This deck used to be goofy and idiosyncratic (I cast a copied death by dragons with pandemonium in play, or try to beat down with an early devastating summons) but it finally got pushed fully into combo, albeit idiosyncratic combo.
The combo itself has made this a fairly unique melek deck, in that it is now basically a purphoros, god of the forge deck playing with the commander tucked and blue in to help dig for him. So we see the empty the warrens, the mogg infestation, and the tempt with vengeance we'd expect, but with the amazing addition of notorious throng. Copying these spells is insane and will generally result in dealing 300+ damage to everyone else at the table.
Here's the deck list, I'll talk about card choices after, and go into more detail on dealing 1,000+ damage with purphoros triggers.
I play this deck mostly at FNM. At the LGS which hosts this FNM the turnout is unpredictable and sometimes low. Often, rather than having 4 person pods, we will play multiple games at one 7 person table. This combined with the heavy presence of aggro and voltron at the table makes a near creatureless melek a difficult choice. Often I will side in polymorphist's jest and propaganda for pyroblast and mystic speculation.
This is also why I have maindecked reins of power, aetherize, and aetherspouts, as well as so much targeted removal. There're creatures out there, and they're hungry for melek's combo blood.
Play:
At this point the deck basically functions like a storm deck though it actually has only one storm card (empty the warrens), and it isn't a strict wincon. Ideally you abuse a copied mystical tutor to then copy high tide and turnabout. If you have enough library manipulation on the field, in the yard, or in your hand, you can hopefully just dig through your library with all your floating mana until you can get purphoros, god of the forge or impact tremors out and kill the table with mogg infestation or notorious throng.
I really like your take on a Token based Melek deck
Looking at your decklist, and your concerns, here's what I'd recommend:
-1 Elemental Appeal: The casting cost is rough, and I just think it's overall not a very good card.
-1 Molten Birth: I know there's a chance you can keep using it and making Elemental and Drake tokens, but it's way too slow.
-1 High Tide/Desperate Ritual/Pyretic Ritual/Seething Song: My Melek deck is a Storm deck too (more so as that's the only way it wins) and it doesn't need these effects, I don't think you do either. Over these cards, I'd very much recommend adding Mana Geyser and Treasonous Ogre as they just do more. The best one is High Tide, but I don't think you're running enough Islands for it.
-1 Foresee: You have better, cheaper, draw spells available.
-1 Peek
-1 Treasure Hunt: I doubt it will draw you that many cards.
-1 Stone Idol Trap: Just doesn't do enough.
-1 Jilt
-1 Druidic Satchel: You're right, it is too durdly.
-1 Paradise Plume: Not a very great mana rock. I'm guessing you're running it cause of the lifegain as your worried about aggro decks? Underneath I list cards that deal with aggro better than this.
-1 Sisay's Ring: Better rocks out there, some are suggested below.
-1 Mercadian Bazaar: I think its a bad card.
-1 Sandstone Needle: "
-1 Grixis Panorama: I don't think its needed.
+3 Lands: Yeah, you're running 33 lands, I'd recommend at least 36. (Desolate Lighthouse could be one of these if you wanted, clears the top of your library at the very least)
+1 Sensei's Divining Top: Needs to be in here. Other such cards to consider include Soothsaying and Future Sight.
+1 Mystical Tutor: Needs to go in. Any spell from your deck, on top of your library, to be cast and copied, at instant speed. Consider Long-Term Plans plans too, which acts as a Demonic Tutor in this deck with cards like Scroll Rack and Brainstorm.
+1 Treasonous Ogre: Should be great in the deck, better than the current ritual effects. As explained above.
+1 Mana Geyser: It just does more in EDH compared to other rituals you're running. As explained above. (You could also consider Mana Flare but I'm not sure if it'll be effective in here, as you don't win in 1 singular turn, but over the period of a few turns.)
+1 Propaganda: Should be good against the aggro decks that are causing you problems.
+1 Meekstone: "
+1 Crawlspace: "
+1 Chromatic Lantern/Coalition Relic: Better than the rocks you're currently running.
+1 Frantic Search: To answer your question, yes, it really is that good. If its on top of your library with Melek out, you draw 2, discard 2, untap 3 lands, then do that again, and end up with 3 more mana floating than you started out with. These cards are insane in Melek.
+1 Time Spiral: Just like Frantic Search, this is great for the same reasons. Just a bigger effect.
+1 Arcane Melee: Not only does it make it easier for you to storm out, but your token creating spells become much more effective. You may also want to consider Goblin Electromancer, Helm of Awakening and Sapphire Medallion (although you may not need them all as this isn't a dedicated Storm deck).
+1 Chaos Warp: Answers any permanent at all.
+1 Past in Flames: Before you consider Recoup, consider this. Very good card.
+1 Epic Experiment: One of my favorite spells to cast in Melek, only gets better with library manipulation.
+1 Vedalken Orrery/Leyline of Anticipation: Instant speed is good, especially casting Melek EOT instead of hoping he survives an entire turn cycle.
+1 Pact of Negation
+1 Time Warp (and other Time Walk effects): Probably good in here. Copied with Melek on top, getting to attack with creatures twice.
+1 Runechanter's Pike: Can probably do some serious damage with this.
+1 Mirari: Might be good in here, or might be too slow, worth trying out or considering at least.
+1 Siege-Gang Commander: If you wanted, you could consider creature based token creators too.
+1 Goblin Offensive: Seems good in here.
+1 Coastal Piracy/Bident of Thassa: Great card draw in a blue based token deck imo.
+1 In the Web of War/Ogre Battledriver: Good with tokens, haste and a pump, also, you can stack this with Pandemonium and Warstorm Surge so they take +2 damage.
+1 Mana Echoes: In a token based Melek deck, this might actually be good? Worth trying out imo. (Especially with Young Pyromancer and Talrand, Sky Summoner)
+1 Opposition: Excellent for a blue based token deck. Great tempo card imo.
+1 Tempt with Vengeance: SO GOOD with Purphoros, God of the Forge et al!
And...+1 Skullclamp: C'mon man! It's the first card I think of when I think tokens lol.
Other cards in your list I'm not sure about:
-1 Proteus Staff: You only have 3 creature cards in your deck, which is good - it's the three key cards you want to find. But I'm not sure how fast you're able to make a token, have this in play, and sacrifice it, for a card that won't win you the game right away, but instead just begin to do some damage or start creating tokens, you know? If it's been working out good for you then continue to use it, but if it's been lackluster, you can try another card in it's place.
-1 Devastating Summons: It's a risky spell, you sac the lands as an additional cost and if someone counters it you're pretty screwed. I know it's pretty good with Pandemonium and Warstorm Surge, but yeah.
-1 Flurry of Horns: Might be too slow.
-1 Soldevi Excavations: I like this card, I just don't know if its good.
From your Maybeboard, I also don't recommend adding Pact of the Titan. Could add Rapid Hybridization if you feel you need more removal. As for Day of the Dragons - I'm not too sure, might be good, might be win-more. If you're having problems protecting your threats, then yeah, you need to consider more coutnerspells, or something like Eldrazi Monument?
Also, btw, you could even add green and use Riku of Two Reflections as your general to copy spells, this way you'd have access to Doubling Season, Parallel Lives and green token producers (such as...Hunting Pack!). But yeah, it won't be as unique as this deck, and it would be quite a different deck too. Just thought I'd throw it out there though! (I might actually try that idea out lol)
That's all I can think of right now.. Hope that helps If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
I'm pretty much going to second Toonamiguy's suggestions. Especially, that you choose a different commander specifically Riku of Two Reflections because I can't get over the fact that Izzet is missing some of the best token support cards that are found in WG. In an eternal format, if you're playing tokens outside of those colors, you're going to be fighting with one hand behind your back. Not that it can't be a strong deck or fun to play but I don't think it will ever be a contender against decks that really know how to utilize their color's strengths. Not only will adding green help with your token plan, but it will grant you access to land ramp which is incredibly powerful.
Yes, Frantic Search is really that good, and I'd swap it for Foresee at least. But Faithless Looting is on the same level of power and I think you need both. Impulse is also very good.
You'll want to swap these cards in for some of the weaker instant and sorceries in your list. This will help give the deck some flexibility and consistency. But, you'll have to figure out some ways to dump things into your graveyard without losing too much card advantage. Faithless Looting, Frantic Search, Careful Study, Intuition, Windfall, and Wheel of Fortune are all great ways to do this.
One of the main benefits of this little library/hand/graveyard manipulating package is that is helps you gain access to the cards you need at any point in the game. Early game you are going to want land, draw, and ramp. Late game you need those high cmc bombs, or removal that you may have discarded early. Wheel of Fortune, for only 2R, gives you access to 14 cards from your library.
Sensei's Diving Top and Counterbalance seem almost mandatory in this type of deck. For the low cost of 1 mana, you can counter most threats. You don't even need to slap on weird casting costs, just be able to say "no" to 3-5 cmc is well worth it.
Dream Halls is legal in Commander. I'm not sure on the legality of Melek's Top of Library Zone but even if the Halls don't influence that, it's still amazing.
So yes, you can Dream Halls Melek's Top of Library Zone but what is also interesting is that Ancestral Vision may be used with Dream Halls. Unfortunately, you would not be able to pay the Suspend cost On Top of the Library, but if you had Dream Halls out you could.
I don't think you need to add green, like, it would make the deck a lot more consistent and increase its power level, but if you want to stay true to the theme and play something unique, you can probably make it work. It'll just require a lot of testing and tuning. Here's another take on a Izzet Token deck that I thought you should look at, although it focuses on Krenko, Mob Boss/Goblin Tribal, pretty cool list imo: @KissMyAssassin's Niv-Mizzet deck.
Counterbalance could be a good addition, but I don't think its mandatory, it does depend on your meta though. Have a look at your list and your curve and match it to your meta's, and see if it would do some damage. I'd recommend trying it out if you get a chance, but wouldn't say its a necessity. And Dream Halls can be an excellent card, but probably in a more explosive Melek deck (I play it in my dedicated Storm deck), in a token deck such as this, it might not be as good as you may take several turns to build up a token army (and in doing so let your opponents take advantage of Dream Halls, even letting them win the game with it). Although, if you end up adding some wheels and Time Warp effects, it gets significantly better in a list like this.
Thanks alot, these seem like really good suggestions. I'll test what I can with what I have on hand and track down the rest soon.
Yeah I recognize that green would open up the best token spells, but it would be too predictable. I've seen that kind of deck many times and the wins all look the same. Treasonous Ogre grabbed my attention too, so I grabbed it at the conspiracy draft. But it seems way risky to me, about on the level of Devastating Summons, because if i spend 21 life for 7 mana and it gets countered it's pretty much game over.
One note on that topic, the rituals went in without a thought towards building storm count, but rather on the notion that they let me replace lands with instants, decreasing the chance of dead topdecks for Melek. So taking them out will definitely necessitate fixing my mana base.
I'll let you know how playing with some faster dig spells goes, and what comes of the more interesting suggestions (likecounterbalance and crawlspace).
Off come the sleeves...
I marked the cards I replaced so I could think about the different impact as I played.
-Three rounds v. mediocre derevi-
Druidic Satchel out for Codex Shredder Never drawn. I think it's good acceleration/recursion in mid-late game. Satchel is 'okay' early. Devastating Summons out for Recoup Drawn two games. So much more value. No loss in theme as it usually targets a token spell. Molten Birth out for Tempt with Vengeance Drawn two games. A no brainer. Thanks Toonamiguy I can't believe I missed this. Elemental Appeal out for Past in Flames Drawn once. After spending 3R I don't have much mana left early game where I need to improve. Without rituals or Turnabout in the graveyard I don't see how this is good before turn nine or something... I'd prefer a one turn trampler. Seething Song out for Mountain Drawn once. Around for four turns for 4 mana. I'm on the fence with this. Pyretic Ritual out for Island Never drawn. Desperate Ritual out for Desolate Lighthouse Never drawn, but I remember why i took the lighthouse out. After essentially spending 2UR I don't really expect to be able to make a big play... so what's the use? High Tide out for Mystical Tutor Drawn once. Though the Tide has always made big plays for me, this tutor is obvious in here. Felt like I didn't have that many good targets left though. Foresee out for Frantic Search Drawn once. Okay, I get it. Sisay's Ring out for Chromatic Lantern Drawn once. Great filtration. Okay. Peek out for Treasonous Ogre Never drawn. Anyone played with him yet? Treasure Hunt out for Mana Geyser Never drawn. I think it's too slow.
Erm, your swap report is kind of confusing because I'm not sure what card you're talking about in some cases...
Temporal Mastery is usually a go-to target for my Mystical Tutor. Other than that you are either going to be getting removal or those game ending spells.
Things still on the fence: Elemental Appeal Is indeed kinda iffy, but gets damage through like little else. This is candidate #1 to replace with Mystical Tutor or another Island, Sisay's Ring is coming out, but I just haven't figured out if Chromatic Lantern is worth it yet, Mercadian Bazaar may take three turns to produce one mana, but it builds up the bulk R required for the game winning turn, Desperate Ritual and ilk are still iffy, but I really find they do great work fueling the explosive turns I need to get stablized or win, Flurry of Horns is pretty slow, true, and haste doesn't do much because I'm most likely to use them to block, though that 3 toughness definitely does good work. Frankly I can't take out more token spells without getting totally run over by aggro. Desolate Lighthouse I get this card, could be a savior early to fix a bad hand, but I have Never used it's ability because there's so much other cheaper deck manipulation in this list, maybe it should be an island, Grixis Panorama is onesuch great one use deck shuffle and mana fixer I'm keeping it, Paradise Plume doesn't do a whole lot to accelerate, it's true, but in most big games where I can choose "Blue" it ends up either eating a Krosan Grip that could have targeted my Scroll Rack or amassing me tons of life, Jilt isn't great, true, though it does help slow down aggro by bouncing threats and killing mana-dorks, whats a better sorc or inst for this? Proteus Staff is at worst a commander tuck, and at best a Purphoros, God of the Forge tutor, so very worth it, it stays.
Okay, thanks for all of your suggestions, I'm finding them very helpful. The deck does better against fast beat face decks now, but still loses most games against a good one. I can't see implementing all those artifact and enchantment based defense strategies because they slow the deck down so much, by clogging up melek's topdeck, by replacing token spells, by requiring more mana. I know I still need a Sensei's Divining Top and I'm just delaying cuz it's so expensive. As for Skullclamp I really don't think I can afford to sacrifice any blockers, even for card draw. If you played a game with this you'd see, when I have tokens to spare it means I'm already winning.
Rowan, those combo's are very interesting, but I'm gonna hold off on them for now because I'm skeptical of all the permanents they require and of how little they interact with the rest of the deck. I mean kiki + pestermite + Pandemonium, works, but kiki alone or pestermite alone have almost nothing to work with.
Rowan and toonamiguy helped out a great deal with this deck and I've tuned it using their advice. I'm still a short of where i want to be with it though. Where do I find room for sensei's divining top, chaos warp , and fellwar stone?
The difference in mana cost between the enchantments combined with my deck mostly making 1/1's now anyway made this a tough but necessary swap. Losing Warstorm Surge's ability to target creatures too is mostly made up for by impact tremors hitting all opponents.
Once warstorm surge was out, hellion eruption had much less power, since the vanilla 4/4's I would be making would never be dealing more than 2 damage each on etb. This was enough to push hellion eruption out, since the power of abusing its effect when copied was never quite as big as mogg infestation or notorious throng.
Other recently printed cards I'm looking at: clone legion - too much mana, but an amazing effect that goes nuclear when copied... if only there was a way to play it. descent of the dragons - super cool but suffers from a similar problem as hellion eruption. Actually this card synergizes less with melek, izzet paragon's top deck copy ability, as after the first spell goes off there will be a field of all new targets and the copy will fizzle. bummer. supplant form - What a neat instant! I dunno where it goes at 6 cmc though.
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Also a report from the last game I played.
Everything went well with the deck. I sat on a cyclonic rift until turn 7 and used it on the last opponent's end step before I cast treasonous ogre, and (using the ogre's life for mana ability) melek, izzet paragon. I had the ogre and two U open to protect my board with remand and arcane denial in hand. My opponents missed the immediate danger of me having access to that much red mana and melek, izzet paragon out though. They spent the turn cycle on replaying their artifact ramp and re-establishing their boards.
My next turn was a monstrosity of mystical tutor, turnabout, and mystic retrieval to recur mystical tutor and eventually get empty the warrens with a suitably high storm count. By that point I had durdled a while, played young pyromancer, and a few mana rocks too. I passed turn with something like 34 1/1s and mana open for the counters. I used both counters, and protected melek, izzet paragon through yet another turn cycle.
Amazed at getting enother turn with melek out, I basically replayed my last one. I pulled up mystical tutor and turnabout, and started cantripping through the deck. Eventually I found both purphoros, god of the forge and impact tremors and cast mogg infestation off the top of the library for 934 damage to each opponent. I grinned, wiped the sweat off my brow, and looked up from my huge hand, board, and graveyard to see my opponents look of disgust.
"Thats it, I quit magic, does anyone want my collection?"
"Solitaire is also its own card game you know?"
"Heh, I dont usually play decks that have to keep searching through their library for the one card that wins."
Ah... Ouch.
I didn't and still don't think this deck is very powerful, but I guess its not a ton of fun to play against anymore. Gone are the days of pandemonium and death by dragons goofiness. I don't want to nerf it, but im not sure I want to keep playing it... bummer.
I've been thinking about it, and right now my Melek, Izzet Paragon is stuck between levels of power. It can't quite keep up with the really strong decks at my LGS, but it's too durdley and abusive for the more laid-back players there.
So, I'll try to make it more powerful. For now, I'm just putting an infinite mana combo in. Other win cons and combos are the next step.
With 10 mana from lands or artifacts and turnabout I can get infinite mana and storm count. I can just use that mana to keep casting reiterate and get as many copies of any instant or sorcery i've access to. Obviously this brings up the question of whether or not train of thought and whispers of the muse should be in the deck. Looking past that though, I can mill opponents with reality shift which is already in the decklist (pulled this use of reality shift from the "Tasigrrrr - infinite recursion" decklist).
The combo itself has made this a fairly unique melek deck, in that it is now basically a purphoros, god of the forge deck playing with the commander tucked and blue in to help dig for him. So we see the empty the warrens, the mogg infestation, and the tempt with vengeance we'd expect, but with the amazing addition of notorious throng. Copying these spells is insane and will generally result in dealing 300+ damage to everyone else at the table.
Here's the deck list, I'll talk about card choices after, and go into more detail on dealing 1,000+ damage with purphoros triggers.
6 Melek, Izzet Paragon
tutor (5)
1 mystical tutor
1 Gamble
1 dizzy spell
2 merchant scroll
3 fabricate
Recursion (5)
2 recoup
3 call to mind
4 pull from the deep
4 mystic retrieval
4 past in flames
Token Spells(5)
1x tempt with vengeance
4 Notorious Throng
4 Empty the Warrens
4 Rite of Replication
5 Mogg Infestation
Workhorse (1)
4 Turnabout
Rituals(4)
1 high tide
3 seething song
4 treasonous ogre
5 mana geyser
card draw (11)
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Brainstorm
1 Serum Visions
1 faithless looting
1 Gitaxian Probe
3 Dream Cache
3 frantic search
4 deep analysis
5 gush
8 treasure cruise
1 pongify
2 snap
2 reality shift
2 into the roil
3 wipe away
3 chaos warp
mass removal (5)
2 cyclonic rift
4 aetherize
4 reins of power
5 aetherspouts
5 devastation tide
Counterspells (9)
1 swan song
1 pyroblast
2 Delay
2 Arcane Denial
2 Counterspell
2 Memory Lapse
2 Remand
2 muddle the mixture
5 misdirection
Token-Damage Conversion (2)
2 impact tremors
4 Purphoros, God of the Forge
deck manipulation (2)
1 mystic speculation
2 Scroll Rack
Mana Rocks (8)
1 sol ring
1 mana vault
2 sapphire medallion
2 izzet signet
2 fellwar stone
3 Darksteel Ingot
4 thran dynamo
5 gilded lotus
4 Mountain
17 island
1 Command Tower
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Madblind Mountain
1 Temple of the False God
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Steam Vents
1 Grixis Panorama
1 boseiju, who shelters all
1 polluted delta
1 shivan reef
1 Kher Keep
1 Halimar Depths
1 Soldevi Excavations
1 Temple of Epiphany
Out (24)
2x mountain
seat of the synod
talrand, sky summoner
young pyromancer
reiterate
disdainful stroke
burn away
hordeling outburst
dragon fodder
krenko's command
goblin rally
elemental appeal
call the skybreaker
talrand's invocation
thunderheads
curse of the swine
hour of need
turn//burn
crystal ball
chromatic lantern
evolving wilds
swiftwater cliffs
izzet guildgate
In (26)
5x island
polluted delta
aetherize
fellwar stone
sapphire medallion
boseiju, who shelters all
merchant scroll
swan song
mana vault
gush
aetherspouts
reins of power
past in flames
gilded lotus
deep analysis
treasure cruise
misdirection
shivan reef
dizzy spell
seething song
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Sideboard and Card Choices
1 voltaic key
2 helm of awakening
2 disdainful stroke
3 thunderheads
3 propaganda
3 polymorphist's jest
4 jace's sanctum
5 burn away
6 mind's desire
I play this deck mostly at FNM. At the LGS which hosts this FNM the turnout is unpredictable and sometimes low. Often, rather than having 4 person pods, we will play multiple games at one 7 person table. This combined with the heavy presence of aggro and voltron at the table makes a near creatureless melek a difficult choice. Often I will side in polymorphist's jest and propaganda for pyroblast and mystic speculation.
This is also why I have maindecked reins of power, aetherize, and aetherspouts, as well as so much targeted removal. There're creatures out there, and they're hungry for melek's combo blood.
Considerations and Want list
ertai's meddling
evacuation
long-term plans
time spiral
sensei's divining top
chrome mox
mox diamond
Play:
At this point the deck basically functions like a storm deck though it actually has only one storm card (empty the warrens), and it isn't a strict wincon. Ideally you abuse a copied mystical tutor to then copy high tide and turnabout. If you have enough library manipulation on the field, in the yard, or in your hand, you can hopefully just dig through your library with all your floating mana until you can get purphoros, god of the forge or impact tremors out and kill the table with mogg infestation or notorious throng.
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Looking at your decklist, and your concerns, here's what I'd recommend:
-1 Elemental Appeal: The casting cost is rough, and I just think it's overall not a very good card.
-1 Molten Birth: I know there's a chance you can keep using it and making Elemental and Drake tokens, but it's way too slow.
-1 High Tide/Desperate Ritual/Pyretic Ritual/Seething Song: My Melek deck is a Storm deck too (more so as that's the only way it wins) and it doesn't need these effects, I don't think you do either. Over these cards, I'd very much recommend adding Mana Geyser and Treasonous Ogre as they just do more. The best one is High Tide, but I don't think you're running enough Islands for it.
-1 Foresee: You have better, cheaper, draw spells available.
-1 Peek
-1 Treasure Hunt: I doubt it will draw you that many cards.
-1 Stone Idol Trap: Just doesn't do enough.
-1 Jilt
-1 Druidic Satchel: You're right, it is too durdly.
-1 Paradise Plume: Not a very great mana rock. I'm guessing you're running it cause of the lifegain as your worried about aggro decks? Underneath I list cards that deal with aggro better than this.
-1 Sisay's Ring: Better rocks out there, some are suggested below.
-1 Mercadian Bazaar: I think its a bad card.
-1 Sandstone Needle: "
-1 Grixis Panorama: I don't think its needed.
+3 Lands: Yeah, you're running 33 lands, I'd recommend at least 36. (Desolate Lighthouse could be one of these if you wanted, clears the top of your library at the very least)
+1 Sensei's Divining Top: Needs to be in here. Other such cards to consider include Soothsaying and Future Sight.
+1 Mystical Tutor: Needs to go in. Any spell from your deck, on top of your library, to be cast and copied, at instant speed. Consider Long-Term Plans plans too, which acts as a Demonic Tutor in this deck with cards like Scroll Rack and Brainstorm.
+1 Treasonous Ogre: Should be great in the deck, better than the current ritual effects. As explained above.
+1 Mana Geyser: It just does more in EDH compared to other rituals you're running. As explained above. (You could also consider Mana Flare but I'm not sure if it'll be effective in here, as you don't win in 1 singular turn, but over the period of a few turns.)
+1 Propaganda: Should be good against the aggro decks that are causing you problems.
+1 Meekstone: "
+1 Crawlspace: "
+1 Chromatic Lantern/Coalition Relic: Better than the rocks you're currently running.
+1 Frantic Search: To answer your question, yes, it really is that good. If its on top of your library with Melek out, you draw 2, discard 2, untap 3 lands, then do that again, and end up with 3 more mana floating than you started out with. These cards are insane in Melek.
+1 Time Spiral: Just like Frantic Search, this is great for the same reasons. Just a bigger effect.
+1 Arcane Melee: Not only does it make it easier for you to storm out, but your token creating spells become much more effective. You may also want to consider Goblin Electromancer, Helm of Awakening and Sapphire Medallion (although you may not need them all as this isn't a dedicated Storm deck).
+1 Chaos Warp: Answers any permanent at all.
+1 Past in Flames: Before you consider Recoup, consider this. Very good card.
+1 Epic Experiment: One of my favorite spells to cast in Melek, only gets better with library manipulation.
+1 Vedalken Orrery/Leyline of Anticipation: Instant speed is good, especially casting Melek EOT instead of hoping he survives an entire turn cycle.
+1 Pact of Negation
+1 Time Warp (and other Time Walk effects): Probably good in here. Copied with Melek on top, getting to attack with creatures twice.
+1 Runechanter's Pike: Can probably do some serious damage with this.
+1 Mirari: Might be good in here, or might be too slow, worth trying out or considering at least.
+1 Siege-Gang Commander: If you wanted, you could consider creature based token creators too.
+1 Goblin Offensive: Seems good in here.
+1 Coastal Piracy/Bident of Thassa: Great card draw in a blue based token deck imo.
+1 In the Web of War/Ogre Battledriver: Good with tokens, haste and a pump, also, you can stack this with Pandemonium and Warstorm Surge so they take +2 damage.
+1 Mana Echoes: In a token based Melek deck, this might actually be good? Worth trying out imo. (Especially with Young Pyromancer and Talrand, Sky Summoner)
+1 Opposition: Excellent for a blue based token deck. Great tempo card imo.
+1 Tempt with Vengeance: SO GOOD with Purphoros, God of the Forge et al!
And...+1 Skullclamp: C'mon man! It's the first card I think of when I think tokens lol.
Other cards in your list I'm not sure about:
-1 Proteus Staff: You only have 3 creature cards in your deck, which is good - it's the three key cards you want to find. But I'm not sure how fast you're able to make a token, have this in play, and sacrifice it, for a card that won't win you the game right away, but instead just begin to do some damage or start creating tokens, you know? If it's been working out good for you then continue to use it, but if it's been lackluster, you can try another card in it's place.
-1 Devastating Summons: It's a risky spell, you sac the lands as an additional cost and if someone counters it you're pretty screwed. I know it's pretty good with Pandemonium and Warstorm Surge, but yeah.
-1 Flurry of Horns: Might be too slow.
-1 Soldevi Excavations: I like this card, I just don't know if its good.
From your Maybeboard, I also don't recommend adding Pact of the Titan. Could add Rapid Hybridization if you feel you need more removal. As for Day of the Dragons - I'm not too sure, might be good, might be win-more. If you're having problems protecting your threats, then yeah, you need to consider more coutnerspells, or something like Eldrazi Monument?
Also, btw, you could even add green and use Riku of Two Reflections as your general to copy spells, this way you'd have access to Doubling Season, Parallel Lives and green token producers (such as...Hunting Pack!). But yeah, it won't be as unique as this deck, and it would be quite a different deck too. Just thought I'd throw it out there though! (I might actually try that idea out lol)
That's all I can think of right now.. Hope that helps If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
Yes, Frantic Search is really that good, and I'd swap it for Foresee at least. But Faithless Looting is on the same level of power and I think you need both. Impulse is also very good.
Izzet really wants to see instant and sorcery spells in its graveyard. I would add in some things like Snapcaster Mage, Recoup, Call to Mind, Archaeomancer, and Past in Flames. A Traumatize or a slap in the face from Nicol Bolas won't seem so scary. However, you're going to have to watch out for graveyard hate.
You'll want to swap these cards in for some of the weaker instant and sorceries in your list. This will help give the deck some flexibility and consistency. But, you'll have to figure out some ways to dump things into your graveyard without losing too much card advantage. Faithless Looting, Frantic Search, Careful Study, Intuition, Windfall, and Wheel of Fortune are all great ways to do this.
One of the main benefits of this little library/hand/graveyard manipulating package is that is helps you gain access to the cards you need at any point in the game. Early game you are going to want land, draw, and ramp. Late game you need those high cmc bombs, or removal that you may have discarded early. Wheel of Fortune, for only 2R, gives you access to 14 cards from your library.
Alternatively, or possibly in conjunction with the graveyard recursion, you want to flesh out your topdeck control package. This will mean adding cards like Future Sight, Sensei's Divining Top, Library of Leng, Mystical Tutor, Personal Tutor, and/or Counterbalance
MY PRIMER ON NIV-MIZZET, THE FIREMIND, MY CUSTOM CARDS ON DEVIANTART
My other decks:
Kaalia of the Vast: Certified Air Raid Material
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher: NOM NOM NOM!
Aurelia, the Warleader: Warclamp
Dream Halls is legal in Commander. I'm not sure on the legality of Melek's Top of Library Zone but even if the Halls don't influence that, it's still amazing.
Edit:
I did a bit of reading here:
http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-15069.html
So yes, you can Dream Halls Melek's Top of Library Zone but what is also interesting is that Ancestral Vision may be used with Dream Halls. Unfortunately, you would not be able to pay the Suspend cost On Top of the Library, but if you had Dream Halls out you could.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Counterbalance could be a good addition, but I don't think its mandatory, it does depend on your meta though. Have a look at your list and your curve and match it to your meta's, and see if it would do some damage. I'd recommend trying it out if you get a chance, but wouldn't say its a necessity. And Dream Halls can be an excellent card, but probably in a more explosive Melek deck (I play it in my dedicated Storm deck), in a token deck such as this, it might not be as good as you may take several turns to build up a token army (and in doing so let your opponents take advantage of Dream Halls, even letting them win the game with it). Although, if you end up adding some wheels and Time Warp effects, it gets significantly better in a list like this.
Yeah I recognize that green would open up the best token spells, but it would be too predictable. I've seen that kind of deck many times and the wins all look the same.
Treasonous Ogre grabbed my attention too, so I grabbed it at the conspiracy draft. But it seems way risky to me, about on the level of Devastating Summons, because if i spend 21 life for 7 mana and it gets countered it's pretty much game over.
One note on that topic, the rituals went in without a thought towards building storm count, but rather on the notion that they let me replace lands with instants, decreasing the chance of dead topdecks for Melek. So taking them out will definitely necessitate fixing my mana base.
I'll let you know how playing with some faster dig spells goes, and what comes of the more interesting suggestions (likecounterbalance and crawlspace).
Off come the sleeves...
I marked the cards I replaced so I could think about the different impact as I played.
-Three rounds v. mediocre derevi-
Druidic Satchel out for Codex Shredder Never drawn. I think it's good acceleration/recursion in mid-late game. Satchel is 'okay' early.
Devastating Summons out for Recoup Drawn two games. So much more value. No loss in theme as it usually targets a token spell.
Molten Birth out for Tempt with Vengeance Drawn two games. A no brainer. Thanks Toonamiguy I can't believe I missed this.
Elemental Appeal out for Past in Flames Drawn once. After spending 3R I don't have much mana left early game where I need to improve. Without rituals or Turnabout in the graveyard I don't see how this is good before turn nine or something... I'd prefer a one turn trampler.
Seething Song out for Mountain Drawn once. Around for four turns for 4 mana. I'm on the fence with this.
Pyretic Ritual out for Island Never drawn.
Desperate Ritual out for Desolate Lighthouse Never drawn, but I remember why i took the lighthouse out. After essentially spending 2UR I don't really expect to be able to make a big play... so what's the use?
High Tide out for Mystical Tutor Drawn once. Though the Tide has always made big plays for me, this tutor is obvious in here. Felt like I didn't have that many good targets left though.
Foresee out for Frantic Search Drawn once. Okay, I get it.
Sisay's Ring out for Chromatic Lantern Drawn once. Great filtration. Okay.
Peek out for Treasonous Ogre Never drawn. Anyone played with him yet?
Treasure Hunt out for Mana Geyser Never drawn. I think it's too slow.
More later!
Temporal Mastery is usually a go-to target for my Mystical Tutor. Other than that you are either going to be getting removal or those game ending spells.
Codex Shredder - just get a Sensei's Divining Top. DO IT NAOW! O.o
Past in Flames - I would swap this for Call to Mind in your list since you've already got Mystic Retrieval and Recoup. Or maybe you can shell out for a Snapcaster Mage
Omniscience?
I'm thinking you need some more solid no nonsense win cons in this deck.
What would you think about an infinite token maker package?
1 Splinter Twin
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Pestermite
You could also easily do infinite turns
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Izzet Chronarch
1 Archaeomancer
1 Time Warp
1 Temporal Manipulation
MY PRIMER ON NIV-MIZZET, THE FIREMIND, MY CUSTOM CARDS ON DEVIANTART
My other decks:
Kaalia of the Vast: Certified Air Raid Material
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher: NOM NOM NOM!
Aurelia, the Warleader: Warclamp
6 Melek, Izzet Paragon
Token Generators(2)
2 Young Pyromancer
4 Talrand, sky summoner
Misc/Multi-purpose (2)
1 Quicken
4 Turnabout
Recursion(3)
4 Mystic Retrieval
2 Recoup
3 Call to Mind
Tutor(3)
3 Proteus Staff
3 Long-term Plans
1 Gamble
Token Spells(14)
4 Empty the Warrens
5 Goblin Rally
6 Death by Dragons
5 Mogg Infestation
5 Flurry of Horns
4 Elemenental Appeal
6 Stolen Identity
1x Tempt with Vengeance
7 Call the Skybreaker
4 Notorious Throng
2 Dragon Fodder
2 Krenko's Command
4 Talrand's Invocation
4 Rite of Replication
Rituals(4)
2 Pyretic Ritual
2 Desperate Ritual
3 Seething Song
1 High Tide
1 Ponder
3 Frantic Search
1 Faithless Looting
1 Preordain
1 Brainstorm
1 Serum Visions
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Mystic Speculation
3 Dream Cache
Removal and/or Instant Speed Tokens(11)
3 Thunderheads
2x Curse of the Swine
3 Hour of Need
1 Pongify
3 Wipe Away
2 Jilt
5 Turn//Burn
5 Devastation Tide
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Into the Roil
2 Snap
Counterspells (5)
2 Delay
2 Arcane Denial
2 Counterspell
2 Memory Lapse
2 Remand
Token-Damage Conversion (3)
4 Purphoros, God of the Forge
6 Warstorm Surge
4 Pandemonium
3 Crystal Ball
2 Scroll Rack
Mana Rocks (6)
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Paradise Plume
3 Darksteel Ingot
1 Sol Ring
4 Sisay's Ring
2 Izzet Signet
LAND (35)
5 Mountain
12 Island
1 Command Tower
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Mercadian Bazaar
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Madblind Mountain
1 Temple of the False God
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Steam Vents
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Kher Keep
1 Halimar Depths
1 Soldevi Excavations
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Desolate Lighthouse
Out: (10)
Dominate is too hard to use though I really miss it,
Devastating Summons is too all-in,
Molten Birth is too slow as Toonamiguy says,
Hellion Eruption might go back i'm not sure,
Peek is meh,
Foresee is indeed too expensive,
Treasure Hunt also meh,
Stone Idol Trap I like it but it's true it isn't worth it,
Druidic Satchel good riddance,
Sandstone Needle still think it could be good in a different deck.
In: (surprise, also 10)
Long-Term Plans gets me enchantments,
Frantic Search speeds the deck up,
Faithless Looting speeds it up,
Death by Dragons is about as risky as Hellion Eruption actually which it came in for, so I dunno...,
Tempt With Vengeance is fantastic,
Call to Mind makes the deck more consistent,
Recoup is welcome,
2 Islands yeah totally needed,
1 mountain Ultimately better than the needle.
Things still on the fence:
Elemental Appeal Is indeed kinda iffy, but gets damage through like little else. This is candidate #1 to replace with Mystical Tutor or another Island,
Sisay's Ring is coming out, but I just haven't figured out if Chromatic Lantern is worth it yet,
Mercadian Bazaar may take three turns to produce one mana, but it builds up the bulk R required for the game winning turn,
Desperate Ritual and ilk are still iffy, but I really find they do great work fueling the explosive turns I need to get stablized or win,
Flurry of Horns is pretty slow, true, and haste doesn't do much because I'm most likely to use them to block, though that 3 toughness definitely does good work. Frankly I can't take out more token spells without getting totally run over by aggro.
Desolate Lighthouse I get this card, could be a savior early to fix a bad hand, but I have Never used it's ability because there's so much other cheaper deck manipulation in this list, maybe it should be an island,
Grixis Panorama is onesuch great one use deck shuffle and mana fixer I'm keeping it,
Paradise Plume doesn't do a whole lot to accelerate, it's true, but in most big games where I can choose "Blue" it ends up either eating a Krosan Grip that could have targeted my Scroll Rack or amassing me tons of life,
Jilt isn't great, true, though it does help slow down aggro by bouncing threats and killing mana-dorks, whats a better sorc or inst for this?
Proteus Staff is at worst a commander tuck, and at best a Purphoros, God of the Forge tutor, so very worth it, it stays.
Okay, thanks for all of your suggestions, I'm finding them very helpful. The deck does better against fast beat face decks now, but still loses most games against a good one. I can't see implementing all those artifact and enchantment based defense strategies because they slow the deck down so much, by clogging up melek's topdeck, by replacing token spells, by requiring more mana. I know I still need a Sensei's Divining Top and I'm just delaying cuz it's so expensive. As for Skullclamp I really don't think I can afford to sacrifice any blockers, even for card draw. If you played a game with this you'd see, when I have tokens to spare it means I'm already winning.
Other cards I want in but haven't found space for: Time Spiral, Chaos Warp, Vandalblast or Pillage, maybe Grenzo's Rebuttal and Polymorphist's Jest seems key!
What comes out for these?
out
warstorm surge
hellion eruption
in
impact tremors
chaos warp
The difference in mana cost between the enchantments combined with my deck mostly making 1/1's now anyway made this a tough but necessary swap. Losing Warstorm Surge's ability to target creatures too is mostly made up for by impact tremors hitting all opponents.
Once warstorm surge was out, hellion eruption had much less power, since the vanilla 4/4's I would be making would never be dealing more than 2 damage each on etb. This was enough to push hellion eruption out, since the power of abusing its effect when copied was never quite as big as mogg infestation or notorious throng.
Other recently printed cards I'm looking at:
clone legion - too much mana, but an amazing effect that goes nuclear when copied... if only there was a way to play it.
descent of the dragons - super cool but suffers from a similar problem as hellion eruption. Actually this card synergizes less with melek, izzet paragon's top deck copy ability, as after the first spell goes off there will be a field of all new targets and the copy will fizzle. bummer.
supplant form - What a neat instant! I dunno where it goes at 6 cmc though.
----------------------------
Also a report from the last game I played.
Everything went well with the deck. I sat on a cyclonic rift until turn 7 and used it on the last opponent's end step before I cast treasonous ogre, and (using the ogre's life for mana ability) melek, izzet paragon. I had the ogre and two U open to protect my board with remand and arcane denial in hand. My opponents missed the immediate danger of me having access to that much red mana and melek, izzet paragon out though. They spent the turn cycle on replaying their artifact ramp and re-establishing their boards.
My next turn was a monstrosity of mystical tutor, turnabout, and mystic retrieval to recur mystical tutor and eventually get empty the warrens with a suitably high storm count. By that point I had durdled a while, played young pyromancer, and a few mana rocks too. I passed turn with something like 34 1/1s and mana open for the counters. I used both counters, and protected melek, izzet paragon through yet another turn cycle.
Amazed at getting enother turn with melek out, I basically replayed my last one. I pulled up mystical tutor and turnabout, and started cantripping through the deck. Eventually I found both purphoros, god of the forge and impact tremors and cast mogg infestation off the top of the library for 934 damage to each opponent. I grinned, wiped the sweat off my brow, and looked up from my huge hand, board, and graveyard to see my opponents look of disgust.
"Thats it, I quit magic, does anyone want my collection?"
"Solitaire is also its own card game you know?"
"Heh, I dont usually play decks that have to keep searching through their library for the one card that wins."
Ah... Ouch.
I didn't and still don't think this deck is very powerful, but I guess its not a ton of fun to play against anymore. Gone are the days of pandemonium and death by dragons goofiness. I don't want to nerf it, but im not sure I want to keep playing it... bummer.
So, I'll try to make it more powerful. For now, I'm just putting an infinite mana combo in. Other win cons and combos are the next step.
Out:
increasing vengeance
In:
reiterate
With 10 mana from lands or artifacts and turnabout I can get infinite mana and storm count. I can just use that mana to keep casting reiterate and get as many copies of any instant or sorcery i've access to. Obviously this brings up the question of whether or not train of thought and whispers of the muse should be in the deck. Looking past that though, I can mill opponents with reality shift which is already in the decklist (pulled this use of reality shift from the "Tasigrrrr - infinite recursion" decklist).
As for other combos outpost siege, stalking vengeance, and vicious shadows are like the mirrors of purphoros, god of the forge/impact tremors, and with leyline of singularity, or aether flash in play, a copied notorious throng kills the table even easier. What do you folks think of that? Or is it better to pack in more tutors to make the combo I already have more reliable? Alternatively, with infinite mana in the deck, a stroke of genius might be a reasonable multi-purpose addition.
Edit: Also, I'll look into trading for a sensei's divining top finally, I pulled a sarkhan unbroken recently...
Also Also, regarding getting my enchantments out of the graveyard, I think learn from the past is way better than codex shredder