Thanks

where is the commander?

Must be a bug with the new custom category system. I'll report it.

The commander is Damia, Sage of Stone.

Liking the new description.

Thanks men! All is clear. I play Damia in both "formats" fun-oriented and competitive. ;D

Added an explanation of card choices, a guide for recreating the deck, and some other sections. Enjoy.

Interesting deck set up, how's that done? Love the way everything is set up and such. Good job!

@CharlesMandore: I'm not quite sure what you mean when you ask "hows that done?"

In terms of performance, it's done quite well. There are always cards to be tested and improvements to be made, but the deck is strong.

In terms of how it was achieved, the deck has evolved slowly (with a few radical changes interspersed) over a period of about two and a half years. The changes were all aimed at making the deck faster, more efficient, and more reliable.

Let me clarify, your deck is sorted differently, is this a feature I'm merely unaware of?

Why the cut of Hinder and Homeward Path ?

@CharlesMandore: See the newest post in the Site Updates forum. You can now tag cards and choose to sort the decklist by tags (you can actually choose from a number of default sorts).

@imarockyou: I cut Hinder for testing purposes. I want to experiment with 37 lands in the deck, and Hinder is kind of awkward to use. Yes, it's very effective at stopping generals, but it's also a three-mana counterspell. Homeward Path didn't really prove very useful in the competitive environment. Although it's a good card, it isn't relevant often enough for me to justify running it instead of another on-color land.

no negate?

@atgarnett: Negate is good, to be sure, but I don't think it's better than the counterspells I currently run. There could be some argument as to whether it's more optimal than the fully-saturated, three-mana Voidslime, I suppose.

Have you considered Library of Alexandria? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

It's not a very difficult consideration since it's banned.

And now I feel dumb. Haha. Sorry, I'm not very familiar with the EDH banlists.

If it weren't, it would certainly be in the deck.

What do you think about Empty the Pits? I have a list similar to yours but I have had some good success with the card since it's instant and can typically catch others off guard.

@Jigsaw107: Empty the Pits isn't useful in this deck. I almost never attack, and the deck's sole purpose is to combo. I don't want to include non-combo cards that don't support the win conditions; it's not an efficient or effective use of deck space.

I doubt any one has asked you this but what cards could be added or removed to make it 'more fun' to play and play against?

@atgarnett:
More fun to play? Probably nothing. Fun is subjective, and I love playing high-power decks in high-pressure games. I don't like randomness or the theme decks that are most often associated with "fun" EDH.

More fun to play against? Not sure. That's not really my issue. I only play this deck in competitive environments where it's understood that this is the caliber of deck that everyone's bringing to the table.

Of course, if you wanted to adapt the deck for your own playgroup, you'd have to be careful. Combo-control is a very oppressive archetype, and it does not fit into all playgroups. You'd probably be better off building something else for a casual pod.

I'm more strongly considering cutting Voidslime and adding Diabolic Intent. It seems like the most appropriate cut at the current moment. See the "Possible cuts" and "Possible additions" sections of the primer for an explanation.

Due to Diabolic Intent's sorcery speed, I would rather propose Negate as a replacement for Voidslime. Grim Tutor also seems to be largely better than Intent due to the unreliability of having an insignificant creature to sacrifice.

@Orbrunner: I could test Negate, I suppose.

Sorcery speed doesn't really hurt Diabolic Intent. The significant thing is that the card goes directly to my hand. And I usually have a creature to sacrifice (typically a ramp creature).

I don't like Grim Tutor because it's . Increased cost is a very big deal in this deck, and it's the reason I'm considering cutting Voidslime and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Higher costs are a lot harder to work around because they force me to wait longer for a card to become viable and to delay more actions because I need more mana to cast each spell.

The 1-black-mana difference is very significant, yes. It's the reason that I prefer Toxic Deluge over Damnation in this deck. However, in this case, the cost of the creature may also need to be factored in, and that can raise the functional cost of the tutor. In addition, sacrificing a ramp creature is effectively a negative ramp; this leads to my preferring the 1-mana-higher Grim Tutor. That said, I think that both Grim and Intent should be tested in that slot if you choose to go with the tutor rather than the counterspell.