PwnTek

I originally had Elspeth in it, but during my 60+ games of play testing there was never a scenario where she was the better play than something like stormbreath or a Sarkhan.

Additionally, my local meta has quite a few people who are running circle of flame main and/or sideboard. Her wipe would be useful, however it would knock out any stormbreaths I had on the field and that could save me in some situations but generally speaking I feel like it'd put me behind more than anything. :(

First place in what tournaments? Standard? Modern?
Wake the reflections is not standard legal...

Made some slight tweaks - moved End Hostilities to mainboard, its helped with Abzan matchups that have proven to be a royal pain in the @ss.

Sideboard has a more control-ish feel. with two additional banishing lights + a perilous vault for those matches that I just end up getting garbage top deck draws.

Sideboarding inbetween games will definitely throw opponent(s) off.

Since the changes - Abzan Midrange (the only deck type in my local meta ive been struggling with thus far) is now not much of a problem to win consistently.

Thank you! :)

Mine :p

http://www.mtgvault.com/pwntek/decks/talk-to-the-sarkhand/

I suppose I should clarify - lack of removal against other non-land permanents like enchants / artifacts that could give you a hard time.

Aint gonna lie man.
I'm really curious how my deck would fare against yours.

We should play over skype or something in the near future if you are interested.

I really like the inclusion of underworld cerebrus (he's a sleeper - mark my words)
TBH - I'd say cut Chandra and have some form of Enchantment/Artifact removal.

Other than that, the list seems decent for play testing purposes.

Competitive - not so sure it'll fare well against faster decks, the burn / spot removal is good.
Might I recommend circle of flames at bare minimum for sideboard tech?

Will buy you time to stabilize against fast cheap aggro decks if you pull one early.

Tis worked great for me in my current standard build - thought i'd share.
http://www.mtgvault.com/pwntek/decks/talk-to-the-sarkhand/

I'm curious, how would you respond to a deck that mained circle of flame and landed one or two out by T3-T5?

Your lack of removal makes me think that your aggro plan would effectively turn into a game of turtle defense.

No problem, if they ever start using it - have your sideboard work as a midrange / removal of sorts. Might help if that situation ever arises!

^ He's right.

As a deck builder that is extremely annoyed by the uber aggro type of decks - I mainboard Circle of Flame, and I've seen it in alot of deck lists for sideboard material AND ive used it to great success because an early Circle of Flame can literally put a halt on an aggro deck indefinitely - allowing for the controller to play into their win cons.

Mardu, Jeskai, Temur all have access to it. Just something to keep in mind!

My recommendations:

-4 Ruthless Ripper
+4 Disowned Ancestor
The latter is superior, both in terms of defense and potential offense if you take the time/turns to build him up to stall for win cons or use them as a supplemental win con.

-1 Empty the Pits
-1 Dig Through Time
-1 Waste Not

+3 Ashiok
Seriously, it's way too good to ignore early game if they cant deal with it.
Plus it syngergizes with a disruption theme.

Here's what I would change:

-4 Kill Shot
+4 Devouring Light

Reason: More flexible removal and can stop indestructibles.

-2 Polukranos
+2 Genesis Hydra

Reason: Fits the theme of the deck of digging to win - and will essentially give you a free cast even if Hydra himself is countered... can't beat that! :D

After you get some play testing in, you should post your results - intrigued to see how it would do against other brews.

My critique:

- Need's more counters in there somewhere, the spot removal and hand disruption is fine.
- I feel like 4 Elspeth is a bit excessive, being a fellow control player - I've tried it, and it's just never worked the way I wanted it to... but that could be different in the new Standard.

Play test it and post your results.
I'm intrigued.

Also, feel free to check out my standard brew if you feel so inclined.
http://www.mtgvault.com/pwntek/decks/talk-to-the-sarkhand/

Matched up against U/R Artifacts today!

G1 - Pulled 3 Chained to the Rocks by T4, stopped his Darksteel Citadel & T4 Scuttling Doom Engine (Deflecting Palmed the haste dmg) followed by Chain on my next Turn. Dropped Stormbreath, swung for 4. Next turn he tried to Doom Engine again (took 6, chained to the rocks during my main phase) Sarkhan + Stormbreath swing for the win.
G2 - He was only drawing counters and stopping my creatures, hit him with burn during his EOT, finally got my 3rd Sarkhan down by T8 and finished him off.
We played half a dozen or so more games with similar results, he didn't win!

Result: 2+ X - 0

Matched up against a Chasm Skulker deck???

To me this seemed like a gimmick deck - my burn spells stopped him from gaining momentum so I ended up going 2-0, I didnt even take damage. :/

Result: 2-0

I did some play testing today at my LGS and here is how my deck fared against some of the top contenders at recent pro events:

- Jeskai Tempo
The pilot had a derivative that was using Brimaz in place of Seeker of the Way, they had a couple of raise the alarms as opposed to counter spells...

G1 - I got a Brimaz and Rabblemaster out early, he was just trying to burn me down directly and didnt deal with them soon enough. By T7 I was at 5 life and he was dead.
G2 - Pulled out 3 Mantis Riders before T7, I had burn spells to respond to each, and kept throwing down Stormbreath & Sarkhan when he was tapped out.

Result:
2-0

- G/R Monsters
The pilot of this deck had made some substitutes for some of the bigger cost cards, namely no stormbreaths or Sarkhan.

G1 - Dropped caryatids, mystics, courser and rabblemaster early on. Chained dealt with courser, and was able to beat down the rest with burn spells and Brimaz & Rabblemaster of my own. Burned directly and finished him off with Sarkhan while I was at 11 life.
G2 - Drew alot of painlands in my opening hand (3 to be exact), he boarded in circle of flames to slow down rabblemaster and brimaz tokens. Drew primarily burn spells until T8 and drew into Stormbreath, made him monstrous T9 and finished him off.

Result:
2-0

- Mono Black Aggro
I dont think the deck by itself is very great, but it posed an interesting threat.

G1 - Got a bad draw, thoughtseize & despise put me too far behind to stabilize.
G2 - Boarded in Circle of flames & Erase, dropped palms and Elspeths, drew both by T3, Herald of Torment and Master of the feast were literally the only creatures he had that didn't get cooked by that if he declared an attack with them. (But Both burn & Erase took care of those threats and left a empty board state for me to just pound him down with.
G3 - His sideboard didnt have much response to my circle of flames, got lucky and drew one on T1, lot of misplays on his part. Ended up winning with Stormbreath's Monstrous.

Result:
2-1

Thank you!

Valid points to consider - play testing against other decks that are aiming for a competitive spot is the only way to find out for sure if it hurts the deck more than it helps.

Thanks for looking!

I explained in a comment above why Fetch Lands matter.

I may end up tweaking it to be 3 Blood Stained and Two Flooded Strand if I end up having mana fixing problems... but with two color I should be pretty solid for the most part I would think, taking this to a tournament and FNM this week.

Will post results.

Haha thanks, I thought it was pretty clever :)