MTG Salvation

Hey all, see here.

So my Kess Deck is incomplete as I'm trying really hard to trim down to 99 but having trouble taking stuff out. To state the obvious, the list does NOT include my lands. I am planning for roughly 36 lands since I have a decent amount of rocks..but let me know if that seems like too little or too much.

In regards to win cons, I typically prefer big spells over comboing out. I do have [[Doomsday]] and [[Laborartory Maniac]] but want to avoid that if possible..there are several other big spells here that I feel like I may be able to copy or just cast twice to help me get the win. I know I can technically make this better and more competitive as storm (and ofc if I shell out more $), but these types of cards on this list is what I want to choose from.

I am open to suggestions for new cards, but I've pretty much hit my budget cap with this and don't want to spend too much more. Please let me know what I should remove, or any tips in general. This is the first EDH deck I built that is not creature based, so I am having trouble deciding between cantrips, instants, sorceries, removal, burn etc.

Oh, I also have [[Mizzix of the Izmagnus]] and [[Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge]] so if I decide to tweak the deck or get bored of Kess, I figure I can build around either of those two instead.

Thank you!

Well it's definitely a deck with split personalities and I feel like each one doesn't know about the other. On one side it's trying to be a storm deck, but then it's also trying to be a control deck, with tons of removal and counterspells.

The reason that you're on 93 cards (without lands) is that you have two decks at the moment.

Now I know you don't want to be "storm" but you're going to have to make up your mind. The thing with storm is that it doesn't care what your opponents are doing. But you have tons of removal. So you're always going to be deciding between a game plan of stopping opponents or trying to be proactive between furthering your plans, drawing, extending mana, setup cards, etc. Rather than being robust (which your intention is), it just ends up diluting your decks ability to carry out efficient turns.

The thing is that the more focused your deck is on storm, the more mana you can actually generate, and the more you are able to cast some big spells.
The problem at the moment is you have lots of spells, but you're not going to be able to cast them in anywhere near the fashion that you want. You're going to get stuck with tons of big spells in your hand.
Sure you have combo cards in Paradox Engine and Isochron Scepter/Dramatic Reversal that are going to allow you to cast your big spells, but these cards combo with basically anything, so your intentions of showing off to the table with your grandiose spells, will be pretty much lost once you set these up.

I don;t think you're going to like my advice all that much. What I think you need to do is focus the deck more on mana elements of "storm" and you can only select some premium top end cards.
Only select 3 from this list;
Comet Storm, Pull from Tomorrow, Torment of Hailfire, Killing Wave, Memory Plunder, Rite of Replication, Spelltwine, Cruel Ultimatum, Army of the Damned, Decree of Pain, Expansion // Explosion.

Your artifact mana is top tier, so you're easily going to be able to play 33 land at the most, give or take if you end up keeping your most expensive cards, etc.

You'll never have the time to cast cards like Keranos, God of Storms, Master of Cruelties, Pyromancer's Goggles, Disrupt Decorum, Insidious Will.

The copy spell cards are only really good for comboing turns. If your intention is to copy a removal card like Hero's Downfall, then it's just incredible mana inefficient for the end result.