Esper Teachings (Teachings finally gets in the 4-0 circle!) and Tezz Affinity win, while Grixis Tempo, Jund, two Red Affinity decks, and Twin Pod get close.
Twin Pod and Death and Taxes win, while two Melira Pod, two Jund, Exarch Twin, an unusual Seismic Swans deck (I'm surprised it doesn't run more manlands), another Death and Taxes, Dimir Teachings, Black Splash Merfolk, RDW (I have absolutely no clue why it uses Steam Vents--it has no blue spells in its 75), UW Control, and Tezz Affinity get close.
Two Jund, Esper Teachings, and Melira Pod win (55 players--what can I say), while two UR Storm, Martyr Proc (with Hide//Seek), RDW, Esper Teachings, three Red Affinity, UB Tempo (rather 3-drops heavy), three Jund, and an unusual Patriot White Weenie deck get close.
Jund and Esper Teachings win, while three UW Tron, Red Affinity, UB Tempo, Mono-Blue Merfolk (Vapor Snag?!? Also has unusual sideboard choices), and Martyr Proc (with Honor of the Pure) get close.
UW Tron and Jund win, while Red Affinity, Esper Reanimator Gifts, Melira Pod, another two UW Tron, two Black Splash Merfolk, Mono-Blue Merfolk, Martyr Proc, UR Storm, and an unusual White Weenie Knights deck (I'm categorizing it under Knights for now) get close.
Jund now has more 4-0's and 4 fewer total 3-1's and 4-0's combined than UR Storm. Will the metagame shift towards attempting to stifle a solid Rock-like deck?
Wild Nacatl is banned, so since you already run the full Ape and Lion numbers, try Goblin Guide (if you couldn't find fetches) or Steppe Lynx (if you got 8+ fetches).
The rest of your creature base doesn't look shabby, but I wouldn't run 19 lands. Probably ditch a Bloodbraid Elf or Ajani V. for a land.
The Mindslaver lock is "established" as soon as you put it on top of your library with Academy Ruins, you ruin their next turn with the Slaver, and Ruins is still alive at the end of it all. They can respond to the first Slaver crack with Trickbind and the Ruins ability with Extirpate/Surgical Extraction, though, and they can also smack Ruins with Tectonic Edge/Ghost Quarter to prevent you from getting a second crack at it.
I'd say Trinisphere is about as good as Thorn of Amethyst. Ethersworn Canonist and Rule of Law (can't believe I forgot about it as security) are godly, as they slow UR Storm to a crawl unless dealt with, but unless Storm has Pyromancer Ascension active, Thorn and Trini can often do the job. If Storm has an active Ascension, however, those two artifacts are hooped. Storm will gladly pay 3 mana to get 6 mana with a Pyretic Ritual, and once it draws its deck, not even Mindbreak Trap will save you.
Control runs a bunch of spot removal and a few sweepers, along with counterspells. Their draw spells either get online very late or only draw 2 cards. Bloodbraid Elf is 2 cards by itself, and Bob is a draw engine on legs, so both give control headaches. Targeted discard, Rise//Fall, and Blightning also put a wrench in control's plans by either taking out their best cards or forcing them to ditch two. Kitchen Finks is also surprisingly good against control--it's efficient enough at the aggro role, and the only common removal that won't let it return from the dead is Path to Exile. Some Jund lists run Thrun, and the only way control can really deal with him is by playing Wrath of God/Damnation or getting him chump-blocked endlessly (White Sun's Zenith/Worm Harvest/Grave Titan/Meloku the Clouded Mirror). Liliana of the Veil keeps control's hand size down and forces their later fatties (or just their V. Cliques) to perform hara-kiri. I'd say Jund does quite well against control--heck, I've tested Teachings against it, and its inevitability doesn't quite apply against Jund.
Ethersworn Canonist is the obvious sideboard tech against Storm. It barely slows D&T down and forces UR Storm to cast one cantrip a turn (or one burn/bounce spell, then combo off). Best of all, it beats face.
Not all the spells mentioned above are 2 cmc. Then again, people used to run Orim's Chant on a Stick and it was still legal, complete with kicking the Chant.
I think Wretched Banquet is a very good card for this kind of deck. Now that Wild Nacatl got hit with the ban-hammer, a tribal zombie (supplemented with various lords) will almost always have high-powered zombies on the field (3+ power). This makes Wretched Banquet a very nice piece of removal that can almost always be used to kill your opponent's creatures...
The thing is, the Zombies' power may not be high enough. Against Zoo, their KotRs almost always have at least 3 power the turn they ETB and quickly outpace that. Goyfs can turn into 4/5s or worse in the blink of an eye. Wretched Banquet can't really hit those guys.
At least against Jund, you can smack Bob around with it.
Necrogenesis only exiles creature cards from graveyards, a la Scavenging Ooze that can only boot cards that give it the full benefits. Thus, I don't see how it screws over Tiago.
Red Affinity and Combo Elves win, while Esper Teachings, Melira Pod, three Jund lists, another Red Affinity, Tribal Blue Zoo, UW Tron, and another Combo Elves get close.
Mono-White Tokens (4 Ethersworn Canonist--time to bend over Storm) and Boros Deck Wins win, while two Jund decks, Trap (the new Extended archetype has legs), and Esper Teachings get close.
UR Storm wins, while Jund, Red Affinity, Martyr Proc, and an unusual RDW deck splashing blue for Delver, Tiago, counterspells, cantrips, and Sygg, River Cutthroat (I'll call it Izzet Deck Wins) get close.
UW Tron wins, while Jund, Tribal Blue Zoo, another UW Tron deck, and Mono-White Tokens get close. (Guess I'll move those archetypes out of Rogue when they get 5+ appearances.)
Mono-White Tokens and Exarch Twin (4 Relic of Progenitus? Yikes!) win, while Jund, Living End, two Boros Deck Wins, Martyr Proc, another Mono-White Tokens (now I move that archetype out), UW Tron, and UR Storm get close.
After calculating in another thread that UR Storm gets roughly the same percentage of total 3-1's and 4-0's combined and total 4-0's (around 1/6 for both last time I checked), now I'm curious about every single deck that entered the Dailies to see whether Storm just takes up a large portion of the MTGO metagame or is actually winning a disproportionately high percentage of the games.
My only concern with Grim Monolith is that it produces colorless mana only. If we're going with the Burning Wish into Empty the Warrens plan, its not producing red mana sort of blows.
Honor of the Pure's best friend is Spectral Procession and other mass token producers. Honor of the Pure is horrid when you have no creatures (say, they got Path to Exiled, countered, or discarded from your hand).
Goyf is always a fat dude no matter what. It's an awesome topdeck. If they're busting removal on Goyf, they forgot to boot your Knight of the Reliquary. Then, you can use KotR to find that Moorland Haunt.
I'd rather run Gavony Township than Honor of the Pure. It's a land at worst, KotR can find it, and it provides incremental pump late-game.
The DCI's goal is that Modern's deck diversity is here to stay. Chances are, Dark Ascension and Avacyn Restored will put some random deck over the top for a while, then the banhammer will hit that deck (or possibly un-hit others) and diversity will come back.
I personally believe Legacy has higher deck diversity, but Modern is looking fairly good so far (at least, until the tournament results come back and possibly show that UR Storm is crushingly good or something--so far, that deck takes up around 1/6 of the Modern Dailies on MTGO, both in 4-0's and 3-1's and 4-0's combined).
Path to Exile gets going earlier than Dispatch. Some aggro decks really put the pressure on.
Thopter Foundry wants a continuous supply of artifacts to sac, and since they banned Sword of the Meek, I'm really not certain this deck can feed it.
Academy Ruins is awesome in this deck, as it can continuously fish out artifacts you used or threw away. Buried Ruin is a nice budget version that does something similar, but not continuously.
Esper Teachings (Teachings finally gets in the 4-0 circle!) and Tezz Affinity win, while Grixis Tempo, Jund, two Red Affinity decks, and Twin Pod get close.
4th Modern Daily on 1/1/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3193402
Twin Pod and Death and Taxes win, while two Melira Pod, two Jund, Exarch Twin, an unusual Seismic Swans deck (I'm surprised it doesn't run more manlands), another Death and Taxes, Dimir Teachings, Black Splash Merfolk, RDW (I have absolutely no clue why it uses Steam Vents--it has no blue spells in its 75), UW Control, and Tezz Affinity get close.
5th Modern Daily of 1/1/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3193407
Two Jund, Esper Teachings, and Melira Pod win (55 players--what can I say), while two UR Storm, Martyr Proc (with Hide//Seek), RDW, Esper Teachings, three Red Affinity, UB Tempo (rather 3-drops heavy), three Jund, and an unusual Patriot White Weenie deck get close.
1st Modern Daily of 1/2/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3193427
Jund and Esper Teachings win, while three UW Tron, Red Affinity, UB Tempo, Mono-Blue Merfolk (Vapor Snag?!? Also has unusual sideboard choices), and Martyr Proc (with Honor of the Pure) get close.
2nd Modern Daily of 1/2/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3193419
UW Tron and Jund win, while Red Affinity, Esper Reanimator Gifts, Melira Pod, another two UW Tron, two Black Splash Merfolk, Mono-Blue Merfolk, Martyr Proc, UR Storm, and an unusual White Weenie Knights deck (I'm categorizing it under Knights for now) get close.
Jund now has more 4-0's and 4 fewer total 3-1's and 4-0's combined than UR Storm. Will the metagame shift towards attempting to stifle a solid Rock-like deck?
Try Path to Exile instead of Journey to Nowhere and Lightning Helix instead of Incinerate. Also try replacing Violent Outburst with Knight of the Reliquary (if you got 6+ fetches) or Goyf (if you can afford to).
Wild Nacatl is banned, so since you already run the full Ape and Lion numbers, try Goblin Guide (if you couldn't find fetches) or Steppe Lynx (if you got 8+ fetches).
The rest of your creature base doesn't look shabby, but I wouldn't run 19 lands. Probably ditch a Bloodbraid Elf or Ajani V. for a land.
The Slaver lock pile is probably Mindslaver-Academy Ruins-Crucible of Worlds/Life from the Loam (if you run green)-Buried Ruin/Noxious Revival/Tolaria West (if you run more than 1 Ruins)/Expedition Map (see Tolaria West)/Fourth Card (if you run LftL).
Mindbreak Trap ain't bad for extra security, as is Thorn of Amethyst and Leyline of Sanctity.
Mana Leak, Remand, Rune Snag, and Delay are dirty. Countersquall is funny against decks that run significant amounts of noncreature spells.
Or you could run removal. Path to Exile boots creatures like a pro. Lightning Bolt and the aforementioned Lightning Helix are awesome burn.
Not all the spells mentioned above are 2 cmc. Then again, people used to run Orim's Chant on a Stick and it was still legal, complete with kicking the Chant.
The thing is, the Zombies' power may not be high enough. Against Zoo, their KotRs almost always have at least 3 power the turn they ETB and quickly outpace that. Goyfs can turn into 4/5s or worse in the blink of an eye. Wretched Banquet can't really hit those guys.
At least against Jund, you can smack Bob around with it.
Red Affinity and Combo Elves win, while Esper Teachings, Melira Pod, three Jund lists, another Red Affinity, Tribal Blue Zoo, UW Tron, and another Combo Elves get close.
4th Modern Daily on 12/31/2011: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3193343
Mono-White Tokens (4 Ethersworn Canonist--time to bend over Storm) and Boros Deck Wins win, while two Jund decks, Trap (the new Extended archetype has legs), and Esper Teachings get close.
5th Modern Daily on 12/31/2011: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3193336
UR Storm wins, while Jund, Red Affinity, Martyr Proc, and an unusual RDW deck splashing blue for Delver, Tiago, counterspells, cantrips, and Sygg, River Cutthroat (I'll call it Izzet Deck Wins) get close.
1st Modern Daily of 1/1/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3193377
UW Tron wins, while Jund, Tribal Blue Zoo, another UW Tron deck, and Mono-White Tokens get close. (Guess I'll move those archetypes out of Rogue when they get 5+ appearances.)
2nd Modern Daily of 1/1/2012: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/3193368
Mono-White Tokens and Exarch Twin (4 Relic of Progenitus? Yikes!) win, while Jund, Living End, two Boros Deck Wins, Martyr Proc, another Mono-White Tokens (now I move that archetype out), UW Tron, and UR Storm get close.
After calculating in another thread that UR Storm gets roughly the same percentage of total 3-1's and 4-0's combined and total 4-0's (around 1/6 for both last time I checked), now I'm curious about every single deck that entered the Dailies to see whether Storm just takes up a large portion of the MTGO metagame or is actually winning a disproportionately high percentage of the games.
Goyf is always a fat dude no matter what. It's an awesome topdeck. If they're busting removal on Goyf, they forgot to boot your Knight of the Reliquary. Then, you can use KotR to find that Moorland Haunt.
I'd rather run Gavony Township than Honor of the Pure. It's a land at worst, KotR can find it, and it provides incremental pump late-game.
I personally believe Legacy has higher deck diversity, but Modern is looking fairly good so far (at least, until the tournament results come back and possibly show that UR Storm is crushingly good or something--so far, that deck takes up around 1/6 of the Modern Dailies on MTGO, both in 4-0's and 3-1's and 4-0's combined).
That being said, your list of artifacts looks fairly solid. You can actually churn out Elixir of Immortality nearly continuously with Tezzeret out. Getting Metalcraft may be harder than you think, so I recommend a Darksteel Citadel as the primary Trinket Mage mana rock. Brittle Effigy, Executioner's Capsule, Relic of Progenitus, and Expedition Map are also good Trinket Mage targets, while Ensnaring Bridge, Ethersworn Canonist, Spellskite, Thorn of Amethyst, Torpor Orb, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Crucible of Worlds are also good Tezz tutor targets. Builds with red also appreciate Pyrite Spellbomb.
Path to Exile gets going earlier than Dispatch. Some aggro decks really put the pressure on.
Thopter Foundry wants a continuous supply of artifacts to sac, and since they banned Sword of the Meek, I'm really not certain this deck can feed it.
Academy Ruins is awesome in this deck, as it can continuously fish out artifacts you used or threw away. Buried Ruin is a nice budget version that does something similar, but not continuously.