I was reviewing the number and types of decks I've written up for this series. I noticed a few gaps in my choices for decks. The easiest to notice are color choices and then from there, theme. I've written a lot about decks with white and red in them. I've glaringly avoided one combination, Simic. Simic uses the two most popular colors in the format and arguably what most people consider the most powerful colors as well. It opens up powerful land ramp and creature based ramp options as well as a ton of card draw pieces. Green removal lets me hit artifacts and enchantments with ease and blue has the ultimate pre-removal with counter spells. I can bounce, blink, tap, untap, frost etc. I can use some of that but it can't be the focus of the deck.
My first step was finding the commander. I knew I wanted something off the beaten path. The only problem is, I don't remember exactly how I stumbled on him, Alaundo, The Seer. I really like the D&D sets and scrub through them to see if there are and gems I may have overlooked. This was no exception. There are a couple things worth noting. 4 mana is a sweet spot for Commanders. In these colors I can reliably ramp on turn 2 or 3 so I can expect to play him on time or even early. I've already done a defender deck, so toughness doesn't do anything for me, neither do the mismatched stats. He's got a tap ability that draws a card. That's pretty fair magic to start. It gets better. I can exile a card from my hand with some time counters and cast it for free in the future. He even removes time counters faster with his ability. That had me.
I think most people see that and lean toward playing high CMC spells. Why not drop beaters turns in advance? I'm going a little different. What if instead of playing high cost spells I go for mid level costs and at the same time tax my opponents. My casting is free with the ability everyone else has to pay a premium. I feel like STAX is reverse ramp, but in this case I break parity and come out ahead. Thorn Of Amethyst is cheap and I can get it out even before my commander if I want. Feroz's Ban is just throwing commander tax around the table. This one I'll wait to play until after I drop Alaundo. Frozen Aether and God-Pharao's Statue are more one sided. The last one I'll mention is Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant. Talk about one sided, it does double duty doubling my spells and countering my opponent's. At 7 mana you would think he's the perfect target to suspend but that's wrong. People get aggressive and spiteful when they can see this coming turns in advance. Avoid getting a lot of hate thrown your way and hard cast Jin-Gitaxias.
What if Alaudno, The Seer gets removed? He's coming back eventually. So when he gets there why not have a bunch of cards already suspended. Aeon Chronicler is a great way to draw cards. Maybe even better with Alaundo's ability. Epochrasite is better suspended as it comes in with counters. But even better, it doesn't really die, it just suspends itself to come back in the future. Sinister Concierge does something similar upon death but also can act as temporary removal, suspending an opponent's best creature. Reality Strobe is also a removal spell that recycles itself while Inspiring Refrain draws cards and recycles itself. Once you get that chain going its just reliable repeat effects.
So I have all these cards suspended. Now what? Just wait till all the counters are removed 2 per turn? Too slow. I'll just have Jhoira's Timebug remove an extra one every turn. I wish I had more cards to highlight here with similar effects. I do have a few cards like Chakram Retriever and Vizier of Tumbling Sands to untap Alaundo which will enable me to remove even more counters from my suspended spells in a single turn. More so with Retreat To Coralhelm and some ramp.
How can I push this value even further? It's a little greedy to want more on top of discounted spells and a free card every turn. In taking a closer read to Alaundo “you may cast it without paying its mana cost.” I can tack on some additional costs after the cast. Specifically kicker. As I cast spells for free with Alaundo I can go ahead and pay the kicker cost. That's so much value when you get rolling made even better by the fact my opponents are paying 1, 2, maybe 4 extra mana for each spell.
There are some great Kicker options in Simic colors. Blink Of An Eye and Into The Roil act as removal and net me a card. Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep takes the removal even further, wiping the board if kicked. I don't have a lot of the protected creature types, Kiora's Follower and Arixmethes, The Slumbering Isle. There's even grow from The Ashes and Skyclave Relic for ramp options. I even have a great payoff with Roost Of Drakes, to reward me with a drake whenever I kick a spell, and Marasa Saporling, to get back a kicker card from my graveyard.
Multikicker is even better. I can pay as much as I want into the ability while my opponents are stuck getting taxed. I've paid too much into Wolfbriar Elemental to make an instant army before.
One of the most complicated aspects of the deck is timing the free spells right. I want to remove the last counter from as many of the free spells at the same time to enable a couple of key cards. Cards like Aeve, Progenitor Ooze, and Temporal Fissure. They're expensive on their own for sure. If I can get 3 spells to pop off before one of these it tends to be worth it. I like to save something like Twiddle or Twitch for this, to pump my storm cunt and trigger Alaundo to remove an additional counter from cards. I've never gotten it to work with Jhoira's Timebug before, but that would be great.
One of the big problems in Simic is the removal. Simic can counter spells, bounce permanents back, or destroy artifacts and enchantments with relative ease. Creatures and even Planeswalkers are more challenging without some setup. Desert Twister, Scour From Existence, and Introduction To Annihilation help close that gap. Exiling removal enables my opponents to play around that spell and can leave me with worse targets overall. 5, 6 or 7 mana is made much worse with all of the stax pieces out if I need to hard cast these spells.
What does the deck look like? Here it is
Alaundo, The Seer
Chakram Retriever Verdoloth The Ancient Inspiring Refrain
Kiora's Follower Kogla, The Titan Ape Aeon Chronicler
Seeker Of Skybreak Arimexthes, The Slumbering Isle Jhoria's Timebug
Vizier of Tumbling Sands Aeve, Progenitor Ooze Epochrasite
Kelpie Guide Slinn Voda, The Rising Deep Reality Strobe
Murkfield Liege Wolfbriar Elemental Sinister Concierge
Patriar's Seal Scavenging Ooze Sol Talisman
Tideforce Elemental Soul Guide Lantern Vastwood Surge
Dream's Grip Crashing Drawbridge Skyclave Relic Retreat To Coralhelm Temporal Fissure Midnight Clock
Twiddle Jin-Gitaxis, Progress Tyrant Liquimetal Torque
Twitch Collector Ouphe Rampant Growth
Ezuri's Predation Wandering Archaic Cultivate
Echoing Truths Thorn Of Amethyst Sprouting Vines
Into The Roil Lodestone Golem Grow From The Ashes
Creeping Mold Mangle Horn Coralhelm Chronicler
Desert Twister Feroz's Ban Inscription Of Insight
Scour From Existence God Pharoh's Statue Murasa Saporling
Reclamation Stage Damping Sphere Mold Shambler
Blink Of An Eye Storage Matrix Roost Of Drakes
Introduction To Annihilation Frozen Aether Blue Sun's Zenith
Field Research
Forest X15 Island X15 Temple Of Mystery
Tyrite Sanctum Waterlogged Grove Vineglimmer Snarl
Blast Zone
I avoided some key blue cards. Specifically counter spells. It doesn't pay to exile one of these because I can't guarantee it will have a target when that last counter is removed. And with my STAX pieces I need to leave open a substantial amount of mana to commit to the threat. This goes hand in hand with the problem of telegraphing removal.
The deck could use a little more haste enabling. I want to get Alaundo going as soon as possible so I need more than Crashing Drawbridge. Maybe a 1000 Year Elixir or something along those lines. Liquimetal Torque pays dividends in allowing me to hit permanent types Simic doesn't usually deal well with. But board wipes could use some expansion. Game states can still get out of hand and I want an escape route. I'll keep tweaking it. We're bound to see kicker sooner than later, so my options will only continue to grow.
Simic was a little tough to crack for this. In part because the colors are very versatile and they lean into so many different abilities. This feels unique and plays uniquely. I'm happy with it.
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