Workshop 1000 - Kwain, Itinerant Meddler / Smash, Yawgmoth's Chosen - CLOSED (EDH / Commander)

GENERAL:

We see that the basics of the deck are fine. Looks like the deck needs some finishing touches, no need for dramatic adjusts to ratios of different things.

We notice that the deck is mostly tutor free, doesn't have the free counterspells and it wins with damage from Iron Maiden, Viseling and/or Psychosis Crawler. We aim to preserve these qualities.

To get to its goal the deck attempts to draw a ton of cards instead of tutoring for individual pieces. We identify Mind Over Matter as the most powerful card in the deck so we're going to make good use of it. This may require us to swap Whir of Invention for Long-Term Plans to find it. Mind Over Matter is a two-card combo with the commander so that'll be our main way to "tutor" the rest of the pieces.

For protection this deck plays a suite of counterspells. It, however, is lacking protection against abilities which means Stifle, Tale's End and Disallow should be perfect for the job. Even Trickbind should be considered as that is a very good card that stops things like Aetherflux Reservoir (which is hard to stop otherwise).

Since the deck draws a lot of cards Approach of the Second Sun should be a good one-card alternate win condition. We should consider adding that. The Pilot agrees it's a good idea.

Draw doublers combo pair nicely with Folio of Fancies. We should add all the possible draw doublers. Currently missing Alhammerret's Archive and Thought Reflection. The latter is expensive to cast but provides incredible value and is most likely an effect powerful enough to secure the game.

Speaking of individual draw spells: the deck is missing Consecrated Sphinx.

The idea of hard stax / locks was thrown in the air. Waiting for input from the Pilot. Pilot would rather not play with hard locks or stax so this idea is scrapped. Examples: Knowledge Pool + Drannith Magistrate / Teferi, Time Raveler and Winter Orb + Mind Over Matter. Another interesting lock is Solemnity + Decree of Silence. Decree of Silence is an underrated counterspell that cantrips (with a draw doubler it's actually card positive) and is a triggered ability (extremely hard to counter). Solemnity is a generic stax piece that kills a lot of decks: infect, +1/+1 counters and other niche strategies. It also pairs nicely with other cards such as Nine Lives or Glacial Chasm.

The deck already plays Echo of Eons and Approach of the Second Sun was suggested as an addition. Both benefit from Narset's Reversal.

ADDITIONS:

Hall of Heliod's Generosity is a perfect way to bring back important enchantments.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx was added since it at worst it's one colourless mana and at best it goes mana positive with Mind Over Matter.

Tolaria West is simply a better Expedition Map.

Double down on protection: Dissipation Field, Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety in addition to Propaganda.

Consecrated Sphinx: a staple for this deck.

Narset's Reversal combines nicely with either Echo of Eons or Approach of the Second Sun.

Approach of the Second Sun provides a nice alternative win condition for a draw-heavy deck.

Long-Term Plans is a nice tutor that plays really well when drawing a lot of cards and doesn't feel like a Vampiric Tutor in terms of "fairness".

Thought Reflection and Alhammarret's Archive provide crucial draw doubling. These work really well with other forms of draw the deck has.

Otawara is a powerful utility land. Good times.

Negate swapped to Disallow for more coverage.

Perplexing Test and Aetherize were added for the double duty they perform: put cards in hands and delete threats.

CUTS:

Deep Gnome Terramancer can be useful with opponents playing fetches but since that's never guaranteed we should probably rely on other forms of ramp that aren't dependent on our opponents taking specific actions.

Expedition Map replaced by Tolaria West.

Solitary Confinement stops draw steps so that goes against the strategy of the deck.

Grafdigger's Cage - while a good hate piece it's very lonely. We've got more powerful removal in Scavenger Grounds (+ Tolaria West to find it).

Sunder is mostly "win more" since it requires setup to break parity and that setup is usually already indicative of winning position.

Venser's Journal has two functions but it's very expensive for what it does. The deck usually has a "no max hand size" source out by the time Venser's Journal would hit the table thus leaving life gain as its only function.

Authority of the Consuls is a nice one-drop but doesn't really provide other utility. Prevents hasty attacks but for that we play instant speed mass bounce already.

Mirage Mirror cannot copy Iron Maiden or Viseling limiting its usefulness greatly. (It can but the upkeep step has already begun and they won't trigger and there's no way to receive priority prior to the upkeep step.)

Whir of Invention is very expensive to cast and limited in terms of what it can find. It's nice that it is instant speed but the deck cannot leverage the improvise aspect of it that well.

An Offer You Can't Refuse is arguably a very good spell but in this case it gives our opponents resources they could leverage against us. Other counterspells might be better at dealing with threats.

Meekstone was made redundant with the addition of the pay-to-attack enchantments.

Negate was replaced by Disallow for better coverage.

Copy Artifact is a very good card but can't copy nearly as many things as the other copy spells.