After months of fiddling, I finally gave my Rasputin Dreamweaver deck a spin this week. I wanted to have a strong backup deck to Vig that didn’t involve so much shuffling, and this has been a blast to pilot thus far. Here is list of what I’m currently running on Tapped Out, and I’ll eventually get a separate page for it set up as I grow more comfortable playing the deck.

I went with Rasputin for a handful of reasons:

He’s an Azorius commander that does very un-Azorius things. It’s bizarre to play a ramp commander in these colors, and folks unfamiliar with the deck don’t see it coming.

He supports a playstyle I’ve embraced since the days of RecSur – recycling value critters.

He’s not Augustin IV.

He leans more heavily on white than blue, forcing me to limit the overlap between his list and Vig’s. That said, I don’t have the willpower to not run Trinket Mage anywhere and everywhere.

He’s a Legends legend, and I’m a sucker for old walls of text that make the entire room raise its collective eyebrow.

~Blink Effects~

Conjurer’s Closet, Deadeye Navigator, Dust Elemental, Galepowder Mage, Ghostly Flicker, Ghostway, Glimmerpoint Stag, Flickerwisp, Mistmeadow Witch, Momentary Blink, Nephalia Smuggler, Venser the Sojourner

Blink makes the deck go around. I like having a mixture of quick (Nephalia Smuggler) and slow blinks (Mistmeadow Witch), because they are useful in different situations. Besides ensuring Rasputin always has his gullet full of dream counters, blink effects let you recycle ETB triggers, dodge removal, and (if it comes down to it) set up profitable Wraths. “At the beginning of the next end step” blinks can be used during an end step to leave the target exiled for a turn. If the game has gone on long enough (like mine did this week), you can blink your team to safety at the end of an opponents’ turn, drop a Wrath, and repopulate your board at the end of your turn.

Mistmeadow Witch is an MVP through and through. Rasputin grants such a massive mana bump that opponents will have to spend plenty of resources to punch through your board state.

The one-shot blink effects might not seem like much, but the they have more than proven their usefulness to me. Even with Mistmeadow Witch on the board, they throw off your opponents’ view of how much blinking you’re capable of. Of which you are capable.

~Removal~

Angel of Serenity, Condemn, Fiend Hunter, Leonin Relic-Warder, Luminate Primordial, Mangara of Corondor, Oblation, Return to Dust, Stonecloaker, Swords to Plowshares, Supreme Verdict, Terminus, Tormod’s Crypt, Wispmare

Unless you exile it, it’s going to come back. As much as I love Dismantling Blow, I’m sticking with Return to Dust for now. On the ETB front, I opted for Wispmare over the other options because I like the art. Hoo-ray!

Angel of Serenity, Fiend Hunter and Relic-Warder can be blinked or bounced in response to their ETB triggers for a permanent exile. Mangara’s self-exile is part of his ability’s resolution, not cost, so the same essentially applies to him.

I’m still waffling on whether Hallowed Burial might be better than Supreme Verdict. I’m so used to cascade decks that I’m tempted to run all the tucks I can get (See, Condemn, Oblation, Terminus), but the lower cost and whole “can’t be countered” thing are nudges towards Verdict. I’ll likely go back and forth until I pick one.

~Assorted ETB Junk~

Archaeomancer, Karmic Guide, Lavinia of the Tenth, Mulldrifter, Reveillark, Sanctum Gargoyle, Sphinx of Uthuun, Stoneforge Mystic, Sun Titan, Trinket Mage

Most of this stuff is self-explanatory. I’m not running Gilded Drake on purpose. It makes people angry, and I’ve already got one in Vig.

Archaeomancer gets the nod over Mnemonic Wall just because I’ll eventually get an extra Riptide Lab to shove in here. I don’t really need two of this effect, and the extra colorless isn’t worth the tougher blocker in the short run. Sanctumn Gargoyle, on the other hand, makes me wonder if I should find room for Treasure Hunter as well.

Karmic Guide and Reveillark go infinite with a sac outlet. It’s expected, so I imagine folks will be gunning to exile one or the other or both. Frankly, I have a lot more fun just blinking Reveillark over and over for value.

~Permission~

Glen Elendra Archmage, Muddle the Mixture, Render Silent, Spell Crumple, Time Stop

What a weird mix of spells. I’m happy with this combination of counters so far. Render Silent and Time Stop in particular can function as doopy Angel’s Graces if things are going poorly. Both are good at buying a turn when you need it, so save them for when they count!

Blinking Glen Elendra needs to be done very lightly if you want to play a second game with those opponents. It’s annoying as hell to play around and swaddles you in bullseyes. Save it for when you really, really need it.

~Ramp~

Azorius Signet, Chromatic Lantern, Knight of the White Orchid, Kor Cartographer, Solemn Simulacrum, Sol Ring, Talisman of Progress, Wayfarer’s Bauble

The non-green Talismans are bonkers, plain and simple. I had wonderful luck running Indulgence in that Rakdos deck, and figured the same benefits would apply here. Running a Cluestone instead might be smart, but jumping from two to four in the early game (when rocks matter) is a lot more useful than three to five. Chromatic Lantern is the weak link here, and I’ll probably test a few other options in that slot.

It’s worth mentioning that Knight of the White Orchid and Kor Cartographer can both scrounge for non-basic Plains. All of these critters are Reveillark-sized and are well worth recycling for minor deck-thinning as the game progresses.

~Etc.~

Blue Sun’s Zenith, Erratic Portal, Fact or Fiction, Mortarpod, Myojin of Seeing Winds, Mystical Tutor, Nim Deathmantle, Rite of Replication, Sakashima’s Student, Skullclamp, Spawning Pit, Tezzeret the Seeker

Rasputin + Nim Deathmantle + Sac Outlet goes infinite. Ok, arbitrarily large. Mortarpod goes for a direct kill, Spawning Pool requires the combat step. You can replace the sac outlet with Skullclamp and another creature to draw a lot of cards.

I wish Mortarpod was Blasting Station instead, but Stoneforge Mystic is really bad at finding Blasting Station. Spawning Pit is a sac outlet that eventually requires mana, which feels a little less douchey than one that doesn’t. If I’m in the position to abuse it, Rasputin is giving me all the mana I need anyways. Again, Blasting Station is probably much better.

Tezzeret can tutor for most of the deck’s win conditions, as well as providing a smidgen of ramp with mana rocks. I don’t think his ultimate really does anything here, but I doubt it’s attainable that easily anyways.

Myojin will eventually come out of the list for Sphinx’s Revelation, but it’s really, really not difficult to cast in this deck. Drawing twenty and leaving a 3/3 behind isn’t such a bad thing. If I was planning on keeping it, I’d find room for an Expedition Map to make Reliquary Tower more available.

~Lands! My Favorite Part!~

Academy Ruins – I tried leaving this out, but too many of my win conditions are fragile artifacts.

Bad River, Flood Plain, Grasslands – Mirage fetches are usually worse than Onslaught/Zendikar fetches. They also cost $50-100 less apiece. Since they’re bound to get a reprint sooner or later, I’ll leave my handful of “good” fetches in Vig and crutch on these for now. I’m surprised these don’t see more play, especially since the reprinting of the shocklands.

Dust Bowl – This could just as well be Strip Mine or Wasteland, but I’d like to see how this works out. The ability to knock out a few offending Mazes or Coffers without needing a Sun Titan or the like seems rather nice.

Mistveil Plains – I love this card. It loses a bit of sparkle without Sunforger, but it’s still a way to thicken your deck with stuff you want to reuse. Deck thickening is like deck thinning, but sounds funnier.

Reliquary Tower – I don’t love this card as much as many folks do, but Myojin pretty much requires it.

Thespian’s Stage – I suppose this is an auto-include include in most decks these days. My juiciest target right now is likely Mistveil Plains, but there are enough fancylands running around my meta for this to be worthwhile. Not enough to make Vesuva worthwhile as well.

Tolaria West – This is the reason I’m running Tormod’s Crypt over Scrabbling Claws. Having an extra shot at Mistveil Plains or Academy Ruins is nice, too!

Adarkar Wastes, Ancient Den, Azorius Chancery, Azorius Guildgate, Calciform Pools, Celestial Colonnade, Command Tower, Glacial Fortress, Hallowed Fountain, 7x Snow-Covered Island, 8x Snow-Covered Plains, Nimbus Maze, Reflecting Pool, Seat of the Synod, Sejiri Refuge

This is the portion of the deck that needs the most work. It hasn’t been an issue yet, but I’m likely running too many lands that enter the battlefield tapped.

The Snow lands are relics from a previous draft that included Scrying Sheets that stuck around because they look pretty in purple sleeves.

Artifact lands are a liability, but I always at least try running them when Trinket Mage is involved. They will likely get chopped down the line.

~Stuff I Don’t Have~

This is sort of my “acquireboard.” I’m trading into this schtuff a bit at a time, and most of these

Restoration Angel – Even though it only hits my stuff (and only creatures), this is likely an upgrade to Glimmerpoint Stag. Based on a small handful of games, my deck really likes having flyers to poke through here and there.

Tundra, Mystic Gate – I’m waiting for someone to send a Tundra on PucaTrade (please!), and I’ll get around to Mystic Gate whenever I’m done scooping up cards that “do stuff.”

Riptide Laboratory, Winding Canyons – These are cards that I have in Vig, but I’m tired of shuffling staples between decks. These are probably next on my list of things to pick up. Riptide Lab bounces Rasputin, Mangara, and Trinket Mage (among other things). Winding Canyons is Winding Canyons, and it unlocks a few stacking tricks with my blinky guys.

Kor Haven – I swear I’ve got one in a box somewhere. This deck can’t really afford to run Maze of Ith, since it needs its land drops to produce mana in the early game. Mystifying Maze is an option, but I don’t want to give opponents the opportunity to recycle their Sylvan Primordials.

Sphinx’s Revelation – This deck could really use one, but I’m not trading $25 worth of stuff to get one. I can’t help but assume it’s going to drop eventually.

By the by – thanks to XeroxedFool, Jylichan, DeadManSeven and Dracilic for sharing their lists on the Interwebs. They offered a lot of neat springboards that I might have/probably would have otherwise missed.

This has been a blast to play so far, and the de-emphasis on shuffling means I get to spend more time actually casting things and junk. I’ll keep y’all posted on how it continues to play, and I’d love comments and suggestions!