@enpc: It's definitely not the best card in the deck; the mana cost is prohibitive. However, it serves its function well enough. I might be inclined to drop it for a faster alternative after testing some other tutors, though.

One more question... A lot of people down talk Birds calling it to vulnerable... Why do you run it?

From looking at the deck, I would say it is designed to play in a meta that is not that removal heavy. In saying that, removal exists but it is mainly in the form of counter-magic or is reseverd for combo pieces. In a high end game, why bother countering a Birds of Paradise when you can counter the thing it ramps into. A counterspell is usually a 1 for 1 trade after all. Not to mention BOP is a 1 drop. so short of a Mental Misstep , wasting a counterspell seems a bit frivolous as in early game you don't have the mana / late game you have better things to do. Similar on the removal front. Early game, Swords to Plowshares would be one of the fastest kill spells in the game, and that is an enourmous waste.

It's just there are so many wipe spells making it only very temporary. I guess it does what it needs to by then. Thanks.

Casual and tuned Commander (tuned being the intermediate step between casual and tournament) games tend to be removal-heavy because people play targeted kill spells and sweepers. In tournament pods, sweepers are typically less prolific because everything is focused on the first handful of turns. It's cheaper and easier to just counter or kill single targets than to pay 4+ for a sorcery to kill everything. And nobody is going to waste counterspells and kill spells on a mana dork against a combo deck (although if they do, that's a win for me).

For these reasons, I typically only suggest Birds of Paradise and other mana dorks in tournament decks, where they won't be liabilities in terms of deck space and vulnerability.

Hey Epochalyptik!

I've a question, if you run Tooth and Nail why not play Triskelion + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed win-combo? Triskelion work fine with Deadeye Navigator , and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is a good to protect your mana-ramp creatures and is fine vs Rafiq of the Many , that have many other uses.

Great deck, +1

No Vendilion Clique? I mean Wizard, Flash, ETB, Control, Tuck... You must have a really good reason because from what I see it would fit right in.

Get ride of that Leyline you have been questioning anyway. Venser, Snapcaster, and Teferi want their homie!

@DarkHamlet: Part of the problem I have is that neither Mikaeus, the Unhallowed nor Triskelion is viable as a standalone card outside of the combo. I would never play Mikaeus, the Unhallowed by itself, and I'm really not concerned with protecting my ramp creatures. Additionally, neither Triskelion nor Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is viable as part of another combo in the deck (interchangeability is extremely important).

@EDHLOVE: I haven't had the chance to test Vendilion Clique in this deck. I'd like to do a little more theorycrafting in the meantime. My main concern is that the effect has to justify the cost. I know that Vendilion Clique is a very good card, and it's still strong in EDH, but having no firsthand experience using it in any format, I need to understand it a bit more first.

Just wondering, why not use Exotic Orchard ?

With three colors, it should end up almost always being worth it in multiplayer games, correct?

@Thesaman: While it's true that Exotic Orchard would probably be an Island at worst and a Tropical Island in most cases, I don't like to gamble with my mana. It's something I would probably side in if I bothered to build a sideboard for this deck.

It may be worth testing, so I'll keep it on the radar for now.

The issue I have with Exotic Orchard is that if he was against W/R/boros all he'd get is colourless mana, and if an opponent had an island they could be killed girst and he'd lose the ability to tap for U

@magicdai: To be fair, very few players don't play blue in competitive EDH. Green is also a very common color, so I'd probably be alright with Exotic Orchard .

I guess that's true, I haven't played much (if any) totally competitive metas, its always been semi competitive, but I played against a vicious boros soldier deck before

On that note how do you fair against zur decks?

Zur isn't a competitive multiplayer deck. It's too single-target in approach. Combat-oriented commanders typically do better in 1v1 than in multiplayer.

It depends how he is built, I've seen very nasty multiplayer zur decks that completely lock everyone else out

How about that new [Teferi, Temporal Archmage] ?

The new Teferi planeswalker isn't good enough for this deck. It's a 6-drop that can't be cheated in, and its abilities aren't really good enough to justify its inclusion.

On the subject of VClique I have one unlisted along with that foil Brainstorm I offered before for when/if you want one.

My experience with clique is limited but I have seen it tuck multiple combo pieces. Deadeye Navigator helps there, it can also be used on yourself if you have two pieces to a combo and need to dig. Impromptu draw engine. Also, if someone has extracted your Rune-Scarred Demon for your typical draw your deck, blue sun, tutor for blue sun, you could flicker the clique to draw the blue sun again.

Will you be waiting to see what the lands are like in ktk or will you be making spaces for them before spoilers?

@magicdai: I have no reason to make space for something I don't even know anything about yet. Those lands would have to be extremely good to warrant a spot in this lineup.

The lands for Ana will most likely be sub-par to what Epoch already uses, but seeing as how they want the Sultai Brood(Ana) to be about resource management, I'm waiting to see what WotC has in store for the community. I remember MaRo saying they're bringing back something that has been asked for, and also introducing a new thing that has also been requested. I'm really excited for Khans.

Epoch is there any reason you dropped Scroll Rack ? It makes a great digger when used alongside a fetch, and puts end-combo pieces back in the library. There's been a few times where I can't simply TaN for the win.

You should always be able to TaN, the abilities are separate. It's even worded so that you put the creatures to hand first. If anything it's better to have one of the combo pieces in hand, that way you can dig for more creatures.

I only ever play TaN for the entwine, so it makes sense why I overlooked that. To me it reads "Cheat out two creatures from your library you dirty cheater. Oh and you win". Such a strong card.