It's like storm! But significantly worse!
Context-Sensitive Card Functions
Aether Hub - At face value it doesn't come into play tapped, and can potentially produce any color mana. The use of the energy tokens you get over the course of the game will be critical. Sparks of Creativity and Attune with Aether are the best uses if you're on limited energy. The former helps you ramp into land on a turn you haven't played land yet, or find a spell that you can potentially play (or use as burn as per sparks). The latter will generate an energy for your trouble and get you fixing for some other color. You almost never need to fetch a forest because the only green spell is your fixing (energy and search for land in one!).
Trail of Evidence
- This card is awkwardly something you want to have every single game, but don't necessarily want more than one. The difference between 1 and 0 is massive compared to 2 and 1. Harness the Storm using low cost spells allows you to get several clues effectively. With
Not Forgotten
you can generate a regrowth effect for 4 mana as well as creating a blocker. With harness the storm and additional mana there's no telling how far you can take it, but mostly you'll want to use this trick to play the same copy of Rise from the Tides over and over. They'll wind up in a situation where they must board wipe every turn or die.
Brain in a Jar
- Despite appearances, brain in a jar is actually being used as mana storage, and fixing. It gets around the color costs of spells, and progressively casts bigger spells for free. In this way you can plan the progression of cards in your hand when compared to having Aether Hub online, or not. The tertiary (yet strongest) benefit of this card is that it allows you to play sorcery speed cards at instant speed. It also works fine with Harness the Storm since you're still casting from hand (the wording is on brain in a jar is fairly distinct).
Bedlam Reveler - The deck had 1 spot open, and I'm trying this out as a one of. It does 3 things: Plays for 2 mana consistently. Gets thrown away with collective brutality to hit delirium. Hits very hard on a creature off Sparks of Creativity (or could be played if you had the 3 red sources).
Wild-Field Scarecrow
- Does 3 things: Enables delirium 99% of the time (since it has 2 types which isn't the main two of the deck). Is a 4 toughness blocker with any 3 mana. Can sacrifice with 2 mana to fetch 2 basic lands of any kind. The deck runs a lot of basics to support both this and Evolving Wilds.
Evolving Wilds - Helps with fixing. Helps with delirium, but still requires either enchantment/creature/artifact/land to hit the graveyard. Collective Brutality can help with this. This deck primarily 'storms' off in black and red (black for life drain and removal, red for card draw-ish effects), secondary in white and blue (white for regrowth effects, and blue for creature bounce), and almost never in green (except if you're making extra clues or thinning the deck).
Collective Brutality - This card is way more important than it seems. You're primarily using the first two options most of the game, until later on when you plan to 'storm' off a spell this is one of your prime targets only using it for the third ability. There's really no harm in discarding certain cards to activate multiple modes, most of the time it's to your benefit to do so. The first mode gets you information (at worst) but is really about destroying their ability to interact with you (it doesn't hit permanents).
To the Slaughter - Okay, finally the reason for delirium. One playset of cards makes all the trouble worthwhile. Instant speed removal which is a sacrifice effect (you should probably know the ups and downs of these types of cards already), but it can hit planeswalkers. If you have delirium it hits both a creature and a planeswalker. Storming this card off multiple times in a round can be devastating, as can recurring it with
Not Forgotten
. It's possible to make all that stuff happen spontaneously too between
Brain in a Jar
and clues, but that's living the dream. Planeswalker removal is limited, and this is becoming a huge problem for a lot of decks.
Unsubstantiate - Stall or bounce, usually depending who is on the play. This is primarily for tempo and slowing down your opponent's board state or hindrances. If you play first then at worst you're facing down a 1 drop and can safely stall them out. Most of the time they won't play anything or have a tapped land. If they're on the play you're really only stopping their turn 3 play or bouncing their turn 2 play if it's a creature (and is worth bouncing over stopping whatever comes next). Strong option for putting on top with
Not Forgotten
if you have any clues.
Not Forgotten
- By now you know I use this as a regrowth effect with clues. It also makes a flying blocker. Not a terrible card to 'storm' off.
Attune with Aether - Great way to use my Aether Hub since it's a net energy gain anyway, and taking green is rarely necessary. Those times where it might be I can play around it with a first use of
Brain in a Jar
. Rarely needs to 'storm' but certainly can easily enough.
Spark of Creativity
- It's basically a weird creature nuke/cantrip thing. More important is that it triggers gaining clues while already digging and 'storms' nicely. It also can have a huge impact for that 1 mana cost. Things I don't need to play that turn are used as removal, or land drop in the case of land. The deck is trying to spend all of it's mana between both players turns efficiently. It's all about tapping out every set of turns.
Hissing Quagmire
+
Shambling Vent
+
Wandering Fumarole
- It's unclear if these also need to be basic lands. With only 7 lands coming into play tapped in the deck I feel like these 3 are okay. It helps the color chart a little bit too. The only real downside is they aren't fetchable.
Rise from the Tides - The main win con of the deck. Though you can certainly get there with Collective Brutality, it would take a few salvos of them. This should generate a lethal number of zombies. The fun part is that late game you can re-play them turn after turn using
Not Forgotten
. They tokens coming into play tapped is a downer but
Brain in a Jar
does have the chance of getting around it by playing on opponents end step.
