Here's an extremely rough draft idea for the deck. It's pretty straight forward, but it also seems very, very vulnerable to hate. Black Cat could be a good idea as well.
I played a variant of Gerry T's list at FNM yesterday, and I didn't drop a game until making terrible play mistakes in the top 8. Gotta say I'm loving everything about this build. I did add Geists back in, and I changed the side a bit as well though. Here's the list I ran:
After playing against Esper Control, Wolf Run, Red/Black removal.dec, and some UW and GW Humans variants and getting to six lands every single game, I'm definitely dropping an Island for either another main Geist or a third Midnight Haunting. The 1 of Act of Aggression was really good against Wolf Run and Hero of Bladehold. Misstep seemed like a good idea for the mirror, UR Delver, and Mono Red, but I didn't play against any of them despite all of them being there in folds, so I'll have to see how it does in testing. Other than that the deck ran amazingly.
Edit: Geist is still amazing in this deck, and I don't see cutting any in the near future.
4-1 into top 8 and won tonight. Some things that should be changed but I'll get to that after the report.
Round 1(Mirror)
Game 1 goes a little long and ends with me having 12 land in play and only 7 spells in the game and being any burn spell in my deck away from killing him. i draw a land. Game 2 I keep 2 land and don't see another until my opponent has 2 Shrines at 5 and 6 and 2 Refugees in play.
0-2
Round 2(Mono White Mentor)
Games 1 and 3 consist of me killing his guy and him, nothing special. But game 2 I die to a Mirran Crusader equiped with a Silver-Inlaid Dagger. That 10 damage is brutal.
2-1
Round 3(RG Werewolves)
Game 1 I kill his guys and beat him down till he plays 3 Full Moon's Rise and sticks a guy, but luckily he was already dead on board. Game 2 I will sum up with the words 3 Moonmist and 3 Mayor. Game 3 runs just like game 1 except he doesn't have Full Moons.
2-1
Round 4(Mono Red Goblins)
I won game 1 by out burning him with Shrine. Game 2 I have a Shrine 1 turn away from killing him and he burns me from 17 to 0 with Brimstone and his Shrine. Game 3 I win by out burning him and killing all his guys.
2-1
Round 5(Solar Flare)
Game 1 I won with double shrine through 2 Timelys, and game 2 was the same thing except he played 3 Timelys.
2-0
Top 8(Solar Flare)
These weren't games. He kept 2 lands both game and didn't see a third till he was already dead.
2-0
Top 4(Bant Hexblade)
Both games 1 and 2, Shrine with double Volt Charge won me the games.
2-0
Finals(Kuldotha Red!?)
This deck crushed face today, I was really surprised. Game 1 I kept 2 land, 1 Stromkirk Noble, and 4 removal spells. The game was basically him playing guys and me killing them until I finally burned him out with a Shrine. Game 2 I sided in 13 cards, which was pretty wrong but I wasn't sure how many Grudges to bring in since I didn't know his artifact count. I put him on 4 Memnite, 4 Signal Pest, 4 Chimeric Mass, and 4 Mox Opal so I just went ahead and brought all 4 Grudges in.
2-0
Final thoughts I would say Furnace Scamp is on the chopping block, Volt Charge in amazing and I wouldn't play Brimstone over it any day, and Slagstorm was surprisingly good.
How my decks looks. It's doing Okay, nothing more.
I need dismemeber in the MB cuz in my meta there's way too much Phyrexian Obliterators, wurmcoils, phyrexian crusader etc to not be played.
Edit: Actually, I might be the first one to say this but, I'm thinking of replacing Brimstone Volley for something else. I feel I never get that morbid, it's just a bolt for the cost of 3. And when a creature actually dies, the following happens:
No brimstone volley in hand
No mana to cast it
Rather cast something else
After reading PV's latest article I tried Volt Charge over Volley, and it is straight the stones. I can't tell you how many games I've had the line of turn 1 Noble, turn 2 Berserker, turn 3 Volt Charge their guy, proliferate, and bash for 7. Not to mention its interactions with Koth and Shrine. Also getting Charges in multiples becomes pretty dumb. I wanted to compare Charge's proliferate and Brimstones Morbid, and I found that Charge tends to do more damage than a Morbided Volley. Whether it be being able to ultimate Koth a turn sooner, pumping your guys to do more damage and killing their guy, or killing their guy and double pumping shrines, Charge seems to work way better most of the time.
I don't like your list.
Dignitary isn't very good without Venser.
Splashing blue for Image is sketchy.
Your 6-drop spot is messed up, both Wurms should be included.
Mimic Vat is meh.
Dignitary on Vat won me a few games tonight by itself. The Image was a problem 1 time tonight, but I can completely see the point against it. I simply like having access to it. Wurmcoil would've been in my list, I lent it out to a friend before I realized that I only had 1. As to Mimic Vat in general, sometimes tonight it was REALLY good, and others it was just ok. All in all I'd say it's worth further testing.
Played this tonight to a 3-1-1 record with a loss to Naya Pod, then lost in top 8 to a mull to 5 game 2. My rounds were against Mono White Mentor-Humans, Naya Pod, Junk Pod(almost 60 card mirror), UW Caw Blade(Stalkers, Crusaders, and Geists), and drew with my last round opponent. In top 8 I played against Bant Caw Blade. Game 1 came down to a very close game where he had a Mana Leak, and game 2 I mulled to 5 and almost came back. My side was kind of a pile so I won't bother posting it. Mimic Vat is the hotness. It's like Venser in Bant Pod that lets you sack the guy to Pod. Perilous Myr was good enough that I want 2 now. Glissa was good in most games. Peace Strider+Razor Hippogriff=net 10 life gain. I had Massacre Wurm in the side, but I brought it in every single game so it's going in the main.
Golem is awesome. Most games I'll play it and immediately Pod it into Sun Titan or Inferno Titan, and Golem is really sweet with Urabrask. On the other hand, I've been really disappointed by Thrun. Most games I've played I end up Poding him away, and even against UW and UB decks he just dies to a clone. So with that I'll probably drop him for a Hero of Bladehold or something.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/exclusives-magic-the-gathering-planeswalker-card-pack?CD=96&ST=SO&PG=1
All I can say is Do Want.
4x Havengul Lich
4x Priest of Urabrask
4x Perilous Myr
Enchantments 4
4x Heartless Summoning
Instants 12
4x Mana Leak
4x Thought Scour
4x Forbidden Alchemy
4x Ponder
3x Devil's Play
Lands 25
4x Darkslick Shores
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
4x Sulfur Falls
3x Drowned Catacombs
1x Shimmering Grotto
5x Island
3x Swamp
2x Mountain
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Merfolk Looter
1x Geist of Saint Traft
Artifacts 2
2x Sword of War and Peace
Instants 14
2x Midnight Haunting
4x Vapor Snag
4x Mana Leak
1x Dissapate
3x Gut Shot
4x Ponder
4x Gitaxian Probe
Land 21
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Moorland Haunt
9x Island
2x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Oblivion Ring
2x Celestial Purge
2x Phantasmal Image
2x Mental Misstep
3x Dissipate
1x Gut Shot
1x Act of Aggression
After playing against Esper Control, Wolf Run, Red/Black removal.dec, and some UW and GW Humans variants and getting to six lands every single game, I'm definitely dropping an Island for either another main Geist or a third Midnight Haunting. The 1 of Act of Aggression was really good against Wolf Run and Hero of Bladehold. Misstep seemed like a good idea for the mirror, UR Delver, and Mono Red, but I didn't play against any of them despite all of them being there in folds, so I'll have to see how it does in testing. Other than that the deck ran amazingly.
Edit: Geist is still amazing in this deck, and I don't see cutting any in the near future.
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
Creatures
3 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Furnace Scamp
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
4 Stormblood Berserker
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Koth of the Hammer
Instants
4 Volt Charge
3 Incinerate
3 Galvanic Blast
Sorceries
2 Arc Trail
Basic Lands
17 Mountain
Lands
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Perilous Myr
4 Vulshok Refugee
4 Ancient Grudge
2 Arc Trail
1 Slagstorm
4-1 into top 8 and won tonight. Some things that should be changed but I'll get to that after the report.
Round 1(Mirror)
Game 1 goes a little long and ends with me having 12 land in play and only 7 spells in the game and being any burn spell in my deck away from killing him. i draw a land. Game 2 I keep 2 land and don't see another until my opponent has 2 Shrines at 5 and 6 and 2 Refugees in play.
0-2
Round 2(Mono White Mentor)
Games 1 and 3 consist of me killing his guy and him, nothing special. But game 2 I die to a Mirran Crusader equiped with a Silver-Inlaid Dagger. That 10 damage is brutal.
2-1
Round 3(RG Werewolves)
Game 1 I kill his guys and beat him down till he plays 3 Full Moon's Rise and sticks a guy, but luckily he was already dead on board. Game 2 I will sum up with the words 3 Moonmist and 3 Mayor. Game 3 runs just like game 1 except he doesn't have Full Moons.
2-1
Round 4(Mono Red Goblins)
I won game 1 by out burning him with Shrine. Game 2 I have a Shrine 1 turn away from killing him and he burns me from 17 to 0 with Brimstone and his Shrine. Game 3 I win by out burning him and killing all his guys.
2-1
Round 5(Solar Flare)
Game 1 I won with double shrine through 2 Timelys, and game 2 was the same thing except he played 3 Timelys.
2-0
Top 8(Solar Flare)
These weren't games. He kept 2 lands both game and didn't see a third till he was already dead.
2-0
Top 4(Bant Hexblade)
Both games 1 and 2, Shrine with double Volt Charge won me the games.
2-0
Finals(Kuldotha Red!?)
This deck crushed face today, I was really surprised. Game 1 I kept 2 land, 1 Stromkirk Noble, and 4 removal spells. The game was basically him playing guys and me killing them until I finally burned him out with a Shrine. Game 2 I sided in 13 cards, which was pretty wrong but I wasn't sure how many Grudges to bring in since I didn't know his artifact count. I put him on 4 Memnite, 4 Signal Pest, 4 Chimeric Mass, and 4 Mox Opal so I just went ahead and brought all 4 Grudges in.
2-0
Final thoughts I would say Furnace Scamp is on the chopping block, Volt Charge in amazing and I wouldn't play Brimstone over it any day, and Slagstorm was surprisingly good.
After reading PV's latest article I tried Volt Charge over Volley, and it is straight the stones. I can't tell you how many games I've had the line of turn 1 Noble, turn 2 Berserker, turn 3 Volt Charge their guy, proliferate, and bash for 7. Not to mention its interactions with Koth and Shrine. Also getting Charges in multiples becomes pretty dumb. I wanted to compare Charge's proliferate and Brimstones Morbid, and I found that Charge tends to do more damage than a Morbided Volley. Whether it be being able to ultimate Koth a turn sooner, pumping your guys to do more damage and killing their guy, or killing their guy and double pumping shrines, Charge seems to work way better most of the time.
Dignitary on Vat won me a few games tonight by itself. The Image was a problem 1 time tonight, but I can completely see the point against it. I simply like having access to it. Wurmcoil would've been in my list, I lent it out to a friend before I realized that I only had 1. As to Mimic Vat in general, sometimes tonight it was REALLY good, and others it was just ok. All in all I'd say it's worth further testing.
1 -
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Avacyn's Pilgrim
2 -
3x Viridian Emmissary
1x Perilous Myr
1x Phantasmal Image
3 -
3x Phyrexian Rager
1x Glissa the Traitor
1x Sylvok Replica
4 -
1x Entomber Exarch
1x Skinrender
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
1x Stonehorn Dignitary
1x Peace Strider
1x Solemn Simulacrum
5 -
2x Acidic Slime
1x Morkrut Banshee
1x Razor Hippogriff
6 -
1x Grave Titan
1x Sun Titan
7 -
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
2x Beast Within
Artifacts 6
2x Mimic Vat
4x Birthing Pod
Land 23
4x Razorverge Thicket
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Woodland Cemetary
2x Plains
1x Island
3x Swamp
5x Forest
Played this tonight to a 3-1-1 record with a loss to Naya Pod, then lost in top 8 to a mull to 5 game 2. My rounds were against Mono White Mentor-Humans, Naya Pod, Junk Pod(almost 60 card mirror), UW Caw Blade(Stalkers, Crusaders, and Geists), and drew with my last round opponent. In top 8 I played against Bant Caw Blade. Game 1 came down to a very close game where he had a Mana Leak, and game 2 I mulled to 5 and almost came back. My side was kind of a pile so I won't bother posting it. Mimic Vat is the hotness. It's like Venser in Bant Pod that lets you sack the guy to Pod. Perilous Myr was good enough that I want 2 now. Glissa was good in most games. Peace Strider+Razor Hippogriff=net 10 life gain. I had Massacre Wurm in the side, but I brought it in every single game so it's going in the main.
Golem is awesome. Most games I'll play it and immediately Pod it into Sun Titan or Inferno Titan, and Golem is really sweet with Urabrask. On the other hand, I've been really disappointed by Thrun. Most games I've played I end up Poding him away, and even against UW and UB decks he just dies to a clone. So with that I'll probably drop him for a Hero of Bladehold or something.