Infinite? Am I missing something? I can see you can take multiple turns in a row but can't figure out the infinite loop?

If you get deep enough in the deck, and have a Skulker and a Griselbrand out, it goes like this...

1) Attack with Chasm Skulker.
2) Draw with Griselbrand until you pull Swift Justice, Time Warp and Elixir of Immortality.
3) Cast Swift Justice on the Skulker and gain all your all your life back (more if Rhox Faithmender is out, or it was large to begin with)
4) Cast Time Warp and Elixir. Reshuffle your graveyard. Then discard.
5) Repeat until they're dead.

It's very janky, I admit, but I've done it at least twice. Once you have Griselbrand and a Skulker, it's very easy to draw most of your deck. You're almost guaranteed to get a Swift Justice to offset the life-loss, and then it's just having 8 more mana to cast Time Warp, the Elixir, and crack it.

The deck isn't based around this at all - all those cards have a number of different interactions that give them a spot in the deck. This is just a best-case scenario that happens a lot more often than you'd think, especially with Rune-Scarred Demons and Rescue from the Underworlds to help assemble it.

It's pretty unnessecary though. Once you have a huge Skulker, It's normally more efficient to just Reprisal it into tokens or activate a Vizkopa Guildmage and win that way, which is what I normally do. This is just another way to get benefit from the Griselbrand/Skulker/Swift Justice combo if the others are unavailable. Most of the time you reach this point (which can be often) you have many ways to close the game.

Esper deck with mind rot / monomania focus. Strong deck even without the discard, wins a lot and is very fun.

Only complaint is, sometimes I ramp with ingot and drop monomania turn 4. Opponents almost always leave when they discard 5+ cards, their fault though I guess.

Kozilek and counterlash may look out of place but they do come out and work well



Spells etc

2 reprisal
2 angelic edict
2 planar cleansing
2 think twice
2 counterlash
2 assassinate
3 mind rot
2 monomania
3 darksteel ingot

Creatures

2 wall of omen
3 guard gomazoa
2 phyrexian rager
1 baneslayer angel
1 shadowborn demon
2 indulgent tormentor
2 rune-scarred demon
1 kozilek, butcher of truth

Lands

5 plains
5 islands
5 swamp
3 dimir guildgate
3 azorius guildgate
3 orzhov guildgate

I put some more work into my Pyxis of Pandemonium deck. I couldn't get it to work for me without premiums, so I broke down and bought them. The mana is a lot smoother now, which is important, because it needs to get to 7 mana most of the time before it really starts working. It's still not quite there yet, so I would appreciate any thoughts/feedback.

Pandemonium (premium)
Spells (36)

2 x Traveler's Amulet
2 x Pyxis of Pandemonium

4 x Lone Missionary
3 x Wall of Omens

2 x Banisher Priest
4 x Phyrexian Rager
3 x Darksteel Ingot

2 x Seance
2 x Jalira, Master Polymorphist
2 x Gravedigger

1 x Baneslayer Angel
2 x Mercurial Pretender
1 x Shadowborn Demon
1 x Angelic Edict

1 x Soul of Ravnica
1 x Resolute Archangel
2 x Rune-Scarred Demon
1 x Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

Lands (24)

5 x Plains
3 x Island
4 x Swamp
4 x Azorius Guildgate
4 x Dimir Guildgate
4 x Orzhov Guildgate


This deck generally aims to take advantage of EtB effects. Those EtB effects can be triggered Jalira and Pyxis to keep the opponent guessing, and they can all be recurred by Seance. Some thoughts I have about specific cards:

-Rune-Scarred demon has pretty much been the star of the deck. Once he comes out (through hard-casting, Seance, Jalira, or Pyxis), unless I'm going to die before I untap again, I'm usually in pretty good shape.
-Mercurial Pretender is second-place in this deck. Once your first Rune-Scarred demon hits the board, you can pull out up to three more (one at a time) by taking mercurial and turning him into rune-scarred. If your mana and your opponent allow, you can keep bouncing him back to your hand and recasting him for repeated tutoring in the presence of a rune-scarred demon (or any other EtB effect you need at the moment).
-Seance works very well here. Besides obviously triggering all of your EtBs a second time, you can generate high CMC EtB effects early game (e.g. with a rune-scarred demon or resolute archangel, for example, in the GY and seance on the board).
-One copy of Angelic Edict can help you deal w/ enchants that may otherwise be very troublesome, e.g. sanguine bond or beastmaster ascension. With Kozilek, it can be reused, and with rune-scarred, it can be fetched.
-Jalira, in theory, works well. In practice, she usually gets removed before she can start cycling my EtB effects, or I'm under significant pressure and have no creatures to sacrifice to her. Should I replace her?
-If seance wasn't enough, Gravediggers give us even more EtB recursion. I initially used 4 of these, but found that I often had more capacity to recur creatures than I had creatures to recur, so cut it down to 2.
-Kozilek can ruin Seance, but overall he's more helpful than harmful, imo. Seance is useful here, but not necessary to win. Kozilek wins games, and he protects against mill. The only time I dislike seeing him is in my opening hand.
-Soul of Ravnica is decent. A 6/6 flying is always welcome (if this deck wins, it often does so with fliers). But he has no EtB, and his draw effect, while useful in a 3-color deck, is hard to pay for when you're under a lot of pressure.
-Pyxis of Pandemonium - I could honestly cut this, but it's kind of the theme of the deck, so I've resisted doing so. I wanted a deck that could take advantage of Pyxis but wouldn't be completely useless without it. It's best in the opening hand, but even then you need to survive to 7 mana to use it. And while this deck has 26 creatures to put into play with it, some other decks (e.g. lots of fatties or really high creature counts) might profit from Pyxis more than oneself. And of course, there's always the random chance that Pyxis rewards the opponent more than you even when your deck is better designed for it.

Information
Believe it or not, but this deck actually evolved from a Vampire deck. I really wanted to find a way to make Blood Tribute work, and eventually settled on making the deck stall until it can use it as it's main win condition. For those of you who don't know; Blood Tribute + Sanguine Bond + any Vampire equals instant win. This deck actually wins this way almost every time, and doesn't lose that often either.

You have removal, stall walls and a ton of card draw to sift through your deck for your combo parts and then boom; take 'em out in one hit. You also have Angels and Demons there, just in case (or to intimidate your opponent), but I rarely have to swing with them. The Demons can also help you fetch combo parts for a win the next turn, usually.

I have been going back and forth between Ulcerate and Tribute to Hunger, so you could use either if you wanted. Ulcerate is better against aggro, and Tribute is better against control.

I briefly also trialled Vizkopa Guildmage as extra Sanguine Bonds, and while 9 mana to perform the combo is easy enough to reach with this deck, the Guildmages didn't otherwise gel, especially as they were taking the place of either removal or stall.

Edits
Edit 1: Stabilized the card draw a bit and changed some removal around.
-1 Island
-2 Inspiration
-3 Ulcerate
+1 Orzhov Guildgate
+3 Tribute to Hunger
+2 Graveborn Muse

Edit 2: Changed deck list to planner view.

I really like the look of this deck, but I feel like it's just crying out for Quicken. I also think that with all the draw and the two Demons that you could trim to a singleton Sanguine Bond. I also don't like Ulcerate here with so little lifegain, so I think I'd play Tribute. If we try Quicken, though, then Assassinate becomes an option.

How about:

-3 Ulcerate
-1 Sanguine Bond

+2 Quicken
+2 Assassinate

Thoughts?

You definitely need both Sanguine Bond, especially with how much more often I'm seeing Angelic Edict. As for Ulcerate vs Tribute; your life total doesn't really matter as long as you have at least 1 life when you pull the combo off, it more comes down to what type of deck you see most often. Regarding Quicken: I don't think it's necessary to be casting Planar Cleansing or Angelic Edict on an opponent's turn, especially at the cost of removing more important cards from the deck, and Blood Tribute definitely doesn't need to be cast on an opponent's turn as you will be casting it as soon as you untap with the rest of your setup in place.

I can't imagine a scenario where I would cast Sanguine Bond unless I was going to win the game that turn, so that's why I suggested going to one copy. Perhaps Quicken is too cute, but with so many powerful sorceries I really want to squeeze it in there; you're a combo deck, so the fact that it cantrips is a bonus, too.

I'll try it out tomorrow, I'm busy with some wedding nonsense today. Looks like a lot of fun.

You generally have to cast Sanguine Bond the turn before you win as you don't normally have 11 to 13 mana ready to go. Plus having both in there increases your chances of drawing it earlier and ending the game before your opponent can stop you.

I've made a couple of edits, replacing two Inspiration with Graveborn Muse and replacing the Ulcerates with Tributes. I also slightly amended the mana pool to compensate.

Hmmm....I'm not sure I like the Muse over Inspiration. Technically Muse can draw you more but often times she ends up drawing less in my experience. Plus Inspiration is an Instant, which is nice, and you get your draws immediately.

In testing she worked out well, because she is Shock proof and all that. I always got more than my two cards worth and an extra body on the battlefield.

I was going to mention this earlier, but I forgot. Have you considered Pestermite? It is the only card in the pool that allows you to untap the Pyxis so you can tap it twice in a turn. It has other uses too, of course; you can untap Jalira to use her ability again, you can untap an attacker to become a surprise blocker, and you can tap an attacker to prevent them from attacking. You can even get an instant speed 2/1 with flying for only 2 mana (as long as you actually have 3 available) by untapping a land or Ingot.

Pyxis decks should play disruptive cards like Pestermite/Frost Lynx/Dinrova Horror because you get to mitigate the drawback of potentially giving your opponent his bombs.

I had a few Frost Lynx in an earlier build and they worked fairly well, but I ended up cutting them to increase mana ramp/fixing. I could swap them for Lone Missionary, but the 4 life (or more w/ Seance) is helpful early game since this is a slow deck, and I'm concerned that more 3-drops (Frost Lynx or Pestermite) would push up the curve too much compared to the Missionaries. Banisher Priest and Shadowborn Demon can also mitigate opponents' creatures that enter by Pyxis, albeit without flash.

Like I mentioned I am also considering just dropping Pyxis since this deck often wins by getting Seance, or by getting to 7 mana then dropping Rune-Scarred Demons, Baneslayer, or Soul of Ravnica, and Mercurial Pretenders. Pyxis can get me to those Demons, but it generally only has a noticeable effect if it's in my starting hand or a very early draw. I have been experimenting with an alternative 4-color (W/G/U/B) Pyxis deck that has a higher creature count, so I might remove Pyxis from this one and focus only on Seance / EtB abuse here.

I ended up with a very similar deck after tuning Esper for about a week! Here it is for the record. Same idea really, lots of creatures with "enters the battle" effects and lots of ways to bounce them around and abuse it. Very very strong deck. Frost Lynx is current an experiment (and works well), replace with Lone Missionary if desried.

Phase Shift

Creatures with "enter the battle" effects

4 Liliana's Specter
4 Phyrexian Rager
3 Wall of Omens
3 Banisher Priest
3 Dinrova Horror
2 Frost Lynx
2 Rune-scarred Demon (had a resolute Archangel here, but didn't like it enough)
1 Shadowborn Demon
22

Bounce effects

4 Cloudshift
4 Undying Evil
3 Quickling
11

Other bits

2 Agent of the Fates(for the sac effect)
1 Baneslayer Angel(lifegain as you are often at 10 life or less before you stabilise and take control, I like it better than the Resolute Angel)
3

4 Orzhov Guildgate
3 Dimir Guildgate
2 Azorius Guildgate
7 Swamp
5 Plains
3 Island

I would definitely drop the Graveborn Muse from your deck, I think. Life is a premium in the deck and you have a ton of draw already with recurring Walls/Ragers/Demons. Have you tried Dinrova Horrors? Late-game they act as Shadowborn Demons 2 thru 4. Also I would say that your choice of non-creature spells is a bit unfocused. If you change it to 4 Cloudshift and 4 Undying Rage, the deck can handle just about any creature either by tapping it indefinitely, bouncIing it, exiling or forcing a discard.

Deck: Steady Charge - Contains Premiums

Counts : 60 main

White:16
3 x Elite Vanguard
3 x Ajani's Pridemate
4 x Squadron Hawk
4 x Attended Knight
1 x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 x Baneslayer Angel

Blue:6
3 x Cloudfin Raptor
3 x Phantasmal Dragon

Black:6
3 x Tormented Hero
2 x Indulgent Tormentor
1 x Shadowborn Demon

Gold:5
2 x Vizkopa Guildmage
3 x Skymark Roc

Artfifact:3
3 x Gargoyle Sentinel

Land:12
4 x Azorius Guildgate
4 x Dimir Guildgate
4 x Orzhov Guildgate

Basic Land:12
3 x Island
6 x Plains
3 x Swamp


Description: This is basically an anti Aggro - Aggro Deck. It contains the most efficient creatures currently in DotP, and so consequently it is usually ahead of the opponent in terms of total power on the board. It isn't so much quick as steady. Every turn you should be able to put down P/T = to your current mana available. This means that you should see roughly 1 power on turn 1, 3 by turn 2, 6 by turn 3, or one less if it's fliers, thus keeping you ahead of most opponent decks. This isn't the most interesting deck, but I think it is very effective.

With three one-drops of each color, how consistent are your opening hands? And how good is the deck at curving out considering the twelve gates? Gargoyle Sentinel seems odd, too, do you often have the mana available to attack with it?

I agree with Hakeem, it seems like this deck might be a little inconsistent. I also think Phantasmal Dragons are pretty much worthless most of the time as nearly anything and everything destroys these guys. I think you would be better off just dropping the all together.

I'm actually not sure what you guys mean, but let me try to respond all the same. Wrt opening hands, I haven't seen much trouble. Wrt curving out, you are typically giving up one turn somewhere on the way. That's fine, so far as I'm concerned... Going 1, 2, 2, 4 is still good enough. You just have to play it right, and that depends on what you've got in hand.

Gargoyle Sentinel is fine. 3/3 flier for 3 mana = good in this deck - great defender, on curve attacker. The deck has no cards above 5 cmc. Paying for the Sentinel to attack is no trouble at all.

The dragons on the other hand are not so good, but calling them worthless is a bit too heavy handed. They are 5/5 fliers for 4 cmc. Yes they are removal magnets, but that's okay in this deck, even a positive. The biggest issue, to me, is that they are complete Nombo with Vizkoppa. That said, I want to run Skymark Roc in this deck badly enough that the dragons get included.

I could easilly see pulling blue, and just going in order to be more consistent, but you lose two of the best cards in the deck if you do. A little less consistency = a lot more power, imo.

P.s.: this deck proved to me how underpower green is in 2015. In order to find p/t = cmc creatures you can't find anything in green. Meanwhile w,b,u all have them. What a load of b.s.

You have nine one-drops, three in each color, in a deck where half your mana sources enter the battlefield tapped; I don't see this deck getting consistent first-turn plays without very aggressive mulliganing. I would love the deck if those twelve gates became twelve shocklands but as is, I'm not feeling it.

On another note, I have never seen Phantasmal Dragon cast in all my time online; i must build a deck with it! Or not.....