Have you ever considered Sneak Attack or Shifting Shadow as an alternative way to get stuff from hand to grave?

Last_Laugh worth thinking about them at the very least. I have shifting around here somewhere... So that would be easy to test out. In a few days my Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded will show up and replace Fervor. It is color restrictive and a little more mana than sneak attack. I'll see how it works for me and then decide if I would like sneak attack more. Thanks for the ideas.

Made my biggest changes in awhile today.

Out: Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast, Hoard-Smelter Dragon, Conjurer's Closet, Fervor, Chaos Wand.

In: Shenanigans, Spark Double, Thassa, Deep-Dwelling, Shadowspear, Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded.

Considering some more red options. The following kinda stood out to me:

Dwarven Strike Force, Goblin Welder, Hammer Mage, Heartless Hidetsugu, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Scourge of Kher Ridges.

It occurs to me that kiki might make Helm of the Host much more attractive to me for this deck. It has never been a bad idea, I just tend to bounce Mairsil a lot.

Out: Dreamstone Hedron and Razaketh, the Foulblooded

In: Arcane Signet and Geth, Lord of the Vault

Pulled the trigger on Intuition and Riptide Laboratory. I'll be taking out Fact or Fiction and Cephalid Coliseum when they arrive. Some other foil goodies on there way too.

I will put my combo pieces that I was running when I had my Mairsil deck, just as further consideration to your deck:

Avatar of Woe + Eater of the Dead = Destroy something, untap to do it each turn

Shauku, Endbringer + Cinderhaze Wretch = EXILE a creature, untap to do it each turn

Tree of Perdition + Hateflayer = Tap, put a player's life total to 4 (if Tree is caged), untap to deal 4 (if Hateflayer is caged)

Mirror-Mad Phantasm + Laboratory Maniac = Insta-win. Phantasm caged, Mairsil decks yourself. Laboratory Maniac wins the game. Recursion cards can make it so you can do it without Maniac on the field

Quicksilver Elemental + Mairsil + Torchling/Morphling/Free untap + Gilded Lotus/Prismatic Geoscope = Infinite mana. Tap to add 3 (UUU or UXX), pay to untap, pay U to activate Elemental, get new activations, rinse and repeat. Use with Oona's ability to exile libraries

Quicksilver Elemental + Mairsil + Gilded Lotus/Prismatic Geoscope + Knacksaw Clique = Exile libraries.

Mairsil + Haste + Deadeye Navigator + Gilded Lotus/Prismatic Geoscope = Infinite Mana + Infinite Cage. Pay 3 (UUU or UXX), pay 2 to flicker. Re-enter, can repeat for as long as haste is available, netting 1 mana each cycle.

Mairsil + Nevinyrral's Disk + Protection (such as regen, persist, indestrucible) = Repeatable board wipe

foxboy93 Thanks! I've got some of those and others are stronger than what I like to run. I am only 1 card short of a few of them so I might make those changes. If you don't mind I think I'll copy paste your comment into my primer. Just to give people a reference for some of the things I may not use but could be of interest :)

DrukenReaps Not an issue, as long as credit is given where credit is due XD

I found that the only issue with Mairsil, is that you don't end up having a lot of creatures on the field to really help you to stay alive or deal damage. In creature heavy metas Mairsil can really fall short when people are bashing your face in while Mairsil is trying to do things. The idea is to be able to tap and untap and do these effects multiple times per turn so as to help keep you alive and eliminate troublesome targets. Relying on mana activations means you are either not forwarding the board state, or holding up answers.

Mairsil is very versitile, and can even be a sudo voltron commander with the 'Ling creatures, letting you buff up power and toughness where needed. I also like getting more effects like Azami, Lady of Scrolls where you can tap Mairsil without needing haste to get the ball rolling. Honestly the only reason the deck was pulled apart was cause I'd kill myself so easily, or end up so low that I couldn't recover.

I will post my deck list below. As mentioned it is retired so new cards like Lab Man Jace and Thassa's Oracle are not included for alternative wins like with Lab Man.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mairsil-the-mad-retired/

foxboy93 I generally have the same experience with a small board state. I don't know about you but I also tend to be targeted normally so sometimes Mairsil makes it doubly bad. That is why such a large portion of the deck became removal and the theft cards have been a godsend, lol. Only reason I've kept with it is because I just enjoy how it works so much. I feel like I'm building my own monster and while some pieces are very needed most games other pieces get to be different every time.

DrukenReaps Agreed. Mairsil can be dealt with easily in the form of player removal. Most of the protection pieces I had costed life rather than mana so that Mairsil remained on the field. Flicker effects like Aetherling and such effects are great, but when you run out of mana and cant protect Mairsil, you gotta have effects to protect. Cavern Harpy lets you return Mairsil to hopefully recast if someone targets him, keeping CMC down on him. Mischievous Poltergeist is probably the all star, cause unless someone is playing an effect that prevents regen, paying a life and blowing the board with Disk is a great way to protect yourself and Mairsil.

I think a new addition to Mairsil's lists are Pendant of Prosperity. Such a good card (in Mairsil)! Draw two and play two lands seems pretty sweet, and with none of the downside of giving it to the enemy.

foxboy93 the pendant really has been nuts. I had 5 lands off of it in just one lap around the table drawing 8 cards in total... Set me so far ahead no one caught up for the rest of the game. I will say I was never a big fan of cavern harpy. Aetherling just feels so much more effective and keeps me going even during my opponents turns. I'd rather just tutor for Aetherling... Harpy is a good effect though.

DrukenReaps Harpy is there mostly for the free activation. This also allows you to cast Mairsil again and get another caged item. Its usually a last resort, as you want to keep him on the board as long as possible. Argent Sphinx is also a cheap activation if you can guarantee Metalcraft. Sanctum of Eternity is a "sorcery" speed bounce to your hand if needed. Cards like Crystal Shard can also be good, since you can target opponents items, OR Mairsil, giving you flexibility. If you can generate a lot of mana per turn, Planar Bridge can be a very good card. Tap for 8+ mana, untap and then tutor up a permanent like your combo pieces. As noted, my deck was built with the concept of "how do I do things on each persons turn", so being able to untap at instant speed and do things like that was important, so mana isn't always available. As long as you can keep Mairsil costing as little as possible, you are golden. As well, I looked at cards that didn't need to be caged, so I could build out a board as well. Prognostic Sphinx is like a mini Nezahal, in the sense of "protection". Sure, players can team up to layer the stack so you have to use other abilities, but if you are playing right, you are likely burning their kill spells to flicker to keep Mairsil alive or cost low. Retrofitter Foundry is a budget Staff of Domination, with much less benefits other than making fodder. Something else to consider though :3

foxboy93 so many words! lol, kidding. When I first made the deck it was very artifact focused but over time I've lost a lot of that. Argent Sphinx sadly became very difficult to activate... Sanctum of Eternity actually is a decent inclusion since it is just a utility land. I still have a decent amount of room for those. Retrofitter is something I've wanted to include more of. That is abilities that make tokens. Given that Mairsil locks up most of my creatures Oona has been very helpful even when I'm not winning off of her. Prognostic Sphinx is interesting... I'll think on that one. Planar Bridge came out not too long ago. Very silly when I get a lot or even infinite mana going on but otherwise just really hard to make useful. I forget what replaced it.

I've also very much enjoyed doing things on everyone's turn. Haste has been such a great effect to have to help enable that. Anger and until recently Fervor were key pieces of my deck alongside AEtherling and other blink effects. I haven't gotten to test the change but I replaced Fervor with Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded. I'm really interested in seeing if I can take much advantage of his activated ability but he is really just here as an indestructible source of haste.

DrukenReaps Agreed; Argent Sphinx for myself was also hard to work. The Metalcraft is hard to keep active, and with cards like Disk in the Cage, makes it near impossible to keep artifacts around. Sanctum I felt was really good when it came out for most commanders that want to be cast multiple times like Maelstrom Wanderer for example. Retrofitter is good, letting you untap Mairsil, but also trade token. So with untap effects, you can make a token and then sac it to go up in power. Agreed that Bridge is "meh", but it is a decent card for "casual" groups. Prognostic Sphinx I feel is REALLY good, allowing you to cage it for Hexproof, but also play it to get a deep scry effect. Its a creature to play but also keep caged.

Haste is indeed a big thing, and getting something with indestructible is hard. Even a 5 mana Fervor with indestructible seems good, and then you an use Purphoros to cheat out creatures. Now something you COULD do, is bounce Mairsil to your hand with something like Crystal Shard, then use mana to Sneak Attack Mairsil out with Haste, use the abilities again, then before the sac effect happens, you can bounce it again. With cards like Gilded Lotus and a free untap, you can even tap to make the mana for Purphoros effect

foxboy93 I hadn't thought about the interaction between bouncing Mairsil and using Purphoros to play him back out, I was just thinking about being able to drop other things in for cheap really quick. That however is a very interesting interaction. I'll definitely have to do something with it.

Only 25-ish cards left to foil! Though some don't have foil variants so... either doing some peels or getting them altered.

Netherborn Altar is a bit silly. I'll definitely enjoy the card and think it will end up in most of my decks. I write about it here because I think this is where it has the weirdest potential.

First is the simple Hex Parasite interaction. Mairsil effectively costs 6 mana forever with these 2 working together and I lose no life. Not amazing. Won't even come up in most games. Potentially saves my bacon every now and then though by making Mairsil castable after he has real deathed 4 or 5 + times.

Silly interaction comes from the altar being in the cage. I'll need a way to kill Mairsil but it goes like this.

Murder goes on the stack, Netherbon Altar from cage on stack, Sacrifice Mairsil on stack.

Sacrifice resolves, Mairsil goes to command zone, Altar resolves Mairsil goes to hand, Murder has no target.

I'm NOT 100% sure about this interaction until all the official rulings are made. It should work because the Altar does not target the commander it simply specifies the commander. This interaction is not as strong as say AEtherling in response to murder but another layer of protection for Mairsil shenanigans is always great.

So Manascape Refractor is a strong maybe?

Cards in my deck it works with Terramorphic Expanse, Rogue's Passage, Riptide Laboratory, Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Inventors' Fair, Homeward Path, Hanweir Battlements, Flamekin Village, Evolving Wilds, Detection Tower, and Arcane Lighthouse.

Plus if my opponents play interesting lands I get those effects too. I'm not convinced it is a powerful card but I'm interested to see it in action. One really nice thing it does is make it so I don't need specific colors for Minamo, Riptide, and the 2 haste lands. A little color fixing is always decent.

2021 core spoilers have barely started and already I've got a few potentials for Mairsil.

Teferi, Master of Time this guy has the potential to be one of the best card advantage engines in this deck I've had. On every single player's turn I get to draw and discard. If they play a threat I can phase it out until I can remove it. If somehow my opponents are silly and I get 10 or more loyalty I get more turns. That can easily be the time I need to pull off a combo.

Sparkhunter Masticore this just has some nice reasonably cost activated abilities. for 1 damage is even more cost efficient than Hex Parasite. I don't think this replaces parasite but it is another solid way to target walkers. It gives indestructible for only to Mairsil making it even more useful. Doubtful I'll be casting this one but it isn't all bad if I do either.

Is caging Blood Pet + Walking Ballista + Endling too janky or do you think it could be a viable win condition?

So give Mairsil undying, sacrifice him for , remove the +1/+1 counter to do 1 damage, rinse repeat.

MandrewM it would certainly be good enough for my deck. It even has some resilience to it if you keep some extra black mana. As you could activate the undying in response to Murder or whatever.

I haven't been keeping totally up to date with this deck so I've missed some things I think... I'll have to go back over the last year or so of releases. In the mean time the DnD set has given me Asmodeus the Archfiend among other potential things here

: draw seven.... Mairsil totally needed that lmfao!

Few more things:

Oriq Loremage

Battlemage's Bracers

Fervent Mastery

Goblin Engineer

Tezzeret the Seeker out

Asmodeus the Archfiend in