Except people who have been advocating Call of the Herd have shown zero results to back up their claims. Every list I have seen that does anything in a larger event has Goyf in it. When people come to this thread to get advice and all they get is sub optimal card choices, you can expect people to get the wrong idea. There are builds that play better without Goyf. Generally the are the land heavy Raven's Crime/Life from the Loam builds.
I will gladly change my stance once someone shows me results, not testing, that backs up Call of the Herd's viability.
But it's clearly not a situation of either/or here. Tarmogoyf and Call can be run together, they just aren't because most lists floating around are pure Rock builds, not focusing nearly so much on Death Cloud...which is the card keeping Goyf from being a superstar in MY build, and the card making Call look a lot better. I am well aware that there are better options in non-DC lists.
Then again, I can just get around to playing Modern events with this deck. I've gone to the last few with my UG deck, so next time I'll switch it up to start bringing everyone some results for this.
Okay, so this is the list I have been running recently. It has been doing well, but I am sometimes frustrated by the lack of hard counters and the unreliable mana base. Any suggestions would be great:
How are people doing with Familiar's Ruse? I feel like that there is always I can bounce, but not always one that I want to bounce when I need to counter a spell.
EDIT: I just changed out Hinterland Harbor for Yavimaya Coast. I hate opening hands with Hinterland Harbor and a Noble Hierarch and no other green mana sources. Yavimaya Coast lets you have a little more control over the mana base, yet I also feel I should run more basics.
Your mana base issues probably stem from only running 21 lands with 4 colorless sources. Keep in mind that even with Noble Hierarch, you need to draw enough sources to guarantee that you'll reach 5-6 mana every game (6 being optimal), within the first 6 or 7 turns. Otherwise you won't be able to do enough to control the flow of the game. You appear to have plenty of hard countspells to me, but changing out Mutavault for colored sources like Flooded Grove would probably make a huge difference. Then I think you should add another land, perhaps cutting a Coiling Oracle or the singleton Glen-Elendra Archmage, btu that is up to you.
As far as Blink goes, I considered it a long time ago but never got around to testing it. If I wasn't so terribly pressed for space I might add a couple now, at least to test them, as the ETB effects are quite fun with a majority of our creatures. I never ran Familiar's Ruse myself, but 2 of them seems like a good number for your deck in combination with the Snakes and Sprites. If they're not serving you well enough, split them up between Cryptic Command and Repeal (both of which can answer threats you fail to counter anyway, leading to good tempo). I'm not sure if you were around for Fae decks in Standard, but Command -> Counter/Bounce (a Sprite or Snake) is pretty heartbreaking for your opponent. You'd be surprised how often drawing a card off of CC is not the right answer for this deck, and at least with CC you have more options than you have with Ruse.
I've been watching this thread closely and the one thing i'm noticing is that these lists are missing a good 1 drop to keep up with faster decks however In my search for one I found well only one. That one being cursecatcher being able to be a chump blocker and a counter spell I think is very valuble and I think he can put some work into this deck. Thoughts on him?
EDIT:Talking about a good 1 drop besides hierarch ofcoarse
I honestly haven't found a pressing need for more 1-drops. Hierarch combined with Serum Visions has been doing more than enough for me, stacking my draw when I don't have the acceleration. I can imagine Cursecatcher being ok against Affinity and Combo, but I already have good match-ups against those decks.
Because lately this thread has degenerated into a budget friendly version of the deck. All of the best decks have run Goyf. He really isn't synergistic in the deck but he just beats so hard.
The Idea is to DC for a large enough amount that you have the only threat on the board. Garruk and Treetop are great clocks when your opponent has no lands and no card in hand. You are missing the fact that Garruk survives the Cloud. Honestly the Call of the Heard idea is not good. It is both slow and over costed. Try looking at some of the winning deck lists to figure out what is going on with the deck.
I believe Goyf was left out of more recent discussion because he didn't do enough to warrant his inclusion, despite being amazing individually...not because he was too expensive.
@mirrislegend: This deck doesn't rely a whole lot on creature cards, to be honest, so a couple of us took the deck in a slighty new direction. In certain builds, Goyf is still easily an auto-include. Also, Smallpox doesn't belong in a typical Deathcloud build. They do the same thing, but Smallpox hurts your DC play far too much to run them both in G/B.
This is a relatively idealized list based on our discussions and some other winning lists. You'll notice there still aren't many creatures, but the few that are there are either mana-fixers/accelerators, beaters, or tech. It is also a list without the support of cards like Phyrexian Totem or Chimeric Mass, which survive both Damnation and Death Cloud (along with Kitchen Finks) to shorten your opponent's clock for recovery.
Call of the Herd is much better than people give it credit for, as it can be used, re-used, synergizes with Oran-Rief (which some lists run more of), houses control, stalls aggro, etc etc. It creates value, even if it's not hugely cost efficient, and it is FAR from this deck's win-con. All this deck cares about is sweepers and hand control, and once it has control of the game, it wins swiftly. Aggro can't play around Death Cloud by holding threats, control has no one spell it can stop to win, combos can be stripped and answered, and mid-range is too slow to compete. You have to know the meta to be an effective pilot as well, like most control decks, though I hesitate to call DC Rock 'control'.
Some lists floating around focus less on Death Cloud as well, so be careful not to confuse them with this particular construct. Rock can be good without Death Cloud.
Except a 6 mana titan will win you the game and you can cryptic command till the ends of days and not win. Titans are pretty bad in this format anyways because they are way to easy to kill.
This argument is silly. 99.9% of the creatures in this format are 'way easy to kill' with the removal we all have access to. Titans are game winners because they are on a short list of guys that win games when they are allowed to turn sideways. By your logic, all creatures are bad in Modern. Also, from my experience, Titans finish the game about as often as a well-timed Cryptic Command. The point of CC is versatility, similar to that of Tiago....only CC is worlds better when it resolves.
Either way this is all pure opinion. There are exceptions to everything depending on individual game scenarios.
At the risk of being crucified, i will give you my honest opinion about this card: It is way over rated.
It's almost strictly worse than Mystic Snake, and the snake was never that popular. I think the best deck i have seen this guy in so far was a mono blue control that used flash creatures like Clique and snappy in conjunction with mass counterspells. Jwar sphinx was the finisher. Impressive deck.
All of the esper and uwr concoctions that try to abuse this guy are generally poorly planned, mid range faildecks. Avoid hybrid archetypes. Play aggro or play control.
-Not afraid of being crucified- Snapcaster is overrated. He needs his own deck to be an excellent card, and like slipknot said, you have to dedicate a TON of card slots to him. Play him in control/tempo builds, or don't play him at all. He is also a lot better when you can cheat him into play (IE avoid paying his mana cost).
I also like Tiago with removal like Dismember and tempo like Repeal, but that may be just me.
My issue was that he was NOT Mystic Snakes 5-8 most of the time. Tiago + Remand is still just a 4 mana Remand, and Tiago + Mana Leak (over Rune Snag because removing them from the game with flashback makes them Miscalculation) later in the game often doesn't get the job done like it does in the early turns. He is best with hard removal like Path to Exile, which comes up much less often my build because white is only the splash color.
And shockingly, having less toughness than Venser/Mystic Snake was a drawback that came up more often than I expected. He is a bad offensive weapon in a deck with a limited number of weapons. That, and the only spot I could justify clearing out for him was Coiling Oracle, which seems to change the flow of the deck. Cutting anything else is suicide.
yes I knew about relic, but sometimes you just have to test it by yourself. I think it's still a decent card for some specific match up, but here I entered it vs solar flare and it was just doing nothing than drawing a card and messing up my graveyard.
Regarding the "sword" issue i had.
- I was not playing W at that time
- You don't want to enter a lot of artifact removal for just 2 swords. usually you can counter the sword or the creature. it's also possible that i didn't play very well. I don't expect to be an issue from now on.
Trygon Predator is an active artifact killer, but I get your point. If it's not going to be an issue, there's no need for me to bring it up anymore, I was just curious. Bonus removal/bounce makes equipments a non-factor most of the time.
I find Relic/Crypt only to be particularly useful against Living End decks. Most other match-ups, even if it's a solid board, I would rather just have tuned action or a counterspell. I don't dedicate many SB slots to graveyard hate anyway (2-3 tops), so I don't have a preference. I just really like not screwing over my own Goyfs.
Continuing my point about Snapcaster Mage, I don't like it at all in the non-Vial build. Drawing multiples leads to dead cards and vanilla 2/1s make for crappy attackers, even with Exalted. I went 2-7 with my Snapcaster test build against match-ups I would normally crush, so I'm scrapping him as a new addition. He is MUCH better when you don't have to pay for him.
We're getting nitpicky, but in addition to these changes, I'd shift the balance of IoK vs. Thoughtseize to 4 Inquisition and 2 Thoughtseize. I'd also drop the 1-off Liliana 2.0; she's not a star in this deck. I'd also probably drop the Witness, as she's never performed well for me. Throw in 2 Call of the Herd in that spot. Also don't forget to play a few Oran Riefs in place of Forests, for shenanigans with Kitchen Finks.
To get even more 'nitpicky', 1 Oran-Rief is usually enough. Tap lands are the devil, and I find Finks shenanigans don't make up for missing crucial mana in the mid-game. Oran-Rief honestly hits beast tokens more often than not in my games (free 4/4s are pretty short clocks).
Living End decks are easy to board against effectively. DaGarver's play method for Relic is spot on, but also you should probably commit exactly 7 of your 15 SB slots to graveyard hate. Primal Command is too slow, despite the tech, so don't board that in. Use 3 Leylines + 4 Relics to deal with that match-up. Leyline x4 feels like the right answer but it's still all luck of the draw, because t4 is too late to hard cast it if you're on the draw. Improving your odds of the free Leyline also isn't any better than an active Relic, which comes down on any of the first 3 turns and remains highly effective. Another tip against Living End for g1, keep your STEs around (if your mana lets you) until they play it, then sac in response. More damage, plus emergency blockers if needed. Key cards against LE also include Chimeric Mass and Phyrexian Totem, which allow you to actively board sweep after Living End and still deal good damage.
Also, if you're running Goyf in your build, Tormod's Crypt is probably a better choice over Relic.
Maybe a better question would be. How do you beat Jund decks? I pretty much dominate everything except decks using Kitchen Finks or Bloodbraid Elf. Then it becomes who can get a Finks first, or find the most of a card etc. Bloodbraif Elf is a beating too. Gets around Inquisition and Smother. Any answers?
The mirror match is where having artifact help is truly key. You stick a Phyrexian Totem or Chimeric Mass along side your Finks, they watch Death Cloud become a game winner for their opponent. The Jund match-up is highly dependant on who plays first. If they do, keep your STE around a couple turns to block and buy you a turn, then drop a Damnation on them post-BBE. Negates their card advantage more often than not, and sometimes earns you some. DC isn't your only board sweep.
I'm almost certain I would rather run Doom Blade than Go for the Throat with Affinity being a top dog and all.
That's the million dollar question, really. Your removal should be tuned to your meta beyond the basic deck build. Smother is the card of choice because typically you have board sweeps after t4. If that's not cutting it, hide some better tuned removal in your board for games 2 and 3. Affinity really doesn't like Viridian Shaman by the way, and Smother still works, so picking between GftT and DB is pointless.
Also, just to point out, I've done quite well running a 3/3 split between Thoughtseize and Inquisition. Relying on one or the other is beyond ridiculous.
Has anybody thought about dipping into red for Lightning Bolt and Punishing Fire? I recently find that the lack of removal in the pure UG version can be somewhat problematic against aggro decks. I don't like Path to Exile all too much though, so I thought about Punishing Fire combo as a nice answer.
I think about cutting Noble Hierarch for Lightning Bolt and cutting a combination of Mana Leak and Coiling Oracle (which I run 4 of) Ruse for Punishing Fire. Also Snapcaster will find its way in there as a 2-of or 3-of, repeatable Lightning Bolt and counters are good.
Cutting Hierarch from the non-Vial build isn't recommended if all you're going to do is add Bolt or Punishing Fire. You'd be committing pretty heavily to the aggro side of the deck while losing speed against key match-ups (IE Zoo). Sometimes answering threats isn't as important as making them irrelevant in this deck. Bouncing, trading, chumping, are all fine alternatives to hard removal as long as your opponent is being clocked. If you're swinging free every turn, focus more on cards like Venser or Repeal, and Snapcaster Mage to turn already used answers into card advantage. Cryptic Command is also an excellent game changer when you have any semblance of a board presence.
My point is no one card is going to be a magical answer in a tempo deck, nor is any particular splash. Black or white for hard removal spells is your best bet if you splash though, as they don't care how big your target is or can become. The added reach of red just complicates a relatively simple manabase. I chose white because Hierarch can add it, primarily, so I don't have to worry about maindecked LD from my opponents, which is quite common. If you don't like Path, use Journey to Nowhere or Oblivion Ring.
I finnally got the possibility to play the vial version in a tournament and went 4-0 but then i lost in the top 4 to the deck I beated in the swiss round.
Some key learnings:
- snapcaster mage is the nuts
- relic of progenitus is not a good card in the sideboard
- repeal is nice but i decided now to switch to path to exile adding therfore white to the build, all day i have been missing path to exile
- the deck is very fun to play but you can easily do some mistake
I played against:
solar flare (2-1 becasue i missplayed one game)
Mono red (2-1)
UWGcontrol/good stuff (won 2-0 and then lost 0-2 becasue of sword of feast and famine, with path to exile i would have won i guess)
DarkBoros (2-0)
Zoo is definitely beatable with this deck with a mix of sprite, path to exile, spell snare together with snapcaster mage.
i'm just a bit worried with grove of the burnwillow and puinishing fire...and this is why i put tectonic edge in the first place, however i might conisder to switch it back to ghost quarter as i'm now playing path to exile (i mean that the advanatge of basic land get reduced...if that counts)
I warned you about Relic. I'm curious about facing down Sword in that UWG match-up. How were you not able to answer it after it resolved? I pack so much artifact hate in my SB that even running into a control deck shouldn't be an issue for me as far as answering troublesome equipments.
On another note, I'm testing Snapcaster Mage a lot tonight and plan on posting an alternate decklist soon. Since I'm not a huge fan of Aether Vial...don't count on one based off of AMIADRONE's.
Is the matchup against zoo and jund doable at all, as it seems like most of these lists lose pretty badly against those two decks.
Also, adding white seems like a pretty solid idea, as path to exile/bant charm would probably make your aggro and splinter twin matchup better. Knight of the reliquary would also be a good addition.
Jund is actually an easy enough match-up if you're running the non-Vial/Snapcaster builds, as Mystic Snake counters the cascade and blocks Bloodbraid Elf (which is their best card against control). I splash white specifically for RDW and Zoo, as those are the only match-ups that are truly a pain pre-board. Adding any extra creatures however dilutes the tempo required to shut down other decks, and the goal is to avoid just going pure Bant aggro. We don't try to win with size, but with consistency and measured attacks (usually just a 2/2 or a 3/1 flier for several turns).
What are people's thoughts on Garruk, Primal Hunter over Garruk Wildspeaker? I'm currently running the Wildspeaker, but looking at the Primal Hunter, it seems to do the things I need in my deck. +1's that spit out 3/3's and his -3 pretty much handles the card draw I would need. All for just 1 more G.
With Wildspeaker I have to use -1's to make tokens, and I feel like I hardly use his Untap 2 Lands ability that often.
Original Garruk is primarily for ramp pre-Death Cloud, and tokens post Death Cloud. Big Garruk is nice for card draw, but 5cmc is a bit expensive and slow for an unnecessary addition to an otherwise tuned deck, in this format full of fast aggro and combo. The goal is t3 Garruk Wildspeaker, t4 Death Cloud, and hold a manland, artifact, or persist creature that can swing freely while your opponent rebuilds from scratch.
@Necroticah: I find the power of the leftover swinger is often irrelevant, which is why I now prefer Chimeric Mass over Phyrexian Totem. However much mana you have left over is how big it is, and the activation cost is 1, compared to 3 for Totem. That and Treetop Village (or a persisting Kitchen Finks) has been enough for me in game finishing situations, since your opponent is hopefully left in topdeck mode both for lands as well as answers.
Tip: Against control, Death Cloud is bait. Resolve a Garruk or Call of the Herd to win. Going for the home run against counterspells just leads to bad tempo. Chimeric Mass is also an MVP here.
I don't have all the sideboard in/out but here are my expectation of what will come in, please comment if you disagree or if you see better option/quantity/mandatory splash...:
Run Tormod's Crypt over Relic of Progenitus. Remember you have Goyf, and against Living End they then can't even play LE as a board sweep. Having not run this particular build yet, the only help I might be able to give is that Tectonic Edge probably just needs to be some other colored sources, since you're running 6 fetch and only 21 lands with 4 Mutavault. It's too easy to screw yourself over if Aether Vial gets blown up before you make plays, and then have 1 colored source on board.
I really like this deck. I'm doing pretty good at FNM. The deck can beat Zoo, but has trouble with Affinity. They just cast too many spells in the first couple of turns for you to counter. Anyway, here is my list:
My personal preferences make me believe E. Witness and Spreading Seas are too passive for this format. This is a draw-go deck in more than one way, and doubly so against aggro/mid-range decks...the exception being Affinity, where removal and fliers are a must. I am very much against playing things on my turn after t2, until I have enough mana to have multiple plays. Also, most decks have very resilient mana bases, having access to multiple dual lands, so Spreading Seas just doesn't cut it for me.
I have winning records against Affinity, Living End (weird right?), Jund, and Elves (I make them pay for not blocking). My sideboard is in its infancy, but some of the choices should be pretty obvious. The 1-of Fling is being tested right now as added reach.
I like this build because it's more resistant to hate (and Kitchen Finks), but what do you guys think?
Thoughts on SkinShifter in place of Goyf? Apart from his lower monetary cost, Skinshifter can fly - taking out non-Tempered Steel flying Affinity creatures - and provides a buffer against Ball Lightning (if RDW plays those normally) and Titans
In place of? No thanks. Besides, if things like Titans are resolving against you, you're doing it wrong. Plus I don't like having to pay extra mana into things that don't win the game.
But it's clearly not a situation of either/or here. Tarmogoyf and Call can be run together, they just aren't because most lists floating around are pure Rock builds, not focusing nearly so much on Death Cloud...which is the card keeping Goyf from being a superstar in MY build, and the card making Call look a lot better. I am well aware that there are better options in non-DC lists.
Then again, I can just get around to playing Modern events with this deck. I've gone to the last few with my UG deck, so next time I'll switch it up to start bringing everyone some results for this.
Your mana base issues probably stem from only running 21 lands with 4 colorless sources. Keep in mind that even with Noble Hierarch, you need to draw enough sources to guarantee that you'll reach 5-6 mana every game (6 being optimal), within the first 6 or 7 turns. Otherwise you won't be able to do enough to control the flow of the game. You appear to have plenty of hard countspells to me, but changing out Mutavault for colored sources like Flooded Grove would probably make a huge difference. Then I think you should add another land, perhaps cutting a Coiling Oracle or the singleton Glen-Elendra Archmage, btu that is up to you.
As far as Blink goes, I considered it a long time ago but never got around to testing it. If I wasn't so terribly pressed for space I might add a couple now, at least to test them, as the ETB effects are quite fun with a majority of our creatures. I never ran Familiar's Ruse myself, but 2 of them seems like a good number for your deck in combination with the Snakes and Sprites. If they're not serving you well enough, split them up between Cryptic Command and Repeal (both of which can answer threats you fail to counter anyway, leading to good tempo). I'm not sure if you were around for Fae decks in Standard, but Command -> Counter/Bounce (a Sprite or Snake) is pretty heartbreaking for your opponent. You'd be surprised how often drawing a card off of CC is not the right answer for this deck, and at least with CC you have more options than you have with Ruse.
I honestly haven't found a pressing need for more 1-drops. Hierarch combined with Serum Visions has been doing more than enough for me, stacking my draw when I don't have the acceleration. I can imagine Cursecatcher being ok against Affinity and Combo, but I already have good match-ups against those decks.
I believe Goyf was left out of more recent discussion because he didn't do enough to warrant his inclusion, despite being amazing individually...not because he was too expensive.
@mirrislegend: This deck doesn't rely a whole lot on creature cards, to be honest, so a couple of us took the deck in a slighty new direction. In certain builds, Goyf is still easily an auto-include. Also, Smallpox doesn't belong in a typical Deathcloud build. They do the same thing, but Smallpox hurts your DC play far too much to run them both in G/B.
Take this list for instance:
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Eternal Witness
Spells - 23
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Smother
1 Dismember
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Death Cloud
3 Damnation
1 Primal Command
2 Call of the Herd
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Urborg, Tome of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Treetop Village
3 Twilight Mire
1 Marsh Flats
4 Swamp
3 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
This is a relatively idealized list based on our discussions and some other winning lists. You'll notice there still aren't many creatures, but the few that are there are either mana-fixers/accelerators, beaters, or tech. It is also a list without the support of cards like Phyrexian Totem or Chimeric Mass, which survive both Damnation and Death Cloud (along with Kitchen Finks) to shorten your opponent's clock for recovery.
Call of the Herd is much better than people give it credit for, as it can be used, re-used, synergizes with Oran-Rief (which some lists run more of), houses control, stalls aggro, etc etc. It creates value, even if it's not hugely cost efficient, and it is FAR from this deck's win-con. All this deck cares about is sweepers and hand control, and once it has control of the game, it wins swiftly. Aggro can't play around Death Cloud by holding threats, control has no one spell it can stop to win, combos can be stripped and answered, and mid-range is too slow to compete. You have to know the meta to be an effective pilot as well, like most control decks, though I hesitate to call DC Rock 'control'.
Some lists floating around focus less on Death Cloud as well, so be careful not to confuse them with this particular construct. Rock can be good without Death Cloud.
This argument is silly. 99.9% of the creatures in this format are 'way easy to kill' with the removal we all have access to. Titans are game winners because they are on a short list of guys that win games when they are allowed to turn sideways. By your logic, all creatures are bad in Modern. Also, from my experience, Titans finish the game about as often as a well-timed Cryptic Command. The point of CC is versatility, similar to that of Tiago....only CC is worlds better when it resolves.
Either way this is all pure opinion. There are exceptions to everything depending on individual game scenarios.
-Not afraid of being crucified- Snapcaster is overrated. He needs his own deck to be an excellent card, and like slipknot said, you have to dedicate a TON of card slots to him. Play him in control/tempo builds, or don't play him at all. He is also a lot better when you can cheat him into play (IE avoid paying his mana cost).
My issue was that he was NOT Mystic Snakes 5-8 most of the time. Tiago + Remand is still just a 4 mana Remand, and Tiago + Mana Leak (over Rune Snag because removing them from the game with flashback makes them Miscalculation) later in the game often doesn't get the job done like it does in the early turns. He is best with hard removal like Path to Exile, which comes up much less often my build because white is only the splash color.
And shockingly, having less toughness than Venser/Mystic Snake was a drawback that came up more often than I expected. He is a bad offensive weapon in a deck with a limited number of weapons. That, and the only spot I could justify clearing out for him was Coiling Oracle, which seems to change the flow of the deck. Cutting anything else is suicide.
Trygon Predator is an active artifact killer, but I get your point. If it's not going to be an issue, there's no need for me to bring it up anymore, I was just curious. Bonus removal/bounce makes equipments a non-factor most of the time.
I find Relic/Crypt only to be particularly useful against Living End decks. Most other match-ups, even if it's a solid board, I would rather just have tuned action or a counterspell. I don't dedicate many SB slots to graveyard hate anyway (2-3 tops), so I don't have a preference. I just really like not screwing over my own Goyfs.
Continuing my point about Snapcaster Mage, I don't like it at all in the non-Vial build. Drawing multiples leads to dead cards and vanilla 2/1s make for crappy attackers, even with Exalted. I went 2-7 with my Snapcaster test build against match-ups I would normally crush, so I'm scrapping him as a new addition. He is MUCH better when you don't have to pay for him.
To get even more 'nitpicky', 1 Oran-Rief is usually enough. Tap lands are the devil, and I find Finks shenanigans don't make up for missing crucial mana in the mid-game. Oran-Rief honestly hits beast tokens more often than not in my games (free 4/4s are pretty short clocks).
Living End decks are easy to board against effectively. DaGarver's play method for Relic is spot on, but also you should probably commit exactly 7 of your 15 SB slots to graveyard hate. Primal Command is too slow, despite the tech, so don't board that in. Use 3 Leylines + 4 Relics to deal with that match-up. Leyline x4 feels like the right answer but it's still all luck of the draw, because t4 is too late to hard cast it if you're on the draw. Improving your odds of the free Leyline also isn't any better than an active Relic, which comes down on any of the first 3 turns and remains highly effective. Another tip against Living End for g1, keep your STEs around (if your mana lets you) until they play it, then sac in response. More damage, plus emergency blockers if needed. Key cards against LE also include Chimeric Mass and Phyrexian Totem, which allow you to actively board sweep after Living End and still deal good damage.
Also, if you're running Goyf in your build, Tormod's Crypt is probably a better choice over Relic.
The mirror match is where having artifact help is truly key. You stick a Phyrexian Totem or Chimeric Mass along side your Finks, they watch Death Cloud become a game winner for their opponent. The Jund match-up is highly dependant on who plays first. If they do, keep your STE around a couple turns to block and buy you a turn, then drop a Damnation on them post-BBE. Negates their card advantage more often than not, and sometimes earns you some. DC isn't your only board sweep.
That's the million dollar question, really. Your removal should be tuned to your meta beyond the basic deck build. Smother is the card of choice because typically you have board sweeps after t4. If that's not cutting it, hide some better tuned removal in your board for games 2 and 3. Affinity really doesn't like Viridian Shaman by the way, and Smother still works, so picking between GftT and DB is pointless.
Also, just to point out, I've done quite well running a 3/3 split between Thoughtseize and Inquisition. Relying on one or the other is beyond ridiculous.
Cutting Hierarch from the non-Vial build isn't recommended if all you're going to do is add Bolt or Punishing Fire. You'd be committing pretty heavily to the aggro side of the deck while losing speed against key match-ups (IE Zoo). Sometimes answering threats isn't as important as making them irrelevant in this deck. Bouncing, trading, chumping, are all fine alternatives to hard removal as long as your opponent is being clocked. If you're swinging free every turn, focus more on cards like Venser or Repeal, and Snapcaster Mage to turn already used answers into card advantage. Cryptic Command is also an excellent game changer when you have any semblance of a board presence.
My point is no one card is going to be a magical answer in a tempo deck, nor is any particular splash. Black or white for hard removal spells is your best bet if you splash though, as they don't care how big your target is or can become. The added reach of red just complicates a relatively simple manabase. I chose white because Hierarch can add it, primarily, so I don't have to worry about maindecked LD from my opponents, which is quite common. If you don't like Path, use Journey to Nowhere or Oblivion Ring.
I warned you about Relic.
On another note, I'm testing Snapcaster Mage a lot tonight and plan on posting an alternate decklist soon. Since I'm not a huge fan of Aether Vial...don't count on one based off of AMIADRONE's.
Jund is actually an easy enough match-up if you're running the non-Vial/Snapcaster builds, as Mystic Snake counters the cascade and blocks Bloodbraid Elf (which is their best card against control). I splash white specifically for RDW and Zoo, as those are the only match-ups that are truly a pain pre-board. Adding any extra creatures however dilutes the tempo required to shut down other decks, and the goal is to avoid just going pure Bant aggro. We don't try to win with size, but with consistency and measured attacks (usually just a 2/2 or a 3/1 flier for several turns).
Original Garruk is primarily for ramp pre-Death Cloud, and tokens post Death Cloud. Big Garruk is nice for card draw, but 5cmc is a bit expensive and slow for an unnecessary addition to an otherwise tuned deck, in this format full of fast aggro and combo. The goal is t3 Garruk Wildspeaker, t4 Death Cloud, and hold a manland, artifact, or persist creature that can swing freely while your opponent rebuilds from scratch.
@Necroticah: I find the power of the leftover swinger is often irrelevant, which is why I now prefer Chimeric Mass over Phyrexian Totem. However much mana you have left over is how big it is, and the activation cost is 1, compared to 3 for Totem. That and Treetop Village (or a persisting Kitchen Finks) has been enough for me in game finishing situations, since your opponent is hopefully left in topdeck mode both for lands as well as answers.
Tip: Against control, Death Cloud is bait. Resolve a Garruk or Call of the Herd to win. Going for the home run against counterspells just leads to bad tempo. Chimeric Mass is also an MVP here.
Run Tormod's Crypt over Relic of Progenitus. Remember you have Goyf, and against Living End they then can't even play LE as a board sweep. Having not run this particular build yet, the only help I might be able to give is that Tectonic Edge probably just needs to be some other colored sources, since you're running 6 fetch and only 21 lands with 4 Mutavault. It's too easy to screw yourself over if Aether Vial gets blown up before you make plays, and then have 1 colored source on board.
My personal preferences make me believe E. Witness and Spreading Seas are too passive for this format. This is a draw-go deck in more than one way, and doubly so against aggro/mid-range decks...the exception being Affinity, where removal and fliers are a must. I am very much against playing things on my turn after t2, until I have enough mana to have multiple plays. Also, most decks have very resilient mana bases, having access to multiple dual lands, so Spreading Seas just doesn't cut it for me.
4 Goblin Guide
4 Kird Ape
4 Keldon Mauraders
4 Stormblood Berserker
1 Fulminator Mage
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Bloodbraid Elf
Burn - 13
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Punishing Fire
4 Rift Bolt
1 Fling
4 Arid Mesa
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Stomping Ground
3 Grove of the Burnwillows
2 Kessig Wolf Run
5 Mountain
2 Forest
3 Shattering Spree
4 Sudden Shock
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Tin Street Hooligan
2 Goblin Ruinblaster
I have winning records against Affinity, Living End (weird right?), Jund, and Elves (I make them pay for not blocking). My sideboard is in its infancy, but some of the choices should be pretty obvious. The 1-of Fling is being tested right now as added reach.
I like this build because it's more resistant to hate (and Kitchen Finks), but what do you guys think?
In place of? No thanks. Besides, if things like Titans are resolving against you, you're doing it wrong. Plus I don't like having to pay extra mana into things that don't win the game.
Yeah, I think that's just another deck entirely, unfortunately. Perhaps some UG combo deck to put the dig engine to better use.