You can turn it face-up by attacking, or by dealing damage to it. But as far as I understand if the creature has morph you can still turn it face-up for its morph cost, no different that if it was manifested.
Of course if you end up paying the morph cost you are no further ahead (unless the cc is less than three), but it's an extra option. It also let's you bluff with creatures without morph (bluffing should be interesting, because you can pay extra to represent a specific card).
I can see that this card might be a bit lackluster, but you have experience experience with the deck, so I was wondering what you think about it.
The real problem is that you will still have to pay the morph cost in most case, since most of my morph creatures are really situational and need to be triggered at the right time. Also, it doesn't even work with Zoetic Cavern, I mean, it only works with creature cards. Out of the 31 creature cards I play, 8 of them don't have built-in morph. On those 8, I probably don't want Ixidron, Trinket Mage and AEthermage, because I lose their effect in doing so. So that's a 5-cards bluff. We are still casting the card (without paying its mana cost) and we need to keep track of what we paid for anti-cheating purposes. It's a complicated card. The replacement effect only occurs if the creature becomes tapped, is dealt damage or assigns damage.
It's a really really weird card actually, I never considered it. It certainly brings in a different style of play, which is nice, but I think overall it lacks something. If it wasn't sorcery speed or if we could pay X=0 for every creature and then pay the morph cost, that would be well worth it, but as it is, I think it's just a complicated card not doing that much. My general already helps bringing morph cost down for the couple of cards that have 5+ (mega)morph cost. Also, with this last block, I also have to keep track of manifested cards versus cards casted as face-down creatures through (mega)morph. Considering I only have Cloudform that interacts with the manifest mechanic, it's not too complicated as is but I'd like to avoid more complicated things.
Playing against this deck already requires a certain level of knowledge of the CR. Most of my opponents don't know that I can morph creatures in response to their split second spells and will argue about it. Interactions with cards like Sudden Spoiling and Humility aren't always obvious either, until you actually read 702.36d carefully.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Nope it doesn't, and the interesting part is understanding why. It doesn't work after the resolution of Humble or Sudden Spoiling either. There's a little parenthesis in 702.36d that changes everything.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Entomb is banned.
Foodchain is banned.
Fastbond is banned.
Winter Orb is unbanned.
Crucible of Worlds is unbanned.
Sensei’s Divining Top is unbanned.
Braids, Cabal Minion is unbanned as a commander.
Wow... big format changes for the competitive play. For me though, it won't make a really big difference, but if there is a deck where I could play Top, it's probably Ixidor, because of Trinket Mage and all the artifact package, since I don't have really any artifacts to draw cards (besides Bident of Thassa but that's conditional). Not sure it's really needed though, and I need shuffle effects to really get a benefit from it, and I don't have that many. On the other unbanned cards, I don't think I could really use Crucible and Orb is just stupid.
So, somewhat considered right now: Sensei's Divining Top. Will see if there are any changes under the Us banlist tomorrow.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
RULES UPDATES
Hang onto your hats: we’re changing how tuck works for commanders.
If your commander would go into the library or your hand, you may choose to put it into the command zone. It’s as simple as that. Just like with the graveyard, if you want it to go into the library/hand, you’re more than welcome to let it. Note that this is a replacement effect, but it can apply multiple times to the same event.
It does interact with all my bounce spells but I don't see any great reason for my opponents to put their Commander in the Command zone instead of in their hand except when there is a bonus for casting it (like Prossh or Marath). In any case, it's fine.
The only real impact is Spell Crumple, and that's definitely a big impact there. With that said, I still think I need to run one hard counterspell, and Crumple will still put any other card on the bottom of its owner library, which is probably not as good as in the exile zone (Dissipate). However, there is an additional part on Spell Crumple that can't be forgotten: it shuffles itself in the deck, and that's probably the real reason while this will still be my go-to counterspell for now.
I don't think I will do any change for now, I thought a lot about Top last night but I already have a couple of powerful draw spells with tutor available for that and it doesn't have any specific synergy with the game plan (bluffing with face-down creatures) except for the synergy with Trinket Mage (which is totally unnecessary anyway).
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I know I'm pushing the Trinket Mage toolbox pretty hard here, but I really think Grafdigger's Cage would be a great addition to the deck. I noticed tonight after playing a couple of games that reanimation spells are everywhere in the format. Although Living Death gets around it pretty hard with the exile part (I lost a game to that tonight), I still feel that removing the ability to flashback spells or just shutting down Tooth and Nail, Chord of Calling, GSZ or completely Karador is well worth it. Those cards are played in nearly every deck in their respective colors. Reanimate and Animate Dead are in nearly every black deck.
I had great experiences with Pithing Needle and Torpor Orb tonight, both cards on the field at the same time was enough to win a 1v1, and Phyrexian Metamorph as a second Pithing Needle is really good in here too.
Also, Dig Through Time. I now think my reasoning behind removing it was wrong. I just assumed that Blue Sun's Zenith was strictly superior and that I never need to Merchant Scroll or Mystical Tutor for DTT. But tonight, I needed it. Only has 3 blue to cast DTT the same turn as Merchant Scroll. Also, 2 mana for at instant speed to draw 2 of my top 7 is really huge.
Not sure what to cut though, but I really think Bident of Thassa will get cut. I have to kill Tezzeret to get it, and I usually also have bigger threats for Fabricate (Shackles are really good and since I'm adding more and more toolbox cards, I just never get Bident in any situation anyway).
Also not sure Crumple is worth the 1 mana over a basic Counterspell. I still want to keep a hard Counterspell and the real reasoning behind Spell Crumple is the ability of getting it back from my library again, but now that I have Monastery Loremaster (a morph Wizard that I can also get with Merchant Scroll or Mystical Tutor into Muddle the Mixture into Vedalken AEthermage), I feel like the drawback isn't as big (it's not like if I had that much stuff to get it back from the bottom of my library anyway).
The addition of DTT doesn't really help since it's at the bottom of the deck; I need a shuffle effect.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I would play Rewind instead of Spell Crumple. It has shown to be the far best Counter for a Morph deck, because you can Counter a spell and keep Mana to flip up a situational morph.
you can't really beat Counterspell. The problem here is the mana cost, there are times where I don't have 3 mana left because I want to play something on my turn too. 4-CMC Counterspells are even worse, Rewind doesn't really have any additional value, yes you eventually get to untap your lands (assuming it resolves) but you can't play it if you only have 2-3 mana available, which is the real problem.
If I cut Spell Crumple, it's really just because I lost games because of the mana cost, not because I wasn't able to flip a creature after countering a spell (if I have 4 mana, I will still have 2 after Counterspell no matter what, and most morph cost U2 (with Ixidor anyway)).
At 4-CMC, if I was into that, I'd probably look at Cryptic Command (a lot better than Rewind already since you get real card advantage) or Venser (it's a Wizard).
Also note that Muddle the Mixture can directly tutor Counterapell. There are a lot of good points with the no tuck rule, Crumple being strictly worse than Dissipate if I don't care for the shuffle itself back into my library part (it did happen to me to play Spell Crumple twice in the same game).
I could also just play 2 counterspells (here I might consider 2 and 4 cmc). But is that what I want?
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
How about Training Grounds? Get Ixidor's ability a little cheaper.
Ixidor is nearly the only card affected by this enchantment, and I inly play Ixidor when I'm trying to win through the combat zone with face-down creatures or if I have a creature with a really high morph cost (Brine Elemental for example).
I don't think it would make any difference in those situations and it's pretty much a dead card in any other situation. In short, it's pretty bad. It's a little bit like Dream Chisel: looks really good on paper, not as much when playtested.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
They should print a blue Chord of Calling for artifacts. I'd like to flash Torpor Orb without Leyline.
I played one more really long game with Ixidor today, finally finished 2nd in a epic 4-player game, I definitely misplayed a little bit at the end.
I had Brine Elemental going with Echo Tracer and Riptide Laboratory, but the cost for that is 3 lands you return Echo Tracer to my hand, 3 to play it again, 3 to morph it and bounce Brine Elemental, 3 to play Brine and 7 to morph it (Ixidor was killed a couple of times already at that point). So I was only able to do it on 2 turns and I finally lost to damage after stabilizing at 2 life points during 10 turns at the end after Damnation resolved.
I did play Spell Crumple once in the game and was never able to find it again. Counterspell would have just done the same job (and that duel deck art is awesome).
I didn't draw Bident of Thassa and I Fabricated into Vedalken Shackles, which I thought was enough to win the game after stealing a Grave Titan and attacking every turn but 30 damage is a lot to do against a Maze of Ith (until I eventually got Pithing Needle and took a couple of bad decisions from here).
The real question is: should I play 2 Counterspells? Although I don't want to focus on counter magic, I have to admit that it's still one of the strong thing to do when playing mono-blue, and looking at my morph creatures right now, I see a couple of morph also countering spells repeatedly.
I don't think I will add Grafdigger's Cage after some more thoughts into it (a good night of sleep helped). But I'm definitely removing Bident of Thassa and I think Counterspell is the right card to try right now.
Dig Through Time is still something I consider right now, but that will have to wait until I find something I really want to remove and even if I was really quick yesterday into considering it after losing to it, it's still a 8-cmc spell that draws 2 cards, it's definitely worse than Merchant Scroll and a couple of other cards right now that fight for similar spots in my list.
Note that Mana Drain is banned under the 1v1 banlist, which is why I play a strictly worse card. Also note that this doesn't mean a change of strategy in my deck, I'm not gonna play 10 hard Counterspells, the strategy is always to do everything with morph creatures, but I can't forget I have Mystical and Scroll and Muddle available and I need to have the right answers in my deck when I have these tutors.
Pact of Negation is the other addition but Spell Crumple is out, I don't want to go above 2 hard Counterspells. I can get it with Tolaria West, which I can get with Expedition Map. You can already see how Fabricate, Trinket Mage and Tezzeret could then draw me into Pact of Negation, which is a really nice interaction. While Spell Crumple shuffles itself in the deck, it's a 3-cmc Counterspell and by playing 2 Counterspells, I don't think the recursion of Spell Crumple is needed anymore at all.
It's not really a budget friendly change now that everyone has Spell Crumple in their trade binders and Pact is somehow going up to $20 right now (was like $3 at the time they reprinted it in MMA) but I should be able to trade for one really soon.
Watch list: Dig Through Time, Perilous Vault (I don't play with my graveyard much and don't have a lot of board wipes, this one is tutorable as an artifact and works against anything)
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Yeah... I'm tutoring artifacts but I really need more solutions to specific board state, and I didn't have any artifact for that. It's a pretty radical solution, but a good one.
The problems with Caged Sun... 6 mana, I don't really have a lot of blue creatures at the same time of the battlefield (mostly colorless/facedown creatures all the time) and... Extraplanar Lens at 3 mana is just a better target with Tezzeret or Fabricate, to be honest (for the rare times where I really want a mana doubler). The thing is, at 6 mana, I already have enough mana to play most spells in my deck, I can draw 3 with BSZ, so that's the reasoning why Caged Sun isn't really needed.
It did save me once in a game where I had 1 Island and 5 colorless mana sources, since it gave me a second blue source (which Extraplanar Lens would not) but that's a really specific and really rare, statistically speaking, scenario.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I just want so much to make Ixidor even better, I want to use his ability more, and Manifest is the way to go, since I can manifest non-creature permanents that couldn't be turned face-up without Ixidor (note that this must be something that has a replacement effect when entering the battlefield like Ixidron, Pithing Needle or Planeswalkers (loyalty counters) since I would lose a lot of value). There are 21 cards out of 99 that I don't want to Manifest in the whole deck (sorceries, instants, planeswalkers, Trinket Mage, Vedalken AEthermage, Pithing Needle, Ixidron, Cloudform, Everflowing Chalice). In the case of Ixidron, Trinket and AEthermage, I still can bounce them anyway, so it's not totally bad. I can also just bounce sorceries/instants/planeswalkers too when it's face-down. In short, there are a lot of good reasons to have more manifest in the deck and since I don't think we will see any manifest card printed soon after this block, I'm better trying to play with the ones available right now.
Since for 3 mana, it puts a face-down card into play, I'm willing to remove a weaker morph for this one.
The weaker morph creatures right now: Raven Guild Master, Riptide Entrancer, Master of the Veil, Mistfire Weaver. I also keep Weaver of Lies in mind, I did remove it but the more I play Ixidor, the better that one gets over Master of the Veil. The fact that Master of the Veil is a Wizard is probably what made me keep it over Weaver of Lies. Anyway, the 4 "weaker" morph I'm listing are all Wizards. Mistfire Weaver can help protecting Brine Elemental or Vesuvan Shapeshifter, Master of the Veil does reset for a turn Brine Elemental (which was enough to win a game recently) and it's good with Willbender too. The 2 others need to connect with an opponent to do something and this is why I'm willing to cut one of them. Out of the 2, Riptide Entrancer has the most interesting effect. Exiling 10 cards is definitely fun, but it's only one player and it will never hit 8-9 times to win a game anyway. Riptide Entrancer only has to hit once to profit.
I'm keeping an eye on Perplexing Chimera too, really annoying card. Add Homeward Path to the deck and I'm set. Equilibrium, Crystal Shard and Echo Tracer, not to mention the steal effects (Shackles, Entrancer and Chromeshell Crab). And lots of tutor for any of these piece if I draw the Chimera. I don't think it fits YET, but it's an interesting option if you guys want to try it, this is definitely a good deck to play it.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Tap, Sacrifice Memory Jar: Each player exiles all cards from his or her hand face down and draws seven cards. At the beginning of the next end step, each player discards his or her hand and returns to his or her hand each card he or she exiled this way.
The bold part is what we call a delayed triggered ability. And this thing can be countered by Stifle. Yesterday, my opponent played Memory Jar and activated it while I had UU open. I thought about what it would do if I was able to Stifle the delayed triggered ability, and realized how awesome it would be. Even if it only happens once in a lifetime, it would be so awesome that I would really like to play a Stifle effect. Imagine that my opponent exiled his Commander face-down from his hand, being so sure he would get him back at EOT...
I think Stifle is usually better than Trickbind because it's 1-CMC and I don't feel like split second is a game-breaker here, although the second part about not being able to reactive the ability can be. But I feel like I want to counter things like a Birthing Pod activation, or even a fetchland in some situations. In which case Voidmage Husher might be the better card, but it doesn't work for triggered ability. Is there any triggered ability worth worrying of?
Finally, if money wasn't a thing, Timetwister would be a good replacement for Elixir of Immortality. I do like the lifegain, since my only other lifegain source is Tomb of the Spirit Dragon, but I could probably find something else like Basilisk Collar to gain life, which would still work with Trinket Mage and it makes my face-down creatures really great blockers. But it's currently 800 CAD with best price on eBay being 500 USD for a played one, so I may as well forget about it for right now. An argument could still be made for Elixir of Immortality, since I was able with Trinket Mage and Riptide Laboratory to gain back 20 hp from a multiplayer game I would have lost otherwise yesterday, so yeah... still.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I've played with Stifle, Trickbind, and Voidmage in past decks. I can say that Stifle actually underperforms more than the other two. Trickbind has the capability to stop infinite combos and other potentially gamebreaking things with it's split second and ability to stop it from happening the rest of the turn. And Voidmage is a repeatable half-stifle on a stick, but gets expensive. I don't think Voidmage will fit with your decklist as well as the others would. It's mana hungry and only gets activated abilities. I think Trickbind is the real winner, even moreso if you have a combo heavy meta, and the 1 extra mana is rarely that much of an issue in EDH.
I've played with Stifle, Trickbind, and Voidmage in past decks. I can say that Stifle actually underperforms more than the other two. Trickbind has the capability to stop infinite combos and other potentially gamebreaking things with it's split second and ability to stop it from happening the rest of the turn. And Voidmage is a repeatable half-stifle on a stick, but gets expensive. I don't think Voidmage will fit with your decklist as well as the others would. It's mana hungry and only gets activated abilities. I think Trickbind is the real winner, even moreso if you have a combo heavy meta, and the 1 extra mana is rarely that much of an issue in EDH.
Since I'm playing in a casual meta, I rarely see any combo player if any. The big problem with the creature is Torpor Orb and yes, I think mana cost also matters, but I alao think that 1 vs 2 mana can make a difference (I am playing Counterspell instead of Dissipate after all).
Let's say I want to try Trickbind, what do I remove? looking at my non-creature cards right now, it's pretty hard.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I've played with Stifle, Trickbind, and Voidmage in past decks. I can say that Stifle actually underperforms more than the other two. Trickbind has the capability to stop infinite combos and other potentially gamebreaking things with it's split second and ability to stop it from happening the rest of the turn. And Voidmage is a repeatable half-stifle on a stick, but gets expensive. I don't think Voidmage will fit with your decklist as well as the others would. It's mana hungry and only gets activated abilities. I think Trickbind is the real winner, even moreso if you have a combo heavy meta, and the 1 extra mana is rarely that much of an issue in EDH.
Since I'm playing in a casual meta, I rarely see any combo player if any. The big problem with the creature is Torpor Orb and yes, I think mana cost also matters, but I alao think that 1 vs 2 mana can make a difference (I am playing Counterspell instead of Dissipate after all).
Let's say I want to try Trickbind, what do I remove? looking at my non-creature cards right now, it's pretty hard.
That would be a tough one. You have a very tight list. I have a morph deck, but it's Kruphix, so I have little experience with just Ixidor. I know in my deck Aphetto Runecaster and Riptide Entrancer are low performers. The runecaster is okay, but I have access to Secret Plans, and I don't turn up enough cards that frequently for it to warrant a spot. I'm not sure how much you want to keep the 30 creature count you have. I really can't see much you could replace in the non-creature department. So I would say Riptide Entrancer cause it's just a cute card and only if you can get it to connect, but you know better than I do what works and doesn't in your deck.
I can't say that Riptide Entrancer has been good. It did connect a couple of times. Basilisk Collar would help there. But Aphetto Runecaster has been good.
But the whole deck gets a little worse everytime I reduce the morph count. I am wondering if I really need Glen Elendra, Patron Wizard and Azami. I will need to think about the Wizard theme a little more.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
You have a great basis for Wizard tribal going. 19 wizards (21 if you count clones) seems like a good amount for Patron Wizard and Azami. I see you run Crystal Shard and Equilbrium. You could always try to find spots for some more creature bounce somewhere. That would increase the value of all your creatures, including Glen Elendra. Shrieking Drake or Faerie Impostor perhaps. Just throwing out ideas.
How do you usually end up winning games? Just control the board enough to slowly beat down your opponents with unmorphed creatures? The more I played my Kruphix morph, the more I realized it's really hard to close out games with just morph creatures. They're fantastic in surprise control methods, but there are very few game ending morphs, especially in mono-blue.
Just something to think about, you might try cutting some of the 'cute' niche cards for some beefy mono-blue game enders. I've had good luck with Stormtide Leviathan, Kederekt Leviathan, Inkwell Leviathan and Scourge of Fleets. That is, if you're open to the idea of having less morphs.
You have a great basis for Wizard tribal going. 19 wizards (21 if you count clones) seems like a good amount for Patron Wizard and Azami. I see you run Crystal Shard and Equilbrium. You could always try to find spots for some more creature bounce somewhere. That would increase the value of all your creatures, including Glen Elendra. Shrieking Drake or Faerie Impostor perhaps. Just throwing out ideas.
How do you usually end up winning games? Just control the board enough to slowly beat down your opponents with unmorphed creatures? The more I played my Kruphix morph, the more I realized it's really hard to close out games with just morph creatures. They're fantastic in surprise control methods, but there are very few game ending morphs, especially in mono-blue.
Just something to think about, you might try cutting some of the 'cute' niche cards for some beefy mono-blue game enders. I've had good luck with Stormtide Leviathan, Kederekt Leviathan, Inkwell Leviathan and Scourge of Fleets. That is, if you're open to the idea of having less morphs.
Crystal Shard and Equilibrium can reset morph creatures. If I have 2 morph creatures in my hand, I can bounce them as much as I like. It's better than the 2 creatures you mentionned for these reasons, and mono-blue can tutor Crystal Shards when needed. And Equilibrium is a really powerful card to be honest, bouncing my opponents' creatures is usually what I end up doing with it.
I don't know how I win my games lol, but I know I do. I'm just setting up some kind of soft lock with Vesuvan+Brine or Patron Wizard or any of the creatures countering spells (Voidmage Apprentice and Voidmage Prodigy being the strongest ones). With a lot of mana, I can even bounce and play Brine every turn. It's not a hard lock, if my opponent has Swords to Plowshare, I have to find another way to win, but it still buys me time. Although I'm not playing a lot of hard counterspell, I'd say this is still some kind of controlish deck. Ugin, All is Dust, Invoke Prejudice... really good control cards in this deck.
I usually kill my opponents in the combat zone with incremental damage. It can take a long time but I've got some beaters like Thousand Winds and Brine Elemental, and clones can do too. Each games is different when you play things like Kheru Spellsnatcher and 2 clones. It has to be. I've got a lot of theft effects too with Shackles and my morph. Torpor Orb and Pithing Needle both shine too against most decks. Wash Out and P-Vault are 2 other controlish cards. I've got a lot of those overall if we add all the bounce spells (Rift, Evacuation and targetted bounce).
It's slow, but my meta is slow, we all can enjoy a 90 minute game, and the deck shines in these situations, since I have time to set up something. Elixir of Immortality is completely underrated, I can't mill myself, I can replay my best spells and I can get a lot of life out of it if I have Trinket+bounce available.
I think I just want Stifle. Looking at the list, it would probably have to go in my Pithing Needle slot. Which isn't really an upgrade, but it does the samething (but only once). So I guess it's just not worth it. Leyline of Anticipation with Pithing Needle is my Stifle when my opponent cast Birthing Pod, except that I have to cast Needle before the ability gets activated. It's just too narrow overall, whereas Pithing Needle shutted down 2 Homeward Paths a whole game last time I played.
About the Leviathans, I don't see a reward big enough to justify removing something for these. High cmc, killed by Torpor Orb (which I think is something I really need to keep to win more games), not Wizards, not morph creatures... no real synergy besides being beaters, 2 of them also bouncing creatures/permanents (that last one doesn't work with my own creatures though).
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Btw. have you considered, that Trinket Mage + some situational toolbox targets also are possible cut candidates? I think without Sol Ring or other unfair mana Stones, the Value of Trinket Mage is just sooo much smaller.
Except I'm not cutting Elixir, it's the most underrated card of the deck as stated multiple times before in my last posts. I'm winning matches that I would just lose otherwise.
Trinket Mage is part of a giant loop tutor because of Expedition Map and Tolarian West (can be tutored with Vedalken AEthermage, which can be tutored with Muddle, etc.). He's not going anywhere either. You are totally underestimating the power of that tutor loop. I'm playing mono-blue. Being able to get what I need when I need it is the most important thing in EDH. I've got Elixir, Needle, Relic and Map as my main targets for Trinket. Sometimes it's just to fix my mana and I get an artifact land. I've also got Chalice. That's 7 cards and there is a situation for each of these cards. Since Elixir is always available due to its own ability (shuffling itself), it's never dead. On average, I play Trinket 3 times per game. Please elaborate on not getting value out of it, because I definitely feel I do every time I play it.
You are playing green, you can't understand how good Elixir is because you have Witness, Regrowth and a couple of other Regrowth effects with morph. I don't. When I badly need All is Dust and it's in my graveyard, I don't have to just give up yet. I have to find any piece of my loop tutor and I will put it back in my deck, gaining life while doing so.
I also said in my last post that we tend to play really long games. Games where I may play all my creatures. What do you do in mono-blue when your 30 creatures are in the graveyard if you have no other win condition? Concede? Well I don't... I have Elixir. Nobody counters Elixir.
Try playing a deck with no recursion at all besides Elixir and you will understand how good it is. More so in a blue deck, where I have nearly 20 cards to find it (with my tutor loop, random draw spells, Tezzeret and more).
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
If I really wanted to add win conditions, then yes I could consider removing the whole Trinket package but that's only because I want to stick with morph. And I would definitely weaken the Wizard package in doing so. It would be a completely different deck.
There is something I accepted when building this deck: my mono-blue deck would be my worst deck. The deck I play with the lowest win percentage ratio. And that still totally makes sense to me. I am playing mono-blue morph. I'm sacrificing most of what makes blue the best color in Magic. I knew that.
What I still achieved is great to me. I never die first. The deck can defend itself pretty well. If I really want to win, I wouldn't be playing underpar creatures like half of my morph creatures are.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Should probably replace Worn Powerstone with Sol Ring. Didn't see that you didn't have it in your list. An overall 100% upgrade and just enhances your Trinket Mage even more, which I don't advocate cutting. You might also find a spot for Sensei's Divining Top if you own one. Also, not sure how attached you are to Phyrexian Metamorph but I've found Clever Impersonator to be worlds better even though it doesn't have phyrexian mana and is not an artifact.
And I was just giving suggestions to perhaps enhance the success rate of the deck as I have seen in my own plays, but if it works for you the way it is and you want to maintain the highest morph count, then I can get behind that 100%. It still looks like a fun and pretty tight deck.
Should probably replace Worn Powerstone with Sol Ring. Didn't see that you didn't have it in your list. An overall 100% upgrade and just enhances your Trinket Mage even more, which I don't advocate cutting.
All my decks are built with both banlists (1v1 FR and multiplayer US) in mind. Sol Ring is banned. Worn Powerstone is not.
How does it help me 1) bluffing 2) winning? I got 1 Top in my green deck, which is totally based around library manipulation (lots of shuffle effects and cards that care about what's on top). I don't see anything like that in my mono-blue deck (nothing at all, if at least there were a blue Oracle of Mul Daya, maybe). Also, I would have to run the 4 fetch lands to shuffle my deck, and I don't think the effect is worth it. It's a mana sink, it helps filter, it's good when we play a lot of shuffle effects (which I don't in this deck), but other than that, it's just a goodstuff card, which is exactly what I'm trying really hard not to play. The only synergy is the fact that it's a 1-CMC artifact, but even with Trinket Mage, I don't see myself going for that before Expedition Map (for Riptide Laboratory or Academy Ruins, and in some cases Tolaria West and Maze of Ith or just Myriad Landscape). Even Pithing Needle looks to be a better target anyway.
Don't get me wrong, it's a good card, and I encourage you to play it if you are only looking for wins. But it's also a filler, it's like playing 98 cards instead of 99 but you have to pay mana to replace it (at least 1).
Also, not sure how attached you are to Phyrexian Metamorph but I've found Clever Impersonator to be worlds better even though it doesn't have phyrexian mana and is not an artifact.
The fact that it is an artifact makes ALL the difference.
Let's see some cards or some chains (with more steps that it needs to, just to show how I can draw any card in the chain to get there):
It's redundant but it's about 10 cards in the deck that, which is a lot. Looking at creatures... I have no cards at all that can tutor one if it's not a Wizard or a 2-CMC creature.
Just for the mana cost... looking at how many times I would copy something else than an artifact or a creature... it's just so good. Clever is too often nearly dead. I don't want an opening hand with Phyrexian Metamorph, I just want to tutor it when I need it.
And I was just giving suggestions to perhaps enhance the success rate of the deck as I have seen in my own plays, but if it works for you the way it is and you want to maintain the highest morph count, then I can get behind that 100%. It still looks like a fun and pretty tight deck.
And I really appreciate it despite me arguing against every suggestions ;p ... that's just how it works, I'm considering every suggestions that people make and try to invalidate them. If I can't, then it's probably because I should play the card suggested.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Now that I'm done building 4 EDH decks, I'm going to start looking at Wasteland instead of Tectonic Edge, maybe I will be able to get a cheap SP one on eBay or a friend, I'll see. Anyway, if budget is not the priority, it's strictly better.
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I never really considered Heidar, Rimewind Master. Maybe I should. It's a Wizard. Better than Crystal Shard since your opponents can't just opt to pay 1 but also worse because of summoning sickness, vulnerability and harder to tutor. Equilibrum maybe? The cast trigger is strong, and this is unconditional too, your opponents can't pay mana to prevent the effect.
I don't know. Actually, Heidar, Rimewind Master could totally be my general instead of Ixidor, his ability is probably more relevant, even without a lot of ETB triggers, it just resets my morph (and Cloudform), or control what's on the battlefield. That's beautiful Maze of Ith you have... return it to your hand!
Patron Wizard has been a little bit underwhelming in multiplayer. He's good in 1v1 for sure but that's about it. Maybe this is it. I don't have any way to grant haste to Heidar, this is probably the reason why I'm not putting too much considerations into it right now, but if someone builds this deck, this is definitely something to consider (as an alternative general).
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Yeah, it really depends on what direction you want your deck to go in. Heidar's great if you want to reuse morph/ETB triggers as well as bouncing every bodies things. His ability is strictly better than Equilibrium since he can bounce any permanent. However I still prefer Ixidor. I like playing morph, and Ixidor makes it great. For me anyway Heidar's a nice card to have, but Ixidor is the card that I need to be able to cast at a moment's notice. Plus it forces me to stick with my morph/manifest theme. And it's always nice to know that by leaving the necessary 3 mana untapped I'm able to flip up any of my morphs, and my opponents will never know which cards I have on the battlefield.
I never though of using Cloudform with bouncing, I was actually contemplating dropping it to make room for something better, but now that I realize I can bounce it ever turn using Heidar it'll almost definitely be staying. I think I'll have to reconsider some of the bounce engines I passed up. It's a pity Equilibrium is creature only (and can't target the cast spell), if it could we would have something very, very, broken. Or at the least a 2 card psuedo-Mastery of the Unseen
Edit:
Just realized I got this thread mixed up with with this one:
No matter, what I said still holds.
If you toss in some Lightning Greaves you can avoid the "penalty" of creature tap abilities.
I don't/probably won't run Patron Wizard myself. It's a nice card, but I don't really want to lean to heavily on the wizard theme. However I like the idea of it. If done properly with Crystal Shard and Erratic Portal you could force someone into a pickle. Especially if you leave them untapped. If you manage to empty their mana by attempting to counter something integral, you could potentially bounce 4 or their permanents to their hand.
The real problem is that you will still have to pay the morph cost in most case, since most of my morph creatures are really situational and need to be triggered at the right time. Also, it doesn't even work with Zoetic Cavern, I mean, it only works with creature cards. Out of the 31 creature cards I play, 8 of them don't have built-in morph. On those 8, I probably don't want Ixidron, Trinket Mage and AEthermage, because I lose their effect in doing so. So that's a 5-cards bluff. We are still casting the card (without paying its mana cost) and we need to keep track of what we paid for anti-cheating purposes. It's a complicated card. The replacement effect only occurs if the creature becomes tapped, is dealt damage or assigns damage.
It's a really really weird card actually, I never considered it. It certainly brings in a different style of play, which is nice, but I think overall it lacks something. If it wasn't sorcery speed or if we could pay X=0 for every creature and then pay the morph cost, that would be well worth it, but as it is, I think it's just a complicated card not doing that much. My general already helps bringing morph cost down for the couple of cards that have 5+ (mega)morph cost. Also, with this last block, I also have to keep track of manifested cards versus cards casted as face-down creatures through (mega)morph. Considering I only have Cloudform that interacts with the manifest mechanic, it's not too complicated as is but I'd like to avoid more complicated things.
Playing against this deck already requires a certain level of knowledge of the CR. Most of my opponents don't know that I can morph creatures in response to their split second spells and will argue about it. Interactions with cards like Sudden Spoiling and Humility aren't always obvious either, until you actually read 702.36d carefully.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Nope it doesn't, and the interesting part is understanding why. It doesn't work after the resolution of Humble or Sudden Spoiling either. There's a little parenthesis in 702.36d that changes everything.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Wow... big format changes for the competitive play. For me though, it won't make a really big difference, but if there is a deck where I could play Top, it's probably Ixidor, because of Trinket Mage and all the artifact package, since I don't have really any artifacts to draw cards (besides Bident of Thassa but that's conditional). Not sure it's really needed though, and I need shuffle effects to really get a benefit from it, and I don't have that many. On the other unbanned cards, I don't think I could really use Crucible and Orb is just stupid.
So, somewhat considered right now: Sensei's Divining Top. Will see if there are any changes under the Us banlist tomorrow.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
The only real impact is Spell Crumple, and that's definitely a big impact there. With that said, I still think I need to run one hard counterspell, and Crumple will still put any other card on the bottom of its owner library, which is probably not as good as in the exile zone (Dissipate). However, there is an additional part on Spell Crumple that can't be forgotten: it shuffles itself in the deck, and that's probably the real reason while this will still be my go-to counterspell for now.
I don't think I will do any change for now, I thought a lot about Top last night but I already have a couple of powerful draw spells with tutor available for that and it doesn't have any specific synergy with the game plan (bluffing with face-down creatures) except for the synergy with Trinket Mage (which is totally unnecessary anyway).
So for now, no change.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I had great experiences with Pithing Needle and Torpor Orb tonight, both cards on the field at the same time was enough to win a 1v1, and Phyrexian Metamorph as a second Pithing Needle is really good in here too.
Also, Dig Through Time. I now think my reasoning behind removing it was wrong. I just assumed that Blue Sun's Zenith was strictly superior and that I never need to Merchant Scroll or Mystical Tutor for DTT. But tonight, I needed it. Only has 3 blue to cast DTT the same turn as Merchant Scroll. Also, 2 mana for at instant speed to draw 2 of my top 7 is really huge.
Not sure what to cut though, but I really think Bident of Thassa will get cut. I have to kill Tezzeret to get it, and I usually also have bigger threats for Fabricate (Shackles are really good and since I'm adding more and more toolbox cards, I just never get Bident in any situation anyway).
Also not sure Crumple is worth the 1 mana over a basic Counterspell. I still want to keep a hard Counterspell and the real reasoning behind Spell Crumple is the ability of getting it back from my library again, but now that I have Monastery Loremaster (a morph Wizard that I can also get with Merchant Scroll or Mystical Tutor into Muddle the Mixture into Vedalken AEthermage), I feel like the drawback isn't as big (it's not like if I had that much stuff to get it back from the bottom of my library anyway).
The addition of DTT doesn't really help since it's at the bottom of the deck; I need a shuffle effect.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
If I cut Spell Crumple, it's really just because I lost games because of the mana cost, not because I wasn't able to flip a creature after countering a spell (if I have 4 mana, I will still have 2 after Counterspell no matter what, and most morph cost U2 (with Ixidor anyway)).
At 4-CMC, if I was into that, I'd probably look at Cryptic Command (a lot better than Rewind already since you get real card advantage) or Venser (it's a Wizard).
Also note that Muddle the Mixture can directly tutor Counterapell. There are a lot of good points with the no tuck rule, Crumple being strictly worse than Dissipate if I don't care for the shuffle itself back into my library part (it did happen to me to play Spell Crumple twice in the same game).
I could also just play 2 counterspells (here I might consider 2 and 4 cmc). But is that what I want?
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Ixidor is nearly the only card affected by this enchantment, and I inly play Ixidor when I'm trying to win through the combat zone with face-down creatures or if I have a creature with a really high morph cost (Brine Elemental for example).
I don't think it would make any difference in those situations and it's pretty much a dead card in any other situation. In short, it's pretty bad. It's a little bit like Dream Chisel: looks really good on paper, not as much when playtested.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I played one more really long game with Ixidor today, finally finished 2nd in a epic 4-player game, I definitely misplayed a little bit at the end.
I had Brine Elemental going with Echo Tracer and Riptide Laboratory, but the cost for that is 3 lands you return Echo Tracer to my hand, 3 to play it again, 3 to morph it and bounce Brine Elemental, 3 to play Brine and 7 to morph it (Ixidor was killed a couple of times already at that point). So I was only able to do it on 2 turns and I finally lost to damage after stabilizing at 2 life points during 10 turns at the end after Damnation resolved.
I did play Spell Crumple once in the game and was never able to find it again. Counterspell would have just done the same job (and that duel deck art is awesome).
I didn't draw Bident of Thassa and I Fabricated into Vedalken Shackles, which I thought was enough to win the game after stealing a Grave Titan and attacking every turn but 30 damage is a lot to do against a Maze of Ith (until I eventually got Pithing Needle and took a couple of bad decisions from here).
The real question is: should I play 2 Counterspells? Although I don't want to focus on counter magic, I have to admit that it's still one of the strong thing to do when playing mono-blue, and looking at my morph creatures right now, I see a couple of morph also countering spells repeatedly.
I don't think I will add Grafdigger's Cage after some more thoughts into it (a good night of sleep helped). But I'm definitely removing Bident of Thassa and I think Counterspell is the right card to try right now.
Dig Through Time is still something I consider right now, but that will have to wait until I find something I really want to remove and even if I was really quick yesterday into considering it after losing to it, it's still a 8-cmc spell that draws 2 cards, it's definitely worse than Merchant Scroll and a couple of other cards right now that fight for similar spots in my list.
Note that Mana Drain is banned under the 1v1 banlist, which is why I play a strictly worse card. Also note that this doesn't mean a change of strategy in my deck, I'm not gonna play 10 hard Counterspells, the strategy is always to do everything with morph creatures, but I can't forget I have Mystical and Scroll and Muddle available and I need to have the right answers in my deck when I have these tutors.
Pact of Negation is the other addition but Spell Crumple is out, I don't want to go above 2 hard Counterspells. I can get it with Tolaria West, which I can get with Expedition Map. You can already see how Fabricate, Trinket Mage and Tezzeret could then draw me into Pact of Negation, which is a really nice interaction. While Spell Crumple shuffles itself in the deck, it's a 3-cmc Counterspell and by playing 2 Counterspells, I don't think the recursion of Spell Crumple is needed anymore at all.
- Bident of Thassa
- Spell Crumple
+ Counterspell
+ Pact of Negation
It's not really a budget friendly change now that everyone has Spell Crumple in their trade binders and Pact is somehow going up to $20 right now (was like $3 at the time they reprinted it in MMA) but I should be able to trade for one really soon.
Watch list: Dig Through Time, Perilous Vault (I don't play with my graveyard much and don't have a lot of board wipes, this one is tutorable as an artifact and works against anything)
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
+ Perilous Vault
Yeah... I'm tutoring artifacts but I really need more solutions to specific board state, and I didn't have any artifact for that. It's a pretty radical solution, but a good one.
The problems with Caged Sun... 6 mana, I don't really have a lot of blue creatures at the same time of the battlefield (mostly colorless/facedown creatures all the time) and... Extraplanar Lens at 3 mana is just a better target with Tezzeret or Fabricate, to be honest (for the rare times where I really want a mana doubler). The thing is, at 6 mana, I already have enough mana to play most spells in my deck, I can draw 3 with BSZ, so that's the reasoning why Caged Sun isn't really needed.
It did save me once in a game where I had 1 Island and 5 colorless mana sources, since it gave me a second blue source (which Extraplanar Lens would not) but that's a really specific and really rare, statistically speaking, scenario.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I just want so much to make Ixidor even better, I want to use his ability more, and Manifest is the way to go, since I can manifest non-creature permanents that couldn't be turned face-up without Ixidor (note that this must be something that has a replacement effect when entering the battlefield like Ixidron, Pithing Needle or Planeswalkers (loyalty counters) since I would lose a lot of value). There are 21 cards out of 99 that I don't want to Manifest in the whole deck (sorceries, instants, planeswalkers, Trinket Mage, Vedalken AEthermage, Pithing Needle, Ixidron, Cloudform, Everflowing Chalice). In the case of Ixidron, Trinket and AEthermage, I still can bounce them anyway, so it's not totally bad. I can also just bounce sorceries/instants/planeswalkers too when it's face-down. In short, there are a lot of good reasons to have more manifest in the deck and since I don't think we will see any manifest card printed soon after this block, I'm better trying to play with the ones available right now.
Since for 3 mana, it puts a face-down card into play, I'm willing to remove a weaker morph for this one.
The weaker morph creatures right now: Raven Guild Master, Riptide Entrancer, Master of the Veil, Mistfire Weaver. I also keep Weaver of Lies in mind, I did remove it but the more I play Ixidor, the better that one gets over Master of the Veil. The fact that Master of the Veil is a Wizard is probably what made me keep it over Weaver of Lies. Anyway, the 4 "weaker" morph I'm listing are all Wizards. Mistfire Weaver can help protecting Brine Elemental or Vesuvan Shapeshifter, Master of the Veil does reset for a turn Brine Elemental (which was enough to win a game recently) and it's good with Willbender too. The 2 others need to connect with an opponent to do something and this is why I'm willing to cut one of them. Out of the 2, Riptide Entrancer has the most interesting effect. Exiling 10 cards is definitely fun, but it's only one player and it will never hit 8-9 times to win a game anyway. Riptide Entrancer only has to hit once to profit.
- Raven Guild Master
I'm keeping an eye on Perplexing Chimera too, really annoying card. Add Homeward Path to the deck and I'm set. Equilibrium, Crystal Shard and Echo Tracer, not to mention the steal effects (Shackles, Entrancer and Chromeshell Crab). And lots of tutor for any of these piece if I draw the Chimera. I don't think it fits YET, but it's an interesting option if you guys want to try it, this is definitely a good deck to play it.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
The bold part is what we call a delayed triggered ability. And this thing can be countered by Stifle. Yesterday, my opponent played Memory Jar and activated it while I had UU open. I thought about what it would do if I was able to Stifle the delayed triggered ability, and realized how awesome it would be. Even if it only happens once in a lifetime, it would be so awesome that I would really like to play a Stifle effect. Imagine that my opponent exiled his Commander face-down from his hand, being so sure he would get him back at EOT...
Stifle
Trickbind
Voidmage Husher
I think Stifle is usually better than Trickbind because it's 1-CMC and I don't feel like split second is a game-breaker here, although the second part about not being able to reactive the ability can be. But I feel like I want to counter things like a Birthing Pod activation, or even a fetchland in some situations. In which case Voidmage Husher might be the better card, but it doesn't work for triggered ability. Is there any triggered ability worth worrying of?
Finally, if money wasn't a thing, Timetwister would be a good replacement for Elixir of Immortality. I do like the lifegain, since my only other lifegain source is Tomb of the Spirit Dragon, but I could probably find something else like Basilisk Collar to gain life, which would still work with Trinket Mage and it makes my face-down creatures really great blockers. But it's currently 800 CAD with best price on eBay being 500 USD for a played one, so I may as well forget about it for right now. An argument could still be made for Elixir of Immortality, since I was able with Trinket Mage and Riptide Laboratory to gain back 20 hp from a multiplayer game I would have lost otherwise yesterday, so yeah... still.
Has anyone thoughts on Stifle and/or Voidmage Husher? Also note that Muddle the Mixture can find Trickbind, and Voidmage Husher can be tutored at instant speed with Vedalken Æthermage. I mean, the 3 cards are all accessible through the tutor loop.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Since I'm playing in a casual meta, I rarely see any combo player if any. The big problem with the creature is Torpor Orb and yes, I think mana cost also matters, but I alao think that 1 vs 2 mana can make a difference (I am playing Counterspell instead of Dissipate after all).
Let's say I want to try Trickbind, what do I remove? looking at my non-creature cards right now, it's pretty hard.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
That would be a tough one. You have a very tight list. I have a morph deck, but it's Kruphix, so I have little experience with just Ixidor. I know in my deck Aphetto Runecaster and Riptide Entrancer are low performers. The runecaster is okay, but I have access to Secret Plans, and I don't turn up enough cards that frequently for it to warrant a spot. I'm not sure how much you want to keep the 30 creature count you have. I really can't see much you could replace in the non-creature department. So I would say Riptide Entrancer cause it's just a cute card and only if you can get it to connect, but you know better than I do what works and doesn't in your deck.
But the whole deck gets a little worse everytime I reduce the morph count. I am wondering if I really need Glen Elendra, Patron Wizard and Azami. I will need to think about the Wizard theme a little more.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
How do you usually end up winning games? Just control the board enough to slowly beat down your opponents with unmorphed creatures? The more I played my Kruphix morph, the more I realized it's really hard to close out games with just morph creatures. They're fantastic in surprise control methods, but there are very few game ending morphs, especially in mono-blue.
Just something to think about, you might try cutting some of the 'cute' niche cards for some beefy mono-blue game enders. I've had good luck with Stormtide Leviathan, Kederekt Leviathan, Inkwell Leviathan and Scourge of Fleets. That is, if you're open to the idea of having less morphs.
Crystal Shard and Equilibrium can reset morph creatures. If I have 2 morph creatures in my hand, I can bounce them as much as I like. It's better than the 2 creatures you mentionned for these reasons, and mono-blue can tutor Crystal Shards when needed. And Equilibrium is a really powerful card to be honest, bouncing my opponents' creatures is usually what I end up doing with it.
I don't know how I win my games lol, but I know I do. I'm just setting up some kind of soft lock with Vesuvan+Brine or Patron Wizard or any of the creatures countering spells (Voidmage Apprentice and Voidmage Prodigy being the strongest ones). With a lot of mana, I can even bounce and play Brine every turn. It's not a hard lock, if my opponent has Swords to Plowshare, I have to find another way to win, but it still buys me time. Although I'm not playing a lot of hard counterspell, I'd say this is still some kind of controlish deck. Ugin, All is Dust, Invoke Prejudice... really good control cards in this deck.
I usually kill my opponents in the combat zone with incremental damage. It can take a long time but I've got some beaters like Thousand Winds and Brine Elemental, and clones can do too. Each games is different when you play things like Kheru Spellsnatcher and 2 clones. It has to be. I've got a lot of theft effects too with Shackles and my morph. Torpor Orb and Pithing Needle both shine too against most decks. Wash Out and P-Vault are 2 other controlish cards. I've got a lot of those overall if we add all the bounce spells (Rift, Evacuation and targetted bounce).
It's slow, but my meta is slow, we all can enjoy a 90 minute game, and the deck shines in these situations, since I have time to set up something. Elixir of Immortality is completely underrated, I can't mill myself, I can replay my best spells and I can get a lot of life out of it if I have Trinket+bounce available.
I think I just want Stifle. Looking at the list, it would probably have to go in my Pithing Needle slot. Which isn't really an upgrade, but it does the samething (but only once). So I guess it's just not worth it. Leyline of Anticipation with Pithing Needle is my Stifle when my opponent cast Birthing Pod, except that I have to cast Needle before the ability gets activated. It's just too narrow overall, whereas Pithing Needle shutted down 2 Homeward Paths a whole game last time I played.
About the Leviathans, I don't see a reward big enough to justify removing something for these. High cmc, killed by Torpor Orb (which I think is something I really need to keep to win more games), not Wizards, not morph creatures... no real synergy besides being beaters, 2 of them also bouncing creatures/permanents (that last one doesn't work with my own creatures though).
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
Except I'm not cutting Elixir, it's the most underrated card of the deck as stated multiple times before in my last posts. I'm winning matches that I would just lose otherwise.
Trinket Mage is part of a giant loop tutor because of Expedition Map and Tolarian West (can be tutored with Vedalken AEthermage, which can be tutored with Muddle, etc.). He's not going anywhere either. You are totally underestimating the power of that tutor loop. I'm playing mono-blue. Being able to get what I need when I need it is the most important thing in EDH. I've got Elixir, Needle, Relic and Map as my main targets for Trinket. Sometimes it's just to fix my mana and I get an artifact land. I've also got Chalice. That's 7 cards and there is a situation for each of these cards. Since Elixir is always available due to its own ability (shuffling itself), it's never dead. On average, I play Trinket 3 times per game. Please elaborate on not getting value out of it, because I definitely feel I do every time I play it.
You are playing green, you can't understand how good Elixir is because you have Witness, Regrowth and a couple of other Regrowth effects with morph. I don't. When I badly need All is Dust and it's in my graveyard, I don't have to just give up yet. I have to find any piece of my loop tutor and I will put it back in my deck, gaining life while doing so.
I also said in my last post that we tend to play really long games. Games where I may play all my creatures. What do you do in mono-blue when your 30 creatures are in the graveyard if you have no other win condition? Concede? Well I don't... I have Elixir. Nobody counters Elixir.
Try playing a deck with no recursion at all besides Elixir and you will understand how good it is. More so in a blue deck, where I have nearly 20 cards to find it (with my tutor loop, random draw spells, Tezzeret and more).
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
There is something I accepted when building this deck: my mono-blue deck would be my worst deck. The deck I play with the lowest win percentage ratio. And that still totally makes sense to me. I am playing mono-blue morph. I'm sacrificing most of what makes blue the best color in Magic. I knew that.
What I still achieved is great to me. I never die first. The deck can defend itself pretty well. If I really want to win, I wouldn't be playing underpar creatures like half of my morph creatures are.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
And I was just giving suggestions to perhaps enhance the success rate of the deck as I have seen in my own plays, but if it works for you the way it is and you want to maintain the highest morph count, then I can get behind that 100%. It still looks like a fun and pretty tight deck.
How does it help me 1) bluffing 2) winning? I got 1 Top in my green deck, which is totally based around library manipulation (lots of shuffle effects and cards that care about what's on top). I don't see anything like that in my mono-blue deck (nothing at all, if at least there were a blue Oracle of Mul Daya, maybe). Also, I would have to run the 4 fetch lands to shuffle my deck, and I don't think the effect is worth it. It's a mana sink, it helps filter, it's good when we play a lot of shuffle effects (which I don't in this deck), but other than that, it's just a goodstuff card, which is exactly what I'm trying really hard not to play. The only synergy is the fact that it's a 1-CMC artifact, but even with Trinket Mage, I don't see myself going for that before Expedition Map (for Riptide Laboratory or Academy Ruins, and in some cases Tolaria West and Maze of Ith or just Myriad Landscape). Even Pithing Needle looks to be a better target anyway.
Don't get me wrong, it's a good card, and I encourage you to play it if you are only looking for wins. But it's also a filler, it's like playing 98 cards instead of 99 but you have to pay mana to replace it (at least 1).
The fact that it is an artifact makes ALL the difference.
Let's see some cards or some chains (with more steps that it needs to, just to show how I can draw any card in the chain to get there):
Tezzeret the Seeker (tutor it directly, also untaps it)
Muddle the Mixture > Merchant Scroll > Mystical Tutor > Fabricate (tutor it directly)
Merchant Scroll > Mystical Tutor > Muddle the Mixture > Vedalken Æthermage > Trinket Mage > Expedition Map > Academy Ruins (recursion)
Turn 4 Thran Dynamo into Phyrexian Metamorph
It's redundant but it's about 10 cards in the deck that, which is a lot. Looking at creatures... I have no cards at all that can tutor one if it's not a Wizard or a 2-CMC creature.
Just for the mana cost... looking at how many times I would copy something else than an artifact or a creature... it's just so good. Clever is too often nearly dead. I don't want an opening hand with Phyrexian Metamorph, I just want to tutor it when I need it.
And I really appreciate it despite me arguing against every suggestions ;p ... that's just how it works, I'm considering every suggestions that people make and try to invalidate them. If I can't, then it's probably because I should play the card suggested.
I'd love to play 120 cards to be able to add Basilisk Collar, a couple of beaters, Timetwister and Time Spiral... but I have to do with 99 cards.
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
- Tectonic Edge
+ Wasteland
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I don't know. Actually, Heidar, Rimewind Master could totally be my general instead of Ixidor, his ability is probably more relevant, even without a lot of ETB triggers, it just resets my morph (and Cloudform), or control what's on the battlefield. That's beautiful Maze of Ith you have... return it to your hand!
Patron Wizard has been a little bit underwhelming in multiplayer. He's good in 1v1 for sure but that's about it. Maybe this is it. I don't have any way to grant haste to Heidar, this is probably the reason why I'm not putting too much considerations into it right now, but if someone builds this deck, this is definitely something to consider (as an alternative general).
Rules Advisor
Pauper decks: Weenie Tokens — Zombies
My own rules when building a Commander deck:
1) Underrated general that I can build around but the deck must work without him/her too.
2) Every card must be legal in both banlists.
3) No infinite combo that could win (and ruin) instantly a multiplayer game.
4) Synergy at all costs; stay on theme, avoid goodstuff.
I never though of using Cloudform with bouncing, I was actually contemplating dropping it to make room for something better, but now that I realize I can bounce it ever turn using Heidar it'll almost definitely be staying. I think I'll have to reconsider some of the bounce engines I passed up. It's a pity Equilibrium is creature only (and can't target the cast spell), if it could we would have something very, very, broken. Or at the least a 2 card psuedo-Mastery of the Unseen
Edit:
Just realized I got this thread mixed up with with this one:
No matter, what I said still holds.
If you toss in some Lightning Greaves you can avoid the "penalty" of creature tap abilities.
I don't/probably won't run Patron Wizard myself. It's a nice card, but I don't really want to lean to heavily on the wizard theme. However I like the idea of it. If done properly with Crystal Shard and Erratic Portal you could force someone into a pickle. Especially if you leave them untapped. If you manage to empty their mana by attempting to counter something integral, you could potentially bounce 4 or their permanents to their hand.