Your missing the point... Those more "proactive cards" are not very good in this shell. The aggressive nature of those cards you listed earlier will undermine the entire concept of this deck and invariably lead to a hyper aggro build. The concept is to control with removal and high value trades/drops. I think you are trying too hard to make this deck into SoA Jund... Which was only really possible because of the incredible value BBE gave that deck.
Bloodgift, sever and tight plays. That's my board against the mirror. Against ourselves we need CA and threats. That's my advice.
Keeping with your CA theme. I could also see Rakdos return in the mirror. Sever obvs for wolf tokens, but otherwise it just seems like overcosted 1for1 removal. Gosh this sideboard seems like a nightmare... I wish there were more cards that did more agaist more decks then just 1 or 2. A catch all sweeper card if you will.
Again, mizzium is half a burn spell. Hell it's not even a burn spell. No damage to the face. So 2 mana creature removal, it's outclassed by Dreadbore.
Does someone have any mizzium testing done? Anyone? Is Mizzium solely being thrown about from theory crafting? B/c the card is bad. I've played it. 2 mana 4 dmg is awesome against like Loxodon, Resto Angel, any 1-3 drop, Dreg Mangler, w/e sure. But it's awful against any 4-5 drop and PW where Dreadbore is not. If it's Mizzium vs Dreadbore, dreadbore wins, if it's Mizzium vs Bonfire, bonfire wins. Mizzium is a ****tier version of two cards we already play in one.
The overload is rarely ever relevant, and usually only against GoST. A t6 answer to GoST is bad. Don't say "but it's live before then" because then you're not saving the card as an answer. You can't bank on having multiples of the card, especially out of the side. It's either going to be a sweeper or a STR, and for both cases it's severely outclassed. Give face damage, or instant speed and we can bring it up.
Whoa, whoa... Easy there bro... I am not talking about it vs. Bonfire. Not sure where you got that impression. (I have 3x bonfire in the main btw) i am talking out of the side. I have not playtested it yet, but I feel it is relevant in the mirror. It also is decent (not the greatest, but alright... It does hit the cards you named and it is not a huge commitment) against Bant as a sideboard option. What does dreadbore kill in that match that mortars can't? Overall i am more worried about Sigada than geist in that match. I have come to the conclusion in playtesting Geist will hit you and you will chump him all day long. I feel like there will be few plays out of the side that are as strong as the answers we have in the main already. So i am not going to sweat him. Moreover, I am not comparing tremblor to mortars (separate thought) I am talking two different sideboard cards. I mean what does any of the sideboards I have seen do in the mirror?
Ok, moving the discussion to sideboards... How has tremblor been working for people. I see people swear by it, but I feel like our match against zombie should already be good enough and bringing anything in out of the side like a 4th pillar and cage/whatever graveyard hate you choose really should win the match. Geist I feel is very situational sounding.
Also I have started to think about the mirror as it looks like Jund will see a ton of play this weekend at the open. In reading the last couple of pages I know people's feeling about mortars in the main, but what about the side? I feel like as a 2 of out of the side it is very live. Also, it can be used over other sorcery speed removal (Dreadbore) with overload potential late game. Looking at every decklist I have seen in this thread it hits everything in this deck and kills it. It is not the worst against Bant either. Sure it can't hit hexproof for 2, but it gives us a chance, and it hits nearly everything they play that does not. Again the overload can be decent here as well. I will test tremblor as well, but i am not high on it hitting what few creatures we have in here as well.
Barter in Blood I think is a good one against Bant, we can usually keep them to about two creatures with our other removal, forcing them to take down their Sigarda/GoST/Silverheart.
Fixed!! Sry, but you can't kill Sigarda with sacrifice effects...or any of their creatures for that matter if she happens to be out. That is why I am not really trying to answer her mainboard. You run for Sigarda your just losing vs. the rest of the format IMO.
@affidian
I like your mainboard very much, I'm playing your list except -1 Tragic Slip +1 Mountain.
On sideboard, I don't think Ancient Grudge deserves the spot anymore.. Speaking of value & increasing possibilities of more enchantments seeing play, I prefer 2x Acidic Slime in place of that. I can't agree more on Golgari Charm.. Duress/Slaughter games/Curse of Death's Hold is all meta dependant. For GY hate, I'm not sure the Shaman is what I want, as it needs to live past summoning sickness and is a body easily to be killed. I may choose Cremate for the cantrip effect, or Tormod's Crypt if a mass GY abuse is present in meta.
I definitely want some extra stuff beside Bonfire for hexproof creatures.. (Yes I'm talking about you, little Geist of St Traft) Maybe Rolling Temblor, Barter of Blood or Liliana of the Veil would work, I'm not sure on that.
On the other hand, I am seriously thinking of sideboarding 2 Wolfir Silverheart in Midrange matchups. The wolfir is definitely a beast in Midrange mirror, and you have a wide choice of removals to kill their threats.
Yeah, I have really yet to play with any kind of a sideboard. I kinda just threw one together recently. Silverheart may be an interesting option. I especially like it vs Mid-range.
I have not had much time to playtest since last Friday, but I will repost my list from the other thread anyway, except now it has a sideboard. I feel really comfortable with the maindeck the way it works, but the sideboard is another story. I really love the idea of getting Ancient Grudge... talk about value! I am just not sure what I will use it on except for oppossing witchbane orbs/maybe the keyrunes...
Of course, Sever the Bloodline also removes from game, so in addition to it killing anything and having flashback (as opposed to just dealing 2 damage)... it's going to get rid of Geralf's Messengers or the late game pack of Gravecrawlers. So... I don't know. I'm not going to definitively claim one is better on average (for all matchups) until I get a few more games in against Zombies. And the only reason I like Bloodline at all is because I've noticed I get to 7 mana basically every game, and it seems like a no brainer to be able to have two kill cards in one single card. I'm not expecting the part where it randomly hoses tokens to be important.
Ok, so after scanning through your lists I can see your problem... It was the same problem I had. You need more instant speed removal. Here is my removal again. 3x Abrupt Decay, 3x Pillar of Flame, 3x Tragic Slip, 3x Dreadbore. Also, Sever the Bloodline is too slow. We already have like a million 4 drops, and it is sorcery speed... Strictly a sideboard card.
We have to hold off the mana to kill either of them, but when we matchup their Geist with Nighthawk, we can't do that. If you hold mana, they would not play silverblade at all, and you take 6 damage.
I guess at that point I just take the damage for a turn. My friend was using Ajani 3.0 for Geist... But Silverblade is a whole new can of worms. Thanks for the info!!
@DreadnoughtW40K:
He plays Geist T3. I match up with Nighthawk.
On his T4 he plays Silverblade Paladin + Rancor on Geist and swings. Or I will eat an O-ring and still take the damage.
Oddly, I had never considered Silverblade Paladin... Still, the fact that we run 3x Abrupt Decay should make that not as good against my build that it is unanswerable in both cases of the Paladin and O-Ring.
I tested this list today.. Quite good game against zombies, but terrible vs. Bant hexproof. This deck performs very poor against Geist of Saint Traft.
I really need some suggestion against Geist. Perhaps Liliana of the Veil in place of Vampire Nighthawk? Seems that its pretty bad vs. zombies, so I could do it postboard.
Interesting that you had a bad game against Bant hexproof. I'd be interested to hear what the Bant Hexproof deck you played against ran? Nighthawk is the answer for Geist as people with Geist can't swing into an untapped Nighthawk unless they have more tricks up their sleeves then I am aware of. I playtested against a deck that ran both Sigarda and Geist and beat them easily.
People should NOT be running far seek OR bonfire in a control based jund deck
Temper thyself for a response...OK
Sigh... I think people are getting bogged down in the whole "control" concept. This is NOT a traditional control deck. In case people did not get the memo. Mid-Range is pretty much the new control in this format. This a control that is based off pure tempo that helped by Bonfire (a one sided board wipe. And Farseek is the engine this deck runs on to get stuff like your many four drops down a turn earlier and make your mana sinks better. if you wanna cut it that is your choice. I would not recommend it, but I aknowledge there is more than one way to build a deck.
You always should be running liliana mainboard, just take an example of modern.
Liliana is terrible against one of the most obvious playable decks in the format (Zombies). She is also super awkward with the discard. Unless you run some way to abuse the graveyard then she is just about worthless in here.
Vraska is perfect in a jund control based deck, it is a win condition, and deals with w/e your other cards cant deal with.
Her negative ability is useful... Everything else is useless. In testing I found that most people ignored her until she used the negative ability and then they killed her. So basically she amounted to a non-land Vindicate that may also eat up damage. At best she gets to Vindicate two things and that almost never happened. I was just not impressed. With the inclusion of the new O-Ring, Needle, and Dreadbore; Planeswalkers have more playable hate than I have ever seen. She could be good, but I just don't see it.
Also 23 land??? You want to be running 25+ in almost any control deck
Bottom line I am building a mid-range deck... I believe that typical control is unplayable.
Yeah, there are times when casting or activating Connections has to be delayed because of some valuable 4/5 drop. It's not that much of a problem - just wait a turn and start drawing. If you preferred casting that 4/5 drop, it probably influenced board position and gave you time to stabilize.
However, Sign in Blood happens to occupy the same 2 CMC spot as Abrupt Decay, Dreadbore, Mortars and especially Farseek. The whole "T2 Farseek, T3 one of our great 4-drops" move is really powerful, and casting SiB asap slows it down. Connections eat up some of our resources with each activation, but you can repeat it any number of times. SiB is faster than the enchantment, but we aren't gonna race anyone. This is not an aggro deck, is it?
No it is not, and for the record I am not against the card. I just personally prefer SIB at the moment as it is not as prone to removal as the enchantment. Obviously if you have a Farseek in hand it is not really a debate (you cast the farseek t2). I have been known to hold SIB till I simply run low on cards usually around turn 6-8 I start running critically low. Just because you have the card in hand does not mean you have to cast it. Generally this deck will want to keep as much pace as it can to keep up with the quicker Aggro decks and will want to force slower more traditional control decks to answer what we have.
Nighthawk is the perfect answer to her. She's gonna drop t5 (maybe t4 with a farseek, a dork will not be living). I can see 3 different nighthawks by then, and lists have her as a 2-of. I don't see her as a problem for this deck.
Sib is a very very good draw card, and card advantage will be a big thing for this deck. I see it as a necessary mb slot, 2 at least.
She is a problem, but she is not impossible to deal with as was pointed out above. Every deck in this format has some weakness. Ours is a Legendary creature that also happens to cause its fair share of issues for other decks. I mean, if WE have problems with her I am pretty sure every deck will have issues with her as we will end up running some of the best pound for pound removal in the format. keep in mind we can also outrace a Sigarda player with a Nighthawk and a Kessig Wolf Run if it just becomes a brawl.
What was your opinion on Underworld Connections? It's better against control IMO in those longer games that tend to get grindy. I brought UC up before but never got your take on it amidst all the talk about Chandra and Keyrunes.
There was some discussion about it. I believe the general problem with it was that it was inefficient in this deck, and that it used up mana that could be better spent in order to be effective.
On the prospect of underworld dreams, there's not a good reason to drop it on turn three. Its pretty bad at taking up our land as a sort of anti-tempo. If we save it until a break in the action (either at 5 with mana up for either the card draw or removal, or some time later when we're almost out of a hand) thats when it hits its strong point. We don't want to screw ourselves in the long run by setting us a turn behind of everyone hoping to just draw cards. Also, on the off chance a ramp deck slams acidic slime turn four, and we're on the draw, taking the entire turn to not even draw a card, then have that land destroyed would be the nail in the coffin. You should save Underworld to be able to draw the turn you play it.
I'm going to be doing some testing today so I'll let you know.
I'm a big game 1 freak, I have to have the perfect deck for every game 1, which is why I'm having a hard time with the numbers. Pillars vs Slips, Farseeks vs Sign in Blood. I hate having dead cards to certain decks, and I hate having to back-to-back my opponent.
I see how Pillar is the way to go against zombies, and seeing as they're going to be a huge player, dropping to 2 might not be in our best interest. I also agree with you on SiB being our only real card draw, so why drop that as well.
My teammate is proxying zombies, I wish I had someone playing Bant (maybe I'll make him destroy his delver, too), and I have my own Selesnya aggro build. I'm going to test basically against those 3 as I see those as the strongest decks in the new meta.
Also, was Thragtusk at 3 enough for you? I wrote a whole thing about how I want to keep mine at 4, but if 3 is good enough that frees open a slot for me to test with.
Honestly 3 has been enough for me. I would like a 4th myself, but I think that extra Olivia really takes that 4th slot and I have never really hated to see her, or wished she was a Thragtusk. Also, dropping to 23 lands means hitting 5 mana t4-5 is a little harder especially if you are forced to be defensive in the early game and can't continue to farseek with impunity.
What about Ultimate Price?
It has drawback, but it still hits quite a lot of cards - wolfir, delver, angel, tokens, thragtusk.
Ultimate price is a card I playtested with for a bit. Honestly, it is a better card then most people realize. It's drawback currently is really small. I just think there are more efficient removal spells at the moment. I suppose if I had to remove one card from it might be Abrupt Decay, but in testing the 3 cmc clause has not really mattered.
I started playing /w 4 SiB, however after a while i cut it to 3, then to 2. Now i am playing none and 2 Underworld connections. I know it is bad for our mana. But honestly, do u like using SiB on turn 2 or 3 or 4? At that time i prefer to cast killspell/ramp/nighthawk/huntmaster/thragtusk. Also using SiB on turn 2 while on draw is just cycling - as u then have to discard a card.
I see SIB as less of a spell you want to curve out on, and more a spell you can use at any point in the game. In fact it's really more useful in the late game when you are trying to finish the game as it acts a direct damage if you need it too, or it can draw you the cards you need to win. For instance one of my games ended when my opponent was at 6 life he was tapped out after playing Thragtusk, and I had a Nighthawk, a dreadbore and a tragic slip and a Sign in Blood in hand. I SIB and drew a Kessig Wolf Run to end the game. This is just one instance where this card has shined.
I also use 1 Garruk Relentless and 1 Liliana of the Dark Realms. U might think she is quite bad, but i rly like her. Getting land is rly important as i use it /w kessig wolf run, revelations and rakdos's return. Also she is repetable removal or pump spell - use it on nighthawk and u find gigantic life swing.
As has been stated on here before. It just depends how black you want this deck to be. I see you have Mutilate as a possible removal spell so in that case Liliana may not be a bad choice. My problem with cards like Liliana and Borderland ranger is really quite simple. They don't put the land into play. What makes Farseek so good is not really that it fixes our mana pool..It is that it ramps us a turn ahead. And allows for maximum damage from cards like Bonfire/Wolf Run.
Need to figure correct ratio. I dont have bonfire's, because i dont rly like them in this build. This should be "Jund Control", not agro. So i dont rly care about my opponent's life total, as i want to have control over the board. That's why i have mortars and mutilate. Both are much better when bonfire is not miracled, as one is solid sweeper, and the other can be used as spot removal. My only basic lands are swamps and i use 8 shocklands and 4 Farseeks, and i find them rly good.
Bonfire is amazing as it acts as both one sided removal (something Mutilate does not do) and direct damage (which is something Mortars does not do). Mortars is usable in place of Bonfire (as we have seen in Panda's list), but even he acknowledges Bonfire is better. I see Bonfire less as a direct damage spell, and more of a board advantage spell that just happens to hit their life total as well (a bonus). It is a true control finisher in every sense of the word. If you can you should try them before you write them off as aggro cards.
So do you think SIB warrants 3 slots if we really aren't using it t2? I mean, late game we can drop that and say a Nighthawk in the same turn which would be nice.
I'm also wondering if a full set of Slips and only 2 pillars would benefit the deck. With Relentless tokens, huntmaster tokens, our need to chump block problems with Nighthawk and Thragtusks love for self-sacrifice, the -13/-13 seems to be a very live condition. It gives the deck a nice t1 play, seeing either those or pillars, essentially guaranteeing our opponents t1 monster does not stay.
A full set of slips and dropping to 2 pillars might be worth testing. The only thing I worry about there is what that does to our zombie matchup. Slip is strictly better against the rest of what I have playtested so far, but is a little awkward against Messenger.
As for dropping the SiB count... It could just be the way I play things, but the concept of dropping our only real form of card draw scares me. For most of my games last night the three that I was running were consistently right where I needed them.
If you do drop that number down in both respects let me know how it goes.
You found the 24th land to be constricting? 23 sounds not horrible, and I suppose with 4 farseek and 3 SiB we're moving through a lot of our deck.
I think I'm going to be moving the duress to sideboard and go for all removal. What was your normal t2 play? Would your rather see Farseek or SiB t2?
I just found that even with the marginal thinning that Farseek gives I just kept drawing lands when I had 24.
I prefer to see Farseek t2. I believe that the real power of this deck is to accelerate into our Huntmasters, Olivia's, and even sometimes Garruk on t3, and then drop Thragtusk t4 or drop Nighthawks with mana open for instant speed removal backup. It also does not hurt that Farseek in the early game allows for blowout level Wolf's Run activations and devastating miracle Bonfires when we are looking to close the deal.
SiB is more of an if you need the cards/if your hand is getting light, or if you just need 2 damage to win the game.
Woah, been here since '07 myself and this is out of nowhere! I certainly hope we can continue in some form... I have come to rely on this site as my main MTG website. Also I am still curious about why? Magic was still doing pretty well by all measures. Suggesting they could not justify the expense implies that the site itself was not doing well despite the popularity of the game writ large. That is something considering this website is one of the bigger sites for non-retailer related magic content.
Your missing the point... Those more "proactive cards" are not very good in this shell. The aggressive nature of those cards you listed earlier will undermine the entire concept of this deck and invariably lead to a hyper aggro build. The concept is to control with removal and high value trades/drops. I think you are trying too hard to make this deck into SoA Jund... Which was only really possible because of the incredible value BBE gave that deck.
Keeping with your CA theme. I could also see Rakdos return in the mirror. Sever obvs for wolf tokens, but otherwise it just seems like overcosted 1for1 removal. Gosh this sideboard seems like a nightmare... I wish there were more cards that did more agaist more decks then just 1 or 2. A catch all sweeper card if you will.
Whoa, whoa... Easy there bro... I am not talking about it vs. Bonfire. Not sure where you got that impression. (I have 3x bonfire in the main btw) i am talking out of the side. I have not playtested it yet, but I feel it is relevant in the mirror. It also is decent (not the greatest, but alright... It does hit the cards you named and it is not a huge commitment) against Bant as a sideboard option. What does dreadbore kill in that match that mortars can't? Overall i am more worried about Sigada than geist in that match. I have come to the conclusion in playtesting Geist will hit you and you will chump him all day long. I feel like there will be few plays out of the side that are as strong as the answers we have in the main already. So i am not going to sweat him. Moreover, I am not comparing tremblor to mortars (separate thought) I am talking two different sideboard cards. I mean what does any of the sideboards I have seen do in the mirror?
Also I have started to think about the mirror as it looks like Jund will see a ton of play this weekend at the open. In reading the last couple of pages I know people's feeling about mortars in the main, but what about the side? I feel like as a 2 of out of the side it is very live. Also, it can be used over other sorcery speed removal (Dreadbore) with overload potential late game. Looking at every decklist I have seen in this thread it hits everything in this deck and kills it. It is not the worst against Bant either. Sure it can't hit hexproof for 2, but it gives us a chance, and it hits nearly everything they play that does not. Again the overload can be decent here as well. I will test tremblor as well, but i am not high on it hitting what few creatures we have in here as well.
Fixed!! Sry, but you can't kill Sigarda with sacrifice effects...or any of their creatures for that matter if she happens to be out. That is why I am not really trying to answer her mainboard. You run for Sigarda your just losing vs. the rest of the format IMO.
Yeah, I have really yet to play with any kind of a sideboard. I kinda just threw one together recently. Silverheart may be an interesting option. I especially like it vs Mid-range.
4x Vampire Nighthawk
4x Huntmaster of the Fells
3x Thragtusk
2x Olivia Voldaren
Spells
4x Farseek
3x Sign in Blood
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Tragic Slip
3x Dreadbore
3x Pillar of Flame
3x Bonfire of the Damned
2x Garruk Relentless
Lands
4x Blood Crypt
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Woodland Cemetery
2x Rootbound Crag
2x Kessig Wolf Run
2x Forest
1x Swamp
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Dreadbore
2x Golgari Charm
3x Duress
2x Slaughter Games
2x Curse of Deaths Hold
3x Deathrite Shaman
Ok, so after scanning through your lists I can see your problem... It was the same problem I had. You need more instant speed removal. Here is my removal again. 3x Abrupt Decay, 3x Pillar of Flame, 3x Tragic Slip, 3x Dreadbore. Also, Sever the Bloodline is too slow. We already have like a million 4 drops, and it is sorcery speed... Strictly a sideboard card.
I guess at that point I just take the damage for a turn. My friend was using Ajani 3.0 for Geist... But Silverblade is a whole new can of worms. Thanks for the info!!
Oddly, I had never considered Silverblade Paladin... Still, the fact that we run 3x Abrupt Decay should make that not as good against my build that it is unanswerable in both cases of the Paladin and O-Ring.
Interesting that you had a bad game against Bant hexproof. I'd be interested to hear what the Bant Hexproof deck you played against ran? Nighthawk is the answer for Geist as people with Geist can't swing into an untapped Nighthawk unless they have more tricks up their sleeves then I am aware of. I playtested against a deck that ran both Sigarda and Geist and beat them easily.
Temper thyself for a response...OK
Sigh... I think people are getting bogged down in the whole "control" concept. This is NOT a traditional control deck. In case people did not get the memo. Mid-Range is pretty much the new control in this format. This a control that is based off pure tempo that helped by Bonfire (a one sided board wipe. And Farseek is the engine this deck runs on to get stuff like your many four drops down a turn earlier and make your mana sinks better. if you wanna cut it that is your choice. I would not recommend it, but I aknowledge there is more than one way to build a deck.
Liliana is terrible against one of the most obvious playable decks in the format (Zombies). She is also super awkward with the discard. Unless you run some way to abuse the graveyard then she is just about worthless in here.
Her negative ability is useful... Everything else is useless. In testing I found that most people ignored her until she used the negative ability and then they killed her. So basically she amounted to a non-land Vindicate that may also eat up damage. At best she gets to Vindicate two things and that almost never happened. I was just not impressed. With the inclusion of the new O-Ring, Needle, and Dreadbore; Planeswalkers have more playable hate than I have ever seen. She could be good, but I just don't see it.
Bottom line I am building a mid-range deck... I believe that typical control is unplayable.
No it is not, and for the record I am not against the card. I just personally prefer SIB at the moment as it is not as prone to removal as the enchantment. Obviously if you have a Farseek in hand it is not really a debate (you cast the farseek t2). I have been known to hold SIB till I simply run low on cards usually around turn 6-8 I start running critically low. Just because you have the card in hand does not mean you have to cast it. Generally this deck will want to keep as much pace as it can to keep up with the quicker Aggro decks and will want to force slower more traditional control decks to answer what we have.
She is a problem, but she is not impossible to deal with as was pointed out above. Every deck in this format has some weakness. Ours is a Legendary creature that also happens to cause its fair share of issues for other decks. I mean, if WE have problems with her I am pretty sure every deck will have issues with her as we will end up running some of the best pound for pound removal in the format. keep in mind we can also outrace a Sigarda player with a Nighthawk and a Kessig Wolf Run if it just becomes a brawl.
There was some discussion about it. I believe the general problem with it was that it was inefficient in this deck, and that it used up mana that could be better spent in order to be effective.
Honestly 3 has been enough for me. I would like a 4th myself, but I think that extra Olivia really takes that 4th slot and I have never really hated to see her, or wished she was a Thragtusk. Also, dropping to 23 lands means hitting 5 mana t4-5 is a little harder especially if you are forced to be defensive in the early game and can't continue to farseek with impunity.
Ultimate price is a card I playtested with for a bit. Honestly, it is a better card then most people realize. It's drawback currently is really small. I just think there are more efficient removal spells at the moment. I suppose if I had to remove one card from it might be Abrupt Decay, but in testing the 3 cmc clause has not really mattered.
I see SIB as less of a spell you want to curve out on, and more a spell you can use at any point in the game. In fact it's really more useful in the late game when you are trying to finish the game as it acts a direct damage if you need it too, or it can draw you the cards you need to win. For instance one of my games ended when my opponent was at 6 life he was tapped out after playing Thragtusk, and I had a Nighthawk, a dreadbore and a tragic slip and a Sign in Blood in hand. I SIB and drew a Kessig Wolf Run to end the game. This is just one instance where this card has shined.
As has been stated on here before. It just depends how black you want this deck to be. I see you have Mutilate as a possible removal spell so in that case Liliana may not be a bad choice. My problem with cards like Liliana and Borderland ranger is really quite simple. They don't put the land into play. What makes Farseek so good is not really that it fixes our mana pool..It is that it ramps us a turn ahead. And allows for maximum damage from cards like Bonfire/Wolf Run.
Bonfire is amazing as it acts as both one sided removal (something Mutilate does not do) and direct damage (which is something Mortars does not do). Mortars is usable in place of Bonfire (as we have seen in Panda's list), but even he acknowledges Bonfire is better. I see Bonfire less as a direct damage spell, and more of a board advantage spell that just happens to hit their life total as well (a bonus). It is a true control finisher in every sense of the word. If you can you should try them before you write them off as aggro cards.
A full set of slips and dropping to 2 pillars might be worth testing. The only thing I worry about there is what that does to our zombie matchup. Slip is strictly better against the rest of what I have playtested so far, but is a little awkward against Messenger.
As for dropping the SiB count... It could just be the way I play things, but the concept of dropping our only real form of card draw scares me. For most of my games last night the three that I was running were consistently right where I needed them.
If you do drop that number down in both respects let me know how it goes.
I just found that even with the marginal thinning that Farseek gives I just kept drawing lands when I had 24.
I prefer to see Farseek t2. I believe that the real power of this deck is to accelerate into our Huntmasters, Olivia's, and even sometimes Garruk on t3, and then drop Thragtusk t4 or drop Nighthawks with mana open for instant speed removal backup. It also does not hurt that Farseek in the early game allows for blowout level Wolf's Run activations and devastating miracle Bonfires when we are looking to close the deal.
SiB is more of an if you need the cards/if your hand is getting light, or if you just need 2 damage to win the game.