MagicBlues

Perpetual Timepiece is an interesting one, although just shuffling the cards in doesnt quite do what I want. A similar card that could be a consideration is Codex Shredder, although the recursion is quite pricy. But being able to stock our graveyard every turn is super nice, and it plays amazingly with Sensei's Divining Top. Ill have to think on it!

Ad Nauseam if I can get rid of some expensive wipes is a fantastic idea. Im still on the fence about the sideboard idea but I will almost certainly make this change if I move forward with that idea in mind!

Thanks for the comments! I appreciate the chance to discuss the deck, which I put a lot of time into!

Hey Philoctetes! I just wanted to say that I have been looking at all of your decks and I F*CKING love them! They are all awesome ideas and I hope I can learn something from them! I have made too many concepts on my account but I only own a couple of them. The only problem about your decks that is see is that they are damn expensive but I love them nonetheless. I'm very glad I got to see them because they are so damn cool! Thanks!!!

Hey Jarebear97!

Thank you for the kind words! I am so glad that you have found some inspiration from my lists. I put a lot of time and mental energy into them and for you to have gotten something out of that is really awesome =).

In regards to budget - my decks have certainly gotten quite expensive, haha, no doubt about that. At least the ones that I continually update and have uploaded to TappedOut - I have 12 total, the rest are more budget brews for the most part. Would it be helpful for you if I were to address budget options in individual card sections? There are plenty of options along that front that are currently in my "Notable Exclusions" section, but I never really speak to it.

Ultimately all of these decks started as reasonably budget decks and evolved over time based on me being greedy for power >.<

@Philoctetes

I understand that cards get progressively more expensive over the years. That makes sense. Don't worry about the budget options as I'm not planning on COMPLETELY buying your decks. I just might look at them when I get a commander idea and maybe steal a couple of cards. Thank you for the options though!!!

This deck is sweet. I'm throwing it together in paper currently, and when I get it done I'm definitely going to be doing some playtesting on this.

Small thought: If Young Pyromancer were to come in, would battle hymn be worth it?

@chrishuffman95

Thanks so much! I am ecstatic that I may have someone to bounce some actual play-tested ideas off of! Definitely keep me up to date on any experiences you have with the deck.

I definitely think a Young Pyromancer type package can work, but it will take quite a few slots to make it effective, since there is no additional synergy out of the command zone. I had such a package included for awhile, but I never went in deep enough to make Battle Hymn feel particularly powerful.

Some cards to consider for such a package that would make Battle Hymn powerful - Monastery Mentor, Goblinslide, Empty the Warrens, Haze of Rage. And in general, just going a bit more creature heavy, cantrip creatures like Wall of Omens and Dusk Legion Zealot could theoretically work.

Happy brewing!

@Everyone

Thank you all for the continued interest in this wonky Mardu storm build! I am far from optimized, so stay tuned and I will continue to acquire some power to insert and keep tuning this project.

Today we hit 50 Upvotes, which I don't put a ton of stock in other than as a benchmark for whether people feel that they are getting something out of the brew.

Happy brewing, thanks again for the interest!

What do you think of Reaping the Rewards? Early game it can get Licia out slightly faster, late game it can be a bomb with Guttersnipe.

@onehitterquiter

Hey! Thanks for looking through the deck!

Reaping the Rewards I have never considered the card before, but I really like the idea! I am adding it to the maybeboard and will be thinking on it for awhile, because I do think it has some potential.

If only it was black or red mana it would be a shoo-in I feel. White mana is often the chokepoint, but I can see this offering a way to bleed off some excess white mana while upping our spell count by 3 or 4 on it's own which is nothing to sneeze at, while also offering us a way to enable casting Licia multiple times during a Burnt Offering sequence. Very cool suggestion!

Glad I could offer something to consider! Not sure if this card is worth including just for the filtering effect, but I've seen Blood Celebrant work well in decks that use rituals to explode in one turn. Anyway this deck is very cool, great job.

Dunno if you've been looking at battlebond stuff, but theres some stuff notable for this deck, apart from the new duals (come in untapped if you have multiple opponents :O )

Off the top of my head the big one i can think of is Sentinel Tower, which might be able to replace guttersnipe or act as a second copy if you'd like (while initially not putting out as much damage, the turret starts to ramp up quickly into a very high amount of damage, and if people start casting spells to interact with you they're only speeding it up, and on top of that its an artifact making it harder to interact it)

oh, something id like to add to my previous statement, if you're not ready to go off tower can be a removal and stall tool till you are.

@onehitterquiter

Blood Celebrant is another interesting one! With how tight any cuts are I don’t think I’ll be able to fit in pure filtering, but an interesting card for sure!

@jj4622

I have looked through the spoilers, I am actually putting together wha my additions will be now. Sentinel Tower is an absolute house, I love the card and it will be making its way in for all the reasons you’ve mentioned, essentially acting as Aetherflux Reservoir #2.

Another card I’m strongly considering is Bonus Round. Being able to double ritual followed by double tutor essentially guarantees we can go off.

Oh yeah bonus round is a shoe in, reverberate EVERYTHING

The only suggestion I have is Commune with Lava. I feel like the turn before you feel you want to go off it can add some extra gas without having to dedicate lots of mana during your storm turn. I know it’s really janky but I had to at least mention it.

Love this deck! I'm building a much more straightforward, durdly deck with Licia (Licia Drinks Her Sunny D) and don't care much for combo as a general rule, but this is a pretty cool idea and nicely out of the box for a Voltron-like commander like Licia.

Since you're all-in on the "storm out and win in one or two turns" plan, have you considered Final Fortune or Glorious End? The latter, especially, seems like a worthwhile addition to help you steal victory right out from under another combo player who's trying to go off.

Don't feel obligated to respond, this is kind of unreasonable and unrelated.

Do you believe that this deck can work on a hardcore budget?(under $100) I initially thought that most of its 'core' cards aren't super expensive, and i was interested in building this. after looking at the more costly cards, it looks like most of the extra money is in tutors and the manabase - do you think it can be done? or does the combo need those cheap cards so badly? This is what I have so far:

Yawgmoth's Will -> Recoup --- Fork -> Mana Geyser --- Entomb -> Demonic Collusion --- Sensei's Divining Top -> Crystal Ball This one is sketchy --- Demonic Tutor -> Tainted Pact --- Vampiric Tutor -> Diabolic Tutor --- Serra Ascendant -> Sphinx-Bone Wand --- Phyrexian Arena -> Ambition's Cost ---- Austere Command -> Planar Cleansing --- Necropotence -> Painful Truths --- Cloud Key -> primal amulet --- Lotus Petal -> Pentad Prism --- Tithe -> Terrarion --- Abeyance -> Niveous Wisps ---

Hello all! Sorry for the lack of response, I’ve been focused on other decks recently but I wanted to stop in and give a decent response because I know lots of folks are interested in the build.

@iBurgerKing - I do feel that Commune with Lava is a reasonable inclusion, for the exact reasons you’ve mentioned. Perhaps I’ll have to find a spot for it, cuts are always tough!

@harbingerofduh - traditionally I’m against combo as well, this all sort of derived organically off of the old “fair” version of the deck that was simply “spells matter” with Extort effects. But I’m pretty happy having my lone all in combo build, it can be fun to play solitaire from time to time!

I do love the Final Fortune suggestion in particular, I feel it could do some real work basically accelerating our combo turn by +1. I may find a spot for it!

@DofaLord - not unreasonable at all! It’s totally understandable to want to make this deck budget, Licia is the queen of jank so why not lean into it and save your wallet while at it?

I think going budget with your proposed edits is probably quite feasible, but the deck will likely run several turns slower on the combo. The one card I encourage shelling out for (other than Yawgmoth's Will which is like the whole budget) is Sensei's Divining Top. Once we have a Helm of Awakening effect on the field that card literally just doubles the storm count for every cantrip we play for free.

I absolutely love your deck! I've been a vampire player since the day I got into MTG and when C17 spoiled Edgar Markov I immediately went Aristocrat/Storm. Your build seems so fluid and well thought out. As I said, I currently run an Edgar Markov Storm deck that is more creature focused and utilizes effects from 1 drop vampires, cloudstone curio, and Razaketh to set up the storm count.

Soo... Commander 2018 dropped, and while some are disappointed, i feel good old Licia got a notable consideration for a new card, Fury Storm.

I'm not sure how big it can get when you go into your loop but i imagine the answer could be summed up as "very"?

Hey all!

@jonfehl thank you so much for the kind words! Dude, that Edgar Markov storm deck sounds insanely fun to play. I feel like our decks are two shades of the same color!

@jj4622 it seems our minds are always going to the same place after new sets! I’ve had Fury Storm sitting in the que on my deck building spreadsheet ever since it was spoiled! I absolutely agree with you - during a Licia/Burnt Offering sequence Fury Storm let’s us go ham salad.

I am thinking of either cutting into the cantrips, cutting Tithe Drinker, or cutting Thermo-Alchemist. None feel great, and I think Fork, Reverberate, and Bonus Round all deserve to stay. Any ideas?

As a side note, I’m considering a few other changes. I recently acquired a revised Wheel of Fortune which is 100% going in. I am also planning to cut Rain of Filth for Sacrifice, as I realize now I definitely want two Burnt Offerings. Also, I’m adding Rugged Prairie because the price came down.

Quick double post, as this discussion got me brewing a bit.

I’m also considering some “free” cards. Unmask could be great as a way to protect ourselves on the turn we go off, and up our storm count by a few for no mana investment. Snuff Out can also up our spell count for free, while acting as another piece of interaction which this deck lacks to a certain extent.

As always, cuts are more than just challenging - every cut in some way removes or diminishes other capabilities. This all bears consideration. If you have any cut suggestions, I’d love to hear them, with reasonings if you have them!

Honestly I'd leave in Rain of Filth as its just an absurd amount of mana as you're going off usually, though it is very all in. Unless I'm missing something maybe Lotus Petal is a better cut?

Cantrips are pretty amazing, so I'd say cut Thermo-Alchemist or Tithe Drinker for Fury Storm. You'd know which one you prefer but off the top of my head drinker doesn't need to somehow get haste or last a turn so there is that.

You certainly aren’t wrong about Rain of Filth. Even if we are trying to go off turn 4 that’s typically something like a Cabal Ritual. The only issue is that it can’t be used twice, so it doesn’t do double duty during a Yawgmoth's Will.

Lotus Petal is nice because it can make white mana and it also has no initial investment, you may very well be right in that it’s the weakest ritual, but I’d be more inclined to cut like Pyretic Ritual or Spoils of Evil, which can often be awkward especially if we’re comboing early, prior to any board carnage. But honestly maybe I shouldn’t even be cutting any rituals at all?

I think I agree with the Thermo-Alchemist cut - while we do have Crimson Wisps and Expedite, he is simply an awful top deck most games mid combo.

i think you might be onto something with cutting Spoils of Evil; if nothing else its pretty high variance and can be just a non card if you're going off early, which seems pretty bad considering most combo decks want to kill pretty quickly. As for not cutting into rits, you cut Rain of Filth for Sacrifice, and now you're trying to add back in rain of filth, so its not like you're net losing any rits overall, simply cutting subpar ones for better alternatives.