Not Infinite, but Larger than the Universe

Commander / EDH MagmaArmor0

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Dominaria Release —April 30, 2018

Okay! With the long-awaited return to Dominaria, we've got a few changes to the deck, as well as a watchlist for cards that are close to the chopping block.

Loads of changes to the manabase have been made. There's now a nearly-complete set of fetches and shocks, along with a very important Flooded Grove which makes a turn-two Thrasios almost guaranteed if it's in the opening hand.

I've also created a google sheet detailing each and every card in the deck, with a short description of why it's in the deck, and a quick rating for each card from 0-100.

Tetzimoc, Primal Death --> Baird, Steward of Argive

So, Tetzimoc ended up being more trouble than he was worth--needing specifically black mana invested on our turn was too big of a restriction to keep him in, as fun as he was. Too often, simply revealing Tetzimoc off of a Thrasios trigger drew more hate from the table than he was worth, so he's gone. I considered Dread Cacodemon to take his place, since just killing two other creatures with Tetzimoc means that we're investing 4BBBB, at which point we might as well just use the Cacodemon, but I pulled a Baird, Steward of Argive during the Pre-release, so I'm using it for now while I figure out whether I'd rather have the less-angry and cheaper Windborn Muse or the creature-based one-sided boardwipe that is Dread Cacodemon.

Plasm Capture --> Mana Drain

This has been one of my favorite cards ever since I got into Magic, and I finally managed to trade for one. Counterspell is already one of the best cards printed. This is just counterspell with upside. Dump the mana into activating Thrasios, use it to offset commander tax, or finally dump that silly mirror gallery out of your hand. This card is absolutely phenomenal.

Phantasmal Image --> Helm of the Host

Yes, Phantasmal Image is a cheap way to copy your opponents' best creature (or your own). But Helm of the Host is a value engine that demands an answer all on its own, and serves as an important bit of redundancy to produce token copies of cards--and can even function to copy our legends without Mirror Gallery! Normally, I'd cut the gallery, but since it was in there so that our opponents can't say "well, 11 bazillion of everything EXCEPT...", the helm defeats the purpose, because it itself is legendary, so we can have 11 billion of everything...except the helm itself. Oh well. Playing it with the gallery means that we can have eleventy bazillion helms too, so that's neat.

Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip --> Shalai, Voice of Plenty Growing Rites has been a Growing Pain in the deck--it really only helps us win more, and doesn't really do anything that other cards in the deck don't do. It encourages overcommitting to the boardstate--and only pays us back with a win-more land. By the time we can protect it and the four creatures it requires, we often have enough of an advantage to just win anyway. It's coming out for Shalai, since hexproof to all other creatures and our precious face is a wonderful ability, and being able to copy her just means that EVERYTHING can have hexproof. If she dies first, then we just get to bring her back with Ravos. Great card.

Baird, Steward of Argive --> The Immortal Sun

I picked up an Immortal Sun and figured it made a better placeholder than Baird. Since it's been in, it's pretty clear that it's competing with Mirari's Wake for the slot of redundant mana-advantage. Mirari's Wake gives us more mana, but the Sun means we have to spend less--plus we get one free draw, which is basically worth a free Thrasios activation. Both have the anthem effect, but the Sun also hoses planeswalkers, which we don't play (and sometimes struggle to answer).

Ertai, the Corrupted --> Azorius Guildmage

5 mana and it doesn't impact the board until next turn, where it still requires having a creature we want to sacrifice to counter one thing. Don't get me wrong, having this and Lullmage Mentor feels great, especially if we also have Seedborn Muse, but spending 5 mana on our turn to do nothing doesn't feel fun. The guildmage, on the other hand, comes down as early as turn 2 and can immediately use its abilities if we have mana open. Countering activated abilities hoses some commanders, and tapping creatures protects our valuable face--especially if we have Training Grounds to drop the cost to a single mana. It also shuts down planeswalkers, which we still have problems with sometimes. It's still a wizard, too, and a relatively cheap one in case we have to sacrifice it to Voidmage Prodigy

Future Sight: These are cards that are close to the chopping block; they've been underperforming in recent games, and thus are in danger of being cut. This is also where changes get tested before being either rejected or permanently becoming part of the deck.

Momir Vig, Simic Visionary --> Chord of Calling

Also a 5 mana creature that doesn't do anything by itself. 13 Green creatures (the important trigger) and 17 blue (3 of which overlap) isn't overly exciting, but it does find some of the best cards in the deck for us--if we can survive long enough to cast a creature after casting Momir. In the end, though, Chord of Calling puts the creature directly into play, which makes it a counterspell with convoke at the absolute worst, thanks to creatures like Mystic Snake or Shalai, Voice of Plenty.

As Foretold --> Tatyova, Benthic Druid As Foretold is a dead draw in the endgame, but Tatyova can basically double all of our Thrasios activations, while gaining us life. Not sure if Tatyova's worth it, but we're playtesting with her right now, so the list reflects that.

Thought Vessel --> Windborn Muse Colorless mana is just so irrelevant to us, and no maximum hand size hasn't been all that useful as my playgroup gets more accustomed to this deck--they keep casting spells at me that I have to counter! I had a spare Windborn Muse, so I put it in rather than the Dread Cacodemon that I desperately want to include as a placeholder until I get one.

Vizier of the Menagerie --> ???

This card came in for the sake of convenience--knowing when to use Thrasios before cracking a fetchland makes it so I don't have to think too hard when I'm playing the deck--I need to save all my brainpower for calculating that FLN. That's not a great reason to include a card, but I must admit it has exceeded my admittedly low expectations--it's just so convenient! This guy does have some amusingly good synergy with Worldly Tutor, though--we can search the creature to the top of the deck with the tutor and cast it right off the top with Vizier.