Seems great to me. I doubt opponents will pay by default, so you're getting ~3 storable mana per round. Sometimes more, sometimes less. And if they do, you're effectively ramped by 2 mana anyway. In their eyes, it won't feel good to collectively pay 6 merely to prevent you from making _one_ spirit.
Things like Serra's Sanctum or Black Market are strictly ramp (albeit very high yield) and, while we do want those, I really like that "Something Tithe" provides so much flexibility. Save your treasure and you're effectively never fully tapped out. Spend one or two at a time to accelerate while still banking the rest. Burn a bunch on that critical turn. Whatever you need that round. I really like how it enables the reactive Constellation trigger threat so my opponents need to play around it, without holding me back from continuing to develop my game plan or letting mana go to waste if it wasn't all needed.
It also feels anti climatic that the majority of punishments are just burn to the face.
You haven't lived until you've Blood Oathed someone for 42, fizzling another player's Garruk, Apex Predator -3 activation on a 30+ power Sturmgeist via player removal.
Half the joy of the deck is the clever interactions and surprise. If instead of damage you ran cards that destroyed creatures or lands or hands as the method of punishment, you destroy the feel-good factor. Someone is left resenting their weakened board state but has to endure while you figure out how to finish winning, and you've made yourself a target by tipping your hand.
The deck is very unassuming from across the table, though repeat opponents learn to pick off your early defensive permanents. Even still, the deck is fun to play as or against. For me, my Queen Marchesa version boasts one of my better win rates yet is still fun to lose as. Games tend to always end in memorable fashion, in either case.
Regarding Nekusar, perhaps Gideon's Intervention would do the job? It lets you keep drawing without taking the damage, so you're not several cards behind the rest of the table. If you wait until the turn after they play him, they're still the villain that's pinging down everyone else and likely no one will fault you for protecting yourself (even though you could have spared the others). You also might pivot into being the hero if someone removes Nekusar and you're now what's keeping him from being replayed. This doesn't stop Molten Psyche, though you'd hopefully be in enough better shape than the others that it doesn't especially matter.
Things like Serra's Sanctum or Black Market are strictly ramp (albeit very high yield) and, while we do want those, I really like that "Something Tithe" provides so much flexibility. Save your treasure and you're effectively never fully tapped out. Spend one or two at a time to accelerate while still banking the rest. Burn a bunch on that critical turn. Whatever you need that round. I really like how it enables the reactive Constellation trigger threat so my opponents need to play around it, without holding me back from continuing to develop my game plan or letting mana go to waste if it wasn't all needed.
You haven't lived until you've Blood Oathed someone for 42, fizzling another player's Garruk, Apex Predator -3 activation on a 30+ power Sturmgeist via player removal.
Half the joy of the deck is the clever interactions and surprise. If instead of damage you ran cards that destroyed creatures or lands or hands as the method of punishment, you destroy the feel-good factor. Someone is left resenting their weakened board state but has to endure while you figure out how to finish winning, and you've made yourself a target by tipping your hand.
The deck is very unassuming from across the table, though repeat opponents learn to pick off your early defensive permanents. Even still, the deck is fun to play as or against. For me, my Queen Marchesa version boasts one of my better win rates yet is still fun to lose as. Games tend to always end in memorable fashion, in either case.