Arensen

That's a problem I get too. I agree with Northern though, 21 lands is probably too many when your curve tops out at two. I'd probably drop it to 18 lands, or maybe 19.

To me, EDH is the epitome of fun magic. Almost anything works. While it can be expensive to get into, the precon decks help to alleviate that. Consider also that not all EDH decks require all the staples and expensive cards. My playgroup is very casual, and my Izzet EDH deck (which is my pride and joy) runs no Sol Ring, or Caged Sun or Command Tower, and it does fine.

EDH is certainly my favourite format, and I would say that if you can play EDH, you should.

From the hands I've been drawing, the deck seems capable of some pretty explosive draws, for casual at least. Stuff along the lines of
t1: Forest, Elves.
t2: Forest, Banneret, Harbinger, search for whatever big scary beast you need.
t3: Forest, Big Scary Beast of your choice.

From the hands I've been drawing, the deck seems capable of some pretty explosive draws, for casual at least. Stuff along the lines of
t1: Forest, Elves.
t2: Forest, Banneret, Harbinger, search for whatever big scary beast you need.
t3: Forest, Big Scary Beast of your choice.

Hmm, it's not a bad IDEA, building around Cruel Ultimatum, but there are better ways of doing it in my opinion.

Basically, there are two ways to go. One is to focus on the Myr aspect. Are you familiar with the infinite combo? If not, the combo runs a little like this:

Step 1: Control 2 Myr Galvaniser (2/2 for 3. each other Myr gets +1/+1. 1t, untap each other myr you control), then have 2 myr that produce mana
Step 2: Tap the two Myr for mana, then use 1 mana for galvaniser to untap each other myr. (1 mana in mana pool)
Step 3: Add 2 mana wih myr again (3 mana in mana pool) spend 1 mana for galvaniser to untap other myr (including the first tapped galvaniser)(2 mana in mana pool, we're back at the start of this step!) Hey presto, infinite mana!

Obviously you can use your infinite mana to fireball your opponents face in for gigantic damage, or even more creative spells with X in their mana cost (you can figure that out :), or just plain cast maybe 2 or 3 cruel ultimatums from your hand for big damage, plenty of cards etc. etc.
{just ignore this whole bit if you actually did understand the combo and now I feel like an idiot}


The OTHER way to go is to run a cruel ultimatum combo deck with spellweaver helix.
There's a really good example of this deck here: http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/boab/33
This basically lets you chuck a few Ultimatums at your opponents face on turn 4 or 5.

So, if you want to go with the combo Myr strategy, then 4x Myr Galvaniser should do the job nicely. Hopefully you've got enough draw that you can find enough ultimatums to win on your combo turn. Basically, Cruel Ultimatum doesn't win games on it's own on one turn (but four on one turn do :D)

Anyway, hopefully I've been of some help,
~A

Should be fixed now though.

Yeah, it's rather glitchy. I keep adding cards to sideboard by accident, and I don't even know what is going on :<

Sounds good.

I need the playset of power conduit... I might do something like this:

-1 Chalice of the Void
-4 Stalking Stones

+1 Mycosynth Golem
+3 Darksteel Citadel
+1 Ensoul Artifact

Although I can't fit in thoughtcast that way. And U: draw 2 cards sounds quite nice...

what do I take out for it though?

Wow. That's just rude.

Mycosynth Golem sounds strong. Maybe Thoughtcast? That Draw 2 cards with affinity for artifacts? Could help to keep the artifacts flowing.

And Decree of Justice could do so much work for this deck. Even run Standstill if you felt like a bad person.

Oh, I'd considered him, but I felt the ability was a little underpowered, especially in formats like modern and legacy :p

I like this deck. It uses fun tap/untap abilities in ways people haven't really explored before. +1 for innovation. One thing I would suggest would be to run more Quicksilver Daggers, as those guys can really do work digging through your deck and pinging off cheap creatures, then of course the combo with Hateflayer. I feel like you don't really need the Twitch though. They don't add much that you don't already have, and their combo potential is somewhat limited. Maybe take them out and run some cheap card draw instead. Steam Augury is not bad here, and Dig Through Time is even better, but hugely more expensive money wise. The card draw will give you more consistency and versatility in your deck, which combo decks really need.

The main problem I see with this deck is that you running your own anger of the gods could be crippling for yourself. Every single creature you are running besides Spawn of Thraxes gets killed when you cast it, making it a dead draw in most hands. Putting pressure on the opponent is excellent too, but I also feel like Shaman of the Great Hunt may not be what you're after. For a start, it's a four drop that gets blanked by magma jet (as well as every single removal spell in the format, and it also can't contest against a Siege Rhino.
Maybe running the new Mardu Scout would serve you better. It doesn't matter as much if it dies to magma jet (they both cost 2), and it can punch through Caryatid, which is one of the big problems with Monastery Swiftspear is that it can't. And while I like the amount of removal you have here, I feel like you creature curve is a little off for a "balls to the wall" aggro deck, and running some cheap creatures should fix that. This feel like more of a mono red midrange deck. You could choose to go that route. That would mean increasing the number of Purphoros to 2, and running Fanatic of Mogis. With the amount of red mana you're using, he can turn into Lava Axe attatched to a 4/2 frame for 4, or even bigger. Finally, going to four Crater's Claws gives your deck some pretty massive reach. Ferocious is very easy to get to work, and being able to just tap out for X = 6 with Ferocious, shooting your opponent for 8 means that the conventional "safe life total" against an aggro/midrange deck is no longer nearly as safe.

Hopefully I've been of some assistance,
~A

Well... I'm not exactly an old hand, as such, but I've been playing straight control decks for about a year now. I'd say that rather than running a lot of sorcery speed card draw like divination, forsee etc. you run instant speed card draw. That is more expensive to come by, and 20$ can be a tight budget for this archetype, but I think that cards like Steam Augury and Thought Scour don't cost too much money. That way after you t1 delver or whatever you can do on the early turns you can leave mana up for counterspells, then if they play nothing steam augury at the end of their turn. I particularly like Steam Augury type effects, as they let you see a much larger portion of you library than just straight: draw 2 cards. Think Twice also works nicely like this, so you could rotate that back maindeck, and put divnation in the sideboard. Forsee can stay maindecked though, because it lets you see at minimum the top four cards of your library before you decide which to keep. The most important thing about those cards though is that you don't sacrifice the ability to control, and that's critical for a Delver deck with a threat down.

I also feel like you could run only 3 Runechanters Pike, as you hopefully only need one to win the game. That would free up space for a fourth Izzet Charm, which gives you some extra control power, as well as a way to dig for those crucial Incinerates to win the game.

Sorry my response is so late, and I hope you enjoy playing the deck.

~A

And that's understandable. Having to fork over 1UU for Dissipate is very different to 1U for Mana Leak, god forbid 1UUU for Cryptic Command. To be honest, you can probably get away with boarding them in instead of maindecking, as your deck has plenty of answers to creatures, and instants/sorceries. And if your playgroup doesn't tend to use planeswalkers, then you definitely don't need to maindeck them.

I'd say maybe run a few hard counters, just to deal with problem planeswalkers. Against another control deck slamming down a 5 drop walker on turn 8, spell pierce won't do you too much good, and nor will Swan Song. Maybe just running 2-3x Counterspell? Or just plain Cancel variants? Of course, I'm not sure if it's actually a real problem for you, I haven't tested the deck myself.

Well, budget. Ok. First of all, there is that funny combo with Siege Dragon and Polymorphists Jest. If you wanted to use that more, I'd get one to two more of each of them, preferably 2. This combo isn't really competetive though.

Second, if you can afford any Atarka, World Render, I'd pick up a couple of them, because they are pretty crazy.

Satyr Hedonist is ramp, yes, but there are better ways of doing it. I would suggest plain old Elvish Mystic as a mana ramp solution. 4x them should do nicely.

Card advantage is always useful. Divination is fine for budget, but I'd run Steam Augury as it's better, or Dig Through TIme if you're up for pouring money into the deck (which you said you didn't want to).

I would say that your Nyxborn Wolf and Singing Bell Strike probably don't do much for the deck, and nor are they really on theme as such. You'll probably want more removal instead. Lightning strike are a powerful, cheap ($) alternative which deal enough damage to kill things. You can also run Magma Jet if your friends play lots of Reclamation Sage sized creatures.

Avalance Tusker are good aggressive midrange cards, but Savage Knuckleblade are even better. However, they cost more money, and your budget might not stretch to that. Another interesting enchantment (and since your deck is very big creature heavy you might like these) is Temur Ascendancy. They give you a nice source of cards as well as giving all your dragons and stuff haste. Savage Knuckleblade is also quite a strong card in tournaments in it's own right.

Closing in on the end here. If you want to pay more money and be more competetive, you'll want to pick up the big expensive mythic rare bomb cards like Stormbreath Dragon, Nissa Worldwaker, Sarkhan Dragonspeaker, Surrak Dragonclaw, Xenagos God of Revels and so on and so forth. You'll also want some better mana ramp to support it, so Sylvan Caryatid is the perfect card to fit in here. She blocks well, has hexproof and generate perfect mana fixing.

Speaking of mana fixing, the last thing you'll want to go competetive is a strong manabase. This will probably be the most expensive part of the deck, running cards like Mana Confluence, Shivan Reef, Yavimaya Coast and the fetchlands.


The competetive route that I've shown you involves pretty close to a full rework of your deck, although the advantage is it can be done in stages. The first thing I'd do would be to grab some Savage Knuckleblades, Temur Ascendancy, Temur Charm, Elvish Mystic, and maybe a Stormbreath Dragon if you feel like it (the dragons also stay on theme :)). Then you fill it out with the other mythics I mentioned slowly, finishing the manabase last.


Alternatively, if you just want to play casually, feel free to only take some or none of my suggestions whatsoever while cramming your deck full of whatever dragons you can find. Just remember to run enough ramp to reach them. Hopefully I've been of some help here.
Good luck, and enjoy playing Magic.

~A