Talking to Dan, he ended up cutting Arcane Denial for Swan Song he felt that he had enough counters in the deck and wanted to instead upgrade one of his counters. He kept Glen Elendra Archmage in the deck since he feels it is a very good card and uses it a fair amount. Thoughts?

@Smith_and_Tonic: I don't think cutting Arcane Denial over Glen Elendra Archmage is a good idea. Glen Elendra Archmage is not as good as Arcane Denial , and it isn't as relevant because of its mana cost and slow casting speed.

The largest downfall was giving your opponents the extra cards especially if you play against a blue-heavy meta. The largest reason to keep Glen Elendra Archmage in the deck was the repeatable counter spell, essentially two activations of her ability.

What changes would you make for 1v1 edh? I played a version of this deck in 1v1 and just couldnt get to my win conditions in many of the games before something would escape the removal and counters and knock me out.

@Smith_and_Tonic: In general, though, Arcane Denial and Swan Song will be more relevant more often than Glen Elendra Archmage .

@edarow32: This deck isn't really meant for competitive 1v1. It's slower and a bit tankier than traditional 1v1 EDH builds, so it loses to fast decks like Zur the Enchanter . I don't know of a way to modify this shell to be truly effective in that kind of environment. 1v1 voltron control will give you the biggest problems.

Why not run Staff of Domination ? It would allow you to with only infinite mana find the missing piece.

coleman984 beyond that it doesn't do too much. If you played it in the early game, it would be a dead card draw but if you played it in the later game its only useful if you combo out. It would be much better to have a tutor at that point.

@coleman984: Staff of Domination is good in decks like mono-U control. In BUG, it doesn't really offer too much. It's a combo-only card here, and it's not that useful otherwise because of the mana investment. Smith_and_Tonic is right.

Have you had any thoughts of using Prophet of Kruphix ?

@axxondk: Prophet of Kruphix is too expensive and slow for this deck, in my opinion. It also doesn't untap my artifacts, which are a significant source of mana for this deck.

Yeah it's kinda expensive, but it's still awesome to have mana for counters ect. in the opponents turns, which I think I sometimes lack. I think Im gonna stick to it since I only play casual with this deck. (I got one similarly) :D

but thanks for your opinion ;)

@axxondk: It's fine for more casual versions, but I don't think it's valuable at the competitive level. The cost is prohibitive. It does have its advantages, and the cost would be offset if it also untapped artifacts, but it's not ready for the big time as-is.

You may need to work on your resource discipline; if you're tapping out in a control deck like this, you need to have a really good reason for doing so. The goal is not to do as much as you can do each turn - it's to do as much as you can safely do. Sometimes, you'll need to gamble, but most of the time you should be conscientious of how fast you spend your resources.

Could Seedborn Muse work since it's all permanents or is cost still too restrictive? That not withstanding, I can't really find anything worth taking out just for the ability to untap everything. This deck works really well with resource management already.

@Bellock86: Seedborn Muse was cut a while ago because it was slow. Although the untap effect is powerful, the 5 CMC cost put it out of practical reach. It's somewhat akin to Glen Elendra Archmage : the ability is good, but the body is so expensive that casting it isn't really a fantastic choice.

Kind of what I thought you'd say although I was unaware that she had been in here at one point. As stated I also couldn't find anything that would be worth dropping. Everything else just sort of clicks into place.

What's your opinion on Drain Power in a deck like this?

@scarmask: Drain Power is interesting, but I'm not sure how useful it would be. I like that it kind of prevents that player from doing much over the rest of the turn (it doesn't mess with mana rocks), but the UU cost is not ideal. It might force me to make a decision between it and having countermagic mana available.

Do you have any experience using Drain Power ?

No I only learned of it yesterday and immediately thought of damia. I hoped you might have some experience :P I might test it out in my deck though.

Descent into Madness could be pretty damn good in here since you'd just keep refilling your hand. You can stack it so you draw first then exile. The exile and not discard/sacrifice kind of sucks but it's still a great advantage with Damia out. Might be more cute than competitive though.

@volcomstone2892: Descent into Madness is quite expensive. Maybe in a more casual, attrition-based deck, it would be viable. As it is, Descent into Madness is expensive, slow, and not necessary. I rarely have dead cards that need exiling, anyway. My Exploration effects allow me to play most of my hand each turn Damia is online.

why Mystic Remora over Rhystic Study ?

@Dreno33: Mystic Remora is much cheaper to cast and much harder to evade. I can cast an enchantment for U, but 2U starts to cut in on the mana I need for ramp and control.

How many turns are you willing to pay it's Cumulative cost?

It's situational, so it depends on what's in my hand, what the opponents are playing, what turn it is, etc. Sometimes I pay the cost once or twice; other times I just let it burn out the first time.

+1

Fastbond ?