That’s actually not unimportant: The awareness of your playgroup of which of your current permanents are really important for comboing off. This deck has such great synergies though,(see Daanzel’s list :-)) it’s quite hard pretending nothing’s going on. Because, really, most of the time, we’re 1 card away from victory. The ignorance of some opponents about this is a valuable asset.
We have 1 permanent? Better remove it before a combo is assembled. We have 2 permanents? Guys, a sweeper, NOW! We have 0 permanents? He must be keeping the pieces in hand, before dropping them together and instawinning. Better alphastrike him.
About Silent Clearing/lifetotals: more than once, I find myself at 15-20 life after just a few turns, without an opponent having damaged me.
Thanks (as always) for your efforts writing your analysis!
You make a solid point, about Despark, I might have to reconsider. Maybe, I think I value the instantspeed more than the extra 1 Mana. No good having a Vindicate in hand when opponent plays a Cloudstone Curio only when he can end the game with it there and then. It’s also very likely Generous Gift will take that slot of Vindicate in my deck.
About Force of Despair: often, I wait for a maximum amount (or quality) of creatures before playing a boardwipe.
Having to decide to boardwipe on just that turn feels a bit... suboptimal to me.
Silent clearing is nice, but as life is often a resource for us (Necropotence, fetchlands, etc) I’m not certain I need another dual that hurts. I don’t think I would remove a basic land or another dual for it.
Kaya’s Ghostform vs Angelic Renewal: If I put out an AR, even without sacengine or recursion (e.g. Sun Titan) , the AR instantly eats a removal spell from my opponents.
I just got a feeling my Vindicate might be swapped out for an Elephantdonation.
Edit: forgot to mention that at the moment Vindicate is already out, and Despark (momentarily testing in its place) did prove super and versatile. Almost always the thing I NEED to exile is a permanent with CMC 4+
Despark and Kaya's Ghostform didn’t show up in my hand the entire evening last Wednesday, and I didn’t feel the need to spend a tutor on them. If, and when, you’ll know
What became rather clear, however, is how this deck struggles against decks that can say ‘I Win’ with a sorcery or instant. Opponent resolved Selvala's Stampede, allowing him to put a few permanents into play, which happened to be some planeswalkers and a Doubling Season, ulting them, and winning on the spot. We can only hope for a U player to be present, and being able to say ‘No’. Which wasn’t the case. Do you have similar experiences? Do you have a gameplan against such situations?
For a few weeks, I've been running a deck where I converted my Ayli to Teysa 3.0 - link here - but I'm back to Ayli now. Teysa was a great learning experience, but I just love the synergy/combo and recursion in Ayli.
EDIT: I just saw Kaya’s Ghostform. Sweet. Could perhaps replace Angelic Renewal?
About Academy Rector: I'm not sure whether Kelzam is running it, but I decided against it, as it's a high-profile card that paints an unnecessary target on me. I also very much like the low cmc of my other tutors (Vampiric, Demonic, Enlightened, Imperial Seal). I know: I'm also running creature tutors that are 5CMC+ (Sidisi, Recruiter, Rune-Scarred, and Razaketh) - but I feel they're just a bit more impactful than Academy Rector. You made a very good point about Razaketh, however: I'm trying without him for a while.
Dawn of the dead and Debtor's Knell are a bit too slow for me. They do nothing until my next turn, and draw unneeded attention. (you said it well: we 'turtle' - and try to look unthreatening Palpatine-like).
Play report from yesterday:
Once again, my Yosei proved a major griever, but, unfortunately for me, this time, from an opponent who cast it from my library (with Villainous Wealth) and locked ME out of the game (with reanimation backup). :-(
Ravnica Allegiance update:
I'm so stoked for new Teysa, I'm considering converting my list back to Teysa, Orzhov Scion (how it started many, many years ago during BlackJack's era) and adding Teysa 3.0: DeatHarmonicon FTW!
Promise of Power
I know it's not the very best - when compared to Necropotence, for example, but I like to have enough carddraw and tutors in the deck. This will be replaced in a heartbeat when something better comes along, but for now...
Mana acceleration Mox Amber and Mox Diamond are doing a lot of work for me, often getting out Ayli T1. Removed Mana Crypt, and happy about it! Land Tax is good! It smooths out landdrops every turn, fills up your hand, so enables eot discarding (for reanimation), and works like Ancestral Recall when you happen to have a Scroll Rack out.
Below: a pic of my actual deck - organized by land, mana-accelaeration, tutors, card draw, recursion, removal, sweepers, sacrifice-outlets, wincons, and various.
We have 1 permanent? Better remove it before a combo is assembled. We have 2 permanents? Guys, a sweeper, NOW! We have 0 permanents? He must be keeping the pieces in hand, before dropping them together and instawinning. Better alphastrike him.
About Silent Clearing/lifetotals: more than once, I find myself at 15-20 life after just a few turns, without an opponent having damaged me.
You make a solid point, about Despark, I might have to reconsider. Maybe, I think I value the instantspeed more than the extra 1 Mana. No good having a Vindicate in hand when opponent plays a Cloudstone Curio only when he can end the game with it there and then. It’s also very likely Generous Gift will take that slot of Vindicate in my deck.
About Force of Despair: often, I wait for a maximum amount (or quality) of creatures before playing a boardwipe.
Having to decide to boardwipe on just that turn feels a bit... suboptimal to me.
Silent clearing is nice, but as life is often a resource for us (Necropotence, fetchlands, etc) I’m not certain I need another dual that hurts. I don’t think I would remove a basic land or another dual for it.
Kaya’s Ghostform vs Angelic Renewal: If I put out an AR, even without sacengine or recursion (e.g. Sun Titan) , the AR instantly eats a removal spell from my opponents.
Edit: forgot to mention that at the moment Vindicate is already out, and Despark (momentarily testing in its place) did prove super and versatile. Almost always the thing I NEED to exile is a permanent with CMC 4+
What became rather clear, however, is how this deck struggles against decks that can say ‘I Win’ with a sorcery or instant. Opponent resolved Selvala's Stampede, allowing him to put a few permanents into play, which happened to be some planeswalkers and a Doubling Season, ulting them, and winning on the spot. We can only hope for a U player to be present, and being able to say ‘No’. Which wasn’t the case. Do you have similar experiences? Do you have a gameplan against such situations?
EDIT: I just saw Kaya’s Ghostform. Sweet. Could perhaps replace Angelic Renewal?
Dawn of the dead and Debtor's Knell are a bit too slow for me. They do nothing until my next turn, and draw unneeded attention. (you said it well: we 'turtle' - and try to look unthreatening Palpatine-like).
Play report from yesterday:
Once again, my Yosei proved a major griever, but, unfortunately for me, this time, from an opponent who cast it from my library (with Villainous Wealth) and locked ME out of the game (with reanimation backup). :-(
Ravnica Allegiance update:
I'm so stoked for new Teysa, I'm considering converting my list back to Teysa, Orzhov Scion (how it started many, many years ago during BlackJack's era) and adding Teysa 3.0: DeatHarmonicon FTW!
I know it's not the very best - when compared to Necropotence, for example, but I like to have enough carddraw and tutors in the deck. This will be replaced in a heartbeat when something better comes along, but for now...
Exsanguinate vs Debt to the Deathless
Thanks for this maths - I will be going for Exsanguinate instead of Debt to the Deathless now
Mana acceleration
Mox Amber and Mox Diamond are doing a lot of work for me, often getting out Ayli T1. Removed Mana Crypt, and happy about it! Land Tax is good! It smooths out landdrops every turn, fills up your hand, so enables eot discarding (for reanimation), and works like Ancestral Recall when you happen to have a Scroll Rack out.
Below: a pic of my actual deck - organized by land, mana-accelaeration, tutors, card draw, recursion, removal, sweepers, sacrifice-outlets, wincons, and various.
Happy midwinter!