I ran flamerush for a while but it was always something "more" and not a good card by itself. It heavily depends on what you already have but for sure it's better than the demon.
Exactly how I felt about flamerush. It sounds cool but I kind of feel like I'd be better off just adding another clone. Flamerush has too many conditions: 1) needs other creatures, 2) needs other creatures attacking, 3) can only clone your guys, 4) needs a sac effect for death triggers, 5) does not do attack triggers, etc. I think the question you have to ask yourself is will I really get more value out of this than just adding Phantasmal Image.
I don't particalurly love the demon either though. The big body is nice and its a strong ETB but I don't like forced sacrifice on my turn and it's probably not worth that.
-Skullclamp: no need to run blossom (that is good only on turn 2-3) to have it work because they are bad since the creatures they make don't come back. There are few exeptions though: Reef worm and chasm skulker that are beaters and have sinergies. Clamp wins games on her own simply because you draw into mana, into creatures/solutions and tutors.
Never thought it was bad, I've abused it way too much over my magic playing time to ever think that. My initial reaction was just unimpressed and I thought I could use the slot better with a mana rock to get into my threats faster. It's not far outside of my list though, maybe if some more playtesting shows someone not holding up their weight I'll replace them with it and give it another shot.
-Altars: they have to be in. In 99 cards I sometimes struggle with 10 (+4 exploit creatures -sidisi, faithful, aven, profaner- now that are good but not THAT good talking about sac effects): 2 altars, flash carver, viscera seer, grim-grin, goblin bombardment, diamond valley/miren, phyrexian tower, high market. And the thing someone said "they aren't creatures" it's a point of strenght to me. Creatures can come back BUT not if they are the enablers. Sac effects are the rarest type of cards in the deck and the real weak spot. I used to run before exploit with attrition and blasting station but they needed mana to activate and i was never happy to see them. One of the reasons sneak attack is so good here it's because cheating creaures in play for a Red is the best way to play like a green-based deck without the card disadvantage they usually create and have.
My problem here is two fold:
1) I really don't like sac'ing on my turn unless I have to or I'm going to get serious value out of it that makes it worthwhile. That's why I picked one mana altar and not two.
2) The first free sac effect you get is amazing, but the returns diminish rapidly for the second. You really only need one in play at a time, sometimes a second one adds more value but a lot of times it's unnecessary at that point. So I made some compromises just like the list at this post did, pick the best. I run Phyrexian Altar, High Market, Phyrexian Tower, Carrion Feeder, Falkenrath Aristocrat, and Grim-Grim, Corpse Born as my on demand free sac effects. In addition I have a number of triggered sac effects like the two exploit guys, Disciple of Bolas, Eldrazi Monument, etc. Those are great but can't be used for protection or regular ETB retriggering. If I had a Diamond Valley I would probably find a way to get it in. Miren, the Moaning Well I don't own either but I'm not a huge fan of it which is why I haven't. I get the life gain is great in a pinch but at 4 mana to sac its not really a regular use thing. I feel like personally I'd work in more card draw before sac effects, I feel comfortable with what I have there.
-Entomb: simply because you run living death doesn't mean it always get value since you struggle a lot to kill your opponent's creatures... just to see them come back? How about grave betrayal+ random sweeper? Aren't they more functional?
We're not running it for Living Death, we're running it for Anger. I'm just pointing out that it often proves pretty versatile.
-Thalakos deciever: it's good, very good. But Marchesa just doesn't care about politics since she attacks what she has to. This card draws A LOT of hate so, unless you wanna deal with 3 opponents on turn 4/5... just avoid that card.
Agree. And since it doesn't do anything on ETB and probably has to sit there for a turn, definitely not in love with it. I was just pointing out that if you are considering Goblin Grenadiers I feel like this card is an upgrade over that. But I don't feel a strong need to run either.
-Undercurrents: another way to get value from poor creatures simply with some drawing. CC5 is a lot but it's very useful in control tables where you have to slow your play, plus, having a opponent discarding some cards each turn is quite a thing and come handy especially if it's a control deck with removals, sweepers, countermagic...
I feel like you must play a lot more 1v1 then me. General countermagic isn't really something I encounter too often. Countermagic to protect/stop a combo win sure but regular use? Not really. And as for removal and sweepers, I have sac effects for StP like stuff and a general who naturally protects my guys for sweepers. Actually much more common in my games is graveyard shenanigans so its at least as likely that a given player will abuse the opportunity to discard a card of their choice then be upset about it. Idk its not bad but I don't think its better than a lot of other stuff I could be running. The number one to me is Consecrated Sphinx, I'm not running that either and I think I would run that way before undercurrents.
If you build this deck with a tutorable creature that does one thing (access to creatures in the grave for example with golgari thug) and a permanent that does the same (phyrexian reclamation), you'll have a very good list. Enchantments are the best kind of permanents in this format since 3 colors out of 5 can't deal with them (black, red, blue) and the other 2 have very few answers to them (krosan grip, aura shards, disenchant and stuff); artifacts, on the other hand, are heavily hated by red too (vandalblast, shatterstorm, shattering spree...) so less reliable. Enchantments are the way when possible and having dire undercurrents in the deck in addition to river kelpie/baleful strix/solemn simulacrum/skullclamp is the best thing possible.
That's a fair point on the enchantments. As for the tutorable creature effect, that's pretty much exactly what this list does. There was a lot of effort put in to find utility guys with specific effects that are tutorable on demand in a number of different ways. Honestly I think recursion on ETB is really the only major utility category that was missed. But honestly, my graveyard usually isn't that full and I kind of feel like the bit of recursion we have (plus the Volrath's Stronghold I added to mine) is enough.
No sides of the bed, just saying that your view of the deck can be expanded: if you're not up to it feel free to keep losing when you meet me in a mirror match on cockatrice simply because the cards you run are worse and maybe even your level of play.
Come on man, there's no need for this kind of aggressiveness. This is a friendly place, we're all here to discuss a deck we all enjoy playing and make it better. You have some good points but comments like this really undermine them. I'm willing to bet that of the people following this post a lot read just that and stopped because they assumed this was another hostile post. Just chill out, add your thoughts and let people discuss.
I'm not sure how I feel about Goblin Grenadiers, you'll have to tell us how he does. Personally I like venser. But if you want to cut him I'd question whether Goblin Grenadiers is an upgrade over Thalakos Deceiver. Yes, he hits a creature and a land but only if you can find a way to get him through unblocked, either via politics or an opponent without blockers at the wrong time. Deceiver on the other hand misses lands but can always get through unblocked and steals the creature permanently.
EDIT: Deceiver is also a non-human wizard, all the fun of wizardry without the drawback of no mikaeus protection.
Tough call. I really like grimgrin cause he's big, he's got a free sac for counters ability, and he can destroy things for counters so my gut instinct is to lean towards him. Also when it comes to targetted removal I place a high premium on unconditional removal since it always seems like those situations crop up where even though you can remove something, you can't hit the things you need to destroy. Still I guess it partially depends how much other removal you have and how many issues with nonblack creatures you have since grimgrin's removal aspect requires more setup.
steady card drawing is what makes undercurrents a great card since you draw cards simply by sac a random blue guy with no real effect on the board and get value from him. Azami has the cost and the fact that you have to swing each turn: why would you stay open? The only problem you might have is terminus but with an altar/bombardment/seer you can easily play around it, same thing with cyclonic rift.
Why not swinging? You get value from dmg (or, to be honest, to swinging guys you can always sac before dmg if the blocks are a problem) so go for it...
Because I don't want to die? I'm not thinking about my creatures. I'm thinking about the Omnath, Locus of Mana guy who top decks a Doubling Cube and swings for 30. I'm thinking about the guy who end steps Empty the Pits. I'm thinking about the guy who drops a Blightsteel Colossus and slaps a Lightning Greaves on him. Or I'm thinking about the white guy who responds to my attack with Condemn, Comeuppance or any number of other combat tricks that leave all my guys suddenly wide open for every opponent's turn and lets a Damnation reset my board. Unless I am killing people, I see no reason to overextend. It will only hurt me.
The opinion was that it was underwhelming. I disagreed at first and put it in my own build but after a few rounds and testing I came to the same conclusion. We actually don't have very many token generators because they are so-so with marchesa. Chasm Skulker is crazy value but other than that... We also don't even have that many things that just die on equip. And probably the real kicker, it's actually not ideal to be sac'ing things on your turn. They come back at end of turn without a counter leaving them wide-open to all forms of creature removal during every opponents turn, exactly what marchesa normally prevents. Every non-creature better have serious value and the truth is Skullclamp is probably better served with another form of card draw. It's not bad, its just underwhelming. I was surprised too but there it is.
I have almost zero interest in this card. This is exactly the kind of card that sounds great on paper but gets cut pretty quick after testing. 1) It's expensive, 2) it has no immediate impact on the game, 3) it does nothing by itself, 4) even if you get things moving in the way it wants it may not necessarily do anything since only the blue creature part is important to us, targetted discard is just not a priority. River Kelpie and Grim Haruspex are 1000x better than this card. I would play Consecrated Sphinx over this any day of the week despite having no real synergy with marchesa other than being a good creature to protect that draws a ton of cards.
Horrible is a stretch. This card is almost never dead to me, even if I already have Anger. I would also say that Volrath's Stronghold is much better than reclamation or thug since it takes up a land slot. Thug isn't bad but I just don't personally feel I need recursion bad enough for him. There's also Living Death and Feldon of the Third Path in that list and I can tell you a surprise Gray Merchant of Asphodel at instant speed to be pulled back is never unwelcome. It's not the best card but it does enough work that I have no intention of cutting it.
Altars (plural)
Again each noncreature spot is a battle. Phyrexian Altar is a powerhouse but multiple? Ashnod's Altar is fine, I can definitely see value but I just don't want to give up a creature or another mana rock I can count on without needing guys on the battlefield. But it's certainly solid if you feel you can find room.
The others don't really apply to this list, clearly there is no Fervor and Sage of Fables is very definitely in.
Speaking of card draw, I've been running with Azami, Lady of Scrolls for a bit and I have to say she's been a real champ. She can obviously replace herself with a card immediately but in addition it can really net a lot of cards. I don't know about you guys but once I have my counter I usually hold back guys without ETBs, especially marchesa, until I can start to swing for lethal or near lethal. Before that I don't see a strong need to expose my guys to unnecessarily counter loss, I don't want to leave myself open, and I don't really want to lower my opponents' life totals below mine until I am ready. Azami allows me to play like that and turn all those guys into cards at the end of the round, in addition to allowing me to tap any wizards that marchesa brought back into play for whatever reason. Honestly she probably nets me at least as many cards as Mulldrifter on a standard play, if I'm sneak attack her and others into play its even more ridiculous.
I feel like you guys have discussed her before and there was probably a good reason she's not in the build but I just wanted to add my two cents. Running out of cards has definitely been a problem for me with this deck so adding a good wizard card advantage machine has been pretty valuable.
Personally, I would cut Ashnod's Altar for Falkenrath Aristocrat. Ashnod's is fine but the reality is this deck runs into colored mana problems way more than general mana problems. Any time you're running a non-creature it better really count. Ashnod's is fine but it does nothing without other creatures and even once you've met that criteria it's not guaranteed that you can use it.
Aristocrat is honestly a super secret all-star. It's the tech you didn't know you needed but once you try it you wonder how you lived without him. 4 mana - check. Natural haste - awesome. 4 power on a flyer - amazingly effective deterrent. And honestly quite possibly the best sac outlet we have available. The human caveat is what makes him deceptive, you think its a drawback but in reality its a bonus. What we really have is 4 power on a hasty flyer with a sac outlet that can protect himself without marchesa, the fact that he gets counters for protecting marchesa is icing on the cake.
I would also add that I really don't like Ingot Chewer for the reasons you said. In my experience when someone shoots a T1 Sol Ring with a chewer it actually ends up costing both of them the game. Yes, the person with the sol ring goes from ahead to behind but what people forget is so do you. You've now cost yourself a card, a creature and most likely a key early turn to set one opponent out of 3/4 behind. Basically, it usually seems to me that both players end up playing from behind. Evoke is also pretty bad for Marchesa, we don't have a whole lot of recursion and we don't keep the dude, and chewer's non-evoke cost is really really underwhelming.
I don't mind Torch Fiend, he seems alright. And if Torpor Orb is a problem in your meta than that makes total sense. Personally though I think I would add Manic Vandals over him if I wanted more general artifact destruction since I get to shoot an artifact immediately on ETB. That combining marchesa with him seems more like a bonus than a necessity.
How about Cabal Coffers? Yes it is very clearly disgusting with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. But without that card in play can you even count it as a land drop? Lets stretch a bit here and say fetches are swamps since they can get them, including those there are 10 swamps in the entire deck. You need at least 3 in play to even count the coffers as a land. There is only one card in the entire deck that can tutor them, Tolaria West. Maybe I'm wrong but it just seems like out of the times you draw coffers that odds that you'll also have urborg or you'll have enough swamps to matter AND no one will have a Strip Mine, Wasteland, Ghost Quarter, Tectonic Edge or any of the other shoe-in lands people put in for exactly this reason is really small. Not to mention the fact that you really want red mana and you probably are not using all your fetches on swamps.
I feel like a piece of artifact ramp, an Ancient Tomb, a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or a normal land would all be better uses of that spot. Also if you want to abuse Urborg, Crypt Ghast seems like a much better way to do so. It's a 4 mana 2/2 creature (very tutorable), it's just as degenerate with urborg out, you can keep making your colored mana and get extra black too, and it still works well in low swamp count situations since doesn't require a minimum amount of swamps to work. It also can provide some handy emergency lifegain with extort which can definitely be clutch sometimes. I can't recommend cutting coffers for ghast though since you only have 35 lands as it is so you'd have to find something else.
I just feel like given the deck numbers counting coffers as a land is wishful thinking and you'd be better off with a more reliable source of colored mana or ramp.
So I have to ask, how are you getting counters on things? You obviously have plenty of sacrifice effects and very strong ETB effects so I can see how cycling nearly any creature in the deck would quickly become a serious problem for any opponent. But it seems like there's really only a couple ways to get counters on creatures outside of Marchesa herself and the few all-stars who can take care of their own counters: Unspeakable Symbol, Sage of Fables and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. If you include haste effects (since they allow you to dethrone right away) then you can add a few more: Sneak Attack, Anger, Flamekin Village, Urabrask, the Hidden and Puppeteer's Clique (sort of).
That's 7 total + 1 with a more specific use case. In 99 cards with surprisingly little tutor considering you are running black is that enough to reliably count on bringing your guys back whenever they die? In my playgroup the board is wrathed regularly, pretty much whenever things get a little out of hand for any one person. And that's on top of targetted removal. If I put down a dangerous creature on my table the idea of counting on him being there next turn to attack and de-throne someone is almost laughable.
Idk maybe I just need to make it and start playtestting. It seems like at the very least Cytoplast Manipulator warrants an include due to the completely broken interaction between Marchesa and graft, she meets every tutor criteria, she's a wizard and the added utility of occasionally stealing marchesa-protected things. I know she's been discussed to death but it still seems surprising to me.
Also couple other notes going through: Clutch of the Undercity - I get it and it's nifty how well you are using the 4 mana slot. But unless you actually play this card a lot and not just transmute it Demonic Tutor is just better. You seem to be avoiding staples a bit though so you could also go with Diabolic Intent instead to mix it up.
Your 3 least favorite duals - City of Brass, Mana Confluence, and Cavern of Souls. Especially the last one with your wizard subtheme. Speaking of, do you use the creature aspect of Creeping Tar Pit and Lavaclaw Reaches enough to warrant the tapland inclusion? I mean I guess each creature counts in a Marton Stromgald rush but it seems a high price to be stuck with a tapland all the other times. Sage of Hours - Is he really better than a tutor? Or a Sensei's Divining Top? It's a neat trick with the Necrotic Ooze but idk, lot of setup. Phyrexian Obliterator - HOW IS THIS GUY FAIR! "Oh black got a 5/5 for 4, that's cool what's the drawbacks? Well he has trample, hm that block of text must really hurt then. Wait, he's also black's Academy Rector. Ummmmm..." No replacement, just admiring the ridiculousness of this guy.
Hey everyone, new here, I just discovered the wonders of marchesa and am trying to put together a deck. Since I didn't see it mentioned I was curious how you guys felt about Vulturous Aven from DTK. It's just a common but it seems to pack a punch and my experience at the prerelease basically confirmed that. It fits the tutor criteria (4 mana, 2 power) and it has a couple advantages over Disciple of Bolas: It's a much better creature (flyer and 3 toughness) and it can sac itself so it doesn't rely on anything else being out there. The disadvantages are: not a wizard, life loss instead of life gain (which is actually a bit of a toss-up given dethrone), and a cap on the number of card drawn.
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Exactly how I felt about flamerush. It sounds cool but I kind of feel like I'd be better off just adding another clone. Flamerush has too many conditions: 1) needs other creatures, 2) needs other creatures attacking, 3) can only clone your guys, 4) needs a sac effect for death triggers, 5) does not do attack triggers, etc. I think the question you have to ask yourself is will I really get more value out of this than just adding Phantasmal Image.
I don't particalurly love the demon either though. The big body is nice and its a strong ETB but I don't like forced sacrifice on my turn and it's probably not worth that.
Never thought it was bad, I've abused it way too much over my magic playing time to ever think that. My initial reaction was just unimpressed and I thought I could use the slot better with a mana rock to get into my threats faster. It's not far outside of my list though, maybe if some more playtesting shows someone not holding up their weight I'll replace them with it and give it another shot.
My problem here is two fold:
1) I really don't like sac'ing on my turn unless I have to or I'm going to get serious value out of it that makes it worthwhile. That's why I picked one mana altar and not two.
2) The first free sac effect you get is amazing, but the returns diminish rapidly for the second. You really only need one in play at a time, sometimes a second one adds more value but a lot of times it's unnecessary at that point. So I made some compromises just like the list at this post did, pick the best. I run Phyrexian Altar, High Market, Phyrexian Tower, Carrion Feeder, Falkenrath Aristocrat, and Grim-Grim, Corpse Born as my on demand free sac effects. In addition I have a number of triggered sac effects like the two exploit guys, Disciple of Bolas, Eldrazi Monument, etc. Those are great but can't be used for protection or regular ETB retriggering. If I had a Diamond Valley I would probably find a way to get it in. Miren, the Moaning Well I don't own either but I'm not a huge fan of it which is why I haven't. I get the life gain is great in a pinch but at 4 mana to sac its not really a regular use thing. I feel like personally I'd work in more card draw before sac effects, I feel comfortable with what I have there.
We're not running it for Living Death, we're running it for Anger. I'm just pointing out that it often proves pretty versatile.
Agree. And since it doesn't do anything on ETB and probably has to sit there for a turn, definitely not in love with it. I was just pointing out that if you are considering Goblin Grenadiers I feel like this card is an upgrade over that. But I don't feel a strong need to run either.
I feel like you must play a lot more 1v1 then me. General countermagic isn't really something I encounter too often. Countermagic to protect/stop a combo win sure but regular use? Not really. And as for removal and sweepers, I have sac effects for StP like stuff and a general who naturally protects my guys for sweepers. Actually much more common in my games is graveyard shenanigans so its at least as likely that a given player will abuse the opportunity to discard a card of their choice then be upset about it. Idk its not bad but I don't think its better than a lot of other stuff I could be running. The number one to me is Consecrated Sphinx, I'm not running that either and I think I would run that way before undercurrents.
That's a fair point on the enchantments. As for the tutorable creature effect, that's pretty much exactly what this list does. There was a lot of effort put in to find utility guys with specific effects that are tutorable on demand in a number of different ways. Honestly I think recursion on ETB is really the only major utility category that was missed. But honestly, my graveyard usually isn't that full and I kind of feel like the bit of recursion we have (plus the Volrath's Stronghold I added to mine) is enough.
Come on man, there's no need for this kind of aggressiveness. This is a friendly place, we're all here to discuss a deck we all enjoy playing and make it better. You have some good points but comments like this really undermine them. I'm willing to bet that of the people following this post a lot read just that and stopped because they assumed this was another hostile post. Just chill out, add your thoughts and let people discuss.
EDIT: Deceiver is also a non-human wizard, all the fun of wizardry without the drawback of no mikaeus protection.
Anyone else have any thoughts on Azami, Lady of Scrolls?
Because I don't want to die? I'm not thinking about my creatures. I'm thinking about the Omnath, Locus of Mana guy who top decks a Doubling Cube and swings for 30. I'm thinking about the guy who end steps Empty the Pits. I'm thinking about the guy who drops a Blightsteel Colossus and slaps a Lightning Greaves on him. Or I'm thinking about the white guy who responds to my attack with Condemn, Comeuppance or any number of other combat tricks that leave all my guys suddenly wide open for every opponent's turn and lets a Damnation reset my board. Unless I am killing people, I see no reason to overextend. It will only hurt me.
There's discussions throughout this board on pretty much all the cards you mentioned. I can talk to some from my own experience as well:
The others don't really apply to this list, clearly there is no Fervor and Sage of Fables is very definitely in.
I feel like you guys have discussed her before and there was probably a good reason she's not in the build but I just wanted to add my two cents. Running out of cards has definitely been a problem for me with this deck so adding a good wizard card advantage machine has been pretty valuable.
Aristocrat is honestly a super secret all-star. It's the tech you didn't know you needed but once you try it you wonder how you lived without him. 4 mana - check. Natural haste - awesome. 4 power on a flyer - amazingly effective deterrent. And honestly quite possibly the best sac outlet we have available. The human caveat is what makes him deceptive, you think its a drawback but in reality its a bonus. What we really have is 4 power on a hasty flyer with a sac outlet that can protect himself without marchesa, the fact that he gets counters for protecting marchesa is icing on the cake.
I would also add that I really don't like Ingot Chewer for the reasons you said. In my experience when someone shoots a T1 Sol Ring with a chewer it actually ends up costing both of them the game. Yes, the person with the sol ring goes from ahead to behind but what people forget is so do you. You've now cost yourself a card, a creature and most likely a key early turn to set one opponent out of 3/4 behind. Basically, it usually seems to me that both players end up playing from behind. Evoke is also pretty bad for Marchesa, we don't have a whole lot of recursion and we don't keep the dude, and chewer's non-evoke cost is really really underwhelming.
I don't mind Torch Fiend, he seems alright. And if Torpor Orb is a problem in your meta than that makes total sense. Personally though I think I would add Manic Vandals over him if I wanted more general artifact destruction since I get to shoot an artifact immediately on ETB. That combining marchesa with him seems more like a bonus than a necessity.
I feel like a piece of artifact ramp, an Ancient Tomb, a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or a normal land would all be better uses of that spot. Also if you want to abuse Urborg, Crypt Ghast seems like a much better way to do so. It's a 4 mana 2/2 creature (very tutorable), it's just as degenerate with urborg out, you can keep making your colored mana and get extra black too, and it still works well in low swamp count situations since doesn't require a minimum amount of swamps to work. It also can provide some handy emergency lifegain with extort which can definitely be clutch sometimes. I can't recommend cutting coffers for ghast though since you only have 35 lands as it is so you'd have to find something else.
I just feel like given the deck numbers counting coffers as a land is wishful thinking and you'd be better off with a more reliable source of colored mana or ramp.
So I have to ask, how are you getting counters on things? You obviously have plenty of sacrifice effects and very strong ETB effects so I can see how cycling nearly any creature in the deck would quickly become a serious problem for any opponent. But it seems like there's really only a couple ways to get counters on creatures outside of Marchesa herself and the few all-stars who can take care of their own counters: Unspeakable Symbol, Sage of Fables and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. If you include haste effects (since they allow you to dethrone right away) then you can add a few more: Sneak Attack, Anger, Flamekin Village, Urabrask, the Hidden and Puppeteer's Clique (sort of).
That's 7 total + 1 with a more specific use case. In 99 cards with surprisingly little tutor considering you are running black is that enough to reliably count on bringing your guys back whenever they die? In my playgroup the board is wrathed regularly, pretty much whenever things get a little out of hand for any one person. And that's on top of targetted removal. If I put down a dangerous creature on my table the idea of counting on him being there next turn to attack and de-throne someone is almost laughable.
Idk maybe I just need to make it and start playtestting. It seems like at the very least Cytoplast Manipulator warrants an include due to the completely broken interaction between Marchesa and graft, she meets every tutor criteria, she's a wizard and the added utility of occasionally stealing marchesa-protected things. I know she's been discussed to death but it still seems surprising to me.
Also couple other notes going through:
Clutch of the Undercity - I get it and it's nifty how well you are using the 4 mana slot. But unless you actually play this card a lot and not just transmute it Demonic Tutor is just better. You seem to be avoiding staples a bit though so you could also go with Diabolic Intent instead to mix it up.
Your 3 least favorite duals - City of Brass, Mana Confluence, and Cavern of Souls. Especially the last one with your wizard subtheme. Speaking of, do you use the creature aspect of Creeping Tar Pit and Lavaclaw Reaches enough to warrant the tapland inclusion? I mean I guess each creature counts in a Marton Stromgald rush but it seems a high price to be stuck with a tapland all the other times.
Sage of Hours - Is he really better than a tutor? Or a Sensei's Divining Top? It's a neat trick with the Necrotic Ooze but idk, lot of setup.
Phyrexian Obliterator - HOW IS THIS GUY FAIR! "Oh black got a 5/5 for 4, that's cool what's the drawbacks? Well he has trample, hm that block of text must really hurt then. Wait, he's also black's Academy Rector. Ummmmm..." No replacement, just admiring the ridiculousness of this guy.