Seeing that you don't run any elementals except for Mulldrifter, I think Ramos, Dragon Engine might be a much better fit for the deck.
If you want to stick to Horde, there are also some elementals that might suit it: Shriekmaw and Cribswap both fit a control deck.Titania, Protector of Argoth and Omnath, Locus of Mana have great synergy with the fetchlands you eventually want to play and create fast clocks on their own.
And finally Maelstrom Wanderer, this may not seem great with all the counters you run, on the other hand you can always counter Wanderer and recast it.
I think Stonecloaker is exactly what you are looking for, especially since you can always pay 2W to get a land if you got nothing else to do with your mana
It has yet to come up more frequently (I haven't had too much time to test lately). There are not many sweepers attached to creatures, especially in GW and I wanted one to tutor it up if needed. Obviously it might not be always exactly what I need (since the opponents get to choose what they keep), but there are often situations where one or more opponents go wide and outpace my board development and/or set up powerful synergies. Cataclysmic Gearhulk can be easily found and balances out the board.
I think that most cards with an "at the beginning of your upkeep" trigger and nothing else are just too slow for the format (unless it's a very powerful effect). I would play Bane of Progress over Molder Slug anytime (provided you don't have too many enchantments yourself
I like Trostani for lifegain as it's easy to find and recur. I also run Titania and Mirrorpool so even Populate can be really good every now and then. I also use True Conviction which rebuys huge chunks of life, helps to close the game out faster and can be found with Academy Rector.
I never had too much of an issue with clones. One answer is Planar Guide as it blinks everything and since the creature it transforms into has to be on the BF before they enter, they have no target and die as 0/0s.
Overall I would say that the deck became a little more focused. Cards with a cmc <4 are now better able to actually provide value on the early turns instead of requiring further investment. I might want to reinclude Hushwing Gryff at some point, if something else doesn't work out. The most notable cut is Craterhoof Behemoth, which is of course incredibly powerful but also really boring to use, plus he is really only useful to end the game when I have enough mana and a sufficient boardstate (opposed to cards like Bruse Tarl and Aurelia which have a good amount of utility before that point).
I also cut Sunforger as I removed more and more targets for it since they always felt clumsy on their own and Sunforger itself often felt a bit inefficient because of the huge mana investment needed to get off a single activation.
Having a turn one mana dork is really powerful, so I was glad to include Green Sun's Zenith along Dryad Arbor, the latter of which I initially thought to be a bit awkward when drawn but this is only the case on the very rare occasions when I have it in the early turns and no other lands to play.
I also finally conceded to adding off color fetches. I had had them unused in my binder and they really do make the deck more efficient.
Overall this is the most fun I ever had playing a deck and can only recommend it to anyone who likes to play creature decks.
I think you're misunderstanding a fundamental game mechanic.
When Grenzo uses his ability, a creature goes into the graveyard. If a creature's power and toughness is */*, then it is zero as the only time it has P/T is while it is on the board. Just as their P/T is 0 in your hand or library. In the 'yard, Nighthowler and Malignus P/T 0, meaning that they will always comes into play no matter what's Grenzo's P/T is.
Other creatures to consider are ones that come into play with +1/+1 counters, like Noosegraf Mob. They'll be 0 in your 'yard, meaning they'll always hit with Grenzo but when they Enter the Battlefield, the P/T is 5/5.
Grenzo is awesome! I already got some new ideas from your list (Charbelcher and Mindmoil).
I think your list is a bit too top heavy and has much too few lands. In my experience, all you really care about when it comes to the cards on TOP of the deck, is hitting a landdrop every single turn because mana is all you need with Grenzo. Heartstone should definitely be included as it works basically as a mana doubler for 3 with Grenzo. While I agree that you lose a lot of fun-value if you restrict yourself to two-or-less-power-creatures, my experience is that in a longer game everything with power 6 or hight can't be cheated in reliably. With your list I would look to cut some of the big "dumb" beaters (like e.g. Carnival Hellsteed and Chaos Imps) and replace them with more lands. I would definitely include Spinerock Knoll and Howltooth Hollow as the deck can reliably activate them and it's pretty good bottom of library manipulation.
My list has an artifact subtheme which lets me abuse Goblin Welder and Kuldotha Forgemaster. Two cards that shine particularly are Clone Shell and Summoner's Egg (which let's you cheat fatties onto the battlefield that got stranded in your hand).
Anyways, I hope this was helpful, check out my list if you like, it's linked in the sig
I don't think I want to add any one drops, but Ranger of Eos seems nice regardless. I will try to find a copy.
Regarding commander 2016, there wasn't anything super exciting for this deck. I could see replacing Craterhoof Behemoth with Stonehoof Chieftain. This definitely makes the deck weaker, but Craterhoof is such an "oops I win" card, that I can very much understand people who don't like playing with or against it.
Another possible answer to Cyclonic Rift might be Brisela, Voice of Nightmares. I imagine that with Captian Sisay it's quite easy to assemble. The only thing that irks me about this is that Gisela, the Broken Blade on her own is not very impressive in Commander. Bruna on the other hand is quite nice. I did a quick count and my deck runs 14 targets, not counting mana dorks.
If you want to stick to Horde, there are also some elementals that might suit it: Shriekmaw and Cribswap both fit a control deck.Titania, Protector of Argoth and Omnath, Locus of Mana have great synergy with the fetchlands you eventually want to play and create fast clocks on their own.
And finally Maelstrom Wanderer, this may not seem great with all the counters you run, on the other hand you can always counter Wanderer and recast it.
I think that most cards with an "at the beginning of your upkeep" trigger and nothing else are just too slow for the format (unless it's a very powerful effect). I would play Bane of Progress over Molder Slug anytime (provided you don't have too many enchantments yourself
Aside from bouncelands I'm not aware of an effect like this in GW. There are two possibilities:
- Use Flickerwisp or Felidar Guardien to flicker lands (you could also use Ruin Ghost but it seems clunky and narrow.
- The other option is to include ways to sac of lands (I use Dust Bowl, Sylvan Safekeeper and Glacial Chasm, which are all highly tutorable and extremely useful) and ways to get them back to the BF again, like Titania, Sun Titan, Tilling Treefolk or Life from the Loam. Or you bury them using Mistveil Plains and some tutor
I like Trostani for lifegain as it's easy to find and recur. I also run Titania and Mirrorpool so even Populate can be really good every now and then. I also use True Conviction which rebuys huge chunks of life, helps to close the game out faster and can be found with Academy Rector.
I never had too much of an issue with clones. One answer is Planar Guide as it blinks everything and since the creature it transforms into has to be on the BF before they enter, they have no target and die as 0/0s.
I hope that answered your questions
3 Hushwing Gryff
3 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
8 Craterhoof Behemoth
3 Sunforger
2 Illusonist's Bracers
4 Wild Ricochet
0 Fortress of the Legion
0 Myriad Landscape
0 Rootbound Crag
0 Clifftop Retreat
6 Aurelia, the Warleader
4 Ogre Battledriver
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
4 Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder
3 Domri Rade
5 Sylvan Reclamation
1 Green Sun's Zenith
0 Dryad Arbor
0 Misty Rainforest
0 Verdant Catacombs
0 Fire-Lit Thicket
Overall I would say that the deck became a little more focused. Cards with a cmc <4 are now better able to actually provide value on the early turns instead of requiring further investment. I might want to reinclude Hushwing Gryff at some point, if something else doesn't work out. The most notable cut is Craterhoof Behemoth, which is of course incredibly powerful but also really boring to use, plus he is really only useful to end the game when I have enough mana and a sufficient boardstate (opposed to cards like Bruse Tarl and Aurelia which have a good amount of utility before that point).
I also cut Sunforger as I removed more and more targets for it since they always felt clumsy on their own and Sunforger itself often felt a bit inefficient because of the huge mana investment needed to get off a single activation.
Having a turn one mana dork is really powerful, so I was glad to include Green Sun's Zenith along Dryad Arbor, the latter of which I initially thought to be a bit awkward when drawn but this is only the case on the very rare occasions when I have it in the early turns and no other lands to play.
I also finally conceded to adding off color fetches. I had had them unused in my binder and they really do make the deck more efficient.
Overall this is the most fun I ever had playing a deck and can only recommend it to anyone who likes to play creature decks.
That's unfortunately not true: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings/magic-rulings-archives/478181-what-is-a-creatures-power-toughness-in-other-zones
I think your list is a bit too top heavy and has much too few lands. In my experience, all you really care about when it comes to the cards on TOP of the deck, is hitting a landdrop every single turn because mana is all you need with Grenzo.
Heartstone should definitely be included as it works basically as a mana doubler for 3 with Grenzo. While I agree that you lose a lot of fun-value if you restrict yourself to two-or-less-power-creatures, my experience is that in a longer game everything with power 6 or hight can't be cheated in reliably. With your list I would look to cut some of the big "dumb" beaters (like e.g. Carnival Hellsteed and Chaos Imps) and replace them with more lands. I would definitely include Spinerock Knoll and Howltooth Hollow as the deck can reliably activate them and it's pretty good bottom of library manipulation.
My list has an artifact subtheme which lets me abuse Goblin Welder and Kuldotha Forgemaster. Two cards that shine particularly are Clone Shell and Summoner's Egg (which let's you cheat fatties onto the battlefield that got stranded in your hand).
Anyways, I hope this was helpful, check out my list if you like, it's linked in the sig
Regarding commander 2016, there wasn't anything super exciting for this deck. I could see replacing Craterhoof Behemoth with Stonehoof Chieftain. This definitely makes the deck weaker, but Craterhoof is such an "oops I win" card, that I can very much understand people who don't like playing with or against it.