Help tuning down Obeka

[GuJiaXian]

OK, this is a bit of an unusual ask. I need your help...possibly making this deck worse. Allow me to explain. When I last played this deck with our casual EDH group, it ended up dominating the game. Specifically, the combination of Feldon of the Third Path, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Nightscape Familiar, and Sakashima of a Thousand Faces just took over. This resulted in me taking lengthy turns, which resulted in the other players not having fun.

I just wanted a quirky deck built around Obeka, Brute Chronologist and clone/theft themes. I'm very much a Johnny—I don't care if I win so long as I do cool things, and if the other players aren't having fun, I'm not having fun.

So, what can I do to preserve the "heart" of this deck and still use cards like Kiki-Jiki and Feldon to leverage my commander but also have it play much faster?

Decklist

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

Commander

1 Obeka, Brute Chronologist

Creature

1 Araumi of the Dead Tide

1 Baleful Strix

1 Clever Impersonator

1 Clone

1 Consecrated Sphinx

1 Deathbringer Thoctar

1 Dragonmaster Outcast

1 Draugr Necromancer

1 Evil Twin

1 Feldon of the Third Path

1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury

1 Hostage Taker

1 Identity Thief

1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

1 Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

1 Mizzium Meddler

1 Nightscape Familiar

1 Ophiomancer

1 Sakashima of a Thousand Faces

1 Solemn Simulacrum

1 Spark Double

1 Thief of Sanity

1 Vial Smasher the Fierce

1 Vizier of Many Faces

Instant

1 Arcane Denial

1 Crosis's Charm

1 Dramatic Reversal

1 Fact or Fiction

1 Glorious End

1 Grab the Reins

1 Hero's Downfall

1 Hurl Through Hell

1 Ideas Unbound

1 Rakdos Charm

1 Remand

1 Siphon Insight

1 Terminate

1 Voidwalk

1 Word of Command

1 Word of Seizing

Sorcery

1 Alchemist's Gambit

1 Connive // Concoct

1 Covetous Urge

1 Cruel Ultimatum

1 Demonic Tutor

1 Extract Brain

1 Faithless Looting

1 Hate Mirage

1 Ideas Unbound

1 Inevitable Betrayal

1 Psychic Intrusion

Enchantment

1 Confiscate

1 Control Magic

1 Flameshadow Conjuring

1 Hedonist's Trove

Artifact

1 Aeon Engine

1 Expedition Map

1 Fellwar Stone

1 Lightning Greaves

1 Manascape Refractor

1 Ornate Kanzashi

1 Sol Ring

1 Sundial of the Infinite

1 Voyager Staff

Land

1 Command Tower

1 Crumbling Necropolis

1 Dimir Aqueduct

1 Evolving Wilds

1 Exotic Orchard

8 Island

1 Izzet Boilerworks

8 Mountain

1 Rakdos Carnarium

1 Reliquary Tower

8 Swamp

1 Temple of Malice

1 Terramorphic Expanse

Approximate Total Cost:

[BlackbirdPlaysMTG]

The deck looks quite casual to me. You are playing some power cards like Kiki-Jiki and Consecrated Sphinx though. Is your deck much more expensive than theirs? Does your deck often take over the game like this, or this a once-every-now-and-then thing? What kind of decks does your playgroup play?

[GuJiaXian]

I've been playing longer than some of the other players, so I do have some of the older cards, like Kiki-Jiki and Word of Command. That said, we're definitely a casual group. At least one of the other players typically plays with tweaked precons.

I wonder if removing Sakashima and perhaps the Nightscape Familiar would help. Kiki-Jiki is strong, but having multiple copies of him with Sakashima caused problems.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Cutting sakashima and C. sphinx would be a good start. In fact, if you are really serious about wanting to power down, start cutting solid non-removal role players like vial smasher and ophiomancer and replacing them with sillier pet cards.

[BlackbirdPlaysMTG]

If you really want to power down I would cut Consecrated Sphinx (just very strong in a vacuum, can run away with the game), Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker (risky card, because it goes infinite and has good interactions with a lot of things) and Demonic Tutor.

I think I would go for another option though. Keep the deck as it is, since you enjoy it, and build a modified precon like the rest of your playgroup. Get a precon and spend like 10-20 dollar/euros on some upgrades if you can afford it. That way you are absolutely sure that there is an even playing field. Play Obeka from time to time and play the precon. That way everyone should be happy no ?

[GuJiaXian]

That's a great suggestion—great enough that I've done it! I currently also run modified Millicent, Restless Revenant and Sefris of the Hidden Ways precons. I actually really like Sefris—hopefully the upcoming FR set includes more dungeons.

[BlackbirdPlaysMTG]

That's a great suggestion—great enough that I've done it! I currently also run modified Millicent, Restless Revenant and Sefris of the Hidden Ways precons. I actually really like Sefris—hopefully the upcoming FR set includes more dungeons.

Nice, I hope this is a solution the other players like too . How is the Millicent precon holding up? I do like spirits and I was considering buying it myself.

[yeti1069]

That's a great suggestion—great enough that I've done it! I currently also run modified Millicent, Restless Revenant and Sefris of the Hidden Ways precons. I actually really like Sefris—hopefully the upcoming FR set includes more dungeons.

Sefris is bonkers out of the box. Played it one time and had to upgrade it.

[GuJiaXian]

Nice, I hope this is a solution the other players like too . How is the Millicent precon holding up? I do like spirits and I was considering buying it myself.

I'm enjoying it. I'm putting in some of the new spirits (myojin and dragons) from NEO. However, I still think it doesn't have the strongest wincon. I've tuned my deck toward a go-wide strategy, pumping out lots of spirit tokens.