MTG Salvation

Hi all,

I'm currently building a Talrand, Sky Summoner deck. Naturally, I'm interested in draw spells, and the more efficient the better.

What do you think of spells like Reach Through Mists? Is it worth running? Or should I cut it in favour of cards like Quicken, or Fleeting Distraction?

Cards that are just 1cmc draw a card with no other relevant things kind of stink. There are far too many good 1cmc draw spells, let alone 2cmc spells, to run things like that. Typically, most 1cmc draw spells should at least give you information along with your card draw, even if the info is just knowing what card is on the bottom of your library. Cards that give a -x/-0 or twiddle and a draw should really be avoided.

EDIT: I do love me some quicken though and I feel that it's effect is good enough to run if your sorcery count is high enough. I'd say if you're running half as many sorceries as you are instants, then quicken could be really useful.

Brainstorm, ponder, Sleight of Hand come to mind as cheap card draw/deck manipulation

Quote from Lord_of_Runes »

Brainstorm, ponder, Sleight of Hand come to mind as cheap card draw/deck manipulation

In addition: Serum Visions, Preordain, Opt and Peek

I actually like Visions of Beyond in talrand. You yourself speeds through cantrips and there's often atleast one graveyard-centric deck.

My most recent Talrand list had Brainstorm, Ponder, Preordain, Opt, Serum Visions, Gitaxian Probe, Whispers of the Muse, Quicken, Visions of Beyond, and Treasure Cruise.

Reach Through Mists is so astronomically far from making the cut it's ridiculous.

Tbh the only 1-mana draw spell that's typically worth playing in EDH is Mystic Remora; unfortunately, that doesn't help Talrand. If you do want some, I'd go with those that have significant EDH utility - Quicken comes to mind, as does Peek if you want to check for/protect a combo. Lower-impact stuff like Serum Visions or even Ponder would seem to be stretches.

I don't know why I shouldn't play those "low impact" 1 mana spells in talrand. They let me play 33 islands in a talrand deck. They are not a stretch as I wouldn't be wasting my mana durdling until turn 2 or 3, when I could play my talrand. And late game they're 2/2 drakes cheap. Without losing a card.

Yeah, but late game you should have access to things that are more easily repeated, like capsize. Tack on any of the scry enablers like Prescient Chimera of Jace's Sanctum and you should be good to go.

Quote from grimafacia »

I don't know why I shouldn't play those "low impact" 1 mana spells in talrand. They let me play 33 islands in a talrand deck. They are not a stretch as I wouldn't be wasting my mana durdling until turn 2 or 3, when I could play my talrand. And late game they're 2/2 drakes cheap. Without losing a card.

It's a matter of there already being so many good cards to run that you really shouldn't even have the room for cards like Fleeting Distraction and Reach Through Mists that don't actually do anything. You can't guarantee that Talrand will be out all the time and running bad draw spells for the sake of believing the opposite will give you issues.

I ran talrand at one point and the main thing that I noticed was that 1 card for 1 card draw spells really weren't enough. Cards like Brainstorm that draw you new cards while using old ones to set up draws aren't bad, but the more cards like Visions of Beyond and Treasure Cruise that net you extra cards the better.

If anything later in the game those 1 mana spells will transform into Gush Frantic Search Snap Ensnare Time Spiral free spells that also make drakes.

I would suggest looking into some buyback cards, capsize is a great card to begin with. Now that it also makes a 2/2 flyer at instant speed, it's outstanding. The others can be used just as well.

Don't forget about Ponder's less-known, slightly worse cousin: Portent! Careful Study is also worth consideration.

There's also Gitaxian Probe.

The only reason to run Reach Through Mists is if you are also running Sift Through Sands and Peer Through Depths in order to get The Unspeakable out of your library at instant speed. And in EDH I don't know if that is worth it. (Though in UR Firemind's Foresight can grab all 3 of the required instants.)

On it's own Peer might be worth it though because it allows you to dig 5 deep for an instant or sorcery so you have a lower chance of wiffing on your chain.

Quote from jpw234 »

Tbh the only 1-mana draw spell that's typically worth playing in EDH is Mystic Remora; unfortunately, that doesn't help Talrand. If you do want some, I'd go with those that have significant EDH utility - Quicken comes to mind, as does Peek if you want to check for/protect a combo. Lower-impact stuff like Serum Visions or even Ponder would seem to be stretches.

This is so brutally inaccurate. Many if not most high level blue decks run a fair amount of the one mana cantrips that manipulate the deck. They are extremely efficient cards that help make 100 card decks a lot more consistent. In Talrand these spells become even better because they also produce drakes in addition to filtering through your deck for the cards you need.

AzureShadow pretty much hit the nail on the head as to which spells should be considered not only for Talrand but for any blue deck seeking consistency.

I forgot about Mystic Speculation, I played that too. Doesn't actually draw, but it sets you up nicely and churns out tons of cheap drakes in the mid-lategame.

I assume you play all available mana doublers, yes? Those are great in Talrand or really any mono-color list.

Oh, if you're playing Brainstorm, cards like that are even better with our favorite Thought Reflection/Alhammarret's Archive.

I like Mystic Speculation. It doesn't draw, but you'll find buyback in general very useful with Talrand.

Quote from ProfessorWhen »

Don't forget about Ponder's less-known, slightly worse cousin: Portent!

It's not 1-cmc, but, obligatory Omen mention, here.

IMO, the drakes in Talrand decks should be an incidental benefit, not necessarily the goal of the deck. This is to say, don’t necessarily run spells just to trigger Talrand.
Also, 1CMC cantrips are very relevant in decks that take advantage of them, like Arjun, Mizzix, or Niv Mizzet. Talrand does take advantage of them slightly, but the reality is that a 2/2 body has a relatively low impact in a 40 life, Multiplayer format. Reach through Mists honestly doesn’t dig deep into the deck, compared to Serum Vision or Brainstorm, the latter being reprinted many times over in the past few years.

Ultimately, what I’m saying is all of your cards need to make an impact on the board and a 2/2 flying that replaces itself isn’t impactful enough. Run more recursion, big spells that win the game, and repeatable effects, instead of 2/2 bodies that disappear when the board gets wiped. Like I said, 1CMC cantrips can be good, but keep in mind what you are getting when you decide to run them in your deck.

Quote from Monkey222 »

Hi all,

I'm currently building a Talrand, Sky Summoner deck. Naturally, I'm interested in draw spells, and the more efficient the better.

What do you think of spells like Reach Through Mists? Is it worth running? Or should I cut it in favour of cards like Quicken, or Fleeting Distraction?

I think quicken is borderline playable just as a "draw a card" effect. Reach is just a strictly worse version of quicken. Fleeting Distraction is bad. You can't always cast it.

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