I say more land. I don't think 20 is enough.

Well, in testing (using Snapcaster Mage as the 2 cards, which actually have been underperforming here), I've found that having an opener with 1 or 2 land and a Simian Spirit Guide or Pentad Prism is more than enough to push the combo out. But I'll definitely consider more lands; any suggestions on what lands they should be?

WOW!!! I just realized that they loop together. That's awesome. +1

Yep xD Thanks for the +1!

No problem. This deck is hilarious. It reminds me of a deck that I used to play. I used Arcane Melee, Mystic Retrieval, and Runic Repetition. My best friend wouldn't play me after a while lol. Keep improving the deck and losing your friends along the way lol.

That's just mean, lol. Thanks for the kind words! I intend to have this deck in paper someday, minus the really expensive stuff.

(Oops apparently TappedOut is weird so I have to put Eternal Dominion and Biorhythm up here for suggestion purposes)

I think Iona, Shield of Emeria is just better than Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite out of the SB. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is really great in the MUs that Cruel Ultimatum already wins (coughzoocough), but Iona, Shield of Emeria is better against the more difficult matchups. For example, Iona on Red beats Burn, and beats Storm unless they've boarded in Echoing Truth. If you're having massive problems against Affinity, then Elesh makes sense, but I would rather have the Living Lore combo online against Affinity, especially since you could just "imprint" it with Damnation and win.

Also, I think that Kolaghan's Command DEFINITELY belongs in the MB. It's great against a lot of decks, it lets you dump things, and it loops with Living Lore to beat Affinity in G1, which seems almost impossible otherwise (You can Cruel Ultimatum and they'll probably just sac something useless and win, because Affinity is insane most of the time).

Enter the Infinite also seems like it makes sense. If you know that they don't have counterspells in hand, Enter the Infinite + Lightning Storm just straight-up wins. Even if they survive, you can now Noxious Revival a Living Lore and finish them with Cruel Ultimatum.

Lastly, I think Eternal Dominion for Tron (or other stuff, doesn't really matter) and Biorhythm in the SB for control might be really, really fun, although I'm not sure if they're actually good or not. I would try cutting the Pithing Needles for them, unless you have something specific that you're trying to hit.

This deck looks like a lot of fun, and I hope you have luck playing it. Cheers!

I agree with the Iona, Shield of Emeria argument; I'll replace Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and test it out vs the decks you mentioned.

I didn't realize that about Kolaghan's Command, absolutely brilliant! I'll definitely find 2 spots main, and maybe even a 3rd in the SB.

The original deck by Twoo ran Enter the Infinite and Lightning Storm, actually, but I decided to not go for an all-in strategy. In testing that list, I found that if 4 copies were in, I drew too much. If 1 copy was in, I never hit it. Of course, Gifts Ungiven helps with this, but I'm hesitant to cut more things to fit the 2 cards in.

Not quite sure what you mean by Eternal Dominion in here. I don't like the Epic ability on it, as it breaks any loops with Living Lore. I like Biorhythm, actually; could be a really strong answer vs control as you mentioned. I'll test it.

And Pithing Needle is in for Splinter Twin and any sac outlet like Viscera Seer for Collected Company combo. I'd really like to keep it in, but I'd be willing to cut them for better alternatives.

Thanks for the suggestions!

i knew Living Lore was an amazing card, now im glad i got it as my promo from prerelease. once i have more time/money i might try to build a deck like this. +1!!

Thanks for the +1! And yeah, this deck is a BLAST to play. It does require a lot of thinking and planning though, so be warned! I'd recommend you try it out tho.

Uhh... question? Is the combo just getting value from the ultimatum or should living lore be casting ultimatum again and again? Because Living lore just exiles the sorcery and copies it but doesn't return the card back to the graveyard when sacced.

The way the combo works is that Cruel Ultimatum is exiled with Living Lore. When Lore deals combat damage, we sacrifice it to cast Ultimatum. This puts Ultimatum on the stack. If it resolves, its effects happen and it's sent to the graveyard like any normal sorcery. Only now, since we sacrificed Lore to cast Ultimatum, we can actually pick up the Lore from our grave and re cast it, exiling that same Ultimatum with it once more since it was in our graveyard when we cast it.

Hope that's not confusing lol.

Glad this list was inspiration for you :)

On the lands, I usually find myself having too many of them honestly. The deck needs 4 lands to run, although it could run with less if you've got Simian Spirit Guide and/or Pentad Prism. And I wouldn't know where to begin cutting things to make four open spots here.

But thanks for the +1, got it up to 10! XD

Very very nice, but if i were you id figure out how to give it haste.

car: Hall of the Bandit Lord, with Expedition Map to tutor.

oh, ok. sorry

i finally managed to build a "casual" version of this deck, so far has only worked 2 out of like 10 times xD and my alternate win-con is Sphinx's Tutelage for milling. living ultimatum

i'd take out the Noxious Revival for Entomb. the revival only puts the card on top of your deck, which means you have to wait for it, and is way too slow. the entomb can directly search out your expensive sorceries straight from your deck to your grave, or it can put the Living Lore into your grave to be returned with a Kolaghan's Command you have in hand.

colton815 - Unfortunately Entomb isnt modern legal