MTG Salvation

I guess I'll throw my list out to get this back on the rails:



Sideboard


So this is my current list. I should be picking up a Clique soon that I will add in. I'm hoping to get a second soon and I will probably take out the Ajani's for them. I definitely don't have the extra money to pick up the fetches so that's one improvement that I can't make. I'm wondering what changes you guys would make to this? I'm also not comfortable running Cryptics without the fetches - I can't consistently get triple blue.
With regards to the sideboard I think I am going to take out a flare and a Counterflux and try to get 2 Aven Mindcensors.

The spell snares are lacking for me but I am also basically only playing against Mono U Urza right now so my balance probably isn't the best. One of my friends has Jund now so that's starting to get some testing in too (what do you guys sideboard? I've considered taking out Geist in that match-up and only having flash or hasty creatures and a Batterskull. Do you think that is the right call?)
I'm really trying to get this deck as close to top-tier as possible without the fetches as I can, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I was just looking through some cards and I saw Aurelia, the Warleader

Do you guys think that she has any potential in this deck or is the 6 cmc double red double white too much?

What about Dream Halls?

Well I need this. Izzet is my favorite color combo and this is an awesome mat.

And yes, I know it's technically not Izzet but look at the mat, it's Izzet.

So, I'm not sure how much budget discussion is allowed here, but what is a good replacement for remand? I'm really looking at Azorius Charm, maybe it's not as good as I think it is but it seems to be a crazy tempo card that digs if you need it too. Also, how's Boros charm going in this deck, I know it's gone through a lot of debate too.

I'm looking at running the 4 Geist 4 Snapcaster 2 Resto with my spells looking something like this:



Working in Izzet or Boros charms could work too. Are people not running Isochron because of the easy 2 for 1?

Quote from Dolono

Yeah, I was including mythics when I mentioned rares. Agreed on the dragons as well; I'd definitely include them in a modern masters sim.

IMHO, wizards will have really screwed the pooch on what the set should look like in practice: so many folks will be rare drafting, that I think it'll be hard, outside of phantom events, to see what the dev team intended, archetype-wise.

If I had the resources, I'd love to simulate this thing on paper.

My brother, our friend, and I were all lucky enough to get a box for $155 after tax preordered at our LGS. We plan on having a free draft with friends but keeping our own boxes, so rare-drafting should be a thing, it should be awesome. And between the 3 of us we should have enough of the cards to make the cube if we pick up some extra rares here and there.

I just feel like it has potential to be really fun for drafting with definite and strong archetypes. I feel like my cube drafts often end up being goodstuff decks. That could just be my cube design though.

The 4/2/1 seems like it could work. Would you just treat mythics as rares? That could be interesting, the dragons seem very strong for limited.

I was looking for a post on this but couldn't find one. Has anyone/a group come up with a list they feel like replicates a MM draft well? Or is there any interest in doing that?

What do you guys think about Render Silent. I played it last night as a 4 of and it worked well, but I didn't play against any reanimator. It timewalked for me a few times when I was playing ramp and I would counter an early farseek.

Is there a video tutorial of how to do the super art (or really any of this) with PS2 or GIMP? I'm completely new to those programs and was trying to follow the tutorial here: http://wordofcommander.blogspot.com/2012/09/custom-generals-part-1-digital.html

but have really been having trouble.

I'm making a list for Dracogenius too, because most of the Firemind decklists focus on the curiosity combo which my playgroup probably wouldn't let me play.

I would add an Isochron Scepter if I were you, since we have good spells. A counterspell on it would be ridiculous. Mine isn't really wizard themed, but one wizard you should include is Talrand.

Check out Sphinx-Bone Wand. I have a War's Toll in since this is a fairly controlling deck.

I also noticed no Brainstorm/Ponder/other really good blue cantrips.

You could also check out Epic Experiment and Past in Flames. They are both fun cards that have the potential to be awesome in EDH.

Quote from Shearscape

Don't forget you can target Reckoner and copy damage to your opponent.

Reckoner is a recent addition. His post sounded like he had been using Harvest Pyre for a while so I kind of assumed it wasn't in combination with reckoner. I just wanted to get into a discussion of the card to see whether or not it deserves a slot.

Quote from ThoughtXRiot

I don't know yet which version of this deck is best (if either is truly better), but what I do know is that, regardless of which version I'm playing, a singleton Harvest Pyre is a must. It's won me so many games that I'd otherwise have no business winning.

Did it win by killing a bomb of theirs or opening up the way for a GoST? I feel like a burn spell like Devil's Play or something that can hit to the dome late game (if it gets there) would be better as a singleton.

For a tempo game is Lyev Skyknight playable, or is the 1 toughness just making it bad. In a really aggro-y matchup I could see where it is better than GoST since you don't really have to worry about keeping it alive and it actually has the evasion to get through.

Why do you think Desperate Ravings is better than Faithless Looting?