These should be good. Coloured mana is preferred here, Torment can be a solid win con, Dire Fleet is a decent reanimation target, and Betrayal ends most tokens. Playtesting will tell me if these are solid changes, but they look good from here.
I don't think Dire Fleet Ravager is a very good inclusion. He can definitely do a lot of damage, but that's about all he does relative to some of your other juicy targets and I don't know if it's worth a slot here. To me, he doesn't really win the game or offer massive utility, so I would look for other reanimation targets almost every time.
Night of Souls' Betrayal is a card I really wanted to like but is kind of a meta call. Against Edgar Markov, it's absolutely savage, but I found it dead weight in a lot of matchups. Shaving damage off of each attack sent your way can be very relevant in a control deck, though, so. I'd keep a close eye on it.
Can't recommend Torment of Hailfire enough, though. It's a bit ubiquitous in black these days, but it's a staple for a reason. It just ends games, especially if you've got a few Paradox Engine untaps rocking.
How has Mox Amber fared? I'm pretty skeptical of the card and haven't seen it do much work in EDH myself but I've been mulling over whether I should include it in my own Dralnu list since mine is very much a Paradox Engine deck.
Speaking of Engine, I see you've cut quite a few mana rocks, down to a paltry six. I know you're not really focusing on the Engine as a win condition, but I would consider adding at least a couple more rocks back into the list to help reach a critical mass to have Engine fuel spectacular plays. Also, rocks are very good on their own in colors that don't ramp very well. Just something to consider.
I don't think Dire Fleet Ravager is a very good inclusion. He can definitely do a lot of damage, but that's about all he does relative to some of your other juicy targets and I don't know if it's worth a slot here. To me, he doesn't really win the game or offer massive utility, so I would look for other reanimation targets almost every time.
Night of Souls' Betrayal is a card I really wanted to like but is kind of a meta call. Against Edgar Markov, it's absolutely savage, but I found it dead weight in a lot of matchups. Shaving damage off of each attack sent your way can be very relevant in a control deck, though, so. I'd keep a close eye on it.
Can't recommend Torment of Hailfire enough, though. It's a bit ubiquitous in black these days, but it's a staple for a reason. It just ends games, especially if you've got a few Paradox Engine untaps rocking.
How has Mox Amber fared? I'm pretty skeptical of the card and haven't seen it do much work in EDH myself but I've been mulling over whether I should include it in my own Dralnu list since mine is very much a Paradox Engine deck.
Speaking of Engine, I see you've cut quite a few mana rocks, down to a paltry six. I know you're not really focusing on the Engine as a win condition, but I would consider adding at least a couple more rocks back into the list to help reach a critical mass to have Engine fuel spectacular plays. Also, rocks are very good on their own in colors that don't ramp very well. Just something to consider.
Thanks for the feedback!
Dire Fleet, yeah, I know. It seems like I have enough (better) reanimation targets here, so I may shift it to another deck. NoSB is really here for tokens, and it could be absolutely redundant. I'll give it a go, but I could be dropping it if it flops.
How has Mox Amber fared? I'm pretty skeptical of the card and haven't seen it do much work in EDH myself but I've been mulling over whether I should include it in my own Dralnu list since mine is very much a Paradox Engine deck.
That's exactly why it's here. I'll be honest, I haven't pulled it since adding it, but I am skeptical. There really isn't a situation in which it does anything else. It won't help me cast Dralnu, and there's not a lot else that'll help me put it to use earlier. It'll tap for U if I land early Baral, but otherwise it's a flop until I land Paradox Engine.
I did try to pull out most of the rocks that produce colorless, as it's of far less use to me here. I may have gone overboard. I could probably stand to add a Fellwar Stone, Coldsteel Heart and such for early color fixing and PE shenanigans. It's strange to see a list that doesn't include Sol Ring, too, I guess.
Thanks again for the feedback, always appreciated.
I had another think over and playtest after the changes. NoSB doesn't work all that well here, and was better as Metallurgic Summonings, so it's coming back in. It gives me a defensible position, and an opportunity to pull the plug on my graveyard and bring everything back to hand. I looked again at my reanimation targets, and Dire Fleet Ravager didn't really compare. It goes for Coldsteel Heart, and Counterspell goes for Mind Stone. I did question whether I should drop Counterspell or Insidious Will, but I ended up opting for versatility.
Had an interesting game of 1v1 against an Oloro deck yesterday. My wife and I both agreed that playing control vs control was a bit of a stalemate, but it was fun nonetheless.
It more or less confirmed that Mox Amber is probably best off in a different deck, which is a shame. It may fit into Glissa, the Traitor ok.
Otherwise, had a great early setup before having a ton of rocks exiled, got Con Sphinx online a couple of times, and we more or less stalemated. The one thing I can verify is that Archfiend of Ifnir is pretty damn savage. I had it online, played Whispering Madness for 16, obliterated the crap out of a whole bunch of gods and tokens, but unfortunately couldn't find anything to blast away Oloro's life total enough to make a difference. It was a super fun game nonetheless, and confirmed some of the cards I was looking to playtest. Archfiend is decent if you can get enough looting going on. There was probably enough iterations of Soul sisters and Blood Artists in the deck I faced to justify Night of Soul's Betrayal, too. If it keeps them off the board, that's great. I probably need to lean down my counter suite, too. I spent far too long with high cost control spells in hand - Desertion, Aethersnatch, Time Stop. I'm probably going to drop Desertion at least for a simple Counterspell.
Koko is a finisher. Most of my creatures are here to make the engine run smoothly, or slow down my opponents in the case of Jin, Tidespout et al. Koko has the ability to end a game, which I was in need of. PG I'll kind of miss, but it's a little outclassed, and BSZ is solid removal that can deal with most any threat, so it's a decent add.
Having the best thing on the battlefield at any given time is no joke. Teferi is a solid card, but he's no Leyline of Anticipation. I can live without him.
The list here I've gone through and amended to reflect the IRL list and what I'm running online, as it's got a little blurry. The only recent update is the addition of Tamiyo, the Moon Sage in favour of Pongify. The idea behind this was to have her act as a red herring while locking down key pieces where necessary. No one in their right mind will let me hit that emblem, but if by some crazy chance it ever happens, there's no doubt I can win right off the back of it then and there.
In terms of playtesting, the deck has been running really well recently. I had a hilariously overpowered game recently, starting with a T1 Sol ring into Talisman of Indulgence, a T3 Consecrated Sphinx and a T4 Archfiend of Ifnir. Essentially, every turn cycle the Archfiend shredded the board with anything over my maximum hand size, a couple of players swept once they saw what was happening, and the game basically ended after a few turns with Tamiyo, the Moon Sage out. Essentially, Archfiend has been a really, really solid add. I'd like to add more looting effects (Search for Azcanta if money allowed), but at the moment it's a one-sided Black Sun's Zenith each turn.
Looks like there's a small coding error for Archfiend of Ifnir. But I'm glad that the Archfiend has tested favorably for you. My wife's Kaalia deck regularly finds Avacyn, Angel of Hope which invalidates the traditional removal that I'm running. I'll try the Archfiend out myself and see how it does.
Yep, fixed that up. It has been really solid - that being said, it's very much dependent on what you're running. Granted, it is contingent on what else you're running. Obviously it needs a strong loot/discard synergy or heavy draw. Dralnu is the deck for that sort of thing with things like Windfall, Whispering Madness, Ancient Excavation, Jin-Gitaxias, Core-Augur and Consecrated Sphinx. It does make you think twice about hand size modifiers like Thought Vessel and Reliquary Tower, but we can always hold those back.
I've talked a little about these over on jenncertainty's primer thread, and it's probably time to make them official.
In: Nezahal, the Primal Tide Tendrils of Agony
I've proxied Nezahal a couple of games now, and it's worth it just for the draw. Noncreature covers a wide area, and conservatively in a turn cycle just with mana rocks and ramp he can draw 4 to your hand easy. The hand size modifier is nice, and his ability works well with reanimation, and is kinda cute/devastating with Archfiend of Ifnir. Tendrils of Agony is pretty easy to blast someone away with - I don't really intend to fully combo out with it, but it may well seem that way from time to time.
I'm not overly sad to lose the Eldrazi, without a way to swing in multiple times or other sac synergy it's a little wasted here. It's a little too Timmy for my likings anyway. Dismember I am...in two minds about. It's cheap easy unavoidable removal. But I don't really know what else to cut, so trying without this.
In other news, I have been keeping an eye out for possible applicants from the Guilds of Ravnica release. Honestly, there's really not a ton, although the surveil mechanic IS nice. I like Doom Whisperer, Price of Fame, Mission Briefing and Connive // Concoct but none well enough to grant an immediate slot. Notion Rain is similar enough to Read the Bones that I could see it doing good work. Obviously it'd be nice to pick up Watery Grave and Chromatic Lantern too. We'll see how far the budget can stretch.
I'm a fan. Nezahal, Primal Tide is certainly much stronger than I initially gave it credit for and I've been quite pleased at how wrong I've been. Being able to protect itself from removal is also really nice as well, making it a more consistent, less threatening way of accruing card advantage. Besides being a Dinosaur.
The card I'd be most interested in trying out is Mnemonic Betrayal. I think it could play VERY well with Paradox Engine, since most graveyards will have at LEAST 2 castable spells in it. With the Engine in play, I think it could be a consistent way to end the game (most of those early cards are probably tutors of some sort or a card draw spell) since you are allowed to use your opponent's 'yards to keep chaining spells together. For decks that aren't as focused on the Engine, I think it's a pass.
I'm a fan. Nezahal, Primal Tide is certainly much stronger than I initially gave it credit for and I've been quite pleased at how wrong I've been. Being able to protect itself from removal is also really nice as well, making it a more consistent, less threatening way of accruing card advantage. Besides being a Dinosaur.
Yeah, it's been good. An uncounterable draw engine is nothing to sniff at, and it does what it does well. No regrets here.
The card I'd be most interested in trying out is Mnemonic Betrayal. I think it could play VERY well with Paradox Engine, since most graveyards will have at LEAST 2 castable spells in it. With the Engine in play, I think it could be a consistent way to end the game (most of those early cards are probably tutors of some sort or a card draw spell) since you are allowed to use your opponent's 'yards to keep chaining spells together. For decks that aren't as focused on the Engine, I think it's a pass.
I did look at it. You're right, it could be a strong addition, and I don't necessarily think it's restricted to being a Paradox Engine addition - of course it'll be busted with the engine, everything is. Even picking up some ramp, draw, removal, rocks, walkers or value critters is good, and might even help to string a Tendrils of Agony storm together. It's reasonably costed, too. I'd have loved it to be an instant, but I can see why it isn't, if not for keeping the card from being too strong simply to keep timing less complicated.
The surveil adds....yeah, I guess there's nothing really strong enough to give a slot straight away. I like Doom Whisperer, but as far as looting engines go, I would really, really prefer Search for Azcanta - I need to pick one up. And I'm happy with every other creature I run - there really isn't room for one more.
Hey there Toc, I was just looking at your list and noticed you have Windfall listed twice in your deck list in the OP I saw you were mentioning the Surveil cards before. How do you feel about Notion Rain vs Read the Bones?
Hey there Toc, I was just looking at your list and noticed you have Windfall listed twice in your deck list in the OP I saw you were mentioning the Surveil cards before. How do you feel about Notion Rain vs Read the Bones?
Hey Kelzam! Yep, just did a quick count and had it coming through at 101 with commander. So Windfall was a double up, not omitting another card.
As far as the surveil cards, I like the mechanic, but there's really not much out there that does enough to stand up in EDH. Really, the only card I'm considering is the one you've mentioned. Mechanically, it's probably strictly superior to Read the Bones in that we can still make use of cards we turf, whereas they do nothing for us on the bottom of our library. I guess the tradeoff is colour fixing, but I don't have too many problems in that respect, so I'm not overly concerned. I'll probably pick up a copy next LGS visit.
In other news, I've moved out Altar of Dementia for Ashnod's Altar. Both are emergency sacs anyway, but given the predilection for spellslinging, that 2 is probably more valuable than mill.
I'm surprised you're not higher on Doom Whisperer. That feels like a strong contender for best card of the set in EDH. It's high enough impact that I wouldn't feel bad about burning a reanimation spell on it and cheap enough to cast normally. The activated ability is extremely strong, especially when you have an EDH starting life total and when you're playing as heavily out of the GY as a Dralnu reanimator list. A decent sized evasive body is just gravy. I'd run that before either of the walkers you currently have and probably ahead of a couple of the reanimation targets.
The only reason I'm not rebuilding my Dralnu list to play with that is because I'm greedy and want to run Underrealm Lich in the same deck.
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I'm surprised you're not higher on Doom Whisperer. That feels like a strong contender for best card of the set in EDH. It's high enough impact that I wouldn't feel bad about burning a reanimation spell on it and cheap enough to cast normally. The activated ability is extremely strong, especially when you have an EDH starting life total and when you're playing as heavily out of the GY as a Dralnu reanimator list. A decent sized evasive body is just gravy. I'd run that before either of the walkers you currently have and probably ahead of a couple of the reanimation targets.
The only reason I'm not rebuilding my Dralnu list to play with that is because I'm greedy and want to run Underrealm Lich in the same deck.
I won't lie, I have looked at it and it's sweet. It's currently up at $30 from my LGS, so that's my biggest deterrent. I also have wanted to hear some feedback before jumping on surveil as I haven't really been able to playtest much recently. Were it to go in, it would likely take the place of Tamiyo, or maybe Voracious Reader - he might get big, but he's got hoops to jump through and doesn't have evasion.
Price is definitely going to be a sticking point for a while. I don't follow standard but I can't imagine that it's going to be anything but great in that environment as long as there's enough black cards around it to make a deck, so I'm guessing price is going to stay high. I'm planning on a BUG control/reanimator list running it (because greedy), so I'll probably post about it either here or in jenncertainty's Dralnu thread at some point.
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Price is definitely going to be a sticking point for a while. I don't follow standard but I can't imagine that it's going to be anything but great in that environment as long as there's enough black cards around it to make a deck, so I'm guessing price is going to stay high. I'm planning on a BUG control/reanimator list running it (because greedy), so I'll probably post about it either here or in jenncertainty's Dralnu thread at some point.
I will look forward to hearing how it goes. I was hopeful it would perform well, as a lot of the improvements I could make to my list are sort of out of my price range and harder to find older reprints. Oh well, standard will rotate at some point.
Tamiyo is probably not quite in the right place here. I have plans for her, but they're not in this deck. Dark Petition nine times out of ten will be a tutor for 2. Should be pretty strong. Notion Rain I have high hopes for. Theoretically it should be an upgrade from Read the Bones.
So, I took apart a deck I haven't played much yesterday (Daretti - I just found it boring tbh), and there were some straight up bombs in there. I'd forgotten how much value was in it. There was only one addition for Dralnu, but it's a damn good one.
Easy upgrade. I've not found myself using Unwind at all, and AID is straight up devastating. I'll be looking to make a couple of further upgrades once Ultimate Masters drops too. Entomb and Reanimate bare minimum, I'm also hoping for Leyline of Anticipation to drop, but we'll see what else the set holds and go from there.
I will look forward to hearing how it goes. I was hopeful it would perform well, as a lot of the improvements I could make to my list are sort of out of my price range and harder to find older reprints. Oh well, standard will rotate at some point.
Since I noticed this thread cycle back up, I'll let you know how Doom Whisperer has gone. Short answer is that it's been solid but not insane. I don't think I've had a game where it came down without me spending at least 18-20 life into it. It's generally been setting up draws, with times where I dumped reanimation targets or gone digging for a wrath. It's never been the card I was dying to rip (unlike Underrealm Lich, because I'm running BUG to fit that in as well) and I've also never been disappointed to draw it. I'd definitely give it a shot if you get the chance but it's unlikely to drastically change how you play the deck.
If you ever shift this to BUG Lich is definitely worth a slot. I've burned through 3/4 of my deck in a game with that thing.
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I will look forward to hearing how it goes. I was hopeful it would perform well, as a lot of the improvements I could make to my list are sort of out of my price range and harder to find older reprints. Oh well, standard will rotate at some point.
Since I noticed this thread cycle back up, I'll let you know how Doom Whisperer has gone. Short answer is that it's been solid but not insane. I don't think I've had a game where it came down without me spending at least 18-20 life into it. It's generally been setting up draws, with times where I dumped reanimation targets or gone digging for a wrath. It's never been the card I was dying to rip (unlike Underrealm Lich, because I'm running BUG to fit that in as well) and I've also never been disappointed to draw it. I'd definitely give it a shot if you get the chance but it's unlikely to drastically change how you play the deck.
If you ever shift this to BUG Lich is definitely worth a slot. I've burned through 3/4 of my deck in a game with that thing.
Thanks for thinking of me! That's more or less what I expected from Doom Whisperer - without actually drawing cards for you it's reasonable advantage but not incredible advantage. That being said it's stats are great for a fantastic cost. I'll give it a shot, but probably not for a little while yet - I don't mind spending money on my decks, but I'd prefer to do it for cards that keep their value, and not simply on account of the standard environment. So I'll wait to see if it drops a little.
Underrealm Lich does look crazy good. I've been tempted to try and squeeze it into Ghave, but it's not a perfect fit there. I've been tempted by Sultai in the past, but there's no commanders I'm super psyched on in that wedge at present.
So, yeah. Ultimate Masters was pretty spicy, and it was good to Dralnu. I have to admit I was hoping for a Leyline of Anticipation reprint too, but until then I do have a spare Vedalken Orrery if I find I really need flash. I'd probably swap it out for Unfulfilled Desires or Deadly Tempest. Pretty happy to be making the current additions regardless.
In:
Dire Fleet Ravager
Gilded Lotus
Torment of Hailfire
Night of Souls' Betrayal
Out:
Thran Dynamo
Metallurgic Summonings
Rite of Replication
Malicious Affliction
These should be good. Coloured mana is preferred here, Torment can be a solid win con, Dire Fleet is a decent reanimation target, and Betrayal ends most tokens. Playtesting will tell me if these are solid changes, but they look good from here.
Night of Souls' Betrayal is a card I really wanted to like but is kind of a meta call. Against Edgar Markov, it's absolutely savage, but I found it dead weight in a lot of matchups. Shaving damage off of each attack sent your way can be very relevant in a control deck, though, so. I'd keep a close eye on it.
Can't recommend Torment of Hailfire enough, though. It's a bit ubiquitous in black these days, but it's a staple for a reason. It just ends games, especially if you've got a few Paradox Engine untaps rocking.
How has Mox Amber fared? I'm pretty skeptical of the card and haven't seen it do much work in EDH myself but I've been mulling over whether I should include it in my own Dralnu list since mine is very much a Paradox Engine deck.
Speaking of Engine, I see you've cut quite a few mana rocks, down to a paltry six. I know you're not really focusing on the Engine as a win condition, but I would consider adding at least a couple more rocks back into the list to help reach a critical mass to have Engine fuel spectacular plays. Also, rocks are very good on their own in colors that don't ramp very well. Just something to consider.
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HONK HONK
Thanks for the feedback!
Dire Fleet, yeah, I know. It seems like I have enough (better) reanimation targets here, so I may shift it to another deck. NoSB is really here for tokens, and it could be absolutely redundant. I'll give it a go, but I could be dropping it if it flops.
That's exactly why it's here. I'll be honest, I haven't pulled it since adding it, but I am skeptical. There really isn't a situation in which it does anything else. It won't help me cast Dralnu, and there's not a lot else that'll help me put it to use earlier. It'll tap for U if I land early Baral, but otherwise it's a flop until I land Paradox Engine.
I did try to pull out most of the rocks that produce colorless, as it's of far less use to me here. I may have gone overboard. I could probably stand to add a Fellwar Stone, Coldsteel Heart and such for early color fixing and PE shenanigans. It's strange to see a list that doesn't include Sol Ring, too, I guess.
Thanks again for the feedback, always appreciated.
+
Metallurgic Summonings
Coldsteel Heart
Mind Stone
-
Dire Fleet Ravager
Night of Souls' Betrayal
Counterspell
It more or less confirmed that Mox Amber is probably best off in a different deck, which is a shame. It may fit into Glissa, the Traitor ok.
Otherwise, had a great early setup before having a ton of rocks exiled, got Con Sphinx online a couple of times, and we more or less stalemated. The one thing I can verify is that Archfiend of Ifnir is pretty damn savage. I had it online, played Whispering Madness for 16, obliterated the crap out of a whole bunch of gods and tokens, but unfortunately couldn't find anything to blast away Oloro's life total enough to make a difference. It was a super fun game nonetheless, and confirmed some of the cards I was looking to playtest. Archfiend is decent if you can get enough looting going on. There was probably enough iterations of Soul sisters and Blood Artists in the deck I faced to justify Night of Soul's Betrayal, too. If it keeps them off the board, that's great. I probably need to lean down my counter suite, too. I spent far too long with high cost control spells in hand - Desertion, Aethersnatch, Time Stop. I'm probably going to drop Desertion at least for a simple Counterspell.
I have a couple of other pieces coming on mail day - Talisman of Dominance, Lim-Dul's Vault, Exsanguinate, there might be a couple of other bits too. Can't recall off the top of my head.
2 Thought Vessel
2 Talisman of Dominance
2 Lim-Dul's Vault
2 Exsanguinate
2 Counterspell
1 Pongify
3 Frantic Search
4 Night of Souls' Betrayal
5 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
0 Mox Amber
2 Coldsteel Heart
6 Aethersnatch
6 Gather Specimens
4 Insidious Will
3 Compulsive Research
5 Desertion
5 Final Parting
6 Recurring Insight
Generally just tightening up the list in this update. A lower curve and more purposeful spells.
In:
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Black Sun's Zenith
Out:
Metallurgic Summonings
Praetor's Grasp
Koko is a finisher. Most of my creatures are here to make the engine run smoothly, or slow down my opponents in the case of Jin, Tidespout et al. Koko has the ability to end a game, which I was in need of. PG I'll kind of miss, but it's a little outclassed, and BSZ is solid removal that can deal with most any threat, so it's a decent add.
In:
Clever Impersonator
Out:
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Having the best thing on the battlefield at any given time is no joke. Teferi is a solid card, but he's no Leyline of Anticipation. I can live without him.
The list here I've gone through and amended to reflect the IRL list and what I'm running online, as it's got a little blurry. The only recent update is the addition of Tamiyo, the Moon Sage in favour of Pongify. The idea behind this was to have her act as a red herring while locking down key pieces where necessary. No one in their right mind will let me hit that emblem, but if by some crazy chance it ever happens, there's no doubt I can win right off the back of it then and there.
In terms of playtesting, the deck has been running really well recently. I had a hilariously overpowered game recently, starting with a T1 Sol ring into Talisman of Indulgence, a T3 Consecrated Sphinx and a T4 Archfiend of Ifnir. Essentially, every turn cycle the Archfiend shredded the board with anything over my maximum hand size, a couple of players swept once they saw what was happening, and the game basically ended after a few turns with Tamiyo, the Moon Sage out. Essentially, Archfiend has been a really, really solid add. I'd like to add more looting effects (Search for Azcanta if money allowed), but at the moment it's a one-sided Black Sun's Zenith each turn.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
I've talked a little about these over on jenncertainty's primer thread, and it's probably time to make them official.
In:
Nezahal, the Primal Tide
Tendrils of Agony
Out:
It that Betrays
Dismember
I've proxied Nezahal a couple of games now, and it's worth it just for the draw. Noncreature covers a wide area, and conservatively in a turn cycle just with mana rocks and ramp he can draw 4 to your hand easy. The hand size modifier is nice, and his ability works well with reanimation, and is kinda cute/devastating with Archfiend of Ifnir. Tendrils of Agony is pretty easy to blast someone away with - I don't really intend to fully combo out with it, but it may well seem that way from time to time.
I'm not overly sad to lose the Eldrazi, without a way to swing in multiple times or other sac synergy it's a little wasted here. It's a little too Timmy for my likings anyway. Dismember I am...in two minds about. It's cheap easy unavoidable removal. But I don't really know what else to cut, so trying without this.
In other news, I have been keeping an eye out for possible applicants from the Guilds of Ravnica release. Honestly, there's really not a ton, although the surveil mechanic IS nice. I like Doom Whisperer, Price of Fame, Mission Briefing and Connive // Concoct but none well enough to grant an immediate slot. Notion Rain is similar enough to Read the Bones that I could see it doing good work. Obviously it'd be nice to pick up Watery Grave and Chromatic Lantern too. We'll see how far the budget can stretch.
The card I'd be most interested in trying out is Mnemonic Betrayal. I think it could play VERY well with Paradox Engine, since most graveyards will have at LEAST 2 castable spells in it. With the Engine in play, I think it could be a consistent way to end the game (most of those early cards are probably tutors of some sort or a card draw spell) since you are allowed to use your opponent's 'yards to keep chaining spells together. For decks that aren't as focused on the Engine, I think it's a pass.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Yeah, it's been good. An uncounterable draw engine is nothing to sniff at, and it does what it does well. No regrets here.
I did look at it. You're right, it could be a strong addition, and I don't necessarily think it's restricted to being a Paradox Engine addition - of course it'll be busted with the engine, everything is. Even picking up some ramp, draw, removal, rocks, walkers or value critters is good, and might even help to string a Tendrils of Agony storm together. It's reasonably costed, too. I'd have loved it to be an instant, but I can see why it isn't, if not for keeping the card from being too strong simply to keep timing less complicated.
The surveil adds....yeah, I guess there's nothing really strong enough to give a slot straight away. I like Doom Whisperer, but as far as looting engines go, I would really, really prefer Search for Azcanta - I need to pick one up. And I'm happy with every other creature I run - there really isn't room for one more.
(Also known as Xenphire)
Hey Kelzam! Yep, just did a quick count and had it coming through at 101 with commander. So Windfall was a double up, not omitting another card.
As far as the surveil cards, I like the mechanic, but there's really not much out there that does enough to stand up in EDH. Really, the only card I'm considering is the one you've mentioned. Mechanically, it's probably strictly superior to Read the Bones in that we can still make use of cards we turf, whereas they do nothing for us on the bottom of our library. I guess the tradeoff is colour fixing, but I don't have too many problems in that respect, so I'm not overly concerned. I'll probably pick up a copy next LGS visit.
In other news, I've moved out Altar of Dementia for Ashnod's Altar. Both are emergency sacs anyway, but given the predilection for spellslinging, that 2 is probably more valuable than mill.
The only reason I'm not rebuilding my Dralnu list to play with that is because I'm greedy and want to run Underrealm Lich in the same deck.
I won't lie, I have looked at it and it's sweet. It's currently up at $30 from my LGS, so that's my biggest deterrent. I also have wanted to hear some feedback before jumping on surveil as I haven't really been able to playtest much recently. Were it to go in, it would likely take the place of Tamiyo, or maybe Voracious Reader - he might get big, but he's got hoops to jump through and doesn't have evasion.
I will look forward to hearing how it goes. I was hopeful it would perform well, as a lot of the improvements I could make to my list are sort of out of my price range and harder to find older reprints. Oh well, standard will rotate at some point.
In:
Dark Petition
Notion Rain
Out:
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Read the Bones
Tamiyo is probably not quite in the right place here. I have plans for her, but they're not in this deck. Dark Petition nine times out of ten will be a tutor for 2. Should be pretty strong. Notion Rain I have high hopes for. Theoretically it should be an upgrade from Read the Bones.
In:
All is Dust
Out:
Unwind
Easy upgrade. I've not found myself using Unwind at all, and AID is straight up devastating. I'll be looking to make a couple of further upgrades once Ultimate Masters drops too. Entomb and Reanimate bare minimum, I'm also hoping for Leyline of Anticipation to drop, but we'll see what else the set holds and go from there.
If you ever shift this to BUG Lich is definitely worth a slot. I've burned through 3/4 of my deck in a game with that thing.
Thanks for thinking of me! That's more or less what I expected from Doom Whisperer - without actually drawing cards for you it's reasonable advantage but not incredible advantage. That being said it's stats are great for a fantastic cost. I'll give it a shot, but probably not for a little while yet - I don't mind spending money on my decks, but I'd prefer to do it for cards that keep their value, and not simply on account of the standard environment. So I'll wait to see if it drops a little.
Underrealm Lich does look crazy good. I've been tempted to try and squeeze it into Ghave, but it's not a perfect fit there. I've been tempted by Sultai in the past, but there's no commanders I'm super psyched on in that wedge at present.
In:
Entomb
Reanimate
Out:
Buried Alive
Rise from the Grave
So, yeah. Ultimate Masters was pretty spicy, and it was good to Dralnu. I have to admit I was hoping for a Leyline of Anticipation reprint too, but until then I do have a spare Vedalken Orrery if I find I really need flash. I'd probably swap it out for Unfulfilled Desires or Deadly Tempest. Pretty happy to be making the current additions regardless.