dknight27

The more I think about the [[Unearth]]/[[Snapcaster Mage]] interaction, the more I think it's just busted as all hell. So many opportunities for shenanigans. I could probably get away with shaving an Edict and a Bowmasters for a set.

Unearth pulls back Snap, Snap pulls back Truth, 3 mana gets you a 2/1 and 3 cards. God damn

Seems like running 4 Ovens might be a bit too heavy, as you want them for the familiar combo but don't really need them otherwise, and they are fetchable with Saga. Maybe swap out 1 for another discard source to up the chances of tossing away Asmoran/taking advantage of all the other synergy with discard? I can't see a little [[Faithless Looting]] being out of place here. I'd personally cut a copy of Anvil for a second Looting as well, if only because it's less useful without the combos in play. Just thoughts at a glance.

That's certainly an interesting prison mechanic card, especially since it basically shuts down all counterspells and eats removal if there are no targets. I'd give it some consideration for the sideboard, but it doesn't exactly fit in the maindeck because it's a 4-drop. The main combo is Goblin working with Emry, both of which rely on cheap cards. Goblin can only fetch back 3-drops, so he can pitch a Mask to the grave but can't fetch it back, and Emry can fetch it back but since it's a 4-drop it would eat the whole turn's mana to do so. The beauty of the setup is that Goblin makes the switch for 1 mana and Emry can fetch back 0-drops for free, so the whole thing costs minimal and allows you to stull use your lands/draws to keep developing.

It's certainly worth considering though, I've never given the card much thought, but it is a full stop to a good deal of mechanics and builds. It would be REALLY good in Legacy where you can use bullshit lands like [[Ancient Tomb]] and acceleration like the off-color Moxes to ramp into it turn 1 or 2. Let me think on it.

Assassin's Trophy is indeed generally better and would fit very well. However, the singles are there to take advantage of Urza's Saga, which searches 1-drop artifacts, so it effectively runs 5 copies of each, depending on what out you need. Plus, you can reuse the Sagas with Wrenn and Six, and they're a win condition all on their own, especially in this deck as you generate Food tokens, which are artifacts, so the tokens you can generate with Sagas will be gigantic.

I never know how to balance Force of Negation. My thought here was that it protects Glarb the turn you play him (if you're out of mana), so you can play him a turn early, and that you can pitch Glarb to it if you need to shut down some explosive combo bullshit. Also, that once Glarb is online, having one in hand is worth the 2:1 since Glarb pulls from the top of the deck, so you're really not losing material, as it lets you dump all your mana into capitalizing on Glarb's engine. It does clog up the top of the deck, which is a bummer, and really isn't a good substitute for [[Force of Will]] since it's double conditional, so I might be way off trying to run 4 of them when I could jam in a [[Spell Snare]] or the like. It REALLY blows that there aren't any counter spells in modern that you can reliably reduce in cost that Glarb can take advantage of. [[Disrupting Shoal]] and [[Out of Air]] are atrocious, and [[Overwhelming Denial]] defeats the purpose, so I didn't really know what else to do.

The Triome makes perfect sense. The fact that this deck can't play red as a major color because of Glarb's tri-color identity bummed me out like crazy, cause cards like [[Fire // Ice]], [[Cut // Ribbons]], [[Rise // Fall]], and [[Rough // Tumble]] would all be in the mix. My initial thought with the surveil lands was that 1- they help Glarb anyway cause you can play em from the topdeck and you can either see 2 cards with Glarb or just net the land, 2- that you can do the same thing with a fetch land into a surveil land (deck thinning on top), and 3- that you can store up fetch lands to effectively be used as Brainstorms. Ideally, turn 1 you're going to fetch a surveil land in opponent's endstep anyway, leaving 2 in the deck (as is), but I can see why the access to red would be better. Fire knocks off lots of little threats like [[Orcish Bowmasters]], so being able to cast one instead of just Ice would be super beneficial. Good call.

Keeping in mind that this deck type is one of the ones I have the least experience with, I'd suggest the following:

You'd want some more 1-drops to speed up the deck as much as you can, cause you want to start the damage clock immediately. [[Flamekin Harbringer]] is a perfect fit in here. It doesn't net you any material, but it keeps the elemental count high, starts your damage clock, and sets up whatever critter you need next.

Convenient Target is a bit too slow and doesn't give enough benefit in the build as is. I'd recommend some basic burn like [[Lightning Bolt]] that you can use to remove threats or burn to the face to end the game instead.

Gnawing Crescendo has some cool synergy with the sac elementals, but the problem is, it costs 3, so to play it on the same turn as one of the sac elementals means you have to have 4, 5, or 6 mana available, which this deck doesn't want to have happen. It's also a dead draw in some cases, and really only gets value when you have at least 2 critters in play. As alternatives, you could go with the same idea of a broad boost like Painter's Studio // Defaced Gallery (it's a room card, you can get a LOT of value out of it in here), or play around with [[Risk Factor]], which could also get some absolutely sick value in here, as you either refill your hand or get 4 damage at instant speed, then you can replay it from the grave later/then by tossing something you don't need, such as a land or target for Thunderkin Awakener. In fact, combined with Thunderkin Awakener, you could pay 3 for a jump-start Risk Factor, toss a Ball Lightning, get 4 damage or 3 more cards, attack with Awakener, and reanimate your Ball Lightning for the turn, which is either 11 damage or 7 damage and +2 material for the exchange. This works equally well with the other sec-elementals, which Risk Factor basically turns into free Lightning Bolts.

You can play around with your lands a bit too, as you're running mono-red so you don't need to get fancy but can still get some value out of the lands for cheap return. [[Castle Embereth]], [[Contested War Zone]], [[Shivan Gorge]], and [[Barbarian Ring]] are worth considering in small numbers to augment 3 or so mountains, which helps cut down on the dead draws but still gets you what you want mana wise.

I'm afraid I'm a horrible man and apparently enjoy hitting myself in the face with a baseball bat, a la constructing modern decks.

To be clear, I completely support no one playing in modern until the format gets purged of all its nonsense. I don't play competitively at all anymore, this is more of a side hobby, just tooling around with fun ideas when they pop into my head. I switched years ago to making my own cards/sets and playing with those to bypass everything I hate about modern magic and all its bullshit, money-hungry, raw insanity.

Alright, the plan seems to be: 1- generate tokens for opponent, 2a- drain opponent for those tokens (as well as other critters), 2b- deal with tokens with Ratchet Bomb and return to 1, 2c- attack with Phantasm or copy and see 2a or 2b

The inherent problem with builds like this is that your plan is to arm opponent and eventually punish him for it. In doing so, you're basically unable to stop what he's doing because your deck's whole point is to charge up for damage, so opponent can do whatever he wants on top of being handed ammunition by you while he does.

Imagine playing against a control deck with lots of removal and counterspells that runs 4-8 win conditions. You cast a Hunted Phantasm turn 3 and pass. Opponent cracks a fetch land then hits the Phantasm with [[Fatal Push]] during your endstep. Now you've lost a turn and given opponent the equivalent of +2 in material, and are staring down a deck you can't do much against that's going to eat you alive.

Long story short, you've got to maintain maximum efficiency or you'll end up coming up short before you can stockpile the damage you need to end opponent. Running 4 colors is dangerous (even with the good land spread), so I'd generally advocate cutting down to 3 max. The last thing this deck needs is another math line that leads to dead draws because of land/color problems, you're already looking at situations where you need X and draw Y or lands instead and get mauled by opponent while you're stuck. The good news is, you can cut white with a little finagling and be fine for the subtraction (more on this below). Other than that, the major problem to deal with is (as stated above) you arming opponent to make your plan work.

So, you've gotta make a portion of the deck a prison build, shutting down what opponent is doing as well as disarming the tokens you create so you have time to pull of your win condition of burn damage. The following cards are cheap prison options you can use to shut down the tokens and (hopefully) what opponent's doing (including some white options if you want to keep 4 colors):

[[Propaganda]], [[Juntu Stakes]], [[Boarded Window]], [[Ghostly Prison]], Orim's Prayer, [[Watchdog]], [[Energy Field]], [[Thunderstaff]], [[Crawlspace]]

You also need some more damage sources and massive token generation: [[Stronghold Discipline]], Varchild's War-Riders (we've talked about this one before) are really the way to go.

An alternative line has you keeping white/red and running [[High Noon]], which slows everything down to a crawl and really lets you build to a critical mass on tokens for your W while you use the prison mechanics to stay alive. It's also a damage finisher (an aspect of the card I absolutely adore), so your damage clock gets a little more manageable.

Another option to consider is running some cheap nukes (besides Ratchet Bomb) that will disrupt opponent as well as kill off the gifted tokens, so if you get behind you can at least recover:

[[Path of Peril]]/[[Ritual of Soot]], [[Pest Control]], [[Wrath of the Skies]], and [[Vanquish the Horde]]. I'd absolutely recommend running 4 Ratchet Bombs, as you're going to need to reset the token count at some point in any game you play that can't play two massive burn spells in a row.

As for what to trim, Aether Vial is a good idea based on the critter curve, but doesn't really help here, as what Vial is supposed to do is accelerate critter drops as well as get around counter magic and pull some control tricks. You'd much rather have solid material that gets what needs to be gotten done than topdeck a Vial that does essentially nothing.

Generous Gift, Rapid Hybridization, and Swan Song are all really only good in formats like commander when you don't have access to colors that answer problems better. For example, Generous Gift is really just an awful version of [[Vindicate]]. I know you want to give opponent the token so you can build your damage clock, but there's a big difference between giving a 1/1 and a 3/3. Generous Gift might as well say "give up a turn for -1 material", cause in almost all cases, opponent would be more than happy to play a card that says "opponent discards a card and loses a turn/half a turn, create a 3/3 token" for whatever mana cost the card you killed happened to be.

Humble Defector is only good when combod with something that either lets it tap multiple times a turn, or in a format like EDH where you can trade it with someone to keep gaining material. It won't die to a free Ratchet Bomb, and you have to wait a turn to tap it for the material, so you'd really rather just play something like Night's Whisper if you need the material. Or, better yet, [[Keep Watch]].

Another fun line would be going with [[Sivitri, Dragon Master]] and running [[Hunted Dragon]] (which would be a good consideration anyway). Sivitri keeps you alive, builds to a nuke, and can fetch the Dragon when you have room to breathe which absolutely can be a win condition (especially when combined with one of your burn spells).

Lots of thoughts this time.

While I've been [[Ponder]]ing (ha), I came up with a couple other damage dorks you could use: [[Eidolon of the Great Revel]] and Kolaghan's Command.

As for what would be shaved out, Jace's mill ability is too slow/conditional, even if it's +2 is (theoretically) as helpful to you as it is harmful to opponent (with a loaded Ascension). So, long story short, it's too conditional, and you can get better/the same effects from more reliable sources. Lightning Reaver is too expensive and too easy to kill (dies to a Lightning Bolt). Deny Reality is too expensive for what it does in this deck's context, as you can't combo it into bouncing anything you own for maximum effect or anything like that. Sign in Blood is useful in general for card advantage for you, but it's a worse version of Night's Whisper, unless you're trying to use it as a way to get 2 damage on opponent, which is a bad idea as it also lets them draw 2 cards (which is only useful with a fully charged Ascension). Archive Trap is a great idea as a finisher once Ascension is charged, as it's an OTK under almost all circumstances, but it's conditional (for the search), expensive (without the search), and a dead draw until you both have an Ascension and have it charged. You're better off going with a mill source that is more reliable/not a dead draw like [[Ruin Crab]] or [[Fractured Sanity]] (which is the full kill for 3 blue if you need it, or you can cycle it away and still get a good mill).

I'd rely on the crabs, Thought Scour, and an assortment of redraw/burn damage cards for the finisher over any big OTK mill source (reasoning above), so hopefully all of that clarification helps. I realize I'm proposing major changes to the build.

Ok, here we go.

The sequence you need here is: 1- a fielded Ascension, 2- an activated Ascension (3 turns of 2+ damage), 3- anything that mills/destroys/discards

Off the bat, there are some advantages. Firstly, that Ascension will only need to deal 14 damage, provided opponent isn't running lifegain (which you have a good chance of not seeing much of in any random matchup). Meaning, you only need a mill sequence of 7 cards in total once Ascension is activated. That's very easy to get, and everything opponent does/loses just cuts into that 7 card runway.

The problem is, the build does next to nothing without a fielded Ascension, has no way to get to it quickly, and doesn't have consistent wants to get your 2 damage turns. So, here are some solutions to make that happen:

First and foremost, you've got to get ahold of a 4th Ascension if you're running this deck in paper. They're 13 bucks, which isn't ideal, but that's unfortunately the cost of doing business. You also need to run cards like [[Ponder]], [[Brainstorm]], and/or [[Preordain]], which will help you dig through your deck faster so you can get to your Ascension (and will help with the second part). It might also be worth running some search like [[Demonic Bargain]]

As for the 2 damage, the most elegant solution I see to that problem is to run [[Thermo-Alchemist]], which nets 1 damage a turn on its own just by tapping itself, and will get you the second damage if you can play any instant or sorcery. Since I'm advocating for the majority of the deck to be instant/sorceries anyway, that's damn near perfect synergy.

There are a few instants/sorceries I'd advise running with Alchemist and in general in this build, such as [[Collective Brutality]], which gets you a 2 damage turn as well as acting as a potential 6 damage off of Ascension once it's activated. Plus it's just a great compromise card, as if hates on critters if you need that or hates on control if you need that. The same is true for [[Collective Defiance]].

[[Thought Scour]] is a free 4 damage off of Ascension that trips Alchemist. [[Reforge the Soul]] is hella useful with 1 or 2 copies, as you're going to miracle into it, hit opponent off the discard damage, and have a refilled hand. [[Windfall]] has a similar effect.

[[Risk Factor]] might find a unique home in this build, as you win either way, and can play it in opponent's endphase. It's either good for 8 damage and 2 counters on Ascension or 5 cards for 6 mana at tempo.

Coolio, let me know how the tests work if you end up doing it.

The Urza dilemma was sort of all over my thought process here. It doesn't help with the mana hardly at all, and running 22 lands in a deck with 26 one-drops was always a dubious proposal.

Here's my line of reasoning (for what that's worth):
-(obviously, and as mentioned) delirium booster
--- Saga into Mite sacked is full delirium, which is bonkers
-alt win condition (spawns two 3/3's (if everything goes off) at the cost of all your mana for 2 turns)
-loopable with Loam
-fetching Shadowspear goes a long way to tipping even boardstates/staying alive against better agro
-slow toolbox answer off the Spellbomb and/or Mite
-other than running Mishra's Bauble and perhaps Static Prison, I couldn't find anything else I liked that was cheap and/or helped so well with delirium


I'm working on some other color configurations for the idea, and so far the best companion idea I've found is to work red in to run [[Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki]] and [[Fear of Missing Out]]. It's a concept I'll be toying around with a lot, I guess we'll see what happens.

As a brief intro, auras are tricky to play with. The problem is, they come with the most detriments of any kind of playable card in magic, and most of them don't have enough benefit on their own to outweigh this idea. For example, you play your creature, you pass, you play your aura enchanting your creature, opponent plays a kill spell, killing that creature. You're just lost 2 turns to opponent's 1, and 2 cards to opponent's 1. What's worse, most kill spells are pretty cheap, so opponent can probably still do something on that turn, whereas you might have had to sink two whole turns into your enchanted critter.

On top of that, the vast majority of auras are point blank useless without a creature to enchant, so if you don't have a creature, they are dead draws. Meaning, if you're topdecking with an empty field, your deck essentially has up to 2/3 of its cards as dead cards (lands and auras), and even if you draw a creature, you're in the same boat if something happens to that creature. Long story short, auras can effectively lock you out of your own deck if you're not careful.

So, to get around these problems, you've got to play cheap spells to get things moving as fast as possible, auras that don't lose material (they draw cards or are reusable), creatures that protect themselves or generate material, and/or auras that can win you the game and are thus worth the risk.

The first big thing here is trying to get the curve down to make everything faster. You want lots of 1 and 2-drops to mitigate the time it takes to field a critter then enchant the critter. Some of your ideal aruas are [[Sheltered by Ghosts]], [[Ethereal Armor]], [[Feather of Flight]], Sentinel's Eyes. Then there's the totem armor auras that are excellent bang for the buck, such as [[Hyena Umbra]] (only real consideration for this build).

You also want 4 copies each of [[Sram, Senior Edificer]], [[Kor Spirit Dancer]], and [[Hateful Eidolon]]. Light-Paws Emperor's Voice is also something to check out.

You can also run auras that have control elements that aren't on critters. If you switch to snow lands (which shouldn't be a problem, just swap out the basic swamps and plains for snow copies of each), you can run [[On Thin Ice]], and get bonus aura triggers for a pretty good control card.


Lots of rough ideas, but the general thing you're looking for is faster options and auras/critters that give you quick card advantage or speed so you can start the damage clock going and out material opponent, who will basically rely on spot removal that you'll hopefully outpace.

I'd agree, I don't think this build wants/needs Saga. I love the addition of Wickerfolk, that fits perfectly. Turn 2 damage clock that double dips on delirium and is fetchable with Zenith, very nice.

I also love seeing Chthonian Nightmare in here. In my opinion, it's tied for the most fascinating card to have come out in years (along with [[High Noon]]), and you could do some cool tricks in here with it, especially if you've got Grist up and running. I've been experimenting with it myself, and I love what it does and how it does it. Nothing but potential.

As for the delirium problem, the only other viable solution I'm seeing is to either throw in some mill-billies like Stitcher's Supplier (BEST friends with C Nightmare, as it happens), or bight the bullet and throw in some cheap artifacts that hit the grave quickly and easily. [[Nihil Spellbomb]] never hurt anyone to have a copy mainboarded, and [[Pyrite Spellbomb]] isn't too bad.

But maybe the deck can get away with delirium as a red herring/backup plan, as it seems pretty quick and synergistic as it is. If opponent sees the delirium mechanic, he might side in against it and really only hurt your Goyfs and the Nightmare. I'm not 100% on this, but it's a thought.

Hang tight. I'm swamped with work stuff, but I'll be back on this in a few days, I've got some ideas

I enjoy a good sliver deck.

Off the bat, it may not be the best idea to go with a red/white sliver build, as some of the heavy hitters for slivers that you'd really like to use are from other colors, such as [[Crypt Sliver]], [[Crystalline Sliver]], [[Gemhide Sliver]]/[[Manaweft Sliver]], [[Muscle Sliver]], [[Venom Sliver]], etc. It's not particularly hard to run a tri-color sliver deck because of the available cheap lands that will get the job done, such as [[Secluded Courtyard]], [[Unclaimed Territory]], and [[Ancient Ziggurat]]. So, maybe consider going tri-color. I'd particularly recommend going white/red/green for the stompy build you're working on here, so you can run more buff-up slivers and accel slivers.

It is, of course, perfectly fine to keep the red/white build though, so here's my thoughts on that.

The best advice I can give it to up the 1-drop count in this build as much as you can. Your ideal scenario is to drop a sliver turn 1, then drop the second sliver turn 2, which pumps the 1-drop sliver and lets you get to work on your agro clock. So, for example, turn 1 Plated Sliver, turn 2 Sinew Sliver, and you're already attacking with a 2/3 on turn 2 with another 2/3 on deck for the next turn. The lower cost slivers aren't as powerful as the 3/4-drops, but since slivers build on each other, that basically doesn't matter, and it's much more important to build up speed than powerful slivers later in the game.

To that end, I'd suggest maxing out Plated Sliver, Striking Sliver, and at least 2 copies of [[Sidewinder Sliver]].

Following this logic, you then want to max out your turn 2 slivers, which means maxing out Talon Sliver, adding in 4 [[Two-Headed Sliver]] and 4 [[Heart Sliver]]. Sliversmith is too slow and takes up too many resources to be really viable, Sentinel Sliver is ok, but I would rather have Two-Head or Heart.

Your 3-drops are negotiable, as there are quite a few of them that are good for red and white, so that's nice. However, your 4-drops are where the money is for this build, as you have access to Bonescythe Sliver, [[Bonesplitter Sliver]], and/or [[Cleaving Sliver]]. I'd recommend running a full set of Bonescythe and a full set of either Bonesplitter or Cleaving, as dropping one of these cards turn 4 turns your field from threatening into game-winning.

Just some quick thoughts, for what they're worth.

I can't be the only person that thinks all the modern Eldrazi stuff is a textbook example of wizards of the coast basically losing its mind and going off tracks it set for itself that worked for 20 years. Don't let big spells have acceleration without consequence, don't make land destruction easy and definitely don't tie it to win conditions, etc.

Not that any of this is the fault of players wanting to play the builds wizards allows them, mind you. I'm just pointing out my questions regarding the wisdom of the decisions, especially since it's all over the meta and will be for quite a while.

For your artifact removal, [[Engineered Explosives]] can accomplish the same thing, but much more quickly, as Ratchet Bomb. Cast it for 0, 1, or 2 and then dump it off for (2) and you can clear the board of whatever. [[Shrivel]] and [[Nausea]] are 2-drop nukes, but they're pretty conditional. Unfortunately, the best 2-drop nuke is in red, so you'll either have to be ok with playing for shenanigans with the -1/-1 for a turn, run Explosives and hope for the right colors you need, or grit your teeth and accept a 3-drop nuke from black, of which there are many options.

Tezzeret being a 6-drop seems problematic to me, especially since there's no real way to ramp to him. [[Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas]] is the traditional artifact planeswalker, as it's a 4-drop that generates material or creates win conditions, and goes for $2.50 which isn't bad at all. [[Karn, the Great Creator]] also fits like a glove, and has all kinds of nasty tricks you can pull with him (such as the ol [[Liquimetal Coating]] in the sideboard lock that lets you murder a land every turn). If you don't have access to ether of those, I'd personally run another Mystic Forge over the big Tezzeret, but that's me.

As for Sol Ring, if you want to run vintage, it's basically a must, but this deck should work perfectly well in legacy without it, so you should be fine. Realistically, vintage is a format of nonsense that can only really be played by extremely wealthy people, so keeping things in legacy makes more sense for 99% of magic players. With all the junk available in vintage, it's not uncommon to essentially lose the game before you get to play a single card because opponent can dump his whole hand turn 1 or just lock you out turn 1 then sit back and engine into a win condition.

With the amount of critters in this build, I'm not a huge fan of Grasping Shadows. [[Bow of Nylea]] accomplishes a very similar thing, but without limiting to one attacker, and comes with fun activated abilities.

Deadbridge Chant is probably too expensive and too slow to justify its spot here. 6-drop on its own is problematic, but it also doesn't do anything you need the turn it comes into play, and has essentially no effect if it gets removed. I'd personally rather run another copy of Drown in Ichor to clear the way for your critters, snag the proliferate, and keep the hurt train running for 2 mana, but that's me.

Just some quick thoughts.

Couple bits of potential synergy problems I see in the build as is. Delirium is gunna be very hard to get, as Zenith shuffles itself back into the deck, so you're really only running 4 sorceries (for this purpose), which means you'll be struggling for that 4th type. You're have critters and lands covered, but only have 13 other playable cards (15 if you discard a Zenith (other than Fear itself as an enchantment hybrid)) to use to get 2 more types in the grave. This is mitigated a bit by Zenith being able to fetch Grist and the few discard effects you've got, but overall seems unreliable to me. Delirium is usually cheated into by running Urza's Saga and sackable artifacts, which gets you 3 types for 1 card, but that would require lots of retooling for the deck. What would really be nice is if Break Out milled instead of the way it's structured, but then it would be worth 50 bucks and probably banned, so it is what it is. Alternatively, you could run [[Malevolent Rumble]], and trade off the mill/token for the deeper reach and tempo, but that's a matter of priorities I suppose.

Second potential problem I see is the curve, which is pretty 2-drop heavy and very limited on acceleration. You can Zenith into Arbor turn 1 of course, but other than that, this deck will be playing behind most games without a turn 1 play, and most of your turn 1 plays are reactionary against critters. This is usually solved by running some mana dorks like [[Ignoble Hierarch]] that up your chances of a turn 1 accelerated play that's going to let you hit the ground ahead on turn 2, or 1-drop discard outlets like [[Thoughtseize]] or [[Inquisition of Kozilek]], both of which deny opponent the turn 1/2 play they want to make to get their deck going. Obviously you're ok with a turn 1 Ragavan or fetch into surveil land, but the format's pretty god damn fast from what I'm seeing, and I don't think the curve as is will work out overall against decks that can go nuclear turn 3.

I'd personally cut 2 Dreadknights (1 copy is an engine by itself, and you'd rather Zenith into it than take the time early to play it as a sorcery) , a Fiend Artisan (useless early on, perfect Zenith target for mid/late game), and Unholy Heat (conditionally great, but less good as single spot removal in a format that can get around spot removal) for 4 copies of Thoughtseize, but that's me. That brings the 'I wanna drop this turn 1 for advantage' count to 10 cards (4 Thoughtseize, 4 Ragavan, 2 Zenith), which (in theory) will help the speed a lot.

Just the stuff that leapt out at me, not trying to throw shade at the build or anything.

Amen. I think [[Obsidian Charmaw]] would be a good consideration here against eldrazi that are gunna try to accelerate right over the top of you. I also really, really like [[High Noon]] as countermeasures against temur breach, ruby storm, affinity, hollow one, looting phoenix, and cascade builds. It stops them either cold or luke warm, hurts you much, much less, and doubles as damage you can build to for a finisher once you're done with it. And it's extra good on the play game 2 or 3 when you can drop it to slow down opponent's turn 2.