ksleazy - Scroll of Fate has been in and out of this deck since its inception. It does all those things as you say, but I find that it doesn't do enough of any one thing to further me winning to warrant it a slot. Since I want to be able to cast Phage, I tend to want to play all of my lands, and outside of that the only thing I would really want to be manifesting is maybe a Vedalken Orrery or a Final-Word Phantom. The decklist is tight enough at this point that I want be playing my cards over manifesting them. In the case that I have a glut of cards and I can comfortably manifest a land, then the ceiling of what is available with Scroll of Fate is still lackluster. I'd rather a morph or something that gives flash to take the 'Scroll of Fate spot' to keep that part of the deck consistent. I found in my experience that the manifest and get in an unblocked Phage strategy is too clunky and inconsistent to keep it in the deck long term after achieving it once. It's always on my radar though and the recent release of Vannifar, Evolved Enigma prompted some more rounds or testing with it but as I said I didn't find this strategy to be consistent enough for my liking.

Sorry for the paragraph and delayed response but I have spent more time in the shower debating with myself whether Scroll of Fate is worth it than I would like to admit and had to get my thoughts sorted out lol. Glad you liked the deck and thanks for the comment!

Curious your thoughts on Vannifar, Enlightened Enigma in this deck.

Pentaclops

I think in a more casual version of this deck Vannifar would be in it. However at 4 mana I don't think it's contributing enough of one thing.

Cloaking a card from hand and triggering Kadena is nice but due to the deck's construction there are very few cards outside of morphs that I want to be cloaking. Altars and non-morph interaction are a no-go, and significant portion of the mana base are MDFCs or have other utility to prevent flood from drawing a lot of cards. I want to be casting or using these cards in some way instead of cloaking them, and the remaining mana fixing lands are too few to be cloaking unless I'm flush with cards. This is the same reason I don't run Scroll of Fate. Even if I'm cloaking a card each turn comfortably I would want a higher ceiling than what this card provides for 4 mana.

I don't think adding a counter to each colorless creature each turn is enough to keep up with other decks with combat focused boards, and this deck generally is not combat focused enough for this ability to fit in well.

Vannifar and Scroll of Fate allow for shenanigans in this deck with manifesting Phage for a sneak assassination, but this still requires making the manifest unblockable or risking Phage in combat. I have found in testing that these pieces are too clunky in this combo focused shell to keep this strategy.

Thanks for the comment!

That's fair! I didn't realize the power level of the deck and looking at it now, it's one of the more high power brews i've seen. Vannifar, like her previous iteration is more of a fun card than a good card, as much as i'd like podvannifar to be good.

I've been trying to figure out what to do with my Kadena Shell, this might be it. I like hidden commanders.

Looking at the card costs vs. land mana shows that theres a whole lot of blue in this deck, but not that much blue mana producers. Whats the idea behind that? (Asking because I often don't quite know how to balance mana production in my decks)

Charger27

I definitely don't consider myself an expert when it comes to mana bases. The color fixing I have been trying to get right a long time and is definitely still a WIP so I appreciate the comment!

I'm thinking of swapping a Forest for Hedge Maze and then if I run into color fixing issues Ancient Tomb is on the chopping block for blue color fixing land. I think right now I might be trying to have my cake and eat it too between utility and color fixing lands.

What about Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter as a source of flash since it closes less mana than Leyline and Tefri?

maxmcnugget

I started running Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir as a means to protect my combo turns in addition to the flash but yeah his cost is pretty steep. Leyline of Anticipation is nice when in your opening hand and that's about it so I think it might be time for a replacement. I like Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter but what do you think about Skittering Cicada instead? The body isn't as good without flying and the permanent counters but the upside is it dodges a stray Vandalblast or other artifact removal. One downside to these though is they don't let me flash in Yedora, Grave Gardener before I combo off.

Charger27

I did a small overhaul of the mana base if you're interested. My best attempt for for being able to ramp early and cast Kadena with green, cast heavy blue spells like Teferi, Time Raveler and Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip, and also cast Phage the Untouchable. I still might be stretching myself too thin here and if that's the case then the solution would be to the turn 2 green ramp for artifact ramp and see if I can cut down on green sources for blue/black. I think between fetches and color fixing ramp this will work though, we'll see.

I like skittering cicada too. I just could not remember what it was called. Being able to flash in Yedora is very valuable which Thopter and cicada will not let you do.