Hey everyone! Since the other Psychatog lists are a bit outdated, I figured I'd be doing one of my own to keep track of which is one of the best decks in the format and arguably the best Dimir commander, and hopefully turn this into a Primer. Now Dimir is the best color combination in the format, having access to the best card advantage and removal spells, coupled with counterspells, library manipulation, board wipes, a handful of tutors and the Transmute mechanic, which gives Dimir decks incredible redundancy and resiliency. By choosing Psychatog as our Commander, we have a control deck with the win condition being in the Command Zone at all times, which means that as long as we can keep recasting it we can still win the game.
Now Psychatog's greatest strength is that it can win the game out of nowhere with enough card draw, but it's also flexible in that it can chip away at an opponent turn after turn until they die from Commander damage. It's two abilities combined mean that every two cards discarded give it +3/+3, which is by itself enough to win combat against a lot of creatures in the format, with the option of also increasing it's power even further to kill bigger creatures. This also implies that it can't be dealt with Red's direct damage removal, and it being Black also means that things like Doom Blade, Terror or Ghastly Demise can't get it. All of this combined makes for a very potent and resilient threat that can and will end games in a quick fashion most of the time. Now with the list itself:
I've found that 37 Lands and 7-8 mana rocks is the sweet spot for this deck. You want to keep making land drops and developing mana, and all the excess lands can be dumped into 'Tog. With all the ramp and card draw and quality spells, dropping a land every turn is pretty much a given.
That said, there are a few things I want to improve in the deck, but since it's so stacked already I don't know what to cut. In order of preference:
- Two more mana rocks: Sisay's Ring and Ur-Golem's Eye. While their cost might be steep, after the initial commitment ramping us up by two for the rest of the game is pretty good.
I'll have to take a closer look at this list to give you better feedback, but I just wanted to suggest Tainted Strike and Phyresis. Winning with infect is a very easy thing to do. Tainted Strike in particular is very strong because it's a one mana instant. Phyresis is a bit weaker, but it can be transmuted into. They can be quite handy for your general, but also on cards like Crypt Rats in a stalemate. I really recommend them.
Infecting Crypt Rats would kill the both of us unless I somehow managed to put at least 1 poison counter on the opponent. Unless you're talking about downgrading their 5/5's to 2/2's permanently, in which case I'd rather spend a bit more of mana to finish them off IMO. Anyways Phyresis is too slow for my taste and Tainted Strike is a one-of thing that doesn't even grant evasion. I had it before, but wasn't happy with the results, since 6 more damage will kill the opponent anyways regardless their life total.
EDIT: I've made a few changes that I'll update in the OP's changelog. I've noted that there's never "too many" Graveyard hate, so I upped the count a bit. Here's my list right now, at 104 cards, so 5 cuts must be made:
So as I said, 5 cuts need to be made. I actually want 1-2 more counterspells (Deprive and Dream Fracture namely) and 1-2 more removal spells (Death Rattle and Nameless Inversion) so cutting from Countermagic and Removal is off limits for now. As you'll see, I also added a Peregrine Drake as backup wincon. Generate infinite mana, draw your deck either by bouncing card draw creatures or use the mana to replicate Train of Thought, and then kill via Consume Spirit. Consume Spirit also has redundancy in Drain Life, which I haven't included for now but which can and will be once I settle the 5 spots thing.
So here's my list again after making all the cuts. Here's what I did:
- Pristine Talisman: I cut the mana rocks for the time being just because of size constraints, but plan to get them back at work as soon as I find spots.
- Seer's Lantern: See above.
- Shred Memory: This is the weakest of both the Graveyard hate and the Transmute tutors, so it had to go.
- Fathom Seer: Really slow, and I favor Instants over creatures in this deck.
- Death Denied: I like creature recursion less and less with each creature removed. I know this is a high value card and a Staple in black decks, I just think I don't have enough to exploit it although fetching any combination of Archaeomancer, Mnemonic Wall and Scrivener makes for a heck of a loop.
- Gravedigger: See above.
- Disturbed Burial: See above.
- Doom Blade: Too much removal, plus I already have a pseudo functional reprint in Executioner's Capsule.
- Diplomatic Immunity: Elgaud Shieldmate is the better protection spell since it can be recurred with Creature recursion should it die, whereas I have no enchantment recursion at all.
- Drift of Phantasms: While there are a lot of cards I can silver bullet for that cost 3 (counterspells, removal, Displace/Flicker), paying 3 at sorcery speed to do so feels clunky most of the time. I also still have Perplex as a 3 CMC tutor which can be fetched with Teachings and Scroll.
The more I think about it, the more I think the deck wants less creatures and creature recursion and more ways to keep the cards flowing (hence things like Bone to Ash or Repeal). What do you guys think?
Hey everyone! Since the other Psychatog lists are a bit outdated, I figured I'd be doing one of my own to keep track of which is one of the best decks in the format and arguably the best Dimir commander, and hopefully turn this into a Primer. Now Dimir is the best color combination in the format, having access to the best card advantage and removal spells, coupled with counterspells, library manipulation, board wipes, a handful of tutors and the Transmute mechanic, which gives Dimir decks incredible redundancy and resiliency. By choosing Psychatog as our Commander, we have a control deck with the win condition being in the Command Zone at all times, which means that as long as we can keep recasting it we can still win the game.
Now Psychatog's greatest strength is that it can win the game out of nowhere with enough card draw, but it's also flexible in that it can chip away at an opponent turn after turn until they die from Commander damage. It's two abilities combined mean that every two cards discarded give it +3/+3, which is by itself enough to win combat against a lot of creatures in the format, with the option of also increasing it's power even further to kill bigger creatures. This also implies that it can't be dealt with Red's direct damage removal, and it being Black also means that things like Doom Blade, Terror or Ghastly Demise can't get it. All of this combined makes for a very potent and resilient threat that can and will end games in a quick fashion most of the time. Now with the list itself:
12 Island
10 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Command Tower
1 Opal Palace
1 Ash Barrens
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Barren Moor
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Halimar Depths
1 Mortuary Mire
Artifact mana (8)
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Dimir Signet
1 Fractured Powerstone
1 Mind Stone
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Thought Vessel
1 Pilgrim's Eye
Graveyard Hate (4)
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Crypt Incursion
1 Night's Whisper
1 Train of Thought
1 Compulsive Research
1 Read the Bones
1 Rhystic Study
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Deep Analysis
1 Foresee
1 Mulldrifter
1 Treasure Cruise
Tutoring (6)
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Trinket Mage
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Mystical Teachings
Recursion (4)
1 Grim Harvest
1 Archaeomancer
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Scrivener
Wraths (4)
1 Crypt Rats
1 Gangrenous Zombies
1 Evincar's Justice
1 Pestilence
Removal (8)
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Devour Flesh
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Victim of Night
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Murder
1 Rend Flesh
1 Predatory Nightstalker
1 Condescend
1 Counterspell
1 Dream Fracture
1 Exclude
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Perplex
1 Rewind
1 Soul Manipulation
Combo (5)
1 Consume Spirit
1 Drain Life
1 Displace
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Peregrine Drake
Protection and Unblockability (4)
1 Writ of Passage
1 Neurok Stealthsuit
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Elgaud Shieldmate
CHANGELOG:
- Alexi's Cloak
- Fleetfeather Sandals
- Complete Disregard
- Ghastly Demise
- Dream Fracture
- Ponder
- Preordain
- Mental Discipline
- Probe
- Commander's Sphere
+ Executioner's Capsule
+ Pilgrim's Eye
+ Tormod's Crypt
+ Shred Memory
+ Crypt Incursion
+ Train of Thought
+ Fathom Seer
+ Merchant Scroll
+ Gravedigger
+ Consume Spirit
+ Displace
+ Ghostly Flicker
+ Peregrine Drake
17/11/2016:
- Pristine Talisman
- Seer's Lantern
- Shred Memory
- Fathom Seer
- Death Denied
- Gravedigger
- Disturbed Burial
- Doom Blade
- Diplomatic Immunity
- Drift of Phantasms
+ Devour Flesh
+ Fractured Powerstone
+ Drain Life
+ Dream Fracture
I've found that 37 Lands and 7-8 mana rocks is the sweet spot for this deck. You want to keep making land drops and developing mana, and all the excess lands can be dumped into 'Tog. With all the ramp and card draw and quality spells, dropping a land every turn is pretty much a given.
That said, there are a few things I want to improve in the deck, but since it's so stacked already I don't know what to cut. In order of preference:
- First and foremost, a bit more of removal. Recoil and Repeal to help me deal with noncreature permanents, and Terror, Diabolic Edict and Nameless Inversion as extra pieces of removal (the latter two being silver bullets tutorable by Teachings against Ascended Lawmage / Invisible Stalker and Temur Sabertooth respectively).
- A little bit of creatures to exploit the graveyard a bit more and in order to block opponents while getting incremental value. Gravedigger, Cadaver Imp and Warren Pilferers were all cut due to the low creature count, so those three seem like easy inclusions. Moriok Replica and Fathom Seer give us even more card advantage, Wretched Gryff, Merfolk Looter and Thought Courier keep the cards flowing, and Elgaud Shieldmate is extra protection for the Atog
- A bit more of unblockability for 'Tog. Aqueous Form offers a permanent but fragile unblockability while scrying, Slip through Space replaces itself, Shadow Rift and Traitor's Clutch can be fetched by Teachings on top of having a little bonus and Artful Dodge and Distortion Strike can be used twice.
- Two more mana rocks: Sisay's Ring and Ur-Golem's Eye. While their cost might be steep, after the initial commitment ramping us up by two for the rest of the game is pretty good.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
UGTurboFogGU
BRSacrificial AggroBR
16The Paper Pauper Battle Bag16
EDH
BRRakdos, Lord of PingersBR
GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
UB Ramses OverdarkUB
Sig by Ace5301 of Ace of Spades Studio
EDIT: I've made a few changes that I'll update in the OP's changelog. I've noted that there's never "too many" Graveyard hate, so I upped the count a bit. Here's my list right now, at 104 cards, so 5 cuts must be made:
12 Island
10 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Halimar Depths
1 Mortuary Mire
1 Command Tower
1 Opal Palace
1 Ash Barrens
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Barren Moor
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Vault of Whispers
Mana artifacts (9)
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Dimir Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Thought Vessel
1 Pristine Talisman
1 Seer's Lantern
1 Pilgrim's Eye
Graveyard hate (5)
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Shred Memory
1 Crypt Incursion
1 Night's Whisper
1 Train of Thought
1 Compulsive Research
1 Fathom Seer
1 Read the Bones
1 Rhystic Study
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Deep Analysis
1 Foresee
1 Mulldrifter
1 Treasure Cruise
Tutoring (7)
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Trinket Mage
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Mystical Teachings
Recursion (7)
1 Death Denied
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Grim Harvest
1 Archaeomancer
1 Gravedigger
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Scrivener
Wraths (4)
1 Crypt Rats
1 Gangrenous Zombies
1 Evincar's Justice
1 Pestilence
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Doom Blade
1 Victim of Night
1 Capsize
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Rend Flesh
1 Murder
1 Predatory Nightstalker
Counterspells (7)
1 Condescend
1 Counterspell
1 Exclude
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Perplex
1 Rewind
1 Soul Manipulation
Combo (4)
1 Consume Spirit
1 Displace
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Peregrine Drake
Protection and Unblockability (4)
1 Writ of Passage
1 Diplomatic Immunity
1 Neurok Stealthsuit
1 Whispersilk Cloak
So as I said, 5 cuts need to be made. I actually want 1-2 more counterspells (Deprive and Dream Fracture namely) and 1-2 more removal spells (Death Rattle and Nameless Inversion) so cutting from Countermagic and Removal is off limits for now. As you'll see, I also added a Peregrine Drake as backup wincon. Generate infinite mana, draw your deck either by bouncing card draw creatures or use the mana to replicate Train of Thought, and then kill via Consume Spirit. Consume Spirit also has redundancy in Drain Life, which I haven't included for now but which can and will be once I settle the 5 spots thing.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
- Pristine Talisman: I cut the mana rocks for the time being just because of size constraints, but plan to get them back at work as soon as I find spots.
- Seer's Lantern: See above.
- Shred Memory: This is the weakest of both the Graveyard hate and the Transmute tutors, so it had to go.
- Fathom Seer: Really slow, and I favor Instants over creatures in this deck.
- Death Denied: I like creature recursion less and less with each creature removed. I know this is a high value card and a Staple in black decks, I just think I don't have enough to exploit it although fetching any combination of Archaeomancer, Mnemonic Wall and Scrivener makes for a heck of a loop.
- Gravedigger: See above.
- Disturbed Burial: See above.
- Doom Blade: Too much removal, plus I already have a pseudo functional reprint in Executioner's Capsule.
- Diplomatic Immunity: Elgaud Shieldmate is the better protection spell since it can be recurred with Creature recursion should it die, whereas I have no enchantment recursion at all.
- Drift of Phantasms: While there are a lot of cards I can silver bullet for that cost 3 (counterspells, removal, Displace/Flicker), paying 3 at sorcery speed to do so feels clunky most of the time. I also still have Perplex as a 3 CMC tutor which can be fetched with Teachings and Scroll.
+ Devour Flesh: Gotta respect that Ascended Lawmage and Invisible Stalker are both top-tier decks.
+ Fractured Powerstone: 2 CMC rocks, even vanilla ones, are hard to come by, and are by default much better than 3 CMC ones.
+ Drain Life: Both more removal (with lifegain attached) and redundancy for the Drake combo kill.
+ Dream Fracture: See above.
Here's the list I'm running now:
12 Island
10 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Command Tower
1 Opal Palace
1 Ash Barrens
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Seat of the Synod
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Barren Moor
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Halimar Depths
1 Mortuary Mire
Artifact mana (8)
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Dimir Signet
1 Fractured Powerstone
1 Mind Stone
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Thought Vessel
1 Pilgrim's Eye
Graveyard Hate (4)
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Crypt Incursion
1 Night's Whisper
1 Train of Thought
1 Compulsive Research
1 Read the Bones
1 Rhystic Study
1 Sea Gate Oracle
1 Deep Analysis
1 Foresee
1 Mulldrifter
1 Treasure Cruise
Tutoring (6)
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Trinket Mage
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Mystical Teachings
Recursion (4)
1 Grim Harvest
1 Archaeomancer
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Scrivener
Wraths (4)
1 Crypt Rats
1 Gangrenous Zombies
1 Evincar's Justice
1 Pestilence
Removal (8)
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Devour Flesh
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Victim of Night
1 Eyeblight's Ending
1 Murder
1 Rend Flesh
1 Predatory Nightstalker
1 Condescend
1 Counterspell
1 Dream Fracture
1 Exclude
1 Faerie Trickery
1 Perplex
1 Rewind
1 Soul Manipulation
Combo (5)
1 Consume Spirit
1 Drain Life
1 Displace
1 Ghostly Flicker
1 Peregrine Drake
Protection and Unblockability (4)
1 Writ of Passage
1 Neurok Stealthsuit
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Elgaud Shieldmate
Next candidates in line, in order of preference:
- Probe
- Ponder
- Preordain
- Doom Blade
- Bone to Ash
- Repeal
- Recoil
- Pristine Talisman
- Commander's Sphere
The more I think about it, the more I think the deck wants less creatures and creature recursion and more ways to keep the cards flowing (hence things like Bone to Ash or Repeal). What do you guys think?
EDIT: Just took out Drift of Phantasms and Disturbed Burial for Victim of Night and Dream Fracture.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!