Hey guys, this is my psuedo-primer for the new Simic guild leader, Prime Speaker Zegana. The basic idea of the deck is just to ramp into tons of creatures with enters the battlefield effects and win by either ramping into fatties or blinking EtB creatures endlessly to abuse their effects. I play it as a sort of ramp/control deck, and Zegana really just is used as another fatty with a good source of card advantage. Also, Fable of Wolf and Owl is really really awesome.
Introduction
History
My name is Colin. I've been playing EDH for about 3 years now and played Standard from Zendikar block to Scars block. I ultimately quit standard almost entirely because of caw-blade and my general dislike for the format. Being a kid it was hard to get enough money to get even close to a tournament quality deck (although I played a pretty successful Tempered Steel deck, before it was cool). I had made a Goblin tribal EDH deck slowly that I played casually even against type 2 and legacy decks that my friends had built and hardly ever got to play EDH in my playgroup because they thought it was a stupid format. Now, flash forward to the Commander precon release. A few of us got precons and played, had a great time, and we've only played EDH (and Draft occasionally) since then. While I played my Goblins deck I also slow-rolled (probably 1 1/2 - 2 years) an extremely cutthroat Sharuum deck with all the bells and whistles. For my playgroup this was the first deck that had a lot of high-end stuff in it; infinite combos, loads of tutors, extremely fancy and expensive mana fixing (all sorts of duals, filters, mana rocks). Sadly though, Sharuum combo was the most boring, stale play experience ever so I sold it after just a few months to build my current main deck, Edric. My Edric deck right now is a huge contender in my playgroup and is renowned for stealing an early win if it doesn't get completely shut down early on. Edric was what led me to realizing how much I loved the U/ color combination, and since then I've really only developed Simic decks. Zegana is probably the weakest of them all but she's still extremely competitive when piloted correctly.
Play this deck if you like:
-Slow-rolling games into a massive, stompy victory
-Abusing bounce effects and creatures with cool triggered effects
-Drawing lots of cards
-Countering spells only when it directly effects you, not just to be a jerk
-Playing with really cool creature combos and engines
-Playing decks that work well with minimal knowledge of the deck, but play even better with a good understanding of the cards and interactions
-Breathing
Don't play this deck if you like:
-Comboing out turn 3 or earlier
-Comboing out ever
-Not playing creature
-Having a luxurious suite of counterspells
-Never playing creatures
Countermagic Muddle the Mixture - Tutors up quite a few good spells in this deck, most notable amongst them being; Coiling Oracle, Swiftfoot Boots, and Lotus Cobra. Familiar's Ruse - I played this card for a long time in my Edric deck before I found a copy of Counterspell and I HATED it for slowing down my deck, but in here its basically a 2-for-1. You get to counter a spell for Counterspell price, and you get to bounce a creature with a sweet EtB effect to reuse. Ramp Gatecreeper Vine - I really like this guy mostly because I'm cheap andwon't ever be buying a Tropical Island. He can grab you a Simic Guildgate, chump block, or just pull any old basic land if you need the colors. Urban Evolution - Another choice that's mostly just because of personal taste, but it has always proven to be a very good card when I've used it. Drawing 3 cards alone is great, and the added ramp is always useful with a deck that plays lots of big creatures and artifacts. Comes-into-Play Creatures Haze Frog - He can flash-fog to save the day, then you can blink him forever to keep the day saved until someone gets annoyed and kills him. Trinket Mage - He has his whole own toolbox section down in the "Things you may want to know" area. Wistful Selkie - She could easily be replaced with a draw spell, but being a creature is much more relevant here, where you can blink here for repeated gain, or just use her as another creature to count towards one of your finisher spells. Deadwood Treefolk - In all of my playtests with this guy in this deck, he's only ever died from Vanishing once. You can blink him not only to abuse his effect and recur lost creatures or spells, but you can also keep resetting his Vanishing so he doesn't have a death clock! Thragtusk - He has double the synergy with blinking because he has an ability on entering AND leaving the battlefield, both of which are fairly relevant (life gain not so much, but it's still a good enough chunk to at least be noticeable). Fierce Empath - He can't grab too many creatures from your deck for you, but his ability to pull out Craterhoof Behemoth alone makes him worth it. Voidmage Husher - Mostly a meta choice for me, my playgroup is full of activated effects, including a really dumb Memnarch deck that always steal my stuff. Fear no more! Extra Fat Champion of Lambholdt - When you can land this guy and protect him early he can win you the game without the use of any of your other finishers just by all-out attacking with an army of small utility creatures, or absolutely, positively ensure your victory when you do drop a killing blow. Sylvan Primordial - Just disgustingly good, especially when you can keep bouncing this guy to absolutely abuse his effect. Destroying three noncreature permanents potentially every turn is nuts. Blink/Bounce Effects Equilibrium - This card gives you so much value and tempo, it's not funny. So much for the Equi- part of the name. Devastation Tide - For when days get rainy and you need to reset the board to buy time. Deadeye Navigator - The most secretly OP card ever printed. Check out the Engines section for more details. It only lists a few there, just the really good notable ones, but literally any EtB creature and Deadeye Navigator becomes an engine in its own right. Nephalia Smuggler - Deadeye Navigator's weaker little brother, but still definitely worth playing. Tutors Birthing Pod - I'll admit I threw this in without having a set curve to make it smooth, but it helps lategame when you can turn some of your useless mana dorks into more potent threats. Removal Pongify and Rapid Hybridization - Removal is tough to come by in these colors, and I really like the mental image of turning a Kozilek into a (mostly) harmless monkey. Ulvenwald Tracker - I actually didn't know this card existed until I was looking to make this deck; as I said above, removal is hard to come by in Simic colors, and the Tracker solves that problem quite nicely. Good Stuff Fable of Wolf and Owl - I can't say enough of this card. It turns every spell you cast into extra advantage, and while it sadly doesn't benefit from you blinking your creatures, usually by the time you drop a finishing spell you have more than enough tokens form this to finish everyone off. Asceticism - Protects your creatures from targeted removal and allows you to recover from board wipes a little. Lands Alchemist's Refuge - Turns all of the EtB creatures in this deck into instant spell, essentially. The Refuge allows for so much more flexibility in this build its insane. For example, lets say I'm sitting at a table with a Memnarch deck (like one of the ones in my local playgroup). Memnarch steals a big Eldrazi or something just as scary and is now all tapped out, but he has Unwinding Clock, several mana rocks, and likely a hand full of counterspells. With the refuge out, you can flash in Acidic Slime at the end of his turn to kill said big scary creature while he's tapped out and can't respond. This is just one niche example, but the amount of utility this card gives you is rather nebulous so I can't go on explaining every scenario you can use it in.
Additional Tips/Advice
Trinket Mage Targets Elixir of Immortality - In case you somehow draw yourself out/get milled for a ton/really need to not have that fat creature sitting in your graveyard. Tormod's Crypt - Hate on graveyards. More of a meta call but most decks seem to use graveyard shenanigans of some sort. Brittle Effigy - I used to always run this in Trinket Mage toolboxes to deal with Emrakul, and even now with him banned it still hits lots of relevant creatures. Rafiq geared up with all 5 swords? Effigy him. Blightsteel Colossus? Buh-bye. Aether Spellbomb - You can do several fun things with this guy. Draw a card in a pinch, bounce a creature thats starting to, or already is, huge, you can even bounce you own creatures to save them from removal or reuse their effects. Ramping into Craterhoof Behemoth and then bouncing him and replaying him is fun. Sol Ring and Expedition Map - Ramp. The only time you should really get the map is if you already have Sol Ring out, and use it to grab Breeding Pool.
Engines and Synergy Deadeye Navigator + Craterhoof Behemoth = if either one of these resolves with the other one on the board, it WILL be game over. Ramping into that much mana is also surprisingly easy for this deck. Use this right after a huge Biomass Mutation, before an Overwhelming Stampede, or loop him a few times and draw your deck with Zegana. Deadeye Navigator + Mystic Snake = This basically gives the the ability to pay 1U and counter target spell. Deadeye Navigator + Coiling Oracle = One of my favorite Deadeye Engines, you can pay 1U and either ramp a ton or draw a ton. Deadeye Navigator + Acidic Slime = Just mean. Plain meanness here. You can choose to go the mass LD route here, but really there's so much utility in this engine its ridiculous. Seedborn Muse + Alchemist's Refuge = Why take your turn during just your turn when you can take your turn EVERY turn?
Playing the Deck
I'm really bad at explaining how decks play out, so I'm going to make this fairly simple and abbreviate the play to 5 easy steps: 1) Play ramp spells and cheap creatures with relevant EtB effects early on to stay safe. Try to only use counterspells to protect your own board (as in, if your opponent drops a massive dragon or their general or something just let it resolve unless it has an immediate effect on your board, you want to slow roll the game and keep your board safe.) 2) If you can, try to assemble a Deadeye Navigator engine to help give you an edge. Now at this point in the game you may want to start aiming counterspells and removal at the guy who looks like hes going off, unless that guy is you. 3) Drop the fatties into play. Getting Champion of Lambholdt as early as you can is almost always the best play you can make as it snowballs harder the earlier he comes out. 4) Start bouncing like a super ball. Abuse the bejeezus out of your EtB creatures. Somewhere between here at step 3 you should basically be going full steam. Use counter spells and removal aggressively. 5) Give step 1 a big hug, because you use all that mana you ramped to either loop a Craterhoof a few times, cast an Overwhelming Stampede with plenty of counterspell backup, or cast a game shattering Biomass Mutation. 6) (optional) Play the song "You Give Love a Bad Name" whenever you kill someone.
Optional Substitutes
Ixidron - This can be used as a pseudo-wrath effect if you really need it, but it really hinders your board just as well so it should really only be used when your far behind and need to get up to speed. Voidslime - If you really want to run more counterspells this is the best choice IMO, but I personally don't like it because it costs the spot of another good creature/ramp spell/more utility.
When it comes to the Clamp, I usually only include it in very token heavy decks, so I didn't put it in this list, although I like the idea of using some clone effects, I'll have to try to find room for them
With Zegana liking to draw alot of cards Reliquary Tower allows for open options also Praetor's Counsel allows to reuse alot of the cards that may have fallen under the tide. Overall I can't wait to see what else lurks in the depths for Simic in the coming days :).
With Zegana liking to draw alot of cards Reliquary Tower allows for open options also Praetor's Counsel allows to reuse alot of the cards that may have fallen under the tide. Overall I can't wait to see what else lurks in the depths for Simic in the coming days :).
Yeah, hoping to get some good stuff at the GTC prerelease.
There are a few reasons to run Wistful Selkie over Mulldrifter, IMO. It largely is due to the fact that Selkie stays in play and can be bounced repeatedly for cards. They both have the same 2/2 body, and Mulldrifter's flying isn't relevant until very late game when you can play a massive Biomass Mutation. Mulldrifter's more intensive mana cost also tends to hurt the curve of the deck, too. Whilst it does net me 2 cards, I'd rather play the Selkie earlier and be able to start bouncing it sooner. Although you definitely could play Mulldrifter and you'd still probably do fine.
P.S. - excuse any spelling errors, I'm writing this from my phone
Question do you find Shardless Agent useful? I'm always afraid Im going to hit a counterspell or something completely useless with him. That and since he doesn't flicker he has to be bounced. Just curious on his usefulness is all.
Question do you find Shardless Agent useful? I'm always afraid Im going to hit a counterspell or something completely useless with him. That and since he doesn't flicker he has to be bounced. Just curious on his usefulness is all.
I really like Shardless Agent because he fits the curve of the deck pretty well. As you said, he does have some whiff potential, but most of the games I've played it's been useful. ANd while I do dislike him not bouncing himself in any way, with the amount of bounce/EtB synergy this deck packs its usually not a big deal.
Just updated the deck again; added in Alchemist's Refuge and Thespian's Stage along with a corresponding explanation of Refuge in the Card Choice Explanation segment.
You also mention that you don't run Voidslime, but then list it in your deck under counter magic. I looked through the change-log to see where you added it, as I was curious what made you change your mind about it, but it wasn't listed.
GU Experiment Kraj- all your abilities belong to us WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts- battlecruiser GUB The Mimeoplasm- when graveyards are not safe RGW Mayael the Anima- i luv the fatties
You also mention that you don't run Voidslime, but then list it in your deck under counter magic. I looked through the change-log to see where you added it, as I was curious what made you change your mind about it, but it wasn't listed.
I had accidentally copy-pasted that list of counterspells from a different U/G deck I was building (I tend to use the same counterspell package in all my Simic decks), so I removed it from the list and added Doubling Season. Testing proved it to be really good in this deck, even off of Zegana alone it was a powerhouse.
Then play Time Warp; I just play Temp. Mastery because I like the feels when you play it for its Miracle cost.
This is a wierd answer for a deck tagged [competitive]. With an attempt at being competitive you should probably want to use the better option in cards. I could understand if temporal mastery fit a theme in your deck... but posting this thread and asking for advice and then shrugging said advice is... wierd...
This is a wierd answer for a deck tagged [competitive]. With an attempt at being competitive you should probably want to use the better option in cards. I could understand if temporal mastery fit a theme in your deck... but posting this thread and asking for advice and then shrugging said advice is... wierd...
Took it out long ago:
1/17/13 - dropped Simic Keyrune, Opposition and Temporal Mastery for Ulvenwald Tracker, Asceticism and Sylvan Primordial
I have been back and forth on genesis wave a lot recently and am still deciding what to do with it, chances are it will go in after some more testing and once I can find a reasonable cut for it. Being a huge Timmy/Johnny player I love the combo between Omniscience and Enter the Infinite but I can't reasonably see ramping into that much mana, the only time I'd play those two cards is if I'm using white for Academy Rector
Draining Whelk is a huge favorite of mine, and literally the only reason I had to cut it is because I wanted to keep a reliable creature curve and adding him in started to put the deck over the "too many fatties" line for me, though I'm still looking for a slot to put him in.
I like where this deck is going. Carry on! Color me blasphemous, but I suggest you try playing without Consecrated Sphinx for a bit, and just replace him with a good ETB creature.
This reminds me that I really should find a spot for Muddle the Mixture in my list.
I don't personally like to use cards that rely on my opponents' resources, like Diluvian Primordial, so he'd personally be my first cut for Draining Whelk. I can't really deny the Primordial's potential power, though, so it's a tough call.
Either that, or do like the guy above me said and try running Whelk over the Sphinx for a while.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Introduction
My name is Colin. I've been playing EDH for about 3 years now and played Standard from Zendikar block to Scars block. I ultimately quit standard almost entirely because of caw-blade and my general dislike for the format. Being a kid it was hard to get enough money to get even close to a tournament quality deck (although I played a pretty successful Tempered Steel deck, before it was cool). I had made a Goblin tribal EDH deck slowly that I played casually even against type 2 and legacy decks that my friends had built and hardly ever got to play EDH in my playgroup because they thought it was a stupid format. Now, flash forward to the Commander precon release. A few of us got precons and played, had a great time, and we've only played EDH (and Draft occasionally) since then. While I played my Goblins deck I also slow-rolled (probably 1 1/2 - 2 years) an extremely cutthroat Sharuum deck with all the bells and whistles. For my playgroup this was the first deck that had a lot of high-end stuff in it; infinite combos, loads of tutors, extremely fancy and expensive mana fixing (all sorts of duals, filters, mana rocks). Sadly though, Sharuum combo was the most boring, stale play experience ever so I sold it after just a few months to build my current main deck, Edric. My Edric deck right now is a huge contender in my playgroup and is renowned for stealing an early win if it doesn't get completely shut down early on. Edric was what led me to realizing how much I loved the U/ color combination, and since then I've really only developed Simic decks. Zegana is probably the weakest of them all but she's still extremely competitive when piloted correctly.
Play this deck if you like:
-Slow-rolling games into a massive, stompy victory
-Abusing bounce effects and creatures with cool triggered effects
-Drawing lots of cards
-Countering spells only when it directly effects you, not just to be a jerk
-Playing with really cool creature combos and engines
-Playing decks that work well with minimal knowledge of the deck, but play even better with a good understanding of the cards and interactions
-Breathing
Don't play this deck if you like:
-Comboing out turn 3 or earlier
-Comboing out ever
-Not playing creature
-Having a luxurious suite of counterspells
-Never playing creatures
The Deck
1 Prime Speaker Zegana
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Cryptic Command
1 Familiar's Ruse
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Cultivate
1 Urban Evolution
1 Expedition Map
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Simic Signet
1 Sol Ring
1 Coiling Oracle
1 Shardless Agent
1 Man-o'-War
1 Trinket Mage
1 Haze Frog
1 Thragtusk
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Mystic Snake
1 Draining Whelk
1 Eternal Witness
1 Regal Force
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Deadwood Treefolk
1 Fierce Empath
1 Acidic Slime
1 Kenderekt Leviathan
1 Voidmage Husher
1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
1 Champion of Lambholdt
1 Sylvan Primordial
1 Biomass Mutation
1 Conjurer's Closet
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Equilibrium
1 Nephalia Smuggler
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Mimic Vat
1 Crystal Shard
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Drift of Phantasms
1 Birthing Pod
1 Transmute Artifact
1 Chord of Calling
1 Rapid Hybridization
1 Beast Within
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Ulvenwald Tracker
1 Fable of Wolf and Owl
1 Beastmaster Ascension
1 Asceticism
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Time Warp
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Overwhelming Stampede
1 Future Sight
1 Doubling Season
1 Spitting Image
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Mind's Eye
1 Greater Good
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Simic Growth Chamber
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Breeding Pool
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Strip Mine
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Temple of the False God
1 Alchemist's Refuge
11 Forest
13 Island
Card Choice Explanation
Countermagic
Muddle the Mixture - Tutors up quite a few good spells in this deck, most notable amongst them being; Coiling Oracle, Swiftfoot Boots, and Lotus Cobra.
Familiar's Ruse - I played this card for a long time in my Edric deck before I found a copy of Counterspell and I HATED it for slowing down my deck, but in here its basically a 2-for-1. You get to counter a spell for Counterspell price, and you get to bounce a creature with a sweet EtB effect to reuse.
Ramp
Gatecreeper Vine - I really like this guy mostly because I'm cheap andwon't ever be buying a Tropical Island. He can grab you a Simic Guildgate, chump block, or just pull any old basic land if you need the colors.
Urban Evolution - Another choice that's mostly just because of personal taste, but it has always proven to be a very good card when I've used it. Drawing 3 cards alone is great, and the added ramp is always useful with a deck that plays lots of big creatures and artifacts.
Comes-into-Play Creatures
Haze Frog - He can flash-fog to save the day, then you can blink him forever to keep the day saved until someone gets annoyed and kills him.
Trinket Mage - He has his whole own toolbox section down in the "Things you may want to know" area.
Wistful Selkie - She could easily be replaced with a draw spell, but being a creature is much more relevant here, where you can blink here for repeated gain, or just use her as another creature to count towards one of your finisher spells.
Deadwood Treefolk - In all of my playtests with this guy in this deck, he's only ever died from Vanishing once. You can blink him not only to abuse his effect and recur lost creatures or spells, but you can also keep resetting his Vanishing so he doesn't have a death clock!
Thragtusk - He has double the synergy with blinking because he has an ability on entering AND leaving the battlefield, both of which are fairly relevant (life gain not so much, but it's still a good enough chunk to at least be noticeable).
Fierce Empath - He can't grab too many creatures from your deck for you, but his ability to pull out Craterhoof Behemoth alone makes him worth it.
Voidmage Husher - Mostly a meta choice for me, my playgroup is full of activated effects, including a really dumb Memnarch deck that always steal my stuff. Fear no more!
Extra Fat
Champion of Lambholdt - When you can land this guy and protect him early he can win you the game without the use of any of your other finishers just by all-out attacking with an army of small utility creatures, or absolutely, positively ensure your victory when you do drop a killing blow.
Sylvan Primordial - Just disgustingly good, especially when you can keep bouncing this guy to absolutely abuse his effect. Destroying three noncreature permanents potentially every turn is nuts.
Blink/Bounce Effects
Equilibrium - This card gives you so much value and tempo, it's not funny. So much for the Equi- part of the name.
Devastation Tide - For when days get rainy and you need to reset the board to buy time.
Deadeye Navigator - The most secretly OP card ever printed. Check out the Engines section for more details. It only lists a few there, just the really good notable ones, but literally any EtB creature and Deadeye Navigator becomes an engine in its own right.
Nephalia Smuggler - Deadeye Navigator's weaker little brother, but still definitely worth playing.
Tutors
Birthing Pod - I'll admit I threw this in without having a set curve to make it smooth, but it helps lategame when you can turn some of your useless mana dorks into more potent threats.
Removal
Pongify and Rapid Hybridization - Removal is tough to come by in these colors, and I really like the mental image of turning a Kozilek into a (mostly) harmless monkey.
Ulvenwald Tracker - I actually didn't know this card existed until I was looking to make this deck; as I said above, removal is hard to come by in Simic colors, and the Tracker solves that problem quite nicely.
Good Stuff
Fable of Wolf and Owl - I can't say enough of this card. It turns every spell you cast into extra advantage, and while it sadly doesn't benefit from you blinking your creatures, usually by the time you drop a finishing spell you have more than enough tokens form this to finish everyone off.
Asceticism - Protects your creatures from targeted removal and allows you to recover from board wipes a little.
Lands
Alchemist's Refuge - Turns all of the EtB creatures in this deck into instant spell, essentially. The Refuge allows for so much more flexibility in this build its insane. For example, lets say I'm sitting at a table with a Memnarch deck (like one of the ones in my local playgroup). Memnarch steals a big Eldrazi or something just as scary and is now all tapped out, but he has Unwinding Clock, several mana rocks, and likely a hand full of counterspells. With the refuge out, you can flash in Acidic Slime at the end of his turn to kill said big scary creature while he's tapped out and can't respond. This is just one niche example, but the amount of utility this card gives you is rather nebulous so I can't go on explaining every scenario you can use it in.
Additional Tips/Advice
Elixir of Immortality - In case you somehow draw yourself out/get milled for a ton/really need to not have that fat creature sitting in your graveyard.
Tormod's Crypt - Hate on graveyards. More of a meta call but most decks seem to use graveyard shenanigans of some sort.
Brittle Effigy - I used to always run this in Trinket Mage toolboxes to deal with Emrakul, and even now with him banned it still hits lots of relevant creatures. Rafiq geared up with all 5 swords? Effigy him. Blightsteel Colossus? Buh-bye.
Aether Spellbomb - You can do several fun things with this guy. Draw a card in a pinch, bounce a creature thats starting to, or already is, huge, you can even bounce you own creatures to save them from removal or reuse their effects. Ramping into Craterhoof Behemoth and then bouncing him and replaying him is fun.
Sol Ring and Expedition Map - Ramp. The only time you should really get the map is if you already have Sol Ring out, and use it to grab Breeding Pool.
Engines and Synergy
Deadeye Navigator + Craterhoof Behemoth = if either one of these resolves with the other one on the board, it WILL be game over. Ramping into that much mana is also surprisingly easy for this deck. Use this right after a huge Biomass Mutation, before an Overwhelming Stampede, or loop him a few times and draw your deck with Zegana.
Deadeye Navigator + Mystic Snake = This basically gives the the ability to pay 1U and counter target spell.
Deadeye Navigator + Coiling Oracle = One of my favorite Deadeye Engines, you can pay 1U and either ramp a ton or draw a ton.
Deadeye Navigator + Acidic Slime = Just mean. Plain meanness here. You can choose to go the mass LD route here, but really there's so much utility in this engine its ridiculous.
Seedborn Muse + Alchemist's Refuge = Why take your turn during just your turn when you can take your turn EVERY turn?
Playing the Deck
1) Play ramp spells and cheap creatures with relevant EtB effects early on to stay safe. Try to only use counterspells to protect your own board (as in, if your opponent drops a massive dragon or their general or something just let it resolve unless it has an immediate effect on your board, you want to slow roll the game and keep your board safe.)
2) If you can, try to assemble a Deadeye Navigator engine to help give you an edge. Now at this point in the game you may want to start aiming counterspells and removal at the guy who looks like hes going off, unless that guy is you.
3) Drop the fatties into play. Getting Champion of Lambholdt as early as you can is almost always the best play you can make as it snowballs harder the earlier he comes out.
4) Start bouncing like a super ball. Abuse the bejeezus out of your EtB creatures. Somewhere between here at step 3 you should basically be going full steam. Use counter spells and removal aggressively.
5) Give step 1 a big hug, because you use all that mana you ramped to either loop a Craterhoof a few times, cast an Overwhelming Stampede with plenty of counterspell backup, or cast a game shattering Biomass Mutation.
6) (optional) Play the song "You Give Love a Bad Name" whenever you kill someone.
Optional Substitutes
Voidslime - If you really want to run more counterspells this is the best choice IMO, but I personally don't like it because it costs the spot of another good creature/ramp spell/more utility.
Changelog
1/14/13 - dropped Rewind and Devastation Tide to put in Simic Sky Swallower and Biomantic Mastery.
1/15/13 - dropped Island and added Rogue's Passage to allow for more flexibility. On rare occasions if your playing against a deck that can somehow live/block through an Overwhelming Stampede after a Biomass Mutation then you can just make Zegana unblockable and get the General damage kill.
1/16/13 - dropped another Island and a Forest to add in Alchemist's Refuge and Thespian's Stage. The Refuge allows you to play your creatures with more useful abilities basically as instants, so Acidic Slime becomes a land/artifact/enchantment destruction instant for 2GG. The Stage is a bit of a no-brainer in that it can become whatever the best land on the board currently is whenever you want. It's also useful for destroying otherwise tough to destroy legendary lands.
1/17/13 - dropped Simic Keyrune, Opposition and Temporal Mastery for Ulvenwald Tracker, Asceticism and Sylvan Primordial
1/19/13 - dropped Llanowar Elves for Nephalia Smuggler and added reasoning for Smuggler and Equilibrium.
1-28-13 - dropped Voidslime for Doubling Season, thanks to those of you who pointed it out!
1-30-13 - dropped Negate for Thragtusk in an effort to run less one-sided countermagic, plus the noncreature clause has been hindering it's use lately for me since it can't hit Titans, Primordials, or any big finisher.
2-18-13 - dropped Pongify, Simic Guildgate, Arcane Denial, Aether Spellbomb, Dizzy Spell, Consecrated Sphinx, Wistful Selkie, Gatecreeper Vine, Kodama's Reach, and Biomantic Mastery for Cryptic Command, Reliquary Tower, Mind's Eye, Sensei's Divining Top, Time Warp, Draining Whelk, Nevermaker, Chord of Calling, Regal Force, and Transmute Artifact. Lots of feedback from others were the root cause behind all of this and it definitely makes the deck a lot stronger.
2-18-13 (Later) - cut Overwhelming Stampede for Seedborn Muse. While I didn't want to cut Overwhelming Stampede, Biomass Mutation and Craterhoof are enough to finish a game out, and Seedborn Muse with all of the blink effects and cool ETB creatures make this deck an absolute nightmare to play against.
2-29-13 - dropped Nevermaker for Greater Good. I couldn't remember the name of Greater Good for the life of me and was just reminded of it, and since Nevermaker was already under-performing for me it seemed to be an obvious cut.
also a huge fan of phantasmal image, phyrexian metamoprh, and gilded drake
WUBRGProgenitus
URGMaelstrom Wanderer
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic
WURZedruu, the Greathearted
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher ($100)
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician ($100)
UGKruphix, God of Horizons ($100)(retired)UTalrand, Sky Summoner (French 1v1, $100)
Thanks to Rivenor at Miraculous Recovery Signatures for this sick sig.
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryUG
URBNicol BolasURB
BGWGhave, Fungus TribalBGW
WUBSydri, Galvanic GeniusWUB
Horde
Hydra Horde
Yeah, hoping to get some good stuff at the GTC prerelease.
P.S. - excuse any spelling errors, I'm writing this from my phone
Thanks to Rivenor at Miraculous Recovery Signatures for this sick sig.
UGMomir Vig, Simic VisionaryUG
URBNicol BolasURB
BGWGhave, Fungus TribalBGW
WUBSydri, Galvanic GeniusWUB
Horde
Hydra Horde
I really like Shardless Agent because he fits the curve of the deck pretty well. As you said, he does have some whiff potential, but most of the games I've played it's been useful. ANd while I do dislike him not bouncing himself in any way, with the amount of bounce/EtB synergy this deck packs its usually not a big deal.
Then play Time Warp; I just play Temp. Mastery because I like the feels when you play it for its Miracle cost.
GU Experiment Kraj- all your abilities belong to us
WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts- battlecruiser
GUB The Mimeoplasm- when graveyards are not safe
RGW Mayael the Anima- i luv the fatties
You can't rely a single beast within when someone has a torpor orb out
I had accidentally copy-pasted that list of counterspells from a different U/G deck I was building (I tend to use the same counterspell package in all my Simic decks), so I removed it from the list and added Doubling Season. Testing proved it to be really good in this deck, even off of Zegana alone it was a powerhouse.
This is a wierd answer for a deck tagged [competitive]. With an attempt at being competitive you should probably want to use the better option in cards. I could understand if temporal mastery fit a theme in your deck... but posting this thread and asking for advice and then shrugging said advice is... wierd...
thanks for the awsome image http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=329663!
proud member of the Spirit Of EDH
Took it out long ago:
I have been back and forth on genesis wave a lot recently and am still deciding what to do with it, chances are it will go in after some more testing and once I can find a reasonable cut for it. Being a huge Timmy/Johnny player I love the combo between Omniscience and Enter the Infinite but I can't reasonably see ramping into that much mana, the only time I'd play those two cards is if I'm using white for Academy Rector
Augustin, Rasputin, Bruna, Brago, Ojutai
I don't personally like to use cards that rely on my opponents' resources, like Diluvian Primordial, so he'd personally be my first cut for Draining Whelk. I can't really deny the Primordial's potential power, though, so it's a tough call.
Either that, or do like the guy above me said and try running Whelk over the Sphinx for a while.