Mystic Remora

Enchantment

Cumulative upkeep {1} (At the beginninf of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it unless you pay its upkeep cost for each age counter on it.)

Whenever an opponent plays a noncreature spell, you may draw a card unless that player pays {4}.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

rckclimber777 on Build a Deck with Me …

6 days ago

Sometimes when I'm deckbuilding, I focus less on the commander and more on an interesting concept/combo that I want to use or exploit. This is the case with one of my favorite decks in my profile and actually one of the first commander decks I ever built. This deck began years ago when Magic finally started caring about the EDH format. It was a more simple time then, Rhystic study was $1.27 (exactly the price I paid for mine over 10 years ago), Cyclonic Rift was a bulk rare, and demonic tutor could be found for $10.

The combo that I was interested in was Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator. The latter was my favorite card at the time and is still one of my favorites. It was a great tool and with all the ETB effects that were out around then it was an underrated and uber powerful card. In fact, the entire blink mechanic was and is a very powerful strategy.

When I built this deck, I played a few times in shops and was quickly told that edh is a casual format and interaction of any kind is not fair (was told this by a land destruction deck...) So this deck is definitely more on the competitive side, but it would be the distant fringe of cedh. Alright with that let's get into it.

Initial thoughts

So we have a combo that we like Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator, but we don't even have a commander yet and going mono-blue seems not great, so we want to figure out what color(s) to add and what commander to choose. In a combo deck, there are generally three things that I like to make sure I include beyond the normal ramp, and card draw. That is redundancy, the ability to tutor up my combo pieces, and ways to protect my combo. So when thinking about tutoring up my combo pieces, I generally like to have the best tutors. Those are in black. So things like Wishclaw Talisman, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor and Imperial Seal (if you have money to burn or your playgroup is fine with you proxying the best cards so you can obliterate their precons j/k I proxy all my expensive cards and put them in a binder in case someone has an issue).

So we have Blue and Black and we can certainly add another color if we wanted to, but at the time I liked Dralnu, Lich Lord because Snapcaster Mage was in standard and flashback was cool. So I stuck with it when I revamped it, but decided that I wanted something that could ensure I can protect my combo from any threat and then also use it to win if I wanted to. The answer came in the form of Ertai Resurrected. He can counter basically anything from spells to activated abilities (which will come in handy) or he can take a threat on the field at the cost of letting your opponent draw a card.

So now that we have our commander, how to build the deck?

Redundancy

Combo decks need redundancy. If you don't get your two cards or one of them gets exiled, you need a backup plan, or scooping is your only option. Fortunately, there are some great redundancies here. We have Ghostly Flicker and Displace. Both of these will blink your creatures (ghostly flicker will also blink artifacts). Displacer Kitten can be helpful too, but I don't own it and it is a little more chaotic than I need it to be. Palinchron is great because you can return it to your hand and potentially play it again and create infinite mana through the use of High Tide, but a similar combo that has added benefits is Peregrine Drake, Archaeomancer, and Ghostly Flicker. This bounces both the drake and the archaeomancer untapping 5 lands, and returning ghostly flicker to your hand. Rinse and repeat for infinite mana. Archaeomancer also will help in returning key counterspells and tutors to your hand. Nothing like doing double duty. Mnemonic Wall and Great Whale also fit here. The great thing about this combo is that each component is useful in and of itself. Bring out your Great Whale early untap some lands and do some other stuff or play out the rest of your combo with the untapped lands. Cast Archaeomancer to grab a used tutor for another combo piece.

One note here, if you get Peregrine Drake (or one of the other two) paired with Deadeye Navigator and you generate infinite mana you can now draw your deck with Ertai as commander: Step 1: Bounce Deadeye, when he enters don't soulbond with anyone.
Step 2: Cast Ertai, don't choose anything or if you want kill one of your opponent's creatures. It doesn't matter.
Step 3: Soulbond ertai and deadeye. Step 4: Bounce Deadeye and while that is on the stack bounce Ertai. Step 5: Ertai enters the battlefield counter the Deadeye bounce on the stack Draw a card Step 6: Soulbond ertai and deadeye again rinse and repeat. Draw as many cards as you need. Which means draw until you find your wincon.

Wincon

Since this is an infinite mana combo we need something to use all that mana. Obviously the activated ability on deadeye is great, but we need something to actually win with. I went with Commander's Insight and Blue Sun's Zenith. Both of these cards are useful even when they aren't being used to force your opponents to draw their cards. Blue Sun's Zenith works nicely because once you cast it goes back into your deck, which I showed above you can draw as many cards as you need so you cast it once, put it in your library draw again until you find it, cast it again on the next opponent, then again. You can also tutor them up or bring them back from the graveyard with the tutors or the archaeomancer/mnemonic wall from earlier. I like this more than straight damage, because if you don't have infinite mana these cards will still draw you cards.

Tutors

This is a fairly simple step, we need some good tutors. There are a number of good choices in black so I won't belabor that too much. I don't have some of the standard ones and feel like the deck performs fine with the ones it currently has. I do have a Tribute Mage in the deck because nearly all my mana rocks are 2 mana and so is Wishclaw Talisman. I found that the consistency with the deck is vastly improved by being able to tutor up my ramp. Also with deadeye I can bounce it multiple times and get more rocks or the talisman.

Protecting the combo

So I needed to figure out how to protect my combo and do so in a way that is flexible or can be used as needed. So Counterspell. Honestly, this part was fairly simple, most blue counter magic is here. Only reason Fierce Guardianship isn't here is because I don't have it. Other than that we have the typical cards here Force of Will, Mana Drain, Cyclonic Rift, Force of Negation, Pact of Negation, etc.

I also have a couple other standouts. Venser, Shaper Savant is great here as it can be bounced with Deadeye Navigator to essentially boomerang my opponent's board and all their spells. Ertai Resurrected also protects the combo and with deadeye becomes a nice repeatable counter/removal spell.

glen_elandra_archmage can be bounced when she has her -1/-1 counter allowing her to be used again and again to counter noncreature spells.

Typical stuff

There is a lot of ramp in the deck, so Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, and other mana rocks including some larger ones like Gilded Lotus and Basalt Monolith to really get the ramp going, the sooner you can get to 7-8 mana the sooner you can combo out.

For card draw some key performers here are Rhystic Study, Black Market Connections, Phyrexian Arena, The One Ring. Mystic Remora. In my initial hand I want to have 3 lands, and one of these/tutor to find one or I typically mulligan.

Special notes

A couple other cards deserve mention here. Time Stretch and Time Warp. These are both repeatable with Archaeomancer and Mnemonic Wall and I can honestly say that if I'm able to resolve either of these, it is unlikely that I'm going to lose, especially Time Stretch. With the ramp in the deck or a well timed Dark Ritual/High Tide I can play this fairly early and get a huge advantage.

Lands

Since this deck tends to be fast, you don't want lands that come into play tapped, so this deck uses fetch lands, shock lands, and duals that have the ability to come in untapped. (there are a couple that come into play tapped, but they are fetchable so I fetch them only when I know that I'm not going to be able to use the mana and only on an opponent's turn.)

I've had this deck for a while and it performs far better than any of my other decks. It always presents interesting lines that if followed will lead to surprising victories. As always let me know what you think in the comments and if you have a commander in mind that you want to see me build put it in the chat.

Here is the final decklist: Unlimited Power!

NiceRobin312 on Zombies

2 months ago

Counterspell Mystic Remora Ashnod's Altar

outofnothing0 on Memmmnaarrch!

3 months ago

@Profet93: Thanks for the upvote!

-#1 & #3: These were already in the deck but you've reminded me to update my deck description to reflect the newer tech. Thx!

-#2: Honestly I've never considered copying the Sensei's Divining Top card draw as I thought the bounce was part of the cost... I'll have to reconsider putting it back in. Thanks for the suggestion!

-#4: I've considered running the Mystic Forge draw combo here but I honestly don't think I can justify it with the number of artifacts I run... I'm currently running that in my Jeskai Kykar, Wind's Fury eggs deck: Kykar, Wheels Fury and my colorless Karn, Silver Golem deck: Karn on the Cob which both have waaay more artifacts.

-Mystic Remora: never really been a huge fan of this card without being able to abuse it but definitely always worth thinking about.

-Misdirection: I've played with this in high tier games for quite a bit in my Zur the Enchanter deck: Zur's Perfection and have found that it's usually not worth the slot... powerful as it may seem.

-Snapcaster Mage: I actually recently took him out but I really want to put it back lol. Having some trouble tweaking things at this point.

-Karn, the Great Creator like you said can hard lock; also it's static ability ruins artifact decks. My play group meta can very easily with multiple decks use this against me which is why it's a definite no for this deck.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Profet93 on Numot: Leave. Everything. Destroyed.

3 months ago

SufferFromEDHD +1

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding training grounds. but your commander's ability is a triggered ability, not an activated ability, correct?

Mystic Remora - Draw

Faith's Reward - To go with your MLD plan or just recursion?

Tainted AEther - Goes well with your MLD, creatureless strategy

Land Equilibrium - More stax!

Profet93 on Memmmnaarrch!

3 months ago

outofnothing0 +1

Other combos to consider....

1. Everflowing chalice (4 counters) + voltaic key + rings of brighthearth = infinite {C}
2. Basalt Monolith + rings of brighthearth + Sensei's Divining Top = infinite {C} + draw your entire deck
3. Chromatic Orrery + voltaic key + rings of brighthearth = infinite {C}
4. Mystic Forge + artifact cost reducer + Sensei's Divining Top = draw your entire deck

Mystic Remora - Draw

Misdirection - Perhaps over disallow? It allows you a 3rd option to bluff without mana open. Instead of countering a targeted removal, draw or extra turn spell, you can redirect it. While the redundancy may not be needed, it is worth considering.

Snapcaster Mage - Recursion/value, synergy with riptide laboratory

Karn, the Great Creator + myconsith lattice = Hard lock

Profet93 on Oh My Gizzard, It's a Zombie Wizard (Nekusar)

3 months ago

Necramus +1

Alhammarret's Archive - Extra draw from wheels

An Offer You Can't Refuse > mana leak - Mana leak is only good early-mid game. Better to get a complete counterspell in EDH. Although this might be slightly more difficult in a 3 color build, given all your card draw, Misdirection should be considered as well. It's another deflecting swat and imp's mischief of sorts.

Mystic Remora - Draw, although perhaps not necessarily needed in this build.

I would cut megrim for another piece of artifact ramp like Mind Stone potentially. 10% ramp seems solid and would allow you to more easily 1) Cast your commander sooner 2) Cast all the cards you draw and recover from artifact wipes.

If you're going to run underworld dreams for 3 black, then perhaps an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth could help with your 3 color mana base and casting requirement.

I don't play 3 colors but 2 nonbasics to consider, should you mana base allow it are Ancient Tomb for ramp and Riptide Laboratory. Riptide words with your commander and a few other creatures, most notably snapcaster mage.

How has necropotence been treating you? I ask because triple black along with GY exile is steep, but it does help with Thassa oracle and card advantage so I'm torn.

Would Notion Thief be helpful or anti-synergistic?

ThassaUpYo@ssa on Be'Elz A'Boot

3 months ago

Love the suggestions, Profet93! Bolt Bend is in over Demon Bolt, Imp's Mischief is in over Feed the Swarm, Mystic Remora is in over An Offer You Can't Refuse, and Phyrexian Metamorph is in over Spark Double.

To the question you raised - games typically go well given the ramp and tutors that allow me to set up, cast other demons/useful enchantments, and ultimately expedite the summoning of Be'Lakor, the Dark Master triggering additional card draw. There have been a few instances where I've gone through a "creature drought", but that's pretty rare and is just how it shakes out every once in a while just like getting land flooded (or starved).

With respect to Yawgmoth's Will, I would like to slot it in but am unsure of what to take out. I'm hesitant to remove a creature but it might not be a bad idea given the power YW offers. Any final thoughts on this addition given the updated list?

Thank you again for all of the valuable suggestions, Profet93!

ThassaUpYo@ssa on Be'Elz A'Boot

3 months ago

Hey, Profet93! Thanks for the upvote & the comment as you raise a very valid point. While I do have ways to remove Abyssal Persecutor and understand his drawbacks, these are the three main reasons I run him:

1) He's a great early game 'meat stick' that I can use to inflict solid damage for multiple turns and force a removal response ahead of casting Be'Lakor, the Dark Master

2) He makes for a great blocker should my opponent(s) have a strong creature(s) of their own offering some deterrence

3) He combos pretty well with Be'Lakor, the Dark Master in the mid-to-late game dealing 6 damage anywhere I need for just 4 mana

My thought here is "once the garden has been watered, just turn off the hose" - after the damage has been done and/or Abyssal Persecutor has served his purpose simply cast a board wipe, use him as a chump blocker, kill him off with Be'Lakor, the Dark Master's ability, etc. With all of this being said, I have thought about swapping him out for quite some time.

I am curious about how good Mystic Remora is in EDH - it seems like it doesn't realistically hang around for long since you'll find yourself paying quite a bit of mana each upkeep to keep it around. I'm sure I'm missing something here, but to me it seems I'll want to end up wanting to use that mana to cast spells of my own as opposed to paying this cost.

Yawgmoth's Will is a great option for sure, and a solid play especially in the late game, I'm just torn on what I'd replace Abyssal Persecutor with but think this may be the leading candidate.

Were there any specific changeling(s) you had in mind that would be worth a look?