I know. People have been telling me run run green for a long time. I just don't have the budget for it. If I did, i'd be switching to either Damia, Tasigur or even Sidisi. The reall issue though is not the stax. Its more of the hate I get which allows the stax guys to develop their board.

I built a Zedruu deck and it has been winning. The guys on our playgroup now focus on getting rid of the stax players or at least the stax pieces, giving everyone room to maneuver.

If you check out my stax primer it has the ins and outs of it all and its tailored for all 5 colors, it might help. There is a section on there which covers chaos cards which I assume are in your zedruu deck. Let me tell you as someone who likes running stax when facing ridiculous generals, I hate that stupid goat. Stax decks like to set up an engine of disruption with tons of stupid cards like Static Orb, Winter Orb, and Grave Pact, being very thought out and planned. Disrupting that engine with all sorts of insane mind control and permanent swapping messes all that up. It's primarily the reason why I run things like Oblivion Stone and Nevinyrral's Disk in my Glissa deck to reset.

If you are getting ganged up on with this deck then it may be best to tailor your deck around the threats your playgroup brings to the table. Bring out something disgusting like Deathgrip or other color hate if you think it would help. If your meta is mostly stax then run a ton of board clears for artifacts and enchantments and abuse Leyline of the Void effects. Stax decks are probably using reanimation so stop them. They like to slow the game down and feel comfortable so don't give them an inch to breath and they will crumble from the pressure. I'm thinking of making an anti stax voltron deck with Kaseto, Orochi Archmage (it sounds dumb but its meant to just shred someone with swords or infect and has untap effects, shame that the Prophet of Kruphix was banned, it would be perfect for this deck)

I used to run cards like Propaganda and No Mercy. They worked for a while but then people started using cards like Aura Shards and Aura of Silence. The guys have gotten so familiar with my deck and have and keep adapting their decks to play against mine.

Worst part is, they still want me out as soon as possible so its either I win early or I die first. lol

Things are probably not as bad as I make it sound. I mean, I still win a considerable number of games (about every other game), mostly due to a well-timed Damnation or a good opening hand -enough lands and Insidious Dreams, but I somehow feel there is still something than can be done to make the deck faster and more consistent.

Glacial Chasm as a last ditch protection is nice

In my opinion, your deck tries to win too early, too much. It can be unbelievably fast in some games but you seem to have streamlined it to the point that its gameplay has become too fragile. Something as simple as not having the right mana color delays you a lot so I really don't see why you insist on going all out with the turn 4 or turn 5 win.

I honestly think you should slow it down. After play-testing the deck several more times, I strongly suggest that you go back to using Propaganda and No Mercy. They won't do much against stax but they are certainly worthwhile deterrents. You should also consider using Tainted AEther.

I really like the way you approach deckbuilding. Your Zedruu deck looks solid as well but I think you got a little carried away with this one.

I definitely get carried away, usually when Stuffy Doll starts getting involved.

Lol. Thanks for the brutally honest assessment, Underpants. You might be right. I might have gotten too focused on speeding up the deck but I feel it is the most logical thing to do.

The longer the game drags on, the more mana everyone has. This means more chances of counterspells and removal being thrown my way.

I could try and get Propaganda back in the deck and maybe Glacial Chasm as well. Can you guys suggest cards which I can cut for them?

chasm for the cephalid coliseum

This is brilliant. I am a little confused by the inclusion of Heartless Summoning though. You don't run too many creatures in here.

Punderstorm: While the creature count is low, Heartless Summoning is a very cheap way of reducing the costs of all of them. It also means that deploying any infinite mana comobo is much easier so can either a) be played earlier or b) can be played with mana open for counterspell backup.

Thanks Punderstorm!

enpc is right. As odd as it might seem, Heartless Summoning has really been effective in this deck. I have been trying to find a suitable replacement for it for a long time but it just keeps performing so well. I am currently looking at Snapcaster Mage, Spell Pierce or adding an Island as a possible replacement but I doubt they will have as much impact in the game as Heartless Summoning.

Quite oddly, I am leaning towards adding an Island since I need consistent land drops more than counterspells or redundancies. Flooding is also not as big of a problem since I rely a lot on Insidious Dreams meaning I can simply discard excess lands to find my combo pieces.

I'd love to hear your thought on possible additions though.

Fair enough. I thought it might be something like that. If it's performing well I probably wouldn't remove it then. Testing other options is always good though, especially since you can always just change it back. I can't think of any off the top of my head but I'll let you know if something comes to mind.

Can you guys tell me your thoughts on Postmortem Lunge and Flash? I am seeing a lot of potential in these two cards, as well as in Snapcaster Mage.

I am on the fence about Consecrated Sphinx. I sometimes think the deck has no real need for it except if I can get it our really early.

I think that Consecrated Sphinx is a good candidate for removal. After several tests (about half a year ago), I removed Consecrated Sphinx from my Somebody stop me! deck for the reason that it is quite slow, don't create an advantage after ETB, and usualy in my meta it is - "pay during your main phase, draw two cards on next draw step" or even nothing.

Flash is fantastic spell, I use it in many decks, it is insane with reanimation spells. If you decide to use this spell in the future, I would recommend to increase the number of powerful ETB creatures (or with "when it die/leave the battlefield" triggers).

My friend does the Sickening Dreams wincon in his Sidisi deck but he runs Glacial Chasm to prevent the damage to himself! You should do the same! That way you will actually win and not suicide bomb haha

I used to have Tendrils of Agony in place of it but decided to go Inception and have a dream planted within a dream. Lol.

I had the Chasm for a long time. I can probably still bring it back but that would cost me an additional turn to combo off.

The deck relies a lot on having the exact amount of lands in play. Drawing a Chasm in my opening turns would really suck so i'm going to have to think about it.

Matrixxx999, thanks! I'll probably replace an instant or sorcery with Flash and take the Sphinx out for a Snapcaster Mage.

I dig your deck. What are your thoughts on Personal Tutor (aka terrible budget Imperial Seal), Trinket Mage, and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip? All of these cards support your combos in some way, and they can speed up your win conditions slightly.

A lot of people have suggested Personal Tutor in the past and for a time, I really was sold on getting one. However, I realized I don't have enough sorcery spells in the deck that can be considered essential to my win cons. This, along with the tempo loss from Personal Tutor, is the reason why I chose Merchant Scroll over it.

Trinket Mage was in the deck for quite some time. I replaced it with Fabricate but even that was eventually removed. Similar to Personal Tutor, and considering the deck's tempo, I don't think I have enough valid targets for it that would justify its cost.

The oldschool player in me refuses to use planeswalkers. lol. And i'm not sure how Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip is in any way able to advance my play. For a time, I was looking at JTMS but felt even that wasn't worth its slot in the deck.

Thanks for the suggestions though.

Gilded Drake while not assisting you in your win condition, you have enough bounce in the deck to play the drake steal an opponents creature and bounce the drake to repeat when you want. Sort of an aggressive defense I suppose. Second,I'm a huge fan of the card High Tide in a blue deck. It offers a great deal of flexibility towards explosive mana.

I like Gilded Drake but I can't seem to find anything worth taking out for it.

I'm not sure if the deck has enough Islands for me to get as much value from High Tide as I get from Dark Ritual. It does combo off with Palinchron though. I'll be placing it on my maybeboard for the meantime.

Thanks for the suggestions!

In a combo meta, Gilded Drake isn't that good a card. Typically you don't see combo pieces until somebody tries to win, so unless you can play drake then and there it will usually only get a mana dork.

Hey man, can I reccomend main boarding Glacial Chasm? That card just does work. I run it in my The Gitrog Monster deck and I am finding most people have no answer to it (we aren't to big on land destruction though...).

Throw in Expedition Map and you have a sure way of founding it when needed or you can just find a different land.

Noticed urborg in the deck. Have you considered running Cabal Coffers? That mana ramp would help you exile more with Oona. If Cabals is out of price range and you don't mind giving up a card slot Magus of the Coffers works as well. You are only tuning four swamps though so it may not be the best card without urborg though...

Also there is a land that returns a creature from you graveyard to the top of your library. Forgot it's name... But that may be a card to consider. It doesn't really take a card slot, and it's just nice to have.

Academy Ruins help recur combo pieces as while.

And the land is called Volrath's Stronghold.

Have you thought about adding the Rings of Brighthearth and Basalt Monolith combo? I like your take on an Oona deck. I haven't really ever seen one like this. Also, have you thought about Geth, Lord of the Vault as an alternate wincon if Oona gets taken? Really like the deck! +1 :D