I really love playing draw go control style of decks. My issue has often been that people will intentionally attack me to see what my defenses in hand are and continuous poking depletes hand size, mana, and responses. When I got to Kefnet the Mindful, I thought to myself.... what if I just play my commander and stick to defending in the early to mid game? Kefnet gives such a strong defense early to mid game that it blocks a lot of chip damage attacks as well as voltron strategies. Things like vigilance and extra turns can enable me to attack while defending as well as speed up my own clock.
One of the things I love about Kefnet the Mindful is the ability to transition if need be. You could easily transition to being an aggro style of draw go deck if you go against more defensive and controlling strategies. If your opponents are combo decks just flip the switch and move to an aggro strategy with counter magic disruption. In a sense, this commander is somewhat of a trans-formative commander in that you could try for a tempo style of beat down or a long game control strategy utilizing the same decklist.
Loxodon Warhammer - I feel like Batterskull is really important to me right now but I feel like the warhammer could also serve as an attack option for me. The mana to equip is always a little sketchy with warhammer but I am going ramp heavy here. The big thing holding me back right now was that I was prioritizing vigilance more while building. I think this is a very powerful equipment I may also consider.
Buried Ruin - I feel like there are a few key artifacts I am sort of relying on having. I run the Academy Ruins obviously but I felt I kind of ran out of space for utility lands when it came to this one. I have to watch my basic count as well for the mana doublers so this one is just kind of one I am considering.
Wasteland / Shifting Borders / Spreading Seas - Maze effects can be a bugger for this kind of strategy. I do have 3 Strip Mine effects already but I am always kind of wondering how many I need to prioritize.
Vedalken Shackles - Its a good card for sure. I just thought it draws a little more hate than the other creature theft effects. I would usually prefer that people kill the creature I am stealing than the creature theft (in this case returning the thing I steal).
Stubborn Denial - its a cheap counter that can hit a lot of things.
Misdirection - There is some concern for my commander's safety vs spot removal and or Arrest effects.
Training Grounds has a lot of synergy with your commander. Have you considered it? I would maybe consider dropping Mystic Remora, as your commander should give you plenty of draw which means remora is in so that you can get a big influx of cards in a turn, whereas this deck looks like it wants to keep a full hand often. So I imagine long term draw is better than burst for you.
Also, your commander lets you do some land abuse, by giving you draw and the option to bounce lands. Stuff like Vesuva could really shine with lands that give either a ton of mana, or utility lands that let you do minor stuff.
I would also look into more effects that let you look at the top two cards of your deck. Knowing if you can bounce lands without getting mana flooded seems pretty valuable here. Stuff like Crystal Ball or Sensei's Divining Top could be good.
Training Grounds has a lot of synergy with your commander. Have you considered it? I would maybe consider dropping Mystic Remora, as your commander should give you plenty of draw which means remora is in so that you can get a big influx of cards in a turn, whereas this deck looks like it wants to keep a full hand often. So I imagine long term draw is better than burst for you.
Also, your commander lets you do some land abuse, by giving you draw and the option to bounce lands. Stuff like Vesuva could really shine with lands that give either a ton of mana, or utility lands that let you do minor stuff.
I would also look into more effects that let you look at the top two cards of your deck. Knowing if you can bounce lands without getting mana flooded seems pretty valuable here. Stuff like Crystal Ball or Sensei's Divining Top could be good.
Training Grounds is a great suggestion. I didn't think of it at all given that its so narrow as to when it works that I am just used to bypassing it. Wow its price is up a lot.... I remember when that card came out it was like a $0.25 card... I considered some effects like Rings of Brighthearth and Illusionist's Bracers but I felt that they were a little clunky and greedy. I like Training Grounds a lot though given that it cost reduces even the first activation is a net mana save.
I don't really intend to be playing a lot of land bounce to be honest. Vesuva I can agree with given the idea of Bojuka Bog or jumping on the Coffers train (assuming someone has Urborg). I will give it a shot and see where it goes for me.
Crystal Ball or Sensei's Divining Top - Maybe. I had Thassa, God of the Sea in the list early as well until I had to make cuts. Scry is stronger than Top in this kind of a deck given the lower number of shuffles I have. Crystal Ball I don't mind its effect but the cost to play and use it are not nothing. It also adds to the number of things in play for me that might get wrathed. I guess I just have a little bit of a hard time justifying the time to play it as well as the card slot for it. I will put it in the considerations and perhaps after I get a chance to play with the deck I can weigh in better on the card. I do use it in my rebels deck where its low draw count and high shuffle effects are more useful to me.
I think Reins of Power might be another way to close out games in the late game.
Edit: I also really like Wash Out in mono blue and 2-color decks.
Reins of Power - I like it... I like it enough that its already in the list lol. I am mostly assuming that I will use the card as defense but if someone does bust out a Storm Heard or something I will probably borrow and swing it at them.
Wash Out - If it was an instant I would consider it. I think I have a lot of good solid defenses already though and at sorcery speed for 4 mana this felt a little slow to me. I would rather see where the swarm of guys is going in a lot of cases. I had several other cards such as Engulf the Shore which I was also considering but in the end I opted to go with some less situational defenses such as Evacuation in the case that I am staring down some giant tentacle monsters early on. I also put some thought into some others such as Ixidron and Floodgate. In the end I was trying to go with instant speed answers that defend me from being swarmed. My commander in a lot of cases can protect me from single threats so I just needed to cover some of the extreme cases such as someone going wide or using something really big.
DECK CHANGES:
Lighthouse Chronologist -> Training Grounds as I look at the chronologist I can't help but to consider it a 9 mana creature as I dont see myself slow rolling it. I think it has incredible power but its also extremely prone to just not making any value at all. I think Training Grounds fits here well too and has potential to really make multi tasking my commander's draw much cheaper. In a sense, its kind of like another mana doubler in that the commander's ability costs half as much.
Winding Canyons -> Opal Palace I felt like the creatures I ran became less and less as I tuned the deck and got it closer to 100 cards. My only two creatures in the deck that cost more than 4 mana have flash so I think canyons lost some value. Opal Palace isnt huge either way I dont think but if I do find myself recasting my commander later I like the idea of having a 7/7 commander suddenly then.
Miren, the Moaning Well -> Thespian's Stage I just dont see myself using Miren all that much. I included it thinking like perhaps I have it for a sac outlet for something that I steal but in the end I think its just too much mana and I doubt I will ever really want to sac my commander for 5 life (outside of vs theft). Thespian might also serve as a sac outlet for me off of borrowing someone else's utility land but I like the potential for it to copy a land that taps for more than one mana.
Terrain Generator -> Vesuva I have to watch my hand size in some ways given my commander's ability so throwing more lands in seems hard sometimes. I can see the potential for me to want to use such a card but I also think that Vesuva could be good here especially with my ability to bounce and redrop it as some other utility land. The idea of repeatedly dropping it as a Bojuka Bog amuses me lol.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Reins of Power - I like it... I like it enough that its already in the list lol. I am mostly assuming that I will use the card as defense but if someone does bust out a Storm Heard or something I will probably borrow and swing it at them.
Wash Out - If it was an instant I would consider it. I think I have a lot of good solid defenses already though and at sorcery speed for 4 mana this felt a little slow to me. I would rather see where the swarm of guys is going in a lot of cases. I had several other cards such as Engulf the Shore which I was also considering but in the end I opted to go with some less situational defenses such as Evacuation in the case that I am staring down some giant tentacle monsters early on. I also put some thought into some others such as Ixidron and Floodgate. In the end I was trying to go with instant speed answers that defend me from being swarmed. My commander in a lot of cases can protect me from single threats so I just needed to cover some of the extreme cases such as someone going wide or using something really big.
@ Wash Out: Would something like Vedalken Orrery make you too much of a target in your group? The amount of powerful sorceries your're skipping out on, simply because they are sorceries, is a shame. The Orrery would also let you flash in your creatures, which tend to have strong ETB abilities - also great for using at instant speed. The sorceries you're already running are also all really powerful, even moreso at instant speed.
@ Wash Out: Would something like Vedalken Orrery make you too much of a target in your group? The amount of powerful sorceries your're skipping out on, simply because they are sorceries, is a shame. The Orrery would also let you flash in your creatures, which tend to have strong ETB abilities - also great for using at instant speed. The sorceries you're already running are also all really powerful, even moreso at instant speed.
Vedalken Orrery / Leyline of Anticipation are great cards. There was once a time I could get away with those kind of cards but now they are very high priority targets that often don't last long.
There is a strong advantage in situational instants given that I have a mana sink of a commander which means I can have defensive answers and if I don't have to expend those resources I can instead draw. I would say that is a fairly strong reason to try to stick to instant speed situational answers. Are there some spells in specific you are thinking? I have a good number of very strong sorcery spells already but my preference did go more towards extra turns when it came to the more expensive ones.
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Dizzy Spell - I think that is a very interesting thought. I started to compare the transmute here to Trinket Mage. Both of which are a 3 mana tutor for one mana spells. In both cases they are 3 mana sorcery speed tutors but I trade off the 2/2 body for a more versatile tutor target. I think for now with me not really putting much value in the creature aspect of Trinket Mage I will make a swap there. I could also see the idea of running both cards but for now I have a hard time making room for both so I think I will go with Dizzy Spell for now.
Smuggler's Copter - I guess I don't really follow where you are going with this card. I don't run that many creatures and I don't really want to tap Kefnet to attack with this. Its not a bad card but I am creature light and I don't want to tap my commander for it to attack.
Terrain Generator - I had it in my list originally but I am having trouble with how much room I give for my nonbasic land selections. I am running a few mana doublers so my basic land count is still important. I was also having a little bit of an issue with the fact that this kind of tempo ramps me in a commander where I really am trying to keep 7 cards in hand. The cost to use this is about the same cost as drawing another card too. I think this is still something I will go back and forth with but I wanted to test the deck without it before trying it with it as I stood. I did also put some consideration into Walking Atlas because it takes the mana / activation away but it also takes up a card slot. It could be interesting though to use Kefnet to bounce a land to hand and use the atlas to put it back out thus using it sort of as a mana dork as my land count wouldn't really change there but it would give me another mana. Right now I am probably going to try it without either but I think both have merit.
Kefnet seems like a spellslinger commander so I would consider using instant/sorcery cost reduction outlets (Baral, Primal Amulet).
Empyrial Plate if I played this card I feel like my goal would be to cast + equip + Time Warp all at the same time. This is definitely a way to play the deck and while the extra turns are in part in there to burst people down they also give me a full land untap. Personally I prefer to play a slow and steady gameplan over a burst haymaker. I think this could fit but my preference in equipment is to get me attacking while defending over attempting to go full aggro. It could also work well with like an end of turn Cyclonic Rift and such but again, I would prefer to not be too haymaker as just my own personal preference in playstyle.
Stubborn Denial honestly, I am so used to the old gods I totally thought Kefnet stopped being a creature if my hand size dipped under 7. Being that he is always a creature I think that this one does gain quite a bit more as I thought I would have to like draw to 8 cards with Kefnet before I used this card. Its a fairly good counter given the change between what I was thinking my commander was doing and what its actually doing. I think in a lot of cases though it still going to compete with a lot of the 2 mana unconditional counters so for now I will put it into the consideration list and see what I can do. Being that I am a draw go style of deck the difference between 1 and 2 mana mostly only matters when someone forces me to respond to something earlier and then a second thing comes my way or at the end of turn when I purge my mana for draw. That might be a little too rare that it matters so for now I will just kind of say that I will put it on the list of things to consider.
Force Away I did consider if I wanted more spot removal and or bounce. In the end I felt that if I am keeping Kefnet on defense then my concern is more towards a big swarm so I didn't actually go very deep on target bounce / spot removal because I more need that against creatures that are generating value. Against value generating creatures though I thought I could just steal them instead and that would work. In a lot of cases the value of Force Away is a little awkward because it only hits creatures. I like the interaction with Ferocious I just don't think it hits broadly enough. I think in a lot of ways I would probably prefer Unsubstantiate or Boomerang for being a little more flexible in what they can do.
Spell Rupture Its not bad in that its potentially a strong Mana Leak but in a lot of cases I still feel that Negate or Stubborn Denial are probably stronger cards with less of a situational nature about it. This card can also still be awkward if someone hits big mana. I like that it can hit creatures and non but at the same time I think that 80+% of the time the non creatures are what I tend to be a little more on top of with counterspells than the creatures.
Icy Blast from the perspective of defending myself as a control deck I feel this card is a little awkward. It feels more of a tempo style of stall to me for a deck that is planning to tempo attack them rather than play a control game. In this sense I like cards like Inundate, Aetherspouts, or Aetherize more. I could see this card working but I think it works better in a more aggressive style of build which is not right now the type of build I am trying. I think that strategy may be viable but I think it would probably worry less about vigilance and just go with some more aggressive equipment.
Land Bounce / Land Fall / Land ETBs: - I think that like 99% of the time I don't really intend to return lands to my hand with Kefnet. If someone is hitting me with some sort of land destruction and I have mana up then sure I might as well bounce it back but shy of that, its not really my plan. If a land happens to have a very strong ETB then sure but I dont really want to put myself back a land drop for something minor. Really picking up a Vesuva to become a Bojuka Bog or change it into some sort of big mana land is about the only thing I can think of I would be actively picking up lands to do.
Halimar Depths - I just don't value its ETB that much in a draw based deck. I am especially not going to be giving up my land drops to try to get a makeshift Top (a card I am not even valuing enough to run).
Radiant Fountain - I just don't value its ETB that much. I am also having issues with my nonbasic counts and having utility lands I actually want to run so pass.
Skyline Cascade - I think its an interesting effect but it means there is a single target creature I can target but cant chump block all that well. To me that means like there is an annihilate eldrazi in play and I am giving up tons of mana and my land drop every turn to try to do this??? I think its too narrow to be honest.
Cost Reduction Effects: I have played cost reduction effects before. Generally speaking they play in a very different way as you generally want to play a lot of cheap cards (usually 2-4 mana stuff) that is heavy on draw effects paired with things that trigger on the cheap things you are casting (like Talrand, Sky Summoner for instance). You can also utilize cost reduction with spells that don't expend themselves like Corpse Dance and the buyback cards. It is true that I run Capsize in my list but I for the most part don't think that my list fits the theme for a deck that would utilize cost reduction. Most of the spells I run in this deck are responsive spells rather than cards I will proactively be casting and responsive cards do not really fit the mold of how to best utilize a cost reduction. Things like Impulse and Think Twice are how you abuse cost reduction and splicing them in with buyback is really sweet.
I was putting things together over the weekend and I decided to make some additional changes to the landbase.
DECK CHANGES:
Trinket Mage -> Dizzy Spell I don't value the 2/2 body all that much in this deck and Dizzy Spell can get more diversity in what it can tutor. They both cost the same mana but moving this tutor gives me access to Training Grounds, Mystic Remora, and Mystical Tutor which I think is a valuable change at the loss of access to Everflowing Chalice and the body.
Dust Bowl -> Scavenger Grounds I forgot to add Scavenger Grounds to my deck and I wanted the little bit of a bump on grave hate. I dont really feel bad cutting Dust Bowl as I am adding another land tutor in this change too.
Opal Palace -> Tolaria West I felt that the utility that Opal Palace gave me was a little too minor. I have some very strong lands in this deck and I thought a second tutor could be nice to have. I considered if I wanted to consider Pact of Negation since I was adding this tutor but I don't think that fits what I want here. I have always thought that Pact fits better in a deck that is casting lots of things on its turn and using up its mana then where as Force of Will is superior for a draw / go style of deck where I might consider paying the 5 mana.
You said to have issues with non-basic land count and cannot add more of them but you still run couple of lands that do not contribute to the game plan in any way. I'm saying Arcane Lighthouse, High Market, Mystifying Maze and Tower of the Magistrate. Are they a meta call?
Its not that I cant add more its that to some degree you start getting less value as you push higher on nonbasic land count with things like Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun.
Arcane Lighthouse - I go back and forth, I see some hexproof not a ton. Its just such a strong counter to hexproof plans to open them for targeting. I could probably cut it though to be honest. High Market - This is twofold, my commander is kind of vulnerable to effects such as Arrest and honestly I dont really have a good way to destroy an enchantment in here. Its possible I could increase the number of destroy anything effects but for the most part they are very expensive to cast (usually like 7 mana). If I would eat some sort of Arrest style of effect I then need to kill, flicker, or something my commander to get back in action. I also have a little bit of theft and Homeward Path is kind of popular so if I steal something and a homeward path happens I could sacrifice it instead of handing it back. Mystifying Maze - I like its defensive options. I have my commander to block for me but what if two big things come at me or something big with trample? I wouldnt call it like..... super necessary but I don't really see something I would prefer. It also helps keep equipment from connecting and can also serve as protection from Sword of Fire and Ice. Tower of the Magistrate - this one is almost entirely a fear of Sword of Fire and Ice. That sword is among equipment one of the more popular swords. I also see some amount of darksteel Plate and its fun to just make people drop stuff. Of the lands you pointed out this one is probably the least likely for me to drop. Its a little concerning that I run equipment myself (from the perspective of land cloning) but I think the utility is still somewhat important for me.
The one I am most likely to cut is probably Arcane Lighthouse from the ones you pointed out right now but there is still a question of what lands you are suggesting I add. The three ETB lands you had pointed out previously are still in my mind inferior to the niche utility of Arcane Lighthouse
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I just thought I would give a little bit of a status report for the deck. I got it together early this week and played two games with it this week. I ended up winning both games this week with this deck. I played it in a 3 and a 4 player game and in both cases the strong defensive stance of Kefnet was fairly incredible. I will say though its a little odd that sometimes I feel like I cant use counterspells because it sometimes threatens to disable Kefnet from being a blocker for me. It means that some of the mid range counters need to be like.... super worth doing or they need to untap me. The deck played really well but I am also contemplating if I want to run some of the spell hijacking effects like Spelljack and the several other variations of it.
I wont end up going through everything because they were long games but in general I ended up playing Kefnet on turn 3 and then defending until mid to late game where I would bust out vigilance and extra turns as I felt comfortable. In one case a blue player other than I drew the ire of the table with a [card=
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir]Teferi[/card] play and in the end I took 4 back to back turns to kill him as he used 3 answers to stop the other two players before me. He thought he was cute when he copied my first extra turn and then I dropped Expropriate the turn after and rode his face until he died before he got that turn lol.
I probably need to get more testing in to really get a hang of what needs to change but for the most part I felt fairly good in the first few games. It will take more games to really flush out what I want but for now I guess I can say a few things on a few cards:
Thaumatic Compass - I played one on turn 2 but never ended up activating it despite having a smaller opening hand due to mulligans. Someone else ended up copying it with a Thespian Stage after I flipped it and I had to use a Tectonic Edge to destroy his. I never ended up using it for anything but mana so I guess given that opponents copying it is kind of a problem.... its on my radar as possibly being a card to cut.
Avarice Amulet - I got it as my vigilance enabler game two and it was fairly great. I have had a lot of hit and miss with this card in the past but given that I am draw centric and I want vigilance and power its really solid here. I was pleased with it overall. At one point someone dropped an Austere Command and this was one of the few cards I cared about dying but I had Academy Ruins so I salvaged it at the end step and I was back in business the next turn.
Batterskull - So..... I love this card... but damn its expensive to push around. I got it game one and I pushed it to Kefnet and then I had to bounce it as someone tried to kill it. It was really expensive and I was breaking up playing and equipping it due to keeping options up but man.... its expensive lol. The life I gained was nice though as it makes it a lot harder to come at me.
Gauntlet of Power - I got this in game two and it was soooooooo good. Especially with the Academy Ruins in the deck it was just so nice as even if someone would blow it up I totally would have recovered it. It just makes everything way easier.
Akroma's Memorial - It was nice when I got it. There was a point where someone had Ugin and he was going to die to my next attack. He could kill Kefnet but I could recast for like 5 mana with haste so he was just like..... *****.... dome you for 3 lol.
Cryptic Command - it was great in both games. Its so versatile its nice.
Reins of Power - I used it to hijack a huge army from someone who resolved a huge genesis wave. I killed him with his own crap in one hit lol.
Rewind - It was fairly good. I like the counter for anything and it keeps me open to draw or play another answer if need be.
Inundate - I disliked this card when I saw it. I ended up against two other blue decks and the other deck was just going to recover to being a problem in like a turn. I think it could work if I was playing a little more aggressively. When looking from a defensive standpoint its awkward being a 6 mana sorcery.
Knowledge Exploitation - I drew this card and I hijacked someone's Tragic Arrogance for some great value clear. It has been totally worth it but I guess we will see if it continues to be so. If I can hijack Tragic Arrogance / Austere Command every time then its totally worth having.
Arcane Lighthouse - yea.... it kind of sucked but nobody was playing hexproof the two games.
Mystifying Maze - I just found myself not really needing mazes. Having them in play though did in a way help though.
DECK CHANGES:
Inundate -> Boompile I felt like I needed another answer to noncreatures. I like that my commander stays through it and the unknown factor of if it will go off is sometimes profitable.
Thaumatic Compass -> Stubborn Denial I found that I didn't really need a cheap maze and in ways a cheap maze is more problematic to me because its easier for those who clone it to use it against me than like Mystifying Maze. Counterspells were good for me so why not add another.
Arcane Lighthouse -> Wasteland I am mostly all in on Kefnet so I need to make sure I can clear the way on things like Mazes. Plus, its good to have some removal for annoying big mana lands so, more hate yay. Even if I run into hexproof tactics, I have a strong blocker and if they go bigger than I can manage I have a ton of mass bounce stuff so I think I should be ok.
I also was quite interested in possibly adding Aura Thief to my deck after I realized that my commander did not have the enchantment base the Theros gods had but I still don't think I can really sacrifice / kill it in such a way that would make it work that well. I run a small enough enchantment base though that I think it would be very powerful if I could make it work here. I would probably have to add a few more sac outlets or rely on something like Pongify to get me there. Its a thought I am kicking around for now and I would love to make it work but I worry it might be a little too much work as it stands right now.
I have played this deck three games now. I really enjoy the feel and how it plays but it apparently feels a little oppressive for opponents so I don't want to play it more than one game a week if that just to keep people from feeling miserable. I have won all three games I have played this deck so far and while that is a great result I had some changes I wanted to push through also. I noticed that people tend to target most anything other than lands and Kefnet that I play so seeing how that went I thought perhaps I might make a few adjustments.
DECK CHANGES:
1 Island -> Terrain Generator - I was giving some room for my mana doublers but seeing as how they often die on sight, I think a little less consideration for them and more for emptying my hand will be good.
Sower of Temptation -> Commandeer - honestly, in some ways I was playing this deck a little more defensively so I didn't really want to piss someone off by stealing their commander. In a lot of cases I needed to watch out for big spells though and some people were trying to resolve really jank big spells especially when I didn't have mana up. I like the option of the emergency hijack here as well as the potential for a tapped out answer. In a lot of cases I try to sit back and do as little as I can so a big reversal kind of effect can be strong for me.
Thought Vessel -> Walking Atlas - Either people were eyeing Thought Vessel to blow it up or it just wasn't really giving me crap for mana. I just didnt find it to be doing enough for me and I wanted to push my hand into play faster when I did have over 7 cards so I think that Walking Atlas might give me a low profile ramp effect that takes being blown up a little better.
Really, this deck has been doing really well. Kefnet has been doing a great job of keeping the aggro / fair decks at bay and the counter magic has been great vs the haymaker / combo players. Even if someone does go wide and comes at me I have so many tricks to screw them up that I really like the balance of this deck. I wish that there was perhaps a little more for vigilance / untapping for blue though as I primarily rely on Kefnet for my defense so abandoning my defense requires some vigilance or extra turns primarily.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
You play a lot of spells which mess with enemy combat step or just bounce creatures. Do you really face that many aggro decks that you need them all? Aggro is generally weak in Commander (unless it's Avenger of Zendikar or unlimited creatures attacking) and Kefnet is good aggro deterrent anyway so I feel cards like Evacuation or Aetherize are empty when facing non-aggro decks. If you want to tech against creatures then maybe Gravitational Shift would serve you better? It makes your commander a three-turn clock at least.
EDIT: What do you think about Surveyor's Scope? I'm trying to fit it in somewhere and Kefnet's ability seems to go in par with this one.
I do see primarily creature combat as how my opponents fight in the two metas I am in. It is true that if I draw heavily into the sweeper effects they can be a little much. Really though I only have 4-5 effects dedicated to defense in this way though so for the most part I have been happy with them. I do see where you are coming from though so I will try to keep a closer eye on them. Kefnet does do a LOT of work for me against 1-3 threats though so my concern is more when someone goes in deep and wide on me (especially with tokens + buff).
My goal is usually to just protect myself. I could probably see Propaganda over Gravitational Shift because I want to make situations where people can still beat each other to death just not me. For now I was trying to push to have mostly hidden defenses other than Kefnet who is managing my defenses for the most part.
Surveyor's Scope - I tested the card when it came out and my results were a bit odd. I played it in a mono white deck and I think its an interesting card but it somewhat needs to be preying on a meta of green ramp decks for it to really feel like its going to work. I ended up having more lands than my opponents most games by the mid to late game so I think it might be a little dependent on what is run in your meta.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
You can always put Crawlspace as a deterrent from swarms. Having trophy mage to find your useful 3 mana artifacts seems good. Crawlspace is also tutorable by Tezzycakes
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To the people that say that a card needs to be a higher rarity because of Limited... I hate you guys so much. I present to you with this.
You can always put Crawlspace as a deterrent from swarms. Having trophy mage to find your useful 3 mana artifacts seems good. Crawlspace is also tutorable by Tezzycakes
If you aren't playing big creatures meekstone is quite the awesome gem even moreso since you can tutor it up via Dizzy Spell.
When it comes to percieved defenses vs anticipated defenses I think there is an interesting argument to have. I think that it is important to have some level of visible defenses otherwise opponents have no opportunity cost to check your response defenses. In this case I run Kefnet as my primary percieved defense. When it comes to visible defenses its important to take into account what happens if they are no longer there because when defenses crumble, people die.
I guess what I am trying to say is that its not good to rely too much on passive percieved defenses or hidden defenses. I think the best option is a mix of the two and given that Kefnet in this case gives me a lot of active percieved defense I prefer to have the unknown tricks in hand given the fact that I do play this as a draw / go deck.
For kicks, lets talk about the two that were suggested:
Crawlspace - the upside here is that it constricts opponents to attacking with two creatures, one of which Kefnet will block. This is actually really good defense vs swarm so long as you can stick it to the board. Lets say instead you have a hidden answer such as Aetherize in hand. Now, when I play crawlspace I am going to irritate any swarm player. Most token based decks are some sort of GWR based deck of which all have access to removal for artifacts. My issue here is that we just posed somewhat of a challenge to that token player who the second they can break that artifact down (assuming I don't counter defend it) is going to roll in hot on me. It does bring up the fact that I could rely on counter magic to defend my defense with a known defense card like this but honestly I really don't use counter magic to defend much of my own cards which is why this deck is somewhat permanent light. On occasion I will defend like a vigilant equipment but that's because by the time I move to that my opponents are often on the defensive foot. Because I am so permanent light sometimes it makes the non land cards I do play stand out a little more.
Meekstone - my issues with this card have always been a few things. 1) It requires you to catch people with their creatures tapped or relying on continuous hits over one big hit. 2) It stops opponents from hitting each other 3) It annoys people without actually feeling like it is doing that much. If people are turning sideways either I am dying very quickly to a swarm of things I cant defend from or they are using a few decent sized things (which I am good against) and I don't need this card.
My issue with fort style of defenses is that they act as temporary deterrents and I don't really plan to counter defend them so when they fold they fold bad. Having a mix of passive defenses (Kefnet) as well as hidden defenses makes people wonder what you have in hand more and sometimes the unknown will make people do odd things.
I had a few changes I wanted to push through. I did not play Kefnet last night as I had some other decks I wanted to play but just some general games showed me a few things I did want to do here. There was an ETB value based deck last night and I thought to myself what a pain in the ass it would be to try to play against that style of deck with Kefnet and I realized I should probably run Torpor Orb lol.
DECK CHANGES:
Faerie Artisans -> Torpor Orb I think the artisans was me kind of pipe dreaming. It has been too fragile and I am really not a creature based deck. Instead I guess I could hate on ETB since I am not really using it all that much. I have a few tutors and Academy Ruins for recovery for artifacts as well.
Evacuation -> Whir of Invention so, of my defense cards Evacuation is the one I like the least. I dont like that it bounces my commander and it enables ETB based decks a bit more. I didnt actually know that Whir of Invention was a card until last night and I think it fits the sort of things I want to be doing. It can let me tutor for a board wrath if that's what I need and I kind of like that flexibility in place of Evacuation. I just have so many options in my artifacts and putting one in at instant speed as I need.... well thats exactly what I want to be doing.
Venser, Shaper Savant -> Crook of Condemnation with not being a creature abuse deck I think Venser loses kind of a lot of his power. I am adding Torpor Orb to my deck as well and I just think he turns into kind of a poor counterspell given I am a non creature centric draw go based deck. I wanted to bump up my graveyard hate a little and given that I feel I have fairly good draw in the deck as a whole I wanted the power of Crook over the draw of say Scrabbling Claws.
I like the feel of these changes. I only saw Faerie Artisans once and it was really unimpressive as it just got murdered immediately that one time. With these changes I am really taking three cards I have been less than impressed with and adding really solid control effects and a tutor for them. Given the value of all these artifacts I did circle back to putting some consideration into Buried Ruin as well as Academy Ruins but for now I am putting that off.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
This is the kind of mono U build I've been looking for. I like playing draw go blue, UB or sultai brews but I don't like gettin hated out or just playing answers. I ran a Talrand deck for a while that was pro-active and not too oppressive. This feels like it could play the same way.
Any recent play experiences to share or changes? ...I know it's been like 6 months.
This is the kind of mono U build I've been looking for. I like playing draw go blue, UB or sultai brews but I don't like gettin hated out or just playing answers. I ran a Talrand deck for a while that was pro-active and not too oppressive. This feels like it could play the same way.
Any recent play experiences to share or changes? ...I know it's been like 6 months.
I haven't gotten to play commander in the last 4 months so not as of right now. I did contemplate possibly running Stolen Identity or Argentum Armor as a means of pushing a little bit of value and a bigger threat with Kefnet. This deck is really good at being hard to come at but sometimes I have had some issues against decks that have some level of inevitability that you just have to put down before they can crush you. I am talking about things that just keep chipping away at you or the commander is essentially a slow rolling combo that you have to stop every time it comes out or die.
Overall though..... no the deck is running fairly well. You can always argue more or less on those emergency defense cards like Aetherspouts depending upon what your meta looks like.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Staples: Extraplanar Lens, Vedalken Shackles, Scroll Rack
These cards have a good home here. Lens makes more mana of your lands that you don't bounce, Shackles easily subdues giant threats (Kefnet can't take care of everything!), and Scroll Rack lets you effectively have 14 cards in hand.
Tech: Commit // Memory, Day's Undoing, Time Spiral - Timetwisters are card draw, grave hate, and Kefnet activators all in one, and as such they should be considered very carefully. At the very least, Commit and Time Spiral are powerhouses. Patron of the Moon, Meloku the Clouded Mirror - Patron might be a tad too expensive but provides a very powerful effect for your deck. Meloku is a great card for you - bounce lands, create chump blockers, activate Kefnet, swing with tokens - this card can do it all. Conqueror's Galleon, Search for Azcanta - I like the idea of Galleon here. Kefnet will be able to crew it even if you don't have a big hand, but it can also stay back to defend against scary attackers. Once it flips it has a ton of utility. Search is just a good card, and with you casting instants it will easily flip, and once it flips it easily helps fill your hand. Scroll of Origins - very easy card draw.
I really love playing draw go control style of decks. My issue has often been that people will intentionally attack me to see what my defenses in hand are and continuous poking depletes hand size, mana, and responses. When I got to Kefnet the Mindful, I thought to myself.... what if I just play my commander and stick to defending in the early to mid game? Kefnet gives such a strong defense early to mid game that it blocks a lot of chip damage attacks as well as voltron strategies. Things like vigilance and extra turns can enable me to attack while defending as well as speed up my own clock.
One of the things I love about Kefnet the Mindful is the ability to transition if need be. You could easily transition to being an aggro style of draw go deck if you go against more defensive and controlling strategies. If your opponents are combo decks just flip the switch and move to an aggro strategy with counter magic disruption. In a sense, this commander is somewhat of a trans-formative commander in that you could try for a tempo style of beat down or a long game control strategy utilizing the same decklist.
1 Kefnet the Mindful
CREATURES (10)
1 Gilded Drake
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Walking Atlas
1 Burnished Hart
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Sakashima the Impostor
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
ARTIFACT (17)
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Expedition Map
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sol Ring
1 Crook of Condemnation
1 Dowsing Dagger
1 Torpor Orb
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Avarice Amulet
1 Boompile
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Batterskull
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Caged Sun
1 Akroma's Memorial
1 Mystic Remora
1 Training Grounds
1 Rhystic Study
1 Treachery
INSTANT (22)
1 Dizzy Spell
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Mana Drain
1 Reality Shift
1 Capsize
1 Whir of Invention
1 Aetherize
1 Cryptic Command
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Insidious Will
1 Reins of Power
1 Rewind
1 Aetherspouts
1 Force of Will
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Spell Swindle
1 Commandeer
1 Scour from Existence
1 Dig Through Time
SORCERY (8)
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Fabricate
1 Capture of Jingzhou
1 Temporal Manipulation
1 Time Warp
1 Blatant Thievery
1 Knowledge Exploitation
1 Expropriate
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
LAND (37)
1 Academy Ruins
1 High Market
20 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Strip Mine
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Terrain Generator
1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Temple of the False God
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Tolaria West
1 Tower of the Magistrate
1 Vesuva
1 Wasteland
CONSIDERATIONS:
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Also, your commander lets you do some land abuse, by giving you draw and the option to bounce lands. Stuff like Vesuva could really shine with lands that give either a ton of mana, or utility lands that let you do minor stuff.
I would also look into more effects that let you look at the top two cards of your deck. Knowing if you can bounce lands without getting mana flooded seems pretty valuable here. Stuff like Crystal Ball or Sensei's Divining Top could be good.
Current EDH
Akroma W | Tymna and Bruse RBW
Edit: I also really like Wash Out in mono blue and 2-color decks.
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsTraining Grounds is a great suggestion. I didn't think of it at all given that its so narrow as to when it works that I am just used to bypassing it. Wow its price is up a lot.... I remember when that card came out it was like a $0.25 card... I considered some effects like Rings of Brighthearth and Illusionist's Bracers but I felt that they were a little clunky and greedy. I like Training Grounds a lot though given that it cost reduces even the first activation is a net mana save.
I don't really intend to be playing a lot of land bounce to be honest. Vesuva I can agree with given the idea of Bojuka Bog or jumping on the Coffers train (assuming someone has Urborg). I will give it a shot and see where it goes for me.
Crystal Ball or Sensei's Divining Top - Maybe. I had Thassa, God of the Sea in the list early as well until I had to make cuts. Scry is stronger than Top in this kind of a deck given the lower number of shuffles I have. Crystal Ball I don't mind its effect but the cost to play and use it are not nothing. It also adds to the number of things in play for me that might get wrathed. I guess I just have a little bit of a hard time justifying the time to play it as well as the card slot for it. I will put it in the considerations and perhaps after I get a chance to play with the deck I can weigh in better on the card. I do use it in my rebels deck where its low draw count and high shuffle effects are more useful to me.
Reins of Power - I like it... I like it enough that its already in the list lol. I am mostly assuming that I will use the card as defense but if someone does bust out a Storm Heard or something I will probably borrow and swing it at them.
Wash Out - If it was an instant I would consider it. I think I have a lot of good solid defenses already though and at sorcery speed for 4 mana this felt a little slow to me. I would rather see where the swarm of guys is going in a lot of cases. I had several other cards such as Engulf the Shore which I was also considering but in the end I opted to go with some less situational defenses such as Evacuation in the case that I am staring down some giant tentacle monsters early on. I also put some thought into some others such as Ixidron and Floodgate. In the end I was trying to go with instant speed answers that defend me from being swarmed. My commander in a lot of cases can protect me from single threats so I just needed to cover some of the extreme cases such as someone going wide or using something really big.
DECK CHANGES:
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@ Reins of Power, I'm apparently blind.
@ Wash Out: Would something like Vedalken Orrery make you too much of a target in your group? The amount of powerful sorceries your're skipping out on, simply because they are sorceries, is a shame. The Orrery would also let you flash in your creatures, which tend to have strong ETB abilities - also great for using at instant speed. The sorceries you're already running are also all really powerful, even moreso at instant speed.
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsVedalken Orrery / Leyline of Anticipation are great cards. There was once a time I could get away with those kind of cards but now they are very high priority targets that often don't last long.
There is a strong advantage in situational instants given that I have a mana sink of a commander which means I can have defensive answers and if I don't have to expend those resources I can instead draw. I would say that is a fairly strong reason to try to stick to instant speed situational answers. Are there some spells in specific you are thinking? I have a good number of very strong sorcery spells already but my preference did go more towards extra turns when it came to the more expensive ones.
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2. Smuggler's Copter
3.Terrain Generator
Dizzy Spell - I think that is a very interesting thought. I started to compare the transmute here to Trinket Mage. Both of which are a 3 mana tutor for one mana spells. In both cases they are 3 mana sorcery speed tutors but I trade off the 2/2 body for a more versatile tutor target. I think for now with me not really putting much value in the creature aspect of Trinket Mage I will make a swap there. I could also see the idea of running both cards but for now I have a hard time making room for both so I think I will go with Dizzy Spell for now.
Smuggler's Copter - I guess I don't really follow where you are going with this card. I don't run that many creatures and I don't really want to tap Kefnet to attack with this. Its not a bad card but I am creature light and I don't want to tap my commander for it to attack.
Terrain Generator - I had it in my list originally but I am having trouble with how much room I give for my nonbasic land selections. I am running a few mana doublers so my basic land count is still important. I was also having a little bit of an issue with the fact that this kind of tempo ramps me in a commander where I really am trying to keep 7 cards in hand. The cost to use this is about the same cost as drawing another card too. I think this is still something I will go back and forth with but I wanted to test the deck without it before trying it with it as I stood. I did also put some consideration into Walking Atlas because it takes the mana / activation away but it also takes up a card slot. It could be interesting though to use Kefnet to bounce a land to hand and use the atlas to put it back out thus using it sort of as a mana dork as my land count wouldn't really change there but it would give me another mana. Right now I am probably going to try it without either but I think both have merit.
Empyrial Plate if I played this card I feel like my goal would be to cast + equip + Time Warp all at the same time. This is definitely a way to play the deck and while the extra turns are in part in there to burst people down they also give me a full land untap. Personally I prefer to play a slow and steady gameplan over a burst haymaker. I think this could fit but my preference in equipment is to get me attacking while defending over attempting to go full aggro. It could also work well with like an end of turn Cyclonic Rift and such but again, I would prefer to not be too haymaker as just my own personal preference in playstyle.
Stubborn Denial honestly, I am so used to the old gods I totally thought Kefnet stopped being a creature if my hand size dipped under 7. Being that he is always a creature I think that this one does gain quite a bit more as I thought I would have to like draw to 8 cards with Kefnet before I used this card. Its a fairly good counter given the change between what I was thinking my commander was doing and what its actually doing. I think in a lot of cases though it still going to compete with a lot of the 2 mana unconditional counters so for now I will put it into the consideration list and see what I can do. Being that I am a draw go style of deck the difference between 1 and 2 mana mostly only matters when someone forces me to respond to something earlier and then a second thing comes my way or at the end of turn when I purge my mana for draw. That might be a little too rare that it matters so for now I will just kind of say that I will put it on the list of things to consider.
Force Away I did consider if I wanted more spot removal and or bounce. In the end I felt that if I am keeping Kefnet on defense then my concern is more towards a big swarm so I didn't actually go very deep on target bounce / spot removal because I more need that against creatures that are generating value. Against value generating creatures though I thought I could just steal them instead and that would work. In a lot of cases the value of Force Away is a little awkward because it only hits creatures. I like the interaction with Ferocious I just don't think it hits broadly enough. I think in a lot of ways I would probably prefer Unsubstantiate or Boomerang for being a little more flexible in what they can do.
Spell Rupture Its not bad in that its potentially a strong Mana Leak but in a lot of cases I still feel that Negate or Stubborn Denial are probably stronger cards with less of a situational nature about it. This card can also still be awkward if someone hits big mana. I like that it can hit creatures and non but at the same time I think that 80+% of the time the non creatures are what I tend to be a little more on top of with counterspells than the creatures.
Icy Blast from the perspective of defending myself as a control deck I feel this card is a little awkward. It feels more of a tempo style of stall to me for a deck that is planning to tempo attack them rather than play a control game. In this sense I like cards like Inundate, Aetherspouts, or Aetherize more. I could see this card working but I think it works better in a more aggressive style of build which is not right now the type of build I am trying. I think that strategy may be viable but I think it would probably worry less about vigilance and just go with some more aggressive equipment.
Land Bounce / Land Fall / Land ETBs: - I think that like 99% of the time I don't really intend to return lands to my hand with Kefnet. If someone is hitting me with some sort of land destruction and I have mana up then sure I might as well bounce it back but shy of that, its not really my plan. If a land happens to have a very strong ETB then sure but I dont really want to put myself back a land drop for something minor. Really picking up a Vesuva to become a Bojuka Bog or change it into some sort of big mana land is about the only thing I can think of I would be actively picking up lands to do.
Halimar Depths - I just don't value its ETB that much in a draw based deck. I am especially not going to be giving up my land drops to try to get a makeshift Top (a card I am not even valuing enough to run).
Radiant Fountain - I just don't value its ETB that much. I am also having issues with my nonbasic counts and having utility lands I actually want to run so pass.
Skyline Cascade - I think its an interesting effect but it means there is a single target creature I can target but cant chump block all that well. To me that means like there is an annihilate eldrazi in play and I am giving up tons of mana and my land drop every turn to try to do this??? I think its too narrow to be honest.
Cost Reduction Effects: I have played cost reduction effects before. Generally speaking they play in a very different way as you generally want to play a lot of cheap cards (usually 2-4 mana stuff) that is heavy on draw effects paired with things that trigger on the cheap things you are casting (like Talrand, Sky Summoner for instance). You can also utilize cost reduction with spells that don't expend themselves like Corpse Dance and the buyback cards. It is true that I run Capsize in my list but I for the most part don't think that my list fits the theme for a deck that would utilize cost reduction. Most of the spells I run in this deck are responsive spells rather than cards I will proactively be casting and responsive cards do not really fit the mold of how to best utilize a cost reduction. Things like Impulse and Think Twice are how you abuse cost reduction and splicing them in with buyback is really sweet.
I was putting things together over the weekend and I decided to make some additional changes to the landbase.
DECK CHANGES:
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Its not that I cant add more its that to some degree you start getting less value as you push higher on nonbasic land count with things like Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun.
Arcane Lighthouse - I go back and forth, I see some hexproof not a ton. Its just such a strong counter to hexproof plans to open them for targeting. I could probably cut it though to be honest.
High Market - This is twofold, my commander is kind of vulnerable to effects such as Arrest and honestly I dont really have a good way to destroy an enchantment in here. Its possible I could increase the number of destroy anything effects but for the most part they are very expensive to cast (usually like 7 mana). If I would eat some sort of Arrest style of effect I then need to kill, flicker, or something my commander to get back in action. I also have a little bit of theft and Homeward Path is kind of popular so if I steal something and a homeward path happens I could sacrifice it instead of handing it back.
Mystifying Maze - I like its defensive options. I have my commander to block for me but what if two big things come at me or something big with trample? I wouldnt call it like..... super necessary but I don't really see something I would prefer. It also helps keep equipment from connecting and can also serve as protection from Sword of Fire and Ice.
Tower of the Magistrate - this one is almost entirely a fear of Sword of Fire and Ice. That sword is among equipment one of the more popular swords. I also see some amount of darksteel Plate and its fun to just make people drop stuff. Of the lands you pointed out this one is probably the least likely for me to drop. Its a little concerning that I run equipment myself (from the perspective of land cloning) but I think the utility is still somewhat important for me.
The one I am most likely to cut is probably Arcane Lighthouse from the ones you pointed out right now but there is still a question of what lands you are suggesting I add. The three ETB lands you had pointed out previously are still in my mind inferior to the niche utility of Arcane Lighthouse
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I wont end up going through everything because they were long games but in general I ended up playing Kefnet on turn 3 and then defending until mid to late game where I would bust out vigilance and extra turns as I felt comfortable. In one case a blue player other than I drew the ire of the table with a [card=
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir]Teferi[/card] play and in the end I took 4 back to back turns to kill him as he used 3 answers to stop the other two players before me. He thought he was cute when he copied my first extra turn and then I dropped Expropriate the turn after and rode his face until he died before he got that turn lol.
I probably need to get more testing in to really get a hang of what needs to change but for the most part I felt fairly good in the first few games. It will take more games to really flush out what I want but for now I guess I can say a few things on a few cards:
DECK CHANGES:
I also was quite interested in possibly adding Aura Thief to my deck after I realized that my commander did not have the enchantment base the Theros gods had but I still don't think I can really sacrifice / kill it in such a way that would make it work that well. I run a small enough enchantment base though that I think it would be very powerful if I could make it work here. I would probably have to add a few more sac outlets or rely on something like Pongify to get me there. Its a thought I am kicking around for now and I would love to make it work but I worry it might be a little too much work as it stands right now.
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DECK CHANGES:
Really, this deck has been doing really well. Kefnet has been doing a great job of keeping the aggro / fair decks at bay and the counter magic has been great vs the haymaker / combo players. Even if someone does go wide and comes at me I have so many tricks to screw them up that I really like the balance of this deck. I wish that there was perhaps a little more for vigilance / untapping for blue though as I primarily rely on Kefnet for my defense so abandoning my defense requires some vigilance or extra turns primarily.
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I do see primarily creature combat as how my opponents fight in the two metas I am in. It is true that if I draw heavily into the sweeper effects they can be a little much. Really though I only have 4-5 effects dedicated to defense in this way though so for the most part I have been happy with them. I do see where you are coming from though so I will try to keep a closer eye on them. Kefnet does do a LOT of work for me against 1-3 threats though so my concern is more when someone goes in deep and wide on me (especially with tokens + buff).
My goal is usually to just protect myself. I could probably see Propaganda over Gravitational Shift because I want to make situations where people can still beat each other to death just not me. For now I was trying to push to have mostly hidden defenses other than Kefnet who is managing my defenses for the most part.
Surveyor's Scope - I tested the card when it came out and my results were a bit odd. I played it in a mono white deck and I think its an interesting card but it somewhat needs to be preying on a meta of green ramp decks for it to really feel like its going to work. I ended up having more lands than my opponents most games by the mid to late game so I think it might be a little dependent on what is run in your meta.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY8h2vp5Xis
When it comes to percieved defenses vs anticipated defenses I think there is an interesting argument to have. I think that it is important to have some level of visible defenses otherwise opponents have no opportunity cost to check your response defenses. In this case I run Kefnet as my primary percieved defense. When it comes to visible defenses its important to take into account what happens if they are no longer there because when defenses crumble, people die.
I guess what I am trying to say is that its not good to rely too much on passive percieved defenses or hidden defenses. I think the best option is a mix of the two and given that Kefnet in this case gives me a lot of active percieved defense I prefer to have the unknown tricks in hand given the fact that I do play this as a draw / go deck.
For kicks, lets talk about the two that were suggested:
Crawlspace - the upside here is that it constricts opponents to attacking with two creatures, one of which Kefnet will block. This is actually really good defense vs swarm so long as you can stick it to the board. Lets say instead you have a hidden answer such as Aetherize in hand. Now, when I play crawlspace I am going to irritate any swarm player. Most token based decks are some sort of GWR based deck of which all have access to removal for artifacts. My issue here is that we just posed somewhat of a challenge to that token player who the second they can break that artifact down (assuming I don't counter defend it) is going to roll in hot on me. It does bring up the fact that I could rely on counter magic to defend my defense with a known defense card like this but honestly I really don't use counter magic to defend much of my own cards which is why this deck is somewhat permanent light. On occasion I will defend like a vigilant equipment but that's because by the time I move to that my opponents are often on the defensive foot. Because I am so permanent light sometimes it makes the non land cards I do play stand out a little more.
Meekstone - my issues with this card have always been a few things. 1) It requires you to catch people with their creatures tapped or relying on continuous hits over one big hit. 2) It stops opponents from hitting each other 3) It annoys people without actually feeling like it is doing that much. If people are turning sideways either I am dying very quickly to a swarm of things I cant defend from or they are using a few decent sized things (which I am good against) and I don't need this card.
My issue with fort style of defenses is that they act as temporary deterrents and I don't really plan to counter defend them so when they fold they fold bad. Having a mix of passive defenses (Kefnet) as well as hidden defenses makes people wonder what you have in hand more and sometimes the unknown will make people do odd things.
I had a few changes I wanted to push through. I did not play Kefnet last night as I had some other decks I wanted to play but just some general games showed me a few things I did want to do here. There was an ETB value based deck last night and I thought to myself what a pain in the ass it would be to try to play against that style of deck with Kefnet and I realized I should probably run Torpor Orb lol.
DECK CHANGES:
I like the feel of these changes. I only saw Faerie Artisans once and it was really unimpressive as it just got murdered immediately that one time. With these changes I am really taking three cards I have been less than impressed with and adding really solid control effects and a tutor for them. Given the value of all these artifacts I did circle back to putting some consideration into Buried Ruin as well as Academy Ruins but for now I am putting that off.
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[Modern] Allies
Any recent play experiences to share or changes? ...I know it's been like 6 months.
I haven't gotten to play commander in the last 4 months so not as of right now. I did contemplate possibly running Stolen Identity or Argentum Armor as a means of pushing a little bit of value and a bigger threat with Kefnet. This deck is really good at being hard to come at but sometimes I have had some issues against decks that have some level of inevitability that you just have to put down before they can crush you. I am talking about things that just keep chipping away at you or the commander is essentially a slow rolling combo that you have to stop every time it comes out or die.
Overall though..... no the deck is running fairly well. You can always argue more or less on those emergency defense cards like Aetherspouts depending upon what your meta looks like.
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[Modern] Allies
These cards have a good home here. Lens makes more mana of your lands that you don't bounce, Shackles easily subdues giant threats (Kefnet can't take care of everything!), and Scroll Rack lets you effectively have 14 cards in hand.
Wincon: Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Karn, Scion of Urza
These might be in order if you find it hard to close out a game.
Tech:
Commit // Memory, Day's Undoing, Time Spiral - Timetwisters are card draw, grave hate, and Kefnet activators all in one, and as such they should be considered very carefully. At the very least, Commit and Time Spiral are powerhouses.
Patron of the Moon, Meloku the Clouded Mirror - Patron might be a tad too expensive but provides a very powerful effect for your deck. Meloku is a great card for you - bounce lands, create chump blockers, activate Kefnet, swing with tokens - this card can do it all.
Conqueror's Galleon, Search for Azcanta - I like the idea of Galleon here. Kefnet will be able to crew it even if you don't have a big hand, but it can also stay back to defend against scary attackers. Once it flips it has a ton of utility. Search is just a good card, and with you casting instants it will easily flip, and once it flips it easily helps fill your hand.
Scroll of Origins - very easy card draw.
Cut suggestions:
Sword of Vengeance, Avarice Amulet, Akroma's Memorial - I know, vigilance, but still might not be good enough.
Batterskull - incredible card, but is largely overrun in EDH.
Boompile - is it just me that feels bad about this card?
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augut - it might look like what this deck wants, but I'm not so sure. Resting your game plan on a vulnerable creature that costs 10CMC might be risky.
Everflowing Chalice?
Crook of Condemnation