So, essentially since Chromium was spoiled I knew I wanted to build a deck for him. The problem is in part that draw go is really challenging to build and balance the number of different effects for. I have in the past played Teferi, Venser, Wydwen, and Derevi. What I really love about Chromium is the amount of power he brings on his own. In the past when I played Derevi / Wydwen I had to rely on buffs to make them a better threat which took up a lot of extra slots in the list. I really like that Chromium can be played with flash and drop in to block / kill another threat. His large stats + evasion + flash means that we really don't need to help him out much at all to make him work. His activated ability also makes it a lot harder for opponents to use spot removal effects on him.
When I was building this list my focuses were on:
Draw Go - the mentality here is that I use very little or none of my mana in my turn and instead try to respond to my opponents actions. I do have some sorcery speed things but the important part of them is that they often cost little and so keep my mana up or they have a very big impact on the board when I cast them if they cost more mana. Lots of emphasis for the deck is in the ability to do things at instant speed.
Pillowfort - I run several cards like Propaganda and Fog Bank. By forcing opponents to commit deeper into attacking me than just small pokes makes my blow out spells even more impressive when I cast them. These effects turn away a lot of aggression without me needing to answer everything personally and or needing to use spells on every little thing that comes my way.
Mana Dumps - I have built draw go a few times and one thing that can be kind of annoying is if you have a bunch of answers and nothing to cast at the end of your opponents turns. Mana dumps like The Scarab God, Kefnet the Mindful, and Heliod, God of the Sun give me things to do to dump mana without casting spells.
My goal with this list is to utilize my commander to commander damage my opponents out without the need of equipment to make him better. Being that he already has flying evasion plus a three turn clock in stats I want to see how it works out to just play a control game with him doing his thing on his own.
Muddle the Mixture - as a spell its not a bad effect. It is also a tutor I just don't know about how many tutor targets I have for it I guess. It seems like Torpor Orb is one of the more interesting options for it.
Drift of Phantasms - I like the transmute targets and really, as a blocker its ok for buying some time.
Austere Command - its always fairly good but costing 6 is a lot and unlike Tragic Arrogance I cant sculpt it around my commander.
Zur the Enchanter - I like a lot of the enchantments it could tutor and in a lot of cases they would cost me 3 mana anyways so the difference between 3 for those effects and 4 to be able to tutor them as needed seems interesting.
I personally would look to reduce the cost of some of those counterspells, looking a bit like you'll get a few stuck in your hand, with few opportunities to deploy.
On that note I'd play Baral, Chief of Compliance just to make sure you're able to cast spells effectly and potential filter through cards. Flooding is the real deal with 38 lands and heaps of draw.
I'd play Forbid over Spelljack. I know boring, but with Land Tax and so much other draw, it's just a safer option, which can lock down games.
Also a card that is always overlooked for control decks in the Esper/Azorius/Dimir colors is Walking Atlas. There is very little land ramp in these colors, but you have so much draw that often people don't think about if they had a renewable means of making two land drops a turn. This is one of my personal "tech" cards for draw go decks.
Thaumatic Compass is a mana sink, but more importantly it's land ramp which provides potential protection against Voltron with Spires of Orazca.
Have you considered using the sorcery speed cantrips like Ponder and Preordain? I think it would help the deck in filtering out the cards you don't want to see in the early turns of the game.
I would also like to hear your thoughts on whether you'd like the idea of using more flash creatures to go along with the Mystical Teachings in your list. I know it's a card with at most two uses (More depending if Pull from Eternity is played in the deck and ways to reuse it), but grabbing silver bullet flash creatures like Aven Mindcensor, Venser, Shaper Savant, Hushwing Gryff for when the situation calls for it seems like a cool idea.
It's probably not as good here but I'd like the idea of using Sacred Mesa to make X flying 1/1 ponies as a means of a win con/mana sink.
Like the above poster I think Evacuation would be better mass removal spell to use than Aetherspout. Settle the Wreckage would also work as well and has the added bonus of exiling creatures you don't want to see. Even better with an Aven Mindcensor on the field.
Sorry for the delay, some of it has just been me wanting to do some testing myself before committing to comments. I ended up playing 4 games I think now and I was able to draw a few conclusions given that time.
Right now in several games of play I have noticed the need for a bit more ramp and a means to push my commander to kill a little harder. So my focus right now is going to be pushing up my ability to play lands, ramp mana, have consistant mana, and kill a bit faster with Chromium.
I personally would look to reduce the cost of some of those counterspells, looking a bit like you'll get a few stuck in your hand, with few opportunities to deploy.
On that note I'd play Baral, Chief of Compliance just to make sure you're able to cast spells effectly and potential filter through cards. Flooding is the real deal with 38 lands and heaps of draw.
I'd play Forbid over Spelljack. I know boring, but with Land Tax and so much other draw, it's just a safer option, which can lock down games.
Also a card that is always overlooked for control decks in the Esper/Azorius/Dimir colors is Walking Atlas. There is very little land ramp in these colors, but you have so much draw that often people don't think about if they had a renewable means of making two land drops a turn. This is one of my personal "tech" cards for draw go decks.
Thaumatic Compass is a mana sink, but more importantly it's land ramp which provides potential protection against Voltron with Spires of Orazca.
Nexus of Fate - it looks like a great card. Originally I was trying to avoid playing extra turns in part because they just feel all sorts of bad to be on the other end of. That said however, I have found that I need a way to speed up my ability to kill with my commander as well as the overall amount of draw that I have in my list.
Evacuation vs Aetherspouts - its debatable which is better. Evacuation can suck more if opponents are playing ETB tactics and Aetherspouts forces opponents to re-draw those creatures. I wouldn't say that one is better than the other as it comes down to the situations you encounter and how you want to interact with them. I will keep it in mind but for right now I have been happy with the combat punisher that Aethersputs is. The biggest question in my mind comes down to how people push to win games as to which one works better for you and currently I still see more combat preference than non combat.
Cost of Counters - it hasn't been too big of an issue yet for me. Being that I am very responsive I don't cast much on my turn so I have more mana up for opponents turns. I also am not pushing draw that heavily as a lot of why I want to draw cards is to replenish cards I do have to cast and play more lands. Going with cheaper counters is more relevant if you play a lot of blue vs blue kind of matchups but I don't play much of that myself.
Forbid - I haven't really ever had any luck with the card to be honest. I don't actually draw that many cards in this deck. I got a Land Tax this last week and by turn 4 I could no longer activate it so it was kind of awkward.
Walking Atlas - I love this guy, my issue is I actually don't have very good draw in here. I have had a lot of turns where I start missing playing a land for my turn once the game gets to the middle / later turns as it stands and thats why I think for now I am going to pass on him.
Thaumatic Compass - I considered it but I passed on it for this deck in part because of the potential for land clones. I have 3 strip mine effects in this deck but even then, I am concerned with the idea that someone gets some good maze land online and sticks it.
Volrath's Stronghold / Academy Ruins - I considered both of these but right now I didn't see that many targets in the deck. My landbase is something I am still trying to figure out as well as I have had a few games now where I have been lacking some of my colors to cast cards. I remember once having like a 6 card hand full of WW / UU cards and unable to cast any of them with 6 lands. I am still working on the list but maybe in the future but I also think that I would prefer to have higher counts for both before I would run either.
Baral, Chief of Compliance - honestly, this is not a spellslinger deck or the type of deck I want mana reduction for. This deck is heavily responsive and it uses a lot of mana dumps to do things without casting spells at time. I have built spellslinger and proactive decks where this kind of effect is great, I am not convinced that is this deck.
Dominate vs Welcome to the Fold - it is true that Welcome to the Fold is dependent on my commander for the discard but I think its a superior card in that situation. I am not sure yet how much I care about theft as I did get Welcome in a game recently but did not cast it. Overall, I guess I need to test more but I don't know right now.
There is one or two Najeela decks that I have seen but its not so much that I am going to build around them. I think I have played against the commander three times now since it was released so, no I am not going to say that pillowfort effects are not useful vs tokens since I would say most of the tokens I see are still not Najeela decks. As time goes on, you will probably see less of her as well so I wouldn't start jumping to too many conclusions based on a temporary like that.
Have you considered using the sorcery speed cantrips like Ponder and Preordain? I think it would help the deck in filtering out the cards you don't want to see in the early turns of the game.
I would also like to hear your thoughts on whether you'd like the idea of using more flash creatures to go along with the Mystical Teachings in your list. I know it's a card with at most two uses (More depending if Pull from Eternity is played in the deck and ways to reuse it), but grabbing silver bullet flash creatures like Aven Mindcensor, Venser, Shaper Savant, Hushwing Gryff for when the situation calls for it seems like a cool idea.
It's probably not as good here but I'd like the idea of using Sacred Mesa to make X flying 1/1 ponies as a means of a win con/mana sink.
Like the above poster I think Evacuation would be better mass removal spell to use than Aetherspout. Settle the Wreckage would also work as well and has the added bonus of exiling creatures you don't want to see. Even better with an Aven Mindcensor on the field.
Ponder and Preordain - Really, these cards are always fine to add but I don't find myself really having specific cards I am after in a lot of cases. I like these cards more when digging for specific things but I have actually found that I am cutting several of my tutors right now since most of my deck is responsive.
Mystical Teachings - I got this card this last week in my hand. I ended up discarding it and I never flashed it back. Sooooooo I guess my answer is that I never had the mana / want to go get anything given the cost to go get it. Maybe after adding more ramp it might get more reasonable but for now I just need more mana and not a tutor.
Sacred Mesa - I considered it but I also didn't feel that the tokens were really going to help me with much since they mostly just defend me I questioned how helpful it really was in comparison to a pillowfort effect.
DECK CHANGES:
Grim Monolith -> Temporal Manipulation - I managed to find the Monolith a few times and while it wasn't bad I found there were turns I felt like I lost my entire turn just to untap it. I would prefer more consistent mana rather than the occasional burst at the cost of needing to reload it. This card felt especially bad when I cast it into a Blind Obedience. I can use extra turns for more combat swings, they draw me another card, and they have the upside of providing me more mana for mana dumps.
Forbidden Alchemy -> Phyrexian Arena - I just wanted a little more over time draw than trying to draw specific things. Arena still feels hit and miss for me depending on how long it lives but for this deck I think its the right transition.
Summary Dismissal -> Solemn Simulacrum - I need more ramp. I do occasionally like the Dismissal to make a bunch of abilities triggering all go away but for the time being I am going to send it off for yet again more ramp.
Spelljack -> Nexus of Fate - similar cost but it shifts me a little more proactive and lets me close out the game. I like how if something goes wrong with Nexus I still get my turn next.
Enlightened Tutor -> 1 Island - some of the tutors have just felt really slow. I also wanted to bump my basic land count slightly and I need more blue.
Mystical Teachings -> Zur the Enchanter - Mystical has felt slow and I like that Zur can get me defenses or card advantage. There is some level of concern that Zur might draw a *****load of hate but.... meh we will give it a shot I guess.
Notion Thief -> Time Warp - I did have one super clutch game for the thief but overall he has felt really situational. I did have a cantrip Jeskai deck completely fold to him which was hilarious but.... he is going to move on.
Treachery -> Capture of Jingzhou - shifting to more ramp, draw, and ability to close the game out. The theft especially at sorcery speed has seemed a little sketch. I did have one game it worked out fairly well for me but mostly, I would rather have the option to do it at instant speed even though it pays for itself.
Expedition Map -> Hex Parasite - OMG planeswalkers have been SUCHHHHHHHHHHH a pain in the ass. There have been a lot more walkers in people's lists recently and I love that the Parasite can eat them without me committing swings from my commander at them. I am going to say offhand that this is a meta call. We had wayyyy too many walkers in a recent game and its making me want to put in some direct hate for them.
So I guess, this is a lot of ramp / extra turns (which can ramp). I just need to put down more lands, which gives me more mana to use to mana dumps and it makes me a little less restricted in what I can do in a turn.
Private Mod Note
():
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.
I had some good games with Chromium this week. One of my buddies showed up for commander and didn't have any decks so between the two of us Chromium got played every game this week (and had no losses in 4-5 games). I didn't get to see all of the new cards in the deck in part because some of them were still in the mail so some of the changes had not gone through yet.
Aethersnatch -> Unwind - Really I just wanted another cheaper counter. Rewind has been ridiculously useful for me so far but perhaps that is because so far I have not eaten a counter on it when I cast it. That said though, I have had a lot of success with Negate in the past and the fact that this lets me Negate and recover my mana is useful from the stand point of letting me potentially still cast my commander or have mana to mana dump to abilities seems helpful.
Sensei's Divining Top -> Thaumatic Compass (Spires of Orazca) - I have just been noticing that top doesn't feel quite right for me in this list. I have been cutting back some of my tutors and as a whole I just have not been that impressed with top when I do find it. I have seen a few times where Kor Haven seems to absolutely be a powerhouse of my defense though so while I still have some concerns about land clones I am going to try this out.
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale -> Evacuation - tabernacle is cool but I don't know it quite fits the plan for this deck. It might slow down opponents but I kind of want my opponents to be attacking each other and still playing to the board. I just wan't to stop them from hurting me.
Arcane Sanctum -> Azorius Chancery - I mostly don't need to fix for every color, I mostly just need more blue and more land drops. The nice thing about the bounce lands are that I don't necessarily need to be fast with this deck but I do need to keep dropping lands so these seem handy.
Path of Ancestry -> Dimir Aqueduct - Similarly above I just want to add a little bit of an extension to my land drops at the cost of speed.
Tolaria West -> Thespian's Stage - Thespian gives me the option to copy a few of the 2 mana lands I am running now. I had been noticing more that I don't seem to rely on my utility lands all that much in here when I had been drawing Exploration Map it had been a bit odd.
Adding additional lands that tap for 2+ mana also does help a little with some of the Rewind effects as they can generate some mana. I was considering some other effects like Turnabout (very versatile and it could generate mana for me in a pinch or serve as temporary defense) and Decree of Pain (It can be cycled at instant speed for a useful effect and its cast effect would be powerful as well) as well but for right now I will continue on without them.
I had some additional ideas of things I wanted to try out. I was working on another deck idea and I realized that Rings of Brighthearth should work well with this concept in part because of the fetchlands and also in part because of all of the activated abilities I use in here. Anyways I was sort of pushed to make a few other changes while I was working my way through adding it as well.
Sensei's Divining Top -> Scroll Rack - honestly I think that top is decent in here but overall my hand sometimes gets too full of one type of effect. The ability to push down duplicates of some things (like if I have 3 psudo mass defense cards) could be very useful. It also gives me the option to push my hand around based on what I need in a situation which seems handy.
Torpor Orb -> Rings of Brighthearth - I think that Torpor Orb fits here but based on what I am playing against right now I don't find that its really necessary. If I played against dedicated ETB decks I would keep it in but I needed to find a place for rings and right now I just have not been finding Torpor Orb to really fit my needs right now. Rings can ramp me mana and let me double down on some of my triggered abilities.
Land Tax -> Thawing Glaciers - I think Land Tax can fit this type of build but as I added extra turns, more land ramp, and other fun toys I have been finding lots of times that Land Tax has not been able to trigger for me. There was a time last week where I never got a land out of Land Tax on like a turn 5 cast of it (I assumed it was going to trigger when I cast it). Thawing Glaciers serves a very similar role but doesn't care what land count my opponents have not to mention it can do fun things with Rings of Brighthearth.
Return to Dust -> Golden Guardian - I saw Return to Dust a few times now and ultimately its just kind of slow given I have the BW instant exile effects in my list. I don't really like the pressure to cast it at sorcery speed for this list either. Golden Guardian seems a little questionable given the somewhat low creature count but I like the ramp 2 mana effect of it and the mana dump of making 4/4 golems seems fun for this style of deck.
Welcome to the Fold -> Relic of Progenitus - Overall I just haven't felt like theft is really needed so far for how this deck plays. I was actually running Relic already in my RL version so I am not really sure what that was in for from the list (I never did figure that one out) but I wanted to correct my list to run it.
Tragic Arrogance -> Tezzeret the Seeker - I felt like Tragic was a little odd for this type of deck. I ended up throwing it out or not casting it too often. Tezzeret has a lot of versatility in what he can do though including getting me an Oblivion Stone if I need the wrath option. I have been adding more diversity to my artifact targets and with that I figured I would add tezzeret for some testing.
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon -> Oblivion Stone - Ugin is super cool and I think he works well with Chromium, that said.... sorcery speed 8 mana is kind of slow. I like with O Stone that I have more ways to tutor for and recur it and I can still pop it off at instant speed. Its also really cool in that this deck could still run several answers to defend playing the stone and not popping it immediately.
Pull from Tomorrow -> Mystic Remora - I just wanted to shift my draw a little. I felt like I didn't need two X mana draw effects and since Sphinx's Revelation has lifegain on it, which I mostly lack in here, I felt it was better to keep Sphinx and try to shift this X draw into something that might slow opponents down or have a higher efficiency of how many cards / mana it draws me.
1 Swamp -> 1 Island - I just realized that I can probably unbalance my landbase a little more towards blue. I want to keep a few basics of each though due to the fetchlands though but I ultimately want a lot more blue than other colors.
Minamo, School at Water's Edge -> Academy Ruins - I felt that the utility of Minamo was something I didn't really need. It is nice that it taps for blue and enters untapped plus has utility but even then, I wanted to find room for Academy Ruins given some of the new artifacts I am adding to the list.
So, I guess I am not really sure how I feel about all of these changes but I feel it should add a little more ramp to the list. Some of the mana costs have been culled down a little as well as adding a little more toolboxing to the list. I am not really sure on the moving from Top to Scroll Rack but it feels like sometimes my hand gets a little oversaturated with a specific type of effect which is part of why I wanted to try it out.
Private Mod Note
():
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.
I managed a game last night where I kind of experienced drawing too many lands and too few nonland effects. I didn't really have much for mana sinks as Nezumi Graverobber was kind of what I had to work with (no creatures went to grave for like the first 8+ turns). I did manage to play Ghostly Prison vs two token decks though and keep a low enough profile that I was mostly left alone. The other players mauled each other and I managed to race a Krenko deck behind my Ghostly Prison in the end. It was kind of a bad game for the Krenko player though in that another player was playing Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist. The mono black player folded first as he had no defense from the token swarm decks.
It was kind of a bizarre game in that I just really over drew into land and ramp and didn't find much to do with it. I found one Counterspell and Aetherspouts as kind of the other cards I drew that game.
I have a strange love for browse in this style of deck.
I do actually really like that effect but I have some issues with the cost to play it especially when you look at the cost to play it + activate it the first time is kind of high. In a lot of cases I try to keep my costs lower or have some faster upside. The Scarab God / Kefnet the Mindful for instance are both fairly well stated creatures on top of having useful mana sinks which can give me good defense options.
If browse cost less or its activated ability was less I would be a lot more on board with it but 4 mana for something that can't defend me or really do anything until I sink more mana into it on top of its activated ability being another 4 mana just feels a little heavy handed as it stands.
If browse cost less or its activated ability was less I would be a lot more on board with it but 4 mana for something that can't defend me or really do anything until I sink more mana into it on top of its activated ability being another 4 mana just feels a little heavy handed as it stands.
I'm having troubles finding a repeatable manasink at less than 4 mana per card. being an enchantment it's less likely to be accidently removed than something like azure mage.
I'm having troubles finding a repeatable manasink at less than 4 mana per card. being an enchantment it's less likely to be accidently removed than something like azure mage.
I know what you mean but I think there is still the question of how many mana sinks we actually need. Generally speaking even just having one or two is plenty. Generally speaking while having more in play at once gives more options you really only need one mana sink.
Fathom Feeder or Mystic Archaeologist would probably be superior to Azure Mage also. Both cost 5 to activate instead of 4 but the deathtouch on a cheap creature could be good and drawing 2 cards instead of 1 for one more mana probably makes sense. Fathom Feeder could also hate on topdeck tutors which would be sort of funny if you ever caught someone with it.
Right now I am just trying to gather more data and figure out what balancing seems to make sense. This last week I sort of got land flooded so it wasn't a great test but I hope to get to play this deck a bit more moving forward and see what works out.
Private Mod Note
():
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.
When I was building this list my focuses were on:
My goal with this list is to utilize my commander to commander damage my opponents out without the need of equipment to make him better. Being that he already has flying evasion plus a three turn clock in stats I want to see how it works out to just play a control game with him doing his thing on his own.
1 Chromium, the Mutable
CREATURES (13)
1 Hex Parasite
1 Baleful Strix
1 Fog Bank
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Burnished Hart
1 Kefnet the Mindful
1 Golden Guardian
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Zur the Enchanter
1 The Scarab God
1 Torrential Gearhulk
ARTIFACT (9)
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sol Ring
1 Scroll Rack
1 Thaumatic Compass
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Gilded Lotus
ENCHANTMENT (8)
1 Mystic Remora
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Aura of Silence
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Propaganda
1 Rhystic Study
1 Collective Restraint
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Lim-Dul's Vault
1 Mana Drain
1 Unexpectedly Absent
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Disallow
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Unwind
1 Whir of Invention
1 Comeuppance
1 Cryptic Command
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Rewind
1 Utter End
1 Aetherspouts
1 Desertion
1 Evacuation
1 Force of Will
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Time Stop
1 Tsabo's Decree
1 Nexus of Fate
1 Dig Through Time
SORCERY (4)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Capture of Jingzhou
1 Temporal Manipulation
1 Time Warp
PLANESWALKER (1)
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
LAND (38)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Arid Mesa
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Command Tower
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
5 Island
1 Kor Haven
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Myriad Landscape
3 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Scrubland
1 Strip Mine
2 Swamp
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
1 Windswept Heath
In Consideration:
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Evacuation is better than Aetherspouts, but you could play it as well.
I personally would look to reduce the cost of some of those counterspells, looking a bit like you'll get a few stuck in your hand, with few opportunities to deploy.
On that note I'd play Baral, Chief of Compliance just to make sure you're able to cast spells effectly and potential filter through cards. Flooding is the real deal with 38 lands and heaps of draw.
I'd play Forbid over Spelljack. I know boring, but with Land Tax and so much other draw, it's just a safer option, which can lock down games.
Also a card that is always overlooked for control decks in the Esper/Azorius/Dimir colors is Walking Atlas. There is very little land ramp in these colors, but you have so much draw that often people don't think about if they had a renewable means of making two land drops a turn. This is one of my personal "tech" cards for draw go decks.
Thaumatic Compass is a mana sink, but more importantly it's land ramp which provides potential protection against Voltron with Spires of Orazca.
The deck looks very grindy, so maybe Volrath's Stronghold, so you can keep putting Snapcaster Mage or Torrential Gearhulk back on top, to get insane value each turn. Hard to beat once the game has gone long.
How about Dominate instead of Welcome to the Fold?
Honestly pillow fort cards are becoming fast obsolete with Najeela, the Blade-Blossom running about, although she might not have hit your meta yet. She makes cards like Propaganda embarrassing.
If you did remove the pillow fort cards, for instants that deal with creatures like Reins of Power, Aetherize, Domineering Will, Engulf the Shore, Fated Retribution, Retaliate, then I'd also look to play Primal Amulet.
I love all the transform lands in Esper colors as land ramp is just so rare, and mana is so important.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I would also like to hear your thoughts on whether you'd like the idea of using more flash creatures to go along with the Mystical Teachings in your list. I know it's a card with at most two uses (More depending if Pull from Eternity is played in the deck and ways to reuse it), but grabbing silver bullet flash creatures like Aven Mindcensor, Venser, Shaper Savant, Hushwing Gryff for when the situation calls for it seems like a cool idea.
It's probably not as good here but I'd like the idea of using Sacred Mesa to make X flying 1/1 ponies as a means of a win con/mana sink.
Like the above poster I think Evacuation would be better mass removal spell to use than Aetherspout. Settle the Wreckage would also work as well and has the added bonus of exiling creatures you don't want to see. Even better with an Aven Mindcensor on the field.
Right now in several games of play I have noticed the need for a bit more ramp and a means to push my commander to kill a little harder. So my focus right now is going to be pushing up my ability to play lands, ramp mana, have consistant mana, and kill a bit faster with Chromium.
Nexus of Fate - it looks like a great card. Originally I was trying to avoid playing extra turns in part because they just feel all sorts of bad to be on the other end of. That said however, I have found that I need a way to speed up my ability to kill with my commander as well as the overall amount of draw that I have in my list.
Evacuation vs Aetherspouts - its debatable which is better. Evacuation can suck more if opponents are playing ETB tactics and Aetherspouts forces opponents to re-draw those creatures. I wouldn't say that one is better than the other as it comes down to the situations you encounter and how you want to interact with them. I will keep it in mind but for right now I have been happy with the combat punisher that Aethersputs is. The biggest question in my mind comes down to how people push to win games as to which one works better for you and currently I still see more combat preference than non combat.
Cost of Counters - it hasn't been too big of an issue yet for me. Being that I am very responsive I don't cast much on my turn so I have more mana up for opponents turns. I also am not pushing draw that heavily as a lot of why I want to draw cards is to replenish cards I do have to cast and play more lands. Going with cheaper counters is more relevant if you play a lot of blue vs blue kind of matchups but I don't play much of that myself.
Forbid - I haven't really ever had any luck with the card to be honest. I don't actually draw that many cards in this deck. I got a Land Tax this last week and by turn 4 I could no longer activate it so it was kind of awkward.
Walking Atlas - I love this guy, my issue is I actually don't have very good draw in here. I have had a lot of turns where I start missing playing a land for my turn once the game gets to the middle / later turns as it stands and thats why I think for now I am going to pass on him.
Thaumatic Compass - I considered it but I passed on it for this deck in part because of the potential for land clones. I have 3 strip mine effects in this deck but even then, I am concerned with the idea that someone gets some good maze land online and sticks it.
Volrath's Stronghold / Academy Ruins - I considered both of these but right now I didn't see that many targets in the deck. My landbase is something I am still trying to figure out as well as I have had a few games now where I have been lacking some of my colors to cast cards. I remember once having like a 6 card hand full of WW / UU cards and unable to cast any of them with 6 lands. I am still working on the list but maybe in the future but I also think that I would prefer to have higher counts for both before I would run either.
Baral, Chief of Compliance - honestly, this is not a spellslinger deck or the type of deck I want mana reduction for. This deck is heavily responsive and it uses a lot of mana dumps to do things without casting spells at time. I have built spellslinger and proactive decks where this kind of effect is great, I am not convinced that is this deck.
Dominate vs Welcome to the Fold - it is true that Welcome to the Fold is dependent on my commander for the discard but I think its a superior card in that situation. I am not sure yet how much I care about theft as I did get Welcome in a game recently but did not cast it. Overall, I guess I need to test more but I don't know right now.
There is one or two Najeela decks that I have seen but its not so much that I am going to build around them. I think I have played against the commander three times now since it was released so, no I am not going to say that pillowfort effects are not useful vs tokens since I would say most of the tokens I see are still not Najeela decks. As time goes on, you will probably see less of her as well so I wouldn't start jumping to too many conclusions based on a temporary like that.
Ponder and Preordain - Really, these cards are always fine to add but I don't find myself really having specific cards I am after in a lot of cases. I like these cards more when digging for specific things but I have actually found that I am cutting several of my tutors right now since most of my deck is responsive.
Mystical Teachings - I got this card this last week in my hand. I ended up discarding it and I never flashed it back. Sooooooo I guess my answer is that I never had the mana / want to go get anything given the cost to go get it. Maybe after adding more ramp it might get more reasonable but for now I just need more mana and not a tutor.
Sacred Mesa - I considered it but I also didn't feel that the tokens were really going to help me with much since they mostly just defend me I questioned how helpful it really was in comparison to a pillowfort effect.
DECK CHANGES:
So I guess, this is a lot of ramp / extra turns (which can ramp). I just need to put down more lands, which gives me more mana to use to mana dumps and it makes me a little less restricted in what I can do in a turn.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Adding additional lands that tap for 2+ mana also does help a little with some of the Rewind effects as they can generate some mana. I was considering some other effects like Turnabout (very versatile and it could generate mana for me in a pinch or serve as temporary defense) and Decree of Pain (It can be cycled at instant speed for a useful effect and its cast effect would be powerful as well) as well but for right now I will continue on without them.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
So, I guess I am not really sure how I feel about all of these changes but I feel it should add a little more ramp to the list. Some of the mana costs have been culled down a little as well as adding a little more toolboxing to the list. I am not really sure on the moving from Top to Scroll Rack but it feels like sometimes my hand gets a little oversaturated with a specific type of effect which is part of why I wanted to try it out.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
Savra, Queen of the Golgari (Green Black Control with Graveyard Advantages)
Standard
Probably Mono Red Sligh
Modern
Dredge
Legacy
Dredge
It was kind of a bizarre game in that I just really over drew into land and ramp and didn't find much to do with it. I found one Counterspell and Aetherspouts as kind of the other cards I drew that game.
I do actually really like that effect but I have some issues with the cost to play it especially when you look at the cost to play it + activate it the first time is kind of high. In a lot of cases I try to keep my costs lower or have some faster upside. The Scarab God / Kefnet the Mindful for instance are both fairly well stated creatures on top of having useful mana sinks which can give me good defense options.
If browse cost less or its activated ability was less I would be a lot more on board with it but 4 mana for something that can't defend me or really do anything until I sink more mana into it on top of its activated ability being another 4 mana just feels a little heavy handed as it stands.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies
I'm having troubles finding a repeatable manasink at less than 4 mana per card. being an enchantment it's less likely to be accidently removed than something like azure mage.
Savra, Queen of the Golgari (Green Black Control with Graveyard Advantages)
Standard
Probably Mono Red Sligh
Modern
Dredge
Legacy
Dredge
I know what you mean but I think there is still the question of how many mana sinks we actually need. Generally speaking even just having one or two is plenty. Generally speaking while having more in play at once gives more options you really only need one mana sink.
Fathom Feeder or Mystic Archaeologist would probably be superior to Azure Mage also. Both cost 5 to activate instead of 4 but the deathtouch on a cheap creature could be good and drawing 2 cards instead of 1 for one more mana probably makes sense. Fathom Feeder could also hate on topdeck tutors which would be sort of funny if you ever caught someone with it.
Right now I am just trying to gather more data and figure out what balancing seems to make sense. This last week I sort of got land flooded so it wasn't a great test but I hope to get to play this deck a bit more moving forward and see what works out.
Signature by Inkfox Aesthetics by Xen
[Modern] Allies