martianshark

I don't have a problem with either of those. I figured Borrowed is more of a guaranteed +2 power, but Ascend shouldn't be difficult to achieve. I don't think Crash Through would be particularly useful for its affect alone, as the entire point of going wide is you're not really concerned with blockers. But nothing wrong with it just as a cantrip that gets you additional tokens.

Maybe a few Borrowed Grace to finish off? Also maybe Raise the Alarm?

I don't think Overwhelming is Pioneer legal

Trying Nature's Way. Removal, trample, and leaving a blocker all in one.

Yeah I was thinking it kinda had a lack of trample other than Avatar. Still some evasion at least with Smuggler's Copter and Steel Leaf. Throwing an Aspect on any of those three might give you a good shot.

Skullcrack is always relevant, it's three damage to face lifegain or not. Four maindeck has always done well for me in Modern. I agree that Giant is good for card advantage, but I think it depends on how slow/removal-heavy the format ends up being.

Looking into it, it does seem like Leyline will be more situational than it would be in Modern where I've seen it in 1st place decklists. I'll likely remove, but if stuff like Thoughtseize or Walking Ballista are common, sideboard for sure.

I'm seeing Leyline as a four-of in Modern, but the Pioneer meta might treat things differently. Wild Slash is slightly strictly better than Shock, but I could possibly make room if Leyline is taken out. Skullcrack is extremely good in Modern. My goal is to make it fast, and with so few creatures already, my guess is that Bonecrusher will just die to my opponent's removal-loaded hand at the cost of 5 mana for 4 damage. Again with the speed mindset, I only want Light Up the Stage as an occasional refill, around turn 4 or 5.

Those are my thoughts. But I think I may be coming at this from more of a Modern perspective, while you seem to be coming from more of a Standard/Arena perspective.

Budget: Use Cast Down instead of Fatal Push, remove Vraska's from the sideboard. It's already fairly cheap, but that'll practically cut the price in half.

I'm actually thinking of taking red lands out entirely. Their only potential use is to cast Devil's Play without infinite mana, which is rarely helpful, thus making these painlands an unnecessary waste of life. And even then, you could still likely pull that off with Silvans and Axebanes.

Made a variation for Pauper

Oh yeah! I didn't realize until you pointed it out that this is almost entirely commons. Couldn't run Fog Bank unfortunately, but something else could work I guess

Never claimed that devil's play could. Never demanded your advice either. You seem to take casual with far too much of a competitive mindset.

@Puschkin: Nah. Combo is incredibly fun, and casual provides limitless possibilities. But if I constructed this in such a way that the combo was nearly guaranteed, it would quickly get boring for both me and my opponent. Comet Storm is alright, but there aren't very many situations where a simple Fireball wouldn't have the exact same result. I like the synergy Devil's Play has with Tracker's Instincts, and you could still take out at least two opponents if you have it in your hand.

@deddbizzle: Nice. Drift of Phantasm is amazing, and could search for most of the important combo pieces, including Freed from the Real and Pemmin's Aura if I end up adding those.

Is there a reason I wouldn't want to?

Pemmin's Aura is ridiculous. I'll consider it, but it might make the deck a little more broken than I intended. Casual is no longer fun if no one wants to play with you.

Thanks

Ball Lightning has probably been one of the most effective cards in this deck, at least in my meta. In testing, my opponents tend to be tapped out from whatever they casted on turn 2 or 3, but of course it is occasionally rendered useless. I'll consider replacing Hellspark. This deck is semi-budget, so I'm going to avoid Goblin Guide for now.

The Street Wraiths are just for deck thinning, and are never actually cast. I'm essentially running a 56-card deck at the cost of a little life. It also gives some fuel to Grim Lavamancer. Does Guttersnipe see any serious play? Even back when I used him in Standard, I think he was too slow.

Oh, and I already have Street Wraiths

An opponent recommended Skullcrack too, and I already have some. I'll consider Magma Jet and Swiftspear. Eidelon looks a little dangerous, but maybe I'll sideboard it for decks that cast a lot of spells.