Cut the Ad Nauseum and add Lotus Blooms. Pyretic Ritual is not necessary, and the Remands are bonkers good. Nothing beats Remanding your opponents Chalice/Canonist and then going off.
U/R I've found gives the best options. You get your cantrip effects with your Ponders/Preordain/what have you. Not to mention that you can just run dual lands such as Steam Vents, and filter lands such as Cascade Bluffs...and yeah, you /really/ need to run Pyromancer's Swath. Killing your opponent with a Storm count of 4-5 instead of 9+ is /way/ better. I hadn't considered Ideas Unbound in my version of the deck which might be a very good add, honestly.
Grapeshot + Swath can fairly reliable go off on Turn 3, whether on the draw or the play, especially with all of the fetches grabbing Ravnica shocklands. Most of the time, you don't even need an especially high storm count if they've been paying life to do things. Of course, there is always the god-hand of Turn 1 kill, but Dragonstorm can do that as well, so that really doesn't count. Add its ability to go off through a Chalice for 2 and it's a pretty brutal deck.
I used to run B/W Martyr-tron back when it was legal. You have answers to Emrakul with Wrath, Damnation, DoJ, O-Ring, Journey. I ran black for Teysa, Orzhov Scion, but then again, I was using things like Twilight Drover. Faceless Butcher is also an answer to Emrakul.
Wow, people are still whining about this banned list crap and the removal of the cards they just wanted to use again from their Standard seasons? Come on.
Let's look at a few of these decks that people are running, shall we?
Zoo: Ah yes, Zoo. A classic deck. Typical aggro plan includes beating you to death with Apes, Kitties, and other assorted wildlife, accompanied by freak Lightning Helixes and other burn spells designed to kill you as fast as possible. What is this decks weaknesses? Having its opponent survive long enough to Wrath them down to nothing and establish control. As also previously mentioned, Blood Moon-style effects and Land Destruction hurt their somewhat fragile mana base.
12Post: To be honest, I don't know much about this deck beyond the fact that it greatly enjoys ramping into Eldrazi by playing as many Loci as possible. Weaknesses? Again, previously mentioned are Blood Moon-style effects and other Land Destruction spells.
Decks you could use instead of whining about bannings:
Proclamation-Martyr decks of infinite variety: Most aggro players tend to be extraordinarily sad when their opponents gain life in large quantities. You also have the handy additional of Timely Reinforcements from M12 to supplement your ability to stay alive even longer against their swarms of guys. You also get an 8-pack of Wraths, which you can handily cast since you've stayed alive.
Combo: There are a /ton/ of combo decks in the format. Let's just run through a list of the more recent ones in memory: Dragonstorm, Pyromancer's Swath, Project X, Soggy Pickles, Enduring Renewal Combo, Tooth and Nail, Warp World, etc.
I find that mulliganing properly is an important part of the puzzle, but as for finding the Swathe, I'd like to say that I find it a fair amount of the time. As I said, I'm considering running Drift of Phantasms so I can just transmute for the Swathe and go off.
As you can see, the main part of the deck is fairly standard U/R Storm Combo stuff. However, the sideboard is transformational, turning the deck into a Hive Mind combo deck if your opponents have the traditional hate cards for this deck, such as Qasali Pridemage, Ethersworn Canonist, and other things of that nature.
I'm curious if the hive mind can find any major flaws in the deck or counters that I should be made aware of in the format. I've seen the Cloudpost decks that don't really seem to do anything, the LD decks that don't matter because your combo can be run off of a single land, Zoo which is a race (obviously), and random combo decks.
I've also considered running Drift of Phantasms in the deck for the transmute so I can consistently get Swath, but it seems like I want to keep mana open for Remands and potentially Gigadrowses if I put them in the sideboard.
Let's look at a few of these decks that people are running, shall we?
Zoo: Ah yes, Zoo. A classic deck. Typical aggro plan includes beating you to death with Apes, Kitties, and other assorted wildlife, accompanied by freak Lightning Helixes and other burn spells designed to kill you as fast as possible. What is this decks weaknesses? Having its opponent survive long enough to Wrath them down to nothing and establish control. As also previously mentioned, Blood Moon-style effects and Land Destruction hurt their somewhat fragile mana base.
12Post: To be honest, I don't know much about this deck beyond the fact that it greatly enjoys ramping into Eldrazi by playing as many Loci as possible. Weaknesses? Again, previously mentioned are Blood Moon-style effects and other Land Destruction spells.
Decks you could use instead of whining about bannings:
Proclamation-Martyr decks of infinite variety: Most aggro players tend to be extraordinarily sad when their opponents gain life in large quantities. You also have the handy additional of Timely Reinforcements from M12 to supplement your ability to stay alive even longer against their swarms of guys. You also get an 8-pack of Wraths, which you can handily cast since you've stayed alive.
Combo: There are a /ton/ of combo decks in the format. Let's just run through a list of the more recent ones in memory: Dragonstorm, Pyromancer's Swath, Project X, Soggy Pickles, Enduring Renewal Combo, Tooth and Nail, Warp World, etc.
...an average of a turn 3 kill is too slow?
My creatures can't be bounced like Dragonstorm's can and on average, I deal more damage than Dragonstorm.
Admittedly, this is probably true.
Care to elaborate on some examples that my deck is weak to?
Constructive criticism generally gives examples and reasoning for ones opinions.
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Cascade Bluffs
3x Steam Vents
3x Island
Spells:
3x Pyromancer's Swath
4x Preordian
4x Manamorphose
4x Grapeshot
4x Peer Through Depths
4x Ponder
4x Remand
4x Lotus Bloom
4x Seething Song
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Rite of Flame
4x Pact of Negation
4x Leyline of the Void
3x Hive Mind
2x Pact of the Titan
2x Summoner's Pact
As you can see, the main part of the deck is fairly standard U/R Storm Combo stuff. However, the sideboard is transformational, turning the deck into a Hive Mind combo deck if your opponents have the traditional hate cards for this deck, such as Qasali Pridemage, Ethersworn Canonist, and other things of that nature.
I'm curious if the hive mind can find any major flaws in the deck or counters that I should be made aware of in the format. I've seen the Cloudpost decks that don't really seem to do anything, the LD decks that don't matter because your combo can be run off of a single land, Zoo which is a race (obviously), and random combo decks.
I've also considered running Drift of Phantasms in the deck for the transmute so I can consistently get Swath, but it seems like I want to keep mana open for Remands and potentially Gigadrowses if I put them in the sideboard.