Well I think the manabase would need to be altered to run more basic lands, when magus hits the table often times the opponent will have nothing in their deck to cast but top and engineered explosives, which is extremely crippling especially in the face of suppression field. The only color problems I could see are getting WW for aura of silence or exalted angel, but I think it's a fair trade. Also, 11 red sources does seem a bit much though, 8 seems like the right number. It is mainly just keeping the number of nonbasic lands in check though. This deck runs between 8-12 basic lands, and elves and birds, I don't think that you will be as crippled for lands as your opponent. I do think that the Magus route should really only be used if you don't expect much boros or goblins as they can actually use that red mana.
Yah if I run it I would use 2 Magus, 2 Blood Moons, wish I had more Magi, oh well. I think that having red in your bouncelands is kind of bad;optimally you want to drop a turn two magus/blood moon, but the red in a bounceland won't help you at all (atleast till turn 3). I guess it depends if you drop a turn 1 rott maze instead of birds, cuz then that's okay.
I am gonna try out a red splash for some sideboard options, i.e Thornscape battlemage, fiery Justice, (and others I'm sure), as well as Magus of the Moon/Blood Moon in the main. Currently I would use BoPs(4) and Gemstone Mines(4) because the Mines actually get a small advantage by becoming mountains. How many red sources do you think I should be using?
When aggro decks can push through extra creatures in the late game that are actually often useless lands it can be siginificant, also the activation cost on this is so slight that control decks can probably use an extra 2 lands per turn just to chip away at the opponent. I'll admit that decks which are tight for colored requirements probably won't use this card, but most mono-colored decks should have no problem running this card. Did I mention it dodges mass removal, and unlike other manlands in the format, it doesn't come into play tapped.
I would expect to see not only Crucible, but also Pithing Needle to increase in value (jeez, needle is high enough, eh). And as a neat trick it basically becomes a free 1 mana appendage to any rescue creature (and bounce the land obv.). Peppersmoke (and others like it, but this one comes to mind as it is removal) also becomes quite good, as you don't really need a faerie, just an extra mana. This thing has quite some good utility. I expect this thing to turn more tricks in the coming months than...well you know.
In my experience Finkel draws me about 4 cards per game, in addition, he damages the opponent. He makes a nce blocker against some of the creature decks. He dies really quickly in the BG Rock matches though.
I think that pyroclasm has some massive ant-synergy here, as does pilgrim. The deck this was based off looks extremely good if faced with a predominantly island/blue-based meta because of the islandwalking and dedicated cyroclasm. I don't think this is the deck to beat elves with.
I think the moonies would actually be quite good. I recently went to an extended tournament and got 2nd place with this deck. I saw a total of about 2 basic lands in 3 rounds.
I had some trouble in the last round against a RBWG aggro deck(Bobs, Vindicates. Goyfs, Lightning Helix, Tribal Flames, Lots of Shocklands and Fetchlands). First game I managed to get Root Maze, Suppresion Field, Aven Mindcensor and Heirarch out, giving him a game 1 loss. In the latter games he managed to squeak by just burning me out for the remaining damage. I wonder what the best way to SB for this deck is. Chalice of the Void (x=2) and Ghostly Prison? I think the moonies would do quite well at shutting much of that deck down. Chalice seemed like it would stop 80-90 of cards in deck (i.e. not Isamaru, Kird Ape, Vindicate, Molten Rain)
Assuming these are real, the cursed stinger and deathborn entity are very nice, kind of odd that the entity would actually kill himself so easily, but meh. a great updated infest, and you can tutor with tolaria west
I keep expecting to see blue decks with a heavy changeling element pull out the Vedalken Æthermages. Is there a flaw with this tactic I'm not seeing?
Well the greatness is you don't even need to play blue to cycle. But if you do, you have the added bonus of rescuing your own changeling! It's interesting, but there will have to be some pretty darn good changeling spells/wizard spells to pull that kind of deck off.
Pithing Needle and land bouncing. Dragonstorm redux relies so heavily on it's lands it is kind of ridiculous. If you needle storage lands or Knoll, then counter anything good (i.e. Blooms, Swath) you should be in the clear. And remember Game 1 < Game 2 + Game 3
EDIT: Happy New Year Everybody!:)
Edit: also, some cheap tricks with Darksteel Garrison, all the Lorwyn tapping dudes, Springleaf Drum.
costs 6 (aura)
reduces to 0 (affinity)
increases cost to 3 (trinisphere)
Total Cost:3
How much does a Chrome mox cost for the opponent?
A Frogmite?
I had some trouble in the last round against a RBWG aggro deck(Bobs, Vindicates. Goyfs, Lightning Helix, Tribal Flames, Lots of Shocklands and Fetchlands). First game I managed to get Root Maze, Suppresion Field, Aven Mindcensor and Heirarch out, giving him a game 1 loss. In the latter games he managed to squeak by just burning me out for the remaining damage. I wonder what the best way to SB for this deck is. Chalice of the Void (x=2) and Ghostly Prison? I think the moonies would do quite well at shutting much of that deck down. Chalice seemed like it would stop 80-90 of cards in deck (i.e. not Isamaru, Kird Ape, Vindicate, Molten Rain)
Well the greatness is you don't even need to play blue to cycle. But if you do, you have the added bonus of rescuing your own changeling! It's interesting, but there will have to be some pretty darn good changeling spells/wizard spells to pull that kind of deck off.