RNR_Gaming says... #3
In a singleton deck never remove tutors. Only add better ones. Intuition acts as a secound Buried Alive and its instant speed. You may also want to consider a Flash Protean Hulk line just in case your commander is shut down. It looks like you already have most of the cards that would make that viable.
August 31, 2019 6:31 p.m.
Thank you SideBae and RNR_Gaming, for your advise, after a lot of changing and testing the deck performs really well!
September 6, 2019 5:13 p.m.
Ragnarok2100 says... #6
Looks like a tight list! I'm surprised you aren't running Hermit Druid with so few basics, it really gets my Mimeo deck going. The only other card you might want to consider is Sultai Ascendancy , it's usually a better Sylvan Library in decks like this. Again, super sweet list!
September 17, 2019 11:28 a.m.
Ragnarok2100 Thank you for your comment! I used to play Hermit Druid in this deck and I am considering to put him back in, I took him out because he didn't deliver any value on the turn I put him into play. But I will probably put him back in. Likewise I'm really considering Sylvan Library , but I am not sure if I am playing enough shuffle effect cards, especially fetch lands. And paying 4 life seems a bit rough in a deck that doesn't win really early in the game. Furthermore. I took out Sultai Ascendancy , for Mesmeric Orb , which is a way faster engine.
But again thanks for the recommendations!
September 18, 2019 7:59 a.m.
Officially my favorite deck on Tappedout! So well crafted and expertly articulated. Thank you!
SideBae says... #1
Hey man! I like this list, and I got some suggestions:
I love that you're running Birds of Paradise and Deathrite Shaman . If you've played with these, you know that the 'turn one dork' play is extremely powerful. I suggest you run Elves of Deep Shadow and Llanowar Elves , as they are of a similar sort; Fyndhorn Elves and Elvish Mystic are functional reprints of Llanowar Elves if you want even more of this ability. Arbor Elf is good to consider, especially if you end up running one-mana enchant-land-ramp like Utopia Sprawl or Wild Growth .
The 'Big Three' Xerox spells (that is, Ponder , Preordain and Brainstorm ) may not look like much, but the first two belong in any blue deck, and Brainstorm belongs in any blue deck that shuffles. Being one mana and drawing a card is a huge deal, as they will dig you to what you need and past what you don't. A lot of opening hands go from marginal to good when a Ponder is present. I say Brainstorm needs shuffle effects because you don't want to get stuck with two dead cards on top of your deck. To that end, your Polluted Delta 's shuffle effect puts in good work; I suggest, if possible, running the other Onslaught/Zendikar fetches that touch one of your colors. If that isn't possible, your Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse will likely allow you to run Brainstorm to good effect, though it'd be better if you got ahold of something like Prismatic Vista or a few of the slow fetches ( Bad River , Grasslands etc.).
Mass draw, like your Fact or Fiction and Windfall , is really good in EDH. Similarly, if you're filling your graveyard as part of your game plan, Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time are good ways to utilize blanks you happen to mill. Painful Truths is a card I've been very impressed with in my Tasigur, the Golden Fang list, and I think it'd be similarly powerful here.
War of the Spark was, as far as I can tell, a cataclysmic event for EDH due to the printing of two cards: Ashiok, Dream Render and Narset, Parter of Veils . Until one or both of these are banned, I suggest running them; pretty much all decks search, and Ashiok's one-sided graveyard exile is frequently relevant; and Narset, when paired with Windfall or the like, brings back memories of when Leovold, Emissary of Trest was legal.
Concerning ways to fill your graveyard, dredge-pitch lines are one of the best methods you can use. The vintage card Bazaar of Baghdad is legal in EDH, though being about the same cost as a pair of gently used kidneys tends to make it tough to get ahold of. However, if you pair something like Golgari Grave-Troll or Stinkweed Imp with something like your Frantic Search or Fauna Shaman , you can be right off to the races. The best non-Bazaar discard enablers for dredge in EDH are, I think, Liliana of the Veil and/or Survival of the Fittest , but those are also about $100 these days.
You may want to consider Nature's Claim in addition to or instead of your Krosan Grip . Being one mana is a big deal, and depending on your meta, being counter-able may not be a big deal. Counter-intuitively, in counter-heavy metas it is also not likely to be countered; often it is removing something two other players want gone (like a Dramatic Reversal -imprinted Isochron Scepter ), and the other two players will defend your spell.
Your Ramunap Excavator is a good way to get value from the lands you bin. I suggest Life from the Loam , as (1) dredging is a good way to mill, and (2) it is a redundant effect that builds virtual card-advantage. With Life from the Loam , you can run cards like Delirium Skeins , Pox or Smallpox and only discard relatively irrelevant cards.
With regard to spell-based ramp, I think Farseek and Nature's Lore are probably better than your Cultivate and Kodama's Reach . You're running a LOT of lands, so the 'to hand' clause is likely going to be superfluous most of the time, and Nature's Lore and Farseek are able to grab non-basics like your Breeding Pool . Nature's Lore even has the added bonus of bringing the land in untapped. If this sounds good to you and you have $80 to blow, Three Visits is a functional reprint of Nature's Lore to consider.
Lastly, as hinted to in (8), I think you're running too many lands; you'd benefit from cutting two or three. Replacing them with Llanowar Elves or other friends from (1) means that your deck will get out of the gate that much faster, as being able to drop two mana-sources turn one is infinitely better than just playing a land. Also, if you run something like Bident of Thassa or Edric, Spymaster of Trest , these dorks can net you a bunch of cards when you don't need their mana.
Alright. That's all from me. Good luck!
August 26, 2019 7:58 p.m.