MTG Salvation

On a bit of a PDH tear lately. Deciding between gelectrode, nivix guildmage, and izzet guildmage is the hardest thing I've ever had to do, including that one time I had to put down my pet koala with a garlic press.

Side note, how convenient is it that there's a tcgplayer link on decklists? I can go from a PDH decklist to buying it in 30 seconds (well, plus 8 hours for cart optimizer to figure it's crap out. Stupid NP complete problems).

Anyway, here's my izzet guildmage deck. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

I have a Spellheart Chimera deck and I eventually cut all (or almost all) of the Kilnfiend-type cards. I felt like I never cast enough instants or sorceries in one turn to make them worthwhile and I had enough control that my commander would eventually win the game for me. How have they worked for you? Also, not a fan of Mnemonic Wall/Archaeomancer?

Quote from TheFishIsBig »

I have a Spellheart Chimera deck and I eventually cut all (or almost all) of the Kilnfiend-type cards. I felt like I never cast enough instants or sorceries in one turn to make them worthwhile and I had enough control that my commander would eventually win the game for me. How have they worked for you? Also, not a fan of Mnemonic Wall/Archaeomancer?

Despite outward similarities, I think there are pretty significant difference in what chimera, the guildmages, and gelectrode want from their synergies. In Chimera they seem ineffective because you're going for commander damage, and you don't want to clear off the ground to get through with kiln fiend. In the guildmages they're kind of awkward because you usually only cast 1 spell per turn, and just copy the crap out of it. I think the kiln fiend-type cards are best in gelectrode or guttersnipe, actually, although it's still a little clunky because you probably mostly want to use instants and cast them on other turns. Still, they're a pretty efficient way to deal a lot of damage in a hurry for finishing the game, especially if you just go nuts and cast a bunch of burn spells on the same turn. I think they're worth a try, but I just bought the deck last night so I won't get to find out for a week or two at least.

Similarly for mnemonic wall and archaemancer, they seem fine for most of the other RU storm commanders but I don't think they're worth it here, especially with all the instants being mostly low-impact 1-2 cmc spells. There's not many cards that I would want to blow 4-5 mana to get back when I could instead be blowing the mana copying spells more. I.e. I'd probably rather cast some junk 1-mana cantrip and copy it, than waste a turn getting back a better cantrip (say, impulse). With such a mana sink in the command zone I don't think it'll be worth spending mana for card quality (except maybe to recover the combo).