He is saying that while mythics now are more expensive than rares were then, one of the effects of having mythics is to lower rare prices. The argument is therefore "while in the past colourless chase rares may have reached $40, because mythics exist now chase rares (even colourless) should not be so expensive".
In any case, the card doesn't seem that great to me AT LEAST IN STANDARD. Obviously it is better than Powder Keg, but without Moxen, Chalice, Empty the Warrens etc it actually seems pretty underpowered. What do you really want to kill with this? It is horrendously slow at killing creatures compared to Pyroclasm, DoJ and spot removal. It is really really clunky against planeswalkers (takes 3 turns, and obv they will not play their walker into a charged Bomb).
Clearly it has a great deal of utility and may see play in decks which just need a really awkward way to deal with problematic permanents (R/x decks against Firewalker or maybe Leyline, or just Grixis colours against enchantments in general) but it's just really inefficient and slow. I think people just love it because "Powder Keg is good lolz" without considering context.
Well this is kinda true. Actually I first came up with a non-creature spell line-up (i.e. Mindbreak, Jace, Whiplash), cause I thought these could form a really good basis for the deck. After this I searched for a creature line-up that fits the non-creature line-up and that has some decent offensive power. Since Merfolks (Coralhelm and Merfolk Souvereign) have some boosting skills I just went for level ups.
But I agree on more training Grounds. I'm looking for ways to lower the general cost of spells in this deck... That's why I used the traps, Champion's Drakes (after having 3 counters) and why I'm adding training grounds (and will add 2 more). Venerated Teacher is going to be taken out for the same reason (training grounds indeed are more reliable). I think I might also be taking out the Jaces, Whiplashes and the Drakes too...
If I want boost, I should add White with Time of Heroes and Kabira Vindicator. Champion's Drake and Venerated Teacher are too indirect, so have been taken out. Spreading Seas for draw power and halimar Wavewatch. Now I have Coralhelm, Souvereign, Time of Heroes and Kabira Vindicator as power boosters for my level creatures.
You think this is better?
Tnx for the help so far!
P.S. With Mindbreak Trap, can I really just exile every single permanent spell my opponent controls?? That sounds just crazy...
No, things are only spells when they are on the stack so the Trap's uses in Standard are basically (1) countering all of a huge cascade and (2) winning a convoluted counterwar for 0. Inb4 infraction for providing useful information without sending you to Rulings
Criticisms - I do like your deck; it is an interesting variation on what people in the thread have been doing. Spreading Seas is a 4-or-none kind of card - it does NOT provide "draw power". There is a difference between cantrips and actually ending up with more cards (e.g. Divination). They are pretty good in this format though, and combo well with Wavewatch.
I don't think Vindicator is good enough - he is very pricey and you already have 12 Crusade effects. Replacing him with Venerated Teacher actually seems quite good as a 2-of, because if you go 1-drop, 2-drop, Teacher, it is pretty amazing for you but you really do not want to draw multiples.
If you want to splash white, the lands should be 4 Celestial Collonade and 1 Plains (for Paths) rather than 4 Plains.
Mindbreak Trap is underpowered as I explained - it is basically a bad Cancel which sometimes gets value of Cascade, Vengevine or Hell's Thunder. Try Negate or Spell Pierce.
Your guys are normally going to be pretty big but you still probably scoop to Baneslayer - play some Paths or something. Jace, TMS would also be good here as Baneslayer removal while also being generally amazing.
Training Grounds is not good here - Commander costs 1 to level, Cryptologists and Wavewatch cost 2. It is only relevant really for Skywatcher and is card disadvantage for not as much of a tempo boost as Teacher.
I'm trying to think of a way for you to die less hard to Day of Judgement but I can't, other than additional countermagic (which is actually a pretty good way to beat UWx anyway).
If the mana works, Elspeth and Ajani G seem reasonable, particularly the former as she helps fight DoJ really well.
Of course you should not play BBE if it would suck in your deck. You would hope that would be obvious to people, but everyone seems stuck on the idea that it is too broken to not play.
You don't play Jace TMS in your blue Howling Mine deck because he does nothing of relevance. You don't play Baneslayer in your 17-land White Weenie deck. You don't play Tarmogoyf in your combo Elves deck, because he has no synergy. You don't play Bloodbraid in your deck with lots of X spells or counterspells, because she is just a 3/2 haste which sometimes cascades into a spell you probably don't want on turn 4 (in a ramp style deck).
BBE is amazing when you know what you will hit - whether she is always a Shriekmaw (post-sideboard Jund) or always two creatures and a Reanimate (Naya). Jund gets away with this because all of their spells with under 3 cmc are 'probably good enough' regardless of board position, but she is ALWAYS better post-board. If she is not going to be good enough - and whiffing or hitting irrelevant spells regularly means she is not - you should just not play her.
Of course, Jund is probably better because it is an amazing BBE deck and the card is busted, but if you want to play your ramp deck then BBE probably does not fit.
Im going to sideboard in negates and maybe a few essence scatter or possibly even cancel.
Does the deck seem viable in standard? It consistently beats my girlfriends mono-white control. unless she gets a turn 2 or 3 luminarch out.
In the nicest possible way, no it does not seem competitively viable. It is quite weak to all the top archetypes - you can only win through Colonnade, Ajani "combo", Jace mill (VERY sketchy) or Duellist Beatz. Jund and UW both will have more removal in their average draw than you have threats in your deck so you will never be able to win. Your wincon dies to Path and Terminate, and Ajani will die to O-Ring, Maelstrom Pulse, Blightning, creatures, good Ajani legend rule, etc etc, and Mythic is far too fast for you to compete. I think the deck idea is fundamentally weak to too many strategies to be viable - I really don't want to be rude or harsh but you did ask
In any case, there are some questionable choices - why Soul's Grace? Your only target is Ajani avatar, and it seems Soul's Fire would always be better. For that matter, you don't want Soul's Fire. If you can keep Ajani around for two turns, AND they don't have instant-speed creature kill, your Avatar will 9 times out of 10 kill them anyway. Otherwise, you have FIVE(!) cards in your deck which do absolutely nothing until you have already won the game. Also, I think Paths 3-4 are just better than Pacifism.
I feel awful tearing this to shreds, but I just don't think it's a deck. Ajani is certainly awesome - try him in a GWx Emeria Angel / Knight of the Reliquary deck if you want to see him shine as he pumps Cobras, mana dorks, bird tokens etc and totally dominates creature mirrors.
I have to say it's refreshing to see a bunch of people not enjoying these articles at last, because frankly (especially lately) they've just been a waste of time. The articles are just stream-of-consciousness rambling with extremely tenuous links to MtG, and I know that 'it's called Off Topic and that's the point!!1' but when it seems like every second article is more of meyou's poorly-edited opinions, this site may as well give up on the articles and just be forums.
Sorry, wanted to get that off my chest. With regards to the content of the article, have you ever played ZZZ limited? Kraken Hatchling is a fine man. He carries all the common equipment excellently, blocks, blocks, generally doesn't afraid of anything, and blocks. And the complaints about the quality of commons? I point you towards the visual spoiler, where you will encounter cards like Treasure Hunt, Searing Blaze, Explore, Bojuka Bog and Halimar Depths as obviously constructed-worthy commons, together with a myriad of exceptionally powerful uncommons and a bunch of commons which are awesome in limited.
Finally, you really think Overflowing Chalice is comparable to Cylian Elf? The card is awesome, and pretty much every professional writer agrees.
@ everyone: dur dur dur of course Spell Pierce never hits a Scapeshift, my bad. Yeah play Negate, I've just gotten used to playing Spell Pierce in Affinity where Explosives is pretty terrible against you and you need to counter Wrath of God, and Scapeshift is far too slow and you need to counter Fracturing Gust.
@ Andrew: I certainly understand that for you, dying to Punishing Fire is a big strike against Guide. I just really like him because haste is a really big deal against sweepers (except Explosives for 1) and on turn 1, and I think it is worth noting that while PTQ grinders may not catch up with the latest tech, most pros/writers have lately preferred their Big Zoo decks to have Bant Charms rather than Punishing Grove and if they do this I would say Guide is better. Anyway, I'm not certain and it's your call
@ Yagami: You are correct that Rubin Zoo is not actually Zoo; it simply runs a number of cards in common. However, it certainly beats up on real Zoo. The old adage that you beat a mirror by going a little bit bigger or a lot faster shows its worth - Rubin Zoo is not that much slower than real Zoo that it gets stomped by it before it plays any spells, and going into the long game it has Baneslayers and either the machinegun of Punishing Grove or more Paths in the form of Bant Charms. In Zoo mirrors, it is certainly true that the last fatty wins and having more fatties and ways to kill them helps Rubin Zoo vastly (note that Andrew hopes to achieve the same thing with Thrills). Further, Rubin Zoo plays few cards that are bad in the mirror like Kird Ape, which almost always comes out as every single card in both decks trumps it.
Love the deck. It is very very cool, really aggressive and plays my two favourite hateful bears. I did have a few questions / things you may want to consider.
- Kird Ape vs Goblin Guide
If you are playing an extremely aggressive list like yours, then the Guide simply does more damage faster. The difference between 2 and 3 toughness is virtually negligible in the format - I think the only cards which care are Punishing Fire and opposing Kird Apes. Really, it's the Thrills that make me want to run Guide over Ape as they work really hard to overcome the low toughness.
- 4 Thrill
I don't love playing 4 copies of a pretty reactive card which doesn't really win you the game. I would suggest that 3 is plenty as while very rarely totally dead the card kind of sucks against non-red decks like Scapeshift, Depths and especially Tezzeret. It's a two-mana Shock that can be countered by removal which is not exactly Zoo material. While I do think that its power in good matchups and the fact it at least does something in bad matchups make it maindeck worthy, I wouldn't play four. Also, the double-Thrill hand must suck (and triple does not bear thinking about).
- Burst Lightning vs Tribal Flames
It's worth thinking about - 1R is so much less than 4R, and it lets you play your Island main and get another sideboard slot. Your earlier arguments about awkward mana are reasonable, but if you need 5 lands in play to kick the Burst then you could probably Tribal for 4. A Swamp would be cool but Tribal for 4 is I think still better than Burst Lightning.
- Spell Pierce vs Negate
Most of the time the former is better - it's way less obvious and lets you play more guys and still hold up counters. The only time it's worse is against cheap spot removal I guess, but you have Thrill for that if it's red so it's only really worse against Path in Tezzeret (you would play neither against Zoo). It still counters sweepers and Scapeshifts, and what more do you want? Either way, I'm pretty sure I like Mana Leak more than Negate as it can randomly just be better and is rarely worse.
@ Natural Selection - how does Earthquake work in the deck? It's amazing in the Ball Lightning deck because you don't have guys in play, it's amazing in Boros because all your relevant guys have huge butts on your turn or fly, but it really looks like it would suck terribly in your deck because if you play it for 2 or more it kills every creature in your deck. Even playing it for 1 hurts you pretty bad (kills Bushwhacker, Fodder, Instigator and 3/5 of SGC).
Haven't tested your build but the Quakes really seem quite weak and I wonder what matchup you want them for. You mentioned Bant but you are clearly the aggro in that matchup and if you wait for them to play guys and you do nothing you will lose - it also doesn't kill Emeria Angel, Baneslayer or most of the time War Monk or KotR. It really looks like you would only want it vs Boros, which sounds like a sideboard card to me.
The answer to Bloodwitch is Mind Control. Seriously. Sower of Temptation saw heaps of play and this is (although slower) a much more permanent answer. Vampires have no way of killing Mind Control, and it's pretty crushing on Nighthawk too.
Fair enough, "indoctrination" on kid's shows is off limits, and it's probably best to stay away from any kind of political statements.
Really though, was this a political statement? I challenge anyone here to assert that Fox News is not trashy. I think you will find that even the conservatives don't really think that Fox News gives an accurate or reasonable portrayal of pretty much anything, and won't deny that it's incredibly cheap and trashy. This is because, differences aside, I like to think we're all pretty reasonable people And if the conservatives don't personally identify with Fox News, how was this a dig at conservatism at all?
This is just having a go at Fox News, not a political ideology. The Simpsons has been having a go at Fox (not news specifically) for decades and nobody cares. While disparaging a side of politics in a kids' program is not ok, laughing at the expense of a terrible news program probably is in my books.
The best answer for Bloodwitch is Mind Control. Yeah, that card isn't just the best Limited bomb ever, it's also in Standard! It's generally pretty awesome against random midrange decks or anything which wants to tap out for a Baneslayer.
As far as the Jund deck is concerned: I tried this too. Unfortunately, the only real reason to run Jund colours in your aggro deck is Putrid Leech and it is SO HARD to cast him on turn 2 while hitting your curve thanks to the stupid M10 lands. Without Twilight Mire, the deck's mana is really, really awkward. I just think that Naya or R/W are better aggro colours - Ranger of Eos is as good or better than Bloodbraid as a midgame trump, and in Naya you get both. Also, both of those decks (particularly Naya as you aren't trying to cast Goblin Bushwhacker) have really good mana, and they're a lot faster thanks to Steppe Lynx.
Jund is a better midrange / attrition strategy thanks to Blast, Elf, Thrinax and Double Dragon plus the best removal in the format, but if you want to make a fast aggro deck I'm pretty sure that Naya or Boros is simply better. If you're interested, I can post/pm the Naya list I'm running at the moment to great success.
It really doesn't matter in what context you broke the rules. Flaming is still flaming. Trolling is still trolling. Spamming is still spamming. Backseat modding is still backseat modding. Et cetera. Having good in a post does not automatically exempt it from the rules.
It is not your job to tell someone, "This should be in _____" no matter how much you try to sugarcoat it.
...
Actually, it does justify the rules. I don't care if you're (formerly) TFE or if you just registered yesterday, the rules should apply equally to everyone. If exceptions were always made, it would start an unfortunate slippery slope. Just report the post instead of backseat modding.
No, it really doesn't justify the rules to say "those are the rules they apply!" We know they are the rules, and we know they apply, we are simply wondering why it is that they are the rules.
We know it is officially not our job to tell someone "This should be in ___", we know having 'backseat moderating' in posts makes those posts backseat moderating; the question is why this should be punishable.
Yes, slippery slope etc etc, but it seems that what you are actually worried about (clogging up threads with discussion of where they should go / mindless repetition of "move this thread") is already covered in spam or keeping posts on topic. If threads devolve into stupidity of this sort, tell people to keep on topic or infract them for spam.
I repeat: how is it that an informative and relevant post which contains a helpful hint that a topic will generate better discussion in a different forum harmful to anyone? I know it is against the rules, but how does that one post harm anyone at all? I am not talking about slippery slopes, but that post.
Nobody except the mod clique seems too happy with the incredibly stringent backseat modding rules. Will you listen to what the community thinks (without closing threads that actually contain polls), or just decide what is better for us because we could not possibly understand?
You lose cards forever to it and generally you want to be able to play land.
If you didn't have Hedron Crab, I'd probably go nuts over Mox. But with Hedron Crab at 1 without nixing your CA, I'm more inclined to go with it than Chrome Mox.
I don't like it very much, but I could understand someone trying to play with it.
Actually, Crab at 1 is the main reason you would want to run the Mox because it lets you play the Crab, THEN a fetch and mill yourself for 6 on the first turn. It also makes a turn 1 Drowned Rusalka 100 times better, allows for first-turn Glimpse the Unthinkable, and is generally pretty crazy.
I'm not necessarily saying to run it, but be aware that it has the awesomest synergy with Crab. And I don't see how it prevents you from playing land?
EDIT: panda, Fatestitcher is only really run in Vintage Ichorid because it untaps Bazaar of Baghdad and basically guarantees you the kill that turn. So if you're running Magus of the Bazaar AND that card doesn't die to everything immediately, Fatestitcher is insane because when you use it you basically win because you've Bazaar'd twice in one turn. However, (your Magus actually died as soon as it hit the table / you're running the superior Drowned Rusalka) so Fatestitcher is pretty bad because it doesn't do anything else.
Try a single Nature's Spiral so you can Gifts for Seismic Assault, Life From the Loam, Eternal Witness and Nature's Spiral and be guaranteed your combo. This makes it a lot more reliable than hoping Bloodbraid Elf gets there.
Thinking of which, I'm not sold on Bloodbraid in this build. Its 3/2 body is way less relevant than in Standard, and you have no real control over what you get - it's just a 3/2 with a random spell attached which is fine I guess, but probably not powerful enough (and a horrible nonbo with Earthquake). Try Tarmogoyf or Vendilion Clique - if you don't have a special reason to run Elf (which I don't think you do), they are simply a lot better, and then you can run Lightning Bolt without worrying that you'll cascade into it.
Also, you seem pretty dead to Hexmage Depths and Dredge, and I'm not sure you have enough removal to beat Zoo either. Try the Bolts at least, and the Vendilions would give you more game against the combo decks - at least they block Marit Lage until you can Cryptic it I guess.
Finally, I'm pretty sure Firespout > Earthquake because it's cheaper and doesn't hurt you.
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Yes, that is the whole point...
He is saying that while mythics now are more expensive than rares were then, one of the effects of having mythics is to lower rare prices. The argument is therefore "while in the past colourless chase rares may have reached $40, because mythics exist now chase rares (even colourless) should not be so expensive".
In any case, the card doesn't seem that great to me AT LEAST IN STANDARD. Obviously it is better than Powder Keg, but without Moxen, Chalice, Empty the Warrens etc it actually seems pretty underpowered. What do you really want to kill with this? It is horrendously slow at killing creatures compared to Pyroclasm, DoJ and spot removal. It is really really clunky against planeswalkers (takes 3 turns, and obv they will not play their walker into a charged Bomb).
Clearly it has a great deal of utility and may see play in decks which just need a really awkward way to deal with problematic permanents (R/x decks against Firewalker or maybe Leyline, or just Grixis colours against enchantments in general) but it's just really inefficient and slow. I think people just love it because "Powder Keg is good lolz" without considering context.
No, things are only spells when they are on the stack so the Trap's uses in Standard are basically (1) countering all of a huge cascade and (2) winning a convoluted counterwar for 0. Inb4 infraction for providing useful information without sending you to Rulings
Criticisms - I do like your deck; it is an interesting variation on what people in the thread have been doing. Spreading Seas is a 4-or-none kind of card - it does NOT provide "draw power". There is a difference between cantrips and actually ending up with more cards (e.g. Divination). They are pretty good in this format though, and combo well with Wavewatch.
I don't think Vindicator is good enough - he is very pricey and you already have 12 Crusade effects. Replacing him with Venerated Teacher actually seems quite good as a 2-of, because if you go 1-drop, 2-drop, Teacher, it is pretty amazing for you but you really do not want to draw multiples.
If you want to splash white, the lands should be 4 Celestial Collonade and 1 Plains (for Paths) rather than 4 Plains.
Mindbreak Trap is underpowered as I explained - it is basically a bad Cancel which sometimes gets value of Cascade, Vengevine or Hell's Thunder. Try Negate or Spell Pierce.
Your guys are normally going to be pretty big but you still probably scoop to Baneslayer - play some Paths or something. Jace, TMS would also be good here as Baneslayer removal while also being generally amazing.
Training Grounds is not good here - Commander costs 1 to level, Cryptologists and Wavewatch cost 2. It is only relevant really for Skywatcher and is card disadvantage for not as much of a tempo boost as Teacher.
I'm trying to think of a way for you to die less hard to Day of Judgement but I can't, other than additional countermagic (which is actually a pretty good way to beat UWx anyway).
If the mana works, Elspeth and Ajani G seem reasonable, particularly the former as she helps fight DoJ really well.
You don't play Jace TMS in your blue Howling Mine deck because he does nothing of relevance. You don't play Baneslayer in your 17-land White Weenie deck. You don't play Tarmogoyf in your combo Elves deck, because he has no synergy. You don't play Bloodbraid in your deck with lots of X spells or counterspells, because she is just a 3/2 haste which sometimes cascades into a spell you probably don't want on turn 4 (in a ramp style deck).
BBE is amazing when you know what you will hit - whether she is always a Shriekmaw (post-sideboard Jund) or always two creatures and a Reanimate (Naya). Jund gets away with this because all of their spells with under 3 cmc are 'probably good enough' regardless of board position, but she is ALWAYS better post-board. If she is not going to be good enough - and whiffing or hitting irrelevant spells regularly means she is not - you should just not play her.
Of course, Jund is probably better because it is an amazing BBE deck and the card is busted, but if you want to play your ramp deck then BBE probably does not fit.
In the nicest possible way, no it does not seem competitively viable. It is quite weak to all the top archetypes - you can only win through Colonnade, Ajani "combo", Jace mill (VERY sketchy) or Duellist Beatz. Jund and UW both will have more removal in their average draw than you have threats in your deck so you will never be able to win. Your wincon dies to Path and Terminate, and Ajani will die to O-Ring, Maelstrom Pulse, Blightning, creatures, good Ajani legend rule, etc etc, and Mythic is far too fast for you to compete. I think the deck idea is fundamentally weak to too many strategies to be viable - I really don't want to be rude or harsh but you did ask
In any case, there are some questionable choices - why Soul's Grace? Your only target is Ajani avatar, and it seems Soul's Fire would always be better. For that matter, you don't want Soul's Fire. If you can keep Ajani around for two turns, AND they don't have instant-speed creature kill, your Avatar will 9 times out of 10 kill them anyway. Otherwise, you have FIVE(!) cards in your deck which do absolutely nothing until you have already won the game. Also, I think Paths 3-4 are just better than Pacifism.
I feel awful tearing this to shreds, but I just don't think it's a deck. Ajani is certainly awesome - try him in a GWx Emeria Angel / Knight of the Reliquary deck if you want to see him shine as he pumps Cobras, mana dorks, bird tokens etc and totally dominates creature mirrors.
Sorry, wanted to get that off my chest. With regards to the content of the article, have you ever played ZZZ limited? Kraken Hatchling is a fine man. He carries all the common equipment excellently, blocks, blocks, generally doesn't afraid of anything, and blocks. And the complaints about the quality of commons? I point you towards the visual spoiler, where you will encounter cards like Treasure Hunt, Searing Blaze, Explore, Bojuka Bog and Halimar Depths as obviously constructed-worthy commons, together with a myriad of exceptionally powerful uncommons and a bunch of commons which are awesome in limited.
Finally, you really think Overflowing Chalice is comparable to Cylian Elf? The card is awesome, and pretty much every professional writer agrees.
@ Andrew: I certainly understand that for you, dying to Punishing Fire is a big strike against Guide. I just really like him because haste is a really big deal against sweepers (except Explosives for 1) and on turn 1, and I think it is worth noting that while PTQ grinders may not catch up with the latest tech, most pros/writers have lately preferred their Big Zoo decks to have Bant Charms rather than Punishing Grove and if they do this I would say Guide is better. Anyway, I'm not certain and it's your call
@ Yagami: You are correct that Rubin Zoo is not actually Zoo; it simply runs a number of cards in common. However, it certainly beats up on real Zoo. The old adage that you beat a mirror by going a little bit bigger or a lot faster shows its worth - Rubin Zoo is not that much slower than real Zoo that it gets stomped by it before it plays any spells, and going into the long game it has Baneslayers and either the machinegun of Punishing Grove or more Paths in the form of Bant Charms. In Zoo mirrors, it is certainly true that the last fatty wins and having more fatties and ways to kill them helps Rubin Zoo vastly (note that Andrew hopes to achieve the same thing with Thrills). Further, Rubin Zoo plays few cards that are bad in the mirror like Kird Ape, which almost always comes out as every single card in both decks trumps it.
- Kird Ape vs Goblin Guide
If you are playing an extremely aggressive list like yours, then the Guide simply does more damage faster. The difference between 2 and 3 toughness is virtually negligible in the format - I think the only cards which care are Punishing Fire and opposing Kird Apes. Really, it's the Thrills that make me want to run Guide over Ape as they work really hard to overcome the low toughness.
- 4 Thrill
I don't love playing 4 copies of a pretty reactive card which doesn't really win you the game. I would suggest that 3 is plenty as while very rarely totally dead the card kind of sucks against non-red decks like Scapeshift, Depths and especially Tezzeret. It's a two-mana Shock that can be countered by removal which is not exactly Zoo material. While I do think that its power in good matchups and the fact it at least does something in bad matchups make it maindeck worthy, I wouldn't play four. Also, the double-Thrill hand must suck (and triple does not bear thinking about).
- Burst Lightning vs Tribal Flames
It's worth thinking about - 1R is so much less than 4R, and it lets you play your Island main and get another sideboard slot. Your earlier arguments about awkward mana are reasonable, but if you need 5 lands in play to kick the Burst then you could probably Tribal for 4. A Swamp would be cool but Tribal for 4 is I think still better than Burst Lightning.
- Spell Pierce vs Negate
Most of the time the former is better - it's way less obvious and lets you play more guys and still hold up counters. The only time it's worse is against cheap spot removal I guess, but you have Thrill for that if it's red so it's only really worse against Path in Tezzeret (you would play neither against Zoo). It still counters sweepers and Scapeshifts, and what more do you want? Either way, I'm pretty sure I like Mana Leak more than Negate as it can randomly just be better and is rarely worse.
Haven't tested your build but the Quakes really seem quite weak and I wonder what matchup you want them for. You mentioned Bant but you are clearly the aggro in that matchup and if you wait for them to play guys and you do nothing you will lose - it also doesn't kill Emeria Angel, Baneslayer or most of the time War Monk or KotR. It really looks like you would only want it vs Boros, which sounds like a sideboard card to me.
Uh huh. So the judge DQ'd you because someone told them you were running 4 Exhumes? There's more to this story.
Really though, was this a political statement? I challenge anyone here to assert that Fox News is not trashy. I think you will find that even the conservatives don't really think that Fox News gives an accurate or reasonable portrayal of pretty much anything, and won't deny that it's incredibly cheap and trashy. This is because, differences aside, I like to think we're all pretty reasonable people
This is just having a go at Fox News, not a political ideology. The Simpsons has been having a go at Fox (not news specifically) for decades and nobody cares. While disparaging a side of politics in a kids' program is not ok, laughing at the expense of a terrible news program probably is in my books.
As far as the Jund deck is concerned: I tried this too. Unfortunately, the only real reason to run Jund colours in your aggro deck is Putrid Leech and it is SO HARD to cast him on turn 2 while hitting your curve thanks to the stupid M10 lands. Without Twilight Mire, the deck's mana is really, really awkward. I just think that Naya or R/W are better aggro colours - Ranger of Eos is as good or better than Bloodbraid as a midgame trump, and in Naya you get both. Also, both of those decks (particularly Naya as you aren't trying to cast Goblin Bushwhacker) have really good mana, and they're a lot faster thanks to Steppe Lynx.
Jund is a better midrange / attrition strategy thanks to Blast, Elf, Thrinax and Double Dragon plus the best removal in the format, but if you want to make a fast aggro deck I'm pretty sure that Naya or Boros is simply better. If you're interested, I can post/pm the Naya list I'm running at the moment to great success.
We know it is officially not our job to tell someone "This should be in ___", we know having 'backseat moderating' in posts makes those posts backseat moderating; the question is why this should be punishable.
Yes, slippery slope etc etc, but it seems that what you are actually worried about (clogging up threads with discussion of where they should go / mindless repetition of "move this thread") is already covered in spam or keeping posts on topic. If threads devolve into stupidity of this sort, tell people to keep on topic or infract them for spam.
I repeat: how is it that an informative and relevant post which contains a helpful hint that a topic will generate better discussion in a different forum harmful to anyone? I know it is against the rules, but how does that one post harm anyone at all? I am not talking about slippery slopes, but that post.
Nobody except the mod clique seems too happy with the incredibly stringent backseat modding rules. Will you listen to what the community thinks (without closing threads that actually contain polls), or just decide what is better for us because we could not possibly understand?
Actually, Crab at 1 is the main reason you would want to run the Mox because it lets you play the Crab, THEN a fetch and mill yourself for 6 on the first turn. It also makes a turn 1 Drowned Rusalka 100 times better, allows for first-turn Glimpse the Unthinkable, and is generally pretty crazy.
I'm not necessarily saying to run it, but be aware that it has the awesomest synergy with Crab. And I don't see how it prevents you from playing land?
EDIT: panda, Fatestitcher is only really run in Vintage Ichorid because it untaps Bazaar of Baghdad and basically guarantees you the kill that turn. So if you're running Magus of the Bazaar AND that card doesn't die to everything immediately, Fatestitcher is insane because when you use it you basically win because you've Bazaar'd twice in one turn. However, (your Magus actually died as soon as it hit the table / you're running the superior Drowned Rusalka) so Fatestitcher is pretty bad because it doesn't do anything else.
Thinking of which, I'm not sold on Bloodbraid in this build. Its 3/2 body is way less relevant than in Standard, and you have no real control over what you get - it's just a 3/2 with a random spell attached which is fine I guess, but probably not powerful enough (and a horrible nonbo with Earthquake). Try Tarmogoyf or Vendilion Clique - if you don't have a special reason to run Elf (which I don't think you do), they are simply a lot better, and then you can run Lightning Bolt without worrying that you'll cascade into it.
Also, you seem pretty dead to Hexmage Depths and Dredge, and I'm not sure you have enough removal to beat Zoo either. Try the Bolts at least, and the Vendilions would give you more game against the combo decks - at least they block Marit Lage until you can Cryptic it I guess.
Finally, I'm pretty sure Firespout > Earthquake because it's cheaper and doesn't hurt you.