Okay, some bad news there. So the Ashiok and Cavern Harpy versions don't work, but the Settle Beyond Reality version still seems to be okay. But, we currently don't have any ways to make token copies of Liege of the Hollows, which is a shame.
Perhaps Dance of Many? Oh, but with Dance of Many, when you lose one token, you lose them all. Perhaps keep a Stifle around to counter the triggered ability? If we counter the ability that triggers when Dance of Many leaves the battlefield, we only need to do it once. But, Stifle can counter Arcbond as well... argh.
Edit: Hmmm, will Dance of Many be sacrificed if we donate it? Probably, since then the opponent will control the sacrifice triggered ability. But, we can cycle Nimble Opportunist to counter it.
So this seems like it works - but oh, our only remaining deck uses enchantment recycling in the color layers. Is there some way to transition from green to black, without using enchantment recycling? Or just use black mana more generally?
Nimble Obstructionist can counter a necromancer trigger during a computation which is bad. It can also be flashed in as a creature during a computation which is also bad.
If we could get rid of Dance of Many before it creates its tokens then the tokens can live indefinitely, but we don't want general instant speed enchantment removal. Perhaps a "creatures get -X/-X" effect could be used? Not sure how to get around enchantment recycling though.
In fact there's another issue with Merciless Eviction: it gets rid of the opponent's Dralnu's Crusades and we have no way to reset them without using mirrorweave thus losing the haste token.
Hmm, perhaps we could animate Kiora with Sarkhan, enchant her with Infinite Reflection, and use creature reanimation that's limited by CMC or colour or something so they couldn't hit the necromancer? But that would allow us to get extra necromancers by enchanting an opponent's necromancer.
Merciless Eviction works if we go back to using 5 copy enchantment effects for crusades.
Edit: We could use Pharika's Libation to get rid of enchantments in black, alongside Aura Thief to steal all the Dralnu's Crusades so they can't sac those.
Edit 2: Nope, it's an instant.
Okay, what about using Syndicate Guildmage to destroy Kiora? Then, we need a way to bring it back. Revive possibly? But that would moot Liege of the Hollows. What about Vivid Revival? We would need to put green before black, but that's doable.
Found a big problem: We've been assuming it's OK to have a necromancer alongside a haste token if the opponent has no necromancers, since we'd then have to mirrorweave in order to do anything.
However, if we can have as few as 2 necromancers alongside a haste token, we can set one to "when X dies make X" and another to "when X dies make Y", with the Ys keeping everything alive. Then putting the X->Y trigger under an arcbond trigger terminates the loop with arbitrarily many Ys.
This would mean we can't have anything that can copy creatures like we want to for Leige. I thought maybe we could get something working with just 4 real leiges; however with only a necromancer and a haste token you could cast mirrorweave at instant speed after attacks are declared to set up this situation. This can happen if we just kill a nontoken creature with Sek'kuar around, followed by playing necromancer from hand.
So, that sets the latest working deck back to a Shadowborn Apostle version.
Oof - I was really hoping we could get Death Pit Offering to work, it freed up so much.
I think the last Shadowborn Apostle deck got up to BB_13(X), with X large. We can perhaps add in Unstable Frontier, for BB_14(X). But as I recall, the Shadowborn Apostle decks were desperately short on deck space.
Though mirrorweaving after attacks means we need to save Artificial Evolution too. (unless we can set up AE on the haste token changing say zombie to human, before mirrorweave, I don't think that works?). Not that forcing us to save AE actually ruins the line anyway...
Yeah, we can save all three needed instants, and cast them in a row I think.
Hmm, but does jfb's 2 Necromancer plan actually work? If the arcbond's are on the Y creatures, the computation won't end until they die, but the Y creatures don't produce anything.
Not that it really matters - we can't have any Lieges in that deck, since we can use Death Pit Offering to create a lot of Squirrel tokens, and that will be enough to Mirrorweave plenty of Necromancers. So the Shadowborn Apostle plan looks better.
The line still works without saving the AE, since text changing effects are applied on the layer above copy effects, so you can pre-hack something else for when it becomes a necromancer.
(edit: and the Y creatures DO produce something; the mana from Mana Echoes. But what if there were no ways to use that to damage the opponent at the end? Without Borrowing the East Wind, which there are alternatives for, the only mass damage source would be an attack, and we've lost the haste creature. In fact, this detail is making me think it might still be possible to have a 4-leige (or even more - copy effects might even be ok) deck that has that infinite combo but without a way to turn it into damage.)
(edit 2: oh, but Chameleon Blur means the finisher can't be an attack anyway)
Here's the latest working Shadowborn Apostle deck + the changes for the Unstable Frontier layer, there was JUST enough deck space.
Gets us to BB_14(X) where X is greater than 7->54->13.
So what are the ways to deal lots of damage, without using mana? We can't use mana to increase the number of creatures, so that might be okay. Combat is the obvious choice. But, Chameleon Blur prevents damage from creatures. Is there an alternative to Chameleon Blur. Or, maybe there is some way to translate combat into damage to the opponent.
I think Centaur Peacemaker would be better than Cinder Hellion, since it can give the opponent a lot of life? That would bump the damage to BB_14 (7 -> 56 -> 13) (We can get 7 -> 2 -> 13 before any opponent life gains.)
If the plan is to have that be the use for black mana, then it doesn't because kiora can still be killed in combat. Vivid Revival also doesn't work because it can get back Sek'kuar.
But yeah, we will have to use something else instead of Vivid Revival.
Edit: So, it looks like we can probably use the Settle Beyond Reality setup, and get BB_15(X), where X is a small number. But, not only do we lose a bunch of card slots for all the Dralnu's Crusades, we lose a layer, because we can't have Dual Nature or any creature copying. So, it would be nice to be able to recycle Kiora without any general creature bouncing, flickering, or retrieving. I can't figure out how to do it though.
Oh, it was the problem you mentioned before: Merciless Eviction kills off the opponent enchantments, and we can't afford to Mirrorweave again. So yeah, it would be better to find something other than Merciless Eviction, but that's all that we have right now.
Edit: I had the notion of switching Seize the Day to Response // Resurgence; we lose a layer due to using both red and white to cast Resurgence, but we can gain it back by having creature tap available, for something like turning lands into various basic land types. Alas, it looks like Response can damage a creature during the first combat.
Edit: Another idea: Use Jwari Shapeshifter to copy Kiora, the Crashing Wave after it has been made a creature by Sarkhan the Masterless. Then destroy the Shapeshifter, and bring it back with Claim // Fame. Unfortunately, Fame can give creatures haste, eliminating the need for Sek'Kuar. Man, these split cards are killing me.
Edit: I think Unstable Shapeshifter is safe? It can't copy a Xathrid Necromancer after we sacrifice it; it can affect the computation by continually copying creatures, but it doesn't give any choices, so it won't lead to an infinite.
I was thinking it would be nice to have Unstable Shapeshifter somehow copy Kiora, then copy a creature that can return itself at a cost. (Like Ephemeron for a discard, which could be Boggart Birth Rite) But, I don't see how to make Unstable Shapeshifter actually copy Kiora; if we have Mirror Image or Spark Double copy Kiora, they won't enter as a creature.
Edit: Hmmm, I think I may have a way to avoid general creature bouncing/flickering. Use Sarkhan the Masterless to turn Kiora into a creature, then use Karakas to bounce it back to our hand. Use a second Karakas to kill off one of them, then use Splendid Reclamation to return it to the battlefield. (Killing the other Karakas)
In general, clone effects, including those that only copy our own creatures, are bad because you could get the haste token, play our own necromancer, then copy it. Unstable Shapeshifter looks safe though, but not useful for this purpose. It may still be useful for copying Leige though.
The Karakas plan looks promising. However, it may not work well with the Thespian's Stage / Unstable Frontier plan, since it would allow the stage to copy a Karakas to send itself to the gy rather than copying the fetchland.
Oh, and in fact that thespian's stage plan doesn't work in the first place - the stage can just copy a snow land which is easy to kill, or whatever other kind of land that can get killed or otherwise reused earlier in the sequence.
Oh, that's a shame. So, we still need a way to transition from Unstable Frontier or Kiora into life.
Edit: I was looking for other ways to use black mana, and I think I found a way to add a layer!
Use Deepwood Elder to turn a lot of Great Furnaces into Forests, which can be tapped one at a time for green mana. Deepwood Elder's ability requires that we discard a card, which can be Boggart Birth Rite. We can retrieve Boggart Birth Rite from the graveyard for a black mana.
Edit: Ooh, I found a really useful card: Burning Sands. Only the controller sacrifices a land, so we don't have the same problem we did with Churning Eddy and [c}Grip of Desolation[/c], and we can transition from Unstable Frontier to creatures at the top.
Okay, I was going to make a Burning Sands deck, but ran into a problem: how to transition from mana into life. We have planeswalkers transitioning to white mana with Settle Beyond Reality, so that point seems like a good place to transition to life. But, while we do have cards like Sunbaked Canyon that can spend life for white mana, and also sacrifice itself, we also need to get the land back with red, blue, and white mana. Do you know a way?
Another place would be to go to green with Splendid Reclamation, and transition to life from there. But, then we need to use black mana to give the opponent life, and I didn't see a way to do that.
So actually it looks like there are plenty of card slots; the problem is finding ways to put a lot of Liege of the Hollows into play. Renegade Doppelganger can copy Xathrid Necromancer, and keep that form. Cemetery Puca can be put into play, and then copy an opponent's Xathrid Necromancer when it dies. I think that's not too late to go infinite. So, I don't see any other copy creatures that can get us more Lieges.
Any limited recycling for the Lieges? I looked into persist, but the available cards can give Xathrid Necromancer persist, allowing it to come back.
Finding a solution for Burning Sands could save us some card slots. But it looks like that's not a big deal at the moment.
We can't have Dual Nature, but finding a way to make ETB safe could allow for things like Monkey Cage, which would increase how many times we could gain a lot of creatures.
Edit: Okay, I think we can retrieve lands from the graveyard with Cartographer. So we have:
Perhaps Dance of Many? Oh, but with Dance of Many, when you lose one token, you lose them all. Perhaps keep a Stifle around to counter the triggered ability? If we counter the ability that triggers when Dance of Many leaves the battlefield, we only need to do it once. But, Stifle can counter Arcbond as well... argh.
Edit: Hmmm, will Dance of Many be sacrificed if we donate it? Probably, since then the opponent will control the sacrifice triggered ability. But, we can cycle Nimble Opportunist to counter it.
So this seems like it works - but oh, our only remaining deck uses enchantment recycling in the color layers. Is there some way to transition from green to black, without using enchantment recycling? Or just use black mana more generally?
If we could get rid of Dance of Many before it creates its tokens then the tokens can live indefinitely, but we don't want general instant speed enchantment removal. Perhaps a "creatures get -X/-X" effect could be used? Not sure how to get around enchantment recycling though.
In fact there's another issue with Merciless Eviction: it gets rid of the opponent's Dralnu's Crusades and we have no way to reset them without using mirrorweave thus losing the haste token.
Stench of Evil can destroy Plains, but it also can deal damage to ourselves.
Perhaps Planeswalker recycling is our most likely possibility?
Merciless Eviction works if we go back to using 5 copy enchantment effects for crusades.
Edit: We could use Pharika's Libation to get rid of enchantments in black, alongside Aura Thief to steal all the Dralnu's Crusades so they can't sac those.
Edit 2: Nope, it's an instant.
However, if we can have as few as 2 necromancers alongside a haste token, we can set one to "when X dies make X" and another to "when X dies make Y", with the Ys keeping everything alive. Then putting the X->Y trigger under an arcbond trigger terminates the loop with arbitrarily many Ys.
This would mean we can't have anything that can copy creatures like we want to for Leige. I thought maybe we could get something working with just 4 real leiges; however with only a necromancer and a haste token you could cast mirrorweave at instant speed after attacks are declared to set up this situation. This can happen if we just kill a nontoken creature with Sek'kuar around, followed by playing necromancer from hand.
So, that sets the latest working deck back to a Shadowborn Apostle version.
I think the last Shadowborn Apostle deck got up to BB_13(X), with X large. We can perhaps add in Unstable Frontier, for BB_14(X). But as I recall, the Shadowborn Apostle decks were desperately short on deck space.
Though mirrorweaving after attacks means we need to save Artificial Evolution too. (unless we can set up AE on the haste token changing say zombie to human, before mirrorweave, I don't think that works?). Not that forcing us to save AE actually ruins the line anyway...
Hmm, but does jfb's 2 Necromancer plan actually work? If the arcbond's are on the Y creatures, the computation won't end until they die, but the Y creatures don't produce anything.
Not that it really matters - we can't have any Lieges in that deck, since we can use Death Pit Offering to create a lot of Squirrel tokens, and that will be enough to Mirrorweave plenty of Necromancers. So the Shadowborn Apostle plan looks better.
(edit: and the Y creatures DO produce something; the mana from Mana Echoes. But what if there were no ways to use that to damage the opponent at the end? Without Borrowing the East Wind, which there are alternatives for, the only mass damage source would be an attack, and we've lost the haste creature. In fact, this detail is making me think it might still be possible to have a 4-leige (or even more - copy effects might even be ok) deck that has that infinite combo but without a way to turn it into damage.)
(edit 2: oh, but Chameleon Blur means the finisher can't be an attack anyway)
Here's the latest working Shadowborn Apostle deck + the changes for the Unstable Frontier layer, there was JUST enough deck space.
Gets us to BB_14(X) where X is greater than 7->54->13.
2 Eureka
3 Omniscience
4 Thousand-Year Storm
5 Spellweaver Volute
6 Pull from Eternity
7 Recoup
8 Coat of Arms
9 Xathrid Necromancer
10 Arcbond
11 Artificial Evolution
12 Mirrorweave
13 Dowsing Dagger
14 Dralnu's Crusade
15 Mirrormade
16 Mirrormade
17 Mirrormade
18 Mirrormade
19 Copy Enchantment
20 Roar of Challenge
21 Forebear's Blade
22 Chameleon Blur
23 Harmless Offering
24 Upwelling
25 Orb of Dreams
27 Liege of the Hollows
28 Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper
29 Angel of Vitality
30 Cinder Hellion
31 Spy Kit
32 Honor-Worn Shaku
33 Mystic Speculation
34 Steady Progress
35 Nexus of Fate
36 Mana Echoes
37 Seize the Day
38 Red Mana Battery
39 Echo Storm
40 Snow-Covered Island
41 Amulet of Vigor
42 Whiteout
43 Planar Birth
44 Azorius Chancery
45 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
46 Rings of Brigthearth
47 Primevals' Glorious Rebirth
49 Splendid Reclamation
50 Great Furnace
51 Unstable Frontier
52 Thespian's Stage
53 Flooded Strand
54 Angelheart Vial
55 Borrowing the East Wind
56 Alhammarret's Archive
57 Mirror Gallery
58 Happily Ever After
59 Sea God's Scorn
60 Sylvok Lifestaff
So what are the ways to deal lots of damage, without using mana? We can't use mana to increase the number of creatures, so that might be okay. Combat is the obvious choice. But, Chameleon Blur prevents damage from creatures. Is there an alternative to Chameleon Blur. Or, maybe there is some way to translate combat into damage to the opponent.
I think Centaur Peacemaker would be better than Cinder Hellion, since it can give the opponent a lot of life? That would bump the damage to BB_14 (7 -> 56 -> 13) (We can get 7 -> 2 -> 13 before any opponent life gains.)
Edit: Oh, Cinder Helion cuts the second Kiora.
Does the Syndicate Guildmage plan work out? I'll try to write up a deck.
Vivid Revival also doesn't work because it can get back Sek'kuar.
We can use Bazaar Trader instead of Harmless Offering, so that Kiora can't be donated.
But yeah, we will have to use something else instead of Vivid Revival.
Edit: So, it looks like we can probably use the Settle Beyond Reality setup, and get BB_15(X), where X is a small number. But, not only do we lose a bunch of card slots for all the Dralnu's Crusades, we lose a layer, because we can't have Dual Nature or any creature copying. So, it would be nice to be able to recycle Kiora without any general creature bouncing, flickering, or retrieving. I can't figure out how to do it though.
Edit: I had the notion of switching Seize the Day to Response // Resurgence; we lose a layer due to using both red and white to cast Resurgence, but we can gain it back by having creature tap available, for something like turning lands into various basic land types. Alas, it looks like Response can damage a creature during the first combat.
Edit: Another idea: Use Jwari Shapeshifter to copy Kiora, the Crashing Wave after it has been made a creature by Sarkhan the Masterless. Then destroy the Shapeshifter, and bring it back with Claim // Fame. Unfortunately, Fame can give creatures haste, eliminating the need for Sek'Kuar. Man, these split cards are killing me.
Jwai Shapeshifter is able to make a copy of necromancer alongside the haste token which is no good.
Edit: I think Unstable Shapeshifter is safe? It can't copy a Xathrid Necromancer after we sacrifice it; it can affect the computation by continually copying creatures, but it doesn't give any choices, so it won't lead to an infinite.
I was thinking it would be nice to have Unstable Shapeshifter somehow copy Kiora, then copy a creature that can return itself at a cost. (Like Ephemeron for a discard, which could be Boggart Birth Rite) But, I don't see how to make Unstable Shapeshifter actually copy Kiora; if we have Mirror Image or Spark Double copy Kiora, they won't enter as a creature.
Edit: Hmmm, I think I may have a way to avoid general creature bouncing/flickering. Use Sarkhan the Masterless to turn Kiora into a creature, then use Karakas to bounce it back to our hand. Use a second Karakas to kill off one of them, then use Splendid Reclamation to return it to the battlefield. (Killing the other Karakas)
The Karakas plan looks promising. However, it may not work well with the Thespian's Stage / Unstable Frontier plan, since it would allow the stage to copy a Karakas to send itself to the gy rather than copying the fetchland.
Oh, and in fact that thespian's stage plan doesn't work in the first place - the stage can just copy a snow land which is easy to kill, or whatever other kind of land that can get killed or otherwise reused earlier in the sequence.
Edit: I was looking for other ways to use black mana, and I think I found a way to add a layer!
Use Deepwood Elder to turn a lot of Great Furnaces into Forests, which can be tapped one at a time for green mana. Deepwood Elder's ability requires that we discard a card, which can be Boggart Birth Rite. We can retrieve Boggart Birth Rite from the graveyard for a black mana.
Edit: Ooh, I found a really useful card: Burning Sands. Only the controller sacrifices a land, so we don't have the same problem we did with Churning Eddy and [c}Grip of Desolation[/c], and we can transition from Unstable Frontier to creatures at the top.
I also found a few ways to reuse Unstable Frontier for life: Despoil, Spreading Rot, or Victorious Destruction.
Edit: Karakas doesn't work since it can bounce creatures during a computation. I believe the flicker plan works though.
Another place would be to go to green with Splendid Reclamation, and transition to life from there. But, then we need to use black mana to give the opponent life, and I didn't see a way to do that.
So, for now it looks like Victorious Destruction. I get:
2 Eureka
3 Omniscience
4 Thousand-Year Storm
5 Spellweaver Volute
6 Pull from Eternity
7 Recoup
8 Coat of Arms
9 Xathrid Necromancer
10 Arcbond
11 Artificial Evolution
12 Mirrorweave
13 Dowsing Dagger
14 Dralnu's Crusade
15 Starfield of Nyx
16 Roar of Challenge
17 Forebear's Blade
18 Chameleon Blur
19 Harmless Offering
20 Upwelling
21 Orb of Dreams
23 Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper
24 Mystic Speculation
25 Steady Progress
26 Nexus of Fate
27 Mana Echoes
28 Seize the Day
29 Red Mana Battery
30 Echo Storm
31 Izzet Boilerworks
32 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
33 Sarkhan the Masterless
34 Settle Beyond Reality
35 Ruins of Trokair
36 Splendid Reclamation
37 Great Furnace
38 Deepwood Elder
39 Boggart Birth Rite
40 Boggart Birth Rite
42 Victorious Destruction
43 Angelheart Vial
44 Flame Rift
45 Alhammarret's Archive
46 Mirror Gallery
47 Sylvok Lifestaff
4 Liege of the Hollows
4 Unstable Shapeshifter
4 Symbiotic Wurm
1 Mitotic Slime
So actually it looks like there are plenty of card slots; the problem is finding ways to put a lot of Liege of the Hollows into play. Renegade Doppelganger can copy Xathrid Necromancer, and keep that form. Cemetery Puca can be put into play, and then copy an opponent's Xathrid Necromancer when it dies. I think that's not too late to go infinite. So, I don't see any other copy creatures that can get us more Lieges.
Any limited recycling for the Lieges? I looked into persist, but the available cards can give Xathrid Necromancer persist, allowing it to come back.
Finding a solution for Burning Sands could save us some card slots. But it looks like that's not a big deal at the moment.
We can't have Dual Nature, but finding a way to make ETB safe could allow for things like Monkey Cage, which would increase how many times we could gain a lot of creatures.
Edit: Okay, I think we can retrieve lands from the graveyard with Cartographer. So we have:
2 Eureka
3 Omniscience
4 Thousand-Year Storm
5 Spellweaver Volute
6 Pull from Eternity
7 Recoup
8 Coat of Arms
9 Xathrid Necromancer
10 Arcbond
11 Artificial Evolution
12 Mirrorweave
13 Dowsing Dagger
14 Dralnu's Crusade
15 Starfield of Nyx
16 Roar of Challenge
17 Forebear's Blade
18 Chameleon Blur
19 Harmless Offering
20 Upwelling
21 Orb of Dreams
23 Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper
24 Mystic Speculation
25 Steady Progress
26 Nexus of Fate
27 Mana Echoes
28 Seize the Day
29 Red Mana Battery
30 Echo Storm
31 Izzet Boilerworks
32 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
33 Sarkhan the Masterless
34 Settle Beyond Reality
35 Sunbaked Canyon
36 Cartographer
37 Angelheart Vial
38 Flame Rift
40 Great Furnace
41 Deepwood Elder
42 Boggart Birth Rite
43 Boggart Birth Rite
44 Unstable Frontier
45 Burning Sands
4 Liege of the Hollows
4 Unstable Shapeshifter
4 Symbiotic Wurm
3 Mitotic Slime
Saves two cards.
Edit: For the last few cards, I guess it would be better to have a Primal Vigor and a Symbiotic Wurm. Then, the remaining cards should try to maximize the number of Primal Vigors we can give the opponent before combat, so we can have Honor-Worn Shaku, Angel of Vitality, Happily Ever After, Sea God's Scorn, and I suppose a Centaur Peacemaker.