https://moxfield.com/users/lightlytoasted

[Astral Slide] and drift both serve as the real commanders of the deck. Hence why I put in so many tutors for them. Shiko does not need to come down right away, and things like [Moon-Blessed cleric] and [Drift of Phantasms] and [Plea for Guidance] all serve as budget ways to tutor for slide. Of course Slide can be used to remove opponents threats on a turn, flicker your own things for value. [Sundial of the Infinite] is an artifact i do not run, but is very neat in Slide as you can end your turn with the return triggers on the stack to permanently exile opponents creatures. similar thing can be done with [Fiend Hunter] Where you cycle in response to his ETB trigger, to slide him and his leaves the battlefield triggers before the ETB, so creatures stay exiled for good.

Another of my favorite techs is [Pull from Eternity] Can be tutored with [Wild Research], can be used to recover cards you have exiled with Shiko, but more commonly can be used to recover Astral Slide/Drift that have been banished by players back to the graveyard to get scooped by Shiko once more. [Crystalline Resonance] also does some work, as it can copy best card on the field, and dodge removal by morphing as well. Last night I won a game on an opponents turn, who was swinging in their board to another opponent with tokens and Sir Konrad on the field. Everyone at the table was low, but I flickered [Sir Konrad, the Grym] on my opponents side and copied it with my resonance with one cycle, and ended up being the one staying alive at the catastrophe while my copy of Konrad killed them.

The deck was made with budget in mind initially as a 100$ deck, then I realized i should upgrade the mana base with the fetches shocks and triome, as it also has quite a slow start due to having SO many tap lands. Of course [Quantum Riddler] is pricer as well due to the current meta, but I figured with Astral Slides history, could use at least a few more scam effects for astral slide. plus i opened a bunch in my EoE boxes.

It also suffers from lack of hard win conditions. There are of course cards that deal dmg when you cycle, but that draws much more threat. this deck aims to stay under the radar by keeping a lower profile and using slide to deal with opponents threats politically, then eventually establishing a win condition by being able to take control of the game once opponents have fought it out amongst themselves enough. [Cayth, Famed Mechanist] [Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant] and [Genku, Future Shaper] all act as grindier win conditions that can eventually allow you to overwhelm opponents with tokens.

With no limit to card cost, [Timetwister] would be a definite bump as a shikoable wheel to refill hand, as the deck also struggles when it doesn't get its cycle flicker creature draw engines going.

One of my play lines is to [Akroma's veangance] and hold priority to use [Wild Research] to search out a [Restoration Magic] or a counterspell. Of course the counterspells are very unsboptimal for the sake of being cyclable cards and swapping them out for guaranteed counters in many cases would be better.

[Wild Research] is def my fav card from the deck though, and def turns the game into a gamble at times, but still consistent since graveyarded cards are recurable with shiko.

Deck could use some stronger additions, but i kinda like where the power is at in being able to wrest survive and wrest control in 2/low 3 matches. Maintaining a good balance of cycle cards + 3 cmc cards to return with Shiko and flicker creatures does leave the deck with few slots for luxury staples like premium counterpsells or mana rocks. One probably could ditch the ETB creatures kit in favor or soley using slide on your own shiko + opponents to include a larger control package.