Salient

I think any deck which runs Open the Vaults should run Oblivion Ring. If they whack the ring early on, bringing it back as part of your Vault is devastating. Ring over Lifelinks, maybe?

Too bad Enchantresses' Presence is not Standard-legal, this deck could use it.

Which cards do you like the best, in the deck?

Cool, I hope you're having fun with it! Two recommendations:

1) Try to whittle down to 60 cards.
2) Try to pick your favorite cards in the deck, and trade to get four of that card. It's better to run a handful of cards which work well together, than to run a larger variety of cards but only one or two of each.

Both of these pieces of advice improve the consistency of your deck, which lets you plan ahead and anticipate your card draws.

I was waiting for somebody to use this deck name. But I still like the "Axes & Allies" pun better, tossing in four Lava Axe to justify the pun.

Oh goodness, the manamorphose combo lets you draw cards, too. (So I guess that combo doesn't go infinite successfully -- you'd deck yourself -- but this is hardly a drawback...)

What do you think of Inquisition of Kozilek? Better than, or worse than, Duress?

I know it might replace Thoughtseize in Tendrils decks, though Inquisition regrettably doesn't snag Force of Will or even Mindbreak Trap...

With RoE at our disposal, how do we improve upon this design?

I'm sleeving up a version of it (with some tinkering) right now.

I really doubt Vengevine needs trample. We're not that desperate.

I'm still worried about the 'vine getting Pathed / Ousted, though. Unlike you, I'm feeling completely confident about running four Misty Rainforest and two extra Plains, rather than the Greypelt and Sejiri Refuges, so Oust is deadly.

I would run Hyena Umbra over Asha's Favor. +1/+1 with an auto-regeneration versus flying and vigilance, I'd take the former.

If you have any chance to play Lightsaber, let me know how that goes too. I'll sleeve this up in proxy and see how it works in testing for me.

Boros Recruit is one of the funniest cards Magic has ever printed outside of an Un- joke set.

I don't mind dying to a Boros Recruit, because I'm too busy laughing at the art. :-)

Rule 606.3 is disappointing. In a just universe, this combo works.

Several good points that have borne out in testing. I plan to complement Hindering Light with Unified Will, swap out the outlanders, and sideboard rest for the weary.

Hindering Light protects Gideon Jura from getting Pathed while a creature, but more importantly, it protects me from Blightning.

Thanks for posting this. I might sleeve it up and try it out. The only thing that surprises me is the sheer amount of three-ofs...

Note that Ill-Gotten Gains loops with Infernal Tutor and Lion's Eye Diamond, so the other path to victory is

Underground Sea
Chrome Mox (pitching Duress or whatever)
Infernal Tutor revealing Lion's Eye Diamond
[go fetch a second LED and pass the first turn]

Second turn kill:

play a second Underground Sea (or fetch-land for it, or whatever)
1) Lion's Eye Diamond #1
2) Lion's Eye Diamond #2
3) Cabal Ritual (Dark Rit is even better), off the Underground Seas
4) Ill-Gotten Gains #1
crack both diamonds with IGG #1 on the stack
recover LED, LED, Infernal Tutor from IGG
LED #1 again
LED #2 again
5) Infernal Tutor for second Ill-Gotten Gains
crack both diamonds with Tutor on the stack
6) Ill-Gotten Gains
recover LED, LED, Infernal Tutor
7) LED #1 again
8) LED #2 again
9) Infernal Tutor searching Tendrils
crack both LED while Tutor is on the stack
10) Tendrils of Agony

Obviously, you only pull a stunt like that if you're sure the opponent has no countermagic. Otherwise, wait and build resources for a Duress - Duress - then combo turn.

Even if this doesn't kill outright, e.g. due to life-gain, it gives you plenty of life, and you can Ad Nauseam a few turns later to draw into enough cards to bring about a kill with your second Tendrils.

The deck draws 10-15 cards off Ad Nauseam, plays Lotus Petals and/or Chome Moxes as well as Dark Ritual etc. to generate storm, then fires off

Sensei's Top --> Mystical Tutor --> crack top to draw Tendrils of Agony --> Tendrils
or
Lion's Eye Diamond --> Infernal Tutor --> crack LED to draw Tendrils of Agony --> Tendrils

I don't want to draw a Tendrils off Ad Nauseam, I want to draw tutor effects plus lots of cheap cantrips. Tendrils is easy to get in my hand via Lion's Eye Diamond + Infernal Tutor or Sensei's Divining Top + Mystical Tutor.

So who are the Espers, or Summons, or GFs or whatever they're called these days? And which one's the Chocobo? Needs an airship -- Ornithopter? -- and a boat... :-)

Interesting take on the spread-'em strategy. I don't think the mana-screw strategy is nearly as viable without the Cascade cards reliably hitting more Seas and Mirages. I'd consider swapping out the Hatchlings, Countersqualls, and Hedron Crabs for some cascading cards in blue, such as Ardent Plea and Stormcaller's Boon. I've seen people splash green for Captured Sunlight, but you have enough 3-mana spells to make that not viable. You could run three Arcane Sanctum, four Drowned Catacomb, and four Glacial Fortress, as well as Islands and the four Creeping Tar Pits.

I would recommend Polymorph into Progenitus or Inkwell Leviathan as a finisher, perhaps using your manland as the target in turn seven.

Also... this design needs, needs, needs four Day of Judgment. It's far too reliant on the board sweep to run Day as a one-of.