Quote from MeliraFreakThere is no "correct" list in this deck like there is in Jund or others, I believe. There are countless different ways to build this deck, especially with the new Deathrite Shamans. Yeah, they're good, but not as good as they were at the PT. Snapcaster Mage and Storm almost vanished, so they became a little worse. They are better in decks that like attrition, like Doran or Jund.
The only "correct" thing in Melira Pod in my opinion are the Decays main deck, because Jund, UW and midrange are much more popular than Storm, Twin or Tron (which is almost unwinnable, even with Fulminator Mages).
Also, I don't see why the GP list can't cast Thoughtseize turn 1. He added one more land (23 over the usual 22) and he traded Dryad Arbor for a Gavony Township. I thought about it all day, I would really like if you explained that to me, I'm really curious and confused
Woodland cemetery is awful, it doesn't let you keep 1 land hands. And double cemetery hands are awkward. Cuneo's list plays 15 sources that can tap for black mana on turn 1 pardee's list has 12. You should be playing stuff on curve, so if you don't have a turn 1 mana dork you should thought seize on turn 1 (against an unknown opponent) to maximize your mana.
on mtgo there are still a lot of people playing combo, splinter twin is really popular (and so is r/g tron, ugh)
http://www.mtgo-stats.com/stats/Modern
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Also, how bad is Freyalise? I almost cried when I saw how underwhelming one of the biggest characters in Magic's lore is.
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If you take out Melira from the deck then you can only combo with Archangel since they'll never let the creature come back. So you'll basically lose the combo route while hoping that the oponent can't take advantage of your "do nothing on my own" 3-drop. Any card that can't affect the game alone needs to be really good and sinergistic with the deck, and we have enough of those cards as it is (Pod/Chord/Gavony). I don't know, maybe he is the nuts, but I'm very very sceptical.
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I found out that our ramp should be the inespensive ones, 3 CMC tops. By the time you play a ramp spell like Skyshroud Claim you usually would want to activate Mayael or play a removal spell. The exceptions would be mana doublers (Mirari's Wake / Mana Reflection).
None of the gods are great for us. The most useful is Nylea but she still is bad. A better mana sink would be Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, for example.
The most important thing in my opinion is playing with creatures that do something, not just huge beaters. Things like the Eldrazi, Akroma or Blighsteel Colossus look great on theory, but other than being giant undercosted (with Mayael) fatties, they don't really help our game plan. Every creature I play has its use, be it removal, protection or recursion. I like to prioritize those creatures when building and tweaking my list.
Hope ot helps
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Just thought of something: Sun Titan is only used (at least by me) after a board swipe or several removal spells. Archangel would't help in this situation, and Restoration Angel could be better in both scenarios. My two cents.