The dragon has the potential if you badly need another Flash enabler. However, most decks don't need more on top of Vedalken Orrery and Leyline of Anticipation. These two also give flash to your general - an EOT Hydra is awesome.
the Dragon could draw less hate, but when you're putting him in with instant-speed sweepers as your selling point, you might as well just run Quicken instead.
Tilling Treefolk and Cartographer, which can pick up the cycling lands such as Lonely Sandbar for incremental card advantage. Then find a way to get Astral Slide in play and...
Incidentally, also have some extra cash to put into the deck. Will probably get some shocks and other lands to tidy up the mana base, but also looking at adding Cryptic Command and Intuition.
The big thing about Cryptic Command, against most other counterspells, is that I can still cast it off of Epic Experiment. The modes are also really strong when copied.
As for Intuition, I've been trying out different piles in my head. Any two instant/sorceries with Mystic Retrieval means I can get both of those cards into my hand no matter what the opponent chooses. Along with Retrieval, Regrowth, Recollect and Past In Flames love juicy graveyards. However, this might open me up a bit more to grave hate, hence why I think I still need to find room for Memory's Journey and Krosan Reclamation.
Cards on the chopping block are Doubling Cube (makes me go too all-in on one turn, which I rarely have the luxury to do so), Curse of the Swine (sorcery speed really kills it as the Bacon will surely be swinging at me, the exile effect has also never really been a factor), Firemind's Foresight (this has won me a lot of games, grabbing Reiterate, Comet Storm, Mystical Tutor, which tutors for Turnabout. I doubt Intuition will be able to replace it, but the high cc has been problematic at times), and any of the 4cc draw spells.
EDIT: Thinking of replacing Past in Flames with Eternal Witness. It's very rare that I actually need to cast several cards in my graveyard at a time. Exiling the cards after resolution is also a bummer, as I can't do buyback shenanigans with it. Eternal Witness will make my Genesis Waves a bit better, and goes well with the Cryptic Command that I'm adding, especially with Prophet of Kruphix in play.
My play group has allowed me to proxy up Waste Not. That, with Geth's Grimoire, makes for a great draw engine with the wheels. However, these two cards don't play nice with Spiteful Visions and Phyrexian Tyranny. Which pair do you guys think should I include over the other?
Yeah, spellslinger/storm isn't that expensive, not unless you focus on a strategy requires Wheel of Fortune. There are many ways to go about it though.
Infect is also pretty cheap and comes in a variety of flavors. My very first EDH deck was Mimeoplasm Infect, and it was pretty inexpensive to build.
I just finished an awesome game. It was Riku of Two Reflections, Sharuum the Hegemon, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, and Karador, Ghost Chieftain. Ho-hum, all popular generals - only, none of us had a "normal" build!
Mine was Riku spellslinger, Sharuum focused on trinkets (Auriok Salvagers, Salvaging Station, spellbombs, no combos), GAAIV was a storm (!!!) deck, and Karador ran every single Extort permanent and just pinged away with his every spell.
That's actually an idea I've been throwing around in my head for the longest time. Copied pump spells sound like insane fun. It's never really gotten off the ground for me, as without built-in evasion or protection, Riku's just too fragile.
Sometimes though, I am pleasantly surprised when the player has a different take on a popular general. I myself have such a deck, a Riku of Two Reflections deck that focuses on Epic Experiments and Genesis Waves rather than a generic RUG good stuff deck.
Seriously, if I were in your situation, I would shelve my Commander deck altogether and choose another format for the time being. And probably get my Commander fix over at Cockatrice.
It's true that you don't want to such out other people's fun from games, but that also means that you should also be having some semblance of fun yourself.
the Dragon could draw less hate, but when you're putting him in with instant-speed sweepers as your selling point, you might as well just run Quicken instead.
(God devotion text)
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage, it deals that much damage to each opponent.
6/6
Or even just to target opponent, if that's too powerful.
I'm building that right now.
Incidentally, also have some extra cash to put into the deck. Will probably get some shocks and other lands to tidy up the mana base, but also looking at adding Cryptic Command and Intuition.
The big thing about Cryptic Command, against most other counterspells, is that I can still cast it off of Epic Experiment. The modes are also really strong when copied.
As for Intuition, I've been trying out different piles in my head. Any two instant/sorceries with Mystic Retrieval means I can get both of those cards into my hand no matter what the opponent chooses. Along with Retrieval, Regrowth, Recollect and Past In Flames love juicy graveyards. However, this might open me up a bit more to grave hate, hence why I think I still need to find room for Memory's Journey and Krosan Reclamation.
Cards on the chopping block are Doubling Cube (makes me go too all-in on one turn, which I rarely have the luxury to do so), Curse of the Swine (sorcery speed really kills it as the Bacon will surely be swinging at me, the exile effect has also never really been a factor), Firemind's Foresight (this has won me a lot of games, grabbing Reiterate, Comet Storm, Mystical Tutor, which tutors for Turnabout. I doubt Intuition will be able to replace it, but the high cc has been problematic at times), and any of the 4cc draw spells.
EDIT: Thinking of replacing Past in Flames with Eternal Witness. It's very rare that I actually need to cast several cards in my graveyard at a time. Exiling the cards after resolution is also a bummer, as I can't do buyback shenanigans with it. Eternal Witness will make my Genesis Waves a bit better, and goes well with the Cryptic Command that I'm adding, especially with Prophet of Kruphix in play.
This style of play might get boring for you quickly though. When I tried out an Edric build, I scrapped it right away after the first game of testing.
Infect is also pretty cheap and comes in a variety of flavors. My very first EDH deck was Mimeoplasm Infect, and it was pretty inexpensive to build.
Mine was Riku spellslinger, Sharuum focused on trinkets (Auriok Salvagers, Salvaging Station, spellbombs, no combos), GAAIV was a storm (!!!) deck, and Karador ran every single Extort permanent and just pinged away with his every spell.
What a great game.
Sometimes though, I am pleasantly surprised when the player has a different take on a popular general. I myself have such a deck, a Riku of Two Reflections deck that focuses on Epic Experiments and Genesis Waves rather than a generic RUG good stuff deck.
I've seen Ruhan of the Fomori Slivers (focusing on making Ruhan a Sliver to get the bonuses), Maelstrom Wanderer that runs nothing less than 8cc aside from Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Pestermite (Blasphemous Act, Decree of Silence, etc.), Damia, Sage of Stone Voltron, and a whole lot that escape me right now.
What are the most unique and different takes that you guys have seen from popular generals?
It's true that you don't want to such out other people's fun from games, but that also means that you should also be having some semblance of fun yourself.