DedWards

Cards like Brimaz, King of Oreskos would work well with both Champion of Lambholt and Bronzebeak Moa as it pops out a token every time it attacks. And talking about cards that trigger them during combat, Sprout Swarm is worth considering. Because of convoke, you can tap any creature with vigilance or summoning sickness to cast it in the middle of combat (or any time), while keeping your mana open for other important cards.

Thanks for the suggestions. I merely designed this to show a friend what was possible.

I know of all those, but that also means a hefty (and pricy) overhaul to the mana base. Efficient lands are expensive.

Marrow-Gnawer + Thornbite Staff (+ One more rat) = infinite rat tokens.

All looks good, except for Voldaren Duelist. I'd drop it in favour of Stensia Masquerade. The first strike is awesome, and it helps your Vampires grow. Also, more Madness.

It's not quite plagiarism. Reanimate is an old concept, and Wizards keeps printing different types of reanimate cards every couple of sets. It's a matter of someone putting the effort in to make it work, and for current Standard, this is as good as it's going to get. I've been contemplating doing a standard reanimator deck myself, and this is how I was able to suggest what I did above, but something feels like it's missing, thus I haven't actually built one.

Archdruid costs 3 mana. CoCo costs 4 mana (and lots of money), too much mana for little to no warriors. And all those mana dorks aren't warriors, thus not gaining off Bramblewood Paragon. I had a deck similar to what you're suggesting (minus the CoCo's), but I found this build to be quicker and less combo'y. Ezuri functions more as a way to protect the other Elves (regeneration for {G}) and / or a Lightning rod.

I have contemplated them, but I'm faced with two problems: 1) I only have one; and 2) how would I fit them in. I originally ran Giant Growth as a filler for Mutagenic Growth, but due to all the removal in Modern, Vines of Vastwood eventually replaced them.

It's known, but like most 'infinite' mana combo's, not used. Three reasons for this: 1) something to reliabley use the mana on; 2) a reliable way to fetch the combo pieces; and 3) a way to reliabley protect the combo and what you use it on.

That said, while the combo pieces are both creatures, the standard creature removal most Modern decks use can disrupt it, the same can be said about any creature based combo, including ones that do see play. Going forward, a protection package (counter spells, hexproof granting spells, etc.) and search / draw will be key.

That's a very round about way to get infinite mana. Here's a faster way that only uses two cards:

Grand Architect + Pili-Pala

With both out, pay {U} tp turn Pili-Pala into a blue artifact creature.
Tap Pili-Pala for {C}{C}.
Use the {C}{C} to untap Pili-Pala and get one mana of any colour.
Repeatedly tap and untap Pili-Pala for as much mana as you want. (Each untap nets you one mana)

I like the possibility of The Gitrog Monster + Mimic Vat + Dryad Arbor. Effectively turning Mimic Vat's ability into {3}, {T}: draw a card :p

If you want to go with a control~ish shell, you're going to need to use a lot more kill (Grasp of Darkness), mass kill (Languish), and discard effects (Duress).

With all the self discard (for the Madness), you may want to consider Kindly Stranger for its Delirium effect.

Accursed Witch is another interesting creature that has caught my attention. Skin Invasion is another card I'd like to make work. Though, these two don't quite seem tournament worthy... not yet anyway.

As for madness, Incorrigible Youths is a good card.

What are you looking at creature wise?

Both have pro's and con's.

Initiate can give away one counter at a time (assuming you can get more than one on it), but only to creatures entering the battlefield.

Servant gives them all at once, but needs to die in order to give the counters.

I chose Initiate because I can have a bit more control over when I can give the counters. If I had the space, I'd play both.

Sadly, while I play Standard at fnm every second week, a lot of my group don't play the 'normal' decks, so I doubt I can be much help (but I'll try). We do need to understand what you may come across to build a decent deck.

White weenie humans is a thing. They tend to run Avacyn and / or splash a second colour (often blue) for one or two cards (like Reflector Mage).

Bant Company is seeing play. A decent number of etb effects on creatures Collected Company can bring in (including Reflector Mage), but they do have some higher cmc creatures because their abilities are too good to ignore. Luckily, little to no noncreature spells to increase the effectiveness of CoCo. So, depending on the build, little to no counter spells.

I played against a Werewolf deck last night. Very, VERY, aggressive (for Standard), but also creature heavy. Beware of enchantments that boost all his creatures, I lost game one because of Stensia Masquerade granting first strike (couldn't trade off favourably). Also beware of Howlpack Resurgence. Flash, +1/+1,and trample makes it quite a threat.

Lucky for me, BR Vampire Madness hasn't picked up in my group, but it's worth mentioning as it's potentially very aggressive. Most of the best discard outlets for Madness is in BR (like Lightning Axe), and a good number of the Vampires have Madness, or can gain Madness from Falkenrath Gorger. Stensia Masquerade is even more dangerous here as the creatures are Vampires, so they'll gain +1/+1 counters if they deal damage to you.

BG Seasons Past control did well recently, well enough for it to pop up on my radar. This one is spell heavy, using a shit ton of removal, discard, and mass removal, capping out with Dark Petition fetching Seasons Past to refuel on control spells.

I personally play RG landfall ramp, capping out with Omnath and / or Chandra, Flamecaller. But the 'normal' RG ramp decks tend to cap out on the big Eldrazi. These are normally mid range decks, as they spend the first few turns ramping with Nissa's Pilgrimage and Explosive Vegetation.

Some one may try UR Prowess, though without Monastery Swiftspear and Temur Battle Rage, it's not as explosive as it used to be. It's still possible to play it, but it'll win over a number of turns instead of all at once.

Hmm... Can't think of any other archetypes at the moment.

With all of this in mind, you should be able to build a deck that can survive, and hopefully beat, the decks you may come up against. Without knowing what you have on hand, I can't offer any more assistance.

That depends on how reliably you can produce Clues. If you can produce Clues at least every second turn, with a way to survive the long game, Pia and Kiran Nalaar would be far better than Thopter Spy Network. Though I can see a 2-2 split working too.

I'm not that great, I've just learned a lot from experience.

Oppressive Rays isn't that bad. It costs 1 mana to lock down a creature early game, and with all the creatures having Shadow, being blocked isn't a worry. It also adds one more to Ethereal Armor. It can also be stacked on the same creature, multiplying the cost to attack.

I agree with you on Azorius Chancery, it's not necessary, especially with no landfall to trigger nor a use for the blue. I can see the farm providing early mana ramp, and with such a low curve, that means more aggressive plays.

Pia and Kiran Nalaar is worth considering as an upgrade. It allows you to blow up the Clues for more damage, so you can tap them to Ghirapur Æther Grid, then pay {2}{R} per Clue to blow them up.

That depends on the combo you choose to concentrate on.

Legacy doesn't have a Restricted list. Sol Ring is straight out banned in Legacy.