Point of order: opponents can't respond (due to Grand Abolisher) once Angel of Glory's Rise's trigger resolves. They can still respond to that trigger after Dread Return resolves.

This is true. Thank you. I will change my description to reflect this nuance. Just out of curiosity, what meaningful response would an opponent make in response to the trigger. I can think of Stifle but is there more?

I suggest removing your secondary combo piece and primarily focusing on getting out and protecting Hermit Druid as best as possible. I can provide numerous cards for you to include to replace your secondary combo pieces:

Remove:

• Power Artifact

• Grim Monolith

• Basalt Monolith

• Goblin Cannon

• Aphetto Alchemist

• Chain of Vapor

• Noxious Revival

• Mesmeric Orb

• Windfall

Add:

• Mystic Remora

• Dregscape Zombie

• Long-Term Plans

• Merchant Scroll

• Shred Memory

• Pull from Eternity

• Corpse Dance

• Shallow Grave

• Sylvan Safekeeper

• Survival of the Fittest

Time Stop is one of the most annoying cards to play against, though whether should use it to counter Dread Return or the angel's trigger is probably context-dependent. Gather Specimens is even more obnoxious, and your opponent would definitely want to resolve that after the angel hits the board.

If your opponent is playing around instant speed reanimation (ex. Makeshift Mannequin or Rally the Ancestors), then they'll wait until the angel's trigger is on the stack before casting Ravenous Trap (otherwise, you could combo off in response to the graveyard hate). Now that I think about it, playing instant speed reanimation might not be a bad idea for this deck.

Any reason that you're not playing Buried Alive or Entomb as additional tutors?

Alchemist's Apprentice works as a substitute for Azami, and plays into another combo with Angel of Glory's Rise (with Fiend Hunter and Cartel Aristocrat).

Raging_Squiggle: I am hesitant to drop my secondary combos for a few reasons. First Hermit Druid is a glass cannon combo that is very hard to protect a full turn cycle every game. Yes I could use Pull from Eternity but the whole table will know exactly what I am planning to do again. I may add it if I go more of a reanimator route with the deck.

Let me clarify, I am using HD because it either buys me time (by eating removal) to assemble my infinite mana combos that usually come online turns 3-6 or it wins the game on turns 2-5. Going all in on HD turns my deck into a generic HD combo deck, which negates the primary reason to play thrasios.

Personally, I think combo decks that have just one win condition only are effective against a group you have never played against before. After that the deck develops the Narset problem of being far too linear.

The monolith combos have not been great. So I am considering making a change on that front to a different infinite mana combo. While not ideal I am considering Auriok Salvagers + Lion's Eye Diamond since it is easily assembled with the assistance of Angel of Glory's Rise Buried Alive and Reanimate. It will also make your suggestion of Survival of the Fittest better as I will be running more creatures.

As for your other suggestions. I have much better tutor options than Shred Memory and Long-Term Plans. I like Merchant Scroll and it was in previous versions of the deck. Same with Sylvan Safekeeper. With my tiny commanders and mana dorks I usually have more than enough creatures for Dread Return so Dregscape Zombie is overkill. Corpse Dance is a bit overcosted and limited. I like Shallow Grave and may include it in addition to Postmortem Lunge. Mystic Remora is a fine card but the random card draw can backfire if I draw into a combo piece.

ibstudent2200: While those are certainly cards that could take out my deck I will rarely face any of them. I would never take a deck like this to my local game shop as it is only designed for cutthroat 4 person pods. Within cEDH Stifle is the only card I may face and even that is somewhat rare, but either way it good to know the weakpoints of the deck.

As for your suggestions. I have considered Buried Alive and Entomb but I would need a worthwhile target. Entomb is something I will definitely test since I added Postmortem Lunge and will possibly also add Shallow Grave.

Buried Alive is too slow unless I have a combo that ends the game with it. I am considering using it to bury Angel of Glory's Rise Trinket Mage and Auriok Salvagers to assemble Bomberman, since it would allow Thrasios to end the game with infinite colored mana but its a bit risky since it nukes my hand and has negative synergy with countermagic. As for the chain you suggested I had one similar in the deck for an infinite damage loop, but it made the deck clunky and was too card intensive.

However, since I need more discard outlets in the deck I will likely replace azami with Hapless Researcher as it essentially fills the same role, but costs way less and has utility in the early game as well. It also can dump itself in the graveyard if its in my opening hand. I may also add Alchemist's Apprentice as redundancy.

If I go the loop route I may add Saffi Eriksdotter as she is slightly more useful than Fiend Hunter for this deck and forms an infinite loop with Angel of Glory's Rise and Cartel Aristocrat. I may also replace Goblin Cannon with Zulaport Cutthroat to give me an infinite damage outlet for the loop. I will definitely have to test both versions to let me know which works best for the deck. Thank you (and thank you too Raging_Squiggle) for the excellent food for thought.

(Point of order: I've also seen Trickbind used. If you wait until T3 to combo you could also run into the new upgraded version of Voidslime from AER.

But if they had a normal counter it would also be enough, because it could hit Dread Return which exiles itself upon being countered. Might want to play Riftsweeper as your second anti-exile card.)

Daedalus19876: Ah yes those cards could definitely be problematic. Thank you.

Alright guys and gals. I overhauled the deck to address some of your concerns and I updated my description. I'll need to test it some, but the deck is much lower to the ground, I have a little bit more interaction and tutors, and hopefully the deck is more resilient. I also perfectly balanced by land to mana symbol ratio and my curve looks quite sexy, which doesnt necessarily make the deck better but it does make me very happy.

Thoughts?

Daedalus19876 brings up a valid point. As a backup to Dread Return should it get countered, I also run Unburial Rites. While the flashback isn't as ideal as Dread Return, having that backup is very comforting.

I usually have access to at least one counterspell for my combo turn. Also, the current backup to Dread Return is Memory's Journey. It's highly unlikely I would have enough mana to cast Unburial Rites on my combo turn after Dread Return fails so if the combo fizzles I would still more than likely deck myself. Journey on the other hand gives me, at instant speed, the pieces needed to reanimate angel or at least form a mini doomsday pile of sorts with labman. I also added Pull from Eternity as you suggested squiggle for extra resiliency.

Good good. Also, as long as they don't get countered, you can repeatedly cast Pull from Eternity + Memory's Journey to prevent yourself from decking and gradually refilling your library with necessary cards.

Why dryad arbor? Is the occasional gsz ramp that relevant? Do you fear edicts?

Dryad Arbor is a card I am seriously considering dropping. It occassionally comes in handy as a third creature for Dread Return a target for survival and as extra ramp for gsz. However the downsides more often frustrate me than its good. 32 lands appears to be too many based on my early testing. What card would you replace it with?

i was going to recommend Riftsweeper but you already got that idea... so how about dropping either Sunken Ruins or Flooded Grove. with your average cmc and since you reanimate you could easily be at 30 lands and not notice the low land count, you could potentially go all the way down to 27 but the possibility of needing to mulligan will rise substantially if you go too low. what about Concordant Crossroads, no need to wait to do tap effects then.

Hmmm... The cards that come to mind for me are Aven Mindcensor, Dispel, Cyclonic Rift, Reclamation Sage, Yawgmoth's Will, Toxic Deluge and Notion Thief. They all serve different purposes and have proven to do those jobs well.

From experience, I just hate dryad arbor. The downsides that come with playing that card plague me and my group still plays with partial paris, so my mulligans are way better.

Bhaal666: Took your advice and dropped Sunken Ruins and added Concordant Crossroads to the deck. I also lowered my total land count to 30. Early testing has been very promising. Thank you!

TheDevicer: I dropped Dryad Arbor for Dispel. More cheap countermagic is always good for a deck like this and having a land that cannot be used the turn it comes into play and can be removed by board wipes is terrible. Thank you!

Gaddock Teeg, Hushwing Gryff, Kataki, War's Wage, Aven Mindcensor, Spirit of the Labyrinth, and Eidolon of Rhetoric are all great hate bears in competitive metas. I run them in my Thrasios//Ravos deck and they do serious work.

This deck looks great, every card seems to fit so well into the overall plan. I like how your third combo (Laboratory Maniac + Tainted Pact) elegantly gets around all kinds of hate, since it doesn't use the graveyard and is also not affected by effects like Gaddock Teeg, Cursed Totem or Containment Priest. It's obviously not easy to assemble and there are plenty of potential ways to disrupt it, but it still makes you somewhat flexible and unpredictable.
Some suggestions: Shred Memory can tutor both Hermit Druid and Abrupt Decay, which makes it a decent tutor in my eyes (if you need any more tutors that is). Bring to Light is also a powerful card, but i assume 5 cmc makes it rather unattractive for you.
Abeyance offers a similar effect to Silence that's limited to one player but also stops abilities from cards like Nihil Spellbomb or Faerie Macabre, however, costing two mana is a big downside.
It might not be bad to have a few more answers to artifacts and enchantments like Rest in Peace or Cursed Totem, so Natural State, Nature's Claim, Chain of Vapor or Void Snare might be interesting.

Raging_Squiggle; I agree those cards are great and once my meta adapts to this deck I will likely add some or all of them to the deck.

Emzed: Thank you for your kind words. I strive in all my decks to achieve what you described so it is nice to know I am close to the mark :-) I am currently happy with my tutor density by wholeheartedly agree that more answers to hoser cards are warranted. Of the cards you described I like Nature's Claim and Void Snare the best and will definitely add at least one of the two.

ok I hope I'm not too late to the party. Problems that arise for angel win: Torpor Orb, Hushwing Gryff, Sudden Spoiling, Trickbind. Problems with Dread return: all forms of grave hate, Misdirection (niche card but very useful in many metas). Cursed Totem or elesh norn also seems to outright murder this deck's win conditions.

All in all, how do you feel about this deck? satisfied in its consistency and speed?

ill do my turn count analysis next week (damnit finals week) so lets see if its more consistent or faster.

Lastly, for why thrasios? the answer is simply he's a mana sink and a way to get lab man through. the real question is why tymna if combat makes this deck more vulnerable. why not ravos to stop elesh norn.

There are plenty of reasons for Thrasios. I just have reports to submit for work lol so I stopped before addressing him. The deck has been doing well. It may not be faster in goldfish mode but its much more efficient, there is more synergy, and more interaction. There are also many more ways to activate hermit druid without waiting a full turn cycle.

To answer about Ravos, I find him to be something I would never cast. 5 mana is just way too much for me to ever want to use him and I rarely want creatures back to hand since I have many reanimation effects and can mass reanimate with angel. Tymna on the other hand allows me to generate free card draw off opponents who run spellslinger decks. I also love having 2 cheap generals for Dread Return fodder I'm not very worried about Elesh Norn much as I have several ways to exile him/her.

tymna doesnt work on opponents turn and few would be willing to do it on your turn. This build just seemed overtly weak to most stax decks so i figured i'd point that out. Glad to hear the weird core I made for hermit druid found a home though.

He doesn't mean the opponent's spells will draw him cards. He means that spellslinger decks generally are low on the creature base, so it'll be easier to hit them with your own.

I appreciate the feedback :-) Fast combo is always weak against stax, but fortunately your combo is efficient enough that I can often combo off despite some resistance.

What cards do you folks use against stax decks?

Yes. I was referring to the fact that few would let damage go through if it would offer benefits to your opponent. Drawing cards seems like a great reason to me to use a path to exile, swords to plowshares, or small removal for eliminating the card advantage. That is just my opinion though so I can see why tymna is better. Also sorry if my phrasing is off at the moment, I'm currently working on a final assignment for school before I start studying for finals.