thoughts on recurring insight.

Too expensive

mizzix can probably sneak it in but still doesn't seem optimal. Cruize, wheels and dig through time seem better to me.

I run Recurring Insight in Teferi. It's ok. If I had a Timetwister I'd probably run that instead.

Is Experiment Kraj infinite combo not good anymore? I remember games where it was the same speed (sometimes quicker, sometimes slower) than Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind.

Azusa, Lost but Seeking is really explosive, decks are very versatile, and can lockout/beatdown faster than combo's can go off. Azusa landlock, overrun, huge creature smack, on turn 3-4, is quite common, as is Tooth and Nail/crazy spell entwined.

Lastly, Ertai, the Corrupted stax is still good enough in cEDH that t3 does not warrant is justice.

Karametra is tier 3, not 4? Can I see a decklist for her please?

I have another rules question. I tried to find this out on my own but google failed me. If I put Boonweaver Giant into play with Flash and don't pay the full cost will Pattern of Rebirth still attach to it and go to the graveyard with the giant or will the etb fizzle?

In theory Boonweaver Giant's etb trigger will activate and you can attach Pattern of Rebirth to it BEFORE Flash triggers and kills him. Can someone confirm this?

I believe that nothing happens in the middle of the resolution of a spell, so the trigger doesn't go on the stack until flash has already resolved, and the boonweaver is already dead.

Yes.

"
5/1/2007 The creature enters the battlefield, so it will trigger enters-the-battlefield abilities even if you have chosen to not pay.

10/1/2009 If you choose not to pay, the creature is sacrificed immediately. No player will get priority in between the creature entering the battlefield and being sacrificed. Sacrificing the creature this way will trigger any abilities that trigger when a creature leaves the battlefield.
"
Gatherer.

I found this old thread that asks a similar question. The conclusion in that thread is that since Boonweaver will no longer be in play when his ability resolves, you will not be able to attach anything to him.

The real question is why are you playing Boonweaver combo in UGW when you could just play Food Chain combo?

Thats what I was afraid of. Thank you for the info.

To answer your question Gates, I am testing 4 color Thrasios/Tymna boonweaver at the moment and am looking for interactions blue brings to the combo besides countermagic. I already have spent a ridiculous amount of time testing food chain for Derevi and Sidisi so I am a bit burnt out of that combo at the moment.

Ok lets try to answer these in order that I can-

Boonweaver v flash- no you cant get pattern or animate dead since boonweaver will need to be on the battlefield for the ETB to resolve.[7/18/2014] If Boonweaver Giant isnt on the battlefield when its ability resolves, you cant put any Aura onto the battlefield. You may still search the appropriate zones and shuffle your library, if ...

as for decks_on.Acid:

Experiment Kraj- I've had better luck with PS zegs but i'm sure Kraj can put some work in. If someone can throw together a list lets see where it can go.

Azusa, Lost but Seeking from experience, she runs out of steam pretty quickly. I'm currently working on a list to see if she can make it seem like a T2 but T3 seems correct to me. I could be biassed though.

Ertai, the Corrupted if you want prison/control why not oloro? unless I'm missing something here

Lastly, i'm trying to throw together a banding/phasing Ayesha tanaka list. Any help please and thanks? Price range is theoretically infinite but i want to make it fit those themes.

list covers 25% of the available combos. While most of them are bad you get the idea.

Azusa can run out of steam quickly, but with semi-recent prints (ex: titania, argoth proctor) the deck is now self-sustainable.

Ertai decks being marginally weaker than oloro decks is not synonymous to "Ertai does not meet the tier 2 requirements". Furthermore, while both decks are stax decks, their interactions, strategies, and functions differ. They are not the same deck, just archetype.

Blargh:

Okay sorry for triple post, apparently I cannot insert links nicely here :(

http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/199813-compiled-list-of-experiment-kraj-combos

So out of curiosity, why is Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest tier three? I feel as though he can do stax very well, along with benefitting from stax effects such as Smokestack and opposing gravepacts and Dictate of Ereboses. He also allows for may combos with persist creatures.

I do understand that Meren probably outclasses him, however.

Meren outclasses him and none of those cards are particularly competitive. They are at least 1-2 turns slower than they need to be to affect the game in a meaningful way.

Sorry Decks_on.Acid, i did not mean it as a>b marginally so demoted a tier, I was in a rush to churn out a response so lets see if I can go through your post a little more carefully.

Kraj-I guess the biggest problem with kraj is mana cost. 6 mana is hard to get out on turn 2 (not impossible, just hard) so it seems like your playing him on t3-4. Secondly, I think the dependance on other creatures to start his combos bar him from t1. Secondly, my only arguement against him being in t2 is that board wipes are typically 3 for 1s as you lose a board, much steam, and kraj needs 2 more turns to set up (1 if you can ignore summoning sickness but i'm counting him alone). I dont remember where the bar was set for t2 but I can see the argument. I still cant find an optimized list so I cant analyze it. (too many combos is actually a bad thing. he might fall prey to that a lot). Also, the persist kraj combo doesnt work as he loses persist when he dies (and gets the -1/-1 counter).

Azusa- Yes reprints and new sets are good but she continuously runs out of steam interacting in my case. While she has strong combos, a lot of her combos are used up preventing others from winning. Until she can fix the drawing problem (Ghirapur orrery, Sylvan library, harmonize and regal force dont cut it anymore).

Ertai- many of these lists are built for the most optimal commander for each deck. This is the only reason I brought up oloro. also, the intentional sacrifice hurts as esper isnt the most optimal color combination for token strategies and most enchantments are meant to be kept around. He has a good color combination but just an OK ability so t3 sounds fitting. Stax seems fine but he does not hold any ways of breaking the symmetry himself.

I'm open to discussion from everyone about this, though.

Also any takers on the Ayesha banding/phasing train?

Regards to the above discussion about kraj, azusa, and ertai. On the record, I have only played azusa and ertai, but I have faced off against enough kraj decks to have a general idea of its functions. I am also going under the assumption that d_o.a is stating that these generals should be categorized in tier 2, not tier 1 and not tier 3 (correct me if I am wrong).

For tier 2, getting your general out on turn 2 is not a necessity (looks at Oona, Ghave, and Damia, which are almost always combo). Getting kraj out on turn 3 (like a fair chunk of tier 2 generals), setting your combo up on turn 4, and then "going off" (with countermagic to stop boardwipes etc.). This is a reasonable, consistent, easy-to-setup/acquire turn 5 win via infinite combo. This might be a half turn slower than t2, but it is definitely quicker than t3 (excluding elf ball, any general 'works' for that deck). Now: I do not want kraj in t1, that would be misleading. However, tier 2 is completely reasonable for kraj.

Yes azusa runs out of steam. I have played azusa for the past 3-4 years, I have played in 2 player games and 8 player games (don't ask). The "running out of steam" problem has never been a serious issue. There are a small sample size of games where running out of steam might slow me down a turn, but keep in mind that azusa decks naturally slow opponents down to the point where it is not a big concern. Your creatures are larger, your ramp is greater, and your denial is quicker and brutal.

Ertai's ability being used isn't why (s)he's great as a general. It is that it is available, it is 1 blue mana (and sacrificing a Necropotence that has already eaten 25 life) to counter any spell, and cannot be countered unless the o.p. has a Stifle or Trickbind (the latter is normally not used and Stifle is a niche card); that makes it such a great general. When ertai is on the field, you have, literally: ": as an additional cost to this spell, sacrifice a creature or enchantment. Counter target spell. This spell cannot be countered by other counterspells."

I know I comment about the Momir list every thread but the primer is getting more out of date by the day and the decklist provided in the creator's profile is also not being updated. As such I would like to find a different Momir list that is being updated regularly while remaining competitive. Naturally I will volunteer my deck for consideration here: Evil Science Elf (competitive list) and hope healthy discussion will propagate but in actuality any up to date Momir list would be rather helpful as opposed to Jebus4054's list.

Who is better Jarad or Meren?

@Masterful: Are you the guy who asked that same on the Competitive EDH Subreddit? If so, I answered your question there. If not, I'll just go ahead and quote myself here anyway.

"The difference between the two isn't large. They run similar strategies and decklists. Both are GB reanimator commanders that center around Necrotic Ooze/Mike 'n Trike combo. Overall, Meren has a slight edge. She's a powerful recursion engine capable of both fueling the main win conditions (Buried Alive with Meren on the field is game over) and offering absurd value off cards like Magus of the Abyss and Contamination. This allows her to take a more stax-like approach to her strategy, whereas Jarad tends to focus more on top-heavy reanimation. She's a combo piece and value engine. Jarad, meanwhile, is just a combo piece. He works with Phyrexian Devourer, a card already run thanks to Nooze combo. The issue there is the combo requires a minimum of 1GGGBBB just to cast and activate Jarad, plus the cost of getting Devourer into play. Not terribly efficient. He also offers a tiny bit of utility, serving as an (extremely overcosted) sac outlet for cards like Pattern of Rebirth, but this comes up so rarely as to be nearly irrelevant.

TL;DR: Meren is more competitive."

So nice that the bracket formatting transitions over.

Do we have a list for Breya, Etherium Shaper?

mtgThaen and I are close to finalizing our joint primer. There are about 5 or so cards that are being tested bit the vast majority of the cards are locks:

Double Trouble

Breya, Etherium Shaper