Just played against Bedlam Revler Burn. The card is nuts and squashed me game 1. Game 2 and 3, I used the Seek part of Hide//Seek to gain 8 life... the opponent can't quite recover from that.
I've been toying around with Reveler in a Mardu-tempo shell, playing 3 Revelers as the card draw over Bob or Painful Truths. The only downside to the deck is it can't easily run 4 drops, as you need to ditch most of your hand to get value out of Reveler. On average, he seems to cost 3-4 when I can actually play him. The second reveler almost always costs 2, which makes him the best top deck in the world.
It plays similarly to lists like @Surfing_Bro is running. Controlling the boards turns 1 and 2, then landing a Young Pyro to start the beat down. I've found this to be an amazing shell for Collective Brutality, it lets you dump your hand for value very quickly to cast reveler either turns 3 or 4. Bloodghast has been a great fit as well, providing early aggression and late game resiliency.
The deck numbers and sideboard are still up in the air. Here is a list for those interested:
Collective Brutality. Haven't seen anyone on this forum specifically talk about it. It's a recent staple in my Nahriri Mardu Control. Card is super cheap right now. I recommend playing 1-2 copies. Discarding Lingering Souls is great for value with this card and plus it feels like a free cost when discarding Emrakul. Late in the game CB could discard excess lands or planewalkers. Very few matches right now aren't effected by both of the first 2 modes.
Edit: Although I should include it's great in every Mardu list. Especially if playing Lingering Souls
Just played against Bedlam Revler Burn. The card is nuts and squashed me game 1. Game 2 and 3, I used the Seek part of Hide//Seek to gain 8 life... the opponent can't quite recover from that.
I've been toying around with Reveler in a Mardu-tempo shell, playing 3 Revelers as the card draw over Bob or Painful Truths. The only downside to the deck is it can't easily run 4 drops, as you need to ditch most of your hand to get value out of Reveler. On average, he seems to cost 3-4 when I can actually play him. The second reveler almost always costs 2, which makes him the best top deck in the world.
It plays similarly to lists like @Surfing_Bro is running. Controlling the boards turns 1 and 2, then landing a Young Pyro to start the beat down. I've found this to be an amazing shell for Collective Brutality, it lets you dump your hand for value very quickly to cast reveler either turns 3 or 4. Bloodghast has been a great fit as well, providing early aggression and late game resiliency.
The deck numbers and sideboard are still up in the air. Here is a list for those interested:
Unfortunately you can't just put in a Reveler in a deck that plays a lot of instants and sorceries. It's going to need a ton of cantrips to make it work. Otherwise it's going to be a turn 6+ card and that's not where you want to be with a high impact card.
Collective Brutality. Haven't seen anyone on this forum specifically talk about it. It's a recent staple in my Nahriri Mardu Control. Card is super cheap right now. I recommend playing 1-2 copies. Discarding Lingering Souls is great for value with this card and plus it feels like a free cost when discarding Emrakul. Late in the game CB could discard excess lands or planewalkers. Very few matches right now aren't effected by both of the first 2 modes.
Edit: Although I should include it's great in every Mardu list. Especially if playing Lingering Souls
Personally, I've tested the card and think it is extremely over-hyped. It's versatile against Burn and Infect. It's either really good or really bad against Company decks, as the bad-Duress effect often misses or the -2/-2 hits a redundant dork or value creature. Not bad against Uxx control decks. Pretty bad against almost everything else. It's not as versatile as it looks and for a 2-mana sorcery, you could do a lot better. 90% of the time, an extra Thoughtseize is more powerful for one less mana. I think it's best used in a shell where the discard mechanic is going to be relevant (Esper decks with souls + think twice or Dredge decks) but even there, it usually doesn't make the cut.
Unfortunately you can't just put in a Reveler in a deck that plays a lot of instants and sorceries. It's going to need a ton of cantrips to make it work. Otherwise it's going to be a turn 6+ card and that's not where you want to be with a high impact card.
I have to disagree. I don't think Reveler plays that well with cantrips, as you want to be emptying your hand asap while still playing mostly instants/sorceries. A deck built with the same sort of card-type break-down as burn is ideal for playing him on curve without discarding many cards. Ryan Overturf came to the same conclusion after testing Reveler in Grixis Delver, seen in this article. Overturf mentions that burn might be a good place for Reveler, but he also notes that it would slow down their ability to race. I say that a low to the ground Mardu build is a much better place for him. We aren't trying to race, but rather to control the initial board until we can beat down with tokens/kalitas/etc. Refilling our hand and getting a 3/4 prowess beater for 2 mana is exactly what this deck wants (at least the more creature heavy-builds).
I'm trying to collect some real data on Reveler in my build, and so far I've found he costs an average of 2.3 mana, and drawing me an average of 2.6 cards. Granted, this is only after 10 matches, but I'll post the final data after 100 matches. I didn't record what turn I was able to cast him, but that is mostly dependent on my draws/when I draw him. I've noticed that I'm usually able to cast him by turn 4 if I draw him in my opening hand.
Did you find otherwise after testing him yourself?
Unfortunately you can't just put in a Reveler in a deck that plays a lot of instants and sorceries. It's going to need a ton of cantrips to make it work. Otherwise it's going to be a turn 6+ card and that's not where you want to be with a high impact card.
I have to disagree. I don't think Reveler plays that well with cantrips, as you want to be emptying your hand asap while still playing mostly instants/sorceries. A deck built with the same sort of card-type break-down as burn is ideal for playing him on curve without discarding many cards. Ryan Overturf came to the same conclusion after testing Reveler in Grixis Delver, seen in this article. Overturf mentions that burn might be a good place for Reveler, but he also notes that it would slow down their ability to race. I say that a low to the ground Mardu build is a much better place for him. We aren't trying to race, but rather to control the initial board until we can beat down with tokens/kalitas/etc. Refilling our hand and getting a 3/4 prowess beater for 2 mana is exactly what this deck wants (at least the more creature heavy-builds).
I'm trying to collect some real data on Reveler in my build, and so far I've found he costs an average of 2.3 mana, and drawing me an average of 2.6 cards. Granted, this is only after 10 matches, but I'll post the final data after 100 matches. I didn't record what turn I was able to cast him, but that is mostly dependent on my draws/when I draw him. I've noticed that I'm usually able to cast him by turn 4 if I draw him in my opening hand.
Did you find otherwise after testing him yourself?
It's not a matter of whether you disagree or not. If you want to play him on turn 7+, go ahead and play him. Unlike burn, you don't always have an incentive to empty your hand (e.g what do you do against control/combo decks with a removal heavy deck?). And you can't follow that strategy even if you wanted to unless you have a Reveler in hand or expect to see him in the late-game which is not always the case.
The whole point of the article you cited was to explain why Reveler is a difficult card to cast and isn't automatically jammable in a red deck. Even with serum visions, faithless looting, and thought scour, you are not going to consistently get Bedlam Reveler online when you want him to. In that case, it's just better to use cards like Tasigur and Gurmag Angler. No point putting a lot of fuel in the graveyard if you can't consistently cast the card you want to abuse (and waste turns doing a lot of nothing) and it's hard to justify ever playing 4-of him due to the casting difficulty. Hence the 3 copies, which yield about a 28% of drawing him in your opening hand and a good chance of never seeing him when you need to.
And it's not the average mana cost that matters. It's how often you'll be able to cast him without being forced to intentionally put stuff in the grave even when it's not optimal to do so. I highly doubt you're able to cast him by turn 4 on average. That hasn't been even feasible from my experience unless you warp the whole deck around him with proactive cards.
Since you guys are discussing bedlam Reveler I feel it's important to note that the new Chandra will help with casting him or dark dwellers, albeit after turn 4. I don't fully see the rush in casting him early in a Mardu deck that's goal is to just keep the board clear for the first few turns.
And it's not the average mana cost that matters. It's how often you'll be able to cast him without being forced to intentionally put stuff in the grave even when it's not optimal to do so. I highly doubt you're able to cast him by turn 4 on average. That hasn't been even feasible from my experience unless you warp the whole deck around him with proactive cards.
There's a ~32% chance of drawing at least one copy him in your opening hand. Either way, you are right. Reveler incentives playing very proactively and warping your deck to minimize losses from the discard effects. I was never trying to say that my build plays the same way as the more controlling versions posted in this forum, but rather, it plays like a tempo deck. Discard and burn can easily be played proactively, and against control or combo, it is often good to play them this way if you are on the tempo game. This is especially true if you happen to draw a Reveler in the first 4 turns(46% chance on the play, 49% on the draw) and know that you be refilling you hand soon. I've played variations of this build long enough to know that it is a viable strategy, even if it seems unconventional.
And it's not the average mana cost that matters. It's how often you'll be able to cast him without being forced to intentionally put stuff in the grave even when it's not optimal to do so. I highly doubt you're able to cast him by turn 4 on average. That hasn't been even feasible from my experience unless you warp the whole deck around him with proactive cards.
There's a ~32% chance of drawing at least one copy him in your opening hand. Either way, you are right. Reveler incentives playing very proactively and warping your deck to minimize losses from the discard effects. I was never trying to say that my build plays the same way as the more controlling versions posted in this forum, but rather, it plays like a tempo deck. Discard and burn can easily be played proactively, and against control or combo, it is often good to play them this way if you are on the tempo game. This is especially true if you happen to draw a Reveler in the first 4 turns(46% chance on the play, 49% on the draw) and know that you be refilling you hand soon. I've played variations of this build long enough to know that it is a viable strategy, even if it seems unconventional.
Sorry I meant 28% to draw just one copy, since you do not ever want two of these in your starting hand. Burn+ discard strategy is something I am exploring as well but the problem I find is decks like dredge and affiniy ignore discards completely and decks weak to disruption often survive thru our burn easily.BR blitzkrieg sub-forum has a lot of interesting ideas for this
What do you guys think about Kambal, Consul of Allocation?
Doesn't past the modern test on any level. Dies to bolt, doesn't give any value when it enters the battlefield or leaves the battlefield, does not offer 2 for 1 value other than a few points of health. I'd say mediocre standard card at best.
What do you guys think about Kambal, Consul of Allocation?
Didn't think much of it. Although It might be short of playable. Interesting tech against attrition decks but mostly burn. Since it triggers on cast. You do always get value upon removal spell. I'm currently not going to consider in my nahiri build since there is a very low number of burn players in my area. On the flip side I wouldn't play it in a large event as well. The life loss isnt really going to win you a game. The life gain might against some decks but there are other sources of life gain that isn't attached to a lightning rode.
So I ran this Mardu Nahiri list at FNM last night been tweaking this deck for about a month still have a few slots in main and board that I am undecided on.
Any thoughts would be appreciated will write up more details on matches later but I won, Beating Mardu Tokens, Bant Eldrazi and Jeskai Nahiri. 3 Flex spots in deck right now are Gideon, Elspeth, Painful, were Darkdweleers in past, Also 1st time using walls they were better than expected use to be Night's Whispers. SB still undecided on Ajani's and Zealous for sure. Deck ran pretty smother only mulled to 6, 2 times never to 5
@Vegas10 What are you gonna get with Nahiri? I don't like putting Emrakul in my deck too and people at my LGS keep on insisting I get Emrakul. My build only consists of 2 Nahiris and I get Obzedat if necessary. I guess I don't plan on making a Nahiri Emrakul deck in the long run. I'm still playing around the Mardu Control build though and I hope we get something better to put in it
So I ran this Mardu Nahiri list at FNM last night been tweaking this deck for about a month still have a few slots in main and board that I am undecided on.
Any thoughts would be appreciated will write up more details on matches later but I won, Beating Mardu Tokens, Bant Eldrazi and Jeskai Nahiri. 3 Flex spots in deck right now are Gideon, Elspeth, Painful, were Darkdweleers in past, Also 1st time using walls they were better than expected use to be Night's Whispers. SB still undecided on Ajani's and Zealous for sure. Deck ran pretty smother only mulled to 6, 2 times never to 5
Ajani isn't that impactful in my opinion, especially for a 4-mana card. It's better to just run Kalitas as additional dredge/ coco hate and life stabilizer against aggro. I don't like Nahiri that much but if I was running her, I just don't see the cons of running 1 Emrakul. It's the fastest way for this deck to win and probably the only way you can race combo. If you're not running Emrakul, there are better planeswalkers like Gideon AZ which single-handedly wins me games.
So I ran this Mardu Nahiri list at FNM last night been tweaking this deck for about a month still have a few slots in main and board that I am undecided on.
Any thoughts would be appreciated will write up more details on matches later but I won, Beating Mardu Tokens, Bant Eldrazi and Jeskai Nahiri. 3 Flex spots in deck right now are Gideon, Elspeth, Painful, were Darkdweleers in past, Also 1st time using walls they were better than expected use to be Night's Whispers. SB still undecided on Ajani's and Zealous for sure. Deck ran pretty smother only mulled to 6, 2 times never to 5
Ajani isn't that impactful in my opinion, especially for a 4-mana card. It's better to just run Kalitas as additional dredge/ coco hate and life stabilizer against aggro. I don't like Nahiri that much but if I was running her, I just don't see the cons of running 1 Emrakul. It's the fastest way for this deck to win and probably the only way you can race combo. If you're not running Emrakul, there are better planeswalkers like Gideon AZ which single-handedly wins me games.
I am running Emrakul forgot to list him this morning
@Vegas10 What are you gonna get with Nahiri? I don't like putting Emrakul in my deck too and people at my LGS keep on insisting I get Emrakul. My build only consists of 2 Nahiris and I get Obzedat if necessary. I guess I don't plan on making a Nahiri Emrakul deck in the long run. I'm still playing around the Mardu Control build though and I hope we get something better to put in it
I'd personally drop the Gideon and Elspeth for 2 more Lillys - Lilly is just insanely more powerful than both of them and is a 3 mana win con herself against a lot of decks. Elspeth is so expensive and you're already doing well against grindy strategies with Souls and Nahiri. Gideon just turns on opponent's Paths that would otherwise be dead.
I'd also drop the Pias - with Walls and Souls, you're really trying to ideally go Turn 1 interaction (Discard or Bolt), turn 2 interaction or Wall, turn 3 Souls or Lilly, and turn 4 Nahiri. There just aren't many decks that can beat that line. Wall is a great T2 play that sets up a nice defense for your win cons of Nahiri and Lilly.
I'd personally drop the Gideon and Elspeth for 2 more Lillys - Lilly is just insanely more powerful than both of them and is a 3 mana win con herself against a lot of decks. Elspeth is so expensive and you're already doing well against grindy strategies with Souls and Nahiri. Gideon just turns on opponent's Paths that would otherwise be dead.
I'd also drop the Pias - with Walls and Souls, you're really trying to ideally go Turn 1 interaction (Discard or Bolt), turn 2 interaction or Wall, turn 3 Souls or Lilly, and turn 4 Nahiri. There just aren't many decks that can beat that line. Wall is a great T2 play that sets up a nice defense for your win cons of Nahiri and Lilly.
I agree with you on Lilly's I think 3-4 is where this should be, I just only own 2 right now, so I am dropping both Gideon and Elspeth as both underperformed and for now am going with 2 restoration angel, as for PK I completely disagree that card has been a haymaker almost overtime I play it, and face it not every game curves out T1, 1 drop, T2 wall, 3 Souls, 4 Nahiri, in fact that prob happens around 20% of games, and PK gives me another win condition combine with souls and vents to beat with. Also remember time can be a factor if you don't land the quick nahiri win and PK can end the game effectively, and even when PK eats a bolt or whatever I still have 2 1/1 flyers to help beat or block for nahiri and lily. Really if it wasn't a legend I'd run 3.
I took out gurmag angler due to him being inconsistent. He was very regularly a 4 drop or sometimes even a 5 drop, which is just really mediocre, i was considering taking it out for tasigur, but i realised 'if it's regularly a 4 drop, why don't i just put in a better 4 drop fatty' and butcher of the horde basically has the same power and toughness, but with evasion and a bunch of sweet abilities. So far he's been ok and his haste has won me quite a few games. It's a great top deck.
I took out sorin, solemn visitor. Sorin seems better if you have a larger creature base and a larger token theme, but 4 mana to put down a 2/2 flyer is often just not immediately that powerful. He was slow and i wasn't a fan in this iteration of the deck. I ended up simply replacing him for a terminate and it has seemed to improve the deck to just have more removal.
You don't play the Delve cards in Mardu because Grixis does it much better with protective counterspells and cantrips. So yes your assessment is quite correct that Tasigur and Angler are mediocre. Butcher of the Horde is a bit unreliable for a 4-drop... at the very least if he was any good Mardu would have been at least Tier 2 a long time ago.
Yeah don't play with Sorin. Great in tokens not so great in non-token builds. Gideon Ally of Zendikar is worth considering, especially with main deck boardwipes like Anger of the Gods.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I've been toying around with Reveler in a Mardu-tempo shell, playing 3 Revelers as the card draw over Bob or Painful Truths. The only downside to the deck is it can't easily run 4 drops, as you need to ditch most of your hand to get value out of Reveler. On average, he seems to cost 3-4 when I can actually play him. The second reveler almost always costs 2, which makes him the best top deck in the world.
It plays similarly to lists like @Surfing_Bro is running. Controlling the boards turns 1 and 2, then landing a Young Pyro to start the beat down. I've found this to be an amazing shell for Collective Brutality, it lets you dump your hand for value very quickly to cast reveler either turns 3 or 4. Bloodghast has been a great fit as well, providing early aggression and late game resiliency.
The deck numbers and sideboard are still up in the air. Here is a list for those interested:
3x Young Pyromancer
4x Bloodghast
2x Collective Brutality
1x Dreadbore
4x Faithless Looting
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
4x Lingering Souls
3x Path to Exile
1x Terminate
2x Thoughtseize
1x Zealous Persecution
2x Marsh Flats
2x Arid Mesa
3x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Clifftop Retreat
2x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Shambling Vent
1x Mountain
1x Plains
2x Swamp
1x Blessed Alliance
1x Duress
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1x Kolaghan's Command
2x Molten Rain
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2x Stony Silence
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Wear / Tear
1x Zealous Persecution
Has anyone else been toying with Reveler?
Edit: Although I should include it's great in every Mardu list. Especially if playing Lingering Souls
Unfortunately you can't just put in a Reveler in a deck that plays a lot of instants and sorceries. It's going to need a ton of cantrips to make it work. Otherwise it's going to be a turn 6+ card and that's not where you want to be with a high impact card.
Personally, I've tested the card and think it is extremely over-hyped. It's versatile against Burn and Infect. It's either really good or really bad against Company decks, as the bad-Duress effect often misses or the -2/-2 hits a redundant dork or value creature. Not bad against Uxx control decks. Pretty bad against almost everything else. It's not as versatile as it looks and for a 2-mana sorcery, you could do a lot better. 90% of the time, an extra Thoughtseize is more powerful for one less mana. I think it's best used in a shell where the discard mechanic is going to be relevant (Esper decks with souls + think twice or Dredge decks) but even there, it usually doesn't make the cut.
I have to disagree. I don't think Reveler plays that well with cantrips, as you want to be emptying your hand asap while still playing mostly instants/sorceries. A deck built with the same sort of card-type break-down as burn is ideal for playing him on curve without discarding many cards. Ryan Overturf came to the same conclusion after testing Reveler in Grixis Delver, seen in this article. Overturf mentions that burn might be a good place for Reveler, but he also notes that it would slow down their ability to race. I say that a low to the ground Mardu build is a much better place for him. We aren't trying to race, but rather to control the initial board until we can beat down with tokens/kalitas/etc. Refilling our hand and getting a 3/4 prowess beater for 2 mana is exactly what this deck wants (at least the more creature heavy-builds).
I'm trying to collect some real data on Reveler in my build, and so far I've found he costs an average of 2.3 mana, and drawing me an average of 2.6 cards. Granted, this is only after 10 matches, but I'll post the final data after 100 matches. I didn't record what turn I was able to cast him, but that is mostly dependent on my draws/when I draw him. I've noticed that I'm usually able to cast him by turn 4 if I draw him in my opening hand.
Did you find otherwise after testing him yourself?
It's not a matter of whether you disagree or not. If you want to play him on turn 7+, go ahead and play him. Unlike burn, you don't always have an incentive to empty your hand (e.g what do you do against control/combo decks with a removal heavy deck?). And you can't follow that strategy even if you wanted to unless you have a Reveler in hand or expect to see him in the late-game which is not always the case.
The whole point of the article you cited was to explain why Reveler is a difficult card to cast and isn't automatically jammable in a red deck. Even with serum visions, faithless looting, and thought scour, you are not going to consistently get Bedlam Reveler online when you want him to. In that case, it's just better to use cards like Tasigur and Gurmag Angler. No point putting a lot of fuel in the graveyard if you can't consistently cast the card you want to abuse (and waste turns doing a lot of nothing) and it's hard to justify ever playing 4-of him due to the casting difficulty. Hence the 3 copies, which yield about a 28% of drawing him in your opening hand and a good chance of never seeing him when you need to.
And it's not the average mana cost that matters. It's how often you'll be able to cast him without being forced to intentionally put stuff in the grave even when it's not optimal to do so. I highly doubt you're able to cast him by turn 4 on average. That hasn't been even feasible from my experience unless you warp the whole deck around him with proactive cards.
There's a ~32% chance of drawing at least one copy him in your opening hand. Either way, you are right. Reveler incentives playing very proactively and warping your deck to minimize losses from the discard effects. I was never trying to say that my build plays the same way as the more controlling versions posted in this forum, but rather, it plays like a tempo deck. Discard and burn can easily be played proactively, and against control or combo, it is often good to play them this way if you are on the tempo game. This is especially true if you happen to draw a Reveler in the first 4 turns(46% chance on the play, 49% on the draw) and know that you be refilling you hand soon. I've played variations of this build long enough to know that it is a viable strategy, even if it seems unconventional.
Sorry I meant 28% to draw just one copy, since you do not ever want two of these in your starting hand. Burn+ discard strategy is something I am exploring as well but the problem I find is decks like dredge and affiniy ignore discards completely and decks weak to disruption often survive thru our burn easily.BR blitzkrieg sub-forum has a lot of interesting ideas for this
Doesn't past the modern test on any level. Dies to bolt, doesn't give any value when it enters the battlefield or leaves the battlefield, does not offer 2 for 1 value other than a few points of health. I'd say mediocre standard card at best.
Didn't think much of it. Although It might be short of playable. Interesting tech against attrition decks but mostly burn. Since it triggers on cast. You do always get value upon removal spell. I'm currently not going to consider in my nahiri build since there is a very low number of burn players in my area. On the flip side I wouldn't play it in a large event as well. The life loss isnt really going to win you a game. The life gain might against some decks but there are other sources of life gain that isn't attached to a lightning rode.
2x Liliana of the Veil
1x Gideon Jura
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Path to Exile
2x Terminate
1x Dreadbore
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Thoughtseize
1x Painful Truths
4x Lingering Souls
4x Wall of Omens
2x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Emrakul The Aeons Torn
3x Arid Mesa
3x Bloodstained Mire
3x Marsh Flats
3x Blackcleave Cliffs
3x Shambling Vents
1x Lavaclaw Reeches
1x Godless Shrine
1x Blood Crypt
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Vault of the Archangel
2x Mountain
1x Swamp
1x Plains
1x Clifftop Retreat
2x Ajani Vengeant
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Timley Reinforcements
2x Kor Firewalker
1x Zealous Persecution
2x Stony Silence
2x Rest in Peace
1x Celestial Purge
1x Wear/Tear
Any thoughts would be appreciated will write up more details on matches later but I won, Beating Mardu Tokens, Bant Eldrazi and Jeskai Nahiri. 3 Flex spots in deck right now are Gideon, Elspeth, Painful, were Darkdweleers in past, Also 1st time using walls they were better than expected use to be Night's Whispers. SB still undecided on Ajani's and Zealous for sure. Deck ran pretty smother only mulled to 6, 2 times never to 5
Ajani isn't that impactful in my opinion, especially for a 4-mana card. It's better to just run Kalitas as additional dredge/ coco hate and life stabilizer against aggro. I don't like Nahiri that much but if I was running her, I just don't see the cons of running 1 Emrakul. It's the fastest way for this deck to win and probably the only way you can race combo. If you're not running Emrakul, there are better planeswalkers like Gideon AZ which single-handedly wins me games.
I am running Emrakul forgot to list him this morning
I am running Emrakul
I'd personally drop the Gideon and Elspeth for 2 more Lillys - Lilly is just insanely more powerful than both of them and is a 3 mana win con herself against a lot of decks. Elspeth is so expensive and you're already doing well against grindy strategies with Souls and Nahiri. Gideon just turns on opponent's Paths that would otherwise be dead.
I'd also drop the Pias - with Walls and Souls, you're really trying to ideally go Turn 1 interaction (Discard or Bolt), turn 2 interaction or Wall, turn 3 Souls or Lilly, and turn 4 Nahiri. There just aren't many decks that can beat that line. Wall is a great T2 play that sets up a nice defense for your win cons of Nahiri and Lilly.
I agree with you on Lilly's I think 3-4 is where this should be, I just only own 2 right now, so I am dropping both Gideon and Elspeth as both underperformed and for now am going with 2 restoration angel, as for PK I completely disagree that card has been a haymaker almost overtime I play it, and face it not every game curves out T1, 1 drop, T2 wall, 3 Souls, 4 Nahiri, in fact that prob happens around 20% of games, and PK gives me another win condition combine with souls and vents to beat with. Also remember time can be a factor if you don't land the quick nahiri win and PK can end the game effectively, and even when PK eats a bolt or whatever I still have 2 1/1 flyers to help beat or block for nahiri and lily. Really if it wasn't a legend I'd run 3.
You don't play the Delve cards in Mardu because Grixis does it much better with protective counterspells and cantrips. So yes your assessment is quite correct that Tasigur and Angler are mediocre. Butcher of the Horde is a bit unreliable for a 4-drop... at the very least if he was any good Mardu would have been at least Tier 2 a long time ago.
Yeah don't play with Sorin. Great in tokens not so great in non-token builds. Gideon Ally of Zendikar is worth considering, especially with main deck boardwipes like Anger of the Gods.