Uhh Narwek, that's already how this deck is designed I'm pretty sure. Notice the price tag is just over $2.6k.

Maybe, but I don't see any Black Lotus or Time Walk , nor Ancestral Recall

We play "casual" EDH, with no ban list, and that's more what I'm asking about. If there was no ban list, and unlimited money

i am pretty sure that he would add the power of nine save Timetwister (or he would've added it). Fastbond , Channel Gifts Ungiven Griselbrand (maybe) Primeval Titan Yawgmoth's Bargain . Other than that, this is a competitive deck, i doubt he would ever make it uncompetitive unless Damia, Sage of Stone was banned, or Palinchron (why???).

@Narwek: The reason those cards aren't in this deck is that those cards are banned in EDH. This is a tournament deck; I have to follow the ban list. Also, the deck already has no budget. My only restrictions are the rules.

If I could include banned cards, I would have Black Lotus , the BUG Mox gems, Ancestral Recall , Time Walk , Fastbond , Channel , and Library of Alexandria . Those are the banned cards that are useful enough to warrant a slot in the deck. Primeval Titan might come in, but I'm not sure it's necessary anymore. The deck has gotten a lot faster since the PrimeTime ban, and I don't know whether PrimeTime would fit back in so easily. Gifts Ungiven would need to be tested.

how do you feel about Mirri's Guile as either a cheaper version of or redundancy for Sylvan Library ?

Shred Memory could be good here. Tutors for a lot of stuff and is gravehate in a pinch. Great deck, gave me a few ideas.

@Aelorith2117: Mirri's Guile is alright, but it doesn't serve the same function as Sylvan Library . The former doesn't actually net me any cards. It just rearranges my topdeck. I want the card draw.

@Nortti: Shred Memory isn't very powerful. Graveyard hate isn't important enough to warrant a dedicated slot. My countermagic and Deathrite Shaman are usually good enough to handle those problems.

If only this were french ban list..

I notice you have a lot of different lands... so why not use Sylvan Scrying ???

@ms, he doesn't use it because Grim Tutor and Diabolic Intent exist (both much better).

@ms: There's no one land important enough to warrant running a dedicated tutor.

You're already on the fence about Diabolic Intent (conditional) and Grim Tutor (can be countered), so this is probably irrelevant but;

Have you considered transmute?

Dimir Machinations , Perplex , and Drift of Phantasms are all fairly terrible cards that turn into a key combo piece (perhaps when you already have infinite mana) like Yawgmoth's Will , Blue Sun's Zenith , Eternal Witness , or Necropotence for 3CMC.

benefits: thins the deck, is a better top deck late game than Chromatic Lantern , difficult to counter without a Trickbind effect.
cons: expensive, sorcery speed, card reveal.

Just a thought, probably too clunky. On the outside, Perplex might be a hard counter vs. anyone sculpting their hand.

@musichate: I considered transmute spells, but I didn't include any because I want the spell itself to be relevant if I ever need it to be. Muddle the Mixture is probably the only one that could function as both a spell and a tutor. Perplex isn't a hard counter, although it can sometimes function as one.

I'm willing to hear other arguments, though. Maybe I'm oversimplifying it.

Does Sylvan Library do anything when damia is out?

Sorry, can you just explain why Preordain or Brainstorm don't make the cut in this deck?

@CallMeCrazy: Unfortunately, no. Sylvan Library 's ability triggers during the draw step, and Damia's ability causes me to skip my draw step. However, Sylvan Library makes the cut because it's an invaluable utility card and can help me generate advantage before I cast Damia.

@vishnarg: Preordain and Brainstorm don't do enough. They're just cantrips. I tested Brainstorm for a while because the deck has a lot of shuffle effects, but I never really found that the extra hand filtering was worth taking a slot away from another card. Preordain is even less powerful.

Okay, what took it's place though? Also, this may be a hard question, but overall, what card in this deck do you think overall pound for pound wins you the most games and plays the best, and then the opposite: what plays the worst? (excluding commander and lands)

I don't know that anything "took its place," per se. I tested it and decided it wasn't advantageous enough to add to the actual decklist.

Tooth and Nail is hands down one of the most critical cards in the deck. It enables so many of my combos and wins on resolution. That said, the deck is just a pile of combos, advantage generators, and control magic. It's hard to pick the most devastating spell, but I think Tooth and Nail is certainly a contender.

Glen Elendra Archmage and Chromatic Lantern are still it the physical list, and I'm never really excited to see either of them. They're up for cuts soon.

I would have thought Glen Elendra would have been a great 4 mana drop... interesting.

Glen Elendra Archmage is a solid card, but it doesn't really fit well in this deck. It's at an awkward spot on my mana curve, and it doesn't have flash. I basically need to choose between playing it or having ramp and countermagic open (and while Glen Elendra Archmage is itself countermagic, it's an expensive initial investment).

It's nothing more than a bulky (limited) counter. It's 5 mana for it's first use, then 1 for the next, that's 6 for 2 counters. Much better cards if you ignore the virtual card advantage of 2 counters in 1 card.

Padon my ignorance Epochalyptik, but why are you never excited to see Chromatic Lantern ? I think it's one of the best mana fixers in the game. Is it just never a good thing past early game?

@GoldGhost012: Chromatic Lantern is expensive. It's a 3-drop rock that only ramps me by one mana, and I have almost the best mana base possible in BUG. Color fixing isn't really worth paying 3.

Would Burnished Hart be better than the lantern? Or something that works similarly?