The miracles thing was pretty good. He went all in and even had Banishing Stroke, which I'm not sure is the best idea. It was quite annoying to loose my general though.
Banishing Stroke has done wonders for me in EDH for like a year now. It's an excellent card, well worth running in white decks that want the tuck. Highly recommended. For the record, I've played it in the following decks: Kemba, Elesh Norn, Trostani, Oloro, and one that I can't quite remember. It was good in all of them.
I'm working on a similar deck. Tidespout Tyrant is an absolute monster and a great finisher. Cloudstone Curio is a great with flash creatures. I run it with V Clique and Venser to ruthless effect.
So. I lived the dream with Enter the Infinite, Omniscience, and Vedalken Orrery. It was glorious and I won with removal targeting Omniscience on the stack. I then proceeded to take out Enter the Infinite.
Anyhow. I've been playing Ephara for a week or so now and it's been pretty fun. I like the Flash stuff and really enjoy Ghostly Flicker. Having a repeatable trick via Mnemonic Wall/Archeomancer is really nice and has saved my bacon a few times (Ghostly Flicker on Archeomancer+Venser prevented me from losing one game to Tooth and Nail). Saltskitter was actually so ridiculous that people started targeting it for removal pretty much constantly. I played three games with Ephara last friday, here's a brief report (EDIT: Not that brief, sorry!):
Game 1: Ephara vs. Savra, Queen of the Golgari, Nin, the Pain Artist, and Karametra, God of the Harvest. This game was pretty quick. Thanks to fast mana rocks on my part, I managed to get Ephara out quickly along with a Vedalken Orrery and a Moblization. I couldn't keep dudes on board, thanks to Savra recycling guys and feeding them through Savra herself to prevent anyone from having creatures. I didn't have blocks for awhile and the Savra pilot doesn't like me too much, so I got beat down to high teens quickly. However, the game ended on Karametra's turn, when she cast a Terminus. Savra responded by using Nullmage Shepard on my Vedalken Orrery, to which I had to respond with a flashed Omniscience-->Enter the Infinite. I proceeded to mill everyone, all with Nullmage/Terminus on the stack. I removed Enter the Infinite from the deck after this game.
Game 2: Ephara vs. the same Nin and Karametra decks, along with a Kaalia of the Vast deck. The Kaalia and Karametra decks had fast starts, doing lots of mean things and playing fatties, but since Nin and I were sitting there doing very little, we were summarily ignored. Karametra eventually killed Kaalia (wraths helped) but was at like 8 life after doing so. Nin and I had gotten rolling by now and had some good board positions (I had Saltskitter, Deadeye Navigator, and Ephara, and a few miscellaneous enchantments/artifacts; Nin had a bajillion mana, lots of cards, and a few dorks, along with Nin herself). Karametra looked at the two of us with her 50 power army (enough to kill either of us) and decided Nin was scarier thanks to the possible Insurrection. Nin had some trickery to survive the swing (Quicken-->Curse of the Swine really helped) but it was bleak. Nin drew, played a land, and used Nin on a Manor Gargoyle to draw some cards, then shipped to me. I untapped, looked at the Reins of Power in my 13 card hand, and went for it. Nin tried a Counterspell, I had Render Silent, Nin responded with a Counterflux, but I showed the Venser, Shaper Savant and we went to game 3.
Game 3: Ephara vs. the same Nin, along with a Sigarda, Host of Herons deck and a Damia, Sage of Stone deck. This was one for the record books. Sigarda fairly quickly used an Avarice Totem to steal Damia's Jace, the Mindsculptor and proceeded to set up an amazing pillowfort around it, using it every turn to fateseal Damia. Nin and I set up as normal, drawing lots of cards and getting dudes out (I featured Saltskitter, Solemn Simulacrum, and a few other guys; Nin had a Consecrated Sphinx, Charmbreaker Devils, and a billion cards). Eventually, Jace hit ultimate range and ultimated on his owner, reducing Damia's deck to three Forests and a Pact of Negation. More relevantly, Damia herself was out and now had no hand, meaning she'd deck herself on her draw step... to her own effect because of her own Jace. However, I had a save and took it, overloading a Cyclonic Rift to break Sigarda's fort and save Damia from herself. I then dropped True Conviction and swung into Sigarda for big beats (Ephara was online by this point). Damia drew a land, played it, and replayed Jace to fateseal Sigarda back. Nin drew, replayed Charmbreaker, and passed. Sigarda drew, smiled, and just slammed a Blightsteel Colossus. I chuckled and Cloned it, then bounced it via Venser and swung past to kill him. Damia drew and cried. Nin dropped two clones on my clone, giving Nin the Blightsteel advantage then passed. I tried for Mnemonic Wall on my turn but ate a Dissipate. Damia decked this turn. I ended up blocking one blightsteel with mine, then chumped the other one with quite a few guys. Nin played some more dudes and passed back to me. Knowing that this was the end (I had 8 poison and no blockers left beyond Ephara and Venser, who weren't going to be enough) I topdecked Archeomancer and cast it. It was good, so I grabbed Cyclonic Rift. I also realized I had Ghostly Flicker in my hand and like 12 mana left. I passed to Nin and proceeded to Venser everything she did (including the Blightsteel clone). It got grindy at that point, but Flicker+Archeomancer and Venser was enough to squeak out a victory.
Can you update your decklist? I'm building this deck and i'm curious about the changes you made in these days
P.S. Do you really find Vedalken Orrey/Leyline of anticipation worth a slot? I often have them in hand and never find a moment in which i want them on the battlefield...
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Can you update your decklist? I'm building this deck and i'm curious about the changes you made in these days
P.S. Do you really find Vedalken Orrey/Leyline of anticipation worth a slot? I often have them in hand and never find a moment in which i want them on the battlefield...
My deck hasn't really changed much lately as I've been doing a lot more tinkering with my Glissa deck the past week or so. The list in the OP is now updated with the only changes I have made, which are just switching out Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus (I'm not sure I want to be tapping a bunch to cast these on my own turn) for Land Tax and Aura of Silence. Land Tax is just awesome because this deck really wants to play a land every turn, and Aura of Silence is just a card that I've wanted to try for a while, but may end up getting cut. I have some more changes in mind, including removing Jin-Gitaxias, since I almost never want to actually cast him, but if he ends up in the graveyard I have to worry about him getting stolen.
To answer your other question, I think that they're not that great. I removed Vedalken Orrery a while ago, but I am leaving in Leyline of Anticipation for now to see how it works. I had it in my opening hand one game recently and it allowed me to play a lot of stuff when I wouldn't have otherwise been able to. It's really nice to be able to represent counterspells while also developing your board state, and being able to play something like Terminus at instant speed is amazing. I'm not sure I would want to cast it for 4 mana very often though.
Thanks for your response!
I have a question: have you removed the omniscence+academy rector "combo"? Was the fact that it was considered "unfair" the cause?
P.S. Sorry if i make mistakes but english/american is not my mother language
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Thanks for your response!
I have a question: have you removed the omniscence+academy rector "combo"? Was the fact that it was considered "unfair" the cause?
P.S. Sorry if i make mistakes but english/american is not my mother language
I never had the Omniscience + Academy Rector combo in my deck. That was arguskos that used it. I'm not sure whether he has his list posted anywhere on here or not.
Also, your English seems fine to me. I wouldn't have known if you hadn't told me. Your posts are far more comprehensible than most of what moxnix says, and I'm pretty sure English is his first language.
Sorry, I misread the nickname in that post, I thought it was yours
Has anyone tried anyone of the Swords? I was thinking of adding Sword of Feast and Famine because of the untap effect and also because I think we really need something like Seedborn Muse as an effect like this permits more creature drops and consequently more draw power.
Last question of the post: is there a card that can, in white, grant us multiple battle phases like Aurelia or Relentless Assault?
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I never had the Omniscience + Academy Rector combo in my deck. That was arguskos that used it. I'm not sure whether he has his list posted anywhere on here or not.
Correct, that was me, and no, I have yet to post my list. It's in a state of severe flux each week and keeping track of it would be nightmarish. I'll post it in a few weeks for comparison, once I have it settled down a touch.
Sorry, I misread the nickname in that post, I thought it was yours
Has anyone tried anyone of the Swords? I was thinking of adding Sword of Feast and Famine because of the untap effect and also because I think we really need something like Seedborn Muse as an effect like this permits more creature drops and consequently more draw power.
Last question of the post: is there a card that can, in white, grant us multiple battle phases like Aurelia or Relentless Assault?
I don't have any spare swords, or I would try it out yeah.
White has no multiple combat effects that I know of. There might be one very obscure one, but that'd be it.
Thanks for your response!
I have a question: have you removed the omniscence+academy rector "combo"? Was the fact that it was considered "unfair" the cause?
P.S. Sorry if i make mistakes but english/american is not my mother language
I did remove something, but it wasn't that. I had to return the Rector to its owner (I was borrowing one) and I did remove Enter the Infinite. However, I still run a few enchantment tutors and Omniscience. Honestly, it's my only real win condition. The deck is proving to have serious problems with winning games. It is easy to stall, but tough to win, and that's proving to be an issue. I may have to re-include Enter the Infinite, just so I can close out games.
I do actually happen to have a set of recently liberated Swords of X and Y, so they may need to make their way into this deck. Sword of Feast and Famine is awesome, although I'd be hesitant to tap out and rely on it to untap your lands. I think the best way to use it is to put the trigger on the stack and then cast cards with flash so that you don't have to worry about your attacker being disrupted. Sword of Body and Mind could actually be good in this deck, since it causes Ephara triggers during our own turn, which prevents us from having to tap any mana during out turn. Sword of Light and Shadow won't always have a lot of targets, especially with cards like Rest in Peace, but the ability to bring back a dead Venser or something like that for another go around sounds amazing to me. Sword of War and Peace gives the fastest damage output of any of the Swords, and should also gain us a ton of life with all the cards we are drawing. Sword of Fire and Ice is just awesome in any deck that uses creatures. The removal for utility creatures is nice, and we can always use more cards. I will try to work on an update to the OP sometime later this week or over the weekend.
I still run a few enchantment tutors and Omniscience. Honestly, it's my only real win condition. The deck is proving to have serious problems with winning games. It is easy to stall, but tough to win, and that's proving to be an issue. I may have to re-include Enter the Infinite, just so I can close out games.
This is really true. Today I played two games with my friends (one used Riku and the other Jenara)and i found that was really hard to keep up the step with them. They ramped and started playing threats like Consecrated Sphinx, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger or the Titans while I was still trying to build a board position. I didn't have a threat to put on the board and with Ephara always bounced with a buybacked Capsize, my hand composed by Saltskitter, Seht's tiger, Strionic Resonator, Stonecloaker and Trinket Mage was useless.
We also luck enchantment/artifact destruction beside Austere Command (for example the Jenara player landed a Birthing Pod and I wasn't able to deal with it).
I think I'm going to remove from the deck cards like Whitemane Lion, Dust Elemental, Pestermite, Scout's Warning, Sacred Mesa, Leyline of Anticipation and Resonator to make space for more powerful cards... when I understand how to replace those cards I will post my list.
P.S. I will try to find space for SoFaF and SoFaI!
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I still run a few enchantment tutors and Omniscience. Honestly, it's my only real win condition. The deck is proving to have serious problems with winning games. It is easy to stall, but tough to win, and that's proving to be an issue. I may have to re-include Enter the Infinite, just so I can close out games.
This is really true. Today I played two games with my friends (one used Riku and the other Jenara)and i found that was really hard to keep up the step with them. They ramped and started playing threats like Consecrated Sphinx, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger or the Titans while I was still trying to build a board position. I didn't have a threat to put on the board and with Ephara always bounced with a buybacked Capsize, my hand composed by Saltskitter, Seht's tiger, Strionic Resonator, Stonecloaker and Trinket Mage was useless.
We also luck enchantment/artifact destruction beside Austere Command (for example the Jenara player landed a Birthing Pod and I wasn't able to deal with it).
I think I'm going to remove from the deck cards like Whitemane Lion, Dust Elemental, Pestermite, Scout's Warning, Sacred Mesa, Leyline of Anticipation and Resonator to make space for more powerful cards... when I understand how to replace those cards I will post my list.
P.S. I will try to find space for SoFaF and SoFaI!
I would definitely not cut Sacred Mesa, as I have found the card to be absolutely insane in this deck. If you can keep Ephara on the field (counter that Capsize so it doesn't go back to their hand), Sacred Mesa draws you 4 cards per turn cycle and gives you 3 1/1 flyers (since you have to sac one on upkeep). If it sticks around for a couple turns, you can amass quite the army of tokens. It also seems awesome with Swords, since it gives you an essentially endless supply of carriers for the equipment, and your opponents have to decide whether to kill the Mesa or the Swords.
I don't think that Sacred Mesa will net more than one card per turn... Ephara's ruling says that she triggers once, no matter how many creatures entered the battlefield. Maybe i'm wrong but I always draw one card even if I've played 2/3 creatures.
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I don't think that Sacred Mesa will net more than one card per turn... Ephara's ruling says that she triggers once, no matter how many creatures entered the battlefield. Maybe i'm wrong but I always draw one card even if I've played 2/3 creatures.
No, you're right. I said 4 cards per turn cycle, assuming a 4 player game and that you make one token on each turn.
Those cost a lot of mana, but now that you mention them, they could actually work really well in a deck like this that wants to leave up mana, lacks sufficient win conditions of its own, and loves having creatures come into play. Awesome suggestion and I will try to find a spot for one or both of them. One particular player in my group (besides me!) loves Living Death, and Gather Specimens is such an insane blowout against that card.
The more I think about, the more I like XeroxedFool's suggestion of True Conviction. I went on the Ephara beatdown in a game recently, and it actually worked really well. The other benefit is that if she's in creature mode, it's much easier for me to bounce her back to my hand to save her from exile / tuck removal, and I still have quite a few counterspells to protect her. I should be able to work on making some changes to my list within the next few days.
Sure has! I run a Desertion. It's fantastic in everything, so it should be equally good here, I just haven't drawn it yet. I don't have a spare Gather though, so I haven't run it yet. I'll get around to giving it a shot as soon as I can get a second copy. Seems good though.
Those cost a lot of mana, but now that you mention them, they could actually work really well in a deck like this that wants to leave up mana, lacks sufficient win conditions of its own, and loves having creatures come into play. Awesome suggestion and I will try to find a spot for one or both of them. One particular player in my group (besides me!) loves Living Death, and Gather Specimens is such an insane blowout against that card.
Wow, Gather vs. Living Death should be a ridiculous blowout. Never seen that, but now I need to make it happen!
The more I think about, the more I like XeroxedFool's suggestion of True Conviction. I went on the Ephara beatdown in a game recently, and it actually worked really well. The other benefit is that if she's in creature mode, it's much easier for me to bounce her back to my hand to save her from exile / tuck removal, and I still have quite a few counterspells to protect her. I should be able to work on making some changes to my list within the next few days.
I've been running True Conviction, and it is pretty legit actually. It makes Ephara herself a 2 turn clock with nothing else going on, which is neat. She needs a way to reliably get through though, which may necessitate something like Eldrazi Monument or Akroma's Memorial. I actually think that Monument may deserve a spot here in general, since stuff like Luminarch Ascension and Sacred Mesa play so nicely with Monument. It seems worth exploring. Thoughts?
You are already double striking and gaining obscene life. Adding monument or some such doesn't seem to add enough additional value to warrant an additional card slot when you don't have a ton of ways ensuring they are in hand at the same time.
I'm not a big fan of monument since we're not keeping many creatures on the field at a time, so we're either going to end up sacrificing the ones we do have, or else having to sacrifice the monument itself if we don't have any creatures. Indestructible and Flying is pretty awesome, but I don't think we can handle the sacrifice trigger well outside of Sacred Mesa / Luminarch Ascension. A card I was thinking about trying out is Thistledown Liege. It has flash so it's on theme and gets me extra draws, it gives 3 devotion for Ephara while still being really easy to cast, and it pumps Ephara by +2/+2 if she's a creature, which makes her lethal in 3 swings rather than 4.
I'm not a big fan of monument since we're not keeping many creatures on the field at a time, so we're either going to end up sacrificing the ones we do have, or else having to sacrifice the monument itself if we don't have any creatures. Indestructible and Flying is pretty awesome, but I don't think we can handle the sacrifice trigger well outside of Sacred Mesa / Luminarch Ascension. A card I was thinking about trying out is Thistledown Liege. It has flash so it's on theme and gets me extra draws, it gives 3 devotion for Ephara while still being really easy to cast, and it pumps Ephara by +2/+2 if she's a creature, which makes her lethal in 3 swings rather than 4.
I run a little more token heavy than you do, it seems, since I added Mobilization and Decree of Justice. With four strong token generators, Eldrazi Monument seems worth trying at least, though I definitely hear your concerns. I like that the Monument protects itself (via indestructibility on its food supply) and that it grants evasion. I think I'll give it a shot and report back, it may be terrible, but it might not be.
As for Thistledown Liege, that's a great idea. I forgot that card even exists. Gonna go get one today then and try it out too!
Resonator just didn't do enough for me relative to the amount of mana it requires. Pestermite was only really in because it has flash, since it's a pretty bad creature. Trading Post is awesome in its flexibility, but I felt like the deck needs some more impactful cards. Keyrune isn't really needed since I just want to make all my land drops and don't really need too much ramp, and unlike Sol Ring / Azorius Signet / Talisman of Progress, isn't doesn't let me cast Ephara on turn 3. Wrath of God comes out because I have too many Wrath effects and it's the weakest one, but I may end up cutting another because I rarely find myself needing to play them, and often end up just discarding them because I have more than seven cards and would rather keep instant speed stuff. Jin-Gitaxias is just way too much mana, and I usually don't even need the cards by the point he would come down. He's very strong, but doesn't do what this deck wants to do.
I brought in Brainstorm, Entreat the Angels, and Devastation Tide to implement a bit of a miracles theme like XeroxedFool mentioned. Along with Mystical Tutor and Sensei's Divining Top, I have a few ways to ensure that I am casting these cards for their miracle costs, which also means I can play them at instant speed. I need to get Scroll Rack and Temporal Mastery to complete the package. A couple of Swords also came in as a way to kind of push towards winning a little faster once I have established some control over the game. I'd like to fit in more Swords when I make some additional changes, but these are the two best at the moment. The last card that I added was Desertion, which is a pretty sweet counterspell, although it does cost 5 mana. Stealing someone's bomb creature and getting a free Ephara trigger for my trouble is pretty awesome, and it can also take Artifacts, or I can counter other spell types in a pinch, but I don't get to steal them for myself.
Flash hasn't really been a card that I've wanted to cast much, since many of my creatures already have flash anyway, and most of the ones that don't aren't think that I want to put in play and then immediately sacrifice, since it prevents me from bouncing and reusing them. Thistledown Liege flashes in, provides a lot of devotion for Ephara, and also pumps my guys to make them bigger threats. Fact or Fiction is an amazing card and I will probably regret cutting it, but I get so much draw from playing creatures that I don't think it's really needed, and I really wanted to make a spot for Tidespout Tyrant. He seems awesome as a way to bounce my own guys, and later on he makes a pretty good win condition by just bouncing a bunch of stuff. If I can get him on the field and go to town with Whitemane Lion or Stonecloaker, things will get ridiculous pretty quickly.
I like that u/w liege. Seems like a pretty sweet card to buff your utility creatures. I like the way the deck is heading in general.
I think aruguskos mentioned it but Venser, the Sojourner has to be worth a slot right? I triggers Ephara in your turn and makes your guys unblockable for epic Elesh Norn and/or True Conviction turns.
Do you own a Stoneforge for the swords package?
I know these are 'duh' suggestions but I'm just wondering what youre thinking on these cards.
I like that u/w liege. Seems like a pretty sweet card to buff your utility creatures. I like the way the deck is heading in general.
I think aruguskos mentioned it but Venser, the Sojourner has to be worth a slot right? I triggers Ephara in your turn and makes your guys unblockable for epic Elesh Norn and/or True Conviction turns.
Do you own a Stoneforge for the swords package?
I know these are 'duh' suggestions but I'm just wondering what youre thinking on these cards.
I'm still kind of on the fence about Venser, the Sojourner. A 5 mana card that's very vulnerable to being attacked and just triggers Ephara on my own turns is certainly nothing to write home about, and there are only 5 or 6 creatures that give me a significant benefit from being blinked at sorcery speed. Making my creatures unblockable is definitely nice for a surprise alpha strike if I've accumulated a nice board state, but that doesn't happen all the time since I'm often returning the creatures back to my hand. His ultimate is obviously completely insane, but it's also extremely difficult to actually reach. I'll add him to the list of things that I'm considering, and try to fit him in for some testing at some point.
I don't currently own a Stoneforge Mystic (traded mine right before the spike ), but I can probably get ahold of another one at some point. I'm only running two equipment right now, but I'd like to fit some more Swords into the deck in the future if Fire and Ice and Feast and Famine do well.
Banishing Stroke has done wonders for me in EDH for like a year now. It's an excellent card, well worth running in white decks that want the tuck. Highly recommended. For the record, I've played it in the following decks: Kemba, Elesh Norn, Trostani, Oloro, and one that I can't quite remember. It was good in all of them.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Radha, Heir to Keld, Barrin, Master Wizard, Prime Speaker Zegana, King Macar, the Gold-Cursed, Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer, Patron of the Orochi, Nicol Bolas, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Marton Stromgald, Thriss, Nantuko Primus, Cromat, Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
Anyhow. I've been playing Ephara for a week or so now and it's been pretty fun. I like the Flash stuff and really enjoy Ghostly Flicker. Having a repeatable trick via Mnemonic Wall/Archeomancer is really nice and has saved my bacon a few times (Ghostly Flicker on Archeomancer+Venser prevented me from losing one game to Tooth and Nail). Saltskitter was actually so ridiculous that people started targeting it for removal pretty much constantly. I played three games with Ephara last friday, here's a brief report (EDIT: Not that brief, sorry!):
Game 1: Ephara vs. Savra, Queen of the Golgari, Nin, the Pain Artist, and Karametra, God of the Harvest. This game was pretty quick. Thanks to fast mana rocks on my part, I managed to get Ephara out quickly along with a Vedalken Orrery and a Moblization. I couldn't keep dudes on board, thanks to Savra recycling guys and feeding them through Savra herself to prevent anyone from having creatures. I didn't have blocks for awhile and the Savra pilot doesn't like me too much, so I got beat down to high teens quickly. However, the game ended on Karametra's turn, when she cast a Terminus. Savra responded by using Nullmage Shepard on my Vedalken Orrery, to which I had to respond with a flashed Omniscience-->Enter the Infinite. I proceeded to mill everyone, all with Nullmage/Terminus on the stack. I removed Enter the Infinite from the deck after this game.
Game 2: Ephara vs. the same Nin and Karametra decks, along with a Kaalia of the Vast deck. The Kaalia and Karametra decks had fast starts, doing lots of mean things and playing fatties, but since Nin and I were sitting there doing very little, we were summarily ignored. Karametra eventually killed Kaalia (wraths helped) but was at like 8 life after doing so. Nin and I had gotten rolling by now and had some good board positions (I had Saltskitter, Deadeye Navigator, and Ephara, and a few miscellaneous enchantments/artifacts; Nin had a bajillion mana, lots of cards, and a few dorks, along with Nin herself). Karametra looked at the two of us with her 50 power army (enough to kill either of us) and decided Nin was scarier thanks to the possible Insurrection. Nin had some trickery to survive the swing (Quicken-->Curse of the Swine really helped) but it was bleak. Nin drew, played a land, and used Nin on a Manor Gargoyle to draw some cards, then shipped to me. I untapped, looked at the Reins of Power in my 13 card hand, and went for it. Nin tried a Counterspell, I had Render Silent, Nin responded with a Counterflux, but I showed the Venser, Shaper Savant and we went to game 3.
Game 3: Ephara vs. the same Nin, along with a Sigarda, Host of Herons deck and a Damia, Sage of Stone deck. This was one for the record books. Sigarda fairly quickly used an Avarice Totem to steal Damia's Jace, the Mindsculptor and proceeded to set up an amazing pillowfort around it, using it every turn to fateseal Damia. Nin and I set up as normal, drawing lots of cards and getting dudes out (I featured Saltskitter, Solemn Simulacrum, and a few other guys; Nin had a Consecrated Sphinx, Charmbreaker Devils, and a billion cards). Eventually, Jace hit ultimate range and ultimated on his owner, reducing Damia's deck to three Forests and a Pact of Negation. More relevantly, Damia herself was out and now had no hand, meaning she'd deck herself on her draw step... to her own effect because of her own Jace. However, I had a save and took it, overloading a Cyclonic Rift to break Sigarda's fort and save Damia from herself. I then dropped True Conviction and swung into Sigarda for big beats (Ephara was online by this point). Damia drew a land, played it, and replayed Jace to fateseal Sigarda back. Nin drew, replayed Charmbreaker, and passed. Sigarda drew, smiled, and just slammed a Blightsteel Colossus. I chuckled and Cloned it, then bounced it via Venser and swung past to kill him. Damia drew and cried. Nin dropped two clones on my clone, giving Nin the Blightsteel advantage then passed. I tried for Mnemonic Wall on my turn but ate a Dissipate. Damia decked this turn. I ended up blocking one blightsteel with mine, then chumped the other one with quite a few guys. Nin played some more dudes and passed back to me. Knowing that this was the end (I had 8 poison and no blockers left beyond Ephara and Venser, who weren't going to be enough) I topdecked Archeomancer and cast it. It was good, so I grabbed Cyclonic Rift. I also realized I had Ghostly Flicker in my hand and like 12 mana left. I passed to Nin and proceeded to Venser everything she did (including the Blightsteel clone). It got grindy at that point, but Flicker+Archeomancer and Venser was enough to squeak out a victory.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Radha, Heir to Keld, Barrin, Master Wizard, Prime Speaker Zegana, King Macar, the Gold-Cursed, Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer, Patron of the Orochi, Nicol Bolas, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Marton Stromgald, Thriss, Nantuko Primus, Cromat, Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
P.S. Do you really find Vedalken Orrey/Leyline of anticipation worth a slot? I often have them in hand and never find a moment in which i want them on the battlefield...
My deck hasn't really changed much lately as I've been doing a lot more tinkering with my Glissa deck the past week or so. The list in the OP is now updated with the only changes I have made, which are just switching out Thran Dynamo and Gilded Lotus (I'm not sure I want to be tapping a bunch to cast these on my own turn) for Land Tax and Aura of Silence. Land Tax is just awesome because this deck really wants to play a land every turn, and Aura of Silence is just a card that I've wanted to try for a while, but may end up getting cut. I have some more changes in mind, including removing Jin-Gitaxias, since I almost never want to actually cast him, but if he ends up in the graveyard I have to worry about him getting stolen.
To answer your other question, I think that they're not that great. I removed Vedalken Orrery a while ago, but I am leaving in Leyline of Anticipation for now to see how it works. I had it in my opening hand one game recently and it allowed me to play a lot of stuff when I wouldn't have otherwise been able to. It's really nice to be able to represent counterspells while also developing your board state, and being able to play something like Terminus at instant speed is amazing. I'm not sure I would want to cast it for 4 mana very often though.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
I have a question: have you removed the omniscence+academy rector "combo"? Was the fact that it was considered "unfair" the cause?
P.S. Sorry if i make mistakes but english/american is not my mother language
I never had the Omniscience + Academy Rector combo in my deck. That was arguskos that used it. I'm not sure whether he has his list posted anywhere on here or not.
Also, your English seems fine to me. I wouldn't have known if you hadn't told me. Your posts are far more comprehensible than most of what moxnix says, and I'm pretty sure English is his first language.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Has anyone tried anyone of the Swords? I was thinking of adding Sword of Feast and Famine because of the untap effect and also because I think we really need something like Seedborn Muse as an effect like this permits more creature drops and consequently more draw power.
Last question of the post: is there a card that can, in white, grant us multiple battle phases like Aurelia or Relentless Assault?
Correct, that was me, and no, I have yet to post my list. It's in a state of severe flux each week and keeping track of it would be nightmarish. I'll post it in a few weeks for comparison, once I have it settled down a touch.
I don't have any spare swords, or I would try it out yeah.
White has no multiple combat effects that I know of. There might be one very obscure one, but that'd be it.
I did remove something, but it wasn't that. I had to return the Rector to its owner (I was borrowing one) and I did remove Enter the Infinite. However, I still run a few enchantment tutors and Omniscience. Honestly, it's my only real win condition. The deck is proving to have serious problems with winning games. It is easy to stall, but tough to win, and that's proving to be an issue. I may have to re-include Enter the Infinite, just so I can close out games.
Also, your English is quite fine.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Radha, Heir to Keld, Barrin, Master Wizard, Prime Speaker Zegana, King Macar, the Gold-Cursed, Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer, Patron of the Orochi, Nicol Bolas, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Marton Stromgald, Thriss, Nantuko Primus, Cromat, Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
This is really true. Today I played two games with my friends (one used Riku and the other Jenara)and i found that was really hard to keep up the step with them. They ramped and started playing threats like Consecrated Sphinx, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger or the Titans while I was still trying to build a board position. I didn't have a threat to put on the board and with Ephara always bounced with a buybacked Capsize, my hand composed by Saltskitter, Seht's tiger, Strionic Resonator, Stonecloaker and Trinket Mage was useless.
We also luck enchantment/artifact destruction beside Austere Command (for example the Jenara player landed a Birthing Pod and I wasn't able to deal with it).
I think I'm going to remove from the deck cards like Whitemane Lion, Dust Elemental, Pestermite, Scout's Warning, Sacred Mesa, Leyline of Anticipation and Resonator to make space for more powerful cards... when I understand how to replace those cards I will post my list.
P.S. I will try to find space for SoFaF and SoFaI!
I would definitely not cut Sacred Mesa, as I have found the card to be absolutely insane in this deck. If you can keep Ephara on the field (counter that Capsize so it doesn't go back to their hand), Sacred Mesa draws you 4 cards per turn cycle and gives you 3 1/1 flyers (since you have to sac one on upkeep). If it sticks around for a couple turns, you can amass quite the army of tokens. It also seems awesome with Swords, since it gives you an essentially endless supply of carriers for the equipment, and your opponents have to decide whether to kill the Mesa or the Swords.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
No, you're right. I said 4 cards per turn cycle, assuming a 4 player game and that you make one token on each turn.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Sydri's Magical Castle WUB
Chainer, Dementia Master: "Bring out your dead!" BBB
Riku Because Copying Decimate URG
Xira Arien, Jund StaxBRG
The Sylvan-Primordial-PlasmBUG
Trostani ComboGW
Vizkopa Guildmage - Peasant VariantBW
Those cost a lot of mana, but now that you mention them, they could actually work really well in a deck like this that wants to leave up mana, lacks sufficient win conditions of its own, and loves having creatures come into play. Awesome suggestion and I will try to find a spot for one or both of them. One particular player in my group (besides me!) loves Living Death, and Gather Specimens is such an insane blowout against that card.
The more I think about, the more I like XeroxedFool's suggestion of True Conviction. I went on the Ephara beatdown in a game recently, and it actually worked really well. The other benefit is that if she's in creature mode, it's much easier for me to bounce her back to my hand to save her from exile / tuck removal, and I still have quite a few counterspells to protect her. I should be able to work on making some changes to my list within the next few days.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Sure has! I run a Desertion. It's fantastic in everything, so it should be equally good here, I just haven't drawn it yet. I don't have a spare Gather though, so I haven't run it yet. I'll get around to giving it a shot as soon as I can get a second copy. Seems good though.
Wow, Gather vs. Living Death should be a ridiculous blowout. Never seen that, but now I need to make it happen!
I've been running True Conviction, and it is pretty legit actually. It makes Ephara herself a 2 turn clock with nothing else going on, which is neat. She needs a way to reliably get through though, which may necessitate something like Eldrazi Monument or Akroma's Memorial. I actually think that Monument may deserve a spot here in general, since stuff like Luminarch Ascension and Sacred Mesa play so nicely with Monument. It seems worth exploring. Thoughts?
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Radha, Heir to Keld, Barrin, Master Wizard, Prime Speaker Zegana, King Macar, the Gold-Cursed, Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer, Patron of the Orochi, Nicol Bolas, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Marton Stromgald, Thriss, Nantuko Primus, Cromat, Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
Sydri's Magical Castle WUB
Chainer, Dementia Master: "Bring out your dead!" BBB
Riku Because Copying Decimate URG
Xira Arien, Jund StaxBRG
The Sylvan-Primordial-PlasmBUG
Trostani ComboGW
Vizkopa Guildmage - Peasant VariantBW
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
I run a little more token heavy than you do, it seems, since I added Mobilization and Decree of Justice. With four strong token generators, Eldrazi Monument seems worth trying at least, though I definitely hear your concerns. I like that the Monument protects itself (via indestructibility on its food supply) and that it grants evasion. I think I'll give it a shot and report back, it may be terrible, but it might not be.
As for Thistledown Liege, that's a great idea. I forgot that card even exists. Gonna go get one today then and try it out too!
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Radha, Heir to Keld, Barrin, Master Wizard, Prime Speaker Zegana, King Macar, the Gold-Cursed, Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer, Patron of the Orochi, Nicol Bolas, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Hanna, Ship's Navigator, Marton Stromgald, Thriss, Nantuko Primus, Cromat, Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Strionic Resonator -> Brainstorm
Pestermite -> Desertion
Trading Post -> Sword of Fire and Ice
Azorius Keyrune -> Sword of Feast and Famine
Wrath of God -> Devastation Tide
Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur -> Entreat the Angels
Resonator just didn't do enough for me relative to the amount of mana it requires. Pestermite was only really in because it has flash, since it's a pretty bad creature. Trading Post is awesome in its flexibility, but I felt like the deck needs some more impactful cards. Keyrune isn't really needed since I just want to make all my land drops and don't really need too much ramp, and unlike Sol Ring / Azorius Signet / Talisman of Progress, isn't doesn't let me cast Ephara on turn 3. Wrath of God comes out because I have too many Wrath effects and it's the weakest one, but I may end up cutting another because I rarely find myself needing to play them, and often end up just discarding them because I have more than seven cards and would rather keep instant speed stuff. Jin-Gitaxias is just way too much mana, and I usually don't even need the cards by the point he would come down. He's very strong, but doesn't do what this deck wants to do.
I brought in Brainstorm, Entreat the Angels, and Devastation Tide to implement a bit of a miracles theme like XeroxedFool mentioned. Along with Mystical Tutor and Sensei's Divining Top, I have a few ways to ensure that I am casting these cards for their miracle costs, which also means I can play them at instant speed. I need to get Scroll Rack and Temporal Mastery to complete the package. A couple of Swords also came in as a way to kind of push towards winning a little faster once I have established some control over the game. I'd like to fit in more Swords when I make some additional changes, but these are the two best at the moment. The last card that I added was Desertion, which is a pretty sweet counterspell, although it does cost 5 mana. Stealing someone's bomb creature and getting a free Ephara trigger for my trouble is pretty awesome, and it can also take Artifacts, or I can counter other spell types in a pinch, but I don't get to steal them for myself.
Other cards I have on the potential chopping block are Fact or Fiction, Solemn Simulacrum, Mulldrifter, Leyline of Anticipation, Flash, Scout's Warning, Angel of Serenity, Aura of Silence, Archaeomancer, and Phantasmal Image. Some of the creatures like Solemn and Mulldrifter would probably be cut pretty easily in a different UW deck, but I need to keep my creature count high enough to trigger Ephara consistently.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
Fact or Fiction -> Tidespout Tyrant
Flash hasn't really been a card that I've wanted to cast much, since many of my creatures already have flash anyway, and most of the ones that don't aren't think that I want to put in play and then immediately sacrifice, since it prevents me from bouncing and reusing them. Thistledown Liege flashes in, provides a lot of devotion for Ephara, and also pumps my guys to make them bigger threats. Fact or Fiction is an amazing card and I will probably regret cutting it, but I get so much draw from playing creatures that I don't think it's really needed, and I really wanted to make a spot for Tidespout Tyrant. He seems awesome as a way to bounce my own guys, and later on he makes a pretty good win condition by just bouncing a bunch of stuff. If I can get him on the field and go to town with Whitemane Lion or Stonecloaker, things will get ridiculous pretty quickly.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios
I think aruguskos mentioned it but Venser, the Sojourner has to be worth a slot right? I triggers Ephara in your turn and makes your guys unblockable for epic Elesh Norn and/or True Conviction turns.
Do you own a Stoneforge for the swords package?
I know these are 'duh' suggestions but I'm just wondering what youre thinking on these cards.
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
I'm still kind of on the fence about Venser, the Sojourner. A 5 mana card that's very vulnerable to being attacked and just triggers Ephara on my own turns is certainly nothing to write home about, and there are only 5 or 6 creatures that give me a significant benefit from being blinked at sorcery speed. Making my creatures unblockable is definitely nice for a surprise alpha strike if I've accumulated a nice board state, but that doesn't happen all the time since I'm often returning the creatures back to my hand. His ultimate is obviously completely insane, but it's also extremely difficult to actually reach. I'll add him to the list of things that I'm considering, and try to fit him in for some testing at some point.
I don't currently own a Stoneforge Mystic (traded mine right before the spike ), but I can probably get ahold of another one at some point. I'm only running two equipment right now, but I'd like to fit some more Swords into the deck in the future if Fire and Ice and Feast and Famine do well.
GUB [Retired Primer] The Mimeoplasm BUG
Modern: UR Storm RU
Cube: WUBRG Pauper Cube GRBUW
Credit for the banner goes to DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios