PrecintSix6Six: I'm pretty sure I've gone over this one before, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here. This deck was designed by me to be creatureless, save Talrand. I'm not gonna budge on that front.

Gravitational Shift - Great game finisher in Talrand. Honorable mentions I won't recommend go to Coat of Arms (since you mentioned slivers in your meta) and Caged Sun (since you don't like things that cost more than 5 mana).

Learn from the Past - New tech from Dragons of Tarkir. You have both Psychic Spiral and Quest for Ancient Secrets, so I assume you have need for this kind of effect. Maybe try it over Quest? It works better with Talrand since it's an instant, plus it nets you a card.

Last Thoughts - I love this card in Talrand. Exile it smartly and the turn you play it can net you two cards and two drakes, plus a card and a drake each turn after, unless your meta is absolutely crawling with fliers.

Submerge - Arguably better then many of the bounce cards you're running, assuming you have at least one person in your meta that runs green. Play it in response to a tutor for extra profit.

Cheers, and good luck with your deck.

zen_fishy:

• Gravitational Shift feels win-more, and is also a pretty mana-intensive effect. I'ma pass on it for now. Maybe I just need to see it in action.
• Submerge is too dependent on my opponent's boardstate to have a place in the main, even with how popular green is in my group. Maybe if I ever actually build that Cunning Wish board...
• Last Thoughts is too much mana for a sorcery speed draw one. Even though it's repeatable, it's too slow and too mana intensive for me to get anywhere with it.
• I was already considering Learn from the Past, and also Anticipate. I'm planning on taking out Psychic Spiral for Learn from the Past, actually; Spiral isn't consistent as a wincon, so I run it for the shuffle effect, and Learn is better in that regard, being cheaper and replacing itself.

You also called to my attention that I need to update this list online (I don't run Quest anymore, for instance).

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Might be against the budget of the deck, but Invoke Prejudice is an awesome card for mono-blue, because after all, if you're not running blue, you're not my friend. Another card that I just personally think is awesome is Illusionist's Gambit. It is by no means a super competitive card, but when it works, its hilarious. I've had people form alliances against me only for them to end up killing their temporary ally with a massive attack. I mean, worst case scenario its a blue fog spell..

Necrotize: Invoke Prejudice is one hundred fifty dollars. No.

As for Illusionist's Gambit... It's not that I don't like the card, there's just nothing I'd honestly cut for it.

I know Invoke is super pricey, its just I've wanted to get one for ages now so figured I'd mention it lol. Plus its a pretty interesting card with a rather...sorted backstory and not so subtle references. Although, just for accuracy's sake, it is closer to 100 dollars lightly played on TCGplayer :P

Another pretty expensive(but definitely worth it) card you could consider is Karn Liberated. He is a bit expensive, but he is colorless(so he'll always have a place in any EDH deck that wants him) and he really shores up mono-blues main weakness which is a lack of hard removal. He is outside your curve, but I have never played Karn and not immediately gotten my mana's worth in the first 2 turns alone.

Also, how do you feel about Blue Sun's Zenith? Has value at all stages of the game, and even if you don't have the mana or don't want to cast it for card draw, it can still be used as a shuffle effect if you don't like what's on top.

Lastly, a card I always like fitting into my mono blue decks is Vedalken Shackles. Having people play around this can severely slow down game plans and open up very interesting interactions.

Love the deck though, Talrand was probably one of the first legendary cards I saw and then immediately wanted to make an EDH deck for.

Necrotize: Sorry I took a while getting back to you.

• The whole CMC thing is an aesthetically pleasing thing to me as much as it is a proper deckbuilding strategy (smaller spells = more spells cast in a turn = more drakes with which to beat face). As much as I would love to run Karn, it ruins the aesthetic and makes me sad.
• USZ was covered in the January update. As a repeatable spell, it was unreliable; as a win condition, it didn't work well; as a cantrip, it was too mana intensive.
• The Shackles are interesting, I gotta say. And I love the scalability and the shenanigans potential. Maybe if it's printed again in MMA15, I can pick up a copy on the cheap(er). There's also the problem that it doesn't really synergize with the deck; it's more of a goodstuff thing. Still, it's worth considering.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

If the shackles are an issue price wise, might I suggest their sightly less played cousin, Helm of Possession?

I run it in my Teysa, Orzhov Scion deck to great effect.

Pros:

1. You can take anything, regardless of power.
2. You'll always likely have drakes to sac.
3. Getting their Blightsteel or Eldrazi for the low, low cost of a 2/2 flyer is a real kick in the sack.
4. It's about $10 cheaper.

Cons:

1. You have to sacrifice a drake for every steal.
2. It costs four instead of three to play.

Even if you like the shackles better it might be worth it to test out the helm if you just want to see if the effect has a place in the deck.

Sleep? maybe?

Skinkesvin: If only Sleep were an instant... as it stands, though, I don't like it as a sorcery speed card. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

If you want an instant speed sleep try Cryptic Command.

It was a very easy win with deck but I still don't know how it performs against another control. Also, I'm not allowed to play this deck anymore lol.

themindxyz: Except, well, Cryptic's sixty bucks. A bit out of my range for now.

lightningshard: ...easy...win? When did you use my deck? Like, it's not like I have a copyright on this specific arrangement of 100 Magic: the Gathering cards, but, like, when did you use my deck? I feel bad that it got banned from your group, though. Um.

As for how it plays against other control... Depends on the control. It can bounce back relatively well from MLD (because the curve is low) and most board wipes (because 4-5 mana into 3-5 spells and I have a board again), and I get most of my value off of spells being cast, not necessarily them resolving, so counterspells aren't too big a problem. Talrand not being able to be tucked any more saves me a lot of trouble as well. I won't win any counterspell wars anytime soon, but it can hold its own. It's oftentimes a matter of directing the control player's ire elsewhere.

ever considered things like Obelisk of Urd or Coat of Arms b4?

some instant speed hexproof, or protection enchantments/equipment might be useful to keep talrand on the board, such as Whispersilk Cloak, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Robe of Mirrors, Mizzium Skin, Ring of Evos Isle, etc

I recommend putting in Clone Legion. In a Talrand deck, it just makes an army of 2/2 drakes, in addition to giving you one off of Talrand's ability. +1

Hashtag-Netdeck: Thanks for the suggestion and the +1, but I don't like Clone Legion for two reasons:

• One, I don't run any creatures other than Talrand and the tokens he makes, so paying 9 mana for a bunch of 2/2 fliers (and even then, only if I already have a bunch of 2/2 fliers, so it's even more restrictive) seems... bad. That means I have to depend on my opponent's board being good for Clone Legion to hit value, and I don't like having to depend on my opponent being ahead of me.
• Two, it costs 9 mana, and I have a thing with this deck that nothing has a CMC higher than 5. Lets me chain spells easier.

I know you have that really strict "nothing over CMC 5" rule, but have you ever thought about including Time Spiral? It's essentially free and kicks the crap out of Learn from the Past in the cantrip department. Plus it goes great with High Tide.

I know it's like a $20 card, but considering this was originally a power9 effect $20 is a pretty good deal.

My commander deck runs Time Reversal,

I started working on my Talrand EDH about 2 months ago, and it's coming close to being 100% finished. Already now, its extremely... stupidly strong.

I must say, I'm amazed that you do not play any Timewalks. I have Time Warp, Temporal Mastery and Temporal Trespass included for now, which is already extremely insane and a wincon, since you will just blow out one player after another on the table. Also, why no Force of Will? Ok, its stupidly expensive as a 1-off EDH card, but for that I use the WCD Version to not pick one out of my Legacy Decks. A cheap alternative for that would be Thwart, which I also play. I also like Daze, because its for 0. It doesn't even have to counter the spell I target; its just another Drake for 0.

I would also recommend Merchant Scroll, Long-Term Plans and Personal Tutor + playing Mystical Tutor in the Maindeck - its just stupidly strong, and much Tutors make the Deck consistent as Hell! (For me at least).

I know you don't play other Creatures then Talrand, but i can recommend at least Testing Tidespout Tyrant + Proteus Staff and Fabricate as Tutor (also for your other artifacts). Tidespout is just nasty once it hits the table and is a extremely powerful wincon combined with the Time Walks + Talrands Drakes attacking with him. And it's powerful enough to cut Brain Freeze from the Wishboard and make room for another thing. Also, Proteus Staff can traget your enemy's creatures (or even Generals), which makes it very strong!

I also can just beg you to try out Time Spiral. God, that thing is HUGE! Even if its against your CMC5 Rule - try it, its insane!

Another card I love (and everyone else hates to death) is Sunder. Since it's instant speed, you could also play it in the Wish-board! Its just insanely strong and wins you alot games (especially if you resolved a overloaded Cyclonic Rift before, haha).

Last thing i can say, is that i do not like cards Like Runechanter's Pike - it's just win-more, which is not necessary in this Deck.

Oh, I forgot to add in my comment:Why no Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise? They are insane as Hell!

Alright, shivx. Thanks for all the suggestions. In order:

• Extra turns don't do anything but double the length of my turns and give me an Explore, unless I'm already vastly ahead, at which point it would be redundant. At least that's my experience. Different playgroups might necessitate the extra turns to actually bring the beats around.
• Force of Will is entirely because of the price point. I'd run it if I had one.
• Thwart is one I'm actively considering (as is Foil, which I'm surprised you didn't mention). Daze is a bit too niche for me; it won't win counter wars where I play anytime soon, and no one's gonna be dumb enough to tap out against a blue player.
• Personal Tutor and Long-Term Plans require me to either wait too long to get the cards I searched for, or spend more mana on cantrips. Merchant Scroll can't find me power cards like Bribery. All of them have the inherent problem of dragging out my turns and causing stale gameplay, because there's no reason not to just find the same cards every game (which is almost always gonna be Rift).
• Mystical Tutor I allow in the wishboard as a nice little niche choice in a sticky spot, not as a consistency thing. I don't need more consistency. Deck runs fine without the tutors.
• If I ran creatures, Archaeomancer, Snapcaster Mage, and Tidespout Tyrant would be the first places I'd go. At the moment, not running them. Personal choice.
• Proteus Staff is something I used to run way back in the day, because in a deck with actually no creatures, it's stacked however you want. That caused scoops immediately and was a type of game I didn't want to play.
• 5 CMC or less rule is a personal choice that just makes me all happy inside. It's just kind of beautiful to me. Time Spiral is a beautiful, beautiful card that I'd run in a heartbeat... at one less mana. I recognize it's powerful, but I think you can catch the drift from my responses so far that sometimes I eschew power for aesthetic or playgroup reasons.
• Sunder is not the type of game I wanna play. That is all.
• Pike is sick. It's not win-more. It's backup. If, instead of amassing an army, I can barely keep 1-2 tokens on the field, or Talrand died enough times that all I can do is steal a creature from someone else, Pike can bring the extra points for the win.
• Dig and Cruise are aesthetic reasons. Yeah, they cost 2 and 1 mana. Their CMCs are both still 8. If I ever get over my own obsession with keeping the CMC below 5, Cruise at the very least is getting the invite.

Thanks for all the suggestions, friend.

As for Time Reversal, Son-of-Mace, if only it didn't exile itself... shuffling my graveyard in is something that I kind of want to keep doing.

P.S., shivx, if you ever post your Talrand deck (welcome to T/O, by the way), link it here, I'd love to take a look.

Talrand Control(Help Wanted) is my build of this, took out alot of more expensive cards that i dont have.

Talrand, Sky Summoner EDH is my List, i'd love to hear your thoughts on it!