Psychic Strike only costs 1 blue, which makes it a really good bluff hard counter. But yeah, once I can get a Force of Will, well thats just outright better :P

I use Simic Signet because it comes down early and for a completely colourless input can provide both green and blue mana - which is something I've been stuck for in the past. I also like the fact that it only costs 2, meaning that I don't have to wait an extra turn compared to Coalition Relic.

I've thought about Abrupt Decay before, the problem with it is that usually I need my removal to hit big creatures that are wrecking my life total. And the CMC of those is more in the region of 6/7. If I was running a removal heavy not counterspell heavy build I would be running it though.

As for Yisan, the Wanderer Bard he can be a bit hit and miss sometimes, but overall I like him. And on average he usually digs up about 3 creatures before he dies, which makes him value enough. I have set the deck up though so he can chain into a combo. Either at 5/6 or 6/7 he can be a substitue for Tooth and Nail, and if I get Kiora's Follower, I can fetch up to two creatures a turn. On the whole, I do get more value out of him in my Saffi Eriksdotter deck, but he goes ok here.

Chord of Calling is nice, but super expensive to play. And I don't usually have more than 2 creatues on the battlefield to help with convoke. It would either be Chord/Yisan or GSZ in the deck, and out of the three for this build, I prefer Yisan as he's the most versatile. I do sometimes swap in Chord of Calling for Tooth and Nail when TaN is the only banned card in the deck.

I would recommend the following changes.

Curse of the Swine -> Damnation

Phyrexian Arena -> Monastery Siege

Yisan, the Wanderer Bard -> Fauna Shaman

Kiora's Follower -> Lotus Cobra

Phantasmal Image -> Great Whale

Voidslime-> Yawgmoth's Will

Vendillion Clique-> Reanimate

Glen Elendra Archmage -> Shallow Grave

Mindbreak Trap -> Misdirection

Again, these are changes that I would recommend to make the deck suited to my taste. Fauna Shaman and Monastery Siege allows you to discard cards in preparation for Reanimate/Shallow Grave or to search for combo pieces if you would rather have them come from your hand.

I'd take out some of the control pieces (counterspells/removal) in favor of cards that can help you combo off sooner. In my experience, the earlier you can combo off, the least likely your opponents will have counterspells, removals or mana open to do something about it.

Again, yawmoth's will and recursion gives you a bit more resilience so you won't need to get into counterfights as much.

The problem with Fauna Shaman is that I have a severe lack of creatures to begin with. Even less so if I cut Glen Elendra Archmage. I have gone games where I haven't draw a creature in 3 turns, ad that was with Damia, Sage of Stone on the battlefield. If I took out Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, I wouldn't be so locked in with creatures that fit to a curve, so thinks like Mulldrifter wouldn't be as important to run.

The big one from the list though - How does Monastery Siege go? The problem is that while Damia is in play, it would shut down the Khans half, but the removal prevention seems nice. I've also been toying with the idea of swapping Curse of the Swine out for Reality Shift. As for Damniation, I'd rather swap Toxic Deluge for it. Thoughts?

Monastery Siege works well in my deck but yeah, having Damia in play will definitely negate the Khans half. I hardly get to use the Dragons half since I like drawing a lot more. I guess the only time it becomes useful is if you drew it right before you combo off.

As for Damnation, i'd rather keep it and the Deluge than Reality Shift. Being perpetually low on creatures and board presence (I am assuming this happens a lot to you as well), i'd rather take everything out whenever I get the chance.

Which on the whole is true, unless I have my general down and then the prospect of board wiping has to be for a really good reason :P The joys of having a 7 CMC general.

What's Ghostly Flicker meant to do? Seems super subpar and way too conditional. You hardly run that many creatures to blink...

What about Curse of the Swine? Seems too expensive and slow at sorcery speed. Why not run a wrath effect? Do you need the exile? Have you checked out Duplicant?

Ghostly Flicker acts as a combo piece with Archaeomancer/Eternal Witness and Palinchron/Peregrine Drake. I can also bounce things like Venser, Shaper Savant and Rune-Scarred Demon. I've actually won games off it as well, when I used it and Gilded Lotus to get one extra mana to combo off.

As for Curse of the Swine, exile is super important in my meta. It is slow yes, but its much more effective than a board wipe in general as it doesn't hit my things (which can be super important if Damia is down, she's expensive to cast). Duplicant is nice but at 6 mana for sorcery speed removal that only hits one thing, I find it a bit slow. I would sooner run Silence the Believers and I have been considering Reality Shift. I like curse though, as it hits more than one target.

Insidious Dreams seems to have a strong synergy with Damia. It also works well with cards like Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time.

I understand how Ghostly Flicker can generate value... I just see it as far too conditional to always reliably do that. I also find Archeomancer far too slow for what he does, which is also really conditional, but I think it's almost always useful (unlike Ghostly Flicker). But isn't there a card that could replace Ghostly Flicker with something that facilitates your combo more effectively? I like your list, but it's cards like Ghostly Flicker, Mulldrifter, and Kiora's Follower that make me scratch my head. It seems that while you've refined your deck using other fine-tuned Damia lists, you've also failed to erase vestiges of an earlier build.

If you're worried about big creatures wrecking your life total, then you probably aren't comboing off/controlling enough. Cutting nonessential cards that are only good AFTER you've fulfilled certain conditions (aside from your core combo) would help speed up your clock.

Duplicant is nice since it's a creature and can be chorded in at instant speed + called in with tooth and nail if you're in a pinch. I also think it's a nice creature if you decide to run things like Ghostly Flicker. Generally I run it because, as you say, exile is important - and as a creature it can be tutored for quite easily.

Why no Rhystic Study?

Megalomania: I used to run Insidious Dreams, but every time I drew it I wished it was something else. Its a good card and with Damia can generate some value, but without Damia down it's doesn't provide a huge amount of value. And if I'm only using it for one card then its actually a one-for-two. As for Dig Through Time / Treasure Cruise - they are both really powerful, but often times I don't actually have enough stuff to exile to play them for full delve cost (or there's stuff I don't want to exile). I really like Dig, but I haven't bought myself to run it yet. And I wonder if stuff loke Foresee would be just as good.

Tata: You're right in that Ghostly Flicker is a bit of a niche card. Sometimes it can sit dead in my hand, but more often than not I've gotten value from it. Though you do make a point, and I have been a bit on the fence about it for a while.

Archaeomancer on the other hand is amazing. Granted sh'e not as good as Eternal Witness, but being a wizard there is an interaction with Riptide Laboratory and she's one of the only cards with that effect.

As for Kiora's Follower, that card was actually a recent addition is is a power-house in the deck. He provides me with a 2 drop fetch target for Yisan, the Wanderer Bard but more than that can uptap Yisan to get me two fetches a turn. Not to mention I can get 3 mana out of Mana Vault every turn, or make Gilded Lotus tap for 6 mana a turn. Or even just get two effects from Deathrite Shaman to gain some life / kill my opponents a bit more (that combination actually won me a game).

I used to run Rhystic Study, but I found that ti pulled too much aggro. Or people would just pay for the cost and I would get no card advantage. I have both it and Mystic Remora sitting aound though, it might me time to re-evalluate them. As for Mulldrifter, I actually replaced Rhystic Study with him, as he gave me a second 5 CMC creature for Yisan, and most of the time I just evoke him. But again, this one has been on the fence for a while.

Duplicant definately is a nice card, but I'm not sure I can afford the 6 CMC at sorcery speed for now. The interaction with Ghostly Flicker is cool though. I'll have to mull this over a bit.

As for the comment about refining this deck; you're right in saying I have taken inspiration from a lot of other decks, both Damia and not. But at the end of the day I want the deck to be my deck. The deck might not be as tuned as some, but it's a hell of a lot more fun to play. And knowing thta I haven't just net deck'd it but that I've spent hours agonizing over card choices means I take a lot more pride in the final product, becasue it's been my hard work thats gone into it, not other people's. Because as much fun as it is to win, if the deck isn't fun to play I won't play it, not matter how good it is.

I noticed you didn't have Burgeoning. I've tried using it and with a bit of mulligan-ing, it does a lot to give you explosive openings. Same goes with Mystic Remora. You should definitely bring it back.

Yeah, my biggest beef with Burgeoning was that you need to have lands and your opponent needs to have lands too. That being said, I am looking at trying to get Damia down faster, so it might be worth trying it again. What would you recommend taking out for it?

As for Mystic Remora, its been on my maybe list for a while. I should probably just bite the bullet and find a spot for it, but it currently falls under the category of "when I can be bothered".

I'd take out Phyrexian Arena. I find it too slow since it can't get you cards as fast and as effectively as Mystic Remora.

As for Burgeoning, strategic mulligan-ing is the best you can do. If I draw it in my opening hand, I mulligan to try and get as much ramp/rocks as I can to play Damia as early as possible.

Deck looks awesome! I'm very curious about your league's banlist; is there a place I can view it?

Cheers. Its taken me a while to get this far and yet theres still so much to do T_T

As for the banlist, it changes from league to league depending on what problem cards pop up. Its not a hate on combo thing, but we're just trying to avoid having a bunch of Tooth and Nail or Hermit Druid combo decks, especially when we're trying to get new players to come back each week. For this league, the banlist is:

• Tooth and nail - banned

• Palinchron - banned

• Prophet of kruphix - banned

• Metal worker - banned

• Hermit druid - banned

• Mana vault - banned

• Mana crypt - banned

• Sol ring - banned

• Decree of annihilation - banned

• Food Chain - banned

• Derevi - banned as a commander

This is all on top of the regular banlist. All of the bannings were for specific enough reasons, which I can go into detail about if you want.

I perfectly understand all of them except maybe Prophet of Kruphix. This sounds like a cool story

Basically, Prophet of Kruphix can create a very one sided game. Most people don't run as much control as I do and it kind of went the way of the Primeval Titan. One would get played and all of a sudden there was a fight to copy/steal it and it usually just ended up with a very uninteractive game. Not to mention there were a few games where people were kinging other players and it just made for more saltiness than was required.

Great and cruel deck! +1

And thank you for your advices for my deck!

Matrixxx999: Cheers, its taken me a while for the deck to get where it is. And no problem with the deck advice, I'm always happy to help.

Merchant Scroll is a powerful tutor spell in a deck that features so many blue instants.

Capsize allows you another way to infinitely bounce opposing permanents once you have infinite mana. It can also be found with Merchant Scroll.

I run Capsize in my more casual decks. My issue with it here is that outside of combo it's too expensive to play and buy back. And inside of combo I've got enough options that it just becomes win more.

Merchant Scroll seems interesting. I wonder if Diabolic Tutor is just outright better as I can dig for anything but the cost of Scroll is low. If I were to put it in though, the questions is what to take out for it.

I personally do not like Diabolic Tutor. I think the CMC is too high for a second copy of Demonic Tutor. Unlike Sidisi, Undead Vizier or Rune-Scarred Demon it does not have an efficient body and cannot be reanimated. Diabolic Intent is great but you don't have enough creatures to facilitate it. So, personally I would cut Diabolic Tutor. That's just my personal preference, of course.

I'm not running Diabolic Tutor at the moment - I was saying that in some ways I would rather it over Merchant Scroll. It is prohibitive though, I know. I would like to on day get a copy of Grim Tutor for the deck but it's not high on the list...

Any reason that you don't run Necropotence?

I know it's a really good card and I know I should be running it but personally I feel uncomfortable running it. It's like every time I play it in my Drana deck, I always have this horrible sinking feeling that somebody is going to wheel and I will have to exile my hand.

One day I'll get round to making a slot for it I'm sure, I just haven't brought myself to do it yet.