MTG Salvation

@Shelldell, yeah my matchups were a bit weird yesterday. I didn't see a GW deck, or UW control variant in the building. I went 3-0 against Mardu midrange variants (both Nahiri and Reveler lists), 1-1-1 against Affinity (though it should have been 2-1) 1-0 against UR Pyromancer, and 1-0 against Eldrazi Tron. I'll dive into the matchups a little.

Mardu Midrange: At first glance they fit the profile of a deck that ought to give us trouble. A ton of removal, hand disruption, and Lingering Souls tokens to punish our limited spot removal. What ended up happening in every game yesterday, though, was that I just overloaded their ability to answer threats. Because they're running a bunch of discard spells, the top of our deck is a bit better, and they struggle to really threaten us. They can generate some card advantage, but none of these lists run Dark Confidant, which is the #1 way Rock style deck bury us. The one game I lost was to 3 spot removal spells in one turn with a Nahiri on 8 loyalty.

SB Out: 2 Path to Exile, 2 Lotus Cobra, 1 , 1 Thragtusk SB In: 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, 1 Glen Elendra Archmage, 1 Keranos, God of Storms, 2 Unified Will

If you see a Young Pyromancer, bring in Izzet Staticaster.

Affinity: This matchup is very close, and I'm considering ways to tilt it a bit more in our favor post board. They have few ways to stop our combo kill (Galvanic Blast is usually it), but it's very hard for us to win a fair game do to their pressure and threat diversity. Of particular note is Ghirapur Aether Grid, which is a total house against us. Plan A is to go for the combo kill and dare them to stop you. Plan B is squirm in your seat a bunch while you try to deal with an Inkmoth Nexus, Archbound Ravager, and Cranial Plated flier.

SB Out: 2 Voice of Resurgence, 1 Renegade Rallier, 1 Courser of Kruphix, 1 Thragtusk, 1 Sun Titan, 1 Domri Rade SB In: 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, 1 Izzet Staticaster, 1 Reclamation Sage, 1 Glen Elendra Archmage, 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence, 1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk

Bring in all of your fliers, even if they're unexciting. In the future, I'm considering re-adding Kataki (or something similar) to the 75.

Eldrazi Tron: This matchup feels like an easier Affinity. They've got the same kind of "just kill you" draws, but their threats are less diverse, and we have a better sideboard plan for them. You're actually capable of standing toe-to-toe with their average draws until they cast All Is Dust. If you can stabilize with a 6/6 or better, they have to start working a lot harder to attack. Upgrading a Voice of Resurgence can often accomplish this. Sun Titan is even better. (It gets better still if you have a Domri Rade in play with 6 loyalty counters!) Game 2, we get to bring in a ton of gas.

SB Out: 2 Voice of Resurgence, 1 Courser of Kruphix, 1 Renegade Rallier, 1 Thragtusk, 1 Domri Rade SB In: 2 Unified Will, 2 Blood Moon, 1 Magus of the Moon, 1 Reclamation Sage

UR Pyromancer: This matchup felt very good. The deck had an aggro-midrange plan supported by counterspells and burn, but none of their individual spells are particularly impactful. They're not playing the big control payoff spells, and they struggle to get a 4 loyalty planeswalker off the board. Voice, Rallier, and Courser are all difficult for them to deal with.

SB Out: 2 Lotus Cobra, 1 Thragtusk, 1 Eldritch Evolution SB In: 2 Unified Will, 1 Keranos, God of Storms, 1 Glen Elendra Archmage


A few more card specific notes:

I never tutored for Thragtusk, and I only cast it once in a game where I had nothing else to do. It's only really great against burn, and I keep siding it out. It might be time to find something with a bit more flexibility in this slot.

Courser of Kruphix was good when it landed. I wanted it in against the midrange decks, and it was an easy cut against Affinity and Eldrazi Tron. I tutored for it against UR Pyromancer, and it immediately ate two burn spells.

I never saw Keranos, or had an opportunity to tutor for it. I was happy to bring it in against the midrange decks, and I'm going to keep it in the 75 for now. The midrange games tend to devolve into top deck wars, and Keranos just sitting on the battlefield seems pretty sweet.

Went 5-1-2 and split ($200 each) in the semifinals of a Modern 1k (54 people). After the prize split, we played for a spot in the store's invitational, and I lost a close match to Affinity in three games. Here's the list I ran: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/796912#paper

A few notes:

Unifying Will has some risk attached to it, but it gives the deck more lines, and is a decisive answer to a bunch of problems. I was able to soft-lock multiple games by looping Will with Eternal Witness and blink/clone effects.

Gavony Township isn't free, but it's close. Adding another land that's not a blank in the mid/late game is pretty big for the Cobra builds in particular. It also has some nice synergy with persist creatures like Archmage and Finks.

The single Domri Rade was good. I liked having access to another T2 Planeswalker, and it consistently generated value when it came down. I still sided it out against Affinity and Eldrazi Tron due to their size and speed, but I was happy to have it in the grindy matches. Also, fighting a Reality Smasher with Sun Titan feels pretty great.

I need to adjust the manabase. The sideboard is heavier on the blue now, and I want access to another blue dual. I think I want Hallowed Fountain in place of a Temple Garden. I could see trying to fit a Sacred Foundry in as well, though it might have to replace a basic.

I didn't see another GW deck today. If the CoCo decks have fallen off, it might be time to consider replacing Gearhulk, possibly with something more dedicated to beating Affinity.

@Shelldell, I just finished LSV's video, and I think you're analysis is on target. It looks like this list is trading speed, combo consistency, and the Evo toolbox for a bunch of midrange value/blink shenanigans. He looked like he had no chance against Storm (possibly the #1 deck right now). Also, consider how many more outs (4-6) our lists have to the board position LSV found himself in game 2 against EldraziTron. It's a super sweet list, but I'm not sure it's where we want to be right now.

Folks...check this 5-0 list out: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/795554#paper

LSV just did a video on it as well.

I'm surprised that you guys raised concerns about the flicker targets given my original list wasn't any better on that front. Note, Rallier was often not a great flicker target. Getting another land is fine, but hardly excited after the initial burst window. That said, I hardly ever find myself wanting for good flicker targets, and often just blinking a Domri, or a land and playing something else is fine given what we want Guardian to do.

Nathan's list is wild. I'll admit, I don't quite get how it hangs together other than really hoping to draw the right stuff in the right sequence. A number of the singletons (Cobra, Wall of Omens, Chord without Wall of Roots) are pretty weird. If it's working well for him, that's awesome, but I'm not getting it on first glance.

VenocStorm, you've articulated the Blood Moon scenarios quite well, thank you. I see people side it in against any tricolor deck they see, and it can be worse than time walking themselves.

After a bit of hiatus, I'm back to testing Saheeli for the RPTQ next month. I've recently fallen in love with Domri Rade, and how it interacts with Courser.



Lotus Cobra's best attribute was getting people with their shields down. They'd see a Cobra, and no other combo pieces, tap out, and die to a burst of mana and the wombo. I love the explosions, but I don't want to lean on my opponents sloppy play to steal wins as the competition gets stiffer. I've been liking the single Recruiter Rallier as it can occasionally enable a silly sequence, while contributing to a grindy game when needed. Domri Rade has been surprisingly strong. I tried it on a whim, and have been delighted by the action it generates. 22 creatures is right on the edge of acceptable for his plus, but quickly gets out of control when paired with Courser. Domri on turn 2 is one of the best things we can do against U/W/x. We're a legitimate threat to plus him right up to the ult, and turn the game into a nightmare for them. There's still a lot of room for tinkering with the sideboard, but I'm going to try out Keranos for grindy matchups.

Fauna Shaman is a weird one, and I'm not sure if it's going to stick around. It's amazing if you get to untap with it in the mid/late game, but it's fragile, and you often don't want to spend mana to activate it on turn 3. The 2-drop slot outside of Voice continues to be a thorn in my side. Cobra is sweet for going all in, but it's also pretty embarrassing after turn 4. Wall of Omens is underwhelming, and Wall of Roots doesn't really fit either (we're not abusing it with Chord). I'm open to suggestions on this slot!

I should emphasize that the 2.0 list is very much a work in progress. We've been iterating rapidly as we try to find a 75 that feels good. That said, Courser has tested very well. It's tough to kill, can generate more card advantage and life than Finks, can be brought back with Lark, and we're in a great position to maximize it with Fetches, Saheeli, and Oath.

An interesting thing to try would be to fit the 2 Courser/2 Tracker package into the original shell. Perhaps you cut the Ralliers and Thragtusk?

Note: It looks like the discussion on side boarding is in a pretty good place. I will add that I'm a huge proponent of 2-3 Blood Moon effects in the board. We're a very good Blood Moon deck, and it can single-handedly win matches. I've also come around to running 2-3 Unifying Wills in the board. It's great in a lot of the matchups where Blood Moon is good, while also adding percentage points against decks like Storm.

I've had the chance to work on the deck with a friend over the last couple of weeks, and he's been putting a similar list to my PPTQ deck through the MODO ringer. He's had a 5-0, a couple of 4-1s, but also a few of 2-3s and worse. Something he's noted is that in most of his losses he feel like he's flooding out. This makes some sense given what was prioritized in the 11 fetch/2 Cobra/3 Rallier build. I went down that somewhat extreme path in order to prioritize explosive starts. When you consider that many folks don't know what they're seeing early on, maximizing the ability to kill from seemingly nowhere on turn 3 or 4 makes good sense. I won a number of games at the PPTQ by "getting" people from relatively innocent board states.

All of that said, as the format has warped a bit around Scapeshift and Storm in recent weeks, the inability of my build to sustain slugfests like a traditional Chord deck is pretty evident. My PPTQ list has a TON of bad topdecks in the mid/late game. I've been relatively pleased with how the deck performs against the aforementioned combo decks (we're a bit faster than them and have good post board plans), but decks like Abzan, UW Control, and Bant Spirits have the tools to stop a turn 3/4 kill, and cards like Cobra and Rallier start to look a lot worse from that position.

I'm currently kicking around a build that has a lot more staying power:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/755824#paper

This is very much a WIP, but the key change is a shift in emphasis from explosiveness to flexibility and staying power. The 2 Fauna Shaman/2 Courser/2 Tracker/1 Witness/1 Reveillark package is big game, and gives better game in grindy matchups. This comes at a cost though. Cobra and Ralliers both got cut, and the top end of the curve has been shrunk down a bit as we're no longer ramping as hard.

Hey folks, sorry for the slow response time. I chained Gen Con (happy times) into a dead computer (sad times).

@Shelldell, I favor the proactive plan in scenarios. We're mostly sorcery speed as it is, and I'd rather use our explosiveness to get out in front. I'd rather not Evo into Forge-Tender, but I will if it secures a winning board. Lightbringer isn't great against Jund, merely good. Confidant, Liliana, and Olivia are all must answers.

@BanjoCaveman, I shouldn't have said that I'd never Evo for Rallier. It's just not often our best line. Often getting Guardian and flickering Oath is superior, for example. I agree Evo->Voice->Rallier->Voice is a line that needs to be kept in mind. Putting 6 power into play for 3 mana isn't nothing. I think Eidolon's strength against Storm and Living End is enough to warrant the board slot.

@maniospas, The Evo->Witness->Guardian line can be potent, but it doesn't quite replace what Sun Titan can do. For example, it's much less threatening if you don't have access to both Guardian and Saheeli. Many decks struggle to deal with Sun Titan once it lands. I've really enjoyed having access to both Titan and Witness in the main. I don't have a good intuition on the Trinket Mage package, but I'll toy around with it.

I'll work out a more comprehensive sideboard guide soonish.

Won the PPTQ yesterday! 6-0-1 (excluding an ID and a bye) over the event. Right before the event I swapped the Township for an Arid Mesa in the main, and went -1 Kataki, -1 Dusk/Dawn for 1 Blood Moon, 1 Damping Matrix in the board. The deck is quite resilient, and I overcame a number of bad matchups on the way to claiming the RPTQ invite.

Round 1: BYE
Better lucky than good.

Round 2: Jeskai Control 2-0 Win
Game 1, he had a ton of removal (Bolt, Path, Helix) in addition to a Snapcaster, but multiple Renegade Ralliers pulled me ahead I landed a Sun Titan, which got answered by Detention Sphere. He had no answer for Evolution into Angel of Sanctions to get back the Titan. Game 2, he didn't have much action, and Gaddock Teeg turned off multiple cards in his hand. I comboed off without resistance. SB in: 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, Gaddock Teeg, Scavenging Ooze.

Round 3: Jund 1-1-1 Draw
I was unaware people still played Jund, but this matchup felt pretty rough. They have better removal, and a higher threat density than Death's Shadow. I won a super grindy game 1 on the back of Angel of Sanctions and Ralliers. Post board he took out most of his discard and brought in more grindy interaction like Courser, Ooze, and Olivia. I got buried by Bobs game 2, and I kept my head above water for long enough to draw game 3. SB in: Sigarda, Devout Lightcaster, Scavenging Ooze. It's tempting to bring in Forge-Tenders, but with their 4 Fatal pushes, and Terminates, they seemed underwhelming. This matchup feels pretty unfavored post board.

Round 4: Jund 1-0-1 Win
Did I miss something? Is Jund a real deck again? Anyways, he had a more defensive version of Jund (multiple Coursers and Huntmaster in the main), which drew game 1 out for over 40 minutes. He was able to drop me to 4 before I could turn the board around with Voices and Ralliers. Angel of Sanctions was an MVP again, eating a Huntmaster that threatened to end me in combination with the Bolt in his hand. I eventually drew both combo pieces while we were in topdeck mode, to end the game. He was out of time, and game 2 ended in turns. I think I was favored to win that game if it had continued. SB in: Sigarda, Devout Lightcaster, Scavenging Ooze.

Round 5: Counters Company 2-0 Win
I won the die roll, which felt pretty big for this one. We're also much better at interacting with them than they are with us. I had the turn 3 combo game 1. Game 2, he had infy mana on turn 3, but his CoCo whiffed, and I comboed off on turn 4. SB in: Gaddock Teeg, Izzet Staticaster, Linvala, Cataclysmic Gearhulk. They bring in some combination of Paths and Abrupt Decays, but our plan is a lot stronger. Every one of our SB cards shuts down multiple cards in their deck.

Round 6: ID

4-0-2 and the #2 seed going into the top 8.

Quarterfinals: Scapeshift 2-1 Win
Game 1, he cast Steve on turn 2, and I went off on turn 3. I went all in on Magus of the Moon game 2 and he had the Anger of the Gods. He killed me in short order after that. Forge-Tender successfully protected the turn 4 combo game 3. This is not a good matchup in general, but we have lines. SB in: 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, Magus of the Moon, Blood Moon, Gaddock Teeg. Slamming Blood Moon is plan A. No one expects it from us, and they usually don't have enchantment removal in for it. Plan B is just to go for the combo with as much speed/support as you can muster.

Semifinals: G/W Hatebears 2-1 Win
A bunch of their best lines aren't particularly good against us. We don't fold to Ghost Quarter chains, and we're often faster than CoCo, making them lean heavily on their Paths. Game 1, I went off on turn 4 and he didn't have a Path. Game 2, I exploded out of the gate with a Cobra, Rallier, Rallier draw, but flooded out pretty badly, and eventually succumbed to a Mirran Crusader. Game 3 was an epic affair, with him resolving 5 (!!!) CoCos while I kept his board locked down with Angel of Sanctions and Linvala. He had an 8/8 Knight of the Reliquary that couldn't successfully attack because of the congested board. I started battling through the air, but he was able to keep relatively healthy on the back of 3 Coursers. I played my second Guardian, flickered Oath and found Saheeli, but couldn't cast her that turn. He fetches, reveals Dromoka's Command, and draws it. This isn't the worst thing for us, but it's annoying. I draw the second Saheeli on my turn, and combo off anyways. SB in: Scavenging Ooze, Linvala, Cataclysmic Gearhulk. I debated bringing in Teeg, but you have better things to tutor for most of the time. Game 3 summarized this matchup well. We grind as well as they do, aren't susceptible to their hate, and go over the top of them with the combo.

Finals: Scapeshift 2-1 Win!
Game 1, I went off on turn 4 and he didn't have the bolt. I'm happy with the line I took game 2, but it didn't work out. I had a hand of Oath, Ralliers, Voice, Saheeli, and a Magus of the Moon. He played Pithing Needle (Saheeli) on turn 1, which was a bit rough. I battled with medium dudes, he bolted the Magus and cast Primeval Titan. I was dead to the next Titan trigger, so found Witness with Evolution, replayed the Magus, and Pathed Titan. He hit the bolt off the top, and killed me with Scapeshift. Game 3, I landed a turn 2 Blood Moon and he had no access to hate. I beat him down with 2 Felidar Guardians, and had the Path for his Titan to seal the deal. SB in: 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, Magus of the Moon, Blood Moon, Gaddock Teeg. Note, you need to keep Angel of Sanctions in specifically for cards like Pithing Needle.

A few thoughts on the deck moving forward. Damping Matrix isn't real, and likely should be either another Blood Moon, or another Forge-Tender. Rallier is a card you love to draw, and never want to tutor for. It allows for a lot of silliness, and 3 feels like the right number. Angel of Sanctions and Sun Titan continue to pull their weight. Angel is a great catch all in a format that's leaning on Fatal Push. I liked the 11th fetch over the Gavony Township. With Ralliers and Sun Titan, the deck already grinds surprisingly well, and fetch, Rallier, fetch is one of the best things you can be doing on turn 2. Overall, I'm very happy with the current list, and plan on taking it to more events in the future.

Effectively, Ooze and Pridemage became Township and Thragtusk. I'm down to 1 Ooze in the board as a token nod to graveyard hate. We're favored or even against most of the decks that play out of the graveyard already (Tez, Death's Shadow, Lantern, Storm). I had been 50/50 with the other G/W/x decks previously, and am pretty excited about the Gearhulk tech for that matchup. Dredge, I'm less confident in, but I have yet to even encounter the deck.

@Shelldell, didn't draw Gavony last night, but I'm up to 22 lands now, and that's felt good. Between 6 dorks, Oath, Cobra, and Evolution, the top end is fairly accessible. I dropped Angel on turn 3 a few times last night, and closed out the RDW match by fetching Thragtusk with Evo on turn 6 or 7.

Lantern brought in Cage, but it was of minimal impact. It only really turns off Evolution, which is a 3 of. I also saw Surgical during that match, but I forced him to get the singleton Stony Silence when I targeted it with Rallier. RIP and Relic are probably the most problematic of the graveyard hate seeing regular play, but I don't think we should be deterred from running the graveyard value cards. If they're bringing in graveyard hate, they're not accounting for the combo, or Evo toolbox. One of the things I've really come to appreciate about this deck, is how resilient it is to hate. Pithing Needle on Saheeli is a fine play, but we're still jamming a bunch of G/W value cards, and can remove the Needle right before we combo. RIP and Relic slow down the value cards, but don't interact with the combo or toolbox. Linvala turns off our mana dorks only. Artifact hate means nothing to us. Blood Moon doesn't phase us at all. We have a ton of ways around Ensnaring Bridge.

I'm running Angel primarily as a space saver. It does a lot of the work of a Reflector Mage, or a maindeck Reclamation Sage, can hit planeswalkers, and grinds well on its own. I think Mage is fine, but I don't like it as a replacement for the 4th Path. I could see running Mage and Sage in place of a Rallier and Angel, but I'm pretty happy with Angel at this point.

I continue to be up in the air on Sun Titan, because it just hasn't come up much. At least on paper, it's absurd top end in a format where everything else maxes out at 5/5.

Updated list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/721377#paper



Went 3-1 last night with the above, losing to a very aggressive Grixis Delver deck. I think we're supposed to be a bit favored in that matchup, but I made a few misplays, and he ran pretty hot. Beat RDW, Lantern Control, and U/W Turns.

Leaning a bit more towards value and midgame power with this build. Overall, the 75 feels pretty good, and I'll be running it at a PPTQ this weekend. Removing the maindeck hate dorks (Pridemage and Ooze) is covered somewhat by Angel of Sanctions, which did serious work against Lantern Control last night. Forge-Tender continues to over perform, completely locking RDW out when played on turn 1. I loved having 3 in the board, but room is so tight, and I now have access to Thragtusk in the main. Cataclysmic Gearhulk is a spicy bit of tech against the other G/W decks in the format. Most of the G/W/x decks are actually better at grinding than us (CoCo, Knight of the Reliquary, etc), so we need a tool to level the playing field. Because of the Rallier count, and how our combo functions, we're significantly better at rebuilding from a Gearhulk than they are. And, if the game goes long enough, we can flicker it to grind them out.

Quote from MattsWhat »

I agree with your appraisal of Fauna Shaman, but I can also play it, copy it, tap the haste get a cat for the win (In magical Christmas land). I'm going to give it a try, got to be worth a look at least.
So, my choices for the cards you questioned:
I have a fair bit of tron in my LGS so 2 is the right number for me. It does make it tight, but with Birds, cobras and fetches I felt OK for land in all but the 1 game when I didn't get any. I think running 2 GQ on 21 lands is pushing my luck, but it does help me top deck better. Not sure on the right answer here. Dryad Arbor was a test really, it does feel OK to evolve it and recur it with rallier or excavator though. And helps me hit hate a tiny bit better. I think running it in 21 land is wrong, for what it is worth.
Nissa is a house, I would take her over a path every day of the week (she does get boarded out quite a bit though!). I'm probably wrong, but she feel very, very good. I think she is a sleeper hit and has been great for me time and again, even playing her in to certain death when you don't have a lot going on, getting scry 2 and some life (assuming they attack her) feels OK. She does take some skill to really sculpt her ability around a board state for your following turn, but when you get it right and just play free stuff for value it's awesome. She doesn't always impact the board, I agree with this - but we are trying to combo and she helps you get that ordered up. I have considered going to two, but it would cost me a value creature and that feels wrong. At least I can hunt for her with Oath.
I felt like Excavator was a solid card this weekend (and previously). I play 8 fetches and 2 quarters which gives me good value, and it feels unbeatable if your have a Cobra in play. I considered adding another one to the board for grinding power as I was never unhappy to see it. It does sometimes ramp you a little too hard and we have no reason for that so it might be better as a tireless tracker. Tracker feels more agressive though. Maybe the right answer is Tracker main, excavator side. Not sure what match up I would want it for though.

You should definitely test out things that catch your eye, but be mindful of the kind of deck we're playing. We're dipping our toes into combo, G/W value, and midrange toolbox. That this deck can take multiple quality lines is a key selling point, but we're not elite at any one of them. In my experience, prioritizing one of those lines comes with a trade-off somewhere else. For example, we run Evolution for it's ability to fetch Guardian. This is key to the combo plan, and provides us a better toolbox, but means we're not generating the instant speed value of the CoCo/Chord decks.

Quote from Shelldell »

I tried cutting down to 21 lands and adding a couple extra Ralliers. I got constrained on lands a bit more than I'd like, though -- either stuck at 2 unable to cast Rallier, having Rallier without fetches to help ramp, or wishing I was drawing some extra lands to sustain Cobra and Tracker throughout the mid game. I didn't have enough games to say whether this was just bad luck or representative of a true average but I think I will stick with 22 lands leaning on Canopy to avoid flooding for now. You could get around some of this with more aggressive mulling but for a combo deck I like to have relaxed odds on drawing hands with usable lands so I can focus on mulling for key combo pieces, and in that respect 22 lands is less likely to pull 1 land hands.

I think we are in agreement that Titan probably goes in the side so I'm toying with Rallier vs P&K vs Huntmaster vs something else in that slot. I'm a little wary of going too hard on the graveyard to the point that we start getting soft to hate (the deck seems to do a good job of riding the line of making GY hate juuust profitable enough that the opponent isn't sure they want to board it in since it doesn't directly disrupt the combo), but maybe we're still ok even with a set of Ralliers. Right now my list is fairly red-light so I'd have to shock myself more to run P&K. Maybe it's worth having the second Stomping Ground in there anyways since I had problems last night getting my only red source covered by Spreading Seas? I was eventually able to flicker it to get my red back but it was still annoying.

Matches against Burn last night were pretty close and Thragtusk secured most of my wins. I'm pretty pleased with him in the main so far but I understand if anyone wants to cap their curve at 4 CMC. Having both Felidar Guardian and Thragtusk be over 3 CMC was pretty nice against Eidelon. I didn't get a chance to test Forge Tender but I will try to do so soon.

Sorry, I missed this initially. Thanks for updating us on your initial testing with 21 lands. I've had a good run with 21 lands and 3 Ralliers, but the sample size is small. I tend to mulligan fairly aggressively, and find this deck to mulligan well, so that's something I should start tracking in better detail. I'm less concerned about 1 landers, and more concerned about situations where we keep 2 lands, needing to draw a 3rd. Perhaps the Sun Titan slot should just turn into another fetch.

Edit: Going to amend this post with my current list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/721377#paper

Notable maindeck changes: -1 Sun Titan, -1 Angel of Sanctions, +1 Lone Missionary, +1 Renegade Rallier
Now up to 3 Forge-Tenders in the board as well. We just get to turn off so many problematic cards with Forge-Tender, and they allow us to go all in against relatively bad matchups like Titan Shift.

Matt, if you're worried about creatures sticking around, Fauna Shaman isn't the answer. You have to play it, then untap before it can do it's job. Looking over your list, I'm suspicious of the Dryad Arbor, Nissa, Excavator, and running only 3 Path's. Arbor is clunky in a deck that can't really afford to have its lands come into play tapped. I want Nissa to be good, but she often struggles to impact the board. If you're looking to grind value, perhaps another Rallier or a Tireless Tracker? We're not a great Excavator deck as it stands. You're running 2 Ghost Quarters which might be straining your colors, and we don't have cards like Knight of the Reliquary to really pay it off.