what do you do against Hermit Druid decks, like scion

@ifym: I play by the official EDH rules, so Fastbond is still illegal. I don't like the French rules, especially because they ban cards like Sol Ring and Mana Crypt , which are necessary for explosive openers. I understand the logic behind French rules, but I play multiplayer anyway.

@MTG_Player: Basically, I have to go heavy on the early control. I can't allow Hermit Druid to get off the ground because the best Hermit Druid opener is better than my best opener.

Great deck, inspired me to make my own version... +1. I used to play The Mimeoplasm , but am ready for a switch to Damia, Sage of Stone !

Please take a look at my version when you get some time, it is slightly more control-oriented.

Damia [Comp] - Control/Combo - GG

Thanks!

Thoughtseize ?

Discard effects are underwhelming as a whole in EDH. They just don't do enough when you consider that you could instead use the mana to ramp several turns ahead. I'd almost always rather have a counterspell.

no Dark Confidant it has so much card advantage?

My mana curve tells me that Dark Confidant is a bad idea.

Unfortunately, Bob is a prime example of a card being great in 60-card constructed, but terrible in EDH.

Bobs not bad in all edh, but in this deck yes

Very few EDH decks can effectively use Dark Confidant . It goes only in decks specifically designed to have a very low mana curve (e.g. Ad Nauseam decks).

or Hermit Druid but yeah I agree with you guys

In duelcommander, practically every black deck runs Bob. Also, in multiplayer, he makes very regular appearances in a number of Zur decks and most hermit druid decks, both of which are top tier. I really can't agree with you when you say he's terrible in EDH, he's really only bad in ramp-based decks, which is just the same as 60-card formats.

As I said, decks specifically designed to have low curves can capitalize on Dark Confidant . The majority of decks can't take full advantage of it because their curves aren't low enough to make the effect viable. There will usually be exceptions to generalizations.

I was principally disagreeing with your statement that it's "terrible in EDH" and that a majority of Tier 1 black decks can't use it, as I believe it is good and a majority can use it.

While a majority can technically use it in that they can legally include it in their lists, I disagree that it's a good card in a majority of decks. For the most part, it is rendered ineffective by high mana curves or by its relatively slow ability.

This deck is an example of both. A single extra card per turn is not really worth paying the 1B for Dark Confidant or the 1BB for Phyrexian Arena (which was cut several versions ago). Additionally, the combo pieces in this deck raise the mana curve such that Dark Confidant 's ability is too detrimental.

I'm not making the case that Dark Confidant is unusable in an absolute sense. I'm making the case that it's unusable in a large percent of existing decks and that its ability is not optimal except in the cases of decks already optimized for low mana curves. Because those decks aren't the norm, the generalization is that Dark Confidant is not a good card in the format. Again, there are exceptions, but this statement is true for the most common cases.

Now I'm curious. What is your opinion on Graveborn Muse ? (Not in this deck of course but in general.)

I generally don't like Graveborn Muse because I find it to be kind of expensive. A couple decks can turn it into a valuable resource, but it often ends up being a more expensive Phyrexian Arena that isn't played because other cards are more usable.

Hmm, true. I'm putting her to use in zombie tribal so I end up drawing 5-6 extra cards per turn from her ability.

so you lose 5 or 6 per turn --'

You realize you have 2 Dryad Arbor in this list, one in creatures and one in lands. That leaves you one open slot.

Nevermind, looks like an error with tappedout.net

For some reason, the display shows Dryad Arbor in both categories even though it doesn't do this with other multi-type cards (e.g. artifact creatures). The list still contains 99 unique cards plus Damia.

Epoch,

I just recently made this deck and have been playing it for a couple weeks. Let me start off by saying that it's absolutely awesome. Each game is different and it's amazing seeing how powerful some of the starts can be. Here is one scenario I found myself in:

Opening hand:

Imperial Seal , Vampiric Tutor , Tropical Island , Polluted Delta , Mana Crypt , Arbor Elf , Green Sun's Zenith

Turn 1 on the play, where do you go from here? I feel like there are an infinite number of options. I just sat there looking at my hand for 5 minutes.

Thanks for the feedback!

with Intuition what do you search for?

It depends on the situation.

If I need a counterspell, I can get Force of Will , Pact of Negation , Misdirection , and/or Dispel .

If I'm going for the win, I could try Mystical Tutor , Vampiric Tutor , and Demonic Tutor or I could search for Tooth and Nail , Eternal Witness , Snapcaster Mage , and/or Volrath's Stronghold .

Nevermind that last post, I just found your detailed thread about this deck on MTG forums that outlines early, mid, and late game plays. Awesome content.