Maybe consider Negate over Memory Lapse or Vendilion Clique. It's really fun to take away a combo piece that you know they are holding.

Heck, if its no holds barred, nobody has ever mentioned the total advantage you get with the card Telepathy. Maybe they have... idk?

The Diabolic Intent has been trying to make it's way into your deck for a long while. If you don't mind changing color. I'm sure you have already considered these cards, but its always fun to hear your reasoning.

Negate is certainly a possibility, but it would be a meta call, I think. If you're up against lots of creature-based decks (e.g., Animar, Hermit Druid) or cheat-into-play decks (e.g., Zur, Sharuum), then it's pretty bad.

There have been various other counterspells printed in Khans block that I haven't fully assessed, but I suspect it'll just be more balancing the shortcomings and picking what's tailored to the meta.

Telepathy never really struck me as great in competitive EDH. There's certainly something to be said for that kind of advantage, but it costs you a card and you still need to play around what they could possibly get, not just what they have. You end up being in about the same position; if you're playing properly, then you're prepared for almost anything your opponents could have. All Telepathy does is remove some doubt; it doesn't usually change how you play all that much.

It's been so long since I played this deck that I'm not sure I ever will test many of the cards in the maybeboard. I guess at this point that's something I'll leave to anyone building the deck.

The other thing is that Telepathy pulls a stupid amount of hate. People don't like playing with their hands revealed, especially in combo heavy metas. And they will punish you for running the card.

What do you usually name with Cavern of Souls? Is it the same every time or does it depend?

I was finally able to complete this deck (minus Imperial Seal, maybe in a couple of months I'll get one). I know that this isn't a easy deck that you can just play so I did a little testing last night. Getting land out is a complete joke. 3 games by turn 3 I have like 6-7 lands out with my commander out to refresh my hand the next turn. 2 of those I was able to combo out, but the third game I thought was the best. Turn 4 had the following out Commander, Crucible of Worlds, Burgeoning, Exploration, and Azusa, Lost but Seeking. With 2 fetches in the graveyard. Turn 5 drew Intuition, was thinking okay what to pull and how can I get the combo going, then I smiled and laughed pick another fetch, Strip Mine, and Wasteland. Granted I couldn't combo out, but on each of my turns I could destroy 4 lands. Once all lands were destroyed I could fetch the rest of mine, attack with commander and wait for combo. Plus I had like 4 counters in my hand.

Well, I went ahead - and against my better judgement - did a few rounds of playtesting. I constantly ran into a problem. Out of the five times I play-tested it into a "resonable" kill or combo finish, I got Azsua twice, once she netted me a grand total of one extra land drop, and the other time I got four extra land drops.

Consider replacing with Urban Evolution; or just Explore. I find Azusa to normally not be worth it in decks that run less then 40 lands. And when you're cutting your land count down with Fetches (though the effect is minimal) she becomes even less useful.

Now, this is just through observation of the Tappedout testing enginge, and maybe your actual real world results have varied.

Just my 2.c.

@Joz I know what you mean about Azusa, Lost but Seeking, same goes for counterspells. Some tests I had like 6 of them in starting hand. I think where she shines is when you have Damia, Sage of Stone out with 1-2 cards in your hand. Next turn drawing 5-6 cards there is a good chance to get 2+ lands in that draw. She is just another means to play more then 1 land a turn. She is good at the start of the game but towards the end not so much, but at least you can use her as a blocker. This deck is so crazy on what you can do and what I wrote might not even be why Epochalyptik included her in the deck.

Although it's true that Azusa, Lost but Seeking becomes less effective in decks that run fewer lands, the aggressive ramp package is what allows this deck to accelerate as hard as it does. Azusa becomes an all-star with either Crucible of Worlds or Damia out, and it's not outrageously expensive to cast.

In contrast, Urban Evolution is pretty high on the curve, and it's slow overall. Explore is an ok card, but I don't think it generates enough advantage.

My paper testing generally proves Azusa to be useful; the TappedOut tester can be finicky at times.

I definitely appreciate the testing, though! If you have any other observations, let me know.

Other then suggesting High Market, and/or Bojuka Bog, I've got nothing. I'm a casual battlecruiser player; and competitive things make my skin blister ;D

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/damia-battlecruiser-sage/

I have been using Rites of Refusal as a counterspell and it works very well. Most of the time discarding one card works, sometimes two, never had to go three.

@Joz: High Market doesn't offer a ton to the deck. It's a card that's only really useful for beating theft and exile effects, and I would need to have it out already in order to counteract those threats. Because it doesn't tap for color, and because those threats are uncommon and easily mitigated by countermagic, I don't think it's necessary to include High Market.

Same for Bojuka Bog. The fact that it enters tapped is a detriment. Combined with the fact that it can't be fetched, this means that it's a dangerous choice to include in a competitive environment. The loss in tempo isn't really worth a sorcery-speed, tempo-eating solution to the limited number of graveyard strategies (of which there are few that countermagic doesn't address).

@EDHLOVE: Rites of Refusal isn't something I want to include. It's in the same vein as Forbid. Given that you have to both discard and pay , it's a risky play that doesn't offer enough advantage for its investment.

After play-testing Frontier Siege I can say there is absolutely nothing anyone can say or do that will make me remove it from the deck. The longer the game drags out the more value u get from it, the card is amazing.

Also, Palinchron is terrible and I've removed it.

Fly927 Palinchron is the win condition of this deck. You do realize you aren't attacking with him just using him to get infinite mana with Deadeye Navigator or Phantasmal Image.

Fly927: I suggest reading the primer. It's a great way to understand the deck and to understand that Palinchron is extremely important to this deck, without it the chances of you winning is almost none, because this is competitive edh.

Part of me wonders if there was a hint of sarcasm to said comment. Palinchron + Deadeye Navigator has to be one of the most well known infinite mana combos in the format. At least I'm hoping it was sarcasm....

Wut

Have you considered Disrupt?

The only real advantage to Disrupt is the cantrip. Granted, that's a strong advantage, and even Force Spike can win a counter war now and then, but Spell Pierce and hard counters are better at being counterspells. If you can tie up your opponent's , you're basically forcing him or her to spend another counterspell's worth of mana.

That said, though, I encourage those who play a variant of this deck to test Disrupt for themselves.

Was wondering why Worldly Tutor isn't on your radar?

Have you considered running Mikaeus, the Unhallowed+Triskelion as an alternate Tooth and Nail target if one of your other win cons are in your graveyard?

@EDHLOVE: I generally prefer the more flexible tutors because I'm typically looking for noncreature cards, but I suppose Worldly Tutor warrants testing in the deck (for those who run a variant, anyway; I don't play anymore).

@MTGMachine: That's covered in the primer, but, to summarize here, those cards only really function in conjunction with one another. Outside of their singular combo, they don't offer very much to the deck, they're expensive, and they're dead draws. I would first try to incorporate an alternate win con that at least shares pieces with the deck's current combos, as that would better improve the deck's flexibility and resilience.

What do you think of the new origins card "alhammarret's archive", "If you would gain life, you gain twice that much life instead. If you would draw a card except the first one you draw in each of your draw steps, draw two cards instead."

It's very expensive, and it doesn't really do much for me, to be honest. It's only really functional if I have my general or Sylvan Library out, which means it's plus the cost of either of those cards.

CMC 5 is a pretty awkward spot on the curve for a combo control deck. It limits you to the midgame because you won't have that much on turn one or turn two (most of the time), and you'd need to invest a majority of your resources to cast it, meaning there's little left over for countermagic or acceleration. Given that it doesn't do anything on its own, this is an unwise investment.

@ Epochalyptik, you know what I just re-read it and thought it was anytime you draw a card besides the first one, but now i see that you can only use it on your turn. I was thinking Consecrated Sphinx with this card. I forgot about Sylvan Library, that is just crazy card draw. I do see were you are coming from with the mana cost. I thought it was cheaper, I didn't pay too much attention to the cost just the ability. If something was made with just the second ability, what do you think would be a good cost to be considered to be put into the deck or would it still not be cosidered.

It functions on all turns, meaning that it functions with Consecrated Sphinx as well, but it's still just very expensive.

As for what would be an acceptable cost, I'm not sure. It all depends on the design of the card itself: colors, cost, effect, etc. This particular effect isn't super valuable, though, because it merely enhances one of a very small number of other cards. It serves no function on its own.