I got pretty excited by the new planeswalker rule, since Veil is too good to cut but Hope is a great card as well. Does leave the 3 drop slot a little bit cramped but too many good cards is a nice problem to have. I've been grinding this deck on modo and it has been performing super well, four 5-0s in about 10 leagues. Between Fatal Push and Hope, the deck has never been better.
Planeswalkers are great in modern right now, there's relatively little Lightning Bolt. There's a bunch of weird 1ofs but postboard you get to present a very good deck no matter what they are playing.
The deck is a little soft to Gurmag Angler/Stubborn denial strategies, but it isn't unwinnable and it has a bunch of great matchups (anything planning on swarming the board generally has a bad time). Combo it depends a bit on which deck, but big mana strategies are decent with 2x shadow 4x fulminator 4x tec edge 2x primal command and loam.
The deck is heaps of fun, but be warned it is VERY slow. You grind them down until they have nothing left then kill them with eternal witness/quagmires in a lot of games (read- glorious).
Finally back to messing around with Death Cloud after not playing modern much for the past few years. Fatal Push is obviously a huge boon to the deck and Collective Brutality makes the burn matchup much better whilst being a reasonable card elsewhere.
I don't like the Chalice lists as much now that Kolaghan's Command exists. It's still amazing against combo but it getting answered profitably from a lot of the fair decks makes it harder to justify giving up Fatal Push. Half the reason I used to like playing cloud in Jund colours was access to Bolt for early removal, and push is even better than bolt if you only want to kill creatures.
Dark Confidant in Death Cloud is a little suicidal, but the total CMC of the deck is 76, or 1.26 damage a turn from Dark Confidant which is very close to the amount Jund takes. It is a little harder to end the game quickly and he can be SBed out but against combo/control he's the best card in the deck if unanswered.
Ideally I'd play Courser of Kruphix instead of Tireless Tracker, but the manabase can't support BB, GG, W and 4 tec edge. I'd rather drop Courser than lose Souls or Tec Edge. Plus, this deck has time to draw from the clues and if they don't answer him he just draws 6 cards. Clues are also a fun synergy with Death Cloud.
Tarmogoyf, Arcbound Ravager, Tron living through Wildfire is annoying in the extreme. You can't really afford to pay 6 mana in Modern and not kill everything dead.
Molten Vortex is cool, I plan on messing with it at some point with the new Nissa if I think this deck has a shot again.
I don't play this deck at the moment because imo it isn't viable whilst Grixis gets Snap+Kolaghan's Command/Tasigur. It's just as grindy, except it's better.
Looking at the spoilers for Origins, can't see anything super exciting for this deck.
I do plan an playing around with the new Nissa, this is definitely a deck that gets to 7 land quite regularly and a Borderland Ranger is by no means a bad card, though it is a bit unexciting. Basic Forest is also not the kindest wording.
I'm struggling to imagine situations where the new Liliana is better than Veil outside CoCo decks.
This is the deck I'm planning on playing on the weekend:
It's a good card, but it's very dangerous against any deck with snap+bolt, which is most of the format. If you're worried about control it's a decent SB card for grindier matchups.
I've never used haunting echoes, but rolling spoil is quite good. Free SB LD, and against the lingering souls decks blowing up a manland and some tokens is quite the blowout. It's a very playable card
Tron doesn't always have the Relic- sure if they do neither card will be very good, but if they don't goyf is a relevant clock, particularly post-board when the matchup gets grindier. Goyf-Fulminator/discard is a real clock, and gurmag just doesn't have the same level of pressure. Ditto for combo. It really isn't too slow when you back it up with disruption, that's kind of how jund/abzan work.
I used to play the chalice main-discard in the board, but slaughter games is just so much better. Try it <3 So many decks literally scoop on the spot.
I board Chalice out against most of the non-blue fair decks, Chalice gets a lot worse if they have access to decay/kolaghan's. It's almost pre-boarded combo hate that has some utility vs fair decks. When it's bad it's still okay, and when it's good it's *very* good.
Cage is much better than Leyline vs Company, but I like Leyline more overall. Especially for the living end matchup. If company gets really popular might be time to bust out the drown/anger again.
I can't agree with cutting Primal Command, you need to have some lifegain (ideally more than just finks/courser) in the deck somewhere to stabilize vs snap/bolt decks. Its very good against combo, gives you some MD GY hate and is good vs all the fair decks so long as you aren't behind on board. It also gives you outs to silly cards like keranos. Finally, it's an excellent mana sink. I wouldn't play 4 since it is bad if you're really behind, but basically every deck I play has 2 command/1 witness. It gives the deck so much for 3 slots, and it's an auto-win in a topdeck war. It's one of the few cards that never hits the SB.
Playing Chandra instead of Lingering Souls. I think I like this more, having Chandra means you can play more lands which gives so much more stability.
I'd like to have an extra ravine or two, but I'm not willing to sacrifice black sources/tec edges for it, so probably not happening. I could cut the explores, add a land and two spells, but explore is nice with courser/chandra. If I feel the deck has too much air and needs more actual spells that's probably what I'll try. Something like -3 explore +1 dismember +1 raging ravine +1 durdly lategame card. A second copy of Kolaghan's Command/Death Cloud are definitely considerations.
Okay, now we're at least on the same page about goyf vs gurmag- post cloud they are functionally the same thing.
Goyf over Gurmag:
Pluses:
-Can be cast T2 compared to T4 (this is by far the most important)
-Pressures combo/tron much faster
-Is generally larger than gurmag by T4 [this is a deck with at least walkers, if not more (courser/chalice)]
Minuses:
-T4/5 gurmag can be cast for a single B rather than 1G, making it easier to slam two threats in a single turn
-Goyf can be smaller against GY hate like scooze, though gurmag isn't exactly a fan of scooze either
-goyf can be decayed
To me at least, everything seems pretty minor except for being able to cast in on T2 compared to it rotting in your hand. Pressuring combo/improving your mana efficiency/blocking seems a lot more important than a few quibbles about goyf sometimes not being a 5/6. This is actually a very good deck for making big goyfs, it just isn't as good at capitalizing on having one as jund/abzan.
I'm still not 100% sold on chalice in this meta and this deck could probably be refined, but its a start. I quick intro-style video on the deck, but the sound is a bit low and the quality isn't great. If people are interested I might try uploading some games, hopefully with better settings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ7d3cyaVXk
Yes, I agree that I have no idea what you're saying. How exactly do you end up with one land post cloud without garruk.
Cloud cost XBBB. You can make X whatever you want, you still have the lands you spent to make BBB. If I have 7 lands, the most I can cloud for is 4, and then I have 3 lands left over.
Why am I even explaining this, this is super obvious.
I don't think you understand what I'm saying. There is no way that, post cloud, you will have less than 3 lands in play, so you will always be able to cast your tarmogoyf. It's also going to be at a bare minimum a 4/5, and generally bigger.
Being able to cast goyf on T2, compared to not being able to cast gurmag until T4 at least, seems clearly worse.
Your argument about goyf dying to cloud makes no sense, its not like gurmag has any resistance to cloud either.
I can't see a situation where gurmag is better than goyf, outside gurmag being bigger, which is rare since this deck throws cards in the GY at a rapid rate and plays at a minimum walkers, if not artifacts and enchantments as well. The other possibility is if you can't spare a single extra mana on T4/5.
The payoff for playing goyf is you have a card that is castable on T2, compared to rotting in your hand which is massive.
If someone can give me a situation where gurmag is somehow superior to goyf, I'm all ears, but I suspect nothing except what I said above exists.
I don't like ramp all that much in this deck, I'd generally rather just play more lands. Works better with courser and means your mana is open to cast removal. Ramping with Elder is only actually worth it if you have don't miss any land drops, which with 23 seems optimistic. If you count your elders as lands, your deck has 28 "lands" as well. The deck is overloaded on good 3 drops, and ramp doesn't help you cast them any faster (outside utopia sprawl, which has other problems).
I don't like discard all that much either, the grindier the deck the worse discard gets. My decks are typically pretty far on the grindy side.
Neither discard nor ramp works at all well with chalice either.
You always have at least 3 lands post cloud unless you have garruk, and in that case you already won? In what scenario would you have exactly one land but not two post cloud?
I quite liked Vraska in the old Jund meta (yes tabletop, you were right- but only on that one thing :P), it was very good against opposing planeswalkers. I don't think it is good enough at the moment, however.
I went and had a look at the chalice decks from 2 years ago, the nostalgia of going through the twice-archived thread was fun. Hold this space, bad modo chalice brews incoming.
Initial thoughts:
I would not be happy with Kologhan's command picking off a chalice, honestly. Letting them get a mana efficient 2 for 1 is not great. It's not that common though.
Scapeshift is very beatable if you have Slaughter Games, otherwise good luck. Amulet bloom is rough but between fulminator/games/decay/lil it's defs winnable. Obviously if you're not in red it gets much harder. Ditto for Tron, post board you *can* win if you get fulminator in both post-board games.
I would never play Leline of Sanctity in a slow deck like this if I couldn't hard cast it.
I'm on the fence about MB damnation. The 4 colour deck I posted above eats creature decks alive, but without chandra/bolt they might be more necessary.
Sure, obviously my deck is a better Tasigur deck than most list in the thread (more land, slower games, more removal). I'm still saying Tasigur is better than Gurmag in everyone's deck. If you are happy to play a 5/5 for B on turns 3/4 (at best), why are you not playing tarmogoyf. By that point it is both bigger and castable T2 as well. Unless it's a budget thing, which is totally fine. But I really, really can't see Gurmag is being correct in a no-budget build.
If burn wasn't such a huge slice of the meta right now I think this deck could have a shot, but ever since Atarka's command was printed I don't think expecting to beat them is very realistic without dedicated SB hate, thragtusk/command aren't so good now they have access to up to 8 skullcracks. The rise of GY decks is also a problem. Again, siding in Leyline of the Void is excellent against them, but there just isn't room in the SB for Leyline (Living End/Grave Troll), Sun Droplet (Burn), Fulminator (Tron/Grindy Decks), Slaughter Games (literally any combo) and Ancient Grudge (Affinity). I don't like MD damnation in the deck very much either in the meta right now, but you absolutely need access to them. There are just too many decks at the moment that require specific hate cards to beat for this deck to be good. If I could play against fair decks all day this deck would crush, you walk all over them in the lategame. It's a fun deck but I wouldn't take it to a serious tournament. Sadface Splinter Twin for me these days.
Tasigur is insane, much better than Gurmag. 1 less mana, 1 less power, and then it has an amazing ability tacked on for free? This card is absurd. If you can't kill the other guy's Tasigur/Rhino/Gurmag you're doing it wrong.
Blood Moon obviously isn't the best, but you can beat it. You're not going to care about it unless its t3/4 since you have 6 basics/8 fetches/4 courser, you do end up with basics in play eventually. Sure sometimes you just lose to the T3 Moon, but you do have 4x decay, and some cards like Chandra/Bolt/Skull you can play whilst Blood Mooned. It's not that bad. If there's no Blood Moon in your meta for some reason, drop some basics and play more edges. Tec Edge is great but obviously there's only so many you can play in a deck needing this many colours.
I've been happy with Sidisi, but she's not essential. She is pretty sick with Souls though. You have access to your one copy of Cloud by going Command-Sidisi-Cloud, so if you want it you can get it. Sure it takes a while, but since the deck has no ramp you generally just keep hitting land drops for pretty much the whole game with Courser than Cloud after they've missed some.
2 Blooming Marsh
4 Hissing Quagmire
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Golgari Rot Farm
4 Swamp
3 Forest
2 Twilight Mire
Instants and Sorceries (21)
3 Raven's Crime
4 Fatal Push
1 Tragic Slip
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Traverse the Ulvenwald
1 Night's Whisper
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Life from the Loam
3 Damnation
2 Primal Command
2 Eternal Witness
1 Tireless Tracker
Artifacts (1)
1 Nihil Spellbomb
Planeswalkers (10)
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Liliana the Last Hope
2 Garruk Relentless
1 Nissa Vital Force
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
1 Shadow of Doubt
3 Leyline of the Void
1 Sun Droplet
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Scavening Ooze
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
Planeswalkers are great in modern right now, there's relatively little Lightning Bolt. There's a bunch of weird 1ofs but postboard you get to present a very good deck no matter what they are playing.
The deck is a little soft to Gurmag Angler/Stubborn denial strategies, but it isn't unwinnable and it has a bunch of great matchups (anything planning on swarming the board generally has a bad time). Combo it depends a bit on which deck, but big mana strategies are decent with 2x shadow 4x fulminator 4x tec edge 2x primal command and loam.
The deck is heaps of fun, but be warned it is VERY slow. You grind them down until they have nothing left then kill them with eternal witness/quagmires in a lot of games (read- glorious).
I don't like the Chalice lists as much now that Kolaghan's Command exists. It's still amazing against combo but it getting answered profitably from a lot of the fair decks makes it harder to justify giving up Fatal Push. Half the reason I used to like playing cloud in Jund colours was access to Bolt for early removal, and push is even better than bolt if you only want to kill creatures.
This is the current list I'm playing on MODO:
2 Marsh Flats
3 Hissing Quagmire
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Tectonic Edge
3 Shambling Vent
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
2 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Windswept Heath
2 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Collective Brutality
1 Life from the Loam
4 Lingering Souls
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Death Cloud
Creatures (8)
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tireless Tracker
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Collective Brutality
2 Damnation
3 Stony Silence
3 Rest in Peace
1 Phyrexian Unlife
Dark Confidant in Death Cloud is a little suicidal, but the total CMC of the deck is 76, or 1.26 damage a turn from Dark Confidant which is very close to the amount Jund takes. It is a little harder to end the game quickly and he can be SBed out but against combo/control he's the best card in the deck if unanswered.
Ideally I'd play Courser of Kruphix instead of Tireless Tracker, but the manabase can't support BB, GG, W and 4 tec edge. I'd rather drop Courser than lose Souls or Tec Edge. Plus, this deck has time to draw from the clues and if they don't answer him he just draws 6 cards. Clues are also a fun synergy with Death Cloud.
Molten Vortex is cool, I plan on messing with it at some point with the new Nissa if I think this deck has a shot again.
I don't play this deck at the moment because imo it isn't viable whilst Grixis gets Snap+Kolaghan's Command/Tasigur. It's just as grindy, except it's better.
I do plan an playing around with the new Nissa, this is definitely a deck that gets to 7 land quite regularly and a Borderland Ranger is by no means a bad card, though it is a bit unexciting. Basic Forest is also not the kindest wording.
I'm struggling to imagine situations where the new Liliana is better than Veil outside CoCo decks.
This is the deck I'm planning on playing on the weekend:
3 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of Malice
4 Savage Lands
1 Raging Ravine
Creatures
4 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eternal Witness
1 Soul of Shandalar
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Dismember
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Primal Command
2 Death Cloud
1 Life from the Loam
2 Damnation
1 Kolaghan's Command
Planeswalkers
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
Artifacts
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Fulminator Mage
4 Slaughter Games
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Damnation
2 Night of Soul's Betrayal
3 Leyline of the Void
I used to play the chalice main-discard in the board, but slaughter games is just so much better. Try it <3 So many decks literally scoop on the spot.
I board Chalice out against most of the non-blue fair decks, Chalice gets a lot worse if they have access to decay/kolaghan's. It's almost pre-boarded combo hate that has some utility vs fair decks. When it's bad it's still okay, and when it's good it's *very* good.
Cage is much better than Leyline vs Company, but I like Leyline more overall. Especially for the living end matchup. If company gets really popular might be time to bust out the drown/anger again.
I can't agree with cutting Primal Command, you need to have some lifegain (ideally more than just finks/courser) in the deck somewhere to stabilize vs snap/bolt decks. Its very good against combo, gives you some MD GY hate and is good vs all the fair decks so long as you aren't behind on board. It also gives you outs to silly cards like keranos. Finally, it's an excellent mana sink. I wouldn't play 4 since it is bad if you're really behind, but basically every deck I play has 2 command/1 witness. It gives the deck so much for 3 slots, and it's an auto-win in a topdeck war. It's one of the few cards that never hits the SB.
3 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of Malice
4 Savage Lands
1 Raging Ravine
Creatures
4 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eternal Witness
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Dismember
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Explore
2 Primal Command
1 Death Cloud
2 Damnation
1 Kolaghan's Command
Planeswalkers
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
Artifacts
1 Batterskull
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Slaughter Games
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Damnation
2 Night of Soul's Betrayal
2 Leyline of the Void
Playing Chandra instead of Lingering Souls. I think I like this more, having Chandra means you can play more lands which gives so much more stability.
I'd like to have an extra ravine or two, but I'm not willing to sacrifice black sources/tec edges for it, so probably not happening. I could cut the explores, add a land and two spells, but explore is nice with courser/chandra. If I feel the deck has too much air and needs more actual spells that's probably what I'll try. Something like -3 explore +1 dismember +1 raging ravine +1 durdly lategame card. A second copy of Kolaghan's Command/Death Cloud are definitely considerations.
Goyf over Gurmag:
Pluses:
-Can be cast T2 compared to T4 (this is by far the most important)
-Pressures combo/tron much faster
-Is generally larger than gurmag by T4 [this is a deck with at least walkers, if not more (courser/chalice)]
Minuses:
-T4/5 gurmag can be cast for a single B rather than 1G, making it easier to slam two threats in a single turn
-Goyf can be smaller against GY hate like scooze, though gurmag isn't exactly a fan of scooze either
-goyf can be decayed
To me at least, everything seems pretty minor except for being able to cast in on T2 compared to it rotting in your hand. Pressuring combo/improving your mana efficiency/blocking seems a lot more important than a few quibbles about goyf sometimes not being a 5/6. This is actually a very good deck for making big goyfs, it just isn't as good at capitalizing on having one as jund/abzan.
Anyway, this is what I've come up with so far:
3 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
1 Blood Crypt
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Stirring Wildwood
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Temple of Malice
4 Marsh Flats
Creatures
3 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eternal Witness
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
3 Dismember
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Lingering Souls
2 Primal Command
1 Death Cloud
2 Damnation
Planeswalkers
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Garruk Relentless
Artifacts
1 Batterskull
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Slaughter Games
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Damnation
2 Night of Soul's Betrayal
2 Leyline of the Void
I'm still not 100% sold on chalice in this meta and this deck could probably be refined, but its a start. I quick intro-style video on the deck, but the sound is a bit low and the quality isn't great. If people are interested I might try uploading some games, hopefully with better settings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ7d3cyaVXk
Cloud cost XBBB. You can make X whatever you want, you still have the lands you spent to make BBB. If I have 7 lands, the most I can cloud for is 4, and then I have 3 lands left over.
Why am I even explaining this, this is super obvious.
Being able to cast goyf on T2, compared to not being able to cast gurmag until T4 at least, seems clearly worse.
Your argument about goyf dying to cloud makes no sense, its not like gurmag has any resistance to cloud either.
I can't see a situation where gurmag is better than goyf, outside gurmag being bigger, which is rare since this deck throws cards in the GY at a rapid rate and plays at a minimum walkers, if not artifacts and enchantments as well. The other possibility is if you can't spare a single extra mana on T4/5.
The payoff for playing goyf is you have a card that is castable on T2, compared to rotting in your hand which is massive.
If someone can give me a situation where gurmag is somehow superior to goyf, I'm all ears, but I suspect nothing except what I said above exists.
I don't like ramp all that much in this deck, I'd generally rather just play more lands. Works better with courser and means your mana is open to cast removal. Ramping with Elder is only actually worth it if you have don't miss any land drops, which with 23 seems optimistic. If you count your elders as lands, your deck has 28 "lands" as well. The deck is overloaded on good 3 drops, and ramp doesn't help you cast them any faster (outside utopia sprawl, which has other problems).
I don't like discard all that much either, the grindier the deck the worse discard gets. My decks are typically pretty far on the grindy side.
Neither discard nor ramp works at all well with chalice either.
I went and had a look at the chalice decks from 2 years ago, the nostalgia of going through the twice-archived thread was fun. Hold this space, bad modo chalice brews incoming.
Initial thoughts:
I would not be happy with Kologhan's command picking off a chalice, honestly. Letting them get a mana efficient 2 for 1 is not great. It's not that common though.
Scapeshift is very beatable if you have Slaughter Games, otherwise good luck. Amulet bloom is rough but between fulminator/games/decay/lil it's defs winnable. Obviously if you're not in red it gets much harder. Ditto for Tron, post board you *can* win if you get fulminator in both post-board games.
I would never play Leline of Sanctity in a slow deck like this if I couldn't hard cast it.
I'm on the fence about MB damnation. The 4 colour deck I posted above eats creature decks alive, but without chandra/bolt they might be more necessary.
Sure, obviously my deck is a better Tasigur deck than most list in the thread (more land, slower games, more removal). I'm still saying Tasigur is better than Gurmag in everyone's deck. If you are happy to play a 5/5 for B on turns 3/4 (at best), why are you not playing tarmogoyf. By that point it is both bigger and castable T2 as well. Unless it's a budget thing, which is totally fine. But I really, really can't see Gurmag is being correct in a no-budget build.
3 Forest
3 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Raging Ravine
2 Tectonic Edge
2 Temple of Malice
4 Savage Lands
Creatures
4 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eternal Witness
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Terminate
3 Lingering Souls
2 Primal Command
1 Death Cloud
1 Damnation
Planeswalkers
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Chandra Pyromaster
Artifacts
1 Batterskull
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Slaughter Games
1 Lingering Souls
3 Damnation
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Leyline of the Void
If burn wasn't such a huge slice of the meta right now I think this deck could have a shot, but ever since Atarka's command was printed I don't think expecting to beat them is very realistic without dedicated SB hate, thragtusk/command aren't so good now they have access to up to 8 skullcracks. The rise of GY decks is also a problem. Again, siding in Leyline of the Void is excellent against them, but there just isn't room in the SB for Leyline (Living End/Grave Troll), Sun Droplet (Burn), Fulminator (Tron/Grindy Decks), Slaughter Games (literally any combo) and Ancient Grudge (Affinity). I don't like MD damnation in the deck very much either in the meta right now, but you absolutely need access to them. There are just too many decks at the moment that require specific hate cards to beat for this deck to be good. If I could play against fair decks all day this deck would crush, you walk all over them in the lategame. It's a fun deck but I wouldn't take it to a serious tournament. Sadface Splinter Twin for me these days.
Tasigur is insane, much better than Gurmag. 1 less mana, 1 less power, and then it has an amazing ability tacked on for free? This card is absurd. If you can't kill the other guy's Tasigur/Rhino/Gurmag you're doing it wrong.
Blood Moon obviously isn't the best, but you can beat it. You're not going to care about it unless its t3/4 since you have 6 basics/8 fetches/4 courser, you do end up with basics in play eventually. Sure sometimes you just lose to the T3 Moon, but you do have 4x decay, and some cards like Chandra/Bolt/Skull you can play whilst Blood Mooned. It's not that bad. If there's no Blood Moon in your meta for some reason, drop some basics and play more edges. Tec Edge is great but obviously there's only so many you can play in a deck needing this many colours.
I've been happy with Sidisi, but she's not essential. She is pretty sick with Souls though. You have access to your one copy of Cloud by going Command-Sidisi-Cloud, so if you want it you can get it. Sure it takes a while, but since the deck has no ramp you generally just keep hitting land drops for pretty much the whole game with Courser than Cloud after they've missed some.