MTG Salvation

I think that all five have their value in EDH. Some of them just fulfil a niche more than others. There have been plenty of examples given for each of them already. As pointed out above, Cataclysmic Gearhulk becomes a lot more dangerous if opponents expect big hits. It's not going to go into every red deck but if you're playing something like Rakdos or Daretti the choice becomes a lot harder, especially in the latter. Of course it has the potential for duds but in the right deck it's always a big splash when it comes down. I actually think that the most underwhelming one is the black one. It offers creature removal in a colour that already has plenty of options. Black can field bigger bodies too and the life swing isn't always relevant. Of course black also offers plenty of recursion that could really rack up the value.

I run a polymorph build of Talrand, Sky Summoner. To answer your questionss:

1) Run more than one win condition. Talrand isn't built for combo wins in the way you describe. It runs Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Tidespout Tyrant, Stormtide Leviathan, Windreader Sphinx. That might not work for you if you want to build pure combo. The best advice I can give you is to run plenty of protection.

2) That would probably be your best bet, yes.

3) It really depends on your meta.

4) My Talrand wins the occasional long and grindy game purely off drake tokens. I've seen plenty of other mono-blue decks that have that option, but it doesn't look like you're building in that direction.

One card I think you should consider, especially if you're only going the Palinchron route, is Proteus Staff. It has a pretty big speed restriction on it but the upside is that if you tuck Jace with it when you have no other creatures in your deck, you can pop Jace back out and rearrange your entire deck at will.

I forgot about the Conspiracy 2 printing, it used to be around €3 before that.

I'd say that Beast Within certainly qualifies.

I created my Zada list all the way back when the card had been first spoiled but it has gone through a lot of updates since then thanks to the high quality of red combat tricks in recent set. It has been responsible for some of my most fun EDH moments from the last few months, including blowing up a deadlocked six man table thanks to casting Otherworldly Outburst followed by Mogg Infestation with Purphoros, God of the Forge out, turning eight goblin tokens and Zada into 54 damage to each opponent.

Lots of fun/weird interactions with this one. One I haven't seen mentioned yet is Pack Hunt.

Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed by an unseen censer, swung by seraphim whose footsteps tinkled on the tufted floor...

Seriously though, this really is a terribly unexciting pick. Maybe it's possible to set up some sort of weird combo in pauper generating infinite charge counter but in general charge counters can be used for much more exciting things than lifeloss.

I've tested it in Zada but I've decided to drop it. Even in mono-red I have enough other cantrips and I'd rather play a cantrip that effectively does nothing than one that I can't play half the time out of fear of losing a bunch of goblin tokens. It's definitely a viable option for the deck, it was just a dead card once too often for me.

It's a cool enough effect but as others have said it's far too slow to set up. Necrotic Ooze does the same thing so much better, most of the time. Of course the Myr can get some abilities that the Ooze can't due to the former snagging artifacts but that doesn't stop it from simply being far too slow. I wouldn't even run it in my Daretti deck and that's pretty much designed to fill my graveyard with potential targets.

A friend of mine plays Ruhan of the Fomori built entirely out of cards that have some sort of random element. He runs Mana Screw and Goblin Bookie.

As others have said, there's better cards to abuse ETB triggers on enchantments. I already run Flickering Ward in my Daxos the Returned to build up experience counters, I don't really see the need to run another card that does the same thing for 1 more.

I personally enjoy Daxos the Returned as a stax commander. He's in two colours that have wonderful taxing enchantments, white probably moreso than black, and access to some awesome tutors. He doesn't have a built-in tax like certain commanders but he scales well throughout the game and his tokens will eventually take things over. Probably not a first tier stax commander, but bonus points for the fairly obvious Staxos the Returned pun.

I personally enjoy Daxos the Returned as a stax commander. He's in two colours that have wonderful taxing enchantments, white probably moreso than black, and access to some awesome tutors. He doesn't have a built-in tax like certain commanders but he scales well throughout the game and his tokens will eventually take things over. Probably not a first tier stax commander, but bonus points for the fairly obvious Staxos the Returned pun.

Honestly, even on a budget I'd still go for equipment over auras. It's not just because the equipment itself sticks around when the creature wearing it gets removed, although that in itself is a massive bonus. Stuff like Sword of the Animist can come down early and be tacked onto your first creature to start generating advantage right away. With auras you constantly have to weigh using them immediately for early advantage against stockpiling them in your hand until it's too late.

I can't wait to pop Mirrorwing Dragon into my Zada, Hedron Grinder. This is how Zada should have been worded in the first place. I love the fact that it turns spot removal into a one-sided board wipe. I know there's situations where the dragon's ability can benefit your opponents but I doubt I'll see many Giant Growth effects other than the ones my Zada plays.