So I've been wanting to build around Sunbird's Invocation since it was spoiled, but never really knew the right direction to take it. Obviously it can go a lot of ways, but after seeing it in action on an episode of Against the Odds, I knew more of what I wanted. During the deck tech it is said that they've come up with the most value you can get out of such an expensive enchantment, but I took it even further and decided to exploit as many "cast without paying for it" cards as possible. This brought As Foretold and Rashmi, Eternities Crafter to the table.
I liked the idea of using Tishana, Voice of Thunder at the top end of the curve to draw up a ton of cards and then hit another card in the next 7 to trigger something else, but I decided to go wide in another direction and by other means besides the Regal Caracal and Panharmonicon, mostly to get out of four colors. This does take away lifelink and white removal, but I think it makes up for it with even bigger creatures that are easier to get out and that go crazy with each other in one big blowout turn. I'm not sure whether or not I want to throw in Panharmonicon, it couldn't hurt, but then the creature count would have to shrink even more and I think even though it doubles some sweet triggers like Tishana and the Thopterists to go super wide and super card draw I haven't actually found that the current amount of draw is lacking and nor has the ability to go wide enough to go big with the Myriarch.
The main bomb is Majestic Myriarch. This guy aims to gain flying, but more importantly haste. He gets both from The Locust God and his insect tokens. The numbers may not seem to support that interaction happening all that often, but it can come up pretty easily and often because of the amount of digging you are going to be doing. If you have Rashmi and Invocation out together or you play Rishkar's Expertise you will get a lot of triggers to work with. Invocation will let you look at the top 6 cards and play a Locust God which will resolve before the Expertise. Rashmi will let you reveal the top card and cast a 5 or less cmc card which hopefully will be your Myriarch. Then, with The Locust God and Myriarch on the field you will get to draw at least 6 cards (the Myriarch will be at least a 6/6 if you have just those three creatures, but often is already a bit bigger). Then you get to cast yet another card 5 or less from Expertise which hopefully will be a Maverick Thopterist or Whirler Virtuoso so you can get out even more creatures. Drawing those 6+ cards will make 6+ flying Insects with haste, giving the Myriarch at least another +12/+12, even more from the thopters. The thing is huge, flying, and with haste. Then, you'll be able to likely just attack and win, but if they can chump block or anything like that you still have the Heart-Piercer Manticore that can just fling the Myriarch at your opponent for the win. Even better if you cast that with As Foretold. Not that it matters, but this would also trigger more Invocations and let you do even more things.
I've had several turns that dug through more than half the deck and churned out ridiculous wins from shenanigans much like the above scenario. Getting there is about staying alive and generating card advantage through the first 4 turns. This is where dropping As Foretold on turn 3 is critical. Turn 1 you can Attune with Aether to keep your land drops coming and start up the energy train, turn two you can Flash in the Shielded Aether Thief to block damage and grab even more energy, or better yet ramp and gain energy from Servant of the Conduit. Turn 4 you can draw cards from Rogue Refiner and keep gaining energy, or start dropping tokens with Virtuoso to generate chump blockers if needed, or if you found Rashmi you can really get ahead with cards/board presence. You'll also be able to play Attunes for free on your turn. By 5 your Aether Thieves are free to Flash in on your opponent's turn while also triggering Rashmi for a card, and you can cast your first 6 cost like Invocation which could also give you a free 5 cost for a total of 13 effective mana by your 5th turn. Every turn after that should just explode, and it usually does just that.
The fun thing about this deck is that most of the time it doesn't matter a whole lot what your opponent is doing other than wiping the board to thin your numbers. However, you can absolutely rebuild in just one turn and possibly still hit lethal from 0 creatures so that's not too concerning. I did add in Glimmer of Genius for even more card advantage and digging because there are a lot of sweet three and two cost cards that you can cheat out on your opponent's turn from Rashmi/Invocation triggers and more than half the deck if 4 or less mana so Invocation can hit some awesome targets and allow you to use your mana more sneakily during both turns.
With Vizier of the Menagerie it is important to remember that it does trigger Rashmi, but does not trigger Invocation if you use it to cast a creature from the top of your library because it isn't being cast from your hand. It mostly gives you information, but also allows you to Aether Thief from the top of your library, or simply play the next card a turn earlier than you'd normally be able to. It also lets you use mana however you want which isn't always relevant, but sometimes it can be. The biggest advantage is helping you decide whether to resolve Rashmi's trigger first or Invocations first because Rashmi only hits the next card. If it is a playable card with value that is one cmc less than the spell you played go ahead and cast it, but if it isn't then you can go with the Invocation trigger first and then possibly hit something that was buried under the next X cards. Without it you might as well flip a coin.
The weirdest part of the whole thing is that all of these things are playing with the stack, not ETB triggers. So, things basically happen in the reverse order that you cast them. Make sure that you don't accidentally resolve things backwards because you might get called out and miss out on the triggers that you needed. The easiest one to screw up is casting a Myriarch and hitting a Manticore from either Rashmi or Invocation. The Manticore is basically cast in response to the Myriarch so it will actually resolve first and then add it's ETB trigger to the stack. The Myriarch won't enter the battlefield until after the Manticore has finished doing it's thing, so you want Rashmi to put it into your hand so that you can cast it from there and not miss the fling. If you don't hit it with Rashmi then you don't want to hit Manticore with Invocation because it won't resolve favorably. You either want the Manticore in your hand, or in your graveyard to do it's thing. You can cast Manticore with Rishkar's Expertise if you drew it though because the Myriarch will hit the field first if played with either Rashmi or Invocation off of Expertise, and then Expertise will resolve which draws you the cards and then casts another from your hand. This won't trigger Rashmi again, but it absolutely will trigger Invocation again, which could then safely hit a Manticore if you didn't get one and got anything else instead that cost between 4 and 5 mana. It's all super confusing to explain, but not really that complicated in real time.
The sideboard plays with even more big 7 cost spells that either take advantage of being wide like with Aetherwind Basker, or dealing with your opponent being wide with Aethersquall Ancient or Chaos Maw. God-Pharaoh's Gift is very interesting with the Basker since it grants haste which means it can bring it out of the graveyard and get it's ETB trigger for a bunch of energy, attack for a bunch more energy, and then sink it all into the Basker for a bunch of trample damage. The Glyph Keeper and Prowling Serpopard are great against control by giving you un-counterable creatures that are very difficult to remove, and 5 flying on a body like that is pretty sweet. Negate and Harnessed Lightning round out the sideboard with a bit of counter and burn.
This deck is confusing to explain, and sometimes your turns can take several minutes, but it's super fun and explosive to play. I have many decks in standard right now and this one has the craziest finishes of them all, and the craziest ride getting there. I can't believe there are so many cards in standard together that let you cast things for free, and I'm considering exploring more options that utilize the Expertise cards from Revolt in tandem with Invocation, but I am not sure what the right color combo is going to be for that. Blue and Green let you play the biggest things after casting, so Temur is probably the right way to go. I'd probably try to stay away from Energy this time and make the deck more straightforward with as many creatures and ETB triggers as possible. Anyway, this is super fun and it has performed very consistently. It's undergone a lot of little tweaks and updates, but the addition of the Shielded Aether Thief and Glimmer of Genius to allow As Foretold plays during your opponent's turn to really maximize card advantage was the biggest improvement. This also makes me want to try building around As Foretold as the main build around card that involves 100% Instants and creatures with Flash. Seems legit.
