Dralnu Doomtide
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 30 | 8 COMMENTS | 22293 VIEWS | IN 21 FOLDERS
Return from Hiatus —June 21, 2019
After a long spell of not playing cEDH, I have begun playing again. With that, I've updated this list. These were the swaps
Rhystic Study -> Narset, Parter of Veils
Muddle the Mixture -> Narset's Reversal
Laboratory Maniac -> Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
Candelabra of Tawnos -> Dark Confidant
Mind's Desire -> Snapcaster Mage
Narset is essentially Dig Through Time strapped to a Leovold for 3 mana, which is pretty wonky. I swapped out Rhystic Study, since they perform similar function in hindering an opposing gameplan while accruing card advantage.
Muddle is probably the worst tutor effect in the deck. Swapping it with Narset's Reversal, which is very similar to a Mana Drain (except you don't even need to cast the spell) is intuitive. I say that it's similar to Mana Drain because it allows you to gain mana advantage by stealing an opposing Ad Naus or something similar. Of course, Drain is better in most circumstances, but this card is just a gas addition.
Island to Prismatic Vista. Pretty self-explanatory.
Lab Man is an excellent card, but I think Jace does the job better. It's harder to kill as it doesn't die to as much spot removal found in cedh, and it draws essentially three cards in your DD pile. He can also be a coercive portal early one, making him less of a dead draw in the early-mid game. I think his ability to draw the turn you play him without outside help improves Consultation lines, helps with many DD piles, and ultimately makes up for the relatively difficult casting cost.
Candelabra is an excellent card and is particularly good in High Tide. This is a swap that may not stay because of that, but I do think that Dark Confidant generating card advantage early on is a great way of getting ahead in the early game. This deck is hungry for a large amount of cards, and Bob is happy to deliver them. I will be looking closely at this change as I do think that Candelabra does shine in this deck where it doesn't in many others.
Mind's Desire is one of my favorite magic cards ever printed in the context of cedh. While it does make a lot of Naus piles easier and smooth out some storm turns, I think that it may be a little win-more. Adding in Snapcaster Mage smooths out some Consultation lines (as we won't always have Dralnu in play) while also providing some utility in the storm turn. This is another change I'll be looking at closely because I think that Mind's Desire is a good enough card to warrant a 6 cmc slot, and it gives a lot of outs to medium storm piles from a Naus (though doming you for 6 is often the reason your pile is medium).