Scratch that Phew

...just reread it. It's Xbox Live account bound. Rerage time.

My thoughts on the M14 Rule Change.

I personally from a gameplay perspective love love love the new rulings. Speaking as a person that plays mostly Commander this just makes me so excited!

Why?

Because no longer will I have to worry about sharing a general with others! This opens up a whole new world! A new fantastic point of view! It's just awesome.

Now to the negatives...flavorwise it makes like no sense. I know about flavor explanation from Doug Beyer. But still. However, I think in the long scheme of things this will make the game a bit more fun.

Next up I think most people that are upset, are upset because of the increased difficulty of killing shrouded/hexproofed Avacyns and other creatures like her with the removal of Clone murder. If I am being totally honest...don't let her get shrouded/indestructible. There a crapton of tuck/exile effects that work. Play spot removal. Adapt. It will be different at first but change isn't always necessarily bad and I think this one is being blown way out of proportion.

And on a similar final note. Fuck Geist of Saint Ass.

Phew...

Okay so Xbox One isn't as bad as it appeared at first.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/05/phil-harrison-xbox-one/

The used game bit is the issue that concerned me the most and that is confirmed false (?) maybe. It's kinda vague if it is tied to the disc or the Xbox Live account.

Gearing up for WoW again.

My roomies and I reactivated our WoW accounts. Pandaria...prepare yourself for our awesomeness.

Best Gif Ever (Xbox One)

http://i.minus.com/iBzvb2JSpQNRM.gif

This is amazing.

Xbox One...WTF?!!

Hey there Mr. Brendan!

Oh hey there Jim. What be the haps?

Did you see this super awesome new system?!!! The Xbox One!

Oh...I saw it Jim. I...saw it. The system that broke my heart...and killed a little bit of me.

Wait what?

First off Jim...the name is fucking stupid. Xbox One? What do you mean the first Xbox or the Xbox One? Fucking confusing.

Yeah...but at least it is not as bad as the Wii U.

Yeah...that's true but still what the hell?

Well...it has the super cool kinect!

Yeah that's great Jim...except for this time it is required. I don't want to have to deal with making sure the Kinect can see me and do all of its BS everytime I want to play a game. It just feels like a stupid gimmick that's being forced down our throats this time.

But you can play online with your friends! They have a lot of servers now.

Yeah that is all well and good. Except for you have to be connected to the internet at least once a day to play solo. When I want to play games a lot of the time I don't connect to Xbox Live because a lot of the time when I am playing single player games...I don't want to.

Wait what?

Exactly. Another thing that pisses me off about the Xbox One is their "used" game policy. I live with 2 other roommates and we each have our own Xbox. When we go out and get a new game we often go halfsies or thirdsies. Now we have to pay to install each of our new games on each of our Xbox Ones. What the hell.

At least the installing is a cool thing...

Yeah...it's not. It is a major pain in the ass to do when you want to play a new game. Also the Xbox One has 500 GB of memory. The average game is about 25 GB for Blueray based games. 9 GB otherwise. So have fun with all that space. Oh and guess what...no spots for external hard drives.

...

Yeah...it's pretty fucking terrible.

M14 - Scourge of Valkas

Very meh to me. I would have preferred it if he gave Dragons Warstorm Surge's ability. That would have been fucking amazing. As it is though it's a cool card for dragon based EDH decks.

M14 - Windreader Sphinx

Source - http://www.gatheringmagic.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=35547

Awesome EDH card. I can totally see it in Isperia lists.

M14 - Ratchet Bomb

Source - http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=511974

It appears like Ratchet Bomb is the buy a box promo. So basically...eat a dick tokens :D. Seeing this though makes me realize how much I miss Sun Titan. Oh well...at least we still have Trading Post. 

M14 - Goblin Diplomats (Game Day Promos)

Source - http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Events.aspx?x=mtgcom/events/gameday-facts

This art is awesome. As for the card itself, it is an interesting effect. I'm not so sure how much play it will see to be honest.

The common is Hive Stirrings

M14 - Colossal Whale

Okay so this probably won't see constructed player. It will be a limited bomb and that's probably the best it will do. BUT...this is the most awesome art I have seen in a while. Just...whoa!!! Also it's a whale. I haven't seen a whale in forever. Magic needs more whales. And unicorns...so I can ride the shit out of them.

Virused

Hey guys sorry for the lack of updates in the past two days. My comp got a lovely virus. But it's getting all better now and more spoiler analyses should be up soonish.

M14 - Other Promos (Bonescythe Sliver + Ogre Battledriver)

Yeah...because that's what Slivers need to make them even more terrifying. Also seriously? Are they even trying to not make Slivers look like predators?

Oh hey Into the Web of War! How have you been? What's that you cost one less and have a 3/3 body? Awesome! Welcome to Norin!

M14 - Ring of Three Wishes

Okay first I love the flavor of this card. Awesome. However, realistically this is a worse Planar Portal. Now you might be like Brendan are you on crack?!! This costs 1 less and usually you don't get more than one tutor with Planar Portal. This is true. However, you can't tutor for this effectively with Treasure Mage. Most of the time if you are using a card like this the one mana isn't going to matter too too much, and I'd rather have the consistency of PP. However this is still an awesomely flavorful card. Plus it gives more causal players a chance to grab a near PP so it isn't all bad.

M14 - Rise of the Dark Realms

Holy shit! Man is this card cool for black EDH. Thanks Wizards. You made my Lazav deck in development a very happy theoretical person.

M14 - Devout Invocation

This one is just okay for me. Seems like it could be cool in a Rhys EDH deck, but to me it costs too much and requires you to have a lot of creatures for it to be worth the risk. Plus tapping a token army to generate a bunch of Angels, without haste doesn't seem too great. Overall I'd rather have Entreat the Angels, but I'm sure some casual players will find joy in this card.

M14 - Primeval Bounty

Alright I'll start with this because it's easily my favorite of the leaked cards. This seems like its a near auto include in any green EDH deck. Token generation with creatures? Awesome. Getting a morbid Hunger of the Howlpack with every noncreature spell? Dope. Gaining three life with each land drop...in a green deck? Fucking amazing. Thank you wizards...this slightly redeems Awaken the Ancients.

M14 - Huge Spoiler

Here - http://www.gatheringmagic.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=35496

I will be commenting on each individual card. However, as it's the weekend currently I have a lot going on with my girlfriend. Expect comments on the mythics/rares either tomorrow or Monday. The other cards will be a day later.

Love you guys,

Brendan

Update - She has some HW to do...so...mythic time!

M14 - Awaken the Ancient

Source: http://majorspoilers.com/2013/05/16/gaming-exclusive-magic-2014-preview-card/#more-203851

My Thoughts - Lame. First - Enchant Mountain. Why not enchant land? Also the haste part of the card will rarely be relevant. If you are tapping to make it a beatstick you will obviously use the land that isn't prone to summoning sickness. A better ability would be to untap the land.

M14 - Megantic Sliver

Source - http://io9.com/magic-the-gatherings-summer-set-preview-megantic-s-505918785

Overall my thoughts - Cool Collective Blessing for slivers. The fact that it isn't so color restrictive is nice. But just seeing this makes me a little sad in that I realize how dull some (most) slivers can be. I still really...really hate the you control bit and the art though. However, this art isn't as bad as the others, at least he has an epic feel to him.

M14 - Duels Promos...but mostly Scavenging Ooze!!!

Source - http://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2013/05/more-information-on-magic-2014-duels-of.html

Promos for Duels - 14

"Steam, iPad, Android tablet – Scavenging OozeXbox – Bonescythe SliverPSN – Ogre Battledriver"

Okay...let me just change my pants because I just came. I have a feeling like everyone is going to be playing Duels on their computers, iPad, or Android because...fucking Scavenging Ooze. Unless if Bonescythe Sliver gives Slivers - tap: you win the game or if Ogre Battledriver erm...um.

Also there is the implication that the Ooze is going to be in Modern and Standard. This is just ccc-crazy. Also on a similar note...what's with all the GY hate lately? We had a reprint of Ground Seal and Tormod's Crypt. Then RTR gave us Rest in Peace and Deathrite Shaman (or lovingly referred to by me as Assrite Shaman). I think you guys got GY hate covered Wizards. I get that Inn was a graveyard focused set but...jeeez you guys.

M14 - IGN Spoilers: Enlarge, Advocate of the Beast,and Archangel of Thune

Source - http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/05/15/magic-2014-finally-gets-deck-building

A very neat limited trick. Besides that I don't see too much other uses for it in the future. Also there will be many a dirty joke with this card.

Pretty sweet for a common. Between slivers and this card I think it is going to be a fairly good guess that tribal is going to be a theme in M14 and maybe in Theros as well.

Holy balls is this cool! So many uses in EDH and possibly in constructed too, though that might be less so. The fact that she even does it to herself is icing on the cake of awesomeness.

M14 - Vastwood Hydra

Source: http://www.geekosystem.com/magic-vastwood-hydra/

Don't know really what to make of this guy, but I'll try. He's a cool casual card. As it mentions in the article I wish it was a leave play trigger like Swagtusk. Other than that it seems like a cool casual card for Animar and Rosheen Meanderer EDH. That all being said when can we start seeing really exciting spoilers?

M14 - Slivers...wtf

Hey Mr. Brendan!

Oh hey Jim...what be the haps?

Have you seen the new Slivers Mr. Brendan?

No I have not seen the new Slivers Jimmy.

Look! Here's one!

Oh I've seen that one Jim.

But you said you haven't seen any new Slivers...

That's because that's not a Sliver Jim.

But it says Creature - Sliver...

I can read Jimmy. Sit down Jimmy and have some peas and I will explain why that's not a Sliver.

But I don't want any peas...

SIT DOWN AND EAT YOUR DAMN PEAS JIMMY!

Yes sir...

Anyway let's go back in time to the wonderful time of Tempest and Stronghold. Slivers had just come out as a creature type and had a common and uncommon cycle in Tempest. They were pretty damn cool back in the day. In Stronghold we got the card Sliver Queen. Now Slivers work in a Hive Mind type deal. Slivers near each other give each other power. Awesome. The Sliver Queen was in control of the Hive Mind and all Slivers were like...Ms Queen you are a pretty cool gal.

So Slivers are controlled by the Sliver Queen?

Not exactly Jim. You see eventually the Slivers got all killed in a battle in Invasion block. So some geniuses thought that it would be a good idea to revive them from fossils they found. However, they didn't have knowledge of the queen. Without the Hive Mind the slivers went apeshit and took over the island where the experiments took place. Long story short, the Slivers heard a sound that was very much like the call of their Queen, went to mainland and exploded from the creation of Karona. The few that survived fused to form the Sliver Overlord which served as a makeshift queen.

Cool. What happened next?

Then Time Spiral block. Basically Slivers were one of the few races on Dominaria to flourish after Karona's destruction. They evolved and basically took over the plane in search of a new Queen. Anyway long story short again the Sliver's are slowly becoming self aware from a flavor text in Silver Legion.

So what's the big deal? It make sense flavorwise.

The big deal here is that this is a fairly large story plot that should not be in a coreset. We haven't seen Slivers in forever and to have the Slivers we know and love suddenly change from "all slivers" to "slivers you control" is a major deal.

But they want to make Lords only effect one player.

Yep you are absolutely right Jim and in most cases I agree with Wizards. But Slivers are the one exception to this rule. Slivers are always working together and lending each other strength through the Hive Mind even when they are pitted against each other. Future Sight even had creatures that still did this. Sliver Legion
still had this and we haven't even seen him since then and he is the one that hinted that slivers are evolving. To have all this suddenly change in a Core Set is a definite flavor disappointment. It just feels like Wizards changed the story behind Slivers to fit the mechanic changes that they want to make. If you look at the pure mechanics it makes perfect sense, but Slivers deserved a lot more.

At least they look cool...

GET OUT AND WATCH SOME MORE AVP!

Lavinia of the No

Hey there Mr. Brendan.

Jimmy...what the hell are you doing at my house?

Well...I wanted help with my new deck.

...Jimmy it's been two days since I helped you with your last one. What the hell?

Well...I heard about something called "Control" and I wanted to try it out.

Jimmy that is way too advanced for you.

What?!!! I am smart and stuff!

You see Jimmy by advanced...I mean expensive. Very. Very. Expensive.

But I'll just swipe my mom's credit card.

Fair enough Jimmy. Who did you have in mind?

This super cool guild champion Lavinia of the Tenth. She stops everything!!!

Well Jimmy to be honest she isn't that great in EDH but let's see what we can do with her.

YEAH!

*an hour and a half later*

Alright Jim, this is what I came up with.

Vorel - The Dice Whore

Hey Mr. Brendan!

Oh hey there Jimmy what's up this time?

Well I've been playing Kresh but I'm not sure I like him that much.

Oh why not Jimmy?

I keep losing.

Oh...how did you build your deck there Jimmy?

Well...I used something cool I learned about. "Milling."

...Jimmy did you listen to anything I told you last time.

Yeah! You said to use graveyards! 

...damnit Jimmy, you are the worst.

Anyway Mr. Brendan I keep getting killed by big guys and scary combos. I wanna kill people like that too! How do I do it?!!

Well luckily for you Jimmy I have been working on a deck I think you may like. The general is called "Vorel of the Hull Clade".

But Mr. Brendan...isn't he a guild champion? Don't they suck?

Yeah for the most part Jimmy. But this one is pretty fun to play, so I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it. Anyway my list is here. But allow me to explain some of the key cards in the deck.

First we have Vorel.

There is something fishy about this guy...

As with all generals I like to looks at 4 things. Abilities, CMC, Creature Type, and Power and Toughness in that order. So first off let's talk about the less important things. He has a respectable toughness of 4, meaning he can chump tokens like a boss. He has a fairly weak power of one.

He really isn't that much of a big creature...is he Mr. Brendan.

Hold on there Jimmy. Don't be a Timmy. In the long scheme of things the starting power and toughness of a general doesn't really mean to much. It's nice if they are super strong but that doesn't mean we can't love this guy. Next let's look at his creature type. He is a Human Merfolk.

Wait what? What the hell is a Human Merfolk?

Yeah...the designers were on drugs when they made the Simic this time around.  Now for this deck his creature type really doesn't matter too much. There are a couple Merfolk lords you can include in the deck with the strongest probably being Merfolk Sovereign. In my deck I chose not to go down that road.

So far he isn't sounding that useful Mr. Brendan.

Shut up Jimmy. We are starting to get to the best part. Next let's look at the CMC. His is 3 which is usually pretty darn good in EDH. He also is blue and green which are the two strongest colors in EDH (in my opinion with black being pretty darn close).

Well that's cool I guess. 

It is Jimmy. But let's talk about what you are going to be building your deck around. His ability costs a blue mana, a green mana, and tapping for "for each counter on target artifact, creature, or land, put another of those counters on that permanent."

That wording is a bit confusing to my brain...

Well Jimmy to simplify, you put double the counters on target creature, land, or artifact.

That sounds amazing! What about enchantments and planeswalkers? Why can't he target them?
Well to be honest Jimmy, planeswalkers are a bit broken with being able to repeatably double the counters, even though it would be hella fun for us playing the deck. Also fading enchantments can be pretty darn stupid and mean with Vorel and I think they wanted to keep him a fun casual general. But Jimmy you can get Vorel to be able to target both of those...through shenanigans which we will talk about later.

Okay but what can you use his ability with?!!

Well Jimmy there are quite a few things you can use it with. First you mentioned that you keep getting killed by big monsters?

Yes they are super tough and make me cry every night.

Well Jimmy I got the perfect creature to stomp their faces with...

He effectively does Vorel's ability to himself every turn. Meaning when use with Vorel he effectively can quadruple in size every turn.

WOAH!!!!

I know...crazy right? Another creature you can punch people in the face with is...

She effectively gives your creatures psedo unblockableness which comes awesome with a certain token generator we have. But let's look at another awesome creature we have...

Mr. Ancient here is awesome because he is a constant stream of +1/+1 counters. His ability reads...whenever a "player" casts a spell. This means he can get really big really quickly! What is great is you can then move the counters over to another creature...like this one for instance!

Whoa!

Indeed Jimmy. Master Biomancer is the perfect card for this deck as he gives all your creatures at the very least 2 +1/+1 counters which can be used by our lovely general.

Okay but you mentioned combos Mr. Brendan?

Of course Jimmy! What would a Simic deck be without a bunch of convoluted combos?

Um...a normal deck?

Exactly Jimmy. Now doesn't that sound boring?

I guess...

Well Jimmy sit down and I'll teach you some of the combos I have found in the deck.

 

I don't get it Mr. Brendan. They just make mana.

No Jimmy. They make infinite mana!

Wait what?

You see Jimmy once these artifacts have 6 counters on them you can potentially make infinite mana with them. You do need a couple more things though. 

 

Wait wasn't the Staff banned? And how does the combo work?

Wow Jimmy I am genuinely surprised you knew that. However, the Staff has been unbanned as of April 22, 2013. The combo works with having either of the artifacts above with 6 counters. Activate his ability with other mana and you should be golden to have infinite mana. Since the counters on the artifacts doubles to 12 and you have to pay either 3 or 4 to untap (depending on what you use) you are always making more mana than you are losing! Even better with the Staff you have infinite card draw and life!

Woah!

Indeed Jimmy but I'm not done yet. I have another one for you.

 

These two cards will allow you to take infinite turns as long as Coretapper does not have summoning sickness. With Coretapper you can tap to add a counter on the Scepter and then sac him to put a whopping three counters on the Scepter. Then with your general you can double the counters on the scepter to give you infinite turns.

Woah! Then I defiantly can win!

Indeed Jimmy. Indeed.

Any other cool combos?

Well I have one more but you may run it by your playgroup because it's kind of a dick move Jim.

Hey! Is that the fading mechanic you were talking about? I don't get it.

Well Jim the combo is basically a locklock down. You use Vorel to add fading counters onto Tangle Wire. This keeps your opponent's from being able to do much besides cast instants. Then you use cards like Darksteel Reactor and Helix Pinnacle to win. You can also use Alchemist's Refuge to flash in other spells and start beating face.

Sounds pretty nasty.

It is Jim. Just be careful because it can be stopped with an instant speed artifact kill spell. 

The deck looks pretty cool. Any thing else I should know?

Why of course Jim! While not exactly combos Vorel interacts really good with other things. You remember me mentioning token creation?

Yeah...

Seems a bit expensive.

It can be...at first. But with Vorel, this baby can be pumping out 20 snakes...at instant speed.

That's a whole lot of snakes.

Indeed it isssss...

...stop it.

Alrightsssssss. We also want to use Vorel's ability as much as possible so be sure to include the following.

  

These guys will allow you to copy Vorel's ability till the sun don't shine.

You said you can use Enchantments and Planeswalkers too?

Yes you can! You can use cards that make permanents artifacts. The two best ones for this are:

 

I personally use just Memnarch but a lot of people don't like him for very just reasons. If you don't want to use him the Coating is a good back up. Memnarch has the potential to do a lot of things (like steal everyone's permanent with inf mana). Now just relying on these to do boost Enchantments or Planeswalkers is pretty silly since they are pretty easy to remove. That's why I prefer to use walkers that are useful besides their ultimates. The walkers I use are Tezzy the Seeker, Tamiyo, and Garruk Wildspeaker. Wildspeaker is particularly useful because of the storage lands that I use such as...

That land looks like it sucks.

In most decks you would be right Jimmy. However since we can abuse proliferation and doubling counters, lands like this are actually really...really good.

What's proliferation? 

Cards like these...

 

Since a majority of our cards use counters in some way we can use these to boost their strength. We can also give counters away with a couple of our cards such as...

With Zameck if you have persist creatures you can also combo with sacing persist creatures over and over. I chose not to go that route in this deck but it is definitely viable.

Anything else that's cool?

Woah! Does that mean I double my life total everytime I play a land?!!!

Basically Jim. Basically. Also for economic reasons I should say that I do not currently have Seedborn Muse or Doubling Season in the deck. If you have the funds or just have them...they are absolutely amazing in the deck and I'd recommend throwing them in!

Wow thanks Mr. Brendan! I think I am ready to try this deck!

No problem Jim. No problem. Just don't fuck it up like last time.

Melek Combo

Melek - Paragon for Life

For a card tag version - http://www.gatheringmagic.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&p=692630#p692630

Warning - My group has banned pure extra turn taking cards like Time Warp and Time Stretch as often it was just about self masturbation while everyone else sat down and watched. So that is why those cards are not this deck. However if your group hasn't banned them...they are stupidly good with Melek. Also as you'll notice our group does allow wishes.

So this is my Melek combo deck. You may be wondering...Jude if you are playing  :ur: combo...why are you not playing Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind? Well excellent question there Jimmy. To be honest if you are going pure competitive Niv is waaaaay better since he involves at least three 2 card combos that instantly win, each require the general as one of the cards. However, I generally dislike two card combos since they can make the game unfun. So get your Johnnies out fellas and get ready for this deck.

First the combos. There are quite a few of them in here so here we go. In this deck there are quite a few ways to make infinite mana. Most of which involve either Turnabout or Reset. I did also include the Palinchron combo (Mana Flare + him). With Turny/reset there are a few ways to get inf mana. One is Nivix Guildmage, another is Mirari and the other is Reiterate. You can also recur it with Izzet Chronarch or Archaeomancer combined with Riptide Laboratory or Deadeye Navigator. A  Well Jim you may be wondering what you do with the inf mana once you get it. Well obviously you can kill everyone with Comet Storm or 1-2 people with Devil's Play but there are other crazy shennigans you can do too. If you got infinite mana with Izzet Chronarch or Archaeomancer you can take infinite turns with Stitch in Time until you finally draw that confangled kill spell or just draw your library with Blue Sun's Zenith. But be careful Jimmy...you don't want to deck yourself. Also once you have your infinite mana, if it was with Reiterate + Turnabout you also get infinite spells which means Ignite Memories and Mind's Desire can be very very effective and Guttersnipe kills.

Worried about how you are going to get your combo Jimmy? Well their is plenty of dig and tutorage in the deck. If you have a lot of mana you can even Firemind's Foresight to get Brainstorm + Reset + Reiterate which as long as you have enough mana will allow you to potenially kill your opponent's at instant speed.

There are also a couple of cool interactions. If you use Archaeomancer or Izzet Chronarch with Evacuation you can get yourself a soft creature lock. Consecrated Sphinx and Thought Reflection works wonders with Time Spiral + Wheel of Fortune. Also with Melek out Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Brainstorm, Sensei's Divining Top, and Scroll Rack become very good. Also in the Wishboard there is a Tunnel Vision if someone's general gets tucked.

Without further ado a card by card explanation.

Melek, Izzet Paragon - The main man. The big cheese. While he doesn't exactly combo with the deck, he has great synergy for digging for cards. A big problem with Niv decks is often they are way too focused on Niv and if he gets tucked the player is SOL. Luckily that is much less of a problem here.

Board Wipes

Blasphemous Act - Standard board wipe, nothing too exciting.

Comet Storm - Can be a win con once you have inf mana. Since it is an instant it is very valuable. Can also wipe the field as needed.

Cyclonic Rift - F'n amazing. I would never use it in EDH nonoverloaded though unless very desperate.

Evacuation - Soft creature lock with Izzet Chronarch and the mancer.

4 Cards Total

Counterspells

Counterflux - Mostly for the "uncounterable" part. Makes this pretty good when someone tries to stop your shennigans. Can also stop storm cards from wrecking you.

Counterspell - In here mostly for the chance to Scepter it.

Force of Will - Need I say anything about how amazing this card is?

Hinder - Tuck tuck goose!

Pact of Negation - Same as force with a bigger downside

Spell Crumple - Tucky tuck.

6 Cards Total

Digging Power

Blue Sun's Zenith - Can also serve as a way to draw your deck or kill someone with inf mana.

Consecrated Sphinx - Has stupidly good synergy with Thought Reflection + Wheel of Fortune effects.

Faithless Looting - Standard dig. Flashback makes it worth including.

Izzet Charm - Perfect for the Scepter and good utility.

Telling Time - Really, really good with Melek esp on the Scepter.

Thought Reflection - Have nothing really more to say other than it's reaalllly good in the deck.

Time Spiral - With Melek it reads untap 12 lands and take an extra turn.

Wheel of Fortune - Solid draw when you are running out of steam.

7 Cards Total

Library Manipulation

Brainstorm - Pretty damn good for one mana. Especially with Melek.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor - Brainstorm and situational bounce? Yes please.

Scroll Rack - You almost need this with Melek.

Sensei's Divining Top - ^^^

4 Cards Total

Manaz + Mana Reduction

Arcane Melee - Allows for easier comboing off. You may want to sub in Goblin Electromancer as it can help your opponents out a lot too. The goal is to help you more though.

Chromatic Lantern - Solid color fixing

Darksteel Ingot - Solid mana rock

Gilded Lotus - ^^^

Izzet Keyrune - Mana rock and can punch face and dig. Nice.

Izzet Signet - Again mana rock

Mana Flare - Allows Palinchron shenanigans and makes comboing easier.

Mana Vault - With Tezzy this is nice. Early game this is nice. It is nice in general and is much cheaper than some alternatives...*cough* Mana Crypt and Grim Monolith *cough*

Palinchron - Infinite mana shenanigans is always nice.

Sol Ring - Erm...

Tezzeret the Seeker - A very nice tutor and can generate mana like a boss.

11 Cards Total

Recursion

Archaeomancer - Both him and the Chronarch can serve for many combo fodder as well as get you an emergancy counterspell

Izzet Chronarch - ^^^

Mystic Retrieval - A decent third slot with flashback.

Past in Flames - Recur all the cantrips!!!

Snapcaster Mage - Can get you back your buyback stuff if its countered. Also just solid in general

5 Cards Total

Spell Copiers

Mirari

Nivix Guildmage

Reiterate

(And Obviously The General)

Except the general these are all ways to produce infinite mana.

3 Cards Total

Spot Removal

Capsize

Chaos Warp 

Devil's Play

Into the Roil

4 Cards Total

Utility

Deadeye Navigator - Combos well with ETB effects

Isochron Scepter - My favs are Telling Time, Counterspell, Reset, Izzet Charm, Brainstorm, and Mystical Tutor

Leyline of Anticipation - Having flash on everything is really, really good.

2 Cards Total

Tutors

Burning Wish - See wishboard

Cunning Wish - ^^^^

Drift of Phantasms - Most of the time tutors for Mana Flare, Reiterate, Guttersnipe, Blue Sun's Zenith or Counterflux

Firemind's Foresight - Can grab a win con of Brainstorm, Reiterate, and Reset

Gamble - Fetches missing pieces of your combo. [i]Can be dangerous[/i]

Muddle the Mixture - Tutors for Nivix Guildmage, Cyclonic Rift, Isochron Scepter, Comet Storm, Epic Experiment, and Reset among the notable ones. Really good in this deck.

Mystical Tutor - Pretty self explaintory grab a combo piece.

Vedalken Aethermage - Grabs the Guildmage, your general, snapcaster, chronarch, and the mancer

8 Cards Total

Win Cons/Really Stupid Cards For Melek

Epic Experiment - With Melek and mana this is really dumb.

Guttersnipe - Inf damage with Reiterate + Reset or Turnabout

Ignite Memories - ^^^ but only if everyone has at least one card in hand.

Mind's Desire - Allows you to go off a lot easier or when you are lets you get a way to win.

Reset - Inf mana producer combo

Stitch in Time - Possible to take inf turns

Turnabout - Same as reset

7 Cards Total

Non-Basics

Boseiju, Who Shelters All - Uncounterable shenanigans is good

Command Tower

Desolate Lighthouse - Extra utility never hurts

Halimar Depths - Can be good with Melek but can see cutting in the future - entering tapped lands are rough in EDH

Izzet Boilerworks - Good with Palinchron

Ghost Quarter - Good nonbasic removal

Great Furnace - Tezzy tutorable land

Scalding Tarn - Fetchy fetch

Soldevi Excavations - Really good with Melek

Steam Vents - Dual land!!!

Sulfur Falls - ^^^

Tectonic Edge - Good nonbasic removal

Reliquary Tower - You draw a lot of cards in this deck

Riptide Laboratory - Good for comboin with the mancer and chronarch

Seat of Synod - Tezzy tutroable land

Thespian's Stage - Copy cabal coffers with Urbog in play? Yes please.

Tolaria West - Grabs Boseiju or Reliquary Tower usually

10 Island

9 Mountain

Wishboard

Acquire - Nice blightsteel/forge you got there

Cryptic Command - Nice counter. Only reason not MB is the  :u:  :u:  :u: requirement

Insurrection - Nice army...

Into the Core - Bye bye plate/forge

Fireball - Good for when you combo with Mind's Desire and need a kill.

Price of Progress - Boom.

Reforge the Soul - Nice if I am running out of steam

Rite of Replication - Cool creature bro.

Tunnel Vision - Die.

Vandalblast - Nice Lattice you have there. Oh wait...nevermind.

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Cards I considered that may work better on a budget

Eyes of the Watcher - Can sub in for Jace. Main reason it wasn't included was that it's an extra  :1: with each cast and it doesn't draw the card. So Jace beat it for this slot. It's advisable to keep nonland perms kinda low so you can use Melek. However I may try and squeeze it back in as it can be very good with Melek.

Merchant Scroll - I was already pretty tutor heavy and since it is limited to just blue instant cards I left it out.

Ponder, Preordain, and Index - Deck space is tight and these don't do enough to justify kicking out another card.

Chandra, the Firebrand - Good for her second ability. However I have many effects that do her second ability only better and I can tutor them.

Anarchist - Just sorcery is too restricting on this guy to justify a spot.

Rhystic Study - It gets annoying real fast in Multiplayer games. If you don't mind your friends hating the phrase "did you pay the extra one" then go ahead and play it as it is very good.

Grapeshot - While hilarious outside of comboing off it isn't really that useful. Ignite Memories however is pretty good against decks that draw a shitton of cards and play spells with a large CMC. However, this is a spell I may try and put back in.

Fork effects - Reiterate and cards that let you do it repeatably are just way better. Wild Ricochet may eventually get a spot though.