Just curious: Why cut the Signet? It speeds up early game progression, and does an excellent job of filtering mana from utility lands like Academy Ruins into something usable.

One thing I've noticed in playtesting the deck is the mana base. With such a large pile of utility lands coupled with having only 3 of the 9 available fetch lands, the deck seems to have a ton of difficulty casting spells with double color restrictions before turn 4. I often have to Paris mulligan twice just to get the mana to be able to cast Counterspell before turn 3-- the turn most Tier 1 combo decks go off. I feel cutting the Signet would further pronounce this problem. I would personally go in the opposite direction and add more early game ramp like Mox Diamond, Talisman of Progress, Fellwar Stone, etc and cut back the land count a little bit so that you can both accelerate to late game more quickly, and be more resilient to Armageddon, Winter Orb, and other land-based mana denial strategies that are so common at higher levels of play. Otherwise, the changes look pretty solid.

Thanks for the feedback NarejED.

I cut the signet because I thought I might not need as much fixing, and because Mana Crypt offers a lot of value, although not coloured.

I've gone back and forth on land count, at one point only running 34. I'm just not sure what I'd cut to add in more things like the Talismans etc.

I do value the input I am getting though, so please keep it coming.

Decklist Updated to include the changes discussed over the last few days. Feel free to comment and continue to make suggestions.

I would agree with NarejED when it comes to your lands. Some feel unnecessary for the deck and could be switched to fetches or color producing lands. Lands like Celestial Colonnade, Mortuary Mire, Tolaria West, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth either slow your play or seem unnecessary. I would suggest removing them for lands like Prairie Stream, Sunken Hollow, and fetches to elevate your lands a bit. Remember that the fetches also thin out your deck, allowing you to draw more effectively.

On top of that, I think you can get away with running 36 lands. Since you have enough mana rocks to accelerate you a bit, you should be fine with 1 land lower. But only if you add the fetches in.

Yeah, I would say add in the other six available fetches for consistency. These would be the lands I would personally cut:

Strip Mine and Wasteland: They can be amazing early game disruption and useful tools against Gaea's Cradle, Hall of the Bandit Lord, etc, but they're also extremely harmful in any match of 3 players or more, where you're sacrificing yourself just to slow down one of several opponents. If the deck was designed with 1v1 matches in mind, they'd be amazing, but otherwise....

Bojuka Bog: It's extremely slow. And while having an uncounterable graveyard hoser is nice, I don't feel it quite it justifies a land that comes into play tapped and can only tap for one color.

Celestial Colonnade: Too slow and low-impact for EDH.

Maze of Ith: It doesn't tap for mana, and it seems fairly redundant given both Tabernacle and Kor Haven are being run, especially with the number of board wipes and pillow fort tools like Sphere of Safety.

Kor Haven: Like Ith, it seems a bit redundant.

Just my two cents.

All this land discussion!!!

First off, in EDH: Redundancy is King

Maze of Ith and Kor Haven aren't lands. They are removal spells. Soft ones, but in multiplayer they keep heat off you and allow you to save your boardwipes far longer.

Strip Mine and Wasteland are GREAT, particularely because they get rid of value lands like Cradle and Cabal Coffers, but also because he has Crucible of Worlds. This makes a turn without a land drop instead turn into removing the best land your opponents have in play. Over time this can even lock one player completely out of the game.

Urborg is AMAZING, why would you EVER remove it? It makes your Tabernacle and Ith tap for mana! It makes your colorless lands tap for black! It comes into play untapped!

Tolaria West isn't a land. It's a Mana Crypt for 1UU that also tutors for soft-removal Maze of Ith, graveyard removal Bojuka Bog, tax effects The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, ramp Serra's Sanctum, recursion Academy Ruins, counterspell protection Boseiju, Who Shelters All AND land destruction Wasteland.It's amazing.

Collonade wins games with Humility in play. Slow doesn't matter, you force the table to go at your pace.

I agree on Mortuary Mire, especially when Volrath's Stronghold is a thing.

Sleazebag, you beat me to the punch, lol.

Redundancy IS key with this deck. Part of the point here is to layer things on top of similar things to make your control harder to fight through and disrupt.

I do want to slow the game down to my pace, and I have to be able to slog it out in 5v1, 4v1, and 3v1 situations regularly, which means fragile and tenuous are not an option.

Regarding Mortuary Mire, I was mostly testing it out and agree it's not the best. I may just cut it in favour of Mana Crypt to be honest.

While not opposed to adding more fetch lands in theory, it's hard to really justify it because I don't find myself wishing for them that often, and cutting land-based "answers" from the deck just doesn't seem worth it. If I do add more fetches, it might only be 1 or 2 more.

Finally, regarding the BFZ duals, they're simply not worth it. With only 5 basics in the deck, the likelihood of them entering the battlefield untapped is too slim.

That's my rationale at least.

Too bad you can't +1 twice. Good job.

I cut the Mortuary Mire and replaced it with Mana Crypt.

I also cut a Plains and an Island, replacing them with Bloodstained Mire and Windswept Heath.

Let's see how this plays now. I have high hopes.

Nice! This just hit 300! Awesome!

I found the perfect card for you. In the Eye of Chaos...That is all.

@NinjaBunny01: That is awesome! Copy/Paste. Thank you.

Cheers

Figured both of you needed to see it ;)

Heh, thanks for the suggestion. I actually have In the Eye of Chaos, and did run it at one time, but that was when I ran less counterspells. Because it effects me too, it can be tough to work with...

That said, it's a great suggestion, and may make a comeback someday. :)

Wow In the Eye of Chaos is an absolutely beast card that would make my Zedruu deck quake in it's boots. Also it's a card I could give away to draw more cards. If I had my locks set up not even Vandalblast could destroy Winter Orb. Truly evil! It also rewards me for running Counterflux which I think is reason enough to play it lol!

I can imagine that card being playable in legacy if a list was dedicated enough to prison.

Yup, it is a beast in a deck that's been designed to slow roll and not play a lot of instants

Chalice of Life? I run it in my budget Modern Soul Sisters deck and its great in one-on-one. However, I am unsure of how impactful -5 life is in a multiplayer setting (unless you had a way to untap it multiple times in a turn). What do you think?

darleen, Chalice of Life is an interesting card. Although it's not bad by any means, I just think its a bit outclassed by most of the other things that I'm running, and I'm not really sure that it would make a big enough difference to merit inclusion. I'll keep it in mind, but for now, I don't think it has a spot in here.

Thanks for the suggestion though :-)