As a general question with little direction, I can only provide basic advice that's likely all stuff you know, but that won't stop me from doing it:
For casual play, there are a lot of paths you can take. You can Animate Dead a Bladewing the Risen, fill your graveyard and cast Patriarch's Bidding and win instantly with Kolaghan's haste, play a bunch of cheaper dragons to go along with the Dragonlords, or any number of things. For a general deck, imagine the end of a winning game, ask "how did I get here," then make that happen by dividing your cards into roles and adding the right amount of each, while making sure you spend as much mana as you can each turn (cheap spells to go with expensive spells). For example, you might say "I kill all their stuff 1-for-1, then play dragons that overpower them," or "I ramp up my mana, kill all their stuff at once, draw a bunch of cards, then overwhelm them with dragons."
In a 60 card deck, 8 sources of an effect ("dragon," "cheap removal," etc.) will put a copy in your hand within the first 1 or two turns about 65% of the time, 12-14 sources 80-90% of the time. Go with 18 if you want 2 and 22 if you want 3 65%-75% of the time, and customize the numbers from there. If you want to draw 1 of something by turn 4-5, 8 sources gives about an 80% chance, and 10 gives close to 90%.
If you're casting big dragons honestly, 28 or so mana sources should be reliable, but more can work. Lands that can tap for multiple colors, like Seaside Citadel, are often slightly better than lands like Evolving Wilds because they solve many of your mana woes decently instead of solving one really well, but it's a balancing act. Combine both methods and use Wilds to get a Forest and cast Utopia Sprawl or Fertile Ground, and you're all set.
For some low-budget, on-theme cards, try Temple of the Dragon Queen, Dragon's Fire, Orator of Ojutai, and Breath of Darigaaz for good mana and a solid defense against early attackers. The Odyssey printing of Firebolt is a personal favorite. Reach out and torch someone. At a higher budget, you can Harrow or Cultivate into a devastating Crux of Fate and be set up to cast your dragons. This will get you a simple deck that's effective at a casual table like mine. For more, you'll need refinement, or a powerful starting point, like the Patriarch's Bidding example that will end up being a pure combo deck. The thing about refinement is that the first thing you'll notice is you should take out your favorite cards, which defeats the whole purpose, so that's a balancing act, too.
My style is speaking, you'll have to find your own. When I have a cool card I want to play, I build a kill-all-your-stuff frame and then add the cards I like. Other people like to really maximize their chosen cards' abilities, but for me, the Dragonlords' abilities are so varied that I wouldn't know where to start.
For Commander, I'm clueless. Tomer Abramovici, at MtgGoldfish, provides a deck skeleton that has helped me make drafts:
50 mana; lands and ramp, usually a 37–13 split
10 card draw; cards that net you 2+ cards in hand
8 targeted removal; split between creature / artifact / enchantment removal and countermagic
3 board wipes; creature-light decks might want one more, creature-heavy decks might want one less
2 graveyard recursion
2 flexible tutors; higher budgets I recommend more tutors
1 graveyard hate; since you need to keep Graveyard decks honest
1 finisher; something that can win games the turn you cast it without too much setup
Look up a hypergeometric calculator and spend a million years with it. Every card works together and sometimes against each other. Here are some keys. I'm assuming a modest budget, if any, and a casual environment.
28 lands will get you to land six on turn six as long as you play some card draw.
14 cheap (one or two mana) pieces of interaction (counters or damage) will usually put one in your opener. This and the lands are the foundation of your deck. No number is immutable, but this will give you a nice flow, not too little or too much, and set you up for three-mana interaction and the rest of your strategy. Outside of Counterspell (and in a creature-heavy list, Spell Pierce), most damage is more efficient than countermagic at this cost, so you might skew slightly towards that, but a balance is important. If you don't plan on using it early, don't count Negate specifically in this number. You can go up to about 19 if you really need 2+ interaction pieces but don't want sweepers for some reason. If you do this, balance it with more card draw. The more cheap interaction you add, the more you risk running out of power and wasting multiple cards on singular threats.
The next stage, often on turn four, is a major battle. You want to cast a card advantage spell (In a creature-light list, 9+, a mix of pure card draw and stuff that effects the board), and they want to force you to spend your mana on something else. This is a reason for so much interaction that costs less than four: so you can play your card draw, pull ahead, and win in a million turns. If they force you to keep interacting, you risk running out of cards.
Once in control, you can win with anything. This makes cards like Psychosis Crawler risky, as they can cede control and aren't so hot at achieving it, but still, you can play it. There aren't that many inexpensive ($) creatures that can eat removal while still fitting in the deck, but they exist, like Bonecrusher Giant or Crackling Drake.
You can give up some later spells for cheap creatures. In this strategy, you want to trade off creatures and removal, then drop a big creature when both players are mostly out of resources. Here you might play 26 lands and a few draw spells, and plan on hitting six mana a little later. In the creature-light strategy, you're trying to waste your opponents mana, while here you're trying to spend as much mana as possible.
Card selection, like Impulse, can let you play fewer of your spells that are sometimes useless, sometimes great, but you still need the cheap interaction.
I play casual counterburn a fair amount and would be happy to share my thoughts, if you're interested. In any case, good luck!
Looter really exposed me back in the day of UG Madness. I read an article on Brainburst or whatever that told me why I needed to activate it every turn, so I did that, I just didn't know what mattered to keep or discard. Though it lives on in direct and indirect references, most recently Likeness Looter, it's Fable of the Mirror-Breaker that is still exposing me to this day.
The closest I'm aware of are Psychic Barrier, Essence Backlash, Izzet Charm (sort of), and Suffocating Blast (also sort of, and beware that it can't be cast if there are no creatures to target), followed by plenty of cards that combine a creature with countermagic, like Voracious Greatshark. Of those, I wouldn't recommend any because they're so inefficient or difficult to use. Psychic Barrier isn't worth being harder to cast than Remove Soul, Izzet Charm is okay but inefficient. Access Denied pretty much wins if it counters a big spell, but needs everything to line up right.
I play a casual counterburn deck in Pioneer and eventually cut Ionize for Sinister Sabotage. It turned out that after gaining control with counters, removal, and card draw, I could kill with anything, so the 2-8 damage never mattered, though the easy casting cost is nice. A more aggressive style of deck will appreciate Ionize, but probably doesn't need so much countermagic that it needs to play Essence Backlash.
I've been trying a variety of red decks since your post to try and offer true, budget feedback. Previously my experience was from playing red burn in Explorer and from playing against red in Standard.
Flame Channeler is not bad in a world of 3/3 blockers, like Standard is, or at least was a week ago. It's a fine replacement for Bloodthirsty Adversary, and can handle a fairly small amount of support. 3/3's are just good in general. In Explorer, blockers are 4/4, so I had underrated it.
Electrostatic Infantry needs way more than 10 spells to get going. At 3/4, it's very strong, which happens instantly with Monstrous Rage or Witch's Mark.
Volcanic Spite doesn't compare to Lightning Strike at all. Strategically and tactically, Strike is more fitting.
Kumano Faces Kakkazan is the reason to play the deck. The power level is so high that it's often still good when drawn very late.
I never got the Invasion > Raptor combo. Other than Raptor, there's no reason to attack Invasions except the expensive ($) Invasion of Tarkir, you play them if the front side is good enough.
This may not interest you, but I was looking for a way to get all the major expenses, including Play with Fire, out of the deck, and this core played quite well:
Kumano Faces Kakkazan, Lizard Blades, Voldaren Thrillseeker, Thundering Raiju
Backed by Kami's Flare and Monstrous Rage. Think of Rage as the Fireblast/Embercleave-type blowout card. Lizard Blades is strong with everything, and if it survives one turn, which is a feat that generally means playing it on turn 4+, it can be made to dodge all the common black removal spells and blockers. I also tried Embereth Veteran, Charming Scoundrel, and Upriser Renegade, as well as Roadside Reliquary, which were all so-so, Renegade the weakest as usually a plain 3/3. It lacks the staying power of typical red decks, but knocks the price down to about $15 and threatens fast and sudden kills. EDIT: Replaced Veteran with Cacophony Scamp and it's a lot better, any Role on it deals a million damage. Also replaced Renegade with Raging Battle Mouse, which has turned the glut at two mana into a boon. Witchstalker Frenzy is an even cheaper ($) replacement for Nahiri's Warcrafting. It's rare to pay more than one mana for it. Sideboard is pretty simple. Furnace Punisher for 3+ color, Urabrask's Forge for slow matches, a couple Twisted Fealty for Atraxa, any Witchstalker Frenzy you're not already playing for Sheoldred, Adeline, etc., Lithomantic Barrage, and if you have any slots left (I don't), End the Festivities, Torch the Tower, and Obliterating Bolt if you have specific roles in mind for them. My 75, plus a handful of alternates, currently costs $22 shipped. A more standard list with Swiftspear, Phoenix Chick, Feldon, Lightning Strike, and Goddric, Cloaked Reveler replacing the modified stuff costs $16 shipped. The standard version has speed but loses some ability to win a long game. The modified version is fast and can win out of nowhwere (A Scamp, Mouse, and 4 lands presents lethal from 20), but has combo draws that get hosed by removal.
Looking at your decklist blindly, it's not bad. All your choices are reasonable. However, you could do more for the same price tag; you're missing some power, and the meta is cruel to a few of your choices.
A number of your cards don't do anything without significant support, Vindictive Flamestoker and Flame Channeler in particular. You can play those on turns 1 and 2 and never threaten to activate their abilities.
You have little reach, and few ways to take advantage of openings. If your opponent Sunfalls, you want to play a haste creature, attack with Mishra's Foundry, or burn them out. You want to force them to leave up excess blockers, use their removal at inopportune times, and generally play off-balance. Your opponent will Cut Down or Go for the Throat your turn 2 Electrostatic Infantry if you let them, so don't. They'll answer your Perforator with a Spirited Companion. Counters like those are disadvantageous and will too often be unavoidable.
Kumano Faces Kakkazan is both incredibly strong and maneuvers well against early removal. If you go first, you can put a Monastery Swiftspear or Feldon, Ronom Excavator out of Cut Down range, and if you go second, you can put the counter on a one-mana creature, forcing Go for the Throat to trade down on mana. If they have a slow start, you get to rip them to shreds.
Strangle is a fair replacement for Play with Fire on a budget, less so if you lean into burn. You really want the reach, but Play with Fire is ridiculously priced. Lightning Strike is dirt cheap, while Volcanic Spite will ideally have nothing to cycle; your cards all want to do the same basic thing. I've never played with Invasion of Kaldheim, so I can't say anything about it as a long-game replacement for Bloodthirsty Adversary. From a baseline tournament list, I would use Flying and burn for reach, replacing Adversary with a Phoenix Chick, a Bloodfeather Phoenix, and 2 Stoke the Flames. Look out for Charming Scoundrel if it ends up cheap.
If card availability is an issue, go with burn. Lightning Strike, Invasion of Regatha, and Stoke the Flames can win out of nowhere. You can build a deck that fairly consistently threatens 20 damage by turn 4.
For the sideboard, there are a couple of keys in addition to the generally helpful Furnace Punishers and Lithomantic Barrages. First, you want an extra way to deal with big creatures. The meta list uses Bloody Betrayal. Steal your opponent's Atraxa, Grand Unifier and kill them before it can ever touch you. The second is a way to win a long, drawn out game. The meta list uses planeswalkers, but if availability is an issue, Urabrask's Forge works pretty well, too.
Parents can't tell how old their children are. They need the ESRB's help, and the ESRB needs a surveillance camera. Thank you to all the perverts assigned to watch children play Battlefront. You are saving lives.
You receive priority before their spell resolves, so under normal circumstances you can activate abilities. For example, an opponent casts Planar Cleansing. You can activate Arcane Encyclopedia in response. If you have 12 Islands and a Treasure Trove, you can activate it, draw, activate it again, draw, and activate it again if you please, all with Planar Cleansing waiting on the stack to resolve. Only when everyone passes priority in a row does Planar Cleansing resolve.
117.1. Unless a spell or ability is instructing a player to take an action, which player can take actions at any given time is determined by a system of priority. The player with priority may cast spells, activate abilities, and take special actions.
117.1a A player may cast an instant spell any time they have priority. A player may cast a noninstant spell during their main phase any time they have priority and the stack is empty.
117.1b A player may activate an activated ability any time they have priority.
117.1c A player may take some special actions any time they have priority. A player may take other special actions during their main phase any time they have priority and the stack is empty. See rule 116, “Special Actions.”
117.1d A player may activate a mana ability whenever they have priority, whenever they are casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment (even in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability).
117.2. Other kinds of abilities and actions are automatically generated or performed by the game rules, or are performed by players without receiving priority.
117.2a Triggered abilities can trigger at any time, including while a spell is being cast, an ability is being activated, or a spell or ability is resolving. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”) However, nothing actually happens at the time an ability triggers. Each time a player would receive priority, each ability that has triggered but hasn’t yet been put on the stack is put on the stack. See rule 117.5.
117.2b Static abilities continuously affect the game. Priority doesn’t apply to them. (See rule 604, “Handling Static Abilities,” and rule 611, “Continuous Effects.”)
117.2c Turn-based actions happen automatically when certain steps or phases begin. They’re dealt with before a player would receive priority. See rule 117.3a. Turn-based actions also happen automatically when each step and phase ends; no player receives priority afterward. See rule 703, “Turn-Based Actions.”
117.2d State-based actions happen automatically when certain conditions are met. See rule 704. They’re dealt with before a player would receive priority. See rule 117.5.
117.2e Resolving spells and abilities may instruct players to make choices or take actions, or may allow players to activate mana abilities. Even if a player is doing so, no player has priority while a spell or ability is resolving. See rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities.”
117.3. Which player has priority is determined by the following rules:
117.3a The active player receives priority at the beginning of most steps and phases, after any turn-based actions (such as drawing a card during the draw step; see rule 703) have been dealt with and abilities that trigger at the beginning of that phase or step have been put on the stack. No player receives priority during the untap step. Players usually don’t get priority during the cleanup step (see rule 514.3).
117.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
117.3c If a player has priority when they cast a spell, activate an ability, or take a special action, that player receives priority afterward.
117.3d If a player has priority and chooses not to take any actions, that player passes. If any mana is in that player’s mana pool, they announce what mana is there. Then the next player in turn order receives priority.
117.4. If all players pass in succession (that is, if all players pass without taking any actions in between passing), the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves or, if the stack is empty, the phase or step ends.
117.5. Each time a player would get priority, the game first performs all applicable state-based actions as a single event (see rule 704, “State-Based Actions”), then repeats this process until no state-based actions are performed. Then triggered abilities are put on the stack (see rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities”). These steps repeat in order until no further state-based actions are performed and no abilities trigger. Then the player who would have received priority does so.
117.6. In a multiplayer game using the shared team turns option, teams rather than individual players have priority. See rule 805, “Shared Team Turns Option.”
117.7. If a player with priority casts a spell or activates an activated ability while another spell or ability is already on the stack, the new spell or ability has been cast or activated “in response to” the earlier spell or ability. The new spell or ability will resolve first. See rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities.”
I also feel like there are too many 3-cost cards, and maybe not enough 2-cost ones.
Trading Seal from Existence for Ossification or Make Disappear will trim costs down a little. I think you're just a little light on Plains to play Lay Down Arms. Cool deck, in any case.
having too many favorited videos on YouTube could potentially cause your PC to crash
I believe it. I searched for something at the bottom of my Liked playlist and it was chugging by the end, about 1,700 videos. "Shuffle" will only play from a chunk of the videos, as well.
The only cards that can be bought from the store are basic lands, everything else is a card style, it just looks like you're buying a card. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is legal in Historic and Historic Brawl. Tymaret is legal in those formats and Explorer. Historic is everything on Arena, Explorer is every Standard set on Arena since Khans of Tarkir. Scryfall.com is a good way to check a card's legality, other than that it just takes time to remember everything in the different formats.
It sounds like you bought an Elesh Norn card style. Card styles, bought with gold or gems, don't give you the actual card, they just change its appearance. Cards are crafted from wildcards.
For Tymaret, it sounds like you're trying to build a standard deck, and those cards are not legal in standard. For an existing deck, click the deck box next to the title in the deck editor, then choose a format like Historic Brawl where those cards are legal (Tymaret is also legal in Explorer). For a new deck, a "Select Format" block will appear next to the deck box when you start building.
You're not the first to think of this system. It was even used in the Xbox One "Magic Duels" game. For making rares "rare," you may need to limit their total, so someone doesn't replace their 4 bombs with 1 bomb, 1 grenade, 1 missile, 1 rocket. As for keeping prices down, Cyclonic Rift is mostly played in Commander and costs $40. Snuff Out and Mental Note make a pauper deck cost $70. If you want a budget, just set one. $10. 20 packs. Whatever it takes. I use old precon rules or something similar to the Alpha 40 League rule set.
A lot of these ideas are sold on novelty. They are fun, but they can't catch on because then the novelty wears off. Budget is another sell, but if my deck has 3 Force of Will or 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, it's not budget-friendly.
Thanks for explaining your choices, they're insightful. I wasn't recommending spells like Fable, just illustrating what similar decks use in the matchup. Also, while Paragon lets you cast Steel Seraph from the grave, Kayla's Reconstruction can't find it in your library; it's much better with Resplendent Angel. WG Angels is a strong deck if you choose to go that route.
I played some games against WU control, just to get a feel for things, and it's rough, for sure. We're essentially playing Gray Ogres and Hill Giants against them. That said, your version has some nice natural edges, with all 4 Inspiring Overseer and Steel Seraph bringing protection from The Wandering Emperor. Initially, I thought you were in between WG Angels and RB Midrange, and any changes would lead to morphing into those decks, but there are some simple ways to keep your core and still address matchups:
Win the die roll. Easy, right? Playing around Censor is no good when it means playing into Absorb.
I hate recommending rares, but Mutavault is really good against them. It makes sweepers, countermagic, and planeswalkers worse. Normally it improves threat density, but I recommend it over creatures. Anointed Peacekeeper and The Wandering Emperor are maindeckable alternatives to your current interaction, which may be great elsewhere (I only played against WU), but is useless here. Peacekeeper throws them off balance and attacks, while Emperor lets you play at flash speed while still being removal elsewhere. Youthful Valkyrie is next, a cheap play to enable your aggressive strategy. It isn't exceptional here, but it's an uncommon alternative to your weaker creatures. I wish there were more low-rarity alternatives, but something like Cathar Commando, while decent against control, doesn't work well against most anything else you'll face.
Indulgent Patrician, Starnheim Aspirant, and Sanctum Warden are your most replaceable creatures. Warden is expensive and you already have a long game. Patrician and Aspirant only help when your deck is already working unopposed. Play an Aspirant, fall way behind, then use it to maybe catch up seems like the way it normally goes. Legion Angel provides a long, long game, but many decks will ignore it.
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/casual-multiplayer-formats
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh
As a general question with little direction, I can only provide basic advice that's likely all stuff you know, but that won't stop me from doing it:
For casual play, there are a lot of paths you can take. You can Animate Dead a Bladewing the Risen, fill your graveyard and cast Patriarch's Bidding and win instantly with Kolaghan's haste, play a bunch of cheaper dragons to go along with the Dragonlords, or any number of things. For a general deck, imagine the end of a winning game, ask "how did I get here," then make that happen by dividing your cards into roles and adding the right amount of each, while making sure you spend as much mana as you can each turn (cheap spells to go with expensive spells). For example, you might say "I kill all their stuff 1-for-1, then play dragons that overpower them," or "I ramp up my mana, kill all their stuff at once, draw a bunch of cards, then overwhelm them with dragons."
In a 60 card deck, 8 sources of an effect ("dragon," "cheap removal," etc.) will put a copy in your hand within the first 1 or two turns about 65% of the time, 12-14 sources 80-90% of the time. Go with 18 if you want 2 and 22 if you want 3 65%-75% of the time, and customize the numbers from there. If you want to draw 1 of something by turn 4-5, 8 sources gives about an 80% chance, and 10 gives close to 90%.
If you're casting big dragons honestly, 28 or so mana sources should be reliable, but more can work. Lands that can tap for multiple colors, like Seaside Citadel, are often slightly better than lands like Evolving Wilds because they solve many of your mana woes decently instead of solving one really well, but it's a balancing act. Combine both methods and use Wilds to get a Forest and cast Utopia Sprawl or Fertile Ground, and you're all set.
For some low-budget, on-theme cards, try Temple of the Dragon Queen, Dragon's Fire, Orator of Ojutai, and Breath of Darigaaz for good mana and a solid defense against early attackers. The Odyssey printing of Firebolt is a personal favorite. Reach out and torch someone. At a higher budget, you can Harrow or Cultivate into a devastating Crux of Fate and be set up to cast your dragons. This will get you a simple deck that's effective at a casual table like mine. For more, you'll need refinement, or a powerful starting point, like the Patriarch's Bidding example that will end up being a pure combo deck. The thing about refinement is that the first thing you'll notice is you should take out your favorite cards, which defeats the whole purpose, so that's a balancing act, too.
My style is speaking, you'll have to find your own. When I have a cool card I want to play, I build a kill-all-your-stuff frame and then add the cards I like. Other people like to really maximize their chosen cards' abilities, but for me, the Dragonlords' abilities are so varied that I wouldn't know where to start.
For Commander, I'm clueless. Tomer Abramovici, at MtgGoldfish, provides a deck skeleton that has helped me make drafts:
50 mana; lands and ramp, usually a 37–13 split
10 card draw; cards that net you 2+ cards in hand
8 targeted removal; split between creature / artifact / enchantment removal and countermagic
3 board wipes; creature-light decks might want one more, creature-heavy decks might want one less
2 graveyard recursion
2 flexible tutors; higher budgets I recommend more tutors
1 graveyard hate; since you need to keep Graveyard decks honest
1 finisher; something that can win games the turn you cast it without too much setup
Beyond that, with all 5-colors available, all I can recommend is staying on theme where you can, because it's cool. Wizards released a dragon deck years ago that you can use for ideas, as well. It's pretty much what you'd expect.
Abramovici:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/search?author=39
Dragon preconstructed deck:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/commander-2017-edition-decklists-2017-08-11
Look up a hypergeometric calculator and spend a million years with it. Every card works together and sometimes against each other. Here are some keys. I'm assuming a modest budget, if any, and a casual environment.
28 lands will get you to land six on turn six as long as you play some card draw.
14 cheap (one or two mana) pieces of interaction (counters or damage) will usually put one in your opener. This and the lands are the foundation of your deck. No number is immutable, but this will give you a nice flow, not too little or too much, and set you up for three-mana interaction and the rest of your strategy. Outside of Counterspell (and in a creature-heavy list, Spell Pierce), most damage is more efficient than countermagic at this cost, so you might skew slightly towards that, but a balance is important. If you don't plan on using it early, don't count Negate specifically in this number. You can go up to about 19 if you really need 2+ interaction pieces but don't want sweepers for some reason. If you do this, balance it with more card draw. The more cheap interaction you add, the more you risk running out of power and wasting multiple cards on singular threats.
The next stage, often on turn four, is a major battle. You want to cast a card advantage spell (In a creature-light list, 9+, a mix of pure card draw and stuff that effects the board), and they want to force you to spend your mana on something else. This is a reason for so much interaction that costs less than four: so you can play your card draw, pull ahead, and win in a million turns. If they force you to keep interacting, you risk running out of cards.
Once in control, you can win with anything. This makes cards like Psychosis Crawler risky, as they can cede control and aren't so hot at achieving it, but still, you can play it. There aren't that many inexpensive ($) creatures that can eat removal while still fitting in the deck, but they exist, like Bonecrusher Giant or Crackling Drake.
You can give up some later spells for cheap creatures. In this strategy, you want to trade off creatures and removal, then drop a big creature when both players are mostly out of resources. Here you might play 26 lands and a few draw spells, and plan on hitting six mana a little later. In the creature-light strategy, you're trying to waste your opponents mana, while here you're trying to spend as much mana as possible.
Card selection, like Impulse, can let you play fewer of your spells that are sometimes useless, sometimes great, but you still need the cheap interaction.
I play casual counterburn a fair amount and would be happy to share my thoughts, if you're interested. In any case, good luck!
I play a casual counterburn deck in Pioneer and eventually cut Ionize for Sinister Sabotage. It turned out that after gaining control with counters, removal, and card draw, I could kill with anything, so the 2-8 damage never mattered, though the easy casting cost is nice. A more aggressive style of deck will appreciate Ionize, but probably doesn't need so much countermagic that it needs to play Essence Backlash.
While damage + counterspells are pretty shallow, damage + draw has a few good entries, Fires of Victory, Electrolyze, and Prophetic Bolt, a decent one, Ral's Outburst, and two so-so late-game finishers, Creative Outburst and Magma Opus.
Black has the original, Undermine, as well as Countersquall, which are both excellent, and Black/White adds Deny the Witch and Punish Ignorance, which are expensive.
Flame Channeler is not bad in a world of 3/3 blockers, like Standard is, or at least was a week ago. It's a fine replacement for Bloodthirsty Adversary, and can handle a fairly small amount of support. 3/3's are just good in general. In Explorer, blockers are 4/4, so I had underrated it.
Electrostatic Infantry needs way more than 10 spells to get going. At 3/4, it's very strong, which happens instantly with Monstrous Rage or Witch's Mark.
Volcanic Spite doesn't compare to Lightning Strike at all. Strategically and tactically, Strike is more fitting.
Kumano Faces Kakkazan is the reason to play the deck. The power level is so high that it's often still good when drawn very late.
I never got the Invasion > Raptor combo. Other than Raptor, there's no reason to attack Invasions except the expensive ($) Invasion of Tarkir, you play them if the front side is good enough.
This may not interest you, but I was looking for a way to get all the major expenses, including Play with Fire, out of the deck, and this core played quite well:
Kumano Faces Kakkazan, Lizard Blades, Voldaren Thrillseeker, Thundering Raiju
Backed by Kami's Flare and Monstrous Rage. Think of Rage as the Fireblast/Embercleave-type blowout card. Lizard Blades is strong with everything, and if it survives one turn, which is a feat that generally means playing it on turn 4+, it can be made to dodge all the common black removal spells and blockers. I also tried Embereth Veteran, Charming Scoundrel, and Upriser Renegade, as well as Roadside Reliquary, which were all so-so, Renegade the weakest as usually a plain 3/3. It lacks the staying power of typical red decks, but knocks the price down to about $15 and threatens fast and sudden kills. EDIT: Replaced Veteran with Cacophony Scamp and it's a lot better, any Role on it deals a million damage. Also replaced Renegade with Raging Battle Mouse, which has turned the glut at two mana into a boon. Witchstalker Frenzy is an even cheaper ($) replacement for Nahiri's Warcrafting. It's rare to pay more than one mana for it. Sideboard is pretty simple. Furnace Punisher for 3+ color, Urabrask's Forge for slow matches, a couple Twisted Fealty for Atraxa, any Witchstalker Frenzy you're not already playing for Sheoldred, Adeline, etc., Lithomantic Barrage, and if you have any slots left (I don't), End the Festivities, Torch the Tower, and Obliterating Bolt if you have specific roles in mind for them. My 75, plus a handful of alternates, currently costs $22 shipped. A more standard list with Swiftspear, Phoenix Chick, Feldon, Lightning Strike, and Goddric, Cloaked Reveler replacing the modified stuff costs $16 shipped. The standard version has speed but loses some ability to win a long game. The modified version is fast and can win out of nowhwere (A Scamp, Mouse, and 4 lands presents lethal from 20), but has combo draws that get hosed by removal.
A number of your cards don't do anything without significant support, Vindictive Flamestoker and Flame Channeler in particular. You can play those on turns 1 and 2 and never threaten to activate their abilities.
You have little reach, and few ways to take advantage of openings. If your opponent Sunfalls, you want to play a haste creature, attack with Mishra's Foundry, or burn them out. You want to force them to leave up excess blockers, use their removal at inopportune times, and generally play off-balance. Your opponent will Cut Down or Go for the Throat your turn 2 Electrostatic Infantry if you let them, so don't. They'll answer your Perforator with a Spirited Companion. Counters like those are disadvantageous and will too often be unavoidable.
Kumano Faces Kakkazan is both incredibly strong and maneuvers well against early removal. If you go first, you can put a Monastery Swiftspear or Feldon, Ronom Excavator out of Cut Down range, and if you go second, you can put the counter on a one-mana creature, forcing Go for the Throat to trade down on mana. If they have a slow start, you get to rip them to shreds.
Strangle is a fair replacement for Play with Fire on a budget, less so if you lean into burn. You really want the reach, but Play with Fire is ridiculously priced. Lightning Strike is dirt cheap, while Volcanic Spite will ideally have nothing to cycle; your cards all want to do the same basic thing. I've never played with Invasion of Kaldheim, so I can't say anything about it as a long-game replacement for Bloodthirsty Adversary. From a baseline tournament list, I would use Flying and burn for reach, replacing Adversary with a Phoenix Chick, a Bloodfeather Phoenix, and 2 Stoke the Flames. Look out for Charming Scoundrel if it ends up cheap.
If card availability is an issue, go with burn. Lightning Strike, Invasion of Regatha, and Stoke the Flames can win out of nowhere. You can build a deck that fairly consistently threatens 20 damage by turn 4.
For the sideboard, there are a couple of keys in addition to the generally helpful Furnace Punishers and Lithomantic Barrages. First, you want an extra way to deal with big creatures. The meta list uses Bloody Betrayal. Steal your opponent's Atraxa, Grand Unifier and kill them before it can ever touch you. The second is a way to win a long, drawn out game. The meta list uses planeswalkers, but if availability is an issue, Urabrask's Forge works pretty well, too.
117.1. Unless a spell or ability is instructing a player to take an action, which player can take actions at any given time is determined by a system of priority. The player with priority may cast spells, activate abilities, and take special actions.
117.1a A player may cast an instant spell any time they have priority. A player may cast a noninstant spell during their main phase any time they have priority and the stack is empty.
117.1b A player may activate an activated ability any time they have priority.
117.1c A player may take some special actions any time they have priority. A player may take other special actions during their main phase any time they have priority and the stack is empty. See rule 116, “Special Actions.”
117.1d A player may activate a mana ability whenever they have priority, whenever they are casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment (even in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability).
117.2. Other kinds of abilities and actions are automatically generated or performed by the game rules, or are performed by players without receiving priority.
117.2a Triggered abilities can trigger at any time, including while a spell is being cast, an ability is being activated, or a spell or ability is resolving. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”) However, nothing actually happens at the time an ability triggers. Each time a player would receive priority, each ability that has triggered but hasn’t yet been put on the stack is put on the stack. See rule 117.5.
117.2b Static abilities continuously affect the game. Priority doesn’t apply to them. (See rule 604, “Handling Static Abilities,” and rule 611, “Continuous Effects.”)
117.2c Turn-based actions happen automatically when certain steps or phases begin. They’re dealt with before a player would receive priority. See rule 117.3a. Turn-based actions also happen automatically when each step and phase ends; no player receives priority afterward. See rule 703, “Turn-Based Actions.”
117.2d State-based actions happen automatically when certain conditions are met. See rule 704. They’re dealt with before a player would receive priority. See rule 117.5.
117.2e Resolving spells and abilities may instruct players to make choices or take actions, or may allow players to activate mana abilities. Even if a player is doing so, no player has priority while a spell or ability is resolving. See rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities.”
117.3. Which player has priority is determined by the following rules:
117.3a The active player receives priority at the beginning of most steps and phases, after any turn-based actions (such as drawing a card during the draw step; see rule 703) have been dealt with and abilities that trigger at the beginning of that phase or step have been put on the stack. No player receives priority during the untap step. Players usually don’t get priority during the cleanup step (see rule 514.3).
117.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
117.3c If a player has priority when they cast a spell, activate an ability, or take a special action, that player receives priority afterward.
117.3d If a player has priority and chooses not to take any actions, that player passes. If any mana is in that player’s mana pool, they announce what mana is there. Then the next player in turn order receives priority.
117.4. If all players pass in succession (that is, if all players pass without taking any actions in between passing), the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves or, if the stack is empty, the phase or step ends.
117.5. Each time a player would get priority, the game first performs all applicable state-based actions as a single event (see rule 704, “State-Based Actions”), then repeats this process until no state-based actions are performed. Then triggered abilities are put on the stack (see rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities”). These steps repeat in order until no further state-based actions are performed and no abilities trigger. Then the player who would have received priority does so.
117.6. In a multiplayer game using the shared team turns option, teams rather than individual players have priority. See rule 805, “Shared Team Turns Option.”
117.7. If a player with priority casts a spell or activates an activated ability while another spell or ability is already on the stack, the new spell or ability has been cast or activated “in response to” the earlier spell or ability. The new spell or ability will resolve first. See rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities.”
For Tymaret, it sounds like you're trying to build a standard deck, and those cards are not legal in standard. For an existing deck, click the deck box next to the title in the deck editor, then choose a format like Historic Brawl where those cards are legal (Tymaret is also legal in Explorer). For a new deck, a "Select Format" block will appear next to the deck box when you start building.
If I have an Urza's Destiny booklet, I can't find it.
Urza's Saga
The Plague
Enhanced Deck List
8 Swamp
7 Plains
3 Drifting Meadow
2 Polluted Mire
4 Reflecting Pool
Creatures (16)
4 Disciple of Grace
2 Wall of Essence
1 Standing Troops
2 Paladin en-Vec
1 Wall of Nets
1 Marble Titan
2 Voice of Grace
1 Spirit Mirror
2 Wall of Junk
3 Humble
3 Pariah
1 Worship
3 Dark Ritual
2 Drain Life
2 Expunge
4 Pestilence
2 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Disenchant
1 Warmth
2 Light of Day
2 Yawgmoth's Edict
3 Perish
2 Persecute
Sleeper
Enhanced Deck List
10 Forest
6 Plains
4 Drifting Meadow
4 Slippery Karst
Creatures (18)
1 Hidden Herd
2 Hidden Predators
4 Argothian Enchantress
1 Hidden Ancients
1 Hidden Guerrillas
2 Hidden Stag
2 Citanul Centaurs
1 Lhurgoyf
4 Endless Wurm
3 Brilliant Halo
2 Clear
1 Disenchant
3 Humble
1 Oath of Lieges
3 Pariah
1 Worship
1 Hurricane
1 Fortitude
2 Harrow
3 Disenchant
1 Rune of Protection: Black
2 Rune of Protection: Red
2 Light of Day
1 Worship
2 Spreading Algae
1 Hurricane
2 Scragnoth
1 Feldon's Cane
Special Delivery
Enhanced Deck List
1 City of Brass
4 Forest
3 Karplusan Forest
5 Mountain
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Smoldering Crater
2 Slippery Karst
1 Stalking Stones
2 Wasteland
Creatures (22)
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Shivan Raptor
2 Lightning Dragon
4 Wild Dogs
3 Pouncing Jaguar
2 Mirri, Cat Warrior
2 Cradle Guard
2 Citanul Centaurs
2 Shock
2 Searing Touch
1 Shattering Pulse
4 Incinerate
1 Fireball
2 Hurricane
1 Hush
2 Cursed Scroll
1 Thran Turbine
2 Earthquake
2 Disorder
1 Scrap
2 Boil
2 Hurricane
1 Hidden Guerrillas
2 Whirling Dervish
1 Hush
2 Scragnoth
Tombstone
Enhanced Deck List
2 Adarkar Wastes
2 Drifting Meadow
2 Island
2 Plains
3 Reflecting Pool
2 Remote Isle
2 Rootwater Depths
2 Swamp
2 Thalakos Lowlands
3 Underground River
Creatures (16)
1 Warrior Angel
3 Merfolk Looter
4 Drifting Djinn
2 Benthic Behemoth
4 Abyssal Horror
2 Verdant Force
3 Disenchant
1 Armageddon
2 Mana Leak
2 Counterspell
3 Catalog
1 Reanimate
4 Animate Dead
3 Diabolic Servitude
1 Living Death
1 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Clear
1 Disenchant
1 Rune of Protection: Red
4 Wall of Essence
2 Mana Leak
2 Counterspell
2 Dread of Night
Urza's Legacy
Crusher
Enhanced Deck List
4 Plains
11 Forest
4 Brushland
2 City of Brass
2 Gaea's Cradle
Creatures (23)
2 Elvish Lyrist
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Priest of Titania
2 Wall of Blossoms
1 Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
1 Darkwatch Elves
2 Cradle Guard
2 Spike Feeder
2 Lhurgoyf
1 Scragnoth
4 Weatherseed Treefolk
1 Clear
1 Disenchant
2 Humble
4 Armageddon
1 Symbiosis
1 Harrow
1 Might of Oaks
1 Overrun
2 Hurricane
3 Disenchant
1 Rune of Protection: Black
2 Rune of Protection: Red
1 Light of Day
2 Worship
1 Multani's Presence
1 Spreading Algae
1 Repopulate
1 Darkwatch Elves
2 Scragnoth
Phyrexian Assault
Enhanced Deck List
7 Swamp
6 Mountain
3 Cinder Marsh
3 City of Brass
1 Ghitu Encampment
1 Polluted Mire
3 Reflecting Pool
1 Smoldering Crater
1 Spawning Pool
Creatures (26)
3 Bone Shredder
2 Phyrexian Broodlings
3 Phyrexian Debaser
3 Phyrexian Defiler
2 Phyrexian Plaguelord
3 Fireslinger
1 Molten Hydra
3 Ghitu Slinger
2 Goblin Medics
1 Viashino Heretic
2 Avalanche Riders
1 Viashino Cutthroat
2 Disenchant
2 Phyrexian Reclamation
2 Expunge
2 Shock
1 Price of Progress
1 Lightning Blast
2 Dread of Night
2 Oath of Ghouls
2 Coercion
2 Engineered Plague
2 Gloom
2 Perish
3 Pyroblast
Radiant's Revenge
Enhanced Deck List
3 Plains
7 Island
4 Adarkar Wastes
2 Drifting Meadow
1 Faerie Conclave
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Remote Isle
2 Forbidding Watchtower
3 Thalakos Lowlands
Creatures (2)
2 Palinchron
Other (32)
2 Clear
3 Disenchant
1 Pacifism
2 Cessation
4 Wrath of God
1 Force Spike
1 Portent
2 Whispers of the Muse
1 Mana Leak
2 Miscalculation
4 Counterspell
1 Catalog
2 Dream Cache
2 Dismiss
2 Opportunity
1 Power Sink
1 Fountain of Youth
1 Clear
1 Disenchant
2 Pacifism
4 Hydroblast
1 Mana Leak
4 Dandân
2 Dismiss
Time Drain
Enhanced Deck List
2 Plains
4 Island
6 Forest
2 Brushland
2 City of Brass
1 Drifting Meadow
2 Reflecting Pool
1 Remote Isle
2 Skyshroud Forest
Creatures (18)
3 Cloud of Faeries
3 Tradewind Rider
3 Peregrine Drake
1 Palinchron
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Wall of Blossoms
2 Simian Grunts
3 Disenchant
3 Armageddon
1 Intervene
3 Whispers of the Muse
2 Miscalculation
1 Snap
2 Counterspell
2 Legacy's Allure
2 Propaganda
1 Rewind
1 Disenchant
1 Cloudchaser Eagle
1 Circle of Protection: Red
2 Light of Day
1 Hydroblast
2 Exhaustion
2 Propaganda
2 Scragnoth
3 Bottle Gnomes
For anyone interested, here are the Tempest, Stronghold (minus one), and Nemesis lists. Nemesis had sideboard suggestions instead of full sideboards.
Tempest
The Slivers
Advanced Deck List
8 Island
2 Quicksand
4 Rootwater Depths
6 Swamp
4 Underground River
Creatures (16)
4 Winged Sliver
3 Mnemonic Sliver
4 Clot Sliver
1 Mindwhip Sliver
4 Metallic Sliver
Other (20)
1 Portent
1 Whispers of the Muse
1 Power Sink
3 Impulse
3 Counterspell
1 Dismiss
1 Drain Life
2 Terror
1 Fevered Convulsions
3 Stupor
1 Lobotomy
2 Nevinyrral's Disk
2 Chill
1 Energy Flux
1 Insight
2 Propaganda
1 Dread of Night
2 Gloom
1 Perish
1 Necropotence
2 Nekrataal
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Living Death
Flames of Rath
Advanced Deck List
4 Dwarven Ruins
3 Gemstone Mine
12 Mountain
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Scabland
1 Undiscovered Paradise
Creatures (9)
3 Ball Lightning
2 Lightning Elemental
4 Steel Golem
Other (27)
2 Disenchant
1 Repentance
4 Incinerate
4 Kindle
2 Thunderbolt
2 Earthquake
2 Fireball
2 Hammer of Bogardan
2 Furnace of Rath
3 Fireblast
2 Jokulhaups
1 Thran Tome
2 Disenchant
2 Divine Offering
2 Havoc
4 Pyroblast
2 Earthquake
1 Boil
1 Phyrexian Furnace
1 Jester's Cap
Deep Freeze
Advanced Deck List
10 Island
6 Plains
4 Adarkar Wastes
3 Thalakos Loowlands
1 Syvelunite Temple
2 Quicksand
Creatures (10)
2 Avenging Angel
2 Man-o'-War
2 Suq'Ata Firewalker
2 Rainbow Efreet
2 Sky Spirit
1 Angelic Renewal
2 Disenchant
3 Wrath of God
1 Portent
2 Whispers of the Muse
4 Impulse
4 Counterspell
1 Dissipate
2 Binding Grasp
1 Inspiration
2 Dismiss
1 Desertion
2 Disenchant
2 Mangara's Blessing
1 Light of Day
1 Wrath of God
2 Hydroblast
2 Mind Harness
1 Dissipate
1 Wall of Air
1 Emmessi Tome
2 Quicksand
The Swarm
Advanced Deck List
4 Brushland
11 Forest
4 Quicksand
2 Vec Townships
Creatures (30)
1 Sacred Guide
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Muscle Sliver
4 River Boa
2 Skyshroud Elf
4 Llanowar Sentinel
3 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Trained Armodon
2 Lhurgoyf
2 Arctic Wolves
1 Force of Nature
1 Spirit Link
3 Armageddon
1 Hurricane
1 Aluren
3 Nature's Resurgence
4 Disenchant
2 Spirit Link
1 Armageddon
2 Light of Day
2 Blossoming Wreath
1 Feral Instinct
3 City of Solitude
Stronghold
The Sparkler :Not Worthy!:
Advanced Deck List
13 Island
9 Mountain
4 Quicksand
1 Dwarven Ruins
1 Coral Atoll
Other (32)
2 Disrupt
1 Portent
1 Whispers of the Muse
1 Power Sink
4 Impulse
3 Mana Leak
4 Counterspell
2 Propaganda
1 Dissipate
2 Capsize
1 Dismiss
2 Shock
1 Searing Touch
1 Earthquake
4 Incinerate
1 Fanning the Flames
1 Jokulhaups
1 Disrupt
3 Hydroblast
1 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Pyroblast
2 Earthquake
3 Steel Golem
2 Nevinyrral's Disk
Call of the Kor
Missing!
Migraine
Advanced Deck List
18 Swamp
4 Quicksand
1 Wasteland
Creatures (8)
3 Pit Imp
1 Dauthi Mindripper
4 Abyssal Specter
Other (29)
3 Dark Ritual
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Drain Life
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Coercion
4 Megrim
2 Stupor
2 Bottomless Pit
1 Infernal Tribute
2 Pox
1 Mind Warp
3 Anvil of Bogardan
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Disrupting Scepter
2 Dread of Night
4 Gloom
3 Perish
2 Bottomless Pit
1 Infernal Tribute
2 Nekrataal
1 Teferi's Puzzle Box
The Spikes
Advanced Deck List
2 Forest
1 Mountain
2 City of Brass
1 Gemstone Mine
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Mogg Hollow
3 Quicksand
2 Reflecting Pool
2 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Vec Townships
Creatures (29)
3 Suq'Ata Lancer
1 Wildfire Emissary
1 Shard Phoenix
1 Orgg
1 Shivan Dragon
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Spike Drone
2 River Boa
2 Skyshroud Elf
2 Jolrael's Centaur
1 Pincher Beetles
2 Spike Worker
2 Uktabi Orangutan
2 Spike Breeder
2 Lhurgoyf
1 Armageddon
3 Incinerate
4 Kindle
1 Hammer of Bogardan
2 Armageddon
2 Earthquake
2 Emerald Charm
1 Tranquil Domain
3 Whirling Dervish
1 Choke
1 City of SOlitude
2 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Scragnoth
Nemesis
Mercenaries
Enhanced Deck List
2 Polluted Mire
20 Swamp
Creatures (22)
4 Spineless Thug
2 Cateran Persuader
2 Silent Assassin
4 Cateran Brute
2 Phyrexian Driver
2 Strongarm Thug
2 Rathi Fiend
1 Cateran Kidnappers
1 Highway Robber
1 Primeval Shambler
1 Cateran Enforcer
3 Cateran Summons
4 Dark Ritual
2 Duress
2 Vicious Hunger
1 Contamination
2 Seal of Doom
2 Yawgmoth's Will
Replicator
Enhanced Deck List
1 Mercadian Bazaar
4 Smoldering Crater
2 Treetop Village
14 Forest
3 Mountain
Creatures (20)
3 Vine Trellis
4 Skyshroud Sentinel
2 Squallmonger
4 Howling Wolf
3 Maro
4 Nesting Wurm
1 Arc Lightning
2 Earthquake
3 Rancor
4 Repopulate
2 Revive
1 Spontaneous Generation
1 Collective Unconscious
2 Thran Foundry
Eruption
Enhanced Deck List
13 Mountain
9 Plains
Creatures (18)
4 Goblin Patrol
4 Laccolith Whelp
4 Goblin Raider
2 Laccolith Grunt
1 Keldon Champion
1 Lightning Dragon
2 Expendable Troops
1 Reckless Abandon
4 Seal of Fire
4 Shock
2 Arc Lightning
1 Hammer of Bogardan
1 Pillage
1 Healing Salve
1 Remedy
2 Seal of Cleansing
1 Armageddon
2 Ring of Gix
Breakdown
Enhanced Deck List
2 Hickory Woodlot
2 Sapprazzan Skerry
10 Forest
10 Island
Creatures (23)
2 River Boa
1 Vine Trellis
2 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Emperor Crocodile
3 Blastoderm
3 Cloud Sprite
4 Cloudskate
2 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Raven Familiar
3 Stronghold Zeppelin
1 Palinchron
1 Symbiosis
1 Creeping Mold
4 Misstep
3 Dehydration
4 Ensnare
A lot of these ideas are sold on novelty. They are fun, but they can't catch on because then the novelty wears off. Budget is another sell, but if my deck has 3 Force of Will or 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, it's not budget-friendly.
I played some games against WU control, just to get a feel for things, and it's rough, for sure. We're essentially playing Gray Ogres and Hill Giants against them. That said, your version has some nice natural edges, with all 4 Inspiring Overseer and Steel Seraph bringing protection from The Wandering Emperor. Initially, I thought you were in between WG Angels and RB Midrange, and any changes would lead to morphing into those decks, but there are some simple ways to keep your core and still address matchups:
Win the die roll. Easy, right? Playing around Censor is no good when it means playing into Absorb.
I hate recommending rares, but Mutavault is really good against them. It makes sweepers, countermagic, and planeswalkers worse. Normally it improves threat density, but I recommend it over creatures.
Anointed Peacekeeper and The Wandering Emperor are maindeckable alternatives to your current interaction, which may be great elsewhere (I only played against WU), but is useless here. Peacekeeper throws them off balance and attacks, while Emperor lets you play at flash speed while still being removal elsewhere.
Youthful Valkyrie is next, a cheap play to enable your aggressive strategy. It isn't exceptional here, but it's an uncommon alternative to your weaker creatures. I wish there were more low-rarity alternatives, but something like Cathar Commando, while decent against control, doesn't work well against most anything else you'll face.
Indulgent Patrician, Starnheim Aspirant, and Sanctum Warden are your most replaceable creatures. Warden is expensive and you already have a long game. Patrician and Aspirant only help when your deck is already working unopposed. Play an Aspirant, fall way behind, then use it to maybe catch up seems like the way it normally goes.
Legion Angel provides a long, long game, but many decks will ignore it.