this is an amazing deck, and i'm in love with the theme! im glad someone else listens to nightwish lol. this is definitely something i would work on with my extra vadrok i pulled

AvacynAngelofHope: I'm really glad you enjoy it! And yeah, I was very happy when I thought up this theme -- if you DO build Vadrok, let me know how she treats you ;)

Awhile since last I comment on this deck. I really like what you have so far; how detailed it is, it really explains the card choices and fun to read. What bothers most about this masterpiece no white cards. Can you elaborate why no Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares?

Viera: The most honest answer is "because I don't want to"? I really want to build this as an actively Izzet deck; I've only bent my rule on Sevinne's Reclamation and Jeskai Ascendancy because they REALLY advance my gameplan in a way that removal (even powerful removal) doesn't (enabling combos and creature recursion).

But the bigger reason is because I only run 6 cards in the deck that can produce white mana. Jeskai Ascendancy/Sevinne's Reclamation are at their best when I can discard them THEN cast them, whereas Swords to Plowshares is only REALLY good here if I can do it twice. I just don't want to drift any further into Jeskai.

If you like the deck, you're welcome to leave me a +1!

I left my like long during its pre-deck stage. Upvote aside I see where you are coming from. Keep up the good work.

What are your thoughts on Dreadhorde Arcanist? it could be a good body for mutuate and it could give you access to some more graveyard spells when it attacks, if Vadrok is on top you could cast a 3cmc spell, but the downside is it would then get exiled I guess.

Poly_raptor: The exiling clause is rough. I actually did test with Arcanist, and he was... hit or miss. Often I want to recast my best spell repeatedly with Vadrok, which means I can't cast it with Dreadhorde... I'm not sure. It never really EXCITED me to have in hand, ya know?

Been dabbling with things on my own Vadrok list, especially as I see the effect Jeska Ascendency can have in the mix. Wow. I've been trying to make sure I had some tap abilities on my creatures. There is some access to Porcuparrot. But the main items I wanted to mention were Mishra's Factory and especially Fatestitcher as ways to generate more mana in the middle of a Ascendency powered turn. The factory is just an efficient manland, nice to park Vadrok on or under in a pinch after a board wipe, or while expecting one. While the Fatestitcher's ability to untap things, as well as be super efficient if he was in the graveyard can really bend an Ascendency turn as well.

What about Stuffy Doll and Pariah? Stuffy gives needed evasion, allowing you control over the mutation. And pariah helps prevent ppl attacking you, AND fits within the 3 cmc build.

+1 For the nightwish reference! :D My personal faves from them are Elan and Escapist!

For those keeping track. Oh wow does Jeskai Ascendancy change the tier of these decks. You will want to have the right playgroup before you go off with an Ascendency powered turn. At least on M:TGO a group needs to be all in to accept a turn where you take 10 minutes of getting 3 spells for one cast, and managing 12 triggers as a result. And you're just iterating off these spells to keep casting more spells. Effective, but a real time burner of a kill turn. At which point I decided that for my playgroup... no Ascendency... but also I built a version that doubled down on being competitive. Like Vadrok naturally likes Cephalid Illusionist. For compactness, that line of play is Illusionist, Thassa's Oracle and Shaman en-Kor. And then the Blinkmoth lands and a couple other manlands as they work with Fatestitcher and Emry, Lurker of the Loch

Apologies that I haven't responded recently, I've been super busy!

Brefin: I am definitely tempted by Fatestitcher in Ascendancy turns... I could also run Brain Freeze as a mana generator in Ascendancy turns, since they're almost always also Breach turns -- with Brain Freeze, I can generate extra mill and graveyard fuel to play Dockside Extortionist and bounce him repeatedly. My primary limitation when going off with Ascendancy tends to be GY size more than mana, honestly, since my primary engine with Ascendancy (Frantic Search + Breach) doesn't actually cost any mana. Outside of that combo, I use Ascendancy more as a value piece... Also, just be aware that when anything like Inkmoth Nexus is activated, Vadrok is a 1/1. As in, if Vadrok is mutated onto Inkmoth, you can only choose between a 3/3 without infect or a 1/1 with infect -- for that matter, when it's a 1/1, it'll lose first strike too. The "becomes a" clause overwrites anything granted by mutation. The interaction between these lands and Ascendancy is really sweet, though... Maybe I'll put Inkmoth back in. Who knows.

Paeldroth: I'm not sure that those two do quite what this deck wants, honestly. Neither fits on its own, though obviously the combo is awesome (assuming no one has exiling removal) -- neither Stuffy Doll nor Pariah synergize with the rest of this deck, honestly. Also, I'm not super interested in adding another white card right now, especially if it isn't integral to my plans. Thank you for the suggestion, though!

MapPsycho: I love the band :D Endless Forms Most Beautiful is my favorite, haha, which is why I'm so happy I got to theme a mutate-centric deck around it...

Daedalus19876 tbh I think I was more excited at the prospect of mutating onto Stuffy than thinking thru how it would work, lol. I'm going to try it out with my own Vadrok tho!

Cool deck! You might like these: Intuition, Burning Inquiry, Firestorm, Thrill of Possibility, Honor the God-Pharaoh, Turbulent Dreams, Wheel of Fate, Spellseeker, Wild Research, Whirlwind of Thought, Psychotic Fury, Spark Double, Mist-Syndicate Naga, Recruiter of the Guard, Vedalken Mastermind, Unquestioned Authority

Trying something new -- can I make this deck ACTUALLY just blue-red?

IE, cut Jeskai Ascendancy and Sevinne's Reclamation, and still have it function correctly?

Testing changes -- REMOVED: Jeskai Ascendancy, Careful Study, Sevinne's Reclamation, Thassa's Oracle, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Pollywog Symbiote, Cephalid Coliseum, Abrade, Curator's Ward.

ADDED: Mist-Syndicate Naga, Island, Brain Freeze, High Tide, Lightning Bolt, Mana Drain, See the Truth, Curse of Opulence, Thousand-Year Storm.

Ascendancy-Breach-Frantic loop replaced with TYS-Breach-Frantic into fifty Lightning Bolts.

Holy crap that new thousand year storm combo! I would love to see your opponents faces when that goes off! >:D

My face would be all mouth... as my jaw hit the floor. XD

MapPsycho: I got to do it yesterday!

why the mist-syndicate naga?

tstiffler21: If I mutate onto it, when it copies itself it clones all mutations (assuming I keep Vadrok as the bottom card, to avoid problems with the legendary rule). So 1) I get increasing numbers of 3/1 flying creatures with first strike, and 2) if the original dies, I can mutate the original onto a copy of itself and double up on the triggers. It might not stay after testing.

thanks! i was just curious was all. im about 75% with building your deck in paper and im going to test it out. just wasnt sure how mutate went with copying it went, it seems strong tho. im thinking of adding malignus to try to get in for commander damage but not quite sure on that yet.

tstiffler21: Yeah, I ran Malignus for a long time! But the issue I ran into is that the 5 mana for a creature without protection can be rough -- I've had Vadrok destroyed by spot removal too many times. Still, if you can make it work, go for it! :)

thanks for the info! if i come up with anything else i think would be good ill let you know!

Further change: Ghostly Pilferer, Electrolyze, and Teferi, Master of Time over Looter il-Kor, Wild Research, and Curse of Opulence. We'll see how those changes go!

Hey Daed!

List looks really refined, not exactly sure what I would cut for Unsubstantiate!

Looking at it I'm kinda thinking Rielle, the Everwise since Vadrok can't mutate onto her and seems really niche. Underworld Breach is also a possibility in my mind. To me it makes more sense to try and keep as much stuff in the grave as possibly for Vadrok, but I can also see how it could be extremely useful. I'm really grasping at straws here though, I have no idea.

These are really just pet cards of mine, but I could see them being effective here: Ral, Storm Conduit and Niv-Mizzet, Parun. These seem like they could be fun and a good payoff for Thousand-Year copying in the case of Ral and all the card draw in the case of Niv. Your deck already runs cards that are probably better, so I completely understand if you don't want to run them.

Anyway, just my 2 cents. Wasn't really sure what to say because the deck was so good already!