But you can't have both versions of elspeth in play at the same time, and elspeth 1.0 is by far the better planeswalker of the two. And ajani goldmane is better than elspeth tirel in this deck as well as it comes down a turn earlier. So there is no reason at all you would want to play elspeth tirel.
I still don't really see the use of vendetta- its faster than doom blade, but doom blade hits the same creatures for only one mana more and a lot less life (most of the time). Aside from that, vendetta is not that great (from my testing) in any matchup against a faster aggro deck (WW, RDW, Elves) as all of these gain some benefit by you losing life. I have only found it to be good in the mirror, as you can destroy lotus cobra/birds turn one on the draw.
I have tested a similar list to the one you are playing. It destroys aggro decks, is pretty good against valakut/uw control and has a difficult matchup against UB control and eldrazi green.
I would take out the graypelt refuges and add 2 tectonic edges as they help against UB, eldrazi green and valakut. With fauna shaman you should have at least 1 baneslayer and 1 obstinate baloth as tutor targets. You could take out sun titan(too slow) and elspeth tirel (doesn't do enough for 5 mana) for those. I would also take out squadron hawk, add in 2 nest invader, 1 serra ascendant and 1 garruk wildspeaker. If you have ajani goldmane or garruk wildspeaker in the list is up to personal preference, I prefer garruk as the overrun effect often wins you the game on turn 5/6.
@Sceletus:
Any reasons you play vendetta over doomblade? Is the life loss when you take down a titan worth one less mana. I personally would also up the creature count a little bit as you have 24 creatures with only jace as draw and you decrease the creature density of your deck with shaman/trinket mage, etc.
The one thing I dislike the about most mythics is that although they're good in standard, they aren't even playable in extended while only a couple of all mythics is played in legacy/vintage (jace 2.0, elspeth 1.0, lotus cobra, vengevine, mox opal, emrakul, iona). So essentially you're paying big bucks for venser, elspeth tirel or primeval titan which you know by default will drop in half around the time they rotate because they probably won't even be played extended. That's why I don't play valakut, it's a terrible investment, especially if primeval titan isn't in M12. I play FaunaVine which although very expensive, at least contains eternal playables like lotus cobra, fauna shaman and vengevine. When zendikar block rotates I at least will retain a good portion of my investment.
"Second, there is no need for a third color. All that it does is make your mana terrible and give you a man-land, which isn't even that great. What you really end up needing a lot of the time is a way to interact with your opponent, and Tectonic Edge does that very well. You cannot run Edge and a third color and expect to not get mana-screwed."
I think this depends heavily on your meta. If your meta is very ramp and control heavy your UG build is very good. I have tested UG but have found it insufficient in an aggroheavy metagame as it has bad matchups against elves and pretty much any red deck. As long as you keep red/black to a splash, you should have no mana problems either and it allows you to play 4 more on color fetches and a good manland in creeping tarpit / raging ravine.
"Third, Trinket Mage, Cunning Sparkmage, and Squadron Hawk, while cute, are just plain awful. They don't really beat down all that well, which is what you want to be doing in most situations. Trinket Mage and Hawk both fetch irrelevant things (1/1s, I mean), and Sparkmage doesn't kill anything unless you have Collar, in which case he eats a Bolt or other somesuch removal."
I honestly don't agree with this. At worst trinket mage is a 3/3 for 3 over 2 creatures. At best it recurs vengevine and can tutor for collar if you play red and sparkmage. Sparkmage is very good in an aggro heavy meta, and pretty bad if there are a lot of slower decks. That said, sparkmage collar is still very good against most of the field; at worst its a removal target while pinging for 1.
In a list with jace and shaman squadron hawk seems much better than seagate oracle. It attacks for the same amount, flies, draws two/three other squadron hawks. These can be shaman fodder, or can be put on top of your library only to regain them by playing another hawk making jace's ability draw 3.
I would only play vengevine with fauna shaman, which probably takes up too many deck slots and makes it weak to pyroclasm, etc. I would take out the vengevines, 1 river boa and add in 4 leonin arbiter as it doesn't hurt your deck in anyway but slows valakut / boros landfall down a lot. I would also move the 3 vines of the vastwood to the sideboard and add in 3 cultivate. With only 4 birds and 2 garruk as your only ramp and 3 tectonic edge I would say getting to 7 mana for pelakka wurm and gaea's revenge seems difficult.
This is my current list, I added the fauna/vengevine engine which really increases the clock of the deck, it has a very good game against other aggro decks, while having an increased game against control because of the vengevines.
What's the use of pyroclasm in the board; I would always play arc-trail in that spot as I don't think there will ever be a situation that you rather have pyroclasm then arc-trail. My current sideboard:
3 Arc-Trail - RDW/WW/mirror, almost always a 2 for 1
2 Twisted Image - depends, can often be a 2 for 1 against UW (wall of omens), ramp (overgrown battlement), RDW (cunning sparkmage), mirror (birds of paradise/cunning sparkmage)
3 Obstinate Baloth - RDW/Valakut, lifegain and a big creature
1 Manic Vandal - Artifact decks, useful tutor target postboarding
1 Nihil Spellbomb - Graveyard decks/mirror, useful trinket mage target
1 Acidic Slime- Ramp/Artifact decks, useful tutor target
2 Goblin Ruinblaster - Ramp decks, haste is good in the race and destroying a valakut is very important ( I also play 1 mainboard)
1 Tajaru Preserver - Eldrazi/All is Dust, useful tutor target
I would take out the graypelt refuges and add 2 tectonic edges as they help against UB, eldrazi green and valakut. With fauna shaman you should have at least 1 baneslayer and 1 obstinate baloth as tutor targets. You could take out sun titan(too slow) and elspeth tirel (doesn't do enough for 5 mana) for those. I would also take out squadron hawk, add in 2 nest invader, 1 serra ascendant and 1 garruk wildspeaker. If you have ajani goldmane or garruk wildspeaker in the list is up to personal preference, I prefer garruk as the overrun effect often wins you the game on turn 5/6.
Any reasons you play vendetta over doomblade? Is the life loss when you take down a titan worth one less mana. I personally would also up the creature count a little bit as you have 24 creatures with only jace as draw and you decrease the creature density of your deck with shaman/trinket mage, etc.
"Second, there is no need for a third color. All that it does is make your mana terrible and give you a man-land, which isn't even that great. What you really end up needing a lot of the time is a way to interact with your opponent, and Tectonic Edge does that very well. You cannot run Edge and a third color and expect to not get mana-screwed."
I think this depends heavily on your meta. If your meta is very ramp and control heavy your UG build is very good. I have tested UG but have found it insufficient in an aggroheavy metagame as it has bad matchups against elves and pretty much any red deck. As long as you keep red/black to a splash, you should have no mana problems either and it allows you to play 4 more on color fetches and a good manland in creeping tarpit / raging ravine.
"Third, Trinket Mage, Cunning Sparkmage, and Squadron Hawk, while cute, are just plain awful. They don't really beat down all that well, which is what you want to be doing in most situations. Trinket Mage and Hawk both fetch irrelevant things (1/1s, I mean), and Sparkmage doesn't kill anything unless you have Collar, in which case he eats a Bolt or other somesuch removal."
I honestly don't agree with this. At worst trinket mage is a 3/3 for 3 over 2 creatures. At best it recurs vengevine and can tutor for collar if you play red and sparkmage. Sparkmage is very good in an aggro heavy meta, and pretty bad if there are a lot of slower decks. That said, sparkmage collar is still very good against most of the field; at worst its a removal target while pinging for 1.
In a list with jace and shaman squadron hawk seems much better than seagate oracle. It attacks for the same amount, flies, draws two/three other squadron hawks. These can be shaman fodder, or can be put on top of your library only to regain them by playing another hawk making jace's ability draw 3.
Creatures - 30
4 Nest Invader
3 Serra’s Ascendant
4 Soul’s Attendant
4 Ajani’s Pridemate
3 Lone Missionary
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Vengevine
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Sylvan Ranger
1 Felidar Sovereign
Spells -7
2 Eldrazi Monument
1 Survival Cache
4 Leyline of Vitality
Lands – 23
4 Razorverge Thicket
1 Sunpetal Grove
2 Stirring Wildwood
7 Plains
6 Forest
3 Tectonic Edge
Sideboard - 15
4 Journey to Nowhere
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Kor Firewalker
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Solemn Offering
3 Arc-Trail - RDW/WW/mirror, almost always a 2 for 1
2 Twisted Image - depends, can often be a 2 for 1 against UW (wall of omens), ramp (overgrown battlement), RDW (cunning sparkmage), mirror (birds of paradise/cunning sparkmage)
3 Obstinate Baloth - RDW/Valakut, lifegain and a big creature
1 Manic Vandal - Artifact decks, useful tutor target postboarding
1 Nihil Spellbomb - Graveyard decks/mirror, useful trinket mage target
1 Acidic Slime- Ramp/Artifact decks, useful tutor target
2 Goblin Ruinblaster - Ramp decks, haste is good in the race and destroying a valakut is very important ( I also play 1 mainboard)
1 Tajaru Preserver - Eldrazi/All is Dust, useful tutor target