DedWards

I made it all the way to the semi's of a WMCQ last year with this deck. Not this exact list, but this deck. And each time I pull this out for a Modern FNM I place in the top 3. So I'd say my success rate is quite good. I'm actually going to be testing a pair of Hazoret in the deck this week, along with a few other changes. Will report on how I feel about the changes.

I absolutely love Modern. Most of my collection is Modern legal :P

Ponza isn't easy to pilot, but it's not the most difficult either. A word of warning though, people really dislike not being able to play their cards, which probably why Wizards have started reducing the number of LD cards they print in favour of printing cards that tap down lands for a turn (like the Rubble half of Reduce // Rubble). Personally, I don't feel like there's much difference between what Ponza does and what a counter heavy control deck or a prison deck does. All three strategies try to hamper the opponent's plays to buy time until they can win through one of their big threats.

I would gladly take a look at your attempt at a Modern deck to give advice.

Nice. The only thing I don't like in that list is the Fracturing Gust in my sideboard as it kills Blood Moon and Utopia Sprawl. Blood Moon can be worked around with the Magus of the Moon in sideboard, but losing Utopia Sprawl hurts a lot.

If you like this, Ponza might interest you too.

My current Ponza list:
http://www.mtgvault.com/dedwards/decks/ponza-mana-denied/

A good Primer for Ponza:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/220790-rg-ponza-modern-land-destruction

Brian DeMars (ChannelFireball) recently did an article on Ponza:
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/i-see-blood-moon-rising-rg-ponza-in-modern/

What I like about Ponza is how customisable it is.

I have my eye on the Game Day promo. Want to try get a set of that print through trades. I'll see where and how I can fit it in.

It's a toss-up between 5 damage at sorcery speed or 3 at instant. Personally I prefer the higher damage.

I like the idea, but I feel like it needs a reason for all the sacrificing. Something like allowing Bontu to attack or block, or dealing damage with Outpost Siege set to Dragons, or clearing the board with Grave Pact.

I also feel that you could add more synergy between the token production and sacrificing effects. If you go with Goblin tokens, Goblin Grenade become an upgrade to Collateral Damage. Going Servo / Myr production opens up cards like Shrapnel Blast and Syndicate Trafficker.

If you don't go with the type synergies, you will still need to upgrade Spawning Pit. Bitterblossom is arguably the best replacement for it as it doesn't require mana to make tokens, but other replacements include Goblin Rabblemaster, Goblin Assault, and Hanweir Garrison.

Cultivator's Caravan can be fetched with Trophy Mage and can help ramp into the more expensive cards. Once the mana isn't needed anymore, you can crew it, effectively turning on of your 4/4 Zombies into a 5/5 :p

I'd considered Cradle of the Accursed, but I feel the lack of colour mana restricting. It is worth testing though, so I'll keep it in mind when I start testing this.

I originally had Bontu in, but cut it to fit in God-Pharaoh's Gift, Gate of the Afterlife, and more token producing creatures. It and Yahenni are excellent sacrifice outlets.

It's either Embalm or God God-Pharaoh's Gift that "reanimates". The point of the Embalm creatures is in case I don't have God-Pharaoh's Gift, I can still do something with them.

Anointed Procession works pretty good, but there's a reason there's only 3 in the deck, and that's because of its mana cost. It's also the only way to double up on God-Pharaoh's Gift tokens as the Gift only creates 1 4/4 zombie a turn. Hidden Stockpile clogs up the ground long enough to assemble the rest, and it helps dig for the other cards with its scry.

I considered Regal Caracal because of the two free cats and the boost to Sacred Cat, but the 5 mana is far more restricting than Anointed Procession's 4 mana.

I'll gladly take a look at your deck :)

So, I just reread Entomb and only now realised that you can put any card into your graveyard, not just creatures. Which got me thinking, have you thought about adding cards that can play themselves from the graveyard? Cards with Flashback, Retrace, Aftermath, etc? Other than the Snappy interaction, here's a few that came to mind:
Comply (Failure // Comply) stops the opponent from casting a card for the turn.
Ribbons (Cut // Ribbons) is a decent finisher.
Raven's Crime, and Dream Twist can set up Surgical Extraction / Extirpate.
Saving Grasp lets you reuse Snappy.

In the future, I strongly recommend using Gatherer

http://gatherer.wizards.com/

Sylvan Ranger seems a little iffy. You only have 12 basics and the Ranger only puts I into your hand. Panharmonicon can go down to 3 as it doesn't do much on its own.

Also, Condemn isn't really that good as it doesn't really get rid of the creature AND it gives the opponent life. Modern is full of fetches, so it doesn't stay on the bottom of the library. Path to Exile is far superior.

If you want to go the Isochron Scepter route, adding a few more Instants might be worth considering. If you where playing blue, I'd suggest Essence Flux and Momentary Blink. Momentary Blink is still an option, as is Turn to Mist; Long Road Home; and Otherworldly Journey.

Out of the sideboard, there's other interesting options for the Scepter:
Disenchant vs lots of artifacts and / or enchantments, like Affinity or Bogles.
Blessed Alliance can kill a creature a turn. If memory serves, you can pay for the escalate off a Scepter copy.
Dawn Charm can counter burn and discard spells thrown your way.

Modal spells are awesome on a Scepter.

Cloudshift on an Isochron Scepter would be awesome.

Ok, got a long list of options here. Trying to stick to tokens and life gain, with a few utility cards.

Tokens:
> Sprout Swarm: My favourite single card constant token production. NB: You can convoke with creatures that have Summoning sickness and you can use convoke to pay Sprout Swarm's Buyback.
> Awakening Zone: This serves two purposes, it's a free 1/1 token every turn and mana ramp. NB: you can't tap Spawn and sacrifice them to convoke costs, only one or the other.
> Presence of Gond: While the obvious target for this Aura is Midnight Guard, there's another 3 card combo with this, Sigil of the Nayan Gods and Devoted Druid. But you need not go infinite, just put this on any creature and you can create a token every turn.
> Brimaz, King of Oreskos: Creates a token ever time he attacks or blocks, and he has Vigilance, allowing him to do both every turn.
> Nissa, Voice of Zendikar: Creates a 0/1 Plant every turn or can put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
> Elspeth, Knight-Errant: Creates a 1/1 Soldier and Ulti's to make most of your stuff indestructible.
> Elspeth, Sun's Champion: More expensive than Knight-Errant, but creates 3 soldiers a turn.
> Gideon, Ally of Zendikar: Creates a 2/2 every turn and can Ulti immediately.
> Garruk, Primal Hunter: Creates a 3/3 every turn or Ulti's to make a bunch of 6/6's.
> Oath of Gideon: Good if you go the Walker route.
> Selesnya Evangel: Creates a Saproling every turn.
> Angelic Accord: Gives you free Angels if you gain 4+ life in a turn.
> Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree: Not great, but the only land I could find that makes tokens without sacrificing itself or paying life.

Utility:
> Intangible Virtue: Gives all your tokens +1/+1 and Vigilance.
> Leyline of Vitality: Gives all your creatures +0/+1 and gains you life whenever a creature enters the battlefield.
> Beckon Apparition: Sideboard graveyard hate that makes a token. Stops persist creatures, Prized Amalgam, and Bloodghast.
> Sundering Growth: More sideboard tech.
> Mercy Killing: While Path to Exile is the best white single target removal in Modern, this is worth considering too.
> Rootborn Defenses: Sideboard against sweepers. I personally prefer the Ready half of Ready // Willing because of the untap effect.
> Fumigate: If you're going to be sweeping, why not gain life in the process?
> Hour of Reckoning: A convoke sweeper that doesn't kill tokens.
> Cryptolith Rite: Lets all your creatures tap for mana.
> Beastmaster Ascension: +5/+5 to all your creatures. Getting the 7+ counters should be easy.
> Gavony Township: Puts a +1/+1 counter on all your creatures.

Life Gain:
> Essence Warden; Soul Warden; and Soul's Attendant: Your most mana efficient life gain creatures. They also gain you life off the opponent's creatures.
> Auriok Champion: Slightly more expensive "Soul Sister", but has the up side of protection from both Red and Black.
> Suture Priest: A 2 mana "Soul Sister" that only gains life off your creatures, but drains the opponent's life when they get creatures.
> Alive // Well: I don't like the Alive half that much, it's too expensive, but the Well side is a cheap, once off life gain effect.
> Congregate: Instant speed, 2 life for all creatures in play, including the opponent's.
> Divine Congregation: Congregate, but at sorcery speed, with Suspend.


My advice is to go diverse in types of production so as to have something regardless of the opponent's attempts to disrupt you. And keep situational stuff like Sundering Growth in the sideboard. That said, a heavy Walker build, with a little ramp, is a viable option too.

Give me a few hours and I'll have a list of options for you.

Young Wolf and Strangleroot Geist are both quite aggressive creatures with Undying.
Narnam Renegade and Greenwheel Liberator both get +1/+1 counters because of Revolt.
Servant of the Scale enters with a +1/+1 counter and gives all its +1/+1 counters to another creature when it dies.
Skarrgan Pit-Skulk has Bloodthirst 1 and can't be blocked by creatures smaller than it.
Avatar of the Resolute enters with a +1/+1 counter for each other creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it.
Bramblewood Paragon gives trample to all your creatures with +1/+1 counters on them.
Longtusk Cub grows when you spend energy on it, and it gives you energy to do just that.
Scavenging Ooze hates on graveyards and gets +1/+1 counters in the process. Good sideboard option.
Champion of Lambholt gets a +1/+1 counter for each creature entering after it and makes it difficult for your creatures to be blocked.
Managorger Hydra gets a +1/+1 counter whenever a player plays a spell.
Predator Ooze gets bigger whenever it attacks and when a creature it dealt damage to dies.
Spike Feeder has a fun little combo with Hardened Scales where you can effectively pay {2} to put a +1/+1 counter on it.

Mutant's Prey is a nice instant speed "removal" spell. Prey Upon is the best sorcery version, closely followed by Savage Punch because of the Ferocious bonus.
Warriors' Lesson is a decent draw spell.
Squall Line other Hurricane are good for getting those last few points of damage through.

Why would you want to remove the emblem? It only does good things for you and doesn't stop you from winning.

Prophetic Prism; Angelic Purge; and Renewed Faith are not really helping you. Your mana base should be enough that Prism's mana fixing isn't needed. Purge is actually putting you down a card with nothing like Revolt or Delirium to benefit from the sacrifice. Lastly, lifegain cards are traps, they are only good when something triggers off the life gain or for your life being above a certain amount.

I ran a RW control deck in Standard for a while. You may want to include a few more efficient cards:

> Manama Spray: Exiles Zombies and Scrapyard Scrounger, among other things.
> Incendiary Flow: Like Magma Spray, just with an additional point of damage and can be directed at the opponent's life, thus towards any Planeswalkers they have.
> Oath of Chandra: 2 mana to deal 3 damage to a creature when it enters the battlefield, and an additional 2 damage to the opponent when you play your Planeswalkers.
> Oath of Gideon: Gives two 1/1 chump blockers and gives all your Planeswalkers an additional loyalty.
> Forsake the Worldly: Sideboard against annoying artifacts, like Heart of Kiran, and enchantments, like Liliana's Mastery. Or any annoying Gearhulk.
> Stasis Snare: Similar to Cast Out, but one mana cheaper to only hit opponent's creatures. Can even replace a few Cast Out mainboard, just move them to Sideboard to bring in against noncreature threats.
> Descend Upon the Sinful: One mana more than Fumigate, which you should use more of, but exiles the threats and has a chance to give you a 4/4 Angel afterwards. Evolving Wilds can help getting a land in the graveyard for Delirium.
> Goblin Dark-Dwellers: Reuses most of your targeted removal and is a 4/4 with Menace.
> Sin Prodder: I like to call it the "Red Bob" as it's similar to Dark Confidant. Card draw is always welcome in a control deck. It also has Menace, allowing you to attack after reducing the opponent to 1 creature.
> Combustible Gearhulk: 3 extra cards in hand or a ton of damage to the opponent on a 6/6 first strike body. Good target for Nahiri's [-8] as you get to cast it from your hand the next turn to get its etb trigger again.
> Glorybringer: 4/4 flying haste that can nuke a creature every other turn. Also makes a good target for Nahiri's [-8] as you can exert it then it bounces to your hand, allowing you to play it and exert it again.
> Needle Spires: More mana fixing and can be a creature after a board sweeper.

I'm a big fan of token decks. There's so many directions to take this to make it better, question is, what do you want the deck to do? Big tokens? Lots of little tokens? Bonuses for tokens entering and / or leaving the battlefield? Tokens that get bonuses for sharing a creature type? Etc?