In practice it's extremely rare that you would want to first declare your attackers and then (before going to the declare blockers step) cast something. (Most often if you want to affect the combat in some way before blockers have been declared, you would do it before even declaring attackers, unless there's a reason you can't or don't want to do that.) If there's a situation where you indeed want to do something after declaring your attackers and before going to the declare blockers step, it's best if you clearly say so as you are declaring, so as to inform your opponent to wait before their possible responses to your declaration.
I don't think you can drop Glen Elendra. That card is legitimately one of the best cards in the deck, because it's a "hate card" that also protects your combo, enables your combo, and reasonable on the midrange plan. It's borderline good enough to splash in Melira, although that's probably a bad idea, since you have hand disruption.
Combust is just the one of the best cards to play against Twin and UWR. I run 2 copies. Play 3 paths for your other matchups. Fiery Justice is hilariously good against weenies (pod, affinity, hatebears) and kills Tarmogoyf.
I think this list(and most pod lists) is just incredible against most of the random stuff you'll encounter that isn't tier 1.
This is exactly my sentiment after playing pod for ~2 years. I genuinely believe that Pod is the worst deck of the best decks, but the best deck of all the decks.
Honestly, I think Melira version is still the way to go. After playing both versions, I could definitely feel the lack of good chord/pod options in Angel Pod, and Spike Feeder is really, really bad. Not only that, but the faster goldfish is certainly relevant in Melira pod. I find that, if need be, I can board into an Angel Pod-like list, so it really boils down to whether or not that list is worth having game 1. The other advantages to playing Angel Pod's creature base are very small. Dropping Ranger of Eos and copies 2-4 of Finks isn't even that good, because those aren't replaced by creatures, they're replaced by Thoughtseizes and a Sin Collector. I play a very stock Melira list dropping Phyrexian Metamorph for Restoration Angel and dropping the 4th Kitchen Finks for a Sin Collector mainboard and that setup feels much better than Angel Pod.
I don't really believe in Kurkesh for this deck, mainly because the deck is way too strapped for slots. He lets you do cute things if you untap with him, but that's it. In reality, all you really want are creatures that actually impact the board once they hit it. This means ETB effect, static effect, or non-summoning sick activated ability.
With regards to cutting Kiki, I really don't see it. We have so many ways to simply generate value off of Kiki, not just win the game. To name a few, Eternal Witness, Avalanche Riders, Kitchen Finks, Voice of Resurgence, Murderous Redcap, etc.
Stony Silence largely overlaps with Aven Mindcensor in terms of their role, IMO. I don't think that mindcensor is correct, especially coming down on 3. I'm probably going to experiment with Meddling Mage, as it provides a clock and holds them off their Karn game.
While meddling mage sounds great, you have to remember that RG Tron already runs 4 Pyroclasm and 3-4 O-Ring in the main. Mage will most likely be only a very small speedbump against Tron as they have several other bombs. I'd prefer something less squishy if it exists...
However, on the flip-side mage can come in against many other match-ups, so it might not be such a bad catchall to run if you have room, especially if you are in a more heavy combo meta.
They 99% board out pyroclasm when you're boarding in the mage. Really, the plan is just to speedbump tron until you can assemble the loam lock.
Stony Silence largely overlaps with Aven Mindcensor in terms of their role, IMO. I don't think that mindcensor is correct, especially coming down on 3. I'm probably going to experiment with Meddling Mage, as it provides a clock and holds them off their Karn game.
I'm back after some playtesting! The matchups I played were UR Tempo Twin and GR Tron.
Tempo Twin is a particularly easy matchup with how the deck is set up. They will 99% of the time never combo and eventually get grinded out by removal spells, man lands, and gifts packages. Every time I've lost it's been to a Blood Moon where I don't have the Abrupt Decay.
GR Tron is a whole different beast, though. The matchup feels unwinnable if a Karn resolves and nearly unwinnable if a Wurmcoil resolves. It may have been bad luck since I pathed 1 Wurmcoil the whole session (over 6 BO3s played). However, it does still say something about the card and matchup. Wurmcoil forces us to keep paths in the deck. Meanwhile, that's at least 3 slots in the deck that doesn't answer Karn. I can't for the life of me figure out this matchup. The only games I win are when I have the loam engine running because they didn't hit a threat.
I agree with your evaluation of the lion in a vacuum, but we're gifts loam. The #1 game plan against UWR is to gifts for loam/crime, not to resolve fleecemane and then monstrous. The lion is simply a way to close out the game once you've already won. Once you've established that, lion can easily resolve into a topdecking/empty handed opponent. Once it's monstrous, their only option really is to race you with colonnades, which doesn't work too well against gifts loam, once again.
The other mode of lion, I don't believe requires much discussion. It's a watchwolf and watchwolf is an efficient creature.
Note that this does move into the role of creeping tar pit in the deck, though. It is entirely possible that having goyf/manlands is just better than having lion/manlands. Regardless, I believe I will be testing this for science once I get the opportunity. I'm posting with hopes to get other people on board in the testing process.
Regarding Noxious Revival, I think it's a great card in this deck as a 1-of. I will definitely be running one in my list to try, and I suggest others do the same so we can arrive at some sort of conclusion about the card.
As for Fleecemane Lion, fghtffyrdmns, you're not forced to monstrosity it. The logic is that you get to use it however you see fit. I'm going to parallel this power to Vexing Devil. Vexing devil is either a 4/3 for R or 4 damage for R. There exists decks that want BOTH these effects. However, the nature of the card means that it is worse than just a 4/3 for R and worse than just a 4 damage lava spike. The reason is that your opponent gets to choose the card that is the least bad for him/her.
While this is true for punisher effects, the opposite is true for cards with modes. Take for example, izzet charm. It's an extremely powerful card, but strictly worse than other cards. Why play izzet charm when spell pierce counters noncreature spells better? When magma spray kills X/2s better? The reason is because izzet charm covers multiple use cases in one card; it is card efficient.
Fleecemane Lion can potentially be an Izzet Charm for this deck. If you view it ONLY as 2+5 mana for a 4/4 hexproof indestructible, it's a bad thrun. If you view it as ONLY a 2 mana 3/3, it's a bad goyf. However, the sum of the parts and the option of having either is what makes it potentially good. When you need a watchwolf to block a voice, lion does that. When you need a 4/4 hexproof indestructible creature to beat down a UWR control, lion does that too.
Both those cards are comparable but not necessarily better. Lion fills the role of having 2 cmc. Thrun is great in the deck. Blood baron is potentially great.
The advantage of lion is that it fills 2 roles in 1 slot. It's not better than goyf at being goyf, it's not better than thrun at being thrun (although they are significantly different in how they affect the board), but the fact that it does both things is worth a consideration at least.
Regarding pack rat, I think the card has potential, but it is certainly awkward earlier in the game. The fact that it takes so long to ramp up immediately removes one of goyf's useful properties, which is blocking on the turn you slam it.
To those on the goyf plan, would Fleecemane Lion fulfill the goyf role better, possibly? I feel like if you play only goyfs they just get pathed, and we have no way to take advantage of burning through the path unless we play more creature based threats.
On the other hand, lion's hexproof helps us more effectively grind out the game. The indestructability is pretty substantial too, for infinite chumping.
Another potential card here is Geist of Saint Traft. Slightly higher on the curve (actually requires tapping out on a critical turn), but definitely applies significant amounts of pressure. I just don't like how terrible he is on defense, though.
Say you're playing Radha, Heir to Keld
and want to cast Searing Blood after you declare her as an attacker, but before blockers.Combust is just the one of the best cards to play against Twin and UWR. I run 2 copies. Play 3 paths for your other matchups. Fiery Justice is hilariously good against weenies (pod, affinity, hatebears) and kills Tarmogoyf.
Huntmaster has performed poorly for me, but YMMV.
This is exactly my sentiment after playing pod for ~2 years. I genuinely believe that Pod is the worst deck of the best decks, but the best deck of all the decks.
They 99% board out pyroclasm when you're boarding in the mage. Really, the plan is just to speedbump tron until you can assemble the loam lock.
Tempo Twin is a particularly easy matchup with how the deck is set up. They will 99% of the time never combo and eventually get grinded out by removal spells, man lands, and gifts packages. Every time I've lost it's been to a Blood Moon where I don't have the Abrupt Decay.
GR Tron is a whole different beast, though. The matchup feels unwinnable if a Karn resolves and nearly unwinnable if a Wurmcoil resolves. It may have been bad luck since I pathed 1 Wurmcoil the whole session (over 6 BO3s played). However, it does still say something about the card and matchup. Wurmcoil forces us to keep paths in the deck. Meanwhile, that's at least 3 slots in the deck that doesn't answer Karn. I can't for the life of me figure out this matchup. The only games I win are when I have the loam engine running because they didn't hit a threat.
I'm more of a fan of Restoration Angel + Geralf's Messenger, myself.
The other mode of lion, I don't believe requires much discussion. It's a watchwolf and watchwolf is an efficient creature.
Note that this does move into the role of creeping tar pit in the deck, though. It is entirely possible that having goyf/manlands is just better than having lion/manlands. Regardless, I believe I will be testing this for science once I get the opportunity. I'm posting with hopes to get other people on board in the testing process.
As for Fleecemane Lion, fghtffyrdmns, you're not forced to monstrosity it. The logic is that you get to use it however you see fit. I'm going to parallel this power to Vexing Devil. Vexing devil is either a 4/3 for R or 4 damage for R. There exists decks that want BOTH these effects. However, the nature of the card means that it is worse than just a 4/3 for R and worse than just a 4 damage lava spike. The reason is that your opponent gets to choose the card that is the least bad for him/her.
While this is true for punisher effects, the opposite is true for cards with modes. Take for example, izzet charm. It's an extremely powerful card, but strictly worse than other cards. Why play izzet charm when spell pierce counters noncreature spells better? When magma spray kills X/2s better? The reason is because izzet charm covers multiple use cases in one card; it is card efficient.
Fleecemane Lion can potentially be an Izzet Charm for this deck. If you view it ONLY as 2+5 mana for a 4/4 hexproof indestructible, it's a bad thrun. If you view it as ONLY a 2 mana 3/3, it's a bad goyf. However, the sum of the parts and the option of having either is what makes it potentially good. When you need a watchwolf to block a voice, lion does that. When you need a 4/4 hexproof indestructible creature to beat down a UWR control, lion does that too.
The advantage of lion is that it fills 2 roles in 1 slot. It's not better than goyf at being goyf, it's not better than thrun at being thrun (although they are significantly different in how they affect the board), but the fact that it does both things is worth a consideration at least.
Regarding pack rat, I think the card has potential, but it is certainly awkward earlier in the game. The fact that it takes so long to ramp up immediately removes one of goyf's useful properties, which is blocking on the turn you slam it.
On the other hand, lion's hexproof helps us more effectively grind out the game. The indestructability is pretty substantial too, for infinite chumping.
Another potential card here is Geist of Saint Traft. Slightly higher on the curve (actually requires tapping out on a critical turn), but definitely applies significant amounts of pressure. I just don't like how terrible he is on defense, though.