This is my take on Raff Capashen. Basically, it’s a mix of historic and artifact themes. Almost every spell will have flash when he’s on the table. More details to come later.
The following cards are on the verge of entering the deck or were the last few that didn't quite make it in the initial list:
- Medomai the Ageless: An Azorius legend that doesn't see much play, but if this comes in right before I untap, it could have a very immediate payoff.
- Kozilek, the Great Distortion: I usually shy away from the big Eldrazi, but lately this one has started to grow on me.
- Baird, Steward of Argive: Deters the Overrun alpha-strikes, and just generally makes it more trouble than it's worth to be attacked.
- Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker: A fun "surprise" whenever someone attacks you with a few bodies. If you can absorb the damage, the backlash could be worthwhile.
- God-Eternal Oketra: Solid on her own, a nice surprise when flashed in, and gets out of control if you untap with it. Only question is how many actual creature spells I want to cast and whether or not I can make use of the extra bodies. Feels like a thicker Darien.
- Spellskite: If you need to save Raff or someone else, or you just want to mess with something important.
- Neurok Stealthsuit: from the cycle that brought us Cranial Plating, this card can be cast AND equipped at instant speed. Doesn't help against wraths or edicts.
- Insidious Will: this card is always on my radar in any blue deck because it's just so flexible, and I love that. Same goes for Cryptic Command.
- Miraculous Recovery: a very obscure card in a world full of Karmic Guides, but this might be the corner case for it because of the instant speed.
- various cheap Counterspells like Swan Song, Negate, Absorb, etc.
- various draw-X spells like Pull from Tomorrow, Stroke of Genius, Jace's Ingenuity, Opportunity, etc.
- Maze of Ith: Another card that perfectly fits the theme of “hold up everything”. Doesn’t make any mana, though.
- Flagstones of Trokair: Fetches non-basic Plains
The following non-historic cards are on the verge of of entering the deck:
- Thalia's Lancers: Searches up nearly every spell, and a few specific lands to boot.
- Sun Titan: one of my all-time favorites. Lots of targets to get back.
- Blind Obedience: slows a lot of things down, making your flash-speed all the faster.
- Karmic Justice: the ultimate rattlesnake.
Cards I'm not impressed by:
Azami
Nezahnal
Heliod
Lavinia
Darien
Ephara - I play both and it seems to me like they want to do different things. Ephara wants to play flash hatebears and token producers, Raff wants to play the typical draw-go gameplan but with artifacts and stuff.
Cloud Cover
In Bolas' Clutches - you can't cast this at instant speed without your commander, and it's 6cmc so it feels risky.
Crystal Shard - you are not bounce. This card does nothing for you.
Cards you should absolutely play: Weatherlight - crewable by Raff and fetches you things you want to play at instant speed. Must have IMO. Cultivator's Caravan - on its own it's a manalith. With your commander, it's a possible 5/5 flash blocker. Skysovereign, Consul Flagship - it's pretty much a titan and your commander can crew it on its own. Rout, Urza's Ruinous Blast, Myojin of Cleansing Fire - all great at instant speed, all absolutely OK without instant speed. Kozilek, the Great Distortion - evasive body + draw spell + counterspell machine. I absolutely love it. Blackblade Reforged - your creatures will be legendary so the regular equip is pretty much flavor text. Most are also fliers or evasive in some way so they will appreciate buffs. Lastly you really want to be kicking ass in the late game, which is exactly what this card does. Teferi, Time Raveler - it's just too good not to run. Play it at instant speed and play more of your stuff at instant speed.
Shermanido's got a lot of good points. I think ultimately your flash package is going to depend on your meta and what's fun for you. (advice for editing any EDH deck yah?)
Personally I think Azami in addition to Raff being a wizard equalling two extra cards before your turn is worth it. I tend to prefer steady incremental card draw over a big BSZ, keeping my hand full over a longer game rather than getting a flood of cards I then have to filter. Nezahal is the nuts in terms of steady card draw and a nice big threat.
I second the vehicles. Flavor and tech!
Curious to see how your deck develops as I'm working on a Raff list of my own.
Steady draw is good only if it survives long enough. Rhystic Study is cheap so it can start early, and is an enchantment so it's harder to remove than creatures.
Azami is really easily killed, and costs 5 so it's not amazing. Nezahal costs 7 and has a protection ability, but it costs 3 cards which is huge. The body also has no evasion which means it can't do all that much.
My logic is that Raff really likes mana rocks. He can cast them at instant speed and they also help recast him if he gets killed, which is indeed a problem for a deck not running green. With tons of mana X draw spells get much better.
I agree with Shermanido. In my experience, the biggest thing Raff brings to U/W is the ability to build your board presence of mana rocks in turns where nothing needs to be countered or removed. This makes instant speed X-draw spells like Sphinx's Revelation and Blue Sun's Zenith much more effective than they would be in a typical U/W deck.
That having been said, I always love a draw engine that's also a 7/7 freakin' dinosaur rawr, and Azami is an interesting piece of tech. I don't think either inclusion is necessarily wrong, I'm just not sure they're as effective as BSZ, Stroke of Genius, or Pull From Tomorrow would be.
I agree that Lavinia of the Tenth (in U/W, you could just remove the troublesome permanents), Heliod, God of the Sun (there doesn't seem to be much reliance on vigilance or token synergy), Darien, King of Keljedor (again, no token synergy), Ephara, God of the Polis (encourages you to commit mana before you must), Cloud Cover (seems actively bad for the deck, turning harmless spells into removal; also can't be flashed in), and In Bolas's Clutches (waaaay too much mana for the effect, reliant on Raff being on the field), and Crystal Shard (very few ETB abilities in the deck, ineffective as removal) are less than ideal. I don't think I would run Meteor Golem (Unexpectedly Absent and Oblation can do the same job for much less mana, or any of the more specific U/W removal) either.
Shermindo has a great list of suggestions, so I don't have many adds to suggest, other than I might look to up the number of counterspells. By my count, you have four and one of them (Unwind) is conditional. With a draw-go deck, you really want people to think you have a counter at all times and try to play around it, making inefficient moves. If you play against the same group and bombs are consistently resolved because you only have four counters in the whole deck, they're going to stop taking your rattlesnake threats as seriously. Removal like Path to Exile is nice, but counters have a greater psychological warfare component. I'm not suggesting you make this a pure counterspell deck, but I might up your count to at least six, and maybe more.
Wow, lots of great feedback! Thanks to everyone who posted!
Couple main follow-up points:
- First off, I just plain forgot to include Urza's Ruinous Blast when I was typing up the list on my phone, but it's always been there.
- Unfortunately, I have not actually played a real-live game with this list yet, so all of this is pure speculation at this time.
- Finally, I tried to take the same approach to Raff as I did to Yeva: the commander should give as many spells flash as possible. Some spells, like planeswalkers, would benefit by coming in at the end step so that I can untap right away and protect them. Others, like Azami and Darien, would benefit by coming down during inopportune times for the opponent.
Admittedly, I need to take a closer look at a few cards that are just there because they're legends (Ephara, Heliod). Heliod in particular was an inclusion because it was particularly effective on its own in my previous Ojutai deck, even moreso than Ojutai was.
Meteor Golem and In Bolas's Clutches felt good because they could flash in at anytime and take out a wide range of problems. If/when I actually get to play with them, I'll keep an eye on them.
Cloud Cover and Crystal Shard are mostly there for protecting Raff from excessive hate. I don't expect to abuse a ton of ETB creatures, but keeping Raff's casting cost down to a reasonable level seems like a fine idea.
Maybe it's just in my meta, but any Negate effect is extremely underrated. I do have a list of other counters that could easily go in the deck, and I'll update the maybe-board and wish-list shortly.
Thanks again for all the feedback and keep it coming!
Sigh...cracked an entire unopened box of Dominaria and got none of the three missing mythics for this deck
At least the maybe board is updated, and I found a few more potential lands to add at some point. Now if only I had time to actually try this deck out...
A few thoughts on some of the cards being discussed based on my experience with Raff, which has become one of my favourite decks over the last 6 months or so:
Azami is pretty good - flash her in EoT, draw 2 cards (her and Raff). If an opponent can't kill her immediately, you untap and have two more draws whenever you want. At that point, even if she dies, you've gotten a Tidings, which is a perfectly playable card, and made an opponent use up some removal. God forbid she stays around for a third turn and/or you have another wizard or two....
Crystal Shard is a kinda weird one at first glance, as you don't have a lot of ETB things to abuse, but I definitely think it's worth a slot in Raff. The main thing it will bounce is Raff himself in response to a board wipe or targeted removal. Normally, having a card to do this on your commander isn't really worth it, but with Raff, it's different thanks to the flash. You're typically keeping up mana for as long as possible. So when a board wipe hits (which from my experience is usually every 2-3 turns, this is EDH after all), you've got 5+ mana available, you can bounce Raff, then replay him EoT, saving on the commander tax. I started running it on a whim as I had one and wanted to see how well this line of thought would work. After a couple of games, I put Erratic Portal in too and started aggressively tutoring them. Keeping Raff around is so important to being able to play the deck properly, and these two artifacts ensure that Raff remains affordable - I've had games where I've cast him half-a-dozen times without ever paying tax. And there's the side effect of forcing your opponents to keep a mana up if they want to do creature based stuff - which also ties very well into Raff's flash grating ability. I've often dropped these after a player has tapped out suiting up their commander and swung at me. If you find he's not dying often, then maybe change it, but I love these cards, and my playgroup have come to hate them.
In Bolas's Clutches is expensive, but instant speed steal anything is a very strong effect. You can do all sorts of messing with combat, the instant speed gives "psuedo haste" to creatures you steal, taking 'walkers at instant speed can get you some great value (Last weekend one opponent had a Jace, Unraveler of Secrets on 8, which I stole in response to a Steel Hellkite trigger from another player) and so on. If it got a functional reprint, I probably wouldn't run a second of them, but having one is a useful tool. This does rather tie back into the Crystal Shard thing - I really want to have Raff around at all times, so I put in extra effort to keep him there. If you're regularly having to cast In Bolas's Clutches on your own turn, then it looks a lot less interesting.
In terms of draw, I like to see blue lists running a lot more of the cheap stuff, particularly the cantrips. Opt, Impulse, Anticipate, Telling Time, Brainstorm and so on. Ponder, Preordain, Portent are all sorceries, but you can spare 1 mana on your turn and they smooth out your plays so much, particularly early on in the game. I'd actually recommend cutting a few lands for these. The old "xerox" deck principle still holds - 2 good cheap cantrips means 1 less land needed. In terms of "big" draw, I'd try to get 1 or two of the X spells in there. Pull From Tomorrow is easily the best, and I'd always try to fit it in but also adding a Blue Sun's Zenith might be worth it - it's pretty inefficient card wise, but it gives you something good to do EoT if there's no need for your interaction or flash creatures. Search for Azcanta is another great source of card quality (pre-flip) and advantage (post flip) that happens to be legendary.
Crystal Shard is a kinda weird one at first glance, as you don't have a lot of ETB things to abuse, but I definitely think it's worth a slot in Raff. The main thing it will bounce is Raff himself in response to a board wipe or targeted removal. Normally, having a card to do this on your commander isn't really worth it, but with Raff, it's different thanks to the flash. You're typically keeping up mana for as long as possible. So when a board wipe hits (which from my experience is usually every 2-3 turns, this is EDH after all), you've got 5+ mana available, you can bounce Raff, then replay him EoT, saving on the commander tax. I started running it on a whim as I had one and wanted to see how well this line of thought would work. After a couple of games, I put Erratic Portal in too and started aggressively tutoring them. Keeping Raff around is so important to being able to play the deck properly, and these two artifacts ensure that Raff remains affordable - I've had games where I've cast him half-a-dozen times without ever paying tax. And there's the side effect of forcing your opponents to keep a mana up if they want to do creature based stuff - which also ties very well into Raff's flash grating ability. I've often dropped these after a player has tapped out suiting up their commander and swung at me. If you find he's not dying often, then maybe change it, but I love these cards, and my playgroup have come to hate them.
Small aside: how many artifacts would you need to have in order to make Academy Ruins worthwhile?
I don't think you need that many to make it useful, it's more of a question of what you're really looking to recurr (just getting back a signet or similar isn't usually worth the activation) and possibly more importantly, how many slots can you spend on colourless lands. For this point, it looks like your fixing is very good and you're only in two colours, so it's probably worth running in your deck given how low the drawback is, even if you don't activate it that much.
Well, a lot of my mana rocks can be cashed in for extra cards, and I have almost zero recursion in this deck, so it’s a lot like Crystal Shard in that it’s probably going to be there for some value and not much else. That’s probably also a good reason to run Hanna, Ship’s Navigator.
Well, a lot of my mana rocks can be cashed in for extra cards, and I have almost zero recursion in this deck, so it’s a lot like Crystal Shard in that it’s probably going to be there for some value and not much else. That’s probably also a good reason to run Hanna, Ship’s Navigator.
The land is worth it for O Stone, Scourglass, etc. And yeah, if your Sol Ring is in your yard it's probably worth it to draw it again. But you wouldn't include Expedition Map to go get it likely. I love me some Hanna, and you can flash her in, but unless you're going to fate counter her every time you can't loop the board wipe rocks with her. Codex Shredder is probably too clunky, but I've seen it used effectively before. It's a 6 mana regrowth, but when you have mana up you might not mind spending it before your turn to get back Elesh Norn.
Couple more random thoughts on a few cards:
- Is Weatherlight actually better than something like Sword of Fire and Ice?
- The complete and utter lack of graveyard recursion bothers me, as someone who has made a reputation of abusing the yard in nearly every other deck ever.
- The number of 4-drops feels a bit rough, compared to the lack of threes and fives.
And, without further ado, set review time!
If I missed something, it's likely that it won't ever have flash or is just that unplayable. Or maybe I just overlooked it.
- Karn, the Great Creatpr: I have no desire to grief anyone or pair this with Mycosynth Lattice.
- Ugin, the Ineffable: This is a deck with spells and lands, so Ugin will be good here. Quite possibly the most universally good card we've seen in a long time.
- God-Eternal Oketra: A strong body that makes a lot of other strong bodies. Comparable with Lyra Dawnbringer and a number of other Angel-types.
- Parhelion II: Costs way too much to cast and crew.
- The Wanderer: Situational based on the amount of non-combat damage in your meta. Probably not for me.
- Commence the Endgame: A large, non-creature Mulldrifter variant. Seems like a fine spell to add to the list of "what am I holding up?".
- God-Eternal Kefnet: Decent body, but not nearly enough instants or sorceries to hit on.
- Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor: Not the best card to flash in, can't respond to a spell to make it cost more. Probably a pass.
- Narset, Parter of Veils: Situational based on how many extra draws opponents get. Unlike others, this probably happens enough to be worthwhile. However, the only activated ability is a minus and isn't spectacular.
- Dovin's Veto: Slam-dunk include. I've already mentioned how underrated Negates are, and this is a Negate with lots of upside.
- Teferi, Time Raveler: Large price tag + nearly-irrelevant +1 ability = probably a pass. This deck won't have more than one or two sorceries at one time.
- Dovin, Hand of Control: Another card that doesn't work in response to someone else casting something and has only a subpar negative ability. Pass.
- Firemind Vessel: This card is nearly almost virtually mostly unplayable in this format. I'm sure there's an exception out there somewhere, but for the life of me I can't fathom any deck of any color combination wanting to play this card. Every Signet and Locket and Talisman and Borderpost is better than this. Maybe if it cost 3 or did something else...
- Blast Zone: See Ugin.
- Karn's Bastion: In this case, not enough things that want to be proliferated, so probably best in other places, unless I get a lot more planeswalkers.
I'd definitely run that specific sword over Weatherlight if we're just talking efficiency and value of the card. It makes Raff as big as the Weatherlight, it guarantees you a card where Weatherlight is a roll of the die, it protects Raff from burn and bounce, and it kills a lot of small annoying creatures.
Weatherlight is a flavor win though, it's just dripping with it. The only other argument for running the airship is it's less of a target. Someone won't waste any time throwing a Krosan Grip at your sword, but Weatherlight is a lower priority target.
What is it about 4 drops? They seem to be my favorite CMC point too, causing a huge clog in my decks. I've stopped playing some of the 4 mana ramp spells like Skyshroud Claim because of the competition at that CMC.
Empress Galina since she can steal Legendary permanents. Steal Commanders, Planeswalkers, or anything else Legendary.
Oath of Teferi you can flash this in to blink another permanent you control when needed and get double activation off your Planeswalkers.
Galina is a reasonable idea. The fact that you keep whatever she steals even after she dies is appealing.
Oath of Teferi would be better if I was more dedicated to planeswalkers, but as of this writing I only have 4, and even if I owned a Teferi and a new Ugin (new-gin?) and a DOM Karn, that would still probably not be enough to run this card. Then again, I've been wrong before.
I'll second Empress Galina - giving her "pseudo-haste" by flashing in EoT makes her much stronger as your opponents need an instant speed answer to stop her getting something. And if you get a second untap with her, it get silly. Especially since they changed 'walkers to be legendary.
One card from WAR I'm looking at that you didn't mention is Time Wipe. Yes, it's sorcery speed only, but this is one of the best Wraths we've had while there are few good options that work at instant speed (Rout and Cyclonic Rift, maybe Aligned Hedron Network or Urza's Ruinous Blast but they're both somewhat conditional).
Cephalid Coliseum it pings you for U but once you have Threshold met it can be sacced to let you loot 3 cards. Like Careful Consideration for one less card.
Thanks for all the tips mentioned in this article! it’s always good to read things you have heard before and are implementing, but from a different perspective, always pick up some extra bits of information.
I'd consider the sagas, which would be good at flash speed because you can generally surprise the table and trigger the second chapter.
For your deck specifically, I'd consider:
Fall of the Thran: meta dependent, of course, but you can make it so that you destroy all lands at instant speed, and you rebuild much faster.
The Antiquities War: your artifact count is 18, but you also have 10 artifact creatures. I think a count of 28 artifacts is enough to justify running this one.
Have you considered them? I have tried them, but I like Phyrexian Scriptures best, and obviously you can't use it.
Lots of good feedback from the Random Deck of the Week thread inspired a lot of changes to this list, detailed above in the change log. Overall, I decreased the average CMC from 3.98 to 3.68, which is quite good.
Some notes on other cards that didn't make it:
- I'm not real interested in the Sagas. Fall of the Thran fits squarely in the "bad form" category next to other mass LD spells. Time will tell if The Antiquities War is worthwhile.
- Marit Lage's Slumber will almost certainly come in at some point. Urza, Lord High Artificer will go right into the wishlist pile next to the newTeferis that are way too expensive to acquire. Many other Modern Horizons cards will also find their way here based on their cash prices.
- Empress Galina should probably be on the testing list.
- The last addition came down to Tezzeret the Seeker, Commander's Sphere, and Baird, Steward of Argive. Went with Tezz due to lack of tutors and shuffles.
Thanks again to everyone for all the feedback, and keep it coming!
Breaking news: I finally got to play TWO games with this deck last night! Here are the highlights:
Game 1, vs Yasova Dragonclaw, Saheeli, the Gifted, and Pir/Toothy.
- This game was mostly about trying to prevent the Yasova player from taking our stuff and either sacrificing it or blinking it so it stayed on his side.
- Raff did a great job of pressuring early planeswalkers from Saheeli.
- Azami, Lady of Scrolls effectively drew a bunch of cards.
- Platinum Emperion was mostly effective at preserving my life total, but only lived because there were other things to steal (like my Avacyn, who I had to Path).
- Crystal Shard was incredible at keeping others honest about tapping out and at protecting Raff.
- In Bolas's Clutches nearly got me a Mind’s Dilation, but unfortunately ate a Spell Swindle instead.
- Elspeth, Sun's Champion was mainly just a board wipe, but she at least allowed Raff to live.
- Blackblade Reforged was a big hit late-game, almost giving Raff a one-hit kill. Props to whoever suggested it; the table was pretty shocked that it almost didn’t make the cut.
- Unfortunately, I ended up losing to a large Comet Storm just as I was about to stabilize.
Game 2, vs Maelstrom Wanderer, Ramos, Dragon Engine, and Zacama, Primal Calamity.
- This game was nucking futs. Everyone except Zacama was doing all sorts of broken plays.
- I had a T4 Smothering Tithe, the first time I’ve ever cast that card. Boy, did it ever live up to the hype! At one point, there was a Rhystic Study and two Nezahal on the table, so I had all the mana I could ever want.
- I also stole a Maelstrom Nexus with In Bolas's Clutches, which later allowed me to find a Counterspell off the top in response to a Nexus of Fate.
- Unfortunately, the MW player had way too much value from his cascades and overwhelmed us in extra turns.
Update: made a few small changes, lowered the average CMC a bit and added some more utility. Endless Atlas didn't quite make the cut due to not enough basics.
Flash...like it oughta be
This is my take on Raff Capashen. Basically, it’s a mix of historic and artifact themes. Almost every spell will have flash when he’s on the table. More details to come later.
1 Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage
Creatures (17):
1 Walking Ballista
1 Hanna, Ship's Navigator
1 Stonecloaker
1 Jhoira’s Familiar
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Sakashima the Impostor
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Dragonlord Ojutai
1 Empress Galina
1 Arcanis, the Omnipotent
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Planeswalkers (6):
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
1 Ugin, the Ineffable
1 Karn Liberated
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Artifacts (20):
1 Expedition Map
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Azorius Signet
1 Blackblade Reforged
1 Marble Diamond
1 Mind Stone
1 Scroll Rack
1 Sky Diamond
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Azorius Locket
1 Crystal Shard
1 Mirage Mirror
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Hedron Archive
1 Nevinyrral’s Disk
1 Weatherlight
1 Gilded Lotus
1 The Immortal Sun
1 Cloud Cover
1 Smothering Tithe
1 In Bolas’s Clutches
Instants (14):
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Arcane Denial
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dovin's Veto
1 Capsize
1 Reality Shift
1 Forsake the Worldly
1 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Crush Contraband
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Mystic Confluence
Sorceries (1):
1 Urza's Ruinous Blast
Lands (38):
1 Academy Ruins
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Arch of Orazca
1 Calciform Pools
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Flooded Strand
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Irrigated Farmland
1 Kor Haven
1 Memorial to Genius
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Mystic Gate
1 Opal Palace
1 Prairie Stream
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Sea of Clouds
1 Tundra
1 Snow-Covered Island
7 Plains
7 Island
The following cards are on the verge of entering the deck or were the last few that didn't quite make it in the initial list:
- Medomai the Ageless: An Azorius legend that doesn't see much play, but if this comes in right before I untap, it could have a very immediate payoff.
- Kozilek, the Great Distortion: I usually shy away from the big Eldrazi, but lately this one has started to grow on me.
- Baird, Steward of Argive: Deters the Overrun alpha-strikes, and just generally makes it more trouble than it's worth to be attacked.
- Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker: A fun "surprise" whenever someone attacks you with a few bodies. If you can absorb the damage, the backlash could be worthwhile.
- God-Eternal Oketra: Solid on her own, a nice surprise when flashed in, and gets out of control if you untap with it. Only question is how many actual creature spells I want to cast and whether or not I can make use of the extra bodies. Feels like a thicker Darien.
- Spellskite: If you need to save Raff or someone else, or you just want to mess with something important.
- Neurok Stealthsuit: from the cycle that brought us Cranial Plating, this card can be cast AND equipped at instant speed. Doesn't help against wraths or edicts.
- Insidious Will: this card is always on my radar in any blue deck because it's just so flexible, and I love that. Same goes for Cryptic Command.
- Miraculous Recovery: a very obscure card in a world full of Karmic Guides, but this might be the corner case for it because of the instant speed.
- various cheap Counterspells like Swan Song, Negate, Absorb, etc.
- various draw-X spells like Pull from Tomorrow, Stroke of Genius, Jace's Ingenuity, Opportunity, etc.
- Maze of Ith: Another card that perfectly fits the theme of “hold up everything”. Doesn’t make any mana, though.
- Flagstones of Trokair: Fetches non-basic Plains
The following non-historic cards are on the verge of of entering the deck:
- Thalia's Lancers: Searches up nearly every spell, and a few specific lands to boot.
- Sun Titan: one of my all-time favorites. Lots of targets to get back.
- Blind Obedience: slows a lot of things down, making your flash-speed all the faster.
- Karmic Justice: the ultimate rattlesnake.
The following cards are not in the list simply because I don't (yet) own them:
- Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
- Narset, Parter of Veils
- Urza, Lord High Artificer
- Lyra Dawnbringer
- Karn, Scion of Urza
2019-04-23:
- Ephara, God of the Polis -> Blackblade Reforged
- Heliod, God of the Sun -> Mirage Mirror
- Too many four-drops..
2019-04-25:
- Blighted Cataract -> Arch of Orazca
- Lack of recursion and Memorial is functionally the same plus colored mana.
2019-05-09:
- Return to Dust -> Forsake the Worldly
- Soooo many four-drops that this mostly-similar card will do just fine.
2019-05-24:
- Unwind -> Dovin's Veto
- Easy upgrade here once I acquired a Veto.
2019-06-05:
- Lavinia of the Tenth -> Hanna, Ship's Navigator
- Darien, King of Kjeldor -> Scroll Rack
- Duplicant -> Weatherlight
- Keiga, the Tide Star -> Capsize
- Dreamstone Hedron -> Expedition Map
- Meteor Golem -> Stonecloaker
- Scourglass -> Tezzeret the Seeker
- Azorius Chancery -> Smothering Tithe
- Vesuva -> Thespian's Stage
- Nimbus Maze -> Academy Ruins
- Skycloud Expanse -> Evolving Wilds
- Temple of Enlightenment -> Ghost Quarter
- Cut a lot of the bulky, expensive cards that didn't really work well with anything else.
- Added a few more artifact-based cards, shuffle effects, and utility lands.
2019-07-02:
- Thespian's Stage -> Hall of Heliod's Generosity
- Memnarch -> Empress Galina
- Platinum Emperion -> Ugin, the Ineffable
- Cut more costs for more utility. Galina is easier to activate than Memnarch, Ugin offers more utility than Plats.
Azami
Nezahnal
Heliod
Lavinia
Darien
Ephara - I play both and it seems to me like they want to do different things. Ephara wants to play flash hatebears and token producers, Raff wants to play the typical draw-go gameplan but with artifacts and stuff.
Cloud Cover
In Bolas' Clutches - you can't cast this at instant speed without your commander, and it's 6cmc so it feels risky.
Crystal Shard - you are not bounce. This card does nothing for you.
Cards you should absolutely play:
Weatherlight - crewable by Raff and fetches you things you want to play at instant speed. Must have IMO.
Cultivator's Caravan - on its own it's a manalith. With your commander, it's a possible 5/5 flash blocker.
Skysovereign, Consul Flagship - it's pretty much a titan and your commander can crew it on its own.
Rout, Urza's Ruinous Blast, Myojin of Cleansing Fire - all great at instant speed, all absolutely OK without instant speed.
Kozilek, the Great Distortion - evasive body + draw spell + counterspell machine. I absolutely love it.
Blackblade Reforged - your creatures will be legendary so the regular equip is pretty much flavor text. Most are also fliers or evasive in some way so they will appreciate buffs. Lastly you really want to be kicking ass in the late game, which is exactly what this card does.
Teferi, Time Raveler - it's just too good not to run. Play it at instant speed and play more of your stuff at instant speed.
Tech cards:
Torpor Orb, Aligned Hedron Network - cool artifacts that appreciate being cast at instant speed. My favorite is Monkey Cage - cast it in response to a giant creature spell like Avenger of Zendikar to spawn an instant speed army!
Pull from Tomorrow, Sphinx's Revelation, Stroke of Genius, Blue Sun's Zenith - instant speed card draw is just great, and you will have a metric ton of mana to spend on it.
Confirm Suspicions, Dismantling Blow - are great if you're planning on having a ton of mana.
Hanna, Ship's Navigator - perfect if you're focusing on instant speed and on artifacts.
Linvala, the Preserver - I think she's great if you're behind and need help defending.
Unwinding Clock - great if you're looking for an artifact heavy deck.
Personally I think Azami in addition to Raff being a wizard equalling two extra cards before your turn is worth it. I tend to prefer steady incremental card draw over a big BSZ, keeping my hand full over a longer game rather than getting a flood of cards I then have to filter. Nezahal is the nuts in terms of steady card draw and a nice big threat.
I second the vehicles. Flavor and tech!
Curious to see how your deck develops as I'm working on a Raff list of my own.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
Azami is really easily killed, and costs 5 so it's not amazing. Nezahal costs 7 and has a protection ability, but it costs 3 cards which is huge. The body also has no evasion which means it can't do all that much.
My logic is that Raff really likes mana rocks. He can cast them at instant speed and they also help recast him if he gets killed, which is indeed a problem for a deck not running green. With tons of mana X draw spells get much better.
That having been said, I always love a draw engine that's also a 7/7 freakin' dinosaur rawr, and Azami is an interesting piece of tech. I don't think either inclusion is necessarily wrong, I'm just not sure they're as effective as BSZ, Stroke of Genius, or Pull From Tomorrow would be.
I agree that Lavinia of the Tenth (in U/W, you could just remove the troublesome permanents), Heliod, God of the Sun (there doesn't seem to be much reliance on vigilance or token synergy), Darien, King of Keljedor (again, no token synergy), Ephara, God of the Polis (encourages you to commit mana before you must), Cloud Cover (seems actively bad for the deck, turning harmless spells into removal; also can't be flashed in), and In Bolas's Clutches (waaaay too much mana for the effect, reliant on Raff being on the field), and Crystal Shard (very few ETB abilities in the deck, ineffective as removal) are less than ideal. I don't think I would run Meteor Golem (Unexpectedly Absent and Oblation can do the same job for much less mana, or any of the more specific U/W removal) either.
Shermindo has a great list of suggestions, so I don't have many adds to suggest, other than I might look to up the number of counterspells. By my count, you have four and one of them (Unwind) is conditional. With a draw-go deck, you really want people to think you have a counter at all times and try to play around it, making inefficient moves. If you play against the same group and bombs are consistently resolved because you only have four counters in the whole deck, they're going to stop taking your rattlesnake threats as seriously. Removal like Path to Exile is nice, but counters have a greater psychological warfare component. I'm not suggesting you make this a pure counterspell deck, but I might up your count to at least six, and maybe more.
Great deck, and thanks for sharing!
Couple main follow-up points:
- First off, I just plain forgot to include Urza's Ruinous Blast when I was typing up the list on my phone, but it's always been there.
- Unfortunately, I have not actually played a real-live game with this list yet, so all of this is pure speculation at this time.
- Finally, I tried to take the same approach to Raff as I did to Yeva: the commander should give as many spells flash as possible. Some spells, like planeswalkers, would benefit by coming in at the end step so that I can untap right away and protect them. Others, like Azami and Darien, would benefit by coming down during inopportune times for the opponent.
Admittedly, I need to take a closer look at a few cards that are just there because they're legends (Ephara, Heliod). Heliod in particular was an inclusion because it was particularly effective on its own in my previous Ojutai deck, even moreso than Ojutai was.
Meteor Golem and In Bolas's Clutches felt good because they could flash in at anytime and take out a wide range of problems. If/when I actually get to play with them, I'll keep an eye on them.
Cloud Cover and Crystal Shard are mostly there for protecting Raff from excessive hate. I don't expect to abuse a ton of ETB creatures, but keeping Raff's casting cost down to a reasonable level seems like a fine idea.
Maybe it's just in my meta, but any Negate effect is extremely underrated. I do have a list of other counters that could easily go in the deck, and I'll update the maybe-board and wish-list shortly.
Thanks again for all the feedback and keep it coming!
At least the maybe board is updated, and I found a few more potential lands to add at some point. Now if only I had time to actually try this deck out...
Azami is pretty good - flash her in EoT, draw 2 cards (her and Raff). If an opponent can't kill her immediately, you untap and have two more draws whenever you want. At that point, even if she dies, you've gotten a Tidings, which is a perfectly playable card, and made an opponent use up some removal. God forbid she stays around for a third turn and/or you have another wizard or two....
Crystal Shard is a kinda weird one at first glance, as you don't have a lot of ETB things to abuse, but I definitely think it's worth a slot in Raff. The main thing it will bounce is Raff himself in response to a board wipe or targeted removal. Normally, having a card to do this on your commander isn't really worth it, but with Raff, it's different thanks to the flash. You're typically keeping up mana for as long as possible. So when a board wipe hits (which from my experience is usually every 2-3 turns, this is EDH after all), you've got 5+ mana available, you can bounce Raff, then replay him EoT, saving on the commander tax. I started running it on a whim as I had one and wanted to see how well this line of thought would work. After a couple of games, I put Erratic Portal in too and started aggressively tutoring them. Keeping Raff around is so important to being able to play the deck properly, and these two artifacts ensure that Raff remains affordable - I've had games where I've cast him half-a-dozen times without ever paying tax. And there's the side effect of forcing your opponents to keep a mana up if they want to do creature based stuff - which also ties very well into Raff's flash grating ability. I've often dropped these after a player has tapped out suiting up their commander and swung at me. If you find he's not dying often, then maybe change it, but I love these cards, and my playgroup have come to hate them.
In Bolas's Clutches is expensive, but instant speed steal anything is a very strong effect. You can do all sorts of messing with combat, the instant speed gives "psuedo haste" to creatures you steal, taking 'walkers at instant speed can get you some great value (Last weekend one opponent had a Jace, Unraveler of Secrets on 8, which I stole in response to a Steel Hellkite trigger from another player) and so on. If it got a functional reprint, I probably wouldn't run a second of them, but having one is a useful tool. This does rather tie back into the Crystal Shard thing - I really want to have Raff around at all times, so I put in extra effort to keep him there. If you're regularly having to cast In Bolas's Clutches on your own turn, then it looks a lot less interesting.
In terms of draw, I like to see blue lists running a lot more of the cheap stuff, particularly the cantrips. Opt, Impulse, Anticipate, Telling Time, Brainstorm and so on. Ponder, Preordain, Portent are all sorceries, but you can spare 1 mana on your turn and they smooth out your plays so much, particularly early on in the game. I'd actually recommend cutting a few lands for these. The old "xerox" deck principle still holds - 2 good cheap cantrips means 1 less land needed. In terms of "big" draw, I'd try to get 1 or two of the X spells in there. Pull From Tomorrow is easily the best, and I'd always try to fit it in but also adding a Blue Sun's Zenith might be worth it - it's pretty inefficient card wise, but it gives you something good to do EoT if there's no need for your interaction or flash creatures. Search for Azcanta is another great source of card quality (pre-flip) and advantage (post flip) that happens to be legendary.
This is spot-on. Can't say it any better.
EDIT: Maybe it's the fact that I have too many four drops, or maybe the fit just isn't there, but I'm gonna make the following change:
- Ephara, God of the Polis -> Blackblade Reforged
- Heliod, God of the Sun -> Mirage Mirror
Small aside: how many artifacts would you need to have in order to make Academy Ruins worthwhile?
I don't think you need that many to make it useful, it's more of a question of what you're really looking to recurr (just getting back a signet or similar isn't usually worth the activation) and possibly more importantly, how many slots can you spend on colourless lands. For this point, it looks like your fixing is very good and you're only in two colours, so it's probably worth running in your deck given how low the drawback is, even if you don't activate it that much.
The land is worth it for O Stone, Scourglass, etc. And yeah, if your Sol Ring is in your yard it's probably worth it to draw it again. But you wouldn't include Expedition Map to go get it likely. I love me some Hanna, and you can flash her in, but unless you're going to fate counter her every time you can't loop the board wipe rocks with her. Codex Shredder is probably too clunky, but I've seen it used effectively before. It's a 6 mana regrowth, but when you have mana up you might not mind spending it before your turn to get back Elesh Norn.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
- Is Weatherlight actually better than something like Sword of Fire and Ice?
- The complete and utter lack of graveyard recursion bothers me, as someone who has made a reputation of abusing the yard in nearly every other deck ever.
- The number of 4-drops feels a bit rough, compared to the lack of threes and fives.
And, without further ado, set review time!
- Karn, the Great Creatpr: I have no desire to grief anyone or pair this with Mycosynth Lattice.
- Ugin, the Ineffable: This is a deck with spells and lands, so Ugin will be good here. Quite possibly the most universally good card we've seen in a long time.
- God-Eternal Oketra: A strong body that makes a lot of other strong bodies. Comparable with Lyra Dawnbringer and a number of other Angel-types.
- Parhelion II: Costs way too much to cast and crew.
- The Wanderer: Situational based on the amount of non-combat damage in your meta. Probably not for me.
- Commence the Endgame: A large, non-creature Mulldrifter variant. Seems like a fine spell to add to the list of "what am I holding up?".
- God-Eternal Kefnet: Decent body, but not nearly enough instants or sorceries to hit on.
- Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor: Not the best card to flash in, can't respond to a spell to make it cost more. Probably a pass.
- Narset, Parter of Veils: Situational based on how many extra draws opponents get. Unlike others, this probably happens enough to be worthwhile. However, the only activated ability is a minus and isn't spectacular.
- Dovin's Veto: Slam-dunk include. I've already mentioned how underrated Negates are, and this is a Negate with lots of upside.
- Teferi, Time Raveler: Large price tag + nearly-irrelevant +1 ability = probably a pass. This deck won't have more than one or two sorceries at one time.
- Dovin, Hand of Control: Another card that doesn't work in response to someone else casting something and has only a subpar negative ability. Pass.
- Firemind Vessel: This card is nearly almost virtually mostly unplayable in this format. I'm sure there's an exception out there somewhere, but for the life of me I can't fathom any deck of any color combination wanting to play this card. Every Signet and Locket and Talisman and Borderpost is better than this. Maybe if it cost 3 or did something else...
- Blast Zone: See Ugin.
- Karn's Bastion: In this case, not enough things that want to be proliferated, so probably best in other places, unless I get a lot more planeswalkers.
Oath of Teferi you can flash this in to blink another permanent you control when needed and get double activation off your Planeswalkers.
Weatherlight is a flavor win though, it's just dripping with it. The only other argument for running the airship is it's less of a target. Someone won't waste any time throwing a Krosan Grip at your sword, but Weatherlight is a lower priority target.
What is it about 4 drops? They seem to be my favorite CMC point too, causing a huge clog in my decks. I've stopped playing some of the 4 mana ramp spells like Skyshroud Claim because of the competition at that CMC.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
Galina is a reasonable idea. The fact that you keep whatever she steals even after she dies is appealing.
Oath of Teferi would be better if I was more dedicated to planeswalkers, but as of this writing I only have 4, and even if I owned a Teferi and a new Ugin (new-gin?) and a DOM Karn, that would still probably not be enough to run this card. Then again, I've been wrong before.
One card from WAR I'm looking at that you didn't mention is Time Wipe. Yes, it's sorcery speed only, but this is one of the best Wraths we've had while there are few good options that work at instant speed (Rout and Cyclonic Rift, maybe Aligned Hedron Network or Urza's Ruinous Blast but they're both somewhat conditional).
I'd consider the sagas, which would be good at flash speed because you can generally surprise the table and trigger the second chapter.
For your deck specifically, I'd consider:
Have you considered them? I have tried them, but I like Phyrexian Scriptures best, and obviously you can't use it.
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsSome notes on other cards that didn't make it:
- I'm not real interested in the Sagas. Fall of the Thran fits squarely in the "bad form" category next to other mass LD spells. Time will tell if The Antiquities War is worthwhile.
- Marit Lage's Slumber will almost certainly come in at some point. Urza, Lord High Artificer will go right into the wishlist pile next to the new Teferis that are way too expensive to acquire. Many other Modern Horizons cards will also find their way here based on their cash prices.
- Empress Galina should probably be on the testing list.
- The last addition came down to Tezzeret the Seeker, Commander's Sphere, and Baird, Steward of Argive. Went with Tezz due to lack of tutors and shuffles.
Thanks again to everyone for all the feedback, and keep it coming!
Game 1, vs Yasova Dragonclaw, Saheeli, the Gifted, and Pir/Toothy.
- This game was mostly about trying to prevent the Yasova player from taking our stuff and either sacrificing it or blinking it so it stayed on his side.
- Raff did a great job of pressuring early planeswalkers from Saheeli.
- Azami, Lady of Scrolls effectively drew a bunch of cards.
- Platinum Emperion was mostly effective at preserving my life total, but only lived because there were other things to steal (like my Avacyn, who I had to Path).
- Crystal Shard was incredible at keeping others honest about tapping out and at protecting Raff.
- In Bolas's Clutches nearly got me a Mind’s Dilation, but unfortunately ate a Spell Swindle instead.
- Elspeth, Sun's Champion was mainly just a board wipe, but she at least allowed Raff to live.
- Blackblade Reforged was a big hit late-game, almost giving Raff a one-hit kill. Props to whoever suggested it; the table was pretty shocked that it almost didn’t make the cut.
- Unfortunately, I ended up losing to a large Comet Storm just as I was about to stabilize.
Game 2, vs Maelstrom Wanderer, Ramos, Dragon Engine, and Zacama, Primal Calamity.
- This game was nucking futs. Everyone except Zacama was doing all sorts of broken plays.
- I had a T4 Smothering Tithe, the first time I’ve ever cast that card. Boy, did it ever live up to the hype! At one point, there was a Rhystic Study and two Nezahal on the table, so I had all the mana I could ever want.
- I also stole a Maelstrom Nexus with In Bolas's Clutches, which later allowed me to find a Counterspell off the top in response to a Nexus of Fate.
- Unfortunately, the MW player had way too much value from his cascades and overwhelmed us in extra turns.
Going forward, this deck was a lot of fun, but just a bit too bulky. Some of the more expensive stuff will probably get cut. New cards coming in:
- Hall of Heliod's Generosity
- Enlightened Tutor
- Ugin, the Ineffable
- Endless Atlas
Update: made a few small changes, lowered the average CMC a bit and added some more utility. Endless Atlas didn't quite make the cut due to not enough basics.