*minimize. Damn autocorrect

Cyclonic Rift just feels overpriced, though. It doesn't do anything about open lands, and it costs 7 to overload. That means I need to invest a significant chunk of resources and forego other options just to cast it. As a Boomerang effect, it's still only average.

Carpet of Flowers counts nonbasic Islands as well as basic Islands, so it will tally all Island s, ABUR dual Islands, Shock Islands, etc. That makes it a bit more appealing.

What would you use against an aggro deck though? Cyclonic Rift stops them in their tracks, and lets you reset and counter their spells as they try to resolve them.

How relevant would Far Wanderings be in this deck? I would imagine that with all of the cheap counters and ramping going on you would be putting a fair number of cards in your grave, but by the time Far Wanderings becomes worth casting you don't need the extra lands.

Far Wanderings isn't really something I'd include. It's expensive for what it does, and it's only conditionally good. It only finds basics, only brings them in tapped, and only finds more than one if I have threshold. On top of that, it costs 3 to cast. I can get away with Skyshroud Claim because it can find duals and leave me with 2 mana up for counterspells, but Far Wanderings doesn't do that for me.

As you said, I also don't often get threshold until later on in the game. It normally isn't until turn four or five that I get a considerable number of cards in my graveyard, and I don't want to be tapping three mana for a slow ramp spell at that point.

Have you considered Flusterstorm? I imagine the stacks have to get pretty large in the games you play, especially if you're versing another control deck. It's a cheap and effective counterspell. The only way I could see it backfiring is if your opponent has enough or infinite mana to pay for each copy, and if that's the usual case then I'm just babbling over here.

Flusterstorm is interesting, but I think it would end up being little more than a more limited Spell Pierce or Mana Leak . Even in multiplayer, the stack tends to stay small; there are maybe three spells (at most) on the stack at any one time, and there usually isn't a high enough storm count per turn to justify playing storm cards.

Have you considered Stifle over Dispel ? Do you face more Instants than abilities? I think you should at least consider it if you start facing decks based around Zur the Enchanter or other creatures of the like.

Dispel is relevant because it's a 1-mana answer to other counterspells and also to most kill spells. I have thought about Stifle a few times (partly because I have a foil German copy in my binder), but it always turns out to be more limited than whichever card I pick instead. Stifle is a good way to troll opponents, but it doesn't seem strictly necessary.

I may end up testing it in place of Phantasmal Image or Cyclonic Rift until I get a Diabolic Intent .

On the subject of Phantasmal Image , is it good enough to remain in the deck? I initially wanted to cut it because the M14 rules update will severely hamper its utility. However, it's still a viable tool for copying ramp and utility creatures.

I can see that, especially if your commander is facing a kill spell early game. The deck looks really tight by the way. I really appreciate the time and effort put into it.

As clones go Phantasmal Image is great. but I actually think Phyrexian Metamorph would be better for you since it can not only copy useful creatures but artifacts as well. My only concern is it's cost compared to the Image but it can be cast with just 3 colorless mana.

It should be good for the short term (game wise) but I'm not a fan of the phantasmal part because all it takes is a Staff of Nin or any other utility they have that can target to kill it. So if you only need it around for a bit or copy some benign utility creature, I would keep it. But if you have an idea for a 'better' card to use in that slot that will improve the deck, I would use that instead, e.g. Brainstorm , Putrefy , Abrupt Decay , or anything else... Since it was a specialized kill spell, maybe a more generalized one would be best.

The 3 colorless mana could easily replace itself if you copy the numerous mana rocks you'd most likely find being played early game allowing you to still ramp.

@CrimsonKing: I used to play Phyrexian Metamorph , but, as this deck sped up, it became obsolete. It's just too expensive for what it does - I don't want to be sinking three or four mana into a clone, especially one that doesn't go infinite with Palinchron (another reason to keep Phantasmal Image ).

@gufymike: If someone is playing Staff of Nin against me, he or she has already lost. I do understand the point you're making, but the sac-on-target ability is rarely relevant. I don't think it has ever triggered during any game I've played; even if it does trigger, I can afford to lose the creature.

Brainstorm , Putrefy , and Abrupt Decay used to be in the deck; I've tested them all at one point or another. I decided to cut them because they didn't perform as well as they theoretically should or could have.

Epochalyptik if that's the case, then there is no reason to remove it till you find something that does one thing you want to be done better, better.

Are there sideboards in EDH?

Most EDH events only play one-game matches, but some allow pre-game sideboarding.

Have you considered Trygon Predator and Beast Within ?

Trygon Predator is too slow. I don't care at all about attacking, and I'll only normally acknowledge my own combat step if I have a chance to whittle down an opponent's life total to hinder their usage of cards like Necropotence .

Beast Within is also slow. I don't really want to run 3-CMC answers to anything. Hinder makes the cut because it's a counterspell and can tuck generals. I actually cut Beast Within a while ago because it was too slow.

I just had a thought based on the side board question, what about wishes?

It's not a bad thought, but there aren't many relevant ones, and I don't know if they'd offer me much. They're very limited tutors; if a card were good enough to include in the deck, it would already be in the deck. The Wishes would only provide tutoring for case-specific cards that probably aren't necessary; I'd rather have tutors that let me pull answers from within the deck.

If I was playing against this deck I would be trying my darndest to exile Palinchron . Does this happen often? I can you have alternate win conditions (basically in Deadeye Navigator ), but that dosent seem half as effective as the Palinchron .

Have you considered putting in an alternate infinite combo as insurance?

Also Gaea's Cradle and perhaps Cabal Coffers deserves a rethink. Its lookin good though, id hate to come up against this lol.

I've considered alternate means of attaining the infinite combo (Peregrine Drake , for example), but they are, for the most part, quite weak because Palinchron is the best option for this deck. If Palinchron is exiled, I would likely turn to an infinite turn combo (using Eternal Witness and Deadeye Navigator to recur Time Stretch ). This combo isn't as strong as the infinite mana combo, but it does work.

Gaea's Cradle doesn't really do as much for this deck as you might think. It is useless until I get a creature onto the field, and it needs multiple creatures before it beats a basic Forest. It also can't be fetched. Though it's certainly a good card, it's a conditionally good card.

Cabal Coffers has the same kinds of limitations. It just isn't reliable unless I have access to both it and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth . I used to run the two in conjunction, but I cut Cabal Coffers after Primeval Titan was banned. There's no easy way to grab both and get them onto the field fast enough for it to be beneficial. Cabal Coffers 's ability doesn't even pay for itself until I have three Swamps, which means it's absolutely useless in the first few turns.