My opponent has a Jace out, i have a vampire hexmage. He casts path on the hexmage and i respond by saccing and removing jace counters. Do i still get to search for a basic?
Also I have a bloodchief ascension with 3 counters on it in play and my opponent casts esper charm choosing kill enchantment. Doesn't his card resolving hit the graveyard and trigger the ascension before its destroyed? I'm honestly not sure about this one.
About 3 other players and I are playing with the planechase cards. I am playing my turboazami deck (i only bring that out when people complain about my non-competitive niv-mizzet or karn deck :P) and end up getting infi mana with gauntlet of power + tolarian + palinchron... really early i might add. Sadly I can't do anything with infi mana right now...except... roll the planechase die as many times as i want:P.
The first plane we switch to is the one when a nontoken creature comes into play under your control you get a basic from deck tapped. I procede to play palinchron a million more times getting all my land out and untapping it all with palinchron. Then we switch to the one where the chaos is you draw a card for each land you control... i cackle maniacally but the first roll I hit is the planeswitch one...damn!
Anywho i am playing with a friendly group in a friendly game so i just leave it on a plane that does mirari's wake for everyones mana. Everyone else is just so annoyed they scoop.
Yea counterbalance + top is good... i agree. I can see it being fine here. I've never used counterbalance/top combo but i know it's sick. I just know that in 2 of my decks that i've played top it has pretty much been underwhelming. Seeing 3 cards to pick which 1 you want this turn is good... but ur basically diggin 1 card deeper... it has some impact but it has mainly been negligible. I really like misdirection over pyroblast. It works great in many more situations and such. I don't have a tol. academy or i'd have it in mine... super addition to decks that play lots of artifact accel (+c.shard, +simulacrum, etc;P). I agree ur shard is fine. It's a decent piece by itself... synergizing with the pieces you said, being a combo piece, and punishing people who tap out.
Oh and i play trade routes in my niv as well. My playgroup frowns upon instant-wins and is less competitive. I've built my hyperaggressive Azami deck to kind of bring that out when they ***** too much at my other decks that aren't even meant to be dick decks...hehe. So i don't play MoM, curiosity, or ophidian eye. Generally I play lots of draw spells and effects (blue honden, urza's blueprints, niv, jushi, trade routes, thought reflection, etc.). My favorite is having thought reflection out and playing brain storm... 1 blue for drawing 6 cards is effin hilarious. Anyways when i get up to like 30 cards in hand trade routes rocks about cycling lands away..especially with thought reflection.
But thats just an example of the non-combo niv. I totally like you're idea and decisions.
I have a niv deck that doesn't play combo and jsut is hilarious. Builds up board control and handsize then doing shinanigans with the whirlpool creatures and thought reflection with niv out to kill most or all of the table. I have library of leng and reliquary tower in mine and they seem to be enough and I draw tons of cards so I get them regularly... don't think u need the spellbook. Also i don't think that you can have too much accel in this sort of a deck especially if u wanna get out niv with protection to be able to go off next turn if u have the enchant combos... I play tonnnnnns of accel and it helps establish early board presence and ensure ur ability to handle situations with counters and such. I play searchlight, darksteel ingot, the signet, coalition relic, thran dynamo, worn powerstone, gilded lotus, sol ring, grim monolith, mana vault, etc. Lots:P. I have a couple board sweepers (starstorm and molten disaster...the split second is effin amazing) and some of ur counters. I also play funny stuff like comandeer, spelljack, desertion, pact and FoW, and timestop.
I think that your list looks pretty solid. I agree on the skullclamp though. I used to play clamp and SoFI but found that my lack of creatures to equip it to...even my general (who never attacks newho).. made them underwhelming. I would also cut SDT because the lack of shuffle effects in a 2 color deck make it not as impressive. I would keep it if you added future sight...which i would love to see in here. Also pyroblast is very situational and usually a dead card. It's looking pretty solid. Accel into combo with counter backup is great.
Also... never let anyone scoff at simulacrum...i put him in every deck pretty much... colorless accel/fix with draw attached is siiiiiick:P
I agree with a lot of your points i just thought that a no-life-needed forced sac is better along with the fact that creatures are the most commonly dealt with factor in the game with the massive sweeps and spot removal. Pact would almost surely stick around longer than Savra. And there's never anything wrong with doubling up the forced sac effect and making the deck that much more efficient seems good IMO. But nonetheless it is your choice and deck... those are just my thoughts:P
Granted there is a built-in gravepact with Savra... having both down is pretty brutal as well.. Mind slash looks sick in a savra deck especially since it hits lands too.
I just went over my hurried "explanation" from before and realized how crappy it sounded. The first part of harms way says "a source of your choice". This doest not target. Just like you can Whitemane Lion a Calciderm (with shroud) because the lion's ability does not target. The second part of harm's way says "dealt to target creature or player". This obviously does target and you have to be able to have a legal target upon casting the spell. As black knight (with pro-white) is not a legal target of a white spell you can not target him with harm's way. But you can definitely target the opponent and prevent the knight's damage.
It's because the "choice" does not target (just as in Clone) but the target you deal the damage to does target. So you can CHOOSE black knight's damage but you can not target it to deal the damage to it.
Stifle will work but squelch won't. His ability is a triggered CITP ability. This is a similar trick as casting Phyrexian Dreadnaught then stifling his CITP trigger to have a nice 12/12 for 2;P
I thought about that one as I was looking up the LD cards... The times that it would be great vs. the times it wouldn't vs. the times it could totally hose you (monoG kills alls ur forests, monoR it kills all ur mountains) seems to outweigh the times that it could rock them most. You're obviously going to want to be using on someone's basics (as hitting one non-basic means killing only 1 card) and so you'd have to be facing someone who's B, U, or W. That will happen but they'd also have to be either mono or 2 colored. SO the chances of being able to get a good hit in most matchups with this card is actually pretty slim.
If you're looking for the LD route (which i have pondered trying once or twice) there are some super great ld's in Boom//Bust and Decree of Annihilation; Aftershock is a tried-and-true oldie, Decimate (very specific circumstances but blowout most of the time), Demolish (hoorah for options), Detritivore (hatin on those 5color generals), Dwarven Landslide (funny:P), Earth Rift (cool reusing), Fissure (kewl options again), Goblin Settler (meh), Ice Storm, Icefall (recover is ok), Implode (expensive but cantrips), Incendiary command, Lava Flow (Fissure #2), Lay Waste, Myojin of Infinite Rage (sweet LD on a stick), Pillage (more options), Rain of Rust, Rain of Salt, Ruination (mean), Scortched Earth, Stingmoggie, Sunder from Within, Sundering Titan (mmmmmm), Volcanic Submersion, and Winter's Grasp.
I basically remembered some of my fav's and then searched for almost every single LD card there is in G/R. So look over some of those and u can decide. Like if ur going to go the LD lockout way you might as well go all the way. Yes LD is kind of frowned upon but so can counter decks and combo decks. I have a feeling I may make this type of deck soon. Having acceleration on a body that keeps coming back is just so fun:P.
Suggestions for cuts may be Ascetic, Ram-Gang, Gruul Guildmage, Giant Solifuge, Fossil Find (just...ugh), Storm Bind (don't really think it's that super in EDH format), and Magus of the Moon (I love the moon effects but only in my MonoR deck--this deck looks like it would rather destroy than disrupt the land and runs enough non-basics to be semi-detrimental). Those are all good creatures but they don't really have any advantages to them other than being a small threat. I feel like getting more accessory creatures with paired with ur LD would put more of a lock on. I really like this list.. it seems like it could lock out really quickly and it has all the good green engines (Survival and Genesis package).
Might need more card draw as I can see you running out of gas... especially with some of the reusable LD that makes you discard. Maybe Urza's Blueprints (people bash this card but its basically 6 to draw 2 cards for sure (right away and the other in response to the echo trigger) and then drawing 2 a turn after that), Memory Jar (almost wheel #2), and maybe Planar Portal to search out some goodies. Also more of the cycling lands (Smoldering Crater and Slippery Karst)
All in all I really like this list... it seems like my kind of deck. Not exactly a common supercompetitive deck (like Zur or Azami etc) but one that could be pretty good and win plenty. I'm definitely gonna add this to my many MWS EDH decks:P
I may add something like Mana Reflection and some other artifact accel (early LD is sick LD :P) like Basalt Monolith, Grim Monolith, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, and Gruul Signet. Mana Reflection + Grim or Basalt Monolith = Infi colorless... so maybe something to do with that ... like a Staff of Domination (which is also a card drawing engine of itself).
Btw the trick with letting kathari bomber damage on sac it will not work as of M10 because there is no longer damage on the stack..response. But nice try:P
Friend in my playgroup has a sick lyzolda deck... I'll have to compare his to get some suggestions. He does playa couple transmute/tutor cards to search up gravepact as soon as he can.
I love Gauntlet of Power and Extraplanar Lens in monocolored decks. There's always darksteel ingot, spectral searchlight, coalition relic, charcoal diamond, and I also like the respective medallions in mono decks (Jet medallion in this case).
My opponent has a Jace out, i have a vampire hexmage. He casts path on the hexmage and i respond by saccing and removing jace counters. Do i still get to search for a basic?
Also I have a bloodchief ascension with 3 counters on it in play and my opponent casts esper charm choosing kill enchantment. Doesn't his card resolving hit the graveyard and trigger the ascension before its destroyed? I'm honestly not sure about this one.
The first plane we switch to is the one when a nontoken creature comes into play under your control you get a basic from deck tapped. I procede to play palinchron a million more times getting all my land out and untapping it all with palinchron. Then we switch to the one where the chaos is you draw a card for each land you control... i cackle maniacally but the first roll I hit is the planeswitch one...damn!
Anywho i am playing with a friendly group in a friendly game so i just leave it on a plane that does mirari's wake for everyones mana. Everyone else is just so annoyed they scoop.
Oh and i play trade routes in my niv as well. My playgroup frowns upon instant-wins and is less competitive. I've built my hyperaggressive Azami deck to kind of bring that out when they ***** too much at my other decks that aren't even meant to be dick decks...hehe. So i don't play MoM, curiosity, or ophidian eye. Generally I play lots of draw spells and effects (blue honden, urza's blueprints, niv, jushi, trade routes, thought reflection, etc.). My favorite is having thought reflection out and playing brain storm... 1 blue for drawing 6 cards is effin hilarious. Anyways when i get up to like 30 cards in hand trade routes rocks about cycling lands away..especially with thought reflection.
But thats just an example of the non-combo niv. I totally like you're idea and decisions.
Maybe a comandeer as a "free" counter?
I think that your list looks pretty solid. I agree on the skullclamp though. I used to play clamp and SoFI but found that my lack of creatures to equip it to...even my general (who never attacks newho).. made them underwhelming. I would also cut SDT because the lack of shuffle effects in a 2 color deck make it not as impressive. I would keep it if you added future sight...which i would love to see in here. Also pyroblast is very situational and usually a dead card. It's looking pretty solid. Accel into combo with counter backup is great.
Also... never let anyone scoff at simulacrum...i put him in every deck pretty much... colorless accel/fix with draw attached is siiiiiick:P
I basically remembered some of my fav's and then searched for almost every single LD card there is in G/R. So look over some of those and u can decide. Like if ur going to go the LD lockout way you might as well go all the way. Yes LD is kind of frowned upon but so can counter decks and combo decks. I have a feeling I may make this type of deck soon. Having acceleration on a body that keeps coming back is just so fun:P.
Suggestions for cuts may be Ascetic, Ram-Gang, Gruul Guildmage, Giant Solifuge, Fossil Find (just...ugh), Storm Bind (don't really think it's that super in EDH format), and Magus of the Moon (I love the moon effects but only in my MonoR deck--this deck looks like it would rather destroy than disrupt the land and runs enough non-basics to be semi-detrimental). Those are all good creatures but they don't really have any advantages to them other than being a small threat. I feel like getting more accessory creatures with paired with ur LD would put more of a lock on. I really like this list.. it seems like it could lock out really quickly and it has all the good green engines (Survival and Genesis package).
Might need more card draw as I can see you running out of gas... especially with some of the reusable LD that makes you discard. Maybe Urza's Blueprints (people bash this card but its basically 6 to draw 2 cards for sure (right away and the other in response to the echo trigger) and then drawing 2 a turn after that), Memory Jar (almost wheel #2), and maybe Planar Portal to search out some goodies. Also more of the cycling lands (Smoldering Crater and Slippery Karst)
All in all I really like this list... it seems like my kind of deck. Not exactly a common supercompetitive deck (like Zur or Azami etc) but one that could be pretty good and win plenty. I'm definitely gonna add this to my many MWS EDH decks:P
I may add something like Mana Reflection and some other artifact accel (early LD is sick LD :P) like Basalt Monolith, Grim Monolith, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, and Gruul Signet. Mana Reflection + Grim or Basalt Monolith = Infi colorless... so maybe something to do with that ... like a Staff of Domination (which is also a card drawing engine of itself).
Friend in my playgroup has a sick lyzolda deck... I'll have to compare his to get some suggestions. He does playa couple transmute/tutor cards to search up gravepact as soon as he can.