True but there is a white creature that gives you an additional vote and a black creature that each opponent looses 2 life if they vote opposite of what you vote

Indeed, but I'd consider those good in a draft party, not necessarily an EDH deck. I could see plenty of the cards working in sixty card with those two, but in EDH most players will either deny you the ability you really wanted or they'll choose one that may help them more than you. Plea for Power is always good since both help you greatly. Furthermore I can easily bait out an extra turn if someone puts something out that's a big threat and as a mono blue deck I can be reliable for having solutions. I have Split Decision in as well since it has some serious power in 3 player games. Just saying two players putting down Army of the Damned can turn things in my favor fast.

In EDH I just feel most of the effects would be better if you played something you had more reliable control of.

Lighthouse Chronologist seems like a decent addition. I didn't before, out of lack of ramp, think I could pull him off easily, but I see ways to do it now with your suggestions. Also wondering what to drop/add for steal cards. Should I give up some bounce or should I give up some counters? I'm happy with my creature base, but are there any you think are lack luster? Got a lot of maybes and having a hard time determining drops, especially knowing that some of those maybes are terribly good with this deck and I don't want to drop the wrong cards for them.

It says Plea for Power is an illegal card... but I checked the wizards website and the commander website and both say otherwise... Not sure what to make of that.

Just to new and tappedout just ain't updated it's data base on that one yet

I'm thinking of buying a Karn Liberated and a Jace, the Mind Sculptor at Gen Con. It would require me to do some overtime, and just these two are all I would get. Is it worth, or am I just being over fond of the idea of adding these?

That's a tuff one personally I never have had (probably will never have ether) a Jace, the Mind Sculptor however I do love my karn

Karn I see helping force a top decking situation and providing some deadly removal. Jace I seen helping to ensure they have no good draws so that braids never really gets taken advantage by them, giving me draw power, providing bounce, and giving me a back up win condition that helps immensely in group games.

Alright, I'm pretty confident in using Karn Liberated . He provides a permanent removal that my deck could definitely include more of. He forces a good top decking situation since he essentially works like a discard every turn. Finally his ultimate ability functions as a reliable win con. For example I can easily target myself to exile out a Blightsteel Colossus followed by next turn restarting the game with that as a starting creature. Best part is I won't need to set up with Braids at that point to pull him off. I'll probably drop the Leyline of Anticipation in favor of him, since he adds more power and I don't want to drop anymore counters. Furthermore since I plan on stealing threats it seems like a less powerful fit since I'll have the option to take whatever they have for myself if I play my cards smart.

I'm considering dropping Mind Stone in favor of Jace, the Mind Sculptor . I've already stated his strengths and variety, but if you think that there's a cheaper $ wise replacement for what he brings to the table I'm all ears.

Scourge of Fleets?

I've thought about it but I run into two problems. My games rarely last long enough for me to have enough Islands to make his bounce an actual field clear. Braids just brings out their guys who are too big for him to deal with while bringing me wins. Second problem is I'm really unsure what to drop. Wurmcoil Engine is the closest... Except I really like it both for cloning the crap out of it and for the fact it makes it impossible to properly clear it, especially after I have a swarm of Wurmcoils. Guile may be another... but I just love the synergy combos I always pull off with it when I use Planar Portal (by the way your suggestion for planar portal will forever be one of the best, that thing alone has saved me from near annihilation more than once).

I'll maybe it for now, but unless you can think of a way to increase my Island production past a turn 6 land drop (If I haven't won by that time people are typically scooping from having all their lands annihilated) I just feel that what control he brings wouldn't be as good as the other cards in this deck. I could use Braids to play more Islands, but that would sacrifice too many of the other awesome cards I have in hand. Cryptic Command is too flexible, Cyclonic Rift is more reliable and has more coverage, All Is Dust is both insanely reliable for all creatures but combos with other aspects of the deck. I think you can see my dilemma.

Solid deck mate I do like what you did here. Some suggestions off the top of my head would be as folllows.

Ring of Three Wishes because you probably won't need more than three tutors to win the game. I would recomend this over Planar Portal.

Copy Enchantment at it's best, it copys Paradox Haze. At it's worst it copies a Control Magic variant. That seems quite powerful here no matter how you slice it.

@ AdrenalineBomb you're right about only needing three tutors. I have so much draw that normally between that and one or two tutors I'm solid. I already have a copy enchantment and I'd forgotten about using it on my own enchantments.

@ Blizzicane I can't argue with you there. I'll be adding it in.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Just dropped added some mild land and ramp changes. Dropped one land in favor of Sapphire Medallion which is both a cheap rock but can save me multiple mana per turn without needing a weird untap and still speeds my general up.

Dropped Urza's lands in favor of more reliable ramp lands- barring the enter tapped disadvantage. They still improve the overall speed of the deck without me having to tutor out for a combo like before.

Finally I added a couple of utility lands that don't slow me down. Being mono colored means that as long as I have access to only one or two islands I can manage, so the Ghost Quarter can be used to control opposing lands without having to make decisions on how to force my opponents to sacrifice it using annihilator.

Finally if any of you guys can think of any budget friendly changes I can throw in please mention them. Keep in mind that I don't want to slow my deck down so try to avoid enter tapped cards unless they have some usable ramp applications without having to combo them. Also, snow lands and fetch lands aren't particularly useful as I don't have any combos for them and none of my opponents play with screwing basic land bases or snow land strategies making those cards unnecessary.

I have a multiplayer braids list that isn't as cuttthroat as this. Here's some cards in it that I think would work in this deck.

Ixidron- Works great at rendering the cards your enemies summon with Braids useless. Almost as good as its going to get for Blue boardwipe.Phyrexian Ingester - Works great with the fact that you'll be the last person to summon anything off of Braids. Benefits off the fact that people are incentivized to summon their giant fat things.Sphinx of Uthuun - Free cards, effecient beater. Why not? Braids can really cut through your cards so anything that ETBs for more than one card and is a beater is a godsend. Definitely an MVP.Treasure Mage - This guy's awesome. Fetch the biggest artifact you can find and play it with Braids. Easy.Trinket Mage - Grabbing that Sol Ring, Everflowing Chalice, or Sensei's Divining Top is always nice.Savor the Moment - Trigger Braids twice, cantrip because you draw a card. I'd say that's a fair deal. Temporal Mastery - This and Mystical Tutor is classic.Wash Out - Bounce all their crap they summoned with Braids, and then some. As long as you're not playing against Blue this is great.Scourge of the Fleets - Same as before, really good in mono-Blue.Vanishing - An all-star with Braids. Take adantage of her effect while at the same time protecting her and denying her ability to your opponents.

Cards I think deserve a removing: Infinite Reflection, Stifle, Drain Power, Stormtide Leviathan, Roil Elemental, Guile, Elite Arcanist, and Cryptoplasm. I'd examine these when you are playing and speculate if you wouldn't rather have some of the cards I suggested in their place.

There's a lot here and I want to go through everything you said. First, since its easier I'll go over suggested drops. Infinite Reflection has netted me more than a few wins, since it isn't uncommon to suddenly swarm with Wurmcoil Engine s and It That Betrays. Thanks to the fact that the majority of the time I play it I win, and the most the time I draw it I play it, well you get the point. I can even use it to steal my opponents drops, which when that could be something like Verdant Force it rarely fails me. Best part is it clears Braids while turning her into something else I need. Stifle is another that never fails me largely thanks to its cost. I play it whenever I have it and I almost always stop a game breaking combo or play when I do, which thanks to the speed of the deck gets me a win. Drain Power allows me to frequently ramp into something unexpectedly, and it baits out counters. Its admittedly weak so I'll set that aside for drops. Stormtide Leviathan is a large beater who delays games. Since my deck without fail gets more dangerous the longer the game lasts I can't say its a priority drop, but once again replacing this with a winning card is better than delaying it so I'll set aside. Roil Elemental is one of my favorite steals since with Braids I can use it to steal multiple things a turn. The problem is when its removed I'm screwed if I was relying on it, so that one is droppable as well. Guile is a large, hard to block beater that has the bonus of stealing my opponents spells for free. While I don't have many counters in instants, this creature has enough synergy with my other creatures and enough power to beat others to death with that it is able to keep its spot. Elite Arcanist was added when I had more instants and is much weaker not. While tutoring a Cryptic Command has won me many games with him, most times without the tutor I'm stuck with a crappy creature who I may or may not have an instant for. Cryptoplasm is an adaptable clone that while yes may take a moment to set up is both playable before Braids, meaning that in addition to wanting to remove braids they want to remove this, and will always be able to take the form of the biggest threat. I like it for that flexibility, and if I were to replace it I would probably do so in favor of another clone.

So drops I can get with include Drain Power, Stormtide Leviathan, Roil Elemental, and Elite Arcanist. I'd like to point out that part of my feelings for this is that there have been more instances than not where I could not really use these cards, and for a couple may have even had them used against me.

Now lets look at suggestions. Ixidron is absolutely monstrous in morph decks as well as allowing swarm decks to always have the biggest threat. It is one of my favorite blue clears because it delays the game decently and if you build in any evasion into your deck he can swing for lethal. There's one problem though with this deck. Most cases playing him will probably screw me more than my allies thanks to the size of my other threats in comparison as well as me not focusing on large numbers of creatures. As a result as a starting hand card its good, but once I have any sort of set up most times it'll be just a bad draw since annihilator or one of my field clears would have left me with my other creatures while providing the same removal strength. Phyrexian Ingester is another fan favorite of mine. There isn't really much reason why he isn't in, other than my initial deck list had more focus on counters and bounces that allowed better synergy between certain cards. With that replaced with steal and control those synergies are gone and he is a good option once again. I'll add him in. Sphinx of Uthuun is not one of my favorite cards in the world. He works great with flicker decks, but otherwise meh. I have more efficient beaters, and with so many flyers in EDH being cheated out by Braids he'll likely be smaller than the others based on past experience. His draw is an awesome fact or fiction which is his real advantage. Since I already have one and his draw is extremely exploitable if I can steal some flicker spells I'll throw him in as well. Treasure Mage runs into the same problem I had with Fabricate when I play tested it. I have the biggest threats, and making them aware of that has always bit me in the ***. The worst part is it tells people what to save their removal and bounces for, which part of what helps me survive until Braids is that initially they all become distracted with the Skittles and Ruric Thars of the world and waste those on others. With this type of deck information is key, so I need to protect it and not use revealing tutors. Savor the Moment and Temporal Mastery are both pretty much as you said with little disadvantage. Mystical Tutor has the same base problem as all reveal tutors, and trust me I don't have mana problems. I will be playing Temporal Mastery without a hitch. Mind you tutors are still useful, but I just need to be realistic of disadvantages when choosing drops. Trinket Mage won't be bringing out enough for me to honestly care that much, I've tried him too. His price is just high enough that the ramp won't be helping me play any faster and since my only low cost artifacts are rocks that just emphasizes my point. Wash Out was an old clear I used to run. Problem was too many people run multi colored edh decks for it to properly clear and if there was a blue opponent things got awkward. I dropped this in favor of just plain better clears, though a tad more expensive. I don't dislike it, just hard to justify other drops. Scourge of Fleets was explained in another post what the problem was. I like it, I really do. Problem is literally that it doesn't properly clear for me thanks to the pace of this deck and its group hug. I don't get islands out fast enough, and they will ALWAYS have bigger things that are what I am trying to clear. Vanishing is nice, but this is a very aggressive deck. They remove Braids for me almost without fail. On occasion I do need to remove her, but I have some other methods for doing that as well. One of my tricks is to make a point of swinging Braids at someone who needs her gone, such as a Jeleva deck. Politics can be the best removal sometimes. My biggest issue with phasing her out is that how do I phase her back in when I do need her?

Yeah. It sounds like your meta-game may be different than mine. Mine runs a lot of board-wipes so I can rely on things like Ixidron to not really screw me over and I don't really rely at all on having presence unless its in the form of tokens. That's why I didn't like Infinite Reflection. And the more combo decks you play against or the more single-player you play, the better stifle (as well as other hard counters) becomes. Usually I prefer counters like Dismiss because counters are generally just making you and another player go down versus the other two unless they replace themselves. I tried Cryptoplasm in a Clone EDH deck with Sakashima the Imposter and I just wasn't impressed. Oftentimes he'll get cleared out in the crossfire before he ever gets to do anything. And the fact that he doesn't get ETB effects kills me sometimes. I much prefer Vesuvan Shapeshifter. Another word about ETB creatures like Sphinx of Uthuun, they don't really become "threats" once they are already on the field. Having the fact or fiction which nobody can really do anything about is great and the fact that it leaves around a 5/6 flier that nobody wants to remove with things like Prossh and Blightsteel Colossus running around makes it ironically get through a lot of damage more often than not. I've never regretted putting him in Blue EDH. Oftentimes I don't even put in flicker engines to exploit him.

Sphinx is good, and he is now in. Just as a slugger and thanks to how this deck paces he rarely will be the biggest flyer and will have difficulty swinging since normally once Braids comes out and people start cheating things out people start to become defensive. His strength comes in that he will almost without fail setup my next upkeep. A simple Paradox Haze will combo for hard to stop effects and while yes it works as a reveal the strength of the draw itself makes it more reliable than tutor equivalents. As for cryptoplasm it's just better for the pacing of the deck. This deck often wins turn 6 as people scoop after I lock them down. An early adaptable clone has a lot of power in this deck.

Okay. Caused a turn two group scoop. Played a Darksteel Citadel, Sol Ring, and Mana Vault on turn 1. Turn 2 I played an island into Karn Liberated and exiled Jin Gitaxias out of hand... Just felt like mentioning how epic it feels to make 5 other players scoop on turn 2 in EDH.

Nice

The point of this deck was not to be a "fun" deck, but competitive. In addition I have a small group out of all the people who play this deck who enjoy just seeing how what me and they can pull off with this deck. Normally a group game lasts longer, but the insane start was hilarious for a quick laugh. The next game actually lasted a while. As for inkwell leviathan you'll notice that most of my creatures have additional strengths than just being big. This is because since I help my opponents as well it is useful to add some control elements to my creatures. While replicating inkwell does make me a lot of big creatures more often then not it's better to copy a praetor which is a popular cycle within my playgroup. I used to run it but it was cut since it required too much support to make it useful.

cool deck got a plus 1 from me. i just got into commander this is what i run Shenanigans O'Plenty , please let me know what you think.

I have rather limited experience with blue in general, but I'll see if I can perhaps come up with something. What do you think of Extraplanar Lens? You would probably want Snow-Covered Islands (which have better art IMO) if you tried that. You certainly play enough artifacts to warrant Buried Ruin, which I find to be a lifesaver. Something that does seem right up your alley is Commandeer, but it may be too much card disadvantage for your tastes.

If Braids gets hated on, Eldrazi Temple can help you power out some of the larger spells, including All Is Dust.

By the way, after somewhat poor testing results, I'm considering altering my deck a bit. What do you think of removing the slight zombie theme in favor of stax?