Yes, one more Mishra deck. I promise that this one is different though.
Many of the current Mishra decks use cards like Nether Void, Blood Funnel, etc to take advantage of Mishra's ability to make your artifacts "uncounterable." Of course like Demigod, any opponent that knows about the stack will know to let Mishra's trigger resolve before actually countering your metal. I have tried this approach as well, but the first time I had a Blood Funnel on board and my opponent killed Mishra and I didn't have enough mana to cast him again I decided this was not for me.
There have been discussions about using his ability to get a free shuffle whenever you play an artifact, thus getting maximum use out of Top and its ilk. This is a huge boon in EDH. But still not where I'm going...
With these spells you can steal your opponent's key artifacts - Sol Ring, Lightning Greaves and Solemn Simulacrum. You then play their copies, triggering Mishra's ability to search your own copy out (yes, Lich only does this for Simulacrum and other robots, but it's a strong interaction). I've also added many other commonly-played artifacts (Phyrexian Metamorph, Swiftfoot Boots, Top, SoFF, Wurmcoil, Steel Hellkite, etc) for a bit more random profit.
Yeah, this has come up before too. I don't think it has garnered enough credibility for people to take it seriously, but the power behind it is incredible. Accelerating from 5 to 9 mana for 1 by stealing a Sol Ring is a significant boost. 2 basics, 2 bodies, and 2 cards on layaway for 4 by thieving a Solemn is also quite powerful. I have 2 Sol Rings in play on turn 5 in the majority of games I've played over the year or so that this deck has existed. Solemn or Greaves usually come shortly after. It's consistent, especially with the amount of tutoring in the deck.
But those are only a handful of cards in the deck. So why not continue with the thievery theme, even though you might not get the same benefits from Mishra:
This is the main reason for the multiplayer status of the deck. With artifacts, you can get away with playing against a Saffi or Sisay or Krond deck... the colour requirements are pretty moot. With Ascension you need to have the same coloured spells as your opponent, then you have to cast them:
Tutors are ideal for getting the chain going. Play a tutor, get KE, fish out their same tutor, put a counter on Ascension, use their tutor to get Memory Plunder to replay their tutor to get Ascension online and get something else.
Real in-game scenarios:
1) In a 4-player game I had 4 Lightning Greaves on my board at one time.
2) Thada took someone's Top, fishing out mine with Mishra. In response to that opponent triggering a shuffle effect, I drew a card with their Top, putting theirs back on top of their library before they shuffle it away.
3) Played someone's Metamorph... mine EtB first, legend-ruling someone's general. The original resolved, legend-ruling another general.
4) Lich played a single opponent's Solemn 3 separate times in 1 game, each time Mishra triggered to put mine back into play as well. Massive ramp and card advantage resulted.
5) Got Ascension online by playing Chancellor, playing an opponent's Rite of Replication, copying Chancellor and playing RoR infinitely (along with every other creature on the battlefield, due to every Rite after the second one being copied) AND playing all other spells in all graveyards infinitely.
And my all-time favourite:
- Demonic Tutor for KE.
- With Ascension on board, KE a black player's Tutor (Ascension 1 counter). Tutor finds Memory Plunder.
- MP opponent's Tutor (Ascension 2 counters). Tutor finds Spelltwine.
- Spelltwine (Ascension triggers), first copy targeting KE and opponent's DT, second copy targets MP and something that really doesn't matter.
- Each target of both Spelltwines is copied, and each spell played by KE and MP is copied...
- A total of 12 spells and copies resolved as a result of the original Spelltwine.
Yes, that's 17 mana, and I had to pass the turn before playing the Spelltwine. But hey, it worked out.
So putting it all together, this is the list I have right now:
Finally, some comments on the some other cards in the deck:
Mindclaw Shaman - one of my new favourite cards. I lucked out vs a green player, nabbing their Tooth and Nail. I put Chancellor and a clone into play, copying TnN again, then tutored up another clone to play it with Entwine again.
Wheel of Fortune and Windfall - loads up the graveyards and refills my hand. Both work very well with the deck.
Head Games - douchetacular... but I usually go easy on my opponents. I will usually only replace 1 or 2 cards in their hand, giving them big splashy sorceries like TnN to Mindclaw or Ricochet away
Interesting list, it's quite different from my own mishra build (one of the nether void stax/combo variants) but I see the potential (I run Thad's adel in my own list, double sol ring is awesome.
Be careful with mana flare, it can backfire quite badly (see: the green player you just ramped to 12 who will terastodon it on his turn).
Mindlslaver doesn't work, it's legendary.
I'm on my phone right now but I have some comments for you later.
NW - yeah, I did have 'slaver in there at one point, and as Ombolis pointed out, you can't have them both out at once. If you have the mana, you can crack yours before the original resolves... but that seemed like too long a shot, so it stayed out. Also, Ruins were there in the first iterations of the deck... I had Arcbound Reclaimer too. I found that I was spending entire turns just durlding trying to keep some random artifacts alive, but wasn't really advancing my game state. Plus, with Mishra you can fish your artifacts out of your grave if you play your opponents' copies.
Ombolis - I saw your thread too... I'll be providing a bit of feedback. Feel free to post a link to your thread here. Agreed with the Flare and green players. TnN is another example. Maybe more Spelljack/Desertion/Gather Specimens effects to deter shenanigans?
Yes, one more Mishra deck. I promise that this one is different though.
Many of the current Mishra decks use cards like Nether Void, Blood Funnel, etc to take advantage of Mishra's ability to make your artifacts "uncounterable." Of course like Demigod, any opponent that knows about the stack will know to let Mishra's trigger resolve before actually countering your metal. I have tried this approach as well, but the first time I had a Blood Funnel on board and my opponent killed Mishra and I didn't have enough mana to cast him again I decided this was not for me.
There have been discussions about using his ability to get a free shuffle whenever you play an artifact, thus getting maximum use out of Top and its ilk. This is a huge boon in EDH. But still not where I'm going...
Thievery part 1 - Key Cards
Yeah, this has come up before too. I don't think it has garnered enough credibility for people to take it seriously, but the power behind it is incredible. Accelerating from 5 to 9 mana for 1 by stealing a Sol Ring is a significant boost. 2 basics, 2 bodies, and 2 cards on layaway for 4 by thieving a Solemn is also quite powerful. I have 2 Sol Rings in play on turn 5 in the majority of games I've played over the year or so that this deck has existed. Solemn or Greaves usually come shortly after. It's consistent, especially with the amount of tutoring in the deck.
But those are only a handful of cards in the deck. So why not continue with the thievery theme, even though you might not get the same benefits from Mishra:
Thievery part 2
This is the main reason for the multiplayer status of the deck. With artifacts, you can get away with playing against a Saffi or Sisay or Krond deck... the colour requirements are pretty moot. With Ascension you need to have the same coloured spells as your opponent, then you have to cast them:
Thievery part 3
Real in-game scenarios:
1) In a 4-player game I had 4 Lightning Greaves on my board at one time.
2) Thada took someone's Top, fishing out mine with Mishra. In response to that opponent triggering a shuffle effect, I drew a card with their Top, putting theirs back on top of their library before they shuffle it away.
3) Played someone's Metamorph... mine EtB first, legend-ruling someone's general. The original resolved, legend-ruling another general.
4) Lich played a single opponent's Solemn 3 separate times in 1 game, each time Mishra triggered to put mine back into play as well. Massive ramp and card advantage resulted.
5) Got Ascension online by playing Chancellor, playing an opponent's Rite of Replication, copying Chancellor and playing RoR infinitely (along with every other creature on the battlefield, due to every Rite after the second one being copied) AND playing all other spells in all graveyards infinitely.
And my all-time favourite:
- Demonic Tutor for KE.
- With Ascension on board, KE a black player's Tutor (Ascension 1 counter). Tutor finds Memory Plunder.
- MP opponent's Tutor (Ascension 2 counters). Tutor finds Spelltwine.
- Spelltwine (Ascension triggers), first copy targeting KE and opponent's DT, second copy targets MP and something that really doesn't matter.
- Each target of both Spelltwines is copied, and each spell played by KE and MP is copied...
- A total of 12 spells and copies resolved as a result of the original Spelltwine.
Yes, that's 17 mana, and I had to pass the turn before playing the Spelltwine. But hey, it worked out.
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Thada Adel, Acquisitor
1 Grand Architect
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Master Transmuter
1 Mindclaw Shaman
1 Havengul Lich
1 Body Double
1 Wrexial, the Risen Deep
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Chancellor of the Spires
1 Silent-Blade Oni
Artifacts
1 Sol Ring
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Dimir Signet
1 Coalition Relic
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Gem of Becoming
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Grinning Totem
1 Gilded Lotus
Planeswalkers
1 Chandra, the Firebrand
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Sorceries
1 Reanimate
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Praetor's Grasp
1 Show and Tell
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall
1 Rite of Replication
1 Damnation
1 Chain Reaction
1 Bribery
1 Acquire
1 Increasing Ambition
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Head Games
1 Spelltwine
1 Life's Finale
1 Knowledge Exploitation
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Arcane Denial
1 Twincast
1 Memory Plunder
1 Reins of Power
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Desertion
1 Spelljack
Enchantments
1 Pyromancer Ascension
1 Steal Enchantment
1 Necromancy
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Mana Flare
Lands
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Command Tower
1 Rupture Spire
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Tainted Isle
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Halimar Depths
1 Soldevi Excavations
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Temple of the False God
1 Tectonic Edge
4 Island
2 Swamp
2 Mountain
Mindclaw Shaman - one of my new favourite cards. I lucked out vs a green player, nabbing their Tooth and Nail. I put Chancellor and a clone into play, copying TnN again, then tutored up another clone to play it with Entwine again.
Wheel of Fortune and Windfall - loads up the graveyards and refills my hand. Both work very well with the deck.
Head Games - douchetacular... but I usually go easy on my opponents. I will usually only replace 1 or 2 cards in their hand, giving them big splashy sorceries like TnN to Mindclaw or Ricochet away
Life's Finale - another solid pseudo-tutor. Reanimate, Necromancy, Beacon of Unrest, Havengul Lich and Body Double all love this sweeper.
Arcane Denial - counter my own artifact with Mishra's trigger on the stack... get the artifact back from my graveyard and draw 3 cards.
Steal Enchantment - pretty much the only enchantment removal in Grixis. Plus it goes along with the theme of the deck.
Mana Flare - this deck is extremely mana hungry. I usually end up ramping for the first few turns, then going on with the deck's plan.
Have you thought of adding Mindslaver? You could steal an opponents (its a popular card in my meta) and possibly take 2 players turns?
Also maybe Academy Ruins?
Be careful with mana flare, it can backfire quite badly (see: the green player you just ramped to 12 who will terastodon it on his turn).
Mindlslaver doesn't work, it's legendary.
I'm on my phone right now but I have some comments for you later.
EDH (Commander) Decks
BGW - Karador, Ghost Chieftain - BGW
UBR - Mishra, Artificier Prodigy - Stax and Storm - UBR
BGW - Ghave, Ghuru of Spores - BGW
NW - yeah, I did have 'slaver in there at one point, and as Ombolis pointed out, you can't have them both out at once. If you have the mana, you can crack yours before the original resolves... but that seemed like too long a shot, so it stayed out. Also, Ruins were there in the first iterations of the deck... I had Arcbound Reclaimer too. I found that I was spending entire turns just durlding trying to keep some random artifacts alive, but wasn't really advancing my game state. Plus, with Mishra you can fish your artifacts out of your grave if you play your opponents' copies.
Ombolis - I saw your thread too... I'll be providing a bit of feedback. Feel free to post a link to your thread here. Agreed with the Flare and green players. TnN is another example. Maybe more Spelljack/Desertion/Gather Specimens effects to deter shenanigans?