I had some extra time tonight so I consolidated all of my changes in the past year and a half into one post. This deck began its life as a budget Jenara, Asura of War ETB/LTB shenanigans list I found on Youtube, with every card being less than $1. That deck is still linked in the sidebar, if anyone is interested. After a little while I changed it into a Phelddagrif ETB/LTB group hug list, with an emphasis on cards that benefitted everyone, but me a little more, e.g. Well of Ideas. It was also terrible, but I had just begun playing EDH and it helped me learn the format. Eventually I got tired of that and switched to Roon of the Hidden Realm, and from there I've been looking to make it more competitive, card-by-card, ever since.
12/1/15 Changes
Commander Switch: Phelddagrif --> Roon of the Hidden Realm
Out: -Arbiter of Knollridge, -Temple Bell, -Well of Ideas, -Forest, -Plains, -Armillary Sphere, -Kor Cartographer, -Rampant Growth, -Rain of Thorns, -Minion Reflector, -Cloudshift, -Ondu Giant, -Myr Battlesphere
In: +City of Brass, +Farhaven Elf, +Wood Elves, +Ephara, God of the Polis, +Solemn Simulacrum, +Rite of Replication, +Fact or Fiction, +Ixidron, +Perplexing Chimera, +Prime Speaker Zegana, +Luminate Primordial, +Armada Wurm, +MImic Vat
12/5/15 Changes
Out: -AEtherize
In: +Swords to Plowshares
1/4/16 Changes
Out: -Azorius Chancery, -Selesnya Sanctuary, -Simic Growth Chamber, -Brutalizer Exarch, -Secluded Steppe, -Lonely Sandbar
In: +Hornet Queen, +Temple Garden, +Breeding Pool, +Hallowed Fountain, +Hinterland Harbor, +Lightning Greaves
1/6/16 Changes
Out: -Forest, -Deadwood Treefolk, -Voidwalk
In: +Krosan Verge, +Green Sun's Zenith, +Phyrexian Metamorph
1/11/16 Changes
Out: -Sphinx of Uthuun
In: +Rhystic Study
2/1/16 Changes
Out: -Abundant Growth, -Prophet of Kruphix, -Ghostly Flicker, -Planar Guide, -Phyrexian Ingester
In: +Chromatic Lantern, +Counterspell, +Arcane Denial, +Birthing Pod, +Dissipate
4/1/16 Changes
Out: -Island, -Sunblast Angel, -Diluvian Primordial
In: +Halimar Depths, +Avenger of Zendikar, +Remand
12/10/16 Changes
Out: -Planar Cleansing, -Knight of the White Orchid, -Bant Charm –Terastodon, -Clone –Dungeon Geists, -Galepowder Mage, -Great Whale, -Restoration Angel, -MImic Vat, -Oblivion Ring, -Urban Evolution, -Preordain, -Momentary Blink
In: +Angel of Finality, +Eternal Witness, +Karmic Guide, +Reveillark, +Sun Titan, +Eladamri's Call, +Mystical Tutor, +Krosan Grip, +Relic of Progenitus, +Wrath of God, +Farseek, +Swan Song, +Duplicant, +Reclamation Sage
12/31/16 Changes
Out: -Coiling Oracle
In: +Cryptic Command
My friend joncorderoo picked one of these up for me as a gift (thanks Jon!). Cryptic Command is the gold standard of utility counterspells, and a card I’ve been eyeballing for a long time. Coiling Oracle is, in my opinion, a common trap for Roon players. It’s an underwhelming card, as 1/3 of the time it’s a Nature's Lore, and 2/3 of the time it just draws a card. Roon, unlike Brago, King Eternal, is not a machine gun. Roon is a sniper rifle. You want to be using your one blink a turn to do something impactful, or possibly even save it as a Maze of Ith for your opponents’ biggest fatty. Coiling Oracle is not an impactful blink target.
1/3/17 Changes
Out: -Conjurer's Closet
In: +Panharmonicon
Panharmonicon seems like a powerhouse so I'm trying it out. The closet was good but always a little slow, and I like having the option of playing Panharmonicon late-game followed by creatures for instant value. Also, it costs one less, and costing four instead of five means it can come down a turn earlier and I can still get Roon out on curve if I want.
1/4/17 Changes
Out: -Ephara, God of the Polis, -Brago, King Eternal
In: +Sylvan Library, +Recruiter of the Guard
Decided to pick up these two before the prices inevitably go up. Ephara was nice, but the Library is definitely and upgrade. As for Brago, he looks good on paper but there have been very few times where he has paid off. He draws more hate than your alarm clock on Monday morning and usually I only have a couple of things to blink anyway. He also does nothing for a turn, and with the new recursion cards I added last month I get a lot of my value by bringing creatures back, making him less necessary.
1/29/17 Changes
Out: -Solemn Simulacrum
In: +Mana Crypt
Finally picked up a Mana Crypt. I decided to take out the Solemn because, although it is admittedly good value, it just doesn't do enough to make the cut anymore in my opinion. For two mana, I can Farseek and get a shockland. For three mana, I can play a Rhystic Study and start drawing cards. For four mana, I could be playing a 2/2 that flies AND can counter spells (Glen Elendra Archmage). Ramping one basic land to the battlefield tapped as the ‘thing I’m doing’ on turn four is just not worth it, and while Solemn does a lot of things, it does none of them especially well. Mana Crypt is essentially a second, more broken Sol Ring, and its downside is negligible.
1/30/17 Changes
Out: -Rout, -Plains, -Reflector Mage
In: +Supreme Verdict, +Strip Mine, +Glen Elendra Archmage
Supreme Verdict is just a strict upgrade from Rout in my mind; I think I've cast that card at instant speed once or twice ever. Strip Mine is mainly just a response to my friend's deck, because getting killed by Marit Lage every game really hurts. It should help a little bit. Reflector Mage was an awesome card, and did a lot of work against enemy commanders. It really gets a power boost in 1v1, but even in multiplayer it still put the work in, in my experience. Still, all good things come to an end, and I've had my eye on the Glen Elendra Archmage for a long time, so it got cut. Could go back in at some point.
2/1/17 Changes
Out: 5x Basic Lands
In: +Yavimaya Coast, +Adarkar Wastes, +Brushland, +Flooded Strand, +Windswept Heath
General manabase upgrading.
2/14/17 Changes
Out: -Soul of the Harvest
In: +Mystic Remora
Soul of the Harvest has been consistently underwhelming so it's losing its spot. Prime Speaker, at the same mana cost, regularly draws me between 5 and 10 cards, and I've blinked it before to draw over three quarters of my deck. Soul of the Harvest just isn't on the same power level. The Remora is a card that I've used before and I'm not sold on, but I want to give it another chance. I'll record how it goes in my next update.
2/22/17 Changes
Out: -Avacyn, Angel of Hope
In: +Craterhoof Behemoth
Well, this is a bittersweet one for me. When I first started playing Magic again last year I bought Avacyn, some dice, a box, and a few other cards from a guy who was quitting Magic and trying to sell his half-built Avacyn commander deck. I've had her ever since, and she's done great work, but her time has come. Craterhoof is a game-ender, especially if combined with something like Mistmeadow Witch or Deadeye. It also feeds perfectly up the Birthing Pod chain from both Hornet Queen and Avenger of Zendikar, and makes the deck less reactive- something it really needed. Avacyn did her duty, and has been honorably discharged. Oohrah salutes.
As for Mystic Remora, it has performed incredibly well. One thing to note is that you never want to play it before turn 3-4, since if you can keep playing a land every turn it essentially locks you at the same amount of mana for as long as it’s out, and if you miss a land drop you start going backwards. Still, its incredibly strong, I haven’t had anyone bother to pay the 4 yet.
3/16/17 Changes
Out: -Luminate Primordial, -Armada Wurm, -Angel of Serenity, -Rite of Replication, -Plains, -Island
In: +Mangara of Corondor, +Hokori, Dust Drinker, +Lavinia of the Tenth, +Time Warp, +Tarnished Citadel, +Mana Confluence
Back once again! These changes are mostly about slimming down my mana curve by taking out some of the high-cost, low-impact control creatures and replacing them with either lower cost creatures that do more-or-less the same thing (Mangara of Corondor) or creatures that give me more of a controlling position over the board while costing less (Hokori, Dust Drinker and Lavinia of the Tenth). Armada Wurm finally got cut too... it was great when this deck was more casual, but these days making a 5/5 trample each turn is just far too slow to compete. Hokori is perfect with Roon, as I can blink him on the opponent's end step before my turn to untap my lands, and Mangara can be blinked in response to his own trigger to exile the opposing creature but keep him. Fun stuff. Time Warp has been added as a way to take infinite turns with either Eternal Witness or Archaeomancer and one of my blink enablers. Tarnished Citadel and Mana Confluence are just staples in 3+ color decks that I hadn't picked up yet.
3/23/17 Changes
Out: -Wargate, -Wrath of God, -Supreme Verdict, -Relic of Progenitus, -Swiftfoot Boots, -Angel of Finality
In: +Eldritch Evolution, +Land Tax, +Enlightened Tutor, +Tormod's Crypt, +Nature's Claim, +Scavenging Ooze
Slimming down the curve some more...
The Wraths just don't pull their weight nowadays, I'd rather recur my lower-costed targeted removal. Relic of Progenitus has an advantage over Tormod's Crypt in its ability to cycle itself against non-GY decks, but I rarely use it that way, so I'd rather have the free exile effect. Angel of Finality is simply a lot for that kind of effect, I'd rather have Scooze. Similarly, Wargate is far too expensive, and gets outclassed by the two new tutors. The boots just cost too much. Land Tax and Nature's Claim should speed up the deck by guaranteeing land drops and offering cheap removal, respectively.
3/28/17 Changes:
Out: -Glacial Chasm
In: +Misty Rainforest
Picking the enemy fetches up while they're hot! Glacial Chasm is dead in my hand if I'm not in a very particular board position, and I have no way to tutor for it when I need it, so it's getting the axe.
4/1/17 Changes:
Out: -Lavinia of the Tenth
In: +Chrome Mox
I'm starting to make the deck faster, so large clunky things will be coming out for moxen, dorks, etc.
