How is Stifle better? Voidslime I can see since it counters a spell if need be, but Stifle only stops 1-time effects and can be responded to.
...and costs 1. The repeat prevention and split second are usually not relevant. I'd always play Stifle over Trickbind, but I'd probably still play Trickbind over Interdict.
I don't get it--it seems neat, but it doesn't have trample, so they can just chump block it and achieve the same results as saccing a creature to it without giving it a counter.
That's kind of the thing, trample (and the flying he has) are 99% meaningless on this guy. His ability could essentially read, "This creature attacks each turn if able. This creature can be chump blocked by any creature--even creatures that can't block--and when he is chump blocked, he gets a +1/+1 counter." The flying is less evasion and more like, "This creature can't be blocked by more than one creature." It keeps him from getting traded in a team block, but it doesn't stop him from essentially getting chump blocked.
That said, Lingering Souls makes him sad, but against anyone that is having to give up a card to chump, this guy is value city.
I don't see them being very compelling even in an environment where most ppl are playing at least 3 colors. If you're going to try them, I'd recommend rune of protections rather than circles (http://magiccards.info/query?q=rune+of+protection&v=card&s=cname) or Story Circle. That way you can at least cycle any you're not going to use.
Goblin Caves and Goblin Shrine were the old school goblin pump. Also Goblin Warrens made it much easier to keep up your goblin count on board. Goblin Wizard, while not pumping your goblins, does provide instant speed ETB as well as protection, though Goblin Lackey and Warren Instigator tend to sneak your goblins in faster (though on your turn rather than end of opponent's turn).
Also, I highly recommend Lightning Crafter. He's large for a goblin, has a useful ability, and the champion lets you reuse matron, tactician, or other ETB creatures as well as protecting Kiki-Jiki (and enabling you to use him every player's turn).
Two are black, one is black/red, two are green/white, and the rest are white. That's quite a spread, and many of them are ill suited to EDH play. Perhaps what you should instead be considering is a knight deck (all paladin's are knights, so you can play the best of them and have a lot more options).
That said, I'd still be concerned about whether or not your friend will enjoy playing a knight EDH. Most knights are cheap, small creatures without evasive abilities. While they may be high picks in a draft, they lack the inherent card advantage that is the hallmark of good EDH creatures.
For this deck to be successful, you're going to need to make up for the low power level of your creatures with high power level support. Good board wipes, possibly strong equipment like swords of X and Y and hasty boots, and definitely things like Akroma's Memorial that make any creature threatening. Maybe even some Sleight of Mind tricks if you include things like the directional paladins.
Really? I'm pretty sure Rewind is pretty busted if your not playing against counterspells and you have 4 mana. And IF the bouncelands do come back then Rewind will be even better. Ok I'll use these 2 Dimir Aqueducts and uptap those and 2 other lands.
Come on, people. A return to Ravnica =/= a reprint of Ravnica. How many cards from Mirrodin got reprinted in Scars? Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, and Swamp. That's how many. The only reason shocklands are even a possibility is because Wizards wants to get modern staples more readily available. It has nothing to do with how popular/unpopular/cool they were, so please stop trying to justify taking up 1/4th of the set with reprints of karoos/guildmages/signets/surviving legendary creatures/etc.
As for a creature with ETB populate, if the creature is prohibitively priced, ETB populate + Counterpart won't make it past the kitchen table. But I also suspect such an obvious use of the ability won't have gone unnoticed during development. If a creature with ETB populate does get printed, it will be because it + Cackling Counterpart likely won't be very feasible in competitive play.
I play a pestilence subtheme in my mono-black, and it works really well. However, you have a surprising lack of pestilencers? O_o Where's the crypt rats and pestilence demon?
Also, with as few creatures as you have, I'd play homicidal seclusion as an additional way to give your pestilence sticks lifelink as well as just allowing you to send some beats. Plus, with all the life you'll be gaining, I'd recommend playing Kuro, Pitlord. He is a house when you've got extra life lying around, and being a 9/9, he can supply you with even more life with lifelink.
While you're not just mono-black like my deck, might I also recommend a small demon package to go along with Kuro and the Pestilence Demon? You could easily add Kagemaro, First to Suffer, Harvester of Souls, Bloodgift Demon, and maybe Reaper from the Abyss, all of which are solid creatures in EDH, and all of which make it definitely worth playing Blood Speaker, who can get you the demon for whatever particular board state you are currently dealing with.
Having played both quite a bit, Reclamation is better by far. That said, if you're like me and you try not to combo out in games or play the same cards over and over, play the oversold.
It makes sense that an X in an alternate mana cost will be the equivalent of XX in a converted mana cost, even though in every other instance of a spell with an alternate cost, the CMC is still the one in the corner? No, it doesn't. When you Miracle Bonfire, the CMC on the stack should be 1. Because that is what the physical CMC of the card is. And what do you mean 'that ruling has been around for awhile'? Do you have other examples?
Rather than pretend I can divine the verbatim wording of an unspoiled card, I would like to speculate what it means for Supreme Judgement that it is the buy-a-box promo for RTR.
There's the low hanging fruit that it's the new 4 cmc board wipe because day didn't get reprinted, it sounds wrath-y, and day of judgement was, in its day, a buy-a-box promo.
So as the baseless speculation continues, consider that the cards effect is likely not going to be some new, wacky effect that may or may not be good. It's likely going to be something safe. Something that has been good in the past, and there's no reason why it shouldn't be good in the future.
I actually had a very similar experience last night at my LGS. I've been going there for a few months, but the quality of decks there is far below what my friends and I are used to. Last night, I cast turn 2 Genesis Chamber with my Norin deck, and it stayed in play the whole game. I actually had Confusion in the Ranks also in my opening hand, but I ended up never playing it because the army of myrs was already too much for my opponents to handle.
This is a perfect example of what I think is the biggest problem less experienced players have when building an EDH deck: playing answers to your opponent's stuff. Even though you get 99 card slots, many players will play mediocre cards that have any small amount of synergy with their commander or kill condition over quality removal. They'll throw in a 1 of Day of Judgement and maybe a 1 of Naturalize or something like that, thinking that loading their deck with synergy for their kill condition will just make it too hard for you to disrupt them.
What it boils down to is that no matter how much you pull your punches, if they don't try to block, you're still going to hit them. The best thing you can do for them is say things like, "wow, I didn't expect to get to untap with my Warstorm Surge," or "you almost got me there. good thing I had _______ to keep you from crushing me." Make them aware of why they need answers, and after the game, they'll ask you for suggestions to make their deck better.
Vela the night-clad replaced Sygg in mine, but then I was already play ninja/evasive ophidians tech. I particularly like that type of deck because it is strong without attracting the ire of the table by countering and recurring the same creatures over and over (as blue and black tend to do).
Is my local environment so different from all of yours? How is everyone not talking about levelers in terms of "creatures that don't get you something when you play them often don't make the cut because so often they don't make it back around to your turn unless your opponents really aren't concerned about them"? Joraga Treespeaker is the only leveler I play because he's such a great ramp. I could see playing the Transcendent Master in a deck that you might be able to pay 15 for the turn you play him, but other than that, creatures that need multiple times around an EDH table before they can start to pay off are just not good (and I don't play lighthouse chronologist because my play group tries to avoid extra turn taking).
...and costs 1. The repeat prevention and split second are usually not relevant. I'd always play Stifle over Trickbind, but I'd probably still play Trickbind over Interdict.
That's kind of the thing, trample (and the flying he has) are 99% meaningless on this guy. His ability could essentially read, "This creature attacks each turn if able. This creature can be chump blocked by any creature--even creatures that can't block--and when he is chump blocked, he gets a +1/+1 counter." The flying is less evasion and more like, "This creature can't be blocked by more than one creature." It keeps him from getting traded in a team block, but it doesn't stop him from essentially getting chump blocked.
That said, Lingering Souls makes him sad, but against anyone that is having to give up a card to chump, this guy is value city.
Also, I highly recommend Lightning Crafter. He's large for a goblin, has a useful ability, and the champion lets you reuse matron, tactician, or other ETB creatures as well as protecting Kiki-Jiki (and enabling you to use him every player's turn).
Two are black, one is black/red, two are green/white, and the rest are white. That's quite a spread, and many of them are ill suited to EDH play. Perhaps what you should instead be considering is a knight deck (all paladin's are knights, so you can play the best of them and have a lot more options).
Knight type creatures: http://magiccards.info/query?q=t%3A%22knight%22&v=card&s=cname
That said, I'd still be concerned about whether or not your friend will enjoy playing a knight EDH. Most knights are cheap, small creatures without evasive abilities. While they may be high picks in a draft, they lack the inherent card advantage that is the hallmark of good EDH creatures.
From the looks of it, a knight deck would probably need to run a 5 color general to cherry pick the best knights from all colors. Here are a few that I think would be at least decent:
Adun Oakenshield
Court Hussar
Dakmor Lancer
Dragonsoul Knight
Eastern Paladin
Ethersworn Adjudicator
Gryff Vanguard
Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
Hero of Bladehold
Hero of Oxid Ridge
Juniper Order Ranger
Kinsbaile Cavalier
Knight Exemplar
Knight of the Reliquary
Knight of the White Orchid
Knight-Captain of Eos
Northern Paladin
Order of the Sacred Torch
Paragon of the Amesha
Pentarch Paladin
Puresteel Paladin (if you decide to give your knights plenty of swords)
Rafiq of the Many
Sky Hussar (strictly for the forecast)
Southern Paladin
Steel Leaf Paladin
Stillmoon Cavalier
Stromgald Cabal
Western Paladin
For this deck to be successful, you're going to need to make up for the low power level of your creatures with high power level support. Good board wipes, possibly strong equipment like swords of X and Y and hasty boots, and definitely things like Akroma's Memorial that make any creature threatening. Maybe even some Sleight of Mind tricks if you include things like the directional paladins.
Good luck with the deck.
Come on, people. A return to Ravnica =/= a reprint of Ravnica. How many cards from Mirrodin got reprinted in Scars? Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, and Swamp. That's how many. The only reason shocklands are even a possibility is because Wizards wants to get modern staples more readily available. It has nothing to do with how popular/unpopular/cool they were, so please stop trying to justify taking up 1/4th of the set with reprints of karoos/guildmages/signets/surviving legendary creatures/etc.
As for a creature with ETB populate, if the creature is prohibitively priced, ETB populate + Counterpart won't make it past the kitchen table. But I also suspect such an obvious use of the ability won't have gone unnoticed during development. If a creature with ETB populate does get printed, it will be because it + Cackling Counterpart likely won't be very feasible in competitive play.
Also, with as few creatures as you have, I'd play homicidal seclusion as an additional way to give your pestilence sticks lifelink as well as just allowing you to send some beats. Plus, with all the life you'll be gaining, I'd recommend playing Kuro, Pitlord. He is a house when you've got extra life lying around, and being a 9/9, he can supply you with even more life with lifelink.
While you're not just mono-black like my deck, might I also recommend a small demon package to go along with Kuro and the Pestilence Demon? You could easily add Kagemaro, First to Suffer, Harvester of Souls, Bloodgift Demon, and maybe Reaper from the Abyss, all of which are solid creatures in EDH, and all of which make it definitely worth playing Blood Speaker, who can get you the demon for whatever particular board state you are currently dealing with.
All 5 shoals.
If you want to see the Betrayers FAQ: http://www.wizards.com/magic/displayexpansion.asp?set=bok&page=5&lang=en
There's the low hanging fruit that it's the new 4 cmc board wipe because day didn't get reprinted, it sounds wrath-y, and day of judgement was, in its day, a buy-a-box promo.
But consider all the buy-a-box promos from the past couple years: Memoricide, Mirran Crusader, Surgical Extraction, Chandra's Phoenix, Devil's Play, Gravecrawler, Silverblade Paladin, and Cathedral of War. Buy-a-box promos are cards that wizards can be fairly confident are going to be good cards, though perhaps not chase rares.
So as the baseless speculation continues, consider that the cards effect is likely not going to be some new, wacky effect that may or may not be good. It's likely going to be something safe. Something that has been good in the past, and there's no reason why it shouldn't be good in the future.
This is a perfect example of what I think is the biggest problem less experienced players have when building an EDH deck: playing answers to your opponent's stuff. Even though you get 99 card slots, many players will play mediocre cards that have any small amount of synergy with their commander or kill condition over quality removal. They'll throw in a 1 of Day of Judgement and maybe a 1 of Naturalize or something like that, thinking that loading their deck with synergy for their kill condition will just make it too hard for you to disrupt them.
What it boils down to is that no matter how much you pull your punches, if they don't try to block, you're still going to hit them. The best thing you can do for them is say things like, "wow, I didn't expect to get to untap with my Warstorm Surge," or "you almost got me there. good thing I had _______ to keep you from crushing me." Make them aware of why they need answers, and after the game, they'll ask you for suggestions to make their deck better.
For wincons, you've got celestial ancient, hoofprints of the stag, luminarch ascension, and whatever solid creatures you include (I recommend admonition angel (she gets a lot better with Teeg in play), Voidstone Gargoyle (who usually names oblivion stone or pernicious deed), and Linvala, Keeper of Silence (since she shuts down most non-etb creature abilities that might threaten your board)).
Then, to round out your phalanx of protection, I recommend torpor orb as protection against things like angel of despair and woodfall primus.
All that said, don't expect people to want to play against such a deck, but that seemed to be your intention.