The problem is that certain slots in the deck have dependencies (see the arrows) on other parts of the list, most prominently Academy Ruins which is pretty pointless without Engineered Explosives and/or Life from the Loam in the list, otherwise I have no way to tutor it up deterministically. The same is true for Tectonic Edge and Life from the Loam, a 1-of isn't even close to reliable enough without recursion. Raven's Crime is also pretty lacklustre without the latter, so cutting individual cards in the above list lets me throw over other choices as well. I feel that Maelstrom Pulse is important as a 1-of, just because I like to have enough unconditional removal available to assemble a proper Gifts pile to deal with virtually anything. That said, I'd probably like a 3rd copy of Lingering Souls somewhere in the list, maybe instead of Kaya's Guile given the shift in the metagame. Kalitas has been pretty solid in closing out the game rather quickly, stabilising against aggressive strategies and providing disruption against graveyard-centric decks, so he's not going anywhere for now.
Do you have any findings to report so far? I haven't had too much time for testing.
I feel that LotV is holding the deck together somewhat, in every build I have tried so far I have missed slamming turn 3 LotV into turn 4 interaction or Gifts at the end of their turn. She complements the discard suite and is an absolute house (and one of the better bets) against UWx currently, otherwise the matchup is a little lopsided I feel. Good that you mention the 3-drop issue, I fell into this exact trap with an UWx-like build of 4C Gifts quite recently, which felt super clunky at times due to precisely this. I had a look at my current list and I run 10 3-drops in the mainboard, including Snapcaster Mage (although he's a 4-drop at times as well). The sideboard contains another 5 3-drops in LtLH, Cry of the Carnarium, Ensnaring Bridge and 2x Unmoored Ego, so I'm quite top-heavy after all.
Witness vs. Snapcaster is a matter of priorities I guess, I can see the benefit of running Witness but you give up the instant speed interaction Snapcaster provides, getting back removal/discard also costs more than it does with Snapcaster. In your list however, there are several things he can't get back, so maybe Witness is the right call. That said, Tarmogoyf sounds appealing, although it depends on the graveyard just as the rest of the deck does, so there's not really a proper plan B I feel, which is probably true for most lists floating around currently.
Agreed, it has several angles of attack but so do we. I recall that Lantern and Whir Prison had troubles with GBx decks due to their removal suite that per default could hit artifacts. Sure, extrapolating this to Urza might not be 100% true but maybe shows a tendency that the matchup isn't totally awful like it is with Tron, for example. The popular lists don't have a pre-board answer for Elesh Norn either (apart from Whir for Nihil Spellbomb if you want to be precise), afterwards it is often just Trophy which might be an issue. Hard to tell but not hopeless I'd say.
I am pretty excited what your findings will be at the MC, the list looks quite good, although Elesh Norn in the board seems wild to me at first glance, as does the (almost) lack of Lingering Souls and LotV. I wouldn't leave the house without 2 Snapcaster Mages, too. The rest is neat, Eternal Witness is a pain with 1GG sometimes, this would probably mean that I'd need to get rid off JtMS mainboard. 12 fetchlands seem excessive, how does the life loss work out so far (maybe include an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth somewhere, this land is so great)? How do you reliably discard your drawn combo pieces, Brutality, Chart a Course, JVP and a single LotV don't seem to be enough?
Matchup-wise I am not really worried about Titanshift to be honest, I think we can delay their clock with discard and pretty much lock them out via Iona on G, which is in principle also true for Burn, but their clock is half a turn or a turn faster than Titanshift's, which makes me a little worried. I haven't played much against Burn but the matchup was unfavourable, most definitely. A more midrange-ish build with Goyf might help here as well, Goyf is a good wall if need be. I can't comment on the sideboard much, but what do you plan to do against UWx Control, pressure early and Jund 'em out? I have always found that their lategame has more inevitability and Loam/Crime was our most promising path to victory, that's why I still have Tec Edge in the list over Field or Ghost Quarter. This lets me lose percentage points against Tron, obviously, which is why I try to hinder them with Damping Sphere and Unmoored Ego in the sideboard, the latter which incidentally helps against Titanshift and Whirza, respectively. What about Monastery Mentor btw., has anyone thought about this route? Unearth comes in handy here as well.
Whirza is interesting, we can reliably kill Urza as soon as he hits the board I suppose, between Path, Push, Trophy and LotV/Maelstrom Pulse he won't stick for long and our disruption pieces hit pretty much their entire deck. As far as the rest is concerned, this is a matchup where I rely on Explosives/Ruins to deal with whatever they are trying to do, the same strategy that basically applies to artifact prison strategies such as Lantern, throw in some Lingering Souls to have a slight clock and you are not in the worst of spots. Again, not much experience in these matchups, mostly theorycrafting. On the other hand, combining disruption with a clock with an Unearth package sounds pretty appealing, too, so I might go down this route as I have everything sleeved up already.
Great to see some activity in this primer. I have hopped into the archetype quite recently and posted my first attempt a few posts above. The B splash was initially only for the sideboard (Slaughter Games, that is) but I can see replacing the sweepers and/or Bolts in the main with harder removal in Decay/Trophy and maybe even Fatal Push, although triggering it might be not as reliable as one would like to with only 6 fetchlands. I currently only have a single Blood Crypt as B source, would you advise towards running a basic swamp or an Overgrown Tomb as well? The current list has 14 mountains.
The sideboard is kind of all over the place, not sure if Abrade shouldn't be something like Destructive Revelry for example. Criticism and suggestions of any kind are welcome.
Alright, you might want to proxy them in order to get an idea of how they play, it's a hell of a lot different with LotV. Snap/Revival with Gifts does however not get you a turn 4/5 sweeper if you don't have at least 6 mana available and are willing to burn your 1-of Snapcaster Mage, I'm not sure if this is what you want to be doing. Same thing with BtL as your 4th Gifts, if you use it as such most of the time it's just better to run the 4th Gifts anyway and skip the hurdle of a 5 mana and 2 colour sorcery, but go ahead with testing and report your finding, maybe in a slower meta this can be re-evaluated accordingly.
I made room for 2x Unmoored Ego, but I fear this still isn't enough for the Tron matchup due to their inevitability and our lack of a proper clock. They will eventually still cast their big stuff and we're done for, Karn and/or Ulamog are a huge beating, they go after our lands usually. This is the most recent version of the board, by the way:
Good catch, Cry of the Carnarium is probably better in most situations and I even have some lying around. I might swap the Crucible and something else for an Unmoored Ego or two, both because I need it in another deck and Loam somewhat does the job, although not skipping the draw step with Crucible is a nice upside. With Birds of Paradise in the deck Ego would be castable on the draw against Tron, too.
I recall your statement about Wildwood blocking Phoenix and dodging Bolt, yes. Now that this isn't an issue any longer or at least not with the speed the deck once had, I think Colonnade is the better catch in your deck. Under an Elesh Norn it also hits for 6 in the air, which helps closing out games before the opponent can find meaningful interaction, in the end she dies to Path, Terminate, Dreadbore and locking out one colour often doesn't do it either.
Reading through your bullet points above I was wondering about one statement: You say that you would like to 1-for-1 your opponent into oblivion and take the lead with better topdecks, which is generally true but in strong contrast to playing the full set of Caryatids. I have gone down to zero copies because of precisely this issue, they don't pressure the opponent even after an Elesh Norn hits the field and feel so bad when drawn after turn 2-3. And frankly, the mana base is fine in 4 colours without them and 25 lands, given you run 9-10 on-colour fetchlands and only 1-2 utility lands. That said, while testing I did not have too many issues with Sultai Charm on turn 3 even without dorks, BUG are my main colours, but I found it to be a little clunky and went back to Decay/Trophy, respectively.
I can see Chemister's Insight being good, but it clogs up your hand in the 4-drop slot which is a notorious problem for this kind of deck (alongside with UWx, but for another reason). The same thing is true for BtL, it looks good on paper but is pure clunk when you have it in your starting hand which again, is already an issue at times with our two big creatures. Without much selection/filtering I would go for the full 4x Gifts Ungiven, I always want to draw one. At this point I'd like to ask again, why don't you run any LotV? Caryatids could even protect her if you are not willing to go down on those, she steamrolls the UWx matchup when leaved unchecked and helps grind out most opponents while you get rid off either their creatures of net value of discarding Souls or fatties. As mentioned many times by many people, she's the glue that kept the deck together for all these years. I like the inclusion of Gideon, AoZ in your list though, I see that he's much better on T3 than T4 which justifies playing dorks, 2WW doesn't seem like a challenge for your list, too. What's up with the single sweeper in your list? I recall that you were a strong proponent of playing 3 of those (or 2 with Revival) to guarantee a sweeper on turn 4 with a previously cast Gifts.
A side note on Mardu/Jund and/or Shadow builds, I recently tested against some of those (Pyro) builds and if your meta is heavy on this kind of strategy, try running Sphinx of the Steel Wind in your board as a Gifts/Rites target, it is totally hilarious as it kills Angler, Tasigur and all their dudes and they basically concede if you're not super far behind. They are also light on threats, so focus the removal on the Shadows, they are hit by everything be have from Push, Path, Decay, Trophy, Pulse and Liliana. Apart from that, they can't do much about your plan preboard.
I think this depends on the actual build. The Miracles version with Terminus doesn't work at all without 3x Jace, the version with more traditional board wipes can function, although losing a few percentage points. Fact or Fiction is a great card advantage engine in the CMC4 slot, so you might want to try this one, however it does somewhat require Snapcaster Mage. Otherwise you could try going in a more midrangy direction with your deck, Geist of Saint Traft and Spell Queller are great additions here.
I haven't tested yet in the new meta landscape, so I can't tell whether we are in a good spot right now or not, but our deck encourages good knowledge of the meta and the main lines of our opponents' decks, so I suppose the win rate will go up again once we have an idea what to expect, given the first few land drops and spells from the other side of the table.
Regarding your list, I have a few comments as always: Now that Phoenix isn't prevalent anymore and Delver shouldn't be an issue either, I think it is time to replace the Stirring Wildwood and play either Colonnade or Tar Pit. Also, I wouldn't go below 9 fetchlands, but I guess I can't argue if it works fine for you. My experience so far was that CMC3 removal spells are immensely clunky, which is why I would advocate for Fatal Push, triggering it is rarely an issue. Have you thought a bout 1 1-of Engineered Explosives? How was the split between IoK and Brutality so far? Taking higher-CMC cards such as JtMS or planeswalkers against UWx always feels great, I wouldn't want to miss Thoughtseize. Not a fan of Chart a Course (and Radical Idea after I tested it) to be honest, it just doesn't do enough and consumes an entire turn in the early game. Especially not as more grindy, slow-pace games seem to approach, I can't value the full set of Liliana of the Veil high enough.
Given the opportunity, let me share my current build as well, although not much has changed in the Rock version.
I have adopted a single Thrun in the sideboard, we'll see if the GG is an issue, Ensnaring Bridge has been moved in favour of a Kaya's Guile although it has been quite good several times already. An active Liliana together with a Bridge is quite good against most non-GB creature-based decks in the format, occasionally even temporarily against UWx and their Colonnades, but that's not the main point. Otherwise pretty much standard, Kalitas has performed great so far, I would fit the 3rd Lingering Souls if I could though, closing out games fast enough when turning the corner is key in many games, we can't establish the same level of lategame board control as UWx.
I also fear that the B&R announcement leads to a rise in G Tron, Jund I do not mind nearly as much. I can't say anything about Grixis/Esper Urza as I haven't played the matchup a single time but I could imagine that Elesh Norn, Academy Ruins/EE together with Decay/Trophy and heavy discard is pretty good against the archetype, paired with Surgicals and Stony Silence from the board the matchup should be feasible. Any experience from you guys?
I do not plan to include the Stoneforge package, the plan is somewhat different I feel. Janking out a win due to a turn 3 Batterskull might be possible at times but I'd rather prefer the attrition route we followed so far. I have ever since kept a Batterskull in my board for grindy attrition games such as Jund or Abzan, Academy Ruins and Loam add some inevitability against K-Command and the likes while Lingering Souls carry the equipment excellently. Regarding the Thopter/Sword combo in Gifts, I tried a Dark Jeskai list a year and a half ago, Izzet Charm feld pretty great in the deck and Desolate Lighthouse made a good impression as a utility land, however I agree that Urza is the guy for these kinds of shenanigans now.
Faithless and hogaak banned, sfm unbanned. Thoughts?
Today was a good day. I expect the overall meta to slow down a little, giving us more breathing space and possibilities to interact meaningfully. If the meta settles towards a more fair environment, graveyard hate should get significantly reduced among main- and sideboards, which makes our lives less miserable as well. Unfortunately, I feel like the moist Mardu Gifts list is obsolete without Looting, it looked promising.
That's the rough shell I've come up with, I decided to include an alternate win condition in Madcap/Emperion, which in principle could also be in the sideboard as a post board surprise. I thought about incorporating black more heavily into the list, adding a basic Swamp (for Search, Farseek and Steve to find) and switching some Bolts and Angers for Assassin's Trophy or even Maelstrom Pulse. Until now the Blood Crypt is meant for Slaughter Games in the sideboard, Overgrown Tomb doesn't sound like the way to go for that purpose, I am currently at 14 Mountain cards in total, maybe 13 are still fine. Any comments or suggestions towards the list?
It felt a little unusual but fine apart from some details. Growth Spiral is quite good at providing ramp for Gifts on turn 3, the only issue was discarding creatures if one happens to draw them naturally, Radical Idea can be a little slow at times and JtMS can only put them on top to shuffle them away before casting Gifts, so there's some room for improvement. The deck is a little light on interaction, the BUGw build has more Trophies and Pulse in place of Growth Spiral, discard instead of Opt and Spell Pierce. Overgrown Tomb is a little awkward as well, maybe this should be another basic (Island?), I did not include a Swamp due to the heavy U requirements. Terminus did not come up in the games at all, but I can see including a different sweeper package instead of Azcanta and 4x Terminus, running 3x Narset and 2x Supreme Verdicts, eventually replacing a JtMS by a Wrath of God. The mana was mostly fine, although Godless Shrine in the opener is somewhat clunky, I managed to enable Logic Knot and Cryptic on a reliable basis (Frank Karsten's article suggests 89% confidence of casting both on curve given the land base I run).
T3feri is pretty great as a tempo play and with the Unburial package, we can hold up interaction and reanimate end of turn with Spell Pierce or even Logic Knot up some of the time. Traditional sweepers at instant speed sound pretty sweet, too. I tried Collective Brutality in the slot of Radical Idea, which is comparable in clunkiness but adds some value on top of the looting effect, Lingering Souls are greatly missed in this build though. Compared to my traditional list, this version is a little more straightforward without the vast amount of versatility Loam/Academy Ruins/EE/Bridge/Crime and the plethora of different removal spells give. Comments, questions, suggestions?
That's why I lean on blue and black, respectively. Green (somewhat) and even more so white are splash colours, which is why I am a little hesitant of increasing the mana requirements even further, although a single card like Thrun or JtMS shouldn't do much harm (and he's quite good, frankly), especially since I haven't seen Blood Moon, Spreading Seas or Field of Ruin in a while now, the latter being the least problematic anyway. In purely Esper I feel that one might get away with double costs in all three colours eventually, the card draw coming from Narset seems so appealing.
Have you tried Kalitas? Every time he comes up during gameplay I end up being more convinced, recently letting me get rid off Voice of Resurgence and Glen Elendra Archmage the cleanest way possible using Decay and Trophy. He closes out games incredibly fast, helps with gaining life and has a disruptive element against graveyard synergies.
I will continue testing Kaya's Guile as a 2-of, maybe go one higher to increase the rate at which I draw them.
Supposedly Hogaak gets the axe during the next announcement, which can be a chance for other graveyard strategies to thrive after the hate has settled a little. This always was the case with the rise and decline of Dredge, at least one can hope. But I agree, Loam/Crime is pretty slow and cost intensive, after the Gifts pile it take Dredge 3 + 1GB (+ BB) as you said, the heavy black requirements are usually met by an Urborg thrown into the pile. We can draw cards eventually while holding back lands, going for the full 3 every turn is not always correct nor necessary. Against UWx and Sultai control builds it has frequently won me the game, although cards with flash or good topdecks can be a problem, especially when it's not paired with any sort of pressure from our side. I tried to come up with a hardlock using T3feri, but 1WU paired with G and the heavy black requirements in builds with Loam/Crime have made me let go of the idea, although very appealing in paper.
I might try Thrun in the sideboard, but the GG gives me a headache at first. I already need to meet BB on turn 3 for LotV, UU on turn 4 for JtMS, so we will see. I might resort to Esper if the 4C mana base increasingly becomes a liability.
I have toyed with a similar approach about 3 weeks ago, the list looks somewhat like this: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2137915#paper. The main goal was to stay within the usual disruptive shell instead of branching out into some control hybrid with counters, hence the full 4 LotV and quite some discard. In my limited testing, concerning creature-heavy matchups, the list is far superior to the 4C version and less clunky (or versatile, depending on what you want to call it), given you run Urborg, there is also room for 3 utility lands in the form of Field of Ruin. Not sure yet whether I want Kaya's Guile as a 2-of or 1-of, it can be a little slow for 3 mana, it complements the edict effects of LotV pretty well though.
Regarding your comment of cutting the Loam/Crime package I would say it boils down to a meta choice. I have for a long time played it mainboard and it still is there in the current 4C version I play. It is pretty key against UWx and Sultai Reclamation, otherwise these decks take over at some point in the game, recurring manlands and Tec Edge is also a thing to consider against those archetypes. Occasionally Crime gets rid off a creature in your own hand which would have either cost you life or wouldn't be possible at all. Then again, I haven't tried Thrun so far, but "find the answer in 5 turns" sounds like a lot of time for control decks, Wrath of God, Settle or Damnation also do the trick besides Terminus.
- Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
- Kaya's Guile
- Life from the Loam <--> Raven's Crime <--> Tectonic Edge
- Engineered Explosives <--> Academy Ruins
The problem is that certain slots in the deck have dependencies (see the arrows) on other parts of the list, most prominently Academy Ruins which is pretty pointless without Engineered Explosives and/or Life from the Loam in the list, otherwise I have no way to tutor it up deterministically. The same is true for Tectonic Edge and Life from the Loam, a 1-of isn't even close to reliable enough without recursion. Raven's Crime is also pretty lacklustre without the latter, so cutting individual cards in the above list lets me throw over other choices as well. I feel that Maelstrom Pulse is important as a 1-of, just because I like to have enough unconditional removal available to assemble a proper Gifts pile to deal with virtually anything. That said, I'd probably like a 3rd copy of Lingering Souls somewhere in the list, maybe instead of Kaya's Guile given the shift in the metagame. Kalitas has been pretty solid in closing out the game rather quickly, stabilising against aggressive strategies and providing disruption against graveyard-centric decks, so he's not going anywhere for now.Do you have any findings to report so far? I haven't had too much time for testing.
Witness vs. Snapcaster is a matter of priorities I guess, I can see the benefit of running Witness but you give up the instant speed interaction Snapcaster provides, getting back removal/discard also costs more than it does with Snapcaster. In your list however, there are several things he can't get back, so maybe Witness is the right call. That said, Tarmogoyf sounds appealing, although it depends on the graveyard just as the rest of the deck does, so there's not really a proper plan B I feel, which is probably true for most lists floating around currently.
Agreed, it has several angles of attack but so do we. I recall that Lantern and Whir Prison had troubles with GBx decks due to their removal suite that per default could hit artifacts. Sure, extrapolating this to Urza might not be 100% true but maybe shows a tendency that the matchup isn't totally awful like it is with Tron, for example. The popular lists don't have a pre-board answer for Elesh Norn either (apart from Whir for Nihil Spellbomb if you want to be precise), afterwards it is often just Trophy which might be an issue. Hard to tell but not hopeless I'd say.
Matchup-wise I am not really worried about Titanshift to be honest, I think we can delay their clock with discard and pretty much lock them out via Iona on G, which is in principle also true for Burn, but their clock is half a turn or a turn faster than Titanshift's, which makes me a little worried. I haven't played much against Burn but the matchup was unfavourable, most definitely. A more midrange-ish build with Goyf might help here as well, Goyf is a good wall if need be. I can't comment on the sideboard much, but what do you plan to do against UWx Control, pressure early and Jund 'em out? I have always found that their lategame has more inevitability and Loam/Crime was our most promising path to victory, that's why I still have Tec Edge in the list over Field or Ghost Quarter. This lets me lose percentage points against Tron, obviously, which is why I try to hinder them with Damping Sphere and Unmoored Ego in the sideboard, the latter which incidentally helps against Titanshift and Whirza, respectively. What about Monastery Mentor btw., has anyone thought about this route? Unearth comes in handy here as well.
Whirza is interesting, we can reliably kill Urza as soon as he hits the board I suppose, between Path, Push, Trophy and LotV/Maelstrom Pulse he won't stick for long and our disruption pieces hit pretty much their entire deck. As far as the rest is concerned, this is a matchup where I rely on Explosives/Ruins to deal with whatever they are trying to do, the same strategy that basically applies to artifact prison strategies such as Lantern, throw in some Lingering Souls to have a slight clock and you are not in the worst of spots. Again, not much experience in these matchups, mostly theorycrafting. On the other hand, combining disruption with a clock with an Unearth package sounds pretty appealing, too, so I might go down this route as I have everything sleeved up already.
The sideboard is kind of all over the place, not sure if Abrade shouldn't be something like Destructive Revelry for example. Criticism and suggestions of any kind are welcome.
I made room for 2x Unmoored Ego, but I fear this still isn't enough for the Tron matchup due to their inevitability and our lack of a proper clock. They will eventually still cast their big stuff and we're done for, Karn and/or Ulamog are a huge beating, they go after our lands usually. This is the most recent version of the board, by the way:
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Stony Silence
2 Torpor Orb
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Damping Sphere
1 Extirpate
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Unmoored Ego
1 Cry of the Carnarium
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
I recall your statement about Wildwood blocking Phoenix and dodging Bolt, yes. Now that this isn't an issue any longer or at least not with the speed the deck once had, I think Colonnade is the better catch in your deck. Under an Elesh Norn it also hits for 6 in the air, which helps closing out games before the opponent can find meaningful interaction, in the end she dies to Path, Terminate, Dreadbore and locking out one colour often doesn't do it either.
Reading through your bullet points above I was wondering about one statement: You say that you would like to 1-for-1 your opponent into oblivion and take the lead with better topdecks, which is generally true but in strong contrast to playing the full set of Caryatids. I have gone down to zero copies because of precisely this issue, they don't pressure the opponent even after an Elesh Norn hits the field and feel so bad when drawn after turn 2-3. And frankly, the mana base is fine in 4 colours without them and 25 lands, given you run 9-10 on-colour fetchlands and only 1-2 utility lands. That said, while testing I did not have too many issues with Sultai Charm on turn 3 even without dorks, BUG are my main colours, but I found it to be a little clunky and went back to Decay/Trophy, respectively.
I can see Chemister's Insight being good, but it clogs up your hand in the 4-drop slot which is a notorious problem for this kind of deck (alongside with UWx, but for another reason). The same thing is true for BtL, it looks good on paper but is pure clunk when you have it in your starting hand which again, is already an issue at times with our two big creatures. Without much selection/filtering I would go for the full 4x Gifts Ungiven, I always want to draw one. At this point I'd like to ask again, why don't you run any LotV? Caryatids could even protect her if you are not willing to go down on those, she steamrolls the UWx matchup when leaved unchecked and helps grind out most opponents while you get rid off either their creatures of net value of discarding Souls or fatties. As mentioned many times by many people, she's the glue that kept the deck together for all these years. I like the inclusion of Gideon, AoZ in your list though, I see that he's much better on T3 than T4 which justifies playing dorks, 2WW doesn't seem like a challenge for your list, too. What's up with the single sweeper in your list? I recall that you were a strong proponent of playing 3 of those (or 2 with Revival) to guarantee a sweeper on turn 4 with a previously cast Gifts.
A side note on Mardu/Jund and/or Shadow builds, I recently tested against some of those (Pyro) builds and if your meta is heavy on this kind of strategy, try running Sphinx of the Steel Wind in your board as a Gifts/Rites target, it is totally hilarious as it kills Angler, Tasigur and all their dudes and they basically concede if you're not super far behind. They are also light on threats, so focus the removal on the Shadows, they are hit by everything be have from Push, Path, Decay, Trophy, Pulse and Liliana. Apart from that, they can't do much about your plan preboard.
Regarding your list, I have a few comments as always: Now that Phoenix isn't prevalent anymore and Delver shouldn't be an issue either, I think it is time to replace the Stirring Wildwood and play either Colonnade or Tar Pit. Also, I wouldn't go below 9 fetchlands, but I guess I can't argue if it works fine for you. My experience so far was that CMC3 removal spells are immensely clunky, which is why I would advocate for Fatal Push, triggering it is rarely an issue. Have you thought a bout 1 1-of Engineered Explosives? How was the split between IoK and Brutality so far? Taking higher-CMC cards such as JtMS or planeswalkers against UWx always feels great, I wouldn't want to miss Thoughtseize. Not a fan of Chart a Course (and Radical Idea after I tested it) to be honest, it just doesn't do enough and consumes an entire turn in the early game. Especially not as more grindy, slow-pace games seem to approach, I can't value the full set of Liliana of the Veil high enough.
Given the opportunity, let me share my current build as well, although not much has changed in the Rock version.
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Land
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Academy Ruins
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Forest
4 Marsh Flats
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Island
1 Engineered Explosives
Instant
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Path to Exile
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Fatal Push
3 Assassin's Trophy
1 Kaya's Guile
Sorcery
1 Life from the Loam
1 Damnation
1 Raven's Crime
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Unburial Rites
2 Lingering Souls
2 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
Planeswalker
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Stony Silence
1 Kaya's Guile
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Batterskull
2 Torpor Orb
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Spellskite
1 Extirpate
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
I have adopted a single Thrun in the sideboard, we'll see if the GG is an issue, Ensnaring Bridge has been moved in favour of a Kaya's Guile although it has been quite good several times already. An active Liliana together with a Bridge is quite good against most non-GB creature-based decks in the format, occasionally even temporarily against UWx and their Colonnades, but that's not the main point. Otherwise pretty much standard, Kalitas has performed great so far, I would fit the 3rd Lingering Souls if I could though, closing out games fast enough when turning the corner is key in many games, we can't establish the same level of lategame board control as UWx.
I do not plan to include the Stoneforge package, the plan is somewhat different I feel. Janking out a win due to a turn 3 Batterskull might be possible at times but I'd rather prefer the attrition route we followed so far. I have ever since kept a Batterskull in my board for grindy attrition games such as Jund or Abzan, Academy Ruins and Loam add some inevitability against K-Command and the likes while Lingering Souls carry the equipment excellently. Regarding the Thopter/Sword combo in Gifts, I tried a Dark Jeskai list a year and a half ago, Izzet Charm feld pretty great in the deck and Desolate Lighthouse made a good impression as a utility land, however I agree that Urza is the guy for these kinds of shenanigans now.
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Primeval Titan
2 Platinum Emperion
Land
3 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
3 Forest
7 Mountain
3 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Verdant Catacombs
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Cinder Glade
2 Summoner's Pact
4 Lightning Bolt
Sorcery
4 Farseek
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Scapeshift
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Madcap Experiment
2 Reclamation Sage
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Nature's Claim
2 Abrade
1 Fry
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
2 Slaughter Games
That's the rough shell I've come up with, I decided to include an alternate win condition in Madcap/Emperion, which in principle could also be in the sideboard as a post board surprise. I thought about incorporating black more heavily into the list, adding a basic Swamp (for Search, Farseek and Steve to find) and switching some Bolts and Angers for Assassin's Trophy or even Maelstrom Pulse. Until now the Blood Crypt is meant for Slaughter Games in the sideboard, Overgrown Tomb doesn't sound like the way to go for that purpose, I am currently at 14 Mountain cards in total, maybe 13 are still fine. Any comments or suggestions towards the list?
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
Enchantment
1 Search for Azcanta
Land (23)
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Breeding Pool
2 Hallowed Fountain
1 Forest
2 Marsh Flats
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
2 Island
1 Hinterland Harbor
3 Gifts Ungiven
2 Logic Knot
1 Cryptic Command
3 Path to Exile
2 Spell Pierce
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Pulse of Murasa
4 Opt
1 Radical Idea
1 Assassin's Trophy
3 Growth Spiral
Sorcery
1 Unburial Rites
4 Terminus
Planeswalker
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Teferi, Time Raveler
2 Stony Silence
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Damping Sphere
1 Extirpate
2 Celestial Purge
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Pulse of Murasa
2 Dovin's Veto
2 Timely Reinforcements
It felt a little unusual but fine apart from some details. Growth Spiral is quite good at providing ramp for Gifts on turn 3, the only issue was discarding creatures if one happens to draw them naturally, Radical Idea can be a little slow at times and JtMS can only put them on top to shuffle them away before casting Gifts, so there's some room for improvement. The deck is a little light on interaction, the BUGw build has more Trophies and Pulse in place of Growth Spiral, discard instead of Opt and Spell Pierce. Overgrown Tomb is a little awkward as well, maybe this should be another basic (Island?), I did not include a Swamp due to the heavy U requirements. Terminus did not come up in the games at all, but I can see including a different sweeper package instead of Azcanta and 4x Terminus, running 3x Narset and 2x Supreme Verdicts, eventually replacing a JtMS by a Wrath of God. The mana was mostly fine, although Godless Shrine in the opener is somewhat clunky, I managed to enable Logic Knot and Cryptic on a reliable basis (Frank Karsten's article suggests 89% confidence of casting both on curve given the land base I run).
T3feri is pretty great as a tempo play and with the Unburial package, we can hold up interaction and reanimate end of turn with Spell Pierce or even Logic Knot up some of the time. Traditional sweepers at instant speed sound pretty sweet, too. I tried Collective Brutality in the slot of Radical Idea, which is comparable in clunkiness but adds some value on top of the looting effect, Lingering Souls are greatly missed in this build though. Compared to my traditional list, this version is a little more straightforward without the vast amount of versatility Loam/Academy Ruins/EE/Bridge/Crime and the plethora of different removal spells give. Comments, questions, suggestions?
Have you tried Kalitas? Every time he comes up during gameplay I end up being more convinced, recently letting me get rid off Voice of Resurgence and Glen Elendra Archmage the cleanest way possible using Decay and Trophy. He closes out games incredibly fast, helps with gaining life and has a disruptive element against graveyard synergies.
Supposedly Hogaak gets the axe during the next announcement, which can be a chance for other graveyard strategies to thrive after the hate has settled a little. This always was the case with the rise and decline of Dredge, at least one can hope. But I agree, Loam/Crime is pretty slow and cost intensive, after the Gifts pile it take Dredge 3 + 1GB (+ BB) as you said, the heavy black requirements are usually met by an Urborg thrown into the pile. We can draw cards eventually while holding back lands, going for the full 3 every turn is not always correct nor necessary. Against UWx and Sultai control builds it has frequently won me the game, although cards with flash or good topdecks can be a problem, especially when it's not paired with any sort of pressure from our side. I tried to come up with a hardlock using T3feri, but 1WU paired with G and the heavy black requirements in builds with Loam/Crime have made me let go of the idea, although very appealing in paper.
I might try Thrun in the sideboard, but the GG gives me a headache at first. I already need to meet BB on turn 3 for LotV, UU on turn 4 for JtMS, so we will see. I might resort to Esper if the 4C mana base increasingly becomes a liability.
Regarding your comment of cutting the Loam/Crime package I would say it boils down to a meta choice. I have for a long time played it mainboard and it still is there in the current 4C version I play. It is pretty key against UWx and Sultai Reclamation, otherwise these decks take over at some point in the game, recurring manlands and Tec Edge is also a thing to consider against those archetypes. Occasionally Crime gets rid off a creature in your own hand which would have either cost you life or wouldn't be possible at all. Then again, I haven't tried Thrun so far, but "find the answer in 5 turns" sounds like a lot of time for control decks, Wrath of God, Settle or Damnation also do the trick besides Terminus.