Responses make sense. Tornado seems like it could be good with the untap effects especially. Pretty savage if it goes off. I'm iffy on whether it's better than a straight up stronger card independently but I guess getting muse is pretty easy.
The nice thing about Genesis vs. other recursion effects is his effect can't be countered and it's quite difficult to interact with in general.
Ancient Tomb is absolutely clutch with a 2G mana cost commander you want to run out asap most of the time. Makes a lot of hands keepable that would not otherwise be.
I might also consider Ulvenwald Hydra as a land tutor that block - feel like it's probably better than Reap and Sow most of the time.
Interesting stuff. Quick note, Myth unbound is spelled wrong in the decklist
So it appears to me that this deck is a bit light on card advantage for a control deck, even with some CA in the command zone. Obviously it's in green's color pie but the actual card advantage is very focused on the yard, which is very vulnerable. Makes me want to consider some more sources of CA that don't require the yard, things like Harmonize.
And a lot of the control effects seem hard to find (lots of instants/sorceries/enchantments) - vs. playing more creature and land control effects, which seem more easy to exploit with green's ability to find them.
There is a bit of a lands subtheme for sure, with glacial chasm, maze, and such, but I think I would go heavier on this and lighter on stuff that is harder to find and lower impact.
Some specific cut/adds and cards I would consider:
* collecter ouphe or bane of progress for Titania's song
* Chord of Calling for anything; the ability to get a creature at instant speed is vital, even if it costs
* consider playing sakura-tribe scout effects as additional ways to get some extra land drops early, and also wayward swordtooth - these are likely better than summer bloom and the instant speed one at least also creates some sick plays like playing Glacial Chasm as an instant. It's tough because they are functional card disadvantage but at the very least I think Sakura-tribe scout is a clear upgrade for Summer Bloom most of the time.
* I am iffy on the other two enchantment control cards - cyclone and tornado. My instinct is to say that they are probably worse than other options but I really don't know.
* I have never really liked oblivion ring effects in EDH. I would really strongly consider cutting Song of the Dryads for really almost anything else good. I get that it gets rid of problem commanders but I think Pithing Needle or Phyrexian Revoker may do more work overall and be less prone to being card disadvantage when removed.
* Genesis would probably do a lot of work in this deck at the pace it's looking to play.
But honestly I will cop to not having a complete understanding of this deck. I really like the fog spam effects and the lands subtheme. It's really hard to find a complete control deck in green.
Oh, something I forgot but wanted to add is I would consider Ohran Viper. That was always really fun for me in greenish control decks. Great blocker, draws tons of cards if left alone.
OHHH
Props on Ifh Biff. I had an Emperor Specific deck that was WG Spirit Link + Ifh-Biff Efreet back in 1993 or so, and it was always a frigging house. Man I loved that card. I might ahve to see if I can pick one up overseas or something Still love that art too.
My first instinct was to say "noooo" to the depths combo since it's historically been so bad for me, but I haven't ever had a depths deck quite as controlling as this. My suspicion is that by the time you're ready to start dropping depths you will have Loam online and you'll likely have ground your opponents out of resources, so Depths could wind up being an efficient finisher for you. I'll bookmark your thread so I can hear how it all goes
GSZ/Arbor are both way underplayed in EDH. Holdover from people being afraid their lands were gonna get popped.
I have built decks that just want to cultivate and play a couple signets or something, but for the most part if I'm in green I want that combination of a flexible non-telegraphing tutor that also ramps.
The non-telegraphing nature is really deceptively powerful as well. When it resolves the creature is on the battlefield, and your opponents do not receive priority. Sometimes this can mean you put the combo on the board with no real window for them to do anything if they don't know you're going for it (e.g. you GSZ for Jarad with Lord of Extinction on the battlefield, there is nothing they can do).
And if they pop Jarad or Lord in response to GSZ, you just make a different choice (get Skullwinder, for example).
If this deck wanted an extra land drop effect it'd probably want Exploration since it can power out the early stuff. It's really so low to the ground that 3 mana ramp spells are are super out of place.
If it wants any ramp at all it probably wants it on turn 1 or 2 before it starts casting more businessy spells - I am about 100% that it wants green sun's zenith and dryad arbor though. Arbor does a crapload of work in the deck, turning Crucible into a murder machine. And getting to 3 early is pretty good.
Edit: a few responses to responses from OP
* I think you would probably like Varolz more than you think. His regenerate ability has always been great for me in sac decks, combined with his ability to be tutored with GSZ (which is incredibly flexible in this deck). he does a heck of a lot in this type of deck for 3 mana. Only playable with GSZ though.
* I would not think of Entomb as a single use tutor in this deck. It's a card that starts your engine. You would really like to start every game with a dredger in the yard and once you have one you can basically repeatedly tutor. That is how I think of Entomb in the Gitrog Monster. Entomb is a tutor for a dredge piece that lets you zip through your library, so it's "functionally" reusable.
* Wickerbough Elder is the bridge creature you're looking for. Costs one extra green but it's also grotesque w Yawgmoth. and as a bonus it beats torpor orb.
This deck is like a who's who of golgari goodstuff.
Savra is basically Grave Pact in the command zone in this deck and I think that's probably the most BG rock midrange thing you can play in the command zone short of Deathrite or Pernicious Deed.
There's a lot of overlap conceptually with the previous deck (karador) we reviewed so some of what I have to say will probably overlap:
* Green Sun's Zenith plus Varolz, the Scar Striped plus Dryad Arbor would be a pretty solid set of changes that would improve consistency and functionally give you +2 sac outlets. I think Varolz's ability actually coincides with the gameplan even more than Karador, since you're probably fine to go ahead and eat some of your own dudes to make a 15/15 or something.
* Any deck that plays Genesis and Life from the Loam should consider playing entomb, and only not be playing it for a very good reason (e.g. desire to minimize tutors). As a side note, I think this deck would benefit from buried Alive enough to play it -- the combination of getting 3 dredge pieces, or genesis + plaguecrafter + etc. is very good. If it were my deck I most likely would just play Entomb.
* I'm not sure Yawgmoth, Thran Physician has enough support. I might be missing something. Maybe he's strong enough on his own too.
* I am not sure I would play Ostone in this deck. It's absolutely fine but it's not particularly strong. This feels like a deck where you can get by with just ench/artifact sweepers and then beat their planeswalkers to death, but I might be wrong.
* The lands matter package overall feels a little constrained in this deck. Like you'd maybe want to have a few more extra land drop effects or something - burgeoning, exploration type stuff, but there's not a lot of room for them. I don't know have any actual advice there just a comment.
* This is actually a weird deck that I think might benefit from *more* non-sweeper removal for enchantments and artifacts especially. Maybe like Pir's whim or Broken Bond or something? Whim has been exceptional for me so far. The way this deck looks to play out it feels like your edict spam will keep creatures in check. I could see going down a sweeper or two and up on stuff like Acidic Slime or Thrashing Brontodon.
Speaking of Brontodon, I think it is really a clutch card in this deck. triggers edicts, doesn't require a sac outlet to reuse with Volrath's + genesis, and has a more respectable body than rec sage. It has been reallllly good in my gitrog deck. I have made more than one person scoop to Volrath's+Brontodon. Build your own really crappy aura shards
Hope some of that helps. I really like the deck and have played a number of iterations with a lot of similar cards (including skullbriar and gitrog).
It's pretty easy to start down the slippery slope to tutor town so I applaud you for thinking on that.
That said, GSZ is so stellar in creature decks it's usually my #1 - it ramps, it fetches answers, etc. You don't need to add eladamri's call, chord of calling, eldritch evolution, etc.
The way EDH has started going these days you really need multiple ways to find answers, unfortunately. Wizards printing bombs very aggressively especially in the enchantment, creature, and artifact slots. So I think having a few somewhat narrow tutors is fine.
Playing GSZ, Pod, Survival and Hulk is very reasonable IMHO, especially in an animate dead deck where the secondary action of pod/survival/hulk is part of your gameplan (putting stuff in the graveyard).
When you start going +eladamri's call, +chord of calling, +eldritch evolution, is when I think stuff gets out of hand samey.
The other sac outlet I think you might get some mileage out of is Varolz, the scar-striped. As far as I know he's the only zenithable open sac outlet with any upside, and he has quite a bit of upside. And having your outlet be zenithable is a huge upside on its own.
I'd also probably play GSZ. It's crazy good, esp. with Ouphe now an option.
Something I noticed about playing Spore Frog in gitrog is that the players would team up to make it not work once you got the "lock" in. Spike weaver is much stronger stronghold/karador material against players who will team up on you.
I had stuff like people shooting my frog with a sword of fire and ice someone else let get through happen. Weaver can ***** that off simply by fogging the sword, or being a 3/3, or whatever. Weaver surviving Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is another corner case that has come up for me with Gitrog. I don't really play either anymore since I started jamming a bit more removal, but I definitely did not enjoy Spore Frog as much as I thought.
I also quite like the deck and most of WizardMN's builds - the sensitivities are fairly similar to mine and I think it's in general a good way to play commander. I think I've provided most of my feedback in the thread already, but I will chime in again re: life from the Loam --
IMHO, this card is a durdlefest if you aren't looking to make a crapload of landrops using extra drop cards like Exploration and Azusa, Lost but Seeking. I generally would not bother with it unless you have at least 8-10 cards that benefit from it, which he this build does not - no cycling lands, no exploration azusa wayward swordtooth etc.
The deck is more focused on ramping with ETB and sac creatures, which is justifiable in Karador, so I think Loam is pretty much just a "hit your land drops" card, in which case it's fairly mediocre and also quite mana intensive.
I think the deck basically has room for one derpy combo enabler at least for me and that's Blasting station right now but it could easily be curio again. Curio's issue mosty is the same as skullclamp, it entices you to derp around and not build your board state, but it is *so dang good* at winning the game from a few positions. I am not really sure station is correct.
Phyrexian Metamorph can be tutored for with enlightened tutor and costs less, that's really the main reason for it - just hardcore efficiency. I'm honestly not sure if it's better or worse than Spark Double or clever impersonator or even stunt double. I think any of those would be fine.
I could never quite figure out what to cut for Thalia -- I own a playset of the promos and a normal foil set aside for when I can make up my mind or the meta is right. I will say making lands enter tapped is frigging savage. I've been on the receiving end a few times.
Boreas charger is kind of in a slot I have dubbed the "Experimental big mana slot" - used to be As Foretold. It is nice to have a card that can really catch you up on mana in a hurry (and blinking charger 3-4 times can really get you there, and also thin the heck out of your deck). That said, I still have never drawn it despite it being in for a while I expect it will be quite a bit better with Soulherder.
silver Myr oddly enough has always been great for me. Having too many mana creatures is pretty bad, but just having one keeps the creature density high enough while also keeping the critical # of turn 3 Ephara enablers. I tried having both myrs for a while and I tended to draw them too often and rely on them. It is distinctly possible that this card is worse than say Ponder or even Chrome Mox or Fellwar Stone. I think I could be convinced on that, but so far I think going below 30 creatures and 10 Turn 2 ephara enablers is probably wrong. So it's possible I could afford to shave it for something else - since adding Wayfarer and Ancient Tomb and Mana crypt it changed the numbers
Supreme Verdict is more about coming from behind than ahead. The can't be countered clause is the big driver. The deck doesn't play enough countermagic to be able to fight stack wars, so being uncounterable is relevant. I think it's debatable depending on a meta for sure.
A thing to note about sweepers though is that it can sometimes be right to just sweep while you're ahead because the deck rebuilds better than most. The whole Reveillark nonsense gets really oppressive sometimes. I've had games where I have like: Lark, Karmic Guide, Phantasmal Image, Metamorph out, and what do you even do there? I wind up with 2 reveillarks, 2 guides, and 2 other creatures from my bin after I sweep.
For the record, turn 3 ephara enablers are (mostly):
Hmmm, this deck looks super tight for the most part but here are my unfiltered comments:
My inclination is mostly to futz with the manabase a little; it seems somewhat untuned with 7 of each basic despite being fairly slanted toward blue, and also playing stuff like Marble Medallion again when you're slanted toward blue a bit. I could see shaving 2-3 Plains and adding the new Prismatic Vista and maybe replacing the other one with Brainstorm since 39 lands seems somewhat high with all the ramp, sad robot, and a significant number of draw effects.
I am not a really huge fan of Dreamstone Hedron either as it's rather expensive for what it does - Thran Dynamo seems it should come first.
I'd really consider playing an Expedition Map in this deck as well, as you've got quite a lot going on from a land perspective.
Generally I think Platinum Angel is a better emperion effect in EDH given the number of things that can kill you outside of life totals (e.g. infect, decking, lose the game effects). But it's really a YMMV thing. Going negative and then having it removed is bad too with Angel. The Gideon with the emblem might be an even better choice for that effect.
I think this deck could really benefit from a Stonecloaker, which can protect Raff or your dudes, and also serves as some graveyard hate hich you are rather light on.
While it doesn't have flash, I think you could get a lot of mileage out of a Trophy Mage (with o stone and crystal shard as great targets and that mirror thingy).
Academy Ruins also seems like it would be a better use of a utility land slot than reliquary tower to me given your volume of artifacts.
The nice thing about Genesis vs. other recursion effects is his effect can't be countered and it's quite difficult to interact with in general.
If it were me building this I think I would go up two lands to 40 and add Blighted Woodland and Ancient Tomb. Maybe Vesuva for Blasted Landscape which I think is a bit excessive.
Ancient Tomb is absolutely clutch with a 2G mana cost commander you want to run out asap most of the time. Makes a lot of hands keepable that would not otherwise be.
I might also consider Ulvenwald Hydra as a land tutor that block - feel like it's probably better than Reap and Sow most of the time.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
So it appears to me that this deck is a bit light on card advantage for a control deck, even with some CA in the command zone. Obviously it's in green's color pie but the actual card advantage is very focused on the yard, which is very vulnerable. Makes me want to consider some more sources of CA that don't require the yard, things like Harmonize.
And a lot of the control effects seem hard to find (lots of instants/sorceries/enchantments) - vs. playing more creature and land control effects, which seem more easy to exploit with green's ability to find them.
There is a bit of a lands subtheme for sure, with glacial chasm, maze, and such, but I think I would go heavier on this and lighter on stuff that is harder to find and lower impact.
Some specific cut/adds and cards I would consider:
* collecter ouphe or bane of progress for Titania's song
* Chord of Calling for anything; the ability to get a creature at instant speed is vital, even if it costs
* consider playing sakura-tribe scout effects as additional ways to get some extra land drops early, and also wayward swordtooth - these are likely better than summer bloom and the instant speed one at least also creates some sick plays like playing Glacial Chasm as an instant. It's tough because they are functional card disadvantage but at the very least I think Sakura-tribe scout is a clear upgrade for Summer Bloom most of the time.
* I am iffy on the other two enchantment control cards - cyclone and tornado. My instinct is to say that they are probably worse than other options but I really don't know.
* I have never really liked oblivion ring effects in EDH. I would really strongly consider cutting Song of the Dryads for really almost anything else good. I get that it gets rid of problem commanders but I think Pithing Needle or Phyrexian Revoker may do more work overall and be less prone to being card disadvantage when removed.
* Genesis would probably do a lot of work in this deck at the pace it's looking to play.
But honestly I will cop to not having a complete understanding of this deck. I really like the fog spam effects and the lands subtheme. It's really hard to find a complete control deck in green.
Oh, something I forgot but wanted to add is I would consider Ohran Viper. That was always really fun for me in greenish control decks. Great blocker, draws tons of cards if left alone.
OHHH
Props on Ifh Biff. I had an Emperor Specific deck that was WG Spirit Link + Ifh-Biff Efreet back in 1993 or so, and it was always a frigging house. Man I loved that card. I might ahve to see if I can pick one up overseas or something Still love that art too.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I have built decks that just want to cultivate and play a couple signets or something, but for the most part if I'm in green I want that combination of a flexible non-telegraphing tutor that also ramps.
The non-telegraphing nature is really deceptively powerful as well. When it resolves the creature is on the battlefield, and your opponents do not receive priority. Sometimes this can mean you put the combo on the board with no real window for them to do anything if they don't know you're going for it (e.g. you GSZ for Jarad with Lord of Extinction on the battlefield, there is nothing they can do).
And if they pop Jarad or Lord in response to GSZ, you just make a different choice (get Skullwinder, for example).
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
If it wants any ramp at all it probably wants it on turn 1 or 2 before it starts casting more businessy spells - I am about 100% that it wants green sun's zenith and dryad arbor though. Arbor does a crapload of work in the deck, turning Crucible into a murder machine. And getting to 3 early is pretty good.
Edit: a few responses to responses from OP
* I think you would probably like Varolz more than you think. His regenerate ability has always been great for me in sac decks, combined with his ability to be tutored with GSZ (which is incredibly flexible in this deck). he does a heck of a lot in this type of deck for 3 mana. Only playable with GSZ though.
* I would not think of Entomb as a single use tutor in this deck. It's a card that starts your engine. You would really like to start every game with a dredger in the yard and once you have one you can basically repeatedly tutor. That is how I think of Entomb in the Gitrog Monster. Entomb is a tutor for a dredge piece that lets you zip through your library, so it's "functionally" reusable.
* Wickerbough Elder is the bridge creature you're looking for. Costs one extra green but it's also grotesque w Yawgmoth. and as a bonus it beats torpor orb.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Savra is basically Grave Pact in the command zone in this deck and I think that's probably the most BG rock midrange thing you can play in the command zone short of Deathrite or Pernicious Deed.
There's a lot of overlap conceptually with the previous deck (karador) we reviewed so some of what I have to say will probably overlap:
* Green Sun's Zenith plus Varolz, the Scar Striped plus Dryad Arbor would be a pretty solid set of changes that would improve consistency and functionally give you +2 sac outlets. I think Varolz's ability actually coincides with the gameplan even more than Karador, since you're probably fine to go ahead and eat some of your own dudes to make a 15/15 or something.
* Any deck that plays Genesis and Life from the Loam should consider playing entomb, and only not be playing it for a very good reason (e.g. desire to minimize tutors). As a side note, I think this deck would benefit from buried Alive enough to play it -- the combination of getting 3 dredge pieces, or genesis + plaguecrafter + etc. is very good. If it were my deck I most likely would just play Entomb.
* I'm not sure Yawgmoth, Thran Physician has enough support. I might be missing something. Maybe he's strong enough on his own too.
* I am not sure I would play Ostone in this deck. It's absolutely fine but it's not particularly strong. This feels like a deck where you can get by with just ench/artifact sweepers and then beat their planeswalkers to death, but I might be wrong.
* The lands matter package overall feels a little constrained in this deck. Like you'd maybe want to have a few more extra land drop effects or something - burgeoning, exploration type stuff, but there's not a lot of room for them. I don't know have any actual advice there just a comment.
* This is actually a weird deck that I think might benefit from *more* non-sweeper removal for enchantments and artifacts especially. Maybe like Pir's whim or Broken Bond or something? Whim has been exceptional for me so far. The way this deck looks to play out it feels like your edict spam will keep creatures in check. I could see going down a sweeper or two and up on stuff like Acidic Slime or Thrashing Brontodon.
Speaking of Brontodon, I think it is really a clutch card in this deck. triggers edicts, doesn't require a sac outlet to reuse with Volrath's + genesis, and has a more respectable body than rec sage. It has been reallllly good in my gitrog deck. I have made more than one person scoop to Volrath's+Brontodon. Build your own really crappy aura shards
Hope some of that helps. I really like the deck and have played a number of iterations with a lot of similar cards (including skullbriar and gitrog).
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
That said, GSZ is so stellar in creature decks it's usually my #1 - it ramps, it fetches answers, etc. You don't need to add eladamri's call, chord of calling, eldritch evolution, etc.
The way EDH has started going these days you really need multiple ways to find answers, unfortunately. Wizards printing bombs very aggressively especially in the enchantment, creature, and artifact slots. So I think having a few somewhat narrow tutors is fine.
Playing GSZ, Pod, Survival and Hulk is very reasonable IMHO, especially in an animate dead deck where the secondary action of pod/survival/hulk is part of your gameplan (putting stuff in the graveyard).
When you start going +eladamri's call, +chord of calling, +eldritch evolution, is when I think stuff gets out of hand samey.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
The other sac outlet I think you might get some mileage out of is Varolz, the scar-striped. As far as I know he's the only zenithable open sac outlet with any upside, and he has quite a bit of upside. And having your outlet be zenithable is a huge upside on its own.
I'd also probably play GSZ. It's crazy good, esp. with Ouphe now an option.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I had stuff like people shooting my frog with a sword of fire and ice someone else let get through happen. Weaver can ***** that off simply by fogging the sword, or being a 3/3, or whatever. Weaver surviving Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is another corner case that has come up for me with Gitrog. I don't really play either anymore since I started jamming a bit more removal, but I definitely did not enjoy Spore Frog as much as I thought.
I also quite like the deck and most of WizardMN's builds - the sensitivities are fairly similar to mine and I think it's in general a good way to play commander. I think I've provided most of my feedback in the thread already, but I will chime in again re: life from the Loam --
IMHO, this card is a durdlefest if you aren't looking to make a crapload of landrops using extra drop cards like Exploration and Azusa, Lost but Seeking. I generally would not bother with it unless you have at least 8-10 cards that benefit from it, which he this build does not - no cycling lands, no exploration azusa wayward swordtooth etc.
The deck is more focused on ramping with ETB and sac creatures, which is justifiable in Karador, so I think Loam is pretty much just a "hit your land drops" card, in which case it's fairly mediocre and also quite mana intensive.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I think the deck basically has room for one derpy combo enabler at least for me and that's Blasting station right now but it could easily be curio again. Curio's issue mosty is the same as skullclamp, it entices you to derp around and not build your board state, but it is *so dang good* at winning the game from a few positions. I am not really sure station is correct.
Phyrexian Metamorph can be tutored for with enlightened tutor and costs less, that's really the main reason for it - just hardcore efficiency. I'm honestly not sure if it's better or worse than Spark Double or clever impersonator or even stunt double. I think any of those would be fine.
I could never quite figure out what to cut for Thalia -- I own a playset of the promos and a normal foil set aside for when I can make up my mind or the meta is right. I will say making lands enter tapped is frigging savage. I've been on the receiving end a few times.
Boreas charger is kind of in a slot I have dubbed the "Experimental big mana slot" - used to be As Foretold. It is nice to have a card that can really catch you up on mana in a hurry (and blinking charger 3-4 times can really get you there, and also thin the heck out of your deck). That said, I still have never drawn it despite it being in for a while I expect it will be quite a bit better with Soulherder.
silver Myr oddly enough has always been great for me. Having too many mana creatures is pretty bad, but just having one keeps the creature density high enough while also keeping the critical # of turn 3 Ephara enablers. I tried having both myrs for a while and I tended to draw them too often and rely on them. It is distinctly possible that this card is worse than say Ponder or even Chrome Mox or Fellwar Stone. I think I could be convinced on that, but so far I think going below 30 creatures and 10 Turn 2 ephara enablers is probably wrong. So it's possible I could afford to shave it for something else - since adding Wayfarer and Ancient Tomb and Mana crypt it changed the numbers
Supreme Verdict is more about coming from behind than ahead. The can't be countered clause is the big driver. The deck doesn't play enough countermagic to be able to fight stack wars, so being uncounterable is relevant. I think it's debatable depending on a meta for sure.
A thing to note about sweepers though is that it can sometimes be right to just sweep while you're ahead because the deck rebuilds better than most. The whole Reveillark nonsense gets really oppressive sometimes. I've had games where I have like: Lark, Karmic Guide, Phantasmal Image, Metamorph out, and what do you even do there? I wind up with 2 reveillarks, 2 guides, and 2 other creatures from my bin after I sweep.
For the record, turn 3 ephara enablers are (mostly):
Also I attached some pics of the pages of my binder reserved for currently on my mind ephara nonsense
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
From the new set, and would love especially to hear unbiased outside thoughts on that
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
My inclination is mostly to futz with the manabase a little; it seems somewhat untuned with 7 of each basic despite being fairly slanted toward blue, and also playing stuff like Marble Medallion again when you're slanted toward blue a bit. I could see shaving 2-3 Plains and adding the new Prismatic Vista and maybe replacing the other one with Brainstorm since 39 lands seems somewhat high with all the ramp, sad robot, and a significant number of draw effects.
I am not a really huge fan of Dreamstone Hedron either as it's rather expensive for what it does - Thran Dynamo seems it should come first.
I'd really consider playing an Expedition Map in this deck as well, as you've got quite a lot going on from a land perspective.
Generally I think Platinum Angel is a better emperion effect in EDH given the number of things that can kill you outside of life totals (e.g. infect, decking, lose the game effects). But it's really a YMMV thing. Going negative and then having it removed is bad too with Angel. The Gideon with the emblem might be an even better choice for that effect.
I think this deck could really benefit from a Stonecloaker, which can protect Raff or your dudes, and also serves as some graveyard hate hich you are rather light on.
While it doesn't have flash, I think you could get a lot of mileage out of a Trophy Mage (with o stone and crystal shard as great targets and that mirror thingy).
Academy Ruins also seems like it would be a better use of a utility land slot than reliquary tower to me given your volume of artifacts.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall