Hey there! Thanks for the upvote on A Man Of Many Masks! Your thoughts on how important haste is has convinced me to add in a Flamekin Village. :)

Two things I didnt see here were Quicksilver Elemental and Grand Architect. QE is a staple of any/all given Mairsil builds due to the ability to reuse abilities with it caged (same as with Mirage Mirror, but costing a mana less). GA is a mana combo with Pili-Pala when both arent caged and are out. So, both of those are huge suggestions I have for you.

Additionally, since haste is relevant, you should try to make room for Hanweir Battlements, and, because the two are just great together, Hanweir Garrison. More haste definitely helps, and I see that better now :)

~Lil Kalki

Lil_Kalki Thanks for the comment. I've been looking through a bunch of Mairsil to try and find as much information on him as possible. Glad you found what little I've figured out so far useful.

I've only recently turned to the dark side to use this guy so I don't have some of the really good cards for him yet. I ordered quicksilver elemental though along with some of the other must haves. I did fail to take note of grand architect though, good idea. If I end up keeping Mycosynth Lattice I could cage them to go nuts even after somebody blows them up.

I dunno if I'll bother with Hanweir Garrison, maybe if I end up needing sac fodder. There seemed like a bunch of neat abilities that want sacrifices. That land is great though. I may throw in Hall of the Bandit Lord too but that one gets painful so I dunno about it.

You probably dont even need a Mycosynth Lattice, as Mairsil can cage artifacts AND creatures. Opens up a whole new realm of possibilities, huh? :)

Have you used Nevinyrral's Disk and Mirage Mirror (both under Mairsil) to wipe a board every turn till a concession is formed? Its SO evil. Just respond to Disk-ing by Mirroring Mairsil into a land. A repeated 3 mana wipe (bolstered with 2 mana increments to keep Mairsil alive till next time) is sick. Its sick, and Id do it again (with the right crew though - dont lose your friends over this! Lol).

Lil_Kalki I haven't had the opportunity with this deck to do that as of yet. I have had the lattice out with Darksteel Forge and the disk though when I used Karn, Silver Golem as a commander, it is funny. I don't like holding people hostage with it though. When I do something like that I like to be actually able to win in just a few turns. I do think Boompile makes it funny enough that less people care.

I wanted to include some of my usual artifact support because he works so well with artifacts. I'm undecided on how much of it will stay. Probably be a big overhaul of this deck on friday or saturday unless the package is delayed. I'll strip it down to the essential parts and build back up from there.

First major update complete. I feel comfortable with where the deck is now so probably just be small changes from here on.

Cards I'm considering for removal given results from recent games: Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip, Bosh, Iron Golem, Feldon of the Third Path, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Ghoulcaller Gisa, Megatog, Rainbow Efreet, Xathrid Gorgon.

I'm thinking more self mill and more abilities that want me to discard. I've had some success with this deck and I do really like how it works it just isn't quite where I think it should be.

Ive updated mine a fair amount too. Mostly I started focusing on 1-2 combos and support to keep Mairsil alive. Im thinking that the most general undoing of this deck (with specific undoing tactics being things that hose Mairsil by shutting off activated abilities, though in many cases spot removal and Sakashima the Impostor do well to besmirch those hosers) is mass land destruction, though, so since my main playgroup does use that every so often now, I may need to find room for a Crucible of Worlds (and you might want to a well!). :)

Lil_Kalki Oooo mass land destruction is a pain... I don't have to deal with much of it in my group or land kill in general for the most part. I frown on it pretty hard, always have, and my group has pretty much followed suit with that. Only time I use it is to prevent responses and win within 2 or 3 turns. Crucible is a good response for it. If you include some self mill like Stitcher Geralf it can help mitigate the mill too. I really can't think of many ways in grixis to deal with MLD... A quick google only brought up cards that kill lands, lmao.

On the bright side I don't think there is an easier to protect commander. This guy is ridiculous with an AEtherling caged. I do feel like there is a lot of reliance on good mana rocks.

Well, youre lucky to not have MLD prevalent in your playgroups.?i have 2 playgroups where I use my Mairsil deck, but one of them frowns upon MLD while the other sort of welcomes it, so while Id like to put a bit in for spite of the latter I cant because of the former, so Im at a slight conundrum. Crucible of Worlds would be a great inclusion for my meta though. I cant stand when my islands or mountains (well, this less so as long as I have at least 1, for Angers sake) are gonked DX

Some considerations from Dominaria:

The most interesting is Amaranthine Wall. Really cheap indestructible for Mairsil.

Thran Temporal Gateway is a little less interesting but still a possibility.

Whisper, Blood Liturgist and Dread Shade could go in but I never have enough creatures and dread shade is too black intensive... I think there are similar options anyways that are more doable.

Powerstone Shard I gave this a moments thought since it would make mairsil's tap for mana which is nice with Mirror Gallery but it doesn't work since they need to be artifacts.... And it requires I keep the gallery around when I use it. Still a funny thing that almost happened.

Finally Helm of the Host.... I bounce Mairsil way too much for this to be of any use.... I'm going to cry in my corner now...

Cool list, i am keeping track of mine here

Have you considered Ovinomancer, Conjurer's Closet, Cavern Harpy and Hateflayer (goes infinite with Gilded Lotus)??

Anyway, super cool deck :)

Skjoldschoennemann I actually just removed Conjurer's Closet and Hateflayer. The closet doesn't play well with AEtherling and so more often than not just sat there and did nothing or almost nothing. I guess it saves me but that hasn't seemed like enough of a reason to keep it. Hateflayer is fun and will likely find a way back into the deck I just like Spikeshot Elder more since i don't need to do any tapping which is a requirement if I want to untap.

I tired a few bounce effects before but I just didn't like them. Ends up requiring too much mana and I can only get Mairsil back out on my turn. Flicker effects allow me to just keep things going much easier and in a much more broken way.

Just redid most of the primer after about 7 months of actually using the deck instead of having more like 3 games when I first wrote it... It is much better I think but not quite finished. Hope to complete it within the week.

Staff of Domination goes infinite with anything that taps for more than 1. Also Rings of Brighthearth, and Illusionist's Bracers works for copying abilities.

PIZZ_PAZZ As long as you jump around the "once each turn" non-sense the staff is great. Maybe I'll steal the one I have in my Karn deck, kind of an expensive card to grab a second copy... I'm not a fan of equipment with Marisil since I tend to use AEtherling or Pack Rat to cage more things. I would have to re-equip it over and over. The rings are on my list to get though. Thanks for your thoughts!

I've ordered up an altered Mairsil in the likeness of Jon Irenicus the villain in Baldur's Gate 2. I'm pretty excited! Still sorting out the initial details so it will be some time before I have anything to show off.

In other news I have re-finished the primer. I'll likely still be adding things, Mairsil always has something new to teach me each game... Let me know if you like it or if you think something is missing.

I'm also going to start slowly foiling out this deck. It will be expensive but I really like shiny things.

Some changes incoming, deciding on removals.

Out: Vivid Crag, Vivid Creek, Vivid Marsh, Dark Impostor, Goblin Welder, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, Havengul Lich

In: Arcane Lighthouse, Detection Tower, Rogue's Passage, Nezahal, Primal Tide, Conjurer's Closet, Argent Sphinx, Mirror-Mad Phantasm

My alter! I don't have it yet but I have this image of it, I'm really excited about this.

Jom Art & Alters

Prismatic Geoscope + Staff of Domination

Can't the Geoscope only tap for 3? don't you lose one mana if you spend 4 to make 3?

Nevermind, I see it now xD sorry!

SynergyBuild still a useful comment. I think I need to make that section more clear as to all the pieces required in each combo since the one you brought up does need Quicksilver Elemental or Mirage Mirror.

Why don't you run Sage of Hours and Anthroplasm?

SynergyBuild I don't like solitaire :P

Also the sage just doesn't do anything without the other combo piece but I am thinking another game winning combo might be needed... My friends are getting use to the deck and the pieces I usually use are getting recognized.

My take on Mairsil doesn't run the comboes you do at all. I go:

Buried Alive into Sage of Hours, Anthroplasm, and AEtherling, next turn drop our favorite big-boy Mairsil, exile AEtherling, then procede to flicker him to exile the rest and win is what I have been doing. I sometimes entomb a Mirror-Mad Phantasm to go all Hermit Druid all over my opponents, flipping Narcomoeba, Fatestitcher and Gravecrawler just to Dread Return a Phyrexian Delver into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, copying Phyrexian Delver into Deceiver Exarch or Pestermite

You know, whatever works!