@Khalico: Anguished Unmaking seems amazing to me but only in the relevant match-ups (against Goyfs, Karns, Stony silence...); I feel like you have plenty of cheap removal and sweepers already to afford moving it to the board and play something cheaper (for bridge) and/or more relevant in game one (before the artifact hate comes in).
I am analyzing that possibility and may do just that. They are definitely very threatening (almost always the auto-picked card over Tezz when discarded) since they answer everything but manlands, but worth a mainboard slot I am not yet sure of. I'll have to keep analyzing.
@Berk4823 - I have tried Bitterblossom and found it to be a lackluster draw. If it were a 4-of that we could take better advantage of (like Faeries does), then I would be OK with it. I think Lingering Souls does a better job overall for generating tokens (4-for-1 with no lifeloss) than BB. Although, I do like the polymorph idea. Maybe throw an Emrykul into the mix?
@Serj - In regards to speed of the format, maybe I am just playing against the wrong set of decks but with my current list I have absolutely no issues keeping up with T2-3-4 winning decks (I have played against Infect, some red blowout decks, among other variants). In these situations I keep hands that let me get through the rough bits via Path to Exile or Dismember. I have played with acceleration before via mana rocks (but not SSG) and have found them to be underwhelming (I still do, see my results above). Unless going some weird rainbow board or you absolutely can close the game out by T4, I feel it is best to first stabilize with the deck and then overwhelm with one of our many possible win conditions. As it has been discussed, we don't exactly have a "oh, look, I win" button so we need to protect and ensure that we can meet that path consistently. Maybe acceleration works well for you (especially when paired with Chalice), but I have had negative results. Then again, I guess I need to try playing purposely on the draw and see if there is a true weakness there that needs to be covered (maybe 50% of my games are on the draw at most).
There were four rounds with the amount of people we had get together. My matches were:
1- Goblins
2- Merfolk
3- 8Rack
4- Jund
I ended up going 4-0 for Matches (a 8-2 record overall).
Match 1 vs Goblins:
Game 1: I held on as best I could against his low-curve pressure, eventually stabilizing where I was only taking 1-2 a turn. I managed a top deck bridge which later got me into thoper combo for the win.
Game 2: He sided in a bit of artifact hate, which is expected. I brought in droplet, and I forget what else, taking out my lilianas (just too slow against his curve). Eventually, a repeat of game one happened and I stalled until Tezz ult to win.
2-0
Match 2 vs Merfolk
Game 1: He got some islandwalking beats on me with a mutavault and a fish. Eventually, I drew some removal and caught up. Got down two one life for quite some time, keeping open enough mana to survive his beats with thopter sword combo. Drew a bridge and won from there.
Game 2: He sided in counters. I brought in Ashiok, Droplet and Needle. He got stuck on two mutavault and one island, so I was suffering the beats. I dropped a turn three Ashiok and went to town. He had to spreading seas one of his vaults to get two islands to start into lords, but by that time Ashiok was sitting at nine loyalty. We traded a bit back and forth. The game got exceptionally close when I was stuck on one black for a damnation as he kept seas-ing my lands. I drew into chapel and stablized. After that he dropped more and I had Ashiok+Tezz on the board. He took out Ashiok too late, I got the thopter sword combo and put myself out of range of his alpha strike by saccing and ulting Tezz for 14. Game was mine a few turns later.
2-0
Match 3 vs 8Rack
Game 1: I won the dice roll and dropped EE on one. Basically that shut his plan down and I won with a Tezz ult not too far away.
Game 2: Sided in Droplet, can't remember what else. He sided out thoughtseizes. I remember keeping a 6 land hand with lingering souls thinking I could force his discard to be dead. This game he managed to outrace my lifegain with five total racks. Didn't get any cards to keep him at bay and his discard was too strong.
Game 3: Ran it back. Repeat of game one. EE on one shut him down and I beat him down with 5/5s from Tezz to avoid bridge lock.
2-1
Match 4 vs Jund
Game 1: Super grindy. He basically card advantaged me to victory.
Game 2: I mulligan aggressively and get ruins with a couple paths. Keeping his early game aggro at bay, I managed to play catch up and win.
Game 3: Down to the wire in this game as he raced me to within bolt range but couldn't land a bolt as I managed to get three with Ashiok. I kept stablizing with the combo and eventually grinded to victory. Finished the game at one life. Wow!
2-1
Overall, the deck is very powerful. Lessons learned:
-Remember to sideboard based on if on the play or draw. This has been very important as I was swapping cards between games.
-The scullers did a fairly good job at both giving me information and getting rid of a key card. During 8rack, a sculler took his bridge and that was basically his only out. I'm not sold on them, but they're everything we want: an artifact, disruption, information, and a bit of pressure in some cases. might go down to two.
-Anguished Unmaking: I only got to cast this once, and it was an over-costed Terminate. However, the extra removal without giving my opponent a benefit is very nice and I can see the exile becoming important. I used them in 8rack well, too. Not quite sure what to make of the card overall.
-Lingering Souls: I find this card to be great card advantage, as it is an alternative way to attack from, but it does suffer from sweepers that take out tokens. I am thinking of changing these to something else but I am not sure what just yet. Maybe a couple Eldrazi instead.
-I did not miss not having a Glimmervoid or Mox Opal; the Talismans did a fine job of providing me outside mana and an artifact without any drawback I couldn't afford. I am wondering just how important that ramp truly is, though, since a T3 Tezz doesn't really afford me anything except maybe a 5/5 or a dig, and I can typically spot removal or maybe use tendrils to keep ahead anyway. Might replace the talismans all together with something else as my curve is super low and I don't have any mana dumps.
-Might have 1 too many land.
Very much enjoyed playing the deck. Will be revisiting it again in our next play sessions.
I would replace the Darksteel Ingots and Sphere of the Suns with Talismans (quicker than ingot, still useable late game). I would drop Ashiok to at least the sideboard. I would put the welding jars in the sideboard, most decks don't have a lot of artifact destruction till game 2. I would also replace the Inkmoth with another Darksteel Citadel. Bring in your second Engineered Explosives to the maindeck. Maybe bring in some discard or spell snares to replace the other cards. I would also go up to 8 Fetch lands.
I can swap out the Ingots and the Spheres for Talismans. I was thinking that another indestructible target for Tezz and something that Fulminator Mage cannot shut off easily would be nice in the Ingot but you might be right. Edits made. I followed most of your other advice but I did not add any discard or spell snares as I am on a chalice alternative plan, too, and opted for another suggestion below.. I originally had eight fetches but I found I was pinging myself a lot then and also that I had a lot more land than I wanted to see.
What Joehambltn said as well as would not play tasigur, Ashiok or doomblade. Instead make sure you have 4 citadels and then get some thoughtseizes if you do not play chalice. I would find room for a second liliana. As crazy as it sounds but I wouldn't play lingering souls either. I would prefer to play 2 mox opals instead. You make enough 1/1 flyers with the foundry/sword. Bridge and damnation to keep them at bay. Also play your spellskite mainboard. It is a great catch-all protector.
Ashiok is good in the sideboard but he can be a horrible card against a ton of decks game 1 and you'll be sad you wasted a draw and 3 mana on a do nothing card.
I'm straight up not hot on welding jar.
I'm also wondering why you are not playing thirst for knowledge. This card feels almost unfair in our deck.
I agree with Doom Blade and Tasigur; they have been removed. I only have one Mox Opal to my name so that plan isn't really possible. Foundry/Sword is great until it gets shut down with something like Stony Silence, so I was thinking of an alternative way to tackle the issue of relying too heavily on one win condition.
-1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang, -1 Doom Blade --> +2 Thirst for Knowledge in Mainboard
+1 Thirst for Knowledge in Mainboard
-1 Inkmoth Nexus --> +1 Darksteel Citadel
-2 Sphere of the Suns --> +2 Talisman of Dominance
-2 Darksteel Ingot --> +2 Talisman of Progress
Other Sideboard Options:
OTHER
Hurkyl's Recall
Echoing Truth
Discard Spells (Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, etc)
Another Spellskite
Zealous Persecution
How does that look compared to the previous draft?
I really have been thinking about how well Zealous Persecution would do in this type of setup, since the primary method of winning is Thopters over Bridge... Thoughts?
Edit: Forgot I already had a Spellskite in the mainboard...
Does anyone have any thoughts? Is it too slow? Should I be changing sideboard/mainboard stuff?
Needing alternative Win Cons is necessary with this deck, so I kept in things like Tasigur, Wurmcoil, and Ashiok - but those could likely be played with. Same with Lingering Souls; I'm not sure if it is a main deck card, or sideboard.
Some good discussion would be greatly appreciated!
I did not think about Dispatch! Maybe I can look into shifting things around for that...
Lingering Souls I feel is good. I haven't wanted to bump or reduce it, but I feel like it is one of the few cards that would be on the chopping block to switch out for something else. How did you use it? Why do you feel it is underrated?
What else did you throw in, in your White builds? I'm very curious now.
Again, I ask for any critique on my list.
P.S. - Regarding Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, I have had great success with this card and most of my opponents absolutely hate having it on the table. As mentioned, it does not immediately affect the board state directly, but the resources it denies the opponent should be viewed differently; those are three cards that we would have otherwise had to use discard, removal, or conterspells on to control. Essentially, Ashiok is a 3-for-1 on the first turn. Only downside is its against unknown information, digging the opponent deeper. But man does it feel good to get a CoCo, Chord, and an Elvish Archdruid... Tasty!
SIDEBOARD
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Torpor Orb
1 Spellskite
3 Negate
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Sun Droplet
OTHER SIDEBOARD OPTIONS
Hurkyl's Recall
Echoing Truth
Discard Spells (Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, etc)
I had done a more white-heavy version with Bitterblossom and some other cards in there prior to this but have since edited it as extremely aggressive aggro was beating me to a pulp.
Thoughts behind this:
-I don't want to get shut down by Stony Silence and other hate-related cards so easily, so I have opted for a few win conditions across the board.
-While lacking in the extreme speed of dropping mox opals and talismans, this approach gives me easier access to my colors and provides two extra indestructible targets for Tezz's -1
-I have not had much issue with land. In fact, I find I get a little too many and may end up cutting one more.
-Sideboard is aimed at helping against combo (Canonist), aggro (Sun Droplet), more removal, and some negates for catch-all situations where it may be necessary. Chalice is there because it's awesome.
My meta is filled with all kinds of random things. We have Storm, Restore Balance, Merfolk, some weird Izzet Delver burn deck, Robots, BG Rock, Mono U Tron, Mono G Elves, 8Rack, Living End, and a few other brews. It's basically impossible to really have a well-suited deck for what you may come across.
I'm open to discussions and suggestions as I am trying to improve the deck before going to a tournement on the 17th and 24th. Thoughts/ideas are greatly welcomed.
I am analyzing that possibility and may do just that. They are definitely very threatening (almost always the auto-picked card over Tezz when discarded) since they answer everything but manlands, but worth a mainboard slot I am not yet sure of. I'll have to keep analyzing.
@Berk4823 - I have tried Bitterblossom and found it to be a lackluster draw. If it were a 4-of that we could take better advantage of (like Faeries does), then I would be OK with it. I think Lingering Souls does a better job overall for generating tokens (4-for-1 with no lifeloss) than BB. Although, I do like the polymorph idea. Maybe throw an Emrykul into the mix?
@Serj - In regards to speed of the format, maybe I am just playing against the wrong set of decks but with my current list I have absolutely no issues keeping up with T2-3-4 winning decks (I have played against Infect, some red blowout decks, among other variants). In these situations I keep hands that let me get through the rough bits via Path to Exile or Dismember. I have played with acceleration before via mana rocks (but not SSG) and have found them to be underwhelming (I still do, see my results above). Unless going some weird rainbow board or you absolutely can close the game out by T4, I feel it is best to first stabilize with the deck and then overwhelm with one of our many possible win conditions. As it has been discussed, we don't exactly have a "oh, look, I win" button so we need to protect and ensure that we can meet that path consistently. Maybe acceleration works well for you (especially when paired with Chalice), but I have had negative results. Then again, I guess I need to try playing purposely on the draw and see if there is a true weakness there that needs to be covered (maybe 50% of my games are on the draw at most).
Yesterday, we had a mini-FNM with a bunch of us getting together (our LGS closed almost eight months ago now so we just play group).
I ran my list I posted a few pages ago:
2 Spellskite
3 Tidehollow Sculler
ARTIFACTS
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Talisman of Progress
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Talisman of Dominance
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
1 Relic of Progenitus
PLANESWALKERS
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Liliana of the Veil
SPELLS
1 Dismember
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Path to Exile
2 Damnation
2 Anguished Unmaking
1 Academy Ruins
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darksteel Citadel
3 Flooded Strand
2 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Plains
3 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Watery Grave
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Welding Jar
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Torpor Orb
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Sun Droplet
2 Lingering Souls
1 Anguished Unmaking
There were four rounds with the amount of people we had get together. My matches were:
1- Goblins
2- Merfolk
3- 8Rack
4- Jund
I ended up going 4-0 for Matches (a 8-2 record overall).
Match 1 vs Goblins:
Game 1: I held on as best I could against his low-curve pressure, eventually stabilizing where I was only taking 1-2 a turn. I managed a top deck bridge which later got me into thoper combo for the win.
Game 2: He sided in a bit of artifact hate, which is expected. I brought in droplet, and I forget what else, taking out my lilianas (just too slow against his curve). Eventually, a repeat of game one happened and I stalled until Tezz ult to win.
2-0
Match 2 vs Merfolk
Game 1: He got some islandwalking beats on me with a mutavault and a fish. Eventually, I drew some removal and caught up. Got down two one life for quite some time, keeping open enough mana to survive his beats with thopter sword combo. Drew a bridge and won from there.
Game 2: He sided in counters. I brought in Ashiok, Droplet and Needle. He got stuck on two mutavault and one island, so I was suffering the beats. I dropped a turn three Ashiok and went to town. He had to spreading seas one of his vaults to get two islands to start into lords, but by that time Ashiok was sitting at nine loyalty. We traded a bit back and forth. The game got exceptionally close when I was stuck on one black for a damnation as he kept seas-ing my lands. I drew into chapel and stablized. After that he dropped more and I had Ashiok+Tezz on the board. He took out Ashiok too late, I got the thopter sword combo and put myself out of range of his alpha strike by saccing and ulting Tezz for 14. Game was mine a few turns later.
2-0
Match 3 vs 8Rack
Game 1: I won the dice roll and dropped EE on one. Basically that shut his plan down and I won with a Tezz ult not too far away.
Game 2: Sided in Droplet, can't remember what else. He sided out thoughtseizes. I remember keeping a 6 land hand with lingering souls thinking I could force his discard to be dead. This game he managed to outrace my lifegain with five total racks. Didn't get any cards to keep him at bay and his discard was too strong.
Game 3: Ran it back. Repeat of game one. EE on one shut him down and I beat him down with 5/5s from Tezz to avoid bridge lock.
2-1
Match 4 vs Jund
Game 1: Super grindy. He basically card advantaged me to victory.
Game 2: I mulligan aggressively and get ruins with a couple paths. Keeping his early game aggro at bay, I managed to play catch up and win.
Game 3: Down to the wire in this game as he raced me to within bolt range but couldn't land a bolt as I managed to get three with Ashiok. I kept stablizing with the combo and eventually grinded to victory. Finished the game at one life. Wow!
2-1
Overall, the deck is very powerful. Lessons learned:
-Remember to sideboard based on if on the play or draw. This has been very important as I was swapping cards between games.
-The scullers did a fairly good job at both giving me information and getting rid of a key card. During 8rack, a sculler took his bridge and that was basically his only out. I'm not sold on them, but they're everything we want: an artifact, disruption, information, and a bit of pressure in some cases. might go down to two.
-Anguished Unmaking: I only got to cast this once, and it was an over-costed Terminate. However, the extra removal without giving my opponent a benefit is very nice and I can see the exile becoming important. I used them in 8rack well, too. Not quite sure what to make of the card overall.
-Lingering Souls: I find this card to be great card advantage, as it is an alternative way to attack from, but it does suffer from sweepers that take out tokens. I am thinking of changing these to something else but I am not sure what just yet. Maybe a couple Eldrazi instead.
-I did not miss not having a Glimmervoid or Mox Opal; the Talismans did a fine job of providing me outside mana and an artifact without any drawback I couldn't afford. I am wondering just how important that ramp truly is, though, since a T3 Tezz doesn't really afford me anything except maybe a 5/5 or a dig, and I can typically spot removal or maybe use tendrils to keep ahead anyway. Might replace the talismans all together with something else as my curve is super low and I don't have any mana dumps.
-Might have 1 too many land.
Very much enjoyed playing the deck. Will be revisiting it again in our next play sessions.
As always, am open to suggestions.
I can swap out the Ingots and the Spheres for Talismans. I was thinking that another indestructible target for Tezz and something that Fulminator Mage cannot shut off easily would be nice in the Ingot but you might be right. Edits made. I followed most of your other advice but I did not add any discard or spell snares as I am on a chalice alternative plan, too, and opted for another suggestion below.. I originally had eight fetches but I found I was pinging myself a lot then and also that I had a lot more land than I wanted to see.
I agree with Doom Blade and Tasigur; they have been removed. I only have one Mox Opal to my name so that plan isn't really possible. Foundry/Sword is great until it gets shut down with something like Stony Silence, so I was thinking of an alternative way to tackle the issue of relying too heavily on one win condition.
Thirst was added.
New version of the deck:
2 Spellskite
3 Tidehollow Sculler
ARTIFACTS
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Talisman of Progress
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Talisman of Dominance
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
1 Relic of Progenitus
PLANESWALKERS
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2 Liliana of the Veil
SPELLS
1 Dismember
3 Thirst for Knowledge
3 Path to Exile
2 Damnation
2 Anguished Unmaking
1 Academy Ruins
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darksteel Citadel
3 Flooded Strand
2 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
1 Plains
3 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Watery Grave
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
2 Welding Jar
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Torpor Orb
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Sun Droplet
2 Lingering Souls
1 Anguished Unmaking
Changes:
2 Welding Jar --> Sideboard
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver --> Sideboard
1 Engineered Explosives --> Mainboard
1 Spellskite --> Mainboard
-3 Negate from Sideboard
2 Lingering Souls --> Sideboard
1 Relic of Progenitus --> Mainboard
+1 Anguished Unmaking to Sideboard
-1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang, -1 Doom Blade --> +2 Thirst for Knowledge in Mainboard
+1 Thirst for Knowledge in Mainboard
-1 Inkmoth Nexus --> +1 Darksteel Citadel
-2 Sphere of the Suns --> +2 Talisman of Dominance
-2 Darksteel Ingot --> +2 Talisman of Progress
Other Sideboard Options:
OTHER
Hurkyl's Recall
Echoing Truth
Discard Spells (Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, etc)
Another Spellskite
Zealous Persecution
How does that look compared to the previous draft?
I really have been thinking about how well Zealous Persecution would do in this type of setup, since the primary method of winning is Thopters over Bridge... Thoughts?
Edit: Forgot I already had a Spellskite in the mainboard...
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Tidehollow Sculler
ARTIFACTS
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Darksteel Ingot
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Sphere of the Suns
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
2 Welding Jar
PLANESWALKERS
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
SPELLS
1 Dismember
1 Doom Blade
3 Path to Exile
2 Damnation
2 Lingering Souls
2 Anguished Unmaking
1 Academy Ruins
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Darksteel Citadel
3 Flooded Strand
2 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Island
1 Plains
3 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Watery Grave
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Torpor Orb
1 Spellskite
3 Negate
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Sun Droplet
Does anyone have any thoughts? Is it too slow? Should I be changing sideboard/mainboard stuff?
Needing alternative Win Cons is necessary with this deck, so I kept in things like Tasigur, Wurmcoil, and Ashiok - but those could likely be played with. Same with Lingering Souls; I'm not sure if it is a main deck card, or sideboard.
Some good discussion would be greatly appreciated!
I did not think about Dispatch! Maybe I can look into shifting things around for that...
Lingering Souls I feel is good. I haven't wanted to bump or reduce it, but I feel like it is one of the few cards that would be on the chopping block to switch out for something else. How did you use it? Why do you feel it is underrated?
What else did you throw in, in your White builds? I'm very curious now.
Again, I ask for any critique on my list.
P.S. - Regarding Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, I have had great success with this card and most of my opponents absolutely hate having it on the table. As mentioned, it does not immediately affect the board state directly, but the resources it denies the opponent should be viewed differently; those are three cards that we would have otherwise had to use discard, removal, or conterspells on to control. Essentially, Ashiok is a 3-for-1 on the first turn. Only downside is its against unknown information, digging the opponent deeper. But man does it feel good to get a CoCo, Chord, and an Elvish Archdruid... Tasty!
I started building with White, and this is just a second draft of what I've come up with:
CREATURES
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Tidehollow Sculler
ARTIFACTS
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Darksteel Ingot
1 Engineered Explosives
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Sphere of the Suns
2 Sword of the Meek
3 Thopter Foundry
2 Welding Jar
PLANESWALKERS
4 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
LANDS
1 Academy Ruins
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Darksteel Citadel
3 Flooded Strand
2 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Island
1 Plains
3 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Watery Grave
1 Isolated Chapel
SPELLS
1 Dismember
1 Doom Blade
3 Path to Exile
2 Damnation
2 Lingering Souls
2 Anguished Unmaking
SIDEBOARD
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Torpor Orb
1 Spellskite
3 Negate
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Sun Droplet
OTHER SIDEBOARD OPTIONS
Hurkyl's Recall
Echoing Truth
Discard Spells (Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, etc)
I had done a more white-heavy version with Bitterblossom and some other cards in there prior to this but have since edited it as extremely aggressive aggro was beating me to a pulp.
Thoughts behind this:
-I don't want to get shut down by Stony Silence and other hate-related cards so easily, so I have opted for a few win conditions across the board.
-While lacking in the extreme speed of dropping mox opals and talismans, this approach gives me easier access to my colors and provides two extra indestructible targets for Tezz's -1
-I have not had much issue with land. In fact, I find I get a little too many and may end up cutting one more.
-Sideboard is aimed at helping against combo (Canonist), aggro (Sun Droplet), more removal, and some negates for catch-all situations where it may be necessary. Chalice is there because it's awesome.
My meta is filled with all kinds of random things. We have Storm, Restore Balance, Merfolk, some weird Izzet Delver burn deck, Robots, BG Rock, Mono U Tron, Mono G Elves, 8Rack, Living End, and a few other brews. It's basically impossible to really have a well-suited deck for what you may come across.
I'm open to discussions and suggestions as I am trying to improve the deck before going to a tournement on the 17th and 24th. Thoughts/ideas are greatly welcomed.