Help improving my deck
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Jan. 3, 2020, 3:32 a.m. by Dcku
I just recently started playing magic the gathering and I'm using the preconstructed flashback deck with Sevinne, the Chronoclasm . Although it is a fun deck to play it needs some time before you can actually do something. Any advice on what cards to get in order to improve it?
I know mana is important but I'm searching for something that will help me survive the early game.
January 3, 2020 3:56 a.m.
DrukenReaps says... #4
I want to stress that EDHrec is about popularity. It doesn't always have the best ideas. You should still take a look at this page
https://edhrec.com/precon/mystic-intellect
As far as being faster. Speed in MTG is always about your mana. The faster you can get more and the faster you get your colors the better. Don't go spending too much money on it though. Most of us stick to casual but tuned decks. Also Sevinne tends towards control with a splashy late game. So that is something to keep in mind.
January 3, 2020 4:26 a.m.
DrukenReaps says... #5
Looking through that page you might consider the following
Chain Reaction , Cathartic Reunion , Narset's Reversal , Opt , Baral, Chief of Compliance , Soulfire Grand Master , Propaganda , God-Eternal Kefnet , Smothering Tithe , Primal Amulet Flip, Young Pyromancer , Jeskai Ascendancy , Swords to Plowshares , Kykar, Wind's Fury , Goblin Electromancer .
I have not played the deck so my suggestions might all be crap :) Good luck.
January 3, 2020 4:36 a.m.
The suggestions are good as i want to play the deck bazed on copying spells. However i will not use young pyromancer and jeskai ascedancy as I want to focus on casting spells and not having a lot of creatures. Anyway thanks for tha advice, it was really helpful.
January 3, 2020 5:14 a.m.
multimedia says... #7
The reason you play Kykar, Pyromancer and Ascendancy is to get more value out of casting instants/sorceries especially Kykar because Spirits can be ramp. The Spirits/Elementals and draw/discard are bonuses for every instant/sorcery you cast. Which is good because the more value you can get out of the cards you cast the better your deck will be and the more fun game play will be.
Sevinne is very lackluster because you can only copy one spell a turn and that spell has to be cast from your graveyard. These restrictions are terribly slow since most flashback costs are a lot of mana and there's not enough good flashback cards to matter. If you want to play a spell heavy theme which is called "Spellslinger" then you're better off playing instants that copy other spells you cast or your opponents cast: Expansion / Explosion , Narset's Reversal , Reverberate , Increasing Vengeance . These are better than relying on Sevinne and having spells in your graveyard as well as having a way to cast them from your graveyard.
Thousand-Year Storm gives you the effect you want with copying instants/sorceries you cast and it copies any one you cast from hand or graveyard not just the first one you cast from your graveyard. Thousand-Year also copies the spell you cast equal to the number of spells you cast before it during the turn. This effect is called "Storm" in Magic and it's one of the most powerful mechanics in Magic. Mind's Desire is an example of a powerful budget card with Storm.
In the Mystic Intellect precon Elsha of the Infinite is a better card and overall better Commander General than Sevinne. You can cast noncreature/nonland cards on the top of your library with Elsha this includes instants/sorceries. Can cast sorceries on the top of your library as instants which with Spellslinger is very good. Elsha has Prowess, she gets bigger until end of turn the more noncreature spells you cast each turn. She can be a threat to do Commander damage by playing the Spellslinger theme.
You could change the precon into a Spellslinger deck with Elsha as General. With Elsha you don't have the restriction of playing cards that have flashblack instead you can play the best instant/sorceries that Jeskai can offer which does include some cards with flashback. Being able to cast instant/sorceries from the top of your library is better and faster than what Sevinne does. Elsha doesn't want a lot of creatures because her ability can't be used with creature cards, but some creatures who give you value when you cast instants/sorceries are good. This is an example of a budget creature base with Elsha:
- Soulfire Grand Master
- Young Pyromancer
- Guttersnipe
- Kykar, Wind's Fury
- God-Eternal Kefnet
- Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Elsha works with Planeswalkers because a Planeswalker is not a creature card. Ral, Storm Conduit and Narset, Parter of Veils are budget Planeswalkers who interact well with instants/sorceries. Ral's -2 loyalty ability can copy an instant/sorcery you cast and he combos with Expansion / Explosion and other instant/sorceries that copy. Elsha works with artifacts which is helpful because mana rocks can be used for ramp to play Elsha/Thousand-Year faster and then afterwards when cast they count toward Elsha's Prowess.
January 3, 2020 9:18 a.m.
I can definitely see your point about elsha being stronger to play with but sevinne's abillity can synergise well with insta spells or enchatments that give sorcery spells flash, as he is able to copy the first spell each turm(meaning the opponent's too). He can also copy spells like Increasing Vengeance which will let him make four copies of a spell. I dont say your opinion is wrong but i will stick with him for a while.
I have seen explosion/expansion before but i didn't think it was good. How exactly does it work? You do the second from the graveyard?
January 3, 2020 10:24 a.m.
Also how does Soulfire Grand Master work. Spells having lifelink???
January 3, 2020 10:26 a.m.
Sorry for all the questions but i have one more. Copies of spells work as notmal instant and sorcery spells with Thousand Years Storm. If so can you have infinite copies of a copying spell like Reverberate
January 3, 2020 10:34 a.m.
Yes, Dcku, that is true, but you won't be able to kill anyone with infinite copies of Reverberate that copy each other unless you have a Ral, Storm Conduit out. Cards like Guttersnipe only count when a spell is cast, not copied. Only Ral can win with infinite Reverberate .
However, if we're talking about flashbacking Increasing Vengeance it's different. If you get just one copy of that card, it's future copies can copy itself and copy something else (like Comet Storm or Think Twice ). It'll go infinite with whatever you want.
January 3, 2020 9:09 p.m.
Thats pretty epic! How about the other two? How do Expansion / Explosion and Soulfire Grand Master work?
January 4, 2020 2:31 a.m.
DrukenReaps says... #13
Dcku Soulfire Grand Master is likely more simple than you think it is. It does exactly what it says it does. However the lifelink requires that the spell does damage for it to actually do something. So if you cast Opt with grandmaster in play opt will have lifelink but won't do anything with it. If you cast Lightning Bolt you'll do 3 damage and gain 3 life.
January 4, 2020 2:49 a.m.
ScionsStillLive says... #15
You could also use cards with Jumpstart rather than Flashback if you prefer.
January 4, 2020 7:24 p.m.
Yes i know but there are not many are there? An other option is using cards with retrace.
Joe_Ken_ says... #2
Improving on the mana rocks and land base is a big must for that deck. You’ll want to get the signets like Boros Signet and the others that would match the colors for your deck. If you are going to keep him as the commander you may want to check on EDHrec to see what other people have been using in builds for him.
January 3, 2020 3:37 a.m.