Hi guys. Check out my Damia, Sage of Stone list! The list as it is is pretty finely tuned, it's performed really well, but as a perfectionist about EDH decks, I don't stop editing till it's as perfect as it can be lol. Further down there are a lot of explanations of how the deck works in its current iteration, please check it out and leave feedback if you think there's anything I could improve on or if you've learned anything from reading this post.
So why did I pick Damia? Or why should you? Damia is a control commander through and through. This deck is primarily a UB deck (the best two colors for control, and my favorite colors in Magic), with elements of G support.
B: Offers creature removal, tutors, draw, lifegain, discard, and recursion. U: Offers counter, protection, draw, and bounce. G: Offers noncreature removal, land ramp, and more recursion.
BUG is the perfect color combo for control in this format, and card advantage is the best way to win games of Magic! This deck's specific goal is to establish complete board dominance, both by having more land, cards, and creatures than everyone else in the game. This deck is called Establishing Dominance because you spend the game creating a board state in which you have complete control and dominance over the other players and ultimately, the game.
***This is a semi-competitive/semi-casual build, meaning; No Infinite Combos. If you are looking for help making an extremely competitive deck to take to a tournament, this may be a good starting point, but please feel free to check out other primers. This deck is intended for semi-casual, low to no stakes matches.***
Control deck so you decide what stays and what goes. You have the capability to shut down decks entirely, wrath the board, remove creatures, and stop spells while on the stack.
Flies under the radar till late game. This deck plays very defensively and discreetly until it is too late for our opponents to respond. Protecting yourself is very easy with this deck.
Card advantage. This deck basically drowns everyone in card advantage, especially when we start forcing them to discard their entire hand. After that it's not even close.
BUG is arguably the best color combination for EDH. You really get access to everything, including the best tutors, the best creatures, the best spells, and the most mana. You will always be the strongest deck or second strongest deck on the board.
Weaknesses:
Slow. This deck is very durdly and it takes a long time for it to speed up enough to start killing things. It is the antithesis of aggro deck. We remove and draw cards until we know it's safe to go all-in for victory, which can lend itself to long games.
Playing blue can sometimes attract a lot of bad attention, especially if you are controlling the game TOO much. People hate having their spells countered and their board wiped, so beware of making yourself a target.
Recursive decks. Since we don't have any W, exiling creatures and spells for good is quite difficult for the deck and we don't have many outs for it. Luckily we get enough card advantage that we can keep up with these decks, but they still give us a hard time.
Other control decks can sometimes be a problem for the deck, but we do have fail safes like Boseiju and Telepathy to help us get around counterspells and removal. Plus we have counters of our own.
The Card Breakdown
The Control Engine:
This makes up the core of the deck, the cards that you want to see almost every single game, and really make the deck run. [CARD]
Damia, Sage of Stone[/CARD]: The mother of the deck and one of the best ways to gain card advantage in the deck. If she can stick until your next upkeep, you are guaranteed to draw anywhere between 2-7 cards. This provides so much fuel that most decks will have a very hard time keeping up with you from there on out. Protect her at all costs, and you will win the game.
Consecrated Sphinx: Almost like Damia #2, but sometimes I like Sphinx better than Damia because he starts to give you card advantage immediately, and works as prevention for other people to start drawing cards (since 1 card for them = 2 cards for you). Like Damia, if C. Sphinx stays alive for a cycle or two, you will most likely be winning the game with the extensive amount of fuel you've been provided.
Recurring Insight: This is Consecrated Sphinx in Sorcery form, in my opinion. This card almost ALWAYS will draw you between 6-14+ cards between two turns, which is just as good as Sphinx, if not better, because it's much harder to stop. This is a primary refuel spell.
Prophet of Kruphix: A new pickup from the Theros set, this spot used to be occupied by Seedborn Muse. Well, Seedborn, your time has passed. While SBM still has its merits, this deck runs very artifact light, making Prophet entirely better. Not to mention she has the added bonuses of being a Wizard AND being blue (to pitch to FoW)
Control Engine Support:
There are multiple ways to benefit from what the Control Engine offers us, but these select spells either help setup the Control Engine, or maximize its efficiency.
Forbid: Our number one counterspell when the control engine is out. With all the cards we are drawing there will be plenty of irrelevant cards at this stage of the game that we can pitch to Forbid, and keep using it over and over. Opponents will start to scoop once they realize that you will be countering every spell they try to cast. Excellent.
Capsize: Very similar to Forbid except this time it's bouncing permanents, which can actually be even better. It is more mana intensive, but the ability to bounce any threatening permanent makes the cost so worth it. 4UU and we get a bounce for free(without expending a card). Rinse and repeat as necessary.
Myojin of Night's Reach: I absolutely love this creature. It's a bit pricey at 5BBB but it is entirely worth the cost. If we drop this uncontested and remove its counter, we basically strip our opponents of ANY...well... opposition. From there on out the game is in our hands to win, unless they somehow refuel while you have all sorts of counters up (unlikely ;D)
Glen Elendra Archmage: Two Negates on a stick. I can't emphasize how big that is. Having this girl out pretty much prevents our opponents from playing anything that can interrupt us, and serves as such a huge rattlesnake effect.
Win-Cons:
The trump spells. When we cast these we have victory in our sights, or are at least nearing it.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: Another big time win-con. This guy does it all. He doubles our mana, rattle-snakes the opponents, and is a huuuge beater and a clock. One of the best creatures in the deck and once he hits the field, it's closing time.
Recursion:
Every good EDH deck needs its share of recursion, and we're packin plenty because recasting our spells gives us a TON of draw and a ton of value.
Regrowth: Let's start with the basics. Regrowth is pretty simple to understand. You take a card from your graveyard, and you put it back in your hand, then cast it again! Perfect. Simple. Beautiful at all stages of the game.
Eternal Witness: Or, Regrowth on legs. She costs 1 G more, but she gives us a body and multiple ways to bring her out from the fray. She is a perfect card pretty much, and an EDH staple.
Snapcaster Mage: Oh, Tiago. Giving any of our instant/sorcery spells flashback is super amazing and provides a ton of value. Key targets are tutors and draw spells, but really anything can be targeted if the situation calls for it.
Praetor's Counsel: The motherload of all recursion. Literally recurs every single card in your graveyard. Yes, this exposes us to graveyard hate weakness, but the fact that it brings back the entirety of our graveyard PLUS gives us a Spellbook effect for the rest of the game should make it pretty worth it. It's high on the mana curve, but I think it can jive.
Counterspells:
Force of Will: Free counterspell (so long as you have another blue card in hand) that can really catch your opponents off guard. One of the best counters ever printed for that reason, and with all the draw we have, we can easily exile a blue perm to fuel this card.
Swan Song: Another new Theros card that has some drawbacks, but at 1 U and the ability to counter a lot of different spells.. it should prove to be a strong counter in the deck.
Counterspell: The OG. What every other counter is based off of. UU to hard counter anything. This is a great card that is sometimes underused because it's not flashy. Don't be fooled, this card can win you games.
Mana Drain: Easily the best counterspell in magic. For the same price as regular Counterspell you get the added bonus of extra mana on your next Main Phase. Holy ****.
Remand: Not the best counter in magic, nor is it anywhere near it. This is, however, a great tempo counter and tempo is very very important in this deck as you will read on. Drawing a card and delaying a spell a turn(most of the time) provides a lot of value.
Pact of Negation: Another 'freebie' counterspell. This one is really clutch, again, for when you're tapped out. It can catch your opponents off guard and can save the day when you really need it to. Just be careful because it causes a huge tempo loss, and if for some reason you end up with less than 3UU mana to pay on your upkeep(from LD, artifactD, no untap, etc.) then you auto-lose. It's still a great one, though.
Hinder: Counterspell that tucks generals and other problem creatures. I can't stress enough how important it is to tuck in EDH, and this counter does that outright. It's well worth its cost.
Spell Crumple: Same thing as Hinder except that it doesn't go to the graveyard, for better or for worse. Sometimes we can cast this multilple times a game though, because of that fact. Still a great great counterspell.
Removal:
Removal is important in every EDH deck, because it allots you answers to over powered and pesky cards that your opponents have played in case you could not counter them.
Nature's Claim: A very very cheap Naturalize, and cheap is right up our alley. Artifacts and enchantments can both be problems, and this takes care of them quick, at instant speed, and effectively. Putrefy: A pretty self-explanatory card. Instant-speed Destruction of either a problem creature or an artifact that we don't particularly like. The fact that it can hit either make it a very valuable card.
Go for the Throat: Simple, instant speed, destroy any creature besides artifacts. Artifact creatures are rarely ever the problem in EDH, so this will have many targets and it is cheap to cast.
Deglamer: A very cheap + efficient Naturalize that can handle indestructibles! Just a nice card to have at any stage of the game.
Curse of the Swine: More new tech from Theros! Who would have thought. This card is like a half-sweeper half-targeted removal spell that absolutely gets the job done. Exiling creatures is BIG in BUG since we don't often get the ability to do that, and this card does it oh so well.
Cyclonic Rift: Onto the sweepers, we have the best sweeper in the EDH format (in my opinion). Instant speed, hits every single nonland permanent that your OPPONENTS control for 6U. If there is one sweeper that puts the game in your favor, it is this one. Rift is amazing and I wouldn't play a blue deck without it.
Oblivion Stone: An absolute powerhouse, you can drop this baby at turn 3 and either hold it as a hostage effect and start adding fate counters at the EOT, or just blow it right away for 8 mana. Either way this card is simply the ****.
Evacuation: Quickly becoming one of my favorite sweepers, the main fact about this guy is that it is instant speed. Oh, let's not forget it resets counters, destroys all tokens, and screws with cheated out indestructible creatures. A great wipe all around.
Damnation: A classic off-color wrath that will just destroy everything for a decent cost. This is my favorite black wrath and the last man standing regarding black wraths.
Card Draw & Tutors:
What this deck is all about. Card advantage and card quality allow this deck to run smoothly and have the answers whenever we need them.
Brainstorm: Classic cantrip effect that is the best of its kind. With shuffle effects this creates a very nice card quality spell, allowing us to change cards that we don't need at the moment for fresh ones.
Mystic Remora: A mini-Rhystic Study that has an upkeep cost unfortunately. But the fact that
it can be popped out early, and the cost is 4 means that you will draw pretty much every time an opponent plays a noncreature spell, not many will get around it.
Mystical Tutor: One of the best tutors in the deck. We run over 35 instants/sorceries to choose from, and there is no doubt that we will be reusing this tutor over and over during the game. It can find pretty much anything, from T+N, to more card draw, to recursion effects. Top tier tutor.
Vampiric Tutor: Another excellent tutor that will find literally anything you need and put it onto the top deck. This is just as good as Mystical Tutor, but better sometimes because we can also find artifacts/creatures/enchantments if we really need em.
Demonic Tutor: The basic and strongest tutor in the game. 1B and you trade it out for ANY card in your deck. This card provides a ridiculous amount of value.
Grim Tutor: The fact that this is included just shows how good Demonic Tutor really is. This costs one more B and also hurts our life a bit, but it still is so good that we have to include it.
Rune-Scarred Demon: Tutor on wings! This is one of my favorite creatures in deck because he's a fat flying beater whose effect can be copied and abused... and that ability is great.
Ramp Tech:
Every good green deck needs ramp. I will save time by not explaining why Farseek and Nature's Lore are good cards, but instead talk about some of the more peculiar choices.
Exploration: One of the best mana accel cards in this deck. Essentially gives you a huge tempo boost by ramping you every single turn, should you have the land to back it up.
Oracle of Mul Daya: This is like Exploration on legs with an extra bonus of being able to play land cards off of your top deck! It can really help get them out of the way, and again, helps ramp you every single turn.
Crucible of Worlds: Such an amazing card that works particularly well with Fetch lands + Exploration/Oracle. It is essentially card advantage in that it gives us another place to play cards from!
Sword of Feast and Famine: The best sword in a control shell, without a doubt. Being able to untap your lands not only allows you to play a lot of spells during your turn but still have land open for counters. Super sweet tech.
Turnabout: This card has so many different uses, but its best ability far and away is the ability to untap lands. Its basically like a Dark Ritual on steroids, plus it can be used as a Fog if needed, among many other things. The options are very nice, and the mana doubling is even nicer.
Other Deck Support:
Time Warp/Temporal Manipulation: Extra turns are the crutch of the deck. They give you more draw, more ramp, more attack phases, and best of all, more untap phases.
Phantasmal Image: A cheap-o clone effect that basically is used to copy ETB effects, and does its job well. If it dies we can always recur it later for more ETB shenanigans.
Phyrexian Metamorph: The best clone in the game because it can be cast for 3 and can also copy artifacts if need be. The choices this gives you are endless and it is such a great card anytime.
Gilded Drake: Super sweet steal effect that is particularly cheap, and repeatable if we get some bounce going. I just love anything that trades up, and trading a 3/3 flier for an important utility creature or a general is always a good move.
Scavenging Ooze: Graveyard hate that can actually become a respectable beater over time. He also gains us some life back which I can never complain about.
Sensei's Divining Top/Sylvan Library: Card quality is the keyword here, and with all the shuffle effects we get these cards both really shine. I love having these early because they can setup the rest of the game and start giving you the good cards that you need.
Lightning Greaves: Shroud+Haste for any of my important creatures, particularly C.Sphinx and Damia. This saves me the need to worry about countering every single piece of removal that comes their way, and Haste is always ncie!
Telepathy:Reveals soooo much good information all for a single u. This card can seriously change the game for you, letting you know when it's safe to play Damia or other important pieces without having to leave open mana for counters. Also informs you what spells you need to save your counters for! Clutch card right here.
Omissions and Considerations
Garruk, Primal Hunter: I want to find room for this PW because he is a beast at both protecting the throne and drawing cards.
Sorin Markov: This card will be next to put in as an alt. win-con. Being able to get someone down to 10 health for 6 mana is just way too potent.
Notion Thief: This has been suggested to me by a buddy on Cockatrice, and after watching how it works with wheel effects, I must say I was impressed. I think that this guy would be a nice addition to the deck, but I am afraid that he would be dead sometimes and I really hate when that happens.
[CARD]
Life from the Loam[/CARD]+Burgeoning: Everyone raves about these cards in their Damia decklists but seriously, I find it them to be too cumbersome and mana intensive to keep cycling lands and recasting Loam. Right now I like how Crucible has been operating and I will leave it at that.
Body Double: A pet card of mine that I would put in in a heartbeat if I needed more recursion.
Sword of Light and Shadow: An interesting form of creature recursion that could be very useful for both the protections as well as the life gain.
Devastation Tide: A bounce that hits everything. Most of the time our board is the least cluttered, so this could be good.
Nevinyrral's Disk/Beast Within/Krosan Grip/Maelstrom Pulse: Wipes and schtuff. I like these but I don't have room for them at the moment. If I start getting overwhelmed by permanents that O.Stone + creature wipes can't handle, these will find their way back in.
Two cuts here that were just being tested but didn't make the mark.
Propaganda ==> Pernicious DeedThis deck surprisingly does not pull that much hate from the table until it is too late for them. Sometimes an early counterspell can distort politics and make you the enemy for a while, but the great thing about the build is that it is resilient to taking damage with Kokusho, the Evening Star and Wurmcoil Engine. So this was not ever needed.
Perny Deed is back in for now as another board wipe. Can never really have too many in multiplayer. I do like that it can serve as a hostage effect as well. If people attack me, I will blow it up, so in reality it is serving sort of like Propaganda anyway. Pretty cool tech.
Bloodchief Ascension ==> Kodama's ReachThere's two problems with this card. 1) It attracts so much attention, and causes people to attack you instead of others to stop counters from adding on to it. 2) It takes way too long to get online, especially if you pull it late game. The card has a lot of potential, but not in this deck that wants to maintain a low profile.
Kodama's Reach in to help my early ramp and hit land drops. I might need more basics to be running both this and Cultivate, but we shall see how it goes. Late game I can just pitch it to Forbid.
I've been pretty happy with the earlier cuts to the signets. I think that they were good for fixing mana but Sculpting Steel and Copy Artifact provide more options, and options are always a good thing in EDH games. I might cut one of these eventually if they begin to get too clunky as a pair of cards that do the exact same thing, but right now, they are performing.
8.25.2013.2
Two more cuts. After losing a game to a Sigarda Enchantress deck that quite frankly shouldn't have been a loss, I noticed some inconsistencies.
Prime Speaker Zegana ===> Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
This is a cut I've been thinking about for a while now. She is one of my favorite cards printed recently, and she is such a house in my RUG deck. However, in this deck, she does not pull her weight. After something like 30+ games with the deck I think I only played her 1 or 2 times. By choice. I either already had enough draw going on or I had something better to play.
I think that Vorinclex will be a VERY strong addition to the deck. He will help me close out games by doubling my mana and also providing a huge rattle-snake effect to my opponents. Practically another win-con on his own, and will be much more appealing to play than a PSZ when I have a full hand of cards or no creatures on the field. My one fear with Vorinclex is always that he will be either bribed or copied from me. If that tends to start happening a lot this slot will change to Mana Reflection.
Putrefy ===> Maelstrom Pulse
Not that revolutionary of a change. The biggest thing here is that we go from instant-speed removal to sorcery speed. I don't think that will be a problem considering how much more versatility Pulse brings. Being able to hit enchantments and planeswalkers in BUG colors is valuable too. However, if sorcery speed starts lacking, Pulse will be changed to Beast Within.
The list has really solidified. After adding in both Sculpting Steel and Copy Artifact (with Phyrexian Metamorph already in the deck), I noticed that these were clogging up my hand a bit more often that I liked. Out of the two that I added, Sculpting Steel is being cut because it is a) more expensive and b) cannot be pitched to Force of Will, which is a big deal at times. The fact that it's an enchantment is pretty much insignificant.
With this change, I may have to reconsider putting Life from the Loam back into the deck (Since it works better with Burgeoning than Crucible does). But for now I'm just putting this card in by itself to see how it performs.
As an aside;
I did notice that the Vorinclex change was *AMAZING* as Vorinclex is such a great creature and really puts you in the position to win the game. I've also noticed that Sword of Feast and Famine has been absurdly good with the amount of land in this deck, so I will be trying to build more around that. Nature's Will and Mana Reflection are considerations but probably a bit too clunky and redundant at this point.
8.28.2013
Burgeoning ==> TelepathyI don't run enough lands nor am I running Life from the Loam so Burgeoning is ineffectual. Telepathy should help a lot with knowing when its safe to cast Damia.
Homeward Path ==> Cabal CoffersThis is a direct result of the new win-con change. Coffers is needed to pump out more mana for Drana to abuse(and possibly Exsanguinate if I find room for it), Homeward Path not needed as much without Blightsteel to steal from us (though Vorinclex could still be a problem if stolen)
Copy Artifact ===> Exotic OrchardTook out a card that was mostly used as redundancy with Blighsteel for an additional land.
9.08.2013
Black Sun's Zenith ==> EvacuationWhile BSZ gets thru a lot of annoying things like hexproof and indestructible, the fact is that to kill anything with more than 4 Toughness, you have to spend a TON of mana. When it is well-costed... at 2BB (same cost as Damnation) you can only put 2 counters on every creature, making it a pretty crappy sweeper. I want Damnation over this 9 times out of 10. Hell, i'd rather recur Damnation 9 times out of 10 over this.
Evacuation is interesting. Basically this change was either going to be Life's Finale or Evacuation. Right now I'm testing Evacuation. I like that it's instant speed, I like that it still gets around indestructible and hexproof. I like that it can reset counters, can cause people to discard if used EOT, and screws people over if they cheated a creature out. I don't like that it doesn't actually get rid of anything permanently, and allows EOT effects to be used again, but in this meta, destroying things is usually not much different with the amount of recursion there is. Plus Cyclonic Rift is probably the best sweeper in the deck, and this is similar to it, even though it's more limited in scope.
Wurmcoil Engine ==> Rune-Scarred DemonTutors come at a premium in any deck as they let you find answers, particularly in control. There have been multiple times when I wish I had an extra tutor and almost 0 times when I *NEEDED* wurmcoil engine. Sure, he's a strong beater, a strong blocker, and regains life.. but the issue is that I would almost always want Kokusho over him. I think I will miss Wurmcoil a bit, but he just wasn't essential enough to the control build.
Rite of Replication ==> ExsanguinateI'm looking at Rite of Replication and comparing it to the creatures in my deck and I'm just not seeing many targets for it.
With the switching from Wurmcoil to Rune-Scarred, I think that Rite gets even weaker as a win-con. Its 2UU cost is still useful, at times, but I think that Exsang will both be a win-con and a way to gain back a lot of lost health that this deck encounters. We shall see if I end up missing Rite, but I know I was never thrilled to see it all that often.
Negate ==> Spell CrumpleI always hate increasing my mana curve for little reason, but I think that this is going to be a big deal. So many decks I've run into either revolve around creatures or their general, and Negate could not stop those decks. Sure, I don't have to leave open that extra U with Negate, but the ability to both counter creatures AND tuck generals/problem spells should make the extra mana worth it.. I hope.
Diabolic Tutor ==> RegrowthI know I literally just said that tutors come at a premium in EDH, but this was by far the weakest tutor in that early game it just costs sooo much mana. Since I've upped my curve in other parts of the deck, lowering it somewhere is almost necessary. Recursion in (all) edh decks is very important, and there's no exception here. Regrowth is one of the strongest recursion spells, and so I'm slotting it in. It's even cheap enough to be snapcasted back, so that's always a plus. We have a ton of tutors in here, removing the weakest one makes sense.
9.10.2013
Some small changes.
Mindslicer ==> Deathrite ShamanHe was just too awkward at most stages of the game. He seems really good with Damia in theory, but in reality I would almost never want to cast him. Either I was happy with my board state and hand, or people's hands were almost exhausted already anyway, and his effect would hurt me more. Myojin is staying in because he does good work, but Mindslicer is takin a cut.
DRS offers some much needed gravehate, as well as providing some possible ramp. He should be a good fit and helps lower the curve out.
Alchemist's Refuge ==> SwampTwo reasons for this change. One, I didn't have enough swamps to power Coffers without Urborg. Two, Refuge is almost always a win-more. Most of the spells I want to cast during other people's turns are instant speed already with Muse out, and with the new Prophet coming to EDH soon, it will be replacing Muse and granting this effect anyway.
Expedition Map ==> Sylvan ScryingThis is not a huge deal, but that 1 mana can make a difference at times. Though expedition map can be activated at instant speed, its also shut down by Stony Silence, and can be collaterally destroyed at times. Scrying will basically never be shut down in any situation.
9.11.2013
Some big changes here. Including my breakup with my girlfriend.. Kokusho. Kokopuffs is one of my favorite cards ever printed and I hate parting with him but he had to go.
Kokusho, the Evening Star ==> Phantasmal ImageI hate this, but it's for the best. Kokusho has been outshined by Exsanguinate at every corner, and gaining back life for little reason is a thing of the past. This deck has become so efficient and effective that I really don't even need that 15 life anymore. Not to mention it was always difficult to sac him in a deck that isn't focused around sacrificing. He is still in my other decks because he is one of my favorite black cards ever, but he just wasn't fitting in.
[CARD]
Phantasmal Image[/CARD] is great for this deck because, not only is it cheap, but it can copy so many different effects, whether it is on my own side or someone else's creature. There are so many ETB creatures running around INCLUDING my own deck (E. witness, Rune-scarred demon, to name a couple), that his value is almost unlimited. I love lowering the curve whenever possible in this deck, so he fits the bill perfectly.
Rhystic Study ==> Fact or FictionI never would have envisioned myself cutting Rhystic Study from a deck that is based around card advantage, but the inconsistency and the late game failure really started to get to me. Rhystic Study is a card that is excellent when played early, but after that it merely slows down the opponents by a very small margin (they will pay.) This is not a tax deck, so its effect goes unnoticed.
[CARD]
Fact or Fiction[/CARD] is a top tier draw spell, being able to be activated at instant speed, and with the amount of counters+removal this deck runs, opponents have a very difficult time choosing which hand to give me. This card is great, and it should have been in here earlier. I also have the recursion to back up whatever gets pitched.
Sakura-Tribe Elder ==> Bloom TenderThis is a tentative change that I am making because, while Tribe elder does offer some ramp, if Bloom Tender has two or three different permanents to check, it will ramp me even further for the same cost. I am a huge proponent against mana dorks in EDH, but I think Bloom Tender fits as an exception.
High Market ==> ForestWith the exclusion of Kokopuffs, this land has gotten even weaker and thus no longer can hold a spot in this deck. There were multiple times when I wished I had a colored land for the Market, and its main target was only Kokusho with the cutting of Mindslicer. With all the ways to tutor out Forests in this deck, I decided to add another.
9.12.2013
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief ==> PutrefyAfter experiencing one of my first edh losses with this deck in its recent iteration, I realized that Drana was almost entirely a win-more card. There is no situation where you are behind that Drana can help out. I also noticed, after losing to a freakin Obzedat gain+drain deck that I had NO instant speed removal. That had to change, and so I added Putrefy back in, which will help with killing both creatures and problem artifacts. This slot could easily be Beast Within, but at the moment enchantments are not that big of a deal.
Decree of Pain ==> Beast WithinSpin Into MythI'm a little bit iffy on this change to be quite honest, but out of all my board wipes, Decree of Pain was without a doubt the worst one. The cycling was VERY rarely used, and the actual full casting cost was a bit too much. For the same amount of mana I can drop+pop an Oblivion Stone which will hit EVERYTHING, not just creatures. The card draw is nice, but I never really found it to draw me any significant amount of cards. I think that targeted removal is the way to go for this slot.
Tried out Beast Within for a few games, just wasn't doing it for me. People say the drawback is nothing, but that token really bothers me. With the amount of indestructibility and regeneration running around, i've decided to slot in Spin Into Myth instead. This should be grade A creature removal, and be awesome to tuck generals with. It's a bit overcosted, but we generally have the mana to back it up.
9.14.2013
A few inconsistent games and it was time to make some more changes.
Bloom Tender ==> Sakura-Tribe Elder
Just reversing a change that I predicted I would be reversing. Bloom Tender was okay but generally only provided 1 mana anyway, and was wayyy more susceptible to removal (collateral mass removal, really). I hate mana dorks in EDH.
Lightning Greaves ==> RemandAs per recommendation of ToSGOD, Greaves really were not that consistent in protecting any of my creatures. Decided to put in a nice tempo counter instead.
Worldy Tutor ==> Search for TomorrowAnother cut suggested by ToSGOD that I realized was a good move. Most of the time Worldly Tutor was just used to find Consecrated Sphinx for more drawing, which just became a convoluted chain of events that didn't even work out most of the time. Early game I didn't want this tutor or I would search for a ramp creature.. so why not just put in more ramp. MORE RAMP. ALWAYS.
Spin Into Myth ==> Curse of the SwineSpin is awesome tech, don't get me wrong, but for 5 mana I want to be hitting multiple targets, not just one. This also lowers my curve and gives me some exile which is comparable.
9.14.2013
Exsanguinate ==> Kozilek, Butcher of TruthThis is madness, sorta. Exsanguinate was my number 1 killer for the deck, and a great way to completely take all 3 opponents out of the game at once. However, I found inconsistencies in Cabal Coffers and getting enough mana for a lethal strike, plus most games were won without Exsanguinate already, it just kinda was the cherry on top. Now, with a new deck that I've just created that is a Draining Obzedat deck, I don't want Exsanguinate to be my win-con for this deck anymore(super sick of it). Its not that it was underperforming at all- I just want to take the deck in a different direction... and thus.. the dreaded Eldrazi have reared their ugly head.
I really don't think I need to explain why Kozilek is a good creature, but rather why Kozilek over Ulamog. And there's only one reason- Draw 4. Kozilek offers a backup plan if he himself cannot get the job done or gets countered, which makes him monumentally better than Ulamog.
Cabal Coffers ==> Homeward PathThis is sorta an obvious change. Cutting Exsanguinate means we don't need Coffers anymore, and having Kozilek makes us much much more susceptible to Bribery and other steal effects. This is required.
Green Sun's Zenith ==> Recurring InsightI figured my most frequent target for this was Eternal Witness, which was always a decent play, but drawing more cards is generally going to be better than recurring one single card. I think this should be a good change, though I will miss GSZ.
Phyrexian Reclamation ==> Nostalgic DreamsAgain, if you read any of my previous Changelog entries, you will see that I'm doing my best to move away from the sac+recur strategy that I often default to when making decks. This was a card that was much better with Wurmcoil Engine and Kokusho, the Evening Star, both of which are now gone. Nowadays I basically only use it on Eternal Witness.. so why not just add another, more effective, less mana intensive and less health costing Regrowth effect?
This card actually isn't card advantage, but its card quality will more than makeup for that. Turning excess lands/unneeded spells into clutch spells that I need to cast again? A+ in my book. Its only drawback is that it exiles itself, but that really is not much of a drawback.
Yavimaya Hollow ==> Volrath's StrongholdI've gone back on this change since I'm dropping Phyrexian Reclamation. This will be used as a last resort recur effect.
9.15.2013
Phyrexian Arena ==> NecropotenceArena is a good card, but its a slow roller that can at times get removed before even drawing a single extra card! Necropotence will not face that problem, though a reworking of the mana-base may be necessary in order to be able to cast it on time. Necro is regarded as one of the best drawing cards of all time, so why not?
Chromatic Lantern ==> BrainstormAs Moxnix pointed out, Chromatic Lantern is a slow card that hardly ramps and is a bit pointless in this build. It was nice for giving my colorless lands some color, but beyond that it is a dead card. Brainstorm is an extremely good cantrip spell, particularly with shuffle effects, and it $$$$lowers the curve$$$$
Pact of Negation ==> Swan SongThis one hurts, because admittedly Pact has saved my ass a few times. But it also has a huge tempo loss drawback, and is a terrible counter both in the early and mid game. Swan song is new counter tech out of Theros that I'm looking to test out, seems like it will be good, and only costs a single U, not much different from 0.
Sylvan Primordial ==> DeglamerLowering the curve. Between not using Sylvan enough for him to warrant a spot, and the possibility of him being bribed/copied I think this will work out better. Deglamer offers the ability to tuck indestructibles which is not something BUG gets often.
9.16.2013
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth ==> Ivory TowerKozilek has been dropped as he's superfluous in the build, and his mana cost does not promote multiple plays a turn.
Ivory Tower is low on the curve and provides some much needed lifegain that this deck has been lacking since the cuts of Koko, Exsang, and Wurmcoil. It has nice synergy with Necro, Sphinx, basically any of our draw spells, and we sure do have a lot of those.
Homeward Path ==> SwampWon't need path as much with Kozilek gone, but more Swamps will be useful with Necropotence being in the build since the last change.
Fact or Fiction ==> TurnaboutI completely forgot Turnabout was a card for a while, this thing is so good for producing extra mana, plus it has all sorts of other uses as well. FoF is a decent draw spell, but generally it was an awkward part of the curve, and Recurring Insight is just a way better tutor target. Turnabout should give me all sorts of new and interesting ways to spill my hand.
Dissipate ==> Mindbreak TrapI think that this is a strict upgrade, because Mindbreak Trap can often be cast for 0, and even if it isn't, it can hit uncounterable spells or storm/combo/Wanderer all at once.
9.17.2013
Nostalgic Dreams ==> Praetor's CounselHoly jump in CMC batman! I know, this is a bit crazy for me, because I hate raising the CMC of this deck. But I think that Praetor's Counsel will be somewhat of a win-con and a big time tutor target, whereas Nostalgic Dreams was a bit lacking. I have to test this card, but I think it's gonna be huge.
Necropotence ==> Go for the ThroatAhh.. man, I've been back and forth on Necro so many times in this deck, but I think it's time to cut it loose. Yeah, it's a great way to draw.. but I feel like its more suited in a deck without blue. I also really can't take all this life that I'm losing, so I'm replacing it with some more spot creature removal at instant speed.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All ==> Maze of IthI have enough counter protection that I really don't need Boseiju anymore, and it was mostly for Exsanguinate anyway. What I do need is damage protection, and Maze should help mitigate some damage coming my way at times. I hate that it doesn't tap for mana, but I really think that'll be okay.
Deathrite Shaman ==> Scavenging OozeUpping the mana curve again grr... but Ooze's effect is repeatable and gains more life over time, plus he can be a respectable beater eventually. I just didn't find DRS to be doing much besides sitting around being a.. dork.
Maelstrom Pulse ==> Nature's ClaimI wanted to lower the curve somewhere since I've raised it a bit elsewhere, and I thought this was a good place to start. Pulse is a great card, but I don't really like the sorcery speed on it whatsoever.. sorcery speed removal needs to be wraths, pretty much, and with GftT coming in, plus Curse of the Swine being added a while back, its value of hitting creatures is pretty null(though it is a respectable token-hoser). So that leaves Artifacts, Enchantments, and Planeswalkers. I've never feared Planeswalkers in EDH, and Claim hits Artis+Enchants. Boom.
9.20.2013
Mindbreak Trap ==> Pact of Negation
I never got the chance to cast Trap for 0, nor did I run into any problematic storm or wanderer decks, so it was really just serving as an expensive Dissipate, unfortunately. Having to leave the 2UU up when it was in hand was a bit of a stretch as well, so I'm putting Pact back in. Even though I hate the tempo loss that Pact gives after you cast it, it can also be offset by being able to tap out safely every turn, so it's probably worth it anyway to have in my back pocket.
9.21.2013
Ivory Tower ==> Lightning GreavesThis was kinda an ill-advised change. I thought that Ivory Tower would be better (it's only good when I have a ton of cards in hand.. which means it's either super early game or im gonna win soon), and the lack of greaves has really hurt. Not so much the haste factor, but I've been missing the shroud. Sure, I have counters to protect my creatures, but i'd much rather slap shroud on them and save counters for bigger things.
Pernicious Deed ==> Gilded DrakeI've finally had enough of Pernicious Deed, I think. It's my least favorite wipe spell, it's slow early, mana intensive late, is terrible for tempo, and can be removed. I mean, it has its merits, but I'd almost always rather have Oblivion Stone. Drake should be fun to steal important creatures/generals away from my enemy, and if I bounce him I get repeated uses, seems like a win all around.
where is your mana base is it full fetchland base?
describe your meta game
Whats combos are you ok with ?
Your deck is a little confusing its not easy for me to see your overall plan how do you typically win. right not it seems like play control into drop huge bomb like myojin T+N or rite of rep? i see kokopuffs RoR thats kinda like my old shcool RoR malakir bloodwitch form back in day not quite as strong but koko seems slightly better alone
i would play carpet its amazing if no one has blue you win anyway because you do .... thats and right now your cmc 0-1 acceleration is ring/crypt/exploration and thats it which isnt horrible but in 100 cards we want more than that with damia at cmc 7. you dont like mana dorks like BoP or cobra? at least play Search for tomorrow but probly play carpet too and honestly i really like BoP and DRS drs is not just ramp hes a cmc 1 plains walker! (and his pings is actually reliant to you too boot)
looking at your list i dont like sculpting steel but im assuming you just play vs sharum or something.
i dont think any of the utility land you run are good enough to warrant the use of Expedition map as a tutor and defintly not in the color green wiht better options if you needed them
necro is stupid good your general is a necro ....... you want to use necro .... slip a misdirection in that free counter package for cards like this too btw as a control player who is looking to ride Damia for multiple turns sedning a swords to plowsahres elsewhere after tapping out to damia is great and when your using necro as a control player dont over draw too much but you love free counters with this online as well.
you want a slow game so Phyrexian arena is actauly pretty good here as it 8 draws you with damia.
decree of pain you dont need you draw cards in much better ways this wrath is over costed about the only use of this card is killing edric uncounterable for 5 which is already to slow
If you continue to run dork and rock light this should definitely be Pernicious Deed is alredy the best wrath in the format imo but its STUPID good in your build
cut 2-3 more fair/ not broken cards for some card selection like
ponder preordain and Brainstorm (with fetchbase)
the rest seems fairly good i would much prefer a combo finisher of some kind even helm void or sunder + an azusa package or just only using ror and your finisher im not sure i almost only play combos so im not great and finishing in any "fair" way
Edit: i saw ToSgod posting on here a few days ago he used to run a similar control damia build go raid his thread for advise as well
Quote from Cabz »
None. No infinite combos at all. Strong synergies, however, are fine.
#2 Myojin of Night's Reach and/or Mindslicer to discard my opponents hands, allowing me to play Damia freely, then burying everyone so far in card advantage that I just kill them with control + attacking with Kokusho/Sphinx/Wurmcoil/etc
No I don't like Cobra. He dies to removal and wraths, and you can only use his extra mana the turn you play land (not ideal for counterspells and such)
Deathrite Shaman is a card I'm interested in sort of. He seems a bit weak in EDH versus other formats, though.
I think you're right, to a point. It's not needed, but Alchemist's Refuge, Cabal Coffers, Urborg, Reliquary Tower, or Boseiju are all lands that are very helpful during some games for me.
Necro is very good, however I am never lacking draw in this deck and I don't like that discarding = exile with Necro. Seems like something I don't need.
Misdirection seems like a good 'counter' to add in there. thanks.
That is true, I might sub it out for a different wrath, not sure which yet though.
I have Oblivion Stone instead. I figure that unless I'm only wrathing permanents 4 CMC or less, Oblivion Stone will cost either less to play, or the same amount. AND it hits planeswalkers.
Those cantrips seem weak to me. I'd rather have more counters or targeted discard rather than pointless cantrip. Well, I would consider Brainstorm.
Combo is not for me. I like earning my wins and not finding two cards and letting them do the work for me.
And yes, I didn't list the lands but I'm running 6-8 fetches and all the duals.
Thanks for your input!!!
If you have 8 Fetchlands (should run all 9) Brainstorm is incredible an ansetreal recall in card quality various other uses
you dont "need" another wrath you have cyclo damnation and o-stone I would just cut the Decree that can be Brainstorm for now at least. Dont think of adding brainstorm as a card think of it as cutting your weakest card and getting better card quality as a bonus.
This deck surprisingly does not pull that much hate from the table until it is too late for them. Sometimes an early counterspell can distort politics and make you the enemy for a while, but the great thing about the build is that it is resilient to taking damage with Kokusho, the Evening Star and Wurmcoil Engine. So this was not ever needed.
Perny Deed is back in for now as another board wipe. Can never really have too many in multiplayer. I do like that it can serve as a hostage effect as well. If people attack me, I will blow it up, so in reality it is serving sort of like Propaganda anyway. Pretty cool tech.
There's two problems with this card. 1. It attracts so much attention, and causes people to attack you instead of others to stop counters from adding on to it. 2. It takes way too long to get online, especially if you pull it late game. The card has a lot of potential, but not in this deck that wants to maintain a low profile.
Kodama's Reach in to help my early ramp and hit land drops. I might need more basics to be running both this and Cultivate, but we shall see how it goes. Late game I can just pitch it to Forbid.
I've been pretty happy with the earlier cuts to the signets. I think that they were good for fixing mana but Sculpting Steel and Copy Artifact provide more options, and options are always a good thing in EDH games. I might cut one of these eventually if they begin to get too clunky as a pair of cards that do the exact same thing, but right now, they are performing.
Also want to note that now that this list is becoming more solid I'm going to start to shift it more into a primer/guide. I'm pretty happy with the list besides a few cards that are begging to be put in, so I'm gonna go from there.
Edit: i saw ToSgod posting on here a few days ago he used to run a similar control damia build go raid his thread for advise as well
I'll have you know this made me laugh.
I'm on my phone and at work right now but I'll take a look at your list and make suggestions as this was a deck I was and to a point still have been playing over the last couple years. My favorite deck by far to play.
What are your thoughts in terms of Planeswalkers? Liliana of the Veil fits your theme, Garruk Wildspeaker and Jace, the Mind Sculptor are all around great cards. Actually, any Jace or Garruk would be a nice fit. Actually, BUG has a lot of great options. Would you consider any of them?
P.S. Shouldn't your entire mana base be posted?
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~~~~~
This is a cut I've been thinking about for a while now. She is one of my favorite cards printed recently, and she is such a house in my RUG deck. However, in this deck, she does not pull her weight. After something like 30+ games with the deck I think I only played her 1 or 2 times. By choice. I either already had enough draw going on or I had something better to play.
I think that Vorinclex will be a VERY strong addition to the deck. He will help me close out games by doubling my mana and also providing a huge rattle-snake effect to my opponents. Practically another win-con on his own, and will be much more appealing to play than a PSZ when I have a full hand of cards or no creatures on the field. My one fear with Vorinclex is always that he will be either bribed or copied from me. If that tends to start happening a lot this slot will change to Mana Reflection.
Not that revolutionary of a change. The biggest thing here is that we go from instant-speed removal to sorcery speed. I don't think that will be a problem considering how much more versatility Pulse brings. Being able to hit enchantments and planeswalkers in BUG colors is valuable too. However, if sorcery speed starts lacking, Pulse will be changed to Beast Within.
What are your thoughts in terms of Planeswalkers? Liliana of the Veil fits your theme, Garruk Wildspeaker and Jace, the Mind Sculptor are all around great cards. Actually, any Jace or Garruk would be a nice fit. Actually, BUG has a lot of great options. Would you consider any of them?
P.S. Shouldn't your entire mana base be posted?
Honestly, I don't really like Planeswalkers in Multiplayer EDH. Especially in a deck that is trying to be as discreet as possible. I'm pretty sure they draw more hate than any other permanent in the game.
I did test Liliana of the Veil, but she basically is so fragile that she doesn't survive long enough to do anything spectacular. She would either be a 3 mana edict effect or 1 group discard... which is not worth a slot to me. I don't play enough creatures to protect her. Same can be said about Jace, the Mind Sculptor. He will likely be a 4 mana brainstorm then die.. eh.
Garruk Wildspeaker is always decent, but he's ramp that can (and will) be removed. Tokens are cool, but not really what I need.
Only one I would really consider is Garruk, Primal Hunter, but I don't think I need that redundancy right now. He is my favorite PW though.
I think Planeswalkers really shine in 1v1, not multiplayer.
Yeah I can post my entire mana base, it's just the most boring part of the deck lol. I will get around to it shortly.
Mana-base posted :].
Basically all I can say really is that you should find room for Notion Thief. I fully believe that he is far better than Consecrated Sphinx ever will be. If you really are playing competitively then your opponents will be drawing lots of cards, so why not nip that in the bud? Plus, this guy only screws people over once really, so opponents won't be trying to kill him, so he can stick around.
Another thing, trade out out Pernicious Deeds for Gaze of Granite. I don't see any reason you should be using Deeds over Gaze, since you have no way to return it to the field directly. In that case, people won't be able to play around Gaze like they can Deeds. They also won't be able to pop your wipe before you can use it as well.
Might as well suggest [card]Nostalgic Dreams[card] as well. I've won many games off that card, hell I won that game you watched because of it.
"Some of the other guys dared me to go out, but I knew it weren't no ordinary giant giga-blasting blaze of unending flames that would scorch the whole world."
—Norin the Wary
Basically all I can say really is that you should find room for Notion Thief. I fully believe that he is far better than Consecrated Sphinx ever will be. If you really are playing competitively then your opponents will be drawing lots of cards, so why not nip that in the bud? Plus, this guy only screws people over once really, so opponents won't be trying to kill him, so he can stick around.
Another thing, trade out out Pernicious Deeds for Gaze of Granite. I don't see any reason you should be using Deeds over Gaze, since you have no way to return it to the field directly. In that case, people won't be able to play around Gaze like they can Deeds. They also won't be able to pop your wipe before you can use it as well.
Might as well suggest Nostalgic Dreams as well. I've won many games off that card, hell I won that game you watched because of it.
Hey man, thanks for taking the time to post here.
Yeah I do really like that Notion Thief suggestion, I think he will be one of the next replacements I end up putting in.
That said; I do not believe he is an adequate replacement for Sphinx as I had already mentioned to you. Sphinx is guaranteed draw, and A LOT of it. While Notion Thief has a surprise factor, and is superior with Wheel effects... I do not run Wheel effects, and the surprise factor is not worth giving up the 4/6 body and 6+ guaranteed cards a cycle. Removing sphinx would have me terrified that no one would be drawing enough extra cards to make him worth it. I do think he has a place in this deck however, and will actively be looking to put him in thanks to watching you!
Gaze of Granite: Wow, I didn't even remember this card was printed for a second. I like this suggestion. I will have to think on it though because I think you are right in that it can't be destroyed of course.
It can, however, be countered, and more importantly; It can't be split into two turns (put down deed for 3 mana when that's all I have left to tap, then pop it next turn at instant speed), and it can't be used as a political dissuasion to not attack/interact with me (which comes in handy A LOT more than you would expect.) I'm not sure if the trade-off would be worth it. While these cards look similar on the surface, there are more dynamics to them than expected.
Nostalgic Dreams: Wow, that is a great effect. Sort of like a tutor/selective Scroll Rack. I like that a lot, would be a great addition to my recursion package. Thanks for that tip.
Also, like I said, I think that our decks are fundamentally different, but despite that your suggestions are really useful! Thanks dude!
The list has really solidified. After adding in both Sculpting Steel and Copy Artifact (with Phyrexian Metamorph already in the deck), I noticed that these were clogging up my hand a bit more often that I liked. Out of the two that I added, Sculpting Steel is being cut because it is a) more expensive and b) cannot be pitched to Force of Will, which is a big deal at times. The fact that Copy Artifact it's an enchantment is pretty much insignificant.
With this change, I may have to reconsider putting Life from the Loam back into the deck (Since it works better with Burgeoning than Crucible does). But for now I'm just putting this card in by itself to see how it performs.
As an aside;
I did notice that the Vorinclex change was *AMAZING* as Vorinclex is such a great creature and really puts you in the position to win the game. I've also noticed that Sword of Feast and Famine has been absurdly good with the amount of land in this deck, so I will be trying to build more around that. Nature's Will and Mana Reflection are considerations but probably a bit too clunky and redundant at this point.
I like how your build is coming I like most I your changes thus far. I think you forgot to Lou sol ring in your jund deck. Also going to recomended natures claim
Becauses cmc 1 instant speed disenchant is awesome.
I like how your build is coming I like most I your changes thus far. I think you forgot to Lou sol ring in your jund deck. Also going to recomended natures claim
Becauses cmc 1 instant speed disenchant is awesome.
Thanks friend! I'll have you know that I was SO close to adding in Carpet of Flowers (instead of Burgeoning) because of you, but I decided that with Vorinclex and Sword of FaF that lands were probably better. haha.
Nature's Claim is actually awesome, I agree. And I am constantly looking to lower my curve of this deck. That might just go in.
Cabal Conditioning is an often overlooked mass discard spell. With Damia out, each player is at minimum discarding 7 cards, which in most times is their entire hand. Run a Strip Mine and friends to make sure to keep Reliquary Towers at bay though.
Also, I noticed you're only running 35 lands. I'd try to make room for 1 or two more, especially with Burgeoning in the deck. 37 is my personal magic number and 35 is a tad on the low end.
Cabal Conditioning is an often overlooked mass discard spell. With Damia out, each player is at minimum discarding 7 cards, which in most times is their entire hand. Run a Strip Mine and friends to make sure to keep Reliquary Towers at bay though.
Also, I noticed you're only running 35 lands. I'd try to make room for 1 or two more, especially with Burgeoning in the deck. 37 is my personal magic number and 35 is a tad on the low end.
Cabal Conditioning is too.. conditional. I like the discard I have right now because it guarantees empty hands.
You're right about Burgeoning, and because of that it's been taken out.
8.28.2013
Burgeoning ==> Telepathy
I don't run enough lands nor am I running Life from the Loam so Burgeoning is ineffectual. Telepathy should help a lot with knowing when its safe to cast Damia.
I'm actively looking for a new win-con for this deck. Blightsteel Colossus, while good, costs sooo much mana and is almost a win-more if I can drop him. Most of the time my opponents just quit once I have Sphinx/Damia + Seedborn Muse online, especially after a Mindslicer or Myojin of Night's Reach has resolved.
I'm thinking of possibly re-adding Coffers back in and changing Blightsteel Colossus to Exsanguinate as my final win-con. I know, kinda boring, but it does get around crap like Humility too. I'm really hoping someone has a suggestion for me for how to close out the game better. Keep in mind I want to avoid Eldrazi and infinite combos at all costs, though.
Sorin Markov is BS in an EDH game. At least with most infinate combos you can see some pieces beforehand (Altar). Sorin just appears and takes a safe player to a dead player.
Sorin Markov is BS in an EDH game. At least with most infinate combos you can see some pieces beforehand (Altar). Sorin just appears and takes a safe player to a dead player.
I typically agree with you, but a control deck's gotta win somehow. Right now he's not in the deck, but he is a big time consideration. :]
Not sure if it's too dueshy for your taste but Jim gitaxis core auger is a card. T+N for seedborn muse + Jin should lock a table 9/10 times.
That's actually a good suggestion that fits with what this deck is trying to do (Jin both draws cards and forces discard most of the time). His drawbacks would be his mana cost and if he gets bribed... Hmm. I'll have to think about it. Right now Drana is still in testing, haven't pulled her yet(been using mostly my other decks because people just rage quit vs. this one XD).
Sooo as soon as Theros is released, this is getting shoved in.. either as a replacement to Seedborn or in addition to.
Seedborn Muse 2.0
:O!
Just saw this. Need one immediately. Teferi stapled to a Seedborn Muse? Thank you very much! Granted I think it better in other decks instead of ours, this will be very welcomed.
Wow this is infinitelly better than Seedborn Muse. And i thought muse+Leyline of Anticipation was annoying! This will be one of the best cards in the deck, right?
Big time. Because it is basically yeah, Leyline stapled to Muse (since all of the other noncreature spells are either already instant speed or sorceries that I am fine with casting on my own turn). And Muse is already one of the key cards in the deck that makes it run. WOOO. I'm excited, Theros has been pretty crappy for my decks until this was spoiled :x.
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DAMIA: Establishing Dominance
Hi guys. Check out my Damia, Sage of Stone list! The list as it is is pretty finely tuned, it's performed really well, but as a perfectionist about EDH decks, I don't stop editing till it's as perfect as it can be lol. Further down there are a lot of explanations of how the deck works in its current iteration, please check it out and leave feedback if you think there's anything I could improve on or if you've learned anything from reading this post.
So why did I pick Damia? Or why should you? Damia is a control commander through and through. This deck is primarily a UB deck (the best two colors for control, and my favorite colors in Magic), with elements of G support.
B: Offers creature removal, tutors, draw, lifegain, discard, and recursion.
U: Offers counter, protection, draw, and bounce.
G: Offers noncreature removal, land ramp, and more recursion.
BUG is the perfect color combo for control in this format, and card advantage is the best way to win games of Magic! This deck's specific goal is to establish complete board dominance, both by having more land, cards, and creatures than everyone else in the game. This deck is called Establishing Dominance because you spend the game creating a board state in which you have complete control and dominance over the other players and ultimately, the game.
***This is a semi-competitive/semi-casual build, meaning; No Infinite Combos. If you are looking for help making an extremely competitive deck to take to a tournament, this may be a good starting point, but please feel free to check out other primers. This deck is intended for semi-casual, low to no stakes matches.***
The Decklist
7 Damia, Sage of Stone
Artifact
0 Mana Crypt
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
2 Lightning Greaves
3 Crucible of Worlds
3 Oblivion Stone
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
Creature
2 Gilded Drake
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Eternal Witness
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
5 Prophet of Kruphix
6 Consecrated Sphinx
7 Rune-Scarred Demon
8 Myojin of Night's Reach
8 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
Enchantment
1 Telepathy
1 Exploration
1 Mystic Remora
2 Sylvan Library
Instant
0 Pact of Negation
1 Brainstorm
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Nature's Claim
1 Swan Song
1 Vampiric Tutor
2 Deglamer
2 Mana Drain
2 Counterspell
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Go for the Throat
2 Remand
3 Forbid
3 Capsize
3 Hinder
3 Putrefy
3 Spell Crumple
4 Turnabout
5 Force of Will
5 Evacuation
2 Farseek
2 Nature's Lore
2 Three Visits
2 Demonic Tutor
2 Sylvan Scrying
2x Curse of the Swine
3 Cultivate
3 Grim Tutor
3 Kodama's Reach
3 Search for Tomorrow
4 Damnation
4 Skyshroud Claim
5 Time Warp
5 Temporal Manipulation
6 Recurring Insight
7 Tooth and Nail
8 Praetor's Counsel
Utility Land
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Maze of Ith
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Mana Land
1 Bayou
1 Tropical Island
1 Underground Sea
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Watery Grave
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Polluted Delta
4 Forest
4 Island
4 Swamp
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
The Card Breakdown
The Control Engine:
This makes up the core of the deck, the cards that you want to see almost every single game, and really make the deck run.
[CARD]
Damia, Sage of Stone[/CARD]: The mother of the deck and one of the best ways to gain card advantage in the deck. If she can stick until your next upkeep, you are guaranteed to draw anywhere between 2-7 cards. This provides so much fuel that most decks will have a very hard time keeping up with you from there on out. Protect her at all costs, and you will win the game.
Consecrated Sphinx: Almost like Damia #2, but sometimes I like Sphinx better than Damia because he starts to give you card advantage immediately, and works as prevention for other people to start drawing cards (since 1 card for them = 2 cards for you). Like Damia, if C. Sphinx stays alive for a cycle or two, you will most likely be winning the game with the extensive amount of fuel you've been provided.
Recurring Insight: This is Consecrated Sphinx in Sorcery form, in my opinion. This card almost ALWAYS will draw you between 6-14+ cards between two turns, which is just as good as Sphinx, if not better, because it's much harder to stop. This is a primary refuel spell.
Prophet of Kruphix: A new pickup from the Theros set, this spot used to be occupied by Seedborn Muse. Well, Seedborn, your time has passed. While SBM still has its merits, this deck runs very artifact light, making Prophet entirely better. Not to mention she has the added bonuses of being a Wizard AND being blue (to pitch to FoW)
Control Engine Support:
There are multiple ways to benefit from what the Control Engine offers us, but these select spells either help setup the Control Engine, or maximize its efficiency.
Forbid: Our number one counterspell when the control engine is out. With all the cards we are drawing there will be plenty of irrelevant cards at this stage of the game that we can pitch to Forbid, and keep using it over and over. Opponents will start to scoop once they realize that you will be countering every spell they try to cast. Excellent.
Capsize: Very similar to Forbid except this time it's bouncing permanents, which can actually be even better. It is more mana intensive, but the ability to bounce any threatening permanent makes the cost so worth it. 4UU and we get a bounce for free(without expending a card). Rinse and repeat as necessary.
Myojin of Night's Reach: I absolutely love this creature. It's a bit pricey at 5BBB but it is entirely worth the cost. If we drop this uncontested and remove its counter, we basically strip our opponents of ANY...well... opposition. From there on out the game is in our hands to win, unless they somehow refuel while you have all sorts of counters up (unlikely ;D)
Glen Elendra Archmage: Two Negates on a stick. I can't emphasize how big that is. Having this girl out pretty much prevents our opponents from playing anything that can interrupt us, and serves as such a huge rattlesnake effect.
Win-Cons:
The trump spells. When we cast these we have victory in our sights, or are at least nearing it.
Tooth and Nail: The best creature tutor in all of EDH. 7GG (let's be honest, we are always going to entwine it.) to pick out ANY two of the creatures in the deck and put them straight onto the battlefield. This. Screams. Value. Common targets: Eternal Witness, Rune-Scarred Demon, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, Consecrated Sphinx, Prophet of Kruphix, and many many more.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger: Another big time win-con. This guy does it all. He doubles our mana, rattle-snakes the opponents, and is a huuuge beater and a clock. One of the best creatures in the deck and once he hits the field, it's closing time.
Recursion:
Every good EDH deck needs its share of recursion, and we're packin plenty because recasting our spells gives us a TON of draw and a ton of value.
Regrowth: Let's start with the basics. Regrowth is pretty simple to understand. You take a card from your graveyard, and you put it back in your hand, then cast it again! Perfect. Simple. Beautiful at all stages of the game.
Eternal Witness: Or, Regrowth on legs. She costs 1 G more, but she gives us a body and multiple ways to bring her out from the fray. She is a perfect card pretty much, and an EDH staple.
Snapcaster Mage: Oh, Tiago. Giving any of our instant/sorcery spells flashback is super amazing and provides a ton of value. Key targets are tutors and draw spells, but really anything can be targeted if the situation calls for it.
Praetor's Counsel: The motherload of all recursion. Literally recurs every single card in your graveyard. Yes, this exposes us to graveyard hate weakness, but the fact that it brings back the entirety of our graveyard PLUS gives us a Spellbook effect for the rest of the game should make it pretty worth it. It's high on the mana curve, but I think it can jive.
Counterspells:
Force of Will: Free counterspell (so long as you have another blue card in hand) that can really catch your opponents off guard. One of the best counters ever printed for that reason, and with all the draw we have, we can easily exile a blue perm to fuel this card.
Swan Song: Another new Theros card that has some drawbacks, but at 1 U and the ability to counter a lot of different spells.. it should prove to be a strong counter in the deck.
Counterspell: The OG. What every other counter is based off of. UU to hard counter anything. This is a great card that is sometimes underused because it's not flashy. Don't be fooled, this card can win you games.
Mana Drain: Easily the best counterspell in magic. For the same price as regular Counterspell you get the added bonus of extra mana on your next Main Phase. Holy ****.
Remand: Not the best counter in magic, nor is it anywhere near it. This is, however, a great tempo counter and tempo is very very important in this deck as you will read on. Drawing a card and delaying a spell a turn(most of the time) provides a lot of value.
Pact of Negation: Another 'freebie' counterspell. This one is really clutch, again, for when you're tapped out. It can catch your opponents off guard and can save the day when you really need it to. Just be careful because it causes a huge tempo loss, and if for some reason you end up with less than 3UU mana to pay on your upkeep(from LD, artifactD, no untap, etc.) then you auto-lose. It's still a great one, though.
Hinder: Counterspell that tucks generals and other problem creatures. I can't stress enough how important it is to tuck in EDH, and this counter does that outright. It's well worth its cost.
Spell Crumple: Same thing as Hinder except that it doesn't go to the graveyard, for better or for worse. Sometimes we can cast this multilple times a game though, because of that fact. Still a great great counterspell.
Removal:
Removal is important in every EDH deck, because it allots you answers to over powered and pesky cards that your opponents have played in case you could not counter them.
Nature's Claim: A very very cheap Naturalize, and cheap is right up our alley. Artifacts and enchantments can both be problems, and this takes care of them quick, at instant speed, and effectively.
Putrefy: A pretty self-explanatory card. Instant-speed Destruction of either a problem creature or an artifact that we don't particularly like. The fact that it can hit either make it a very valuable card.
Go for the Throat: Simple, instant speed, destroy any creature besides artifacts. Artifact creatures are rarely ever the problem in EDH, so this will have many targets and it is cheap to cast.
Deglamer: A very cheap + efficient Naturalize that can handle indestructibles! Just a nice card to have at any stage of the game.
Curse of the Swine: More new tech from Theros! Who would have thought. This card is like a half-sweeper half-targeted removal spell that absolutely gets the job done. Exiling creatures is BIG in BUG since we don't often get the ability to do that, and this card does it oh so well.
Cyclonic Rift: Onto the sweepers, we have the best sweeper in the EDH format (in my opinion). Instant speed, hits every single nonland permanent that your OPPONENTS control for 6U. If there is one sweeper that puts the game in your favor, it is this one. Rift is amazing and I wouldn't play a blue deck without it.
Oblivion Stone: An absolute powerhouse, you can drop this baby at turn 3 and either hold it as a hostage effect and start adding fate counters at the EOT, or just blow it right away for 8 mana. Either way this card is simply the ****.
Evacuation: Quickly becoming one of my favorite sweepers, the main fact about this guy is that it is instant speed. Oh, let's not forget it resets counters, destroys all tokens, and screws with cheated out indestructible creatures. A great wipe all around.
Damnation: A classic off-color wrath that will just destroy everything for a decent cost. This is my favorite black wrath and the last man standing regarding black wraths.
Card Draw & Tutors:
What this deck is all about. Card advantage and card quality allow this deck to run smoothly and have the answers whenever we need them.
Brainstorm: Classic cantrip effect that is the best of its kind. With shuffle effects this creates a very nice card quality spell, allowing us to change cards that we don't need at the moment for fresh ones.
Mystic Remora: A mini-Rhystic Study that has an upkeep cost unfortunately. But the fact that
it can be popped out early, and the cost is 4 means that you will draw pretty much every time an opponent plays a noncreature spell, not many will get around it.
Mystical Tutor: One of the best tutors in the deck. We run over 35 instants/sorceries to choose from, and there is no doubt that we will be reusing this tutor over and over during the game. It can find pretty much anything, from T+N, to more card draw, to recursion effects. Top tier tutor.
Vampiric Tutor: Another excellent tutor that will find literally anything you need and put it onto the top deck. This is just as good as Mystical Tutor, but better sometimes because we can also find artifacts/creatures/enchantments if we really need em.
Demonic Tutor: The basic and strongest tutor in the game. 1B and you trade it out for ANY card in your deck. This card provides a ridiculous amount of value.
Grim Tutor: The fact that this is included just shows how good Demonic Tutor really is. This costs one more B and also hurts our life a bit, but it still is so good that we have to include it.
Rune-Scarred Demon: Tutor on wings! This is one of my favorite creatures in deck because he's a fat flying beater whose effect can be copied and abused... and that ability is great.
Ramp Tech:
Every good green deck needs ramp. I will save time by not explaining why Farseek and Nature's Lore are good cards, but instead talk about some of the more peculiar choices.
Exploration: One of the best mana accel cards in this deck. Essentially gives you a huge tempo boost by ramping you every single turn, should you have the land to back it up.
Oracle of Mul Daya: This is like Exploration on legs with an extra bonus of being able to play land cards off of your top deck! It can really help get them out of the way, and again, helps ramp you every single turn.
Crucible of Worlds: Such an amazing card that works particularly well with Fetch lands + Exploration/Oracle. It is essentially card advantage in that it gives us another place to play cards from!
Sword of Feast and Famine: The best sword in a control shell, without a doubt. Being able to untap your lands not only allows you to play a lot of spells during your turn but still have land open for counters. Super sweet tech.
Turnabout: This card has so many different uses, but its best ability far and away is the ability to untap lands. Its basically like a Dark Ritual on steroids, plus it can be used as a Fog if needed, among many other things. The options are very nice, and the mana doubling is even nicer.
Other Deck Support:
Time Warp/Temporal Manipulation: Extra turns are the crutch of the deck. They give you more draw, more ramp, more attack phases, and best of all, more untap phases.
Phantasmal Image: A cheap-o clone effect that basically is used to copy ETB effects, and does its job well. If it dies we can always recur it later for more ETB shenanigans.
Phyrexian Metamorph: The best clone in the game because it can be cast for 3 and can also copy artifacts if need be. The choices this gives you are endless and it is such a great card anytime.
Gilded Drake: Super sweet steal effect that is particularly cheap, and repeatable if we get some bounce going. I just love anything that trades up, and trading a 3/3 flier for an important utility creature or a general is always a good move.
Scavenging Ooze: Graveyard hate that can actually become a respectable beater over time. He also gains us some life back which I can never complain about.
Sensei's Divining Top/Sylvan Library: Card quality is the keyword here, and with all the shuffle effects we get these cards both really shine. I love having these early because they can setup the rest of the game and start giving you the good cards that you need.
Lightning Greaves: Shroud+Haste for any of my important creatures, particularly C.Sphinx and Damia. This saves me the need to worry about countering every single piece of removal that comes their way, and Haste is always ncie!
Telepathy:Reveals soooo much good information all for a single u. This card can seriously change the game for you, letting you know when it's safe to play Damia or other important pieces without having to leave open mana for counters. Also informs you what spells you need to save your counters for! Clutch card right here.
Omissions and Considerations
Garruk, Primal Hunter: I want to find room for this PW because he is a beast at both protecting the throne and drawing cards.
Sorin Markov: This card will be next to put in as an alt. win-con. Being able to get someone down to 10 health for 6 mana is just way too potent.
Notion Thief: This has been suggested to me by a buddy on Cockatrice, and after watching how it works with wheel effects, I must say I was impressed. I think that this guy would be a nice addition to the deck, but I am afraid that he would be dead sometimes and I really hate when that happens.
[CARD]
Life from the Loam[/CARD]+Burgeoning: Everyone raves about these cards in their Damia decklists but seriously, I find it them to be too cumbersome and mana intensive to keep cycling lands and recasting Loam. Right now I like how Crucible has been operating and I will leave it at that.
Body Double: A pet card of mine that I would put in in a heartbeat if I needed more recursion.
Sword of Light and Shadow: An interesting form of creature recursion that could be very useful for both the protections as well as the life gain.
Devastation Tide: A bounce that hits everything. Most of the time our board is the least cluttered, so this could be good.
Nevinyrral's Disk/Beast Within/Krosan Grip/Maelstrom Pulse: Wipes and schtuff. I like these but I don't have room for them at the moment. If I start getting overwhelmed by permanents that O.Stone + creature wipes can't handle, these will find their way back in.
Suggestions welcome!
Thanks for reading and please leave a post if you have anything to add!
Username: Cabz
Changelog:
8.25.2013.1
Two cuts here that were just being tested but didn't make the mark.
Propaganda ==> Pernicious DeedThis deck surprisingly does not pull that much hate from the table until it is too late for them. Sometimes an early counterspell can distort politics and make you the enemy for a while, but the great thing about the build is that it is resilient to taking damage with Kokusho, the Evening Star and Wurmcoil Engine. So this was not ever needed.
Perny Deed is back in for now as another board wipe. Can never really have too many in multiplayer. I do like that it can serve as a hostage effect as well. If people attack me, I will blow it up, so in reality it is serving sort of like Propaganda anyway. Pretty cool tech.
Bloodchief Ascension ==> Kodama's ReachThere's two problems with this card. 1) It attracts so much attention, and causes people to attack you instead of others to stop counters from adding on to it. 2) It takes way too long to get online, especially if you pull it late game. The card has a lot of potential, but not in this deck that wants to maintain a low profile.
Kodama's Reach in to help my early ramp and hit land drops. I might need more basics to be running both this and Cultivate, but we shall see how it goes. Late game I can just pitch it to Forbid.
I've been pretty happy with the earlier cuts to the signets. I think that they were good for fixing mana but Sculpting Steel and Copy Artifact provide more options, and options are always a good thing in EDH games. I might cut one of these eventually if they begin to get too clunky as a pair of cards that do the exact same thing, but right now, they are performing.
Prime Speaker Zegana ===> Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger This is a cut I've been thinking about for a while now. She is one of my favorite cards printed recently, and she is such a house in my RUG deck. However, in this deck, she does not pull her weight. After something like 30+ games with the deck I think I only played her 1 or 2 times. By choice. I either already had enough draw going on or I had something better to play.
I think that Vorinclex will be a VERY strong addition to the deck. He will help me close out games by doubling my mana and also providing a huge rattle-snake effect to my opponents. Practically another win-con on his own, and will be much more appealing to play than a PSZ when I have a full hand of cards or no creatures on the field. My one fear with Vorinclex is always that he will be either bribed or copied from me. If that tends to start happening a lot this slot will change to Mana Reflection.
Putrefy ===> Maelstrom Pulse Not that revolutionary of a change. The biggest thing here is that we go from instant-speed removal to sorcery speed. I don't think that will be a problem considering how much more versatility Pulse brings. Being able to hit enchantments and planeswalkers in BUG colors is valuable too. However, if sorcery speed starts lacking, Pulse will be changed to Beast Within.
Sculpting Steel ===> Burgeoning
The list has really solidified. After adding in both Sculpting Steel and Copy Artifact (with Phyrexian Metamorph already in the deck), I noticed that these were clogging up my hand a bit more often that I liked. Out of the two that I added, Sculpting Steel is being cut because it is a) more expensive and b) cannot be pitched to Force of Will, which is a big deal at times. The fact that it's an enchantment is pretty much insignificant.
With this change, I may have to reconsider putting Life from the Loam back into the deck (Since it works better with Burgeoning than Crucible does). But for now I'm just putting this card in by itself to see how it performs.
As an aside;
I did notice that the Vorinclex change was *AMAZING* as Vorinclex is such a great creature and really puts you in the position to win the game. I've also noticed that Sword of Feast and Famine has been absurdly good with the amount of land in this deck, so I will be trying to build more around that. Nature's Will and Mana Reflection are considerations but probably a bit too clunky and redundant at this point.
8.28.2013
Burgeoning ==> TelepathyI don't run enough lands nor am I running Life from the Loam so Burgeoning is ineffectual. Telepathy should help a lot with knowing when its safe to cast Damia.
9.1.2013
Blightsteel Colossus ===> Drana, Kalastria BloodchiefNew win con that can come out earlier, and start ripping apart the board. Also less of a threat to be stolen. With Seedborn Muse she can basically tear the entire board up no problem.
Homeward Path ==> Cabal CoffersThis is a direct result of the new win-con change. Coffers is needed to pump out more mana for Drana to abuse(and possibly Exsanguinate if I find room for it), Homeward Path not needed as much without Blightsteel to steal from us (though Vorinclex could still be a problem if stolen)
Copy Artifact ===> Exotic OrchardTook out a card that was mostly used as redundancy with Blighsteel for an additional land.
9.08.2013
Black Sun's Zenith ==> EvacuationWhile BSZ gets thru a lot of annoying things like hexproof and indestructible, the fact is that to kill anything with more than 4 Toughness, you have to spend a TON of mana. When it is well-costed... at 2BB (same cost as Damnation) you can only put 2 counters on every creature, making it a pretty crappy sweeper. I want Damnation over this 9 times out of 10. Hell, i'd rather recur Damnation 9 times out of 10 over this.
Evacuation is interesting. Basically this change was either going to be Life's Finale or Evacuation. Right now I'm testing Evacuation. I like that it's instant speed, I like that it still gets around indestructible and hexproof. I like that it can reset counters, can cause people to discard if used EOT, and screws people over if they cheated a creature out. I don't like that it doesn't actually get rid of anything permanently, and allows EOT effects to be used again, but in this meta, destroying things is usually not much different with the amount of recursion there is. Plus Cyclonic Rift is probably the best sweeper in the deck, and this is similar to it, even though it's more limited in scope.
Wurmcoil Engine ==> Rune-Scarred DemonTutors come at a premium in any deck as they let you find answers, particularly in control. There have been multiple times when I wish I had an extra tutor and almost 0 times when I *NEEDED* wurmcoil engine. Sure, he's a strong beater, a strong blocker, and regains life.. but the issue is that I would almost always want Kokusho over him. I think I will miss Wurmcoil a bit, but he just wasn't essential enough to the control build.
Rite of Replication ==> ExsanguinateI'm looking at Rite of Replication and comparing it to the creatures in my deck and I'm just not seeing many targets for it.
With the switching from Wurmcoil to Rune-Scarred, I think that Rite gets even weaker as a win-con. Its 2UU cost is still useful, at times, but I think that Exsang will both be a win-con and a way to gain back a lot of lost health that this deck encounters. We shall see if I end up missing Rite, but I know I was never thrilled to see it all that often.
Negate ==> Spell CrumpleI always hate increasing my mana curve for little reason, but I think that this is going to be a big deal. So many decks I've run into either revolve around creatures or their general, and Negate could not stop those decks. Sure, I don't have to leave open that extra U with Negate, but the ability to both counter creatures AND tuck generals/problem spells should make the extra mana worth it.. I hope.
Diabolic Tutor ==> RegrowthI know I literally just said that tutors come at a premium in EDH, but this was by far the weakest tutor in that early game it just costs sooo much mana. Since I've upped my curve in other parts of the deck, lowering it somewhere is almost necessary. Recursion in (all) edh decks is very important, and there's no exception here. Regrowth is one of the strongest recursion spells, and so I'm slotting it in. It's even cheap enough to be snapcasted back, so that's always a plus. We have a ton of tutors in here, removing the weakest one makes sense.
Some small changes.
Mindslicer ==> Deathrite ShamanHe was just too awkward at most stages of the game. He seems really good with Damia in theory, but in reality I would almost never want to cast him. Either I was happy with my board state and hand, or people's hands were almost exhausted already anyway, and his effect would hurt me more. Myojin is staying in because he does good work, but Mindslicer is takin a cut.
DRS offers some much needed gravehate, as well as providing some possible ramp. He should be a good fit and helps lower the curve out.
Alchemist's Refuge ==> SwampTwo reasons for this change. One, I didn't have enough swamps to power Coffers without Urborg. Two, Refuge is almost always a win-more. Most of the spells I want to cast during other people's turns are instant speed already with Muse out, and with the new Prophet coming to EDH soon, it will be replacing Muse and granting this effect anyway.
Expedition Map ==> Sylvan ScryingThis is not a huge deal, but that 1 mana can make a difference at times. Though expedition map can be activated at instant speed, its also shut down by Stony Silence, and can be collaterally destroyed at times. Scrying will basically never be shut down in any situation.
Some big changes here. Including my breakup with my girlfriend.. Kokusho. Kokopuffs is one of my favorite cards ever printed and I hate parting with him but he had to go.
Kokusho, the Evening Star ==> Phantasmal ImageI hate this, but it's for the best. Kokusho has been outshined by Exsanguinate at every corner, and gaining back life for little reason is a thing of the past. This deck has become so efficient and effective that I really don't even need that 15 life anymore. Not to mention it was always difficult to sac him in a deck that isn't focused around sacrificing. He is still in my other decks because he is one of my favorite black cards ever, but he just wasn't fitting in.
[CARD]
Phantasmal Image[/CARD] is great for this deck because, not only is it cheap, but it can copy so many different effects, whether it is on my own side or someone else's creature. There are so many ETB creatures running around INCLUDING my own deck (E. witness, Rune-scarred demon, to name a couple), that his value is almost unlimited. I love lowering the curve whenever possible in this deck, so he fits the bill perfectly.
Rhystic Study ==> Fact or FictionI never would have envisioned myself cutting Rhystic Study from a deck that is based around card advantage, but the inconsistency and the late game failure really started to get to me. Rhystic Study is a card that is excellent when played early, but after that it merely slows down the opponents by a very small margin (they will pay.) This is not a tax deck, so its effect goes unnoticed.
[CARD]
Fact or Fiction[/CARD] is a top tier draw spell, being able to be activated at instant speed, and with the amount of counters+removal this deck runs, opponents have a very difficult time choosing which hand to give me. This card is great, and it should have been in here earlier. I also have the recursion to back up whatever gets pitched.
Sakura-Tribe Elder ==> Bloom TenderThis is a tentative change that I am making because, while Tribe elder does offer some ramp, if Bloom Tender has two or three different permanents to check, it will ramp me even further for the same cost. I am a huge proponent against mana dorks in EDH, but I think Bloom Tender fits as an exception.
High Market ==> ForestWith the exclusion of Kokopuffs, this land has gotten even weaker and thus no longer can hold a spot in this deck. There were multiple times when I wished I had a colored land for the Market, and its main target was only Kokusho with the cutting of Mindslicer. With all the ways to tutor out Forests in this deck, I decided to add another.
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief ==> PutrefyAfter experiencing one of my first edh losses with this deck in its recent iteration, I realized that Drana was almost entirely a win-more card. There is no situation where you are behind that Drana can help out. I also noticed, after losing to a freakin Obzedat gain+drain deck that I had NO instant speed removal. That had to change, and so I added Putrefy back in, which will help with killing both creatures and problem artifacts. This slot could easily be Beast Within, but at the moment enchantments are not that big of a deal.
Decree of Pain ==>
Beast WithinSpin Into MythI'm a little bit iffy on this change to be quite honest, but out of all my board wipes, Decree of Pain was without a doubt the worst one. The cycling was VERY rarely used, and the actual full casting cost was a bit too much. For the same amount of mana I can drop+pop an Oblivion Stone which will hit EVERYTHING, not just creatures. The card draw is nice, but I never really found it to draw me any significant amount of cards. I think that targeted removal is the way to go for this slot.Tried out Beast Within for a few games, just wasn't doing it for me. People say the drawback is nothing, but that token really bothers me. With the amount of indestructibility and regeneration running around, i've decided to slot in Spin Into Myth instead. This should be grade A creature removal, and be awesome to tuck generals with. It's a bit overcosted, but we generally have the mana to back it up.
A few inconsistent games and it was time to make some more changes.
Bloom Tender ==> Sakura-Tribe Elder
Just reversing a change that I predicted I would be reversing. Bloom Tender was okay but generally only provided 1 mana anyway, and was wayyy more susceptible to removal (collateral mass removal, really). I hate mana dorks in EDH.
Lightning Greaves ==> RemandAs per recommendation of ToSGOD, Greaves really were not that consistent in protecting any of my creatures. Decided to put in a nice tempo counter instead.
Volrath's Stronghold ==> Yavimaya HollowI really never used Volrath's Stronghold in this deck, not sure why it was in here anymore since the removal of Kokusho. Yavimaya Hollow should help fill the 'void' left by removing Lightning Greaves.
Worldy Tutor ==> Search for TomorrowAnother cut suggested by ToSGOD that I realized was a good move. Most of the time Worldly Tutor was just used to find Consecrated Sphinx for more drawing, which just became a convoluted chain of events that didn't even work out most of the time. Early game I didn't want this tutor or I would search for a ramp creature.. so why not just put in more ramp. MORE RAMP. ALWAYS.
Spin Into Myth ==> Curse of the SwineSpin is awesome tech, don't get me wrong, but for 5 mana I want to be hitting multiple targets, not just one. This also lowers my curve and gives me some exile which is comparable.
9.14.2013
Exsanguinate ==> Kozilek, Butcher of TruthThis is madness, sorta. Exsanguinate was my number 1 killer for the deck, and a great way to completely take all 3 opponents out of the game at once. However, I found inconsistencies in Cabal Coffers and getting enough mana for a lethal strike, plus most games were won without Exsanguinate already, it just kinda was the cherry on top. Now, with a new deck that I've just created that is a Draining Obzedat deck, I don't want Exsanguinate to be my win-con for this deck anymore(super sick of it). Its not that it was underperforming at all- I just want to take the deck in a different direction... and thus.. the dreaded Eldrazi have reared their ugly head.
I really don't think I need to explain why Kozilek is a good creature, but rather why Kozilek over Ulamog. And there's only one reason- Draw 4. Kozilek offers a backup plan if he himself cannot get the job done or gets countered, which makes him monumentally better than Ulamog.
Cabal Coffers ==> Homeward PathThis is sorta an obvious change. Cutting Exsanguinate means we don't need Coffers anymore, and having Kozilek makes us much much more susceptible to Bribery and other steal effects. This is required.
Green Sun's Zenith ==> Recurring InsightI figured my most frequent target for this was Eternal Witness, which was always a decent play, but drawing more cards is generally going to be better than recurring one single card. I think this should be a good change, though I will miss GSZ.
Phyrexian Reclamation ==> Nostalgic DreamsAgain, if you read any of my previous Changelog entries, you will see that I'm doing my best to move away from the sac+recur strategy that I often default to when making decks. This was a card that was much better with Wurmcoil Engine and Kokusho, the Evening Star, both of which are now gone. Nowadays I basically only use it on Eternal Witness.. so why not just add another, more effective, less mana intensive and less health costing Regrowth effect?
This card actually isn't card advantage, but its card quality will more than makeup for that. Turning excess lands/unneeded spells into clutch spells that I need to cast again? A+ in my book. Its only drawback is that it exiles itself, but that really is not much of a drawback.
Yavimaya Hollow ==> Volrath's StrongholdI've gone back on this change since I'm dropping Phyrexian Reclamation. This will be used as a last resort recur effect.
Phyrexian Arena ==> NecropotenceArena is a good card, but its a slow roller that can at times get removed before even drawing a single extra card! Necropotence will not face that problem, though a reworking of the mana-base may be necessary in order to be able to cast it on time. Necro is regarded as one of the best drawing cards of all time, so why not?
Chromatic Lantern ==> BrainstormAs Moxnix pointed out, Chromatic Lantern is a slow card that hardly ramps and is a bit pointless in this build. It was nice for giving my colorless lands some color, but beyond that it is a dead card. Brainstorm is an extremely good cantrip spell, particularly with shuffle effects, and it $$$$lowers the curve$$$$
Pact of Negation ==> Swan SongThis one hurts, because admittedly Pact has saved my ass a few times. But it also has a huge tempo loss drawback, and is a terrible counter both in the early and mid game. Swan song is new counter tech out of Theros that I'm looking to test out, seems like it will be good, and only costs a single U, not much different from 0.
Sylvan Primordial ==> DeglamerLowering the curve. Between not using Sylvan enough for him to warrant a spot, and the possibility of him being bribed/copied I think this will work out better. Deglamer offers the ability to tuck indestructibles which is not something BUG gets often.
9.16.2013
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth ==> Ivory TowerKozilek has been dropped as he's superfluous in the build, and his mana cost does not promote multiple plays a turn.
Ivory Tower is low on the curve and provides some much needed lifegain that this deck has been lacking since the cuts of Koko, Exsang, and Wurmcoil. It has nice synergy with Necro, Sphinx, basically any of our draw spells, and we sure do have a lot of those.
Homeward Path ==> SwampWon't need path as much with Kozilek gone, but more Swamps will be useful with Necropotence being in the build since the last change.
Fact or Fiction ==> TurnaboutI completely forgot Turnabout was a card for a while, this thing is so good for producing extra mana, plus it has all sorts of other uses as well. FoF is a decent draw spell, but generally it was an awkward part of the curve, and Recurring Insight is just a way better tutor target. Turnabout should give me all sorts of new and interesting ways to spill my hand.
Dissipate ==> Mindbreak TrapI think that this is a strict upgrade, because Mindbreak Trap can often be cast for 0, and even if it isn't, it can hit uncounterable spells or storm/combo/Wanderer all at once.
Nostalgic Dreams ==> Praetor's CounselHoly jump in CMC batman! I know, this is a bit crazy for me, because I hate raising the CMC of this deck. But I think that Praetor's Counsel will be somewhat of a win-con and a big time tutor target, whereas Nostalgic Dreams was a bit lacking. I have to test this card, but I think it's gonna be huge.
Necropotence ==> Go for the ThroatAhh.. man, I've been back and forth on Necro so many times in this deck, but I think it's time to cut it loose. Yeah, it's a great way to draw.. but I feel like its more suited in a deck without blue. I also really can't take all this life that I'm losing, so I'm replacing it with some more spot creature removal at instant speed.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All ==> Maze of IthI have enough counter protection that I really don't need Boseiju anymore, and it was mostly for Exsanguinate anyway. What I do need is damage protection, and Maze should help mitigate some damage coming my way at times. I hate that it doesn't tap for mana, but I really think that'll be okay.
Deathrite Shaman ==> Scavenging OozeUpping the mana curve again grr... but Ooze's effect is repeatable and gains more life over time, plus he can be a respectable beater eventually. I just didn't find DRS to be doing much besides sitting around being a.. dork.
Maelstrom Pulse ==> Nature's ClaimI wanted to lower the curve somewhere since I've raised it a bit elsewhere, and I thought this was a good place to start. Pulse is a great card, but I don't really like the sorcery speed on it whatsoever.. sorcery speed removal needs to be wraths, pretty much, and with GftT coming in, plus Curse of the Swine being added a while back, its value of hitting creatures is pretty null(though it is a respectable token-hoser). So that leaves Artifacts, Enchantments, and Planeswalkers. I've never feared Planeswalkers in EDH, and Claim hits Artis+Enchants. Boom.
Mindbreak Trap ==> Pact of Negation
I never got the chance to cast Trap for 0, nor did I run into any problematic storm or wanderer decks, so it was really just serving as an expensive Dissipate, unfortunately. Having to leave the 2UU up when it was in hand was a bit of a stretch as well, so I'm putting Pact back in. Even though I hate the tempo loss that Pact gives after you cast it, it can also be offset by being able to tap out safely every turn, so it's probably worth it anyway to have in my back pocket.
Ivory Tower ==> Lightning GreavesThis was kinda an ill-advised change. I thought that Ivory Tower would be better (it's only good when I have a ton of cards in hand.. which means it's either super early game or im gonna win soon), and the lack of greaves has really hurt. Not so much the haste factor, but I've been missing the shroud. Sure, I have counters to protect my creatures, but i'd much rather slap shroud on them and save counters for bigger things.
Pernicious Deed ==> Gilded DrakeI've finally had enough of Pernicious Deed, I think. It's my least favorite wipe spell, it's slow early, mana intensive late, is terrible for tempo, and can be removed. I mean, it has its merits, but I'd almost always rather have Oblivion Stone. Drake should be fun to steal important creatures/generals away from my enemy, and if I bounce him I get repeated uses, seems like a win all around.
Username: Cabz
where is your mana base is it full fetchland base?
describe your meta game
Whats combos are you ok with ?
Your deck is a little confusing its not easy for me to see your overall plan how do you typically win. right not it seems like play control into drop huge bomb like myojin T+N or rite of rep? i see kokopuffs RoR thats kinda like my old shcool RoR malakir bloodwitch form back in day not quite as strong but koko seems slightly better alone
i would play carpet its amazing if no one has blue you win anyway because you do .... thats and right now your cmc 0-1 acceleration is ring/crypt/exploration and thats it which isnt horrible but in 100 cards we want more than that with damia at cmc 7. you dont like mana dorks like BoP or cobra? at least play Search for tomorrow but probly play carpet too and honestly i really like BoP and DRS drs is not just ramp hes a cmc 1 plains walker! (and his pings is actually reliant to you too boot)
looking at your list i dont like sculpting steel but im assuming you just play vs sharum or something.
i dont think any of the utility land you run are good enough to warrant the use of Expedition map as a tutor and defintly not in the color green wiht better options if you needed them
necro is stupid good your general is a necro ....... you want to use necro .... slip a misdirection in that free counter package for cards like this too btw as a control player who is looking to ride Damia for multiple turns sedning a swords to plowsahres elsewhere after tapping out to damia is great and when your using necro as a control player dont over draw too much but you love free counters with this online as well.
you want a slow game so Phyrexian arena is actauly pretty good here as it 8 draws you with damia.
decree of pain you dont need you draw cards in much better ways this wrath is over costed about the only use of this card is killing edric uncounterable for 5 which is already to slow
If you continue to run dork and rock light this should definitely be Pernicious Deed is alredy the best wrath in the format imo but its STUPID good in your build
cut 2-3 more fair/ not broken cards for some card selection like
ponder preordain and Brainstorm (with fetchbase)
the rest seems fairly good i would much prefer a combo finisher of some kind even helm void or sunder + an azusa package or just only using ror and your finisher im not sure i almost only play combos so im not great and finishing in any "fair" way
Edit: i saw ToSgod posting on here a few days ago he used to run a similar control damia build go raid his thread for advise as well
If you have 8 Fetchlands (should run all 9) Brainstorm is incredible an ansetreal recall in card quality various other uses
you dont "need" another wrath you have cyclo damnation and o-stone I would just cut the Decree that can be Brainstorm for now at least. Dont think of adding brainstorm as a card think of it as cutting your weakest card and getting better card quality as a bonus.
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
8.25.2013-
Perny Deed is back in for now as another board wipe. Can never really have too many in multiplayer. I do like that it can serve as a hostage effect as well. If people attack me, I will blow it up, so in reality it is serving sort of like Propaganda anyway. Pretty cool tech.
Kodama's Reach in to help my early ramp and hit land drops. I might need more basics to be running both this and Cultivate, but we shall see how it goes. Late game I can just pitch it to Forbid.
Also want to note that now that this list is becoming more solid I'm going to start to shift it more into a primer/guide. I'm pretty happy with the list besides a few cards that are begging to be put in, so I'm gonna go from there.
Username: Cabz
Username: Cabz
I'll have you know this made me laugh.
I'm on my phone and at work right now but I'll take a look at your list and make suggestions as this was a deck I was and to a point still have been playing over the last couple years. My favorite deck by far to play.
Thank you so much mchief111 for the amazing art!
BUG is the Jund of EDH!
Modern: Jund, Grixis Delver, Bant Eldrazi, TitanShift
Commander: Brago, Yidris, Mizzix, Marath, Atheros, Daretti
P.S. Shouldn't your entire mana base be posted?
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
I think that Vorinclex will be a VERY strong addition to the deck. He will help me close out games by doubling my mana and also providing a huge rattle-snake effect to my opponents. Practically another win-con on his own, and will be much more appealing to play than a PSZ when I have a full hand of cards or no creatures on the field. My one fear with Vorinclex is always that he will be either bribed or copied from me. If that tends to start happening a lot this slot will change to Mana Reflection.
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Honestly, I don't really like Planeswalkers in Multiplayer EDH. Especially in a deck that is trying to be as discreet as possible. I'm pretty sure they draw more hate than any other permanent in the game.
I did test Liliana of the Veil, but she basically is so fragile that she doesn't survive long enough to do anything spectacular. She would either be a 3 mana edict effect or 1 group discard... which is not worth a slot to me. I don't play enough creatures to protect her. Same can be said about Jace, the Mind Sculptor. He will likely be a 4 mana brainstorm then die.. eh.
Garruk Wildspeaker is always decent, but he's ramp that can (and will) be removed. Tokens are cool, but not really what I need.
Only one I would really consider is Garruk, Primal Hunter, but I don't think I need that redundancy right now. He is my favorite PW though.
I think Planeswalkers really shine in 1v1, not multiplayer.
Yeah I can post my entire mana base, it's just the most boring part of the deck lol. I will get around to it shortly.Mana-base posted :].
Thank you for your feedback.
Username: Cabz
Another thing, trade out out Pernicious Deeds for Gaze of Granite. I don't see any reason you should be using Deeds over Gaze, since you have no way to return it to the field directly. In that case, people won't be able to play around Gaze like they can Deeds. They also won't be able to pop your wipe before you can use it as well.
Might as well suggest [card]Nostalgic Dreams[card] as well. I've won many games off that card, hell I won that game you watched because of it.
Cockatrice Username: seriph0
Hahaha. I swiftly crush them with an iron fist!
Hey man, thanks for taking the time to post here.
Also, like I said, I think that our decks are fundamentally different, but despite that your suggestions are really useful! Thanks dude!
Username: Cabz
The list has really solidified. After adding in both Sculpting Steel and Copy Artifact (with Phyrexian Metamorph already in the deck), I noticed that these were clogging up my hand a bit more often that I liked. Out of the two that I added, Sculpting Steel is being cut because it is a) more expensive and b) cannot be pitched to Force of Will, which is a big deal at times. The fact that Copy Artifact it's an enchantment is pretty much insignificant.
With this change, I may have to reconsider putting Life from the Loam back into the deck (Since it works better with Burgeoning than Crucible does). But for now I'm just putting this card in by itself to see how it performs.
As an aside;
I did notice that the Vorinclex change was *AMAZING* as Vorinclex is such a great creature and really puts you in the position to win the game. I've also noticed that Sword of Feast and Famine has been absurdly good with the amount of land in this deck, so I will be trying to build more around that. Nature's Will and Mana Reflection are considerations but probably a bit too clunky and redundant at this point.
Username: Cabz
Becauses cmc 1 instant speed disenchant is awesome.
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
Thanks friend! I'll have you know that I was SO close to adding in Carpet of Flowers (instead of Burgeoning) because of you, but I decided that with Vorinclex and Sword of FaF that lands were probably better. haha.
Nature's Claim is actually awesome, I agree. And I am constantly looking to lower my curve of this deck. That might just go in.
Username: Cabz
Also, I noticed you're only running 35 lands. I'd try to make room for 1 or two more, especially with Burgeoning in the deck. 37 is my personal magic number and 35 is a tad on the low end.
UBRSedris, the Necromancer KingUBR
Cabal Conditioning is too.. conditional. I like the discard I have right now because it guarantees empty hands.
You're right about Burgeoning, and because of that it's been taken out.
8.28.2013
I don't run enough lands nor am I running Life from the Loam so Burgeoning is ineffectual. Telepathy should help a lot with knowing when its safe to cast Damia.
Username: Cabz
I'm thinking of possibly re-adding Coffers back in and changing Blightsteel Colossus to Exsanguinate as my final win-con. I know, kinda boring, but it does get around crap like Humility too. I'm really hoping someone has a suggestion for me for how to close out the game better. Keep in mind I want to avoid Eldrazi and infinite combos at all costs, though.
EDIT: Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief has been put in as well as Coffers as a new win-con. Depending on how effective Drana is, she may or may not be subbed out for Sorin Markov or Exsanguinate.
Username: Cabz
I typically agree with you, but a control deck's gotta win somehow. Right now he's not in the deck, but he is a big time consideration. :]
Username: Cabz
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
That's actually a good suggestion that fits with what this deck is trying to do (Jin both draws cards and forces discard most of the time). His drawbacks would be his mana cost and if he gets bribed... Hmm. I'll have to think about it. Right now Drana is still in testing, haven't pulled her yet(been using mostly my other decks because people just rage quit vs. this one XD).
NEW BANNER!!!!!!!!!!!! Custom made by me.
Username: Cabz
Seedborn Muse 2.0
:O!
Username: Cabz
Just saw this. Need one immediately. Teferi stapled to a Seedborn Muse? Thank you very much! Granted I think it better in other decks instead of ours, this will be very welcomed.
Thank you so much mchief111 for the amazing art!
BUG is the Jund of EDH!
Modern: Jund, Grixis Delver, Bant Eldrazi, TitanShift
Commander: Brago, Yidris, Mizzix, Marath, Atheros, Daretti
Damia http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=410191
DDFT Legacyhttp://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=505247
Domain Zoo http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10212429#post10212429
Damia, Sage of Stone
Ertai, the Corrupted
Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Omnath, Locus of Mana
Big time. Because it is basically yeah, Leyline stapled to Muse (since all of the other noncreature spells are either already instant speed or sorceries that I am fine with casting on my own turn). And Muse is already one of the key cards in the deck that makes it run. WOOO. I'm excited, Theros has been pretty crappy for my decks until this was spoiled :x.
Username: Cabz