My friend runs it in Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and to be honest I'm getting quite tired of running my face into it. Pretty much every time he leaves mana up, its for Wake the Dead, and I never remember to check.
It definitely needs set up though. It can get you value, but with its cost its most likely the only value you'll get for that round of turns. So your graveyard needs some good targets to make spamming it worthwhile. Its not as versatile as cheaper reanimation spells that need one target and can be cast as an aside. And arguably if you have enough targets to make it worthwhile, you'll likely get more value out of Living Death or twilight's call, which are symmetrical effects but also don't eat up nearly as much mana. Though the spammable death triggers can be uniquely powerful in some decks.
I like combo, I like stax, I like control. I feel like they're all healthy additions to any EDH meta that's beginning to stagnate.
I'm getting a bit sick of ramp and reanimator decks, so that's my vote. They're actually not very different decks, at their core they want to do the same thing: bomb spam. The only difference is how they get them into play (hand vs graveyard).
These types of decks are like the "default" setting of EDH. People want to play their ramp/mill/both, create a huge board state of permanents, and swing in with an alpha strike. Its the ultimate Timmy play style, and anyone who plays contrary to this cut and dry formula creates a stir.
Control, combo, stax, and mld are strategies for countering these bomb spam decks. Naturally anyone who severely disrupts the natural flow of "ramp-bomb-win" is an iconoclast. But when you cut "anti-social" archetypes out, you're left with no counters to a meta except the occasional reset button (Wrath of God). The only option is to build a faster bomb spam deck, or break the meta and play hard control/combo/stax.
Also how do experienced players find themselves so blind sided by combos? The game is played in all zones, not just the battlefield. You have the entire game to focus down the combo player while they durdle around looking for their pieces. Not only that but you have 1-3 allies in your fight against the combo player (after all, if one of you loses you all lose). There are two instances in which combo is unfair:
1) You're not aware that you're playing vs a combo deck. But after that you know its a combo deck so...
2) You're playing vs a much more competitive deck (i.e. Force of Will vs Dissolve) that can combo out in the early turns. But if you're playing vs someone whose collection is so vastly superior to yours, you'll probably lose against any of their decks unless they're sandbagging.
Group hug is whatever, I'm inexperienced vs it since nobody in my meta plays it.
When playing control you want creatures that are going to help you grind out the game while your hand controls the board. So you're looking for 3 things: creatures that are evasive and can guarantee a hit, creatures that fuel your hand of control cards, or creatures that help control.
As such I'd include Tidespout Tyrant. Its cost usually delays its impact by a turn, which is risky, but the constant tempo advantage will end the game if unanswered.
I'm not so hot on Ixidron. Its not good vs small boards, it doesn't impact tokens, and even though it can get huge it has no evasion. Not to mention it can mess up Kess. That being said it does have its place vs heavy creature metas.
I don't like Roil Elemental. Too fragile and too slow for 6 mana. I don't want to waste counters protecting something that weak.
Consecrated Sphinx is a control classic. Rune-Scarred Demon gives you an answer plus a flying body. Inferno Titan and Grave Titan are value engines. The former offering removal and the latter valuable bodies in a control shell. Clone and clone effects like Clever Impersonator and Dack's Duplicate often work wonders in a control deck. Play their best bomb right before removing it. Heavily meta dependent though. Balefire Dragon is great. Psychosis Crawler is insanely strong with burst draw, and also great with looting (Which Kess likes too).
I personally wouldn't include them but I could see an argument for Blightsteel Colossus and Kozilek, the Great Distortion. They're late game bombs that can end the game by themselves when backed with control. Kozilek also pitches cards to counterspell, which Kess can then cast.
This list is of course only bombs, not the millions of awesome utility creatures you can run. I also don't know your budget so take it with a grain of salt.
As a side note after seeing your list, I'm very curious as to how well Sire of Insanity will run. In my opinion Kess wants to keep her hand so she can double tap your best spells (particularly Time Walk variants). But the idea of bringing everyone down and then using Kess' ability to play somewhat normally is interesting. Almost makes me want to try a stax build with her.
1) Asking about permanents
"What enchantments/artifacts/non-basics do you have?" "Do you have any artifacts?" The moment you drop that question, your enemy knows you have removal of that type. I used to do this, and people in my group still do this. Instead try remembering everything that plays, and ask specifically "what's that card?" or "can I see that?"
2) Killing people fast isn't always the right answer
When you're in a position to kill some players and begin evaluating threats, ask yourself if you can 1v1 whoever is left. Some decks thrive in the 1v1, and often they're decks with very little board presence. The voltron deck with 1 critter and the control deck with even less are dangerous opponents in the end game. Sometimes you want to let the game drag on, let resources dwindle, and learn the right timings to kill people. Often times that voltron deck will sputter out mid-game if you play defensively, and politicking frustrated Timmies against the control player can disrupt them greatly. Or you could just play combos and kill everyone at once.
3) Read the cards.
There's so much obscurity and variation in non-evergreen mechanics that you'll never remember them all. "Oh does that token die at end step or end of turn? Does it exile or sac?" etc...
I like your analysis and I have been going through many of the same thought processes as you. I also would love to have many dragon kittens! The only way I can see to make as many dragon kitten tokens as possible is to provide:
- Double strike enablers
- Token doublers such as primal vigor, parallel lives, and doubling season
- Gravepact effects so that they have nothing to sacrifice. This means we need to make tokens or lots of creatures to sacrifice.
I agree this seems like too much is going on. I was thinking about ramping to get her out early so that tokens could be made before boards are developed. Conversely, I could wait until a board wipe and then play her out with haste enablers. I'm starting to think this is the way to go. But is that more of a control build than aggro?
I'm working on the deck now and will play it tomorrow. I will post again about my thoughts. I'd love to hear more of yours.
Here's to Dragon cats!!
That doesn't seem like too much. I'd say double strike and edicts are more important than token doublers. Throw a doubling season into one slot, and if you pull it then lucky you. But if you're making tokens you're already doing what the deck wants to do, so its just win more.
Honestly though if you just dedicate 10 slots to those 3 effects you can include all the good ones (Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, Butcher of Malakir, Doubling Season, Fireshrieker, Atarka, World Render, Rage Reflection, etc...). I call these type of effects my "nitro effects". They don't really help the bones of deck (i.e. ramp, mana fixing, blockers/attackers, draw, control, etc...), but they turn your deck up to 11 when dropped and unanswered.
Edicts are bonkers in token decks, so definitely use a lot of them. Of course you'll be saccing your cats, so maybe emotionally prepare for that...
Honestly if you want Wasitora advice, I'd look at Prossh lists. They're incredibly similar cards, in that they're both Jund token makers that want to deal combat damage. Prossh's tokens are obviously front loaded while Wasitora has more long term staying power.
Anthem effects can be great because they'll pump both your cats and Wasitora, so they'll help her connect and remain useful later when you tilt your board.
The dragon point is great. On that note I would also suggest Hellkite Tyrant. The card itself doesn't immediately scream "wealth!", but it is one of few dragons that actually builds a hoard as you play (and whose hoard can win you the game!). Take all those shiny artifacts.
Also the name somewhat implies rulership or lordship, even though in lore the hellkite tyrant is just a greedy dragon (its a Ravnica card and its not guild affiliated so its safe to say its ruling nothing but its hoard).
I know you said you've narrowed it down, but have you considered Tasigur, the Golden Fang? Its in Sultai colors so its a great fit mechanically, and the guy is sitting on a throne with a huge golden belt.
Vedalken Shackles could make some waves. And a pet card of mine Quicksilver Fountain ups island counts on your side and potentially messes with opponents landbase.
I totally forgot about Vedalken Shackles when building this. Its one of those cards that has made my purchase list many times, but never made it through because it had no home.
I see potential for Quicksilver Fountain, though the list is pretty busy as is. However I see a lot of merit in throttling enemies with stax in general. Then when they finally do get a creature out, the theft of it becomes even more devastating to their game plan. Not to mention it buys time to set up your mana, and the synergy with Thada Adel, Acquisitor. I think I would throw a few more stax cards in to complement the fountain.
Caveat 1
This is a fairly casual deck. Obviously hard control and combo would be a more competitive approach. This deck plays some big, durdly cards (e.g. Sphinx Ambassador and Might Makes Right) that would be the first to be cut if you're looking to tighten up the list.
Caveat 2
This is the first iteration of the list (taking it apart for new wizard commanders), so its recorded here for posterity's sake. I had a blast playing this build, and will improve on this list in the future when I come back to it.
Caveat 3
The land base is stripped bare because everyone has a different mana base. I play my Steam Vents et al in this deck, but you don't have to go out and buy them just to play ball. I play Ancient Tomb and Minamo, School at Water's Edge, but I'm not going to suggest you drop $50 on them. The non-basics I do list are the ones I consider to be most important because they serve a specific function.
Nin's Playstyle
Nine the Pain Artist is a versatile little wizard that can helm a few different shells. In this one we focus on a deck that turns opponents' resources against them.
Priority one is to steal the resource for yourself. Obviously this is the most powerful way to swing a board state, because it both denies something to your opponent and enhances your board state.
Priority two is to clone it for yourself. If you can't deny your enemy, keep pace with them.
Priority three is to remove it. If you can't take it, and you can't clone it, then just get rid of it. Using removal after a clone is basically the same as stealing the card with worse efficiency.
Theft effects are at the top of the list because they're the most powerful, but they're also the most fleeting. Thus Nin is used to nuke things you'd normally give back, gaining you card advantage in the process. Mana can be a problem, so the ideal targets for steal-burn-draw are high priority mana dorks. Timmy-style fatties are best handled with a clone + removal, but I play some rituals (Mana Geyser, Inner Fire) for huge spikes with Nin. Even if you can't destroy a creature, keep in mind Nin is still efficient draw (i.e. 1 less base cost than Blue Sun's Zenith and Stroke of Genius).
Naturally as a blue deck, Nin packs a fairly standard suite of control spells. Theft, Clone, and Burn can deal with a majority of creatures, so optimally you want to save your permission package for high threat non-creatures that can disrupt your shenanigans.
Also, as with any deck but especially so here, knowing your opponents' decks is important. Whether you're searching for creatures with Sphinx Ambassador, saving counterspells for combo pieces, or holding a theft spell for the inevitable Avacyn, Angel of Hope.
Card Choices
Reliquary Tower - An easy way to keep your gains from Nin. Wasteland - Critical for breaking Homeward Path Strip Mine See Wasteland. Arcane Lighthouse - Gets around Lightning Greaves and other hexproof. A majority of theft effects target. Temple of the False God Nin has an X cost ability, so two mana lands are valuable. Ancient Tomb is an include as well, if you can afford it. High Market - The worst, but also most convenient, sacrifice outlet in the deck. On a land its incredible. Make sure they don't get their stuff back!
Lightning Greaves - Nin is a 1/1. If this isn't an auto-include in every deck you build, it is one here. Ashnod's Altar - Sacrifice spare creatures to fuel Nin. Replaceable with Goblin Bombardment or Altar of Dementia. Mimic Vat - If it dies, it can go in the vat. There are some nasty synergies in the deck like Zealous Conscripts, Duplicant, and Dualcaster Mage, but always be on the lookout for enemy bombs. Don't forget it doubles as temporary grave hate! Put the reanimator deck's bomb in exile. Proteus Staff - Tucks your theft targets in the secondary main phase and brings your own creatures out. Its great. Sword of Feast and Famine - Lets you spend all of your mana stealing/cloning in 1st, so Nin can spend it all burning/drawing in 2nd.
Dualcaster Mage - Solid card, but easily cut. People expect you to copy their creatures, so sometimes this guy can come out of left field. Don't forget he's also a counterspell's counterspell. Thada Adel, Acquisitor - Kind of janky and slow, but if you get her out early she's incredibly valuable to your late game. Basically you steal their mana rocks to fuel Nin. If somehow she sticks around (she won't, she always baits removal), start taking artifact creatures like [Solemn Simulacrum to nuke with Nin. Clever Impersonator - One strategy with clones is to target one player in particular, and basically rip off their deck's synergy. Usually a problem arises when they start playing artifacts/enchantments that buff their board, while your versions remain weak. This changes that. Dack's Duplicate - Pick the nastiest creature on board and give it haste. Jalira, Master Polymorphist - Trade that stolen creature for one of your own. Straight forward, powerful, and repeatable. She'll die to a board wipe eventually. Phyrexian Metamorph - Cheapest clone in the deck if you pay life (you should), and targets artifacts. Its good. Sakashima the Impostor - A solid clone that lets you abuse the legend you stole instead of losing it to the legend rule. Never forget the reset ability, its important. Beguiler of Wills - The more creatures you take with other effects, the better creatures you can permanently take with a tap ability. Kind of expensive and durdly, but its free. Usually you'll be snagging utility dorks. Body Double - Clone something after you burn it. Punish the graveyard deck for milling themselves. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - Clones every turn. Do I need to explain the insanity of kiki-jiki? Perplexing Chimera - I dislike how the chimera can be used against you (the reason I don't run Conjured Currency). However it makes people hold their bombs or pitch bait spells to it. Its more of a psychological card than anything else. Willbreaker - Play Nin. Play Willbreaker. 3 mana and a tap steals a critter of your choice. Not to mention that Willbreaker's trigger goes on the stack after Nin's ability, so when they both resolve the creature will be under your control so you draw the card instead of your opponent. Zealous Conscripts - Its a classic theft card, and it combos with Kiki. Good stuff. Deadeye Navigator - Keeps any stolen creatures permanently. Dodges removal. Powerful (obviously). Duplicant - Exile that works in blue/red. We do run other options but Duplicant is never a bad include. Keiga, the Tide Star - Great blocker vs those pesky fliers. Great target for sac outlets, especially Jalira. Even better target for clones, as long as you sac the clone. Molten Primordial - Take the cream of the crop and smash. Its taxing on the old mana base, but the swing in combat power can be devastating (without getting into any other Nin shenanigans) Sphinx Ambassador - This is my pet card, there are many like it, but this one is mine. Its an incredibly slow card, but just ripping a critter from someone's deck is so powerful. I've lost the minigame once ever. Sphinx of Uthuun - Fact or Fiction on a body. Kind of filler. FoF would be better in this slot.
Chamber of Manipulation - This card is a sleeper bomb. Nobody in my meta knew about this card until I broke it out. Pitching a card to take a creature for 0 mana is absurd, because it frees up your mana to nuke something with Nin. So you'll end up netting way more cards than you lost. Control Magic - 4 mana, semi-permanent. Usually baits removal. Leyline of Anticipation - Flash. Might Makes Right - This is kind of a "win more" inclusion. The idea is to nab the biggest creature on board, so Might can take the second biggest creature on board. It works, but its kind of durdly and doesn't always work by itself. Easily cut.
Pact of Negation - One flaw in this deck is how much it encourages you to tap out in blue. Often you'll need to burn something on your turn so you don't lose it. Pact fixes that. Arcane Denial - My favorite counterspell ever. A slow roll draw is a great drawback for a 2 mana hard counter. Its telling them "No you can't play that, but here's two cards to play something I might be able to take." Only one Blue makes it even better. Counterspell - Solid, but watch your mana. Spend red first so you have two blue. Cyclonic Rift - Its cyclonic rift. Memory Lapse - veryone loses to memory lapse, eventually. Reality Shift - Exile in blue. Learn it. Run it. Love it. Cackling Counterpart - 3 mana to clone something you just stole. Sacrifices legends. Flashbacks. Great card. Chaos Warp - Your only answer to artifacts/enchantments, besides bouncing them. Counterflux - Solid counter. In my eyes the extra red is worth the clauses you get. Aetherize - Worse vs certain metas. Run vs creature heavy decks. Aetherspouts - On the fence about this card. The ideal scenario for aetherspouts is devastating. In my opinion this card can single handedly turn the game with the amount of tempo you gain. Putting an entire board of creatures on top of their library basically negates their next X turns worth of draw. Every turn you get stronger while they're still drawing things that were on their board 3 turns ago. But I so rarely get those huge blowouts that I'm second guessing its greatness. Evacuation - Instant speed emergency button for 2 less than Cyclonic rift. Strong but replaceable. Mystic Confluence - Incredibly versatile, if expensive. Cut in more competitive versions. Word of Seizing - Steal anything with split second, at the cost of scripts. Its an insane card. Save it to steal that clutch artifact/enchantment buffing their board for a huge swing in power. Synthetic Destiny - A mass polymorph. Its a solid card for gaining value, especially out of creatures you'll lose at end of turn. Usually its best saved as a response to board wipes, but in this deck you'll often pull clones (who can't clone anything on an empty board).
Inner Fire - Kind of a win more inclusion, but it can get nuts. If you activate Nin during the end step of the player before you, draw as much as you can, then Inner Fire during your main phase, you can draw enough gas to probably end the game. Past in Flames - Its a poor man's Yawgmoth's Will for your theft spells. Its solid, especially with flashback. Rite of Replication - Ends the game if unanswered with a counterspell or boardwipe. Just pick the strongest bomb on board and let fly. Chandra's Ignition - Sub-optimal board wipe included because it can be used as a finisher. It becomes a bit stronger in Nin, because you can steal whatever creature happens to have the most power and ensure the board is actually wiped. Mana Geyser - This card gets insane in mid-late game EDH, unless you play vs draw-go. Geyser up and draw 10-15 cards. Mass Mutiny - Molten Primordial for less mana. Pick and choose. Telemin Performance - A very fun card that polymorphs itself into an enemy's creature. Easily cut, but still fun to play. Mob Rule - Usually you just want to take all the big creatures, but a token army can be just as effective. Insurrection - Durdly as hell, but it ends the game so that's fine.
Teferi, Temporal Archmage - Insane card. It costs 6 mana but you'll untap 4 things as soon as he drops so there's minimal cost. 90% of the time you're just going to tick Teferi down until he dies, because untapping 4 lands gets you 4 cards from Nin as opposed to one from ticking him up. The other 10% of the time you're ticking him up to save his life so you can tick him down later.
I find that Dread Return is more powerful and utilitarian. Most functional graveyard decks have ways of pitching lots of cards to the yard, and powerful cards like Reanimate and Animate Dead are not very powerful when milled (until you find Eternal Witness). Dread Return is going to be a useful card no matter how or when you encounter it due to flashback. You can mill your entire deck, and feel safe knowing you still have a reanimation spell for that game winning creature (unless you get ***'d)
Also I don't consider reanimating enemy targets to hold much value. It can be strong when you luck out I suppose, but its not reliable. Even if they're running creature heavy builds, and even if you remove their creatures (and that removal wasn't exile), it may not synergize at all with your board. Sticking to your own yard gives you more control. It is nice to keep 1-2 "any yard cards", like Reanimate, in case you get lucky. The caveat to this is the more casual the meta, the more likely you'll get good targets. If your meta is full of Timmy's that just throw fatties out all cavalier like, one of them is bound to hit the yard eventually.
Not to mention Dread Return is one mana cheaper. I see it as superior in practice. In fact I almost never run beacon, there are better reanimation spells even on a budget. I run Dread Return because it does something most other spells can't do (be cast from the grave, on 0 mana).
Because without archetypes like stax the game becomes a blue-green rampfest where each player just twiddles with their board state until they can avengerhoof (or gets outraced by the combo deck).
Its important to be able to cut back your opponents, otherwise the player with the luckiest hand/draws will always win and whats the point? The game is just luck. That's why people play removal. Removal is universally accepted as important, and it fills the exact same function as stax (shutting down power plays).
My best guess is that people see removal as ephemeral. Wrath of God is over once the spell resolves. Winter Orb is the entire game, until its removed. That creates a sense of oppression, even when *** is truly more permanent (in non-reanimator). Despite that sense of oppression, nearly every stax card can be broken by a plethora of low cmc green/red/white spells.
Its just another way of saying "No, you can't do X". In effect they're no more obnoxious than Avacyn saying "No you can't destroy my things" or counterspell saying "No you can't cast that". I see nothing wrong with stax.
Narset, Enlightened Master.
I was stoked when I first read Narset. The problem is two fold: power level and player agency. Our meta is middle of the road, plenty of strong generals with cards in the $10-$50 dollar range, but nothing insane. Narset basically wins if she gets one attack off. The second problem with Narset it player agency. Every game goes exactly the same no matter what. You ramp into Narset, she attacks once, and you play 4 spells. In a well built deck, the first time that happens will chain into the end game. Even in a build with 0 extra turns/combats (I've done token Narset), you just play your 4 spells. There's no decision or trade off, you just play every spell you pull for nothing. Don't get me wrong the 25% of me that is a Spike loves to just crush a few games, but it gets old fast when it doesn't feel like its my skill at play.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
I've romanticized Momir Vig forever. Love the card, love the colors (Vorel was my first deck), love the character. The problem is tutoring for everything is too linear, and it gets boring. Thats the reason why, despite having a bomb collection of artifacts, I've never bought Arcum Dagsson. I could just not tutor for the winning combinations every game, but isn't that a bit of an insult to my opponents? "I could have won by now, I've won by now before, you know I could have won, but instead I'm going to toy with you for a few turns yp give you a 'fair shot' before I avengerhoof." After playing Vig and coming to that realization, I cut back significantly on my tutors and started playing more card draw to increase deck variance (when possible). I'm definitely the player that builds casually to play competitively, not vice versa.
For a very fun, but more casual, Inalla deck, try out polymorphs. They clearly acknowledged that poly is good with Inalla due to Shifting Shadow, they just didn't put any good ones in. I mean its great for mono-red, but in blue you have access to Jalira, Master Polymorphist, Proteus Staff, Mass Polymorph, and most importantly Synthetic Destiny. Turning temporary tokens into permanent creatures is solid.
As usual with new commanders there's a plethora of cards that synergize with Inalla, but most of it falls into the "too cute" category. I like this trend. There's room for competitive Inalla decks looking to t1 reanimate prophets, and casual builds running polymorph wizard tribal.
If I don't want to cultivate a long term play group? Break necks. I might feel bad if they end up being nice, but thinking of my local game shoppers that's not a problem.
If I'm somehow out a playgroup and need one, I'd play my most competitive version of a middle of the road (especially mono-color) general. Feldon, Geth, Selvala, Tariel, etc... I also enjoy playing weird decks, but my playgroup is too competitive for anything insanely janky to consistently work. If I was playing with truly terrible people, I might find more joy in it.
He frequently abuses the Eternal Witness trick, going so far as to include Skullwinder and tutors like Woodland Bellower explicitly to enable it. `
It definitely needs set up though. It can get you value, but with its cost its most likely the only value you'll get for that round of turns. So your graveyard needs some good targets to make spamming it worthwhile. Its not as versatile as cheaper reanimation spells that need one target and can be cast as an aside. And arguably if you have enough targets to make it worthwhile, you'll likely get more value out of Living Death or twilight's call, which are symmetrical effects but also don't eat up nearly as much mana. Though the spammable death triggers can be uniquely powerful in some decks.
I'm getting a bit sick of ramp and reanimator decks, so that's my vote. They're actually not very different decks, at their core they want to do the same thing: bomb spam. The only difference is how they get them into play (hand vs graveyard).
These types of decks are like the "default" setting of EDH. People want to play their ramp/mill/both, create a huge board state of permanents, and swing in with an alpha strike. Its the ultimate Timmy play style, and anyone who plays contrary to this cut and dry formula creates a stir.
Control, combo, stax, and mld are strategies for countering these bomb spam decks. Naturally anyone who severely disrupts the natural flow of "ramp-bomb-win" is an iconoclast. But when you cut "anti-social" archetypes out, you're left with no counters to a meta except the occasional reset button (Wrath of God). The only option is to build a faster bomb spam deck, or break the meta and play hard control/combo/stax.
Also how do experienced players find themselves so blind sided by combos? The game is played in all zones, not just the battlefield. You have the entire game to focus down the combo player while they durdle around looking for their pieces. Not only that but you have 1-3 allies in your fight against the combo player (after all, if one of you loses you all lose). There are two instances in which combo is unfair:
1) You're not aware that you're playing vs a combo deck. But after that you know its a combo deck so...
2) You're playing vs a much more competitive deck (i.e. Force of Will vs Dissolve) that can combo out in the early turns. But if you're playing vs someone whose collection is so vastly superior to yours, you'll probably lose against any of their decks unless they're sandbagging.
Group hug is whatever, I'm inexperienced vs it since nobody in my meta plays it.
As such I'd include Tidespout Tyrant. Its cost usually delays its impact by a turn, which is risky, but the constant tempo advantage will end the game if unanswered.
I'm not so hot on Ixidron. Its not good vs small boards, it doesn't impact tokens, and even though it can get huge it has no evasion. Not to mention it can mess up Kess. That being said it does have its place vs heavy creature metas.
I don't like Roil Elemental. Too fragile and too slow for 6 mana. I don't want to waste counters protecting something that weak.
Consecrated Sphinx is a control classic.
Rune-Scarred Demon gives you an answer plus a flying body.
Inferno Titan and Grave Titan are value engines. The former offering removal and the latter valuable bodies in a control shell.
Clone and clone effects like Clever Impersonator and Dack's Duplicate often work wonders in a control deck. Play their best bomb right before removing it. Heavily meta dependent though.
Balefire Dragon is great.
Psychosis Crawler is insanely strong with burst draw, and also great with looting (Which Kess likes too).
I personally wouldn't include them but I could see an argument for Blightsteel Colossus and Kozilek, the Great Distortion. They're late game bombs that can end the game by themselves when backed with control. Kozilek also pitches cards to counterspell, which Kess can then cast.
This list is of course only bombs, not the millions of awesome utility creatures you can run. I also don't know your budget so take it with a grain of salt.
As a side note after seeing your list, I'm very curious as to how well Sire of Insanity will run. In my opinion Kess wants to keep her hand so she can double tap your best spells (particularly Time Walk variants). But the idea of bringing everyone down and then using Kess' ability to play somewhat normally is interesting. Almost makes me want to try a stax build with her.
"What enchantments/artifacts/non-basics do you have?" "Do you have any artifacts?" The moment you drop that question, your enemy knows you have removal of that type. I used to do this, and people in my group still do this. Instead try remembering everything that plays, and ask specifically "what's that card?" or "can I see that?"
2) Killing people fast isn't always the right answer
When you're in a position to kill some players and begin evaluating threats, ask yourself if you can 1v1 whoever is left. Some decks thrive in the 1v1, and often they're decks with very little board presence. The voltron deck with 1 critter and the control deck with even less are dangerous opponents in the end game. Sometimes you want to let the game drag on, let resources dwindle, and learn the right timings to kill people. Often times that voltron deck will sputter out mid-game if you play defensively, and politicking frustrated Timmies against the control player can disrupt them greatly. Or you could just play combos and kill everyone at once.
3) Read the cards.
There's so much obscurity and variation in non-evergreen mechanics that you'll never remember them all. "Oh does that token die at end step or end of turn? Does it exile or sac?" etc...
That doesn't seem like too much. I'd say double strike and edicts are more important than token doublers. Throw a doubling season into one slot, and if you pull it then lucky you. But if you're making tokens you're already doing what the deck wants to do, so its just win more.
Honestly though if you just dedicate 10 slots to those 3 effects you can include all the good ones (Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, Butcher of Malakir, Doubling Season, Fireshrieker, Atarka, World Render, Rage Reflection, etc...). I call these type of effects my "nitro effects". They don't really help the bones of deck (i.e. ramp, mana fixing, blockers/attackers, draw, control, etc...), but they turn your deck up to 11 when dropped and unanswered.
Edicts are bonkers in token decks, so definitely use a lot of them. Of course you'll be saccing your cats, so maybe emotionally prepare for that...
Honestly if you want Wasitora advice, I'd look at Prossh lists. They're incredibly similar cards, in that they're both Jund token makers that want to deal combat damage. Prossh's tokens are obviously front loaded while Wasitora has more long term staying power.
Anthem effects can be great because they'll pump both your cats and Wasitora, so they'll help her connect and remain useful later when you tilt your board.
Also the name somewhat implies rulership or lordship, even though in lore the hellkite tyrant is just a greedy dragon (its a Ravnica card and its not guild affiliated so its safe to say its ruling nothing but its hoard).
Also Gild
I totally forgot about Vedalken Shackles when building this. Its one of those cards that has made my purchase list many times, but never made it through because it had no home.
I see potential for Quicksilver Fountain, though the list is pretty busy as is. However I see a lot of merit in throttling enemies with stax in general. Then when they finally do get a creature out, the theft of it becomes even more devastating to their game plan. Not to mention it buys time to set up your mana, and the synergy with Thada Adel, Acquisitor. I think I would throw a few more stax cards in to complement the fountain.
16 Island
16 Mountain
0 Reliquary Tower
0 Wasteland
0 Strip Mine
0 Arcane Lighthouse
0 Temple of the False God
0 High Market
Artifacts [Rock] (8)
1 Mana Vault
2 Felwar Stone
2 Thought Vessel
3 Basalt Monolith
3 Chromatic Lantern
3 Coalition Relic
4 Thran Dynamo
5 Gilded Lotus
Artifacts [Other] (5)
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Ashnod's Altar
3 Mimic Vat
3 Proteus Staff
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
Creatures (19)
3 Dualcaster Mage
3 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
4 Clever Impersonator
4 Dack's Duplicate
4 Jalira, Master Polymorphist
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Sakashima the Impostor
5 Beguiler of Wills
5 Body Double
5 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
5 Perplexing Chimera
5 Willbreaker
5 Zealous Conscripts
6 Deadeye Navigator
6 Duplicant
6 Keiga, the Tide Star
7 Molten Primordial
7 Sphinx Ambassador
7 Sphinx of Uthuun
4 Chamber of Manipulation
4 Control Magic
4 Leyline of Anticipation
6 Might Makes Right
Instants (15)
0 Pact of Negation
2 Arcane Denial
2 Counterspell
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Memory Lapse
2 Reality Shift
3 Cackling Counterpart
3 Chaos Warp
3 Counterflux
4 Aetherize
5 Aetherspouts
5 Evacuation
5 Mystic Confluence
5 Word of Seizing
6 Synthetic Destiny
Sorceries (9)
4 Inner Fire
4 Past in Flames
4 Rite of Replication
5 Chandra's Ignition
5 Mana Geyser
5 Mass Mutiny
5 Telemin Performance
6 Mob Rule
8 Insurrection
6 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Caveat 1
This is a fairly casual deck. Obviously hard control and combo would be a more competitive approach. This deck plays some big, durdly cards (e.g. Sphinx Ambassador and Might Makes Right) that would be the first to be cut if you're looking to tighten up the list.
Caveat 2
This is the first iteration of the list (taking it apart for new wizard commanders), so its recorded here for posterity's sake. I had a blast playing this build, and will improve on this list in the future when I come back to it.
Caveat 3
The land base is stripped bare because everyone has a different mana base. I play my Steam Vents et al in this deck, but you don't have to go out and buy them just to play ball. I play Ancient Tomb and Minamo, School at Water's Edge, but I'm not going to suggest you drop $50 on them. The non-basics I do list are the ones I consider to be most important because they serve a specific function.
Nin's Playstyle
Nine the Pain Artist is a versatile little wizard that can helm a few different shells. In this one we focus on a deck that turns opponents' resources against them.
Priority one is to steal the resource for yourself. Obviously this is the most powerful way to swing a board state, because it both denies something to your opponent and enhances your board state.
Priority two is to clone it for yourself. If you can't deny your enemy, keep pace with them.
Priority three is to remove it. If you can't take it, and you can't clone it, then just get rid of it. Using removal after a clone is basically the same as stealing the card with worse efficiency.
Theft effects are at the top of the list because they're the most powerful, but they're also the most fleeting. Thus Nin is used to nuke things you'd normally give back, gaining you card advantage in the process. Mana can be a problem, so the ideal targets for steal-burn-draw are high priority mana dorks. Timmy-style fatties are best handled with a clone + removal, but I play some rituals (Mana Geyser, Inner Fire) for huge spikes with Nin. Even if you can't destroy a creature, keep in mind Nin is still efficient draw (i.e. 1 less base cost than Blue Sun's Zenith and Stroke of Genius).
Naturally as a blue deck, Nin packs a fairly standard suite of control spells. Theft, Clone, and Burn can deal with a majority of creatures, so optimally you want to save your permission package for high threat non-creatures that can disrupt your shenanigans.
Also, as with any deck but especially so here, knowing your opponents' decks is important. Whether you're searching for creatures with Sphinx Ambassador, saving counterspells for combo pieces, or holding a theft spell for the inevitable Avacyn, Angel of Hope.
Card Choices
Reliquary Tower - An easy way to keep your gains from Nin.
Wasteland - Critical for breaking Homeward Path
Strip Mine See Wasteland.
Arcane Lighthouse - Gets around Lightning Greaves and other hexproof. A majority of theft effects target.
Temple of the False God Nin has an X cost ability, so two mana lands are valuable. Ancient Tomb is an include as well, if you can afford it.
High Market - The worst, but also most convenient, sacrifice outlet in the deck. On a land its incredible. Make sure they don't get their stuff back!
Lightning Greaves - Nin is a 1/1. If this isn't an auto-include in every deck you build, it is one here.
Ashnod's Altar - Sacrifice spare creatures to fuel Nin. Replaceable with Goblin Bombardment or Altar of Dementia.
Mimic Vat - If it dies, it can go in the vat. There are some nasty synergies in the deck like Zealous Conscripts, Duplicant, and Dualcaster Mage, but always be on the lookout for enemy bombs. Don't forget it doubles as temporary grave hate! Put the reanimator deck's bomb in exile.
Proteus Staff - Tucks your theft targets in the secondary main phase and brings your own creatures out. Its great.
Sword of Feast and Famine - Lets you spend all of your mana stealing/cloning in 1st, so Nin can spend it all burning/drawing in 2nd.
Dualcaster Mage - Solid card, but easily cut. People expect you to copy their creatures, so sometimes this guy can come out of left field. Don't forget he's also a counterspell's counterspell.
Thada Adel, Acquisitor - Kind of janky and slow, but if you get her out early she's incredibly valuable to your late game. Basically you steal their mana rocks to fuel Nin. If somehow she sticks around (she won't, she always baits removal), start taking artifact creatures like [Solemn Simulacrum to nuke with Nin.
Clever Impersonator - One strategy with clones is to target one player in particular, and basically rip off their deck's synergy. Usually a problem arises when they start playing artifacts/enchantments that buff their board, while your versions remain weak. This changes that.
Dack's Duplicate - Pick the nastiest creature on board and give it haste.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist - Trade that stolen creature for one of your own. Straight forward, powerful, and repeatable. She'll die to a board wipe eventually.
Phyrexian Metamorph - Cheapest clone in the deck if you pay life (you should), and targets artifacts. Its good.
Sakashima the Impostor - A solid clone that lets you abuse the legend you stole instead of losing it to the legend rule. Never forget the reset ability, its important.
Beguiler of Wills - The more creatures you take with other effects, the better creatures you can permanently take with a tap ability. Kind of expensive and durdly, but its free. Usually you'll be snagging utility dorks.
Body Double - Clone something after you burn it. Punish the graveyard deck for milling themselves.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - Clones every turn. Do I need to explain the insanity of kiki-jiki?
Perplexing Chimera - I dislike how the chimera can be used against you (the reason I don't run Conjured Currency). However it makes people hold their bombs or pitch bait spells to it. Its more of a psychological card than anything else.
Willbreaker - Play Nin. Play Willbreaker. 3 mana and a tap steals a critter of your choice. Not to mention that Willbreaker's trigger goes on the stack after Nin's ability, so when they both resolve the creature will be under your control so you draw the card instead of your opponent.
Zealous Conscripts - Its a classic theft card, and it combos with Kiki. Good stuff.
Deadeye Navigator - Keeps any stolen creatures permanently. Dodges removal. Powerful (obviously).
Duplicant - Exile that works in blue/red. We do run other options but Duplicant is never a bad include.
Keiga, the Tide Star - Great blocker vs those pesky fliers. Great target for sac outlets, especially Jalira. Even better target for clones, as long as you sac the clone.
Molten Primordial - Take the cream of the crop and smash. Its taxing on the old mana base, but the swing in combat power can be devastating (without getting into any other Nin shenanigans)
Sphinx Ambassador - This is my pet card, there are many like it, but this one is mine. Its an incredibly slow card, but just ripping a critter from someone's deck is so powerful. I've lost the minigame once ever.
Sphinx of Uthuun - Fact or Fiction on a body. Kind of filler. FoF would be better in this slot.
Chamber of Manipulation - This card is a sleeper bomb. Nobody in my meta knew about this card until I broke it out. Pitching a card to take a creature for 0 mana is absurd, because it frees up your mana to nuke something with Nin. So you'll end up netting way more cards than you lost.
Control Magic - 4 mana, semi-permanent. Usually baits removal.
Leyline of Anticipation - Flash.
Might Makes Right - This is kind of a "win more" inclusion. The idea is to nab the biggest creature on board, so Might can take the second biggest creature on board. It works, but its kind of durdly and doesn't always work by itself. Easily cut.
Pact of Negation - One flaw in this deck is how much it encourages you to tap out in blue. Often you'll need to burn something on your turn so you don't lose it. Pact fixes that.
Arcane Denial - My favorite counterspell ever. A slow roll draw is a great drawback for a 2 mana hard counter. Its telling them "No you can't play that, but here's two cards to play something I might be able to take." Only one Blue makes it even better.
Counterspell - Solid, but watch your mana. Spend red first so you have two blue.
Cyclonic Rift - Its cyclonic rift.
Memory Lapse - veryone loses to memory lapse, eventually.
Reality Shift - Exile in blue. Learn it. Run it. Love it.
Cackling Counterpart - 3 mana to clone something you just stole. Sacrifices legends. Flashbacks. Great card.
Chaos Warp - Your only answer to artifacts/enchantments, besides bouncing them.
Counterflux - Solid counter. In my eyes the extra red is worth the clauses you get.
Aetherize - Worse vs certain metas. Run vs creature heavy decks.
Aetherspouts - On the fence about this card. The ideal scenario for aetherspouts is devastating. In my opinion this card can single handedly turn the game with the amount of tempo you gain. Putting an entire board of creatures on top of their library basically negates their next X turns worth of draw. Every turn you get stronger while they're still drawing things that were on their board 3 turns ago. But I so rarely get those huge blowouts that I'm second guessing its greatness.
Evacuation - Instant speed emergency button for 2 less than Cyclonic rift. Strong but replaceable.
Mystic Confluence - Incredibly versatile, if expensive. Cut in more competitive versions.
Word of Seizing - Steal anything with split second, at the cost of scripts. Its an insane card. Save it to steal that clutch artifact/enchantment buffing their board for a huge swing in power.
Synthetic Destiny - A mass polymorph. Its a solid card for gaining value, especially out of creatures you'll lose at end of turn. Usually its best saved as a response to board wipes, but in this deck you'll often pull clones (who can't clone anything on an empty board).
Inner Fire - Kind of a win more inclusion, but it can get nuts. If you activate Nin during the end step of the player before you, draw as much as you can, then Inner Fire during your main phase, you can draw enough gas to probably end the game.
Past in Flames - Its a poor man's Yawgmoth's Will for your theft spells. Its solid, especially with flashback.
Rite of Replication - Ends the game if unanswered with a counterspell or boardwipe. Just pick the strongest bomb on board and let fly.
Chandra's Ignition - Sub-optimal board wipe included because it can be used as a finisher. It becomes a bit stronger in Nin, because you can steal whatever creature happens to have the most power and ensure the board is actually wiped.
Mana Geyser - This card gets insane in mid-late game EDH, unless you play vs draw-go. Geyser up and draw 10-15 cards.
Mass Mutiny - Molten Primordial for less mana. Pick and choose.
Telemin Performance - A very fun card that polymorphs itself into an enemy's creature. Easily cut, but still fun to play.
Mob Rule - Usually you just want to take all the big creatures, but a token army can be just as effective.
Insurrection - Durdly as hell, but it ends the game so that's fine.
Teferi, Temporal Archmage - Insane card. It costs 6 mana but you'll untap 4 things as soon as he drops so there's minimal cost. 90% of the time you're just going to tick Teferi down until he dies, because untapping 4 lands gets you 4 cards from Nin as opposed to one from ticking him up. The other 10% of the time you're ticking him up to save his life so you can tick him down later.
Also I don't consider reanimating enemy targets to hold much value. It can be strong when you luck out I suppose, but its not reliable. Even if they're running creature heavy builds, and even if you remove their creatures (and that removal wasn't exile), it may not synergize at all with your board. Sticking to your own yard gives you more control. It is nice to keep 1-2 "any yard cards", like Reanimate, in case you get lucky. The caveat to this is the more casual the meta, the more likely you'll get good targets. If your meta is full of Timmy's that just throw fatties out all cavalier like, one of them is bound to hit the yard eventually.
Not to mention Dread Return is one mana cheaper. I see it as superior in practice. In fact I almost never run beacon, there are better reanimation spells even on a budget. I run Dread Return because it does something most other spells can't do (be cast from the grave, on 0 mana).
Its important to be able to cut back your opponents, otherwise the player with the luckiest hand/draws will always win and whats the point? The game is just luck. That's why people play removal. Removal is universally accepted as important, and it fills the exact same function as stax (shutting down power plays).
My best guess is that people see removal as ephemeral. Wrath of God is over once the spell resolves. Winter Orb is the entire game, until its removed. That creates a sense of oppression, even when *** is truly more permanent (in non-reanimator). Despite that sense of oppression, nearly every stax card can be broken by a plethora of low cmc green/red/white spells.
Its just another way of saying "No, you can't do X". In effect they're no more obnoxious than Avacyn saying "No you can't destroy my things" or counterspell saying "No you can't cast that". I see nothing wrong with stax.
I was stoked when I first read Narset. The problem is two fold: power level and player agency. Our meta is middle of the road, plenty of strong generals with cards in the $10-$50 dollar range, but nothing insane. Narset basically wins if she gets one attack off. The second problem with Narset it player agency. Every game goes exactly the same no matter what. You ramp into Narset, she attacks once, and you play 4 spells. In a well built deck, the first time that happens will chain into the end game. Even in a build with 0 extra turns/combats (I've done token Narset), you just play your 4 spells. There's no decision or trade off, you just play every spell you pull for nothing. Don't get me wrong the 25% of me that is a Spike loves to just crush a few games, but it gets old fast when it doesn't feel like its my skill at play.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
I've romanticized Momir Vig forever. Love the card, love the colors (Vorel was my first deck), love the character. The problem is tutoring for everything is too linear, and it gets boring. Thats the reason why, despite having a bomb collection of artifacts, I've never bought Arcum Dagsson. I could just not tutor for the winning combinations every game, but isn't that a bit of an insult to my opponents? "I could have won by now, I've won by now before, you know I could have won, but instead I'm going to toy with you for a few turns yp give you a 'fair shot' before I avengerhoof." After playing Vig and coming to that realization, I cut back significantly on my tutors and started playing more card draw to increase deck variance (when possible). I'm definitely the player that builds casually to play competitively, not vice versa.
As usual with new commanders there's a plethora of cards that synergize with Inalla, but most of it falls into the "too cute" category. I like this trend. There's room for competitive Inalla decks looking to t1 reanimate prophets, and casual builds running polymorph wizard tribal.
If I don't want to cultivate a long term play group? Break necks. I might feel bad if they end up being nice, but thinking of my local game shoppers that's not a problem.
If I'm somehow out a playgroup and need one, I'd play my most competitive version of a middle of the road (especially mono-color) general. Feldon, Geth, Selvala, Tariel, etc... I also enjoy playing weird decks, but my playgroup is too competitive for anything insanely janky to consistently work. If I was playing with truly terrible people, I might find more joy in it.