Bant is probably pricier. With Narset her shell does not cost much (a bunch of rocks) and then you can still have fun with whatever you've got once you trigger her ability. She's great with time walk effects. Losing black sucks the most but the deck runs mostly on UW anyways (wipes, counters, most planeswalkers, time magic). Green is better than red but I like Narset more on a budget. It's kind of a two colored deck with a red splash making the manabase easier to balance.
Oath of Nissa ---> Exploration
Oath of Nissa tends to be quite underwhelming in my deck except for the occasional Venser chain. I tested e ploration and find that it is good thruout the course of the game since i am focused on ramping early and i have a tendency to have man card draws in midlate game.
I'm not sure about Eploration. Its great in the starting hand but you need pretty consistent draw to keep it going. Should this be a rock? I'd be willing to try it again but last time I tried it I cut it after a few games.
Phyrexian Arena ---> Unfulfilled Dreams
Unfulfilled Desire acts as a pseudo Necropotence. I find that card quality is much more important than card quantity. It helps to filter the deck much quicker to find a mass removal answer. The greatest use of this card i find is that it acts like a instant speed demonic tutor at the cost of 1 life/mana/card for the one mana tutors the deck plays. Great if you need an answer urgently.
Interesting card. I'm very close to cutting Phyrexian Arena because its too slow. I was thinking of trying Mystic Remora instead. I might also give this card a shot.
Oath Of Gideon ---> Ajani Steadfast
Ajani Steadfast seems to have more value than Oath of Gideon at a additional cost of 1mana and provides a important source of lifegain in lategame via sliverqueen beatdown, especially so since i tend to take much damage from mana crypt/Necropotence/Ancient tomb.
Steadfast has been amazing for me. All of his modes are relevant. He's a little bit awkward when he's alone on the board tho. I'm not a big fan of the Oaths as they don't provide a whole lot of value unless you play them early.
Kiora the crashing wave ----> Nahiri
Nahiri starts off with a higher loyalty counter and her ability to exile problematic enchanments and synergy with Tamiyos and Ral Zarek warrants her a spot.her +2 filter is great to uptick her fast.
I don't like both TBH. Kiora does not provide much value for 4 mana unless she sticks. She can't ult with doubling season... Nahiri is also awkward. The card quality is quite high in this deck so discarding a card is not always possible. I already have this issue with Dack Fayden sometimes. 4 mana to exile something is a lot. Might has well just run Utter End. Her ult is a complete fizzle in this deck as in it does not win you the game at all.
Jokulhapps ----> Merciless eviction
I am taking out my win condition to try merciless eviction for more interaction. Merciless evction exiles creatures and planeswalkers which helps in reanimator strageies.Jokulhapps tend to hit many of my artifact ramps even though it is much more effective to win in multiplayer settings. I think i will play both in competitve edh plays though.
I like both. Evition is great if you play in a graveyard heavy meta.
Some cards i am still considering are Oath of Gideon, lethal vapours (only in 1v1), Daretti the scrap savant ( as i play many artifacts and his filtering is good), throne of geth, ensnaring bridge ( both can be tutored by tezzert and Moat.
I am thinking of trying out Chrome Mox/ Mox Diamond/Utopia sprawl/Wild growth for more explosive play. Any feedbacks for my current decklist is appreciated. Thanks!
I will be adding Lethal Vapors to my list soon as a test. I will report back later. I had Ensnaring Bridge for a while and it only prevents lethal swings (Cratehoof). It does not prevent cards like Trygon Predator from attacking or anything with power 3 or less to kill your planes. It does not really advance our gameplan and is a weird political tool. Out of the fast mana cards I like Mox Diamond more because in my current decklist I only have 14 green mana symbols, 5 of those being garruks. Yours seem also green light. The extra fixing is good.
I'd play Contagion Engine over Throne of Geth even if it has a higher CMC. The value it generates is amazing. It can be tutored by Tezzeret off Doubling Season too. It could give you a good reason to ult Nahiri. If you look at your planeswalker list, a lot of them ult after 3 +1 activations. I've gotten a lot of ults after playing a planes, doing the +1 and then next turn drop Contagion, Proliferate twice into the ult. Its also good defense if you can activate it the same turn its played (-3/-3 gets rid of a lot of creatures).
Sakashima the impostor clones.dek. Also misdirection and control exchange effects. Steal their stuff and kick their ass with it. Twincast is also on flavor.
I agree with #1 and #2 but they are quite pricy (especially Capture). I'm also fine with Savor the Moment due to it being a 3CMC spell. But after that it gets interesting. I would like you guys to evaluate the spells from these possible interactions with the deck:
I did the exercise and here are the pros and cons:
Time Warp
Works with Narset
Neutral with topdeck manipulation
Works OK with Sorin's +1
Very bad against Misdirection
Walk the Aeons
Works with Narset
Neutral with topdeck manipulation
Works well with Sorin's +1
Very bad against Misdirection
The buyback is a plus
Temporal Mastery
Does not work with Narset
Excellent with topdeck manipulation
Works well with Sorin's +1
Not affected by Misdirection
Temporal Trespass
Works with Narset
Neutral with topdeck manipulation
Works extremelly well with Sorin's +1
Not affected by Misdirection
Altough Delve can help hardcast it, UUU is prohibitive
I'm a bit torn. I'd like to run #1 for sure, #4 seems fine. But after that, I'm lost. Time Warp + Mastery seems ok, but Walk the Aeons has some nice upside too. What do you guys think? Should topdeck manipulation win over a possible rebounded extra turn or even playing around misdirection?
It's been a long while since I last posted here, but I've been taking this to my Commander tourneys (starts with pods of 3/4, then has a "finals" pod) here and tend to do well, other than against dedicated land destruction/basic land hate decks as well as others that can ramp faster, and that's assuming they didn't turn us into the Archenemy already. Against creature-heavy decks Humility tends to be backbreaking enough.
At this time I'm still trying to find a good mix for the deck, but I agree with one of the more recent comments; we can't really count enough on expecting multiple "basic" activations with any planeswalkers, especially if there are way too many and/or superior threats (i.e. creatures) on the board. I'll post my decklist later, but I've shifted more towards an enchantment heavy build, with a bigger focus on getting an emblem out ASAP. In essence, if I can get Omniscience and/or Doubling Season, Tamiyo, and any "take extra turn" cards, I usually get to play solitaire and people scoop, or with any other emblem at least severely turn the game towards us.
As to how to get them there, especially early game, that tends to be a challenge; whenever I ramp I immediately become a target, nevermind how having Sliver Queen automatically makes some treat you as the Archenemy from the get-go. On the other hand, people tend to be wary of exposing themselves just to get rid of us, so we can at times stall out.
My new favorite cards to help cheat permanents (enchantments or planeswalkers) into play have been similar to reanimate: some combination of Entomb, Dack Fayden, Obzedat's Aid and Replenish. I wanted another way beyond Academy Rector to bring out our heavy hitters, and I think this is yet another way while allowing us to save our tutors for something to work with them (e.g. Entomb Omni/Doubling Season during end phase of opponent, then use whichever tutor you need to set up an emblem during your upkeep). Again, the goal is an emblem, as they tend to swing the game in our favor instead of trying to keep things "fair", especially since they already assume we're up to something as soon as we reveal Sliver Queen.
How have your games been as of late?
Humility being an all-star is why I'm running Sterling Grove. It also fetches Omniscience at instant speed late game. I think Replenish is interesting for Omniscience but why not run Yawgmoth's Will? I wish the deck had an all star land that could make Entomb better with Crucible of Worlds because I think your idea is interesting but its kind of a dead card if you start with both in hand.
Emblems are obviously a nice alternate win condition if the infinite turn plan fails. That's why I kept Contagion Engine even though its very mana intensive, it can ult some planes on the spot like Sorin, Solemn Visitor or after one activation like Ral Zarek lowering the need to keep Doubling Season alive to win. Its also an all star with Ring's of Brighthearth altough its very mana intensive.
My games have been going mostly like this:
- Decksturbate for 4-5 turns while I browse my deck for lands
- Start playing a few planeswalker on T3+
- Watch them die to token/voltron decks
- Tutor for an answer to the combo deck that is going infinite next turn
- Stabilise then get reset by Cyclonic Rift
- Either lose the game overtime, or stabilise and sneak a win through humility + token bash / infinite turns
The deck is lacking great win conditions from its theme (planeswalkers). I could easily add infinite mana or kiki combos but that's not how I want to play the deck.
I went through the same experience mattz123. This is why I'm reorienting the deck to a "win one on or a few consecutive turns" style. I'm not sure it will work but without another control deck at the table, planeswalker just don't survive. My meta has sidisi bug zombies/narset, tasigur reanimator (basically dies to doom blade's list) and rafiq/omnath2.0.
It will probably take a few more sets until we have a solid core of planeswalkers to play with, and even then, this archetype will never be more than a casual fun deck IMO.
I'm trying to evaluate walkers in a pessimistic way where they only get one activation. At best, Knight Errant gives you a 1/1 or pushes some damage. This is far from impressive. The ult is good but is far from a game winner in my experience due to all the wraths and CRift. I've lost a couple of games with it out.
Same deal with Garruk, sure the 3/3 is nice, but the minus is "ok" unless you don't have your commander out. 2GGG to draw 3 cards out of a beast is not that great. The ult is fine tho. That's why I'm on the fence. He has more upside than Knight Errant but triple green is harsh.
I'm close to cut Garruk due to the mana rocks I run which are worse than Chromatic Lantern / Coalition Relic to cast him at GGG. Kind of the same deal with Arena, I don't really want to / can't always fetch for BB early. The deck already draws a ton. I might swap it for Mystic Remora.
Another plane I don't really like on curve is Elspeth Knight Errant. Aside from the 10 damage hits with the queen she's not that nice plus she's WW.
I'd like to have your opinion on the early game mostly.
Problems
- After the mulligan change we can't pitch late game cards (basically anything over 4CMC) so I oftentimes found myself derping around until turn 4 unless I had a rock in my starting hand
- My meta is getting way more threatening than before. I need to be able to start taking extra turns or resolve Omniscience early to win
- Being slow means that I will have to use my tutors for control answers rather than my own gameplan
Solutions:
- Upped the land count to 37 from 36
- Swapped Skyshroud Claim for Three Visits because I want to work on my winning plan at turn 3/4, I don't want to ramp
- Cut some less powerful cards in favor of high power, low CMC mana rocks
- Counterflux is now Mana Drain as it can be used to ramp
- Added more low cost tutoring to reinforce the win conditions like Gamble (should be Imperial Seal but budget...), Mystical Tutor, Sterling Grove
Manabase
- I run 4 basics because my meta has a couple of nonbasic hate cards like Wave of Vitriol and Blood Moon
- I cut Sacred Foundry as the deck does not need white or red as much early game
- I added Ancient Tomb so increase the chance of having a 4CMC walker on turn 2 and getting at least 2 activations before it dies to a 3 drop
I could see myself replacing Reflecting Pool for something else if you guys have any suggestions
I'm working really hard on the deck's core to make it function better under the new mulligan rule. That means that high CMC cards need to go so Deploy is out for me.
What happens if creatures are in play when living death resolves that have LTBs that can target creatures. Can they target creatures put into play by living death?
Yeah it is. You'll sacrifice speed for fixing and your win conditions will be less reliable but it can be done.
What kind of budget are we working with? The best planes are pricy.
Playing Narset as your general would cut some cost while keeping some competitiveness.
I'm not sure about Eploration. Its great in the starting hand but you need pretty consistent draw to keep it going. Should this be a rock? I'd be willing to try it again but last time I tried it I cut it after a few games.
Interesting card. I'm very close to cutting Phyrexian Arena because its too slow. I was thinking of trying Mystic Remora instead. I might also give this card a shot.
Steadfast has been amazing for me. All of his modes are relevant. He's a little bit awkward when he's alone on the board tho. I'm not a big fan of the Oaths as they don't provide a whole lot of value unless you play them early.
I came to the exact same conclusion.
I don't like both TBH. Kiora does not provide much value for 4 mana unless she sticks. She can't ult with doubling season... Nahiri is also awkward. The card quality is quite high in this deck so discarding a card is not always possible. I already have this issue with Dack Fayden sometimes. 4 mana to exile something is a lot. Might has well just run Utter End. Her ult is a complete fizzle in this deck as in it does not win you the game at all.
I like both. Evition is great if you play in a graveyard heavy meta.
I will be adding Lethal Vapors to my list soon as a test. I will report back later. I had Ensnaring Bridge for a while and it only prevents lethal swings (Cratehoof). It does not prevent cards like Trygon Predator from attacking or anything with power 3 or less to kill your planes. It does not really advance our gameplan and is a weird political tool. Out of the fast mana cards I like Mox Diamond more because in my current decklist I only have 14 green mana symbols, 5 of those being garruks. Yours seem also green light. The extra fixing is good.
I'd play Contagion Engine over Throne of Geth even if it has a higher CMC. The value it generates is amazing. It can be tutored by Tezzeret off Doubling Season too. It could give you a good reason to ult Nahiri. If you look at your planeswalker list, a lot of them ult after 3 +1 activations. I've gotten a lot of ults after playing a planes, doing the +1 and then next turn drop Contagion, Proliferate twice into the ult. Its also good defense if you can activate it the same turn its played (-3/-3 gets rid of a lot of creatures).
Coming in peace from the other superfriends primer because it seems quite dead. I want to get some feedback on the early game.
Ramp
- Mana Crypt and Sol Ring are pretty much auto includes
- Nature's Lore Farseek and Three Visits are playable on turn 1 off mana crypt or turn 2 into any duals, that's great to for fixing
- Mana Vault, Grim Monolith these cards are insane in your starting hand with Ral Zarek Venser, the Sojourner Tezzeret the Seeker or Teferi, Temporal Archmage. They make Omniscience very hardcastable on turn 4 if you have one of those walker out by then. Also, doubling season on turn 2 anyone?
What other early game ramp cards do you guys like? I've tested this package and got some great results so far.
Can I redirect the damage it deals to me to a planeswalker I control?
From the primer it seems that the preferred order (price aside)
1 - Temporal Manipulation
2 - Capture of Jingzhou
3 - Time Warp
4 - Savor the Moment
5 - Walk the Aeons
6 - Temporal Mastery
7 - Temporal Trespass
I agree with #1 and #2 but they are quite pricy (especially Capture). I'm also fine with Savor the Moment due to it being a 3CMC spell. But after that it gets interesting. I would like you guys to evaluate the spells from these possible interactions with the deck:
- Narset Transcendent's rebound (does not work if the spell exiles itself)
- Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Sensei's Divining Top Sylvan Library Vampiric Tutor topdeck manipulation and Miracle
- Sorin, Grim Nemesis's +1 and the card's converted mana cost
- Misdirection effects that are not uncommon
I did the exercise and here are the pros and cons:
Time Warp
Works with Narset
Neutral with topdeck manipulation
Works OK with Sorin's +1
Very bad against Misdirection
Walk the Aeons
Works with Narset
Neutral with topdeck manipulation
Works well with Sorin's +1
Very bad against Misdirection
The buyback is a plus
Temporal Mastery
Does not work with Narset
Excellent with topdeck manipulation
Works well with Sorin's +1
Not affected by Misdirection
Temporal Trespass
Works with Narset
Neutral with topdeck manipulation
Works extremelly well with Sorin's +1
Not affected by Misdirection
Altough Delve can help hardcast it, UUU is prohibitive
I'm a bit torn. I'd like to run #1 for sure, #4 seems fine. But after that, I'm lost. Time Warp + Mastery seems ok, but Walk the Aeons has some nice upside too. What do you guys think? Should topdeck manipulation win over a possible rebounded extra turn or even playing around misdirection?
Humility being an all-star is why I'm running Sterling Grove. It also fetches Omniscience at instant speed late game. I think Replenish is interesting for Omniscience but why not run Yawgmoth's Will? I wish the deck had an all star land that could make Entomb better with Crucible of Worlds because I think your idea is interesting but its kind of a dead card if you start with both in hand.
Emblems are obviously a nice alternate win condition if the infinite turn plan fails. That's why I kept Contagion Engine even though its very mana intensive, it can ult some planes on the spot like Sorin, Solemn Visitor or after one activation like Ral Zarek lowering the need to keep Doubling Season alive to win. Its also an all star with Ring's of Brighthearth altough its very mana intensive.
My games have been going mostly like this:
- Decksturbate for 4-5 turns while I browse my deck for lands
- Start playing a few planeswalker on T3+
- Watch them die to token/voltron decks
- Tutor for an answer to the combo deck that is going infinite next turn
- Stabilise then get reset by Cyclonic Rift
- Either lose the game overtime, or stabilise and sneak a win through humility + token bash / infinite turns
The deck is lacking great win conditions from its theme (planeswalkers). I could easily add infinite mana or kiki combos but that's not how I want to play the deck.
It will probably take a few more sets until we have a solid core of planeswalkers to play with, and even then, this archetype will never be more than a casual fun deck IMO.
But the real question is, do you run all three?
Same deal with Garruk, sure the 3/3 is nice, but the minus is "ok" unless you don't have your commander out. 2GGG to draw 3 cards out of a beast is not that great. The ult is fine tho. That's why I'm on the fence. He has more upside than Knight Errant but triple green is harsh.
Another plane I don't really like on curve is Elspeth Knight Errant. Aside from the 10 damage hits with the queen she's not that nice plus she's WW.
1 Academy Rector
1 Sliver Queen
Artifacts:10
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Grim Monolith
1 Torpor Orb
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Contagion Engine
Sorceries:16
1 Gamble
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Farseek
1 Nature's Lore
1 Three Visits
1 Savor the Moment
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Vindicate
1 Wargate
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Rout
1 Time Warp
1 Austere Command
1 Merciless Eviction
1 Temporal Mastery
Instants:6
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Mana Drain
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Sterling Grove
1 Sylvan Library
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Rhystic Study
1 Humility
1 The Abyss
1 Doubling Season
1 Omniscience
Others:21
1 Dack Fayden
1 Jace Beleren
1 Ajani Steadfast
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Narset Transcendent
1 Ral Zarek
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Liliana Vess
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Venser, the Sojourner
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
1 Karn Liberated
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Lands:37
1 Arid Mesa
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Mana Confluence
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Plateau
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
I'd like to have your opinion on the early game mostly.
Problems
- After the mulligan change we can't pitch late game cards (basically anything over 4CMC) so I oftentimes found myself derping around until turn 4 unless I had a rock in my starting hand
- My meta is getting way more threatening than before. I need to be able to start taking extra turns or resolve Omniscience early to win
- Being slow means that I will have to use my tutors for control answers rather than my own gameplan
Solutions:
- Upped the land count to 37 from 36
- Swapped Skyshroud Claim for Three Visits because I want to work on my winning plan at turn 3/4, I don't want to ramp
- Cut some less powerful cards in favor of high power, low CMC mana rocks
- Counterflux is now Mana Drain as it can be used to ramp
- Added more low cost tutoring to reinforce the win conditions like Gamble (should be Imperial Seal but budget...), Mystical Tutor, Sterling Grove
Manabase
- I run 4 basics because my meta has a couple of nonbasic hate cards like Wave of Vitriol and Blood Moon
- I cut Sacred Foundry as the deck does not need white or red as much early game
- I added Ancient Tomb so increase the chance of having a 4CMC walker on turn 2 and getting at least 2 activations before it dies to a 3 drop
I could see myself replacing Reflecting Pool for something else if you guys have any suggestions
Ramp
- Mana Crypt and Sol Ring are pretty much auto includes
- Nature's Lore Farseek and Three Visits are playable on turn 1 off mana crypt or turn 2 into any duals, that's great to for fixing
- Mana Vault, Grim Monolith these cards are insane in your starting hand with Ral Zarek Venser, the Sojourner Tezzeret the Seeker or Teferi, Temporal Archmage. They make Omniscience very hardcastable on turn 4 if you have one of those walker out by then. Also, doubling season on turn 2 anyone?
That's it for the foundations. I'll wait for you guys to give some input on this before I go further.
I'm working really hard on the deck's core to make it function better under the new mulligan rule. That means that high CMC cards need to go so Deploy is out for me.
I'm curious to see what your list look like now.
If misdirection's free cast ability is used and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is in play, does it cost 1 or 0 mana?