If you like your deck as-is, and dont want to change any cards, dont.
Nobody is going to force you to test new cards.
But saying he makes the deck less consistent is not true (if anything, it is just another cycler)
Saying he makes the deck vulnerable to thoughtseize is again not really true, since every other card we are considering for the spot is just as vulnerable to thoughtseize if not more.
If you want the analysis to be helpful, you have to show the other side too.
If you prefer to run shriekmaw, thats fine.
But it is a flexible answer to Scavenging Ooze, Jace, Tarmogoyf, Noble Hierarch, or Birds of Paradise, that is kind of dead vs affinity, classic tron, uw control, scapeshift, RG titan, deaths shadow, and dredge for example. Vs a 4/4 that goes from amazing to meh, but never useless.
If you want to compare the 2 cards, you have to compare them across the board, not just in scenarios where shriekmaw is good.
Same with with the rest. If you prefer to run 2 landcyclers, you have to not only compare how good a landcycler to get your correct mana is vs how good a 4/4 beatstick is when you have someone locked under blood moon, but also compare think about all the times you dont have a blood moon out, and then also try to compare whether being able to get a land for sure out of your 2 mana cycler is worth more than it cycling for random cards, but sometimes being able to cast it for free.
I can end this conversation fairly quick. Hallowed One sucks. He is a two mana cycler and not even the best two mana cycler, that spot is reserved for Archfiend and even then it doesn't see much play.
As far as coming down early? He can only come down as long as you have 3 mana available, and in those cases you would much rather cast your cascader to actually combo.
He is an artifact creature that has no abilities meaning he is open to more forms of removal, and if you are casting creatures on the board you already went to plan B meaning you rather be casting bigger creatures than him. You aren't going to try to clock your opponent with a 4/4 when there are Shadows, Tarmogoyfs and K. Commands running around. There isn't a single card I would cut for this creature.
I don't think it's an expense thing. I think it's a calculated call. Sometimes letting someone gain a life can matter and put a whole extra turn on the clock. I have never been a fan of grove but been playing them because of Shadow.
I like the dryad for sure but the lynx is better in terms of what the deck is looking to do. Lynx provides more damage quicker. Brad Nelson said something that made since to me in the deck tech and that was that people don't want to waste removal on the lynx, yet they have to at times. So essentially it offers enough of a potential threat that it has to be considered. It turns on ferocious by itself as well.
There are pros and cons to both. Steppe Lynx can create more mulligans with one land hands. Steppe Lynx is a dead draw more times than not. Dryad does less damage in the early game, and is a bombo with become immense. I always keep this thought in my head of what if I'm swinging with Dryad and X-Creature and need to become immense for lethal but I can't....because then it shrinks dyrad by 2 points.
This is why I roll the dice with lynx as opposed to dryad even though I like him more in terms of a creature. I like the potential of doing a lot of damage early to limit opponents options.
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I can end this conversation fairly quick. Hallowed One sucks. He is a two mana cycler and not even the best two mana cycler, that spot is reserved for Archfiend and even then it doesn't see much play.
As far as coming down early? He can only come down as long as you have 3 mana available, and in those cases you would much rather cast your cascader to actually combo.
He is an artifact creature that has no abilities meaning he is open to more forms of removal, and if you are casting creatures on the board you already went to plan B meaning you rather be casting bigger creatures than him. You aren't going to try to clock your opponent with a 4/4 when there are Shadows, Tarmogoyfs and K. Commands running around. There isn't a single card I would cut for this creature.
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There are pros and cons to both. Steppe Lynx can create more mulligans with one land hands. Steppe Lynx is a dead draw more times than not. Dryad does less damage in the early game, and is a bombo with become immense. I always keep this thought in my head of what if I'm swinging with Dryad and X-Creature and need to become immense for lethal but I can't....because then it shrinks dyrad by 2 points.
This is why I roll the dice with lynx as opposed to dryad even though I like him more in terms of a creature. I like the potential of doing a lot of damage early to limit opponents options.