This deck idea came to me as I was pulling cards for a Vedalken Mastermind deck. I guess it operates like the 60 card pauper Temporal Storm deck. There are three main infinite combos in this deck:
In this combo and the other two Mnemonic Wall or Scrivener can stand in for Archaeomancer. The combo works as follows: Play Drake, untap 5 lands, Flicker Drake, untap 5 lands, play Mancer, return Flicker to hand, Flicker Mancer and Drake, untap 5 lands and return Flicker to hand. Repeat as necessary to make an arbitrary amount of mana.
This combo works just like the first one, but with the combination of Cloud of Faeries and High Tide playing the role of Peregrine Drake. Yes, this is more cards than the first combo, but it doesn't involve Drake. Without tuck in pauper (I think) there's not a whole lot that could make Drake inaccessible, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
Having Ghostly Flicker exiled is a distinct possibility so I wanted to have a combo that doesn't use it. This combo is relatively clunky since it requires casting High Tide, recuring it with Archaeomancer, and casting it again before things get going. After that Peregrine Drake + Capsize = arbitrarily big mana.
Out of the 4 win conditions in the deck, Drowner Initiate and Sage's Row Denizen are the most direct. All th combos generate arbitrary mana, arbitrary blue spells, and arbitrary blue creatures entering the battlefield. Capsize and Temporal Fissure just lock everyone out of the game until I draw a real win condition or beat everyone to death with 1 and 2-power guys.
The number of card-drawing cards in this list be a little excessive, but I really want assembly of a combo to translate into a win that same turn. Also, obviously, card draw and selection helps get a combo together in the first place. A lot of the protection I chose is somewhat janky, but it's in there to be cycled away on the combo turn.
High Tide is a common - thanks for remininding me! I'll include in my Momir PDH for sure.
Actually, isn't it possible to go infinite with two recursion bears (Archaeomancer & Co), High Tide and Ghostly Flicker? Ghostly Flicker untaps lands too, so there's no need for Cloud of Faeries since you can return High Tide first by flickering both bears and then switch to blinking a land once you've cast HT three times. With both bears in play, it should only require 5 islands to go infinite. If this works, I think I'll drop Cloud of Faeries from my own list and add Scrivener instead, since CoF can't do much outside of being a combo piece.
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Yes, I think your math is correct. Two recursion bears + High Tide + Ghostly Flicker + lands = infinity. It helps a little bit that only 4 of the lands have to be Islands. I'll definitely keep this in mind as a 4th combo for the deck, but I don't think I'll drop Cloud of Faeries. At the very least it cycles and it adds some more redundancy to the 4-card combos. Excellent catch.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
The cards I cut were all too expensive for what they do. I found that I usually had plenty of cards in hand, so something like Brilliant Plan would just force me to tap out and discard. Cheaper card filtering seemed like the way to go.
I got to play this deck a couple of times tonight. The very first game I killed the table on turn 3. I didn't even think that was possible, but I drew the ultimate nut draw with High Tide, Cloud of Faeries, Archaeomancer, and Ghostly Flicker. The deck still performed very well after everyone knew what was up and when I didn't wake up in Magic Christmas land. The countermagic was all really good. I even hit a turn 3 Cultivate with Runeboggle.
The difference between Sage's Row Denizen, Halimar Excavator, and Drowner Innitiate is very small. They're all wizards so the only meaningful distinction is mana cost for the purpose of transmuting. As far as I can tell there are the same number ways to tutor for each. I want two in case one dies somehow, but I don't know about 3. Can anyone think of a way to decide which two are the best?
I did consider Tolarian Winds, but before going off I'll keep Ghostly Flicker or a recursion bear in my hand. Don't want to have to pitch one combo piece to try and find another. Oona's Grace is another card I looked at and eventually rejected. It seems like it's really only any good the turn I'm going off. Otherwise it's a worse Divination.
This way every tutor still finds a win condition, but Trinks is more useful pre-combo than Denizen.
Edit: This deck is nuts. It even has game against real EDH decks.
Double Edit: I was thinking about Train of Thought all wrong. It's not a draw 2+ spell (ok, it's very rarely a draw 2+ spell). It's a win condition with cycling. But on top of that, if you cycle it early it's still available as a win condition since the last Mancer ETB trigger can grab it. -Spell Snip, +Train of Thought.
Oooh, Shriekhorn is a wincon with Ghostly Flicker and Trinket Mage grabs it. Nice! I'll have to consider if that merits inclusion in my Momir Vig deck that also plays lots of infini-mana combos. Check it out if you haven't already I'd really appreciate your feedback on it.
I thought about Train of Thought as another wincon too, but I concluded that the tutors that could find it could also find Capsize. True, if you don't fear grave hate, it could sit around in the yard until you go off, but that is true of Capsize as well. It is sort of 80% OK to include it anyway just as a draw spell though, so I suppose it's not a difficult inclusion, at least in mono-blue. (Observation: to those who think PDH has so limited card quality, it's an interesting fact that I say no to a wincon with cycling that's also a draw spell in a bi-color deck :p).
EDIT: Why not play Rewind? It seems like a great counter for your deck. I run it alongside Counterspell, Faerie Trickery and Condescend - a great "hard counter" package.
EDIT 2: I know your build is very focused, but have you considered that your general is a decent voltron too? Trinket Mage could grab Bonesplitter, and I think you should consider Elgaud Shieldmate anyway as a means to protect instant speed removal in response to Flicker. You could also consider Neurok Stealthsuit and Whispersilk Cloak if you were to go that route.
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Notice that when I re-included Train of Thought I didn't cut another win condition. When this deck goes off it chains a ton of card drawing spells together and hopes to find an actual win condition. This is usually manageable, but sometimes I just have to end the turn with a hand of 10 lands. Train of Thought adds one more thing that I can draw into and just win. Doesn't hurt that Peer Through Depths and Uncovered Clues see it, either. If I cycle it early and someone exiles it from the graveyard, that's great. That's one less piece of graveyard hate to worry about while going off. In that case, Train failed to be a win condition but instead was "1U: Answer some hate, draw a card."
Rewind probably is better than Runeboggle. OK, it's definitely better. It can also act as a ritual during a High Tide turn. Sometimes, around turn 5 or so, when I have no combo pieces and High Tide I'll just cast Tide, cast Drake, maybe Repulse the Drake, and chain a bunch of card drawing spells. This sometimes leads to a win that turn and almost always sets up a win the following turn. -Runeboggle, +Rewind.
I have considered a Voltron plan B. With a complete redesign the deck could support that. I think the deck would have to be primarily mono-blue control featuring a free flying face beater and some combos. That might be a fine deck, but I don't think that Voltron and combo can be hybridized directly. Equipment and stuff would be awful to draw on a combo turn. As far as Elgaud Shieldmate and Neurok Stealthsuit are concerned, I don't think they belong. Shieldmate doesn't actually protect the Drake from instant speed removal because they can just respond to the soulbond trigger. Stealthsuit could save Drake, but then I have to find another creature before I can try to go off again.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
I think you're spot on about Train of Thought and I think it's good in this deck. In my Momir Vig, I can only use it well as a "win condition with cycling" if I'm using the "infinite blink" method (two recursion bears, flicker, high tide). But then, once I have infinite mana, I can simply recur ANY draw spell continously to draw my deck, so then there's nothing special about ToT.
Yeah, High Tide is awesome as an early "blue ritual" to get you ahead and then wait in the grave for recursion bears and the win with Ghostly Flicker.
I agree about the Voltron plan being difficult to fit without diluting the combo, but I still think you should run Elgaud Shieldmate in a protection slot. Yes, they can respond to soulbond just like they can respond to Ghostly Flicker, but now they have to do BOTH. And soulbond is FREE on the turn you go off. I just think it makes the flicker plan that much more robust, and to boot gives your evaisve commander more voltron potential in case your opponent is resistent to milling (common among full-power EDH decks).
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Yeah, now I see what you're saying about Shieldmate. With Shieldmate in play I cast Drake, then if they respond to soulbond I can Flicker. If they don't respond to soulbond then no spot removal on Drake. But Shieldmate can't protect both Drake and a recursion bear at the same time and spot removal on either one shuts down the combo.
I guess Mage's Guile stops me from going off just like the spot removal would. It's cool that it cycles, though. Maybe it should be Intervene or Turn Aside or Mizzium Skin.
Edit: Yay for Modern Masters! They're reprinting Petals of Insight at common. -Mage's Guile, +Petals of Insight. Petals is a fine draw-three that just wins the game with infinite mana. Not sure if I actually need a win condition outside of Capsize/Temporal Fissure lock and small creature beatdown.
I would take out any cards that don't draw until the next upkeep, like Lat-Nam's Legacy. The turn you're trying to cycle through your entire deck, it's dead.
It's been such a long time since this thread has seen any action the "updated" list in the original post is out of date. Here's what I've been playing lately:
I don't think it's really necessary to run a hard win condition in this deck. When you go off instants and sorceries like Capsize and Temporal Fissure are the most accessible type of card there is. What I do is bounce everything that I don't own Cyclonic Rift style, point out that I can do this at will, and declare eventual victory by drake/wizard beatdown. I really doubt anyone would ever make you go through 10ish turns of "bounce your land, attack for 2" in a casual format like this. The delayed cantrips definitely don't help on the turn you're going off, but they're both very efficient before that turn. If I could run 2 Ponder and 2 See Beyond instead, I would. Here's my short list of cards that might have to go:
This is still a very cool deck. Of the cuts you suggest, I'd probably go ahead and cut portent, legacy, winds, words and skeins. Dispel looks somewhat interesting, perhaps more so than Negate? Discipline and Artist look rather bad (Artist is best in non-green tri color IMO).
I wonder about the mana rocks however, if there's a reason to run the ones you've chosen in particular. Have you considered Fellwar Stone (as good as Prismatic Lens in mono blue?), Manakin or even better Silver Myr, the 3 CMC stones (as good as Wayfarer's Bauble, no?), Sisay's Ring and Ur-Golem's Eye (not exactly on curve, but they do help)?
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At various points I've played all the 2 cmc mana mono-U acceleration cards in this deck, all the way down to Deranged Assistant and Sea Scryer. If I'm casting one of them on turn two it's fine that it can't be used that turn (e.g. because it enters the battlefield tapped or has summoning sickness), but so many good plays on turns 3-5 are broken up by the delay. The rocks I've settled on (for now anyway) all enter the battlefield ready to go, which really smooths out play. In my opinion Silver Myr is the best rock that I'm not running. Wayfarer's Bauble is better than some 3 drop ramp rock partly because 1 + 2 is much less than 3, and partly because turning into an Island is significant. Fellwar Stone has never been printed at common.
Some people play PDH with 8 uncommons in their decks. I briefly entertained this idea and drew up a list of eight:
So... I made this list up in a few minutes and immediately decided never to run it. These additions, I think, would push the deck well into the realm of absurdity. No need to go there, at least with the present state of the metagame.
Without any experience piloting the deck, I still think I'd prefer cantripping dudes and rocks over delayed sorcery cantrips, but I probably wouldn't run dedicated win cons.
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Alright, I can see replacing some of the poorer card draw with cantripping permanents to make sure the combo is always lethal. In my mind the candidates are (in no particular order):
The only one of these that excites me is Spreading Seas since it can mess with someone's mana pretty hard. Fate Foretold is interesting, too, because it might be able to draw a second card. Prophetic Prism and Elsewhere Flask have the potential to be life saving in corner cases where all the non-basics come up but you have to go off with High Tide now. Meanwhile, the dudes can block (except for Thalakos Seer, usually), and Ichor Wellspring is really unlikely to draw an extra card.
As for dedicated win conditions, they're just not necessary and only end up getting in the way. If you must actually win the game right away, I think the best package is Trinket Mage/Shriekhorn. Mage is a damn fine card on its own and these two cards are very accessible to the tutors the deck already runs.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
Actually, wouldn't Mage/Shriekhorn be better than Temporal Fissure? What does fissure add to Capsize, that Shriekhorn doesn't do better? I understand the need for at least 2 wincons, but you're not actually using fissure as bounce before combo anyway, right? Shriekhorn is found by other tutors than Capsize, while fissure is just plain worse than Capsize in that respect.
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Temporal Fissure offers the possibility of fizzling out on the High Tide plan and "just" bouncing almost everything in play. You're right to suspect that I hardly ever use Fissure to bounce a thing or two on a non-combo turn, but at least it gives me that option. Shriekhorn's uses pre-combo, on the other hand, are far more obscure.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
I'm thinking about building this as my next PDH project I have a few modifications in might that I'd like your opinion on, but first: The Spreading Seas idea - I'm thinking this won't work because Ghostly Flicker can't blink enchantments. Also, to continue on our previous discussion: While Temporal Fissure might have marginal uses pre combo (unlike Shriekhorn), I still think it's problematic as a secondary win con. If Capsize got exiled and you need to rely on it, you have 0 ways of finding it. It's CMC 5 and not a wizard nor an instant. Shriekhorn + Trinket Mage OTOH has all your tutors as outs. What if the fissure is the 5th card from the bottom? Even if you can set up infinite draw, you might not be able to close the game post Fissure before you deck yourself. This makes me want to run the trinket package over Fissure.
Ok, so using your most recent list in post #14, here are the cuts I'm considering, with brief motivations: Temporal Fissure: See above Lat Nam's Legacy: Delayed draw Portent: Delayed draw Words of Wisdom: Don't like group hug Vision Skeins: Don't like group hug Flux: Group hug, unpredictable Tolarian Winds: Card disadvantage, unpredictable Careful Study: Card disadvantage but no combo potential unlike Frantic Search Mystic Remora: Conditional draw, upkeep cost Rhystic Study: Conditional draw - better if you have 7+ mana denial cards in my experience Call to Heel: Into the Roil is better IMO and already in the same tutor category
(1 Island: Make room for a Seat of the Synod)
That's 11 spell slots, most of which will go towards a Trinket Mage toolbox: Trinket Mage: Duh. Shriekhorn: As discussed Relic of Progenitus: Because it can be very useful, and it cantrips Aether Spellbomb: Replaces Call to Heal with a trinket toolbox Conjurer's Bauble: A nifty cantrip with da mage, especially with all the tutor/dig Sorcerous Sight: The next best cantrip I feel is missing - avoiding hate is important IMO Fellwar Stone: My group permits on-line rarities if beneficial Silver Myr: I think it's solid Dispel: Moar counters! Dream Fracture: MOAR!!
That's 10. Last slot could be another counter, cantrip artifact or creature, or maybe one of my cuts if you convince me to reconsider What about Think Twice or Oona's Grace - don't they have merit in this deck?
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Good catch. That makes it probably unplayable in this deck.
Also, to continue on our previous discussion: While Temporal Fissure might have marginal uses pre combo (unlike Shriekhorn), I still think it's problematic as a secondary win con. If Capsize got exiled and you need to rely on it, you have 0 ways of finding it. It's CMC 5 and not a wizard nor an instant. Shriekhorn + Trinket Mage OTOH has all your tutors as outs. What if the fissure is the 5th card from the bottom? Even if you can set up infinite draw, you might not be able to close the game post Fissure before you deck yourself. This makes me want to run the trinket package over Fissure.
This is the most compelling argument against Temporal Fissure I've seen. Maybe it's not an effective win con after all.
Regarding your cuts, those are certainly the weakest cards in the deck. Careful Study has been good to me even though it's card disadvantage. Seeing two cards for one mana is a good deal, and sometimes you get to live in Magic Christmas Land and Study turn 1 pitching Deep Analysis. Call to Heel is only emergency bounce. It's mostly there to bounce your own recursion bears and be a cantripping ritual on High Tide turns. For your replacements, Relic of Progenitus makes me nervous. I'm not sure that stopping the slow grindy card advantage that's so prevelent in the format is worth exile your own yard. Sorcerous Sight is just fine. Dream Fracture replaced Faerie Trickery in my list a while ago (although it doesn't look like I posted that change). I know how much you love to play control in this format, but at a certain point you'll need MOAR gas instead of MOAR counters.
The relic could of course be a Tormod's Crypt if self-nuking was deemed to be a problem. On that note, what do you think about Treasure Cruise? With 30+ dig cards, surely we can afford to nuke a few?
Have you considered Darksteel Pendant? Explorer's Scope? Maybe I'm grasping at straws here lol, but it's good on drake. Also Toils of Night and Day as acceleration or protection in one card?
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Oooooo, Treasure Cruise! I've been all about that card for other decks. Never occurred to me to use it here. Casting it for 1 or 2 on an early turn seems very realistic.
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You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
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1)
In this combo and the other two Mnemonic Wall or Scrivener can stand in for Archaeomancer. The combo works as follows: Play Drake, untap 5 lands, Flicker Drake, untap 5 lands, play Mancer, return Flicker to hand, Flicker Mancer and Drake, untap 5 lands and return Flicker to hand. Repeat as necessary to make an arbitrary amount of mana.
2)
This combo works just like the first one, but with the combination of Cloud of Faeries and High Tide playing the role of Peregrine Drake. Yes, this is more cards than the first combo, but it doesn't involve Drake. Without tuck in pauper (I think) there's not a whole lot that could make Drake inaccessible, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
3)
Having Ghostly Flicker exiled is a distinct possibility so I wanted to have a combo that doesn't use it. This combo is relatively clunky since it requires casting High Tide, recuring it with Archaeomancer, and casting it again before things get going. After that Peregrine Drake + Capsize = arbitrarily big mana.
1 Peregrine Drake
Win
1 Temporal Fissure
1 Capsize
1 Sage's Row Denizen
1 Drowner Initiate
Engine Parts
1 High Tide
1 Ghostly Flicker
Guys
1 Cloud of Faeries
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Scrivener
1 Archaeomancer
1 Mulldrifter
1 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Drift of Phantasms
Assembly
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Serum Visions
1 Whispers of the Muse
1 Impulse
1 See Beyond
1 Compulsive Research
1 Deep Analysis
1 Foresee
1 Rush of Knowledge
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Amass the Components
1 Ideas Unbound
1 Sift
1 Train of Thought
1 Courier's Capsule
1 Divination
1 Counsel of the Soratami
1 Think Twice
1 Mysteries of the Deep
1 Opt
1 Brilliant Plan
1 Uncovered Clues
1 Omen
1 Peer Through Depths
1 Repeal
1 Repulse
1 Call to Heel
Protection
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mage's Guile
1 Confound
1 Miscalculation
1 Spell Snip
1 Disrupt
1 Runeboggle
1 Counterspell
1 Condescend
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Sorcerous Sight
1 Peek
Ramp
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Mind Stone
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Fractured Powerstone
1 Fellwar Stone
Land
1 Esper Panorama
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Bant Panorama
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Remote Isle
31 Island
Out of the 4 win conditions in the deck, Drowner Initiate and Sage's Row Denizen are the most direct. All th combos generate arbitrary mana, arbitrary blue spells, and arbitrary blue creatures entering the battlefield. Capsize and Temporal Fissure just lock everyone out of the game until I draw a real win condition or beat everyone to death with 1 and 2-power guys.
The number of card-drawing cards in this list be a little excessive, but I really want assembly of a combo to translate into a win that same turn. Also, obviously, card draw and selection helps get a combo together in the first place. A lot of the protection I chose is somewhat janky, but it's in there to be cycled away on the combo turn.
Updated List:
1 Peregrine Drake
Win
1 Temporal Fissure
1 Capsize
1 Shriekhorn
Combo Parts
1 High Tide
1 Ghostly Flicker
Some Guys
1 Cloud of Faeries
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Scrivener
1 Archaeomancer
1 Mulldrifter
1 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Augury Owl
1 Trinket Mage
Dig Dig Dig
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Serum Visions
1 Lat-Nam's Legacy
1 Impulse
1 See Beyond
1 Compulsive Research
1 Deep Analysis
1 Foresee
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Amass the Components
1 Ideas Unbound
1 Sift
1 Portent
1 Courier's Capsule
1 Divination
1 Counsel of the Soratami
1 Think Twice
1 Frantic Search
1 Opt
1 Careful Study
1 Uncovered Clues
1 Omen
1 Peer Through Depths
1 Words of Wisdom
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Peek
1 Petals of Insight
1 Repeal
1 Repulse
1 Call to Heel
1 Into the Roil
Counters
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Confound
1 Miscalculation
1 Rewind
1 Disrupt
1 Counterspell
1 Condescend
1 Faerie Trickery
Rocks
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Mind Stone
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Fractured Powerstone
1 Fellwar Stone
Lands
1 Esper Panorama
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Bant Panorama
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Remote Isle
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Darksteel Citadel
29 Island
To actually answer your questions, no I haven't yet played this list and no I'm not sure if there are enough tutors to make it work.
Also the list in the OP only has 61 non-land cards. I'm thinking of adding Gitaxian Probe, Peek, and Sorcerous Sight to help avoid walking into graveyard hate or Faerie Trickery on Ghostly Flicker.
Actually, isn't it possible to go infinite with two recursion bears (Archaeomancer & Co), High Tide and Ghostly Flicker? Ghostly Flicker untaps lands too, so there's no need for Cloud of Faeries since you can return High Tide first by flickering both bears and then switch to blinking a land once you've cast HT three times. With both bears in play, it should only require 5 islands to go infinite. If this works, I think I'll drop Cloud of Faeries from my own list and add Scrivener instead, since CoF can't do much outside of being a combo piece.
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Oona's Grace would help you cycle through your deck. Augury Owl would give you infinite scry and is alright on its own.
Halimar Excavator is as much of a win as Sage's Row Denizen and you can get it with Muddle the Mixture, but I realize that Muddle will almost always be able to find the win regardless (AEthermage > Sage's Row Denizen or Merchant Scroll > Dizzy Spell > Drowner Initiate[/CARD]). Maybe you want another one, or maybe Halimar Excavator is slightly more consistent than Sage's Row Denizen or Drowner Initiate because of its mana cost. Maybe not though. I haven't quite wrapped my head around all the connections.
Isn't Whispers of the Muse uncommon?
Also, consider Tolarian Winds.
-Brilliant Plan
-Mysteries of the Deep
-Rush of Knowledge
-Train of Thought
+Careful Study
+Frantic Search
+Augury Owl
+Portant
The cards I cut were all too expensive for what they do. I found that I usually had plenty of cards in hand, so something like Brilliant Plan would just force me to tap out and discard. Cheaper card filtering seemed like the way to go.
I got to play this deck a couple of times tonight. The very first game I killed the table on turn 3. I didn't even think that was possible, but I drew the ultimate nut draw with High Tide, Cloud of Faeries, Archaeomancer, and Ghostly Flicker. The deck still performed very well after everyone knew what was up and when I didn't wake up in Magic Christmas land. The countermagic was all really good. I even hit a turn 3 Cultivate with Runeboggle.
The difference between Sage's Row Denizen, Halimar Excavator, and Drowner Innitiate is very small. They're all wizards so the only meaningful distinction is mana cost for the purpose of transmuting. As far as I can tell there are the same number ways to tutor for each. I want two in case one dies somehow, but I don't know about 3. Can anyone think of a way to decide which two are the best?
I did consider Tolarian Winds, but before going off I'll keep Ghostly Flicker or a recursion bear in my hand. Don't want to have to pitch one combo piece to try and find another. Oona's Grace is another card I looked at and eventually rejected. It seems like it's really only any good the turn I'm going off. Otherwise it's a worse Divination.
Holy crap! Whispers of the Muse is uncommon! Gotta cut that. I'm thinking Words of Wisdom or Library of Lat-nam for a replacement.
-Sage's Row Denizen
-Drownder Initiate
-2 Island
+Trinket Mage
+Shiekhorn
+Seat of the Synod
+Darksteel Citadel
This way every tutor still finds a win condition, but Trinks is more useful pre-combo than Denizen.
Edit: This deck is nuts. It even has game against real EDH decks.
Double Edit: I was thinking about Train of Thought all wrong. It's not a draw 2+ spell (ok, it's very rarely a draw 2+ spell). It's a win condition with cycling. But on top of that, if you cycle it early it's still available as a win condition since the last Mancer ETB trigger can grab it. -Spell Snip, +Train of Thought.
I thought about Train of Thought as another wincon too, but I concluded that the tutors that could find it could also find Capsize. True, if you don't fear grave hate, it could sit around in the yard until you go off, but that is true of Capsize as well. It is sort of 80% OK to include it anyway just as a draw spell though, so I suppose it's not a difficult inclusion, at least in mono-blue. (Observation: to those who think PDH has so limited card quality, it's an interesting fact that I say no to a wincon with cycling that's also a draw spell in a bi-color deck :p).
EDIT: Why not play Rewind? It seems like a great counter for your deck. I run it alongside Counterspell, Faerie Trickery and Condescend - a great "hard counter" package.
EDIT 2: I know your build is very focused, but have you considered that your general is a decent voltron too? Trinket Mage could grab Bonesplitter, and I think you should consider Elgaud Shieldmate anyway as a means to protect instant speed removal in response to Flicker. You could also consider Neurok Stealthsuit and Whispersilk Cloak if you were to go that route.
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Rewind probably is better than Runeboggle. OK, it's definitely better. It can also act as a ritual during a High Tide turn. Sometimes, around turn 5 or so, when I have no combo pieces and High Tide I'll just cast Tide, cast Drake, maybe Repulse the Drake, and chain a bunch of card drawing spells. This sometimes leads to a win that turn and almost always sets up a win the following turn. -Runeboggle, +Rewind.
I have considered a Voltron plan B. With a complete redesign the deck could support that. I think the deck would have to be primarily mono-blue control featuring a free flying face beater and some combos. That might be a fine deck, but I don't think that Voltron and combo can be hybridized directly. Equipment and stuff would be awful to draw on a combo turn. As far as Elgaud Shieldmate and Neurok Stealthsuit are concerned, I don't think they belong. Shieldmate doesn't actually protect the Drake from instant speed removal because they can just respond to the soulbond trigger. Stealthsuit could save Drake, but then I have to find another creature before I can try to go off again.
Yeah, High Tide is awesome as an early "blue ritual" to get you ahead and then wait in the grave for recursion bears and the win with Ghostly Flicker.
I agree about the Voltron plan being difficult to fit without diluting the combo, but I still think you should run Elgaud Shieldmate in a protection slot. Yes, they can respond to soulbond just like they can respond to Ghostly Flicker, but now they have to do BOTH. And soulbond is FREE on the turn you go off. I just think it makes the flicker plan that much more robust, and to boot gives your evaisve commander more voltron potential in case your opponent is resistent to milling (common among full-power EDH decks).
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I guess Mage's Guile stops me from going off just like the spot removal would. It's cool that it cycles, though. Maybe it should be Intervene or Turn Aside or Mizzium Skin.
Edit: Yay for Modern Masters! They're reprinting Petals of Insight at common. -Mage's Guile, +Petals of Insight. Petals is a fine draw-three that just wins the game with infinite mana. Not sure if I actually need a win condition outside of Capsize/Temporal Fissure lock and small creature beatdown.
-Merrow Witsniper
-Glimmerpost + Seraph Sanctuary + Pristine Talisman - These all generate infinite life during the main Ghostly Flicker combo
-Dream Cache
-Flux- better option than Tolarian Winds since you choose which cards to keep in hand
-Haunted Fengraf
-Mental Discipline
-Merfolk Traders + Vodalian Merchant + Owl Familiar
-Rishadan Cutpurse
I would take out any cards that don't draw until the next upkeep, like Lat-Nam's Legacy. The turn you're trying to cycle through your entire deck, it's dead.
EDH Decks:
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Tajic, Blade of the Legion
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Ezuri, Renegade Leader 1v1
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher 1v1
Hythonia the Cruel
Trying to build:
Jenara, Asura of War
Designing a Custom Set:
Clash of the Cultures: 5 Wedges, 5 Cultures
Providing Artwork for:
Archester: Frontier of Steam
1 Peregrine Drake
Win Conditions
1 Temporal Fissure
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Capsize
1 High Tide
Duders
1 Cloud of Faeries
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Scrivener
1 Archaeomancer
1 Mulldrifter
1 Vedalken Aethermage
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Drift of Phantasms
Dig
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Serum Visions
1 Preordain
1 Lat-Nam's Legacy
1 Impulse
1 See Beyond
1 Compulsive Research
1 Deep Analysis
1 Foresee
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Amass the Components
1 Ideas Unbound
1 Sift
1 Portent
1 Divination
1 Counsel of the Soratami
1 Dream Cache
1 Frantic Search
1 Opt
1 Careful Study
1 Uncovered Clues
1 Omen
1 Peer Through Depths
1 Words of Wisdom
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Peek
1 Tolarian Winds
1 Mystic Remora
1 Rhystic Study
1 Vision Skeins
1 Flux
1 Train of Thought
1 Repeal
1 Call to Heel
1 Into the Roil
1 Snap
Countermagic
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Confound
1 Miscalculation
1 Rewind
1 Counterspell
1 Condescend
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Arcane Denial
Rocks
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Mind Stone
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Fractured Powerstone
1 Lotus Petal
Land
1 Esper Panorama
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Remote Isle
1 Halimar Depths
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Saprazzan Skerry
28 Island
I don't think it's really necessary to run a hard win condition in this deck. When you go off instants and sorceries like Capsize and Temporal Fissure are the most accessible type of card there is. What I do is bounce everything that I don't own Cyclonic Rift style, point out that I can do this at will, and declare eventual victory by drake/wizard beatdown. I really doubt anyone would ever make you go through 10ish turns of "bounce your land, attack for 2" in a casual format like this. The delayed cantrips definitely don't help on the turn you're going off, but they're both very efficient before that turn. If I could run 2 Ponder and 2 See Beyond instead, I would. Here's my short list of cards that might have to go:
and here's the even shorter list of cards I want to try out:
@Comicalflop: Post up your list! Also let us know how the deck fairs in your meta.
@Theros Block: A thousand boo's for no functional reprint of Opt.
I wonder about the mana rocks however, if there's a reason to run the ones you've chosen in particular. Have you considered Fellwar Stone (as good as Prismatic Lens in mono blue?), Manakin or even better Silver Myr, the 3 CMC stones (as good as Wayfarer's Bauble, no?), Sisay's Ring and Ur-Golem's Eye (not exactly on curve, but they do help)?
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So... I made this list up in a few minutes and immediately decided never to run it. These additions, I think, would push the deck well into the realm of absurdity. No need to go there, at least with the present state of the metagame.
EDH Decks:
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Tajic, Blade of the Legion
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Ezuri, Renegade Leader 1v1
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher 1v1
Hythonia the Cruel
Trying to build:
Jenara, Asura of War
Designing a Custom Set:
Clash of the Cultures: 5 Wedges, 5 Cultures
Providing Artwork for:
Archester: Frontier of Steam
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The only one of these that excites me is Spreading Seas since it can mess with someone's mana pretty hard. Fate Foretold is interesting, too, because it might be able to draw a second card. Prophetic Prism and Elsewhere Flask have the potential to be life saving in corner cases where all the non-basics come up but you have to go off with High Tide now. Meanwhile, the dudes can block (except for Thalakos Seer, usually), and Ichor Wellspring is really unlikely to draw an extra card.
Think I'll try -Tolarian Winds, -Lat-Nam's Legacy, +Spreading Seas, +Dispel.
As for dedicated win conditions, they're just not necessary and only end up getting in the way. If you must actually win the game right away, I think the best package is Trinket Mage/Shriekhorn. Mage is a damn fine card on its own and these two cards are very accessible to the tutors the deck already runs.
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Ok, so using your most recent list in post #14, here are the cuts I'm considering, with brief motivations:
Temporal Fissure: See above
Lat Nam's Legacy: Delayed draw
Portent: Delayed draw
Words of Wisdom: Don't like group hug
Vision Skeins: Don't like group hug
Flux: Group hug, unpredictable
Tolarian Winds: Card disadvantage, unpredictable
Careful Study: Card disadvantage but no combo potential unlike Frantic Search
Mystic Remora: Conditional draw, upkeep cost
Rhystic Study: Conditional draw - better if you have 7+ mana denial cards in my experience
Call to Heel: Into the Roil is better IMO and already in the same tutor category
(1 Island: Make room for a Seat of the Synod)
That's 11 spell slots, most of which will go towards a Trinket Mage toolbox:
Trinket Mage: Duh.
Shriekhorn: As discussed
Relic of Progenitus: Because it can be very useful, and it cantrips
Aether Spellbomb: Replaces Call to Heal with a trinket toolbox
Conjurer's Bauble: A nifty cantrip with da mage, especially with all the tutor/dig
Sorcerous Sight: The next best cantrip I feel is missing - avoiding hate is important IMO
Fellwar Stone: My group permits on-line rarities if beneficial
Silver Myr: I think it's solid
Dispel: Moar counters!
Dream Fracture: MOAR!!
That's 10. Last slot could be another counter, cantrip artifact or creature, or maybe one of my cuts if you convince me to reconsider What about Think Twice or Oona's Grace - don't they have merit in this deck?
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Good catch. That makes it probably unplayable in this deck.
This is the most compelling argument against Temporal Fissure I've seen. Maybe it's not an effective win con after all.
Regarding your cuts, those are certainly the weakest cards in the deck. Careful Study has been good to me even though it's card disadvantage. Seeing two cards for one mana is a good deal, and sometimes you get to live in Magic Christmas Land and Study turn 1 pitching Deep Analysis. Call to Heel is only emergency bounce. It's mostly there to bounce your own recursion bears and be a cantripping ritual on High Tide turns. For your replacements, Relic of Progenitus makes me nervous. I'm not sure that stopping the slow grindy card advantage that's so prevelent in the format is worth exile your own yard. Sorcerous Sight is just fine. Dream Fracture replaced Faerie Trickery in my list a while ago (although it doesn't look like I posted that change). I know how much you love to play control in this format, but at a certain point you'll need MOAR gas instead of MOAR counters.
They are, respectively, just OK and terrible before comboing out and just OK and amazing after. I haven't been satisfied with either.
Have you considered Darksteel Pendant? Explorer's Scope? Maybe I'm grasping at straws here lol, but it's good on drake. Also Toils of Night and Day as acceleration or protection in one card?
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