My most competitive EDH deck, edging out my Memnarch deck only slightly since it's a 1 card combo deck and the Stax pieces are more effective at controlling the table.
@redtwister
The win condition is using The Chain Veil and Teferi, Temporal Archmage to continuously untap the Veil until Teferi dies. The Chain Veil alters the game state by allowing any new planeswalker object that enters the battlefield to gain all previous activations of the Chain VEil. You do this an arbitrary number of times to create infinite mana and draw your deck (using Teferi alone) and then killing everyone with a win condition of your choice. I like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and Blue Sun's Zenith. It's one of the most brutally efficient decks I've ever played, and my playgroup no longer plays against it anymore because of how good it is.
@yonuu_te
I've had great success with Consecrated Sphinx. I know it's expensive, and it takes a whole turn cycle to truly get use out of him, but I consider the Sphinx to be another win condition that is easily cast in this deck. When I'm drawing 9 cards every turn cycle, it's only a matter of time before I win since the card advantage the Sphinx yields will ensure I have a vice-grip on the game.
Let me preface Recurring Insight by saying that I don't personally prefer the draw 7's. I don't like the option of giving other players cards to interact with me or execute their game plan, and Recurring Insight gives the highest number of cards for its CMC. It's been an incredible card and I don't think it sees enough play in EDH personally.
The Metamorph could be a Copy Artifact, but the ability to clone the best creature on the board is useful. And I have a foil Promo one, so I like having it in the deck.
Any recommended replacements if you don't plan to drop $1000 or more on Mox Sapphire, Transmute Artifact and Mana Drain? I know, t's not the same deck at that point, but being not quite utterly evil, only quite evil, seems okay. I have literally everything else.
@RedTwister
I think some good budget replacements for those cards would be Mind Stone, Mana Leak, and a card of your choice. Honestly, the only important cards in the deck, in my opinion, are the following:
Truly, the rest of it is customizable to your meta and what you enjoy playing. For a long time, I ran Memnarch in my list simply because I liked him. The two basic aspects of the deck that make it work are man rocks and tutors to find The Chain Veil. I'd definitely recommend Ajcobik's thread on Teferi, since he's making a definitive Primer, for additional insight.
A quick budget list, off the top of my head, would look something like this:
I think I had a brain fart. I have Chrome Mox and Mox Opal, for some reason I though it was a mox sapphire you meant. Whole different cost curve and banned. I was only short of Mana Drain and Transmute Artifact, I have everything else. Transmute I am replacing with Long-Term Plans and I picked up an Italian Mana Drain cheap on trades last night for some cards I wasn't using.
I am very excited to get my last two cards in the mail. One of my first EDH decks was the Teferi, Mage of ZhalfirKnowledge Pool/Palinchron infinite mana deck HERO posted, but I went UWx Stax for a long time after that, with a Mayael the Anima deck to play nice <spits> with people for fun <spits>.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard
Tempo Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
@redtwister
Yup, Mox Sapphire would be all sorts of awesome here, but sadly, it's banned. I'm glad that you were able to get a Mana Drain! It's a really broken card, and I totally see why it's banned on Legacy.
Hey, I checked out Hero's thread too! I actually drew a lot of inspiration from his Primer layout for my current Primer status. He doesn't seem to be active anymore, which is too bad, but I appreciate all the work he did put in to his Primer.
@Underhill83
Thanks for visiting! I appreciate your suggestions and will consider each of them. I have considered each of those cards at one point or another, and, with the exception of Sunder, found that they were either win more or not even necessary. Savor the Moment does not help this deck's primary strategy at all, since it wants to win in only a single turn with The Chain Veil. Turnabout is almost redundant to Teferi, Temporal Archmage's minus ability, and is less abusable and synergistic with the game plan. H-Recall is actually fairly decent, I just usually preferred a counterspell in the situations when I did use it. Also note that I'm the only playing a heavy artifact deck in my playgroup, otherwise the H-Recall would be really quite good.
There's already 15 main mana rocks that I use and being able to flash back protection or High Tide on my turn with the flip Jace. I added Spell Pierce to the Sideboard, although I do want to add a couple of cards. Pithing Needle and Sorcerous Spyglass are becoming more and more attractive as time has passed and as I've evaluated the cEDH scene. There are so many activated abilities in the cEDH scene that need to be stopped, notably Food Chain, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, and Thrasios.
So I played at my friend's newly opened store last night and it was a good time. The skill level of the players at the EDH tourney were all pretty diverse, so it was a good time. I played Edric round 1 and Teferi round 2. I won with Teferi against Riku, Rashmi, and Narset. the report is below.
So the Rashmi player was first off the die roll and opened with a Top. Narset goes next and plays a land and passes. I opened with Sol Ring, Torpor Orb, Island, The Chain Veil, Thran Dynamo, The Chain Veil, and Transmute Artifact. I sensing that a T3 Teferi is a possibility, so I keep the one lander since it has the Veil. I draw a High Tide and play Sol Ring into Torpor Orb. Riku plays an Evolving Wilds and passes. Rashmi plays a land and says go. Narset plays a land and says go. I draw into a Negate and also say go. Riku says go. There are a few turns of this, so the real action starts once I draw a Chrome Mox. I imprint the Transmute Artifact since I've now drawn a Whir of Invention to replace the tutor and I already have the Veil in hand. I attempt to play Teferi and Rashmi Pacts it. Narset play's Chandra's goggles, whatever they're called, and bolts Rashmi and Riku with a copied Lightning Bolt. No creatures here! Riku recasts Riku on his turn and I cast Thran Dynamo and pass. Rashmi replays Top and passes. Narset plays Narset and passes. I cast Pull from Tomorrow for x=5 and finally draw my second land as well as a Voltaic Key and a Mox Opal. Riku has a turn of obscene Ramp, casting 3 Cultivate like cards in one turn. Rashmi attempts to Time Spiral and I counter it. Narset attacks, and with the trigger on the stack finds Omniscience. Oh no. However, he doesn't find an extra turn spell or an extra combat spell in the top 10 cards of his library, so he passes to me. Seeing that everyone is tapped out, I cast Teferi and win on my turn. I decide that Ugin is the way that I kill people, so I Ghostfire everyone to death.
There aren't a ton of 'yard-based strategies in my playgroup currently, so the adding of the cantrips is to help make the deck more consistent. It has been surprising to me how relevant Stifle has been, so I'm adding in its functional brother in Trickbind.
I've trimmed the deck's CMC a little bit and added a land and Counterbalance back into the deck. The ability to freely counter most of cEDH spells with top-deck manipulation without expending cards is great.
I'm also contemplating the draw-7's that are run in most cEDH blue decks to see if I can swallow the card advantage that I'm giving my opponents. There is also a chance for disrupting their game plans and opening hands, but my experience with them haven't been the best so far. The package that I would be adding, since Timetwister is absurdly expensive, is Memory Jar, Time Spiral, and Time Reversal. The possible cuts are Consecrated Sphinx, Pull from Tomorrow, and Phyrexian Metamorph.
EDIT: I realized I was missing the 99th card. I added Tangle Wire to the list.
Woah long time since I've posted on this list. Granted, not too much has changed in this list. There is a super scary hate card that they're printing in Dominaria which kinda shuts down this deck and many other cEDH decks. Damping Sphere is absolutely busted for its CMC and will be another super important hate piece that needs to be countered and played around.
Otherwise, this deck is good enough for my group that they no longer want to play against it. Winning as much as I do with it and as consistently as it does has been a real drain on my playgroup, so I'm retiring the deck for a little while. I think I'm going to build a Brago list instead, but I'll keep up to date on this decklist and adjust as new cards come out.
It's been a while since I posted in this thread, but I've requested that I manage ajacobik's excellent Teferi Primer. We'll see what happens there. Otherwise, I'll be developing this thread into a competitive Primer with an optimized, budgetless list as well as strategy.
No real updates for the deck besides the excellent Spellseeker. I will be finding room for this lady in the deck since she has such incredible utility. It's one of the best creates a U mage could ask for, and they printed it.
EDIT: I've been granted permission to manage ajacobik's Primer! With that being said, I will be slowly abandoning this thread in favor of maintaining the Primer. Some of my card choices I will transpose over into the Card Discussion section of the Primer, but otherwise this thread will go inactive.
1 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
His Devious Magicks (26)
1 Pact of Negation
1 Swan Song
1 Mental Misstep
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Stifle
1 High Tide
1 Mana Leak
1 Counterspell
1 Arcane Denial
1 Mana Drain
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Trickbind
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Reality Shift
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Disallow
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Whir of Invention
1 Capsize
1 Intuition
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Cryptic Command
1 Force of Will
1 Dig Through Time
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Reshape
1 Fabricate
1 Windfall
1 Recurring Insight
1 All is Dust
His Powerful Artifacts (22)
1 Mox Opal
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Crypt
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Grim Monolith
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Torpor Orb
1 Cursed Totem
1 Winter Orb
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Static Orb
1 Tangle Wire
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Thran Dynamo
1 The Chain Veil
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
His Minions (4)
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Trinket Mage
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Consecrated Sphinx
His Enchantments (5)
1 Mystic Remora
1 Stasis
1 Counterbalance
1 Rhystic Study
1 Back to Basics
His Realms (32)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Buried Ruin
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
24 Island
Optional 10 Card Sideboard
1 Spell Pierce
1 Dispel
1 Frozen Aether
1 Overburden
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Manifold Insights
1 Spellskite
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Other cards to consider depending on the decks I'm playing against.
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Sunder
1 Curse of the Swine
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
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
I would cut at least sphinx, metamorph, and insight to make room for better interaction and selection
Legacy: TES (and sometimes ANT), Miracles
Pauper: Kuldotha Jeskai, Murasa Tron
The win condition is using The Chain Veil and Teferi, Temporal Archmage to continuously untap the Veil until Teferi dies. The Chain Veil alters the game state by allowing any new planeswalker object that enters the battlefield to gain all previous activations of the Chain VEil. You do this an arbitrary number of times to create infinite mana and draw your deck (using Teferi alone) and then killing everyone with a win condition of your choice. I like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and Blue Sun's Zenith. It's one of the most brutally efficient decks I've ever played, and my playgroup no longer plays against it anymore because of how good it is.
@yonuu_te
I've had great success with Consecrated Sphinx. I know it's expensive, and it takes a whole turn cycle to truly get use out of him, but I consider the Sphinx to be another win condition that is easily cast in this deck. When I'm drawing 9 cards every turn cycle, it's only a matter of time before I win since the card advantage the Sphinx yields will ensure I have a vice-grip on the game.
Let me preface Recurring Insight by saying that I don't personally prefer the draw 7's. I don't like the option of giving other players cards to interact with me or execute their game plan, and Recurring Insight gives the highest number of cards for its CMC. It's been an incredible card and I don't think it sees enough play in EDH personally.
The Metamorph could be a Copy Artifact, but the ability to clone the best creature on the board is useful. And I have a foil Promo one, so I like having it in the deck.
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
My plan was either Extraplanar Lens or Sapphire Medallion, Long-Term Plans, and, well, I don't know what is even close to Mana Drain. Nothing really. Rewind?
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
I think some good budget replacements for those cards would be Mind Stone, Mana Leak, and a card of your choice. Honestly, the only important cards in the deck, in my opinion, are the following:
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Grim Monolith
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Gilded Lotus
1 The Chain Veil
1 Whir of Invention
1 Fabricate
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Reshape
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Truly, the rest of it is customizable to your meta and what you enjoy playing. For a long time, I ran Memnarch in my list simply because I liked him. The two basic aspects of the deck that make it work are man rocks and tutors to find The Chain Veil. I'd definitely recommend Ajcobik's thread on Teferi, since he's making a definitive Primer, for additional insight.
A quick budget list, off the top of my head, would look something like this:
Artifacts (24)
1 Mana Crypt
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Mind Stone
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Grim Monolith
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Sky Diamond
1 Cursed Totem
1 Torpor Orb
1 Winter Orb
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Hedron Archive
1 The Chain Veil
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Paradox Engine
1 Dreamstone Hedron
1 Willbender
1 Trinket Mage
1 Kefnet the Mindful
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Ixidron
1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
1 Memnarch
1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Instants (24)
1 Swan Song
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Boomerang
1 Arcane Denial
1 Counterspell
1 Mana Leak
1 Pull from Tomorrow
1 Delay
1 Negate
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Into the Roil
1 Reality Shift
1 Impulse
1 Dramatic Reversal
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Capsize
1 Stroke of Genius
1 Blue Sun's Zenith
1 Whir of Invention
1 Dream Fracture
1 Dismiss
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Engulf the Shore
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Evacuation
1 Reshape
1 Fabricate
1 Call to Mind
1 Rush of Knowledge
1 Recurring Insight
Enchantment(1)
1 Stasis
Planeswalkers (2)
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Lands (35)
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Buried Ruin
33 Island
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 think I had a brain fart. I have Chrome Mox and Mox Opal, for some reason I though it was a mox sapphire you meant. Whole different cost curve and banned. I was only short of Mana Drain and Transmute Artifact, I have everything else. Transmute I am replacing with Long-Term Plans and I picked up an Italian Mana Drain cheap on trades last night for some cards I wasn't using.
I am very excited to get my last two cards in the mail. One of my first EDH decks was the Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir Knowledge Pool/Palinchron infinite mana deck HERO posted, but I went UWx Stax for a long time after that, with a Mayael the Anima deck to play nice <spits> with people for fun <spits>.
Tempo
Modern
Eldrazi and Staxes
Whir Prison
Legacy
5c Humans
DnT
"I'm a lead farmer... !" Quote ruined due to policy.
Yup, Mox Sapphire would be all sorts of awesome here, but sadly, it's banned. I'm glad that you were able to get a Mana Drain! It's a really broken card, and I totally see why it's banned on Legacy.
Hey, I checked out Hero's thread too! I actually drew a lot of inspiration from his Primer layout for my current Primer status. He doesn't seem to be active anymore, which is too bad, but I appreciate all the work he did put in to his Primer.
@Underhill83
Thanks for visiting! I appreciate your suggestions and will consider each of them. I have considered each of those cards at one point or another, and, with the exception of Sunder, found that they were either win more or not even necessary. Savor the Moment does not help this deck's primary strategy at all, since it wants to win in only a single turn with The Chain Veil. Turnabout is almost redundant to Teferi, Temporal Archmage's minus ability, and is less abusable and synergistic with the game plan. H-Recall is actually fairly decent, I just usually preferred a counterspell in the situations when I did use it. Also note that I'm the only playing a heavy artifact deck in my playgroup, otherwise the H-Recall would be really quite good.
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
+ Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
- Mind Stone
There's already 15 main mana rocks that I use and being able to flash back protection or High Tide on my turn with the flip Jace. I added Spell Pierce to the Sideboard, although I do want to add a couple of cards. Pithing Needle and Sorcerous Spyglass are becoming more and more attractive as time has passed and as I've evaluated the cEDH scene. There are so many activated abilities in the cEDH scene that need to be stopped, notably Food Chain, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, and Thrasios.
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
So the Rashmi player was first off the die roll and opened with a Top. Narset goes next and plays a land and passes. I opened with Sol Ring, Torpor Orb, Island, The Chain Veil, Thran Dynamo, The Chain Veil, and Transmute Artifact. I sensing that a T3 Teferi is a possibility, so I keep the one lander since it has the Veil. I draw a High Tide and play Sol Ring into Torpor Orb. Riku plays an Evolving Wilds and passes. Rashmi plays a land and says go. Narset plays a land and says go. I draw into a Negate and also say go. Riku says go. There are a few turns of this, so the real action starts once I draw a Chrome Mox. I imprint the Transmute Artifact since I've now drawn a Whir of Invention to replace the tutor and I already have the Veil in hand. I attempt to play Teferi and Rashmi Pacts it. Narset play's Chandra's goggles, whatever they're called, and bolts Rashmi and Riku with a copied Lightning Bolt. No creatures here! Riku recasts Riku on his turn and I cast Thran Dynamo and pass. Rashmi replays Top and passes. Narset plays Narset and passes. I cast Pull from Tomorrow for x=5 and finally draw my second land as well as a Voltaic Key and a Mox Opal. Riku has a turn of obscene Ramp, casting 3 Cultivate like cards in one turn. Rashmi attempts to Time Spiral and I counter it. Narset attacks, and with the trigger on the stack finds Omniscience. Oh no. However, he doesn't find an extra turn spell or an extra combat spell in the top 10 cards of his library, so he passes to me. Seeing that everyone is tapped out, I cast Teferi and win on my turn. I decide that Ugin is the way that I kill people, so I Ghostfire everyone to death.
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
1 Preordain
1 Trickbind
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Mindbreak Trap
There aren't a ton of 'yard-based strategies in my playgroup currently, so the adding of the cantrips is to help make the deck more consistent. It has been surprising to me how relevant Stifle has been, so I'm adding in its functional brother in Trickbind.
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
1 Island
1 Counterbalance
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Dreamstone Hedron
I'm also contemplating the draw-7's that are run in most cEDH blue decks to see if I can swallow the card advantage that I'm giving my opponents. There is also a chance for disrupting their game plans and opening hands, but my experience with them haven't been the best so far. The package that I would be adding, since Timetwister is absurdly expensive, is Memory Jar, Time Spiral, and Time Reversal. The possible cuts are Consecrated Sphinx, Pull from Tomorrow, and Phyrexian Metamorph.
EDIT: I realized I was missing the 99th card. I added Tangle Wire to the list.
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
Otherwise, this deck is good enough for my group that they no longer want to play against it. Winning as much as I do with it and as consistently as it does has been a real drain on my playgroup, so I'm retiring the deck for a little while. I think I'm going to build a Brago list instead, but I'll keep up to date on this decklist and adjust as new cards come out.
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
No real updates for the deck besides the excellent Spellseeker. I will be finding room for this lady in the deck since she has such incredible utility. It's one of the best creates a U mage could ask for, and they printed it.
EDIT: I've been granted permission to manage ajacobik's Primer! With that being said, I will be slowly abandoning this thread in favor of maintaining the Primer. Some of my card choices I will transpose over into the Card Discussion section of the Primer, but otherwise this thread will go inactive.
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