Nothing really new to report. My list isn't exactly what I'm running but it's very close, I know I have Darksteel Sentinal in there right now but I'm not sure if he's going to be permanent or not yet. The only card I'm really considering is Visions of Beyond as it could be a great Isochron Scepter target and at worst it cycles but I haven't tried it out yet. Runechanter's Pike was another fairly recent release that I passed on as well since it gets wrecked by graveyard hate and my own Elixir of Immortality.
Hey i gotta couple questions about the scepter! Do you find yourself tutoring for it often? And do you wait until you have counter back-up to drop it? Also you got any cool stories, like what the best thing you've had imprinted on it? I used to play a casual vintage u/b tog deck that ran scepter and il always remember the game where i had a Mana Drain on one and a Diabolic Edict on the other, i love the card! I'd like to play it again but the possibility of being 2-for'1d scares me enough not to play it. Thanks for the decklist, Im an avid u/b Dimir player and i think il give Wydwen a shot one of these days.
Well I usually don't cast anything without counter mana up (whether I have one or not) but I don't necessarily wait until I also have a counter. If you imprint a counter you shouldn't get 2 for 1'd since Scepter can protect itself. This deck also has excellent card advantage so suffering the occasional 2 for 1 isn't a big deal. As for tutoring for it that's pretty rare. My toolbox is mostly instant based so most of my tutors are focused on those. The ones that aren't usually fetch out either disruption or win conditions and Isochron Scepter is much less likely to win me a game than say Vedalken Shackles, some equipment, Sunder or Hatred. That said Scepter has been excellent so far. I haven't really lived the dream and gotten Mana Drain on it but even with just a lowly Counterspell it's a really strong effect that I'm happy to have in the deck.
What are your thoughts on Runechanter's Pike? I was looking to update my Wydwen list and sort of started eyeing it a bit. It looks potentially good for Wydwen but it does have some dependance on graveyards... still it is a big buff potentially for this list.
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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.
What are your thoughts on Runechanter's Pike? I was looking to update my Wydwen list and sort of started eyeing it a bit. It looks potentially good for Wydwen but it does have some dependance on graveyards... still it is a big buff potentially for this list.
I think it would be pretty good. In my meta not many people care about counterspells that are in the graveyard compared to giant creatures. Flashing Wydwen in and making her a first strike flyer that's probably getting at least a +5 seems good, plus the pike is really cheap.
I thought about it a lot actually. First strike + power boost is really useful for defense and makes guys like Trinket Mage really solid at blocking. With 9 instants/sorceries it makes Inkmoth Nexus lethal in 1 hit and with just 4 Wydwen is a 3 turn clock. It's also cheap to cast and equip. The downside of course is reliance on your graveyard staying relatively full for it to be useful. It may very well be better than Strata Scythe in that 5th equipment slot but I just haven't tested it out yet.
I played Voidmage Husher for a long while but it looks like he finally got cut in June of 2010 because he just wasn't pulling his weight anymore. 2-3 years ago the format was significantly slower for most EDH players than it is now and creature creep was just beginning so a 4 mana recurring Stifle on a stick was more appealing but these days Husher is just too expensive for what it does. I'd much rather just run Stifle which is cheaper and more accessible for this deck. I'm assuming the Venser and Riptide Laboratory suggestions weren't aimed at me but I can vouch for both of these cards being awesome.
I was contemplating dusting off my Wydwen and trying something slightly different.
Probably some of the big changes is that I have a few really big expensive counterspells which is in part because my meta for some reason is really hit and miss on their counterspells. Some of the blue decks pack like 0-1 counter and some pack 6-9 but most of them run like none so I thought it would be fun to hijack some effects. Gather Specimens in particular could hijack an infinite chancelor setup that I have seen executed a few times now. I also really detest Rite of Replication so I thought it would be fun to just steal all copies.
I have a little more pillowfort to the list as well as I was having problems having people leave me alone without haveing something in play. The threat of spot removal isnt much of a deterrent where I am from so I had to put some pillowforting in.
Notion Thief seems like he could be really cool as well. Combined with Reins of Power we can donate him off in response to card draw in the case of a Consecrated Sphinx and essentially kill whoever we want with this. Even outside of killing someone it seems like in this list it should be easy to surprise someone and steal their draw with the theif and we have plenty of counters and spot removal to drop the thief to if we need to.
From what I know about your meta I think you're going in the right direction. I especially like the addition of Baleful Strix which you can reuse with Academy Ruins while still being able to draw and of course it can pick up some equipment and beat down if needed. The expensive counterspells support your strategy well by not just stopping your opponents from building up their board but building up your board in the process. I get in far too many counterspell battles in my meta (one of the reasons I despise Rewind) to use the more expensive options but they seem like a good fit. I wonder how effective using something like Merchant Scroll to tutor up Gather Specimens or Spelljack would be. Sure they know you have them but you can just sit on them and scare people out of playing their bombs.
I'd strongly recommend adding in Inkmoth Nexus to give you a less painful way to kill with Hatred. It can also deter the occasional attacker and pick up equipment if needed. Unfortunately this would lead me to want to change a couple other cards which would probably end up with me wanting to change more stuff. I'd say it's still good enough in your list with less support but either way I like the direction you've gone with this and the loss of Inkmoth Nexus is an acceptable price.
One minor nitpick is that I would swap out Forbidden Alchemy for the trusty Brainstorm. We have very little graveyard recursion as well as a lot of silver bullets and tutors. I'd much rather have cards I don't need at the moment in my deck rather than my graveyard.
If I decide to port my paper version over to MTGO I think I'll go with something very similar to your list as I don't think my current deck would be very effective there for the same reason it's not very effective in your meta.
From what I know about your meta I think you're going in the right direction. I especially like the addition of Baleful Strix which you can reuse with Academy Ruins while still being able to draw and of course it can pick up some equipment and beat down if needed. The expensive counterspells support your strategy well by not just stopping your opponents from building up their board but building up your board in the process. I get in far too many counterspell battles in my meta (one of the reasons I despise Rewind) to use the more expensive options but they seem like a good fit. I wonder how effective using something like Merchant Scroll to tutor up Gather Specimens or Spelljack would be. Sure they know you have them but you can just sit on them and scare people out of playing their bombs.
Actually for the early Merchant Scroll reveals I really love to grab Force of Will and just continuously not burn it to freak people out. If people know you have it the best thing you can do is essentially never burn it unless its against game ending effects. I could see both of the 6 drops as an interesting show but I prefer them not to know I have them than have any moment that I have some mana down be pushed through with giant haymakers on myself.
I'd strongly recommend adding in Inkmoth Nexus to give you a less painful way to kill with Hatred. It can also deter the occasional attacker and pick up equipment if needed. Unfortunately this would lead me to want to change a couple other cards which would probably end up with me wanting to change more stuff. I'd say it's still good enough in your list with less support but either way I like the direction you've gone with this and the loss of Inkmoth Nexus is an acceptable price.
The nexus is a decent idea. I go back and forth on it though since it seems extremely situational as to when I can use it is probably my biggest thing. I will think about it a bit more though.
One minor nitpick is that I would swap out Forbidden Alchemy for the trusty Brainstorm. We have very little graveyard recursion as well as a lot of silver bullets and tutors. I'd much rather have cards I don't need at the moment in my deck rather than my graveyard.
I tend to play more along the lines of see if I can tear my way through my entire deck in a game. In a chance I get to see the top 4 cards of my library the chance that I actually even want more than one of them at a given time is low. I have never cared much about what I throw away as a player as I figure there are always alternative options and outs. The only ones I would be sort of hesitant to throw away would be some of the game ending effects like Hatred. I don't know, I just couldn't care less generally. Our meta hates on graveyards heavily though so that might be a learned thing after having my yard nuked one too many times.
If I decide to port my paper version over to MTGO I think I'll go with something very similar to your list as I don't think my current deck would be very effective there for the same reason it's not very effective in your meta.
I tend to be a big target in my meta regardless of what I run. There are players who literally just turn sideways on me because of who I am regardless of what deck I am playing. I have even had other people borrowing my decks but people ignore them because they dont pilot it half way as efficiently as I do.
Due to that I sort of had to adapt if I wanted to play wydwen. I got sort of pissed off last night though when someone just dropped a Turnabout + Reiterate infinite combo with literally not a thing other than land on his board last night. Generally speaking we frown on infinite combo but there are a few odd case scenarios where people just do it anywhere so im like.... time for wydwen again guys...
As for the lands, I actually own the delta and no longer a Sea... I sold my sea a little over half a year ago when I was unemployed sadly but one of my friends really wanted to pick one up and I got it from him in the first place so it felt right to sell it back to him. I will have to change that I guess in my list.
What are your thoughts on Notion Thief though? I notice you don't run it in your list and was just curious to hear more of your opinion on it.
Actually for the early Merchant Scroll reveals I really love to grab Force of Will and just continuously not burn it to freak people out. If people know you have it the best thing you can do is essentially never burn it unless its against game ending effects. I could see both of the 6 drops as an interesting show but I prefer them not to know I have them than have any moment that I have some mana down be pushed through with giant haymakers on myself.
That a nice tactic, I typically just grab Mystical Teachings as my default because tutoring for tutors is so efficient… I do love me some Mystical Teachings though.
Quote from ISB »
The nexus is a decent idea. I go back and forth on it though since it seems extremely situational as to when I can use it is probably my biggest thing. I will think about it a bit more though.
It's a situational card but it's a win condition that takes up a land slot. That alone should make it worth running. It's also nice not to have to rely on Wydwen all the time.
Quote from ISB »
I tend to play more along the lines of see if I can tear my way through my entire deck in a game. In a chance I get to see the top 4 cards of my library the chance that I actually even want more than one of them at a given time is low. I have never cared much about what I throw away as a player as I figure there are always alternative options and outs. The only ones I would be sort of hesitant to throw away would be some of the game ending effects like Hatred. I don't know, I just couldn't care less generally. Our meta hates on graveyards heavily though so that might be a learned thing after having my yard nuked one too many times.
With many decks I'd say this is correct but I feel this deck is a little different. If you have a lot of redundancy it doesn't tend to matter if you lose access to certain cards because you have lots of back up. This is more of a tutor/silver bullet deck so many of the cards can be situational without any backups since you have the tutors to access them. So I can see situations where I'm letting Darkness or whatever go into my yard because I don't need it and 5 turns from now getting beat on because while I am holding a tutor Darkness is no longer in my library. This is a bigger concern for me since I have some very narrow cards and less redundancy but I think the idea still holds true. Brainstorm is nice because it can fix what you're actually holding which is what makes it so much more powerful than the other cantrip options.
Quote from ISB »
I tend to be a big target in my meta regardless of what I run. There are players who literally just turn sideways on me because of who I am regardless of what deck I am playing. I have even had other people borrowing my decks but people ignore them because they dont pilot it half way as efficiently as I do.
Due to that I sort of had to adapt if I wanted to play wydwen. I got sort of pissed off last night though when someone just dropped a Turnabout + Reiterate infinite combo with literally not a thing other than land on his board last night. Generally speaking we frown on infinite combo but there are a few odd case scenarios where people just do it anywhere so im like.... time for wydwen again guys...
As for the lands, I actually own the delta and no longer a Sea... I sold my sea a little over half a year ago when I was unemployed sadly but one of my friends really wanted to pick one up and I got it from him in the first place so it felt right to sell it back to him. I will have to change that I guess in my list.
I'm fortunate that my meta is basically 4 sharks with large collections + some of the local guys that have very little chance of winning. It takes a lot of the heat off me since despite me probably having the highest win % in the group you can't just ignore the other people at the table.
Wydwen is a pretty awesome anti-combo commander, definitely a strong point of the deck. I wish you luck killing the evil combo players. Our play group is basically no combos unless the cards are all things you would run anyways (Rhys has several infinite combos for example) or you're Sammy and you play combos even though you know people don't like them. He's gotten better but I remember the table getting killed by a Knacksaw Clique once and me thinking "you want to combo so badly you're running Knacksaw Clique in you deck?".
Your build reminds me a lot more of a control v control or control v combo build for sure. Generally speaking my meta is control based aggro decks. Most people like killing each other with dudes so thats sort of what I need to make some adjustments for but I still want the vs random combo which is why I am coming back thinking of wydwen again.
What are your thoughts on Notion Thief though? I notice you don't run it in your list and was just curious to hear more of your opinion on it.
I snuck an edit in well before your response but I think you started your response before I guess it in so i guess I will ask it again. I even run a Windfall in the updated list which would be really funny to push through after getting the thief in play. My meta has a few other wheels as well so I thought it might be humorous to run and try to steal everyone's hand with it.
Oh I'm definitely running Notion Thief. I don't think there's a card that's come out in the last year that I'm as excited about. I did notice the Windfall tech with it but I'm thinking Time Spiral would be a better choice since it leaves our land untapped.
I run a Notion Thief in my Lazav control/voltron deck. I do see couple of wheel effects in my meta. I think the rattlesnake effect of Notion Thief is just as good as its in play. Even if you don't see wheel effect, it shuts down Sylvan Library and replaces Phyrexian arena and Greater good effects.
I always leave mana open for a removal if I see a sphinx.
Oh I'm definitely running Notion Thief. I don't think there's a card that's come out in the last year that I'm as excited about. I did notice the Windfall tech with it but I'm thinking Time Spiral would be a better choice since it leaves our land untapped.
Good call on the spiral. I was under the assumption you were not running the thief because he isn't in your decklist in the OP. I will probably swap the spiral in and I like that it shuffles graveyards as well because there isn't a ton of grave abuse in a deck like this.
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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.
There hasn't been any activity here for a year. Are you still playing this deck? Can you update the current deck list?
I know Theros block has made me value tuck and exile effects much higher then I previously did.
How have the commander 2013 decks impacted you being able to play control? Deveri and Prossh both spring to mind as cards that are very difficult to keep down.
There hasn't been any activity here for a year. Are you still playing this deck? Can you update the current deck list?
Donald is sort of notorious for just not bumping his threads unless prompted to lol. His digital lists often lag behind his actual lists and nobody ever knows if he updates them because he doesn't say anything about them lol.
Regardless, this one is a fun list. I played a very similar one to it myself for a while. There is a real question as to run Wydwen or Derevi as a commander as I think the tactics used can be very similar between the two of them.
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
There hasn't been any activity here for a year. Are you still playing this deck? Can you update the current deck list?
Donald is sort of notorious for just not bumping his threads unless prompted to lol. His digital lists often lag behind his actual lists and nobody ever knows if he updates them because he doesn't say anything about them lol.
Regardless, this one is a fun list. I played a very similar one to it myself for a while. There is a real question as to run Wydwen or Derevi as a commander as I think the tactics used can be very similar between the two of them.
I think Derevi is pretty much the new Wydwen (except in 1v1 where she is banned).
There hasn't been any activity here for a year. Are you still playing this deck? Can you update the current deck list?
I know Theros block has made me value tuck and exile effects much higher then I previously did.
How have the commander 2013 decks impacted you being able to play control? Deveri and Prossh both spring to mind as cards that are very difficult to keep down.
Sorry for the slow reply I don't have this thread subscribed for whatever reason.
Here you will find Toonamiguy's list which is where I usually post about Wydwen. I don't agree with 100% of his choices but for the most part we're on the same page.
As far as the deck goes this is one of my absolute favorite decks for my group and I've been playing it since before Alara block. Currently it's disassembled so when I decide to play it I rebuild it from my cube (which I do about every other play session). So my current list is usually about 95 cards from my posted list and then the last 5 cards will be whatever I feel like running at the time. I will say Notion Thief is a must and I've added Windfall since it's both a good card and makes a nice combo with the thief.
Now I feel this deck would be a good one to fit the criteria of taking out 1 player without just killing the others easily as well. You can add in a black discard package, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Inquisition of Kozilek. Add more counters, a lot of them. Your deck will be extremely good at killing one player or controlling their actions but only 1 player. Killing off the others in this setup will be quite challenging.
Now this deck has one of the highest win percentages of all my decks in my playgroup but it started out the worst. I almost scrapped it several times during my first year of testing. What has changed this is my play style. This is now the most feared (not best) deck in my entire playgroup and the reason for that is Hatred kills out of nowhere. I got to the point where I was killing people with Hatred for even minor stuff. Attack me for 3? Kill you with Hatred. Blow up my Signet? Kill you with Hatred. Obviously the answer to larger offenses were killing my opponent with Hatred. It's actually pretty easy to do and very hard for most decks to avoid this. Doing this cost me a lot of wins initially but eventually people realized that you absolutely do not **** with Wydwen for any reason or you will die. These days the fear keeps people in line. I've had someone ask me for permission to attempt to cast an Austere Command that would be very beneficial to the table but would happen to blow up one of my random mana rocks just to make sure they weren't retaliated against.
This deck is very much a meta deck. I would take my current list, add Notion Thief and Windfall for whatever you feel are the weakest cards in your meta. Then think about your meta and the decks in it. If Prossh is a problem then perhaps add in Stifle or Toxic Deluge. Need more tuck? If green is popular in your meta maybe run Submerge or if you really need tuck Spin Into Myth isn't too bad. Chain of Vapor is a great cheap answer to resolved permanents. Hero's Downfall could be good if there's a lot of Planeswalkers in your meta. Maybe more spot removal. Teeg giving you a headache? Add in Decree of Pain and cycle it to get rid of him. Giant monsters like Eldrazi running around? Throw in Gilded Drake (that was my anti Emrakul tech ). The point here is that you can and should tailor the deck to suit your own meta.
@ISB: Yeah I am bad about that. I should rebuild this deck on MTGO again. Then I can update it with that list.
@Jivan: Derevi can't play Hatred and Hatred is the deck.
I should also pick up a Thawing Glaciers.
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[Modern] Allies
I think it would be pretty good. In my meta not many people care about counterspells that are in the graveyard compared to giant creatures. Flashing Wydwen in and making her a first strike flyer that's probably getting at least a +5 seems good, plus the pike is really cheap.
voidmage husher
in and just also put in
UBInf. Grim-Grim DamageBU
EDH
UBRWGBaby Go BOOMGWRBU
UBR What's in the Toolbox?RBU
UBThe HoardBU
1 Wydwen, the Biting Gale
CREATURES (8)
1 Baleful Strix
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Trinket Mage
1 Notion Thief
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Kagemaro, First to Suffer
1 Darksteel Sentinel
ARTIFACT (14)
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Expedition Map
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Dimir Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Torpor Orb
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Diviner's Wand
1 Grafted Wargear
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Vengeance
ENCHANTMENT (6)
1 Bitterblossom
1 Necromancy
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Propaganda
1 Collective Restraint
1 No Mercy
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Go for the Throat
1 Twincast
1 Capsize
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Hinder
1 Spell Crumple
1 Cryptic Command
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Memory Plunder
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Reins of Power
1 Desertion
1 Evacuation
1 Force of Will
1 Hatred
1 Gather Specimens
1 Spelljack
1 Tsabo's Decree
SORCERY (7)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Fabricate
1 Windfall
1 Damnation
1 Time Warp
1 Temporal Manipulation
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
LAND (40)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacomb
11 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Spawning Pool
1 Strip Mine
1 Sunken Ruins
10 Swamp
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Watery Grave
I was contemplating dusting off my Wydwen and trying something slightly different.
Probably some of the big changes is that I have a few really big expensive counterspells which is in part because my meta for some reason is really hit and miss on their counterspells. Some of the blue decks pack like 0-1 counter and some pack 6-9 but most of them run like none so I thought it would be fun to hijack some effects. Gather Specimens in particular could hijack an infinite chancelor setup that I have seen executed a few times now. I also really detest Rite of Replication so I thought it would be fun to just steal all copies.
I have a little more pillowfort to the list as well as I was having problems having people leave me alone without haveing something in play. The threat of spot removal isnt much of a deterrent where I am from so I had to put some pillowforting in.
Notion Thief seems like he could be really cool as well. Combined with Reins of Power we can donate him off in response to card draw in the case of a Consecrated Sphinx and essentially kill whoever we want with this. Even outside of killing someone it seems like in this list it should be easy to surprise someone and steal their draw with the theif and we have plenty of counters and spot removal to drop the thief to if we need to.
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[Modern] Allies
I'd strongly recommend adding in Inkmoth Nexus to give you a less painful way to kill with Hatred. It can also deter the occasional attacker and pick up equipment if needed. Unfortunately this would lead me to want to change a couple other cards which would probably end up with me wanting to change more stuff. I'd say it's still good enough in your list with less support but either way I like the direction you've gone with this and the loss of Inkmoth Nexus is an acceptable price.
One minor nitpick is that I would swap out Forbidden Alchemy for the trusty Brainstorm. We have very little graveyard recursion as well as a lot of silver bullets and tutors. I'd much rather have cards I don't need at the moment in my deck rather than my graveyard.
If I decide to port my paper version over to MTGO I think I'll go with something very similar to your list as I don't think my current deck would be very effective there for the same reason it's not very effective in your meta.
You have an Underground Sea and no Polluted Delta, what a strange guy :P.
Actually for the early Merchant Scroll reveals I really love to grab Force of Will and just continuously not burn it to freak people out. If people know you have it the best thing you can do is essentially never burn it unless its against game ending effects. I could see both of the 6 drops as an interesting show but I prefer them not to know I have them than have any moment that I have some mana down be pushed through with giant haymakers on myself.
The nexus is a decent idea. I go back and forth on it though since it seems extremely situational as to when I can use it is probably my biggest thing. I will think about it a bit more though.
I tend to play more along the lines of see if I can tear my way through my entire deck in a game. In a chance I get to see the top 4 cards of my library the chance that I actually even want more than one of them at a given time is low. I have never cared much about what I throw away as a player as I figure there are always alternative options and outs. The only ones I would be sort of hesitant to throw away would be some of the game ending effects like Hatred. I don't know, I just couldn't care less generally. Our meta hates on graveyards heavily though so that might be a learned thing after having my yard nuked one too many times.
I tend to be a big target in my meta regardless of what I run. There are players who literally just turn sideways on me because of who I am regardless of what deck I am playing. I have even had other people borrowing my decks but people ignore them because they dont pilot it half way as efficiently as I do.
Due to that I sort of had to adapt if I wanted to play wydwen. I got sort of pissed off last night though when someone just dropped a Turnabout + Reiterate infinite combo with literally not a thing other than land on his board last night. Generally speaking we frown on infinite combo but there are a few odd case scenarios where people just do it anywhere so im like.... time for wydwen again guys...
As for the lands, I actually own the delta and no longer a Sea... I sold my sea a little over half a year ago when I was unemployed sadly but one of my friends really wanted to pick one up and I got it from him in the first place so it felt right to sell it back to him. I will have to change that I guess in my list.
What are your thoughts on Notion Thief though? I notice you don't run it in your list and was just curious to hear more of your opinion on it.
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[Modern] Allies
That a nice tactic, I typically just grab Mystical Teachings as my default because tutoring for tutors is so efficient… I do love me some Mystical Teachings though.
It's a situational card but it's a win condition that takes up a land slot. That alone should make it worth running. It's also nice not to have to rely on Wydwen all the time.
With many decks I'd say this is correct but I feel this deck is a little different. If you have a lot of redundancy it doesn't tend to matter if you lose access to certain cards because you have lots of back up. This is more of a tutor/silver bullet deck so many of the cards can be situational without any backups since you have the tutors to access them. So I can see situations where I'm letting Darkness or whatever go into my yard because I don't need it and 5 turns from now getting beat on because while I am holding a tutor Darkness is no longer in my library. This is a bigger concern for me since I have some very narrow cards and less redundancy but I think the idea still holds true. Brainstorm is nice because it can fix what you're actually holding which is what makes it so much more powerful than the other cantrip options.
I'm fortunate that my meta is basically 4 sharks with large collections + some of the local guys that have very little chance of winning. It takes a lot of the heat off me since despite me probably having the highest win % in the group you can't just ignore the other people at the table.
Wydwen is a pretty awesome anti-combo commander, definitely a strong point of the deck. I wish you luck killing the evil combo players. Our play group is basically no combos unless the cards are all things you would run anyways (Rhys has several infinite combos for example) or you're Sammy and you play combos even though you know people don't like them. He's gotten better but I remember the table getting killed by a Knacksaw Clique once and me thinking "you want to combo so badly you're running Knacksaw Clique in you deck?".
I snuck an edit in well before your response but I think you started your response before I guess it in so i guess I will ask it again. I even run a Windfall in the updated list which would be really funny to push through after getting the thief in play. My meta has a few other wheels as well so I thought it might be humorous to run and try to steal everyone's hand with it.
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[Modern] Allies
I always leave mana open for a removal if I see a sphinx.
Good call on the spiral. I was under the assumption you were not running the thief because he isn't in your decklist in the OP. I will probably swap the spiral in and I like that it shuffles graveyards as well because there isn't a ton of grave abuse in a deck like this.
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[Modern] Allies
I did want to add that Consecrated Sphinx is rarely played in my meta so my opinion might be biased.
There hasn't been any activity here for a year. Are you still playing this deck? Can you update the current deck list?
I know Theros block has made me value tuck and exile effects much higher then I previously did.
How have the commander 2013 decks impacted you being able to play control? Deveri and Prossh both spring to mind as cards that are very difficult to keep down.
Donald is sort of notorious for just not bumping his threads unless prompted to lol. His digital lists often lag behind his actual lists and nobody ever knows if he updates them because he doesn't say anything about them lol.
Regardless, this one is a fun list. I played a very similar one to it myself for a while. There is a real question as to run Wydwen or Derevi as a commander as I think the tactics used can be very similar between the two of them.
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[Modern] Allies
I think Derevi is pretty much the new Wydwen (except in 1v1 where she is banned).
But I'll second that Donald should update.
Sorry for the slow reply I don't have this thread subscribed for whatever reason.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/511106-toonamiguys-wydwen-the-biting-gale-edh-draw-go
Here you will find Toonamiguy's list which is where I usually post about Wydwen. I don't agree with 100% of his choices but for the most part we're on the same page.
As far as the deck goes this is one of my absolute favorite decks for my group and I've been playing it since before Alara block. Currently it's disassembled so when I decide to play it I rebuild it from my cube (which I do about every other play session). So my current list is usually about 95 cards from my posted list and then the last 5 cards will be whatever I feel like running at the time. I will say Notion Thief is a must and I've added Windfall since it's both a good card and makes a nice combo with the thief.
Now I feel this deck would be a good one to fit the criteria of taking out 1 player without just killing the others easily as well. You can add in a black discard package, Thoughtseize, Hymn to Tourach, Inquisition of Kozilek. Add more counters, a lot of them. Your deck will be extremely good at killing one player or controlling their actions but only 1 player. Killing off the others in this setup will be quite challenging.
Now this deck has one of the highest win percentages of all my decks in my playgroup but it started out the worst. I almost scrapped it several times during my first year of testing. What has changed this is my play style. This is now the most feared (not best) deck in my entire playgroup and the reason for that is Hatred kills out of nowhere. I got to the point where I was killing people with Hatred for even minor stuff. Attack me for 3? Kill you with Hatred. Blow up my Signet? Kill you with Hatred. Obviously the answer to larger offenses were killing my opponent with Hatred. It's actually pretty easy to do and very hard for most decks to avoid this. Doing this cost me a lot of wins initially but eventually people realized that you absolutely do not **** with Wydwen for any reason or you will die. These days the fear keeps people in line. I've had someone ask me for permission to attempt to cast an Austere Command that would be very beneficial to the table but would happen to blow up one of my random mana rocks just to make sure they weren't retaliated against.
This deck is very much a meta deck. I would take my current list, add Notion Thief and Windfall for whatever you feel are the weakest cards in your meta. Then think about your meta and the decks in it. If Prossh is a problem then perhaps add in Stifle or Toxic Deluge. Need more tuck? If green is popular in your meta maybe run Submerge or if you really need tuck Spin Into Myth isn't too bad. Chain of Vapor is a great cheap answer to resolved permanents. Hero's Downfall could be good if there's a lot of Planeswalkers in your meta. Maybe more spot removal. Teeg giving you a headache? Add in Decree of Pain and cycle it to get rid of him. Giant monsters like Eldrazi running around? Throw in Gilded Drake (that was my anti Emrakul tech ). The point here is that you can and should tailor the deck to suit your own meta.
@ISB: Yeah I am bad about that. I should rebuild this deck on MTGO again. Then I can update it with that list.
@Jivan: Derevi can't play Hatred and Hatred is the deck.