Revision

ioniboi, 4 years ago

Fairly Pleased With Progress

DreadKhan, 4 years ago

Well, the deck seems to work better with more lands, and having compared to a hyper-traditional cEDH Zur deck, it's not much less likely to have Zur out on turn 3, so that's a good thing. I'm not likely to have haste on turn 3, and turn 2 is SORTA possible (ha), whereas the traditional deck has more 'lucky' hands where they can ramp Zur out faster. The big payoff they get is ultimately running less ramp/lands, ~8 total, so they end up having more cards to work with, but I'd like to think Arcane Laboratory might have something to say about taking advantage of early ramp/lots of cheap spells, provided I can get Zur to fetch it. It's an obvious 'must counter' for most decks, or must remove, but if it can't be countered, it tends to make it impossible for a ton of decks to actually win, especially vs a deck crawling with removal. I feel like Greater Auramancy was close to being cut, but if it can then make my Rule of Law effect have Shroud, that isn't exactly bad. Decks rarely run much removal to deal with existing cards, you might see 3 cards capable of dealing with Rule after it's out in a lot of decks, and if it gets Shroud, it is likely to a 2 player job to remove the effect. That's a good deal I think for this deck, even if it's a super-slow play.

Thus, I'm strongly considering removing Replenish for Archon of Emeria, because the Archon isn't as easy to counter (and will eat a potential Zur counter or removal, always nice) as a creature, and it combos like crazy with Back to Basics which is an already pretty dangerous effect to have access to. I don't feel like 3 Rules is too many to have, as it's likely to get attention, and the 3 toughness means it might stick around. I feel like it has enough upside to be better than Eidolon of Rhetoric, though that is actually fetchable. I feel like a bear can be better though, especially if people have an annoying planeswalker out like an Ashiok, which can shut down Zur. Replenish made sense when the deck was playing against people that might maindeck enchantment wipes, but in cEDH, it feels like that won't come up much, and I already run the deeply questionable Hall of Heliod's Generosity. Even if it can be transmuted to, when am I going to have lots of enchantments in the yard? It also is the world's biggest non-bo with Rest in Peace, which is a commonly fetched card, with Helm of Obedience feeling considerably more fragile (and often failing if it's my first win con), so I don't think I'll really miss it. It's a good card in a less competitive meta, but here, it seems like it's just going to clog my hand in almost all cases, where the Archon is almost never a dead drop.

At this point, I'm also still looking at improving the mana base a bit, but I'm not sure what else would really help. The 'check for 2 basics' would be sorta playable, but I'd have to bump an arguably more reliable non-basic. I do feel the pinch of the budget here most of course, but I feel like the deck might be good enough at what it is trying to do, and that what it is trying to do is probably good enough to compete at least. I can more dead games, but that's a normal thing in cEDH. The obvious solution would be some fetch lands, which aren't cheap, but might be the only obvious upgrade. I think I'd only want the Esper 3, since I don't run OG duals anyways, and with Back to Basics I might end up fetching Basics anyways, if I don't need the fixing. More counters would surely be better in some circumstances, but I can't really fit in the good ones that require discarding blue, and I feel like Fierce GuardianshipGC will be blanked consistently by what really matter against this deck, Opposition AgentGC. I suppose an early Hullbreacher wheel will kill me just as easily as anyone else, but unless they wheel, Breacher does very little to me. I feel like Rule of Law is saving me space in the form of counterspells, but I'd like to get a Grand Abolisher in here at some point to make me 'proof' against them potentially, at which point I'd have even less urge to run counter magic.

Ultimately, I think the deck is much better designed than I am equipped to handle, so I probably need a lot of practice before I'll really know what the deck actually needs to improve it's odds further.

Edit: Out goes Replenish in favor of the probably much more relevant (if cEDH enchantment solutions are mostly bounce, this is a 4 mana dead card almost all of the time) Archon of Emeria, with the Archon synergizing beautifully with the deck in general, and Replenish being a nonbo if I've got Rest in Peace out, or ever had it out tbh.

Considering putting in a Grand Abolisher in here as another creature that more or less has to be countered or I'll probably win very soon. In practice, I think this is just another thing that will be countered that means Zur has one less counter against him, but if nobody has a solution to it, it's a pretty damn good effect, shutting down a few decks that could annoy me. Not the cheapest solution, but a really strong card for this kind of build, and one that probably should have been in awhile back, but here we are.

Changes

alextom1988, 4 years ago

Swamp --> Maskwood Nexus

Swamp --> Cultivate

Razaketh's Rite --> Burning-Rune Demon

Rat Colony --> Guardian Project

Integrating suggestions

YourStar98, 4 years ago

Further changes

alextom1988, 4 years ago

Hedron Crawler --> Youthful Valkyrie

Plains --> Reya Dawnbringer

Deathless Angel --> Sephara, Sky's Blade

Brave the Sands --> Resplendent Angel

Always Watching --> Valkyrie Harbinger

Nevinyrral's Disk --> Righteous Valkyrie

Plains --> Emeria, the Sky Ruin

KHM additions

Exit777, 4 years ago

Could add more from Kaldheim (like Birgi) but since I wanna keep this list the equivalent of your adorable neighbour's dog that occasionally shits on your lawn, I kept it to Mystic Reflection, Tibalt's Trickery and Ravenform. None of them are backbreaking but should provide for some fun interaction.

Still unsure whether I want to keep the combo in the deck - it's nice to have as a separate wincon but not really the goal of the deck. Edit: that didn't last long. Reiterate is out, Arcane Melee is in.

None

GlennTen, 4 years ago

B&R 02/21

Exit777, 4 years ago

None

MrAgin73, 4 years ago

None

DaLivelyGhost, 4 years ago

Kaldheim

GarrettTheGreat, 4 years ago

Tinkering...

Grubbernaut, 4 years ago

None

psionictemplar, 4 years ago

goodbye Karn:(

garredactyl, 4 years ago

Was feeling rough, much better now

fireteam, 4 years ago

I made a few changes, mostly removing top end cards in favor of more early game draw. I was running out of cards way too often for a control deck and it made my midrange matchups impossible. Here's what I did:

• -1x Inspired Ultimatum (might try to put this back)
• -1x Shark Typhoon
• -1x Behold the Multiverse
• +2x Mazemind Tome
• +1x Skyclave Apparition (this card ended up much better than I thought, a perfect complement to Elspeth Conquers Death, top targets include Fynn, the Fangbearer, Questing Beast, Tectonic Giant, etc.)

Funnily enough, I don't actually have to win many games. Most of the time I clear my opponents board with a planeswalker on the field and they concede. With that in mind, I might remove the 2x Shark Typhoon and go from there, we'll see.

Simian Spirit Guide Banned! Looking to the Future.

Oloro_Magic, 4 years ago

As of today, February 15th, 2021, Simian Spirit Guide has been banned from the modern format, largely due to it's ability to speed up more degenerate combo such as Tibalt's Trickery (also banned), and facilitate quick cascade into Valki, God of Lies  ^Flip (rules altered).

I will not sugarcoat and say that the deck survives this hit, very likely it does not seeing how there is no good replacement to Simian Spirit Guide in the modern format that would similarly provide the deck with a reliable way to win at instant speed and importantly not expose its excess mana to interaction. With this said, at the very least I am going to leave this primer up for archive's sake so that people who loved the deck can come back and read about all its little interactions. For the time being I am going to look for ways to continue playing Ad NauseamGC at a competitive level. I don't know if that pursuit will prove fruitful, however the very least I can do is try.

To all those that have supported this page throughout the years I sincerely thank you and wish you well. Hopefully, this is not the end!

Vale,

Oloro

Feb 15 update

JDogg2K4, 4 years ago

Feb 15 update

JDogg2K4, 4 years ago

Cleaning up and updating the deck

GeminiSpartanX, 4 years ago

I have had a few changes in the works that I've finally gotten around to implementing in the deck. I've added Field of the DeadGC as a utility land since this is a ramp deck that can search for a variety of lands. Adding the snow-covered basics and Dryad Arbor enables FotD more easily, and gives the deck a back-up plan for the low opportunity cost of a land slot. With that addition, I'm able to cut Sylvan Awakening and add Green Sun's Zenith as an additional creature tutor/ramp spell with Dryad Arbor. While the main game plan is still to create tokens with omnath and swing in or burn opponents out, FotD makes Craterhoof more consistent if something happens to disrupt Omnath. FotD also improves Purphoros, God of the Forge which I found can be lackluster if Omnath doesn't hit the table very quickly, as well as Terror of the Peaks and Warstorm Surge. It also synergizes with Ancient Greenwarden, Doubling Season, Parallel Lives, and the sac outlets Goblin Bombardment and Ashnod's Altar.

After talking with other Omnath players, Nahiri's Lithoforming has been proven to be sub-optimal. Other card drawing spells are generally better, but with the direction this build of the deck is going I'm going to try replacing it with Fiery Emancipation. If this card resolves it should be able to assure burning opponents out consistently if they wrath with Omnath in play, and the additional damage from FotD and the Omnath tokens in combination with the other etb damage cards should give me more inevitability against controlling decks.

Finally, due to the recent slew of reserved list buyouts, I've come to the realization that I'll likely never bother getting a Wheel of Fortune, so I'm going to try out the new Wheel of Misfortune for additional card draw. If it's bad, there are other options but it should be fun testing it out at the very least.

LAST UPDATE

Baka-Mangaka, 4 years ago