So been contemplating where I could try Galecaster Colossus in my deck and initially I had a tough time deciding on what card to potentially cut for it. I did recently add Capsize to my deck, though haven't gotten to play with the deck since but in a Wizard tribal deck Colossus seems like a potential alternative for Capsize. With Paradox Engine and Isochron Scepter it would easy to go clear boards, so might end up giving it a spin in that slot. CMC still is high but compared to Capsize with buyback its only one mana more, bounce two permanents and Colossus actually could be considered cheaper. Sure, its more fragile but might be worth the synergy.
Path of Ancestry feels like a card that could do some work since we're wizard tribal anyways, but not sure if it gives enough benefit to warrant the coming in tapped. Will be trying it though, probably running it over Thawing Glaciers since its the only other land I have that comes in tapped, along with Tolaria West but that's more acting like a tutor. And Glaciers hasn't been impressing me that much in this deck anyways.
Decided against trying Kindred Discovery, my deck currently isn't geared towards bouncing my own creatures and swinging in isn't what my deck really wants to do either. So the real benefit of the card is limited and not worth running for that casting cost.
I believe your list is much better designed to take advantage of Paradox Engine and the Colossus than mine is. You'll have to let me know how it goes
I don't particularly like Thawing Glaciers. It's very slow and I tend to be treated as a pretty good target to eliminate early if I stumble on setting my board up. Path of Ancestry seems leagues better than that land at least. Plus another land that adds colored mana seems welcome over one that doesn't.
Kindred Discovery is clearly an amazing card . . for a tribal deck who's commander isn't an efficient and dedicated card draw engine. There are times where Azami will get removed/countered repeatedly and our engine doesn't get online. Since we have our own permission spells, however, we should be able to limit this from happening too often. Azami decks, like a lot of strategies, revolve around the power of the commander. Since the power of our commander is to draw cards, I don't really like the idea of a 5 cmc spell that doesn't normally do anything the turn it's. It's still a great card, but this may be the only blue/x tribal deck that doesn't want or need it in the list.
I'm well! Life got busy there for a minute, so I disconnected from MTGSalvation for a while. I'm able to manage my time a little more effectively, so I have the time to reach out on others' threads and not just my own.
Allanon, I think you're playing Paradox Engine, correct? The Colossus becomes absurdly powerful with the Engine out. Pretty uch any Wizard becomes better with the Engine out, and it's become one of my favorite cards to play in my new iteration of Memnarch. I've taken some pointers from some cEDH contributors, and I've raelly, really enjoyed the synergies that the list currently has. If you aren't playing it, I think you should. It is a may trigger, so you can regulate it a little more and preserve friendships.
I'm not playing Paradox Engine at the moment. I have one tucked away in the "maybe board", but it isn't currently in the deck. I haven't bothered to really try it out yet because it did strike me as slower, but much stronger, Intruder Alarm. Since the later was a card I used to play and then gave up on because its absurd with Azami and I wanted to scale the list back a bit, I haven't thought much about it. It plus the Colossus would be a pretty insane synergy, just like my commander. I could see those two as somewhat of a win condition where you just stare at your opponents and ask them if you can just go on to the next game.
I appears the trigger on the Engine is not a may either. Or were you referring to me having the choice to not bounce all of my opponent's things with the giant? I guess another problem with my list is that I don't run that many mana rocks or ways to continuously make blue mana to fuel the Engine. So the power level is severely diminished with my current build.
Although, I did just add Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond back in. Maybe I'll consider the Engine again when I move some cards around.
I hear you on the life thing. I just came back after a 6-8 month hiatus. I still played magic, but I couldn't find the time to jump on the site for more than a minute at a time. I hope life is treating you well and you keep finding the time to jump in every now and again
GAlecaster Colossus is designed to be a decently fair. If it could bounce your own things, it would be absurdly powerful, even with its 7 CMC. That being said, I still think that it's a decent card at the top end of an Azami deck because it enables an even harder control game. Having the Colossus and Azami out lets you threaten a removal spell for whatever your opponent is trying to do or you can draw cards. It's a great way of putting your opponents in a Catch-22 situation.
Benjameenbear! How are you doing?
I agree that Galecaster Colossus is better the way its currently printed. If it was the other way around it would almost certainly end up in my "cards I don't play anymore because I love my friends" list. I'll still give him a shot though. I always like to be pleasantly surprised by new cards I try out.
The combos in the deck are the main ways to win, but the clones, mainly Rite of Replication, can let the deck win with other peoples creatures. Getting 5 Gray Merchant of Asphodels in play usually kills the table or 5 Sepulchral Primordial's can create a pretty large board. Bribery is best way to win with someone else's deck, especially when combined with the clones and extra turn spells. So the deck isn't a fully reliant on the combos per se, but they are the easiest route to winning if thats all you're trying to do
Give my primer a read if you get curious.
I just traded away my Bribery D:
I currently have a mono blue Padeem/Arcum deck that can only win via Combo, but it feels rather dry and uninteractive for everyone else. I really like the idea of Wizard Tribal, and Azami is just too good, but I'm thinking of veering towards Inalla for more value generation than just blanket card draw and permission.
Speaking of powerful commanders, I think Inalla is bonkers good. So many good ETB wizards to abuse. Especially the new Bloodline Necromancer. I love to draw cards so thats why I personally play Azami, but Inalla is definitely a solid choice with low risk since you'll always have her ability available to you.
The combos in the deck are the main ways to win, but the clones, mainly Rite of Replication, can let the deck win with other peoples creatures. Getting 5 Gray Merchant of Asphodels in play usually kills the table or 5 Sepulchral Primordial's can create a pretty large board. Bribery is best way to win with someone else's deck, especially when combined with the clones and extra turn spells. So the deck isn't a fully reliant on the combos per se, but they are the easiest route to winning if thats all you're trying to do
Nothing is more annoying than "Did you pay the 1?" after every single spell, and redirecting any single target effect randomly in the mid to late game...........
Grip of Chaos is one of my favorite chaos cards to see in play. Right up there with Possibility Storm for throwing wrenches in everybody's plans.
Not much to say about Azami that hasn't already been said. Wizards generally have relevant, powerful abilities outside of the fact that she's my commander. Blue gets access to many powerful effects almost unique to it as a color like counters and extra turn spells. And she has use of her ability immediately if she enters play unlike other commanders like Arcanis the Omnipotent so the card advantage begins right away. You add on top of that clone and theft effects, and you can make quite a lot happen in a game. Mono color means that non-basic land hate doesn't slow me down as much and I never have to be worried about being blocked out of my colors. She's simple, direct, and powerful.
My playgroup really takes advantage of this being a much more social format. If someone is having a hard time going off because they're playing around counter magic or what not, then we simply just joke amongst ourselves and talk about things like movies, videogames, and D&D. We keep an eye on whats going on at the table to see if we can interject in the turn in any way, but we don't make a big fuss over it most of the time.
This whole thing gets more difficult in a group full of strangers, but I guess I view that as a great way to meet new people and talk about activities you enjoy beyond magic. When people do this, turns that take forever like an "eggs" combo really don't seem to take that long at all.
My list does rely a fair bit on the combo aspect and uses Azami to help either find them or to go off. Though having some budget constraints it tends to be a tad slower than the really fined tuned combo decks, running stuff like fast mana is just not much of an option for me right now. That said the list is meant to be less durdly than some of my other decks and it does that just fine.
Knowledge Exploitation seems like a fun card to run though, might give it a try in one of my other decks if I can scavenge up a copy.
As far as Galecaster Colossus goes, it's definitely an interesting card but to me it feels a bit expensive to cast and well I'd probably say for me the biggest downside is that it only bounces your opponent's stuff. That said, I'm not totally writing it off either. For example, with Paradox Engine it can become easily a repeatably usable Cyclonic Rift, especially if you have the option to flash it in.
Since Teferi just barely swapped out the dream of flashing that giant in is probably dead to my deck at least for a little while. I swap around cards all the time in the list to try things out though. I only put up my changes on here when they become more concrete and I think its where I want it to be. I like to get a lot of games in to test them out before I decide whether or not they were actually a good idea.
Also, if Galecaster Colossus could bounce our own permanents then I wouldn't be able to shove it in my deck fast enough. Those are just the kind of broken shenanigans I want to play. It would have been too good though probably.
"Cast Snapcaster Mage, target one of the counterspells in my graveyard, counter your bomb, tap Mr. Chan, return him to my hand . . . do you pass turn?"
If you're playing Azami, the goal is to be as efficient as possible. One-drop Wizards are the way to go. Even Magus of the Future is too much. Really only Deadeye and Peregrine Drake/Palinchronon infinite mana combo is worth all that mana when you had things like Mind Over Matter to cast IMO. Get quick efficient advantage and win fast. You won't survive otherwise.
It is true that Azami can, and often does, receive a lot of hate towards her. I don't think that means the deck must be built a certain way every time though. I love how powerful she is, but I've leaned heavily over the years towards cards that give me options over those that are only there to combo off or find the combos. Things like Knowledge Exploitation make it in because I'm in love with decisions and all of the variables involved when making them. I'm also not up against turn 3 storm decks that often either I suppose. I feel who we play against and what they play has a very real impact on what is realistically doable in a given group of players. I am surrounded by a wide variety of decks and strategies where I play, but many of them are still things you would want to reasonably kill so I'm not always target numero uno on the hit list. I'm guessing your meta is extremely aggressive? Also, how do you feel about the new Galecaster Colossus? Probably too slow if you're going for the quick combo kill and not playing table police.
I want to start off this round of changes by saying that I think I've reached the point in this deck where I have too many favorite cards to choose from. Every round of changes means that cards I love playing with, and that are usually also very powerful, are getting cut somewhere in the list. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is the main casualty this time around. He is absurdly powerful, and works very well with the general wants of the deck. However, I have noticed lately that I have never "needed" him to win. He solidified my victory like he does for a lot of other combo strategies, but never did I think it was vital that he be in play before I started my shenanigans. He has become sort of win more as crazy as it is to say. He also competes with other 5 drops in the deck and, even though he has flash, always appears to be my last choice of things to cast in a given turn. This may be partly because of how my meta is shifting to very fast paced tactics both combo and aggro oriented. So it looks like it's time to start turning up the dials a little bit on Azami and adding a couple cards back in that haven't been in here since before I made this thread - Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond. Wayfarer's Bauble also gets the axe to make room for the more risky, but much faster mana accelerators. I still don't want to necessarily win more quickly, but I want the chance to get out of the gates and set up for the game before I'm overrun by decks like Karlov and Saskia. Daring Apprentice served it's purpose well as a 'layaway' counterspell for protecting Azami, but I've come to prefer the medallion like effect of Baral. He blocks very well as a 1/3 body early in the game, reduces the cost of many cards in our deck, and lets us loot when we use our large amount of permission spells. He's very strong and I cut what I perceived as the weakest link among my wizards to make room for him.
Finally we get to Evacuation. I know it seems counterintuitive that I both talked about the rise of fast, aggressive strategies in my meta and am cutting one of my best answers to such a threat, and you are absolutely correct. I makes no sense at all! I revert back to the beginning where I talked about how ever cut I make is always going to be a good card that does good things for the deck. Still, I have to cut something in order to play the cards I truly want to play. I also believe, in my defense, that Knowledge Exploitation can functionally act as a more traditional board wipe if we need it to. Chances are someone in the game will have a Wrath of God, Damnation, or Akroma's Vengeance lying around in their library. The downside is it's a sorcery. The upside is it's almost exactly like Bribery and, just like Bribery, there are so many options and decisions to be made when you use this card.
That's pretty much the changes that I've made since I've been gone. I tried out a lot of cards but this is what I ended up going with for now. I think I may try out Thought Vessel and see how it is. It's a 2 CMC mana rock that doesn't enter tapped with a relevant secondary ability so its probably ok at least. Thanks for reading and have a great day
And that is one of the many reason's I love Azami so much. Tribal theme, mono-color, draws cards, and can end a game more or less regardless of life totals, board presence, and other nonsense like that. Seeing the new Teferi's Protection card makes me glad I can just win the game anyway even though that player is off lost in time somewhere
I think for my list the best non-combo win condition I have anymore is just a well timed Rite of Replication on something like an Inferno Titan. It happens enough that I don't always have to combo. Bribery works in a similar fashion when done early also. Wanting to not always be accelerating towards a combo and ruining a lot of games for my friends is one of the reason's the clone and theft effect theme became so pronounced in the deck. It gives you options throughout the game and lets you have outs when you either can't or don't want to combo off again.
Galecaster Colossus: My opinion on this guy changes every day. One day I find him too expensive and clunky, the other day it seems like one of the best Wizards for my Azami-deck ever.
If you're running a control build of Azami, it seems good enough to play especially since removal is weak in mono-blue. I can see it being very annoying with Paradox Engine.
Since it doesn't allow you to bounce you're own permanents, it's unplayable in a strictly combo version.
Agreed. He seems absurd in play with Azami and a couple more wizards. Patron Wizard as well if you feel like being a jerk about it
My list leans much more towards control then it does combo, but the main theme thats been growing is clones and "Use your stuff" effects. He still seems just a little slow though. 7 mana is a lot. In terms of mana investment it would be right up there with something like Palinchron and he just wins the game when we tap that much to cast him usually. I'll test him though, and I always hope to be pleasantly surprised.
Also you get all of my additional internet points for running Jareth, Leonine Titan. I really love that card and never see him played.
I believe your list is much better designed to take advantage of Paradox Engine and the Colossus than mine is. You'll have to let me know how it goes
I don't particularly like Thawing Glaciers. It's very slow and I tend to be treated as a pretty good target to eliminate early if I stumble on setting my board up. Path of Ancestry seems leagues better than that land at least. Plus another land that adds colored mana seems welcome over one that doesn't.
Kindred Discovery is clearly an amazing card . . for a tribal deck who's commander isn't an efficient and dedicated card draw engine. There are times where Azami will get removed/countered repeatedly and our engine doesn't get online. Since we have our own permission spells, however, we should be able to limit this from happening too often. Azami decks, like a lot of strategies, revolve around the power of the commander. Since the power of our commander is to draw cards, I don't really like the idea of a 5 cmc spell that doesn't normally do anything the turn it's. It's still a great card, but this may be the only blue/x tribal deck that doesn't want or need it in the list.
I'm not playing Paradox Engine at the moment. I have one tucked away in the "maybe board", but it isn't currently in the deck. I haven't bothered to really try it out yet because it did strike me as slower, but much stronger, Intruder Alarm. Since the later was a card I used to play and then gave up on because its absurd with Azami and I wanted to scale the list back a bit, I haven't thought much about it. It plus the Colossus would be a pretty insane synergy, just like my commander. I could see those two as somewhat of a win condition where you just stare at your opponents and ask them if you can just go on to the next game.
I appears the trigger on the Engine is not a may either. Or were you referring to me having the choice to not bounce all of my opponent's things with the giant? I guess another problem with my list is that I don't run that many mana rocks or ways to continuously make blue mana to fuel the Engine. So the power level is severely diminished with my current build.
Although, I did just add Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond back in. Maybe I'll consider the Engine again when I move some cards around.
I hear you on the life thing. I just came back after a 6-8 month hiatus. I still played magic, but I couldn't find the time to jump on the site for more than a minute at a time. I hope life is treating you well and you keep finding the time to jump in every now and again
Benjameenbear! How are you doing?
I agree that Galecaster Colossus is better the way its currently printed. If it was the other way around it would almost certainly end up in my "cards I don't play anymore because I love my friends" list. I'll still give him a shot though. I always like to be pleasantly surprised by new cards I try out.
Speaking of powerful commanders, I think Inalla is bonkers good. So many good ETB wizards to abuse. Especially the new Bloodline Necromancer. I love to draw cards so thats why I personally play Azami, but Inalla is definitely a solid choice with low risk since you'll always have her ability available to you.
The combos in the deck are the main ways to win, but the clones, mainly Rite of Replication, can let the deck win with other peoples creatures. Getting 5 Gray Merchant of Asphodels in play usually kills the table or 5 Sepulchral Primordial's can create a pretty large board. Bribery is best way to win with someone else's deck, especially when combined with the clones and extra turn spells. So the deck isn't a fully reliant on the combos per se, but they are the easiest route to winning if thats all you're trying to do
Give my primer a read if you get curious.
Grip of Chaos is one of my favorite chaos cards to see in play. Right up there with Possibility Storm for throwing wrenches in everybody's plans.
This whole thing gets more difficult in a group full of strangers, but I guess I view that as a great way to meet new people and talk about activities you enjoy beyond magic. When people do this, turns that take forever like an "eggs" combo really don't seem to take that long at all.
Start flickering their lands and other non-enchantment stuff at their upkeeps. Good old locks.
Altar of Dementia will also just mill them.
That's just one that my friend's Heliod deck does to me when he can pull it off
Since Teferi just barely swapped out the dream of flashing that giant in is probably dead to my deck at least for a little while. I swap around cards all the time in the list to try things out though. I only put up my changes on here when they become more concrete and I think its where I want it to be. I like to get a lot of games in to test them out before I decide whether or not they were actually a good idea.
Also, if Galecaster Colossus could bounce our own permanents then I wouldn't be able to shove it in my deck fast enough. Those are just the kind of broken shenanigans I want to play. It would have been too good though probably.
"Cast Snapcaster Mage, target one of the counterspells in my graveyard, counter your bomb, tap Mr. Chan, return him to my hand . . . do you pass turn?"
Archaeomancer and Vendilion Clique produce equally crazy scenarios. That would have been quite the 7 drop.
It is true that Azami can, and often does, receive a lot of hate towards her. I don't think that means the deck must be built a certain way every time though. I love how powerful she is, but I've leaned heavily over the years towards cards that give me options over those that are only there to combo off or find the combos. Things like Knowledge Exploitation make it in because I'm in love with decisions and all of the variables involved when making them. I'm also not up against turn 3 storm decks that often either I suppose. I feel who we play against and what they play has a very real impact on what is realistically doable in a given group of players. I am surrounded by a wide variety of decks and strategies where I play, but many of them are still things you would want to reasonably kill so I'm not always target numero uno on the hit list. I'm guessing your meta is extremely aggressive? Also, how do you feel about the new Galecaster Colossus? Probably too slow if you're going for the quick combo kill and not playing table police.
Wayfarer's Bauble
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Daring Apprentice
Evacuation
IN
Chrome Mox
Mox Diamond
Baral, Chief of Compliance
Knowledge Exploitation
I want to start off this round of changes by saying that I think I've reached the point in this deck where I have too many favorite cards to choose from. Every round of changes means that cards I love playing with, and that are usually also very powerful, are getting cut somewhere in the list. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is the main casualty this time around. He is absurdly powerful, and works very well with the general wants of the deck. However, I have noticed lately that I have never "needed" him to win. He solidified my victory like he does for a lot of other combo strategies, but never did I think it was vital that he be in play before I started my shenanigans. He has become sort of win more as crazy as it is to say. He also competes with other 5 drops in the deck and, even though he has flash, always appears to be my last choice of things to cast in a given turn. This may be partly because of how my meta is shifting to very fast paced tactics both combo and aggro oriented. So it looks like it's time to start turning up the dials a little bit on Azami and adding a couple cards back in that haven't been in here since before I made this thread - Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond. Wayfarer's Bauble also gets the axe to make room for the more risky, but much faster mana accelerators. I still don't want to necessarily win more quickly, but I want the chance to get out of the gates and set up for the game before I'm overrun by decks like Karlov and Saskia.
Daring Apprentice served it's purpose well as a 'layaway' counterspell for protecting Azami, but I've come to prefer the medallion like effect of Baral. He blocks very well as a 1/3 body early in the game, reduces the cost of many cards in our deck, and lets us loot when we use our large amount of permission spells. He's very strong and I cut what I perceived as the weakest link among my wizards to make room for him.
Finally we get to Evacuation. I know it seems counterintuitive that I both talked about the rise of fast, aggressive strategies in my meta and am cutting one of my best answers to such a threat, and you are absolutely correct. I makes no sense at all! I revert back to the beginning where I talked about how ever cut I make is always going to be a good card that does good things for the deck. Still, I have to cut something in order to play the cards I truly want to play. I also believe, in my defense, that Knowledge Exploitation can functionally act as a more traditional board wipe if we need it to. Chances are someone in the game will have a Wrath of God, Damnation, or Akroma's Vengeance lying around in their library. The downside is it's a sorcery. The upside is it's almost exactly like Bribery and, just like Bribery, there are so many options and decisions to be made when you use this card.
That's pretty much the changes that I've made since I've been gone. I tried out a lot of cards but this is what I ended up going with for now. I think I may try out Thought Vessel and see how it is. It's a 2 CMC mana rock that doesn't enter tapped with a relevant secondary ability so its probably ok at least. Thanks for reading and have a great day
I think for my list the best non-combo win condition I have anymore is just a well timed Rite of Replication on something like an Inferno Titan. It happens enough that I don't always have to combo. Bribery works in a similar fashion when done early also. Wanting to not always be accelerating towards a combo and ruining a lot of games for my friends is one of the reason's the clone and theft effect theme became so pronounced in the deck. It gives you options throughout the game and lets you have outs when you either can't or don't want to combo off again.
Agreed. He seems absurd in play with Azami and a couple more wizards. Patron Wizard as well if you feel like being a jerk about it
My list leans much more towards control then it does combo, but the main theme thats been growing is clones and "Use your stuff" effects. He still seems just a little slow though. 7 mana is a lot. In terms of mana investment it would be right up there with something like Palinchron and he just wins the game when we tap that much to cast him usually. I'll test him though, and I always hope to be pleasantly surprised.