-mana confluence
-city of brass
+intuition
+negate
7/2/21
-kenrith's transformation
-devastating mastery
-wooded foothills
+comeuppance
+song of the dryads
+verdant catacombs
7/12/21
-tranquil thicket
-lonely sandbar
-secluded steppe
-thespian's stage
-arch of orazca
-detection tower
-exotic orchard
+arctic treeline
+glacial floodplain
+rimewood falls
+marsh flats
+wooded foothills
+arid mesa
+scattered groves
The utility lands weren't doing enough often enough. Cut them to increase the fetchability of my manabase AND ADD THE SCATTERED GROVES I FINALLY FOUND, BABY. YEAH! Took long enough.
7/14/21
-flooded grove
-mystic gate
-wooded bastion
+Ghost Quarter
+thespian's stage
+Wrath of God
Minor changes. Added 2 utility lands back and a wrath at the expense of the filter lands, which are occasionally awkward.
7/21/21
-Seaside Citadel
-Wrath of God
-Negate
+Arcane Lighthouse
+Reality Shift
+Sylvan Library
It was feeling a little Wrath heavy and draw light at times, so in go the Library and the shift. The negate → library shift seems sketch in some groups, but the average power level of my flgs is >7 so I wager it won't get a blink most of the time (or at least no more than anybody else's Library). Negate just sucks sometimes and if I'm going to play counterspells that sometimes suck, I'll stick to the ones that make
Geese. (Side note: I really enjoy the subtheme of a lot of our cards giving out incidental tokens. The flavor feels right somehow.) Lighthouse is just a cool new pickup who enters at the expense of Seaside Citadel, who is currently the worst land.
7/25/21
-Sylvan Library
-Austere Command
+ Mirri's Guile
+Devastating Mastery
I love ol' A.C. but killing planeswalkers matters these days. More than one superfriends deck at the shop and 4 < 6. The double bounce is whatever, I'll use it as a bribe. But wow, was I wrong about library. Casual decks fear it, competitive ones will attack you to reduce its capacity to draw cards. All around bad news. I switched it for guile, which has less name recognition, achieves an awesome filtration system in tandem with fetches, and does not provide a logical incentive to direct aggression towards the hippo savior.
Tbh, I've been tinkering with the idea of adding enlightened tutor because (my version of) the deck has
Telepathy,
Out of Time,
Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin,
Exploration,
Mirri's Guile,
Song of the Dryads, and soon
Immovable Rod. 7 targets isn't bad, with effects ranging from boardwipe to spot removal to value. I think if I end up going this way, Kenrith's transformation will probably return just to up the package count. The only real apprehension I feel is about enlightened tutor's redundancy with Wargate, which basically does E Tutor's job but broader and better.
7/26/21
-Nimble Obstructionist
-Return to Nature
-Inspiring Refrain
-Glacial Floodplain
-thespian's stage
+Mana Drain
+Nature's Claim
+Stifle
+Tundra
+Arch of Orazca
Did some A+ trading today and picked up a few goodies, including a tundra(!). Refrain is good but it isn't mana drain good and I don't want to overdo the value end of the deck anyway. Return to nature's grave hate is nice, but I have a lot of overlapping coverage for the typical graveyard antics. I figure I'll save a mana if I can. Obstructionist is the weird one. Its triggered ability is nearly uncounterable, but it also costs 3, which can be hard to hold up in the very early game when it often matters the most. Stifle is less bulletproof but significantly cheaper.
Other changes on my mind are switching Fated Retribution to WOG and Mystic Confluence for Misdirection to lower the cmc a bit.
Bonus edit:
-stubborn denial
+misdirection
So I recently cut Negate, and denial is worse than Force spike when the big PHD isn't out. Misdirection costs zero mana and can reflect mind twists. Also I got a sweet signed parente copy today, so %$#% it I am biased. Sue me.
7/27/21
-Arctic Treeline
-Rimewood Falls
+Forest
+Island
I had a revelation about the snow duals this morning - in a high grade manabase, they are only conditionally better than basics. I switched them for basics to make passage/vista slightly better.
7/28/21
-forest
-ghost quarter
-fated retribution
-reality shift
-bant charm
-snapcaster mage
+nexus of fate
+once and future
+immovable rod
+submerge
+yavimaya, cradle of growth
+strip mine
Did some more of the Lord's work while trading. The only change that worries me is Retribution → Nexus. 9 wipes down from 10 isn't statistically significant in a deck of 99, but I hesitate to tinker too much with the deck's weird biorhythm.
-Arch of Orazca
+plains
I have my reasons.
8/6/21
-Mirri's Guile
+Sensei's Divining Top
8/8/21
-Once and Future
-Immovable Rod
-Nexus of Fate
-Arcane Lighthouse
-Fabled Passage
+Bant Charm
+Reality Shift
+Fated Retribution
+Sea Gate Restoration
+Wasteland
Minor changes to improve feel.
Once and Future is out for being inconsistently adamant. Nexus is a cool anti-mill tech, but I hate drawing it outside of the 1v1 endgame stage. 7 is a lot of mana to explore. It might come back at some point, but I'm unenthused as it stands. Immovable rod has tested poorly against other removal and I'm pretty results-oriented, so I'm not sold on its what-if capabilities. Lighthouse is kinda useless 90% of the time and I can handle most voltron threats with wipes and fogs. If this changes, it's on a shortlist to reenter. Fabled passage is cool but seems unnecessary with the already ridiculous density of fetches. It stinks running out of stuff to fetch.
Reality shift, bant charm, and fated retribution are back as quality instants. Sea Gate Restoration is super low opportunity cost and is excellent late game. Wasteland comes in to support Strip Mine's land management.
I'd like to jam Inspiring Refrain and Wildest Dreams in here somewhere, but I'm not sure how or if I need to.
8/8/21 (continued)
-plains
-island
-sea gate restoration
-fated retribution
+glacial floodplain
+arctic treeline
+rimewood falls
+inspiring refrain
So after I cut the snow duals, my mana has been a little wonky in terms of fetching, specifically with my green fetchlands. Until I can complete my set of OG duals, I've added them back in. Retribution is again out because of two things: first, I don't always need a boardwipe when the board needs to be wiped. Everybody plays at least a few and mine become dead cards for a while if someone beats me to the punch. Furthermore, because I never achieve an intimidating or destructible boardstate, I can rest assured that when another player wraths, it's likely never with me in mind and thus their boardwipe works as free value for me against the dominant player.
Second, I wanted to play inspiring refrain again. The card is sweet, no further justification needed.