After carefully reading through the entire thread I have pretty much come to the following conclusions.
1) An aggressive build can be done but will have poor matchups against Volcanic Fallout users and Token matchups.
Play control and play Lark. I know that many people are not ready to give up on the aggro build and I respect that. Lose a couple FNM's and then try to build a control style. Wrath of God can easily be maindeck in a Lark build vs a metagame that is heavy in tokens and aggro. 3 should suffice in the MD with all the draw that we have.
2) Avoid the cute combos.
Sage of Fables while good is overall a messy play. It forces you to warp the deck around the wizard tribe and soon enough you'll be playing bad Merfolk. Other conditionally good cards should likewise be avoided ie Scarscale Ritual and its kin since outside of the 40% that they are good they will be bad in every other situation.
3) Play solid removal.
Snakeform is a cute combat trick and stops at that. I'd much rather play Condemn or PtE which not only lets me remove a threat but lets me retain mana to counter any spell that may curb this plan.
4) Rhox War Monk is needed.
While Kitchen Finks fills the need to gain life it does so much less efficiently than Kitchen Finks. Since Fallout is so greatly played the Monk is a necessity. Gaining 3 life or more (I'm looking at you Behemoth Sledge) is rather good. At worst He'll slow the aggro plan long enough to wipe their board.
5) Planeswalkers.
By just looking at the lists I feel like Garruk would be the superior Planeswalker in a control build. The ability to play on your turn and counter on theirs makes him absolutely invaluable and better than Elspeth or Ajani.
I think the real question is now is what creature base with Lark should we work on assembling. Obviously Mulldrifter, Coatl, Lark but what about Archmage and the plethora of other 2/x's we have available. I would love to see an aggro build but unfortunately I feel like we're still missing things... Mystic Snake comes to mind...
The thing that the Pucture Blast naysayers have not really thought of is the fact that Puncture Blast has Wither. Don't look at this spell as deal 3 damage to target creature or player but as target creature gets -3/-3 or deal 3 damage to target player. The -3 power bit has proven huge for me in several matchups allowing you to 1 for 1 things rather than 2 for 1ing.
Example w/o puncture blast:
Swing with Boggart Ram Gang, Opponent blocks with Doran, ram gang dies blast doran with random removal spell.
W/ Puncture Blast:
Swing with Ram Gang, Op blocks with Doran, Before damage Puncture Blast Doran. 3/3 Ram Gang kills 0/2 Doran.
So I've been pretty satisfied with my MD other than changing around the numbers on my burn spells. I now run 3 Puncture Blast and 3 Flame Javelin. As for the sideboard it now looks like:
Blightning is the spot that's a little iffy. Its been good in the 5cc matchup and other than that its a little lack laster vs the other more versitile burn spells in the deck.
What do you guys think about this forgoten rare...heat shimmer? It seems really good hitting blood braid elf, obviously not a four of, but maybe a thre off, plus heat shimmer also hits things like mul drifter, brrodmate, cloud goat, and a bunch of other CIPT critters. Plus there is going to a bunch of the blood braid elves lurking around post reborn for us to hit! Just a thought
Heat Shimmer will not work. Cascade triggers off of playing, not comes into play.
On Everlasting Torment, I couldn't agree more. There's a GW deck floating around sporting Teeg, BTF and Escort so it'll be a beast vs us game 1. Game 2 with torment should be much easier.
Mage Slayer would be most useful in a deck with something like Chameleon Colossus. With that said I think removal would be more useful since it will win the game 100% more of the time than a cute little equipment. In all honesty the only equipment I could see this deck running is Obsidian Battle Axe as it would allow a wider creature base to be used but I feel that it and any other equipment would just end up as a clunky card that you would hate casting in this deck.
Beach house really isn't viable without a legitimate draw engine. The deck was good mainly due to Phyrexian Arena. The Kamigawa dragons didn't hurt either especially when recurring Yosei locked down an opponent...standard does not have that kind of end game right now.
I also support fallout. Playing it in an aggressive deck especially in a metagame of tokens and faeries is a superb play. I have officially changed camps and am now a R/G elf player over the RGb gobos I was testing.
I think figure and hackblade are too situational to be very good especially after Terminate comes in. The deck shouldn't need staying power because once you run out of gas, its over. I like colossal might, but it seems like running too many sets you up to be 2 for 1'd too easily.
The existance of terminate does not validate anything you just said...as far as figure or hackblade for that matter terminate is simply a harder to cast Terror and I don't recall Terror or even PtE slowing the number of figures showing up in decks. You pretty much are saying, "Why play creatures in a format with this much choice removal."
However your point on Colossal Might is a valid one. With further testing I may drop the 4th and potentially have two slots to play with.
Personally I'm not a fan of Blitz Hellion and I think the decks curve should pretty much top out at 4 allowing you to maximize your elf. I feel like the only cards that you should not be able to hit off an elf should be flame javelin, another elf and possibly some form of pump effect ie boartusk liege or Sarkan Vol. Rip Clan Clasher seems underwhelming and should more than likely be replaced. Personally Figure of Destiny has a spot in the deck as it adds a layer of staying power that I feel that the deck lacks to some degree. Unearth is another mechanic that I feel plays too well with this entire deck idea. With that here is my current decklist:
It's tested good so far. Jund Hackblade seems a bit underwhelming in the current build since the unearth dudes die at EOT and sometimes he doesn't get his bonus. Colossal Might has proven to be nothing but awesome sauce and makes me want to play evil cards like Chameleon Colossus. For those that aren't sold on Boar Tusk, try Sarkan. He is useful for pumping your hasty dudes in a spot but even more so he is great for his Threaten ability. Stealing your ops best dude can be utterly retarded.
This seems like a lot of fun. Wargate seems like a great card to just search out manlands for 3. I think that you should add another plan of attack to the deck mostly through a token based attack. Mobilization, Elspeth and Martial Coup seem like they could all contribute to the strategy and the manlands would be the meat and potatoes.
So I think I'm going to go ahead and cave into the splash black idea. I think I'm going to add some Graven Cairns and Aunties Hovels drop Nettle Sentinel in favor of Tattermunge and Magma Spray gets the axe for Tarfire. That brings me up to 19 gobos and the ability to use anything with a single B cost in it.
Why no love for Bloodbraided Elf? She is essentially Ranger of Eos to this deck except 1)swings for 3 the turn she comes down and 2)nets you a spell for free.
If I choose to run Tattermunge I have a total of 26 multicolored permenants in the deck which more than makes use of Jund Hackblade almost always making it a 3/3. I think Bloodbraid Elf is insane here as a 4th drop it will almost always net me another card with the exception of 6 spells in the deck. I opted not to use Banefire, Lavalanche and man lands due to the elf and all the multicolor costs in the deck. I also feel that lands cannot come into play tapped in this deck. I think that it will take away from what we are trying to do and set us back for a turn or more.
I'd like to see the color trios line up with abilities that reside in each color but I'm not sure it can be done. Of all the abilites I that are keyworded and commonly used I feel like only a few could tie into their wedge.
1) An aggressive build can be done but will have poor matchups against Volcanic Fallout users and Token matchups.
Play control and play Lark. I know that many people are not ready to give up on the aggro build and I respect that. Lose a couple FNM's and then try to build a control style. Wrath of God can easily be maindeck in a Lark build vs a metagame that is heavy in tokens and aggro. 3 should suffice in the MD with all the draw that we have.
2) Avoid the cute combos.
Sage of Fables while good is overall a messy play. It forces you to warp the deck around the wizard tribe and soon enough you'll be playing bad Merfolk. Other conditionally good cards should likewise be avoided ie Scarscale Ritual and its kin since outside of the 40% that they are good they will be bad in every other situation.
3) Play solid removal.
Snakeform is a cute combat trick and stops at that. I'd much rather play Condemn or PtE which not only lets me remove a threat but lets me retain mana to counter any spell that may curb this plan.
4) Rhox War Monk is needed.
While Kitchen Finks fills the need to gain life it does so much less efficiently than Kitchen Finks. Since Fallout is so greatly played the Monk is a necessity. Gaining 3 life or more (I'm looking at you Behemoth Sledge) is rather good. At worst He'll slow the aggro plan long enough to wipe their board.
5) Planeswalkers.
By just looking at the lists I feel like Garruk would be the superior Planeswalker in a control build. The ability to play on your turn and counter on theirs makes him absolutely invaluable and better than Elspeth or Ajani.
I think the real question is now is what creature base with Lark should we work on assembling. Obviously Mulldrifter, Coatl, Lark but what about Archmage and the plethora of other 2/x's we have available. I would love to see an aggro build but unfortunately I feel like we're still missing things... Mystic Snake comes to mind...
Example w/o puncture blast:
Swing with Boggart Ram Gang, Opponent blocks with Doran, ram gang dies blast doran with random removal spell.
W/ Puncture Blast:
Swing with Ram Gang, Op blocks with Doran, Before damage Puncture Blast Doran. 3/3 Ram Gang kills 0/2 Doran.
3 Deathmark
3 Blightning
3 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Anathamancer
2 Naturalize
Blightning is the spot that's a little iffy. Its been good in the 5cc matchup and other than that its a little lack laster vs the other more versitile burn spells in the deck.
Heat Shimmer will not work. Cascade triggers off of playing, not comes into play.
The existance of terminate does not validate anything you just said...as far as figure or hackblade for that matter terminate is simply a harder to cast Terror and I don't recall Terror or even PtE slowing the number of figures showing up in decks. You pretty much are saying, "Why play creatures in a format with this much choice removal."
However your point on Colossal Might is a valid one. With further testing I may drop the 4th and potentially have two slots to play with.
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Jund Hackblade
4 Boggart Ram Gang
4 Hell's Thunder
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Sarkan Vol
4 Colossal Might
4 Flame Javelin
1 Violent Outburst
Lands
4 Karpulsan Forest
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Reflecting Pool
8 Mountains
5 Forests
It's tested good so far. Jund Hackblade seems a bit underwhelming in the current build since the unearth dudes die at EOT and sometimes he doesn't get his bonus. Colossal Might has proven to be nothing but awesome sauce and makes me want to play evil cards like Chameleon Colossus. For those that aren't sold on Boar Tusk, try Sarkan. He is useful for pumping your hasty dudes in a spot but even more so he is great for his Threaten ability. Stealing your ops best dude can be utterly retarded.
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Nettle Sentinel//Tattermunge Maniac
4 Rip Clan Thrasher
4 Boggart Ram Gang
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Jund Hackblade
2 Sarkhan Vol
4 Incinerate
4 Flame Javelin
3 Magma Spray
23 Lands
4 Karpulsan Forest
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Reflecting Pool
6 Forests
5 Mountains
If I choose to run Tattermunge I have a total of 26 multicolored permenants in the deck which more than makes use of Jund Hackblade almost always making it a 3/3. I think Bloodbraid Elf is insane here as a 4th drop it will almost always net me another card with the exception of 6 spells in the deck. I opted not to use Banefire, Lavalanche and man lands due to the elf and all the multicolor costs in the deck. I also feel that lands cannot come into play tapped in this deck. I think that it will take away from what we are trying to do and set us back for a turn or more.
Invade Dominion 1RU
Enchantment-Aura
Enchant Land
You gain control of enchanted land. At the end of your turn, you may sacrifice that land.
Basically this would be an Annex and a sudo-stone rain.