Have you considered Minamo, School at Water's Edge? I know you don't have a lot of legendaries, but it allows the untap of ANY legendary (including lands) and could be some fun tech since you can target opponents as well.

Doesn't come into play tapped so it doesn't slow you down and, unless you need the threshold ability, could easily replace Cephalid Coliseum.

Minamo, School at Water's Edge is effectively useless in this deck; the only viable targets are utility lands that don't really even need the untap. Cephalid Coliseum at least provides draw power and hand filtering, which is why I include it over another basic land.

I'm sorry i need some clearification on how you bounce Phantasmal Image. As i understand it.. any attempt to target Phantasmal Image will trigger its sacrifice ability, which as i also understand it will activate before the spell effect that targeted it will resolve, hence the sacrifice which is quicker then the spell and operates on the speed of a mana ability would send Phantasmal Image to the grave yard for such an attempt. Or am i incorrect on this assumption?

@Anthrax: In his example Phantasmal Image is a copy of Palinchron. The ability on Palinchron doesn't target, it is an activated ability of the creature but nowhere in it's text does it say "target."

Assuming you have a Phantasmal image copying a palinchron on the battlefield, and assuming you have 7 Island untapped, you can tap all 7 using 4 to return the Image to your hand leaving 3 mana in your pool. Then you use 2 of the 3 to recast Phantasmal Image copying Palinchron which untaps your 7 islands when he enters. You still have 1 mana in your pool. Then you tap your 7 lands for a total of 8 in your pool and do the process again. Each time you do you gain 1 mana in your pool and "infinite" number of times.

Yes i see that now, sorry late night for me im looking at things cross eyed.

I just tabulated everything; the deck comes to $2800 with all current foils included. With the ones I still have to get, it'll be at least $3000. That's not counting fetch foils or judge promos.

What are your views on Cavern of Souls in here?

I initially considered it because it does have applications, but I decided it was too limited. The fact that it can only tap for colorless except in very specific instances made me rule against it. Additionally, I run several creatures of varying types. The only two I would even bother calling are wizard and illusion.

Just out of curiosity, When you play the Phantasmal Image + Palinchron infinite mana, do you have to keep playing the Phantasmal Image for real or do you just float infinite mana?

If someone asks me to actually play out the combo, I demonstrate it once and then pick an arbitrarily large number of times to shortcut the repetition.

Ok. That makes a lot more sense than playing it repeatedly.

Thanks and +1

Ice Cauldron is an option I've been considering for a while for my Damia deck. My pods are not as competitive as yours, and help especially if you find yourself mana-bricked a bit (Without such an elegant land base as yours).

And I cannot give Carpet of Flowers enough praise. Is an amazing 1 drop.

Ice Cauldron is kind of vulnerable. I don't know if I would run it even in noncompetitive pods because it represents too much of an investment of time and resources to use.

I think I'm going to drop Rhystic Study for Carpet of Flowers . I'm effectively guaranteed to play against blue decks in competitive pods, and Rhystic Study is a tad too slow and expensive.

I just updated the MTGS thread if anyone wants a more detailed explanation of my choices and play style.

have you thought of Elves of Deep Shadow are did you not include it because it only tapped for black...

My friend plays Elves of Deep Shadow , but I'm not sure it's worth including. It's not as flexible as Birds of Paradise , Arbor Elf , or Deathrite Shaman .

What are your thoughts on Capsize ? I recognize that in this deck it acts as an alternate wincon, but lately I've been finding myself choosing not to play it do to the expensive buyback cost. What do you think?

I haven't cast it in a while, although I don't often draw into it. It does seem unnecessary in light of the recent changes to this deck; I'll often use Venser, Shaper Savant or Blue Sun's Zenith instead.

Thats my thinking too. I'm in the process of changing my deck around as well and Capsize is on a short list of things to cut. Its effect isn't worth 3 mana and its prohibitively expensive to play with its buyback unless you have infinite mana.

What do you think a suitable replacement would be?

As far as bounce spells go, I'm a big fan of Echoing Truth because of the mana cost and the ability to stop token swarms which are prevalent in my meta. And the nonland item shouldn't be a problem because thats what cards like Strip Mine are for.

I know you mentioned earlier you weren't a fan of it but Beast Within is solid removal to take its spot as well.

Beast Within is still in the deck. However, I don't think Echoing Truth is good enough in my situation. I almost never encounter token decks, so I might opt for Pongify or some other cheap removal spell to actually kill a target.

Fair enough. Echoing Truth is in my deck for my meta. Pongify is solid.

I'm just wondering if Pongify is the right option. This deck is now at the point where even the slightest change can drastically alter performance. I wish I had a consistent group around for some playtesting.

I think it comes down to what you think you'll face in your pods. If you're in doubt, maybe another counter spell? You have a lot in here already but its better to deal with a threat before it even hits the board then to not have the right type of removal to deal with it later