I dont know about MTG, but my testing with marauder has been pretty good. If nothing else other then the 2 damage, he is a body that can buy you a turn/use up removal/get in for a couple points.
I was playing soul sisters and somehow won the first match. G2 was a bust. G3 was a long match. Rain of gore made half his hand more then useless. He got one swing with his 7/7 ascendant, and it was downhill from there for him.
If you come up against it alot, combust all the way. Naturalizes are still nice in the board for the leyline though. That, along with instant speed removal you have, should help. But, since splintertwin just wins sometimes, it can be a frustrating matchup
INstigator requires heavy goblins to be worth it. Maybe with punishing fires gone, goblins will step up their game. Wardriver just.. doesnt cut it unless you run a ton of cheap stuff. Berserker is not a bad inclusion though, but you have to run enough one drops to make it trigger. Rift bolt is nice for that.
Ball lightning is "alright" and can be tossed in. Hero is too slow. I would keep the deck mainly to burn, with a stomping ground/naturalize/krosan package.
I've always thought ratchet bomb was way too slow. If your running burn, and you have to ( most likely ) discard cards until your bomb goes off, you've probably gave them the game.
I dont think you need to worry about preventing damage, unless a turbofog variant becomes viable.
Dudes been running turbo fog at my local modern scene, to good results. It is pretty effective, i've got to hand it to the guy. Usually G1 is an autowin for me. G2/3 is tough as hell, i've got spellskites and leylines to deal with. His fog is basically, border posts, fog/holyday varients, howling mines, the green draw/land card, tezzeret (ftw) and lots and lots of 'take an extra turn'. Its very effective, and i usually give him his only loses.
Flamebreak is vastly superior to slagstorm, AND, it can hit a player with leyline of sanctity out. Also while leyline comes out for free t0, check out rain of gore, it requires a black splash, but, if you have one blood crypt, some gravens, and sac lands, its easy to pull off.
I really love Dragonlord and I think he is underestimated a lot. Sure he dies to removal, all creatures can't be Thrun, but he absolutely wins every game in which he isn't dealt with. Also, if you think he is slow then you haven't played with him. He is how I had a perfect record vs. Valakut with my old RDW..
That was standard. I love dragonlord, i really do, but you toss him out t2, get him up to three counters t3, lets say, and next turn when you really go to do damage, he gets eaten. Sure you still have a full grip of cards, but thats multiple timewalks.
Dudes been running turbo fog at my local modern scene, to good results. It is pretty effective, i've got to hand it to the guy. Usually G1 is an autowin for me. G2/3 is tough as hell, i've got spellskites and leylines to deal with. His fog is basically, border posts, fog/holyday varients, howling mines, the green draw/land card, tezzeret (ftw) and lots and lots of 'take an extra turn'. Its very effective, and i usually give him his only loses.
Ghost quarter would be the reason.
That was standard. I love dragonlord, i really do, but you toss him out t2, get him up to three counters t3, lets say, and next turn when you really go to do damage, he gets eaten. Sure you still have a full grip of cards, but thats multiple timewalks.