Delta-117 locust god is simply too slow and doesn't do much for the deck. For the same cost you can drop Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, and he at least combos off with Mind Over Matter (which is beside the point as this deck doesn't run him) Additionally, given how competitive EDH works, your 6 drop slots are designed to win you the game either that turn or the next, and locust god simply doesn't do that that

Yeah Entrei that was my thoughts even when suggesting it already, but I just thought I would throw it out there anyways, as who knows I thought maybe something good could come out of the suggestion.

I'm guilty at times I will admit of just wanting to include some cards to be played in my decks for fun, and trying to make them work regardless of whether or not they are the best fit. But I suppose this is fine in my case as my meta is not overly competitive, since besides myself no one has been trying to improve their decks as much as I have been trying.

I feel you. My nekusar deck was casual until someone in my pod started playing Arcum Dagsson. Everything went downhill from there

While you're playing a lot of competitive staples, how exactly does this deck fare against tier 1 decks (there are no such thing as tiers for commanders, only for decks) such as Food Chain Tazri, Jeleva Storm, Doomsday Zur, Teferi PW Combo/Stax or Food Chain Prossh?

Just looking at it I can't see how you plan to beat them since you have very little to protect your combo in early turns, while your wincon seems very fragile and more difficult to assemble than the other decks I mentioned.

the main thing that stops combo t1 decks is Notion Thief, combine this with a wheel or Teferi's Puzzle Box/Chains of Mephistopheles and your opponent will have 0 cards in hand and will be unable to draw any more

Hey, I really like your deck. So much in fact, I've actually started modeling my Nekusar deck after yours now. It's been really fun so far, so thumbs up from me! Probably my favorite deck that I own, and this decklist has helped me a ton.

MarcosTithes, thanks for the shoutout! glad to be of help!

no lab man, dramatic scepter, ad nauseam, or rituals /10

First off, why Arcane Denial when Delay is just better?

Crucible of worlds seems like a bad card for this deck.

Creeping Tarpit seems very bad as well in this deck, I can't think of a single time when I would want to see it in this type of deck.

I also feel like I'd rather run By Force or Abrade over Vandalblast in this deck

Heya! I've been looking to make my own Nekusar deck a bit more consistent and less splashy, and it's evidently similar to your own experience.

My only question was why no Leyline of the Void anymore? I saw in the comment history that you had removed it but couldn't find the explanation. I know we've got similar answers in Rakdos Charm or Bojuka Bog, but did you just find it too slow?

Thanks for the inspiration, though! Always nice to learn from someone who's been fighting the evil fight.

SoundOfMuzak,

essentially you are right. its not a bad card in your opening hand but 4 mana is pretty steep at this point of the build, its definitely still decent in a budget variant

i actually took bog out earlier this week to add fetch lands, in cedh i dont want many tap lands, tar pit is already a high risk card and i might cut it since it only really has 1 card interaction, but unless you're at the final stages of deckbuilding its worth a slot, rakdos charm usually does the job for me now that i have plenty of ways to tutor it, shuffle it back into my deck or cast it from graveyard

i also removed it when i took out some of the infinite combos in favor of more control and protection, previously it was paired with Helm of Obedience to exile an opponents library activating helm for x=1, which is a valid wincon in casual play

hope that answers your question!

I can't afford Mox Opal, would the deck still run decently if I replaced it with Rakdos Signet? Also, if I replace it with Rakdos Signet, should I replace Trinket Mage?

ThatGrimGuy,

yes indeed. i would be running rakdos signet if i had room for it, the more ramp the better! you could also run Mind Stone, Prismatic Lens, Thought Vessel, Fellwar Stone or Basalt Monolith

alternatively you can run ritual ramp, im not a big fan cuz it only ramps for that turn/phase, but Seething Song and Cabal Ritual are also pretty strong! albiet just once, and not permanently (twice if you flashback)

also trinket mage is just good. it tutors for sol ring and Sensei's Divining Top which is already good, it also tutors for all the moxen, mana crypt and lions eye, mana vault

but you usually only get 1 use out of it, if you run top and sol ring thats good enough to run tmage, it also tutors for Library of Leng if you run that

Tarpit comes into play tapped, something generally considered bad in a competitive environment. The for you to get the cipher on tarpit it needs to be a creature which means not only do you need the tarpit in play, you need to activate it and cast that specific spell a total investment of at least 7 mana, 8 mana if you plan to swing with it that turn.

As a wheel deck you are already cycling through your deck, meaning that you will already have lands in hand most of the time. If you ran green it would make sense running crucible, you have access to ways that allow you to get more lands into play, but you don't so you're stuck on that one land a turn. In a deck like Nekusar it's mostly just cute.

Arcane Denial is ok when you plan on doing a windfall effect right after, so I can understand using it, Saying that Arcane Denial is one of the best counterspells in EDH though is being silly, most CEDH decks don't run Arcane Denial anymore because of the card advantage it gives to your opponents.

Abrade allows you to kill problem creatures such as most stax creatures as well as problem artifacts. By Force is a tougher one but it's stronger early game in CEDH then Vandalblast just because it's less mana intensive and can actually be snapcaster mage for multiple something that Vandalblast cannot.

Also something to note, I did read the primer before commenting both times. I just wanted more insight into the choices as some of them seemed like they should have a second look into.

Ghostymoats

a few things to note before I begin,

i just finished making this deck 100% competitive so im still new to cedh matchups as i dont have a lot of cEDH games except with a tymna/thrasios and blood pod, so there is still room for improvement of course. however, in regards to the point of arcane denial giving card advantage, it is true, but nekusar and wheels are forcefeed by nature, so although im trying to make nekusar as viable as possible he will never be tier 1 because of how many wheels are used

i think Luxury Suite would be a good replacement to tarpit, what would you recommend? cuz its a nice combo and all but tarpit doesnt have a lot of use outside whispering madness and 7 mana is quite steep

i really like Arcane Denial, but i could maybe sub it in for Misdirection or Stifle, although im not sure which is a better replacement

i find crucible to be super useful, as if i have multiple lands in my hand i can play one and wheel the rest to use in later turns, albiet not as good without Exploration effects, it has still been extremely useful for me. Temporal Mastery, Capture of Jingzhou and Time Warp, the latter which i recently cut out but remains a maybe, are pseudo-explorations as i get another untap, drae phase and land for turn. but if you really think its just a cute interaction, what would you replace it with for cedh?

i just feel vandalblast is too good, it can be a sorcery Smelt at its worst, and a 1 sided pseudoShatterstorm when overloaded. also, you actually overload it with flashback with snap/yawgwill or jace. its a board wipe that By Force would usually require a shitload of mana to match the amount of targets, and abrade is far from a board wipe, i would sooner add Evacuation as another creature wipe and/or Shattering Spree because although it needs red, each replicate has to be counterspelled individually, where by force would just get force of will'd, but i will keep your suggestions under consideration, thank you for your concern

Unfortunately Snapcaster cannot Overload because they are both alternate casts so if you flashback you can't Overload and vice versa. Kess gets around that because she technically doesn't have flashback she just allows you to cast it. Same with Will.

I'd agree with Morphic Pool Morphic Pool or Luxury Suite.

At least from my experience I've found that whenever I've played I only usually see maybe 3 targets for artifact destruction that I care about most games. That being said your meta may be different.

I like Abrade just because it's highly flexible and most creatures have 3 or less toughness so it's rarely a dead card.

I do think you are a little low with interaction I'd have to look again when I'm not busy to give you specific suggestions for replacements.

Whoa. I clicked on this deck fully expecting to scoff at Nekusar. But this is pretty damn cool. The kind of deck I'd like to play against.