MTG Salvation

As the title implies, this is an Astral Slide deck. I've never used this card or cycle deck before but lately I come to be obsess with the idea of EOT mana sink. Jenara isn't a generic beater but a one more source of mana sink itself.

The reason for white and green is probably self-explanatory since Astral Slide and an ability to bring cycling land back to my hand via Tilling Treefolk and Life from the Loam is ridiculous but blue seems to be an odd choice since black allow mass reanimation and search which seems to be necessary for Astral Slide. Be that as it may, blue is the best bet when it comes to instant speed control while most of black control is either sorcery speed hand control or instant speed board control. As I test this deck, Astral Slide is merely a bonus, the real edge is the ability to do something every turn. The low amount of lands is not an issue since we have a lot of cycling including [land]cycling which allow us to fix mana to our heart content while preventing from the situation of flood.

I would like to take this deck further though. My vision is to include more powerful card which go well with the deck such as Deadwood Treefolk, Thragtusk and the rest but I don't know which to cut.

My Impression With The Deck So Far

I play a few of duel game (against fellow multiplayer decks) and very limited number of multiplayer game. This is good deck. The strongest I've ever pilot actually. The concept of mana sink seems to not set most players on the edge (while certainly some of them looking at me with suspicious eyes.)

What I would like to include

I certainly love to see more instant control especially spot removal but I can't find space for it right now. I also want to include some more ETB/LTB fatty to blink via Slide but, in a way, I suppose this is quite a good ratio where I have a very limited way to blink or bounce thing.

In short, if you can suggest what to cut in order to include Beast Within, Cyclonic Rift and Capsize; I'll appreciate it.

Result

Changelog

Fluctuator should be an auto-include, as should Crucible of Worlds.

Worldspine Wurm could be dropped, seems like a lot of mana for not a lot of effect.

Quote from erantyint

Fluctuator should be an auto-include, as should Crucible of Worlds.

Worldspine Wurm could be dropped, seems like a lot of mana for not a lot of effect.

Thank you.

Fluctuator is nice but an artifact which only reduce the activate cost of some mana sink seems to be counter intuitive (for my specific deck, of course, it is an auto-include in practically every other style of cycling deck.)

Crucible is terrific and I'm contemplating about it. The only thing I don't like is the fact that it makes me unable to recycling my land which is the reason I chose green in the first place.

I've never used Worldspine Wurm???

I'm curious if Astral Slide is your go to card how about Mangara of Corondor. If you look closely you'll notice that Exiling him isn't part of the ability cost, so you can actually Astral Slide him in response to it going on the stack to perma-exile something on the other side off the board.

Also, you might want to look at Sundial of the Infinite also if you want to cycle stuff during your turn you can permanently exile creatures with it in conjunction to Astral Slide.

Quote from ChaosNomad

I'm curious if Astral Slide is your go to card how about Mangara of Corondor. If you look closely you'll notice that Exiling him isn't part of the ability cost, so you can actually Astral Slide him in response to it going on the stack to perma-exile something on the other side off the board.

Also, you might want to look at Sundial of the Infinite also if you want to cycle stuff during your turn you can permanently exile creatures with it in conjunction to Astral Slide.

I totally forgot about Mangara. Thank you. Nevertheless, I have a problem cutting anything down because even though I feel like time magic is quite lacking without a consistent way to reuse it (Eternal Witness alone is not suffice,) I still believe that it is stronger than Mangara in general.

Sundial is tricky. I like it in certain blink deck including a dedicated astral slide deck but its problem is quite grave. There is practically no reason for us to play it unless we have Astral Slide and something to cycling. It is certainly a possibility and if EDh is a format of, say, 110 cards, I'll certainly use it.

Right now, I'm contemplating on cutting the time magics for Wargate which is visibly powerful in this deck. It's not only capable of tutor for Astral Slide but also Swords, Witness and other powerful stuff, and Bribery which is certainly powerful regardless of the deck.

What do you think?

I change my list a little bit by swapping time magics out for Wargate and Capsize.

I have played ten games so far. The result exceeds my expectation. The ability to mana sink practically every turn is extremely powerful. My opponents will either believe that I merely bluff since I usually leave my mana open or buy that I truly have some instant speed answer in hand. For the first group, they tend to be too reckless for their own good. For the second group, I'll out advantage them in no time since I can always do something (cycle, most likely.)

P.S. My opponents so far consist of Sliver Overlord, Kresh, Bloodbraided, Goblin Rush and The Mimeoplasm.

There are interesting dynamics between certain low CMC permanent cycling and Sun Titan. Most notable is the Rune of Protection cycle but there's also:

Cloud of Faeries: These gals will be a no brainer if I use Skullclamp as well.

Dragon Wings: Interesting but most likely irrelevant in my deck.

Sigil of the Nayan Gods: One of the better option since I usually have 3-4 creatures in battlefield when I want to beat someone up. The cycling cost is as cheap as it gets and even the hard cast can be worthwhile occasionally. If I use more token, this card would be all star by now.

There are also fascinating equivalent between Reveillark and its usual targets. Cloud of Faeries is a very versatile one since it is also synergy with Titan but
Bant Sojourners can provide a very small but sometimes relevant card advantage. True. I don't use Skullclamp but sword wielder can be relevant especially in the earlier phase.

What do you think?

So...they take Sylvan Primordial away huh?

I shall fill the spot with Karametra, God of Harvests and take out Deadwood Treefolk for Ephara, God of the Polis. Legit?

Why Jenara over Roon?

Ah! Good question.

Roon may seem obvious for deck that use ETB strategy, nevertheless, Roon himself doesn't seem to be powerful. We have to wait for a whole turn to use him unless we give him some haste which mean we have to dedicate more in order to utilize him. Furthermore, Roon cannot be relied on as finisher. Without combo or dedicated voltron, finisher is more important than unreliable expensive engine.