Well I've been following this thread now for a bit over 4 months during which time I keep forgetting about the whole posting my deck list thing. So while I'm sitting here looking at the deck with nothing to do what better time then now eh?
Pretty close to the stock list, -the lands, I feel. Totally got a foil of Mishra too cause it only seemed right. Any questions, comments, concerns leave them here. I promise to get back to you far sooner then my habitual 1-4 month average -_-*
I've recently built a Mishra list that closes out the game via combos - stuff like Time Sieve, Basalt+Rings, etc.
I find that Mishra adds both a unique twist, and a special chaos-y element to the game that distracts my opponents while letting me set up for something. P-Storm, Nullstone Gargoyle, Planar Chaos, etc. all cause my opponents to stumble a bit to remove them while my engine is being set up. It's a fun deck and commander! (Plus, I've always been dying for a U/R artifact commander... Mishra will do until that day)
Anywho... I wanted to stop by to ask what kinds of cards would complement this strategy well? I'm looking for things that work pretty decently on their own, or with Mishra. I want to shy away from stax, and my meta is quite varied between combo/aggro/control. I'm also avoiding the Lattice/Disk route.
My current win-cons are typically infinite dudes off a Myr Turbine and infinite turns off Sieve... any obvious choices I haven't thought of?
Thanks for any attention here, and sorry for the long post.
Sorry I haven't posted in a few days all. Been fighting some crazy cold mega disease my wife brought home; so I havent had much desire to sit at computers. I will have a set review for the oath shortly, long story short, nothing TOO mind blowing from this set, but its not a terrible one.
@PhoenixWombat
Your list and mine share quite a few similarities! 2 thoughts for you
How does Thopter Spy Network work out for you? That card has always interested me, but you seem moderately light on attacking creatures to really get mileage out of the draw cards. Are you using it at a creature spawner? Might work really well with some staxy cards; dont know if thats what you are going for, but anytime you generate free stuff, its great to have universal sacrifice engines.
How well does Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker work out for you? At 8 mana, hes really REALLY expensive as permanent removal, in light of cards like Spine of Ish Sah, are you able to protect him long enough to see his other abilites come to fruition? If not, have you considered Cruel Ultimatum as a replacement? His creature theft ability is likewise good, but i'd rather run artifacts that do that :). Helm of Possession would work brilliantly with your previously mentioned spy network...
@ProfCactus
Welcome man! So here are some fun combos that i think are useful in this deck (man, i need to really go back to the OP and add a combo section for people who want to play him that way). I will focus on ways to win with the cards youve mentioned.
If you do not like infinite mana, add Unwinding Clock above to still get massive mileage out of your cards.
Myr Turbine + Possessed Portal + Unwinding Clock/Dross Scorpion = THE meanest combo imo. No more card draw for them, you slowly bleed their hands and fields away, while you lose nothing. Notice that portal effects all players on all turns, so it adds up fast if you cant generate fodder.
Ice Cave + Mycosynth Lattice + Mana (unwinding clock or infinite combo) = counter all opponents spells. They cannot counter yours due to mishra's ability if you stack your triggers properly.
Thats...uh, all that come to mind at the moment. Point is, there are LOTS of artifact combos that fit really seamlessly into this deck. Give them a try, and keep what works best for you.
The Thopter Spy Network is my newest addition as so far I have yet to get a chance to test it out. but the making tokens aka blockers seems like a decent plan as my local meta tends to be light on trample.
As for Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker I have yet to hard cast it. Instead I usually let possibility storm work its magic. I don't really intend for it to be uses as a crunch card, though i suppose it could be if necessary. It's more of a "if it hits the field fun things happen, for me, and if he gets ignored the game tips heavily in my favor" kinda card. Admittedly he's a placeholder right now but one that works well in the deck.
Going to run down some noteable cards that people may be looking at for Mishra, and post my opinion about them. I will start with lands (non-expeditions), artifacts, colorless cards, then cover the grixis colors.
TL;DR - This set doesn't really bolster Mishra. Too many non-artifact colorless creatures, and no break out colored spells. Feel free to point out anything you think I overlooked or didnt give credit
Mirrorpool - I don't like that it enters play tapped. Doesn't work well in storm variants, since it doesn't cast the spell, simply copies. As a clone effect, it costs 6 mana effectively to clone, 1 of which must be colorless. I think there are better options for this space.
Ruins of Oran-Rief - Could be fun in a creature based variant i suppose. Not ideal, but can help grow small creatures
Sea Gate Wreckage - I like this card a lot. I will be play testing it; its a fun reverse Library of Alexandria and doesn't enter play tapped. That said, it will be conditional, and if it is useful, you aren't in a healthy place and likely your deck needs better card draw options to prevent yourself from hitting hellbent. I am in no rush to test it, but will eventually. Odds are it wont stay in my main deck
Artifacts
Hedron Crawler - Not the best artifact dork, but another great option for Arcum decks. Not for Mishra though.
The rest of the artifacts are sub par mana rock and equipments. Nothing really sparking my Mishra excitement in this set.
Colorless
Deceiver of Form - Can create tons of copies of whatever creature you have, is an 8/8 for 7, and colorless. Not an artifact, but a cool card. Could be a fun beater in an aggro variant.
Eldrazi Mimic - Not nearly as cool as Deceiver of form. Even in artifact creature based versions of Mishra, there aren't enough beaters to justify this guy.
Endbringer - 6 drop 5/5 that can draw a TON of cards, block every turn, and ping away small critters. Very cool creature, again could be fun in an aggro build. That said, I prefer Mind's Eye personally, as it is an artifact, can net more than 1 card a turn, and can make use of colored mana.
kozilek, the Great Distortion - Hoooooo boy! Damia's ability on cast, 12/12 fatty and a useful ability. Menace is garbage, but the rest is gold. I think I prefer other big draw effects that are more mana efficient though, especially since he does nothing to help a 4+ card hand really, and there are better artifact beaters in my humble opinion for edh.
Matter Reshaper - 3/2 that replaces itself or puts a card in your hand. Love it. This is a guy i'd run in a creature build any day of the week.
Gift of Tusks - Would've been a useful removal for indestructibles, if we didnt have bounce effects in blue. I won't be running this.
Hedron Alignment - 50 points to the person who can make use of this.
Oath of Jace - We arent a superfriends deck. Nope.
Overwhelming Denial - Counterspell that is going to happen. Not bad with Surge, I won't be running it, but it gives us a counterspell that powers through Nether Void and Planar Chaos
Prophet of Distortion - A budget Mind's Eye with a body on a 1 drop. Something to consider if you REALLY need the draw.
Sphinx of the Final Word - While I prefer Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir for a storm combo protector, Sphinx is a decent back up if your meta is riddled with counter magic, and somehow your storm deck loses to counter magic.
Red
Chandra, Flamecaller - Wheel + 1 on a 0 ability, neat! Better served in Nekusar since she will draw him into more wheels, but Mishra could make use of that if needed.
Way I view it is Sphinx of the Final Word can't stop my Possibility Storm so meh. Neat card, but not something I have any personal use for.
On a potentially related note however, I'm currently eyeing a recently added Nether Void at one of my local card shops. Like I don't really have the money for it atm. But at the same time my rationalizing is that the card has no where to go but up -_-*
Way I view it is Sphinx of the Final Word can't stop my Possibility Storm so meh. Neat card, but not something I have any personal use for.
On a potentially related note however, I'm currently eyeing a recently added Nether Void at one of my local card shops. Like I don't really have the money for it atm. But at the same time my rationalizing is that the card has no where to go but up -_-*
do it. I LOVE my nether void. Its never a bad card to play, its so damn tastey when it hits the board. I start singing immigrant song by led zeppelin (cuz it reminds me of the stairway to heaven poster: http://i43.tinypic.com/33mqwe9.jpg) and it drives my playgroup even more nuts. Its a fun freaking card to play, plus it buys a TON of time to see ourselves to the end game.
Ice Cave + Mycosynth Lattice + Mana (unwinding clock or infinite combo) = counter all opponents spells. They cannot counter yours due to mishra's ability if you stack your triggers properly.
Ok seeing as how I have all the needed pieces, please tell me exactly how would this be done cause I sometimes have trouble with triggers on the stack.
Also Also So apparently this deck has caused a few players some distress as of late. One in particular has specifically built a R/U counter/control deck. And by that I mean his objective is to counter everything he can and steal or copy anything of use of mine. He explicitly told me he built it to prey on my deck.
Friday he used Acquire to take my Blightsteel and then somehow flashed it back to take my Darksteel Forge. Telling me that it was half of my "infinite combo." So I Cyclonic Rift(ed) the field. And then cast Praetor's Grasp, took his original Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and cast it the next turn with Lightning Greaves on the field. And the next I hardcast Blightsteel and equipped the Greaves. He never quite recovered.
Ice Cave + Mycosynth Lattice + Mana (unwinding clock or infinite combo) = counter all opponents spells. They cannot counter yours due to mishra's ability if you stack your triggers properly.
Ok seeing as how I have all the needed pieces, please tell me exactly how would this be done cause I sometimes have trouble with triggers on the stack.
Mycosynth Lattice says that mana can be spent as any color. Ice Cave says as long as you pay the mana cost, you can counter any spell as it is played.
Even if I am in Grixis colors, if you play Swords to Plowshares on Mishra, I can spend any mana as if it were white to counter spell your effect using the Ice Cave trigger.
Ideally, you would do this with Unwinding Clock (since all your lands are now artifacts), or any of the infinite mana combos on the board, to completely lock out opponent spells for the remainder of the game.
Now, how can your opponents not counter our precious artifacts? With Mishra in play, you get 2 triggers on the stack, Ice Cave, and Mishra. Since you control both effects, you choose their order on the stack - so you stack them Mishra first, then Ice Cave ontop; so that Ice Cave resolves first, and then Mishra after. If you are casting an artifact, and your opponent attempts to counter it, they can successfully send your card to the graveyard...HOWEVER - Mishra will then resolve, searching your library, hand, and graveyard for an artifact of that exact name, placing it into play safely.
Also Also So apparently this deck has caused a few players some distress as of late. One in particular has specifically built a R/U counter/control deck. And by that I mean his objective is to counter everything he can and steal or copy anything of use of mine. He explicitly told me he built it to prey on my deck.
Friday he used Acquire to take my Blightsteel and then somehow flashed it back to take my Darksteel Forge. Telling me that it was half of my "infinite combo." So I Cyclonic Rift(ed) the field. And then cast Praetor's Grasp, took his original Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and cast it the next turn with Lightning Greaves on the field. And the next I hardcast Blightsteel and equipped the Greaves. He never quite recovered.
Seems like good swap outs, that said, Semblance Anvil can be fun in this deck if you have the extra card advantage and dont need a certain card in hand as bad as all that mana reduction can help you. Its an allstar card in a Mishra-Storm build.
Great story btw, must've felt great to have your opponent tutor FOR you
Also Also So apparently this deck has caused a few players some distress as of late. One in particular has specifically built a R/U counter/control deck. And by that I mean his objective is to counter everything he can and steal or copy anything of use of mine. He explicitly told me he built it to prey on my deck.
Friday he used Acquire to take my Blightsteel and then somehow flashed it back to take my Darksteel Forge. Telling me that it was half of my "infinite combo." So I Cyclonic Rift(ed) the field. And then cast Praetor's Grasp, took his original Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and cast it the next turn with Lightning Greaves on the field. And the next I hardcast Blightsteel and equipped the Greaves. He never quite recovered.
Seems like good swap outs, that said, Semblance Anvil can be fun in this deck if you have the extra card advantage and dont need a certain card in hand as bad as all that mana reduction can help you. Its an allstar card in a Mishra-Storm build.
Great story btw, must've felt great to have your opponent tutor FOR you
Ahh ok thank you for the explanation. That's how I thought it would work but I wasn't 100% sure. I wanted to check since earlier that Friday I lost a modern game to a Grishoalbrand Deck. I didn't know at what point was the correct step to respond to a trigger, I took a guess and turned out to be wrong. And yeah him tutoring for me was pretty funny.
Last week I was playing a guy with my Mishra deck. he was playing some mono black reanimation deck. He asked me, with a snarky tone, if I minded quick games? I was like honestly I'm not a fan of them. He then asked what kind of deck I was running. I told him that I would answer after the match. He kept pushing and told me his was combo and that it usually went off turn 4. He was like "So now that you know what I'm running I'll ask again, what is yours?" I responded "Chaos" and dropped Possibility Storm on the field. He did finally beat me but it took him a solid hour to get together what he needed to do it. (I kept him locked out from his combo with Portcullis but at the cost of my inability to play creatures of my own.) Afterwards he asked me "So what the hell is the win condition that deck." I told him that I didn't really think there was any one win condition, it kinda just comes together only sometimes it doesn't. To which he told me that wasn't a good response. I then asked him "Would have prefer I said Chaos again?" with a smile and he vocally was like "ugh" and stormed off.
Later a friend told me that he was telling some people near the store entrance about how I wasted his time. All I could do was laugh.
Well I got completely destroyed by a Mizzix of the Izmagnus deck yesterday. Like the game was going poorly in my favor but I was still holding my own. Turn 6 I dropped a Mycosynth Lattice on the field to try and even out my mana based (and potentially help a friend's mana base as well as he was drawing poor land drops) The Mizzix player cast High Tide followed by a Shattering Spree and cleared both our fields except for my lattice. -_-* Game was over at that point. A turn later he somehow set up infinite turns. But on the flip side he traded me a foil Japanese Possibility Storm so that was pretty cool
Well I got completely destroyed by a Mizzix of the Izmagnus deck yesterday. Like the game was going poorly in my favor but I was still holding my own. Turn 6 I dropped a Mycosynth Lattice on the field to try and even out my mana based (and potentially help a friend's mana base as well as he was drawing poor land drops) The Mizzix player cast High Tide followed by a Shattering Spree and cleared both our fields except for my lattice. -_-* Game was over at that point. A turn later he somehow set up infinite turns. But on the flip side he traded me a foil Japanese Possibility Storm so that was pretty cool
Sounds like a brutal way to go down. For what its worth; I tend to hold onto lattice till i have something to do with it; otherwise i feel it really enables our opponents just as much as it does us; and helping 3 people isnt worth it.
What a great card to foil, i never considered how cool that one must look.
For what its worth; at your previous comment; i really dont think of this deck as a chaos deck; i think of it as an artifact combo deck that isnt particularly tuned to go off quickly with chaos effects to help supplement that. If someone asks you what your win condition is, the correct answer is always killer robots.
If someone asks you what your win condition is, the correct answer is always killer robots.
Touche
But yeah usually I wont cast Lattice unless I have the forge on the field to protect it. But this time around I also had Ice Cave in my hand so I figured I would take the chance with how the game was going. Sadly it did not pay off.
looks like Scorched Ruins is going to hold at 10 bucks, still a solid pick up Phoenix. Amazing tech for a stax mishra deck packing crucible of worlds.
Working on a new Mishra project where I am going to create variants of the deck that can be created interchangeably with 10-20 card swap outs. Currently designing so that my builds will follow these archetypes:
75% (current)
Artifact Combo try hard
Killer robot army (artifact beats)
Storm Combo
Stax
Voltron Equipment Mishra
The objective will be to have a core deck that lives in a double deck box, and then in the other deck slot i will have the necessary cards for the assorted 'modes' of play, so it is a simple hot swap of cards to change the decks archetype for maximum mishra fun! Once I complete these lists I will add them to the front page.
Also, been practicing painting and I will be posting pictures of altered cards in the very near future from my deck lists
If you want I can type something up on a more Aggro version of the deck if you'd like. Im also working with a combo part to the deck at the moment with Havengul Lich + Heartless Summoning + Priest of Gix or priest of urabrask + Perilous myr It works well for both storm Mishra and also aggro mishra as it forces bodies on the floor.
If you want I can type something up on a more Aggro version of the deck if you'd like. Im also working with a combo part to the deck at the moment with Havengul Lich + Heartless Summoning + Priest of Gix or priest of urabrask + Perilous myr It works well for both storm Mishra and also aggro mishra as it forces bodies on the floor.
looks like Scorched Ruins is going to hold at 10 bucks, still a solid pick up Phoenix. Amazing tech for a stax mishra deck packing crucible of worlds.
When I posted that it had shot up to $60+ a card. Hadn't checked it since, now I am sad lol.
a 2.00 pick up that jumps to 5x the price is a great pick up man...whats there to be sad about? Sure its not AS good, but hell man, i wish more of my cards gained 5x value
Dayum Ulka bro - those look great. Love the sol ring. The burnt text border is slick. I am going with a mega man theme for mine; here is a slight spoiler; one of my practice cards ( intend to do Mishra with this art): http://i.imgur.com/Kp7RphA.jpg
Working on a new Mishra project where I am going to create variants of the deck that can be created interchangeably with 10-20 card swap outs. Currently designing so that my builds will follow these archetypes:
75% (current)
Artifact Combo try hard
Killer robot army (artifact beats)
Storm Combo
Stax
Voltron Equipment Mishra
Trimming this list down to 4 real decks to run (because maintaining and actively testing 6 lists is too many):
75% (current)
Killer robot army
Storm Combo
Stax
After a cursory experiment; try hard artifact combo just felt like the 75% build with more combo less control/attrition; and mishra voltron just felt clumsy.
I started as a Sharuum player years ago, but people really didn't like a filigree angel, or having it blinked, or being Magister Sphinxed. I built Daretti when he was released and I love him....but people look at Daretti like a Bull does the color red. They go berserk and feel they must kill him without regard for the rest of the field.
Mishra feels like a good alternative to build, since there is no UR artifact general.
How do games normally play out with Mishra? Which version of Mishra is the most competitive? (creatures, combo or stax)
It feels like Mishra will fulfill my desire for UR artifacts, while giving me the bonus of being able to play black cards.
Mishra feels like a good alternative to build, since there is no UR artifact general.
How do games normally play out with Mishra? Which version of Mishra is the most competitive? (creatures, combo or stax)
It feels like Mishra will fulfill my desire for UR artifacts, while giving me the bonus of being able to play black cards.
Welcome AdamM! Let me answer your questions by prodding a bit to see what you are looking for:
Is your meta 1v1 sort of competitive edh, or are you playing multiplayer games?
When you say, "what is the most competitive" - do you mean what will win the fastest or are you more interested in what wins the most?
Really, at the end of the day, there are better commanders to play combo with, and probably better stax commanders, etc - if you are looking for a deck that is purely competitive, you might want to look elsewhere. Honestly, there is pretty much a grixis commander that does Mishra's job better at most archetypes (voltron, voltron2, combo, aggro, reanimator, stax, storm, retro flavor, etc) - if you want to play Mishra, you need to begin by accepting there are probably more competitive choices available.
In my personal opinion, the most powerful rendition of Mishra is probably an artifact stax variant. It can really bog down the early game, and that creates a distraction from the combo you start setting up to win the game. I will actually be adding a stax list to the main post in the next few days - so bear with and it will be posted soon!
Oh, I love artifacts too much to want to play something like Nekusar or Thrax. I would likely build the thopter/sword combo if I wanted to just win as fast as possible with artifacts.
We only play multiplayer EDH at my LGS, and Daretti just gets hated on way too much. There is a couple more competitive players, but most of them run stuff like Wort, Purphoros, G/W Rhys, Aurelia, Sisay, mono black, mono green, OGW Kozilek or other things.
I am not looking to win the fastest, I am looking to win the most, with Mishra. Stax could be a possibility. Most of the decks at my LGS are creature-centric (or more reliable on their commander).
I don't mind what type of deck I play, but artifacts are just too good....and gaining access to blue (and black) I think will make me happier.
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
1x Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Artifact (20)
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Cloud Key
1x Coalition Relic
1x Crawlspace
1x Darksteel Forge
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Mirrorworks
1x Mycosynth Lattice
1x Nevinyrral's Disk
1x Portcullis
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Semblance Anvil
1x Skeleton Shard
1x Sol Ring
1x Tangle Wire
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Torpor Orb
1x Trading Post
1x Unwinding Clock
Creature (22)
1x Arcum Dagsson
1x Blightsteel Colossus
1x Burnished Hart
1x Clever Impersonator
1x Darksteel Colossus
1x Duplicant
1x Etched Champion
1x Etherium Sculptor
1x Feldon of the Third Path
1x Goblin Welder
1x Junk Diver
1x Kuldotha Forgemaster
1x Master Transmuter
1x Muzzio, Visionary Architect
1x Myr Retriever
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Scarecrone
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Steel Hellkite
1x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
1x Vedalken Archmage
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Blood Funnel
1x Planar Chaos
1x Possibility Storm
1x Rhystic Study
1x Spreading Plague
1x Thopter Spy Network
Instant (5)
1x Arcane Denial
1x Chaos Warp
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Thirst for Knowledge
Land (37)
1x Academy Ruins
1x Ancient Ziggurat
1x Blood Crypt
1x Bloodstained Mire
1x City of Brass
1x Command Tower
1x Crosis's Catacombs
1x Crumbling Necropolis
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Drowned Catacomb
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Great Furnace
4x Island
1x Mishra's Factory
4x Mountain
1x Reliquary Tower
1x Scorched Ruins
1x Seat of the Synod
1x Strip Mine
1x Sulfurous Springs
4x Swamp
1x Temple of Deceit
1x Temple of Malice
1x Terramorphic Expanse
1x Underground River
1x Vault of Whispers
1x Watery Grave
1x Daretti, Scrap Savant
1x Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1x Tezzeret the Seeker
Sorcery (6)
1x All Is Dust
1x Chain Reaction
1x Fabricate
1x Praetor's Grasp
1x Scrap Mastery
1x Vandalblast
Pretty close to the stock list, -the lands, I feel. Totally got a foil of Mishra too cause it only seemed right. Any questions, comments, concerns leave them here. I promise to get back to you far sooner then my habitual 1-4 month average -_-*
Modern: B 8RACK B
EDH: BRU Mishra, Artificer Prodigy BRU, W Kemba, Kha Regent W, B Ghoulcaller Gisa B, BU Oona, Queen of the Fae BU, G Seton, Krosan Protector G, BW Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim BW, R Purphoros, God of the Forge R, UGW Arcades, the Strategist UGW, GW Karametra, God of Harvests GW, GU Edric, Spymaster of Trest GU, UW Grand Arbiter Augustin IV UW, BRW Kaalia of the Vast BRW, BRU Nekusar, the Mindrazer BRU, BGWU Thrasios, Triton Hero/Tymna the Weaver BGWU
I've recently built a Mishra list that closes out the game via combos - stuff like Time Sieve, Basalt+Rings, etc.
I find that Mishra adds both a unique twist, and a special chaos-y element to the game that distracts my opponents while letting me set up for something. P-Storm, Nullstone Gargoyle, Planar Chaos, etc. all cause my opponents to stumble a bit to remove them while my engine is being set up. It's a fun deck and commander! (Plus, I've always been dying for a U/R artifact commander... Mishra will do until that day)
Anywho... I wanted to stop by to ask what kinds of cards would complement this strategy well? I'm looking for things that work pretty decently on their own, or with Mishra. I want to shy away from stax, and my meta is quite varied between combo/aggro/control. I'm also avoiding the Lattice/Disk route.
My current win-cons are typically infinite dudes off a Myr Turbine and infinite turns off Sieve... any obvious choices I haven't thought of?
Thanks for any attention here, and sorry for the long post.
R Feldon of the Third Path EDH R
X Kozilek, the Great Distortion EDH X
B Sidisi Ad Nauseam Combo EDH B
@PhoenixWombat
Your list and mine share quite a few similarities! 2 thoughts for you
@ProfCactus
Welcome man! So here are some fun combos that i think are useful in this deck (man, i need to really go back to the OP and add a combo section for people who want to play him that way). I will focus on ways to win with the cards youve mentioned.
Thats...uh, all that come to mind at the moment. Point is, there are LOTS of artifact combos that fit really seamlessly into this deck. Give them a try, and keep what works best for you.
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
The Thopter Spy Network is my newest addition as so far I have yet to get a chance to test it out. but the making tokens aka blockers seems like a decent plan as my local meta tends to be light on trample.
As for Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker I have yet to hard cast it. Instead I usually let possibility storm work its magic. I don't really intend for it to be uses as a crunch card, though i suppose it could be if necessary. It's more of a "if it hits the field fun things happen, for me, and if he gets ignored the game tips heavily in my favor" kinda card. Admittedly he's a placeholder right now but one that works well in the deck.
Modern: B 8RACK B
EDH: BRU Mishra, Artificer Prodigy BRU, W Kemba, Kha Regent W, B Ghoulcaller Gisa B, BU Oona, Queen of the Fae BU, G Seton, Krosan Protector G, BW Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim BW, R Purphoros, God of the Forge R, UGW Arcades, the Strategist UGW, GW Karametra, God of Harvests GW, GU Edric, Spymaster of Trest GU, UW Grand Arbiter Augustin IV UW, BRW Kaalia of the Vast BRW, BRU Nekusar, the Mindrazer BRU, BGWU Thrasios, Triton Hero/Tymna the Weaver BGWU
Going to run down some noteable cards that people may be looking at for Mishra, and post my opinion about them. I will start with lands (non-expeditions), artifacts, colorless cards, then cover the grixis colors.
TL;DR - This set doesn't really bolster Mishra. Too many non-artifact colorless creatures, and no break out colored spells. Feel free to point out anything you think I overlooked or didnt give credit
Lands
Artifacts
Colorless
Blue
Red
Black
Honorable Mention
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
On a potentially related note however, I'm currently eyeing a recently added Nether Void at one of my local card shops. Like I don't really have the money for it atm. But at the same time my rationalizing is that the card has no where to go but up -_-*
Modern: B 8RACK B
EDH: BRU Mishra, Artificer Prodigy BRU, W Kemba, Kha Regent W, B Ghoulcaller Gisa B, BU Oona, Queen of the Fae BU, G Seton, Krosan Protector G, BW Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim BW, R Purphoros, God of the Forge R, UGW Arcades, the Strategist UGW, GW Karametra, God of Harvests GW, GU Edric, Spymaster of Trest GU, UW Grand Arbiter Augustin IV UW, BRW Kaalia of the Vast BRW, BRU Nekusar, the Mindrazer BRU, BGWU Thrasios, Triton Hero/Tymna the Weaver BGWU
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Ok seeing as how I have all the needed pieces, please tell me exactly how would this be done cause I sometimes have trouble with triggers on the stack.
Also I have switched out my Semblance Anvil, Ancient Ziggurat, and Fabricate
Replaced them with: Metalworker, Mana Confluence, and Recurring Insight
Once I know how it works I intend to switch out Muzzio, Visionary Architect for Ice Cave
Also Also So apparently this deck has caused a few players some distress as of late. One in particular has specifically built a R/U counter/control deck. And by that I mean his objective is to counter everything he can and steal or copy anything of use of mine. He explicitly told me he built it to prey on my deck.
Friday he used Acquire to take my Blightsteel and then somehow flashed it back to take my Darksteel Forge. Telling me that it was half of my "infinite combo." So I Cyclonic Rift(ed) the field. And then cast Praetor's Grasp, took his original Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and cast it the next turn with Lightning Greaves on the field. And the next I hardcast Blightsteel and equipped the Greaves. He never quite recovered.
Modern: B 8RACK B
EDH: BRU Mishra, Artificer Prodigy BRU, W Kemba, Kha Regent W, B Ghoulcaller Gisa B, BU Oona, Queen of the Fae BU, G Seton, Krosan Protector G, BW Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim BW, R Purphoros, God of the Forge R, UGW Arcades, the Strategist UGW, GW Karametra, God of Harvests GW, GU Edric, Spymaster of Trest GU, UW Grand Arbiter Augustin IV UW, BRW Kaalia of the Vast BRW, BRU Nekusar, the Mindrazer BRU, BGWU Thrasios, Triton Hero/Tymna the Weaver BGWU
Ok, so heres how the Ice Cave lock works:
Mycosynth Lattice says that mana can be spent as any color.
Ice Cave says as long as you pay the mana cost, you can counter any spell as it is played.
Even if I am in Grixis colors, if you play Swords to Plowshares on Mishra, I can spend any mana as if it were white to counter spell your effect using the Ice Cave trigger.
Ideally, you would do this with Unwinding Clock (since all your lands are now artifacts), or any of the infinite mana combos on the board, to completely lock out opponent spells for the remainder of the game.
Now, how can your opponents not counter our precious artifacts? With Mishra in play, you get 2 triggers on the stack, Ice Cave, and Mishra. Since you control both effects, you choose their order on the stack - so you stack them Mishra first, then Ice Cave ontop; so that Ice Cave resolves first, and then Mishra after. If you are casting an artifact, and your opponent attempts to counter it, they can successfully send your card to the graveyard...HOWEVER - Mishra will then resolve, searching your library, hand, and graveyard for an artifact of that exact name, placing it into play safely.
Seems like good swap outs, that said, Semblance Anvil can be fun in this deck if you have the extra card advantage and dont need a certain card in hand as bad as all that mana reduction can help you. Its an allstar card in a Mishra-Storm build.
Great story btw, must've felt great to have your opponent tutor FOR you
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Ahh ok thank you for the explanation. That's how I thought it would work but I wasn't 100% sure. I wanted to check since earlier that Friday I lost a modern game to a Grishoalbrand Deck. I didn't know at what point was the correct step to respond to a trigger, I took a guess and turned out to be wrong. And yeah him tutoring for me was pretty funny.
Last week I was playing a guy with my Mishra deck. he was playing some mono black reanimation deck. He asked me, with a snarky tone, if I minded quick games? I was like honestly I'm not a fan of them. He then asked what kind of deck I was running. I told him that I would answer after the match. He kept pushing and told me his was combo and that it usually went off turn 4. He was like "So now that you know what I'm running I'll ask again, what is yours?" I responded "Chaos" and dropped Possibility Storm on the field. He did finally beat me but it took him a solid hour to get together what he needed to do it. (I kept him locked out from his combo with Portcullis but at the cost of my inability to play creatures of my own.) Afterwards he asked me "So what the hell is the win condition that deck." I told him that I didn't really think there was any one win condition, it kinda just comes together only sometimes it doesn't. To which he told me that wasn't a good response. I then asked him "Would have prefer I said Chaos again?" with a smile and he vocally was like "ugh" and stormed off.
Later a friend told me that he was telling some people near the store entrance about how I wasted his time. All I could do was laugh.
Modern: B 8RACK B
EDH: BRU Mishra, Artificer Prodigy BRU, W Kemba, Kha Regent W, B Ghoulcaller Gisa B, BU Oona, Queen of the Fae BU, G Seton, Krosan Protector G, BW Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim BW, R Purphoros, God of the Forge R, UGW Arcades, the Strategist UGW, GW Karametra, God of Harvests GW, GU Edric, Spymaster of Trest GU, UW Grand Arbiter Augustin IV UW, BRW Kaalia of the Vast BRW, BRU Nekusar, the Mindrazer BRU, BGWU Thrasios, Triton Hero/Tymna the Weaver BGWU
Modern: B 8RACK B
EDH: BRU Mishra, Artificer Prodigy BRU, W Kemba, Kha Regent W, B Ghoulcaller Gisa B, BU Oona, Queen of the Fae BU, G Seton, Krosan Protector G, BW Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim BW, R Purphoros, God of the Forge R, UGW Arcades, the Strategist UGW, GW Karametra, God of Harvests GW, GU Edric, Spymaster of Trest GU, UW Grand Arbiter Augustin IV UW, BRW Kaalia of the Vast BRW, BRU Nekusar, the Mindrazer BRU, BGWU Thrasios, Triton Hero/Tymna the Weaver BGWU
What a great card to foil, i never considered how cool that one must look.
For what its worth; at your previous comment; i really dont think of this deck as a chaos deck; i think of it as an artifact combo deck that isnt particularly tuned to go off quickly with chaos effects to help supplement that. If someone asks you what your win condition is, the correct answer is always killer robots.
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Touche
But yeah usually I wont cast Lattice unless I have the forge on the field to protect it. But this time around I also had Ice Cave in my hand so I figured I would take the chance with how the game was going. Sadly it did not pay off.
Modern: B 8RACK B
EDH: BRU Mishra, Artificer Prodigy BRU, W Kemba, Kha Regent W, B Ghoulcaller Gisa B, BU Oona, Queen of the Fae BU, G Seton, Krosan Protector G, BW Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim BW, R Purphoros, God of the Forge R, UGW Arcades, the Strategist UGW, GW Karametra, God of Harvests GW, GU Edric, Spymaster of Trest GU, UW Grand Arbiter Augustin IV UW, BRW Kaalia of the Vast BRW, BRU Nekusar, the Mindrazer BRU, BGWU Thrasios, Triton Hero/Tymna the Weaver BGWU
Modern: B 8RACK B
EDH: BRU Mishra, Artificer Prodigy BRU, W Kemba, Kha Regent W, B Ghoulcaller Gisa B, BU Oona, Queen of the Fae BU, G Seton, Krosan Protector G, BW Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim BW, R Purphoros, God of the Forge R, UGW Arcades, the Strategist UGW, GW Karametra, God of Harvests GW, GU Edric, Spymaster of Trest GU, UW Grand Arbiter Augustin IV UW, BRW Kaalia of the Vast BRW, BRU Nekusar, the Mindrazer BRU, BGWU Thrasios, Triton Hero/Tymna the Weaver BGWU
Working on a new Mishra project where I am going to create variants of the deck that can be created interchangeably with 10-20 card swap outs. Currently designing so that my builds will follow these archetypes:
Also, been practicing painting and I will be posting pictures of altered cards in the very near future from my deck lists
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
When I posted that it had shot up to $60+ a card. Hadn't checked it since, now I am sad lol.
Modern: B 8RACK B
EDH: BRU Mishra, Artificer Prodigy BRU, W Kemba, Kha Regent W, B Ghoulcaller Gisa B, BU Oona, Queen of the Fae BU, G Seton, Krosan Protector G, BW Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim BW, R Purphoros, God of the Forge R, UGW Arcades, the Strategist UGW, GW Karametra, God of Harvests GW, GU Edric, Spymaster of Trest GU, UW Grand Arbiter Augustin IV UW, BRW Kaalia of the Vast BRW, BRU Nekusar, the Mindrazer BRU, BGWU Thrasios, Triton Hero/Tymna the Weaver BGWU
a 2.00 pick up that jumps to 5x the price is a great pick up man...whats there to be sad about? Sure its not AS good, but hell man, i wish more of my cards gained 5x value
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Trimming this list down to 4 real decks to run (because maintaining and actively testing 6 lists is too many):
After a cursory experiment; try hard artifact combo just felt like the 75% build with more combo less control/attrition; and mishra voltron just felt clumsy.
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Mishra feels like a good alternative to build, since there is no UR artifact general.
How do games normally play out with Mishra? Which version of Mishra is the most competitive? (creatures, combo or stax)
It feels like Mishra will fulfill my desire for UR artifacts, while giving me the bonus of being able to play black cards.
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
DCI Rules Advisor as of 5/18/2015
Really, at the end of the day, there are better commanders to play combo with, and probably better stax commanders, etc - if you are looking for a deck that is purely competitive, you might want to look elsewhere. Honestly, there is pretty much a grixis commander that does Mishra's job better at most archetypes (voltron, voltron2, combo, aggro, reanimator, stax, storm, retro flavor, etc) - if you want to play Mishra, you need to begin by accepting there are probably more competitive choices available.
In my personal opinion, the most powerful rendition of Mishra is probably an artifact stax variant. It can really bog down the early game, and that creates a distraction from the combo you start setting up to win the game. I will actually be adding a stax list to the main post in the next few days - so bear with and it will be posted soon!
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
We only play multiplayer EDH at my LGS, and Daretti just gets hated on way too much. There is a couple more competitive players, but most of them run stuff like Wort, Purphoros, G/W Rhys, Aurelia, Sisay, mono black, mono green, OGW Kozilek or other things.
I am not looking to win the fastest, I am looking to win the most, with Mishra. Stax could be a possibility. Most of the decks at my LGS are creature-centric (or more reliable on their commander).
I don't mind what type of deck I play, but artifacts are just too good....and gaining access to blue (and black) I think will make me happier.
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
DCI Rules Advisor as of 5/18/2015