Piercing the Heavens | w/Primer

Commander / EDH* Combo Control Mill Storm UB (Dimir)

theilluminaire

Ancillary Effects (2)

• 1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1x Laboratory Maniac

Bounce (3)

• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Hurkyl's Recall

Cantrips (5)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain

Counters (10)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Spell Pierce
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Trickbind

Draw (3)

• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Rhystic Study

Flash Enabled (1)

• 1x Leyline of Anticipation

Graveplay (1)

• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Lands (Fetches) (7)

• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Verdant Catacombs

Lands (U/B) (24)

• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 10x Island
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave

Lands (Utility) (2)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Ancient Tomb

Political Wards (3)

• 1x Forcefield
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Propaganda

Rituals (2)

• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Dark Ritual

Rocks (11)

• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance

Tutors (9)

• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Doomsday
• 1x Grim Tutor
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Transmute Artifact
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Wipes (3)

• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Toxic Deluge

∞ Pieces (7)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Copy Artifact
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Power Artifact
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth

⌛ Sinks (2)

• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Mind Grind

☁ Storm (4)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Brain Freeze
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Mind's Desire

☠ Pile (5)

• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Laboratory Maniac
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Predict
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Other (7)

• 1x Intuition
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Praetor's Grasp
• 1x Rain of Filth
• 1x Snap
• 1x Tendrils of Agony
• 1x Windfall

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🔍 Explanation of Categorization

Explanation of Categorization

• : Simply put, these are spells that do not fit into another category.
• : These spells are similar to wipes in terms of the type of interaction they offer, but rather than putting them into the graveyard, the spells are bounced from the battlefield back to their owner's hand.
• : Sounds clandestine, but these are draw spells with an added effect attached.
• : Spells that allow us to counter other spells and abilities as they either come into play, or are triggered.
• : These spells permit us to draw more spells from our library.
• : Spells that give others spells instant speed.
• : These spells allow us to interact with our graveyard through either recursion or reanimation.
• : In our case, these land spells that allow us to pain ourselves in order to search our library for a land that has either Swamp or Island in its land type.
• : These are our land spells that can generate mana in the prescribed colors for this build.
• : These are our ancillary land spells that not only for , but they gives an added ability that we may them to activate.
• : Our least competitive winning condition suite, but arguably our most fun. These spells remove cards from the top of our opponent's library, putting them into their graveyard.
• : These spells are meant to deflect offensive threats, whether it be through intimidation or diminished returns.
• : One-shot spells that add a sizable amount of mana to your mana pool.
• : These are artifacts that allow us to generate mana outside of our landbase, in most cases having to the artifact in order to add the mana to the pool.
• : These spells give us the ability to search for spells in our library. In our case, this is usually either a piece of a combo line, or a counter.
• : Spells that allow us to answer for troublesome creatures, be it a horde of tokens or an indestructible creature being buffed into a winning condition.
• : These are the spells that help us transcend finitude, thereby creating mana loops.
• : After we have gotten a mana loop online, we can sink said mana into one of these spells, and if left unchecked, claim victory.
• : With these spells, we can repeat them for each spell casted before them. They are ideal winning conditions if we transcended finitude using Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal.
• : These spells constitute as our library after we cast Doomsday -- an alternate winning condition in this build.

☱ Step I: The Hand That Feeds

Step I: The Hand That Feeds

When it comes to piloting this build, your opening hand is going to be what dictates the path best traveled. Since we have a few ways to pave the way to victory, most of which only two spells deep, we may arrive at a viable conclusion without even having to mulligan.

What constitutes as a viable hand to feed from?

• : Perhaps more important in this build than any other of mine, the ability to tutor for specific spells early on is borderline essential. That being said, having two non-reavealing tutors in our opening hand is ideal.
  
• : While not absolutely necessary, depending on the approximated checkpoint established that victory will be had, having a ward or two on hand could be the difference between life and death. For example, Propaganda will protect us from opponents who runs hordes of token creatures, but the spell's effectiveness dissipates when faced with Voltron strategies. In the case of the latter, a spell such as Forcefield reigns supreme. Then of course we have our broad ward spell No Mercy to further convince our opponents that their combat efforts are best steered elsewhere.
  
• : In order for us to further guarantee the success of our mana loop, having a counter spell on hand with sufficient resources to cast is vital. We can be interrupted by either a counter or a removal attempt and in the case of the latter, the matter could be so dire as seeing one of our combo spells get exiled. While most of the counters in this build are meant to see early play, some of the best for this purpose would be Counterspell, Mana Drain, Swan Song, or Trickbind. While Pact of Negation is tempting, unless we have to during our next upkeep, we will lose the game rather than winning it.
  
• : We want to have roughly 3 lands to play, two of which ideally capable of generating . The reason for this is to ensure that we have enough devotion to play most of the counters employed in our build.
  
• : As far as specific spells we need to look for early on, be it in our hand or when we tutor, we want to look for the spells that allow us to transcend finitude -- creating mana loops. Spells such as Power Artifact, Isochron Scepter, and Rings of Brighthearth all play a similar role in the combo lines for which they help define. Having said that, if we advance correctly, we should only need one of these. As for the latter portion of the prescribed lines, this will largely depend on which enabler we chose from the above. If we selected Power Artifact, we can choose from Basalt Monolith or Grim Monolith to empower. Alternatively, if Rings of Brighthearth was selected, our target will have to be Grim Monolith, since Basalt Monolith will not net us any mana after the loop is initiated. Now, if we selected Isochron Scepter, the other piece of the looping line is Dramatic Reversal. It is important to note, however, that in the case of the latter of the three options, we also need a mana rock that taps for three mana (for example, Gilded Lotus). Similarly, we could pull a Doomsday, forget about transcending finitude, and claim victory through our pile (See Step III[b] - Doomsday Contingency Plan).

☲ Step II: Transcending Finitude

Step II: Transcending Finitude

Now that we have decided on the hand that shall feed us, we should also at this point have an idea of how we are going to transcend finitude -- how we are going to create our mana loop. Considering the nature of our build, it is imperative that we do not succumb to mental masturbation -- we need to show courage in our convictions and stick to a line design, lest it is thwarted later on. Down below we go over some of the flavors of mana loops we can achieve, two of which generate whilst the other is rather modular in terms of its mana output, but comes at the cost of relying on three spells instead of two to get the loop online and netting mana with each repetition.

Power Monolith

• Power Artifact (+)
• Basalt Monolith (or Grim Monolith)
• : With either Basalt Monolith or Grim Monolith already out on the battlefield, we cast Power Artifact onto either Monolith, reducing its cost by . Since either Monolith generates when , we not only have enough to , but leftover mana after each time. This will net us as much mana as we want.

Ringbearer

• Rings of Brighthearth (+)
• Basalt Monolith
• : Assuming both Basalt Monolith and Rings of Brighthearth are already on the battlefield, we Basalt Monolith to generate . We then use that to activate Basalt Monolith's ability. From there we either a mana rock or two lands for , activating Rings of Brighthearth's copying ability. We then Basalt Monolith, and then it again to generate . This is when Rings of Brighthearth copies Basalt Monolith's ability, and we follow up with a of Basalt Monolith again, now possessing total. It is at this point that we use the floating mana to repeat the cycle -- pay to Basalt Monolith and to use Rings of Brightearth to copy Basalt Monolith's ability, Basalt Monolith and use Rings of Brighthearth's copying to Basalt Monolith. Going forward, the resolution of each loop segment will net us additional mana, repeating ad infinitum if we do so wish.

Heaven's Deflower

• Isochron Scepter (+)
• Dramatic Reversal (+)
• Any mana rock that for 3 mana
• : While this may be our most resource-intensive looping line, it also yields us the most spoils to reap. Not only do we have a mana loop that be can be colored, but we also get infinite Storm counters as well, opening up possibilities with Tendrils of Agony or Mind's Desire. In order to get the line to loop, with Isochron Scepter on the battlefield already, we may create an Imprint of Dramatic Reversal with Isochron Scepter. It is from here that we pay and Isochron Scepter to copy the Imprint of Dramatic Reversal, which will then Isochron Scepter, the mana rock of choice, and all other permanents we control. If we had Gilded Lotus out as our man rock of choice, we not only have our infinite Storm counters from the repeated copy-casts of the Imprint of Isochron Scepter, but a colored mana loop of either or .

☴ Step III(a): Piercing the Heavens

Step III(a): Piercing the Heavens

It is at this stage that we should either have a mana loop online or the pieces to make the line happen in-hand. Our next step is finding a use for the mana loop that will conjure up a winning condition for us. Naturally, one of our potential courses of action involves sinking said mana into a single spell that is capable of taking out each adversary within the frame of the same turn:

• Mind Grind
• Exsanguinate
• Oona, Queen of the Fae

Alternatively, should we have decided to go the route of the Heaven's Deflower line referenced in Step II, we can also Storm out. This is due to how Isochron Scepter's Imprint of Dramatic Reversal counts as a cast during each usage. That said, we possess a couple outlets for such a route:

• Aetherflux Reservoir
• Mind's Desire
• Brain Freeze

☴ Step III(b): Doomsday Contingency Plan

Step III(b): Doomsday Contingency Plan

In the event, for whatever reason unbeknownst to us, you are not able to transcend infinity and get a mana loop online, or if all of our other winning conditions have somehow been thwarted, all is not lost -- we still have Doomsday.

While included as a contingency plan, this build can easily be piloted with Doomsday being its main winning condition. If you would consider your local meta to be competitive, it is highly suggested that you consider piloting the build with this mindset as it is capable of claiming victory as early as Turn 2.

When we play Doomsday, our goal is to burn through the pile on the same turn it was originally cast. This requires us having a cantrip spell to cast in order to set it all off (for example, Brainstorm). Once we draw Predict, the engine of the pile will be engaged, and we will burn through the entire pile. Once we get Laboratory Maniac out on the battlefield during the Yawgmoth's Will stage, we can spend another 2 life to cast Gitaxian Probe again to trigger the missed draw we need in order to win.

The Pile

• Predict - Predict Laboratory Maniac, putting Laboratory Maniac in our graveyard and drawing 2.
• Laboratory Maniac - In the graveyard per Predict.
• Gitaxian Probe - First of the 2 spells drawn from Predict; this cantrip will be used to draw us Yawgmoth's Will -- paying 2 life instead of .
• Lion's Eye Diamond - Second of the 2 spells drawn from Predict; we will use this to pay for Yawgmoth's Will -- sacrificing our hand and Lion's Eye Diamond as part of the cost.
• Yawgmoth's Will - Drawn off of Gitaxian Probe, we will cast Yawgmoth's Will to reanimate Laboratory Maniac using the floating mana we got from Lion's Eye Diamond, from there bringing Laboratory Maniac onto the battlefield by paying . To close out the battle, we will recur Gitaxian Probe, pay 2 of our life once more, and generate the need to draw when there is no library to draw from -- winning through Laboratory Maniac.

This Doomsday pile was put together with the assistance of AlwaysSleepy's superb Doomsday primer. I consider this pile to be one of the least mana intensive that can be devised, but there are many ways one may go about assembling their pile. If you are interested in this strategy or Doomsday in general, I highly suggest you give it a read.

⛏ Miscellaneous Note

This is a paper list consisting of cards I actually own. All of the basic lands are full-arts: Island choices all being unique, coming from Zendikar, Amonkhet, and Hour of Devastation; the Swamp choices being pairs from Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	WRG
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 45 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.07
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Faerie Rogue 1/1 UB