Obelisk of Urd or alternatively Hall of Triumph might be some considerations for the deck. I'd prefer to play a higher impact creature than phalanx leader and use the artifacts as pumps instead.
I think Wingsteed Rider should probably just be Fabled Hero for some more explosive wins. That said, you probably want more 4-ofs in your spells, and your creature suite could be a little stronger. My suggestions would be:
Control decks have to be pretty well-tuned to their meta, but some observations I can make are that Jeskai Ascendancy seems pretty bad, and so does magma jet. Jeskai Ascendancy might give you some cute tricks like being able to cast a non-creature spell to untap the elemental tokens that attacked so you could chump, but I think more often than not you'd rather have it just be a spell that can help you gain control of the board with like an Anger of the Gods or a fourth End Hostilities. Magma Jet may have scry, but you'll probably find that Lightning Strike is just better in most cases. It kills Mantis Rider, Fleecemane Lion, Herald of Torment. I think there are enough 3 toughness creatures getting played that the extra damage is just worth it. Magma jet is fine in the sideboard where against mono red or other decks with many low toughness creatures so you can 1-for-1 them and get the advantage of scrying. Jeskai Charm seems a little weak in a deck that won't be able to burn you out too often. If you want to play a control deck, try adding in some more counterspells or removal. Suspension Field and Devouring Light seem like decent removal.
Blind Obedience seems like it could be a good card to use against Naya Blitz. At the very least it should buy you two more turns to dig for a sweeper. Also Riot Control and Divine Deflection seem good too.
You apparently don't even know what strictly better means. It means that there is absolutely no reasonable situation where you would prefer to have the stricly worse card than the strictly better one. In most cases this can only happen when one card either costs less than another with EXACTLY identical effect, or when a card can do everything another card does, plus more, at the same or lower cost.
Its pretty easy to think of examples where Deadbridge Goliath is better.
What if you only have four mana?
What if you need to put +1/+1 counters on something?
What if your deck can't reliably produce GGG?
What if you simply want a 4 drop instead of a 5 drop?
Ignoring the discussion of strictly better, the reason Vorapede sees basically no play is because the 5 drop slot is one of the most competitive in today's standard. Thragtusk is one of the format defining cards, and Wolfir Silverheart has a lot of merit in aggro lists.
Good points, except for Doom Blade > Terror. Terror has the do-not-regenerate clause, making it potentially better vs. creatures with regenerate.
I would up mimic vat to a 3-of and probably play a couple of noxious revivals to get back mimic vats that die or a a discard/removal spell you need. Also, a couple of main-decked black sun's zeniths seems good because your creatures aren't very good. I think I might try running this:
I would cut down to 22 lands as well and run:
4 Groundswell
4 Ponder/Preordain
2 Distortion Strike
As far as sideboard you can run some of these:
Mental Misstep: Helps vs Lightning bolt, grim lavamancer, dismember, etc.
Viridian Corrupter: self explanatory, kills artifacts.
Spell Pierce/Mana Leak: vs control or any deck with heavy removal.
Dismember: Splinter Twin, kills threats and blockers.
Torpor Orb: vs birthing pod and decks with lots of ETB effects.
I was thinking of doing BUG or Bant for a Birthing Pod brew I am working on. Blue gives cool cards like Trinket Mage (Elixir of Immortality or Voltaic Key, anyone?) and Aether Adept. I like being able to flash in creatures like Nighthawk or Viridian Corrupter during combat.
BUG gives some sweet black creatures but Bant gives us the alternate win con of just strapping a sword on a creature and swinging. An interested blue card for these two color combinations in See Beyond to shuffle in a creature you want to Birthing Pod into.
I think fenixmatt is right about Bant though. I could see Venser, the Sojourner good in this two. He can make your creatures unblockable for an alpha strike or reset a birthing pod to use on your opponent's turn.
I want to build a Birthing Pod deck but there's so many options and it's so tough to limit the toolbox to something manageable.
4 Favored Hoplite
2 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
4 Akroan Skyguard
1 Phalanx Leader
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Fabled Hero
4 Gods Willing
4 Feat of Resistance
4 Ordeal of Heliod
2 Ajani's Presence
2 Mortal's Ardor
1 Dauntless Onslaught
Corpsejack Menace + Bioshift
Might be a little too cute, but it could really help to get that last bit of damage in out of nowhere.
Good points, except for Doom Blade > Terror. Terror has the do-not-regenerate clause, making it potentially better vs. creatures with regenerate.
24 Swamps
Creatures - 10
4 Phyrexian Rager
4 Skinrender
2 Massacre Wurm
4 Distress
3 Doom Blade
4 Lashwrithe
4 Geth's Verdict
4 Consume Spirit
2 Black Sun's Zenith
3 Mimic Vat
2 Noxious Revival
Edit: Doomblade is probably better than Go for the throat because of inkmoth nexus and tempered steel.
4 Groundswell
4 Ponder/Preordain
2 Distortion Strike
As far as sideboard you can run some of these:
Mental Misstep: Helps vs Lightning bolt, grim lavamancer, dismember, etc.
Viridian Corrupter: self explanatory, kills artifacts.
Spell Pierce/Mana Leak: vs control or any deck with heavy removal.
Dismember: Splinter Twin, kills threats and blockers.
Torpor Orb: vs birthing pod and decks with lots of ETB effects.
BUG gives some sweet black creatures but Bant gives us the alternate win con of just strapping a sword on a creature and swinging. An interested blue card for these two color combinations in See Beyond to shuffle in a creature you want to Birthing Pod into.
I think fenixmatt is right about Bant though. I could see Venser, the Sojourner good in this two. He can make your creatures unblockable for an alpha strike or reset a birthing pod to use on your opponent's turn.
I want to build a Birthing Pod deck but there's so many options and it's so tough to limit the toolbox to something manageable.