Pristaxcontrombmodruu! Because Zedruu is her own archetype.

[Jolly Roger]

I am finally going to get a chance to pilot this thing, or a version of it at least. I am still missing some key cards. (Greater Auramancy, Enchanted Evening, [card]Puca's Mischief[/card], Dovescape just to name a few that are in my price range.)

I see your point about Mystic Barrier. Last time I played, I had a agro quick builder to my left and a Oloro sit back and gain life guy on my right. So I guess then it would have been useful in that situation, but who says that is going to happen again.

With single digit instant and sorcery cards in our deck, is Charmbreaker Devils effect really random? I agree that he has to last a trip around the table to get cards back, but it gives us another chance to get one of our key cards back. Additionally,
with Venser and Spear of Heliod it would trigger Where Ancients Tread.

I forgot about Cyclonic Rift. I had it in an earlier version of the deck, but took it out.

[Dechs Kaison]

Ok, out of your list of Key Cards, I'd grab Puca's Mischief first, hands down. Dovescape should probably be your next grab. If you don't have Serra's Sanctum, then Enchanted Evening loses a lot of its appeal. Last I remember, Greater Auramancy is actually a $10 card. If that's in your price range, make sure you have Humility first. It's only a few dollars more and is very much the stronger card in EDH. Actually, Humility is the very first card I'd get if you don't already have it.

More on Charmbreakers: Yeah, I suppose it's not really random and you could have Paradox Haze doubling the upkeeps. What if all you've got is a Mystical Tutor and Enduring Ideal in the graveyard? Your Charmbreakers have to survive at least three opponents' turns and this deck doesn't have a lot to protect its creatures (more than that, it wants to drop things like Humility). If they do, you still only
have a 50/50 shot of getting what you want. That said, if you have a realistic shot at getting your "I win the game" spell out of the graveyard, do you really think a half decent table is going to let that creature survive the trip around the table? If it works at your table, great. I know it wouldn't ever work at any of the ones I play at. I'm not even going to comment on the four card combo that only deals 5 damage every turn.

[Jolly Roger]

My Current List

[deck]
1 Akroan Horse
1 Auramancer
1 Bazaar Trader
1 Fog Bank
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1 Guile
1 Monk Idealist
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Wall of Denial
1 Windborn Muse

1 Aggressive Mining
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Aura of Silence
1 Banishing Light
1 Boros Signet
1 Capsize
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Copy Artifact
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Dawn to Dusk
1 Detention Sphere
1 Dovescape
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Enchanted Evening
1 Enduring Ideal
1 Expedition Map
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Greater Auramancy
1 Hoofprints of the Stag
1 Humility
1 Ivory Mask
1 Izzet Signet
1 Karmic Justice
1 Lightmine Field
1 Mana Maze
1 Molten Influence
1 Nevermore
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Omniscience
1 Paradox Haze
1 Propaganda
1 Puca's Mischief
1 Pyrohemia
1 Replenish
1 Revoke Existence
1 Rhystic Study
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Sigil of the
Empty Throne
1 Sol Ring
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Spell Crumple
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Temple Bell
1 Temporal Isolation
1 Torpor Orb
1 Transcendence
1 Venser's Journal
1 Vicious Shadows
1 Volition Reins
1 Wild Research

1 Azorius Chancery
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Boros Garrison
1 Boros Guildgate
1 Command Tower
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Halimar Depths
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Island
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Kher Keep
1 Mistveil Plains
2 Mountain (242)
1 New Benalia
6 Plains (230)
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Sejiri Refuge
1 Steam Vents
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Meadow
[/deck]

[Jolly Roger]

No luck. I guess I have time to pick up more cards I need before I can play again.

[Dechs Kaison]

I'd drop the Spellbook and Venser's Journal. I don't like the Reliquary Tower either.

[Jolly Roger]

Any thoughts about the new set?

[DarthStabber]

I'd drop the Spellbook and Venser's Journal. I don't like the Reliquary Tower either.

Depending on your opponent and your deck hand limit removers can be powerful. This deck can draw a ton of cards, it has effects that are based on the number of cards in hand, and sometimes stops playing cards all together causing their hand to simply grow ad nauseum, these make it the perfect place for that style of effect. Generic control decks with low permanent counts also can make excellent use of the effect in match ups against slower decks to keep building. And the amount of life I gain from venser's journal most of the times I've used in nekusar have been staggering. Now spellbook I can see cutting (and I would cut it too), it does nothing but
remove hand limit which is hard to justify, but reliquary tower is just fine since it's still a land (unless everything you are playing is triple costed or something absurd like that). The best of the lot is price of knowledge if you don't mind painting a giant bullseye on your forehead (something about non-creature repeatable damage scares people, especially if it's substantial).

[Jolly Roger]

Cutting Spellbook and putting in Banishing Light

[Dechs Kaison]

I'd drop the Spellbook and Venser's Journal. I don't like the Reliquary Tower either.

Depending on your opponent and your deck hand limit removers can be powerful. This deck can draw a ton of cards, it has effects that are based on the number of cards in hand, and sometimes stops playing cards all together causing their hand to simply grow ad nauseum, these make it the perfect place for that style of effect. Generic control decks with low permanent counts also can make excellent use of the effect in match ups against slower decks to keep building. And the amount of life I gain
from venser's journal most of the times I've used in nekusar have been staggering. Now spellbook I can see cutting (and I would cut it too), it does nothing but remove hand limit which is hard to justify, but reliquary tower is just fine since it's still a land (unless everything you are playing is triple costed or something absurd like that). The best of the lot is price of knowledge if you don't mind painting a giant bullseye on your forehead (something about non-creature repeatable damage scares people, especially if it's substantial).

My only problem with what you're saying here is that this isn't a generic control deck with a low permanent count. This is SPARTA! Sorry. Got a little excited there.

THIS. IS. PRISTAXCONTROMBMODRUU!

Now I feel better. Anyway, I'm not playing Black to run Price of Knowledge, but were I to turn this into a TROLORO list, I totally would use that card. Aside from that instance, I still wouldn't put any other
hand limit removers in the deck. I have plenty of defenses that I don't need Venser's Journal. I also think it works too slowly. Playing it doesn't do anything and I need to wait a turn to see anything out of it. Something like Propaganda starts working as soon as I pass the turn. Humility works that turn. Solitary Confinement works that turn. Reliquary Tower looks like a harmless addition, but I've already got a couple colorless lands in the list. Mikokoro, Boseiju, Petrified Field, High Market, Strip Mine/Wasteland. In a three color deck, too many colorless sources can be dangerous. It's really got to be worth it to throw it in the deck.

And Reliquary Tower is not. Don't forget about Replenish.

[DarthStabber]

I brought up low permanent count decks as a separate type of example, not to imply this deck was one in any way. I still think either venser's journal or reliquary tower is a good choice (though you may not need both) and I wasn't suggesting that this deck use price of knowledge, only that it was a hilarious implementation.

[Jolly Roger]

I am having an issue at my LGS with the "Death by Small Tokens" Win Condition. They are saying that a creature token does not enter the graveyard, therefore would not trigger Vicious Shadows. If you know of a link that disproves that, I would appreciate it.

Any thoughts about Pull from the Deep or Eidolon of Rhetoric?

[Dechs Kaison]

No offense intended, but the guys at your LGS are complete morons who are ignorant of basic game concepts. Ok. A little offense intended. From the Comprehensive Rules: 110.5f A token that's phased out, or that's in a zone other than the battlefield, ceases to exist. This is a state-based action; see rule 704. (Note that if a token changes zones, applicable triggered abilities will trigger before the token ceases to exist.)

Eidolon is bad. It's just Rule of Law with an extra card type to make it more vulnerable.

Pull from the Deep just seems like it would be a dead card more often than not. Yeah, the targets it has are awesome, but they're very few and unlikely to be in your graveyard.

[Jolly Roger]

No. I feel the same way most of the time as well.

I figured I could use Eidolon of Rhetoric until I get my hands on a Rule of Law or Arcane Laboratory.

[Dechs Kaison]

Sure, it works if you can't get your hands on the other versions. But I saw you were already running Mana Maze. I use that because it's only a two drop and basically accomplishes the same thing as Rule of Law while being easier for me to work around.

[Jamespoppy]

Just trying out maze of ith instead of bank. ( too bad its targeted i could use the spires of new something or other)
strangle hold instead of minds unbound.
I agree with the monk idealist and auramancer swap.
was trying perplexing chimera for a bit but it's not one sided enough although it causes your opponents to really play around him.
I really enjoy this deck and your deck list is a good read.

[Dechs Kaison]

Always glad to hear someone tell me they enjoy the deck and the write up. Thanks.

Stranglehold is a great card to include, especially if your meta includes lots of time magic. I don't include it in my list because of my vulnerability to it. One well timed steal effect could really ruin my day.

Perplexing Chimera is a trap. It looks great, because being able to steal any spell you want rocks. And then they'd have the Chimera so Zedruu could would make you draw more cards. Well, that is until you realize that no one is going to be playing any spells they care about losing while the Chimera's out, so you probably won't get any real value out of it. Most likely, you end up having to decide whether to steal the Doom Blade for some better target or just let the thing die.

[spocot]

@Dechs
Why do you use Wasteland over Strip Mine? Isn't Strip Mine strictly better if only running one of them?

[Dechs Kaison]

It's surprising how long it took someone to point that out.

I used to run both on 'Trice. Cut Strip mine, and I have no idea why.

More serious answer: Wasteland is less scary and more socially acceptable because it cannot target basics.

[DroppinSuga]

I run Strip Mine in all my decks because I ain't got time (or money) for Wastelands

[Jolly Roger]

Any good cards in the Conspiracy set? Things to try and grab during this weekends release.

[Dechs Kaison]

Haven't had a lot of time to look through the spoilers for it. I did one or two weeks ago and nothing caught my eye at the time. It looked like a bunch of draft or conspiracy gimmicks that don't apply to EDH. I'll take some time to read over them more in detail this weekend.

[Mitrian]

Absolutely love this deck's strategy and design, and you did a great job with the primer. Thanks for sharing it! I do have some questions based on your experience, and some ideas of things that popped in my head while reading through this. Obviously, not all ideas are great, but hopefully a couple here might be worth discussing.

1. How do you deal with cards that prevent searching libraries? Just hope your draw engine is cranked up enough by the time they are out there, and draw into whatever removal you need? If someone drops their own Stranglehold (or somehow steals yours) after you have enabled Enduring Ideal, you're kind of screwed aren't you.
2. It seems like we have a conflict of wanting to drop enchants in graveyards in the beginning (for Replenish, Dawn to Dusk, Auramancers, etc,) but then wanting them in the library after Epic is
   triggered. Ulamog helps with this but he's also kind of risky. My meta also plays a fair amount of graveyard hate. What do you think about including Elixir of Immortality? Are there any other good ways to recycle your own graveyard?
3. Is Sun Titan good here for extra recursion, or does he generate too much removal hate to be worth including?
4. How about Sphinx of Revelation or Consecrated Sphinx for more life/card draw?
5. And with all this card draw, is it interesting to include Laboratory Maniac as an unexpected win-con?
6. Gilded Drake has great synergy with both Zedruu and both Vensers. Ever tested him here?
7. Would Stonehorn Dignitary be good to abuse with Venser, or is the fact that he's a creature not good synergy with the deck? I suppose we don't have a shortage of combat defense here...
8. Is Witchbane Orb worth consideration? Or just rely
   on Leyline of Sanctity? There's quite a bit of good combat protection, but Leyline and Dovescape are the only persistent forms of spell protection I'm seeing.
9. How about instant casting your enchantments as a response to other plays, by using Leyline of Anticipation, Vedalken Orrery, or the like?
10. How often does a card like Dovescape come back to bite you? Do you always wait until after Enduring Ideal to drop it, or do you take risks earlier sometimes? There are quite a bit of your spells that hurt your own permanents, which of course elevates the strategy for piloting it. I can imagine this is what makes it fun, too, but I'm curious in your experience how often you damage your own strategy with cards like Humility, Dovescape, Torpor Orb, Enchanted Evening, and so on.
11. Other lands I'd consider: Thespian's Stage and Vesuva (for Serra's Sanctum, or Boseiju), Maze of Ith (defense), and Cavern of Souls (for Zedruu).
    Mikokoro seems unnecessary with how much other card draw we have, is it really worth the $10 to get one for this deck?
12. Last, I don't understand how Coalition Relic works. I read up a bit on the gatherer rulings, but I'm missing how it can get you 6 mana turn four, if played on turn three. What am I missing with this guy?

[quote="Dechs Kaison » Sun Mar 02, 2014 5:07 pm"]Yes, Venser combos with Mischief in a backbreaking way, but Venser's showed up in my list long before I found Puca's Mischief. He resets Sphere of the Suns, Parallax Wave, Auramancer, Darksteel Mutation or Volition Reins (neat trick is that when he resets the latter two, they can hit shroud/hexproof things).[/
quote]
And... how does blinking Volition Reins or Darksteel Mutation allow them to target shroud/hexproof things when they re-enter play? Or am I misunderstanding what you mean?

Sorry this got so long... I guess that's just a sign of how cool/fun this deck is. Can't wait to test out my version of it! Thanks again for the primer and the ideas!

[Mitrian]

I am dumb, just realized I can't copy Serra's Sanctum or Boseiju (for good reason, I suppose!) so Vesuva and Thespian's Stage probably isn't all that important for the deck. It wouldn't be bad, however, to copy Mistveil Plains, Petrified Field, lands that give two mana, (Izzet Boilerworks / Boros Garrison), or even just Command Tower. But meh, maybe not worth it given too many other non-colored lands in the deck?

[Dechs Kaison]

Absolutely love this deck's strategy and design, and you did a great job with the primer. Thanks for sharing it! I do have some questions based on your experience, and some ideas of things that popped in my head while reading through this. Obviously, not all ideas are great, but hopefully a couple here might be worth discussing.

I'm glad you enjoyed the primer and thank you kindly for the compliment. I appreciate any suggestions and questions you have. If nothing else, it's probably something I need to explain better in the primer itself.

How do you deal with cards that prevent searching libraries? Just hope your draw engine is cranked up enough by the time they are out there, and draw into whatever removal you need? If
someone drops their own Stranglehold (or somehow steals yours) after you have enabled Enduring Ideal, you're kind of screwed aren't you.

Aside from Enduring Ideal, I don't have too much search in the deck to get hosed by Stranglehold and the like. Yes, if a Stranglehold is on the table after you've gone epic, you're pretty much screwed. There's something cool about playing against someone with Stranglehold, though. If he has it in play, you know not to use your Enduring Ideal until you can blow it up or someone else blows it up for you (a lot of players hate Stranglehold, most of them [mana]G[/mana] with ramp spells and enchantment destruction). The bonus to letting someone else blow it up means they're not blowing up one of your enchantments. If the Stranglehold isn't in play, at worst it's in his hand. Play the Enduring Ideal and if you're really worried about the Stranglehold, grab Aura of Silence or Dovescape with your first fetch.
n
One of the worst things that's ever happened to me was an Aven Mindcensor flashed in after I resolved an Enduring Ideal+Twincast. I was pretty much out of that game until I got lucky with the shuffles and Pyrohemia happened to be on top of the deck. Put it into play, killed the Aven, then proceeded to win the game.

It seems like we have a conflict of wanting to drop enchants in graveyards in the beginning (for Replenish, Dawn to Dusk, Auramancers, etc,) but then wanting them in the library after Epic is triggered. Ulamog helps with this but he's also kind of risky. My meta also plays a fair amount of graveyard hate. What do you think about including Elixir of Immortality? Are there any other good ways to recycle your own graveyard?

Don't look at Replenish the same way you look at Auramancer or Dawn to Dusk. The latter are just ways to recover one important enchantment that just went kablooie. Think of them as defensive cards.
Replenish is far more aggressive. It's a way to cheat your enchantments into play, and you don't need to dump a ton of them to make it a valuable play. Yeah, some days you get to mill half your deck then drop an insta-win Replenish, but that's not how it usually goes. Hell, I've actually done this one day: Played Humility, watched it get counterspelled, then played Replenish. It was the only thing in my graveyard I wanted and it was still worth it.

That said, I agree that Ulamog is risky (goddamn Bribery). I haven't updated the list yet, but I've already taken him out of my deck for Guile. As a replacement to the shuffle effect, I've added Quest for Ancient Secrets. Quest needs a little effort to become active, but it's not seen as a high priority target for removal. It's also versatile in that you can technically remove someone else's graveyard with it. The Elixir is a good option as well, but it's not
fetch-able post epic, which is why I didn't put it in. It has to be an early play or not at all.

If your meta is really heavy on the graveyard removal, maybe Replenish isn't even worth playing for you. I suspect you're trying to get too much out of it and that's why it's not pulling enough weight.

Is Sun Titan good here for extra recursion, or does he generate too much removal hate to be worth including?

Sun Titan is a very good card and he certainly has a lot of targets in this deck. I left him out because I have been trying to cut down on the number of creatures in general and I don't have any way to protect him at all. I also don't want to find myself with Humility and the Sun Titan in my hand and deciding I don't really need to drop the Humility because Sun Titan can get some neat stuff back.

How about Sphinx of Revelation or Consecrated Sphinx for more life/card draw?

I don't like life gain. Rephrase that. I don't
really see a need for one shot life gain like Sphinx's Revelation (yeah, it draws cards, but I'd rather just have Blue Sun's Zenith if I were going to use something like this). If I lose a game, it's very rare that another 10 or even 20 life would have made a difference. As for BSZ, this isn't a heavy blue control deck with Reliquary Tower that likes to leave mana open for counterspells and wait until the end of turn to dump all my mana into a draw cards spell. Zedruu just doesn't do that.

Consecrated Sphinx is a trap. I've found that it performs great in a terrible meta, but no one in my group plays it anymore because there's always an instant speed kill spell ready for something like this. Also, see Sun Titan for my aversion to creatures in general. Sun Titan at least does something the turn you play him.

And with all this card draw, is it interesting to include Laboratory Maniac as an unexpected win-con?

If people see me nearly drawing out my deck by
incremental means, they'll expect a LabMan and save the kill spell for him. If I'm going to LabMan, it has to be a combo that draws out my entire deck. I have a combo that draws my entire deck; it already kills the entire table so I don't need to add LabMan for that one.

Further, creature.

Gilded Drake has great synergy with both Zedruu and both Vensers. Ever tested him here?

There is only one reason Gilded Drake isn't in my deck. I don't own one. Fantabulous card for this deck.

Would Stonehorn Dignitary be good to abuse with Venser, or is the fact that he's a creature not good synergy with the deck? I suppose we don't have a shortage of combat defense here...

Answered your own question. He's also just a mediocre card at best. It only stops one dude from attacking. Something like Magus of the Moat would be better if you're looking for a creature that stops combat.

[
quote]Is Witchbane Orb worth consideration? Or just rely on Leyline of Sanctity? There's quite a bit of good combat protection, but Leyline and Dovescape are the only persistent forms of spell protection I'm seeing.[/quote]

Solitary Confinement grants the player shroud; that's one of my favorite things. Things like Mana Maze or Arcane Laboratory limit the damage that can be done via spells. Phyrexian Unlife is an option to never die from Exsanguinate (though I prefer to Reverberate that one). Greater Auramancy protects our enchantments from spells and abilities. Spell Crumple is in the deck, too, which we can fetch back with Wild Research.

How about instant casting your enchantments as a response to other plays, by using
Leyline of Anticipation, Vedalken Orrery, or the like?

I've often considered this and decided that I just can't find the slot for it. The Leyline is great if I start with it, of course, but I never found myself wanting to invest the mana to play it later in the game. I've tooled the deck to play more preemptively than reactionary, and while the Leyline lets me be reactionary, I just don't find it necessary.

How often does a card like Dovescape come back to bite you? Do you always wait until after Enduring Ideal to drop it, or do you take risks earlier sometimes? There are quite a bit of your spells that hurt your own permanents, which of course elevates the strategy for piloting it. I can imagine this is what makes it fun, too, but I'm curious in your experience how often you damage your own strategy with cards like Humility, Dovescape, Torpor Orb, Enchanted Evening, and so on.

The advantage to running these types of cards is that if they are
going to hurt my boardstate, I don't have to put them into play. That's totally my choice. I rarely hardcast Dovescape (it's most often a Replenish or Enduring Ideal thing), but when I do, it's usually just to buy time or because I have the Boseiju and Replenish or Ideal in hand. Torpor Orb and Humility are just anti-EDH cards, I've found, and I limit their ability to harm me by not playing a lot of creatures. Even if Humility will blank out Zedruu and the Auramancer in my hand, if it also "kills" Rafiq or Omnath or Edric's weenies or Arcum or Teysa or any other creatures that tend to win the game, I come out ahead.

Other lands I'd consider: Thespian's Stage and Vesuva (for Serra's Sanctum, or Boseiju), Maze of Ith (defense), and Cavern of Souls (for Zedruu). Mikokoro seems unnecessary with how much other card draw we have, is it really worth the $10 to get one for this deck?

First, Miko's $10? The hell? No, you don't need one. I just like it.
Helps me perpetuate the group hug look.

So, you know not to use the Copy lands for my legendary lands. I just don't find them necessary for more mana fixing. Try them out, let me know how they work for you. I'm not convinced that it's worth the CIPT or the 2 mana to copy.

Maze of Ith is not a land. It takes a spell slot in any deck you put it in. That said, you should see why it's easy to say that's not helpful considering the other combat defense spells the deck already has.

I'm not worried enough about Zedruu getting countered to include a land that'll be colorless for everything else.

Last, I don't understand how Coalition Relic works. I read up a bit on the gatherer rulings, but I'm missing how it can get you 6 mana turn four, if played on turn three. What am I missing with this guy?

It assumes you play a fourth land on turn four. To be explicit: Turn three, tap three lands, play Relic. Tap Relic to add a charge counter. Turn four, charge
counter gives you one mana, tap relic for second mana, play land, tap all four lands for a total of six.

Yes, Venser combos with Mischief in a backbreaking way, but Venser's showed up in my list long before I found Puca's Mischief. He resets Sphere of the Suns, Parallax Wave, Auramancer, Darksteel Mutation or Volition Reins (neat trick is that when he resets the latter two, they can hit shroud/hexproof things).

And... how does blinking Volition Reins or Darksteel Mutation allow them to target shroud/hexproof things when they re-enter play? Or am I misunderstanding what you mean?

An aura only targets when it is cast. If it just comes
into play via Replenish or Venser, it "gets attached" to whatever you want without targeting. That bypasses shroud/hexproof.

Sorry this got so long... I guess that's just a sign of how cool/fun this deck is. Can't wait to test out my version of it! Thanks again for the primer and the ideas!

Quite alright. I hope I've answered everything to your satisfaction; let me know if I haven't. Also, I'll be happy to hear how the deck plays for you. Good luck!

[Mitrian]

That's a helluva response, thanks for taking the time and being so thorough! You are probably right that I love Replenish TOO much, I likely need to be a bit more realistic with it. Same with creatures... not to mention, my group plays a lot of aggro which means there's a lot of removal and board wipes. So more focus on the enchantments and protecting my board state, and less with the greedy "make everything cool happen" approach. Take what the board gives me and rely on the cards yet to be drawn/tutored. Check!

[Jolly Roger]

Finally got a chance to pilot this thing. I picked up a lot of missing key cards.

The first game I was positioned well with some early defenses and drawing an extra card. One of my opponents drops his Commander Jhoira of the Ghitu. I managed to Darksteel Mutation but a turn too late. Already had a few cards suspended. Board Wipe, cards in. Game.

Second game was totally mana screwed. My starting hand had 1 land and 2 signets, and a lot of my key 3 cmc enchantments for early board defense. Needless to say I didn't get a land for 15-20 turns. Opponents didn't let Jhoira control the table.

Overall, it was a less than impressive start but it was fun.

[Dechs Kaison]

Shame to hear that kind of a mess. When a Jhoira sits down at the table, everyone else has to save instant speed answers for her or start messing with the player's hand. The first game should have happened more like the second where the table never lets Jhoira stick.

Consider your game two a lesson learned; a game very much like that is why I don't keep one land hands anymore. Never, no never, not ever again. Not since that one game with the Swamp and two Dark Rituals that I never pulled out of. I run this deck with 34 land, which means that I should get four land by turn four more than half the time. As long as I only keep 2+ land or better hands, it's far better than that. I never trust the odds on a one land hand.

[Jolly Roger]

Mystic Monastery is a must add for me. Probably remove Izzet Guildgate. I don't have your powerful manabase.

[Dechs Kaison]

Mystic Monastery is a must add for me. Probably remove Izzet Guildgate. I don't have your powerful manabase.

Heh. I don't have my powerful manabase. I have the shocks and one of the fetches. I don't have the dual lands. The most important lands are all cheap-ish.

[Jolly Roger]

You know what I meant. The fetch lands and some of the older ones that do cool stuff.

[Jolly Roger]

I updated my list above with the current version I am running.

[Dechs Kaison]

I'm not going to lie here, they're not all that important. Serra's Sanctum is a must, along with Command Tower, Tolaria West, and the shocklands. After that, things like Boseiju, Petrified Field, High Market and the fetches... they're just nice to have. The deck works on a cheap manabase.

[Dechs Kaison]

I updated my list above with the current version I am running.

I'll check it out and tell you what I think as soon as I have time.

[Dechs Kaison]

My Current List

---

[deck]
1 Akroan Horse
1 Auramancer
1 Bazaar Trader
1 Fog Bank
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1 Guile
1 Monk Idealist
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Wall of Denial
1 Windborn Muse

1 Aggressive Mining
1 Assemble the Legion
1 Aura of Silence
1 Banishing Light
1 Boros Signet
1 Capsize
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Copy Artifact
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Dawn to Dusk
1 Detention Sphere
1 Dovescape
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Enchanted Evening
1 Enduring Ideal
1 Expedition Map
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Greater Auramancy
1 Hoofprints of the Stag
1 Humility
1 Ivory Mask
1 Izzet Signet
1 Karmic Justice
1 Lightmine Field
1 Mana Maze
1 Molten Influence
1
Nevermore
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Omniscience
1 Paradox Haze
1 Propaganda
1 Puca's Mischief
1 Pyrohemia
1 Replenish
1 Revoke Existence
1 Rhystic Study
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
1 Sol Ring
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Spell Crumple
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Temple Bell
1 Temporal Isolation
1 Torpor Orb
1 Transcendence
1 Venser's Journal
1 Vicious Shadows
1 Volition Reins
1 Wild Research

1 Azorius Chancery
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Boros Garrison
1 Boros Guildgate
1 Command Tower
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Halimar Depths
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Island
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Kher Keep
1 Mistveil Plains
2 Mountain (242)
1 New Benalia
6 Plains (230)
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Sejiri Refuge
1 Steam Vents
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Transguild Promenade
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Creek
1 Vivid Meadow
[/deck]

In my opinion, things to drop:
Windborn Muse - High cost for the effect and it's
on a creature.
Aggressive Mining - It's probably great once you're epic and don't need the lands anymore... but then you don't really want to be drawing cards either. I don't see much use here.
Molten Influence - This is just a terrible card. You may as well play a burn spell in this slot that only targets players. The card should read "Counter the spell if it's not worth spending a counterspell on, otherwise, that spell's controller takes 4." It's never a counterspell when you need it to be, and you'll never kill someone with it.
Omniscience - This really isn't the deck for Omniscience. It's not easy to ramp into and it's shut off by Enduring Ideal. Even if you cheat it into play with Replenish, you don't have a way to abuse the free spell casting. Decks that use Omniscience are chock full of extra turn and draw card spells. Omniscience isn't a card that wins the game, but if you can't win the game immediately after playing it reliably, you shouldn't be playing it at all.
nTranscendence - You don't have a reliable way to get your life under 20 so that this card doesn't kill you just to put it into play.
Venser's Journal - I still don't like it.

Your deck looks like it's coming along nicely and improving every time I see it. Still having fun with it?

[Jolly Roger]

Yes, I am enjoying the deck very much, just not seeing results yet. Practice, Practice, Practice.

Windborn Muse - Understand. Wanted to have multiple ways of shutting down a horde.
Aggressive Mining - It's not for me, but to donate to someone else.
Molten Influence - Completely misread the card. I thought it was a counter and it did 4. duh!
Omniscience - It was another way of getting stuff on the board. Without the Tutors was trying to give a backup plan.
Transcendence - Agree, but it is an automatic "you lose" card if I need it.
Venser's Journal - Understand, but not 100% committed to game plan of discard. Need to have a little more success before I'm all in.

I have to say I think I am not donating enough stuff. I don't seem to be drawing a lot of cards yet. Probably how I am playing right now.

I will take out Muse, Molten, Omni, and Trans. Put in twincast, reverberate, pentad prism, and
otherworld atlas.

[Alex]

Donating Aggressive Mining to an opponent seems pretty good for them.

[Jolly Roger]

Shrine of Loyal Legions has been bonkers for the small token generators.

[Dechs Kaison]

Seems like that would take forever to build up.

Enduring Ideal isn't going to trigger it with the Epic copies.