Aetherworks Marvel can work, but your deck needs to be designed around Energy which is madly parasitic. Brain in a Jar is popular but, I feel it's snog slow. Counterlash can do some tomfoolery but I've never played it. Diluvian Primordial I suppose... Galvanoth looks very promising. So does Living Lore if you can get the desired card into the graveyard. That's usually my thing.
There's others but I'm tired of futzing with this phone's autocorrect.
Otherwise, invest in mana rocks like Sol Ring or mana cards like any of the Rituals or throwaways like Lotus Petal.
In the casual wcene you have oodles of options. Oh... and High Tide. I thought that card was skank for years, now I covet every single one I have.
Yeah I was thinking about artifact ramp as well but that doesn't thin the deck nor does it help if EpEx whiffs on a kill...Noxious Revival also works pretty well if you hit the Infinite in your EpEx. I was also thinking Turnabout or Rude Awakening.
I recently found Hedron Crawler does wonders for my Eldrazi deck. Fire Diamond and Sky Diamond work to similar effect. The Izzet Cluestone is a little slow for my taste but does net you both colors you need while also giving you a drawing outlet when it is past its usefulness. Helm of Awakening is my favorite out of all the discounting cards. Sure it helps everyone else too, but it doesn't give creatures haste. So while they may get more creatures out faster, if you are slinging spells, you still carry the advantage over them.
Yeah I was thinking about artifact ramp as well but that doesn't thin the deck nor does it help if EpEx whiffs on a kill...Noxious Revival also works pretty well if you hit the Infinite in your EpEx. I was also thinking Turnabout or Rude Awakening.
You don't need to thin the deck. Just use library manipulation like Brainstorm, tutors, Lim-Dul's Vault. Ramp and set up your top cards. Also, Epic Experiment will hit more library manipulation spells, which can set up Enter the Infinite where it needs to be before you resolve Blast. It does help to have Noxious Revival as a back-up.
With artifact ramp, something like Mana Vault or Thran Dynamo singlehandedly puts you in Epic Experiment range. You won't need to play 12 artifact ramp spells and be a dedicated ramp deck. Just play a few and then play a bunch of library manipulation.
Land untap effects (Turnabout, Rude Awakening) don't actually help you get to 8+ mana unless you also run a bunch of other stuff. You either need High Tides or ramp to get a whole bunch of lands into play. They're only useful off a whiffed Experiment, but they don't help you with the first Experiment.
First few turns you sculpt your hand. Then you try to go off by casting a big Epic Experiment into more cantrips and rituals, which hopefully lets you chain off more spells into a lethal Blast of Genius.
You don't need Epic Experiment to win. You can just Burning Wish into Enter the Infinite and then ritual into 9 mana for Insult + Blast of Genius for 24 damage to the face directly.
Grapeshot adds redundancy. With any 2 of Grapeshot, Insult // Injury, Blast of Genius, you can deal 20 damage. Insult + Blast is obviously lethal (with Enter or Emrakul). Insult + Grapeshot lets you kill with Storm 10, just chaining rituals and cantrips (possibly off Epic Experiment). Grapeshot + Blast lets you finish the opponent off with Grapeshot after dealing only 12-15 damage with Blast (not doubled). Since any 2 of them work together, you have more consistency going off regardless of what you draw.
Epic Experiment helps enable all the combos by casting free spells, rituals, and cantrips. Burning Wish lets you fix for whatever the missing piece is.
I play tested high tide and it didn't seem to work very well the red mama requirments.
Yeah...that happens. That's why High Tide went to the bottom of the card box for years (that and Fallen Empires is well....). Then I played a pure U deck and realized just what the card could do. Especially when a ton of other alternate mana producing methods got the shaft (Dark Ritual...). That said, there's Seething Song, Rite of Flame and [c]Pyretic Ritual[c] for red.
Personally, I think Green gets waaaaay too much love in the mana ramp department
I've built a deck around Blast of Genius, Riddle of Lightning, and Vengeful Rebirth a few years back, and started tinkering with it recently, since Amonkhet brought some cards, I thought it could put to good use. As you said, the problem is getting to enough mana before you get killed by your opponent. My solution to the problem was to go control. You don't need to hit the opponent with a 20+ damage Blast, you just need to hit him with 2-3 Blasts/Riddles/Rebirths for ~8. 12 cards, that each help you get another is enough really.
Pyromancer's Goggles ramps you a bit and doubles your Blast, though you have to draw and discard for each one.
Boundless Realms can catapult you from 7 to 14 mana, though it may already be a bit costly.
Furnace of Rath is a doublng effect that stays on the field, so you really only have to get to 6 mana for a Blast. Fire Servant also doubles damage, and all those doubling effects are cumulative. Plus, the Servant can attack and block.
I think I'm going with the burning wish plan. Might throw in some electomamcers and/or goggles or an increasing vengeance to test. I think EpEx is just casual enough to make the deck not broken cause of RNG.
As far as vengeful rebirth I think that could be a really fun deck with a self mill and Splendid reclaimation. 4c no blue with unburial rites and or morgue burst seems absurdly fun. Or maybe temur solash of black for forbidden alchemy Loam red discard draw and cycling with
I play tested high tide and it didn't seem to work very well the red mama requirments.
That could work, but it would require a manabase where every land is an island. Between shocks, fetches, cycling lands, and tangos, you have enough to do it.
I play tested high tide and it didn't seem to work very well the red mama requirments.
That could work, but it would require a manabase where every land is an island. Between shocks, fetches, cycling lands, and tangos, you have enough to do it.
I actually liked using artifact ramp from the Charge counter decks in modern. Everflowing + astral cornucopia + Hedron Archive + Tezzeret's gambit is very very consistent. Might try mind stone because the draw is very useful on archive in my goldfishing.
This seems to be the most consistent iteration I could come up with for a multiplayer game. Casting a combustible gearhulk to reveal 11, 6, and 4 is really brutal. I believe you can also cast a blast of genius with pyromancer's goggles pitch metalwork colossus to the copy, activate its GY ability to return to your hand before the original Blast of Genius resolves for 22 dmg.
I've been trying to mess with sunbird's invocation but it is really clunky and it is a win-more card. But I took a cue from Saito's Big Burning lists and made a Temur list that I dub Unexpected Genius. It is a bit linear and has some really bad draws but if left unchecked it works 100% of the time 20% of the time!
The real problem is how to get at least 8 mana without dying.
Not opposed to adding green for Dictate of Karametra and other ramp since Insult // Injury was printed I no longer need Dictate of the Twin Gods to combo off.
I feel like TRON or Cloudpost is too clunky and Ramp Spells with green is smoother but is too all in.
Aetherworks Marvel can work, but your deck needs to be designed around Energy which is madly parasitic.
Brain in a Jar is popular but, I feel it's snog slow.
Counterlash can do some tomfoolery but I've never played it.
Diluvian Primordial I suppose...
Galvanoth looks very promising. So does Living Lore if you can get the desired card into the graveyard. That's usually my thing.
There's others but I'm tired of futzing with this phone's autocorrect.
Otherwise, invest in mana rocks like Sol Ring or mana cards like any of the Rituals or throwaways like Lotus Petal.
In the casual wcene you have oodles of options. Oh... and High Tide. I thought that card was skank for years, now I covet every single one I have.
In UR, good ways to hit big colored mana include Seething Song, Inner Fire, Pentad Prism, Rite of Flame. But you don't even need colored mana for Epic Experiment. Thran Dynamo on turn 4 lets you Epic Experiment off 5 lands. Grim Monolith, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, Crystal Vein, Ancient Tomb, and similar cards all help too.
Helm of Awakening is my favorite out of all the discounting cards. Sure it helps everyone else too, but it doesn't give creatures haste. So while they may get more creatures out faster, if you are slinging spells, you still carry the advantage over them.
You don't need to thin the deck. Just use library manipulation like Brainstorm, tutors, Lim-Dul's Vault. Ramp and set up your top cards. Also, Epic Experiment will hit more library manipulation spells, which can set up Enter the Infinite where it needs to be before you resolve Blast. It does help to have Noxious Revival as a back-up.
With artifact ramp, something like Mana Vault or Thran Dynamo singlehandedly puts you in Epic Experiment range. You won't need to play 12 artifact ramp spells and be a dedicated ramp deck. Just play a few and then play a bunch of library manipulation.
Land untap effects (Turnabout, Rude Awakening) don't actually help you get to 8+ mana unless you also run a bunch of other stuff. You either need High Tides or ramp to get a whole bunch of lands into play. They're only useful off a whiffed Experiment, but they don't help you with the first Experiment.
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Preordain
4 Rite of Flame
4 Manamorphose
4 Burning Wish
4 Seething Song
//Engine: 12
3 Insult // Injury
3 Epic Experiment
3 Blast of Genius
2 Grapeshot
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Sandstone Needle
3 Crystal Vein
3 Steam Vents
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
5 Island
//Wishboard:
1 Enter the Infinite
1 Past in Flames
1 Epic Experiment
1 Blast of Genius
1 Time Spiral
1 Insult // Injury
1 Grapeshot
First few turns you sculpt your hand. Then you try to go off by casting a big Epic Experiment into more cantrips and rituals, which hopefully lets you chain off more spells into a lethal Blast of Genius.
You don't need Epic Experiment to win. You can just Burning Wish into Enter the Infinite and then ritual into 9 mana for Insult + Blast of Genius for 24 damage to the face directly.
Grapeshot adds redundancy. With any 2 of Grapeshot, Insult // Injury, Blast of Genius, you can deal 20 damage. Insult + Blast is obviously lethal (with Enter or Emrakul). Insult + Grapeshot lets you kill with Storm 10, just chaining rituals and cantrips (possibly off Epic Experiment). Grapeshot + Blast lets you finish the opponent off with Grapeshot after dealing only 12-15 damage with Blast (not doubled). Since any 2 of them work together, you have more consistency going off regardless of what you draw.
Epic Experiment helps enable all the combos by casting free spells, rituals, and cantrips. Burning Wish lets you fix for whatever the missing piece is.
Yeah...that happens. That's why High Tide went to the bottom of the card box for years (that and Fallen Empires is well....). Then I played a pure U deck and realized just what the card could do. Especially when a ton of other alternate mana producing methods got the shaft (Dark Ritual...). That said, there's Seething Song, Rite of Flame and [c]Pyretic Ritual[c] for red.
Personally, I think Green gets waaaaay too much love in the mana ramp department
Here's the deck for some inspiration
2 Forest
3 Island
1 Sulfur Falls
3 Temple of Abandon
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Firewild Borderpost
3 Wickerbough Elder
1 Emrakul, The Aeons Torn
4 Rough // Tumble
3 Spring // Mind
4 Flame Javelin
4 Riddle of Lightning
4 Vengeful Rebirth
4 Blast of Genius
2 Sylvan Bounty
3 Blasphemous Act
Some more ideas I have for this and your deck:
Pyromancer's Goggles ramps you a bit and doubles your Blast, though you have to draw and discard for each one.
Boundless Realms can catapult you from 7 to 14 mana, though it may already be a bit costly.
Furnace of Rath is a doublng effect that stays on the field, so you really only have to get to 6 mana for a Blast. Fire Servant also doubles damage, and all those doubling effects are cumulative. Plus, the Servant can attack and block.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
As far as vengeful rebirth I think that could be a really fun deck with a self mill and Splendid reclaimation. 4c no blue with unburial rites and or morgue burst seems absurdly fun. Or maybe temur solash of black for forbidden alchemy Loam red discard draw and cycling with
That could work, but it would require a manabase where every land is an island. Between shocks, fetches, cycling lands, and tangos, you have enough to do it.
Or simply use a set of Chromatic Lanterns.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
The more deck manipulation and Pyromancy type effects you have, the lower your general curve can be.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Calling it Metalwork Genius
4x Island
5x Mountain
4x Spirebluff Canal
4x Steam Vents
4x Sulfur Falls
4x Hedron Archive
4x Mind Stone
3x Pyromancer's Goggles
4x Volt Charge
4x Blast of Genius
4x Tezzeret's Gambit
4x Combustible Gearhulk
4x Metalwork Colossus
Gift of Genius
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Gifts Ungiven
4x Manamorphose
1x Noxious Revival
4x Opt
4x Pyretic Ritual
4x Thought Scour
1x Enter the Infinite
3x Epic Experiment
1x Insult / Injury
3x Past in Flames
4x Goblin Electromancer
4x Breeding Pool
4x Forest
1x Island
3x Mountain
4x Rootbound Crag
4x Stomping Ground
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Blast of Genius
4x Farseek
4x Unexpected Results
4x Think Twice
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
4x Sylvan Primordial
4x Worldspine Wurm