IQuarent: Typically when you Tooth an Nail you will get a selection of cards that ends with you having Deadeye Navigator, Palinchron and Rune-Scarred Demon. This will give you access to your entire deck.

And yes, while USZ is the primary win condition for the deck, you can also Venser, Shaper Savant your opponents' entire board and then causally swing through with commander damage over the next few turns. And because you have unlimited access to Venser, you can basically had lock your opponents out of the game while you do it.

I know it's in your maybeboard already, but I've always preferred Trickbind over Stifle. Despite the 1 mana increase, it can't be countered itself (well, barring a Lunar Force or something) and prevents their combo from continuing that turn (giving some degree of time to disable the combo). I often see people survive a Stifle (continue to combo-kill with Stifle on the stack) but Trickbind destroys a combo utterly (much like Krosan Grip against the right combo). Or you could play both, I suppose.

(On the other hand, it's harder to T1 Trickbind a fetchland, heh. Not the best play, but dear god it's fun to watch people's expression.)

I agree with Trickbind being the more effective answer to ability-based combos. Not as efficient as one blue mana, but I feel the effectiveness to efficiently is a more than adequate to consider the trade out.

Beyond that, I personally prefer Trickbind in most situations myself and find it to be much more reliable. Split Second is such an amazing keyword.

@Emzed: Gemstone Caverns is interesting, but I find that the mana base is consistent and fast enough that I don't need to play tons of disadvantageous fixing like it and Chrome Mox.

@Mishras_Twerkshop: I'd probably drop Oracle of Mul Daya for Fastbond, drop Arbor Elf, Skyshroud Claim, Mystical Teachings, and something else for Black Lotus and the moxen.

@Matheyru: Consecrated Sphinx is in a gray zone for me. It's very expensive, and I often wonder whether I'd be better off with some other draw card. Recurring Insight is equally expensive, but I suppose it's the same speed and at least draws cards in batches of (probably) five to seven rather than two.

@IQuarent: It's true that the only immediate game-ender is Blue Sun's Zenith. But that hasn't been an issue thus far. The "Preparing to combo" section of the primer explains how you determine which combo to use and how to set yourself up to use it. The "Using Tooth and Nail" section covers how to get Rune-Scarred Demon, which is then bounced to tutor your deck and continually recur Blue Sun's Zenith.

I run only Blue Sun's Zenith because of the recursion it offers, and because I feel that more draw X spells would make the deck clunkier. I'd probably experiment with other finishers (e.g., infinite turns to attack) first.

@Daedalus19876 & IQuarent: Trickbind vs Stifle is ultimately a preference pick, I feel. Both are very good cards, and it's a matter of which suits your meta and playstyle (e.g., conservative vs tactical) more.

How often does Carpet of Flowers work for you? I would assume in a competitive environment, Blue is prevalent in most decks, but in more casual playgroups, how well do you think it would do?

I haven't actually played the deck since it was added for testing. In theory, though, it would be worth running full-time. If nothing else, you're likely to get at least one mana off of it, so it'll pay for itself. It's meta dependent once you're outside of competitive, but it's still potent.

True. That and a couple other cards are all I have left to grab. But I wanted to be sure before I bought a card that would end up sitting in the binder and not the deck.

To piggy back off Epochalyptik on Carpet of Flowers, I run it in my deck here, and have found myself with at least 5 - 6 counters on it by the time I win out. Which really helps.

Since I've adjusted my deck more closely to Epochalyptik's, I find myself winning out with 1 - 3 life.

Epochalyptik: Question, how often, when you play this deck, do you find yourself relying on Damia? Most of the time when I'm playing, my hand is shaped enough to go for the win, or my hand has ~5 cards, but I have Library out, the Top, where I don't need her in play (not to mention her copied vs a shakashima deck that's in my meta).

What would you usually fetch with Intuition?

I can't speak for Epoch, but Intuition in general either gets 3 cards that all perform a similar function(like say, 3 counterspells) so there's no good choice, or they get 3 cards that interact with each other in a way that guarantees you get what you want eventually. Something like Crucible of Worlds, Volrath's Stronghold and the creature you really want. No matter what they give you, you'll always get the creature eventually. Another, potentially better, pile could be Eternal Witness, Yawgmoth's Will, and any card you want. Two pieces of recursion off Intuition guarantees that you can get the 3rd card so it can essentially be used to tutor for any card for any situation at instant speed.

Necrotize ah, thank you!

@Ishio: It varies from game to game; your opponents, their decks, and their playstyles, as well as my own resources, impact when (or if) I cast Damia in a given game. It's unfortunately kind of unscientific.

In slower, more stable games, I've tended to find that Damia isn't as necessary because I can get cheaper and more reliable (read: not as easily killed) draw from other sources. In more explosive games, where I have an advantage and want to maintain it, I'll typically push Damia as an "answer or lose" ultimatum to the rest of the table. If it sticks and I'm able to draw 3-5 cards to replace what resources I invested in early ramp and control, then I'll probably win.

@Hjaltrohir: Basically what Necrotize said. The joke about Intuition is that it's exactly that: you're best off just relying on your intuition. Read your opponents' playstyles throughout the game, choose an opponent you think you can manipulate (or that you'll promise to kill last), and offer a stacked selection of cards. The idea is to make it not so much a choice of whether you get a specific effect, but a choice of when you get that effect.

For example, finding Yawgmoth's Will, Eternal Witness, and a card you actually want is a good choice because your opponent can't really get out of you eventually getting access to that third card.

Finding Force of Will, Misdirection, and Pact of Negation is also effective.

Added a new section to the primer: Tutoring (under The Strategy).

Anybody think of anything else I should add to the primer?

How do you deal with stax? I recently was completely blown out by a turn 2 Winter Orb against a Teferi, Temporal Archmage player.

With the amount of cheap 1 and 2 drop tutors there are, you can search for a Nature's Claim to deal with Winter Orb without much drawback. Or tutor for whatever you need to handle what's slowing you down.

Your thoughts on the newly spoiled Gonti, Lord of Luxury?

It can be another backup wincon along the lines of Venser, Shaper Savant, by exiling all opponents' libraries. It's not too mana expensive, and it's ability can mess up opponents who are manipulating what they're drawing or are hoping for a certain card.

Raging_Squiggle: Generally with a deck like this there's not really much point adding more cards that are a backup win condition only once you've achieved infinite mana, as that's the hardest part of setting up you win condition.

Effectively having Grim Tutor in hand has the same outcome as you can dig for your other finisher. Or using Reality Shift repeatedly with the help of Eternal Witness lets you exile your opponents' libraries. However, both of these cards provide much more use outside of being a combo finisher.

It is a possible win con, but not very good outside of that. Quite often, it will essentially be a 4cmc Sea Gate Oracle that can't hit lands and can't find your combo pieces.

any particular reason for the lack of Damia's #1 counterspell in Forbid?

From the Omission page in the description:

This card is passable in casual and semicompetitive Damia decks, and it's often suggested on the basis that the two discarded cards can be replenished by Damia's draw ability, but the bottom line is that the card is prohibitively expensive to cast and impossibly expensive to buy back. It's not ideal to pay and discard two cards to get a returning counterspell.

I was recently looking at /r/cEDH, I and came across a Leovold DD deck, I know in the primer that you said that this deck in particular does not do well against fast combo or control decks. However, what deck could compete with a consistent turn 3-4 lock followed by DD?Leovold, Emissary of Trest Doomsday

Just curious, will you mention Leovold, Emissary of Trest in the why Damia section?

Gemstone Mine

now obviously in this optimized list you have the duals, the fetches, etc. My question is, if you're building on a budget, or with less colors (I've brought up my Zegana that combos out the same way here a few times) would the drawback of this card hurt horribly over time, or would the possibility of more consistent early-mid fixing be worth it?

I decided to build this deck (cause deep down I am degenerate scumbag), I can say that having palyed with Reverent Silence... It is superb. That card is so crazy good. Only enchantments this deck runs are cheap and more than likely you will only have like 1 out. If this kills even 2 enchantments of your opponents (and trust me it usually nets like 5 of my opponents cards). This card is such insane card advantage, I recommend finding a spot for it.

Hey Epoch,

In Leyline's spot I've been trying out Ad Nauseum to see if it has a place in this slot. Personally, I've been loving it.

Pros: instant speed, 5 cmc, cards given up front, cards staying in hand for a turn (if casted on other's turn), possibility of hitting reliquary tower. Always relevant at all stages of the game.

Con: Awkward cmc costs and aggressive life loss. Conflicts with other life loss (tutors and land base) and so have to be more conservative.

An advantage this deck has over other Ad Nauseum decks is the high density of lands and the ability to play extra lands. I found that tutoring and casting AN almost guaranteed a win, as Ad Nauseum will made your next turn explosive, protected, and gave you the tools you need to combo out and win.

The card is powerful on its own and have some synergies with the deck. Boseiju synergy, tutorable drawpower options to mystical tutor/mystical teachings, synergy with extra land drops, and reliquary tower. It can also be used to try and hit counterspells when you need to react to the spell, as you have a reasonable chance to find a free counterspell and are guaranteed to find cheap counterspells. Minor synergy with oracle of mull daya.