I'm still curious to know if you ever tried running some of the Changelings for the Sphinx slots. It's not like they are all-stars on their own, but I would think that some of the same principals that apply to Edgar Markov Vampires would apply here; that almost any cheap Sphinx becomes instantly playable due to the trigger. Amoeboid Changeling and Shapesharer seem like they could be good.
I haven't tried them, but honestly, I'm just not interested in them. The upside of my creatures being Sphinxes is that they all have reasonable flying bodies, and with Unesh out, 4 CMC Sphinxes only cost 2 anyway, so the value of a naturally cheap changeling isn't really worth it. The deck really isn't that interested in more 1-cost sphinxes.
I know you make good use of clones in your deck, have you considered the new Spark Double? Seems great to copy your sphinx, even your general, to help with the storm count.
Oh it's absolutely on the list for cards to go in the deck. I don't change my lists until I have the cards in hand, though, so it's not there yet.
Low key I've been waiting for this deck to come up in the feed ever since the (I'm assuming gender here) her thread about it. Happy it finally happened.
- I see a lot of cards that care about Islands, and not to mention the suggestion here from @ForgottenOne for High Tide, but a lot of nonbasics that you could easily do without.
Rogue's Passage (you have evasion already).
Reliquary Tower (why do you need to horde cards in hand? An ability is only as good as your ability to use it, and this deck doesn't appear to have a need to horde cards)
Deserted Temple (you combo with Nykthos, once/turn cycle, and if you're doing that you're probably trying to storm already. I think you'd be better served by an Island, or a Candelabra of Tawnos in this slot, if I'm being brutally honest here).
Halimar Depths appears fine on the surface but do you really need 1/3 of a ponder in exchange for an EBT land? Again I suspect an island is superior here.
Myriad is OK, I suspect a Thawing Glaciers would go further for you though (and it still functions under B2B ).
Skerry is fine, probably better than Tomb in 80% of games. Path of Ancestry and Cavern of Souls are self-explanatory.
Since you could be playing so many more basic Islands, I imagine Back to Basics becomes an easy sell here, as does Engulf the Shore. Similarly Daze remains an incredible blowout that no one expects. Submerge is a great removal spell (how many games do you see where someone isn't playing "ramp to a million mono-G"?)
I bet instead of those shuffles, you'd be better served by a Time Spiral/Time Reversal if you don't have a Timetwister lying around. I don't see any cantrips. Those are the reason to play U imo, is there a reason to not include Brainstorm/Ponder/Preordain and their ilk?
High Tide is already in the deck. (I play the IDW/Dack version, fwiw.)
I agree that the deck could use some more islands. Rogue's Passage and Halimar Depths always seem to underperform, so they're likely due for a cut.
Reliquary Tower is needed in the deck because there's often a turn or two of setup before the storm turn, and you don't want to have to ditch any cards before then, especially if you know you'll be operating on the Mind over Matter plan.
I'm not interested in effects like Daze/Force of Will/Pact of Negation because I'm generally not a fan of them in Commander in general and I also don't want to make my decks too hard to interact with. I would rather have my combo disrupted once in a while in the name of more interactive Magic than play a truly tightly tuned build with no room for escape. It's just a philosophy thing for me.
As for Submerge/Engulf the Shore, I just don't have room for these sorts of effects in the deck and would rather just play similar effects on Sphinxes (Riddlemaster / Dream Eater). The same goes for cheap cantrips, which I just don't have the space for. I would much rather have a slower start with a better combo turn than to be drawing these cards late game. Besides, sphinxes give me all the card draw I could want.
Walk the Aeons is the extra turn spell of choice because I want to be able to buy it back once or twice. The reason I play an extra turn spell at all is because often I can storm off, fill the board with sphinxes, but not kill anyone, so i need the extra turn to turn the air force sideways and occasionally I'll need a second extra turn to get the last opponent dead as well.
The deck looks really interesting.
I've been considering building a Yuriko deck, but I wouldn't make it quite as cut-throat. I do like the idea of topdeck manipulation with her though.
A question: How useful is Mothdust Changeling? Yes, it triggers Yuriko, but it seems otherwise unimpressive vs. another actual ninja.
I haven't tried them, but honestly, I'm just not interested in them. The upside of my creatures being Sphinxes is that they all have reasonable flying bodies, and with Unesh out, 4 CMC Sphinxes only cost 2 anyway, so the value of a naturally cheap changeling isn't really worth it. The deck really isn't that interested in more 1-cost sphinxes.
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
Oh it's absolutely on the list for cards to go in the deck. I don't change my lists until I have the cards in hand, though, so it's not there yet.
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
High Tide is already in the deck. (I play the IDW/Dack version, fwiw.)
I agree that the deck could use some more islands. Rogue's Passage and Halimar Depths always seem to underperform, so they're likely due for a cut.
Reliquary Tower is needed in the deck because there's often a turn or two of setup before the storm turn, and you don't want to have to ditch any cards before then, especially if you know you'll be operating on the Mind over Matter plan.
I'm not interested in effects like Daze/Force of Will/Pact of Negation because I'm generally not a fan of them in Commander in general and I also don't want to make my decks too hard to interact with. I would rather have my combo disrupted once in a while in the name of more interactive Magic than play a truly tightly tuned build with no room for escape. It's just a philosophy thing for me.
As for Submerge/Engulf the Shore, I just don't have room for these sorts of effects in the deck and would rather just play similar effects on Sphinxes (Riddlemaster / Dream Eater). The same goes for cheap cantrips, which I just don't have the space for. I would much rather have a slower start with a better combo turn than to be drawing these cards late game. Besides, sphinxes give me all the card draw I could want.
Walk the Aeons is the extra turn spell of choice because I want to be able to buy it back once or twice. The reason I play an extra turn spell at all is because often I can storm off, fill the board with sphinxes, but not kill anyone, so i need the extra turn to turn the air force sideways and occasionally I'll need a second extra turn to get the last opponent dead as well.
Thanks for the feedback so far, everyone!
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB
I've been considering building a Yuriko deck, but I wouldn't make it quite as cut-throat. I do like the idea of topdeck manipulation with her though.
A question: How useful is Mothdust Changeling? Yes, it triggers Yuriko, but it seems otherwise unimpressive vs. another actual ninja.
magicjudge.tumblr.com
GWU Angus Mackenzie's Fog of War GWU / B Sheoldred's Sleepless Cemetery B / R Ashling's Purifying Pilgrimage R
U Unesh's Sphinx Storm U / R Ib's Goblins: What It Says On The Tin R / UR Okaun & Zndrsplt Flip Out UR
Oathbreaker: UB Ashiok's Persistent Nightmare UB