Patron of the Moon is an extremely non-standard choice as far as blue generals go. He's expensive to cast once, let alone multiple times. He doesn't draw you cards or tutor. But what Patron represents is the answer to the age-old blue question "I drew all these lands… what do I do now?"
Blue packs some of the most powerful draw in the game, and Patron represents a way for you to bypass the inefficiency of that mass draw power (that roughly 1/3 of what you draw will just be blanks).
There's another reason to play Patron though: For the most part, the deck is very affordable. This wasn't a factor when I chose to build the deck, but with the exception of a few outliers, the list is all very affordable cards.
Patron is not without its drawbacks however. It's not a simple deck to play. You need to have an intimate understanding of the stack in order to play the deck correctly and through opposing interaction. You also are going to need to fluidly shift your role at a moment's notice in game and decide how to press your advantage through non-linear paths of play. It's a complex deck to pilot that will keep you engaged if you enjoy decks that stress that level of thought in your play.
Much funnier as a beatdown general.
What About the Other Options in Blue?
It's important to understand what Patron is not, however. If you're looking for something in blue that this deck can't give you, you won't be happy playing this deck. Accordingly, I've gone ahead and broken down some of the other options for Blue generals and why you might wish to play them over Patron.
If you want to combo off as fast as possible, this isn't the deck for you. Azami, Lady of Scrolls is much better suited to fast combos, and is quite competitive at doing so in multiplayer games. Arcum Dagsson is similarly more appropriate if this is your goal.
If you are looking for a deck focused around artifacts, this isn't the deck for you. We may run a lot of artifact mana, but the deck very much isn't focused on them as a theme or goal. You would do better to look at Arcum Dagsson or Thada Adel, Acquisitor
However, if you're looking for a thought-provoking deck that can survive without its general but still go turbo-charged when it resolves, this is the deck for you.
Deck History:
Sheep tribal was amusing for a time.
I started playing Patron in 2011. I enjoyed decks that required tight mana management and that could interact with the stack to both defend themselves and hamper opponents. I screwed around with the EDH premades for a bit and I liked the power that Riku brought to the table. The problem was that I hated tapping out and the deck couldn't stand up to concerted early game pressure. He also lent himself a bit too much to the "good stuff" approach. Everyone could anticipate what my deck would bring to the table because Riku simply was best off doubling the best stuff from each of its colours. I decided that I wanted to branch out to decks where the opponents wouldn't be able to anticipate my lines of play. I also had a lingering desire to at one point have a cycle of EDH decks, one for each colour (in addition to any multicolour decks that might interest me). Patron was the first of this cycle. It started off as a bit of a joke deck. I'd do stupid things like wipe the board with Ovinomancer. Amusing to be sure, but not exactly powerful or good. The deck was pretty much just jamming everything that looked to vaguely synergize with Patron's ability. As I continued playing the deck, each of the gimmicky pieces found their ways to the curb. The deck didn't need to run bad cards to take advantage of Patron, and those cards were masking the power of the few diamonds in the rough that were amazing in Patron and unplayable anywhere else (Here's looking at you, Flooded Shoreline). Over time, I've questioned each of the classic choices for this general and reached a much more tuned list than any other that I've seen.
My List:
My list is tuned to perform best in 4-5 player games. It is very capable of competing in larger games or even games as small as 1v1, but understand that some card choices might be suboptimal when changing the environment. Despite that, I don't feel unduly disadvantaged in the other environments.
I do not recommend playing this list in Emperor or 2HG games. In my experience, teams with the most blue in those formats always dominate, and if paired with a deck that can take some of the early pressure off, this deck will typically kill the table too reliably to be a welcome mainstay.
The Moonfolk
Of all the (limited) moonfolk printed in Kamigawa block, only three have successfully retained a slot in my build, and each of them has an important role to play. Each of these are very good creatures that you would like to have in play, but don't be afraid to feed them to moonfolk offering if/when necessary.
Floodbringer — If you get in the position where you need to stall out or protect a single critical turn, Floodbringer plus Patron of the Moon will get you there. Also, this guy is a way to land your general through mana denial or other interaction. The moonfolk offering on Patron is very rarely relevant, but casting Patron for 5 mana at instant speed can still at times be extremely powerful. This makes Floodbringer useful at each stage of the game. It can either produce a Rishadan Port-style lock or defense in the late game, or it can accelerate you in the early game. Don't be afraid to use it in either mode. Also, it is generally unimposing, so it's very unlikely to draw any spot removal from opponents (and if it does, do you really care?).
Meloku the Clouded Mirror — Meloku is the easiest moonfolk to productively go infinite with, but in actual gameplay he is most commonly used as a role-player. Meloku is an easy way to protect yourself from Armageddon effects as well as from edicts and anything attacking you without trample.
Thada Adel, Acquisitor — I like to treat Thada as a mana rock disguised as a creature. Her number one priority in every game is to fetch Sol Rings and mana doublers. She's generic good stuff, but she's so good at it, she's worth it anyway.
Phyrexian Metamorph — This was more important under the Kamigawa legend rule, but I still think he earns his slot even with the Theros update. Most often nowadays Metamorph will copy a mana doubler, but copying Amulet of Vigor or any goodstuff creature is perfectly defensible. He is versatile and well equipped to have utility in most any situation.
Solemn Simulacrum — You're mana-hungry and this is the ultimate value critter which also ramps you. Not mandatory, but very strong. I tend to include him under the banner of my mana-ramp package when going over the deck looking for potential changes.
Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall — These tend to recur either Stroke of Genius, Gush, Flow of Ideas, or Thwart. You often lean pretty hard on certain key spells in this deck, and the extra casting makes all the difference. These also represent ways to go infinite on turns with Time Stretch and either recurrable bounceeffect. I really need to stress how important it is to not be afraid to "waste" these on something like Gush or Thwart; while these free spells might not be especially flashy, some of the greatest utility to be had from the recursion duo are the spells that just give you that subtle leg up.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir — I run him to protect myself from interaction and win the blue mirrors, but he also gets some pretty amusing tricks going with Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall. He's not essential however, and as you reach my "Watch List" section, you will see that he's actually one of the less solid inclusions in the deck.
Turning every draw into Impulse gets ridiculous really fast.
Steel Hellkite — This is a bit of a necessary evil for the deck. You need hard removal, and it's pretty scarce in blue. I tried Nevinyrral's Disk, but the necessary reliance on artifact mana for this deck means that you almost never would come out on top. Instead, Steel Hellkite is a reliable and repeatable way to clear off problem permanents without compromising your own board. Also, don't forget that (in conjunction with Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots) this is a potential kill card with infinite mana; it's not a kill that you will use frequently, but there are definitely times where it will come up.
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar — Nobody runs this card but they really should. While it has a rather inefficient body for 6 mana, Tomorrow is an insane threat card. Every topdeck you have is 3x as likely to find a business card, and more importantly, it blows any sense of symmetry out of the water for communal draw effects. When your Memory Jar takes you 21 cards deep, for example, it's nearly impossible for you to whiff. I first ran this as a tester and I've never looked back.
Consecrated Sphinx — Generic multiplayer blue staple. It draws you tons of cards, fills you up on lands for Patron and in general makes people complain about blue players and draw fetishes. Unless you're building to be 100% speed-oriented combo (a far cry from my build), this is an auto-include.
Roil Elemental — This deck can generate obscene amounts of landfall triggers in a turn, even on non-combo turns. While Roil Elemental is fragile, it's also an excellent way to tell people to turn somewhere else. I can certainly understand people who choose not to run it, but I've been quite happy with it.
Palinchron — Having a non-convoluted way to generate infinite mana is a good thing. I chose to leave this on the sidelines when I needed to adjust to a lower power meta, but if you're building this deck to be the best it can be, Palinchron deserves a slot. Don't forget that even in the absence of a mana doubler or kill condition, you can use Palinchron as a value play with Thawing Glaciers to thaw out extra lands.
Myojin of Seeing Winds — While 10 mana may look like a lot, we can hit it fairly easily due to our copious quantities of artifact ramp. Getting the timing right of when to blow the divinity counter is one of the less straight-forward aspects of playing the deck, purely because it's very hard to realize when "draw 12" was the wrong play and waiting for "draw 20" was right. Regardless, getting ridiculous amounts of cards is great. Staple.
Instants Mystical Tutor — Finding Sunder alone is enough to warrant this, but the versatility is superb. Do not go for any low impact spells with this. You pretty much always should either be going for Sunder, a mass draw spell (Flow of Ideas), or Time Stretch. On very rare occasions I've gone for Force of Will or Thwart with this, but to do so means that it's late game and you already have the win in hand (or it's late game and someone else has the win in hand).
Muddle the Mixture — This is a passable counterspell, but the real value is that it transmutes into Flooded Shoreline. Flooded Shoreline is one of the most broken cards in the deck, and you should be willing to go out of your way to find it.
Counterspell — Simple, efficient, and not too difficult to cast in mono-blue.
Forbid — In end-game scenarios, this can constitute a counter-lock on its own. I don't think it's as powerful as most people believe it to be, but it is still quite strong. I will say though, do not let yourself feel compelled to use the buyback. You run it as a counterspell, and if all it does is counter a spell, it was worth it.
Hinder/Spell Crumple — Fairly standard counterspells that have the upside of tucking any generals countered by them. Don't force yourself to hold these for generals only; you should feel free to counter anything that needs countering with these.
Capsize — A mainstay of every blue EDH deck for a reason, Capsize is board harassment, combo interruption, self-protection, and a potential lock all rolled into one.
Thwart — Free counterspell with a drawback mitigated by our general. With Patron of the Moon in play, this is the best counter in the deck.
Force of Will — Free counterspell. This is one of the most important cards for keeping up with especially fast metas.
Desertion — This can generate a huge swing in the game, but the large mana cost can be a problem. See here for details.
Gush — Free draw spell that synergizes with Patron's ability. Don't forget that you can use it to cheat on mana-light draws by replaying one of the bounced lands and tapping it a second time for mana.
Sunder — With Patron in play, this can single-handedly win you the game. When playing Sunder, make sure that you first stack a number of Patron activations (all while holding priority) and then cast Sunder with those activations still on the stack. This will allow you to come out ahead even if they attempt to answer Patron in response. With Amulet of Vigor on the field, you may even generate extremely large amounts of mana with this play. Don't forget that you can crack Memory Jar in response to casting Sunder in order to have all the bounced lands go to the hand that they will discard.
Overwhelming Intellect — Counter any opponent's general of 4CMC or more, or any creature of 5CMC or more. Really, this isn't so much a counterspell as a very efficient draw spell that coincidentally happens to impede an opponent at the same time.
Sorceries Merchant Scroll — Normally fetches Sunder, Thwart/Force of Will, Capsize, or Stroke of Genius, all of which are extremely powerful options depending on the gamestate. In general it's just versatile and allows you to adapt to whatever you're contending with.
Fabricate — This will almost always go for a mana doubler or Amulet of Vigor, and you will take most any efficient tutor that you can get for those. Don't forget that you can find Memory Jar if all you need is gas.
Rite of Replication — This is a generic "good stuff" spell. I've been very satisfied with its power, and it can pull you out of a lot of different jams, but it's not strictly speaking necessary since the M14 legend rule change.
Flow of Ideas — This is the back-bone draw spell of the deck. It's relatively cheap to cast, synergizes with our general, scales as the game progresses, and can refill your hand while leaving you able to exploit the new cards drawn. The more you play this deck, the more you will come to appreciate the power of this card.
Time Stretch — Two extra turns are insane. More so if you ever have the opportunity to recur Time Stretch with Archaeomancer or Mnemonic Wall. Since we have the mana acceleration to cast this with ease, it is an automatic inclusion.
Enter the Infinite — This is the most efficient mass draw spell in the deck. Resolving this with one mana open and Patron in play will let you drop Sol Ring/Mana Vault into play and then use those cast Amulet of Vigor and chain Patron activations to dump all of the land in the deck into play, followed by whatever combo or kill you desire to kill the table. Yes this is expensive, but it's nearly impossible to lose after resolving it. Obviously it's also broken as hell if cast with Omniscience in play.
The most obscure card to ever be labeled a "major threat" card
Enchantments Mystic Remora — The more tuned your meta, the more artifact mana there will be to accelerate the other players, and Mystic Remora will draw off of all of them. It's extremely rare that anyone will choose pay the 4. I typically pay for 3-5 upkeeps.
Flooded Shoreline — If you ever played Astral Slide back in Type2 or in Onslaught Block Constructed, just imagine that Shoreline is a blue Slide in this deck, except more broken. This card is a fast way to protect your general, bounce opposing dudes, and can go infinite with Patron, Amulet of Vigor, and a doubler. Remember that the lands bounce as part of the cost of the ability, so you can drop them right back into play with Patron before the ability resolves. This card is obscure and random enough for nobody new to the deck to rate it as a threat card, but if you can stick it, you are in a very good position to win. This is an absolute staple.
Mana Breach — I've locked out entire games with this card before, but it is somewhat high variance. Its power directly correlates with how land-light and mana-rock-heavy your opener is. Read more here.
Rhystic Study — This is a mainstay of blue multiplayer lists. Your opponents all have the choice to fall behind in the game or to let you draw cards. A surprisingly large percent of the time, they'll opt for the latter.
Omniscience — This is the most expensive mana rock in the deck. If you drop it, the game will end in a hurry, as you enjoy being unfettered by the constraints of mana. Don't forget that Palinchron goes infinite off this, thus feeding a kill after you draw your deck with Omniscience in play. I should also mention that due to the way this deck functions, you may often still be tapping out even with Omniscience in play since if you don't win on the spot, you'll likely be defending it with Patron of the Moon and something like Floodbringer or Savant.
Artifacts Tormod's Crypt — I like having access to some grave hate in my decks, and this is tutorable with four other cards in the deck, allowing you access to it when necessary. Additionally, it does not remove itself or your graveyard from the game, so it can be reused with Academy Ruins.
Mana Vault — The burst of mana provided by Mana Vault can feed enough other mana rocks to put you well ahead of the game. You'll likely leave it tapped for a couple turns before untapping, don't sweat the damage.
Sol Ring — This is among the most powerful accelerants ever printed, and it's responsible for the best openers possible for this deck. Any deck not running this card would need a very good reason to.
Fractured Powerstone/Mind Stone/Fellwar Stone/Coldsteel Heart/Sky Diamond/Star Compass — If it costs two mana and produces one, you should probably be running it. Yes, even Fractured Powerstone. I'm not running Guardian Idol, and in this deck it is probably weaker than even the aforementioned powerstone due to coming into play tapped, but I very likely will be running it in the near future as a replacement for Darksteel Ingot as I hunt down another Mox Opal. Our general costs 7 mana and our business spells cost more. Getting off the ground quickly and reliably is essential, and these ugly mana rocks will do the job. Run them. All of them.
Everflowing Chalice — For the most part this should be considered equivalent to the other 2CMC mana rocks, but it has the added versatility of letting you sink excess mana into it if you draw it when you have nothing better to do. Don't hold off casting it in hopes of getting that "extra value" though. You run it for the single kicker mode, everything more is only incidental.
Worn Powerstone — Costing three mana is a little awkward, since this deck lends itself very much to a 2-4-6 sequence of mana, but it's still a very efficient jump in mana and worth the slot in the deck.
Thran Dynamo — This is a very strong third turn play. Four mana to put yourself three turns ahead of the game is well worthwhile.
Seer's Sundial — This has been enough to pull me out of quite a few rough spots, and on two occasions I have even combo'd with it. That being said, I'm currently doing some testing to see if a more straightforward mass draw spell would be better. For now though, I am still quite satisfied with the Sundial.
Memory Jar — Memory Jar was already immensely one-sided as a five mana draw-7 that only one person will be able to take full advantage of. It's even better in this deck since you will be able to drop all the lands into play too. Don't be afraid to dig even deeper with any draw spells you find in the seven. You should be able to take advantage of the cards even with the pending discard.
Guantlet of Power/Caged Sun — These are your mana-doublers. Pretty standard fare for mono-coloured lists. They are of course also more powerful due to the ability of this list to skip the land-drop limitations.
Lands
How I learned to stop hating and love the land.
Thawing Glaciers — I have a small love affair with this card. Perhaps more than I should. It has excellent synergy with both our general and Amulet of Vigor (even more so in combination ;)), but it also gives you a slight edge when games go grindy. Simply put: it's a land that draws you a card on alternating turns; it's good. Don't forget that it's a "free bounce" for one of the moonfolk abilities on the turn you activate it (since you would return it to your hand at the cleanup step anyway).
Ancient Tomb — Two mana on a land helps us speed up our entire gameplan by allowing a T1 mana rock. This should be a staple of nearly every EDH list, and it's just as powerful here.
Reliquary Tower — You can draw a lot of cards in this deck, and this lets you hold onto them.
Mouth of Ronom — Blue doesn't have many ways of answering creatures, so anything we can take is nice. This is the single card in my deck that takes advantage of the snow manabase.
Tolaria West — Multi-purpose tutor that can serve as a land in a pinch. It's expensive to transmute, but it's versatile and powerful. I most often tutor for Tormod's Crypt, but I've gone for nearly every option present in the deck at some time or another.
These are the cards that currently make my list but I am considering dropping. That they haven't been cut yet means that they aren't bad per sé. Rather I'm looking at them critically wondering if they may just not be as good as something else.
Desertion— It's a "good stuff" card that is a 5 mana counterspell. Powerful effect, sure, but not the most convenient counter to leave up. For a simple time-dependent 2-for-1, 5 mana may just be too much.
Mana Breach— This card is extremely backbreaking, but I'm not sold that it necessarily wins you the game. It creates a lot of awkward game states without necessarily moving it to your favour (because it is best if cast early before Patron comes down).
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir— Teferi gives a lot of advantages, but while he protects you from interaction and gives you a non-offering method of casting Patron on an opponent's end step, he doesn't actually do anything. The more blue in your meta, the better he is, but I'm not sold that he's really necessary.
Darksteel Ingot— 3 CMC mana rocks that only produce one mana are pretty awkward. This should come out for anything cheaper (likely Mox Opal as discussed below).
Cards that Deserve Testing: Surveyor's Scope — Being able to cast this on turn two, Gush, and then fetch three lands into play seems ridiculous. This deck tends to maintain a very fluid on-board land presence, so it should never be a dead card.
Cyclonic Rift — Extremely powerful, but I've not had many situations where Rift would win me the game and Capsize wouldn't. Probably deserves a slot regardless.
Curse of the Swine — RFG multi-target removal seems extremely powerful. This is probably the one card from Theros that has the best shot of earning a permanent place in the deck.
Time Spiral — I've got a spare copy of this that seems pretty good. My old meta was a little too blue-heavy to risk giving the entire table new hands. The shuffle effect is also not insignificant due to giving me the ability to re-draw or re-tutor key cards that I can't recur.
Pact of Negation — I ran this early on, and I really liked that it represented a third "free" counterspell. That it lets Tolaria West (and by extension, Expedition Map) transmute into countermagic is also handy. I cut it for the upkeep cost being too annoying, but it probably deserves a second chance, especially given the great amount of tuning that has gone into the deck since its inclusion.
Cards I'm not running that I should be: Mana Drain — This card is pretty much a "smoke 'em if you got 'em" card. My only copy is staying firmly in my cube, so this will need to wait until I get a second copy. If you've got it, you should be running it.
Mana Crypt — Need to pick up one. Like Mana Drain, it's a "must run" if you have it.
Mox Opal — We're running all the 2-mana rocks that we can get our hands on. This is a free one and is easily and reliably brought online by the third turn in a deck like this. I need to either pick up a second or pull my spare out of another EDH deck (I'm not a fan of sacrificing one deck for another, so chances are it's just going to need to be a new acquisition).
No, this really does not belong in the deck
Cards That Didn't Make the Deck: Storm Cauldron — This is one of the most common and ubiquitous choices in Patron decks, and the problem is that it's really just not good. People like it because it has obvious synergy with Patron and goes infinite with Amulet of Vigor, but realistically, everything is broken with Patron and Amulet of Vigor. Storm Cauldron also can severely hamper you when you don't have Amulet, and in a way that is sometimes worse than its effect on your opponents. When the green deck gets to tap their Gaea's Cradle three times in one turn, they really don't care about any imposition that cauldron might represent to the rest of their mana base, and if you try to Sunder after landing Cauldron, your normally back-breaking play suddenly becomes very recoverable for your opponents. Storm Cauldron really is a trap card that you're better off without.
Uyo, Silent Prophet — Uyo is a very powerful effect, but when I tested her, I didn't like her. In general, it felt like if I got her in play and had a spell worth bouncing two lands to copy and/or had Patron in play, I was winning anyway, independent of Uyo. For example, if you're casting Stroke of Genius for nine cards, did you really need Uyo in order to draw fourteen or fifteen instead? You were going to win that game anyway. And, in the same vein as Storm Cauldron, while she goes infinite with Patron and Amulet of Vigor quite easily, your deck will do something busted no matter what if those two are in play together, so she feels superfluous. That being said, unlike Storm Cauldron, I think Uyocan be a defensible inclusion in the deck, but in my personal experience, she just wasn't worth the six mana to get into play.
Mind Spring/Braingeyser — The loss of versatility by being sorceries is enough to make these not worth considering.
Vedalken Shackles — The deck already has a number of versatile ways to handle creatures. In my experience, this was unnecessary.
Future Sight/Magus of the Future — These were on the short list for a long time, but you really would just rather have mass draw. Future Sight effects also really push you towards running the next card on the list which you're better off without as well.
Gilded Lotus — I've stayed away from Gilded Lotus because the 5 mana slot is fairly awkward for mana accelerants in this deck. Most of the time you'll have four mana on turn three and then 6-10 mana on turn four. This means that for most hands, Gilded Lotus just doesn't fit your curve all that well, and I'd rather be casting something like one of our mana doublers in such a situation.
Extraplanar Lens — This is a fairly common suggestion for the deck, and in general, I agree with the choice. I don't run it anymore because it had almost become running game in my playgroup to see how fast they could detonate Extraplanar Lenses that hit play. It left the list because I was unable to use this as an early accelerant without making myself very vulnerable. That being said, Lens has crept back into a number of my other decks and may be due for a second run in this deck in the future.
Sensei's Divining Top — This deck uses its mana. ALL of its mana. While Sensei's Divining Top is a very powerful effect, you more often than not don't really want to spend the mana or a card on the effect. Perhaps even more relevant is that you should be outdrawing top's range consistently. I love this card and like to run it everywhere I can, but this isn't the deck for it.
Tidespout Tyrant — I used to run this guy, but by the time he ended up mattering, I would always be winning anyway. In this deck, the Tyrant is win-more.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor — I like the look of Jace a lot, but he's not as important to the deck as the cards on my "I should be running" list. I can't fault anyone for running Jace, but he isn't a priority for me and I don't find myself missing him.
Fact or Fiction — this deck generates enough mana that you'd rather have a much larger effect than Fact or Fiction. You also are more interested in card bulk than in card quality in this deck, so Fact or Fiction is rarely going to be competitive with your other options. There's also the lesser concern that you're not the most capable of leveraging your graveyard, so you're not able to take advantage of the grave dump aspect of Fact or Fiction.
Strip Mine — I ran this for a long time, but the deck can only afford so many non-basics. I found the others to be more essential. If you find it absolutely necessary in your meta, by all means run it.
Scrying Sheets — I was tempted to run this due to the choice to run snow lands to support Mouth of Ronom, but it's just not worth it. Better to keep the Island count high.
Deadeye Navigator — We don't have the density of creatures with CIP-effects for this guy to do the work we need, but for more "good stuff"-oriented builds, this guy would be a fine choice.
Grants protection from the Spirit of EDH
Torpor Orb — My list runs five cards that would be marginalized or invalidated by this card, and I am quite attached to effects that they bring, so this card is not for me. That being said, the Orb represents an amazingly powerful effect that can dismantle entire decks and strategies in this format. With only five creatures with CIP effects making my list, I think it's very doable to retool the list to take advantage of Torpor Orb. This card may not be for me, but I wholly endorse it to those who are interested in running it.
Vessel of Endless Rest — I've seen this get some fringe play as a way to pack your accelerant density while still gaining a valuable effect. I haven't felt the need for this card, but I could understand its value in certain metas to either tuck something back into your deck or to deny someone easy access to a card in their yard.
Rings of Brighthearth — I don't think this does enough in this deck. The most powerful and desired activated abilities in this deck are relatively cheap (Patron of the Moon, Flooded Shoreline, etc.), but while occasionally skimping on an activated ability's land-bounce cost might sometimes be useful, for the most part, I don't think that this card will generate the value needed for it to warrant a slot over something more versatile or independently powerful in this deck. You're better off leaving this out and sticking with stronger cards.
Magosi, the Water Veil — While possible to run this with Rings of Brighthearth to generate infinite turns, the effect is difficult to take advantage of. It's also very rare at multiplayer tables that it will be worthwhile to let the entire table get a turn cycle without you, especially when most tables I play at would gleefully Strip Mine you in that time. Lastly, running this card encourages you to run another sub-par card (Rings of Brighthearth) in order to abuse it. It's a cute trick, but it will weaken your deck overall.
Propaganda — I've not cared enough for this effect to warrant it. While it can shield you from the player that goes infinite with tokens, I think it's typically better to have countermagic. There is also definitely an argument to be made for its deterrent effect, but in my experience, you're typically fine to just tank the opportunistic hits or play politics with the threat of some of your other cards. Flooded Shoreline, for example can be an excellent way to tell people to look elsewhere. If your meta has a lot of aggro though, I understand its inclusion. Mine simply doesn't have the density of aggro at the multiplayer tables to make it necessary.
Swan Song — This is a powerful and versatile counterspell, and the drawback is fairly negligible in a 40-life format. If you think it's necessary in your meta, by all means go for it. I could see myself running it if my meta shifted in certain directions.
Quicksilver Fountain — I ran this some time ago when my list was less tuned. The more non-blue decks and utility lands in your meta, the better this is. I'm a huge fan and heartily recommend it for anyone not worried about generating some ill will at their table. I expect this to make it back into my list in the future.
Back to Basics — This deck is on the cusp of being a solid Back to Basics deck. I've been reluctant to run it due to the power of some of my utility lands (such as Thawing Glaciers), but I wholly respect those who decide the other way.
Overburden — This is the tamer little brother of Mana Breach. As aggressive or green strategies rise in your meta, this gets more powerful, but it's somewhat high variance in power according to your meta. I love the effect and strongly endorse it for those in metas where it would be effective.
Rush of Knowledge — My testing with this card was pretty lackluster. I don't think I have the permanent density to make this worth the slot. For those running more staxish builds, it may be worth inclusion, since at worst it would be Tidings, and more often would be insane and unlikely to be interrupted by responses. Regardless, if you've taken my approach to the deck, I think you'd be better off leaving this out.
Each game, your opening hand should at minimum have a 2CMC mana rock like Fellwar Stone or Sky Diamond; if you don't have something to help you catapult into the midgame, you won't survive to reach it. The more artifact mana in your opener, the better. You rely so heavily on this because Patron costs a ton of mana and your key plays in this deck are often very mana intensive. At the same time, EDH games, especially in highly tuned metas, tend to have extremely fast tempo — the green deck will be casting Tooth and Nail or something similarly devastating as early as turn three or four, and you need to keep up. The faster you can explode off the ground, the better positioned you will be to take advantage of your options while keeping opponents from fully realizing their own. Occasionally it can be okay to keep a slower hand, but for this to be the case, you need to have a good read on the table. If you have a bunch of blue decks at the table and each packs enough countermagic to prevent the others from doing broken things, you might instead focus on the ways that you can put yourself ahead in the card advantage game. A hand highlighted by Thawing Glaciers, Mystic Remora, and Force of Will might do very well in such a game, but I personally would still lean towards only keeping hands that set you on track to have 6+ mana on turn 4.
The little 2/2 that ended the game.
As you move into the mid-game, you want to focus on developing your presence in the game on two axes. You care about your mana and your hand. You should husband your countermagic carefully and use it only when necessary (this doesn't include Overwhelming Intellect which functions more as a draw spell that incidentally generates tempo than anything else). You should only counter things that will win your opponent the game or drastically tip the balance of hand or mana development in their favour (this rule of thumb isn't 100% accurate, but deviations from it are highly dependant on individual games and learning what your opponents' decks hinge upon and which parts of your own deck are the biggest lynchpins in your gameplan for that game). It's okay to run Patron out in this stage of the game. Hopefully you will do so with counter back-up, but it's really not a big deal if Patron bites the dust. I've recast him for as much as 21 mana before — we have the tools to do this with ease. Even if all you do is drop two lands into play before someone kills him, you've advanced your board position without functionally increasing how much it costs to cast your general. Cards like Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar and Flow of Ideas can help you solidify your advantage in this stage.
You should be careful about running Amulet of Vigor out at this stage of the game. It's not that big of a deal if it gets Krosan Gripped, but if at all possible, you don't want to walk it into RFG removal. Despite these concerns, if you have the ability to make use of the Amulet's effect, by all means play it. People who play against this deck will regularly fixate on the Amulet of Vigor, but the truth of the matter is that while it certainly turbocharges your deck, it is not crucial to your gameplan. This presents a situation that you can exploit, because it means that the battle over Amulet of Vigor is one that you know you can lose, but at the same time, one that your opponent thinks you cannot afford to lose. You can let them win the fight for Amulet if it means that you get to safely stick Omniscience or if it means you can go for the Palinchron combo. Amulet is certainly powerful in this deck if you can get it to stick, but you need to be careful not to overvalue it.
Assuming you don't happen upon an opportunistic game-ending combo like Palinchron, or Omniscience, or a Time Stretch loop, our midgame will transition into our endgame as we assume a commanding card and mana advantage over the board. This is more challenging against other blue decks, of course, but this can manifest in less overt ways as well. Patron of the Moon plus a Soratami Savant with a mana doubler in play and a developed land base can often represent more countermagic than the rest of the table can throw spells at. Similarly, Floodbringer following Sunder can keep the entire board locked under Port effects, and Flooded Shoreline can dominate the entire board in the same way that Astral Slide would. Each of these endgames obviously gets more powerful with Amulet of Vigor, but I've very consciously avoided giving Amulet options as gameplans, because I think you'll find that Amulet can improve most lines of play but if you play to it, you can back yourself into a corner (assuming your playgroup is packing adequate hate for the little trinket). Additionally, I hope the endgames above help show why your goal in the midgame is just land and draw. With enough land in play and Patron of the Moon, it only takes a single card to take over the game.
A word on Amulet of Vigor:
Now, I've avoided this so far, but despite my efforts to stress how Amulet isn't essential to the deck's success, it is extremely powerful and it needs its own section describing how to use it.
Now with its own section!
As you play the deck more and more, you will notice that little combos with Amulet pop up all over the place, to the point that it's not possible to break down everything. I'll cover some of the more common ones. Each of the following assumes that you have Amulet of Vigor already in play.
Amulet of Vigor — "But I already have Amulet of Vigor in play!" you say? Well, sure you do, but you can always make good use of a second! This will come up with clone effects like Phyrexian Metamorph or Sculpting Steel if you run them, but I've also snagged an Amulet of Vigor from an opponent using Thada Adel before, so you should be aware of this interaction even if you forgo the artifact cloning effects. With two Amulets of Vigor in play, you will get two untap triggers for each card that comes into play tapped. This means that you can tap lands in response to their second untap, effectively serving as a mana doubler for the turn. Also, remember how this works with Thawing Glaciers: Glaciers will come into play and untap, at which point you can activate it fetching an Island with the second untap trigger on the stack and then tap the fetched island twice, producing mana for the second activation of Glaciers, thus allowing you to generate mana and fetch two lands into play at the same time. In general, as long as you remember to make full use of the stacked triggers, a second Amulet can be substituted for a mana doubler in any of the following combos.
Flooded Shoreline + Patron of the Moon + 2 Mana Doublers — Infinite mana, infinite creature bounce, infinite landfall. Remember that the land bounce is part of the cost of Flooded Shoreline's ability, so you can go infinite even if your Patron is the only creature in play because you can just continually stack more and more activations all targeting your Patron.
Thawing Glaciers + Patron of the Moon — You get to tutor a land every turn (including opponents' turns. If you have a moonfolk out, this can be improved even further by bouncing thawing glaciers to pay for the moonfolk's ability. This allows you to fetch as many times in a turn as your mana allows. If you add a mana doubler (or two), this will naturally turn into the Moonfolk combos that I already mentioned, but with one added feature: now when you go infinite with them, you can (and, barring unusual circumstances, should) search out every basic land in your deck so that, should your opponents break up your combo, you'll still be left with a commanding board position (as represented by your manabase) and you will only have gas left in your deck to draw.
Mass Draw Spell + Patron of the Moon + Mana Doubler — This one is something that you'll just accidentally do, but you should be aware that it's possible so that you don't miss it when it comes up. Essentially, with Flow of Ideas, Myojin of Seeing Winds, and other large draw spells, you can draw a bunch of cards, use Patron to put the drawn lands into play, and then cast another large draw spell (typically drawn off the first) using the fresh lands. This gets easier with multiple doublers.
Thwart/Gush + Patron of the Moon — These freecast spells can now generate mana (assuming you have at least one mana available). This means that you might have only Thwart open to counter opposing spells, but after casting it, you can drop the lands right back into play and cast or represent a non-free counterspell.
Sunder + Patron of the Moon — Since Amulet untaps all the lands put back into play by Sunder, you can exit the Sunder with even more mana than you had before casting it. This is of course exaggerated by any mana doublers in play.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
These are cards that I'm testing to determine their viability or value to the list. While I sub them in for other cards, these are not lasting changes and if the card makes the cut, it may replace a different card than what it stood in for during testing.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Cool primer, and interesting list. What are some of the strong match ups and what types of decks does it have trouble defeating. Is there a way you can talk more about interactions, combos, synergies and win conditions. This is a primer for a fairly obscure general. Also, no Propaganda? Cyclonic Rift is mandatory, it's a card where there's virtually no bad time to cast it and in certain scenarios, it can put you so far ahead you win the game.
How has Seer's Sundial been going for you? It has always seemed very mana-intensive, especially given all of the other card draw available in blue. I'd also be questioning Overwhelming Intellect, I get the appeal, but you're not all that instant heavy. I'd imagine that leaving leaving 6 up is kind of rough and it's not even a universal counter.
Have your early game defenses been enough to stave off faster aggro? That was one of the problems I was running into on a pretty regular basis, and I think you're running less creature control than I was at the time. Adding a few enormous defensive cards (Stormtide Leviathan, Meishin, the Mind Cage, etc) has helped with stabilizing, but I think I'd still run into trouble without some of the mana denial stuff my Patron list runs, and you don't have that in here.
I've been a fan of Rush of Knowledge for a while. You have a number of high cost permanents, including a 7 cmc general, so this is commonly going to draw you 5+ cards for 5. That's pretty efficient, as card draw goes.
I'd consider Swan Song. I've had a lot of success with it, and I've seen it used to very good effect by other people as well. In a deck that frequently wants to tap out, the difference between leaving one mana and two mana up is huge and there are some devastating instants/sorceries/enchantments in the format.
Is your primary plan to draw people out? It doesn't look too hard to draw your deck out, but you have somewhat limited kill cards at that point, other than the x-cost draw. Creature beats are a solid plan, but that's not as effective after something like Enter the Infinite. Obviously you can just go infinite mana at that point, but is there anything else that I'm missing?
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
Cool primer, and interesting list. What are some of the strong match ups and what types of decks does it have trouble defeating. Is there a way you can talk more about interactions, combos, synergies and win conditions. This is a primer for a fairly obscure general.
Yeah, it's certainly not there yet.
Still on my itinerary to write are a general gameplay guide, common interactions (like stacking Patron activations before casting sunder, and a card-by-card breakdown of the list (the "why?" behind each card). I also expect to be adding more to the "other cards not included" as I go along.
As for the match-ups, it's a little hard to say due to the dynamic nature of multiplayer, but I can break down how the deck plays and how it interacts:
You tend to be very strong against most decks that don't pack their own form of stack interaction. Creature removal tends to be directed at other players due to our low body count.
Your general gameplan is to get off the ground quickly via artifact mana in each game and then refill with the powerful draw options present in the deck. The most common kill is a series of late-game Stroke of Geniuses to draw out the table, but infinite meloku tokens or even just simple beatdown are not uncommon as well. You're not forced or to play like a combo deck, and you can actually profit from people treating you like one (I've had a player cast Pithing Needle on T1 naming my general and I just ignored it for nearly the entire game).
Each stage of the game should be focused on two aspects: card advantage and mana advantage, and the deck is equipped to pursue both objectives very reliably. Grinding out card advantage with Thawing Glaciers is often a very powerful and non-flashy way of getting ahead in slow games, and should you be willing to walk out an early Amulet of Vigor, it can represent a mana consistency nearly impossible to match for other decks.
Assume the control role whenever possible. You don't need to beat the table down, you just need to be able to answer anyone who starts to pose a danger to you. In metas less familiar with the deck, this often means huddling behind a flooded shoreline and Patron and annoyingly bouncing the boards of anyone who ventures your way, while also protecting Patron with shoreline at the same time. Due to our large amounts of land bounce, we're much more resilient against armageddon than most blue decks, so long as we have the background knowledge to be able to plan for it.
At blue-heavy tables, Thada Adel tends to be an all-star if landed early. She represents a fast and reliable way of stealing the most efficient and powerful artifact mana out of the decks of each player at the table. Her goal above all else is to generate a lasting artifact mana presence during her time in play.
As the game progresses, there are a couple things to watch out for:
Don't walk the Amulet of Vigor into RFG removal. It's remarkably powerful for this deck and if you're casting it, you should already have a way to abuse it (Turn 1 amulet with thawing glaciers in hand is perfectly acceptable, even if it's not flashy)
Be aware of the ability to "chain" large draw spells by using Patron + Amulet to dump the lands from the first into play in order to cast the second.
Don't commit to the "combo" game plan. Most infinite combos possible in this deck involve amulet of vigor, and those that don't will typically involve Palinchron. Treating this like a straight-forward combo deck creates lynchpins for your opponents to attack. Simply Sundering with a soratami savant and/or flooded shoreline in play should win the game for you as Patron makes it entirely 1-sided and the supporting cards prevent opponents from recovering.
If you're going to lose with this deck, it's typically going to be due to a bad start. This means keeping a hand that doesn't have a 2-CMC (or less) mana-rock, or keeping a hand that can't deal with getting blitzed by a voltron general or similarly fast start. True combo-decks can also out-race your counter-light hands. While you can lose in the late game, those losses are going to come down to which spells you decided to counter and whether you let yourself get bogged down trying to control the whole table instead of just the threats.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
How has Seer's Sundial been going for you? It has always seemed very mana-intensive, especially given all of the other card draw available in blue. I'd also be questioning Overwhelming Intellect, I get the appeal, but you're not all that instant heavy. I'd imagine that leaving leaving 6 up is kind of rough and it's not even a universal counter.
Seer's Sundial was something that I was on the verge of cutting for a long time, but I realized that the games where it did nothing, I was already winning. On the other hand, when I am trying to restock after the early mana-rush, sundial can get you going in ways no other draw spell can. It's certainly not uncuttable, but it's no longer on the chopping block for me.
Overwhelming intellect is really better interpreted as a draw spell than a counter. My play with this deck leans towards leaving a fair chunk of mana open that I'll then utilize at the end step if not used for countering. Intellect typically is a 6-mana draw-5+ that time walks one opponent. That's perfectly good. It's not utilized like a normal counter that you sit on biding your time. Throw it at the first big creature or general that you see cast.
Have your early game defenses been enough to stave off faster aggro? That was one of the problems I was running into on a pretty regular basis, and I think you're running less creature control than I was at the time. Adding a few enormous defensive cards (Stormtide Leviathan, Meishin, the Mind Cage, etc) has helped with stabilizing, but I think I'd still run into trouble without some of the mana denial stuff my Patron list runs, and you don't have that in here.
If I have the time to cast meishin or leviathan, I can typically pull out just fine. The real problems are the aggressive (almost always voltron) lists that can pose a threat before those would be castable. As such, I'm comfortable to leave them on the sidelines. Don't get me wrong, early hard pressure is a prime way for this deck to lose, but it's not been a big issue for me so far, even with a Rafiq deck in my local meta tuned to fast kills.
I've been a fan of Rush of Knowledge for a while. You have a number of high cost permanents, including a 7 cmc general, so this is commonly going to draw you 5+ cards for 5. That's pretty efficient, as card draw goes.
I'm a little worried about the situational nature of the card, but I think you're right. I took it off my testing bench awhile back because I liked the draw balance of the deck and didn't feel it was needed, but if it can get me 6 or more cards for 5 mana, I really should take the time to give it a real vetting.
I'd consider Swan Song. I've had a lot of success with it, and I've seen it used to very good effect by other people as well. In a deck that frequently wants to tap out, the difference between leaving one mana and two mana up is huge and there are some devastating instants/sorceries/enchantments in the format.
This deck shouldn't be tapping out on its own turn too often after the first 3-5 turns. Sitting with mana open and abilities to activate is more the MO.
Is your primary plan to draw people out? It doesn't look too hard to draw your deck out, but you have somewhat limited kill cards at that point, other than the x-cost draw. Creature beats are a solid plan, but that's not as effective after something like Enter the Infinite. Obviously you can just go infinite mana at that point, but is there anything else that I'm missing?
Drawing people out has been the most common kill, but as it gains a reputation for combo kills, the deck naturally gets pushed into soft-lock kills (on the back of things like sunder, floodbringer, flooded shoreline, capsize, soratami savant, etc.) instead as people gun for the combo lynchpins of the deck.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
I meant to poke you with these suggestions earlier but kept forgetting to do so.
Overburden - it fits your land screwing style of tactics. It doesnt work against token decks but ETB value decks seem to be popular as ever so its fun to hurt them. It also tends to hurt big smashy green decks fairly well.
Storm Cauldron it can actually generate infinite mana with Amulet of Vigor in play which is super handy especially since they are both artifacts. Again though, it just screws with opponents something crazy. Outside of infinite things, you will be able to recover your lands much much easier than opponents if your commander is in play. (doh, you mention that in your OP, well just one card then)
Back to Basics I dont know how much you want to hate on opponents landbases but its a solid card for mono blue. Generally, I consider it to be stronger than Blood Moon because there are so few lands with static abilities that matter. Valakut and Urborg are like the only two I can think of.
I meant to poke you with these suggestions earlier but kept forgetting to do so.
I appreciate it even with the delay. After all, it's not like I've finished my card breakdown yet
Overburden - it fits your land screwing style of tactics. It doesnt work against token decks but ETB value decks seem to be popular as ever so its fun to hurt them. It also tends to hurt big smashy green decks fairly well.
Overburden is one of my favourite cards for screwing with opponents in EDH, and this is definitely a deck that can use it, both to mess with opponents and do dumb tricks with thawing glaciers.
It hasn't managed to get a spot in my list, but it's been eternally on the short list for inclusion.
Storm Cauldron it can actually generate infinite mana with Amulet of Vigor in play which is super handy especially since they are both artifacts. Again though, it just screws with opponents something crazy. Outside of infinite things, you will be able to recover your lands much much easier than opponents if your commander is in play. (doh, you mention that in your OP, well just one card then)
Back to Basics I dont know how much you want to hate on opponents landbases but its a solid card for mono blue. Generally, I consider it to be stronger than Blood Moon because there are so few lands with static abilities that matter. Valakut and Urborg are like the only two I can think of.
I actually stared long and hard at Back to Basics when making this list. I ended up forgoing it due to how hard you end up leaning on some of your utility lands, but I may have been wrong to pass over it.
What do you think?
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
I'll need some additional testing before making a verdict, but so far I'm unimpressed with Rush of Knowledge. Part of it is that in the games so far with it, I was under heavy pressure and it wasn't able to do much, but the bigger problem is that it seems to be amazing only when you're already ahead. Stuff like Flow of Ideas can pull you out of a lot of really bad jams, but rush is only going to do that if you got some beef on the table to begin with.
No new update on the OP just yet (well, since Nov 26th at least, ;)), but I'm still plugging away at it. The writing has been slow going though.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
I'd make sure Mana Breach finds a home again sometime after your tests. That's been such a solid card for me, even when someone is guaranteed to blow removal on it. It's a wonderful tempo piece, as long as you don't mind the extra attention.
I think my higher enchantment density helps me out quite a bit with Rush of Knowledge. I'm slightly more likely to have something stick to the board, and I've got some pricey, high profile enchantments (if they don't get nuked initially, it's not terribly likely that someone will kill them in response). It's something of a pet card for me, but I can see where your complaints with it come from.
Back to Basics has been a mixed bag for me, and it's very meta-dependent. The obvious comparison is Blood Moon, so it has similar strengths and weaknesses. Some decks it's just going to lock out of the game for a while, some decks it's not going to touch. I think that the power level is high enough to risk an occasional dead card.
Have you tried High Tide? You're frequently going to combo out in a turn anyways and require a mana doubler to do so. This is a slightly sneakier way to do that. Found with Merchant Scroll/Mystical Tutor and easy to buy back with your spell recursion guys.
I really should rework my Patron deck a little. My big problem is that there are a bunch of pricey (CMC) things I want to run and I really don't want to bump the cost up that much. Also Flooded Shoreline, which I just need to order sometime.
I'd make sure Mana Breach finds a home again sometime after your tests. That's been such a solid card for me, even when someone is guaranteed to blow removal on it. It's a wonderful tempo piece, as long as you don't mind the extra attention.
Mana Breach has been a mixed bag for me. It keeps oscillating between totally blowing the rest of the table out of the game and doing nothing/hampering me. I think it pretty much depends entirely on how much artifact mana the opener has. If I'm keeping 5 rocks, a land, and mana breach, nobody else will even be in the game. If it's a hand that has less artifact ramp or less efficient artifact ramp, it starts to get ugly.
Part of this is no doubt due to my list's lower emphasis on controlling the opponent's manabase, since it gets exponentially more powerful when mixed with other dumb blue staxish stuff
I think my higher enchantment density helps me out quite a bit with Rush of Knowledge. I'm slightly more likely to have something stick to the board, and I've got some pricey, high profile enchantments (if they don't get nuked initially, it's not terribly likely that someone will kill them in response). It's something of a pet card for me, but I can see where your complaints with it come from.
Yeah. I'm not passing judgement on it just yet, it had a rough couple trial games where I was the target from very early on, so I'll keep testing it a bit more before I let myself decide if it makes the cut.
Back to Basics has been a mixed bag for me, and it's very meta-dependent. The obvious comparison is Blood Moon, so it has similar strengths and weaknesses. Some decks it's just going to lock out of the game for a while, some decks it's not going to touch. I think that the power level is high enough to risk an occasional dead card.
Back to Basics is a total back-breaker in my meta. I run it in my Zegana deck.
I tend to value my chosen nonbasics in this deck rather highly (perhaps it's just my love affair with Thawing Glaciers?), but it could certainly fit very well into the deck for those that don't care about turning off academy ruins and thawing glaciers.
Have you tried High Tide? You're frequently going to combo out in a turn anyways and require a mana doubler to do so. This is a slightly sneakier way to do that. Found with Merchant Scroll/Mystical Tutor and easy to buy back with your spell recursion guys.
I'm less combo-oriented than it might appear at first glance. While High Tide is amazing, I prefer to lean on the permanent sources of doubling since they retain their value at every stage of the game. This gives me less dead cards at any given time, and makes me better suited to grinding out an advantage.
I really should rework my Patron deck a little. My big problem is that there are a bunch of pricey (CMC) things I want to run and I really don't want to bump the cost up that much. Also Flooded Shoreline, which I just need to order sometime.
Flooded Shoreline is definitely a must, as is Floodbringer given how brutal your deck already is on opposing mana (not to mention that it gets even dumber with Back to Basics since it will then permanently lock down lands).
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Arcanis the Omnipotent over Teferi? It provides you with more gas once you have Patron on the board. It seems like it would be better especially because the deck isn't built around flash. The second part of Teferi just begs for removal, but Arcanis dodges that with it's second ability. Also, how's snapcaster mage looking for extra recursion?
Lets get some Guilded Lotus up in this deck eh? Makes a great metamorph target too!
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**** this site. I'd delete this account but that doesn't seem to be an option. The mods here are ******* useless ********s who ban people for simple ass normal words. **** them and **** this site.
Quicksilver Fountain might be good in a non blue-heavy meta. Especially with the cards that make other players return lands to their hands because they'll be playing a new land every turn. Either they stop playing lands for a while or will always have all but one land tap for just colorless. Seems like a win-win for you.
I'm running a similar concept with Meloku the Clouded Mirror at the helm. The idea being to use Meloku to produce tokens for a mass polymorph that brings out my entire creature base. Obviously we try to do different things, but there's a lot of overlap in card choices, and your list has given me some ideas (like adding more moonfolk). My list does run Patron as well, so I could try a few games with him in the drivers seat, but I've been enjoying the Meloku plan so far, and there's a few cards that are kind of dead with Patron on the field.
A lot of what these decks do I think is get lands out of the library and either on the board or in your hand. To that end, I have loved:
Dreamscape Artist is something I think a lot more mono blue decks should consider. He makes for hilarious board states. One game, i had both it and the Rings in the opening hand. I had 17 islands by turn 5 or 6.
Arcanis the Omnipotent over Teferi? It provides you with more gas once you have Patron on the board. It seems like it would be better especially because the deck isn't built around flash. The second part of Teferi just begs for removal, but Arcanis dodges that with it's second ability. Also, how's snapcaster mage looking for extra recursion?
I really don't like needing to untap with something for it to give value. There are a couple things that I'll tolerate it for (mana rocks being the most readily available example), but in general it conflicts with a desire to be more reactive, able to exploit any opening or respond to others' threatening actions.
Teferi, while admittedly just barely making the cut, tends to let me better play to that level of desired responsiveness. If you're looking at including Arcanis, I think you would probably be better off adding something like Opportunity or another large draw spell.
Lets get some Guilded Lotus up in this deck eh? Makes a great metamorph target too!
Thanks!
I've given Gilded Lotus some serious looks over the years, but I don't think it's what the deck is looking for. I think more lower cost rocks to help you explode out the gates are more important. In this line, things like Mox Opal and Mana Crypt, or even Guardian Idol, would give greater value to the deck. Additionally, I think that in general, if you're copying a mana rock with Metamorph, you're going to be best off copying a doubler like Gauntlet of Power.
Quicksilver Fountain might be good in a non blue-heavy meta. Especially with the cards that make other players return lands to their hands because they'll be playing a new land every turn. Either they stop playing lands for a while or will always have all but one land tap for just colorless. Seems like a win-win for you.
Quicksilver Fountain is a brutal effect, and it's well worth running. It also enables some cute tricks with cards like thawing glaciers and gush since you can activate your glaciers in response to the fountain and then pay the gush alt-cost by bouncing glaciers (now an Island thanks to the fountain) and the land it fetched.
I ended up cutting it awhile back when I was less tuned and it had begun to generate substantial hate before the games even began. I think it could be time for its return though.
I'm running a similar concept with Meloku the Clouded Mirror at the helm. The idea being to use Meloku to produce tokens for a mass polymorph that brings out my entire creature base. Obviously we try to do different things, but there's a lot of overlap in card choices, and your list has given me some ideas (like adding more moonfolk). My list does run Patron as well, so I could try a few games with him in the drivers seat, but I've been enjoying the Meloku plan so far, and there's a few cards that are kind of dead with Patron on the field.
A lot of what these decks do I think is get lands out of the library and either on the board or in your hand. To that end, I have loved:
Dreamscape Artist is something I think a lot more mono blue decks should consider. He makes for hilarious board states. One game, i had both it and the Rings in the opening hand. I had 17 islands by turn 5 or 6.
Dreamscape Artist is one of my favourite cards, but this isn't the deck for him. He represents a long-term engine for accelerating, but our general already does that for us, and more efficiently. And in the early game, you can't afford to invest 5 mana, two cards, and a turn before seeing such small returns (a single land drop).
Rings ended up being too expensive for me. The abilities in this deck that you want to copy are typically 1-2 mana and don't require tapping. It just doesn't contribute enough to the deck's gameplan.
Journeyer's Kite always seemed lackluster to me in a colour that had such unrestricted draw power. I think having raw draw in general is preferable since we aren't in a colour starving for ways to grind out an advantage.
I've passed on Trade Routes so far because its bounce effect feels like a worse version of the storm cauldron synergy, and the cycling effect for lands runs against the strength of the deck. You pretty much are never looking to get rid of excess lands with this deck, rather you're pursuing them. This is most noticeable when you have a Tomorrow and use a large draw effect. You will find yourself choosing the basic islands out of 3-card spreads involving 2 spells very frequently. I don't think we need either facet of the card.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Probably losing some of the higher cost stuff for more denial and bounce. You keep talking about how good Floodbringer is, so that's going to make it in for a bit. I might try Rhystic Deluge out too, because that's one that I've been leaning towards for a while.
I know Ward of Bones has been a little underwhelming for me a lot of the time, but it's wonderful when it's on. Portcullis is tempting, and Torpor Orb is always worth considering. I've been thinking about Seer's Sundial again, too. Other than those, probably just some more of the cantrip filtering (Ponder, Impulse) to help consistency a bit.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
With all these return a land effects you have to run Terrain Generator. Sure, Patron is better at it but you can't and shouldn't always rely on him. He effectively costs 8 mana (7 + 1 to use his ability) at first cast and you don't run many moonfolk to support him.
You should also consider Sapphire medallion for having cheaper spells. Surely better than any other 2 mana cost - 1 mana gain artifacts.
I don't think Terrain Generator does enough. The effect is so expensive to use, that by the time you start using it paired with other effects, you would/should be able to get Patron into play anyway. Also, the more powerful effects that would set you back on land are powerful because they let you cheat on mana. For example, Gush for 1 mana is good. Gush for 0 mana and two land drops is also good. Gush for 3 mana plus a land drop is not good. I think this deck would rather keep its basic count high than look for the occasional fringe gains with the generator.
Regarding Sapphire Medallion, I'm intrigued. I've written it off so far due to the heavy use of mana for non-spell things, but perhaps I was overly hasty. I do worry however that I don't have the spell count to reliably make it worthwhile. Not counting freecast spells, non-coloured spells, and spells with no colourless mana, I count 33 cards that this reduces the cost for. Is that enough to consider it over a "real" manastone?
Probably losing some of the higher cost stuff for more denial and bounce. You keep talking about how good Floodbringer is, so that's going to make it in for a bit. I might try Rhystic Deluge out too, because that's one that I've been leaning towards for a while.
I know Ward of Bones has been a little underwhelming for me a lot of the time, but it's wonderful when it's on. Portcullis is tempting, and Torpor Orb is always worth considering. I've been thinking about Seer's Sundial again, too. Other than those, probably just some more of the cantrip filtering (Ponder, Impulse) to help consistency a bit.
Rhystic Deluge looks interesting. I definitely think it would be better in a more mana-denial focused deck like yours, but you should make sure to let me know how it works out for you.
I think you'll like floodbringer. I need to caution you that it's not some almighty powerhouse, but it's a good roleplayer and I like it both as a cheap moonfolk offering enabler and as a contributor to end-game lock scenarios.
Scanning over my own list, I see that I'm 5 cards off of being Torpor Orb-immune. While I'm probably too attached to the effects on those 5 cards to cut them, it does tell me that this deck/general is likely very well positioned to run the orb. It's a brutal effect that I think will be amazing for you if you're willing to make the build concessions to make it shine.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Dreamscape Artist is one of my favourite cards, but this isn't the deck for him. He represents a long-term engine for accelerating, but our general already does that for us, and more efficiently. And in the early game, you can't afford to invest 5 mana, two cards, and a turn before seeing such small returns (a single land drop).
Rings ended up being too expensive for me. The abilities in this deck that you want to copy are typically 1-2 mana and don't require tapping. It just doesn't contribute enough to the deck's gameplan.
Journeyer's Kite always seemed lackluster to me in a colour that had such unrestricted draw power. I think having raw draw in general is preferable since we aren't in a colour starving for ways to grind out an advantage.
I've passed on Trade Routes so far because its bounce effect feels like a worse version of the storm cauldron synergy, and the cycling effect for lands runs against the strength of the deck. You pretty much are never looking to get rid of excess lands with this deck, rather you're pursuing them. This is most noticeable when you have a Tomorrow and use a large draw effect. You will find yourself choosing the basic islands out of 3-card spreads involving 2 spells very frequently. I don't think we need either facet of the card.
Interesting. I guess my choice of Meloku over patron in the command slot makes more of a difference than I initially thought, because I often find that the most crucial thing to do is ramp as hard as possible in the first few turns, which artifact ramp and Dreamscape allow me to do. Once I get this, with Meloku on the board, I often have excess lands in hand, so Trade Routes is amazing draw power for me.
Another one to consider is Salvaging Station along with Treasure Mage to find it. Not only lets you reuse all "baubles" but can return Amulet of Vigor if someone kills it. I used that in my build till it lasted and it was useful.
I'm not a fan of Magosi or Rings. I addressed rings a bit in post #15, but I've added both to the OP as cards that I'm not running with reasoning. Essentially, I think that their value is either too marginal or too dependent on vulnerable or unreliable interactions.
Rings of Brighthearth — I don't think this does enough in this deck. The most powerful and desired activated abilities in this deck are relatively cheap (Patron of the Moon, Flooded Shoreline, etc.), but while occasionally skimping on an activated ability's land-bounce cost might sometimes be useful, for the most part, I don't think that this card will generate the value needed for it to warrant a slot over something more versatile or independently powerful in this deck. You're better off leaving this out and sticking with stronger cards.
Magosi, the Water Veil — While possible to run this with Rings of Brighthearth to generate infinite turns, the effect is difficult to take advantage of. It's also very rare at multiplayer tables that it will be worthwhile to let the entire table get a turn cycle without you, especially when most tables I play at would gleefully strip mine you in that time. Lastly, running this card encourages you to run another sub-par card (Rings of Brighthearth) in order to abuse it. It's a cute trick, but it will weaken your deck overall.
Salvaging Station is quite strong, but I don't think it's good enough considering the cards that the deck wants to run, and to shoe-horn in the salvaging station-bauble draw engine would weaken the power of the deck. Lastly, I think that Academy Ruins is a stronger option than a niche 6 mana spell for recurring Amulet Vigor. If Stax is more prevalent in your meta and you need to contend with omni-present Braids and Smokestacks effects, I could see it being potentially valuable as a counter to those strategies, but we're blue — we have access to better draw than repeated slowtripping.
Interesting. I guess my choice of Meloku over patron in the command slot makes more of a difference than I initially thought, because I often find that the most crucial thing to do is ramp as hard as possible in the first few turns, which artifact ramp and Dreamscape allow me to do. Once I get this, with Meloku on the board, I often have excess lands in hand, so Trade Routes is amazing draw power for me.
Our early game plans sound pretty similar. We both definitely want to ramp quickly and rapidly in the early game, but I don't think Dreamscape artist accomplishes this efficiently.
Now, you next need to consider that in the "A" opener, you could have played another mana rock off of the thran dynamo, and even without the dynamo, you could have played multiple mana rocks off the four mana you have on T3. The "B" opener on the other hand tops out at +2 mana by the end of T3, and it has "cost" you an extra card since Dreamscape Artist is a "wasted" card in your opener that only converts the remaining cards in your hand into Harrow. The Dreamscape opener is always going to be slower than other accelerant openers, and in the late game a fellwar stone or fractured powerstone will be equivalent to an activation of the artist (a card investment that puts you at -1 mana this turn in order to be +1 mana on the subsequent turns), except that they will be that independent of the enabler.
As for the late game, you're definitely right about the difference between our generals. This deck almost never has excess lands because the general specifically consumes them. This makes Trade Routes not as powerful for us. Your general on the other hand produces excess lands in hand, so it makes sense that you'd make good use of a card that lets you turn them into value.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Now, you next need to consider that in the "A" opener, you could have played another mana rock off of the thran dynamo, and even without the dynamo, you could have played multiple mana rocks off the four mana you have on T3. The "B" opener on the other hand tops out at +2 mana by the end of T3, and it has "cost" you an extra card since Dreamscape Artist is a "wasted" card in your opener that only converts the remaining cards in your hand into Harrow. The Dreamscape opener is always going to be slower than other accelerant openers, and in the late game a fellwar stone or fractured powerstone will be equivalent to an activation of the artist (a card investment that puts you at -1 mana this turn in order to be +1 mana on the subsequent turns), except that they will be that independent of the enabler.
It's not just the mana. It's the actual effect of pulling land out of my deck and putting it into a position where I can interact with it. That, and I'm running winter orb in the deck, and being able to put 3 untapped lands out/turn makes it an asymetrical effect. But so would more artifact mana.
I still think this is pretty good all on its own, but you do raise some interesting points. I think if I replace it with anything though, I'll replace it with another draw spell. My deck lacks of that. I'll do some testing and get back to you.
It's not just the mana. It's the actual effect of pulling land out of my deck and putting it into a position where I can interact with it. That, and I'm running winter orb in the deck, and being able to put 3 untapped lands out/turn makes it an asymetrical effect. But so would more artifact mana.
I still think this is pretty good all on its own, but you do raise some interesting points. I think if I replace it with anything though, I'll replace it with another draw spell. My deck lacks of that. I'll do some testing and get back to you.
Yeah, you're definitely right that the thinning effect has some value. It's a little hard to quantify though, and probably won't be noticeable until later into the game. However, I did leave out one upside to Dreamscape Artist that is only relevant to your general. Namely, in the late or mid-game, you can bounce a land with Meloku and then pitch the land to dreamscape artist thus negating the board cost imposed by Meloku without costing you your land drop for the turn, allowing you to continue to aggregate lands even as you use Meloku to churn out tokens for something like the Skullclamp engine. This obviously isn't relevant in my deck but would give some extra play to Dreamscape Artist in yours.
And on another note, I've added the guide to playing this deck to the OP!
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Phew. Just finished off the last bits of the OP. I'll still need to update with cards that might be under consideration that aren't in my list as suggestions arise or as I think of things, but on the whole, I'm reasonably happy with how it is now.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Despite being a goodstuff card, I think Cyclonic Rift is strong enough to run. I also like Curse of the Swine as a solid removal spell. Whether or not you need it is a different story.
I'm surprised you don't run Uyo, Silent Prophet. I didn't see it mentioned, is there a particular reason you don't play her?
Despite being a goodstuff card, I think Cyclonic Rift is strong enough to run. I also like Curse of the Swine as a solid removal spell. Whether or not you need it is a different story.
I'm surprised you don't run Uyo, Silent Prophet. I didn't see it mentioned, is there a particular reason you don't play her?
Ah, Uyo, I totally had overlooked her in my card options section. I'll go ahead and add her.
Anyway, the gist of it is:
Uyo is a very powerful effect, but when I tested her, I didn't like her. In general, it felt like if I got her in play and had a spell worth bouncing two lands to copy and/or had Patron in play, I was winning anyway, independent of Uyo. For example, if you're casting Stroke of Genius for nine cards, did you really need Uyo in order to draw fourteen or fifteen instead? You were going to win that game anyway. And, in the same vein as Storm Cauldron, while she goes infinite with Patron and Amulet of Vigor quite easily, your deck will do something busted no matter what if those two are in play together, so she feels superfluous. That being said, unlike Storm Cauldron, I think Uyocan be a defensible inclusion in the deck, but in my personal experience, she just wasn't worth the six mana to get into play.
I've just about finished my testing with Rush of Knowledge, so I'll give Curse or Cyclonic Rift the next slot in the testing rotation.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Quote from votan »
:ER:, you suck as a hero
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Patron of the Moon is an extremely non-standard choice as far as blue generals go. He's expensive to cast once, let alone multiple times. He doesn't draw you cards or tutor. But what Patron represents is the answer to the age-old blue question "I drew all these lands… what do I do now?"
Blue packs some of the most powerful draw in the game, and Patron represents a way for you to bypass the inefficiency of that mass draw power (that roughly 1/3 of what you draw will just be blanks).
There's another reason to play Patron though: For the most part, the deck is very affordable. This wasn't a factor when I chose to build the deck, but with the exception of a few outliers, the list is all very affordable cards.
Patron is not without its drawbacks however. It's not a simple deck to play. You need to have an intimate understanding of the stack in order to play the deck correctly and through opposing interaction. You also are going to need to fluidly shift your role at a moment's notice in game and decide how to press your advantage through non-linear paths of play. It's a complex deck to pilot that will keep you engaged if you enjoy decks that stress that level of thought in your play.
It's important to understand what Patron is not, however. If you're looking for something in blue that this deck can't give you, you won't be happy playing this deck. Accordingly, I've gone ahead and broken down some of the other options for Blue generals and why you might wish to play them over Patron.
Deck History:
My List:
My list is tuned to perform best in 4-5 player games. It is very capable of competing in larger games or even games as small as 1v1, but understand that some card choices might be suboptimal when changing the environment. Despite that, I don't feel unduly disadvantaged in the other environments.
I do not recommend playing this list in Emperor or 2HG games. In my experience, teams with the most blue in those formats always dominate, and if paired with a deck that can take some of the early pressure off, this deck will typically kill the table too reliably to be a welcome mainstay.
7 Patron of the Moon
Creatures: 16
2 Floodbringer
3 Trinket Mage
3 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Solemn Simulacrum
4 Soratami Savant
4 Archaeomancer
5 Mnemonic Wall
5 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
5 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
6 Steel Hellkite
6 Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
6 Consecrated Sphinx
6 Roil Elemental
7 Palinchron
10 Myojin of Seeing Winds
Instants: 15
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Counterspell
3 Forbid
3 Hinder
3 Spell Crumple
3 Capsize
3 Stroke of Genius
3 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Thwart
5 Force of Will
5 Desertion
5 Gush
5 Sunder
6 Overwhelming Intellect
2 Merchant Scroll
3 Fabricate
4 Rite of Replication
6 Flow of Ideas
10 Time Stretch
12 Enter the Infinite
Enchantments: 5
1 Mystic Remora
2 Flooded Shoreline
3 Mana Breach
3 Rhystic Study
10 Omniscience
Artifacts: 21
0 Tormod's Crypt
0 Everflowing Chalice
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Amulet of Vigor
1 Expedition Map
2 Fractured Powerstone
2 Mind Stone
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Coldsteel Heart
2 Sky Diamond
2 Star Compass
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Swiftfoot Boots
2 Darksteel Ingot
3 Worn Powerstone
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Seer's Sundial
5 Memory Jar
5 Guantlet of Power
6 Caged Sun
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Mouth of Ronom
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
30 Snow-Covered Island
7 Patron of the Moon
Recursion: 2
4 Archaeomancer
5 Mnemonic Wall
Countermagic: 9
2 Muddle the Mixture
2 Counterspell
3 Forbid
3 Hinder
3 Spell Crumple
4 Thwart
5 Force of Will
5 Desertion
6 Overwhelming Intellect
Dedicated Tutors: 4
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Merchant Scroll
3 Fabricate
3 Trinket Mage
Good Stuff: 11
0 Tormod's Crypt
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Swiftfoot Boots
3 Capsize
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Rite of Replication
5 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
6 Steel Hellkite
6 Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
7 Palinchron
10 Time Stretch
2 Floodbringer
2 Flooded Shoreline
3 Mana Breach
4 Soratami Savant
5 Sunder
6 Roil Elemental
Raw Synergy: 2
1 Amulet of Vigor
5 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
Draw Power: 11
1 Mystic Remora
3 Rhystic Study
3 Stroke of Genius
3 Blue Sun's Zenith
4 Seer's Sundial
5 Gush
5 Memory Jar
6 Flow of Ideas
6 Consecrated Sphinx
10 Myojin of Seeing Winds
12 Enter the Infinite
Mana & Acceleration: 18
0 Everflowing Chalice
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
1 Expedition Map
2 Fractured Powerstone
2 Mind Stone
2 Fellwar Stone
2 Coldsteel Heart
2 Sky Diamond
2 Star Compass
2 Darksteel Ingot
3 Worn Powerstone
3 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Solemn Simulacrum
5 Guantlet of Power
6 Caged Sun
10 Omniscience
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Mouth of Ronom
1 Academy Ruins
1 Tolaria West
30 Snow-Covered Island
Card Choices:
Of all the (limited) moonfolk printed in Kamigawa block, only three have successfully retained a slot in my build, and each of them has an important role to play. Each of these are very good creatures that you would like to have in play, but don't be afraid to feed them to moonfolk offering if/when necessary.
Floodbringer — If you get in the position where you need to stall out or protect a single critical turn, Floodbringer plus Patron of the Moon will get you there. Also, this guy is a way to land your general through mana denial or other interaction. The moonfolk offering on Patron is very rarely relevant, but casting Patron for 5 mana at instant speed can still at times be extremely powerful. This makes Floodbringer useful at each stage of the game. It can either produce a Rishadan Port-style lock or defense in the late game, or it can accelerate you in the early game. Don't be afraid to use it in either mode. Also, it is generally unimposing, so it's very unlikely to draw any spot removal from opponents (and if it does, do you really care?).
Soratami Savant — Infinite Mana Leaks are good. Infinite Mana Leaks that can also be used for moonfolk offering are even better.
Meloku the Clouded Mirror — Meloku is the easiest moonfolk to productively go infinite with, but in actual gameplay he is most commonly used as a role-player. Meloku is an easy way to protect yourself from Armageddon effects as well as from edicts and anything attacking you without trample.
Other Critters
Trinket Mage — This is a really versatile tutor. Your most common target will be Sol Ring or Amulet of Vigor, but Tormod's Crypt, Expedition Map, and even Everflowing Chalice will occasionally be fetched off this. Absolute staple.
Thada Adel, Acquisitor — I like to treat Thada as a mana rock disguised as a creature. Her number one priority in every game is to fetch Sol Rings and mana doublers. She's generic good stuff, but she's so good at it, she's worth it anyway.
Phyrexian Metamorph — This was more important under the Kamigawa legend rule, but I still think he earns his slot even with the Theros update. Most often nowadays Metamorph will copy a mana doubler, but copying Amulet of Vigor or any goodstuff creature is perfectly defensible. He is versatile and well equipped to have utility in most any situation.
Solemn Simulacrum — You're mana-hungry and this is the ultimate value critter which also ramps you. Not mandatory, but very strong. I tend to include him under the banner of my mana-ramp package when going over the deck looking for potential changes.
Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall — These tend to recur either Stroke of Genius, Gush, Flow of Ideas, or Thwart. You often lean pretty hard on certain key spells in this deck, and the extra casting makes all the difference. These also represent ways to go infinite on turns with Time Stretch and either recurrable bounce effect. I really need to stress how important it is to not be afraid to "waste" these on something like Gush or Thwart; while these free spells might not be especially flashy, some of the greatest utility to be had from the recursion duo are the spells that just give you that subtle leg up.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir — I run him to protect myself from interaction and win the blue mirrors, but he also gets some pretty amusing tricks going with Archaeomancer/Mnemonic Wall. He's not essential however, and as you reach my "Watch List" section, you will see that he's actually one of the less solid inclusions in the deck.
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar — Nobody runs this card but they really should. While it has a rather inefficient body for 6 mana, Tomorrow is an insane threat card. Every topdeck you have is 3x as likely to find a business card, and more importantly, it blows any sense of symmetry out of the water for communal draw effects. When your Memory Jar takes you 21 cards deep, for example, it's nearly impossible for you to whiff. I first ran this as a tester and I've never looked back.
Consecrated Sphinx — Generic multiplayer blue staple. It draws you tons of cards, fills you up on lands for Patron and in general makes people complain about blue players and draw fetishes. Unless you're building to be 100% speed-oriented combo (a far cry from my build), this is an auto-include.
Roil Elemental — This deck can generate obscene amounts of landfall triggers in a turn, even on non-combo turns. While Roil Elemental is fragile, it's also an excellent way to tell people to turn somewhere else. I can certainly understand people who choose not to run it, but I've been quite happy with it.
Palinchron — Having a non-convoluted way to generate infinite mana is a good thing. I chose to leave this on the sidelines when I needed to adjust to a lower power meta, but if you're building this deck to be the best it can be, Palinchron deserves a slot. Don't forget that even in the absence of a mana doubler or kill condition, you can use Palinchron as a value play with Thawing Glaciers to thaw out extra lands.
Myojin of Seeing Winds — While 10 mana may look like a lot, we can hit it fairly easily due to our copious quantities of artifact ramp. Getting the timing right of when to blow the divinity counter is one of the less straight-forward aspects of playing the deck, purely because it's very hard to realize when "draw 12" was the wrong play and waiting for "draw 20" was right. Regardless, getting ridiculous amounts of cards is great. Staple.
Instants
Mystical Tutor — Finding Sunder alone is enough to warrant this, but the versatility is superb. Do not go for any low impact spells with this. You pretty much always should either be going for Sunder, a mass draw spell (Flow of Ideas), or Time Stretch. On very rare occasions I've gone for Force of Will or Thwart with this, but to do so means that it's late game and you already have the win in hand (or it's late game and someone else has the win in hand).
Muddle the Mixture — This is a passable counterspell, but the real value is that it transmutes into Flooded Shoreline. Flooded Shoreline is one of the most broken cards in the deck, and you should be willing to go out of your way to find it.
Counterspell — Simple, efficient, and not too difficult to cast in mono-blue.
Forbid — In end-game scenarios, this can constitute a counter-lock on its own. I don't think it's as powerful as most people believe it to be, but it is still quite strong. I will say though, do not let yourself feel compelled to use the buyback. You run it as a counterspell, and if all it does is counter a spell, it was worth it.
Hinder/Spell Crumple — Fairly standard counterspells that have the upside of tucking any generals countered by them. Don't force yourself to hold these for generals only; you should feel free to counter anything that needs countering with these.
Capsize — A mainstay of every blue EDH deck for a reason, Capsize is board harassment, combo interruption, self-protection, and a potential lock all rolled into one.
Stroke of Genius/Blue Sun's Zenith — Powerful scaling draw spells that can double as win conditions if you generate infinite mana.
Force of Will — Free counterspell. This is one of the most important cards for keeping up with especially fast metas.
Desertion — This can generate a huge swing in the game, but the large mana cost can be a problem. See here for details.
Gush — Free draw spell that synergizes with Patron's ability. Don't forget that you can use it to cheat on mana-light draws by replaying one of the bounced lands and tapping it a second time for mana.
Sunder — With Patron in play, this can single-handedly win you the game. When playing Sunder, make sure that you first stack a number of Patron activations (all while holding priority) and then cast Sunder with those activations still on the stack. This will allow you to come out ahead even if they attempt to answer Patron in response. With Amulet of Vigor on the field, you may even generate extremely large amounts of mana with this play. Don't forget that you can crack Memory Jar in response to casting Sunder in order to have all the bounced lands go to the hand that they will discard.
Overwhelming Intellect — Counter any opponent's general of 4CMC or more, or any creature of 5CMC or more. Really, this isn't so much a counterspell as a very efficient draw spell that coincidentally happens to impede an opponent at the same time.
Sorceries
Merchant Scroll — Normally fetches Sunder, Thwart/Force of Will, Capsize, or Stroke of Genius, all of which are extremely powerful options depending on the gamestate. In general it's just versatile and allows you to adapt to whatever you're contending with.
Fabricate — This will almost always go for a mana doubler or Amulet of Vigor, and you will take most any efficient tutor that you can get for those. Don't forget that you can find Memory Jar if all you need is gas.
Rite of Replication — This is a generic "good stuff" spell. I've been very satisfied with its power, and it can pull you out of a lot of different jams, but it's not strictly speaking necessary since the M14 legend rule change.
Flow of Ideas — This is the back-bone draw spell of the deck. It's relatively cheap to cast, synergizes with our general, scales as the game progresses, and can refill your hand while leaving you able to exploit the new cards drawn. The more you play this deck, the more you will come to appreciate the power of this card.
Time Stretch — Two extra turns are insane. More so if you ever have the opportunity to recur Time Stretch with Archaeomancer or Mnemonic Wall. Since we have the mana acceleration to cast this with ease, it is an automatic inclusion.
Enter the Infinite — This is the most efficient mass draw spell in the deck. Resolving this with one mana open and Patron in play will let you drop Sol Ring/Mana Vault into play and then use those cast Amulet of Vigor and chain Patron activations to dump all of the land in the deck into play, followed by whatever combo or kill you desire to kill the table. Yes this is expensive, but it's nearly impossible to lose after resolving it. Obviously it's also broken as hell if cast with Omniscience in play.
Mystic Remora — The more tuned your meta, the more artifact mana there will be to accelerate the other players, and Mystic Remora will draw off of all of them. It's extremely rare that anyone will choose pay the 4. I typically pay for 3-5 upkeeps.
Flooded Shoreline — If you ever played Astral Slide back in Type2 or in Onslaught Block Constructed, just imagine that Shoreline is a blue Slide in this deck, except more broken. This card is a fast way to protect your general, bounce opposing dudes, and can go infinite with Patron, Amulet of Vigor, and a doubler. Remember that the lands bounce as part of the cost of the ability, so you can drop them right back into play with Patron before the ability resolves. This card is obscure and random enough for nobody new to the deck to rate it as a threat card, but if you can stick it, you are in a very good position to win. This is an absolute staple.
Mana Breach — I've locked out entire games with this card before, but it is somewhat high variance. Its power directly correlates with how land-light and mana-rock-heavy your opener is. Read more here.
Rhystic Study — This is a mainstay of blue multiplayer lists. Your opponents all have the choice to fall behind in the game or to let you draw cards. A surprisingly large percent of the time, they'll opt for the latter.
Omniscience — This is the most expensive mana rock in the deck. If you drop it, the game will end in a hurry, as you enjoy being unfettered by the constraints of mana. Don't forget that Palinchron goes infinite off this, thus feeding a kill after you draw your deck with Omniscience in play. I should also mention that due to the way this deck functions, you may often still be tapping out even with Omniscience in play since if you don't win on the spot, you'll likely be defending it with Patron of the Moon and something like Floodbringer or Savant.
Artifacts
Tormod's Crypt — I like having access to some grave hate in my decks, and this is tutorable with four other cards in the deck, allowing you access to it when necessary. Additionally, it does not remove itself or your graveyard from the game, so it can be reused with Academy Ruins.
Mana Vault — The burst of mana provided by Mana Vault can feed enough other mana rocks to put you well ahead of the game. You'll likely leave it tapped for a couple turns before untapping, don't sweat the damage.
Sol Ring — This is among the most powerful accelerants ever printed, and it's responsible for the best openers possible for this deck. Any deck not running this card would need a very good reason to.
Amulet of Vigor — This is an absurdly powerful effect in this deck. It provides excellent value in conjunction with Patron of the Moon, but also has some sweet interaction with Thawing Glaciers. You should just get incidental value left and right from it, but I have also outlined some of the stronger interactions with Amulet of Vigor in this section of the Guide to Piloting the Deck.
Expedition Map — This is a versatile tutor that can fetch creature hate, land drops for the rest of the game, recursion, acceleration, uncapped hand size, and anything that costs 0 in your deck (most often, Tormod's Crypt). It's not terribly efficient at anything it does, but it is Trinket Mage-able and an excellent roleplayer within the context of the deck.
Everflowing Chalice — For the most part this should be considered equivalent to the other 2CMC mana rocks, but it has the added versatility of letting you sink excess mana into it if you draw it when you have nothing better to do. Don't hold off casting it in hopes of getting that "extra value" though. You run it for the single kicker mode, everything more is only incidental.
Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots — We'd prefer to keep our general in play after resolving it. These do the trick.
Darksteel Ingot — The worst of our manastones. Discussed more here.
Worn Powerstone — Costing three mana is a little awkward, since this deck lends itself very much to a 2-4-6 sequence of mana, but it's still a very efficient jump in mana and worth the slot in the deck.
Thran Dynamo — This is a very strong third turn play. Four mana to put yourself three turns ahead of the game is well worthwhile.
Seer's Sundial — This has been enough to pull me out of quite a few rough spots, and on two occasions I have even combo'd with it. That being said, I'm currently doing some testing to see if a more straightforward mass draw spell would be better. For now though, I am still quite satisfied with the Sundial.
Memory Jar — Memory Jar was already immensely one-sided as a five mana draw-7 that only one person will be able to take full advantage of. It's even better in this deck since you will be able to drop all the lands into play too. Don't be afraid to dig even deeper with any draw spells you find in the seven. You should be able to take advantage of the cards even with the pending discard.
Guantlet of Power/Caged Sun — These are your mana-doublers. Pretty standard fare for mono-coloured lists. They are of course also more powerful due to the ability of this list to skip the land-drop limitations.
Lands
Ancient Tomb — Two mana on a land helps us speed up our entire gameplan by allowing a T1 mana rock. This should be a staple of nearly every EDH list, and it's just as powerful here.
Reliquary Tower — You can draw a lot of cards in this deck, and this lets you hold onto them.
Mouth of Ronom — Blue doesn't have many ways of answering creatures, so anything we can take is nice. This is the single card in my deck that takes advantage of the snow manabase.
Academy Ruins — Some of the most powerful effects in your deck come strapped to artifacts (most notably Amulet of Vigor, Memory Jar, and Mana Doublers), and recursion for these effects is good.
Tolaria West — Multi-purpose tutor that can serve as a land in a pinch. It's expensive to transmute, but it's versatile and powerful. I most often tutor for Tormod's Crypt, but I've gone for nearly every option present in the deck at some time or another.
Snow-Covered Island — A high concentration of basic islands are essential in this deck to be able to take full advantage of Gauntlet of Power, Flow of Ideas, Gush, Thwart, and Flooded Shoreline. We're using snow basics in order to allow us to run Mouth of Ronom. Additionally, in my experience, more people running Extraplanar Lens run Snow lands than non-snow, so you'll have slightly better chances at piggy-backing on other blue decks that run it.
Cards on the Watch List:
Desertion — It's a "good stuff" card that is a 5 mana counterspell. Powerful effect, sure, but not the most convenient counter to leave up. For a simple time-dependent 2-for-1, 5 mana may just be too much.
Mana Breach — This card is extremely backbreaking, but I'm not sold that it necessarily wins you the game. It creates a lot of awkward game states without necessarily moving it to your favour (because it is best if cast early before Patron comes down).
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir — Teferi gives a lot of advantages, but while he protects you from interaction and gives you a non-offering method of casting Patron on an opponent's end step, he doesn't actually do anything. The more blue in your meta, the better he is, but I'm not sold that he's really necessary.
Darksteel Ingot — 3 CMC mana rocks that only produce one mana are pretty awkward. This should come out for anything cheaper (likely Mox Opal as discussed below).
Cards that Deserve Testing:
Surveyor's Scope — Being able to cast this on turn two, Gush, and then fetch three lands into play seems ridiculous. This deck tends to maintain a very fluid on-board land presence, so it should never be a dead card.
Cyclonic Rift — Extremely powerful, but I've not had many situations where Rift would win me the game and Capsize wouldn't. Probably deserves a slot regardless.
Curse of the Swine — RFG multi-target removal seems extremely powerful. This is probably the one card from Theros that has the best shot of earning a permanent place in the deck.
Petrified Field — You really don't want to overload on non-island lands, but there is a strong case for this based on the power of Thawing Glaciers, Mouth of Ronom, and Academy Ruins. I am very much on the edge for this card.
Time Spiral — I've got a spare copy of this that seems pretty good. My old meta was a little too blue-heavy to risk giving the entire table new hands. The shuffle effect is also not insignificant due to giving me the ability to re-draw or re-tutor key cards that I can't recur.
Pact of Negation — I ran this early on, and I really liked that it represented a third "free" counterspell. That it lets Tolaria West (and by extension, Expedition Map) transmute into countermagic is also handy. I cut it for the upkeep cost being too annoying, but it probably deserves a second chance, especially given the great amount of tuning that has gone into the deck since its inclusion.
Cards I'm not running that I should be:
Mana Drain — This card is pretty much a "smoke 'em if you got 'em" card. My only copy is staying firmly in my cube, so this will need to wait until I get a second copy. If you've got it, you should be running it.
Mana Crypt — Need to pick up one. Like Mana Drain, it's a "must run" if you have it.
Mox Opal — We're running all the 2-mana rocks that we can get our hands on. This is a free one and is easily and reliably brought online by the third turn in a deck like this. I need to either pick up a second or pull my spare out of another EDH deck (I'm not a fan of sacrificing one deck for another, so chances are it's just going to need to be a new acquisition).
Storm Cauldron — This is one of the most common and ubiquitous choices in Patron decks, and the problem is that it's really just not good. People like it because it has obvious synergy with Patron and goes infinite with Amulet of Vigor, but realistically, everything is broken with Patron and Amulet of Vigor. Storm Cauldron also can severely hamper you when you don't have Amulet, and in a way that is sometimes worse than its effect on your opponents. When the green deck gets to tap their Gaea's Cradle three times in one turn, they really don't care about any imposition that cauldron might represent to the rest of their mana base, and if you try to Sunder after landing Cauldron, your normally back-breaking play suddenly becomes very recoverable for your opponents. Storm Cauldron really is a trap card that you're better off without.
Uyo, Silent Prophet — Uyo is a very powerful effect, but when I tested her, I didn't like her. In general, it felt like if I got her in play and had a spell worth bouncing two lands to copy and/or had Patron in play, I was winning anyway, independent of Uyo. For example, if you're casting Stroke of Genius for nine cards, did you really need Uyo in order to draw fourteen or fifteen instead? You were going to win that game anyway. And, in the same vein as Storm Cauldron, while she goes infinite with Patron and Amulet of Vigor quite easily, your deck will do something busted no matter what if those two are in play together, so she feels superfluous. That being said, unlike Storm Cauldron, I think Uyo can be a defensible inclusion in the deck, but in my personal experience, she just wasn't worth the six mana to get into play.
Mind Spring/Braingeyser — The loss of versatility by being sorceries is enough to make these not worth considering.
Vedalken Shackles — The deck already has a number of versatile ways to handle creatures. In my experience, this was unnecessary.
Future Sight/Magus of the Future — These were on the short list for a long time, but you really would just rather have mass draw. Future Sight effects also really push you towards running the next card on the list which you're better off without as well.
Gilded Lotus — I've stayed away from Gilded Lotus because the 5 mana slot is fairly awkward for mana accelerants in this deck. Most of the time you'll have four mana on turn three and then 6-10 mana on turn four. This means that for most hands, Gilded Lotus just doesn't fit your curve all that well, and I'd rather be casting something like one of our mana doublers in such a situation.
Extraplanar Lens — This is a fairly common suggestion for the deck, and in general, I agree with the choice. I don't run it anymore because it had almost become running game in my playgroup to see how fast they could detonate Extraplanar Lenses that hit play. It left the list because I was unable to use this as an early accelerant without making myself very vulnerable. That being said, Lens has crept back into a number of my other decks and may be due for a second run in this deck in the future.
Sensei's Divining Top — This deck uses its mana. ALL of its mana. While Sensei's Divining Top is a very powerful effect, you more often than not don't really want to spend the mana or a card on the effect. Perhaps even more relevant is that you should be outdrawing top's range consistently. I love this card and like to run it everywhere I can, but this isn't the deck for it.
Tidespout Tyrant — I used to run this guy, but by the time he ended up mattering, I would always be winning anyway. In this deck, the Tyrant is win-more.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor — I like the look of Jace a lot, but he's not as important to the deck as the cards on my "I should be running" list. I can't fault anyone for running Jace, but he isn't a priority for me and I don't find myself missing him.
Fact or Fiction — this deck generates enough mana that you'd rather have a much larger effect than Fact or Fiction. You also are more interested in card bulk than in card quality in this deck, so Fact or Fiction is rarely going to be competitive with your other options. There's also the lesser concern that you're not the most capable of leveraging your graveyard, so you're not able to take advantage of the grave dump aspect of Fact or Fiction.
Strip Mine — I ran this for a long time, but the deck can only afford so many non-basics. I found the others to be more essential. If you find it absolutely necessary in your meta, by all means run it.
Scrying Sheets — I was tempted to run this due to the choice to run snow lands to support Mouth of Ronom, but it's just not worth it. Better to keep the Island count high.
Deadeye Navigator — We don't have the density of creatures with CIP-effects for this guy to do the work we need, but for more "good stuff"-oriented builds, this guy would be a fine choice.
Vessel of Endless Rest — I've seen this get some fringe play as a way to pack your accelerant density while still gaining a valuable effect. I haven't felt the need for this card, but I could understand its value in certain metas to either tuck something back into your deck or to deny someone easy access to a card in their yard.
Rings of Brighthearth — I don't think this does enough in this deck. The most powerful and desired activated abilities in this deck are relatively cheap (Patron of the Moon, Flooded Shoreline, etc.), but while occasionally skimping on an activated ability's land-bounce cost might sometimes be useful, for the most part, I don't think that this card will generate the value needed for it to warrant a slot over something more versatile or independently powerful in this deck. You're better off leaving this out and sticking with stronger cards.
Magosi, the Water Veil — While possible to run this with Rings of Brighthearth to generate infinite turns, the effect is difficult to take advantage of. It's also very rare at multiplayer tables that it will be worthwhile to let the entire table get a turn cycle without you, especially when most tables I play at would gleefully Strip Mine you in that time. Lastly, running this card encourages you to run another sub-par card (Rings of Brighthearth) in order to abuse it. It's a cute trick, but it will weaken your deck overall.
Propaganda — I've not cared enough for this effect to warrant it. While it can shield you from the player that goes infinite with tokens, I think it's typically better to have countermagic. There is also definitely an argument to be made for its deterrent effect, but in my experience, you're typically fine to just tank the opportunistic hits or play politics with the threat of some of your other cards. Flooded Shoreline, for example can be an excellent way to tell people to look elsewhere. If your meta has a lot of aggro though, I understand its inclusion. Mine simply doesn't have the density of aggro at the multiplayer tables to make it necessary.
Swan Song — This is a powerful and versatile counterspell, and the drawback is fairly negligible in a 40-life format. If you think it's necessary in your meta, by all means go for it. I could see myself running it if my meta shifted in certain directions.
Quicksilver Fountain — I ran this some time ago when my list was less tuned. The more non-blue decks and utility lands in your meta, the better this is. I'm a huge fan and heartily recommend it for anyone not worried about generating some ill will at their table. I expect this to make it back into my list in the future.
Back to Basics — This deck is on the cusp of being a solid Back to Basics deck. I've been reluctant to run it due to the power of some of my utility lands (such as Thawing Glaciers), but I wholly respect those who decide the other way.
Overburden — This is the tamer little brother of Mana Breach. As aggressive or green strategies rise in your meta, this gets more powerful, but it's somewhat high variance in power according to your meta. I love the effect and strongly endorse it for those in metas where it would be effective.
Rush of Knowledge — My testing with this card was pretty lackluster. I don't think I have the permanent density to make this worth the slot. For those running more staxish builds, it may be worth inclusion, since at worst it would be Tidings, and more often would be insane and unlikely to be interrupted by responses. Regardless, if you've taken my approach to the deck, I think you'd be better off leaving this out.
Piloting the Deck:
Each game, your opening hand should at minimum have a 2CMC mana rock like Fellwar Stone or Sky Diamond; if you don't have something to help you catapult into the midgame, you won't survive to reach it. The more artifact mana in your opener, the better. You rely so heavily on this because Patron costs a ton of mana and your key plays in this deck are often very mana intensive. At the same time, EDH games, especially in highly tuned metas, tend to have extremely fast tempo — the green deck will be casting Tooth and Nail or something similarly devastating as early as turn three or four, and you need to keep up. The faster you can explode off the ground, the better positioned you will be to take advantage of your options while keeping opponents from fully realizing their own. Occasionally it can be okay to keep a slower hand, but for this to be the case, you need to have a good read on the table. If you have a bunch of blue decks at the table and each packs enough countermagic to prevent the others from doing broken things, you might instead focus on the ways that you can put yourself ahead in the card advantage game. A hand highlighted by Thawing Glaciers, Mystic Remora, and Force of Will might do very well in such a game, but I personally would still lean towards only keeping hands that set you on track to have 6+ mana on turn 4.
You should be careful about running Amulet of Vigor out at this stage of the game. It's not that big of a deal if it gets Krosan Gripped, but if at all possible, you don't want to walk it into RFG removal. Despite these concerns, if you have the ability to make use of the Amulet's effect, by all means play it. People who play against this deck will regularly fixate on the Amulet of Vigor, but the truth of the matter is that while it certainly turbocharges your deck, it is not crucial to your gameplan. This presents a situation that you can exploit, because it means that the battle over Amulet of Vigor is one that you know you can lose, but at the same time, one that your opponent thinks you cannot afford to lose. You can let them win the fight for Amulet if it means that you get to safely stick Omniscience or if it means you can go for the Palinchron combo. Amulet is certainly powerful in this deck if you can get it to stick, but you need to be careful not to overvalue it.
Assuming you don't happen upon an opportunistic game-ending combo like Palinchron, or Omniscience, or a Time Stretch loop, our midgame will transition into our endgame as we assume a commanding card and mana advantage over the board. This is more challenging against other blue decks, of course, but this can manifest in less overt ways as well. Patron of the Moon plus a Soratami Savant with a mana doubler in play and a developed land base can often represent more countermagic than the rest of the table can throw spells at. Similarly, Floodbringer following Sunder can keep the entire board locked under Port effects, and Flooded Shoreline can dominate the entire board in the same way that Astral Slide would. Each of these endgames obviously gets more powerful with Amulet of Vigor, but I've very consciously avoided giving Amulet options as gameplans, because I think you'll find that Amulet can improve most lines of play but if you play to it, you can back yourself into a corner (assuming your playgroup is packing adequate hate for the little trinket). Additionally, I hope the endgames above help show why your goal in the midgame is just land and draw. With enough land in play and Patron of the Moon, it only takes a single card to take over the game.
A word on Amulet of Vigor:
Now, I've avoided this so far, but despite my efforts to stress how Amulet isn't essential to the deck's success, it is extremely powerful and it needs its own section describing how to use it.
Amulet of Vigor — "But I already have Amulet of Vigor in play!" you say? Well, sure you do, but you can always make good use of a second! This will come up with clone effects like Phyrexian Metamorph or Sculpting Steel if you run them, but I've also snagged an Amulet of Vigor from an opponent using Thada Adel before, so you should be aware of this interaction even if you forgo the artifact cloning effects. With two Amulets of Vigor in play, you will get two untap triggers for each card that comes into play tapped. This means that you can tap lands in response to their second untap, effectively serving as a mana doubler for the turn. Also, remember how this works with Thawing Glaciers: Glaciers will come into play and untap, at which point you can activate it fetching an Island with the second untap trigger on the stack and then tap the fetched island twice, producing mana for the second activation of Glaciers, thus allowing you to generate mana and fetch two lands into play at the same time. In general, as long as you remember to make full use of the stacked triggers, a second Amulet can be substituted for a mana doubler in any of the following combos.
Floodbringer + Patron of the Moon + 2 Mana Doublers — This can generate infinite mana, infinite landfall, and tap all opposing lands.
Meloku the Clouded Mirror + Patron of the Moon + Mana Doubler — Infinite mana, Infinite landfall, infinite 1/1 tokens.
Flooded Shoreline + Patron of the Moon + 2 Mana Doublers — Infinite mana, infinite creature bounce, infinite landfall. Remember that the land bounce is part of the cost of Flooded Shoreline's ability, so you can go infinite even if your Patron is the only creature in play because you can just continually stack more and more activations all targeting your Patron.
Thawing Glaciers + Patron of the Moon — You get to tutor a land every turn (including opponents' turns. If you have a moonfolk out, this can be improved even further by bouncing thawing glaciers to pay for the moonfolk's ability. This allows you to fetch as many times in a turn as your mana allows. If you add a mana doubler (or two), this will naturally turn into the Moonfolk combos that I already mentioned, but with one added feature: now when you go infinite with them, you can (and, barring unusual circumstances, should) search out every basic land in your deck so that, should your opponents break up your combo, you'll still be left with a commanding board position (as represented by your manabase) and you will only have gas left in your deck to draw.
Mass Draw Spell + Patron of the Moon + Mana Doubler — This one is something that you'll just accidentally do, but you should be aware that it's possible so that you don't miss it when it comes up. Essentially, with Flow of Ideas, Myojin of Seeing Winds, and other large draw spells, you can draw a bunch of cards, use Patron to put the drawn lands into play, and then cast another large draw spell (typically drawn off the first) using the fresh lands. This gets easier with multiple doublers.
Thwart/Gush + Patron of the Moon — These freecast spells can now generate mana (assuming you have at least one mana available). This means that you might have only Thwart open to counter opposing spells, but after casting it, you can drop the lands right back into play and cast or represent a non-free counterspell.
Sunder + Patron of the Moon — Since Amulet untaps all the lands put back into play by Sunder, you can exit the Sunder with even more mana than you had before casting it. This is of course exaggerated by any mana doublers in play.
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
Currently Testing:
Time Spiral in place of Seer's Sundial
Hedron Crab
Ovinomancer
Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Time Warp
Beacon of Tomorrows
Horn of Greed
Rhystic Deluge
Cryptic Command***
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
Have your early game defenses been enough to stave off faster aggro? That was one of the problems I was running into on a pretty regular basis, and I think you're running less creature control than I was at the time. Adding a few enormous defensive cards (Stormtide Leviathan, Meishin, the Mind Cage, etc) has helped with stabilizing, but I think I'd still run into trouble without some of the mana denial stuff my Patron list runs, and you don't have that in here.
I've been a fan of Rush of Knowledge for a while. You have a number of high cost permanents, including a 7 cmc general, so this is commonly going to draw you 5+ cards for 5. That's pretty efficient, as card draw goes.
I'd consider Swan Song. I've had a lot of success with it, and I've seen it used to very good effect by other people as well. In a deck that frequently wants to tap out, the difference between leaving one mana and two mana up is huge and there are some devastating instants/sorceries/enchantments in the format.
Is your primary plan to draw people out? It doesn't look too hard to draw your deck out, but you have somewhat limited kill cards at that point, other than the x-cost draw. Creature beats are a solid plan, but that's not as effective after something like Enter the Infinite. Obviously you can just go infinite mana at that point, but is there anything else that I'm missing?
Yeah, it's certainly not there yet.
Still on my itinerary to write are a general gameplay guide, common interactions (like stacking Patron activations before casting sunder, and a card-by-card breakdown of the list (the "why?" behind each card). I also expect to be adding more to the "other cards not included" as I go along.
As for the match-ups, it's a little hard to say due to the dynamic nature of multiplayer, but I can break down how the deck plays and how it interacts:
You tend to be very strong against most decks that don't pack their own form of stack interaction. Creature removal tends to be directed at other players due to our low body count.
Your general gameplan is to get off the ground quickly via artifact mana in each game and then refill with the powerful draw options present in the deck. The most common kill is a series of late-game Stroke of Geniuses to draw out the table, but infinite meloku tokens or even just simple beatdown are not uncommon as well. You're not forced or to play like a combo deck, and you can actually profit from people treating you like one (I've had a player cast Pithing Needle on T1 naming my general and I just ignored it for nearly the entire game).
Each stage of the game should be focused on two aspects: card advantage and mana advantage, and the deck is equipped to pursue both objectives very reliably. Grinding out card advantage with Thawing Glaciers is often a very powerful and non-flashy way of getting ahead in slow games, and should you be willing to walk out an early Amulet of Vigor, it can represent a mana consistency nearly impossible to match for other decks.
Assume the control role whenever possible. You don't need to beat the table down, you just need to be able to answer anyone who starts to pose a danger to you. In metas less familiar with the deck, this often means huddling behind a flooded shoreline and Patron and annoyingly bouncing the boards of anyone who ventures your way, while also protecting Patron with shoreline at the same time. Due to our large amounts of land bounce, we're much more resilient against armageddon than most blue decks, so long as we have the background knowledge to be able to plan for it.
At blue-heavy tables, Thada Adel tends to be an all-star if landed early. She represents a fast and reliable way of stealing the most efficient and powerful artifact mana out of the decks of each player at the table. Her goal above all else is to generate a lasting artifact mana presence during her time in play.
As the game progresses, there are a couple things to watch out for:
If you're going to lose with this deck, it's typically going to be due to a bad start. This means keeping a hand that doesn't have a 2-CMC (or less) mana-rock, or keeping a hand that can't deal with getting blitzed by a voltron general or similarly fast start. True combo-decks can also out-race your counter-light hands. While you can lose in the late game, those losses are going to come down to which spells you decided to counter and whether you let yourself get bogged down trying to control the whole table instead of just the threats.
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Seer's Sundial was something that I was on the verge of cutting for a long time, but I realized that the games where it did nothing, I was already winning. On the other hand, when I am trying to restock after the early mana-rush, sundial can get you going in ways no other draw spell can. It's certainly not uncuttable, but it's no longer on the chopping block for me.
Overwhelming intellect is really better interpreted as a draw spell than a counter. My play with this deck leans towards leaving a fair chunk of mana open that I'll then utilize at the end step if not used for countering. Intellect typically is a 6-mana draw-5+ that time walks one opponent. That's perfectly good. It's not utilized like a normal counter that you sit on biding your time. Throw it at the first big creature or general that you see cast.
If I have the time to cast meishin or leviathan, I can typically pull out just fine. The real problems are the aggressive (almost always voltron) lists that can pose a threat before those would be castable. As such, I'm comfortable to leave them on the sidelines. Don't get me wrong, early hard pressure is a prime way for this deck to lose, but it's not been a big issue for me so far, even with a Rafiq deck in my local meta tuned to fast kills.
I'm a little worried about the situational nature of the card, but I think you're right. I took it off my testing bench awhile back because I liked the draw balance of the deck and didn't feel it was needed, but if it can get me 6 or more cards for 5 mana, I really should take the time to give it a real vetting.
This deck shouldn't be tapping out on its own turn too often after the first 3-5 turns. Sitting with mana open and abilities to activate is more the MO.
Drawing people out has been the most common kill, but as it gains a reputation for combo kills, the deck naturally gets pushed into soft-lock kills (on the back of things like sunder, floodbringer, flooded shoreline, capsize, soratami savant, etc.) instead as people gun for the combo lynchpins of the deck.
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Overburden - it fits your land screwing style of tactics. It doesnt work against token decks but ETB value decks seem to be popular as ever so its fun to hurt them. It also tends to hurt big smashy green decks fairly well.
Storm Cauldron it can actually generate infinite mana with Amulet of Vigor in play which is super handy especially since they are both artifacts. Again though, it just screws with opponents something crazy. Outside of infinite things, you will be able to recover your lands much much easier than opponents if your commander is in play.(doh, you mention that in your OP, well just one card then)Back to Basics I dont know how much you want to hate on opponents landbases but its a solid card for mono blue. Generally, I consider it to be stronger than Blood Moon because there are so few lands with static abilities that matter. Valakut and Urborg are like the only two I can think of.
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I appreciate it even with the delay. After all, it's not like I've finished my card breakdown yet
Overburden is one of my favourite cards for screwing with opponents in EDH, and this is definitely a deck that can use it, both to mess with opponents and do dumb tricks with thawing glaciers.
It hasn't managed to get a spot in my list, but it's been eternally on the short list for inclusion.
I actually stared long and hard at Back to Basics when making this list. I ended up forgoing it due to how hard you end up leaning on some of your utility lands, but I may have been wrong to pass over it.
What do you think?
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The two are occupying temporary slots in place of Mana Breach and Seer's Sundial.
I'll need some additional testing before making a verdict, but so far I'm unimpressed with Rush of Knowledge. Part of it is that in the games so far with it, I was under heavy pressure and it wasn't able to do much, but the bigger problem is that it seems to be amazing only when you're already ahead. Stuff like Flow of Ideas can pull you out of a lot of really bad jams, but rush is only going to do that if you got some beef on the table to begin with.
No new update on the OP just yet (well, since Nov 26th at least, ;)), but I'm still plugging away at it. The writing has been slow going though.
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I think my higher enchantment density helps me out quite a bit with Rush of Knowledge. I'm slightly more likely to have something stick to the board, and I've got some pricey, high profile enchantments (if they don't get nuked initially, it's not terribly likely that someone will kill them in response). It's something of a pet card for me, but I can see where your complaints with it come from.
Back to Basics has been a mixed bag for me, and it's very meta-dependent. The obvious comparison is Blood Moon, so it has similar strengths and weaknesses. Some decks it's just going to lock out of the game for a while, some decks it's not going to touch. I think that the power level is high enough to risk an occasional dead card.
Have you tried High Tide? You're frequently going to combo out in a turn anyways and require a mana doubler to do so. This is a slightly sneakier way to do that. Found with Merchant Scroll/Mystical Tutor and easy to buy back with your spell recursion guys.
I really should rework my Patron deck a little. My big problem is that there are a bunch of pricey (CMC) things I want to run and I really don't want to bump the cost up that much. Also Flooded Shoreline, which I just need to order sometime.
Mana Breach has been a mixed bag for me. It keeps oscillating between totally blowing the rest of the table out of the game and doing nothing/hampering me. I think it pretty much depends entirely on how much artifact mana the opener has. If I'm keeping 5 rocks, a land, and mana breach, nobody else will even be in the game. If it's a hand that has less artifact ramp or less efficient artifact ramp, it starts to get ugly.
Part of this is no doubt due to my list's lower emphasis on controlling the opponent's manabase, since it gets exponentially more powerful when mixed with other dumb blue staxish stuff
Yeah. I'm not passing judgement on it just yet, it had a rough couple trial games where I was the target from very early on, so I'll keep testing it a bit more before I let myself decide if it makes the cut.
Back to Basics is a total back-breaker in my meta. I run it in my Zegana deck.
I tend to value my chosen nonbasics in this deck rather highly (perhaps it's just my love affair with Thawing Glaciers?), but it could certainly fit very well into the deck for those that don't care about turning off academy ruins and thawing glaciers.
I'm less combo-oriented than it might appear at first glance. While High Tide is amazing, I prefer to lean on the permanent sources of doubling since they retain their value at every stage of the game. This gives me less dead cards at any given time, and makes me better suited to grinding out an advantage.
Flooded Shoreline is definitely a must, as is Floodbringer given how brutal your deck already is on opposing mana (not to mention that it gets even dumber with Back to Basics since it will then permanently lock down lands).
What are the changes you're considering?
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Lets get some Guilded Lotus up in this deck eh? Makes a great metamorph target too!
A lot of what these decks do I think is get lands out of the library and either on the board or in your hand. To that end, I have loved:
Dreamscape Artist
Rings of Brighterth
Journeyer's Kite
Trade Routes
Dreamscape Artist is something I think a lot more mono blue decks should consider. He makes for hilarious board states. One game, i had both it and the Rings in the opening hand. I had 17 islands by turn 5 or 6.
I really don't like needing to untap with something for it to give value. There are a couple things that I'll tolerate it for (mana rocks being the most readily available example), but in general it conflicts with a desire to be more reactive, able to exploit any opening or respond to others' threatening actions.
Teferi, while admittedly just barely making the cut, tends to let me better play to that level of desired responsiveness. If you're looking at including Arcanis, I think you would probably be better off adding something like Opportunity or another large draw spell.
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I've given Gilded Lotus some serious looks over the years, but I don't think it's what the deck is looking for. I think more lower cost rocks to help you explode out the gates are more important. In this line, things like Mox Opal and Mana Crypt, or even Guardian Idol, would give greater value to the deck. Additionally, I think that in general, if you're copying a mana rock with Metamorph, you're going to be best off copying a doubler like Gauntlet of Power.
Quicksilver Fountain is a brutal effect, and it's well worth running. It also enables some cute tricks with cards like thawing glaciers and gush since you can activate your glaciers in response to the fountain and then pay the gush alt-cost by bouncing glaciers (now an Island thanks to the fountain) and the land it fetched.
I ended up cutting it awhile back when I was less tuned and it had begun to generate substantial hate before the games even began. I think it could be time for its return though.
Dreamscape Artist is one of my favourite cards, but this isn't the deck for him. He represents a long-term engine for accelerating, but our general already does that for us, and more efficiently. And in the early game, you can't afford to invest 5 mana, two cards, and a turn before seeing such small returns (a single land drop).
Rings ended up being too expensive for me. The abilities in this deck that you want to copy are typically 1-2 mana and don't require tapping. It just doesn't contribute enough to the deck's gameplan.
Journeyer's Kite always seemed lackluster to me in a colour that had such unrestricted draw power. I think having raw draw in general is preferable since we aren't in a colour starving for ways to grind out an advantage.
I've passed on Trade Routes so far because its bounce effect feels like a worse version of the storm cauldron synergy, and the cycling effect for lands runs against the strength of the deck. You pretty much are never looking to get rid of excess lands with this deck, rather you're pursuing them. This is most noticeable when you have a Tomorrow and use a large draw effect. You will find yourself choosing the basic islands out of 3-card spreads involving 2 spells very frequently. I don't think we need either facet of the card.
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Probably losing some of the higher cost stuff for more denial and bounce. You keep talking about how good Floodbringer is, so that's going to make it in for a bit. I might try Rhystic Deluge out too, because that's one that I've been leaning towards for a while.
I know Ward of Bones has been a little underwhelming for me a lot of the time, but it's wonderful when it's on. Portcullis is tempting, and Torpor Orb is always worth considering. I've been thinking about Seer's Sundial again, too. Other than those, probably just some more of the cantrip filtering (Ponder, Impulse) to help consistency a bit.
I don't think Terrain Generator does enough. The effect is so expensive to use, that by the time you start using it paired with other effects, you would/should be able to get Patron into play anyway. Also, the more powerful effects that would set you back on land are powerful because they let you cheat on mana. For example, Gush for 1 mana is good. Gush for 0 mana and two land drops is also good. Gush for 3 mana plus a land drop is not good. I think this deck would rather keep its basic count high than look for the occasional fringe gains with the generator.
Regarding Sapphire Medallion, I'm intrigued. I've written it off so far due to the heavy use of mana for non-spell things, but perhaps I was overly hasty. I do worry however that I don't have the spell count to reliably make it worthwhile. Not counting freecast spells, non-coloured spells, and spells with no colourless mana, I count 33 cards that this reduces the cost for. Is that enough to consider it over a "real" manastone?
Rhystic Deluge looks interesting. I definitely think it would be better in a more mana-denial focused deck like yours, but you should make sure to let me know how it works out for you.
I think you'll like floodbringer. I need to caution you that it's not some almighty powerhouse, but it's a good roleplayer and I like it both as a cheap moonfolk offering enabler and as a contributor to end-game lock scenarios.
Scanning over my own list, I see that I'm 5 cards off of being Torpor Orb-immune. While I'm probably too attached to the effects on those 5 cards to cut them, it does tell me that this deck/general is likely very well positioned to run the orb. It's a brutal effect that I think will be amazing for you if you're willing to make the build concessions to make it shine.
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Interesting. I guess my choice of Meloku over patron in the command slot makes more of a difference than I initially thought, because I often find that the most crucial thing to do is ramp as hard as possible in the first few turns, which artifact ramp and Dreamscape allow me to do. Once I get this, with Meloku on the board, I often have excess lands in hand, so Trade Routes is amazing draw power for me.
I'm not a fan of Magosi or Rings. I addressed rings a bit in post #15, but I've added both to the OP as cards that I'm not running with reasoning. Essentially, I think that their value is either too marginal or too dependent on vulnerable or unreliable interactions.
Our early game plans sound pretty similar. We both definitely want to ramp quickly and rapidly in the early game, but I don't think Dreamscape artist accomplishes this efficiently.
For example, let's compare these openers:
T1: nothing
T2a: Sky Diamond
T2b: Dreamscape Artist
T3a: Thran Dynamo
T3b: Activate Dreamscape Artist, Sky Diamond
Now, you next need to consider that in the "A" opener, you could have played another mana rock off of the thran dynamo, and even without the dynamo, you could have played multiple mana rocks off the four mana you have on T3. The "B" opener on the other hand tops out at +2 mana by the end of T3, and it has "cost" you an extra card since Dreamscape Artist is a "wasted" card in your opener that only converts the remaining cards in your hand into Harrow. The Dreamscape opener is always going to be slower than other accelerant openers, and in the late game a fellwar stone or fractured powerstone will be equivalent to an activation of the artist (a card investment that puts you at -1 mana this turn in order to be +1 mana on the subsequent turns), except that they will be that independent of the enabler.
As for the late game, you're definitely right about the difference between our generals. This deck almost never has excess lands because the general specifically consumes them. This makes Trade Routes not as powerful for us. Your general on the other hand produces excess lands in hand, so it makes sense that you'd make good use of a card that lets you turn them into value.
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It's not just the mana. It's the actual effect of pulling land out of my deck and putting it into a position where I can interact with it. That, and I'm running winter orb in the deck, and being able to put 3 untapped lands out/turn makes it an asymetrical effect. But so would more artifact mana.
I still think this is pretty good all on its own, but you do raise some interesting points. I think if I replace it with anything though, I'll replace it with another draw spell. My deck lacks of that. I'll do some testing and get back to you.
Yeah, you're definitely right that the thinning effect has some value. It's a little hard to quantify though, and probably won't be noticeable until later into the game. However, I did leave out one upside to Dreamscape Artist that is only relevant to your general. Namely, in the late or mid-game, you can bounce a land with Meloku and then pitch the land to dreamscape artist thus negating the board cost imposed by Meloku without costing you your land drop for the turn, allowing you to continue to aggregate lands even as you use Meloku to churn out tokens for something like the Skullclamp engine. This obviously isn't relevant in my deck but would give some extra play to Dreamscape Artist in yours.
And on another note, I've added the guide to playing this deck to the OP!
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I'm surprised you don't run Uyo, Silent Prophet. I didn't see it mentioned, is there a particular reason you don't play her?
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Ah, Uyo, I totally had overlooked her in my card options section. I'll go ahead and add her.
Anyway, the gist of it is:
Uyo is a very powerful effect, but when I tested her, I didn't like her. In general, it felt like if I got her in play and had a spell worth bouncing two lands to copy and/or had Patron in play, I was winning anyway, independent of Uyo. For example, if you're casting Stroke of Genius for nine cards, did you really need Uyo in order to draw fourteen or fifteen instead? You were going to win that game anyway. And, in the same vein as Storm Cauldron, while she goes infinite with Patron and Amulet of Vigor quite easily, your deck will do something busted no matter what if those two are in play together, so she feels superfluous. That being said, unlike Storm Cauldron, I think Uyo can be a defensible inclusion in the deck, but in my personal experience, she just wasn't worth the six mana to get into play.
I've just about finished my testing with Rush of Knowledge, so I'll give Curse or Cyclonic Rift the next slot in the testing rotation.
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