Lotus Bloom? I know it's only good turn 1 or 2, but it lets you go off turn 4 even if you only have tap lands or miss a land drop. Pentad prism is probably better, though Lotus does free up your mana to cycle into Perspectives. 1 mana cyclers like Censor, Glassdusk Hulk, Monstrous Carabid, etc. seem important to dig you into Perspectives while you play tapped lands. Resounding Thunder definitely seems like the best win con as it's uncounterable, requires no mana, draws a card, can be cast for three mana to kill a creature. I don't have a list, but every non-cycler you play increases the chance of fizzling, so make sure they are worth it. Resounding Wave is nice to deal with problem permanents or keep you from dying if you fizzle so you can try again the next turn.
Ok. After a long break I'm back on this deck. I like the idea of Thought Scours and Treasure Cruise so I'm trying 4x each over Thoughtseize and Thirst for Knowledge just to test out. A few thoughts on pKenetic's last posted list; I like Underground River over Sunken Ruins. You always want the ability to cast Inquisition/Thoughtseize/Serum Visions on turn 1. You also want 4x Ghost Quarter which hurts the chances of turning on Ruins. 3 Damnation in the board is way too many when you are only running 20 land. I actually don't like Damnation at all because it was a turn too slow and Drown in Sorrow is usually just as good. I'm going to be playing in a bunch of dailies this week and I'll post my results soon.
What about Crowd's Favor or even Ephemeral Shields? I've found getting Seeker online is really important against the red aggro decks. If you tap out for Seeker they will always try to Magma Spray/Lightning Strike it, and if you save him it's a huge blowout. Crowd's Favor wouldn't work against Lightning Strike, but Shields would. It might look suspect if you don't attack with your 1 drop on turn 2.. unless your 1 drop is Trailblazer! I've found it very hard to get a decent aggro draw with all the ETB tapped lands and so few creatures, and most of the time I win when I take some turns off to hold up protection from removal or set up a big Ascendancy turn. I like the idea of Diffusion Sliver and could even see Chief Engineer working in this less aggressive version as it makes comboing off with drum easier. I'm just throwing out ideas here, but I do like either just going aggro without the infinite loop, or being a slower, more consistent combo that can stand up to the hate.
I've been playing it so much I don't remember the specifics of the 4-0, though I'm pretty sure I beat Affinity, Melira Pod, and UR Twin. I have not been winning nearly as much lately and am about ready to give up on the deck, or at least Cube Draft until Khans comes out and revisit it later. Here is the list I'd be playing right now:
1 Pact of Negation
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Aether Vial
4 Serum Visions
1 Sleight of Hand
4 Inquisition
2 Thoughtseize
1 Gut shot
4 Mindcrank
3 Spellskite
3 Muddle the Mixture
3 Dimir Infiltrator
4 Duskmantle Guildmage
1 Academy Ruins
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Island
2 River of Tears
1 Swamp
2 Tolaria West
4 Underground River
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Watery Grave
SB
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Deathmark
1 Extirpate
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Spellskite
2 Torpor Orb
1 Echoing Truth
1 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Leyline of Sanctity
The 4 Leylines may seem bad but there's a lot of burn and discard online and have found it to be almost unbeatable. I side in the Thirst for Knowledge to discard extra/drawn Leylines. I haven't gotten many games in with this list, but I've learned enough that I think it's almost perfect. One thing I'm not sure of is whether you want an alternate win con such as Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and/or Creeping Tar Pit.
I'm Barry Egan, the guy who got his 4-0 decklist on Star City. Honestly that list was one of the first I tried out after discovering Aether Vial, and I think I got pretty lucky because I've found a lot of the card choices to be sub-optimal. I didn't find Tolaria West to be worth it. Pact of negation is usually only good if you can combo on your next upkeep before losing to the Pact. I've tried versions with more Gut Shots but drawing multiples can be really bad. I've tried Snapcaster and think you would want to use more cantrips like Thought Scour in that version. Right now I think I like more discard and 6-8 transmuters. this is the list I'm currently playing, though I'm not convinced it's right yet.
4 Vial
4 Serum Visions
4 Inquisition
3 Thoughtseize
1 Gut Shot
4 Mindcrank
4 Spellskite
1 Echoing Truth
4 Muddle the Mixture
4 Dimir Infiltrator
4 Duskmantle Guildmage
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Watery Grave
2 River of Tears
4 Underground River
2 Island
1 Swamp
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Academy Ruins
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Pact of Negation
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Aether Vial
4 Serum Visions
1 Sleight of Hand
4 Inquisition
2 Thoughtseize
1 Gut shot
4 Mindcrank
3 Spellskite
3 Muddle the Mixture
3 Dimir Infiltrator
4 Duskmantle Guildmage
1 Academy Ruins
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Island
2 River of Tears
1 Swamp
2 Tolaria West
4 Underground River
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Watery Grave
SB
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Deathmark
1 Extirpate
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Spellskite
2 Torpor Orb
1 Echoing Truth
1 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Leyline of Sanctity
The 4 Leylines may seem bad but there's a lot of burn and discard online and have found it to be almost unbeatable. I side in the Thirst for Knowledge to discard extra/drawn Leylines. I haven't gotten many games in with this list, but I've learned enough that I think it's almost perfect. One thing I'm not sure of is whether you want an alternate win con such as Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and/or Creeping Tar Pit.
4 Vial
4 Serum Visions
4 Inquisition
3 Thoughtseize
1 Gut Shot
4 Mindcrank
4 Spellskite
1 Echoing Truth
4 Muddle the Mixture
4 Dimir Infiltrator
4 Duskmantle Guildmage
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Watery Grave
2 River of Tears
4 Underground River
2 Island
1 Swamp
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Academy Ruins
1 Cavern of Souls