Cant edit threads so extrapolating that last comment, worthwhile noting the power if Tezzeret in general in the deck.
If you can get the The Chain Veil without using all of Tezzeret loyalty then you can look to go infinite. So there are some instances where you might want to use a turn to up tick Tezzeret to get him on at least 5 loyalty.
Then you can get the The Chain Veil, use Aminatou [-1] to blink Tezzeret and then use him again to say get Mana Vault. Now you can activate The Chain Veil probably quite easily with Mana Vault. You'll get to active Tezzeret and Aminatou again. So you can either use Tezzeret to get say Sol Ring for example, and then use Aminatou [-1] on Tezzeret. Now you have infinite, because you activate The Chain Veil again by untapping The Chain Veil and Mana Vault, using the second Tezzeret activation to either untap Mana Vault and Sol Ring -OR- just go through for another artifact like Mana Crypt. Because you are getting another planeswalker activation each time, you just keep using the new Aminatou [-1] on Tezzeret and he'll keep coming back with more and more activation's. Meaning more and more artifacts to untap and search each time. You can just use Sensei's Divining Top to draw your deck. Tap to draw a card and then use Tezzeret to search it out again.
Aminatou [-1] on Tezzeret. Use Throne of Geth (can just sacrifice to itself if need be) to put Tezzeret on 5 loyalty. You can now get the The Chain Veil. As long as you have the 4 to activate it you can look to go infinite as described above.
The thing is that the Flash only costs 1U, so it's not like impossible to either do it before turn, or you just naturally have 6 mana if you say did that it your turn.
That's 4 cuts, so a pretty hard to decided on changes, but I think it's going to worthwhile.
The only thing I should have pointed out, is that you'll only get 3 x Aminatou [-1] before she goes back to the Commander Zone when using the The Chain Veil and Tezzeret combo, when you use this infinite. But because Tezzeret is exponentially getting artifact mana and untapping artifact mana you'll have more than enough to pay for her and commander tax each time. Just have to make sure you get colored artifact sources at some stage along the way. Ultimately you can just Tezzeret [+1] and [+1] and then [-5] get Gilded Lotus on the third time.
But it's also important to recognize that even the first time you recast her, she'll have like 4 activation's minimum, so you can just alternate between [+1] and [-1] to avoid having to recast her again.
You can blink Oath then Felidar and repeat this infinitely. So you can generate infinite mana with mana sources then infinite planeswalker activations. Then start pushing her to ult multiple times and steal every non land on the battlefield.
At least I think this works.
Oath of Teferi targets only comes back at 'end of turn'. A lot of cards are like this. What exactly is sequence you were thinking of?
Ah, I misread oath. I thought it added another activation like chain veil rather than specifically saying 2. So I don't think it would work
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
So I decided not to max out my Aminatou, The Fateshifter to super competitiveness due to money and play group concerns, but this is my current build. It is more control-focused (my favourite style of play) with combo finishes (obviously with this commander). I would like to add an Animate Dead and Bitterblossom at some point.
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Modern:UB Taking Turns Modern:URW Madcap Experiment Pauper: MonoU Tempo Delver
So I decided not to max out my Aminatou, The Fateshifter to super competitiveness due to money and play group concerns, but this is my current build. It is more control-focused (my favourite style of play) with combo finishes (obviously with this commander). I would like to add an Animate Dead and Bitterblossom at some point.
Looks good. Because you are taking a more controlling route I'd definitely get Search for Azcanta into the deck. It's so powerful at making Aminatou [+1] more manageable, then it acts like a Rampant Growth later on, and also as a renewable Impluse. Trust me it's wicked good.
Also Snapcaster Mage is super hard to pass up on. I should add to the primer the power of ETB 2 drops in the deck. The reason is that you can play them on Turn 2 and then Turn 3 play Aminatou [-1] and get value from them. With cards like Brainstorm, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Swords to Plowshares, etc you can look to gain early strong plays. Admittedly a few more cantrips would make this more consistent. But Snapcaster is so good in control as you can use it as a blocker as well as have your graveyard as a resource.
For the reasons I mention above about ETB 2 drops, I am going to add Knight of the White Orchid to both my decks.
As far as cantrips another one that I'm adding to my deck is Portent. It seems slow, but you can set it up with the miracle cards and the new art is pretty sweet from the pre-con.
You should also play Tithe over a land. You can think of it as a land, but you can potentially get another one out of the deal, and it shuffles your library. You have 38 lands, so can easily support it, and will in fact help with not flooding out as much, and color fixing.
As I mentioned adding Knight of the White Orchid, another card I'm seriously looking at is Oreskos Explorer. Not as good as the Knight, but still a 2 drop with an ETB ability.
As far as what to cut I do think that Soul Warden or Soul's Attendant are the weakest cards in the deck. Sure they give you infinite life with Felidar Guardian, but honestly you are normally looking to setup a win before you would commit the Felidar to the board anyway.
So I decided not to max out my Aminatou, The Fateshifter to super competitiveness due to money and play group concerns, but this is my current build. It is more control-focused (my favourite style of play) with combo finishes (obviously with this commander). I would like to add an Animate Dead and Bitterblossom at some point.
Can't edit posts, so just to add, if you do want to keep in a soul sister effect AND you are adding Animate Dead, then you could play Pious Evangel => Wayward Disciple instead. The reason is that you can kill with infinitely bringing the Felidar Guardian back from the graveyard by blinking the Animate Dead. Also the sacrifice outlet could be relevant when it comes to Aminatou [-6] exchanging and you have a permanent you don't want to hand over.
So I decided not to max out my Aminatou, The Fateshifter to super competitiveness due to money and play group concerns, but this is my current build. It is more control-focused (my favourite style of play) with combo finishes (obviously with this commander). I would like to add an Animate Dead and Bitterblossom at some point.
Looks good. Because you are taking a more controlling route I'd definitely get Search for Azcanta into the deck. It's so powerful at making Aminatou [+1] more manageable, then it acts like a Rampant Growth later on, and also as a renewable Impluse. Trust me it's wicked good.
Also Snapcaster Mage is super hard to pass up on. I should add to the primer the power of ETB 2 drops in the deck. The reason is that you can play them on Turn 2 and then Turn 3 play Aminatou [-1] and get value from them. With cards like Brainstorm, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Swords to Plowshares, etc you can look to gain early strong plays. Admittedly a few more cantrips would make this more consistent. But Snapcaster is so good in control as you can use it as a blocker as well as have your graveyard as a resource.
For the reasons I mention above about ETB 2 drops, I am going to add Knight of the White Orchid to both my decks.
As far as cantrips another one that I'm adding to my deck is Portent. It seems slow, but you can set it up with the miracle cards and the new art is pretty sweet from the pre-con.
You should also play Tithe over a land. You can think of it as a land, but you can potentially get another one out of the deal, and it shuffles your library. You have 38 lands, so can easily support it, and will in fact help with not flooding out as much, and color fixing.
As I mentioned adding Knight of the White Orchid, another card I'm seriously looking at is Oreskos Explorer. Not as good as the Knight, but still a 2 drop with an ETB ability.
As far as what to cut I do think that Soul Warden or Soul's Attendant are the weakest cards in the deck. Sure they give you infinite life with Felidar Guardian, but honestly you are normally looking to setup a win before you would commit the Felidar to the board anyway.
Thank you for your suggestions. I am not looking to change my deck much now as whenever I try to maximize a deck's competitiveness in Commander people just stop wanting to play versus it and so that seems like wasted money then (so I focus on being competitive in Modern now =D Note: My deck may have expensive cards, because I already had them and didn't need them for a Modern deck). If I ever find a competitive play group again I would likely make many changes to make this deck more competitive.
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Modern:UB Taking Turns Modern:URW Madcap Experiment Pauper: MonoU Tempo Delver
So I decided not to max out my Aminatou, The Fateshifter to super competitiveness due to money and play group concerns, but this is my current build. It is more control-focused (my favourite style of play) with combo finishes (obviously with this commander). I would like to add an Animate Dead and Bitterblossom at some point.
Looks good. Because you are taking a more controlling route I'd definitely get Search for Azcanta into the deck. It's so powerful at making Aminatou [+1] more manageable, then it acts like a Rampant Growth later on, and also as a renewable Impluse. Trust me it's wicked good.
Also Snapcaster Mage is super hard to pass up on. I should add to the primer the power of ETB 2 drops in the deck. The reason is that you can play them on Turn 2 and then Turn 3 play Aminatou [-1] and get value from them. With cards like Brainstorm, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Swords to Plowshares, etc you can look to gain early strong plays. Admittedly a few more cantrips would make this more consistent. But Snapcaster is so good in control as you can use it as a blocker as well as have your graveyard as a resource.
For the reasons I mention above about ETB 2 drops, I am going to add Knight of the White Orchid to both my decks.
As far as cantrips another one that I'm adding to my deck is Portent. It seems slow, but you can set it up with the miracle cards and the new art is pretty sweet from the pre-con.
You should also play Tithe over a land. You can think of it as a land, but you can potentially get another one out of the deal, and it shuffles your library. You have 38 lands, so can easily support it, and will in fact help with not flooding out as much, and color fixing.
As I mentioned adding Knight of the White Orchid, another card I'm seriously looking at is Oreskos Explorer. Not as good as the Knight, but still a 2 drop with an ETB ability.
As far as what to cut I do think that Soul Warden or Soul's Attendant are the weakest cards in the deck. Sure they give you infinite life with Felidar Guardian, but honestly you are normally looking to setup a win before you would commit the Felidar to the board anyway.
Thank you for your suggestions. I am not looking to change my deck much now as whenever I try to maximize a deck's competitiveness in Commander people just stop wanting to play versus it and so that seems like wasted money then (so I focus on being competitive in Modern now =D Note: My deck may have expensive cards, because I already had them and didn't need them for a Modern deck). If I ever find a competitive play group again I would likely make many changes to make this deck more competitive.
Removed
- Land Tax - Only 5 basics, which was OK for just searching up 1 at a time, but would like more basics to make this more consistent.
- Rings of Brighthearth - besides the planeswalkers don't actually have other cards to activate with.
- Gilded Drake - great card for hosing some commander strategies, but the 3/3 flying body is relevant against pressuring Aminatou.
- Treasure Map - This card is still great, but only good cards being cut.
- Jace, Architect of Thought - the thing is that even with Deepglow Skate and being able to ultimate at -8 loyalty means that Jace goes to the graveyard if you don't uptick. Still good, but just need to make room.
I've mentioned the combo for Tezzeret the Seeker potentially winning the game in one of the above posts (by getting Throne of Geth), but I've also added a section to the primer as well. So you can check it out there.
I've also made some changes to the Reanimation deck. I've added the Spellseeker combo win with Razaketh, the Foulblooded, so that you can have explosive wins. The thing is that the additional cards all tie up nicely with the deck anyway so makes sense. The combo is very complicated. You can now check it out in the Reanimation primer in the original thread.
Just thought I'd add a post on reflection of how two mana costing creatures can be really good for your Aminatou, the Fateshifter deck.
With Aminatou costing three mana, there is an importance to protecting her during the early stages of the game.
Having a one or two mana creature with an "enter the battlefield" ability can really set you up, as you cast it on Turn 2, then you can cast Aminatou on Turn 3 and use her [-1] to get additional value.
This creature can then threaten to block early game creatures.
I've made a select list of creatures to help you potentially on deciding if you want to run some of these creatures for your own version of Aminatou, the Fateshifter.
The sort of criteria is making sure that ETB is effective, and also the stats of the creature (power/toughness) can hold up to other common early play creatures.
So I personally think that playing 1/1 creatures yourself is not advisable, as you be trading off. You really want to be at least able to survive an attack from a 1/1, so that all the opponents small creatures are held off in the early stages. So in general looking for higher toughness than 1, but there are some 1/1 creatures that have in built abilities to kill creatures, and these can be an exception.
Aether Theorist - Scry 1 is relevant to Aminatou [+1]. Auriok Champion - If your meta seems to run black or red consistently then this can also combo with Felidar Guardian for infinite life. Contraband Kingpin - Solid blocking stats, and you can use Aminatou [-1] to blink an artifact to get the Scry 1. Fogwalker - Locking down a creature for a couple of turns might be enough for you to get the traction you need. Merfolk Trickster - Locking down a creature for a couple of turns. Harbinger of the Tides - Return to hand is even more of a tempo play. Jeering Homunculus - Goad means that the creature has to attack another player. Kitesail Freebooter - This isn't perfect, as if you blink it, the card will return back to opponents hand. But you can use this to sniff out opponents, as you might not hit anything of relevance on the first opponent, so can do it on another. The 1/2 isn't great either, but in combo heavy metas is an option. Leonin Relic-Warder - Same deal that blinking will mean that the card will return. However it is a blocker, and allows you to readjust the target if needed. Omenspeaker - Scry 2 is relevant to Aminatou [+1]. Oreskos Explorer - Probably unlikely to get value on a Turn 2 play, but can be a blocker and then later on in the game you can look to get value out of it, if you come up against ramp decks. Thraben Inspector - Bare minimum stats to block mana creatures, but you can get slower draws off it from the clues.
Any time you have cards that specifies a card type, it pays to do a little math. When you have cards that say look at top X cards of your library, and you can get a particular card type, then you really want 1/X of your deck to be of that type to get consistent value. Augur of Bolas - Is a third of your deck instants or sorceries? Now if you are OK with only getting value half of the time, then this number can only be a 1/6 of your deck which is much more realistic. Glint-Nest Crane - Is a third of your deck artifacts?
But it's also important to note that Aminatou [+1] can set you up with putting a particular card type on top, so you can look to guarantee value this way.
So when looking to see if these cards could be played in my decks I do a count. Super Friends
10/99 (1/10)- Artifacts
26/99 (near 1/3) - Instants and sorceries.
1/10th for artifacts is too low to get consistent value.
Near 1/3 is borderline, but it is actually reasonable to run Augur of Bolas in the deck.
1/7 is a low number, but if you're OK with hitting an artifact less than half of the time you play the creature, then it's not unfeasible to run it. For the reasons that it does have a reasonable blocking stat and is a flyer as well.
1/3 is the perfect number for just hitting the mark, so Augur of Bolas would be a good card to include in the deck.
These are 1/1s, but do have good ETBs. I personally would not play them, but you might find they are good enough as early value and once off blockers. Augury Owl Dusk Legion Zealot High Priest of Penance
These are premium two-drops that I am running in my decks: Knight of the White Orchid - The First Strike is surprisingly relevant, holding off many creatures, and then early ramp is great. Baleful Strix - The draw is great and can threaten to kill any creature, but is prone to the 1/1 mana creatures. Wall of Omens - Perfect for draw and can survive blocking most early creatures. Snapcaster Mage - Nothing needs to be said about this fulla. Heart of Kiran - Altough not a creature as such, or an ETB trigger, the ability to cast on Turn 2 and the cast Aminatou on Turn 3 and potentially have a 4/4 flyer to block at any stage is big enough to deal with any creatures cast during those early stages, or even late game.
I was playing a game last night and somebody played a Thalia's Lancers, and I was like hmm, this card would actually be good in my Aminatou Super Friends deck. The actual 4/4 First Strike body is relevant as a blocker, it can hold off a lot of creatures. Plus the ETB is exactly what we want, especially as we can combo off with Tezzeret the Seeker so easily.
The cuts are brutal at this stage, as every card in the deck has some very specific use. I decided on Gilded Lotus, even though it can be part of some infinite combos. But I decided the combos are pretty lengthy anyway, and involve your power cards to start with, so it's likely you're doing powerful stuff even without the Gilded Lotus.
I'm pretty happy about trading a 5 mana card for another 5 mana card.
I love this deck. Finding pieces, solving the puzzle, recurring things, flashing things in, countering spells and a superfriends list!! This is everything I enjoy. Thank you for such diligence in curating this list. I'm slowly assembling the pieces... went and bought gilded drake and now I see it's been cut, and for good reason, it's more of a defensive lockdown/combo deck than caring about creature presence. Can't wait to unleash it on an unsuspecting playgroup.
I love this deck. Finding pieces, solving the puzzle, recurring things, flashing things in, countering spells and a superfriends list!! This is everything I enjoy. Thank you for such diligence in curating this list. I'm slowly assembling the pieces... went and bought gilded drake and now I see it's been cut, and for good reason, it's more of a defensive lockdown/combo deck than caring about creature presence. Can't wait to unleash it on an unsuspecting playgroup.
Thanks, I love all the intricate details as well.
It's not incorrect to run Gilded Drake, you can still swap creatures, then Aminatou [-1] the Gilded Drake, and then just not do an exchange the second time if you're worried about the 3/3 pressuring you (it will go to graveyard unfortunately). But I'm finding it really hard to make cuts, as every card in the deck is positioned to do something really useful to the general game plan.
I really want to get Augur of Bolas into the deck. I mentioned the "The Power of the Two-Drop Creatures with Aminatou" a few post above, and I do think that it's borderline good enough, I can't emphasize how important it can be to have early blockers.
It might be that from a competitive view point the Thalia's Lancers might be a bit slow, and that I should just run Augur of Bolas instead. But I really want to try it out, and it can be Flash in to get a planeswalker in a pinch?
If there are some cards that are too $$ expensive, for example Imperial Seal, then the Augur would be my first pick replacement.
The other cool thing about playing Aminatou is that we get to look forward to Guilds of Ravnica, as some of the new mechanics should play into her hands.
There is the Dimir mechanic "Surveil". Surveil is a keyword action that allows a player to look at a certain number of cards from the top of their library and put them in the graveyard or back on top in any order. It is similar to Scry.
Had a bit of testing with a flash/Rector deck. Aminatou works well since the enchantment reanimation can kill rectors as well and most importantly after you get Omniscience you can use her plus ability paired with any top of deck tutors/vault to get your win.
Thinking about more heavy creature control like Moat, Tabernacle, The abyss, Supreme Verdict, peacekeeper as well. I like the tabernacle and abyss effects since they also kill rectors. Plus nothing quite like blowing all lands then dropping a tabernacle (Heh heh heh)
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Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Had a bit of testing with a flash/Rector deck. Aminatou works well since the enchantment reanimation can kill rectors as well and most importantly after you get Omniscience you can use her plus ability paired with any top of deck tutors/vault to get your win.
Thinking about more heavy creature control like Moat, Tabernacle, The abyss, Supreme Verdict, peacekeeper as well. I like the tabernacle and abyss effects since they also kill rectors. Plus nothing quite like blowing all lands then dropping a tabernacle (Heh heh heh)
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is definitely a card worth considering, as a control element, and as a means of sacrificing the Rectors.
I think it's important to not consider Tabernacle as land for your slots, so shouldn't replace a land for your land counts.
I think The Abyss would also be a strong card for the reason of control + Rector sacs. I was thinking about Moat, but mine got stolen many years ago.
If you liked the Lancers, for the search ability then Djeru, with eyes open might also be an idea for the deck.. It searches the deck for a Planeswalker and also gives them minor damage reduction, but 1 damage per source can work vs swarm strategies.. cause creatures have to be at least 2 power to deal damage...
I see no Jace, the mind sculptor, is there are reason why not? I think the 0 ability can be quite good with Aminatou, specialy alongside miracles and such.. bounce can also be quite relevant.. Or does it just not add enough to be worth its inclusion?
Mostly wondering cause am working on a deck for Aminatou myself and I do own a Jace, actually I have probably most of the Jace PWers.. Although most of the others don't feel impressive imo... ^^
Jace, the Mind Sculptor has never been at it's best in multiplayer commander. Admittedly there are some synergies with Jace [+2] and Aminatou [+1], but still it's an expensive way to filter through a card. Using the [0] is pretty good, and the deck is already designed to have a lot of shuffle effects. Ultimately (pun not intended) it's his [-12] that is not good enough for multiplayer, and you can't even get it off the Deepglow Skate from starting loyalty. So this is the main reason. The [-1] is a bit weak as well in multiplayer, so it's hard to get traction with it, if you are trying to simply use it as tempo for a creature or two.
Thanks for the reply and your opinion. I figured that Jace TMS probably wasn't worth it as a whole. A lot of times what I notice is people think it's a powerful card and thus try to kill it on sight.. It has a high profile while being not that powerful compared to other not so high profile planes walkers.
I do like being able to manipulate my top though and missing some other options right now, wished I had the new Teferi, should be trading one soon, but havent seen the person I was gonna trade it with yet (hopefully this week).
Also if you don't have the Oath cards outside of Teferi, what would you suggest to use instead? Also don't have the Lancers, would Djeru be worth it if you don't have those? Even though his search is more limited..
On another note, what would you say are the must have Planeswalkers, search cards, etc to make this deck strong enough in a semi-competitive environment? I say semi-competitive, cause we don't have many people that play/own a cEDH deck. But there have been cases where people play things like MLD, Turn 4/5 combo or other nasty things like Stasis lock...
But at the end of the day, you just want some of the planewalkers who are going to provide you good value, probably at the minimum draw however, which is basically all of them in some capacity.
There are 61 planeswalkers in Esper to choose from, so what I'll do is I'll list the top 21 that could be played in some capacity and try and rank them in an order as well, for "best fit for this configuration of deck".
So I'll just point out that a lot does ride on the ability to get to ultimate range off a Deepglow Skate from starting loyalty.
1) Tezzeret the Seeker - Infinite combos.
2) Teferi, Temporal Archmage - Infinite combos.
3) Narset Transcendent - The [+1] works nicely with Aminatou. The ultimate is game ending.
4) Teferi, Hero of Dominaria - Draw and untapping lands is good. The ultimate is good.
5) Kaya, Ghost Assassin - Although no ultimate the cost to card advantage is nice and exiling herself means that you can look for secondary gains in following turns if a creature heavy board.
6) Will Kenrith - Drawing 2 cards is excellent. The protection is good. The ultimate is pretty average however for this particular deck.
7) Jace, Architect of Thought - Protection can be stacked up for situational boards. Deep card draw. Ultimate works particular well with combos wins.
8) Jace, the Living Guildpact - The draw works well with Aminatou. The ultimate is excellent and remains in play if Deepglow Skate (2x5=10)
9) Jace, Unraveler of Secrets - Basically for the same reasons as Jace, the Living Guildpact.
10) Sorin, Grim Nemesis - Can offer draw and definitive protection from the ultimate. Just the casting cost is a little high.
11) Jace, the Mind Sculptor - [+2] works nice with Aminatou. [0] works nicely if you have some shuffle effects. Ultimate isn't very good.
12) Jace, Memory Adept - The draw doesn't work all that well with Aminatou. The ultimate is good and remains in play if Deepglow Skate (2x4=8)
13) Tezzeret, Artifice Master - Small protection and draw. Ultimate works particular well with combos wins.
14) Tamiyo, the Moon Sage - Can provide situational draw with the [-2]. The ultimate is excellent.
15) Sorin Markov - Can reduce two opponents to 1 life in a turn with Aminatou, but the deck is not designed to push through damage.
16) Jace Beleren - Might be underrating this, as you can probably get away with [-1] and the [+2] and this will satisfy opponents to leave it alone? Ultimate is weak, so I've got it down the list.
17) Liliana Vess - You can literally draw the card you put on top with Aminatou. The ultimate is pretty situational.
18) Liliana, Death's Majesty - Offer small protection, top 2 cards into graveyard helps with Aminatou [+1]. The ultimate can help (not game ending)
19) Elspeth, Sun's Champion - No card advantage, but the protection is excellent.
20) Karn, Scion of Urza - The draw is a little awkward Aminatou [+1]. But you can guarantee that you get a card exiled with Aminatou [-1]. Not enough artifacts to make protection effective, and no ultimate.
21) Elspeth, Knight-Errant - No card advantage, small protection. The ultimate is pretty good, but the deck doesn't go wide, so trying to protect your walkers with limited creatures is still not perfect.
So as far as what can you play instead of the Oath of Gideon, Oath of Jace, Oath of Liliana? I mean you did mention you had a suite of Jaces, so no problem in slotting them in. Try and balance up protection with walkers, so lets say for every 2 walkers, you put in some type of protection. Protection means either an effective blocking creature or actual removal. I always look for getting more than one-for-one removal in multiplayer. So that might mean Damnation for example.
I already mentioned the "The Power of the Two-Drop Creatures with Aminatou", so my first pick is Augur of Bolas. I'm desperately trying to get it into my deck.
Djeru, with Eyes Open is significantly weaker than Thalia's Lancers, so I would struggle with that personally, but see what your deck looks like after adding some more planeswalkers.
Just one last thing, is that any deck could easily play more artifact mana, especially in Esper. Of the signets I'm only playing Azorius Signet, because there is very little black in the Super Friends deck. But that's not to say you couldn't play Dimir Signet and Orzhov Signet, for the reasons that you do often come up against Stax, MLD, Winter Orb type stuff.
There can be a nice advantage to planewalkers against Stax, especially cheap ones, that they don't care about untapping or requiring mana for advantage. But having some artifact mana can help with a lot of games.
@ darrenhabib, thanks for the reply, really appreciated.
From those walkers I do have quite a few luckily and I might get Teferi, hero of dominaria in a trade soon.. Don't have from that list at this moment the Teferi I just mentioned, Will Kenrith, neither of the Sorin you mentioned.. Nor the Tezzeret, Artifice Master... Rest of the better ones I do have luckily...
Oh and I do have the Deepglow Skate.. so that would add to the selection indeed.. ^^
Aha yeah, manarocks are always a good way to get some acceleration, but also they are good with Tezz I think.. so might add a few of the Signet, but I think the higher mana making ones are probably better, right?
The 2 mana creatures, I have Snappy, the death touch owl.. forgot its name.. and most of the common/uncommon that draw or scry or stuff like that... ^^
I have Academy Rector also btw, don't have the Arena Rector though, I do have Flash, but not sure.. is it worth adding those with just the Rector kinda being what works with it...
Wil make a list first then might ask your opinion again, if you don't mind giving it? I mean not like I am totally new to making decks or anything like that.. Always nice to get a second opinion though..
Of course post your deck list when you have it assembled, and even if you have a chance put cards that you own that you are considering in a "Maybe board".
The Flash is not super important, initially I didn't have it in the deck, because there is a down side of just having Flash with no targets, so can just be a dead card unless you get the Rectors. But I like it as it's a competitive way to get the combos under Stax or just able to pull off quick wins sometimes if you assemble some pieces.
So it's OK not to purchase Arena Rector and include Flash in the deck.
So, nobody's playing Ashen Rider for the reanimation plan?
Deals with any problem on board, exiles 3 permanents with animate dead + aminatou [-1] on animate dead, retargeting Ashen Rider.
is a wincon with the infinite combo. (Wincon as in all opponents will scoop it up)
One of the biggest weaknesses of the decks is actually answers to on-board hosers. Especially the Reanimation deck, as any graveyard hate shuts down a lot of what you're doing. Now unfortunately trying to reanimate an Ashen Rider would fall under the same problems, but at least there is the opportunity to hard cast it. It's expensive however, so would need to be very patient and hope the game doesn't get too out-of-control.
Is there any other creature that can get rid of permanents that costs more like 5-6 mana?
You're right, but the same goes for the two 8+ drops you have in your list, it's just the weakness of the deck.
As said by dachivale, there are alternatives, but Ashen Rider is the best option we have.
But you play a ton of rocks that you could blink in order to cast it relatively soon anyway. (In addition to Dark Ritual i'm also playing Cabal Ritual).
In my Opinion it's better than Jin-Gitaxias. It has combo potential and is still fine to hardcast. a 5/5 Flyer isn't irrelevant either.
EDIT: Honerable mention is Acidic Reality. Can be searched with Rector amd blinked with Amanitou.
You've convinced me. Actually using Flash with Ashen Rider means that you can exile two permanents. If you have a reanimate card to follow this up, then you can bring it back again, then Aminatou [-1], so exiling another two permanents.
I do love Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, but at the end of the day, he doesn't have an ETB effect, so you gain no extra value with Aminatou. Also it's a combo deck, so when given an opportunity you're going to search for the combo cards with Entomb, Buried Alive, Intuition, rather than him for value. I've already mentioned what exactly you should be going for to combo win, and if you get the opportunity to only search for one creature, it's probably going to be Razaketh, the Foulblooded or Felidar Guardian or Academy Rector, depending on what else you got.
So overall you're only reanimating Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur usually if you have him naturally in hand, and then use a hand to graveyard, or top of library to graveyard manipulation; Predict, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Search for Azcanta, Oath of Jace, Frantic Search, Windfall. As you can see there isn't actually all that many cards like this.
The thing I don't like about Reality Acid is that it demands that you use Aminatou [-1] to work. Admittedly you can get multiple uses out of it, even just using the Aminatou [-1] once, the next target will mean vanishing 3 will give it limited turn before removal.
Speaking on the value of two drops, would it be worth it trying to find a spot for Whirlpool Rider or is that effect just not needed? Thing is finding cuts to this deck is very tough as there's so many good cards!!!
A mana cheaper alternative to Ashen Rider would be Angel of Despair but it destroys, not exiles and only hits once.
The thing is that it's such a random effect. It does provide a shuffle effect, but I think it's just too hard to work around it. I took Land Tax out but I could see it being good with a deck that has Land Tax and a good threshold of basic lands. You can fill up your hand with lands and then just keep drawing new cards each turn. I'm not a fan of the 1/1 stat as well.
Also have Intuition anyways, so might as wel add that as wel... and some reanimation cards maybe.. have most of those as wel..
What are thoughts on some persist creatures to make flash more viable? Thinking Puppeteer Clique, Glen Elendra Archmage and maybe River Kelpie.. The first 2 are already pretty good on their own also I think..
Or is it now going to be to gimmicky...
Btw the most broken artifact/enchantment removal in this deck is probably Act of Authority.. Reason why.. Remove something, remove again during your upkeep, opponent gets it, use Aminatou to get it back.. and remove another permanent...
Glen Elendra Archmage is one of my favorite cards, and does work with Aminatou [-1] in that you can keep it around indefinitely. Actually I have it in my Zur the Enchanter reanimation deck, and often I'll make it my first reanimation target as that then sets you up to protect subsequent big fatties. For example it's tempting to go get a Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur as a first target for reanimation, but if somebody has removal, then you just get nothing out of it. So I've learned that often given the entire range of creatures in the deck, that Glen Elendra Archmage is in fact the best first choice.
Now this is for a different deck (Zur the Enchanter). As I was pointing out in above post, Aminatou is a combo deck, so often you're just going to head into the combo. It's kind of hard to play around disruption too much. Obviously you can wait for opponents to be tapped out and have your own counterspells like Pact of Negation, Force of Will, etc.
So Glen Elendra Archmage is definitely a card you can put in and be happy about it. It is a flyer as well, so can block in a pinch. Also with reanimation can be brought back from graveyard and this way can counter another couple of opponent key cards.
Act of Authority is super powerful at removing artifacts and enchantments. You can potentially remove 4 targets in two turns if you use Aminatou [-1] in both turns, so more or less acts like a board sweeper for opponents key stuff.
Again you'd be happy to play it in any deck with her, and I have very little removal in both decks actually. They are designed that way to be very proactive in strategy, but the reanimation deck as I say needs to worry the most about graveyard hate.
I'm just super struggling with cuts however. Just thinking out aloud basically, I could see cutting a creature removal card from the "Super Friends" deck for an Act of Authority. Obviously I've gone heavy on creature removal to protect the planeswalkers, but the thing is that there are only 8 walkers in the deck, and it's not like you're putting them out and hoping to protect them for the course of the game. Their real purpose is to get major value, if not infinite out of them in single turns. It's a combo deck, so you hold them in hand until you can do something broken with them.
So honestly I could see cutting a Wrath of God for Act of Authority, just so you have control over the enchantment and artifacts part of the game. At the moment I rely on Cyclonic Rift way to heavily to control the opponents boards. This isn't too bad as there are a lot of tutors in the deck, so you can be patient and search it up and use it when you're behind and/or need an answer to something that is hosing you. But it does feel bad when you have to use it for it's non overloaded effect, which can happen.
But there are times when you can search your library for a card, and it's nice to have "one of everything". I have plenty of creature removal but no specialized artifact or enchantment removal. So you can see my thought process for this and I'm going to make the change.
Sorry in advance for this post but I've been brainstorming a ton of potential adds for this deck and am wondering what the collective hive mind thinks about these cards, on if they're really good or not worth testing.
For reference, this is what I'm currently running and having massive success with to the point I don't know if I want to cut anything.
Djinn of wishes has been cute but also has cheated Omniscience and enter the infinite wins so I'm not even sure he's a cut. Just wanting some outside looking in opinions because I am bad at cutting things
Sun titan
Entomb
Parallax wave
Nexus of fate
Rishadan Bridgad
Rishadan Footpad
Search for Azcanta
Will Kenrith
Night Incarnate
Elspeth, sun's champion
Act of Authority
Baleful strix
Oath of liliana
Aven Mindcensor
Linvala, keeper of silence
Disenchant
Rishadan Cutpurse
Recruiter of the guard
The tabernacle at pendrells vale
Humilty
Moat
The abyss
Mox opal
Gilded lotus
Tangle wire
Temporal mastery
Dig through time
Spellskite
Zur the enchanter
Oath of jace
Transmute artifact
Whir of invention
Dispel
Delay
Mental misstep
Rhystic study
Supreme Verdict
Strip mine
Auguished unmaking
Dovin Baan
Ugin, the spirit dragon
Jace, Vryn's progidy
Diabolic intent
Phyrexian tower
Heart of Kiran
Wall of omens
Throne of Geth
Revallark
Dream halls
Frantic search
Future sight
Cursed totem
Hey guys so I've actually moved on from commander on to 60 card decks so I don't have any commander decks.
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
If you can get the The Chain Veil without using all of Tezzeret loyalty then you can look to go infinite. So there are some instances where you might want to use a turn to up tick Tezzeret to get him on at least 5 loyalty.
Then you can get the The Chain Veil, use Aminatou [-1] to blink Tezzeret and then use him again to say get Mana Vault. Now you can activate The Chain Veil probably quite easily with Mana Vault. You'll get to active Tezzeret and Aminatou again. So you can either use Tezzeret to get say Sol Ring for example, and then use Aminatou [-1] on Tezzeret. Now you have infinite, because you activate The Chain Veil again by untapping The Chain Veil and Mana Vault, using the second Tezzeret activation to either untap Mana Vault and Sol Ring -OR- just go through for another artifact like Mana Crypt. Because you are getting another planeswalker activation each time, you just keep using the new Aminatou [-1] on Tezzeret and he'll keep coming back with more and more activation's. Meaning more and more artifacts to untap and search each time. You can just use Sensei's Divining Top to draw your deck. Tap to draw a card and then use Tezzeret to search it out again.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Tezzeret the Seeker [-2] getting Throne of Geth.
Aminatou [-1] on Tezzeret. Use Throne of Geth (can just sacrifice to itself if need be) to put Tezzeret on 5 loyalty. You can now get the The Chain Veil. As long as you have the 4 to activate it you can look to go infinite as described above.
The thing is that the Flash only costs 1U, so it's not like impossible to either do it before turn, or you just naturally have 6 mana if you say did that it your turn.
Like I'm convincing myself to make these changes to the Super Friends version adding Flash, Academy Rector, Arena Rector and Throne of Geth.
That's 4 cuts, so a pretty hard to decided on changes, but I think it's going to worthwhile.
The only thing I should have pointed out, is that you'll only get 3 x Aminatou [-1] before she goes back to the Commander Zone when using the The Chain Veil and Tezzeret combo, when you use this infinite. But because Tezzeret is exponentially getting artifact mana and untapping artifact mana you'll have more than enough to pay for her and commander tax each time. Just have to make sure you get colored artifact sources at some stage along the way. Ultimately you can just Tezzeret [+1] and [+1] and then [-5] get Gilded Lotus on the third time.
But it's also important to recognize that even the first time you recast her, she'll have like 4 activation's minimum, so you can just alternate between [+1] and [-1] to avoid having to recast her again.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Ah, I misread oath. I thought it added another activation like chain veil rather than specifically saying 2. So I don't think it would work
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
Modern: URW Madcap Experiment
Pauper: MonoU Tempo Delver
My EDH Commanders:
Aminatou, The Fateshifter UBW
Azami, Lady of Scrolls U
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed B
Edric, Spymaster of Trest UG
Glissa, the Traitor BG
Arcum Dagsson U
Also Snapcaster Mage is super hard to pass up on. I should add to the primer the power of ETB 2 drops in the deck. The reason is that you can play them on Turn 2 and then Turn 3 play Aminatou [-1] and get value from them. With cards like Brainstorm, Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Swords to Plowshares, etc you can look to gain early strong plays. Admittedly a few more cantrips would make this more consistent. But Snapcaster is so good in control as you can use it as a blocker as well as have your graveyard as a resource.
For the reasons I mention above about ETB 2 drops, I am going to add Knight of the White Orchid to both my decks.
As far as cantrips another one that I'm adding to my deck is Portent. It seems slow, but you can set it up with the miracle cards and the new art is pretty sweet from the pre-con.
You should also play Tithe over a land. You can think of it as a land, but you can potentially get another one out of the deal, and it shuffles your library. You have 38 lands, so can easily support it, and will in fact help with not flooding out as much, and color fixing.
As I mentioned adding Knight of the White Orchid, another card I'm seriously looking at is Oreskos Explorer. Not as good as the Knight, but still a 2 drop with an ETB ability.
As far as what to cut I do think that Soul Warden or Soul's Attendant are the weakest cards in the deck. Sure they give you infinite life with Felidar Guardian, but honestly you are normally looking to setup a win before you would commit the Felidar to the board anyway.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Thank you for your suggestions. I am not looking to change my deck much now as whenever I try to maximize a deck's competitiveness in Commander people just stop wanting to play versus it and so that seems like wasted money then (so I focus on being competitive in Modern now =D Note: My deck may have expensive cards, because I already had them and didn't need them for a Modern deck). If I ever find a competitive play group again I would likely make many changes to make this deck more competitive.
Modern: URW Madcap Experiment
Pauper: MonoU Tempo Delver
My EDH Commanders:
Aminatou, The Fateshifter UBW
Azami, Lady of Scrolls U
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed B
Edric, Spymaster of Trest UG
Glissa, the Traitor BG
Arcum Dagsson U
Sorry, I meant my post to focus on why I didn't include Snapcaster, Search for Azcanta, and Tithe in my deck. I agree with you that Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant are some of the weakest cards and they will likely be close to the chopping block for Animate Dead and Bitterblossom.
Modern: URW Madcap Experiment
Pauper: MonoU Tempo Delver
My EDH Commanders:
Aminatou, The Fateshifter UBW
Azami, Lady of Scrolls U
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed B
Edric, Spymaster of Trest UG
Glissa, the Traitor BG
Arcum Dagsson U
Added
+ Flash
+ Academy Rector
+ Arena Rector
+ Throne of Geth
+ Wall of Omens
Removed
- Land Tax - Only 5 basics, which was OK for just searching up 1 at a time, but would like more basics to make this more consistent.
- Rings of Brighthearth - besides the planeswalkers don't actually have other cards to activate with.
- Gilded Drake - great card for hosing some commander strategies, but the 3/3 flying body is relevant against pressuring Aminatou.
- Treasure Map - This card is still great, but only good cards being cut.
- Jace, Architect of Thought - the thing is that even with Deepglow Skate and being able to ultimate at -8 loyalty means that Jace goes to the graveyard if you don't uptick. Still good, but just need to make room.
I've mentioned the combo for Tezzeret the Seeker potentially winning the game in one of the above posts (by getting Throne of Geth), but I've also added a section to the primer as well. So you can check it out there.
The Flash combos will mean that you can get Tezzeret the Seeker with Arena Rector, and probably Oath of Teferi with Academy Rector.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Added
+ Lion's Eye Diamond
+ Dark Ritual
+ Unearth
+ Exhume
+ Reveillark
+ Razaketh, the Foulblooded
+ Leonin Relic-Warder
Removed
- Land Tax
- Gilded Drake
- Final Parting
- Temporal Mastery
- Disdainful Stroke
- Mana Drain
- Grim Monolith
Currently there are not many on-board answers for graveyard hate cards, so Leonin Relic-Warder can remove a Relic of Progenitus, etc, that might be preventing you from comboing.
Also Leonin Relic-Warder can provide infinite ETB triggers, by using it with Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead, Necromancy.
I personally don't have any static ETB advantages, but you might be running a soul sister for infinite life, or Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat which will kill opponents.
Pitiless Plunderer will get you infinite tokens.
Altar of the Brood for infinite milling opponents.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Just thought I'd add a post on reflection of how two mana costing creatures can be really good for your Aminatou, the Fateshifter deck.
With Aminatou costing three mana, there is an importance to protecting her during the early stages of the game.
Having a one or two mana creature with an "enter the battlefield" ability can really set you up, as you cast it on Turn 2, then you can cast Aminatou on Turn 3 and use her [-1] to get additional value.
This creature can then threaten to block early game creatures.
I've made a select list of creatures to help you potentially on deciding if you want to run some of these creatures for your own version of Aminatou, the Fateshifter.
The sort of criteria is making sure that ETB is effective, and also the stats of the creature (power/toughness) can hold up to other common early play creatures.
Opponents playing mana creatures is popular, so you could expect Llanowar Elves, Arbor Elf, Deathrite Shaman, etc.
So I personally think that playing 1/1 creatures yourself is not advisable, as you be trading off. You really want to be at least able to survive an attack from a 1/1, so that all the opponents small creatures are held off in the early stages. So in general looking for higher toughness than 1, but there are some 1/1 creatures that have in built abilities to kill creatures, and these can be an exception.
Aether Theorist - Scry 1 is relevant to Aminatou [+1].
Auriok Champion - If your meta seems to run black or red consistently then this can also combo with Felidar Guardian for infinite life.
Contraband Kingpin - Solid blocking stats, and you can use Aminatou [-1] to blink an artifact to get the Scry 1.
Fogwalker - Locking down a creature for a couple of turns might be enough for you to get the traction you need.
Merfolk Trickster - Locking down a creature for a couple of turns.
Harbinger of the Tides - Return to hand is even more of a tempo play.
Jeering Homunculus - Goad means that the creature has to attack another player.
Kitesail Freebooter - This isn't perfect, as if you blink it, the card will return back to opponents hand. But you can use this to sniff out opponents, as you might not hit anything of relevance on the first opponent, so can do it on another. The 1/2 isn't great either, but in combo heavy metas is an option.
Leonin Relic-Warder - Same deal that blinking will mean that the card will return. However it is a blocker, and allows you to readjust the target if needed.
Omenspeaker - Scry 2 is relevant to Aminatou [+1].
Oreskos Explorer - Probably unlikely to get value on a Turn 2 play, but can be a blocker and then later on in the game you can look to get value out of it, if you come up against ramp decks.
Thraben Inspector - Bare minimum stats to block mana creatures, but you can get slower draws off it from the clues.
Any time you have cards that specifies a card type, it pays to do a little math. When you have cards that say look at top X cards of your library, and you can get a particular card type, then you really want 1/X of your deck to be of that type to get consistent value.
Augur of Bolas - Is a third of your deck instants or sorceries? Now if you are OK with only getting value half of the time, then this number can only be a 1/6 of your deck which is much more realistic.
Glint-Nest Crane - Is a third of your deck artifacts?
But it's also important to note that Aminatou [+1] can set you up with putting a particular card type on top, so you can look to guarantee value this way.
Super Friends
10/99 (1/10)- Artifacts
26/99 (near 1/3) - Instants and sorceries.
1/10th for artifacts is too low to get consistent value.
Near 1/3 is borderline, but it is actually reasonable to run Augur of Bolas in the deck.
Reanimator
14/99 (1/7) - Artifacts
33/99 (1/3) - Instants and sorceries.
1/7 is a low number, but if you're OK with hitting an artifact less than half of the time you play the creature, then it's not unfeasible to run it. For the reasons that it does have a reasonable blocking stat and is a flyer as well.
1/3 is the perfect number for just hitting the mark, so Augur of Bolas would be a good card to include in the deck.
These are 1/1s, but do have good ETBs. I personally would not play them, but you might find they are good enough as early value and once off blockers.
Augury Owl
Dusk Legion Zealot
High Priest of Penance
These are premium two-drops that I am running in my decks:
Knight of the White Orchid - The First Strike is surprisingly relevant, holding off many creatures, and then early ramp is great.
Baleful Strix - The draw is great and can threaten to kill any creature, but is prone to the 1/1 mana creatures.
Wall of Omens - Perfect for draw and can survive blocking most early creatures.
Snapcaster Mage - Nothing needs to be said about this fulla.
Heart of Kiran - Altough not a creature as such, or an ETB trigger, the ability to cast on Turn 2 and the cast Aminatou on Turn 3 and potentially have a 4/4 flyer to block at any stage is big enough to deal with any creatures cast during those early stages, or even late game.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
The cuts are brutal at this stage, as every card in the deck has some very specific use. I decided on Gilded Lotus, even though it can be part of some infinite combos. But I decided the combos are pretty lengthy anyway, and involve your power cards to start with, so it's likely you're doing powerful stuff even without the Gilded Lotus.
I'm pretty happy about trading a 5 mana card for another 5 mana card.
Super Friends
Added
+ Thalia's Lancers
Removed
- Gilded Lotus
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
It's not incorrect to run Gilded Drake, you can still swap creatures, then Aminatou [-1] the Gilded Drake, and then just not do an exchange the second time if you're worried about the 3/3 pressuring you (it will go to graveyard unfortunately). But I'm finding it really hard to make cuts, as every card in the deck is positioned to do something really useful to the general game plan.
I really want to get Augur of Bolas into the deck. I mentioned the "The Power of the Two-Drop Creatures with Aminatou" a few post above, and I do think that it's borderline good enough, I can't emphasize how important it can be to have early blockers.
It might be that from a competitive view point the Thalia's Lancers might be a bit slow, and that I should just run Augur of Bolas instead. But I really want to try it out, and it can be Flash in to get a planeswalker in a pinch?
If there are some cards that are too $$ expensive, for example Imperial Seal, then the Augur would be my first pick replacement.
The other cool thing about playing Aminatou is that we get to look forward to Guilds of Ravnica, as some of the new mechanics should play into her hands.
There is the Dimir mechanic "Surveil". Surveil is a keyword action that allows a player to look at a certain number of cards from the top of their library and put them in the graveyard or back on top in any order. It is similar to Scry.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Thinking about more heavy creature control like Moat, Tabernacle, The abyss, Supreme Verdict, peacekeeper as well. I like the tabernacle and abyss effects since they also kill rectors. Plus nothing quite like blowing all lands then dropping a tabernacle (Heh heh heh)
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is definitely a card worth considering, as a control element, and as a means of sacrificing the Rectors.
I think it's important to not consider Tabernacle as land for your slots, so shouldn't replace a land for your land counts.
I think The Abyss would also be a strong card for the reason of control + Rector sacs. I was thinking about Moat, but mine got stolen many years ago.
Peacekeeper is also a bomb if not removed.
I really want to try some number of these cards. Will have to think about cuts.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Oh yeah Djeru, with eyes open is another search for planeswalker card. I think for the mean time I'll stick with Thalia's Lancers, as it can get other combo cards like The Chain Veil, Oath of Teferi. It can even get the Oath cards for ultity; Oath of Jace, Oath of Gideon, Oath of Liliana. Surprisingly the First Strike is actually really good.
..and on that note I've convinced myself to put in Phyrexian Tower as it's a legendary land. Being able to search for a land is always a little bit extra incentive for the Thalia's Lancers. Phyrexian Tower can be used on Academy Rector and Arena Rector.
Super Friends
Added
+ Phyrexian Tower
+ Temple of Silence
Removed
- Fetid Heath
- Shelldock Isle
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
But at the end of the day, you just want some of the planewalkers who are going to provide you good value, probably at the minimum draw however, which is basically all of them in some capacity.
There are 61 planeswalkers in Esper to choose from, so what I'll do is I'll list the top 21 that could be played in some capacity and try and rank them in an order as well, for "best fit for this configuration of deck".
So I'll just point out that a lot does ride on the ability to get to ultimate range off a Deepglow Skate from starting loyalty.
1) Tezzeret the Seeker - Infinite combos.
2) Teferi, Temporal Archmage - Infinite combos.
3) Narset Transcendent - The [+1] works nicely with Aminatou. The ultimate is game ending.
4) Teferi, Hero of Dominaria - Draw and untapping lands is good. The ultimate is good.
5) Kaya, Ghost Assassin - Although no ultimate the cost to card advantage is nice and exiling herself means that you can look for secondary gains in following turns if a creature heavy board.
6) Will Kenrith - Drawing 2 cards is excellent. The protection is good. The ultimate is pretty average however for this particular deck.
7) Jace, Architect of Thought - Protection can be stacked up for situational boards. Deep card draw. Ultimate works particular well with combos wins.
8) Jace, the Living Guildpact - The draw works well with Aminatou. The ultimate is excellent and remains in play if Deepglow Skate (2x5=10)
9) Jace, Unraveler of Secrets - Basically for the same reasons as Jace, the Living Guildpact.
10) Sorin, Grim Nemesis - Can offer draw and definitive protection from the ultimate. Just the casting cost is a little high.
11) Jace, the Mind Sculptor - [+2] works nice with Aminatou. [0] works nicely if you have some shuffle effects. Ultimate isn't very good.
12) Jace, Memory Adept - The draw doesn't work all that well with Aminatou. The ultimate is good and remains in play if Deepglow Skate (2x4=8)
13) Tezzeret, Artifice Master - Small protection and draw. Ultimate works particular well with combos wins.
14) Tamiyo, the Moon Sage - Can provide situational draw with the [-2]. The ultimate is excellent.
15) Sorin Markov - Can reduce two opponents to 1 life in a turn with Aminatou, but the deck is not designed to push through damage.
16) Jace Beleren - Might be underrating this, as you can probably get away with [-1] and the [+2] and this will satisfy opponents to leave it alone? Ultimate is weak, so I've got it down the list.
17) Liliana Vess - You can literally draw the card you put on top with Aminatou. The ultimate is pretty situational.
18) Liliana, Death's Majesty - Offer small protection, top 2 cards into graveyard helps with Aminatou [+1]. The ultimate can help (not game ending)
19) Elspeth, Sun's Champion - No card advantage, but the protection is excellent.
20) Karn, Scion of Urza - The draw is a little awkward Aminatou [+1]. But you can guarantee that you get a card exiled with Aminatou [-1]. Not enough artifacts to make protection effective, and no ultimate.
21) Elspeth, Knight-Errant - No card advantage, small protection. The ultimate is pretty good, but the deck doesn't go wide, so trying to protect your walkers with limited creatures is still not perfect.
So as far as what can you play instead of the Oath of Gideon, Oath of Jace, Oath of Liliana? I mean you did mention you had a suite of Jaces, so no problem in slotting them in. Try and balance up protection with walkers, so lets say for every 2 walkers, you put in some type of protection. Protection means either an effective blocking creature or actual removal. I always look for getting more than one-for-one removal in multiplayer. So that might mean Damnation for example.
I already mentioned the "The Power of the Two-Drop Creatures with Aminatou", so my first pick is Augur of Bolas. I'm desperately trying to get it into my deck.
Djeru, with Eyes Open is significantly weaker than Thalia's Lancers, so I would struggle with that personally, but see what your deck looks like after adding some more planeswalkers.
Just one last thing, is that any deck could easily play more artifact mana, especially in Esper. Of the signets I'm only playing Azorius Signet, because there is very little black in the Super Friends deck. But that's not to say you couldn't play Dimir Signet and Orzhov Signet, for the reasons that you do often come up against Stax, MLD, Winter Orb type stuff.
There can be a nice advantage to planewalkers against Stax, especially cheap ones, that they don't care about untapping or requiring mana for advantage. But having some artifact mana can help with a lot of games.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
The Flash is not super important, initially I didn't have it in the deck, because there is a down side of just having Flash with no targets, so can just be a dead card unless you get the Rectors. But I like it as it's a competitive way to get the combos under Stax or just able to pull off quick wins sometimes if you assemble some pieces.
So it's OK not to purchase Arena Rector and include Flash in the deck.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Is there any other creature that can get rid of permanents that costs more like 5-6 mana?
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I do love Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, but at the end of the day, he doesn't have an ETB effect, so you gain no extra value with Aminatou. Also it's a combo deck, so when given an opportunity you're going to search for the combo cards with Entomb, Buried Alive, Intuition, rather than him for value. I've already mentioned what exactly you should be going for to combo win, and if you get the opportunity to only search for one creature, it's probably going to be Razaketh, the Foulblooded or Felidar Guardian or Academy Rector, depending on what else you got.
So overall you're only reanimating Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur usually if you have him naturally in hand, and then use a hand to graveyard, or top of library to graveyard manipulation; Predict, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Search for Azcanta, Oath of Jace, Frantic Search, Windfall. As you can see there isn't actually all that many cards like this.
The thing I don't like about Reality Acid is that it demands that you use Aminatou [-1] to work. Admittedly you can get multiple uses out of it, even just using the Aminatou [-1] once, the next target will mean vanishing 3 will give it limited turn before removal.
Reanimator
Added
+ Ashen Rider
Removed
- Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Now this is for a different deck (Zur the Enchanter). As I was pointing out in above post, Aminatou is a combo deck, so often you're just going to head into the combo. It's kind of hard to play around disruption too much. Obviously you can wait for opponents to be tapped out and have your own counterspells like Pact of Negation, Force of Will, etc.
So Glen Elendra Archmage is definitely a card you can put in and be happy about it. It is a flyer as well, so can block in a pinch. Also with reanimation can be brought back from graveyard and this way can counter another couple of opponent key cards.
Act of Authority is super powerful at removing artifacts and enchantments. You can potentially remove 4 targets in two turns if you use Aminatou [-1] in both turns, so more or less acts like a board sweeper for opponents key stuff.
Again you'd be happy to play it in any deck with her, and I have very little removal in both decks actually. They are designed that way to be very proactive in strategy, but the reanimation deck as I say needs to worry the most about graveyard hate.
I'm just super struggling with cuts however. Just thinking out aloud basically, I could see cutting a creature removal card from the "Super Friends" deck for an Act of Authority. Obviously I've gone heavy on creature removal to protect the planeswalkers, but the thing is that there are only 8 walkers in the deck, and it's not like you're putting them out and hoping to protect them for the course of the game. Their real purpose is to get major value, if not infinite out of them in single turns. It's a combo deck, so you hold them in hand until you can do something broken with them.
So honestly I could see cutting a Wrath of God for Act of Authority, just so you have control over the enchantment and artifacts part of the game. At the moment I rely on Cyclonic Rift way to heavily to control the opponents boards. This isn't too bad as there are a lot of tutors in the deck, so you can be patient and search it up and use it when you're behind and/or need an answer to something that is hosing you. But it does feel bad when you have to use it for it's non overloaded effect, which can happen.
But there are times when you can search your library for a card, and it's nice to have "one of everything". I have plenty of creature removal but no specialized artifact or enchantment removal. So you can see my thought process for this and I'm going to make the change.
Super Friends
Added
+ Act of Authority
Removed
- Wrath of God
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
For reference, this is what I'm currently running and having massive success with to the point I don't know if I want to cut anything.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/aminatou-the-infinite/
Djinn of wishes has been cute but also has cheated Omniscience and enter the infinite wins so I'm not even sure he's a cut. Just wanting some outside looking in opinions because I am bad at cutting things
Sun titan
Entomb
Parallax wave
Nexus of fate
Rishadan Bridgad
Rishadan Footpad
Search for Azcanta
Will Kenrith
Night Incarnate
Elspeth, sun's champion
Act of Authority
Baleful strix
Oath of liliana
Aven Mindcensor
Linvala, keeper of silence
Disenchant
Rishadan Cutpurse
Recruiter of the guard
The tabernacle at pendrells vale
Humilty
Moat
The abyss
Mox opal
Gilded lotus
Tangle wire
Temporal mastery
Dig through time
Spellskite
Zur the enchanter
Oath of jace
Transmute artifact
Whir of invention
Dispel
Delay
Mental misstep
Rhystic study
Supreme Verdict
Strip mine
Auguished unmaking
Dovin Baan
Ugin, the spirit dragon
Jace, Vryn's progidy
Diabolic intent
Phyrexian tower
Heart of Kiran
Wall of omens
Throne of Geth
Revallark
Dream halls
Frantic search
Future sight
Cursed totem
Anyway I've started my own gameplay channel in which I play games (Magic also)
Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dies_to_doom_blade
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UpsidedownHandshake