I would like to start by saying that any suggestions or opinions are greatly appreciated. I have been playing Magic for a long time but I in no way shape or form claim to know everything (or much of anything for that fact). Also I have played off and on so there are several blocks I am very unfamiliar with thus bringing my deck to the net for guidance! Also before I get 10 posts telling my deck is a huge douche let me also say that in my local playgroup we are a bit on the overpowered side so it is fairly even against other decks I regularly play. That said this deck has won and done a mean job of it, but it has also been pummeled like the proverbial "fat kid in dodge ball." Anyways heres the deck and any info or ideas are appreciated!

General:

Sliver Queen

Artifacts:

Grim Monolith
Sensei's Divining Top
Isochron Scepter
Nevinyrral's Disk
Sol Ring
Candelabra of Tawnos
Tormod's Crypt
Darksteel Ingot
Mox Diamond
Sphinx of the Steel Wind


Blue:

Fact or Fiction
Bribery
Pact of Negation
Dissipate
Mystical Teachings
Timetwister
Mystical tutor
Cryptic Command
Mana Drain
Stroke of Genius
Last Word
Counterspell
Force of Will
Capsize
Power Artifact
Future Sight
Forbid
Intuition
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Tidespout Tyrant

Green:

Oath of Druids
Crop Rotation
Krosan Grip
Gaea's Blessing
Regrowth
Realms Uncharted
Life from the Loam
Recollect

Red:

Banefire
Comet Storm

Black:

Demonic Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Diabolic Tutor
Damnation
Yawgmoth's Will

White:

Day of Judgment
Wrath of God
Moat
Condemn
Swords to Plowshares
Path to Exile
Enlightened Tutor
Austere Command
Akroma, Angel of Wrath

Multi:

Hull Breach
Vindicate
Pernicious Deed
Mirari's Wake
Voidslime
Maelstrom Pulse

Colorless:

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Land:

Badlands
Savannah
Tundra
Volcanic Island
Tropical Island
Scrubland
Plateau
Underground Sea
Taiga
Bayou
Overgrown Tomb
Watery Grave
Stomping Ground
Breeding Pool
Temple Garden
Steam Vents
Godless Shrine
Hallowed Fountain
Blood Crypt
Sacred Foundry
Polluted Delta
Bloodstained Mire
Wooded Foothills
Windswept Heath
Flooded Strand
Arid Mesa
Marsh Flats
Misty Rainforest
Scalding Tarn
Verdant Catacombs
Forbidden Orchard
Gemstone Mine
Reflecting Pool
City of Brass
Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Wasteland
Strip Mine
Maze of Ith



I know this deck since it has no basic lands is weak against Blood Moon and the like but mana is never really an issue and when one of the mass nonbasic hosers come in I should be holding a counter if not I'm in trouble!

Okay, since no one else has bit yet, I will. There are a few cards that you are playing that I think could be, shall I say, better.

on the removal front:

1.Krosan Grip is a very good spell. It has been my experience, however, that Return to Dust is usually much better in 5 color edh for 2 big reasons. 1. It Exiles the artifact (to bad, so sad Darksteel forge), which is very important against Sharuum, Arcum Dagsson, and Karn, Silver Golem builds. 2. If you cast it on your own turn its a 2 for 1, much like hull breach (which I do like), only they are gone forever.

2. Condemn. I don't really like it. I know someone is going to show up and tell me how wrong I am, and that I am a total idiot for not recognizing its absolute greatness, but I really don't like it that much. In the same color I think Oblation is generally much better since you can hit any permanent and there is no "attacking" clause.

3. Comet storm. I don't really like it. I think that StarStorm is generally going to be much less mana for the same effect. That is unless you are just using it to burn out the table with infinite mana.

I also have questions about a couple of cards.

What are you generally fetching with Crop rotation? do you have a normal target, or is it usually used for color fixing?

I am assuming that power artifact is there to make infinite colorless mana with Grim Monolith? How has that worked out for you? I am guessing this combos with Comet storm to just burn out the whole table in one go? how has that worked for you.

Your not running as much artifact acceleration as I would have thought or expected.

DO you find that you reliably have enough Tutors, Sweepers, or draw spells?

Lim-Dul's Vault, Beseech the queen, Idyllic tutor, and Wheel of fortune all seem like obvious choices for this deck, but maybee thats just me.

No Iona, Shield of Emeria?

I actually really like the idea of your deck. I am guessing that it plays much more like a Type 1 deck than most EDH decks. I don't think its particularly douchie at all. Linvala STAX is Douchie. Prison decks, generally (I am looking at you MBC) are douchie. Dralnu Pitch-long is Douchie. Oath wins with creatures however and is, in theory activateable by any player. Seems prety board interactive to me.

have you considered playing Reverse the Sands? I know it seems like a casual card ,but it does make the rest of the table fear "kicking the fat kid", since no one loves a table-wide mirror universe (except you of course.)

OMFG!!! You are SO wrong! You're such a total idiot for not recognizing the glorious wonder that is Condemn!!!

Sorry, I had to.


Don't forget his general has a 2 colorless activated ability...

Also, I would run Krosan Grip in addition to Return to Dust, because KG (not the basketball player) will actually kill that disk or O-stone that'll wreck your board, since they can't just activate in response.

Thanks for the input!

As for Krosan Grip I find it exceedingly useful mainly because I can as mentioned stop disk type effects, and it stops Sensei's Divining Top. I think Return to Dust is amazing and will probably replace Condemn with it. (I also don't care very much for it but it is nice to put onto Isochron Scepter, but so are Swords and Path).

Comet Storm is there for one reason really and you are right, the infinite mana combo. I have won several games killing multiple players with it and it can be quite powerful especially with Boseiju, Who Shelters All The infinite mana also can work well with my general for tokens. Also Tidespout Tyrant with Sol Ring and Grim Monolith can yield infinite colorless mana.

Crop Rotation normally gets either Forbidden Orchard when allows me to Oath if I wasn't able to, Boseiju, Who Shelters All for uncounterable goodness, Maze of Ith if theres a big ole fatty giving my problems, Strip Mine or Wasteland if someone has any of the aforementioned lands giving me problems, and at worst I get some kind of mana I might not have had before.

I do lack in the artifact mana acceleration but as most of the core cards are cheap I don't think I have missed it too much, I did take out Mana Crypt cause EDH games drag out for so long I had to often waste a removal spell on it because it would deal so much damage, it just didn't seem worth it in this format.

As for tutors it probably wouldn't hurt to have a few more but I don't generally have too big of a problem getting what I need cause any one tutor will either get me a tutor or the thing I need. As for Wheel of Fortune (awesome card) it just always seems to help my opponents as much if not more than me (plus drawing my creatures isn't a great thing) so I just stuck with the Timetwister if i need a new hand of seven.

As for Iona, Shield of Emeria it just it too good in my normal playgroup. Several run mono-colored decks so I feel obliged not to pick one of those colors so basically I call like red every time and thats just not very exciting, but there is one in my potential stack if the need arises.....

And no actually I never considered Reverse the Sands but if I can pick one up and find something to cut I would certainly find it fun to play.

Again thanks for the input and any more suggestions or comments keep em coming!

I'm not a huge fan of condemn either. Maybe it's the overabundance of token decks in my playgroup or the dislike when someone uses it against me and my general, but I use the card sparingly.

It's been my experience that Krosan Grip is on the same level as Return to Dust. I seriously consider each of them when I build a deck.

I have a few suggestions:

Out
Candelabra of Tawnos (unless I am missing some interaction)
Mystical Teachings
DOJ
Diabolic Tutor
Condemn
Gemstone Mine
Swords to Plowshare (With O Stone and your amount of mass removal, it's not needed with the ease your deck fetches Maze)

In
Imperial Seal
Tabernacle at the Pendrell Vale
Treachery
Oblivion Stone (You could always fate counter Oath)
Academy Ruins
Wargate (This card is amazing and fetches and early Maze, or Oath)
Vesuva (Double Maze seems pretty good)

Obviously Tabernacle, and Imperial Seal are budget dependent, and without the latter, Diabolic Tutor stays in. Treachery allows you to stay creature light, and doubles as pseudo removal. Academy Ruins seems really good in this deck, especially combined with Wargate to fetch it late, and allows for Recurring Disks.

As a more budget friendly option Imperial Seal sould always be replaced with Beseech the queen or Lim-Dul's Vault.

Honestly, I think Sorcery speed Vampiric Tutors are not good enough to justify its price-tag unless you actually are playing vintage, or you can play 4 of them, but that may just be me. First turn, its probably great. Late game? Not so much. The turn you loose after commiting to what to tutor for is too big of a deal.
I also tend to think Mystical teachings is probably pretty pimp in this deck since not only can it fetch out Vampiric, enlightened, or mystical tutor, but it can fetch him removal or a counterspell in response to something bad going down.

I know for me personally that Personal Tutor has worked out really well, and Imperial Seal is better than that. It allows you to recover from Mass LD with just a black source, and fetches Oath on turn 2 to put on some massive pressure early game. Lim-Dul's Vault is arguably better in this list, so that might be something that could take the Seal slot. It also works well with fetches a card or two down on the stack when you do get the card(s) you're looking for on top.

I did underestimate Mystical Teachings. I think its inclusion hinges on him keeping in Condemn and Path. It's still pretty good otherwise.

Okay. If he is going to pull targeted creature Exile I think it really should be Path to Exile that is pulled, as opposed to Swords to plowshares. Early to late game it is almost always preferable to StP a creature rather than Pathing it. Unless of course all the players in your meta run decks with Zero Basic land, in which case the opposite will be true.

I still think you may be selling Mystical teachings short. he can use it to fetch ANY counter in his deck, most of his other tutors, Swords to plowshares, Krosan Grip, Comet Storm, Stroke of genius, fact or Fiction, Capsize, Crop rotation (which means he can "teachings" for his Maze of Ith or Boseju). All in all, with his current Build, he can directly fetch 23 cards out of his deck, to his hand, at instant speed with Mystical Teachings. We are all recommending that he cut at least some of those 23 cards, but we are also all recommending that he add other cards that would be prefectly valid, and better, targets.

I don't know, being able to flash-back teachings, in response to something nasty to get a counter seems pretty good to me.

I don't know if it's just the internet and the inability to use inflection while typing, but I didn't get a good vibe from the beginning of your post...just saying.

Regardless, one has to consider that his list is not running much artifact acceleration, and trying to resolve a Mystical Teachings with the potential need for counter backup, while revealing said threat, and then again trying to resolve said threat with again more disruption isn't terribly easy when the tutor used is 3U. I'm not saying the card isn't good, but cheap removal is paramount in that situation.

Path and Swords are both meta dependent. Late game life totals matter much more than a basic land. Early game, isn't the time that spot removal is going to be that relevant, because the threats aren't usually game breaking.

I could be terribly wrong on Mystical Teachings, because I haven't had the opportunity to play with it, and it's totally nonexistent in my meta, so who knows. I guess I'd really have to ask the deck's pilot how good it's been to him. Also, how has Mox DIamond been working out? The deck looks really solid in general.

No bad inflection was intended at all in my post, I am sorry that wasn't clear.

While the mana expence of Mystical teachings is not insignicant, he is running Mirari's wake as accleration. Also if he drops one of his infinite mana loops Mystical teachings cost becomes U.

Recollect kinda sucks, Matt. Why dont you run Recoup instead ? did yall run out of them ?

Again thanks for all the input and consideration!

Ok lets see here... Imperial Seal unfortunately is quite expensive so unless I can get someone to trade me one I probably wont be getting one anytime soon. Also I hate that it is sorcery speed although it is still amazing at its casting cost I just cant justify it as that big of an upgrade for the money.

The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale again would be great since I run low creatures but I had a couple and sold them when they were starting to get ridiculously expensive.... so it's another that I would maybe get again if I could get one on trade or if they fall in price to something more reasonable.

I have added Lim-Dul's Vault because honestly I had forgotten how amazing it is so Condemn is no longer in the deck so I will try to update the list here in a bit..

As for the other spot removal i.e. Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile I am compelled to keep them in due to the amount of indestructible baddies that like to hang out in my local playgroup..

Candelabra of Tawnos is cool with Mirari's Wake and also allows for mana fixing with the duels to some degree. It also can turn Sol Ring or Grim Monolith into colored mana if need be. Plus it is another 1 casting cost artifact that used in conjunction with Tidespout Tyrant and again either Sol Ring or Grim Monolith to give me infinite colorless mana.

Mystical Teachings I like purely because it can get so many tutors ,counters, and Comet Storm which with infinite mana can win me the game. I also like that it is instant speed and I can flash it back. At 3U casting cost it is a little higher than I would like but since most EDH games are long and I can cast it at EOT and in response to stuff which I find to be quite useful.

Also what does everyone think about Crystal Ball I mean I know it is good but I can't decide if it is that good. Anyways just wondering what the public though and thanks again for all the input and comments!

you mean you finally took the time to read the whole thing :p

its good for draft, but thats about it. look at Mind's Eye instead, ill have one for ya friday if you want it, or sooner if you make it down to the gashouse before then

Oh, you havent played against any Comboath ? Oath can be very uninteractive.

speakin of, did you find your mirror universe, matt ?

Oh, also, why dont you run recoup, Matt ? its so good, and even better with oath