It has been a little to hot for me to pay any attention to magic lately, but I promised I would post my current version of the deck when I got back from holyday. So here it is
The focus has been on efficiency lately and the deck is just that. Very efficient, and in typical storm fashion it ends the game in a single (often longer) turn. The deck manages to stay under the radar long enough to set up and put up a defense in the process.
Also, the copy spells idea from an earlier itteration have found a place into a more competitive Kalamax, The Stormsire deck right from the spoilers.
I've had the chance to play with the deck again recently and used Teferi's Ageless Insight to great effect! The deck is still fun and strong in my meta but has seen some changes over the last couple of months.
The version before my current has changed into Temur Kalamax copy storm and Jori-En is pure draw/cantrip power again. Underworld Breach is an all star in playlines that include Frantic Search and Turnabout for example.
A card i've been trying that i don't really liked over the games i've dropped it, is Nadir Kraken. It seems good value on the surface, but it's a little slow and mana intensive unfortunately.
I to, am excited for Immolating Gyre. It's high up the curve, but the one sided potential might warrant inclusion. Could be a great replacement for the Kraken.
When i get back from holyday's, i'll post an updated decklist.
I use Commit // Memory for the same purpose.
A stricktly better version of this effect would be an instant with flashback or other means to cast from the yard, so i can respond to stacked copies of Fateful Showdown and protect myself from self mill.
You could Always run Relic of Progenitus et all for the cantrip effect if needed, but most cantripping artifacts hit all yards.
Last Friday i played my new version of the deck to great succes. Ral, Storm Conduit was clearly powerfull on board and didn't make it round the table. Which was a correct assumption for i had a finishing move in hand.
In the end, after some politics with the Voltron player to leave me alone i finished the game with a few stacked copies of Fall of the Titans.
I want to test the deck some more, but for now it feels fine. Narset's Reversal was a great tool for protecting aswel as stealing spells. I highly recommend trying it out. Increasing Vengeance cast from the yard copying Chaos Warp was a blowout play. Fury Storm copying an X spell three times, taking out two players at once was very nice
Yes, the deck plays out more reactive, but i don't mind that at all.
I have been thinking about adding Mana Drain but i feel the card is way to expensive
With that in mind i feel the extra card advantage Future Sight and Magus of the Future provide is negligible. To me, those would be pretty safe cuts.
Possibility Storm: This could very well be another's pet card, but i personally don't like it. I do see its synergy with the commander though so it has that going for it.
Savor the Moment. This extra turn spell is nice, but what is it to you if you can't untap? What is it i don't see?
Future Sight and Magus of the Future - I can't tell you the number of times I have played 8-12 cards off the top of my deck in a turn. You don't get stuck with lands on top with this deck because of the number of cantrips in here I just cast a cantrip from hand to draw past the lands. Any of these cards in play almost always gives me at least a draw 10 / turn effect. You run Consecrated Sphinx which has similar capabilities but it costs more and in my mind its less flavorful and interesting. In a lot of ways I would say that Consecrated Sphinx is more vulnerable than the enchantment at least and technically speaking they are faster to get value from them than Consecrated in that if someone has spot removal in hand you can play the top card of your library before they get to respond. Consecrated Sphinx also is much more likely to draw attention than the future sight effects which I still think draw attention but nowhere close to the way that the sphinx does. Because of how proactive I am with my spells I really don't get jammed up on these cards. Running lots of cheap proactive spells its very easy to just tear through your deck with one of these. Its also relevant if you have a bunch of mana when you play one of these that you can immediately start playing and hitting the gas with these cards where Consecrated Sphinx reacts to opponents.
While i'm under the assumption the extra value off the top is not really needed, I actually agree with most of your analysis. You make a very compelling argument in drawing past land pockets from hand and continue form the top. I wouldn't call Consecrated Sphinx any less flavorfull than the futures though.
Possibility Storm - its 2x spellcast triggers every time you cast something. With my own list most of my spells can be cast at any time as I really don't run much for counterspells. Its all in triggering all of the spellcast matters cards twice as much and it completely screws with people. I can't tell you how many tiems this has won me the game because people couldn't resolve the cards they wanted at the time they wanted to resolve them. This card might have the single highest win percentage of any card in my deck. No joke, it triggers all of my things to happen a lot more and its such a disruptive spell for so many other decks.
I'm not at all in the chaos realm of things but after letting this one sink in, the card is a little less of a chaos'y card than i had in mind.
When tuning for a more proactive game, this can actually be VERY good in my current itteration with activated copy effects, because copying a spell means the copy still goes on the stack before the Posibility Storm trigger resolves. Unfortunately, the one-shot Fork effects are a little counter productive.
Savor the Moment 3 mana play an additional land, draw an extra card, reup Jori En to draw again. I had 5 mana extra turns in there mostly for all of those reasons but people got mad at the untapping of lands and the 2x attack so I felt it was a good compromise in a way to achieve the things I wanted while putting less feels bad on it. The 5 mana extra turns are probably stronger but I felt better about myself running this one. I think that Explore is an amazing magic card and this card is really really close to blue explore.
Three mana land ramp in blue! Thanks for explaining.
You do need lands in hand for this to work, exactly like Terrain Generator and with a very low land count this can be tricky. Though i very much like the idea.
Edit: Some more games are planned for tonight, i hope i get a better idea of the more copy'y version of the deck
So some of the new cards really made me want to give this deck a try, I'm just having some trouble making cuts. Could anyone offer some suggestions of cards that should definitely be taken out?
Good to see another player picking up the deck and great insights on behalf of ISBPathfinder on your list.
I'd like to add that the deck is slightly different than my current itteration which is a little experimental since last week, but all list have one thing in common. They draw cards like crazy.
With that in mind i feel the extra card advantage Future Sight and Magus of the Future provide is negligible. To me, those would be pretty safe cuts.
Possibility Storm: This could very well be another's pet card, but i personally don't like it. I do see its synergy with the commander though so it has that going for it.
As Foretold: Good card only when played early. Terribly slow everywhere else.
With a higher curve deck like yours, this card gains value as the game progresses, but when you have a really low curve full of one mana cantrips like mine, returns on these cards actually diminish. Inclusion should depend on curve and could be cut as (and if) you tune lower in the future.
Both Curious Homunculus and Crackling Drake would be safe cuts aswell. The former can be easilly replaced by another rock. A category of which you run a little lean AND you run a very low land count. This also takes away some of Walking Atlas's ability to ramp.
The latter can actually be any cantrip. I do see potential in the body, but combat is not the way these decks usually win.
Savor the Moment. This extra turn spell is nice, but what is it to you if you can't untap? What is it i don't see?
All in all i've learned the deck runs better as you lower the curve and start drawing your deck every game. This also helps thining other categories since you are far more likely to draw into your wincons or answer cards. Try to get a feel for the deck by playing it, it's tons of fun and wins feel very well deserved because you really have to puzzle for them.
Enjoy and please let us know how you did in your next games.
Yesterday we sat down with our playgroup for some sunday afternoon commander games. We were at large with 9 guys playing two pods of 4 and 5 respectively.
I've only played one game with the "new" deck in a 4 player pod with superfriends and both merfolk and vampire tribal. There was a lot of bleeding around the table with cards like Firebrand Archer and two Throne of the God-Pharaoh and life totals were getting very low very fast. Unfortunately, I went out first.
Never saw one new card and was drawing a lot of non cantrippy spells. So i cannot usefully comment on the new configuration of the deck.
When i finally did have a strong finishing hand after landing Consecrated Sphinx and having it stick for a full cycle round the table, i had my Thousand-Year Storm countered and i had no backup . I guess i could have lured the counterspell with something else, but then i couldn't fininsh so i didn't and went for it swinging.
I agree! It's the best of the bunch.
I wouldn't know what to cut instead. Another burn spell maybe? My bloved Electrolyze or maybe even Frantic Search?
Edit: Frantic Search it is.
With that said and i stress that i first want to test at 35, but i might go down another land in this list. The curve peaks at 2 and drops real hard after that, avgcmc=2.8 and the deck is drawing an awful lot of cards. two of the lands i can cycle too, so
The list also looks very, very solid with Isochron Scepter. moreso than before. Imprinting a copy spell or even Narset's Reversal would result in a nice protective lock or just a value enigne.
Regarding Expansion // Explosion, this has gained me most wins after to storming off with Thousand-Year Storm which i usually only drop after other threats are dealt with.
I'm very surprised you didn't see its flexibility and power before.
Come to think of it, the deck has many ways it can win and that "puzzle" i always refer to, probably makes this the most chalenging and rewarding deck to play of all my decks.
Thanks for the list and your explanation.
I'm using a lot more spells that either have some form of added advantage stapled onto them (i.e. flashback on Think Twice and jump start on Radical Idea) those typically tend to be a little more expensive.
I totally agree with you that a card like Finale of Promise for 3 is good with a yard full of 1cmc cantrips and other effects, and that cards like Thought Scour and Ray of Erasure contribute to that strategy. I never really focussed on the yard that much but rather seen it as incidental advantage. Efficiency is key so i'll have a look into that.
It's true i had Visions of Beyond in the list before, and it just didn't perform. I have to admid though, that i didn't realize its full potential (i.e. the ANY GY clause) before my friend played the card in his UB mill deck. Now with that in mind and utilizing the yard some more, Visions of Beyond gets much better.
I've seen the "slow" cantrips before, and i'm not sure if that's where i want to be. Though when playing mostly at instant speed that really shouldn't be an issue. The fixing cards could be very good i agree, but technically they don't draw, so there's no additional synergy in that.
I do like the extra instant speed Peek effect and Quicken seem interesting!
Edit: Regarding Finale of Promise, what about the balance between instants and sorceries? I'm at 27 to 8 at the moment. One of which is the Finale of Promise and the other is Past in Flames
I have a feeling this too could use some tuning.
To be honest, original Niv Mizzet looks extremely slow and overcosted to me. I don't think I would be willing to pay more than 3-4 mana for that effect in my own list. The high cost to cast him makes it hard to captialize on his ability much the first turn and I would consider his effect a lot weaker than most of our spellcast enabler effects. As creature removal I would say its weak in my mind and as player reach it seems extremely weak. There is a HUGE difference in power between him and 3.0 for a list like this because the 3.0 niv is drawing me cards when I cast follow up and when he gets removed I am also probably drawing cards.
Thanks for your insights, i'll roll with Consecrated Sphinx for now as it is the most likely to pay-out at the next draw step.
I feel like you might be a bit lower on the cheap cantrips and higher on responsive spells on the front of Finale of Promise. I don't know how it will affect your own experience with it but its just something I noticed. You do have something like 3/4ths the spells in your list that I do and a lot less of yours are cheap draw cantrips. Remember that counterspells, X mana spells, and flashback spells are all more or less not really targets for this card. My point kind of being that I think its going to be a lot weaker in your list that I see right now. I feel like forks would also kind of be weak even though they could be used to copy the other spell put on with this spell. My point being that its a much stronger spell generally speaking with proactive spells not that it can't be used on things like Lightning Bolt I feel its often going to be stronger to cast two draw spells and see three spellcasts for spell enablers.
My list is very two-drop heavy and has a lot of recursable spells, i'll try to be as efficient as possible to gain as much advantage as possible.
What one drop cantrips that work on their own (don't target) would you add to the list? Preferably Instants
Pyromancer's Goggles - Let me know how testing goes for you if you do go through with this card. I am not really a fan of it myself for my list but you are running the X mana red spells so it might be cool with those. My issue is still how few of the spells we run are red and those big payoff spells we probably aren't casting the same turn we cast this so its a big target for removal between cast and next untap.
Is has been a card in my binder for a very long time, and i have always wanted to play with it. This current list/theme seems very fitting. I'll report as soon as i have some mileage on it
Big changes to fit in the whole package, and suddenly it feels like a completely different deck. Not having beloved cards like Cryptic Command and especially Snapcaster Mage feels a little uncomfortable but i'd like to playtest the deck this way first and see what's what.
I always attend prerelease 2HG with a friend (4-1, 2nd place) and i use that day to play and trade as much as possible
Had some sweet pulls and managed to trade into most of the rest. Mythic/rare staples were allready on preoder with only Karn's Bastion as double (promo).
Pulled Role Reversal too and it piques my interest. Next to yet another token maker in Saheeli, this could be valuable removal worthy of the downside of sorcery speed. Any token maker produces a token upon cast which can then be exchanged for something big and scary! Artifacts too.
Planeswalkers and lands even. Enchantments, i'm not so sure about.
Cards i'm not completely sure about are:
-Sapphire Medallion, the deck gets a little more greedy in the manacosts, and a normal rock could gradually become better. Since the red is more prominent, i could probably pot Fire Diamond back in.
-Chasm Skulker, Massive card draw pay-of and when this guy dies, it's usually game over for the rest of the table. I have no ways to abuse it though.
-Wizard's Lightning and/or Lightning Strike, both can be creature/PW removal and both can be winconditions. Both are not Bolt though.
-Electrolyze, As above, but i love this thing! Like Wizard's Lightning, No synergy with Isochron Scepter though.
Cards i'm hessistent to cut, but i know others have different feelings with are: Mission Briefing and Snapcaster Mage, i just don't know
Curious to hear other's perspectives.
In the mean time, i'll be puzzling my way trough
I did manage to trade into Ral today, so i guess i'll be trying out a more copy'y version next weekend.
First step is to see how to tune the deck to add about 6 cards.
I also pulled a nice Kefnet. I just might try that one too while we're at it.
I noticed you run Firemind's Research. This Seems like the kind of card that could serve as a flavorful manasink. Though it needs "charging". How has that card been working out thus far?
I always try to view things from the perspective of my own deck's strengths unless i would purposely build around abusing the strengts of others (which is not my cup of tea). In that regard, i'm looking for ways to make Forks viable within my own strategy.
I know my list runs spells i would gladly copy for two mana. But i agree that copying a cantrip or even a 2cmc spell can feel a little lackluster. It does however, always Trigger Jori En, Ruin Diver, so there's that.
Copying a big spell of an opponent is just icing on the cake by then.
The biggest problem, like you allready state, is keeping up mana with nothing to do. Like you, i almost always do something on my own turn, but whenever possible i try to trigger Jori En, Ruin Diver at least twice each round.
Most commander games are won by having and using the most resources each turn. So we could make use some good manasinks, especially early game. I'll have to look out for those. Guildmages spring to mind as some can also copy.
In the very beginning, i had Terrain Generator. But as the manabase got tighter and landcount smaller, this lost some value. It is however VERY good in UR with high basics count if you can use it once or twice a game. It also complements a more disruptive strategy with properly timed Blood Moon type effects.
1 Jori En, Ruin Diver
Land
14 Island
5 Mountain
1 Command Tower
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Steam Vents
1 Fiery Islet
1 Shivan Reef
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Mystic Sanctuary
1 Spirebluff Canal
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Tolaria West
1 Desolate Lighthouse
Ramp
1 Mox Amber
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Tantalite
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 High Tide
1 Retraced Image
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Arcane Signet
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Star Compass
1 Talisman of Creativity
1 Firebrand Archer
1 Electrostatic Field
1 Thermo Alchemist
1 Mischievous Chimera
1 Guttersnipe
1 Psychosis Crawler
Value from Cast Tokens
1 Improbable Alliance
1 Young Pyromancer
1 Nadir Kraken
1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
1 Murmuring Mystic
1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
1 The Locust God
Card Draw
1 Skullclamp
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Faithless Looting
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Serum Visions
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Brainstorm
1 Opt
1 Peek
1 Visions of Beyond
1 Quicken
1 Obsessive Search
1 Ray of Erasure
1 Thought Scour
1 Clairvoyance
1 Twisted Image
1 Cerulean Wisps
1 Desperate Ravings
1 Think Twice
1 Frantic Search
1 Teferi's Ageless Insight
1 Sapphire Charm
1 Firestorm
1 Lava Dart
1 Fire // Ice
1 Snap
1 Price of Progress
1 Fall of the Titans
Protection
1 Pact of Negation
1 Swan Song
1 Cloud of Faeries
1 Archmage's Charm
1 Turnabout
Recast
1 Underworld Breach
1 Mission Briefing
1 Dreadhorde Arcanist
1 Finale of Promise
1 Past in Flames
Storm Stuff
1 Aria of Flame
1 Sentinel Tower
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
1 Thousand-Year Storm
The focus has been on efficiency lately and the deck is just that. Very efficient, and in typical storm fashion it ends the game in a single (often longer) turn. The deck manages to stay under the radar long enough to set up and put up a defense in the process.
Also, the copy spells idea from an earlier itteration have found a place into a more competitive Kalamax, The Stormsire deck right from the spoilers.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
The version before my current has changed into Temur Kalamax copy storm and Jori-En is pure draw/cantrip power again. Underworld Breach is an all star in playlines that include Frantic Search and Turnabout for example.
A card i've been trying that i don't really liked over the games i've dropped it, is Nadir Kraken. It seems good value on the surface, but it's a little slow and mana intensive unfortunately.
I to, am excited for Immolating Gyre. It's high up the curve, but the one sided potential might warrant inclusion. Could be a great replacement for the Kraken.
When i get back from holyday's, i'll post an updated decklist.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
A stricktly better version of this effect would be an instant with flashback or other means to cast from the yard, so i can respond to stacked copies of Fateful Showdown and protect myself from self mill.
You could Always run Relic of Progenitus et all for the cantrip effect if needed, but most cantripping artifacts hit all yards.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Ral, Storm Conduit was clearly powerfull on board and didn't make it round the table. Which was a correct assumption for i had a finishing move in hand.
In the end, after some politics with the Voltron player to leave me alone i finished the game with a few stacked copies of Fall of the Titans.
I want to test the deck some more, but for now it feels fine.
Narset's Reversal was a great tool for protecting aswel as stealing spells. I highly recommend trying it out.
Increasing Vengeance cast from the yard copying Chaos Warp was a blowout play.
Fury Storm copying an X spell three times, taking out two players at once was very nice
Yes, the deck plays out more reactive, but i don't mind that at all.
I have been thinking about adding Mana Drain but i feel the card is way to expensive
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
While i'm under the assumption the extra value off the top is not really needed, I actually agree with most of your analysis. You make a very compelling argument in drawing past land pockets from hand and continue form the top. I wouldn't call Consecrated Sphinx any less flavorfull than the futures though.
I'm not at all in the chaos realm of things but after letting this one sink in, the card is a little less of a chaos'y card than i had in mind.
When tuning for a more proactive game, this can actually be VERY good in my current itteration with activated copy effects, because copying a spell means the copy still goes on the stack before the Posibility Storm trigger resolves. Unfortunately, the one-shot Fork effects are a little counter productive.
Three mana land ramp in blue! Thanks for explaining.
You do need lands in hand for this to work, exactly like Terrain Generator and with a very low land count this can be tricky. Though i very much like the idea.
Edit: Some more games are planned for tonight, i hope i get a better idea of the more copy'y version of the deck
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Good to see another player picking up the deck and great insights on behalf of ISBPathfinder on your list.
I'd like to add that the deck is slightly different than my current itteration which is a little experimental since last week, but all list have one thing in common. They draw cards like crazy.
With that in mind i feel the extra card advantage Future Sight and Magus of the Future provide is negligible. To me, those would be pretty safe cuts.
Possibility Storm: This could very well be another's pet card, but i personally don't like it. I do see its synergy with the commander though so it has that going for it.
As Foretold: Good card only when played early. Terribly slow everywhere else.
With a higher curve deck like yours, this card gains value as the game progresses, but when you have a really low curve full of one mana cantrips like mine, returns on these cards actually diminish. Inclusion should depend on curve and could be cut as (and if) you tune lower in the future.
Both Curious Homunculus and Crackling Drake would be safe cuts aswell. The former can be easilly replaced by another rock. A category of which you run a little lean AND you run a very low land count. This also takes away some of Walking Atlas's ability to ramp.
The latter can actually be any cantrip. I do see potential in the body, but combat is not the way these decks usually win.
Savor the Moment. This extra turn spell is nice, but what is it to you if you can't untap? What is it i don't see?
All in all i've learned the deck runs better as you lower the curve and start drawing your deck every game. This also helps thining other categories since you are far more likely to draw into your wincons or answer cards. Try to get a feel for the deck by playing it, it's tons of fun and wins feel very well deserved because you really have to puzzle for them.
Enjoy and please let us know how you did in your next games.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I've only played one game with the "new" deck in a 4 player pod with superfriends and both merfolk and vampire tribal. There was a lot of bleeding around the table with cards like Firebrand Archer and two Throne of the God-Pharaoh and life totals were getting very low very fast. Unfortunately, I went out first.
Never saw one new card and was drawing a lot of non cantrippy spells. So i cannot usefully comment on the new configuration of the deck.
When i finally did have a strong finishing hand after landing Consecrated Sphinx and having it stick for a full cycle round the table, i had my Thousand-Year Storm countered and i had no backup . I guess i could have lured the counterspell with something else, but then i couldn't fininsh so i didn't and went for it swinging.
Better luck next time
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I wouldn't know what to cut instead. Another burn spell maybe? My bloved Electrolyze or maybe even Frantic Search?
Edit: Frantic Search it is.
With that said and i stress that i first want to test at 35, but i might go down another land in this list. The curve peaks at 2 and drops real hard after that, avgcmc=2.8 and the deck is drawing an awful lot of cards. two of the lands i can cycle too, so
The list also looks very, very solid with Isochron Scepter. moreso than before. Imprinting a copy spell or even Narset's Reversal would result in a nice protective lock or just a value enigne.
Regarding Expansion // Explosion, this has gained me most wins after to storming off with Thousand-Year Storm which i usually only drop after other threats are dealt with.
I'm very surprised you didn't see its flexibility and power before.
Come to think of it, the deck has many ways it can win and that "puzzle" i always refer to, probably makes this the most chalenging and rewarding deck to play of all my decks.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Thanks for the list and your explanation.
I'm using a lot more spells that either have some form of added advantage stapled onto them (i.e. flashback on Think Twice and jump start on Radical Idea) those typically tend to be a little more expensive.
I totally agree with you that a card like Finale of Promise for 3 is good with a yard full of 1cmc cantrips and other effects, and that cards like Thought Scour and Ray of Erasure contribute to that strategy. I never really focussed on the yard that much but rather seen it as incidental advantage. Efficiency is key so i'll have a look into that.
It's true i had Visions of Beyond in the list before, and it just didn't perform. I have to admid though, that i didn't realize its full potential (i.e. the ANY GY clause) before my friend played the card in his UB mill deck. Now with that in mind and utilizing the yard some more, Visions of Beyond gets much better.
I've seen the "slow" cantrips before, and i'm not sure if that's where i want to be. Though when playing mostly at instant speed that really shouldn't be an issue. The fixing cards could be very good i agree, but technically they don't draw, so there's no additional synergy in that.
I do like the extra instant speed Peek effect and Quicken seem interesting!
Potential cuts with this in mind:
This would lower the curve in a nice even way.
Edit: Regarding Finale of Promise, what about the balance between instants and sorceries? I'm at 27 to 8 at the moment. One of which is the Finale of Promise and the other is Past in Flames
I have a feeling this too could use some tuning.
Edit 2:
5 Out
5 In
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Thanks for your insights, i'll roll with Consecrated Sphinx for now as it is the most likely to pay-out at the next draw step.
My list is very two-drop heavy and has a lot of recursable spells, i'll try to be as efficient as possible to gain as much advantage as possible.
What one drop cantrips that work on their own (don't target) would you add to the list? Preferably Instants
Is has been a card in my binder for a very long time, and i have always wanted to play with it. This current list/theme seems very fitting. I'll report as soon as i have some mileage on it
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Out
2 Islands
1 Expedition Map
2 Sapphire Medallion
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Propaganda
3 Trinket Mage
4 Sentinel Tower
4 Cryptic Command
5 Khorvath's Fury
5 Gilded Lotus
6 Consecrated Sphinx or Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, I need some help here! Payoff vs Enabler. To me, both cards seem really, really good in the deck.
In
2 Mountains
2 Fire Diamond
2 Twincast
2 Increasing Vengeance
2 Reverberate
2 Narset's Reversal
3 Finale of Promise
3 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
4 Ral, Storm Conduit
4 Fury Storm
5 Pyromancer's Goggles
Big changes to fit in the whole package, and suddenly it feels like a completely different deck. Not having beloved cards like Cryptic Command and especially Snapcaster Mage feels a little uncomfortable but i'd like to playtest the deck this way first and see what's what.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Had some sweet pulls and managed to trade into most of the rest. Mythic/rare staples were allready on preoder with only Karn's Bastion as double (promo).
Pulled Role Reversal too and it piques my interest. Next to yet another token maker in Saheeli, this could be valuable removal worthy of the downside of sorcery speed. Any token maker produces a token upon cast which can then be exchanged for something big and scary! Artifacts too.
Planeswalkers and lands even. Enchantments, i'm not so sure about.
Now for a little more in-depth about Ral, Storm Conduit.
Cards i plan on using next to him:
-Expansion // Explosion (allready in the deck)
-Narset's Reversal (Maybe)
-Reverberate
-Twincast
-Increasing Vengeance
-Fury Storm
-Primal Wellspring (allready in the deck)
-Pyromancer's Goggles (i'm seriously thinking about cutting Gilded Lotus for this)
This means i have to make room for 6 cards total.
I feel i can safely drop:
-Sentinel Tower
-Trinket Mage
-Expedition Map.
Cards i'm not completely sure about are:
-Sapphire Medallion, the deck gets a little more greedy in the manacosts, and a normal rock could gradually become better. Since the red is more prominent, i could probably pot Fire Diamond back in.
-Chasm Skulker, Massive card draw pay-of and when this guy dies, it's usually game over for the rest of the table. I have no ways to abuse it though.
-Wizard's Lightning and/or Lightning Strike, both can be creature/PW removal and both can be winconditions. Both are not Bolt though.
-Electrolyze, As above, but i love this thing! Like Wizard's Lightning, No synergy with Isochron Scepter though.
Cards i'm hessistent to cut, but i know others have different feelings with are:
Mission Briefing and Snapcaster Mage, i just don't know
Curious to hear other's perspectives.
In the mean time, i'll be puzzling my way trough
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
First step is to see how to tune the deck to add about 6 cards.
I also pulled a nice Kefnet. I just might try that one too while we're at it.
Will put up an updated list soon.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I know my list runs spells i would gladly copy for two mana. But i agree that copying a cantrip or even a 2cmc spell can feel a little lackluster. It does however, always Trigger Jori En, Ruin Diver, so there's that.
Copying a big spell of an opponent is just icing on the cake by then.
The biggest problem, like you allready state, is keeping up mana with nothing to do. Like you, i almost always do something on my own turn, but whenever possible i try to trigger Jori En, Ruin Diver at least twice each round.
Most commander games are won by having and using the most resources each turn. So we could make use some good manasinks, especially early game. I'll have to look out for those. Guildmages spring to mind as some can also copy.
In the very beginning, i had Terrain Generator. But as the manabase got tighter and landcount smaller, this lost some value. It is however VERY good in UR with high basics count if you can use it once or twice a game. It also complements a more disruptive strategy with properly timed Blood Moon type effects.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -