I'm curious...you're not playing High Tide, nor do you mention it anywhere. Is there a reason you skipped it?

PlattBonnay: Mostly because I recognize that, even with all the practice I have with this deck and the cantrips and top X searches and all that, turns with this deck take a long time. High Tide lets me play more spells, and gets me a drake, but also doubles the length of my turns. I don't want to subject people to that. It's also personal preference, kind of.

Have you thought about switching to Snow Covered Islands and running Extraplanar Lens. I run a deck very close to this and it works great!

Rob828: I ran the Lens with no snow basics (mostly because I could never find enough), but I ended up cutting it because it kept getting me two-for-one'd (lose the land it exiled and the Lens). It kept setting me too far behind, for too little gain. Thanks for the suggestion, though! :)

"Army of One"? More like "ARMY OF DRAKES SCREW YOU HAHAHAHAHAH"
Great deck, no matter what you name it.

I know that you're going for a "creatureless" Talrand deck, but there are a couple of creatures that just pair so well with Talrand that it hurts your deck to not run them. The main reason being, is that Polymorph is just crazy good with just a couple creatures. You can cast it with Talrand on the field and no drake tokens on the field. When you cast it, it gets put on the stack and Talrand's ability triggers, creating a drake then when it resolves you sac the drake that is now on the field and get one of these crazy creatures: Stormtide Leviathan is just a complete lockdown for everyone in the game but you. Makes your non-basic lands tap for blue, which can help but mostly it just stops your opponents in their tracks. Keep it alive with counterspells and you just won the game. Windreader Sphinx + drakes from Talrand = crazy draw engine. And Consecrated Sphinx is just one of the best blue EDH creatures in the game, if not the best. Crazy draw engine to help everything run smoother. Hitting any of these 3 with Polymorph just instantly changes the game, and all you had to do was sac a 2/2 drake token. Definitely worth it.

Saljen: I don't know if you just look at Talrand decks regularly to suggest these cards, and they all just muddle into each other, or what. But this is... I wanna say the third time you've suggested the same cards, for this exact deck? And I've told you that I'm firm on the "no creatures" plan before. At least you added Con Sphinx to your list this time, but, damn, friend, learn when to give up.

Coastal Piracy and Bident of Thassa have both helped me a great deal with trying to keep a full hand in a Talrand deck.

I suggest playing maybe 1 creature and adding Proteus Staff to trade in a boring drake for something more exciting. Your creature? Tidespout Tyrant perhaps. Not as boring as a Blightsteel Colossus, and very useful in a deck with cheap cantrips.

Time Warp-effects also have an amazing effect on the game when piloting a Talrand deck.

The new Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise are also great additions to the deck.

deathbygiraffe:

I've tried the Bident before, but it kind of sat in my hand most games, because I'd rather be playing Talrand turn 4 or so and making Drakes with cantrips during the following turns.

The Staff was once in here for deck stacking potential, but that got boring, so I cut it for boringness. As for creatures, I'm sticking to my creatureless theme hard.

Extra turns always felt win-more to me. If I need the cantrips to make the army, it isn't worth it; if I've already got the army, I'm also in a position to win regardless.

The Delve cards are things I've considered, but they sit too high on my curve by themselves, and I like the ability to reuse my spells is something this deck really really needs. Sending all my cheap 1-2 mana cantrips into exile for one spell one time doesn't sit well with me.

Thanks for all the suggestions, though.

how well does this deck play? Do you win a lot?

mbellmtg: It plays extremely well! It's something I've worked a long time on getting the balance right, though, so jumping into this exact list immediately may cause variance in your results.

I do actually win a lot, but part of that is knowing how to play politics around the group I play with normally. This deck has maybe two or three solid win cons (an army of drakes, Talrand with a Runechanter's, whatever Bribery or Acquire gets me, and maybe Reins of Power), some of which require Talrand to be out at all times, others of which require my opponent's decks to not have answers to themselves. If I didn't know how to politic around being very fragile in the early parts of the game, this deck would have to change dramatically.

Tunnel Vision becomes a win con with Spin into Myth, Spell Crumple and Hinder.

I would suggest the combo Arcanis the Omnipotent + Laboratory Maniac + Mind Over Matter , but it requires you to have two creatures in a so far creatureless deck.

Great deck, +1 from me. If you like, you can check out my mono-blue Vendilion Clique edh. You might see something in there you hadn't thought of before.

JPODS0717:

Tunnel Vision becomes a nifty win con in the right circumstances, but 1. Eldrazi Titans are a thing, and 2. Outside of those scenarios, it's a dead card.

Yeah, no dudes. It's a nifty combo, but no dudes allowed. :P

Thanks for the +1!

Mirror Gallery + Rite of Replication (or Cackling Counterpart or any dupe) sounds entertaining. Otherwise a solid deck that seems fun to play, may try this out myself.

DarkestPhoenix: Rite is a card I had been thinking about, but Mirror Gallery for sure is not good in this deck. It would only be good in the scenario of "Cast Rite on Talrand", and otherwise would be an utterly dead card at five mana.

Perhaps Reins of Power for some late game tough decisions on your opponent?

scarbrought93: Already run it.

Have you thought about making a spot for Treasure Cruise? It looks like your graveyard fills up pretty quick, and it basically turns into an Ancestral Recall late in the game.

sonnet666: I'm ambivalent toward the Cruise. Sure, late game it's a Recall, but early game it sits there in my hand and looks at me sadly and midgame the only thing it eats are the cantrips I want to recur.

Inundate?

ninjaman16782: Is a card. I even ran that card once. I cut it eventually because sorcery speed and because there are so many times that it didn't hit the relevant things I needed it to.

maybe Scroll of the Masters

matrix1312: Scroll of the Masters works well if I draw it in the early stages of the game. If I'm later in the game and need to recover, drawing the Scroll won't do it for me (as opposed to Runechanter's Pike, which can be drawn at either stage and still be useful).

i would suggest Cast Through Time.

Echoing Truth? The ability to decimate an army of tokens for 2 would be pretty strong in your meta.