Do you feel the deck could function without Chandra? Triple Chandras, regardless of Hours and Glorybringers, is a death sentence to any budget build. Also, how has the Wildfire Eternal performed for you?
A streamer (forgot who) played ShinyFirefly's current decklist in a 5-game series without success. When showing his own version of the deck, some notable differences included:
* 3 Contraband King replaced Gifted Aetherborn. It's easier to hit, survives more removal, and still has the necessary lifelink for reanimation.
* 3 Yahenni's Expertise came in as -3/-3 wipes the majority of the board while still allowing for another play.
* Censor got chopped b/c it didn't add to the gy's creature count.
* Hollow One and Nimble Obstructionist got cut for their large cycle costs and being unwieldy. An additional land, gate, and rotbeast took their place.
* Fetid Pools were removed b/c their ETB tapped property made the early turns inconsistent. Ipnu Rivulet, likewise, got the boot since our dual lands required basics.
* Flaying Tendrils and Collective Brutality came into the sideboard while Scarab Feast, Spontaneous Mutation, and Consign // Oblivion got the boot.
I'm not 100% sold on all the changes, but I do find they take the deck in an a more streamlined direction. All things considered, the deck itself leaves me questioning what we're truly trying to exploit. God-Pharoh's gift is essentially an unreliable, 4/4 token generator that doesn't have much of an immediate impact. We're not abusing insane ETB shenanigans like other gift decks and I've yet to find an opponent who truly feared a non-evasive, hasted X/4.
Without lifegain, I'm not sure how you survive the various red decks and all their burn. After taking the initial brunt before you setup consistent fogs, Hazoret the Fervent, Chandra, Torch of Defiance, and even their lands start to deal 2 non-combat dmg. This is without considering their burn or a single Insult // Injury in the sideboard.
I'm trying to think of what popular decks you could punish and the only ones that come to mind are cats and zombies. Pummeler's run fling, the control match seems scary, and the random dude playing with his janky mill deck just laughs.
If you can somehow survive against the more agressive burn decks, I think you'll have something special.
Mono-red has been an absolute nightmare when I piloted this deck. I'm not sure how aggressively we need to mulligan for Gifted Aetherborn and Ruthless Sniper, but I'd imagine pretty hard considering we have zero board interaction before turn 5. Our turn 2 creatures both get Earthshaker Khenraed and Ahn-Crop Crashered the following turn. We also have zero lifegain outside gifted so we're on an otherwise short clock. Ranumap Ruins and Sunscorched Desert offer ridiculous reach without considering both Hazoret the Fervent and Chandra, Torch of Defiance's 2 dmg shock.
Sacred Cat and Sunscourge Champion might be maindeck or sideboard considerations as their resurrection ability adds the zombie type. They also happen to be resilient and gain life against the aggressive red decks coming out.
Time to Reflect could be an ideal, cheap removal spell with your deck focused around zombies. Not many people will think about it and it will always be on their mind afterwards.
Shefet Dunes / Ifnir Deadlands by themselves or combined with Dunes of the Dead are other substitutions. Dunes of the dead would need testing to see if your deck could handle an early colorless mana. The other two, however, give your deck an additional push when you run out of cheap creatures.
Edit: Also, be careful with Supernatural Stamina if Magma Spray is prevalent. Your 2 toughness creatures will be exiled (rather than die) so the saving effect won't trigger.
Soul-Scar Mage is a hard card to gauge in value that I've considered exchanging for Village Messenger. Without Cartouche of Zeal, the mage loses the ability to gain haste as well as a non-creature spell to proc prowess. I would still consider running Cartouche regardless for the ability to bypass a blocker.
I'd advise exchanging some mountains for Sunscorched Desert: the deck isn't reliant on multiple red sources, an extra damage helps, and they can be sacrificed to ruins for an additional 2.
As far as testing is concerned, I tried replacing Borderland Marauder with Burning-Fist Minotaur to little success. His one toughness allows leaves the energy bolt with 2 and his ability has been subpar. I typically don't have the mana to invest and fear of pumping him before removal is an awful thought.
Hostile Desert seems like a welcome addition for an extra body. The discarded lands that sometimes come from Brawler or Courier become fuel for a 3/4 body. Unfortunately, the impact feels negligible so far though we will see.
Those are my first impressions and are open to change. Hopefully someone has had better success with them.
4 Bristling Hydra
4 Electrostatic Pummeler
4 Longtusk Cub
2 Glorybringer
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Voltaic Brawler
Sorcery (4)
4 Attune with Aether
Instant (13)
1 Abrade
4 Blossoming Defense
2 Fling
2 Harnessed Lightning
4 Invigorated Rampage
4 Aether Hub
5 Forest
4 Game Trail
2 Hashep Oasis
2 Mountain
4 Sheltered Thicket
2 Abrade
2 Harnessed Lightning
3 Appetite for the Unnatural
3 Magma Spray
2 Manglehorn
3 Tireless Tracker
How are y'all faring against this deck, and what are the sideboard changes you make to improve the matchup?
* 3 Contraband King replaced Gifted Aetherborn. It's easier to hit, survives more removal, and still has the necessary lifelink for reanimation.
* 3 Yahenni's Expertise came in as -3/-3 wipes the majority of the board while still allowing for another play.
* Censor got chopped b/c it didn't add to the gy's creature count.
* Hollow One and Nimble Obstructionist got cut for their large cycle costs and being unwieldy. An additional land, gate, and rotbeast took their place.
* Fetid Pools were removed b/c their ETB tapped property made the early turns inconsistent. Ipnu Rivulet, likewise, got the boot since our dual lands required basics.
* Flaying Tendrils and Collective Brutality came into the sideboard while Scarab Feast, Spontaneous Mutation, and Consign // Oblivion got the boot.
I'm not 100% sold on all the changes, but I do find they take the deck in an a more streamlined direction. All things considered, the deck itself leaves me questioning what we're truly trying to exploit. God-Pharoh's gift is essentially an unreliable, 4/4 token generator that doesn't have much of an immediate impact. We're not abusing insane ETB shenanigans like other gift decks and I've yet to find an opponent who truly feared a non-evasive, hasted X/4.
I'm trying to think of what popular decks you could punish and the only ones that come to mind are cats and zombies. Pummeler's run fling, the control match seems scary, and the random dude playing with his janky mill deck just laughs.
If you can somehow survive against the more agressive burn decks, I think you'll have something special.
I'm not entirely sold on Flaying Tendrils in the matchup (haven't tested it). You run into problems against versions running 3 toughness drops (Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, Hanweir Garrison, Bloodrage Brawler, & triggered Soul-scar Mage) while not touching their 4+ drops.
The one positive is that the deck has more than doubled in price so we will hopefully see a more budgeted version of it.
Time to Reflect could be an ideal, cheap removal spell with your deck focused around zombies. Not many people will think about it and it will always be on their mind afterwards.
Shefet Dunes / Ifnir Deadlands by themselves or combined with Dunes of the Dead are other substitutions. Dunes of the dead would need testing to see if your deck could handle an early colorless mana. The other two, however, give your deck an additional push when you run out of cheap creatures.
Edit: Also, be careful with Supernatural Stamina if Magma Spray is prevalent. Your 2 toughness creatures will be exiled (rather than die) so the saving effect won't trigger.
I'd advise exchanging some mountains for Sunscorched Desert: the deck isn't reliant on multiple red sources, an extra damage helps, and they can be sacrificed to ruins for an additional 2.
Hostile Desert seems like a welcome addition for an extra body. The discarded lands that sometimes come from Brawler or Courier become fuel for a 3/4 body. Unfortunately, the impact feels negligible so far though we will see.
Those are my first impressions and are open to change. Hopefully someone has had better success with them.