Thank you for your detailed response!
I think you are correct with your assessments if your meta is mid to high power level without too many infinite combos. As you point out, the deck is quite flexible nowadays.
Regarding Capsize and Mind Extraction, I get your points but that's not usually how my games play out. Capsize is broken in a 1v1 situation where you have 12 mana. Mind Extraction completely destroys one opponent. But in my meta I rarely end up in a 1v1 situation. People play combo-centric decks or go over the top with Craterhoof Behemoth, so if someone wins, it's because the other 3 players die at the same time.
In that context, the comparison of Capsize to Cyclonic Rift is not so crazy anymore. If you think about it, Child of Alara itself acts kind of as a Cyclonic Rift with instant speed sac outlets.
The cost reducer plan is potentially viable, but I have never seen a list. Might miss a few powerful cards for redundancy. I am sure we will get something in the next few sets, commons are really pushed at the moment.
Btw I have another pet card: Cavern Harpy. You can recycle almost all relevant creatures ad infinitum!
If I wanted to go into a more grindy build, I would include Harpy immediately. It even makes a decent Thrasios impression with Coiling Oracle.
... Mind Swords over Mind Extraction, or not running Capsize. I do agree on cutting most of the clunkier creature recursion, as most lists here have - keeping one copy of some recursion engine card seems prudent though, if games go long.
I still play reaping the graves. I like that the most as it cannot be countered. A countered Death Denied etc. easily loses us the game on the spot. Mind Swords is quite nice as a 0 mana sac outlet and against combo decks that nearly empty their hands by plaing ramp and mana rocks and pass with only a few spells in hand. Mind Extraction is just ok in my experience. It's quite expensive and rarely a blowout. Most of the time, a protection spell would be comparable. Capsize is among the cards that made me overhaul my list in the first place. It's just so slow and much, much worse than Cyclonic Rift except in a situation where we have infinite mana already or play against only one opponent. I was never happy to draw it, especially in the early game and rarely cast it at all. To me, it is purely a combo piece.
I personally think the combo is the weakest part of the deck, as well as the greatest weakness of being limited to only commons (the control aspect of the deck is almost as strong despite the limitation IMO). And adding to the combo with even more overcosted recursion wizards and worse spells and tutors like Displace and Brainspoil only exacerbates the problem. I used to run Opal Palace to speed up the commander damage wincon, but I've come to see it doesn't really matter. If you have control, you can kill at leisure.
I think recursion wizard + Ephemerate is very strong. Ephemerate in particular is so busted that I wanted to lean into it even more. Brainspoil sucks but is a concession to the fact that I need Peregrine Drake 90% of the time to combo off. Child beats are too slow in my experience. A lot of decks just don't care about a wrath every turn. And if we wrath every turn, we're not really attacking. I'm waiting for something like a common Kessig Wolf Run. THAT card would revolutionize the deck. I might try Opal Palace. Even a being a 7/7 makes a significant difference.
What excited me most about your list was Grapeshot over Rolling Thunder! I don't think we've ever discussed Grapeshot over all the years this deck has been in the brewing - an almost criminal oversight! Probably due to most storm cards being banned in regular pauper/peasant, so they're not on the pauper radar so to speak. But yeah, you can combo out with a single karoo and it potentially opens up more secure ways to combo out with Mystical Sanctuary and get infinite storm, which is harder to disrupt. Certainly merits more consideration IMO!
If you are on the discord you can see a picture of my deck - I'm aiming for printings that "don't look like magic cards". I found Grapeshot when I looked through all mystical archives
There's quite a few cute cards that could be relevant. A weird one is Sentinel's Eyes. Recurable and vigilance on a 6/6 (or more with Opal Palace is relevant in my experience. Other cards I'm looking at are Gush and Gitaxian Probe: Banned in Legacy, they must be good, right? Logic Knot: If Counterspell is good enough, this card must be playable as well.
I posted my current list on moxfield: Link, including a short primer with my thoughts on the current list. I also posted it in the discord but figured that some people only check the forums.
I like my list and it's quite fun to play. I enjoy low mana curves and powerful spells. I tried cutting all the bad spells that we simply had to play because we only have access to commons. I am "leaning into" the good commons wherever possible.
I would be grateful for any feedback. Is anyone still actively playing the deck in varying pods?
I think you are correct with your assessments if your meta is mid to high power level without too many infinite combos. As you point out, the deck is quite flexible nowadays.
Regarding Capsize and Mind Extraction, I get your points but that's not usually how my games play out. Capsize is broken in a 1v1 situation where you have 12 mana. Mind Extraction completely destroys one opponent. But in my meta I rarely end up in a 1v1 situation. People play combo-centric decks or go over the top with Craterhoof Behemoth, so if someone wins, it's because the other 3 players die at the same time.
In that context, the comparison of Capsize to Cyclonic Rift is not so crazy anymore. If you think about it, Child of Alara itself acts kind of as a Cyclonic Rift with instant speed sac outlets.
The cost reducer plan is potentially viable, but I have never seen a list. Might miss a few powerful cards for redundancy. I am sure we will get something in the next few sets, commons are really pushed at the moment.
Btw I have another pet card: Cavern Harpy. You can recycle almost all relevant creatures ad infinitum!
If I wanted to go into a more grindy build, I would include Harpy immediately. It even makes a decent Thrasios impression with Coiling Oracle.
I still play reaping the graves. I like that the most as it cannot be countered. A countered Death Denied etc. easily loses us the game on the spot. Mind Swords is quite nice as a 0 mana sac outlet and against combo decks that nearly empty their hands by plaing ramp and mana rocks and pass with only a few spells in hand. Mind Extraction is just ok in my experience. It's quite expensive and rarely a blowout. Most of the time, a protection spell would be comparable.
Capsize is among the cards that made me overhaul my list in the first place. It's just so slow and much, much worse than Cyclonic Rift except in a situation where we have infinite mana already or play against only one opponent. I was never happy to draw it, especially in the early game and rarely cast it at all. To me, it is purely a combo piece.
I think recursion wizard + Ephemerate is very strong.
Ephemerate in particular is so busted that I wanted to lean into it even more. Brainspoil sucks but is a concession to the fact that I need Peregrine Drake 90% of the time to combo off. Child beats are too slow in my experience. A lot of decks just don't care about a wrath every turn. And if we wrath every turn, we're not really attacking. I'm waiting for something like a common Kessig Wolf Run. THAT card would revolutionize the deck. I might try Opal Palace. Even a being a 7/7 makes a significant difference.
If you are on the discord you can see a picture of my deck - I'm aiming for printings that "don't look like magic cards". I found Grapeshot when I looked through all mystical archives
There's quite a few cute cards that could be relevant. A weird one is Sentinel's Eyes. Recurable and vigilance on a 6/6 (or more with Opal Palace is relevant in my experience. Other cards I'm looking at are Gush and Gitaxian Probe: Banned in Legacy, they must be good, right?
Logic Knot: If Counterspell is good enough, this card must be playable as well.
I like my list and it's quite fun to play. I enjoy low mana curves and powerful spells. I tried cutting all the bad spells that we simply had to play because we only have access to commons. I am "leaning into" the good commons wherever possible.
I would be grateful for any feedback. Is anyone still actively playing the deck in varying pods?