Minor updates:
Blinkmoth nexus was removed and Magosi, the Waterveil was added. Secondary plan for combo ignition.
Everflowing chalice has been also re-considered. Its mana storaging feature will be taken by Saprazzan cove and/or Sand Silos, while mana boost will be provided by Expedition map. Those two lands have been proven useful with Winter orb seasons...
Echo mage remains in the deck.
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage will be added to the deck as soon as possible.
+1 ability is very useful since it acts same as my tapper wizards - either locks mana, or prevent creatures from attacking.
-2 drawing spell for 5 cmc at sorcery speed which will most likely provide more than 3 cards when properly cast. No matter if Tamiyo survives or not.
-8 Alternative to Elixir of Immortality. Bit more complicated but with immensely more strenght.
Mana web this evil artifact once again got my attention when in all recent games Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth entered battlefield.
Barrin, master wizard has proven useful, but to be really functional it needs Gilded drake or Sower of temptation. In singleton format its not very viable... Stealing of creatures was also aspect which I found most interesting. However when it came to cards like Damping Matrix or Humility I was still stuck in a lock (unless MOM+Stroke was ignited successfully). At all he will most probably leave this deck and other control mechanic will take place.
As long I want to play Tamiyo's ultimate ability bit more protection is required. Opposition is one possibility. However most likely it will be activated during combo. There are few methods. Viral drake, Inexorable tide or more likely Clockspinning which can be used to keep enemy planeswalkers under control... Other way is infinite turns - which is Savor the Moment or Magosi, The Waterveil already.
However there is one drawback... Tamiyo is almost intutorable in my deck.
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Ok, lets check how can be this planeswalker used in this specific EDH deck.
+1 Tap target permanent. It does not untap during next untap step.
For 5 mana Tamiyo acts exactly same as Icy Manipulator with only slight difference - at sorcery speed. Tapping enemy permanents (lands creatures, combo parts, whatever) is obvious. But how can be this ability transformed?
Check Static orb. I can tap it, pass the turn to the oponnent, allow him to untap, then I untap also and the orb will remain untapped - with its locking function enabled again. This used to work also with Winter orb, but suddenly it disappeared from gatherer text.
With help of certain cards this ability can do much more. Fallowsage, Betrayal, Grimoire thief, Psychic venom and Stinging licid provide interesting possibilities.
-2 Draw card for each tapped creature target player controls:
It can be me, or any other player in game. At 5 CMC Tidings offers 4 new cards at sorcery speed. Player still may cast this planeswalker, use his second ability and dont care if Tamiyo survives next turns or not. If your deck contain a bunch of wizards with tap ability, or your deck has spells with "tap all" function potential of this ability is greatly improved.
-8 You get an emblem with "You have no maximum hand size" and "Whenever a card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, you may return it to your hand."
Combo with Mind over Matter to produce a lot of mana is obvious. Similar combos are with cards like Dark Ritual or Pyretic Ritual, Lotus petal maybe. Less obvious possibilites offers Turnabout.
This ability combines Spellbook, Library of Leng, Feldon's Cane or Elixir of Immortality with many other cards in really strange manner - making this deck even more powerful.
Survival...
A planeswalker with ultimate ability which threatens player with infinite combo is something that most oponnents wont let to happen, so she will surely attact a lot of attention when in play. Also its quite questionable if oponnent will try to attack her if its probable that she survives will draw a lot of cards...
Teferi himself offers possibility to jump into play, and blocks someone to save Tamiyo. Venser, Shaper savant offer similar possibility with selfbouncing. Other similar creatures with "selfbouncing" ability will most likely need Flying and Teferi's "Flash". Shrieking drake, and Mist Raven are fulfilling this requirement...
Rest has to be assured with multiple tapping effects...
Edit:
Tamiyo has replaced Ertai, Wizard adept in position of direct threat which has to be stopped once hits the table. She was able to tap and hold enemy Cabal Coffers which was at that time his main mana source. My combo piece - Freed from the Real was then used on oponnents Primeval titan. this costed my oponnent a lot of his mana and ability to attack Tamiyo.
I also placed into deck Reveka, Wizard savant and Suq'ata firewalker, but without sucess. I forgot to remove Gilded drake and place Meekstone in the deck but when he has stolen general 2x yesterday and once Sheoldred, whispering one i am really reconsidering it :).
Last edited by Offler; 07-01-2012 at 05:13 AM.
Combination of Tamiyo, Static orb and Fatestitcher resulted in softlock which blocked oponnent from attacking and playing spells. A lot of time for Tamiyo to grow. Maybe its a good time to return Rimewind Taskmage back to deck. Tamiyo was also used in similar manner with Winter orb. Also in games where such lock did not happened she attracted a lot of attention. Definitely a PW worth playing.
Also I was re-considering the Tormod's crypt, Relic of Progenitus. The main reason why i added Crypt was fact that there is a lot of reanimators and I can return it to play using Academy ruins quite easy. Relic was re-tested due its ability to remove one card per turn, however it exiles itself from the game once used for his second ability - and thus cannot be returned.
Tamiyo partially solved one weakness of the deck - There is only single card which reshuffle the grave into the library - Elixir of Immortality. Once Tamiyo activates its last ability I do not need to care about it, but still if Elixir is somehow removed from the game I can have serious problem.
There was a suggestion for some instant or sorcery spell which can reshuffle grave to library in order to stop reanimator combos and replace Crypt with it. There is such spell at instant speed - Mnemonic Nexus.
The truth is that this instant can be used both for stopping reanimator combo, and returning all my library back for my own combo reasons.
Tormods crypt can be returned by exactly two cards - Recall and Academy ruins.
Mnemonic nexus can be returned back by 3 cards - Recall, Snapcaster, Call to mind.
Relic of progenitus cannot be re-animated at all in my deck...
Recently added Call to mind solves the main problem with Mnemonic nexus - the fact it does not reshuffle itself. And there is still possibility to add Relearn or better Archaeomancer in near future.
This might really improve deck consistency...
Also pinger wizards were not as sucessful. Recent removal of Ertai and also Glen Elendra resulted in bit weaker control. Therefore those two slots will be filled by Venser and Glen elendra again.
Last edited by Offler; 07-10-2012 at 05:26 AM.
Few spells became really dangerous to this deck in few games.
Decree of Pain for cycling
Qasali Pridemage or cards based on Viridian Zealot type.
Currently I play only two cards able to affect abilities. Its Pithing needle and Willbender.
Current changes:
Tormod's Crypt and Elixir of Immortality were removed.
Mnemonic Nexus and Reminisce were added.
New spells both have ability to clear enemy graveyard while reshuffle my library back.
Therefore Syncopate and Dissipate whose carried removal are not as needed. Trickbind and Voidmage husher may replace them soon. The question is whether the deck needs more countering spells or abilities, since removal is not needed anymore.
Edit:
4 out of 6 players I am commonly playing with added Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. Most advanced ramp also had Oracle of Mul-Daya with Knight of the Reliquary, all of them has Primeval Titan. When the player also bounced his coffers with Ravnica bounceland, and Oracle of mul-daya allowed him to cast it again untapped i was sure that this situation cannot be controlled even by 6 wizards (while one of them is Patron wizard). However... the player during play repeated many times that he is Manascrewed. Colorscrewed is the better word since he had a lot of black mana, but not enough white and green. Even with 30+ mana his only possibility to deal damage was Sheoldred due his swampwalk...
These are only few pointless ramps I am playing against. Metagame changed overnight...
I believe that I have better possibility to utilize their mana... Even when black/colorless. Because i removed a lot of artifacts Artificer's Intuition became obsolete.
Vedalken Plotter
Sunder
Will most likely help those players to choose strategy more wisely..
Last edited by Offler; 07-11-2012 at 09:50 AM.
Sigil tracer and Echo mage proved very useful when copying enemy tutors. Generally it allowed me to complete the combo much sooner as anticipated.
Also Rings of Brighthearth which has somel infinite combos within the deck has proven useful when copied Esper panorama and allowed me to ramp a bit... Seems not as viable like Crucible of worlds but quite effective... At all the deck itself has still a lot of hidden potential which I have to uncover...
Artificer's Intuition was replaced by Doubling cube
Azure mage has been replaced by Rimewind taskmage
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
Another alternate general found. He allows to draw much more effectively and also if I draw more cards in my library i will not lose the game because it replaces draw effect.
Minor improvements:
Witchbane orb removed. In my current meta it worked only against cards like. Did not worked as intended
Rhystic study back in deck. New weapon of mass sleep - Meekstone. Will see.
Karn, Silver golem and Doubling cube are not working as intended.
0/8 blocker was not as useful as i hoped. Too many dragons, angels, demons around here... Same is true for Echo mage.
The deck also lacks the power of flying which is native to many blue decks, and also the deck became often target of random land destruction. So...
Crucible of worlds is going back to deck along with Wasteland. Esper Panorama and Bant Panorama will still offer enough possibility to play a land every turn.
There are few ways how to add flying creatures to the deck.
Talrand, Sky summoner recently brought new idea of a general. This deck contains 23 instants and sorceries...
Meloku The Clouded Mirror also brings flying creatures while bouncing a land
Genju of the Falls brings possibility to transform a land into creature - even by the means of combo, while returns from the graveyard.
Balduvian frostwaker In ideal situation he dealt more than 20 damage...
The question is how many lands I can sacrifice, bounce, lose in combat and/or how many spells will be cast before Talrand leaves the battlefield.
Well. Talrand is 2/2... No combo potential. Meloku is 2/4, while bouncing a land while creating a token is worth it - especially if I can discard that land for 3 mana, or there is Winter orb in play.
So:
Karn will be replaced by Genju of the falls
Echo mage by Crucible of worlds
Doubling cube by Wasteland
I was looking for a way how to add "battle" wizards into this deck. Since I was completely ignoring any combat damage for some time this is something that can be fixed a bit.
Previously the deck contained Vexing Sphinx, Coralhelm commander and this with combination of Wind zendikon was enough to kill non-flying decks.
a) does toughness matter? Well not much. Format is full with Swords to plowshares, Crib swap, Path to exile, and all possible variations of Doom blade
b) How much power per creature? Blue has a long history with 3/1 creatures such as Cloud spirit.
c) CMC? Creature designed only to attack. at CMC 3 with same P/T there is a wizard - Vendilion Clique. Previously I also mentioned that Crookclaw Transmuter has similar stats, and bit worse CMC. On same level is also Soratami Mirror-guard.
If is somebody as scared that he destroys any one of those three creatures, then I may play with better feeling that at least one of destroy spells has been removed from opponnents hand.
Sigil tracer caused combo to ignite only twice - Clique...
Gilded drake good at stealing the generals, but since this is not [cards]Barrin, Master wizard[cards] EDH deck the slot will be re-used for Soratami...
Rhystic study Indeed great card for multiplayer, destroyed by my co-player? When he also decided to pay extra mana I was really amazed. Crookclaw transmuter is much more raw...
I'm not sure if you've already considered this, but you could try phyrexian metamorph. It only costs 1 more than phantasmal image, and you can also copy artifacts like gilded lotus or umezawa's jitte.
When it comes to copying i was considering much more creatures.
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Vesuvan Doppelganger
Phantasmal Image
Sakashima the Impostor
Sakashima's Student
Renegade Doppelganger
Shapesharer
Standard Clone
And of course Phyrexian Metamorph and Sculpting Steel
They were used for creating copies of endangered permanents or copying enemy creatures, but later was certain than its bit useless. It was more effective to add another permanent with same mechanic as I wanted to copy instead of having clones...
My current experience however shows, that deck is missing something crucial... I am not sure whether its a card, or it just needs different strategy...
Adding creatures for attacking... I am just responding to primitive need of my playgroup, and I fear it will weaken the deck. On the other hand the deck does not play many cards. They are cast when they are needed, and not splashed into play as a decoy.
The truth is that after some changed during last 6 months I miss flying wizards in play a lot.
Finally i re-considered my choices.
Gilded drake will be replaced by Cephalid Illusionist
Rest will remain as is now. Preventing damage by other wizard is small improvement against combat oriented decks. If targeted the discard effect can be considered as advantage - remember Cephalid breakfast.
I also finally found a monoblue EDH/Highlander variation of Cephalid breakfast. It consists of:
Cephalid illusionist or Cephalid Aristocrat
Lightning Greaves or Umbral Mantle or Shuko + another creature in play (for the greaves)
Laboratory Maniac
Deep Analysis, Cephalid coliseum, Mikokoro, Center of the Sea or any drawing...
(from what I understand "Equip" is a targeted ability)
And definitely - it should be not as hard to place some of those cards into the deck.
Ok. Finally arrived few new cards to my collection:
Opposition - I believe that this is that crucial piece I was looking for a long time. Just here was bit hard to obtain a copy.
Thawing Glaciers - it took the slot of Armillary sphere. The sphere was great since 2 lands on hand is good - not even it can be considered as good ramp, but also drawing for combo/discard reasons. The Glaciers are similar. "Reusable fetchland", with selfbounce at the end of turn - still good for discarding reasons :)
Cephalid Illusionist replaced Gilded Drake
His primal function will be self milling and decoy. I believe that even here have people heard about Cephalid Breakfast.
First post updated and cards replaced. :)
I also obtained a copy of italian Mana Drain at a very good price. Just wondering where to place it :)
Opposition is really good in this deck. With static orb I was able to lock games down while keep myself untapped. Thawing Glaciers also obsoleted Crucible of worlds. With SDT and/or Scroll rack the searching for combo parts is easier as any before.
Flash of Insight replaced Petals of Insight. Both cards can be used for infinite mana, but only Flash can be used along with Mind over matter - especially for its flashback cost while stripping grave of some unnecessary cards.
This usage of discarding or removing cards took my attention when I found Turbulent dreams and Sickening dreams if i would add black... Not bad indeed.
Diviner's Wand back in deck. CMC 3, Wizard tribal and Artifact makes it almost universal tutoring target which can be used for infinite draw. Few times I was stuck with infinite mana, and Fabricate on hand - so much for this...
Also one explanation:
Arcanis the Omnipotent < Urza's Blueprints means that first card is in deck in it "casual mode" while the second is in its "competetive mode".
Last edited by Offler; 08-28-2012 at 09:43 AM.
Brainstorming about some blue cards for this deck
Soratami Savant
Forms a lock with Static orb and Winter orb along with manasources with 2 mana per tap. I mentioned it previously but I never added it in the deck.
Since Opposition and Static orb also form a lock a control which will be based around those cards should solve a lot of problems - if not too centralized.
Current control contain some instants (more or less powerful), Patron Wizard which is used to make things more expensive in early game stage, Voidmage prodigy which is one of the few "hard counters" which does not require oponnent to pay any amount of mana and there are also Voidmage Husher, Venser, Shaper Savant and Glen Elendra Archmage and Willbender which is cheap low mana wizard with really good ability.
Venser is needed due his bounce ability, Husher due his selfbouncing. Only Glen Elendra does not have any unique function within deck and does not cooperate with static/winter orb in any manner.
The question is if there is enough wizards with counterspelling ability, which does not require tap, or sacrifice, only mana... And no - Hisoka, Minamo Sensei is not the right choice - althought he cooperates with SDT, Scroll rack the discarding at certain CMC for 3 mana is too weak compared to Counterbalance
edit: To Kombatkiwi
Maybe :D I just find useful to write on forum some thoughts about deckbuilding. Later when I re-check them, it helps me to find potential which was previously not as obvious.
Last edited by Offler; 09-06-2012 at 03:16 AM.
Is this a source record for "highest percentage of posts in a single thread by an individual forum user?"
RTR:
Generally this set brings a bit of despair to this deck. Mainly because of "Cant be countered" mechanic, which directly makes large part of the control unusable, and combo more vulnerable.
The solution lies in redirecting spells:
Misdirection
Psychic Battle
Deflection
However none of them can affect global spell which destroy all creatures, or counter a creature spell for example.
Better solution brings Mindbreak trap which always was and always will be good "counterspell". Time stop is similar, but really not as good spell... However Venser, Shaper savant can in this case only buy some time...
New additions coming to the deck:
Disrupting shoal - Poor man's FoW.
Mindbreak trap
Aphetto grifter - as the opposition/orb lock is working very well.
Saprazzan cove - fuel for cards with X costs.
Cards leaving deck:
Genju of the Falls - Not bad in aggro mode, but not good for combo.
Rhystic study - Deck contain enough card drawing.
Magosi, the waterveil- probability of combo too low.
Sigil tracer
Edit:
Been searching for a card which is big bad as any Eldrazi, but not worthy target for Bribery. I found it. Jokulmorder. Really hard to play in other as monoblue.
Last edited by Offler; 09-19-2012 at 09:31 AM.
...the advance of computerisation, however, has not yet wiped out nations and ethnic groups...
By accident I forget to remove Genju of the falls from the deck and it caused at least three victories, while Rimewind taskmage none. Genju as one of the cards which returns from grave is after Blue sun's zenith, and Fatestitcher third card in combo with returning ability - very useful in singletons.
Finally I got one copy of ultrarare common - Archaeomancer - and its going to replace Call to mind
Edit:
As the Genju of the Falls helped to win again, its meaning start to grow a lot within the deck. Therefore I have to re-consider some minor changes. Genju works only with lands with subtype Island. Other cards just cannot be enchanted with it. High tide, Extraplanar lens, Gauntlet of power and Caged sun do the trick. two of them are already in deck, but adding 3rd might be complicated.
Last edited by Offler; 10-31-2012 at 04:46 AM.
...the advance of computerisation, however, has not yet wiped out nations and ethnic groups...
In the past I was testing Blinkmoth nexus and Mishra's Factory. Both of these cards can be used for infinite mana with infinite untapping to grow really big and then attack for a lot of damage. When compared to Mikokoro, Center of the sea they were not able to kill all opponents at once and required attack phase. At all having kill condition well hidden among lands is quite good.
Few days ago i started to analyze new variation of infinite mana combo. Faerie Conclave and Caged Sun with Freed from the real can in fact provide infinite mana.
High tide is limited to Islands.
Extraplanar lens is limited to Snow-covered Islands by their name.
Gauntlet of Power is also limited to basic lands only.
Caged sun does not have these limitations.
There is few blue/colorless cards which can change land subtype. For example:
Unstable frontier
Grixis Illusionist
Reef Shaman
Dream Thrush
Each of them erase all abilities which the land previously had, and some of them can also affect enemy lands. Tapping Dream Thrush in oponnents upkeep to turn Cabal coffers into any basic land is really nice trick in our metagame - especially when I play cards like Winter Orb
This means that I can animate Mishra's Factory, turn it into Creature - Island, cast High tide and enchant it with Freed from the Real in order to create infinite mana. But in this case the Factory cannot be used to pump itself into big creature since it does no longer has its ability to pump Assembly workers. And here exactly is the catch...
At all still those two lands can be used separately in two versions of the same combo with Pemmins Aura or Freed from the real as the centerpiece, and enabled to produce more mana by High tide and Dream Thrush. Combo requires 4 pieces to collect, and fifth to use up all the mana. Usually 4 cards is on the edge when it comes to collecting combo. I am not sure whether its worth it, even in case if I use Reef Shaman and Dream Thrush for controlling my opponent.
Tests with Genju of the Falls on other hand are extremely good. Adding Caged sun into deck with Faerie conclave is more probable. But what to remove?
Cephalid illusionist does not work as intended. Even when this card slot is reserved for CMC 2 Wizard I may have to reconsider it. Most probable is now Vedalken Mastermind.
However still no free slot for caged sun...
...the advance of computerisation, however, has not yet wiped out nations and ethnic groups...
Last changes:
Reminisce removed and replaced by Elixir of Immortality. Self reshuffling for free is much better.
Rewind and Mana drain became part of casual version of the deck, while Force of will and Spell burst are their replacements in non-casual variant. Rewind and mana drain work as some sort of mana sources while rewind has interaction with Tamiyo's ultimate ability. Spell burst can be cast in early stage of the game, while with infimite mana works same as Rewind with Tamiyo.
Cavern of souls is in casual variation of the deck. I thought that this land will be overplayed in this format, but I was wrong. Instead I met more decks with Isochron scepter and 40 CMC 2 counterspells in decks - which are in my opinion boring. Since non-casual variant has less wizards it may be replaced by Petrified field
Vedalken mastermind killed 2 opponents with combat damage... because someone cast Worldfire... Well casual fun, but even in these cases I prefer to follow banlists :)
Enter the infinite
8UUUU
Sorcery
Draw cards equal to your library. Put one card from your hand on top of your library. You have no maximum hand size until your next turn.
Probably the first card I would like to place into this deck immediately after reading a spoiler. Combo with Mind over Matter is obvious, also in this deck can be even hardcasted for mana. It will most probably replace Braingeyser or Flash of Insight, while Flash of insight has better probability to stay in deck for its flashback cost. After creation of the Eldrazi Wotc finally came with sorcery which has similar power level in certain decks., besides it shows middle finger to "official" club here with their really bad house rules.
...the advance of computerisation, however, has not yet wiped out nations and ethnic groups...
Finally got a copy of Caged sun, so lets compare it with Extraplanar Lens.
Lenses are able to work with Freed from the real or Pemmins aura, but it does not work with Rings of Brighthearth or Vigean Graftmage.
Since Caged sun enables Rings of Brighthearth and Vigean graftmage for all nonbasic lands which already produce at least two mana (3 lands), the chance of completing the combo is much higher. For Fatestitcher 3 and for Tidewater minion 6 more possibilities.
2 extra possibilities it offers when i add Faerie conclave and Seat of synod also offers another 2 combos with Aphetto alchemist. Well, the amount of possibilities is growing a lot with this card... Currently 13 and I have not event think of more complicated solutions with abilities which turn manland into Island Manland. All combos which were provided by Extraplanar lens remain intact.
On the other hand, it requires exactly twice as mana to be cast, but its reanimation with Academy ruins and re-playing will be much less painful.
Well, it has been some time since I was trying to fix the mana, and the Lenses were part of the solution. However, very irritating solution as I found. Lens was very often target for any kinds of destruction.
I own Mana Crypt for some time but I was not willing to play it. Since it costs 0 its easy to drop it while MOM combo is running just to improve amount of mana per discard for x costs...
Well, it seems that Caged sun will finally be part of the deck.
...the advance of computerisation, however, has not yet wiped out nations and ethnic groups...
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