Life from the Loam ? I understand it could be one of those low opportunity cost cards, but regrowing Strip Mine or destroyed utility lands like Riptide Laboratory and Tolaria West , while creating more Snapcaster Mage /Eternal Witness targets with dredge seems like a good resource to have access to.

@Gohrin: Wie geht's? Restore is ok, but it's not super. It's a matter of choice; I don't think Restore offers quite enough to warrant inclusion, but you may find the case to be different in your own version of the deck. If Restore were an instant, it might be a little more tempting.

@thispersonisagenius: I tested Life from the Loam for a while, especially when I ran Scroll Rack , but I was never really impressed. I only cast it a few times, and I usually mulled it back or otherwise viewed it as a dead card. In theory, it seems alright because of the fetch count, but it just never panned out in practice.

I don't know if this has been asked before but have you tried Isochron Scepter in your deck at all. I appreciate that its slightly slower as far as cards go but if you're casting Damia turn 3 or 4 then you should have enough mana to drop it and use it in one turn anyway. Even if it came down and you got 3 or 4 uses from it before it was destroyed then you have still net gained as you only really have 2 instant / sorcery recursions anyway. I feel like your instant curve already fits the card's requirement too so thats nice.

Isochron Scepter is alright, but it isn't good enough for competitive EDH. It's vulnerable, and doesn't really pay for itself in a strong enough way. I generally don't like playing cards that require continual investment to be useable.

Think of it in terms of examples. I'm likely, based on the demographic of eligible imprint choices, to imprint a counterspell. If someone attempts to destroy it that turn, I'll have to spend 4 total to play and protect it. It costs me two cards, and one of them is basically an irrecoverable downpayment.

Hey Epochalyptik, I have always been a fan of BUG, but before I saw your deck my BUG general of choice was good ol' mimeo, but thanks to this deck I have been able to make my own twist on damia with my deck Damia's group BUG , I would appreciate it if you could have a look at my deck and make any comments/suggestions on how I could improve it when you have time, much appreciated, I look forward to see this deck grow with further sets :)

Also, what is it like having (basically) 2 wastelands? Have you used the Crucible of Worlds , Azusa, Lost but Seeking (Oracle of Mul Daya too) and Wasteland combo a lot? and have you added deadeye into that combo to destroy even more lands per turn?

With Deadeye Navigator and Azusa, Lost but Seeking you would still only get three land plays per turn. When the legendary rule was changed, the ruling on effects like Azusa's also got overhaul'd. Now you have a land play count per turn. So if you play Azusa, then play 2 lands (as your additionals) then bounce Azusa, you cannot play any more lands that turn from her ability. As Azusa entered she up'd that land play count by 2. But when she left she also down'd it by 2. its all explained in more detail from Wizards here.

@magicdai: The combo doesn't always happen, and I think I've only ever tutored for it once when two of the pieces happened to fall into place in a 1v1 match, but it does a lot of work when it does come up.

As enpc said, though, land plays were changed in the M14 rules update. Now, land plays work based on a tally of sorts. "You may play X additional lands" effects now increment that tally. If those effects end, the tally is decremented appropriately. Adding a new effect will re-increment the tally, but you can only play extra lands if you're still below the new maximum.

thanks for clearing that up, it is disappointing that it happens as soon as I come up with so many deck ideas, have you spotted any cards in M15 that would interest you? I think Garruk, Apex Predator would be good as control

@magicdai: Nothing from M15 has really impressed me as far as this deck is concerned. Garruk, Apex Predator is far too expensive and irrelevant to this deck to be useful; it's basically a 7-mana, single-target, sorcery-speed removal spell.

It's true about his mana cost, but I was thinking in case you come up against plainswalkers because most decks don't have many cards to kill planeswalkers

Even if I faced a planeswalker that was relevant enough to remove, I wouldn't ever spend 7 mana to do it. This deck's MO is to hit hard, hit fast, and keep hitting until they die.

That's understandable, you'd have killed them before they get much use out of their planeswalker

hi i was wondering of you could post your budget Rafiq EDH decks list?

@atgarnett: It would have been more appropriate to ask that on my wall.

My casual decklists are not public, and I don't intend them to become public. Most of them are no longer on this site, anyway.

Okay

I'm sure you've considered this before, but what are your thoughts on Fatespinner ? As a way to make shutting down your opponents easier?

@ Kannibal: Fatespinner is kind of useless in competitive multiplayer. My opponents will just skip combat and proceed as normal.

What does this deck do without Deadeye Navigator ?

EDHLOVE a lot less

@EDHLOVE: Deadeye Navigator is, admittedly, pretty central to the deck's function. I can, however, substitute Phantasmal Image in the infinite mana combo, then proceed from there.

Lol the question was rhetorical. I totally get that you use the cheapest counters to control more opposing spells with less resources and cast all of your spells with protection for the same reason (example: 1/Cryptic Command vs 3/Swan Song+Flusterstorm+Arcane Denial). Using card draw to keep your hand full giving you advantage and getting you to combos or tutors at lightning speed. Since you have the most views I do have some real questions for you though. 1. What do you use Tolaria West for?2.Why Reflecting Pool over say City of Brass or Mana Confluence?3.Why run Urborg?4.what do you get with Mystical Teachings ? Guessing you pay 3 to put things straight to hand...5.WhyArbor Elf ?6.WhyUtopia Sprawl ? 7.Why Mystic Remora over say Rhystic Study? Guessing because its cheaper cmc/cost less likely to be payed by opponents/hold them back idk. That's it. The rest totally makes sence. Thank you.

1) Tolaria West can fetch Pact of Negation , which is strong for defending my combo because I can transmute in advance and not have to worry about having as much extra mana open as I might normally like. It can also fetch Mana Crypt , which nets me -1 mana on the turn of investment, but +1 mana on each subsequent turn (because we're assuming I otherwise would have played Tolaria West as a land on the TOI and been net 0 mana at TOI and +1 on each subsequent compared to +2 with Mana Crypt ).

2) Reflecting Pool is strong because it's always a dual land at minimum. I have an optimized land base, so there's almost never a case where I don't end turn one with a dual land on the field (either by playing it or fetching it). I tested City of Brass and found the fixing a little dangerous because it forced me to hold up even more lands for my combo (because I can't combo if I'm dependent on City of Brass to net me mana). Mana Confluence is in the same boat as its predecessor.

3) Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth is a holdover from a time when Primeval Titan was still legal and I ran Cabal Coffers (I was also playing in slightly less competitive pods back then). After that, I was still using it for Mana Web , which has also been cut. Even after losing those two interactions, it's still viable because blue and green are the most relevant colors in the deck. That statement may not seem to make much sense at first, but if you consider that I want to fetch or play a G/U dual, Forest , or Island whenever possible, it's a great benefit to be able to play a single land and instantly have access to all of the black mana I could need. It allows me to (further) justify spending my first fetches finding Tropical Island and Breeding Pool instead of one of the B/X duals (although I get them next). Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth also helps make Necropotence a little easier to cast.

4) Mystical Teachings is nice because it's an instant-speed, to-hand tutor. I can use it to find a counterspell or Vampiric Tutor in preparation for my combo, and I can flash it back afterward to find Blue Sun's Zenith . I've also used it to find Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir , which locks my opponents out of my combo turn.

5) Arbor Elf is there because it can untap Tropical Island and Breeding Pool , which are almost always the first lands I fetch. It's basically like having a second, slightly more restricted Birds of Paradise . It's not the best card, but it does the job, and it does it well enough.

6) Utopia Sprawl is there because it can enchant Tropical Island , Breeding Pool , Dryad Arbor (if I'm feeling ballsy), or Forest s. I almost invariably have one of those things on turn one. Granted, it's not optimal because it's an Aura and therefore depends on a specific permanent to survive, but I justify the liability with the Arbor Elf interaction. Again, not the best, but functional. This is probably the card I'll drop to make room for Carpet of Flowers .

7) Mystic Remora is in the deck because it's a very cheap threat. Nobody in a competitive pod will ever pay the denial cost, and it can easily net me several cards within a turn cycle. Even if it doesn't, I'm still paying U to significantly disrupt my opponents' tempo, which is a plus in itself. I usually don't pay the upkeep cost for more than one turn cycle, and most of the time I don't even pay it at all. Think of Mystic Remora as a potential Ancestral Recall , half-price Time Walk , or removal bait.

Just a question about Mystical Teachings on that note. How do you find it goes in the deck? is it one of the stronger cards? I'm presuming most games you play with this deck don't get to the point where each payer has more than about 10-12 mana in play. In those kind of scenarios, how do you find it to be? I get that it fetches a counterspell if you have none in hand, so having mana open is a moot point, and that when you combo off its not a problem mana wise, but outside of those two scenarios does it still work well?

@enpc Mystical Teachings can also be used for grabbing Blue Sun's Zenith for win, if he has the appropriate cards on the field to end the game during their turn.