be Hermit Druid. However, I don't like Hermit Druid's linear, hyperfocused playstyle, and I also can't afford the deck. I also think that many people who haven't played against it overvalue its resiliency. It's resilient, but against a prepared 4-man pod it's not as easy as it sounds. I've tried Sharuum, voltron lock-out Zur, Oona, BUG hermit druid, and Arcum. They're all good decks, but none of them really clicked with me, and several felt too fragile to actually work at a real table. As I scoured decklists and "degenerate generals" threads, a common theme that cropped up along with Hermit Druid was Ad Nauseam. That perked my interest. I play TES in legacy, so drawing 20 cards turn 2 and storming out before a single creature gets cast holds a special place in my heart. There wasn't a whole lot of consensus on what Ad Nauseam combo in EDH means, though. Is it this? That deck is fast, but even more disruptable than Hermit Druid. The fact that the author sat down at a few casual tables and won proves nothing. Is it this? Kuma's Oona list seems like a much better proposition than the cutesy monoblack list - more backup plans, a better color combo... but is it optimal?
What I really wanted with a third color, specifically white. Why splash white, when all the tutors and combos are in UB and Oona is a free infinite outlet? The extra tutors (enlightened) are nice, as is the superior protection (silence, grand abolisher). The real draw, however, is the general choice. Zur enables the deck. He tutors necropotence, which then draws 20 cards. For a long time, I didn't understand how necropotence works. I would throw it in a deck and use it to stay at 7 cards, losing 3 or 4 life at a time. Kind like a super Phyrexian Arena. That was wrong. Necropotence is a one-shot wonder. Draw 20, win next turn. That's what it does in Zur. Draw 20, find an infinite mana combo, combine it with an infinite draw combo, draw your deck, then generate infinite storm with Tidespout Tyrant and kill the table with Tendrils of Agony.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here is the deck. It's not your average Zur build. In fact, there are only 4 Zur targets. This is a U/B storm deck splashing white. Zur is highly useful and worth splashing for, but he is unnecessary to win and often serves only as a distraction. It was modeled off this, which I thought was an excellent starting point. The problem with the deck in the link, in my opinion, is that he fell prey to pet cards. The "all blue mana" theme wasn't optimal, and I didn't like the Charbelcher backup plan. I also didn't think he had enough protection, either for Zur or his combos. Finally, there were a few cards that really didn't seem necessary (Rushing River) along with a few glaring omissions (Rings and Staff of Domination, Transmute Artifact).
Deck by Function
1 Zur the Enchanter
1 Magus of the Future
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Recurring Insight
1 Time Spiral
1 Windfall
1 Future Sight
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Brainstorm
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Frantic Search
1 Staff of Domination
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Memory Jar
1 Swan Song
1 Snap
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Mind Twist
1 Force of Will
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Pact of Negation
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Silence
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Trinket Mage
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Fabricate
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Personal Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Mind's Desire
1 Mind Over Matter
1 Power Artifact
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Tendrils of Agony
Utility/Recursion
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Grim Monolith
1 Helm of Awakening
1 Azorius Signet
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Chrome Mox
1 Cloud Key
1 Dimir Signet
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Sol Ring
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Mox Opal
1 High Tide
1 Dark Ritual
1 Turnabout
1 Swamp
1 Plains
7 Island
1 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Mystic Gate
1 Fetid Heath
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Scrubland
1 Seat of the Synod
Deck by type
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Magus of the Future
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Tidespout Tyrant
1 Trinket Mage
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Dark Ritual
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Force of Will
1 Frantic Search
1 High Tide
1 Swan Song
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Pact of Negation
1 Snap
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Turnabout
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Silence
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Fabricate
1 Personal Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mind's Desire
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Recurring Insight
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Time Spiral
1 Windfall
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Future Sight
1 Mind Over Matter
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Power Artifact
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Azorius Signet
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Chrome Mox
1 Cloud Key
1 Dimir Signet
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Staff of Domination
1 Grim Monolith
1 Helm of Awakening
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
1 Mox Diamond
1 Pithing Needle
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Mox Opal
1 Swamp
1 Plains
7 Island
1 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Mystic Gate
1 Fetid Heath
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Scrubland
1 Seat of the Synod
Combos
There's nothing really new here. Step one is usually draw a lot of cards, either through Zur->Necro, Ad Nauseam, Recurring Insight, etc in order to find:
Power Artifact (can also be tutored by Zur) + Grim Monolith/Basalt Monolith
or
Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith
or
Tidespout Tyrant + two artifacts that net mana
then find
Stroke of Genius
or
Staff of Domination
or
Future Sight / Magus of the Future + Sensei's Divining Top
or
Rings of Brighthearth + Sensei's Divining Top
to draw your deck and kill them using
Tendrils of Agony
If Tendrils has been exiled somehow, you might also play Staff of Domination, then stroke one person, then Time Spiral, redraw your deck with Staff, stroke someone else, then snapcast-stroke the third opponent.
It's possible that another win-con would be useful here, such as Phyrexian Metamorph to make another tidespout and bounce all other permanents, or even just exsanguinate.
The above sequence isn't the only way to win. We also have:
Cloud Key / Helm of Awakening + Top + Magus / Future Sight
Draw your deck, storm count around 80, play out free artifacts then Tendrils for lethal.
Other random cards:
Solitary Confinement - makes you untouchable with necropotence. Second Zur target unless you can fetch Power Artifact and win. Gets around targetted Hermit Druid, Oona, Sharuum, all decks that use the combat step... not bad.
Mind over Matter - sometimes I find myself with infinite mana, infinite draw, and no colored mana. In this situation, I can cast Gilded Lotus, tap it to play MOM, then just discard lands to get as much colored mana as I want. Also works very well after an ad nauseam or during the end step after necropotence draws a bunch. For instance if the 20 you drew isn't going to win the game, you could pitch 13 to untap everything then hold on to a fact or fiction to draw more. Lastly, you can use it in conjunction with Top as a one-sided Windfall - pitch your hand to put that many untap triggers on top, then draw that many cards.
Mind's Desire - this can be used unfairly, such as halfway through a future-top combo, or fairly, after, for example, laying out a bunch of mana rocks into a time spiral. Once storm count reaches about 5, you begin to hit either combo pieces or more draw, which can quickly turn what looked like a value play into a game-ending one.
Mind Twist - this is probably self-explanatory. The deck ramps very quickly, but it's not always safe to go off against a MUC player with a grip of cards. Mind Twist baits out of a counter at worst, and knocks a player out of the game at best.
Sample Hand
Talisman of Progress, Seat of the Synod, Talisman of Dominance, Misty Rainforest, Dark Ritual, Swamp, Snap.
Lots of fast mana, looks like an early zur into necropotence is the way to go.
Keep, draw Necropotence. Well, that changes things. We could go for turn 1 necro here, but that's almost certainly a mistake. Instead, swamp, dark rit, talisman tapped, talisman. Turn 2, draw Underground Sea. Play it, taking 1 off talisman to play necropotence. Lose 20, draw 20. Lose one to brainstorm EOT before discarding. Keep: Transmute Artifact, Tidespout Tyrant, Chrome Mox, Ancient Tomb, Staff of Domination, Helm of Awakening. Turn 3, play Ancient Tomb, tap it for Helm of Awakening. Tap other two lands for frantic search, find basalt and a land, pitch land chrome mox. Play basalt, look dejected because the turn 3 win didn't pan out. Draw some cards. Turn 4 untap, transmute into rings, play staff and get infinite life, draw your deck, proceed to win.
Where to go from here
My primary concern right now is the lack of true win-cons. This deck is highly susceptible to Jester's Cap and doesn't really have a backup plan. I kind of want to fit in Helm-Leyline as an easily tutorable win-con that doesn't require infinite (note that if I am infinite but Tendrils/Stroke got capped I can still mill the table in one turn with MOM). Another option is Phyrexian Metamorph, for the Tidespout combo described earlier.
I also think it might be possible to cut High Tide and Turnabout. They were in the deck I modeled this one after, but in a deck with 30 lands that wants to win with 3-4 of them in play, I question their usefulness. If I cut High Tide I could further tweak the manabase in order to run Tainted Pact. On the other hand, the deck is extremely blue-hungry, so it's possible that making these changes would be a mistake.
It's possible that Lotus Bloom needs to be in here, too. There have been a few games that Transmute into Bloom could have gotten me that one extra blue needed for Power Artifact into Stroke.
Any thoughts on inclusions or cuts?
Edit:
-Snap
-Hall of the Bandit Lord
-Phyrexian Arena
-Plains
+Island
+Verdant Catacombs
+Lim-Dul's Vault
+Phyrexian Metamorph
I wanted one more land. The basic plains was unnecesary, so I added an off-color fetch. I don't want to add the full contingent of off-colored fetches yet because I want the basic island counter high. Arena was way too slow, and Hall of the Bandit Lord's lack of colored mana and CIPT clause was too back-breaking in this sort of deck. Added another tutor and metamorph as both ramp and a win-con.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
While not the best card, if you end up with infinite colorless in lots of ways, Gemstone array can be a silver bullet out of that. Bog initiate and initiates of the ebon hand work for black. Cloud of faeries can fix any color a little, and ramps if you have lands that t for 2. Similar to helm of awakening, Sapphire medallion or NIghtscape familiar are getting a little fringe but could offer 'ramp' for the combo turn. Back on point, I think Cabal Ritual is fantastic.
Draw spells I think worth thinking about include meditate, and possibly strategic planning. While you tried Phyrexian arena, you never tried Dark Confidant?
I have used quicken in a more casual storm deck for a while, which prompted me to add a leyline of anticipation recently. The results have been fantastic, and lets you play a much more responsive game... the latter might be worth thinking about here.
What stops this deck? Rule of Law type cards, 3sphere type cards and possibly gy hate? I don't think I am missing much except the obvious faster combos / countered to death. At least in my meta I feal I have need to fight through those things (even if "fight" just means bounce spells at the start of my combo turn). The snap you apparently cut was my favorite card to do this with... damn i hate looking at yawg win in my hand with Rest in Peace on the board. (And if you dont need anything off the board, snap your cheap rocks for mega ramp.. I urge you to reconsider this one.)
re Jesters cap: either include 4 win cons or stifle and trickbind? stifle also stops relic of progenitus and tormods crypt. (tormods crypt/ nihil spellbomb might be good in your deck for you to fight other combos with and are also not completely crap on your storm turn?) Temporal fissure could act as another tidespout style of kill card if you need more density of win cards.
Anyways, all in all, your list looks like a blast, thanks for sharing!
Gitrog Lands
Merieke Ri Berit Flicker
Ramos, Dragon Engine Storm
I looked at the first few pages of Bryant's list when I was considering straight UB storm... guess I should have followed through to the end. Lot of good stuff there, will probably update the OP with some changes once I've digested it all. I think FOF is alright, perhaps a little slow except when I have explosive hands and can FOF turn 2... but t2 zur is almost always the better play. Might swap it out for impulse for cheaper dig.
Unfortunately, snap only targets creatures. It's useful if there is a Teeg or Thalia on the board, and it's nice to reuase Snapcaster, but honestly hatebears of that nature come up so infrequently that it seemed like a wasted slot. Chain of Vapor does what you're describing much better - you can sac a bunch of lands to replay free artifacts, then finish the chain by bouncing a problematic permanent.
I'll have to think about Candelabra. The thing is, Oona often runs it because the win condition is more color heavy than it is here (UUUUUU to cast oona then mill a 4-man pod). So candelabra makes more sense in that sort of build. The Magosi combo is actually pretty sweet, and I like that it's relatively difficult to interact with. CIPT lands are really, really bad for this deck, although the fact that it makes blue is somewhat redeeming. It's a tough call. If candel went in magosi is a shoe-in, but candel might be redundant. Will need to test it.
Also thinking of going back down to 30 lands and adding Land Tax, which made an appearance in several of the decks in Bryant's thread. If tax goes in, Scroll Rack becomes even better than it normally is, possibly to the point that it merits inclusion. These sort of changes have the potential to slow down the deck but also make it more consistent. I'm getting a bit of a glass cannon feeling in testing.
Doh, excuse my poor posting there. I can remember echoing truth and chaining my rocks.. but somehow I apparently forgot what my snap did. One of my roomates plays teeg, another friend is sure to include plenty of hate bears, so somehow I confused my bounces.
I think I should go reread Bryants thread too. Keep us updated on deck changes and how it does.
Gitrog Lands
Merieke Ri Berit Flicker
Ramos, Dragon Engine Storm