MTG Salvation

Haven't played standard since RTR, but you better believe I'm gonna be untapping forests and hunting down Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Jace, Architect of Thought in a couple weeks. This is my first shot at a GB ramp list. Trying to keep the B splash as low as possible, but I think Hero's Downfall might be a necessary card out of the sideboard as there is no real way to deal with the likes of Obzedat, Ghost Council or Blood Baron of Vizkopa currently in the list other than simply having bigger creatures. Since I haven't been in the metagame recently any feedback would be appreciated!

I'm making a deck along the same lines, just a few suggestions:

1) I think the deck needs a way to draw some cards. Currently a great option M15 gave us is Life's Legacy. Have you considered it?
2) If you considered Life's Legacy above, have you thought about replacing some of those souls and primordial with Scuttling Doom Engine? He should be easier to get and he seems like he'll finish out games even faster.
3) Given the number of big creatures you're packing, do you think 3x Darksteel Citadel is needed?

1) I think the deck needs a way to draw some cards. Currently a great option M15 gave us is Life's Legacy. Have you considered it?

I will start with saying that I haven't had a chance to do any live testing yet and have only done some goldfishing with the list, which has yielded some surprisingly smooth draws. I definitely considered Life's Legacy and it could be an option if I find myself needing the card advantage. I think part of the beauty of this list is the diversity and resiliency of the threats, which isn't usually the case for ramp style decks.

2) If you considered Life's Legacy above, have you thought about replacing some of those souls and primordial with Scuttling Doom Engine? He should be easier to get and he seems like he'll finish out games even faster.

The main thing I don't like about Life's Legacy is that it is only really good when you are sacrificing a Soul of New Phyrexia or Scuttling Doom Engine and it is really bad if you have to sac anything else that doesn't give you an advantage for dying. I really wished that Verdant Haven replaced itself rather than the measley 2 life you get. That being said I definitely could see the Doom Engine being better than the Souls or the Primordial. I'm also thinking that Hornet Queen might be better than Sylvan Primordial anyways.

3) Given the number of big creatures you're packing, do you think 3x Darksteel Citadel is needed?

I think 3x is the perfect number for Darksteel Citadel even though it only interacts with 6 of the 75 it is really good when it does, 4/4 indestructible tramplers are nothing to laugh at especially one's that dodge Banisher Priest and his cousins. And even though land destruction isn't really a thing in standard doesn't hurt to slap your Verdant Haven on one just in case. As far as colored mana issues it hasn't been much of an issue in my testing, we are generally only casting 1 spell a turn and have lots of fixing available such as Urborg and Verdant Haven.

I understand, but please be careful: indestructible (on Darksteel Citadel) will not dodge Banisher Priest - it's an exile effect that says "creature", and Nissa turns it into a creature. The only reason an animated Darksteel Citadel dodges Banishing Light is because the latter reads "nonland". Unless I missed something.

Yeah I didn't double check before I posted, I was just assuming that the wording on both Banishing Light and Banisher Priest was the same. Though that does downgrade the Citadels a little bit, you are still gonna be able to get at least one attack in before the Priest is relelvant and by that time hopefully you are dropping another, bigger threat.

I've done some more testing with the list and found that I was often ramping into more ramp and struggling to find a consistent flow of threats, so here are the current changes I'm looking at.

-1 Courser of Kruphix
+1 Polukranos, World Eater
I almost never want to cast my second Courser, so I think 3 is good.

-1 Sylvan Primordial
+1 Hornet Queen
While Primordial is good, Garruk and Vraska already blow up stuff and the Queen has a bigger board impact and can punch through more damage.

-2 Soul of New Phyrexia
+1 Genesis Hydra
+1 Arbor Colossus
I'm still on the fence about Soul of New Phyrexia while I think it does have a spot in the deck against Supreme Verdict decks it might be too slow for other matchups. However I do think that trample is relevant and might put the card back into the mix after a few FNM's.

-2 Nissa's Expedition
+2 Boon Satyr
While we are often tapping out to play big beasties, sometimes we can leave some mana open for an Abrupt Decay or Soul of Zendikar, and a surprise Boon Satyr can add a little element of surprise to what is a somewhat predicatable deck.

-2 Font of Fertility
-1 Verdant Haven
+3 Read the Bones
Out with some ramp in with some draw, Bones can also tuck away some mana dorks later in the game to find more threats. Time will tell if this is better than Life's Legacy + Scuttling Doom Engine

-1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
+1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Only 1 change in the sideboard and that is
-2 Ultimate Price
+2 Putrefy