I noticed you run Firemind's Research. This Seems like the kind of card that could serve as a flavorful manasink. Though it needs "charging". How has that card been working out thus far?
So far, I am very inconclusive. I think I drew it once like on the turn or the turn before winning so its hardly a good test of it. I like the potential of it being reach, planeswaker removal, or creature removal not to mention draw options but my verdict is still out. It does seem kind of slow to get counters from the standpoint that I kind of want to remove five for the removal option of it more than I do the draw but versatility of it could be nice. What I do like is how its cheap to cast so its easy to cast it, then trigger my commander and cast more spells if I want in the same turn. I prefer my enablers be cheap when I can get them. I really can't say a lot about it yet though as I don't really know yet lol.
Being that its cheap and it doesn't look super terrifying I am hoping people overlook and or leave it alone where as if I were to play something like Swarm Intelligence it turns a few more heads not to mention probably taps me out.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I did manage to trade into Ral today, so i guess i'll be trying out a more copy'y version next weekend.
First step is to see how to tune the deck to add about 6 cards.
I also pulled a nice Kefnet. I just might try that one too while we're at it.
I did manage to trade into Ral today, so i guess i'll be trying out a more copy'y version next weekend.
First step is to see how to tune the deck to add about 6 cards.
I also pulled a nice Kefnet. I just might try that one too while we're at it.
Will put up an updated list soon.
I managed to pull Ral and Role Reversal in my pool yesterday. I took third place in 19 players and opened almost nothing in those. Somehow I opened 14 packs yesterday and saw zero mythics FML.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I always attend prerelease 2HG with a friend (4-1, 2nd place) and i use that day to play and trade as much as possible
Had some sweet pulls and managed to trade into most of the rest. Mythic/rare staples were allready on preoder with only Karn's Bastion as double (promo).
Pulled Role Reversal too and it piques my interest. Next to yet another token maker in Saheeli, this could be valuable removal worthy of the downside of sorcery speed. Any token maker produces a token upon cast which can then be exchanged for something big and scary! Artifacts too.
Planeswalkers and lands even. Enchantments, i'm not so sure about.
Cards i'm not completely sure about are:
-Sapphire Medallion, the deck gets a little more greedy in the manacosts, and a normal rock could gradually become better. Since the red is more prominent, i could probably pot Fire Diamond back in.
-Chasm Skulker, Massive card draw pay-of and when this guy dies, it's usually game over for the rest of the table. I have no ways to abuse it though.
-Wizard's Lightning and/or Lightning Strike, both can be creature/PW removal and both can be winconditions. Both are not Bolt though.
-Electrolyze, As above, but i love this thing! Like Wizard's Lightning, No synergy with Isochron Scepter though.
Cards i'm hessistent to cut, but i know others have different feelings with are: Mission Briefing and Snapcaster Mage, i just don't know
Curious to hear other's perspectives.
In the mean time, i'll be puzzling my way trough
Big changes to fit in the whole package, and suddenly it feels like a completely different deck. Not having beloved cards like Cryptic Command and especially Snapcaster Mage feels a little uncomfortable but i'd like to playtest the deck this way first and see what's what.
Big changes to fit in the whole package, and suddenly it feels like a completely different deck. Not having beloved cards like Cryptic Command and especially Snapcaster Mage feels a little uncomfortable but i'd like to playtest the deck this way first and see what's what.
To be honest, original Niv Mizzet looks extremely slow and overcosted to me. I don't think I would be willing to pay more than 3-4 mana for that effect in my own list. The high cost to cast him makes it hard to captialize on his ability much the first turn and I would consider his effect a lot weaker than most of our spellcast enabler effects. As creature removal I would say its weak in my mind and as player reach it seems extremely weak. There is a HUGE difference in power between him and 3.0 for a list like this because the 3.0 niv is drawing me cards when I cast follow up and when he gets removed I am also probably drawing cards.
I feel like you might be a bit lower on the cheap cantrips and higher on responsive spells on the front of Finale of Promise. I don't know how it will affect your own experience with it but its just something I noticed. You do have something like 3/4ths the spells in your list that I do and a lot less of yours are cheap draw cantrips. Remember that counterspells, X mana spells, and flashback spells are all more or less not really targets for this card. My point kind of being that I think its going to be a lot weaker in your list that I see right now. I feel like forks would also kind of be weak even though they could be used to copy the other spell put on with this spell. My point being that its a much stronger spell generally speaking with proactive spells not that it can't be used on things like Lightning Bolt I feel its often going to be stronger to cast two draw spells and see three spellcasts for spell enablers.
Pyromancer's Goggles - Let me know how testing goes for you if you do go through with this card. I am not really a fan of it myself for my list but you are running the X mana red spells so it might be cool with those. My issue is still how few of the spells we run are red and those big payoff spells we probably aren't casting the same turn we cast this so its a big target for removal between cast and next untap.
To be honest, original Niv Mizzet looks extremely slow and overcosted to me. I don't think I would be willing to pay more than 3-4 mana for that effect in my own list. The high cost to cast him makes it hard to captialize on his ability much the first turn and I would consider his effect a lot weaker than most of our spellcast enabler effects. As creature removal I would say its weak in my mind and as player reach it seems extremely weak. There is a HUGE difference in power between him and 3.0 for a list like this because the 3.0 niv is drawing me cards when I cast follow up and when he gets removed I am also probably drawing cards.
Thanks for your insights, i'll roll with Consecrated Sphinx for now as it is the most likely to pay-out at the next draw step.
I feel like you might be a bit lower on the cheap cantrips and higher on responsive spells on the front of Finale of Promise. I don't know how it will affect your own experience with it but its just something I noticed. You do have something like 3/4ths the spells in your list that I do and a lot less of yours are cheap draw cantrips. Remember that counterspells, X mana spells, and flashback spells are all more or less not really targets for this card. My point kind of being that I think its going to be a lot weaker in your list that I see right now. I feel like forks would also kind of be weak even though they could be used to copy the other spell put on with this spell. My point being that its a much stronger spell generally speaking with proactive spells not that it can't be used on things like Lightning Bolt I feel its often going to be stronger to cast two draw spells and see three spellcasts for spell enablers.
My list is very two-drop heavy and has a lot of recursable spells, i'll try to be as efficient as possible to gain as much advantage as possible.
What one drop cantrips that work on their own (don't target) would you add to the list? Preferably Instants
Pyromancer's Goggles - Let me know how testing goes for you if you do go through with this card. I am not really a fan of it myself for my list but you are running the X mana red spells so it might be cool with those. My issue is still how few of the spells we run are red and those big payoff spells we probably aren't casting the same turn we cast this so its a big target for removal between cast and next untap.
Is has been a card in my binder for a very long time, and i have always wanted to play with it. This current list/theme seems very fitting. I'll report as soon as i have some mileage on it
Thanks for your insights, i'll roll with Consecrated Sphinx for now as it is the most likely to pay-out at the next draw step.
My list is very two-drop heavy and has a lot of recursable spells, i'll try to be as efficient as possible to gain as much advantage as possible.
What one drop cantrips that work on their own (don't target) would you add to the list? Preferably Instants
Is has been a card in my binder for a very long time, and i have always wanted to play with it. This current list/theme seems very fitting. I'll report as soon as i have some mileage on it
Going through our two lists (last I saw yours at least) the one drop cantrips that I run that you don't are:
Lookin at the instants specifically as you requested, Visions of Beyond has been very good for me. I know you said you had issues with it in the past but it might be the difference in construction. I can often use it as a one mana draw three as soon as like turn 6-8 with this deck and given we are also talking about a card to flash back cards it means that later in the game it would also give you a deeper dig. It would also be totally insane to fork a one mana draw three. Part of why this card and the delve cards have worked better for me though I suspect is that I have more proactive and less reactive cards with a lower curve than you do. Assuming you still don't like this card considering your curve does still look a bit higher than mine my second thought would be Thought Scour. It plays really well towards the new red recursion spell as well as a number of other spellslinger things like Past in Flames. I like how it plays alongside Brainstorm potentially to burn cards you don't want although the commander's spell trigger can get weird with it. I have also had some luck with Arclight Phoenix so the combo of pushing it to top and then milling it has been used occasionally.
Sleight of Hand is also a very strong cantrip. I wouldn't underestimate it even though its a sorcery its really good. It gives you selection of draw while costing only one mana. I think we are at the point where its unlikely we get one mana spells that give card selection + draw moving forward on one mana spells.
Let me know how the glasses do. I am still leery but you do have more reasons that they will maybe work than I do. The fork spells are also more synergy towards it working given how many of those are red.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
Thanks for the list and your explanation.
I'm using a lot more spells that either have some form of added advantage stapled onto them (i.e. flashback on Think Twice and jump start on Radical Idea) those typically tend to be a little more expensive.
I totally agree with you that a card like Finale of Promise for 3 is good with a yard full of 1cmc cantrips and other effects, and that cards like Thought Scour and Ray of Erasure contribute to that strategy. I never really focussed on the yard that much but rather seen it as incidental advantage. Efficiency is key so i'll have a look into that.
It's true i had Visions of Beyond in the list before, and it just didn't perform. I have to admid though, that i didn't realize its full potential (i.e. the ANY GY clause) before my friend played the card in his UB mill deck. Now with that in mind and utilizing the yard some more, Visions of Beyond gets much better.
I've seen the "slow" cantrips before, and i'm not sure if that's where i want to be. Though when playing mostly at instant speed that really shouldn't be an issue. The fixing cards could be very good i agree, but technically they don't draw, so there's no additional synergy in that.
I do like the extra instant speed Peek effect and Quicken seem interesting!
Edit: Regarding Finale of Promise, what about the balance between instants and sorceries? I'm at 27 to 8 at the moment. One of which is the Finale of Promise and the other is Past in Flames
I have a feeling this too could use some tuning.
Giving it more though, I think I really have been a little single minded when it comes to Expansion // Explosion. I have been considering it as like.... only Explosion where as Expansion is fine with a lot of our spells. I probably need to come back and give that a second shot giving it a lot more leeway to casting it as Expansion in the first 7 turns and only really considering it Explision after that. If it were only one side or the other for this card I would probably pass but I think the versatility is good and I just need to accept that I should ship it early on as a copy.
@SmauG I don't disagree with most of those changes. I do like Think Twice though. The flashback on Think Twice is like twice as good as Radical Idea's jump start as you get more cards drawn from it even though it does cost one more mana. I think those changes will move your list to be faster and more proactive which I like. My own list has a very big focus of seeing how many spells I can cast and how quickly I can move through my library
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
I agree! It's the best of the bunch.
I wouldn't know what to cut instead. Another burn spell maybe? My bloved Electrolyze or maybe even Frantic Search?
Edit: Frantic Search it is.
With that said and i stress that i first want to test at 35, but i might go down another land in this list. The curve peaks at 2 and drops real hard after that, avgcmc=2.8 and the deck is drawing an awful lot of cards. two of the lands i can cycle too, so
The list also looks very, very solid with Isochron Scepter. moreso than before. Imprinting a copy spell or even Narset's Reversal would result in a nice protective lock or just a value enigne.
Regarding Expansion // Explosion, this has gained me most wins after to storming off with Thousand-Year Storm which i usually only drop after other threats are dealt with.
I'm very surprised you didn't see its flexibility and power before.
Come to think of it, the deck has many ways it can win and that "puzzle" i always refer to, probably makes this the most chalenging and rewarding deck to play of all my decks.
Yesterday we sat down with our playgroup for some sunday afternoon commander games. We were at large with 9 guys playing two pods of 4 and 5 respectively.
I've only played one game with the "new" deck in a 4 player pod with superfriends and both merfolk and vampire tribal. There was a lot of bleeding around the table with cards like Firebrand Archer and two Throne of the God-Pharaoh and life totals were getting very low very fast. Unfortunately, I went out first.
Never saw one new card and was drawing a lot of non cantrippy spells. So i cannot usefully comment on the new configuration of the deck.
When i finally did have a strong finishing hand after landing Consecrated Sphinx and having it stick for a full cycle round the table, i had my Thousand-Year Storm countered and i had no backup . I guess i could have lured the counterspell with something else, but then i couldn't fininsh so i didn't and went for it swinging.
So some of the new cards really made me want to give this deck a try, I'm just having some trouble making cuts. Could anyone offer some suggestions of cards that should definitely be taken out?
So some of the new cards really made me want to give this deck a try, I'm just having some trouble making cuts. Could anyone offer some suggestions of cards that should definitely be taken out?
It looks similar to my own list so I suppose I should give some feedback on some of the cards you have in there that I don't have in my list anymore or passed on myself.
Thermo-Alchemist - I might have been overly paranoid but the fact that he needs to tap for his ability gives him a turn before he is active. I really didn't care for that one turn wait. Curious Homunculus - colorless mana for spells and colorless cost reduction tend to make more of a difference for more 2-3 mana spells. I opted to run more one mana spells myself. I also wonder if it would be more relivant to just run Sapphire Medallion over this or even resort to Jace's Sanctum. I found myself gravitating more towards running cheaper spells than relying on cost reduction. If you want to run cost reduction I think it adjusts the cards you want to run to be more of the 2-3 mana spells and the consistency of cost reduction will want to go up. I just think its maybe an effect that you want to go deeper into or not really involve yourself with. Niblis of Frost - I think its a fun card but its kind of situational as to if it helps. Its also mostly defensive and its hard to do work against hexproof voltron or token decks. Its like..... ok vs combat related decks but it still has a lot of holes in my mind as to what it helps against. I found that I was often offensive with the number of tokens I make rather than trying to be reactive which is why I opted to pass on it. Metallurgic Summonings - it is actually a fairly solid card but I found that it was a 5 mana enabler that was mostly making 1/1s without flying for me. It is a NIGHTMARE to track the stats of all of these tokens too lol. I think its probably fine but I figured I would mention why I put my copy away for the time being. I found the lack of flying and the fact that I was paying 5 mana to make 1/1s without flying kind of underwhelming in the face of most of the other token creators. As Foretold I go back and forth on this card. Let me know how it does if you run it. I think its really cool but it also has sort of a spinup time making it worse to draw as the game goes on and much better earlier in the game. If I draw it and I already have 10+ lands its very underwhelming but you could say the same thing about a lot of mana stones ultimately so maybe I am just making a fuss for no reason. Let me know how it does for you if you run it. Aetherflux Reservoir - I think this card fits here well, I don't run it myself because I really hate the feels bad moment of when I activate its ability but I think its a good card for a deck like this. In general most turns I don't go past 2-4 spells cast in a turn but I know there are turns I could quote where I cast like 6-12 spells. Chaos Wand - I think this is a little unpredictable and expensive. I don't generally like relying on my opponents and what they are running not to mention a little RNG on what I get. Mission Briefing - I passed on most of the Snapcaster Mage effects because the consistency of the deck is high and I didn't really want to pay the extra mana to snap back a cantrip. That said, this is better than snapcaster in this deck in my mind because you get 2x spellcasts and the topdeck manipulation really isn't bad. I think its fine to run I just thought I would mention why I don't run it myself. Mystic Retrieval - I think the mana cost for what it does is too high. Its also sorcery speed. I really don't care for it even though I think the effect is cool.
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I have officially moved to MTGNexus. I just wanted to let people know as my response time to salvation decks being bumped is very hit or miss.
So some of the new cards really made me want to give this deck a try, I'm just having some trouble making cuts. Could anyone offer some suggestions of cards that should definitely be taken out?
It looks similar to my own list so I suppose I should give some feedback on some of the cards you have in there that I don't have in my list anymore or passed on myself.
Thermo-Alchemist - I might have been overly paranoid but the fact that he needs to tap for his ability gives him a turn before he is active. I really didn't care for that one turn wait. Curious Homunculus - colorless mana for spells and colorless cost reduction tend to make more of a difference for more 2-3 mana spells. I opted to run more one mana spells myself. I also wonder if it would be more relivant to just run Sapphire Medallion over this or even resort to Jace's Sanctum. I found myself gravitating more towards running cheaper spells than relying on cost reduction. If you want to run cost reduction I think it adjusts the cards you want to run to be more of the 2-3 mana spells and the consistency of cost reduction will want to go up. I just think its maybe an effect that you want to go deeper into or not really involve yourself with. Niblis of Frost - I think its a fun card but its kind of situational as to if it helps. Its also mostly defensive and its hard to do work against hexproof voltron or token decks. Its like..... ok vs combat related decks but it still has a lot of holes in my mind as to what it helps against. I found that I was often offensive with the number of tokens I make rather than trying to be reactive which is why I opted to pass on it. Metallurgic Summonings - it is actually a fairly solid card but I found that it was a 5 mana enabler that was mostly making 1/1s without flying for me. It is a NIGHTMARE to track the stats of all of these tokens too lol. I think its probably fine but I figured I would mention why I put my copy away for the time being. I found the lack of flying and the fact that I was paying 5 mana to make 1/1s without flying kind of underwhelming in the face of most of the other token creators. As Foretold I go back and forth on this card. Let me know how it does if you run it. I think its really cool but it also has sort of a spinup time making it worse to draw as the game goes on and much better earlier in the game. If I draw it and I already have 10+ lands its very underwhelming but you could say the same thing about a lot of mana stones ultimately so maybe I am just making a fuss for no reason. Let me know how it does for you if you run it. Aetherflux Reservoir - I think this card fits here well, I don't run it myself because I really hate the feels bad moment of when I activate its ability but I think its a good card for a deck like this. In general most turns I don't go past 2-4 spells cast in a turn but I know there are turns I could quote where I cast like 6-12 spells. Chaos Wand - I think this is a little unpredictable and expensive. I don't generally like relying on my opponents and what they are running not to mention a little RNG on what I get. Mission Briefing - I passed on most of the Snapcaster Mage effects because the consistency of the deck is high and I didn't really want to pay the extra mana to snap back a cantrip. That said, this is better than snapcaster in this deck in my mind because you get 2x spellcasts and the topdeck manipulation really isn't bad. I think its fine to run I just thought I would mention why I don't run it myself. Mystic Retrieval - I think the mana cost for what it does is too high. Its also sorcery speed. I really don't care for it even though I think the effect is cool.
Hey thanks a lot for the help! I wasn't even thinking about the fact that Thermo-Alchemist needs to wait a turn before tapping. That totally makes sense and he's an easy cut. Your input on Homunculus and Niblis make sense as well. I'd like to keep my CMC as low and fast as possible, and that makes Homunculus less useful.
Metallurgic I'd like to try, but I'll keep my eye on it. 5CMC is expensive, but the tokens and the recursion ability seem really useful.
As Foretold is another one I'd really like to try out. Sure it does nothing turn 1, but it's three Mana and a turn, and now I get a free Opt/Peek/Etc every turn.
Chaos Wand is dumb and janky, but I think it's just fun.
Aetherflux Reservoir and Mystic Retrieval seem like sensible cuts. I really appreciate the help. I can't wait to try this deck out!
So some of the new cards really made me want to give this deck a try, I'm just having some trouble making cuts. Could anyone offer some suggestions of cards that should definitely be taken out?
Good to see another player picking up the deck and great insights on behalf of ISBPathfinder on your list.
I'd like to add that the deck is slightly different than my current itteration which is a little experimental since last week, but all list have one thing in common. They draw cards like crazy.
With that in mind i feel the extra card advantage Future Sight and Magus of the Future provide is negligible. To me, those would be pretty safe cuts.
Possibility Storm: This could very well be another's pet card, but i personally don't like it. I do see its synergy with the commander though so it has that going for it.
As Foretold: Good card only when played early. Terribly slow everywhere else.
With a higher curve deck like yours, this card gains value as the game progresses, but when you have a really low curve full of one mana cantrips like mine, returns on these cards actually diminish. Inclusion should depend on curve and could be cut as (and if) you tune lower in the future.
Both Curious Homunculus and Crackling Drake would be safe cuts aswell. The former can be easilly replaced by another rock. A category of which you run a little lean AND you run a very low land count. This also takes away some of Walking Atlas's ability to ramp.
The latter can actually be any cantrip. I do see potential in the body, but combat is not the way these decks usually win.
Savor the Moment. This extra turn spell is nice, but what is it to you if you can't untap? What is it i don't see?
All in all i've learned the deck runs better as you lower the curve and start drawing your deck every game. This also helps thining other categories since you are far more likely to draw into your wincons or answer cards. Try to get a feel for the deck by playing it, it's tons of fun and wins feel very well deserved because you really have to puzzle for them.
Enjoy and please let us know how you did in your next games.
So some of the new cards really made me want to give this deck a try, I'm just having some trouble making cuts. Could anyone offer some suggestions of cards that should definitely be taken out?
Good to see another player picking up the deck and great insights on behalf of ISBPathfinder on your list.
I'd like to add that the deck is slightly different than my current itteration which is a little experimental since last week, but all list have one thing in common. They draw cards like crazy.
With that in mind i feel the extra card advantage Future Sight and Magus of the Future provide is negligible. To me, those would be pretty safe cuts.
Possibility Storm: This could very well be another's pet card, but i personally don't like it. I do see its synergy with the commander though so it has that going for it.
As Foretold: Good card only when played early. Terribly slow everywhere else.
With a higher curve deck like yours, this card gains value as the game progresses, but when you have a really low curve full of one mana cantrips like mine, returns on these cards actually diminish. Inclusion should depend on curve and could be cut as (and if) you tune lower in the future.
Both Curious Homunculus and Crackling Drake would be safe cuts aswell. The former can be easilly replaced by another rock. A category of which you run a little lean AND you run a very low land count. This also takes away some of Walking Atlas's ability to ramp.
The latter can actually be any cantrip. I do see potential in the body, but combat is not the way these decks usually win.
Savor the Moment. This extra turn spell is nice, but what is it to you if you can't untap? What is it i don't see?
All in all i've learned the deck runs better as you lower the curve and start drawing your deck every game. This also helps thining other categories since you are far more likely to draw into your wincons or answer cards. Try to get a feel for the deck by playing it, it's tons of fun and wins feel very well deserved because you really have to puzzle for them.
Enjoy and please let us know how you did in your next games.
I really appreciate the help! I definitely want this deck to have a lower curve, so cutting most of the beefier cards makes sense.
Possibility Storm is mostly in there for the potential of turning one of those one-drop cantrips into something better. This is also why I skimped on counterspells, because Possibility Storm doesn't really work with counterspells. Dropping that and some of the bigger cards and replacing them with more counterspells might be the better choice for a lower avg CMC?
With that in mind i feel the extra card advantage Future Sight and Magus of the Future provide is negligible. To me, those would be pretty safe cuts.
Possibility Storm: This could very well be another's pet card, but i personally don't like it. I do see its synergy with the commander though so it has that going for it.
Savor the Moment. This extra turn spell is nice, but what is it to you if you can't untap? What is it i don't see?
Future Sight and Magus of the Future - I can't tell you the number of times I have played 8-12 cards off the top of my deck in a turn. You don't get stuck with lands on top with this deck because of the number of cantrips in here I just cast a cantrip from hand to draw past the lands. Any of these cards in play almost always gives me at least a draw 10 / turn effect. You run Consecrated Sphinx which has similar capabilities but it costs more and in my mind its less flavorful and interesting. In a lot of ways I would say that Consecrated Sphinx is more vulnerable than the enchantment at least and technically speaking they are faster to get value from them than Consecrated in that if someone has spot removal in hand you can play the top card of your library before they get to respond. Consecrated Sphinx also is much more likely to draw attention than the future sight effects which I still think draw attention but nowhere close to the way that the sphinx does. Because of how proactive I am with my spells I really don't get jammed up on these cards. Running lots of cheap proactive spells its very easy to just tear through your deck with one of these. Its also relevant if you have a bunch of mana when you play one of these that you can immediately start playing and hitting the gas with these cards where Consecrated Sphinx reacts to opponents.
Possibility Storm - its 2x spellcast triggers every time you cast something. With my own list most of my spells can be cast at any time as I really don't run much for counterspells. Its all in triggering all of the spellcast matters cards twice as much and it completely screws with people. I can't tell you how many tiems this has won me the game because people couldn't resolve the cards they wanted at the time they wanted to resolve them. This card might have the single highest win percentage of any card in my deck. No joke, it triggers all of my things to happen a lot more and its such a disruptive spell for so many other decks.
Savor the Moment 3 mana play an additional land, draw an extra card, reup Jori En to draw again. I had 5 mana extra turns in there mostly for all of those reasons but people got mad at the untapping of lands and the 2x attack so I felt it was a good compromise in a way to achieve the things I wanted while putting less feels bad on it. The 5 mana extra turns are probably stronger but I felt better about myself running this one. I think that Explore is an amazing magic card and this card is really really close to blue explore.
With that in mind i feel the extra card advantage Future Sight and Magus of the Future provide is negligible. To me, those would be pretty safe cuts.
Possibility Storm: This could very well be another's pet card, but i personally don't like it. I do see its synergy with the commander though so it has that going for it.
Savor the Moment. This extra turn spell is nice, but what is it to you if you can't untap? What is it i don't see?
Future Sight and Magus of the Future - I can't tell you the number of times I have played 8-12 cards off the top of my deck in a turn. You don't get stuck with lands on top with this deck because of the number of cantrips in here I just cast a cantrip from hand to draw past the lands. Any of these cards in play almost always gives me at least a draw 10 / turn effect. You run Consecrated Sphinx which has similar capabilities but it costs more and in my mind its less flavorful and interesting. In a lot of ways I would say that Consecrated Sphinx is more vulnerable than the enchantment at least and technically speaking they are faster to get value from them than Consecrated in that if someone has spot removal in hand you can play the top card of your library before they get to respond. Consecrated Sphinx also is much more likely to draw attention than the future sight effects which I still think draw attention but nowhere close to the way that the sphinx does. Because of how proactive I am with my spells I really don't get jammed up on these cards. Running lots of cheap proactive spells its very easy to just tear through your deck with one of these. Its also relevant if you have a bunch of mana when you play one of these that you can immediately start playing and hitting the gas with these cards where Consecrated Sphinx reacts to opponents.
While i'm under the assumption the extra value off the top is not really needed, I actually agree with most of your analysis. You make a very compelling argument in drawing past land pockets from hand and continue form the top. I wouldn't call Consecrated Sphinx any less flavorfull than the futures though.
Possibility Storm - its 2x spellcast triggers every time you cast something. With my own list most of my spells can be cast at any time as I really don't run much for counterspells. Its all in triggering all of the spellcast matters cards twice as much and it completely screws with people. I can't tell you how many tiems this has won me the game because people couldn't resolve the cards they wanted at the time they wanted to resolve them. This card might have the single highest win percentage of any card in my deck. No joke, it triggers all of my things to happen a lot more and its such a disruptive spell for so many other decks.
I'm not at all in the chaos realm of things but after letting this one sink in, the card is a little less of a chaos'y card than i had in mind.
When tuning for a more proactive game, this can actually be VERY good in my current itteration with activated copy effects, because copying a spell means the copy still goes on the stack before the Posibility Storm trigger resolves. Unfortunately, the one-shot Fork effects are a little counter productive.
Savor the Moment 3 mana play an additional land, draw an extra card, reup Jori En to draw again. I had 5 mana extra turns in there mostly for all of those reasons but people got mad at the untapping of lands and the 2x attack so I felt it was a good compromise in a way to achieve the things I wanted while putting less feels bad on it. The 5 mana extra turns are probably stronger but I felt better about myself running this one. I think that Explore is an amazing magic card and this card is really really close to blue explore.
Three mana land ramp in blue! Thanks for explaining.
You do need lands in hand for this to work, exactly like Terrain Generator and with a very low land count this can be tricky. Though i very much like the idea.
Edit: Some more games are planned for tonight, i hope i get a better idea of the more copy'y version of the deck
Hey people. Im new to the format and ended up on a deck similar to lists here. I like not having some combo that I instantly win. Im still very much a work in progress and dont win much. I hope this isnt stupid input but is Jaya Ballard a fit here?
Hey people. Im new to the format and ended up on a deck similar to lists here. I like not having some combo that I instantly win. Im still very much a work in progress and dont win much. I hope this isnt stupid input but is Jaya Ballard a fit here?
Yea it can be hard to not be a combo deck with Izzet. I have really liked this list so far though and it wins me a very good percentage of games. If you need any help feel free to drop in and ask.
As far as fitting the theme I think she would be fine. My issue with her is more from the front that she is a value over time walker which tends to be less good in commander. In most cases in commander you want to get your value back from walkers in the first turn or two because its unlikely that they live very long. She does more of a value over time rather than a dump for upfront value. This comes in part from not having a significant - ability that can be used upfront. Instead her value is all just ok for a 5 mana card and she probably would need to last 3-5 turns to really get your value out of the fact that she is a 5 mana walker. The mana generation is going to be a bit narrow in that most of the spells we run are blue but it does get a little better if you run more X mana spells.
Its true that bauble ramps faster. Whats really good about explore effects though tend to be the flexibility both early and late. If you draw a Wayfarer's Bauble late in the game its value drops off a lot heavier where as Explore is a cheap cantrip that can get you to a nonland card potentially for cheap and still let you dump extra lands into play. Because it lets us put another land into play untapped it essentially costs one less mana also. The advantage of bauble would be that it fixes for you and if you don't have lands in hand its not a problem where as the advantage with an explore type effect is that while it can ramp us early it replaces itself with a more meaningful card later in the game as drawing a card off the top of the library tends to be much stronger than guaranteeing a land. This deck is also a spellslinger deck so it cares about casting instant / sorcery spells which is also a bonus to this effect. Don't get me wrong, I think both have their time and place but if you have a simpler landbase (2 color) and have a good landbase filled with fetches and all that jazz I think the power of Explore gets higher as the value of that fixing of an effect like bauble goes down a little. I keep referring to Savor the Moment as Explore but also keep in mind that it resets Jori En to draw additional cards and grants haste in a sense. You could use it to make a token army and then suddenly from nowhere reset the turn to blank summoning sickness. Its only not Time Warp because of how bad I felt resolving those cards but I am also not convinced that even if I was still running the 5 mana turns that I wouldn't like this one.
Also I am already running Wayfarer's Bauble and I can't run two lol.
Last Friday i played my new version of the deck to great succes. Ral, Storm Conduit was clearly powerfull on board and didn't make it round the table. Which was a correct assumption for i had a finishing move in hand.
In the end, after some politics with the Voltron player to leave me alone i finished the game with a few stacked copies of Fall of the Titans.
I want to test the deck some more, but for now it feels fine. Narset's Reversal was a great tool for protecting aswel as stealing spells. I highly recommend trying it out. Increasing Vengeance cast from the yard copying Chaos Warp was a blowout play. Fury Storm copying an X spell three times, taking out two players at once was very nice
Yes, the deck plays out more reactive, but i don't mind that at all.
I have been thinking about adding Mana Drain but i feel the card is way to expensive
There is a bunch of graveyard strategies arround and the only thing I had was tormod's crypt so I put a Clear the Mind in the 99. I'm not sure if there is a strictly better version (I kinda suck at using scryfall) but it has been pretty good for me, I even shuffled my stuff back once. It also replaces itself so is never a dead card
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So far, I am very inconclusive. I think I drew it once like on the turn or the turn before winning so its hardly a good test of it. I like the potential of it being reach, planeswaker removal, or creature removal not to mention draw options but my verdict is still out. It does seem kind of slow to get counters from the standpoint that I kind of want to remove five for the removal option of it more than I do the draw but versatility of it could be nice. What I do like is how its cheap to cast so its easy to cast it, then trigger my commander and cast more spells if I want in the same turn. I prefer my enablers be cheap when I can get them. I really can't say a lot about it yet though as I don't really know yet lol.
Being that its cheap and it doesn't look super terrifying I am hoping people overlook and or leave it alone where as if I were to play something like Swarm Intelligence it turns a few more heads not to mention probably taps me out.
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First step is to see how to tune the deck to add about 6 cards.
I also pulled a nice Kefnet. I just might try that one too while we're at it.
Will put up an updated list soon.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I managed to pull Ral and Role Reversal in my pool yesterday. I took third place in 19 players and opened almost nothing in those. Somehow I opened 14 packs yesterday and saw zero mythics FML.
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Had some sweet pulls and managed to trade into most of the rest. Mythic/rare staples were allready on preoder with only Karn's Bastion as double (promo).
Pulled Role Reversal too and it piques my interest. Next to yet another token maker in Saheeli, this could be valuable removal worthy of the downside of sorcery speed. Any token maker produces a token upon cast which can then be exchanged for something big and scary! Artifacts too.
Planeswalkers and lands even. Enchantments, i'm not so sure about.
Now for a little more in-depth about Ral, Storm Conduit.
Cards i plan on using next to him:
-Expansion // Explosion (allready in the deck)
-Narset's Reversal (Maybe)
-Reverberate
-Twincast
-Increasing Vengeance
-Fury Storm
-Primal Wellspring (allready in the deck)
-Pyromancer's Goggles (i'm seriously thinking about cutting Gilded Lotus for this)
This means i have to make room for 6 cards total.
I feel i can safely drop:
-Sentinel Tower
-Trinket Mage
-Expedition Map.
Cards i'm not completely sure about are:
-Sapphire Medallion, the deck gets a little more greedy in the manacosts, and a normal rock could gradually become better. Since the red is more prominent, i could probably pot Fire Diamond back in.
-Chasm Skulker, Massive card draw pay-of and when this guy dies, it's usually game over for the rest of the table. I have no ways to abuse it though.
-Wizard's Lightning and/or Lightning Strike, both can be creature/PW removal and both can be winconditions. Both are not Bolt though.
-Electrolyze, As above, but i love this thing! Like Wizard's Lightning, No synergy with Isochron Scepter though.
Cards i'm hessistent to cut, but i know others have different feelings with are:
Mission Briefing and Snapcaster Mage, i just don't know
Curious to hear other's perspectives.
In the mean time, i'll be puzzling my way trough
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Out
2 Islands
1 Expedition Map
2 Sapphire Medallion
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Propaganda
3 Trinket Mage
4 Sentinel Tower
4 Cryptic Command
5 Khorvath's Fury
5 Gilded Lotus
6 Consecrated Sphinx or Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, I need some help here! Payoff vs Enabler. To me, both cards seem really, really good in the deck.
In
2 Mountains
2 Fire Diamond
2 Twincast
2 Increasing Vengeance
2 Reverberate
2 Narset's Reversal
3 Finale of Promise
3 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
4 Ral, Storm Conduit
4 Fury Storm
5 Pyromancer's Goggles
Big changes to fit in the whole package, and suddenly it feels like a completely different deck. Not having beloved cards like Cryptic Command and especially Snapcaster Mage feels a little uncomfortable but i'd like to playtest the deck this way first and see what's what.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
To be honest, original Niv Mizzet looks extremely slow and overcosted to me. I don't think I would be willing to pay more than 3-4 mana for that effect in my own list. The high cost to cast him makes it hard to captialize on his ability much the first turn and I would consider his effect a lot weaker than most of our spellcast enabler effects. As creature removal I would say its weak in my mind and as player reach it seems extremely weak. There is a HUGE difference in power between him and 3.0 for a list like this because the 3.0 niv is drawing me cards when I cast follow up and when he gets removed I am also probably drawing cards.
I feel like you might be a bit lower on the cheap cantrips and higher on responsive spells on the front of Finale of Promise. I don't know how it will affect your own experience with it but its just something I noticed. You do have something like 3/4ths the spells in your list that I do and a lot less of yours are cheap draw cantrips. Remember that counterspells, X mana spells, and flashback spells are all more or less not really targets for this card. My point kind of being that I think its going to be a lot weaker in your list that I see right now. I feel like forks would also kind of be weak even though they could be used to copy the other spell put on with this spell. My point being that its a much stronger spell generally speaking with proactive spells not that it can't be used on things like Lightning Bolt I feel its often going to be stronger to cast two draw spells and see three spellcasts for spell enablers.
Pyromancer's Goggles - Let me know how testing goes for you if you do go through with this card. I am not really a fan of it myself for my list but you are running the X mana red spells so it might be cool with those. My issue is still how few of the spells we run are red and those big payoff spells we probably aren't casting the same turn we cast this so its a big target for removal between cast and next untap.
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Thanks for your insights, i'll roll with Consecrated Sphinx for now as it is the most likely to pay-out at the next draw step.
My list is very two-drop heavy and has a lot of recursable spells, i'll try to be as efficient as possible to gain as much advantage as possible.
What one drop cantrips that work on their own (don't target) would you add to the list? Preferably Instants
Is has been a card in my binder for a very long time, and i have always wanted to play with it. This current list/theme seems very fitting. I'll report as soon as i have some mileage on it
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Going through our two lists (last I saw yours at least) the one drop cantrips that I run that you don't are:
Instant 1 Drop Cantrips
Sorcery 1 Drop Cantrips
Lookin at the instants specifically as you requested, Visions of Beyond has been very good for me. I know you said you had issues with it in the past but it might be the difference in construction. I can often use it as a one mana draw three as soon as like turn 6-8 with this deck and given we are also talking about a card to flash back cards it means that later in the game it would also give you a deeper dig. It would also be totally insane to fork a one mana draw three. Part of why this card and the delve cards have worked better for me though I suspect is that I have more proactive and less reactive cards with a lower curve than you do. Assuming you still don't like this card considering your curve does still look a bit higher than mine my second thought would be Thought Scour. It plays really well towards the new red recursion spell as well as a number of other spellslinger things like Past in Flames. I like how it plays alongside Brainstorm potentially to burn cards you don't want although the commander's spell trigger can get weird with it. I have also had some luck with Arclight Phoenix so the combo of pushing it to top and then milling it has been used occasionally.
Sleight of Hand is also a very strong cantrip. I wouldn't underestimate it even though its a sorcery its really good. It gives you selection of draw while costing only one mana. I think we are at the point where its unlikely we get one mana spells that give card selection + draw moving forward on one mana spells.
Let me know how the glasses do. I am still leery but you do have more reasons that they will maybe work than I do. The fork spells are also more synergy towards it working given how many of those are red.
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Thanks for the list and your explanation.
I'm using a lot more spells that either have some form of added advantage stapled onto them (i.e. flashback on Think Twice and jump start on Radical Idea) those typically tend to be a little more expensive.
I totally agree with you that a card like Finale of Promise for 3 is good with a yard full of 1cmc cantrips and other effects, and that cards like Thought Scour and Ray of Erasure contribute to that strategy. I never really focussed on the yard that much but rather seen it as incidental advantage. Efficiency is key so i'll have a look into that.
It's true i had Visions of Beyond in the list before, and it just didn't perform. I have to admid though, that i didn't realize its full potential (i.e. the ANY GY clause) before my friend played the card in his UB mill deck. Now with that in mind and utilizing the yard some more, Visions of Beyond gets much better.
I've seen the "slow" cantrips before, and i'm not sure if that's where i want to be. Though when playing mostly at instant speed that really shouldn't be an issue. The fixing cards could be very good i agree, but technically they don't draw, so there's no additional synergy in that.
I do like the extra instant speed Peek effect and Quicken seem interesting!
Potential cuts with this in mind:
This would lower the curve in a nice even way.
Edit: Regarding Finale of Promise, what about the balance between instants and sorceries? I'm at 27 to 8 at the moment. One of which is the Finale of Promise and the other is Past in Flames
I have a feeling this too could use some tuning.
Edit 2:
5 Out
5 In
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
@SmauG I don't disagree with most of those changes. I do like Think Twice though. The flashback on Think Twice is like twice as good as Radical Idea's jump start as you get more cards drawn from it even though it does cost one more mana. I think those changes will move your list to be faster and more proactive which I like. My own list has a very big focus of seeing how many spells I can cast and how quickly I can move through my library
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I wouldn't know what to cut instead. Another burn spell maybe? My bloved Electrolyze or maybe even Frantic Search?
Edit: Frantic Search it is.
With that said and i stress that i first want to test at 35, but i might go down another land in this list. The curve peaks at 2 and drops real hard after that, avgcmc=2.8 and the deck is drawing an awful lot of cards. two of the lands i can cycle too, so
The list also looks very, very solid with Isochron Scepter. moreso than before. Imprinting a copy spell or even Narset's Reversal would result in a nice protective lock or just a value enigne.
Regarding Expansion // Explosion, this has gained me most wins after to storming off with Thousand-Year Storm which i usually only drop after other threats are dealt with.
I'm very surprised you didn't see its flexibility and power before.
Come to think of it, the deck has many ways it can win and that "puzzle" i always refer to, probably makes this the most chalenging and rewarding deck to play of all my decks.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I've only played one game with the "new" deck in a 4 player pod with superfriends and both merfolk and vampire tribal. There was a lot of bleeding around the table with cards like Firebrand Archer and two Throne of the God-Pharaoh and life totals were getting very low very fast. Unfortunately, I went out first.
Never saw one new card and was drawing a lot of non cantrippy spells. So i cannot usefully comment on the new configuration of the deck.
When i finally did have a strong finishing hand after landing Consecrated Sphinx and having it stick for a full cycle round the table, i had my Thousand-Year Storm countered and i had no backup . I guess i could have lured the counterspell with something else, but then i couldn't fininsh so i didn't and went for it swinging.
Better luck next time
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
1 Jori En, Ruin Diver
Creature
1 Crackling Drake
1 Electrostatic Field
1 Thermo-Alchemist
1 Curious Homunculus
1 Murmuring Mystic
1 Magus of the Future
1 Melek, Izzet Paragon
1 Firebrand Archer
1 Jori En, Ruin Diver
1 Guttersnipe
1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
1 Young Pyromancer
1 Niblis of Frost
1 Arclight Phoenix
1 The Locust God
1 Docent of Perfection
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Enchantment
1 Possibility Storm
1 Metallurgic Summonings
1 As Foretold
1 Future Sight
1 Firemind's Research
Land
1 Wasteland
1 Command Tower
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Steam Vents
18 Island
9 Mountain
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Primal Amulet
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Sword of the Animist
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Sol Ring
1 Chaos Wand
1 Walking Atlas
Instant
1 Peek
1 Pongify
1 Echoing Truth
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Izzet Charm
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Abrade
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Chaos Warp
1 Reality Shift
1 Thought Scour
1 Quicken
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Arcane Denial
1 Blink of an Eye
1 Opt
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Brainstorm
1 Impulse
1 Expansion // Explosion
1 Mission Briefing
1 Visions of Beyond
1 Frantic Search
1 Think Twice
1 Narset's Reversal
1 Portent
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Savor the Moment
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 By Force
1 Expropriate
1 Serum Visions
1 Past in Flames
1 Pore Over the Pages
1 Wash Out
1 Faithless Looting
1 Mystic Retrieval
1 Sleight of Hand
1 Role Reversal
1 Finale of Promise
Planeswalker
1 Ral, Storm Conduit
1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
It looks similar to my own list so I suppose I should give some feedback on some of the cards you have in there that I don't have in my list anymore or passed on myself.
Thermo-Alchemist - I might have been overly paranoid but the fact that he needs to tap for his ability gives him a turn before he is active. I really didn't care for that one turn wait.
Curious Homunculus - colorless mana for spells and colorless cost reduction tend to make more of a difference for more 2-3 mana spells. I opted to run more one mana spells myself. I also wonder if it would be more relivant to just run Sapphire Medallion over this or even resort to Jace's Sanctum. I found myself gravitating more towards running cheaper spells than relying on cost reduction. If you want to run cost reduction I think it adjusts the cards you want to run to be more of the 2-3 mana spells and the consistency of cost reduction will want to go up. I just think its maybe an effect that you want to go deeper into or not really involve yourself with.
Niblis of Frost - I think its a fun card but its kind of situational as to if it helps. Its also mostly defensive and its hard to do work against hexproof voltron or token decks. Its like..... ok vs combat related decks but it still has a lot of holes in my mind as to what it helps against. I found that I was often offensive with the number of tokens I make rather than trying to be reactive which is why I opted to pass on it.
Metallurgic Summonings - it is actually a fairly solid card but I found that it was a 5 mana enabler that was mostly making 1/1s without flying for me. It is a NIGHTMARE to track the stats of all of these tokens too lol. I think its probably fine but I figured I would mention why I put my copy away for the time being. I found the lack of flying and the fact that I was paying 5 mana to make 1/1s without flying kind of underwhelming in the face of most of the other token creators.
As Foretold I go back and forth on this card. Let me know how it does if you run it. I think its really cool but it also has sort of a spinup time making it worse to draw as the game goes on and much better earlier in the game. If I draw it and I already have 10+ lands its very underwhelming but you could say the same thing about a lot of mana stones ultimately so maybe I am just making a fuss for no reason. Let me know how it does for you if you run it.
Aetherflux Reservoir - I think this card fits here well, I don't run it myself because I really hate the feels bad moment of when I activate its ability but I think its a good card for a deck like this. In general most turns I don't go past 2-4 spells cast in a turn but I know there are turns I could quote where I cast like 6-12 spells.
Chaos Wand - I think this is a little unpredictable and expensive. I don't generally like relying on my opponents and what they are running not to mention a little RNG on what I get.
Mission Briefing - I passed on most of the Snapcaster Mage effects because the consistency of the deck is high and I didn't really want to pay the extra mana to snap back a cantrip. That said, this is better than snapcaster in this deck in my mind because you get 2x spellcasts and the topdeck manipulation really isn't bad. I think its fine to run I just thought I would mention why I don't run it myself.
Mystic Retrieval - I think the mana cost for what it does is too high. Its also sorcery speed. I really don't care for it even though I think the effect is cool.
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Hey thanks a lot for the help! I wasn't even thinking about the fact that Thermo-Alchemist needs to wait a turn before tapping. That totally makes sense and he's an easy cut. Your input on Homunculus and Niblis make sense as well. I'd like to keep my CMC as low and fast as possible, and that makes Homunculus less useful.
Metallurgic I'd like to try, but I'll keep my eye on it. 5CMC is expensive, but the tokens and the recursion ability seem really useful.
As Foretold is another one I'd really like to try out. Sure it does nothing turn 1, but it's three Mana and a turn, and now I get a free Opt/Peek/Etc every turn.
Chaos Wand is dumb and janky, but I think it's just fun.
Aetherflux Reservoir and Mystic Retrieval seem like sensible cuts. I really appreciate the help. I can't wait to try this deck out!
Good to see another player picking up the deck and great insights on behalf of ISBPathfinder on your list.
I'd like to add that the deck is slightly different than my current itteration which is a little experimental since last week, but all list have one thing in common. They draw cards like crazy.
With that in mind i feel the extra card advantage Future Sight and Magus of the Future provide is negligible. To me, those would be pretty safe cuts.
Possibility Storm: This could very well be another's pet card, but i personally don't like it. I do see its synergy with the commander though so it has that going for it.
As Foretold: Good card only when played early. Terribly slow everywhere else.
With a higher curve deck like yours, this card gains value as the game progresses, but when you have a really low curve full of one mana cantrips like mine, returns on these cards actually diminish. Inclusion should depend on curve and could be cut as (and if) you tune lower in the future.
Both Curious Homunculus and Crackling Drake would be safe cuts aswell. The former can be easilly replaced by another rock. A category of which you run a little lean AND you run a very low land count. This also takes away some of Walking Atlas's ability to ramp.
The latter can actually be any cantrip. I do see potential in the body, but combat is not the way these decks usually win.
Savor the Moment. This extra turn spell is nice, but what is it to you if you can't untap? What is it i don't see?
All in all i've learned the deck runs better as you lower the curve and start drawing your deck every game. This also helps thining other categories since you are far more likely to draw into your wincons or answer cards. Try to get a feel for the deck by playing it, it's tons of fun and wins feel very well deserved because you really have to puzzle for them.
Enjoy and please let us know how you did in your next games.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I really appreciate the help! I definitely want this deck to have a lower curve, so cutting most of the beefier cards makes sense.
Possibility Storm is mostly in there for the potential of turning one of those one-drop cantrips into something better. This is also why I skimped on counterspells, because Possibility Storm doesn't really work with counterspells. Dropping that and some of the bigger cards and replacing them with more counterspells might be the better choice for a lower avg CMC?
Future Sight and Magus of the Future - I can't tell you the number of times I have played 8-12 cards off the top of my deck in a turn. You don't get stuck with lands on top with this deck because of the number of cantrips in here I just cast a cantrip from hand to draw past the lands. Any of these cards in play almost always gives me at least a draw 10 / turn effect. You run Consecrated Sphinx which has similar capabilities but it costs more and in my mind its less flavorful and interesting. In a lot of ways I would say that Consecrated Sphinx is more vulnerable than the enchantment at least and technically speaking they are faster to get value from them than Consecrated in that if someone has spot removal in hand you can play the top card of your library before they get to respond. Consecrated Sphinx also is much more likely to draw attention than the future sight effects which I still think draw attention but nowhere close to the way that the sphinx does. Because of how proactive I am with my spells I really don't get jammed up on these cards. Running lots of cheap proactive spells its very easy to just tear through your deck with one of these. Its also relevant if you have a bunch of mana when you play one of these that you can immediately start playing and hitting the gas with these cards where Consecrated Sphinx reacts to opponents.
Possibility Storm - its 2x spellcast triggers every time you cast something. With my own list most of my spells can be cast at any time as I really don't run much for counterspells. Its all in triggering all of the spellcast matters cards twice as much and it completely screws with people. I can't tell you how many tiems this has won me the game because people couldn't resolve the cards they wanted at the time they wanted to resolve them. This card might have the single highest win percentage of any card in my deck. No joke, it triggers all of my things to happen a lot more and its such a disruptive spell for so many other decks.
Savor the Moment 3 mana play an additional land, draw an extra card, reup Jori En to draw again. I had 5 mana extra turns in there mostly for all of those reasons but people got mad at the untapping of lands and the 2x attack so I felt it was a good compromise in a way to achieve the things I wanted while putting less feels bad on it. The 5 mana extra turns are probably stronger but I felt better about myself running this one. I think that Explore is an amazing magic card and this card is really really close to blue explore.
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[Modern] Allies
While i'm under the assumption the extra value off the top is not really needed, I actually agree with most of your analysis. You make a very compelling argument in drawing past land pockets from hand and continue form the top. I wouldn't call Consecrated Sphinx any less flavorfull than the futures though.
I'm not at all in the chaos realm of things but after letting this one sink in, the card is a little less of a chaos'y card than i had in mind.
When tuning for a more proactive game, this can actually be VERY good in my current itteration with activated copy effects, because copying a spell means the copy still goes on the stack before the Posibility Storm trigger resolves. Unfortunately, the one-shot Fork effects are a little counter productive.
Three mana land ramp in blue! Thanks for explaining.
You do need lands in hand for this to work, exactly like Terrain Generator and with a very low land count this can be tricky. Though i very much like the idea.
Edit: Some more games are planned for tonight, i hope i get a better idea of the more copy'y version of the deck
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
Yea it can be hard to not be a combo deck with Izzet. I have really liked this list so far though and it wins me a very good percentage of games. If you need any help feel free to drop in and ask.
As far as fitting the theme I think she would be fine. My issue with her is more from the front that she is a value over time walker which tends to be less good in commander. In most cases in commander you want to get your value back from walkers in the first turn or two because its unlikely that they live very long. She does more of a value over time rather than a dump for upfront value. This comes in part from not having a significant - ability that can be used upfront. Instead her value is all just ok for a 5 mana card and she probably would need to last 3-5 turns to really get your value out of the fact that she is a 5 mana walker. The mana generation is going to be a bit narrow in that most of the spells we run are blue but it does get a little better if you run more X mana spells.
Its true that bauble ramps faster. Whats really good about explore effects though tend to be the flexibility both early and late. If you draw a Wayfarer's Bauble late in the game its value drops off a lot heavier where as Explore is a cheap cantrip that can get you to a nonland card potentially for cheap and still let you dump extra lands into play. Because it lets us put another land into play untapped it essentially costs one less mana also. The advantage of bauble would be that it fixes for you and if you don't have lands in hand its not a problem where as the advantage with an explore type effect is that while it can ramp us early it replaces itself with a more meaningful card later in the game as drawing a card off the top of the library tends to be much stronger than guaranteeing a land. This deck is also a spellslinger deck so it cares about casting instant / sorcery spells which is also a bonus to this effect. Don't get me wrong, I think both have their time and place but if you have a simpler landbase (2 color) and have a good landbase filled with fetches and all that jazz I think the power of Explore gets higher as the value of that fixing of an effect like bauble goes down a little. I keep referring to Savor the Moment as Explore but also keep in mind that it resets Jori En to draw additional cards and grants haste in a sense. You could use it to make a token army and then suddenly from nowhere reset the turn to blank summoning sickness. Its only not Time Warp because of how bad I felt resolving those cards but I am also not convinced that even if I was still running the 5 mana turns that I wouldn't like this one.
Also I am already running Wayfarer's Bauble and I can't run two lol.
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[Modern] Allies
Ral, Storm Conduit was clearly powerfull on board and didn't make it round the table. Which was a correct assumption for i had a finishing move in hand.
In the end, after some politics with the Voltron player to leave me alone i finished the game with a few stacked copies of Fall of the Titans.
I want to test the deck some more, but for now it feels fine.
Narset's Reversal was a great tool for protecting aswel as stealing spells. I highly recommend trying it out.
Increasing Vengeance cast from the yard copying Chaos Warp was a blowout play.
Fury Storm copying an X spell three times, taking out two players at once was very nice
Yes, the deck plays out more reactive, but i don't mind that at all.
I have been thinking about adding Mana Drain but i feel the card is way to expensive
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -