Turn Aside is less relevant because Dispel will already counter everything that could interrupt my combo. Additionally, Turn Aside can't protect my spells.

Knowledge Pool would be pretty awful. It shuts off one of my main win conditions (Blue Sun's Zenith ), and it's bad without Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir . Even with Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir , it's harder to set up than my other combos and isn't really relevant to the overall deck.

Dispel works fine. Most of my combos are permanent based hence why Turn Aside is a better choice for me.

Fair enough, just throwing it out there.

If you're worried about Stifle being a dead card, but still want the effect, Squelch /Bind /Interdict might be the way to go. Given, you do lose out on the triggered, but that is usually less relevant. It really depends on what you want from the card. Overall though, I'm against Stifle and its brethren.

Also, I second Dispel . It is rarely a dead card, and it will often win games in my experience.

Dispel and Seedtime are both potential additions.

Seedtime could pay off really well if your facing a lot of Blue decks, if not, then it might fail you in the long run. Dispel is an interesting choice, but I think you could benefit from it, if kill spells and counter spells are worrying you. Erayo's Essence may be something to look at too. It would be used more for the flip side, but still could help.

I think Erayo, Soratami Ascendant isn't good enough. I don't often encounter instances in which players cast four or more spells per turn except for the first couple turns of ramp. During those turns, I don't want to be casting Erayo because it won't really pay off.

I also need to stick a Diabolic Intent into this deck. I think sacrificing a utility creature is probably worth it to find something important.

so Epochalyptik, tomoro I will be playing with your built proxy deck (as is currently). I've playtested it by myself to see how fast I can infinite combo. I ended up casting Damia on turn 2 once. Here was my hand.

Burgeoning , Mana Crypt , Ancient Tomb , Bloodstained Mire , Misty Rainforest , Skyshroud Claim , and Leyline of Anticipation .

I put Leyline of Anticipation , Mana Crypt , Bloodstained Mire , and Burgeoning out on my turn. Then on the next two turns of my opponents (3 opponents total) I played Ancient Tomb and Misty Rainforest , then casted Skyshroud Claim .

On turn 2 I had 8 open mana. I drew into a Vampiric Tutor and made myself laugh. Idk what you would do. But I used Vampiric Tutor and searched for Tooth and Nail .

Then, on turn 3, I played a land from the 7 cards I drew and used the Vampiric Tutor to grab the Tooth and Nail to search for Deadeye Navigator and Rune-Scarred Demon . Is that what you would have done?

You're getting the hang of it. You don't play Mana Crypt turn one unless you have a reason to do so, though. It could get blown up, and it may bolt you on your next upkeep. Play it as soon as you need it, but only as soon as you need it.

Vampiric Tutor is normally used on turn two or three to find ramp, but you had enough mana available to afford to search for Tooth and Nail .

I don't know why you searched for Deadeye Navigator and Rune-Scarred Demon , though. How much mana did you have at that time?

i used them to keep researching my library.

on turn 3 I played Tooth and Nail for 9 mana and searched for Force of Will first. next turn I would have searched for Palinchron , Time Stretch , and a few counters.

Remember this was just play testing. I wasn't playing anyone

You never play Tooth and Nail and not win. You always find an infinite combo, and you don't cast Tooth and Nail until the turn you can go infinite. Otherwise your combo pieces are on the field and vulnerable, and people know exactly what you're doing.

If you have 10 mana + countermagic, you can Tooth and Nail for Rune-Scarred Demon and Palinchron , then find Deadeye Navigator . You then untap and play Deadeye Navigator to go infinite, then tutor your library into your hand and win.

that's brilliant. i'm so dumb lmao

Any reason why you haven't played Walk the Aeons ? You have Azusa, Lost but Seeking , and Life from the Loam as well as Crucible of Worlds , just curiosity but the combo is hard to ignore.

In all honesty, Walk the Aeons is a bad card. It's expensive to cast, and it's even more expensive to cast with buyback. I never want to sacrifice that many lands (or any, for that matter) because it leaves me too vulnerable. I don't want to give up board position and rely on Crucible of Worlds and Azusa, Lost but Seeking to rebuild. It's not practical.

Then my next question will be.. "Why Time Stretch and not Time Warp ? Is the ability to take two turns "one of which you don't pay for" important to the combo?"

Time Stretch has been more powerful for me (although I haven't really tested Time Warp or Temporal Manipulation ) because it allows me to cast Damia on the first extra turn (assuming she isn't already in play), then draw with her on the second extra turn. I am debating testing Temporal Manipulation , but Time Stretch has been good to me thus far.

What might I cut for Dispel ? I'm thinking Life from the Loam . Although the latter is good, it hasn't really proved its worth. I'm almost never happy to see it in my hand, actually.

Along side Crucible of Worlds , Life from the Loam seems to be a redundancy. I myself am not a big fan of redundancy.

Redundancy is good in certain aspects. For example, more tutors is a good thing. But Life from the Loam isn't good enough to justify the redundancy.

I would agree with cutting LftL for Dispel . I've done a few tests of your deck with it in replace of LftL, crucible, and other counters, and it has performed well. Having to leave only one mana up for counter magic has been invaluable in many scenarios.

Also, has Impulse been tested? It seems to be a strong card.

have you thought of Chrome Mox ? or is it too disadvantageous...

Chrome Mox is a good card, but it doesn't provide the kind of advantage I need. Few of my cards are multicolored, and I don't think there are really any cards I could exile without setting myself back.

ever considered Griselbrand ? manas not a problem and hes a powerful lifelinker/draw engine

He is banned in EDH.