This just seems like a less-efficient and more removal-vulnerable version of the already tier-1 burn deck that you see every day in Modern. What do you see as the benefits your list has over the established archetype? You're running a lot of cards that just aren't great in this metagame (Krenko's Command and Dragon Fodder match up poorly against Lingering Souls and Maelstrom Pulse) and you're running some mediocre creatures (Legion Loyalist, Goblin Bushwhacker, Foundry Street Denizen) over aggressive cards that are established to be quite powerful, like Eidolon of the Great Revel and Monastery Swiftspear.
The issue with Swans of Bryn Argoll is that it can provide ridiculous card advantage to your opponent. All of a sudden your opponent's Lightning Bolts become Ancestral Recalls, and if you're forced to block you're basically burying yourself in card disadvantage.
It seems like you have a lot of ideas going on here without a whole lot of direction, and I think you'll have to focus on one to make the deck work. If you want to try and make Academy Ruins+Counterbalance work, you probably won't have space for a complicated combo kill with Krark-Clan Ironworks and a Pili-Pala+Grand Architect combo and a Myr Retriever combo.
This might fit well into a Mono-U Tron shell, since it seems like it'll be pretty mana-intensive but not have significant color requirements.
I doubt you'll be running a ton of creatures, so Soul of New Phyrexia doesn't seem incredibly appealing. Again, slotting this into a Tron shell with Wurmcoil Engine and/or Sundering Titan as finishers seems appealing.
Unless you have additional ways of producing mana, no. The morphed Riptide Entrancer will have already dealt its combat damage for the step before you have lands available to unmorph it.
4 mainboard Dismember seems like a really bad idea, especially since they're completely dead against a number of decks (UWR control, Scapeshift, Ascension Storm, Bloom Titan, Ad Nauseam) and you can't ever cast them without paying 4 life, which is a lot in a meta full of Burn, Affinity, and Twin.
If you're playing a tempo game and you're playing blue, I'm not sure why you're not playing a playset of Remand. If you're playing monocolored tribal, you should be playing a playset of Mutavault. If you're playing an aggressive blue deck, you should probably be playing Delver of Secrets. I'd take a look at Travis Woo's Ninja Bear Delver list. It's not illusion tribal (Lord of the Unreal isn't anywhere near as good as you seem to think it is) but it is a mono-blue aggro-tempo deck that might suit your interests.
Since you at least seem to be trying to play a tempo game Remand might warrant testing over Mana Leak. The cantrip can be really relevant, and it's essentially a hard counter in the early game. You can also win counter wars with it by Remanding your own stuff if it's going to be countered.
Since you're mono-colored and tribal, Mutavault could put in a lot of work without harming your manabase too much. If you find yourself having color issues with 8 colorless sources, I'd think about cutting the Buried Ruin--they only synergize with Wurmcoil Engine (at a pretty high mana cost at that), whereas Mutavault is an efficient beater that doesn't take up a spell slot and synergizes with your tribal lord.
A discard package (some combination of Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek) seems like it would be really useful, especially against combo (which you currently have very little protection against). You're also lacking powerful permission--I'd probably replace Izzet Charm and Condescend with Cryptic Command.
It's ridiculous to suggest that if something isn't as good as twin it shouldn't be discussed
Maybe I wasn't clear. I wasn't saying that if something isn't as good as Twin/Junk/Affinity it shouldn't be discussed, because that would be ridiculous--that'd be saying that anything but the tier 1 subforum is useless. All I was saying is that a deck (whether it's tier 1 or a homebrew) has to have a gameplan against the giants of the format, because like it or not you will have to play against them.
Azami, Lady of Scrolls+Mind Over Matter+Laboratory Maniac is the classic wizard-based combo, and is pretty doable since it only requires two cards to start (one of which can be tutored out with Vedalken Aethermage). You should be running a few copies of Azami anyways--the card advantage she provides is ridiculous. Since you're in blue and running tribal wizards, backing it up with countermagic shouldn't be too difficult.
But I'm saying that there's more to this game than luck.
This is kind of obvious. In fact, one of the most important facets of deckbuilding is building your deck in such a way to minimize the effects of luck on its performance.
The reason why the ideas don't go anywhere is because of naysers who don't even try the deck out and just play top tier.
One thing you seem not to get, and that amalek0 mentioned, is that it's really hard for a strategy to be viable in Modern. Like it or not, if you want a deck to have a reasonable chance at success in this format it has to have enough disruption or raw speed to beat Twin, enough resiliency and efficiency to beat Junk, and be disruptive or fast enough to stand a chance against Affinity. If a deck can't do some combination of those things--that is, if a deck doesn't have a gameplan against 30%-40% of the metagame--it just isn't viable. And let's face it: a vast majority of brews aren't capable of doing those things.
Formats have pillars. They always have and always will, and it's not because everyone's a sheep and only plays what won the last Pro Tour--it's because those decks have consistently proven themselves to be flexible and powerful.
I have considered Tarmogoyf but at the moment they are very inaccessible to me.
If you want this thread to be a primer (and you have tagged it as such) you should provide information an optimized non-budget deck regardless of your own financial restrictions.
Fliers like (Birds of Paradise & Ornithopter) have won me games.
I think Ornithopter is a poor choice for this deck. It's great in Affinity where basically every card in your deck synergizes with it in some way or another, but in this deck, while it's excellent with Doran/Assault Formation, it's basically useless without them. I think that when you're evaluating cards for this deck you should try to run as few creatures as possible that are useless/bad without Doran/Assault Formation, and I think Ornithopter is one of those cards.
I said it before, and it's worth saying it again: Siege Rhino seems like the perfect curve-topper for this deck. It's incredibly powerful and efficiently costed, can hold its own without Doran and co. and is even better with them.
Finally, a note on your manabase: Mana Confluence seems wholly unnecessary. With the almost-full-compliment of fetches and shocks you're running, I can't imagine you having such significant color issues that you're forced to run such a bad land. I'd look at instead running some combination of Stirring Wildwood (even better with Assault Formation!), Gavony Township, and maybe a singleton Tectonic Edge.
Vines of Vastwood is an option for combo protection, and can also be used against Infect and Twin. Chord of Calling is a bit slow, but can help find combo pieces. Noble Hierarch seems like an upgrade to Birds of Paradise since it fixes both of your colors and can give you an edge in combat if you're forced to go beatdown. Kitchen Finks can provide a life buffer against Burn, and it attacks pretty well.
Excellent primer! The deck looks cool and I'm excited to see where it goes.
This might fit well into a Mono-U Tron shell, since it seems like it'll be pretty mana-intensive but not have significant color requirements.
I doubt you'll be running a ton of creatures, so Soul of New Phyrexia doesn't seem incredibly appealing. Again, slotting this into a Tron shell with Wurmcoil Engine and/or Sundering Titan as finishers seems appealing.
Considering that Affinity typically boards in Blood Moons of their own, I wouldn't recommend this.
If you're playing a tempo game and you're playing blue, I'm not sure why you're not playing a playset of Remand. If you're playing monocolored tribal, you should be playing a playset of Mutavault. If you're playing an aggressive blue deck, you should probably be playing Delver of Secrets. I'd take a look at Travis Woo's Ninja Bear Delver list. It's not illusion tribal (Lord of the Unreal isn't anywhere near as good as you seem to think it is) but it is a mono-blue aggro-tempo deck that might suit your interests.
Since you're mono-colored and tribal, Mutavault could put in a lot of work without harming your manabase too much. If you find yourself having color issues with 8 colorless sources, I'd think about cutting the Buried Ruin--they only synergize with Wurmcoil Engine (at a pretty high mana cost at that), whereas Mutavault is an efficient beater that doesn't take up a spell slot and synergizes with your tribal lord.
Maybe I wasn't clear. I wasn't saying that if something isn't as good as Twin/Junk/Affinity it shouldn't be discussed, because that would be ridiculous--that'd be saying that anything but the tier 1 subforum is useless. All I was saying is that a deck (whether it's tier 1 or a homebrew) has to have a gameplan against the giants of the format, because like it or not you will have to play against them.
This is kind of obvious. In fact, one of the most important facets of deckbuilding is building your deck in such a way to minimize the effects of luck on its performance.
One thing you seem not to get, and that amalek0 mentioned, is that it's really hard for a strategy to be viable in Modern. Like it or not, if you want a deck to have a reasonable chance at success in this format it has to have enough disruption or raw speed to beat Twin, enough resiliency and efficiency to beat Junk, and be disruptive or fast enough to stand a chance against Affinity. If a deck can't do some combination of those things--that is, if a deck doesn't have a gameplan against 30%-40% of the metagame--it just isn't viable. And let's face it: a vast majority of brews aren't capable of doing those things.
Formats have pillars. They always have and always will, and it's not because everyone's a sheep and only plays what won the last Pro Tour--it's because those decks have consistently proven themselves to be flexible and powerful.
If you want this thread to be a primer (and you have tagged it as such) you should provide information an optimized non-budget deck regardless of your own financial restrictions.
I think Ornithopter is a poor choice for this deck. It's great in Affinity where basically every card in your deck synergizes with it in some way or another, but in this deck, while it's excellent with Doran/Assault Formation, it's basically useless without them. I think that when you're evaluating cards for this deck you should try to run as few creatures as possible that are useless/bad without Doran/Assault Formation, and I think Ornithopter is one of those cards.
I said it before, and it's worth saying it again: Siege Rhino seems like the perfect curve-topper for this deck. It's incredibly powerful and efficiently costed, can hold its own without Doran and co. and is even better with them.
Finally, a note on your manabase: Mana Confluence seems wholly unnecessary. With the almost-full-compliment of fetches and shocks you're running, I can't imagine you having such significant color issues that you're forced to run such a bad land. I'd look at instead running some combination of Stirring Wildwood (even better with Assault Formation!), Gavony Township, and maybe a singleton Tectonic Edge.