cho_kai

I chose blue as a compliment primarily because of Glen Elendra Archmage. Being able to counterspell at will is pretty potent.

Also, Melira is a Legendary. Fetch can be used for other things so it is keeping the deck thin without (greatly) reducing your chances of getting her to play.

Honestly, this deck doesn't need alot of land. With snag having an alternate casting cost, Harmonize is the only card in the deck above CMC3. As such, I would suggest you keep costs low and land count low by replacing Harmonize with Sylvan Library (which provides ongoing and on demand draw). That will leave Spore Cloud the only card requiring more than CMC2.

I would also suggest running Land Grant for land thinning since you don't really need alot of land to keep hitting the battlefield in late game.

You could look at Selective memory... I would usually say the effect is too high a CMC to be effective, but there is a point at which this deck has more mana than it needs and wants only mana in the deck.

In case you had not looked it up, Tinker is banned in almost every format, even in Vintage it is restricted. Many casual players might take offence at your 4 set.

Wow, it is an Eldrazi deck built the way that WotC intended... that is surprisingly refreshing. Have you looked at actually running Eldrazi Temple for the extra acceleration?

I like the gravitational shift + fliers, but that is about the only synergy I see in this deck. I would look at either finding extra ways to reward fliers (Serra Aviary) or punish non-fliers (ex. Moat/Earthquake). Alternately, as you are going to have a growing amount of unused mana as the game progresses, something like a Leonin Standard might do very well for you. Or you could try to finish with a card like Day of the Dragons.

Also, there is really no reason to run a mana curve that is that completely frontended unless you are doing something cheezy (like trying to draw your deck in one turn, or recast all your permanants). I would highly suggest changing out for some more powerful fliers or finding a way to make it hard for your opponents to play with high CMC creatures.

If you choose to leave your mana curve the way it is, lower you land count! You don't need even 18 lands when you can play 76% of your deck with one island.

We should up you to a 4 set of Pact of Negation. In the event of drawing Multani but not drawing a Chalice, you can counter your own spells for draw to increase your probability of 1st turn victory. I will note, however that you cannot "Use Pact of Negation to disrupt any atttempts to counter Exsanguinate." because it would be auto-countered if you Chalice is in play.

I would drop the remove-from-hand mana and a 0 cost non-artifact creature in exchange for 0 cost mana:
+4 Lotus Petal
+4 Chrome Mox
+4 Mox Opal

This keeps your Multani's Void from getting halted by something you can't cycle or counter.

On a side note, I love the Probes and Street Wraiths as ways to push the draw faster. I am going to think hard on this one, the 2 card combo is very comparable to an ANT deck, but runs on much lower CMC. If you can have your two combo cards hit your opening hand reliably, you have a real contender here for 1st turn win reliability.

I built a deck on the same premise and have had alot of feedback that you might be able to peruse:

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=200837

You can only have one Planeswalker out at a time, why are you running 8 planeswalker cards? Also, you should run Nicol Bolas as a creature too ^_^

Run Green Sun's Zenith as a Melira Tutor and reduce her count (as Melira is a Legendary anyhow). Due to Green Sun's Zenith's shuffle ability, you will never be decked.

I would probably cut a few more lands. As a rule of thumb (and subject to variation), 25 lands is about right for a two color deck. You also don't have enough merfolk to make use of the ability on Merfolk Sovereign, so that may make a good option to pull.

If you want to look at some control options to get to a good Angel finisher, I have a more control focused Angel deck you can look at:

http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=119385

Angel of Mercy is really expensive for what it does. Maybe look at Exalted Angels for the same CMC?

I also feel like you have an extaordinarily expensive mana curve on this deck to have as little mana acceleration as it does. Almost half your castable cards are 4+ CMC. In that vein, I suggest dropping the Invincible Hymns and add in some Glorious Anthems or Coat of Arms... something that makes this play a bit more like a Tribal deck. Let some lifelink and pump make give you staying power. If you live long enough to get down CMC 8 cards, you want them to be win conditions. I also suggest looking at enchantment options for

I think that is why he is running the Asceticism

I have made some significant changes to the deck arrangement per comments that have been made. Keep the advice coming.

Okay, I see where you could get that reading. Has there been a ruling on that that I am unaware of?

I was thinking of things like Book of Rass and Greed; there are certainly similar effects on instants... basically effects where you can spend life to maintain draw while sequestered. It might be a very viable way to build up the mana curve to soul conduit. (and get your life where you want it at the same time)

Agreed, really alot of the combos I was showcasing are a little redundant once you realize that generalized combo is a win condition.

The more I think about this deck, the more I like the combo aspect of it. Considering dropping the Birthing Pod CMC climb and maxing out the Altars (maybe also adding Blasting Stations). I just don't want the deck to tank if I can't pull a Melira. Too bad all the low mana cost Persists are green, otherwise I would just pull all the creatures green and run Summoner's Pact as a targeted tutor.