Untapped vs tapped?

That's what I was thinking, but I don't know the versatility seems worth the former.

Skyshroud Claim is one of the best ramp spells in the EDH format. In decks using many basics, Explosive Vegetation is a great card; however, in decks such as this that have few basics, Skyshroud Claim is vastly better because it fetches dual lands as well.

Skyshroud Claim finds any forests, not just basic ones. The untapped clause is icing on the cake. It's a ramp spell that I can cast and still have counterspell mana up.

Oops didn't notice card:Alchemist's Refuge was already there. Exploration seems good. What about Burgeoning ? Other players will be ramping as muh as possible, and If you run sufficient card draw you can outpace all other opponents with it. But I understand it has some drawbacks in that it's conditional on other players' decisions.

Burgeoning is also already in the list, and Exploration is on my list of considerations. I chose Phantasmal Image over it just to diversify my combo options a bit.

Phantasmal Image seems good, but fragile. And apparently I'm blind. Didn't see Burgeoning before :-(

Phantasmal Image copies creatures with ETB effects, kills generals, and goes infinite with Palinchron . While fragile in some respects, it's certainly a very strong card and something worth running.

Indeed, no doubt it's a strong card :-). Definitely over most, of not all, the cards you recently cut.

If I had to point something out as being a weak link, it'd have to be the Fabricate , which I can't see as being particularly more useful than, say, a Beseech the Queen , a similar effect, or any of the other cards you are considering.

Do you find you draw many cards out of Rhystic Study ?

Do you find the reduced mana cost of Counterspell makes it more useful than the draw from Dismiss or the tuck of Spell Crumple ? Do you think the two blue becomes an issue often enough for switching out with Arcane Denial ?

Fabricate is nice because it finds all of my ramp rocks as well as the utility ones. In the early game it becomes a blue Cultivate (but better) by fetching Mana Crypt while in the late game it finds Scroll Rack or Mana Web . I often find Gilded Lotus with it for color fixing and solid ramp.

Rhystic Study is a powerful card and one of the best blue draw engines in the format. If your opponents can't afford to treat it like Sphere of Resistance (or they just don't want to), then it's draw power that I don't have to pay to maintain (read: better than card:Mind's Eye effects). If they opt to pay, then I slow down their game and force them to tax their mana producers and wait to cast spells.

Counterspell is a solid control card. The double blue has never been a problem given the rocks, 9 fetches, and 6 fetchable duals. Spell Crumple ;s purpose is served by Hinder , which can be flashed back or otherwise recurred. Dismiss is kind of expensive to cast (I'm not entirely sold on Mindbreak Trap either) and Arcane Denial gives the opponent card advantage, which is unfavorable.

Hi Epochalyptik, are my comments making it to your comment board for this deck?

They seem to be.

On land; perhaps Temple of the False God >Ancient Tomb , card:Gaea's Cradle or Crypt of Agadeem could also be used for the combo but most importantly Tolaria West helps you set up the combo.

For the combo, I personally like having more than one leg to stand on (ie if your Palinchron gets taken out). I would suggest the addition of Argothian Elder + Wirewood Lodge or card:Pemmin's Aura just as an easy one that uses some of the mechanics that you already have.

For that matter you almost have another inf' combo just in your artifacts if you really wanted (+Thousand-Year Elixir and Synod Artificer ). (I think there is another one here but my memory is failing me).

Is there anything the deck struggles against? Easy +1 btw epic build you have.

Maelstrom Pulse seems to be a tad out of place unless your coming up against loads of tokens, But in such a case wouldnt Massacre Wurm be better?

I cant really comment on the control mechanics as it look like your doing a pretty good job with them. My gut instinct would be more board wipes but im unfarmiliar with your meta...

Temple of the False God was dropped for Ancient Tomb . Having to wait until my fifth land drop to tap it took away the ramp potential of the card. I'll pay 2 life to get 2 mana on an early turn.

Crypt of Agadeem is not very applicable, since I typically don't have creatures in my yard. It would be better in The Mimeoplasm , but it lacks the utility it needs in order to make the list in this case.

card:Gaea's Cradle is also not very applicable, since I don't play a lot of creatures. I have to have a guy on the field before it even taps for anything, which is a problem.

Maelstrom Pulse is basically a colorshifted Vindicate that trades its LD ability for something else. It's a good removal spell against everything from creatures to rocks and it destroys token decks. Massacre Wurm is too slow and it doesn't have the ability to hit noncreatures (or even creatures above X/2).

I'm wary of including combos like the ones you mentioned because some of the cards are only good to me as combo pieces. While this is also true of Palinchron (for the most part), the versatility and ubiquity of Palinchron makes up for that. I don't know what I would even drop to include those combos if I were to go that route.

I haven't found a matchup that the deck struggles against (besides Hermit Druid combo). Then again, I haven't played against Zur or Arcum yet, either.

What decks do you usually see? Mostly othe combo decks?

Usually. I play the mirror a lot, but there's also Ertai, the Corrupted , Scion of the Ur-Dragon , and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir .

I see. Also, do you mostly play multiplayer, 1v1, or both about equally? I usually play 3- and 4-player FFAs

It's a mix. I play 1v1 a lot because nobody in the area really has anything of comparable power besides the friend I codesigned this list with. However, all of the events I enter are multiplayer (4-man pods) and I occasionally get a multiplayer game in.

Svogthos, the Restless Tomb ? Simic Sky Swallower ?

Those cards don't offer anything as utility; they're only applicable as beatsticks. Since this is a combo/control deck, I want to run as few (0 being ideal) non-utility cards as possible.

would Erayo, Soratami Ascendant be any good to you. I suggest her for the obvious control strength of her but especially for you she is so easy to flip and she just wrecks stuff if she lands and sticks even for a short while, it just changes the game completely. I know my arcanis deck does not compare to this deck lol but it flips her easily and its much harder for me with it being mon blue and in my meta there is probably much more wrathing and spot removal because we generally don't play combos as my mates cannot afford to build decks as strong as me so it would be a bit naf for me to sit there combo-ing every game while they watch pretty much