Long overdue deck update!
It had been a long time since I had an interest in updating this deck. I finally started playing games more regularly as I found myself with a lot more free time, and I started coming around to a new LGS with a pretty big EDH crowd.
Additionally, I came across a list on MTGSalvation (RIP) that heavily focuses on auras. This plus my own experience with the deck led me to streamline several things. Below are the latest changes:
Out: Aetherflux Reservoir, Alhammarret's Archive, Caged Sun, Celestial Ancient, Cloudstone Curio, Extraplanar Lens, Fountain Watch, Mask of Memory, Saving Grace, Totem-Guide Hartebeest, True Conviction, 2 Plains
In: Reprobation, Danitha Capashen, Paragon, Odric, Lunarch Marshal, Boonweaver Giant, Phalanx Leader, Remove Enchantments, Angelic Gift, Daybreak Coronet, Battle Mastery, Smothering Tithe, Dowsing Dagger, Hall of Heliod's Generosity, Serra's Sanctum
First, I removed several artifacts. In games I found at times the mana doublers were only good when I had a recurable aura or engine in play, and if there were any board wipes or removal that came my way, it was pretty easy to find myself with a ton of mana and no ability to use it. Additionally, they didn't add to enchantment synergies which made the deck less consistent. To replace the mana doublers, I added Smothering Tithe (because I'm in White and I'll take any affordable unfair card I can get) and Dowsing Dagger, both of which have synergies with other cards. For example, Smothering Tithe is an enchantment and the tokens combine really well with Martyr's Bond in forcing opponents to sack artifacts, and in my new meta Wheel effects are pretty common. Dowsing Dagger is a cheap boost of mana that comes with a card stapled on it with Sram.
Mask of Memory, while great for card draw, didn't do much else, and Alhammarret's Archive was simply too slow. With the removal of Reservoir and True Conviction, it was even more superfluous.
Speaking of Reservoir, while I lose the ability to win outside of combat, the card itself often felt win-more. I was also really feeling the lack of synergy with enchantment benefits. Curio also felt win-more, and unnecessary for maintaining card advantage when the deck had so many other ways of reusing and recurring auras. For this reason as well I removed Fountain Watch, especially now that I'm running a lot more auras that don't need protection as much as they need recursion and bounce.
Hartebeest was always disappointing whenever I drew it. Boonweaver Giant, while more expensive in CMC, provided far more utility and more interesting game play. Plus, it could suit itself up with Flickerform and even become a solid threat on its own.
Celestial Ancient was replaced with a far cheaper card that does approximately the same thing: Phalanx Leader. Beefs up the team when spamming auras, and comes down for so much less mana while still upping my devotion count for Nykthos.
With the extra slots I added a small package to add even more synergies to the deck: Odric, Danitha, and Daybreak Coronet. Now that I run more auras, Coronet has a higher likelihood of actually enchanting a creature. Danitha plays heavy duty with cost reduction and being a great voltron creature. Both of these plus several other auras work really great together with Odric who can become a build-your-own Akroma's Memorial. Odric plus Swiftfoot Boots is one of my favorite combos in this deck as it can dramatically speed up the deck's clock in the later stages of the game.
Now that I've figured out how to swap around cards in decks without it being a hassle, I've finally added Serra's Sanctum. Adding this card has led this deck to some lightning-fast starts!
One thing I want to do is figure out how to add a couple more powerful cards like Replenish and Academy Rector. Replenish is just insane and can punish wraths and mill decks alike. I've added back in Remove Enchantments for now to see if it works well enough in the slot Replenish would take, or to see if it makes sense to run both. RE can help in the early game if I run out of gas, and obviously saves me in the face of Merciless Eviction and other mass enchantment removal for the low, low cost of W. Academy Rector fits incredibly well in the deck with the various sac outlets, and assembling the Parallax Wave-Starfield combo is so incredibly powerful that getting it online ASAP is critical to this deck's wins. If I throw Skybind into the mix and have an active Starfield, I can effectively lock down the board as I can exile opponent's lands during their respective upkeeps, exile all enemy creatures permanently, and basically clear the way for me to win via combat in the face of pretty much anything opponents can throw at me.
