I wouldn't take a risk like that considering how heavily the deck relies on Tooth and Nail.

Mystical Teachings seem like an expensive and selective tutor for a deck like this, any reasoning for this?

Plus, do you have any advice for testing specific cards?

@Fly927: I would shy away from the bounce lands. Generally speaking, they're bad in competitive metas because you get two-for-oned by common LD like Strip Mine and Wasteland. You don't entirely negate that by playing Exploration effects, even if you do somewhat mitigate it. Also, you want to avoid ETB-tapped lands; tempo is important for this deck.

Lion's Eye Diamond is terrible. People have, in the past, proposed it as a way of getting Damia out and justified the proposition by saying that Damia refills your hand, but the issue is that you have no hand left and you're banking on Damia surviving a turn cycle without protection. It's simply a bad play.

Somberwald Sage is ineffective. It would only be useful for casting Damia or one of the combo creatures, but a summoning-sick three-drop isn't the best acceleration for either, and I rarely cast the combo pieces.

Alchemist's Refuge isn't critical, but you can add it if you're building a lower-level version of the deck. Winding Canyons isn't particularly useful because the creatures can be cast on your turn without the extra ", " investment. It might be alright for EOTing Damia, but that's about it. And even then, you'd still need to have counterspell protection.

@biggestmtgnerd: Although that's a possible approach, it's extremely mana intensive because it requires you to entwine Tooth and Nail twice before you can initiate the combo. For that reason, it's rarely ever relevant.

@NateJH: Mystical Teachings is one of those cards that could be cut if something better or testworthy came along. The instant speed and flashback makes it useful because you can EOT it to find Vampiric Tutor or Mystical Tutor, then get Tooth and Nail, and then use it again after the combo to find Blue Sun's Zenith or Snapcaster Mage. It can also fetch Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, and when Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is out, it can fetch any creature in the deck.

As for test advice, I guess you'll have to be more specific. Like what do I look for, how do evaluate, what do I cut, or what?

what about Eternal Witness and Palinchron, which taps the lands so you can cast Tooth and Nail again for teferi and navigator

Again, it's a possible play, but it doesn't make more sense than the currently-preferred approaches. With your play, Palinchron is sitting on the board without much help. Also, the reason you get Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is to prevent people from doing anything for the rest of your turn; it doesn't make as much sense to get it after you've assembled the rest of the combo. You'd want it out ASAP.

It's also difficult to discuss these situations because they depend largely on the board state and what you have in hand. There may be a case in which an alternate T&N fetch is more appropriate.

I'm quite satisfied with your well reasoned responses to my card suggestions so I'm pulling my trump card Crop Rotation.

@Fly927: Crop Rotation does have specific applications, but it doesn't really demonstrate its potential in this deck.

The two real fetches here are Boseiju, Who Shelters All and Cavern of Souls because they both help to protect the combo. But because the sacrifice is an additional cost to cast Crop Rotation, and because those lands aren't irreplaceable elements of the game plan, the risk to reward ratio is a bit less favorable than would be optimal.

I see it as more of a meta-response pick than a mainboard inclusion. If it's something that helps you survive a high-control meta, then it's probably worth at least testing. But it doesn't offer enough for me to consider it a general-use card in the 99.

Yea i thought it would work amazing with those two cards in particular or for Homeward Path against Merieke Ri Berit and Bribery or to search for Dryad Arbor when you need to sac a creature to stax effects. Is there any way to utilize Cursed Totem and things like Trinisphere to stop or slow down Hermit Druid? Also how about Autumn's Veil?

Cursed Totem is a bad idea because my combo is based on creatures' activated abilities.

Trinisphere is a possible board option, but I have no testing experience with it.

Autumn's Veil may warrant testing, but I remain skeptical until I see how it performs.

I think Green Sun's Zenith has a pitiful amount of targets there may be a better straight to the battlefield tutor.Chord of Calling might prove more useful in this list considering all your low cost dorks and its instant speed capabilities.

Green Sun's Zenith is far, far cheaper than Chord of Calling. Most of the creatures I'd have out when I cast either would be mana dorks anyway, so the convoke isn't going to provide enough of a boost to offset the extra .

I do sometimes wish that Green Sun's Zenith could find any creature card, but I wouldn't be using it to initiate a combo anyway.

I got 500th upvote!!!

slinks back into corner

You've had Living Wish on your sideboard for a while now, have you thought about the possibility of a wishboard?

Cunning Wish might also be a card worth considering - it means you can run things like Shadow of Doubt / other niche cards without having to make mainboard space for them. The other benefit is that you can run backup pieces to your combos (like Stroke of Genius as a backup for Blue Sun's Zenith, Turnabout as a backup for Palinchron) or gives you access to cards like Snuff Out or Murderous Cut for when you need more removal.

I can't determine whether Tibbles has been waiting for that.

@enpc: I'm not sure which update has eaten it, but there was a fairly developed discussion of wishboards earlier in the deck's history. I really haven't given any further thought to it, though. I'm no longer actively developing this deck.

I like the potential that the wishes have in expanding the deck's flexibility, but I don't really know what I would drop to run them (probably Mystical Tutor and Memory Lapse; I don't remember whether I already dropped Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Voidslime). I also don't have the opportunity to test them.

No comment.

just a thought - also sorry for the stupid post on Chromat - if you have infinite mana up for blinking anyway why wouldnt you run Wall of Blossoms, Elvish Visionary, Baleful Strix or a combination of the three+ over Rune-Scarred Demon to dig up USZ - I really dont see the point of spending 7 mana for no reason (even if you have inf)

Rune-Scarred Demon allows me to tutor regardless of whether I have infinite mana or not. I sometimes pick Palinchron and Rune-Scarred Demon, find Deadeye Navigator, and combo out. I can't do that with a regular draw effect.

I was wondering how Lotus Petal compares with Grim Monolith.

Capsize?

I've been running a deck a lot like this, and have been pondering the spot for Memory Lapse and whether I should replace it with Delay. In your opinion, why does Lapse make the cut Above the other? Is it just personal choice, or is the shift in difference big enough to make it understandable?

@wtfmidun: I haven't tested Lotus Petal in this deck, so I'm not sure how it stacks up. I'll add it to the maybeboard.

@EDHLOVE: Capsize was cut from this deck a long time ago. It's inefficient as a regular spell, and I don't like running win conditions that can't function on their own if I need them to.

@Silverf1sh: Memory Lapse's main advantage was that it could prevent an immediate commander recast, but that's no longer true as of the rules change earlier this year.

As for whether it's now better than Delay, the answer is situational. Memory Lapse is good against expensive spells because it forces the caster to pay for the spell again. It also screws the opponent's next draw because they're just getting something that they used to have. Delay is better if you need to keep something off the field for a few turns so you can combo out or at least establish greater advantage. Your choice between them should be informed by your meta and needs.

I'm currently looking to cut Memory Lapse if I need space for other cards.

Have you gotten around to testing Frontier Siege? It's pulled some serious weight in my stax deck. Albeit my deck runs Contamination effects, and that might be making it feel stronger than it may be.

I haven't tested it yet. I don't know if I ever will; I don't play anymore. I keep this list up as a community reference and to promote discussion about BUG combo-control in general. I'm more of a theorist than a player at this point.

This is the link to the deck i am currently building. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bug-edh-control/ (when i started building it i got yourand this one screwed up when i started proxying. But it is based off of yours i know you dont critique decks but i just wanted to know which cards would be better left out to allow switching between pod and 1v1. I usually play 1v1 against esper. And the deck is mostly proxied as i am buying the deck card by card

That's a link to someone else's deck. I don't know if you intended to do that.