Hi,
to stop this section from dying I'll present my approach on the Cephalid Illusionist/ Hermit Druid Combo. Some years ago I played Cephalid in Legacy and earned some good results. Therefore I like the Combo and try to come to a competitive deck.
In today's meta we fight against lots of aggro decks spiced with some amount of lets say rock decks. Control has just disappeard or is too weak to beat the aggro decks. To get a good Combo deck in this meta I will try to focus on a fast Combo which is capable playing against removal and a small amount of GY Hate (Scavenging Ooze).
My inspiration was taken from Tabris and his column on magic universe (Thanks for that). If you don't know how the combo works (http://www.magicuniverse.de/html/kolumnen.php?tempid=420.280.545.304.73&id=2093) So I will start with his list and mark some notes:
Länder
1 Bayou
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool (I think the deck wants to evolve its mana [testing Forbidden Orchard])
1 River of Tears
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Temple Garden
1 Twilight Mire
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold (The manabase is so squishy that I think this card is too greedy)
1 Watery Grave
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Underground River
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Mox Diamond
Kreaturen
1 Hermit Druid
1 Necrotic Ooze (Don't know if you really need the Ooze Combo)
1 Triskelion
1 Phyrexian Devourer
1 The Mimeoplasm (Better killoptions out there)
1 Lord of Extinction
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Shuko
1 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Fatestitcher
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Shaman en-Kor
1 Nomads en-Kor
1 Rotting Rats
1 Snapcaster Mage (good card but not for this deck)
1 Spellskite
1 Narcomoeba
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Trinket Mage (Tutor for Shuko and Top is this enough?)
1 Eternal Witness
Sprüche
1 Sylvan Library
1 Brainstorm
1 Dispel
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Forbidden Alchemy (Expensive )
1 Force of Will
1 Frantic Search (Carddisadvantage)
1 Impulse
1 Intuition
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Mana Drain
1 Mana Leak
1 Mental Misstep (maybe this should be a Daze)
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Teachings (CC 4 and no tutor for the combo)
1 Noxious Revival
1 Pact of Negation
1 Shallow Grave
1 Shred Memory
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Spell Pierce
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Careful Study (Carddisadvantage)
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Buried Alive
1 Dread Return
1 Duress
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Living Death (necessary?)
1 Maelstrom Pulse (expensive but universal solution)
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Reanimate
1 Regrowth
1 Rhystic Tutor
1 Thoughtseize
1 Vindicate (expensive but universal solution)
1 AEther Vial
1 Memory's Journey
This were my first thoughts on the list. So I searched other cards to include which fit better to the plan of a fast combo deck. Cards I wanted to include were:
Sylvan Tutor
Grim Tutor
Dimir Infiltrator
Vedalken Aethermage
Cruel Tutor
Diabolic Vision
Portent
Path to Exile
Chain of Vapor
Lotus Petal
Chrome Mox
And I changed the killoption to Angel of Glory's Rise, Laboratory Maniac and Hapless Researcher. This because with Grand Abolisher in the deck the combo is better protected and the Hapless Researcher isn't dead if drawn.
So I came up with this list:
Länder
1 Bayou
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Polluted Delta
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 River of Tears
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Temple Garden
1 Twilight Mire
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold (Still there but I don't like it any suggestions?)
1 Watery Grave
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Underground River
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Mox Diamond
Kreaturen
1 Hermit Druid
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Triskelion
1 Angel of Glory's Rise
1 Hapless Researcher
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Shuko
1 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Fatestitcher
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Shaman en-Kor
1 Nomads en-Kor
1 Rotting Rats
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Spellskite
1 Narcomoeba
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Trinket Mage (Good with Aethermage)
1 Eternal Witness
1 Dimir Infiltrator
1 Vedalken Aethermage
Sprüche
1 Sylvan Library
1 Brainstorm
1 Dispel
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Force of Will
1 Sylvan Tutor
1 Impulse
1 Intuition
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Mana Drain
1 Mana Leak
1 Daze
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Grim Tutor
1 Noxious Revival
1 Pact of Negation
1 Shallow Grave
1 Shred Memory
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Spell Pierce
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Buried Alive
1 Dread Return
1 Duress
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Path to Exile
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Reanimate
1 Regrowth
1 Rhystic Tutor
1 Thoughtseize
1 Vindicate
1 AEther Vial
1 Memory's Journey
At this point I would want to start the discussion. What killturn do you think we should aim for? Is turn four ok or shall we try to get a good probability for a turn three kill?
to stop this section from dying I'll present my approach on the Cephalid Illusionist/ Hermit Druid Combo. Some years ago I played Cephalid in Legacy and earned some good results. Therefore I like the Combo and try to come to a competitive deck.
In today's meta we fight against lots of aggro decks spiced with some amount of lets say rock decks. Control has just disappeard or is too weak to beat the aggro decks. To get a good Combo deck in this meta I will try to focus on a fast Combo which is capable playing against removal and a small amount of GY Hate (Scavenging Ooze).
My inspiration was taken from Tabris and his column on magic universe (Thanks for that). If you don't know how the combo works (http://www.magicuniverse.de/html/kolumnen.php?tempid=420.280.545.304.73&id=2093) So I will start with his list and mark some notes:
Länder
1 Bayou
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool (I think the deck wants to evolve its mana [testing Forbidden Orchard])
1 River of Tears
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Temple Garden
1 Twilight Mire
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold (The manabase is so squishy that I think this card is too greedy)
1 Watery Grave
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Underground River
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Mox Diamond
Kreaturen
1 Hermit Druid
1 Necrotic Ooze (Don't know if you really need the Ooze Combo)
1 Triskelion
1 Phyrexian Devourer
1 The Mimeoplasm (Better killoptions out there)
1 Lord of Extinction
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Shuko
1 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Fatestitcher
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Shaman en-Kor
1 Nomads en-Kor
1 Rotting Rats
1 Snapcaster Mage (good card but not for this deck)
1 Spellskite
1 Narcomoeba
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Trinket Mage (Tutor for Shuko and Top is this enough?)
1 Eternal Witness
Sprüche
1 Sylvan Library
1 Brainstorm
1 Dispel
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Forbidden Alchemy (Expensive )
1 Force of Will
1 Frantic Search (Carddisadvantage)
1 Impulse
1 Intuition
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Mana Drain
1 Mana Leak
1 Mental Misstep (maybe this should be a Daze)
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Mystical Teachings (CC 4 and no tutor for the combo)
1 Noxious Revival
1 Pact of Negation
1 Shallow Grave
1 Shred Memory
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Spell Pierce
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Careful Study (Carddisadvantage)
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Buried Alive
1 Dread Return
1 Duress
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Living Death (necessary?)
1 Maelstrom Pulse (expensive but universal solution)
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Reanimate
1 Regrowth
1 Rhystic Tutor
1 Thoughtseize
1 Vindicate (expensive but universal solution)
1 AEther Vial
1 Memory's Journey
This were my first thoughts on the list. So I searched other cards to include which fit better to the plan of a fast combo deck. Cards I wanted to include were:
Sylvan Tutor
Grim Tutor
Dimir Infiltrator
Vedalken Aethermage
Cruel Tutor
Diabolic Vision
Portent
Path to Exile
Chain of Vapor
Lotus Petal
Chrome Mox
And I changed the killoption to Angel of Glory's Rise, Laboratory Maniac and Hapless Researcher. This because with Grand Abolisher in the deck the combo is better protected and the Hapless Researcher isn't dead if drawn.
So I came up with this list:
Länder
1 Bayou
1 Tundra
1 Tropical Island
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Polluted Delta
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 River of Tears
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Temple Garden
1 Twilight Mire
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volrath's Stronghold (Still there but I don't like it any suggestions?)
1 Watery Grave
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Underground River
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Mox Diamond
Kreaturen
1 Hermit Druid
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Triskelion
1 Angel of Glory's Rise
1 Hapless Researcher
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Shuko
1 Cephalid Illusionist
1 Fatestitcher
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Shaman en-Kor
1 Nomads en-Kor
1 Rotting Rats
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Spellskite
1 Narcomoeba
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Trinket Mage (Good with Aethermage)
1 Eternal Witness
1 Dimir Infiltrator
1 Vedalken Aethermage
Sprüche
1 Sylvan Library
1 Brainstorm
1 Dispel
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Force of Will
1 Sylvan Tutor
1 Impulse
1 Intuition
1 Lim-Dûl's Vault
1 Mana Drain
1 Mana Leak
1 Daze
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Grim Tutor
1 Noxious Revival
1 Pact of Negation
1 Shallow Grave
1 Shred Memory
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Spell Pierce
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Cabal Therapy
1 Buried Alive
1 Dread Return
1 Duress
1 Gitaxian Probe
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Path to Exile
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Reanimate
1 Regrowth
1 Rhystic Tutor
1 Thoughtseize
1 Vindicate
1 AEther Vial
1 Memory's Journey
At this point I would want to start the discussion. What killturn do you think we should aim for? Is turn four ok or shall we try to get a good probability for a turn three kill?