Alrighty, some more fine tuning, and then in theory I'll leave it alone for a while. . . but we all know that isn't true
Ghost Quarter >
Emergence Zone - My meta isn't overflowing with overpowered lands, so sticking with only
Strip Mine for LD is probably ok. Usually I'm just blowing up a
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or
Cabal Coffers, and it's much more rare that I'm facing down a
Dark Depths or
Westvale Abbey that are threatening to flip. There are no Valakut's or Gaea's Cradles in my meta thankfully. As such, I feel fine getting some more utility out of a land slot and
Emergence Zone lets me flash in a token engine.
Time Wipe >
Slaughter the Strong - Both are color intensive, but StS is cheaper overall and still leaves Kykar untouched as long as
Eldrazi Monument isn't in play plus saves me 4 mana since I don't have to re-cast Kykar from my hand. I don't like that I'm giving my opponents options, but I think its an ok tradeoff since Slaughter gets around indestructible and protection while Time Wipe does not.
Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer >
Nin, the Pain Artist - I'm sad to see Brudi go since the haste and token copying was cool and useful, but he is pricey and I can definitely use more raw card advantage. Nin will have plenty of expendable targets to fry with her ability at instant speed and net me a bunch of cards, and the emergency removal "mode" may prove useful.
Gitaxian Probe >
Opt - This switch happened a few weeks ago, but somehow I missed it in the thread. I'm looking to upgrade to instant speed wherever I can without sacrificing too much value.
Serum Visions >
Telling Time - Once again, I'm looking to upgrade to instant speed wherever I can to get pseudo-hasty spirits by generating most of them on opponents' end steps. I'm not sure if
Impulse or
Telling Time is the better choice here, but I'm going to give TT a whirl. It doesn't dig as deep as Impulse, but it sets up my next draw. The risk is that 2/3 cards are duds and setting up your next draw does no good. Impulse has the opposite problem though, where 4/4 of the cards may be gas and you have to bury 3 of them.
Chart a Course >
Perilous Research - In hindsight, Chart was a bad include, but in my defense I didn't know Perilous Research existed. I think it's better than a lot of other 2 mana options here just because it gives card advantage, which I need more of.
Increasing Vengeance >
Bonus Round - Ooooook. This swap might be the most questionable. I'm downgrading to sorcery speed and adding to my curve here, and Bonus Round is a symmetrical effect which is quite risky, but I think the ceiling on it is soooooooo high that it's worth it. The copies don't generate tokens, but I think the turns I play Bonus Round will generate such insane value anyway. I mean, how do I not remove multiple problem permanents and sculpt a perfect hand after playing Bonus Round in this deck? Plus, it's just a really freakin fun card
Aetherflux Reservoir >
Silence - I dislike winning with Reservoir enough that I'm willing to risk putting more pressure on
Impact Tremors and
Goblin Bombardment to deliver as my only non-combat win conditions in order to free up a slot. I decided to finally invest in a copy of
Silence and I think it's perfect in this deck. Shutting down the scariest opponent on their upkeep, or protecting myself by resolving it on my upkeep on a turn I plan on going off seems great. The floor for this card is
: trigger token generators, bait out a
Counterspell. Even that is good!
Unbreakable Formation >
Mandate of Peace - Sigh. I've talked up formation a bunch in this thread, and I still think it's good in this deck, but cuts are brutal and I'm not so blinded by my fondness for it that I don't see how it is clunky and situational and "win-more". Mandate, on the other hand, is a total blowout. The more I thought about it, the more I realized this one card does so much. I can cast it: 1) after my attackers have connected for a 2 mana
Silence to protect my second main 2) when an opponent swings at me for lethal as a
Fog AND a
Silence for their second main 3) as a
Counterflux for removal and flash creatures that also hits abilities (!) if things go south for me with the stack during combat. Then of course there's the cherry on top of token generators triggering on the cast!
On a separate note, let's talk new cards! Or, more specifically, card. There's only one that's been spoiled so far that has me excited for this deck:
Oh, baby!
This card +
Frantic Search OR
Faithless Looting + spirit mana can keep going for a while if I've already got a decent amount of cards in the yard. I think the nut is to sac
Emergence Zone on my opponent's end step to flash out Breach and then go nuts with a Search/Looting chain. Flashing it out this way gets around the "beginning of end step clause" and gives me access to it after I untap for my turn as well
Of course, that is best case scenario thinking, but just consider some of the other cards this pairs amazingly with:
Bonus Round - stack this a couple of times to copy everything else I cast a bajillion times
Opt - sculpt that hand
Gamble - sculpt that hand and keep the chain going by filling the yard
Visions of Beyond - draw, draw, and draw some more
Brainstorm - Would multiple
Jace, the Mind Sculptor activations in a turn be good? I dunno.
Preordain - Scry me a river.
Ponder - I'm a regular Michelangelo with all this hand sculpting.
Perilous Research - I'm not tired of drawing cards yet.
Boros Charm - Burn someone out, kill several walkers, or give multiple huge prowess monks or 4/4 angels double strike.
Role Reversal - Steal all the best things.
Path to Exile and
Swords to Plowshares - Kill 'em All! (except for ours, of course)
Last but not least, this thing recurs all of our token engines and goodstuff! I predict numerous victories via
Underworld Breach > recur
Impact Tremors and some engines > chain cantrips.
So, it's obviously good and a slam dunk inclusion. The question is what does it mean as far other changes in the deck? Should it swap out directly for
Past in Flames, or should they both be in the list? They don't play nicely together, but they are so strong that it's hard to think of omitting either. If it comes down to just one though, I think
Underworld Breach is the pick.
I think this leads me to some easy cuts once I get a copy of Breach:
Treasure Cruise,
Dig Through Time, and
Mystic Retrieval work against it and will have to go.
However, what to include that plays nicely with Breach and the rest of our gameplan? That's a bit tougher. There are dozens of cards that synergize with it in Jeskai colors. Here's some lists we can start thinking about and discussing:
Going off with
Underworld Breach + spirit mana + a full yard:
Going off with
Underworld Breach + a full yard:
Options for getting cards into the graveyard:
I recognize that there are some janky cards in those lists that almost assuredly won't make it anywhere near the cut, but I'd rather start by looking at a VERY broad range of cards and then narrow it down from there. The first subset we can probably eliminate from contention are the ones that are do-nothings if they don't have the exact setup provided by
Underworld Breach and some other pieces. I will go through all of these with a finer tooth comb when I have time and follow up with a much narrower list of candidates, but I wanted to post the loooooong lists to get feedback from y'all
I will also say that Breach has me thinking a lot about
Laboratory Maniac. Even without Breach I find that I churn through a lot of my deck. Adding Lab Man and something like
Tome Scour or
Burning Inquiry (copied with a
Bonus Round or five perhaps?) +
Underworld Breach seems good.
Well, that was a lot, but please let me know what you think!
Zacama
