Any astral drift deck is going to suffer from two rough match ups-
Big mana (Tron, Shift, Titan)
Pure Combo (Storm, Infect)
I am unsure on the dredge matchup, might not be too bad. I think in building a drift deck you will need to decide what you want to attack and assume the nature of the deck gives you grinding power against mid-range/control. The big mana matchups seem like a real problem.
For a 1 drop ramp, arboreal grazer seems like a good blink target. As an 0/3 grazer can also block well in the early game, and you are guaranteed to get the ramp. A bolted bird feels bad when you realllllly need to get to three mana. Is renewed faith the best cycle card available when there is already so much life gain in your list. There had got to be better cyclers out there, I am just not familiar enough with the archetype to know.
I really want this deck to be a thing, great mechanic.
JVP requires so much investment and one of the plus sides to flipping JVP is that the planeswalker is reallllly hard to deal with. Know you invest resources to flip your JVP, and a trophy kills the walker. Yes a land is nice for sure. Yes snap needs the yard for sure. Question is whether a deck with snap is weaker to grave hate then a deck with JVP? Could be a mute point overall since graveyard hate neuters gofy, snap, JVP (though the cycle is nice), grim flayer.
I think trophy makes Jace, VP worse. And a sultai deck is going to be very weak to grave hate. Adding a card like JvP that furthers the reliance on the grave yard, and can be zapped by trophy is not something I am in favor of. I see Snap as sultai's BBE. 3-4 mana investment, can be played at instant speed, does not have the total bomb flips of BBE, but you get control over what you flashback. For me the question is 4 snaps or 2-3 snaps, I have been testing lists with both, and superna7urals list with two felt the best so far.
I have been messing around all week with Sultai lists. Just playing anything I see online or in this forum. I did not like the Todd Stevens list posted on SCG. Goyf in control lists feels weird to me without Splinter Twin. The above list is with Assassin's Trophy added to superna7ural with a different sideboard. The other change I made was to swap darkslick shore for blooming marsh and one less tarpit for a tree top. Completely agree 22 lands seems low for a midrange list, but after playing games today I never ran into that issue for some reason. The Sultai manabase has always been tricky and there is def tension between Lili and Jace/Clique in the mana. I think mid-range is the place to be, especially if Trophy encourages more goyf decks in the format.
Big mana (Tron, Shift, Titan)
Pure Combo (Storm, Infect)
I am unsure on the dredge matchup, might not be too bad. I think in building a drift deck you will need to decide what you want to attack and assume the nature of the deck gives you grinding power against mid-range/control. The big mana matchups seem like a real problem.
I really want this deck to be a thing, great mechanic.
4 Grim Flayer
1 Vendilion Clique
4 Assassin's Trophy
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Fatal Push
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Darkslick Shores
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
3 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Swamp
1 Island
1 Forest
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Dark Confidant
1 Treetop Village
1 Rain of Tears
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Damnation
2 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Unmoored Ego
1 Flayed Tendrils
I have been messing around all week with Sultai lists. Just playing anything I see online or in this forum. I did not like the Todd Stevens list posted on SCG. Goyf in control lists feels weird to me without Splinter Twin. The above list is with Assassin's Trophy added to superna7ural with a different sideboard. The other change I made was to swap darkslick shore for blooming marsh and one less tarpit for a tree top. Completely agree 22 lands seems low for a midrange list, but after playing games today I never ran into that issue for some reason. The Sultai manabase has always been tricky and there is def tension between Lili and Jace/Clique in the mana. I think mid-range is the place to be, especially if Trophy encourages more goyf decks in the format.