Improving my Umbris deck

[twf16]

Would like to improve my Umbris deck, as it has been inconsistent and not nearly as competitive as I planned in the 5 or so games I've played with it so far. I realize it's still a smallish sample size so maybe I'm overreacting. But the primary issues I've had are:

• Lack of card draw - I thought I could get away with many of my cards having card draw as a secondary benefit but this has been a huge issue in every game so far.
• I think I need more mana rocks. Ramp has been non-existent.
• Probably get rid of all the mutate creatures, just doesn't work in this deck even with the tribal synergy.
• More focus - Right now it feels split between a voltron theme with protection for Umbris, a little bit of mill and then graveyard exile theme, and a little bit of flicker horror/nightmare theme but does none of the three exceptionally well. Any recommendation for which might fit best?

My playgroup is open to all styles and generally are in the mid-high casual power level (Rarely/never see a turn 4 or earlier win, but also rarely go past 10-12 turns).

Ignore the maybeboard, haven't really kept up on that.

Deck: Umbris

[ApothecaryGeist]

By going Nightmare/Horror tribal, that is the focus.  Have nightmares ETB, get Umbris trigger, which makes Umbris big.  This requires Umbris on the field early to get the triggers.  And then to stay on the field to attack.  You're not trying to mill out your opponents.  Just to get enough cards in exile for a lethal commander swing.  You really don't want it to be stellar at anything except keeping Umbris on the battlefield.


You definitely need more ramp.  (And probably more card draw.)  Your average mana value is 3.58.  Swapping out some cards for some cheap ramp will help lower that.

Here's my Umbris deck.


https://deckstats.net/decks/97591/2372674-oh-the-horror-/en

It has 9 sources of card advantage.  Several are on lands.  The rest are on horrors.
Plus 13 pieces of ramp.

[SaintDan]

I will go over the individual points you've mentioned:

card draw: This deck really is lacking card draw. Dimir has the best pool of cards for drawing them. Cards like Stinging study really fit your style of Voltron/Control deck. Maybe have a look at Sire of Stagnation.
Also, with drawing more cards, you will draw more ramp and gas for the late game.

ramp: Some say 50 sources of mana is right. I wouldn't go as far, but in my opinion your numbers are too low. And PLEASE don't forget the Oblivion Sower, which is the most absurd card for the deck.

mutate: Sadly mutate is a trap. tried it myself often enough 

focus: I don't really like to mention cards to remove or add, because this way you could just go to edhrec and streamline your deck. But I have to mention some cards as an example.

1. Remove the pile of "Flicker" cards in your list. You have like 5 creatures with ETBs. The value these cards are adding is marginal.
2. Your pile of "Exile Cards" is to big with some weird choices in it. Denying Wind will either be a dead card for most of the game or an underwhelming effect when casting. Most of the other cards are dead draws in the late game or won't do anything early.
I would go with the 1-mana-artifacts and some incidental graveyard hate like Author of Shadows or Szat's Will with some big upsides attached to them.
Most often it will be sufficient to remove just one graveyard to have your commander deal lethal damage.
3. There are just 2 reliable removal spells in your deck. And none of them mass removal. Your deck probably will develop much slower than your opponents. Without removal you won't catch up. I always go with at least 2-3 mass and 4-5 spot removal cards.
4. Your "Counter/Control"-package is kind of fitting the theme. But unfortunately not very useful in commander. Try to swap in hard counters for the "pay x" counters.
5. General focus of the deck. Umbris himself is more of a voltron commander. I would suggest to go this route combining it with control. Remove those expensive cards that don't do enough and replace them with cheap ways to mill like Maddening Cacophony for example. I would also go with cheaper Horrors which can attack immediately after casting Umbris. There are even some fun ones like Mindslicer, Phyrexian Obliterator and Overcharged Amalgam

[twf16]

https://deckstats.net/decks/177750/2915877-umbris-revisions
I've had some time to make some revisions, let me know what you guys think. Maybeboard is the ones I removed.