A buddy of mine made a version of this deck and I've been modifying and tweaking it for some time now. Needless to say, I'm delighted to see your take on it. I forgot Mass Polymorph was a thing. I was using Synthetic Destiny exclusively. I didn't even know about the Leveler/Oracle combo. I was using a 4 creature combo; Deadeye, Peregrine, Mulldrifter and Archaeomancer. This gave us infinite recursion, mana and draw and therefore access to every card in the deck. Your win combo is a lot neater though. I'm definitely going to be comparing and poring over this version.

DreadKhan, Solve the Equation should definitely be included in this deck! You found a great card!! The only problem is I’m afraid to change anything about the deck at this point. Let me think about it. Thank you though, sincerely!

Unenlightened, my win con is more competitive, as all you need to win is Talrand in play and enough mana to cast Mass Polymorph or Synthetic Destiny. That said, it’s also a glass cannon. It’s risky but exciting and explosive. I’m glad you enjoy it too.

Bosium Strip dig thru the yard when you need to.

Muddle the Mixture grab Oracle.

Misdirection protect Oracle.

Embargo maybe? You run so few nonland permanents it might be worth it. Could buy you time while you dig for Oracle.

SufferFromEDHD, while I appreciate the feedback, this deck explicitly does NOT dig for Oracle—in fact it avoids it so much that if we accidentally draw it, we use specialized cantrips/slowtrips to tuck it back in! (See Library of Lat-Nam and Dream Cache.) While most of your recommendations are a bit off base due to price point (this is an extreme budget deck) or relevance in this particular build, I appreciate that you apparently have knowledge of some obscure cards I am Interested in incorporating into jank elsewhere :)

I was thinking if someone wanted to beef it up with more expensive things the first place they could start is with a Jeweled Lotus but I'd have a hard time cutting a card. I love the deck and might build it

ToxicMCTV, you’re right—-Jeweled Lotus would be great in this deck. Then we might as well throw in Mana Crypt, Force of Will, Force of Negation, and why not Timetwister :)

Orc Fair point. I guess My mind likes big shiny expensive things lol.

Can you choose what creatures to play first after Mass Polymorph or Synthetic Destiny or does the creatures come into play instantly after you have found the creatures? For example, if you find Leveler before Thoracle then does Leveler instantly come into play and exiles your library?

Scratch4u2, they enter the battlefield simultaneously but the controller chooses the order in which their enters-the-battlefield triggers resolve.

0rc +1

I used to have Talrand before I converted it to a 2HG deck with Baral at the helm.

Do you play Talrand turn 3 with ramp and no mana to protect him?

How do you decide what to counter and deal with politics? Oh you countered my important spell so now the other opponent's spell resolved. You have horrible threat assessment! #hindsightbias

Heraldic Banner seems a bit winmore, no? If you have an army of drakes it helps speed up the clock. But if you don't have much of any army assembled, usually after a wipe, then you are out of luck.

Profet93, thanks for your interest, and these are all good questions. I’ll answer each in turn: 1) I play Talrand if I have mana open with which to bluff—-1 blue often suffices, and I usually have a counter as well; 2) I live on an island while everyone else plays, it’s a lonely life, so I usually only counter whatever disrupts my board state or future combo—-however, as a rule, I always counter sol ring, when able; and 3) Heraldic banner is an excellent budget rock for this deck. This deck was actually designed for a budget 1v1 tournament, and it won. In that setting, I utilized more counters to control a single opponent, generally, and the drake backup plan was far more viable. I still use this deck more in 1v1. There is less removal and easier threat assessment in 1v1, naturally. Thank you!