+1 for the Daria reference. Also you could try Blue Sun's Zenith to go along with your infinita mana combos.

I'm glad some people get the reference, I have been wanting to do an altered art Damia with Daria's face on it for a while now. As for Blue Sun's Zenith , I have been on the fence about it for some time. I should probably just bite the bullet an make a slot for it, if even to just test it out.

Great name, and a nice list. Looks tighter than mine. :P +1

Just noticed you're not running Prophet of Kruphix . Why's that? The card is bonkers.

I also prefer Burgeoning over Exploration , personally, (though I'd run both if I could) because burgeoning in multiplayer has massive potential to clean all the lands from your hand between damia draws, letting you draw more.

I'm also amazed you cut Mystic Snake considering it's crazy with deadeye, and your list doesn't look like it's afraid of being mean. I think it's a much stronger choice than a number of cards in your list.

Forbid is also ridiculous with damia, and if you want a durdly game winner Praetor's Counsel has done work for me.

I've tried to keep my damia list pretty creature heavy in an attempt to keep it from getting too crazy, so it's probably not as powerful as yours, but if you want to see what has worked for me: Damia, Doyenne of Death

Thanks for the feedback :D And its always nice to find Daria fans.

To answer your question about Prophet of Kruphix , well, there are a few reasons. The first is that in the league I play in, its banned so it's easier to just not have it in the deck. The other is that the meta I'm used to playing in is very control/combo heavy. The amount of times I played prophet, only to have it countered, killed or copied (then killed). And the other thing is playing it makes me a very high priority target, especially when everyone knows I'm a combo deck. So then I get swung by 3 players, and with not that many creatures in the deck, I get dead really fast.

As for Burgeoning , I have only really tested it in a 1 vs 1 setting (a bit biased I know) but my reasoning for running Exploration over it is that all you need is lands in hand for exploration, and they come down on your turn. With Burgeoning you need lands, your opponents need lands and they need to play them, as ramping doesn't trigger burgeoning's ability. That being said, in the next league I am playing in Sol Ring is banned so I will be testing burgeoning again. It will probably find a permanent spot in the deck again after that.

The reson for swapping out Mystic Snake is that although its a nice combo with Deadeye Navigator I can still do that with Venser, Shaper Savant and the combo is kind of "win more". Don't get me wrong, I love mystic snake but for my meta its an overpriced counterspell and only serves as a blocker for one turn before dieing. Plus I've gotten screwed over with a Torpor Orb on the battlefield before.

Praetor's Counsel seems cool, I've never played it before but it seems like a really nice recovery card. As for Forbid , do you find yourself paying the buyback cost much?

I love Daria :3

Oh prophet is banned? I'm surprised they allow cards like deadeye navigator, cyclonic rift and tooth and nail but not prophet. Fair enough then.

Yeah burgeoning is only better in multiplayer. While exploration is probably a better top deck late in the game when your opponents might not be playing many lands, I think burgeoning is the strongest turn 1 play this deck can have. I'd rather have burgeoning in my opening hand than sol ring it's that good.

Yeah fair enough about mystic snake, you're right in that you really don't need it alongside venser.

Praetor's counsel is super fun, but you might not need it. Forbid on the other hand I seriously recommend testing. It's not expensive for a counter with added effect, the buyback can be super relevant, especially when you need to protect a combo, and the discard rarely matters much with damia on board to refill your hand.

I think I will have to give Forbid a test run. As for prophet, it just gives players too much potential board state.

To give you an idea of the custom ban list:

Tooth and Nail - Banned, but I have a different combo card waiting for it.

Cyclonic Rift - Legal, as its costs so much to do what it does.

Deadeye Navigator - Legal, as you can respond to soulbond.

For me, Tooth and Nail is just too good to not have a (usually) permanent spot. It usually lets me setup my combo in one turn. Prophet is a great card, don't get me wrong, but it draws too much hate while not directly providing a win condition to make it viable. And if an opponent copies (not as likely) / Bribery s it (very likely) then it has the potential to put me in a world of hurt. Most of the other cards in the deck need to be run in at least pairs to recur them properly.

Alchemists refuge but only 8 artifacts? I didn't read your deck explication but doesn't at first glance seem to fit. Boseju would be a much better option. The duel lands are maybe but you run skyshroud claim? Time Warp in a format that runs all Fork type spells and Dyluvian Primordial? You run Top, Vampiric, and Mystical Tutor... Temporal Mastery might be a better option if you need an extra turn. You run a lot of control but that takes up spots you could use for threats... Can't control three players. If you run them to protect your spells run lower casting cost ones... Remand, Arcane Denial, Force of Will for sure. Maybe consider taking out Harrow for Crop Rotation... It is more useful, cheaper cmc... You run a lot of utility lands and an instant Bojuka Bog is always good. You have a good bases for a deck but with a little smoothing out the edges it could be much more.

Also it's silly that your play group makes you "dumb down" your deck like that. Especially Sol Ring.

Ugh one more thing lol sorry. Take those panoramas, evolving wilds out and put in a couple islands and at least a City of Brass or Mana Confluance or both. They mana fix without holding you back. That's part of why your slowing down. Also kodamas reach, cultivate, explosive veg are much better then Rampant growth. 7cmc general should run all 3 at the very least.

Cheers for the feedback :D

I'm presuming with the first comment you mean Academy Ruins . You're right in that the artifact count seems quite low. I use Basalt Monolith and Rings of Brighthearth as one of my infinite mana combos so its nice to be able to fetch them from the graveyard if they die. Tha being said, I do have a few other fallback combso so I'll take that one into consideration.

On the topic of Time Warp , its a bit of a poor man's Temporal Manipulation . I use it over Temporal Mastery because it doesn't exile, which in theory can give me infinte turns. That being said, I have never needed to to this, usually only one extra turn is enough. I have a mastery, I might swap it out and see how it goes.

As for the panoramas and the Evolving Wilds , I am wanting a Crucible of Worlds and they are my "watch this space" cards until I can get the fetches. They also let me shuffle my library which is super good with sensei's. I also have a Crop Rotation on its way for the deck (as well as Strip Mine and Cephalid Coliseum ). So all of those cards will play nicely together. For now at least I have found Harrow to be a really good mana fix. Its a bit dangerous but the 2 lands into play untapped is just too good to pass up. I actually used to run Kodamas, Cultivate and Ranger's for the deck but found them to be too slow. That being said, fetching 2 lands is good. I will have to have a think about this. As for the mana fixing though, this usually isn't a problem. I am sometimes sort on mana in general, but quite rarely am I actually stuck on colour. I will be getting the original duals when I can get round to it however. They're just so expensive.

With the counterspells, it just comes down to the fact that the good ones cost so much. I am looking at getting a copy of Mana Drain soon(ish) if I can afford it so that should help out the curve. I run the bespoke counters like Mindbreak Trap because of their ability to get around uncounterable and the ability to deal with storm nicely.

In regards to the custom Ban List, it is a bit sucky. However I know why they do it. The current league I'm playing in is a mix of seasoned and newbie magic players, with varying levels of decks. Sol Ring already can throw a player into the lead board-state wise and there are some decks which are just scary. My girlfriend runs a brutal sisay deck (Oh Captain, My Captain) and with sol ring and Mana Crypt she could (and has) played a hasted sisay on turn 2 only to combo out on turn 5 or 6. There were complaints. A lot of them. So to make it more fair, both sol ring and mana crypt were banned. It sucks yeah, but the last thing we want to do is turn away newer players by just obliterating them time and time again. People have already left over stuff like it and nobody feels good about it. And it always boils down to "the people who will spend the money to tune their decks versus the people who wont". But thats enough about MTG politics :P

Cheers again on the feedback, it gets me thinking about the deck which is always important.

I think you could safely replace Swan Song with Force of Will or Mana Drain (if you have the dosh, that is).

That's the eventual plan, along with the ABU duals and fetches and Mana Crypt . It just comes down to actually getting the money together :P

I'd keep Swan Song in the deck no matter what kind of cards you eventually acquire. It's just too good in pretty much all significant situations not to run.

I like your deck. I used to play Damia battlecruiser but recently switched to control, so I have a little experience with what you're trying to do.

Suggestions:

Curse of the Swine , I think, could be replaced with something better. Damnation and Evacuation come immediately to mind as better wipes, though I also really like Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse for removal.

I prefer Stroke of Genius to Blue Sun's Zenith because it's easier on the mana. You don't run fetches so your mana is probably not always optimal. Speaking of mana, I think you run too many of the slow fetches, and could easily replace them with basics. I understand you're trying to combo with Crucible of Worlds , but I bet you'd prefer to have a faster, smoother early game than a single combo somewhere in your deck, right? Moreover, I think you're running too many utility lands, like Volrath's Stronghold , Boseiju, Who Shelters All , and Reliquary Tower . I think if you smoothed out your lands you'd notice a huge improvement in your early game.

I also disagree with the inclusion of Massacre Wurm and v-clique. I'd replace them with things like Seedborn Muse and Prophet of Kruphix that further your combo/control strategy. I also think you should be running Mystic Snake and perhaps even Draining Whelk . Especially if you decide to run the aforementioned muse/oracles, the counter net will be much more powerful. And don't even get me started about the advantaged of flashing in Deadeye Navigator with Prophet of Kruphix on board. Tooth and Nail becomes absolutely insane (if it wasn't already bonkers).

Nice deck.

Cheers for the feedback :D

Swan Song is going to stay in the deck for the foreseeable future, its just been too good on me to take out. Even with the addition of better counters, a 1 mana spell like that is amazing.

The reason for Curse of the Swine is mainly due having to deal with indesctructilbe creatures (Avacyn and Ulamog are the immediate ones that come to mind). This is a semi regular thing with my play group and I need that flexibility. I agree its not the best kill spell at socery speed but it is just really flexible. The other thing about using wipes is that Damia is one of the more expensive generals and having to wipe the turn after dropping her just to kill one thing is a real downer. I had been thinking about Maelstrom Pulse instead of Putrefy but am digging the instant speed. That being said its still very much on the consideration list.

As for Stroke of Genius , I completely agree. The problem is that I swapped Oona, Queen of the Fae out for BSZ as a win con, not just a draw card engine. It make the deck feel a bit like a generic Damia deck, but I have had this discussion many times. In this case, the benefit of BSZ is that it never hits the graveyard as long as it resolves. So in this way its much less vulnerable to removal.

As for the mana base, I agree that the fetches I'm currently using are slow. The plan is to rectify this in the next few months. I'm looking into buying the ABU duals, then after that, the fetches. As for mana fixing, the deck is actually really good at it, despite the colourless tapping lands. I think about 1 in 15 games I run into mana problems. There are so many dedicated ramp cards in the deck (or tutors for said ramp) that after about turn 4 I have the colours I need no problem.

Massacre Wurm is not the optimal card for the deck, you're right, however he does work well in that A) he is a win con B) he is weenie control C) he is a big enough blocker. Ultimately, I would love to find something like Rakdos Charm in my colours. Right now though, that thing is Massacre Wurm. As for Vendilion Clique , its in there more for sentimental reasons. It does alright so until I want to make the deck like $3K I'm not too fussed to change it.

Prophet of Kruphix is really nice, howeer in the league I play in its an auto-ban. I dont think this will ever change until the card gets offically banned in the format (then it wont be a problem either way). Its just too broken to not be. I like Seedborn Muse and might eventually find some space for it. I used to run Mystic Snake but honestly found it was too slow. Sure, wth Deadeye Navigator its great, however if thats the board state I have, I would much rather just combo out. By itself however its really just an overpriced counterspell. In battlecrusier Damia it works great but I very rarely attack so its only good as a once off chump blocker. As for Draining Whelk , well same thing except its even more expensive.

I suggest you put a Walk the Aeons in this deck, as it creates an infinite turn combo with Azusa, Lost but Seeking + Crucible of Worlds

Walk the Aeons seems pretty cool. I'm currently running Time Warp for extra turns. Currently I can recur it using Eternal Witness and Archaeomancer and Phyrexian Metamorph . my only problem with having to sac islands is that the actual island count in the deck is low and I don't own an Azusa, Lost but Seeking . but cheers for the suggestion, I'll have a think about it.

have you thought about Snapcaster Mage instead of Archaeomancer ? or is the exile of the instant/sorcery spell after use?

Cheers for the feedback :D I really like Snapcaster Mage , I've actually been considering him for the deck for a while now. But he would be something to run alongside the Archeomancer. Because I can use Turnabout as an infintie mana combo, I can't afford to exile the spell. Same would go with Time Warp for infinite turns.

Any time, how does Recross the Paths work for you? I think it's a bit risky, due to you maybe tucking vital pieces and others seeing cards that make you a target, maybe you could replace recross with snappy?

I like Snapcaster Mage in my damia deck. Super good with Riptide Laboratory .

Recross the Paths is a big hit and miss sometimes. Overall it's been good but I would like to get a bit more consistency out of it. The long term plans are to upgrade it to something like Mana Crypt when I can get some funds together. The deck runs quite heavy on ramp / fixing effects and I want to keep it this way for now. I think if I were to swap out anything for Snapcaster Mage it would be something like Massacre Wurm . I know he's a win con but he's currently one of the weaker ones and one of the most expensive cards to play. Either that or I would ditch a removal piece from the deck, maybe even something like Acidic Slime . But it's a tough call, all of the cards serve an important purpose so it would be a lot of play testing to figure out what to change.

Currently I am actually looking to try Tezzeret the Seeker , so we'll see how that goes. It I find out he's too clunky snapcaster might take his spot, who knows...

Tezzeret the Seeker would be better to try when you have Mana Crypt and Mana Vault because then you don't have to more mana to untap them

I currently have a Mana Vault on order and even without Mana Crypt I have 7 artifacts to fetch (6 of which I can get o nthe turn Tezzeret comes down). As for stuff to untap, I have Gilded Lotus , Sol Ring , Mana Vault and even Chromatic Lantern if I need too. And when I can get my hands on a Mana Crypt then he will be even better.

As for the Snapcaster Mage , I do hear what you're saying. Objectively he is a really good card. I will have a think about what I can swap for him.

Are you going to put any artifact lands in? Or is it too risky to removal?