Is Subversion really that big of a deal? I see it randomly.
Shivan Gorge was an excellent spot. Yeah, that's great with or without Rakdos (I am trying to make the deck somewhat not so reliant on Rakdos, as people really hose the **** out of him). Thank you very much for that one.
The others, I don't find I have the time to use either. Pestilence can really suck, as I need to leave something on the board to use it. I don't want to have to slam down Pestilence, pay for a ping, and then try to figure out how I can afford Rakdos.
I am beginning to suspect that I am a little heavy on mana, as I still find numerous land draws as I pilot the deck.
I also made one change tonight, as after a few games Innocent Blood was never what I wanted. Black Sun's Zenith is scalable and if I want to Blood, I probably want to wrath. And if I Zenith, my guys tend to be bigger, so I am find with killing the board and having a few more dorks about.
Just 'cause forcing your opponents to attempt to grind you down can be annoying. Put them out of their mercy. Otherwise, really solid list. Luminarch's Ascension is a tried and tested card too.
I am a huge fan of Twilight Drover, especially if you have a lot of ways to generating tokens. Luminarch Ascension seems like another auto-include in Mono-W, even if it is off theme.
I went with intent instead of an evaluation of the card in a vacuum. Some of the cards that ended up on the chopping block where due to an evaluation of the current game state, not their individual merits. Genesis, for example, looks great on paper but who knows how good he is if you have no other creatures, or if the 'yards are empty.
I have complained about the weakened recursion archetype. You know what I should do then? Change it.
There is no problems with Withered Wretch. It is a fine card, a fairly high pick. The intent of this card is to be control, to control everyone's graveyard. I axed it because I wanted a healthier recursion archetype. I axed the Wretch because it was the weakest 'yard hate. The replacing card, New Prahv Guildmage, is meant to control with the Detain at will. I have been toying with adding him a few months ago. He seemed like the good candidate to replace the Wretch with a 2 mana 2/2 who alters the entire board. Guildmage is easy to kill but he also stops combos, but not as obnoxiously as his cousin Azorius Guildmage.
Biorhythm's intent is to end the game faster. Instead of adding Burn, I saw that it is an aggro piece in combo form. Enter Thornling. An aggro piece that can be comboed with (Necrotic Ooze or Dark Impostor). I could've cut another creature to put in Thornling, but I thought of removing a piece as I deemed useless by the speed of the format. The other creatures can at least turn sideways.
Time Reversal got the cut as the weakest draw because it gave everyone cards (yay) but also got rid of graveyards (BOOooOOoo). Jace's Ingenuity, at first blush, shouldn't be in the stack. Opportunity is strictly superior. Adding more card draw, I find makes the stack a healthier environment. This also gets rid of Sorcery speed in favour for Instant speed card draw. Always an advantage. Hell, even Tidings is still in the stack despite what I originally thought was a weak card. A lot of cards are strong in this format but the strongest ability may be the ability to draw or tutor those bombs.
Panacea is a fine duel Type 4 staple. There is a way around it, you can feign an attack to have an enemy commit. This was a solid piece in one-on-one, but in multiplayer it became an even more glaring weakness. I am removing what was a weak control card to push the environment even further with a card that took me a long time to find - "Ach! Hans, Run!". It also means that without shenanigans, your bombs won't be coming back to balance the fact you're going to be upping the power of your stack. This is another card you could draft around, that goes along with those other Enchantments that want lots of creatures.
I am very happy with the cuts, they were not very hard. I need to look more into intent within the coming weeks when the next set comes out and I need to add cards.
I've given my front page a face lift in accordance to the new power level plateau that Rakdos has hit. He's probably still not the most viable General, but whatever. He's awesome fun.
Avatar of Fury -> Steel Hellkite - Avatar seems to be my go-to guy when I want to make a cut. Hellkite does a decent job replacing the Avatar, being easy to cast, free with Rakdos and is another Firebreather. What makes Hellkite awesome is I have the ability to deal with permanents of my opponents that aren't creatures.
Carnival Hellsteed -> Kaervek the Merciless - They're the same size! Actually, its more of I'm a fan of Kaervek and can use my opponents to kill themselves. Incredibly cheap with Rakdos.
Havengul Vampire -> Taurean Mauler - Vamper that ain't going to stay small forever and is able to be efficient in the early game. The Mauler is cheaper, is able to be efficient and is also going to get big.
Dark Hatchling -> Duplicant - In a complete boneheaded maneuver, I forgot about Duplicant. He Exiles his targets, is a colourless Artifact which makes my life easy. Hatchling, in comparison, looks full of restrictions.
Phyrexian Rager -> Wheel of Fortune - I am a fan of the little guy, I won't lie. Rakdos enables him to be a 2/2, lose 1 life and draw 1 card. Sweet deal. But that is when I am in magical Christmas land. Wheel lets me dig myself out when I am low on fuel and that is quite often a necessity when I am playing Aggro in Multiplayer.
Grafted Wargear -> Skullclamp - I am a fan of Grafted Wargear. I think it is a subtle gem. It makes my big guys bigger, my small dudes big. That doesn't do much when I am already dropping Demons and Dragons. Skullclamp lets me draw cards, which is something I am vitally short on. It was a painful, necessary cut.
Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis -> Harvester of Souls - Yes, I am cutting a Demon but I am putting in one that I think is far more useful. I am short on card draw and the only CA Nefarox provides involves me jumping through hoops - Souls will provide when I just turn sideways. He just might be my auto-search when I looking for Demons.
Phyrexian Gargantuan -> Geth, Lord of the Vault - I found another copy of Geth. The pseudo-CA he provides is far greater than what the Gargantuan could provide. Bigger with evasion on top of that, Geth was an easy fill-in.
Shred Memory -> Swiftfoot Boots - Protecting Rakdos is paramount. The stupid **** this deck can do is because of the general, not because the creatures are riduculous. I got rid of maybe utility for something I know I would need.
Urborg Volcano -> Akoum Refuge - Strictly superior. Didn't want to get a basic because I have found myself too ETBT screwed at times.
Swamp -> Graven Cairns - Forgot the Cairns even existed. Swamp because there are more swamps, though with Blood Moon I should make more cuts into Mountains. Will keep an eye if I have too much Red in the future.
Thrill-Kill Assassin -> Bloodgift Demon - Bad card for something better. The Assassin theoretically enables Rakdos by swinging and scoring a hit because no one wants to block. Demon, on the other hand, actually does this with evasion and at worst, I can give them a card to cast Rakdos.
Squealing Devil -> Graveborn Muse - Another poor "enabler" for something more solid. I need to draw cards badly, at any cost, and the Muse is not a bad deal.
Bloodfire Colossus -> Blightsteel Colossus - Colossus for Colossus? I figured one big man for another. Also, Sneak Attack is hilarious with either - though I like the version where I win much more.
I found that I would draw perhaps a bit too much land. I looked around and saw that I had the most lands out of all the Rakdos decks. I decided to remedy that.
Swamp -> Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - He's Mike. Now I just need a Trike. I was tempted but I don't want to infinite combo, unless I keep finding myself on the receiving end of one. This is EDH! We should be swinging with big beefy men!
I am already really happy with Guile's ability to turn my stupid counterspells into win cons. Sphinx-Bone Wand can quickly get out of hand, especially with random EOT Buyback. Proteus package is credit to team, and can hate on enemy commanders but it is risky because they can just windmill slam some far worse onto the table.
Prismatic Lens -> Sol Ring - I was told today that Commander decks aren't 99 plus General, but 98 plus General and Sol Ring. Prismatic was random mana ramp I had, Sol Ring is a staple of the format.
Echoing Truth -> Brainstorm - Dealing with swarms of tokens isn't as big as a problem I thought it would be, so I re-added this cantrip.
Island -> Caged Sun - Another land cut, but I feel that 36 is as low as I can get. With the amount of filtering I have available, it is easy to get to the lands I need. Caged Sun, once in pay, is simply amazing. This is certainly another must have of mono-coloured decks.
Mind Stone -> Helm of Awakening - This is kind of a trial choice. As pure control, I don't really care about how much their stuff costs, even if this Helm is contradictary with Rhystic Study, the idea of ensuring that my mana is available for clutch spells is important.
I also changed my Wants and Cuts. Any suggestions there?
Cryptic Command is also $20 but that is a good point that Blustersquall isn't that good. Time Spiral also seems a little passe, where it is very expensive and does nothing but a combo. A lot of my players execute combo players with extreme prejudice, so I don't want to show them that when I am not going to combo out. And $50 price tag astounds me.
I already have Counterspell, so Confound is just there to Cantrip which can be incredibly useful.
Talrand's Invocation... I do wiffle waffle with that. Sometimes I like Drakes, other times I would like to get more than just 2/2 Fliers with a 4 mana Sorcery. Actually, thank you for pointing Invocation out, it let me easily make a cut.
Already have the Tyrant, in fact, I am adding the Proteus Staff package to the deck. I got Guile as well, to do something with my counterspells than annoy my opponents. Its another win con as well.
I made the following changes to the deck: Talrand's Invocation -> Rite of Replication - Kicked or no, Rite is probably still a better choice than Invocaion. And Kicking this will probably cause me to win the game.
Spire Golem -> Proteus Staff - Spire Golem was in for fun and nostalgia, the Staff sets up a win con and if I'm desperate I can Staff their stuff too. The Golem may be free, but the Staff's fodder - namely drakes - is also.
Guardian Idol -> Sphinx-Bone Wand - I wasn't really a fan of the Idol and I was desiring more win cons than just Drakes or stalling the game. With the Wand, I can actually speed up the game once I have control.
Fog Bank -> Guile - I like Fog Bank, but as I now able to setup for the Staff package. The Fog Bank was the worst contributor to bombing my opponents out of the game. Guile lets my heavy counterspell package actually do something!
Coldsteel Heart -> Iron Myr - Mana Rock for Mana Man. Pre-Rakdos Mana Man is credit to team!
Goblin Bombardment -> Triskelavus - I really like Bombardment, but it does nothing by itself. Triskelavus is free after a Rakdos swing but also brings Pingers for me to enable Rakdos in the later game. Its colourless so I don't need to worry too much about colour fixing.
Fireball -> Avatar of Fury - I don't use Fireball that often, as I'd be too busy doing something else. Avatar can become cheaper through numerous ways, has evasion and Firebreathing. That's like Fireball, amirite?
Pyroclasm -> Shepherd of Rot - I shouldn't be worrying about dorks, but enabling Rakdos and Shepherd of Rot does so. Being able to drain the table is fantastic! Plus Pyroclasm would be killing a lot of my enablers...
Nekrataal -> Solmn Simulacrum - Nekrataal is small dork in comparison to what bombs I can drop. The other 187s are bigger or have alternative ways to kill. I needed to focus more on setup, which the Sad Robot lets me. Free after a Rakdos swing and this guy is just pure card advantage.
Geth, Lord of the Vault -> Carnival Hellsteed - I took Geth out because he would suit another deck much more, I'm looking for another copy to place in here. Hellsteed is the one that is overall just a general solid beater.
Concentrate -> Fact or Fiction - Both are good card draw, but I didn't like the Sorcery nature of Concentrate. Fact seemed like the obvious shoe-in.
Bosium Strip -> Vedalken Shackles - Bosium Strip seems nice in theory, but you'd be surprised as how much land ended up on my yard, cutting off my Strip streaks. That sounds wrong. Anyway, Shackles is a win-con and awesome at that.
Urza's Factory -> Island - I never used the activated ability and I wanted to be ale to have blue mana. Easy switch.
Island -> Gitaxian Probe - I added a lot of cantrips with this update, felt I could cut one Island. The Probe is the selection that doesn't even need to rely on me having mana.
Archaeomancer -> Spire Golem - Recurring spells wasn't the problem with my smaller dudes, it was surviving the quick rush. The Spire Golem's mana cost is near 0 and it flies, it'll do for protection for now.
Wipe Away -> Turnabout - Temporary, uncounterable solution for what could be a back breaking play. At worst, Turnabout can just be a mere temporary solution.
Dispel -> Time Stop - Solution for Solution, but Time Stop is much more flexible, even if it comes with the higher mana cost.
Compulsion -> Preordain - Card draw for card draw. Preordain lets me setup much faster, while Compuslion has more staying power, I found myself usually too busy to have time to filter through my cards.
Thwart -> Muddle the Mixture - Counters what I need to be countered, but can also tutor for what I need.
Telling Time -> Sleight of Hand - I disliked Telling Time, it put what I didn't want on top of my library. If I cast an Instant I wanted a solution and then get those cards out of the way. Sleight of Hand does so, even if it is slowed down.
Dream Cache -> Ponder - A cantrip that costed 1 mana instead of 3. Simple switch.
Mulldrifter -> Desertion - 9/10, I wanted to draw cards over actually having to spend the mana on Mulldrifter. With Desertion, I'll get a creature I actually want and power Talrand.
Shattered Angel seems a bit weak, I think that's the slot for the Sovereign. She flies though, and I know you can't underestimate that.
I also see Ulvenwald Tracker as spot removal, but are your men big enough to trade with the Akromas and the like of the Commander table?
Shivan Gorge was an excellent spot. Yeah, that's great with or without Rakdos (I am trying to make the deck somewhat not so reliant on Rakdos, as people really hose the **** out of him). Thank you very much for that one.
The others, I don't find I have the time to use either. Pestilence can really suck, as I need to leave something on the board to use it. I don't want to have to slam down Pestilence, pay for a ping, and then try to figure out how I can afford Rakdos.
I am beginning to suspect that I am a little heavy on mana, as I still find numerous land draws as I pilot the deck.
I also made one change tonight, as after a few games Innocent Blood was never what I wanted. Black Sun's Zenith is scalable and if I want to Blood, I probably want to wrath. And if I Zenith, my guys tend to be bigger, so I am find with killing the board and having a few more dorks about.
I sat down at a table and was roflstomped by a Group Hug because he decided to give victory to a Stax/Statis player, Turn 3.
If that's how they treat strangers, I don't want to know how they treat their friends.
Felidar Soverign?
Test of Endurance?
Just 'cause forcing your opponents to attempt to grind you down can be annoying. Put them out of their mercy. Otherwise, really solid list. Luminarch's Ascension is a tried and tested card too.
White has better options than Armillary Sphere. Tithe, Land Tax, etc. Especially coupled with Scroll Rack if you wanna get nasty.
You have synergies with Plains, such as Emeria and Charge Across the Araba, I would cut the not powerful lands, especially if they do not produce W. Reikei immediately springs to mind. How useful is Terrain Generator, Urza's Factory or Forbidden Watchtower?
I am a huge fan of Twilight Drover, especially if you have a lot of ways to generating tokens. Luminarch Ascension seems like another auto-include in Mono-W, even if it is off theme.
I also second obvious Skullclamp is obvious.
Some help on this, fellow Rakdos men, would be pretty helpful.
Time Reversal -> Jace's Ingenuity
Withered Wretch -> New Prahv Guildmage
Panacea -> "Ach! Hans, Run!"
I tried something new with these changes.
I went with intent instead of an evaluation of the card in a vacuum. Some of the cards that ended up on the chopping block where due to an evaluation of the current game state, not their individual merits. Genesis, for example, looks great on paper but who knows how good he is if you have no other creatures, or if the 'yards are empty.
I have complained about the weakened recursion archetype. You know what I should do then? Change it.
There is no problems with Withered Wretch. It is a fine card, a fairly high pick. The intent of this card is to be control, to control everyone's graveyard. I axed it because I wanted a healthier recursion archetype. I axed the Wretch because it was the weakest 'yard hate. The replacing card, New Prahv Guildmage, is meant to control with the Detain at will. I have been toying with adding him a few months ago. He seemed like the good candidate to replace the Wretch with a 2 mana 2/2 who alters the entire board. Guildmage is easy to kill but he also stops combos, but not as obnoxiously as his cousin Azorius Guildmage.
Biorhythm's intent is to end the game faster. Instead of adding Burn, I saw that it is an aggro piece in combo form. Enter Thornling. An aggro piece that can be comboed with (Necrotic Ooze or Dark Impostor). I could've cut another creature to put in Thornling, but I thought of removing a piece as I deemed useless by the speed of the format. The other creatures can at least turn sideways.
Time Reversal got the cut as the weakest draw because it gave everyone cards (yay) but also got rid of graveyards (BOOooOOoo). Jace's Ingenuity, at first blush, shouldn't be in the stack. Opportunity is strictly superior. Adding more card draw, I find makes the stack a healthier environment. This also gets rid of Sorcery speed in favour for Instant speed card draw. Always an advantage. Hell, even Tidings is still in the stack despite what I originally thought was a weak card. A lot of cards are strong in this format but the strongest ability may be the ability to draw or tutor those bombs.
Panacea is a fine duel Type 4 staple. There is a way around it, you can feign an attack to have an enemy commit. This was a solid piece in one-on-one, but in multiplayer it became an even more glaring weakness. I am removing what was a weak control card to push the environment even further with a card that took me a long time to find - "Ach! Hans, Run!". It also means that without shenanigans, your bombs won't be coming back to balance the fact you're going to be upping the power of your stack. This is another card you could draft around, that goes along with those other Enchantments that want lots of creatures.
I am very happy with the cuts, they were not very hard. I need to look more into intent within the coming weeks when the next set comes out and I need to add cards.
Avatar of Fury -> Steel Hellkite - Avatar seems to be my go-to guy when I want to make a cut. Hellkite does a decent job replacing the Avatar, being easy to cast, free with Rakdos and is another Firebreather. What makes Hellkite awesome is I have the ability to deal with permanents of my opponents that aren't creatures.
Carnival Hellsteed -> Kaervek the Merciless - They're the same size! Actually, its more of I'm a fan of Kaervek and can use my opponents to kill themselves. Incredibly cheap with Rakdos.
Havengul Vampire -> Taurean Mauler - Vamper that ain't going to stay small forever and is able to be efficient in the early game. The Mauler is cheaper, is able to be efficient and is also going to get big.
Dark Hatchling -> Duplicant - In a complete boneheaded maneuver, I forgot about Duplicant. He Exiles his targets, is a colourless Artifact which makes my life easy. Hatchling, in comparison, looks full of restrictions.
Phyrexian Rager -> Wheel of Fortune - I am a fan of the little guy, I won't lie. Rakdos enables him to be a 2/2, lose 1 life and draw 1 card. Sweet deal. But that is when I am in magical Christmas land. Wheel lets me dig myself out when I am low on fuel and that is quite often a necessity when I am playing Aggro in Multiplayer.
Talisman of Indulgence -> Chromatic Lantern - Decent mana rock for a strictly superior mana rock because it mana fixes for me.
Grafted Wargear -> Skullclamp - I am a fan of Grafted Wargear. I think it is a subtle gem. It makes my big guys bigger, my small dudes big. That doesn't do much when I am already dropping Demons and Dragons. Skullclamp lets me draw cards, which is something I am vitally short on. It was a painful, necessary cut.
Nefarox, Overlord of Grixis -> Harvester of Souls - Yes, I am cutting a Demon but I am putting in one that I think is far more useful. I am short on card draw and the only CA Nefarox provides involves me jumping through hoops - Souls will provide when I just turn sideways. He just might be my auto-search when I looking for Demons.
Phyrexian Gargantuan -> Geth, Lord of the Vault - I found another copy of Geth. The pseudo-CA he provides is far greater than what the Gargantuan could provide. Bigger with evasion on top of that, Geth was an easy fill-in.
Shred Memory -> Swiftfoot Boots - Protecting Rakdos is paramount. The stupid **** this deck can do is because of the general, not because the creatures are riduculous. I got rid of maybe utility for something I know I would need.
Urborg Volcano -> Akoum Refuge - Strictly superior. Didn't want to get a basic because I have found myself too ETBT screwed at times.
Swamp -> Graven Cairns - Forgot the Cairns even existed. Swamp because there are more swamps, though with Blood Moon I should make more cuts into Mountains. Will keep an eye if I have too much Red in the future.
Thrill-Kill Assassin -> Bloodgift Demon - Bad card for something better. The Assassin theoretically enables Rakdos by swinging and scoring a hit because no one wants to block. Demon, on the other hand, actually does this with evasion and at worst, I can give them a card to cast Rakdos.
Squealing Devil -> Graveborn Muse - Another poor "enabler" for something more solid. I need to draw cards badly, at any cost, and the Muse is not a bad deal.
Bloodfire Colossus -> Blightsteel Colossus - Colossus for Colossus? I figured one big man for another. Also, Sneak Attack is hilarious with either - though I like the version where I win much more.
I found that I would draw perhaps a bit too much land. I looked around and saw that I had the most lands out of all the Rakdos decks. I decided to remedy that.
Swamp -> Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - He's Mike. Now I just need a Trike. I was tempted but I don't want to infinite combo, unless I keep finding myself on the receiving end of one. This is EDH! We should be swinging with big beefy men!
Mountain -> Wurmcoil Engine - Just super solid.
I am already really happy with Guile's ability to turn my stupid counterspells into win cons. Sphinx-Bone Wand can quickly get out of hand, especially with random EOT Buyback. Proteus package is credit to team, and can hate on enemy commanders but it is risky because they can just windmill slam some far worse onto the table.
Prismatic Lens -> Sol Ring - I was told today that Commander decks aren't 99 plus General, but 98 plus General and Sol Ring. Prismatic was random mana ramp I had, Sol Ring is a staple of the format.
Echoing Truth -> Brainstorm - Dealing with swarms of tokens isn't as big as a problem I thought it would be, so I re-added this cantrip.
Island -> Caged Sun - Another land cut, but I feel that 36 is as low as I can get. With the amount of filtering I have available, it is easy to get to the lands I need. Caged Sun, once in pay, is simply amazing. This is certainly another must have of mono-coloured decks.
Mind Stone -> Helm of Awakening - This is kind of a trial choice. As pure control, I don't really care about how much their stuff costs, even if this Helm is contradictary with Rhystic Study, the idea of ensuring that my mana is available for clutch spells is important.
I also changed my Wants and Cuts. Any suggestions there?
You have an awful lot of soft counters or X counters (which I don't rely on), is there any reason why?
Cryptic Command is also $20 but that is a good point that Blustersquall isn't that good. Time Spiral also seems a little passe, where it is very expensive and does nothing but a combo. A lot of my players execute combo players with extreme prejudice, so I don't want to show them that when I am not going to combo out. And $50 price tag astounds me.
I already have Counterspell, so Confound is just there to Cantrip which can be incredibly useful.
Talrand's Invocation... I do wiffle waffle with that. Sometimes I like Drakes, other times I would like to get more than just 2/2 Fliers with a 4 mana Sorcery. Actually, thank you for pointing Invocation out, it let me easily make a cut.
Already have the Tyrant, in fact, I am adding the Proteus Staff package to the deck. I got Guile as well, to do something with my counterspells than annoy my opponents. Its another win con as well.
I made the following changes to the deck:
Talrand's Invocation -> Rite of Replication - Kicked or no, Rite is probably still a better choice than Invocaion. And Kicking this will probably cause me to win the game.
Spire Golem -> Proteus Staff - Spire Golem was in for fun and nostalgia, the Staff sets up a win con and if I'm desperate I can Staff their stuff too. The Golem may be free, but the Staff's fodder - namely drakes - is also.
Guardian Idol -> Sphinx-Bone Wand - I wasn't really a fan of the Idol and I was desiring more win cons than just Drakes or stalling the game. With the Wand, I can actually speed up the game once I have control.
Fog Bank -> Guile - I like Fog Bank, but as I now able to setup for the Staff package. The Fog Bank was the worst contributor to bombing my opponents out of the game. Guile lets my heavy counterspell package actually do something!
Bloodstone Cameo -> Leaden Myr - Mana Rock for Mana Man. Post-Rakdos Mana Man is free!
Coldsteel Heart -> Iron Myr - Mana Rock for Mana Man. Pre-Rakdos Mana Man is credit to team!
Goblin Bombardment -> Triskelavus - I really like Bombardment, but it does nothing by itself. Triskelavus is free after a Rakdos swing but also brings Pingers for me to enable Rakdos in the later game. Its colourless so I don't need to worry too much about colour fixing.
Fireball -> Avatar of Fury - I don't use Fireball that often, as I'd be too busy doing something else. Avatar can become cheaper through numerous ways, has evasion and Firebreathing. That's like Fireball, amirite?
Pyroclasm -> Shepherd of Rot - I shouldn't be worrying about dorks, but enabling Rakdos and Shepherd of Rot does so. Being able to drain the table is fantastic! Plus Pyroclasm would be killing a lot of my enablers...
Nekrataal -> Solmn Simulacrum - Nekrataal is small dork in comparison to what bombs I can drop. The other 187s are bigger or have alternative ways to kill. I needed to focus more on setup, which the Sad Robot lets me. Free after a Rakdos swing and this guy is just pure card advantage.
Dauthi Marauder -> Rune-Scarred Demon - Marauder doesn't offer much utility. RSD lets me find card draw, chains with my Blood Speaker and is much more threatening as a 6/6.
Geth, Lord of the Vault -> Carnival Hellsteed - I took Geth out because he would suit another deck much more, I'm looking for another copy to place in here. Hellsteed is the one that is overall just a general solid beater.
I guess its more like Single Hug, I guess?
Bosium Strip -> Vedalken Shackles - Bosium Strip seems nice in theory, but you'd be surprised as how much land ended up on my yard, cutting off my Strip streaks. That sounds wrong. Anyway, Shackles is a win-con and awesome at that.
Urza's Factory -> Island - I never used the activated ability and I wanted to be ale to have blue mana. Easy switch.
Island -> Gitaxian Probe - I added a lot of cantrips with this update, felt I could cut one Island. The Probe is the selection that doesn't even need to rely on me having mana.
Archaeomancer -> Spire Golem - Recurring spells wasn't the problem with my smaller dudes, it was surviving the quick rush. The Spire Golem's mana cost is near 0 and it flies, it'll do for protection for now.
Wipe Away -> Turnabout - Temporary, uncounterable solution for what could be a back breaking play. At worst, Turnabout can just be a mere temporary solution.
Dispel -> Time Stop - Solution for Solution, but Time Stop is much more flexible, even if it comes with the higher mana cost.
Compulsion -> Preordain - Card draw for card draw. Preordain lets me setup much faster, while Compuslion has more staying power, I found myself usually too busy to have time to filter through my cards.
Thwart -> Muddle the Mixture - Counters what I need to be countered, but can also tutor for what I need.
Telling Time -> Sleight of Hand - I disliked Telling Time, it put what I didn't want on top of my library. If I cast an Instant I wanted a solution and then get those cards out of the way. Sleight of Hand does so, even if it is slowed down.
Dream Cache -> Ponder - A cantrip that costed 1 mana instead of 3. Simple switch.
Mulldrifter -> Desertion - 9/10, I wanted to draw cards over actually having to spend the mana on Mulldrifter. With Desertion, I'll get a creature I actually want and power Talrand.