This is what I have in sleeves right now. The revisit to
Mind Over Matter was initially inspired by a combo with
Swans of Bryn Argoll/
Golden Guardian // Gold-Forge Garrison/any indestructibility effect, but it also coincides with another goal I'm pursuing this go-around, which is making Zedruu more important. MOM is the easiest way I've ever found to execute the Zedruu donate into
Barren Glory win, which is even more tenable with
Sphinx of the Second Sun hanging around to effectively put an upkeep on the stack. The play pattern there is move to end step, Sphinx triggers. With trigger on the stack, discard hand to untap mana producers with Mind Over Matter, use the mana produced to donate everything but Barren Glory, and then let the Sphinx trigger resolve.
But also, I was slowly taking importance away from Zedruu's draw from both ends. They've been printing new variations of
Temple Bell lately, which has let me play more
Howling Mine type effects (I was almost up to 10 for a minute there) so that I don't need Zedruu's draw as much, but also the versions that require tapping to work are inherently poorer targets for donation, making it less likely Zedruu will have anything to donate in the first place. Cutting all the various bells lets me recenter on Zedruu and play Mind Over Matter.
Right now I'm favoring a return to
Chrome Mox instead of
Lotus Petal, as it's better with Zedruu and I'm cutting
Banishing Knack which I worried made the Mox too good. Pretty much all the brand new additions outside of Mind Over Matter are related to
Displacer Kitten, and the 3-card loop with Kitten never lets Chrome Mox hit the field to make mana. I believe all my cuts were things that would make 3-card win conditions.
Outside looking in right now:
Vedalken Orrery: cause I like instant speed, and Sphinx demands it.
Paradox Haze: cause it's the best way to make Zedruu's draws important.
Vanish into Memory: Simultaneously a draw spell and temporary defense.
Cursed Mirror: cause the card is just bonkers. A 3 mana clone with haste is good value, and then it sticks around as a mana rock. And I love the synergy play of copying
Cavalier of Dawn, killing itself, making a golem, and returning itself to hand. One could rationalize that as a 4-card combo with Kitten and Gilded Lotus.
Most plausible cuts:
Nahiri, the Harbinger: Nahiri was in here for basically 3 reasons: to protect me from my own Possibility Storm, to ultimate tutor out Knowledge Pool, and to gloat to friends who thought it was a bad card in spoiler season. I no longer fear the storm, I've lived the dream with Knowledge Pool, and I don't often play with those same friends anymore, so I'm probably cutting this for something.
Rest in Peace: I don't technically need it to
Mirror of Fate combo, and it draws the ire of certain opponents, but it's also donatable so I don't want to cut it.
Sudden Substitution: it's an excellent card, it plays with Zedruu, it can sub in for Zedruu with Dissipation Field nonsense, but something about it still feels foreign to the deck somehow. I can't really explain the feeling.
Mindmoil: is the only card in the deck I can't rationalize a combo for. I might be able to bring myself to just play this in a different deck.
Weakness I'd like to address but have no solid plans:
-
Relic of Legends is definitely in, as it adds redundancy for infinite flicker combos that I've always wanted but never had a good alternative to
Pandemonium/
Warstorm Surge. Having that with a floor of being a manalith, and a most common situation of making two mana a turn with just Zedruu out is enough for me to play it. That being said, another cheap legendary creature or two would make this shine, and I'm quite fond of the play patterns of cheap legends into big fat Mirrorweave targets. I just don't know what I would play (especially with Nin and Kwain off the table) or how to make room.