Hi, I'm sort of back. I'll update my other decks sooner or later.
This current list hasn't been playtested at all yet, but that will occur within the next couple of days and I'm sure a lot of changes will be made. This list is very much all in on the commander, as with most of my decks. In this case, that means just playing as many instants and sorceries as possible, getting access to as much coloured mana as possible, derping around, controlling the game, and eventually(?) winning with an infinite combo or pure attrition. I might be a bit low on control or actual wincons right now, but I would like to test that out first because I still don't really have a handle on exactly how the deck is going to play.
Also, no extra turns. Just no. I'm going to be taking up enough of people's time as is.
Okay, first round of changes after about 20 games of playtesting. In general, I feel like winning once I get to four counters or so is pretty easy (and you never tend to go over 6 or so before the game ends), so I think I need more stuff to get to that point and a bit less durdle. Also I think turn 3 Mizzix or earlier is absolutely critical. I've been mulling pretty aggressively with that aim. Finally, I need to be able to protect the little guy a lot better.
-Melek (clunky)
-Seething Song (pretty small amount of value, and it's red mana which is tricky. Would definitely play if it added blue...)
-Scour from Existence (I need removal early, not when I have loads of counters)
-Sakashima (I never actually wanted to cast it, again just too clunky)
-Acquire (nothing to get that I actually care about - Bribery gets Prophets!)
-Dominate (I like it, but it's ultimately too niche)
-Fanning the Flames (was only in there as a finisher, but I can Comet Storm or just Reiterate any burn spell as a finisher)
-Insurrection (by the time I can cast it, I can generally just win anyway or would prefer a board wipe)
-Treasure Cruise (super clunky to cast given that I generally don't want to exile my spells, and not really that much value compared to DTT)
-Spell Burst (as amazing as it looks in practice, it never really gets to counter relevant things for "free". Literally every time I had it I would have rather had any of the other X counters)
-Knowledge Exploitation (too damn expensive, versatile though it may be)
-Mind Over Matter (another one that looks amazing on paper, but in practice any time I did cast it any untap effect would have won instantly, and a lot of the time I just didn't want to spend the 6)
-Meekstone (never relevant against any of the 15-ish different decks I've tested against so far, most of which were big creature based, so blech)
-Increasing Vengeance (rarely want to actually use rather than just casting something else, especially at double red)
-Island (can afford to skimp a little bit)
Tezzeret's Gambit is strong here. I'm generally always against small-effect cards (such as minor draw), but I think things synergize too well to overlook. This is the one pure-xp / cycling card the deck wants. It bumps you from "setting up" to "I'm there" quicker than anything else. 1xp becomes 3, and you net a card - at only 2 mana (2 life is almost always negligible). 2+ counters makes the profit margin exceedingly great: Going from 3 to 5 counters and digging in 2 more cards - for basically free. Later game recasting via Past/Mastery is still profit, netting you more cards and more XP.
Tezzeret's Gambit is strong here. I'm generally always against small-effect cards (such as minor draw), but I think things synergize too well to overlook. This is the one pure-xp / cycling card the deck wants. It bumps you from "setting up" to "I'm there" quicker than anything else. 1xp becomes 3, and you net a card - at only 2 mana (2 life is almost always negligible). 2+ counters makes the profit margin exceedingly great: Going from 3 to 5 counters and digging in 2 more cards - for basically free. Later game recasting via Past/Mastery is still profit, netting you more cards and more XP.
I'm an idiot. It was a late cut, but that was only because I totally forgot you could prolif players (having played infect in Standard for about a year straight). Thanks for the catch.
I don't think any of the other prolif cards are worth a spot, sadly.
I have a bunch more cards I'd like to rotate through when I have playtested the current list a bit, but in particular I'm wondering whether Overburden/Embargo/Torpor Orb are worth it after the failure of Meekstone.
How well is Steam Augury working for you? It feels clunky to me - you'll always miss the best out of the top 5. Perhaps playing shows it to be better?
Have you considered Peer Through Depths? You only have 2 non-mana cards that it can't grab. So basically, once you have the mana/counters you need, it digs to make sure you're not just drawing more mana. It has a 97%+ hit rate here, and an average of 2 and half cards to choose from. It seems like Impulse #2 for the deck. Of a similar vein: Uncovered Clues has a 94% hit rate for 1 card, and a 70% hit rate for 2. Foresee even feels like it could be better. You see one card less, but you know you'll get the best out of them. The last two are sorceries, though, but they all reduce down to U, rather than UR. It's give and take.
For Embargo, etc, are you dealing with Hordes or Fat mainly? Crawlspace works well for Hordes.
How well is Steam Augury working for you? It feels clunky to me - you'll always miss the best out of the top 5. Perhaps playing shows it to be better?
Have you considered Peer Through Depths? You only have 2 non-mana cards that it can't grab. So basically, once you have the mana/counters you need, it digs to make sure you're not just drawing more mana. It has a 97%+ hit rate here, and an average of 2 and half cards to choose from. It seems like Impulse #2 for the deck. Of a similar vein: Uncovered Clues has a 94% hit rate for 1 card, and a 70% hit rate for 2. Foresee even feels like it could be better. You see one card less, but you know you'll get the best out of them. The last two are sorceries, though, but they all reduce down to U, rather than UR. It's give and take.
Yeah, being instant is absolutely key for Steam Augury. If it were a sorcery I would never play it, and likewise if Foresee was an instant I'd play that in a heartbeat. Plus, most of the large-scale instant draw is UU, so it's quite hard to avoid that part of it. And I do think it's important that it gives you a lot of cards, because card quality is generally fairly homogeneous and the ones that go to the yard can still be useful.
That said, I'm wondering whether something like Thoughtflare wouldn't be better. Probably worth a try.
Peer Through Depths is a very good call though, not as a replacement for Augury but in its own right. I'll have to figure out how to make room for it at some point (since at least some of the cards I added will probably be binned at some point).
For Embargo, etc, are you dealing with Hordes or Fat mainly? Crawlspace works well for Hordes.
My playgroup is pretty diverse. I'm up against the whole spectrum from a 40-power commander to ten bazillion Saprolings. I'm trying to think of fairly general-purpose cards because I don't have room for many of them.
EDIT: Something else I haven't quite been able to figure out is whether it's possible to easily slot in some more combo wincons, because currently I am pretty much completely reliant on Reiterate to win. This hasn't yet been a problem, but it certainly could be. I don't really want to run any combos that get in the way too much though, especially since my current wincon of choice (Reiterate + land untapper into infinite copies of whatever cards are in my hand - Firemind's Foresight into Brainstorm + Reality Spasm + Reiterate is a neat little package, by the way) consists entirely of cards that are good by themselves too.
Thoughtflare is good. Again, it's a card less seen, but it ensures you get the best of the bunch. Having not played the deck, I'd defer to your judgement, but it just feels like you'll eventually get into situations where you need to cast Steam Augury to find an answer you really need - and ultimately ensure that you don't get it.
The only other candidate for raw fixed drawing at instant speed that I'd look at is Intellectual Offering. This is highly dependent on your playgroup though, and if you have a solid person to hit with it. With an xp counter or two, and a mana rock or two, it could even be "free-ish" - assuming you have a good target. It's political, though.
Defense:
Dissipation Field - (Have I mentioned I love unusual cards) - It's a nice rattlesnake that works against voltron just as good as tokens. No one wants to bounce their commander (especially all suited up) unless they have to, and no one wants to lose a horde. That said, it'll never save you if the opponent decides its worth ending you. It's much like a pillow fort: it's a wall against the decision to attack you, not against the act itself. Mileage varies greatly between playgroups, but I find it a better deterrent than Propaganda.
Honestly, it looks like you have some solid creature removal. I mean, you can back up Magmaquake with Starstorm, but its more of the same. Perhaps its getting it when you need it and forcing it through that's the issue? Personal Tutor? Long-Term Plans (with your draw for quick access)?
Ancestral Knowledge is a strong card, even if it's so underused you've possible never even seen it played. Drop it, draw what you need - especially with Brainstorm or other quicker draws - and then let it go ahead and shuffle that stuff you weren't so interested in back up. If you can draw what you want out of it (and this deck packs a lot of draw), it's some of the best dig. It just needs a helping hand when it drops.
Combo:
Frantic Search goes infinite with Reiterate - infinite mana and digging to get the wincon. It's acceptable dig normally, but becomes mana accel (with filtering options) after a couple XP. This is a 2 card instant combo that wins as soon as you grab them. Starting at just 1 xp, 6 mana is all you need to combo off and win (2 xp is only 4 mana, etc).
Reality Spasm is defensive when it needs to be, mana accel with XP out, and generates infinite mana with Reiterate. It's also a 2cc instant, so can replace Reset via FForsight, and also let you combo out on your turn.
This current list hasn't been playtested at all yet, but that will occur within the next couple of days and I'm sure a lot of changes will be made.This list is very much all in on the commander, as with most of my decks. In this case, that means just playing as many instants and sorceries as possible, getting access to as much coloured mana as possible, derping around, controlling the game, and eventually(?) winning with an infinite combo or pure attrition.I might be a bit low on control or actual wincons right now, but I would like to test that out first because I still don't really have a handle on exactly how the deck is going to play.Also, no extra turns. Just no. I'm going to be taking up enough of people's time as is.
1 Mizzix of the Izmagnus
Instants
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Brainstorm
1 Brutal Expulsion
1 Capsize
1 Chaos Warp
1 Comet Storm
1 Commune with Lava
1 Condescend
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Dig Through Time
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Firemind's Foresight
1 Force of Will
1 Impulse
1 Intuition
1 Izzet Charm
1 Magma Jet
1 Magmaquake
1 Misdirection
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Power Sink
1 Reality Shift
1 Reality Spasm
1 Reiterate
1 Reset
1 Rewind
1 Steam Augury
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Syncopate
1 Turnabout
1 All is Dust
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Braingeyser
1 Bribery
1 Call to Mind
1 Compulsive Research
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Gamble
1 Mana Geyser
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mind Spring
1 Mizzix's Mastery
1 Mystic Retrieval
1 Past in Flames
1 Pull from the Deep
1 Recoup
1 Tezzeret's Gambit
1 Time Spiral
Artifacts
1 Chrome Mox
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Fire Diamond
1 Izzet Signet
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sky Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Star Compass
1 Thought Vessel
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Command Beacon
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Strand
16 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Mountain
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Shivan Reef
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Volcanic Island
1 Wooded Foothills
-Melek (clunky)
-Seething Song (pretty small amount of value, and it's red mana which is tricky. Would definitely play if it added blue...)
-Scour from Existence (I need removal early, not when I have loads of counters)
-Sakashima (I never actually wanted to cast it, again just too clunky)
-Acquire (nothing to get that I actually care about - Bribery gets Prophets!)
-Dominate (I like it, but it's ultimately too niche)
-Fanning the Flames (was only in there as a finisher, but I can Comet Storm or just Reiterate any burn spell as a finisher)
-Insurrection (by the time I can cast it, I can generally just win anyway or would prefer a board wipe)
-Treasure Cruise (super clunky to cast given that I generally don't want to exile my spells, and not really that much value compared to DTT)
-Spell Burst (as amazing as it looks in practice, it never really gets to counter relevant things for "free". Literally every time I had it I would have rather had any of the other X counters)
-Knowledge Exploitation (too damn expensive, versatile though it may be)
-Mind Over Matter (another one that looks amazing on paper, but in practice any time I did cast it any untap effect would have won instantly, and a lot of the time I just didn't want to spend the 6)
-Meekstone (never relevant against any of the 15-ish different decks I've tested against so far, most of which were big creature based, so blech)
-Increasing Vengeance (rarely want to actually use rather than just casting something else, especially at double red)
-Island (can afford to skimp a little bit)
+Magmaquake
+All is Dust
+Blasphemous Act
+Lightning Greaves
+Darksteel Plate
+Mox Diamond
+Reality Shift
+Recoup
+Misdirection
+Magma Jet
+Impulse
+Brutal Expulsion
+Reset
+Izzet Charm
+Force of Will
Let's see how that goes.
No longer staff here.
-Leyline of Anticipation
+Tezzeret's Gambit
I don't think any of the other prolif cards are worth a spot, sadly.
I have a bunch more cards I'd like to rotate through when I have playtested the current list a bit, but in particular I'm wondering whether Overburden/Embargo/Torpor Orb are worth it after the failure of Meekstone.
Have you considered Peer Through Depths? You only have 2 non-mana cards that it can't grab. So basically, once you have the mana/counters you need, it digs to make sure you're not just drawing more mana. It has a 97%+ hit rate here, and an average of 2 and half cards to choose from. It seems like Impulse #2 for the deck. Of a similar vein: Uncovered Clues has a 94% hit rate for 1 card, and a 70% hit rate for 2. Foresee even feels like it could be better. You see one card less, but you know you'll get the best out of them. The last two are sorceries, though, but they all reduce down to U, rather than UR. It's give and take.
For Embargo, etc, are you dealing with Hordes or Fat mainly?
Crawlspace works well for Hordes.
No longer staff here.
That said, I'm wondering whether something like Thoughtflare wouldn't be better. Probably worth a try.
Peer Through Depths is a very good call though, not as a replacement for Augury but in its own right. I'll have to figure out how to make room for it at some point (since at least some of the cards I added will probably be binned at some point).
My playgroup is pretty diverse. I'm up against the whole spectrum from a 40-power commander to ten bazillion Saprolings. I'm trying to think of fairly general-purpose cards because I don't have room for many of them.
EDIT: Something else I haven't quite been able to figure out is whether it's possible to easily slot in some more combo wincons, because currently I am pretty much completely reliant on Reiterate to win. This hasn't yet been a problem, but it certainly could be. I don't really want to run any combos that get in the way too much though, especially since my current wincon of choice (Reiterate + land untapper into infinite copies of whatever cards are in my hand - Firemind's Foresight into Brainstorm + Reality Spasm + Reiterate is a neat little package, by the way) consists entirely of cards that are good by themselves too.
The only other candidate for raw fixed drawing at instant speed that I'd look at is Intellectual Offering. This is highly dependent on your playgroup though, and if you have a solid person to hit with it. With an xp counter or two, and a mana rock or two, it could even be "free-ish" - assuming you have a good target. It's political, though.
Defense:
Dissipation Field - (Have I mentioned I love unusual cards) - It's a nice rattlesnake that works against voltron just as good as tokens. No one wants to bounce their commander (especially all suited up) unless they have to, and no one wants to lose a horde. That said, it'll never save you if the opponent decides its worth ending you. It's much like a pillow fort: it's a wall against the decision to attack you, not against the act itself. Mileage varies greatly between playgroups, but I find it a better deterrent than Propaganda.
Honestly, it looks like you have some solid creature removal. I mean, you can back up Magmaquake with Starstorm, but its more of the same. Perhaps its getting it when you need it and forcing it through that's the issue? Personal Tutor? Long-Term Plans (with your draw for quick access)?
Ancestral Knowledge is a strong card, even if it's so underused you've possible never even seen it played. Drop it, draw what you need - especially with Brainstorm or other quicker draws - and then let it go ahead and shuffle that stuff you weren't so interested in back up. If you can draw what you want out of it (and this deck packs a lot of draw), it's some of the best dig. It just needs a helping hand when it drops.
Combo:
Frantic Search goes infinite with Reiterate - infinite mana and digging to get the wincon. It's acceptable dig normally, but becomes mana accel (with filtering options) after a couple XP. This is a 2 card instant combo that wins as soon as you grab them. Starting at just 1 xp, 6 mana is all you need to combo off and win (2 xp is only 4 mana, etc).
Reality Spasm is defensive when it needs to be, mana accel with XP out, and generates infinite mana with Reiterate. It's also a 2cc instant, so can replace Reset via FForsight, and also let you combo out on your turn.
Mirror Sheen can be backup to reiterate for Turnabout.
I'll think a little for more unique combos, as this is fairly repetitive.
No longer staff here.