I would definitely look into cockatrice for more testing. The meta is generally pretty competitive, and it allows you to collect a lot of good playtesting data very quickly.

Also, have you considered more mana dorks for speed yet? I think adding Fyndhorn Elves , Llanowar Elves , Elves of Deep Shadow , and the soon to come elvish mystic would be great for the deck. They're not as high quality as Birds of Paradise or Deathrite Shaman , but I think they'll do the trick.

My friend tested Elves of Deep Shadow and gave it negative reviews.

Decks like this reach a point where they need to balance mana ramp with other cards. I don't want to overload the ramp suite because those cards become useless draws later when I'm looking for more control and combo-oriented cards.

To be honest, I've never been a fan of Cockatrice and other online sims because they feel clunky and the communities tend to be awful. Has anyone else used Cockatrice for testing this kind of deck before?

Epochalyptik referencing your earlier conversation regarding Chains of Mephistopheles , it would only be detrimental to you if you have Domia on board at the time it is cast. Even then, you would still be able to loot the cards in your hand (assuming you have at least a couple in hand) to dig for an answer. I may be misinterpreting the interaction between Damia and Chains though.

now assuming Damia was not on board, you would still be able to draw normally which isn't the worst thing ever. I don't feel as if Chains of Mephistopheles would be as big as a problem as you first thought.

Personally, I have used Cockatrice to test my competitive edh deck, and it works well, I am not usually beaten, though the decks aren't bad. The issue is with 4 people the graphics are tiny, the shuffling methods online are more risky and algorithmic, and finding 3 other people with a competitive multiplayer edh deck will be difficult. It is worth a shot, but be sure to label the room as 'competitive' and I would suggest posting about it on T / O for a specific time and date.

I don't know exactly what you mean by "this type of deck", but I assume you mean a competitive deck, and the answer is yes. Most all of my edh decks nowadays are competitive, and whenever I get a new idea, I first test on cockatrice to make sure I like it and to fine tune the list. As long as you put the right label on the room, you should get good players. There will be exceptions to this, but from my experience it works often enough to merit usage.

How has Mystical Teachings been working for you? It just seems a little expensive for what it does.

Mystical Teachings is a tad expensive, but the instant speed makes it very useful, especially for finding free counterspells.

this is a sweet deck might want to consider Liliana Vess

Liliana Vess , while good in some EDH decks, is just too slow for the competitive environment. I can't really afford to tie up five mana in a tutor (which is the only of her abilities I'd really be using).

How do you usually use jace ?

I almost always use Jace, the Mind Sculptor for his Brainstorm ability. Rarely, I will use the +1 to screw with tutor effects like Enlightened Tutor and Worldly Tutor or to make sure an opponent doesn't get land.

i'd suggest Diabolic Revelation because well, when you have a ton of mana, get a ton of cards you want. Also you infinite mana combo works really well with Brutalizer Exarch because you can mass land tuck AND tutor up creatures like the Palinchron or the important Deadeye Navigator . Finally Terminus to take care of those pesky hexproof or indestructible generals.

Diabolic Revelation is way too expensive to be useful.

Brutalizer Exarch is similarly limited. The mana cost is way too high for the effect. I could just play Worldly Tutor if I wanted the first effect.

Terminus isn't even playable in my colors.

oh wait hang on I've lost it Terminus isnt in your colors =.= in that case Spell Crumple does a fine job tucking you have Hinder but i guess another one doesnt hurt. Black Sun's Zenith also removes indestructible permanents

also simple question why do you use Time Stretch as opposed to Time Warp or Temporal Manipulation ? for the infinite combo after all it only does require one turn

Spell Crumple isn't necessary. It's worse than Hinder because I run Snapcaster Mage and Eternal Witness , and the redundancy is actually detrimental because it's a 3-drop.

Black Sun's Zenith is too slow and expensive to be an effective board wipe. I want to avoid almost all X spells because they tend to be inefficient. Blue Sun's Zenith is in here because it's a win condition and a decent utility card.

Time Stretch is nice because the two extra turns allow me to cast Damia (if she's dead), then untap and draw with her. I don't know whether it's really necessary, though. It's expensive, but I feel like Temporal Mastery effects may just end up being Explore s more times than not.

Hey there, love the decklist. I used to run The Mimeoplasm , a reanimator-themed deck that ran quite a few of the cards you used to run prior to the huge decklist changes this year, but I ultimately transferred to your Damia, Sage of Stone list. It's very smooth, consistent, and fun to play. I have a few questions however.

-Why switch out Seedborn Muse ? I find it to be a massive enabler for the deck.

-And a suggestion: Kira, Great Glass-Spinner ? I run her in the deck atm; primarily due to her being foil, but also because I don't currently own a Riptide Laboratory . Would it be a sufficient replacement? Would you even consider running both? Kira is a removal sink for your opponents, and often leaves you with enough gas to protect Damia when she makes an appearance.

I also don't feel you would benefit much from the addition of a Mox Diamond . I run it because I don't own a Mana Crypt , but you have so many land sinks for when you draw into too many lands. I've done plenty of turn ones pitching a land to the Diamond, cracking a fetch, then playing Life from the Loam ; and despite feeling amazing, that's just one example. Your deck, however, supports it very well.

Keep up the amazing work! I'll be following.

And out of curiosity: Do people hate the amount of time the deck takes to play out? Due to the amount of shuffle effects that exist within the deck? People often groan at the amount of shuffling I end up doing, but that could just be me.

I ran Seedborn Muse because it was, as you said, an enabler. However, it is ultimately unnecessary. It's a great support card and a nicety, but it can get expensive to cast and protect, and the deck has simply outpaced any consistent need for the effect at its cost.

I ran Kira, Great Glass-Spinner in an earlier incarnation of the deck. In some ways it's better than Riptide Laboratory because it's hard protection from any targeted removal or bounce. However, it doesn't stop sweepers and it can't go infinite with Venser, Shaper Savant . It also lacks the ability to recycle Snapcaster Mage .

Mox Diamond could be disadvantageous depending on my hand, but it is something I've been considering. Life from the Loam was cut not long ago because I never really wanted to cast it. I wasn't happy to draw it, either. Despite its potential, it often felt like a dead card.

As for the shuffling, it's something that has to be. I'll occasionally hear a sigh when I crack multiple fetches and cast a tutor in the same turn, but it doesn't really matter to me. I play at a reasonable tempo, but I go slow enough to avoid mistakes. I couldn't really blame anyone else if they did the same. It depends mostly on the mentality of the players in your game.

Word of Command

Why would that be helpful?

How wouldn't it be helpful?

Bait out some crazy spell you can counter, make them throw something on the board they didn't want to

Praetor's Grasp is also a very "competitive" EDH card in my experience

It's a good way to troll your opponent, but it doesn't really have enough major applications. That's the same reason I have been refraining from including Stifle .

Praetor's Grasp is too slow and expensive. I would rather tutor for something in my own deck because I know those cards will always be helpful (and castable).

WOW! i never thought that you Epochalyptik would use the term troll !!! on a different note, how good would Evacuation be?