I tried to cutesy things with Spellshapers and Damia; unfortunately, she's scary enough that I wouldn't be left alone. Since I didn't have many Spellslingers, I changed her up to cast a lot of spells and then draw up.
Surprisingly, Survival of the Fittest and Fauna Shaman weren't useful for Damia. The discard a Creature stipulation was too much, so they got axed. This is also why Tortured Existence got axed as well.
The Discard Suite proved too much for Damia to handle; it would case the table to gang up on the deck immediately and considering the deck takes a little while to setup, there was too much heat on the deck.
Lastly, I cut a Swamp so I get a bunch more basic land fetch with a Blighted Woodland.
As for the additions, I added a few more Discard outlets with Medicine Bag and Waterfront Bouncer. The Bag and Journey to Eternity are to protect Damia, as the deck revolves around her ability. I run a lot less draw than most of my decks because the draw engine is right in the Command Zone, it's a way to protect her. With all of the Creatures I'm discarding, Havengul Lich seemed like a no brainer. It's another another way to cast Damia.
I added Big Game Hunter and Curse of the Swine as more removal that doesn't impact my board; Ophiomancer is just to hold off early aggression.
Urban Evolution was added as a way to make more land drops with Forbid and Harrow being more Instants to play out my hand with Damia.
I want extra land drops ASAP, so Swordtooth comes in. Gitrog sometimes doesn't get me those extra lands the deck wants due to failing to draw, so I end up with a mana negative with him. Also, Damia is weird where I don't want to draw cards unless I do and there's too many effects in this deck that will trigger The Gitrog and ruin my redraw.
Galleon has an assortment of abilities once it has flipped. It can recur spells, which I'll be able to really use in this deck and the big mana nature means it is quite possible to activate it. Many of the bigger Creatures are able to Crew it, making it possible to get the Land ASAP, including Damia. The straight draw is nice but a Loot Draw is what this deck desires for Madness which the first ability the Galleon's Land has. Ophiomancer deters attacks but I rather have added redundancy.
I would like to find specific lands but I need to protect my board before I could safely resolve the Hydra, hence Heroic Intervention to protect my board which can lead into massive blowouts.
I need more ways to stop people from doing things, Venser makes that easy with spells and things that previously resolved. As a Creature, that also means I can use a variety of ways to recycle him whether it is Undertaker, Journey to Eternity's flip side or flat out cast him from the 'yard with Havengul Lich. Greel was a difficult discard outlet to use, I didn't need his effect and he drew a lot of aggro.
I didn't really benefit from Life from the Loam which surprises me, but hey, I'll go look for dead cards wherever they are. Sword of Vengeance opens up Commander Damage as something viable due to Trample and Deathtouch being quite the combination. With Vigilance and First Strike, it makes Damia tough to fight through as well. Overall, this change makes the deck more resilient to Creature-based threats.
I found that I had enough Discard outlets between all of my Spellshapers but sometimes I couldn't Activate them when I wanted to because they were summoning sick. Thousand Year fixes that problem but also lets me untap them to essentially duplicate the double discard of Infestation, plus whatever their effect is.
I actually never wanted the Gardener to flip, I wanted it to keep putting Lands into play. So I went with the Sakura-Tribe Scout over Walking Atlas due to costing 1 and not being vulnerable to Artifact removal. It'll be quite possible for me ramp hard into Damia with these early land drops. And after Damia drops, it'll be a way to keep my hand low for her to draw more.
I felt like I didn't have time to really use Urban Evolution, so I found Thaumatic Compass as a way to protect myself from attacks but also find me Basics as I moved up to play Damia.
The next batch of changes is because I felt like Damia got axed way too often, so I went with some hard ramp to push myself past running her out on curve.
Nissa went in to give myself a draw engine until Damia got online, but also something that wouldn't really limit my next hand. As I'm replacing my card draw at Instant Speed, so that still allows me time to Discard cards to fuel my Spellshapers and draw up on my Upkeep. I didn't ever really get Alexi online.
Ranger's Path is decent, the issue is that it can't really fix my mana. Grow from the Ashes curves out earlier and later and fixes my mana, even leaving the lands untapped.
I put Circular Logic in for nostalgia reasons, I played UG Madness throughout Standard and Extended. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the perfect storm of components to make it work well. People would have too much mana, I couldn't Discard it, or I didn't have a large enough 'yard. These were frequent problems. I put in Spell Swindle as a way to stop something and then have leftover mana to cast and protect Damia.
Artifact Ramp that tried to rush out Damia didn't quite work, so I put in the heaviest ramp spells available. That way I could play them and then play Damia next turn with mana up to protect her.
I would like to cut another Basic for this but can't risk it. Instead, I'll get rid of an ETBT Land for the untapped Filter Lands. This way I should have an easy time hitting GG or UU as required.
My friend got out of Magic is slowly selling me his collection, his sale got me inspired to switch up my Damia. She was being too cutesy with Spellshapers, so I frequently had frustrating games. I don't have too many spellslingers, so I figured this wouldn't be a bad one. I did a lot of cuts and adds with this being the final result. It's driving me mad that the Ins and Outs don't match, but I figure I'll catch the cards eventually.
Edit: Found Slaughter in my paper copy, now just got to find the other discrepancy.
I actually don't interact too much with my Graveyard, so Life from the Loam has been a little underwhelming. I got a copy of Mystical Tutor, which will help me fetch what I need when I need it. I can also go with a full scumbag loop with Seasons Past.
There have been times Boundless Realms failed to fetch my full value, the amount of nonbasics I run to make sure I have Blue and Green makes this card not as desirable. Seedborn Muse's price bottomed out with Battlebond, so I picked it up, even if it just to untap mana and do nothing. A Control deck looks far more threatening with mana open than not; at the very least, I can now cast Damia and be able to untap and protect her.
I realized I recreated this deck with my Vial Smasher the Fierce and Thrasios, Triton Hero deck. I thought about which one I liked playing and VnT were much less stressful, let me play more crazy cards and so I decided to axe Damia.
7 Damia, Sage of Stone
Creatures - 13
2 Dawnstrider
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Silverglade Pathfinder
2 Thrasios, Triton Hero
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Eternal Witness
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
3 Wayward Swordtooth
3 Wood Elves
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
5 Seedborn Muse
5 The Scarab God
10 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
11 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Planeswalkers - 1
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
5 Nissa, Vital Force
Enchantments - 6
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Burgeoning
1 Exploration
1 Vanishing
3 Lifegift
3 Phyrexian Arena
Artifacts - 6
1 Expedition Map
1 Sol Ring
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Darksteel Plate
3 Sword of Vengeance
4 Primal Amulet
2 Exsanguinate
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Regrowth
2 Torment of Hailfire
3 Cultivate
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Toxic Deluge
4 Pir's Whim
5 Hour of Promise
6 Corrupt
6 Nissa's Renewal
6 Seasons Past
9 In Garruk's Wake
Instants - 19
1 Crop Rotation
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Reclaim
1 Swan Song
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Arcane Denial
2 Constant Mists
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Heroic Intervention
3 Beast Within
3 Forbid
3 Putrefy
3 Sultai Charm
3 Sudden Spoiling
4 Mystical Teachings
4 Slaughter
4 Summary Dismissal
5 Aetherspouts
5 Spell Swindle
7 Forest
5 Island
6 Swamp
Nonbasic Lands - 20
0 Alchemist's Refuge
0 Arch of Orazca
0 Blighted Woodland
0 Bojuka Bog
0 Breeding Pool
0 Cabal Coffers
0 Command Tower
0 City of Brass
0 Exotic Orchard
0 Flooded Grove
0 Hinterland Harbor
0 Mana Confluence
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Opulent Palace
0 Overgrown Tomb
0 Reflecting Pool
0 Terrain Generator
0 Tolaria West
0 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
0 Watery Grave
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Life from the Loam
1 Boundless Realms
1 Pir's Whim
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Aetherspouts
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Constant Mists
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Corrupt
1 Crop Rotation
1 Cultivate
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Expedition Map
1 Exploration
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Life from the Loam
1 Lifegift
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Primal Amulet
1 Putrefy
1 Reclaim
1 Regrowth
1 Seasons Past
1 Sudden Spoiling
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Vanishing
1 Slaughter
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Cabal Stronghold
1 Conqueror's Galleon
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Dreamscape Artist
1 Farseek
1 From Under the Floorboards
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Grow from the Ashes
1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
1 Harrow
1 Havengul Lich
1 Journey to Eternity
1 Llanowar Mentor
1 Medicine Bag
1 Mystic Snake
1 Nature's Lore
1 Notorious Assassin
1 Overtaker
1 Reality Shift
1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
1 Stronghold Biologist
1 Stronghold Machinist
1 Thaumatic Compass
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Undertaker
1 Urborg Syphon-Mage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Villainous Wealth
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Flooded Grove
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Grow from the Ashes
1 Spell Swindle
1 Boundless Realms
1 Nissa's Renewal
1 Cabal Stronghold
1 Alexi, Zephyr Mage
1 Ranger's Path
1 Circular Logic
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Swamp
1 Thaumatic Compass
1 Urban Evolution
1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
1 Budoka Gardener
1 Terrain Generator
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Zombie Infestation
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Greel, the Mindraker
1 Life from the Loam
1 Wayward Swordtooth
1 Conqueror's Galleon
1 Heroic Intervention
1 The Gitrog Monster
1 Ophiomancer
1 Ulvenwald Hydra
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Opiomancer
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Havengul Lich
1 Journey to Eternity
1 Medicine Bag
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Urban Evolution
1 Harrow
1 Forbid
1 Blighted Woodland
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Tortured Existence
1 Painful Quandary
1 Necrogen Mists
1 Waste Not
1 Sangromancer
1 Bottomless Pit
1 Words of Waste
1 Oppression
1 Swamp
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Waterfront Bouncer
1 Opiomancer
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Havengul Lich
1 Journey to Eternity
1 Medicine Bag
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Urban Evolution
1 Harrow
1 Forbid
1 Blighted Woodland
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Tortured Existence
1 Painful Quandary
1 Necrogen Mists
1 Waste Not
1 Sangromancer
1 Bottomless Pit
1 Words of Waste
1 Oppression
1 Swamp
The Discard Suite proved too much for Damia to handle; it would case the table to gang up on the deck immediately and considering the deck takes a little while to setup, there was too much heat on the deck.
Lastly, I cut a Swamp so I get a bunch more basic land fetch with a Blighted Woodland.
As for the additions, I added a few more Discard outlets with Medicine Bag and Waterfront Bouncer. The Bag and Journey to Eternity are to protect Damia, as the deck revolves around her ability. I run a lot less draw than most of my decks because the draw engine is right in the Command Zone, it's a way to protect her. With all of the Creatures I'm discarding, Havengul Lich seemed like a no brainer. It's another another way to cast Damia.
I added Big Game Hunter and Curse of the Swine as more removal that doesn't impact my board; Ophiomancer is just to hold off early aggression.
Urban Evolution was added as a way to make more land drops with Forbid and Harrow being more Instants to play out my hand with Damia.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Wayward Swordtooth
1 Conqueror's Galleon
1 Heroic Intervention
1 The Gitrog Monster
1 Ophiomancer
1 Ulvenwald Hydra
Galleon has an assortment of abilities once it has flipped. It can recur spells, which I'll be able to really use in this deck and the big mana nature means it is quite possible to activate it. Many of the bigger Creatures are able to Crew it, making it possible to get the Land ASAP, including Damia. The straight draw is nice but a Loot Draw is what this deck desires for Madness which the first ability the Galleon's Land has. Ophiomancer deters attacks but I rather have added redundancy.
I would like to find specific lands but I need to protect my board before I could safely resolve the Hydra, hence Heroic Intervention to protect my board which can lead into massive blowouts.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Greel, the Mindraker
1 Life from the Loam
I didn't really benefit from Life from the Loam which surprises me, but hey, I'll go look for dead cards wherever they are. Sword of Vengeance opens up Commander Damage as something viable due to Trample and Deathtouch being quite the combination. With Vigilance and First Strike, it makes Damia tough to fight through as well. Overall, this change makes the deck more resilient to Creature-based threats.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Zombie Infestation
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Terrain Generator
1 Woodland Cemetery
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
1 Budoka Gardener
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Thaumatic Compass
1 Urban Evolution
The next batch of changes is because I felt like Damia got axed way too often, so I went with some hard ramp to push myself past running her out on curve.
1 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Grow from the Ashes
1 Spell Swindle
1 Boundless Realms
1 Nissa's Renewal
1 Cabal Stronghold
1 Alexi, Zephyr Mage
1 Ranger's Path
1 Circular Logic
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Swamp
Ranger's Path is decent, the issue is that it can't really fix my mana. Grow from the Ashes curves out earlier and later and fixes my mana, even leaving the lands untapped.
I put Circular Logic in for nostalgia reasons, I played UG Madness throughout Standard and Extended. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the perfect storm of components to make it work well. People would have too much mana, I couldn't Discard it, or I didn't have a large enough 'yard. These were frequent problems. I put in Spell Swindle as a way to stop something and then have leftover mana to cast and protect Damia.
Artifact Ramp that tried to rush out Damia didn't quite work, so I put in the heaviest ramp spells available. That way I could play them and then play Damia next turn with mana up to protect her.
Finally, going to try out the Cabal Stronghold.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Flooded Grove
1 Hinterland Harbor
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Aetherspouts
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Constant Mists
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Corrupt
1 Crop Rotation
1 Cultivate
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Expedition Map
1 Exploration
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Life from the Loam
1 Lifegift
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Primal Amulet
1 Putrefy
1 Reclaim
1 Regrowth
1 Seasons Past
1 Sudden Spoiling
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Vanishing
1 Slaughter
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Cabal Stronghold
1 Conqueror's Galleon
1 Curse of the Swine
1 Dreamscape Artist
1 Farseek
1 From Under the Floorboards
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Grow from the Ashes
1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc
1 Harrow
1 Havengul Lich
1 Journey to Eternity
1 Llanowar Mentor
1 Medicine Bag
1 Mystic Snake
1 Nature's Lore
1 Notorious Assassin
1 Overtaker
1 Reality Shift
1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
1 Stronghold Biologist
1 Stronghold Machinist
1 Thaumatic Compass
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Undertaker
1 Urborg Syphon-Mage
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Villainous Wealth
1 Waterfront Bouncer
Edit: Found Slaughter in my paper copy, now just got to find the other discrepancy.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Pir's Whim
1 Explosive Vegetation
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Life from the Loam
1 Boundless Realms
There have been times Boundless Realms failed to fetch my full value, the amount of nonbasics I run to make sure I have Blue and Green makes this card not as desirable. Seedborn Muse's price bottomed out with Battlebond, so I picked it up, even if it just to untap mana and do nothing. A Control deck looks far more threatening with mana open than not; at the very least, I can now cast Damia and be able to untap and protect her.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs