I guess the Rafiq deck will forever remain secret. Have you ever considered a deck tech video for Damia?

I can't automatically assume that whatever I hit with Villainous Wealth will win the game, even though it might. Blue Sun's Zenith is a guaranteed win even in multiplayer because I cast it on myself first, then set up to kill all the other players. Blue Sun's Zenith also recurs itself. Furthermore, Villainous Wealth is unreliable as a utility card outside of combos. It's not exactly the kind of thing I'd want to sink mana into during a regular turn.

I've considered doing a deck tech for this deck, but I don't really have the technology available to me.

I would be interested in a deck walkthrough, Sweet making a deck tech would be better as you can do it for everybody at once and not individuality, Is it possible to update the deck/list on MTGSalvation, that list is pretty outdated and in the process you can explain all your pics and everything you took out

Yeah, the MTGS thread is woefully out of date. It actually lost its primer status because I haven't been updating it.

Either way, I'll keep an eye out for opportunities to record a deck tech. However, I don't know if any will arise. Worst case, I guess I can do a voiceover on static screens (I have a decent mic).

Either way, if you're interested in a one-on-one walkthrough, let me know how to reach you. I have Skype and TeamSpeak.

One of your older replies addressed the question of what you do if Palinchron gets exiled. You said you have alternate combo options if that happens. Now that Time Stretch has been removed, what are those alternate win conditions?

Lots of comments on this deck... TL;DR

Dude, your up votes are at 333. What happens when they hit 666? We should make this happen and sac many goat tokens.

So.... for the hundreds of dollars spent on mana, you'd think it would be pretty safe against getting mana screwed...? My brand new deck that I just put together with cards lying around (Red/White/Black) beat this deck in a playtest by turn 6, overkilling by 7. I would suggest running WAY less counters unless you add more blue mana to garauntee them having mana to actually go off. I Didn't draw any blue mana until drawing Windswept Heath on turn 3-4 and fetching some.

You mentioned "I decided to drop some of the slower and more situational cards to add a major boost to my ramp package. The deck now regularly gets to turn three Damia." However, I fail to see how you are regularly getting 7 mana on turn three when it wasn't until turn 6 I drew Mana Vault raising the potential mana from 4 to 7.

I would suggest adding more mana generation/ramp, or cutting the XUU/XUUU cards, or some of the absurd amount of counters you have unless either A: you really need that many counters, or B: you splurge a few $ on some nice Island s to allow them to be cast.

I have playtested this deck a few times going out to the 6 turn mark or until I got damia out to get a feel for much mana is really getting out, not bothering with casting counters/removal etc simply trying to ramp as fast as possible, here are the results:

7 (turn 6, 5 colorless)

3 (turn 6. 0 colorless)

9 (turn 3, able to play Damia)

7 (turn 5, able to play Damia, granted no removal on Azusa, but I picked land over counters with Divining top)

**No mulligans were used, Simply restarted the playtest**

Based off of the 4 runs I gave it, you sir are very lucky if you are getting Damia out turn 3 regularly.

I just don't understand how this is so highly rated, I understand the power once you can get past turn 5-6, but it crumbles instantly to anything before you get Damia out. Which is the main point of my confusion as to how this wins under extreme stress.

@Frank_Glascock: I certainly have fewer of them, unfortunately. The deck relies more heavily on Deadeye Navigator than I'd like, but I can sometimes pull together an alternate win condition even if either Palinchron or Deadeye Navigator are exiled.

@The_Gru: Sorry, but if you're stuck on 4 mana at turn six, you're either playing the deck incorrectly or getting screwed by the playtester. I almost never fail to get Damia out turn three or four. Not to sound arrogant, but I can only take others' playtesting experience with a grain of salt. Playing someone else's combo-control deck is radically different from playing a deck you built yourself and have been playing for years. It's especially difficult because you don't get the overall tempo of the game when you're trying to solitaire or 1v1 test a control deck.

Part of the deck's design is to prevent it from crumbling, even without Damia. That's why I run so many counterspells - they're necessary to stabilize the game. I'll delay Damia a turn if necessary in order to prevent someone from generating too much advantage.

Generally speaking, if this deck crumbles at all, it's because the entire table (by which I mean three other players, almost all of whom are playing blue in any given game) are focusing me from turn one.

Epochalyptik, would you think that in some situations, the one extra mana for Trickbind would be worthwhile over Stifle ? Stifle works great for countering most triggered abilities, but I feel that with many activated abilities, the opponent will more often than not have enough extra resources and mana to activate the ability for the effect they desired. Trickbind prevents any abilities from that permanent being used at any time that turn, which could be huge. And the split second guarantees its resolution, not to mention they couldn't activate the ability in response. The difference between one and two mana for a counter spell is big, but so is the upside of Trickbind .

I run Stifle in my current EDH deck because I pulled one in Conspiracy, but I always consider replacing or even adding a Trickbind . I've been having this debate with myself for years, but I want to hear what you think, in your EDH meta.

@vishnarg: I really don't have enough recent playtesting experience to say with certainty that one is better for me than the other. Both are very good cards, and both have applications. I chose to include Stifle because the majority of combos rely heavily on triggered abilities, so I could justify the cheaper spell. That's not to say that Stifle is or always will be better, though.

If Palinchron gets exiled what are your win cons? Locking the board down with Deadeye Navigator and Venser seems like the only other option. Am I missing something? Do you remember what card replaced Time Stretch ?

One question I've had for a while, You say that you can hit 7 mana from turn 3/4 (I've seen this from runnign the playtesting) but I've always found that Damia is a high proirity target, especially if you have only 2 cards in hand by the time you're casting her.

So the question, even though you can play her by turn 3, do you still find yourself holding back a fair bit, just so you have enough counterspell mana to keep her on the board for a turn or do you just risk it (for the biscuit)? Obviously this is a very situational question, but its been a it of a problem I've been running into, especially since a lot of other decks I play against are "online" by the time I'm casting her.

The_Gru this deck wasn't built for 1 vs 1 If your play testing it grab 4 different EDH decks and play that way how you would in an actual tournament. (Even thought EDH isn't a sanctioned format.)

@Frank_Glascock: That's one of the things that needs to be tested. I don't have opportunities to play this deck, so changes like that are largely theoretical.

@enpc: It's very situational. If I perceive that there won't be any threat to her (or there's a low chance of there being a threat to her), then I'll go for it. Generally, if I'm casting her ASAP, I have multiple counterspells in hand to protect her just in case. The problem is that a large portion of my playtesting is in 1v1 matches, so the strategy I employ there is different from the strategy I employ in tournament pods. I won't just waste the 7 mana, though, so she does have to be protected in some way.

@Epochalyptik: Any chance you could make a budget version of this deck? :D 150-250$? I really like the commander and have been trying to build a deck around her but don't know how... :( Anyways awesome deck! +1 . Keep up the awesome work.

@RedRage: I probably won't design it myself, but if you want to design your own version, I'll certainly offer advice along the way. You'll have a better understanding of the deck's functions if you are involved in the process.

Do note, however, that if you cut the price tag to $150-200 (basically 1/20th of what the full list costs), you're going to end up making a lot of changes. You'll lose access to many of the more powerful lands and cards. Some have rough equivalents, some don't. I'll offer what suggestions I can, but you're going to need to modify the way the deck operates.

@Epochalyptik: Okay thanks! :D My play group allows 4 proxies, so which cards would you recommend as proxies?

It depends largely on what the rest of the deck looks like. For example, I wouldn't proxy Imperial Seal if you only have four slots; it'd be a waste of a proxy because it isn't the most immediately helpful card when you're on a small budget.

I would likely choose the ABUR duals and Mana Crypt because color fixing and ramp are critical, but, again, it depends on the list.

Of course, the ABUR dual recommendation is predicated on the assumption that you'd be playing at least the BUG fetches, but even that much may be in question given the budget. If possible, I recommend you play them. They make the deck a lot more consistent.

Someone asked how to make this more budget friendly. Here is my version of Epoc's deck I call it Mini-Crusher =P

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/dominus-mini-crusher-edition/

especially with Deadeye Navigator I would HIGHLY recommend Mystic Snake as a 2 drop counter spell, and possibly just for kicks a Coiling Oracle but I would only tweak this a few ways to be honest. The snake to me is a must have as even without the bouncing its a 4 drop counter 2/2 for blocking play mechanic and this deck seems to highly need play mechanics

@Inces_Velus: Mystic Snake was cut from this deck a long time ago. The Deadeye Navigator interaction is alright, but you should never be playing Deadeye Navigator outside of your combo. Additionally, Mystic Snake costs . That's a lot of mana to tie up in a counterspell, and the 2/2 body doesn't really mean anything in competitive multiplayer.

well with the updates in cards at LEAST shove in Villainous Wealth ...PLEASE XD