AzraelTheSlain

Whoa... Expensive. I am at a loss as to how to comment on this deck's synergy or point, honestly. But uh, as a place to start, I guess, your Scarecrows won't ever get their ability modifiers, for the most part, due to the utter lack of colored creatures and only a few color modifiers. Quite a stretch. So many planeswalkers... What's happening with these guys? I don't really sense any synergy with them, unless you include the bonus an opponent can receive from casting Villainous Wealth.

Erm, not to be *that* guy, but where's the Commander?
Maelstrom Archangel doesn't fit as Commander due to the fact that it's not a Legendary Creature. For rainbow Commander, you have a choice of Child of Alara, Cromat, Sliver Legion, Sliver Queen, Sliver Overlord, Horde of Notions, Progenitus, Reaper King, Scion of the Ur-Dragon, Sliver Hivelord, Atogatog, and Karona.

Plus: Sadly, Primeval Titan is banned.

Besides these qualms, I like the idea of the deck, and if you could sharpen its focus around Narset in tri-color format it could be pretty interesting. Given they don't decide to ban her for her ridiculous ability.

Interesting. I've been formulating a way to use my Marchesa for a good while now in a Commander deck, and finally settled on an idea, but I like this as well. Oh, by the way, to check with her ability in connection to her being a commander, I found out that Commanders MAY go to the Command Zone directly from the graveyard, but you have the additional option of letting them stay in your graveyard, much like a normal creature. Normally, this doesn't effect much in the way of game play, but with Marchesa... If she's in your graveyard at the end of turn, her ability STILL WORKS! That's right, you can bring her back (and all your creatures) with her in your graveyard, as long as it's on the same turn this occurs and as long as your creatures had retained counters before being sent to the graveyard.

In terms of interesting thoughts and constructive criticisms, I kind of wonder why you don't have more sacrifice mechanics and spells to make the most use of Marchesa. Since your creatures are bound to come back from the dead (game play permitting), spells like Barter in Blood and Innocent Blood could be essential board-clearing spells. Bloodfire Infusion could be wonderful as well as a board clearer, if set on an appropriately proportioned creature. Fool's Demise also works well in this regard, since it continuously resurrects the sacrificed creature in question (Unhallowed Pact is another example, though it does not have the same effectiveness.). Grave Pact would also be another go-to for something in this neighborhood, since it effectively works much as an Innocent Blood times as many creatures as you lose. Also, Curse of the Swine kind of reneges your graveyard capabilities on your opponents, though I can see your use in spot removal. Possibly substitute a Toxic Deluge as a board wipe, since it helps fulfill your need for life loss (Dethrone, after all), as well as gets rid of exceptionally nasty Indestructible creatures. While you don't want to give opponents too much of a lead on you, if it's card draw you need, I'd suggest mass card-draw card to also flood your opponent's hand and (hopefully) make them discard some interesting cards, such as Fascination or even a simple Skyscribing. The more in everyone's graveyard, the more resources in your control. As for some interesting creatures for you to explore, Mephidross Vampire would fit the bill nicely here, as well as Diluvian Primordial to make more use of your opponent's dross. Spelltwine might also be of some help, if there's any spells you may want to use and/or repeat use.

Man, I just want a Soulfire Grandmaster so I can mess around with the interactions in an EDH deck. With the Satyr in there. And a lot of crazy things. But I would need someone other than Narset, Zedruu, Ruhan, or the Silent Tempest, I feel. Please, third set, give me a good commander.

Now, I know you've intoned a primary interest in spells only, but have you considered the havoc this would wreak in a casual multiplayer game if you sideboarded a few Satyr Firedancers ? You wouldn't even have to bomb their creatures, your spells with do double duty for you, and you gain more life because of it!
Also, for a more defensive bent, you could side in Boros Fury-Shield as a secondary Deflecting Palm.
Oh, and I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere in here, but why no Mizzium Mortars? Is it the mana cost conflicting with the required cost for Soulfire?
Sweet deck man, I'm a Jeskai sort of guy, so it kinda makes me drool.

Arcane Lighthouse and/or Glaring Spotlight would be of great use to this deck, and would greatly help Memnarch steal other, more difficult-to-target creatures.

Argivian Restoration is fairly inexpensive as well, as is Reconstruction and Buried Ruin.

Homeward Path to help combat U/B and Sultai, possibly?
Mindswipe is pretty sweet, but if your mana is not optimal, Plasm Capture works great (not to mention adds mana for more big monsters). Trap Essence is also nice for similar purposes, except for the Bolster-like effect.
Just a few thoughts.

Arcane Denial instead of Dismiss, possibly?
Maybe consider adding in one or two Prowess creatures as well, since your odds of pulling a noncreature spell are about on par with the creature ratio?

While I generally agree with you, I've realized one thing thanks to one of my friends consistently playing such cards: you need to find an answer to deal with the problem, or else you'll never get past it. Vorinclex is nasty by metagame when he's typically played, but there is a huge number of answers to the Big V problem, in multiple color formats. Untap abilities, for example, especially in Blue/Green (i.e. Prophet of Cruphix, Quest for Restoration), removal in Red/Black (one mana gets you a Vendetta, or in Red's case, a really cheap Blasphemous Act), or of course White's replies, such as Swords to Plowshares or Condemn. Of course, there's also the simple act of countering or turning Big V into a Big Tree (Lignify, Song of the Dryads). And of course, all these cards in their respective colors are utilized in multiple ways, but just happen to be effective in getting rid of Commanders with nasty habits for a little bit longer.

Oooh, Tribal format! Though it's typically more skirmish-based with small combos (Much like the ridiculous Myr combo that wrecks face here), it's a format I have always loved.

Here's some of mine:

Shamans http://www.mtgvault.com/azraeltheslain/decks/emberwrought/

Jellyfish http://www.mtgvault.com/azraeltheslain/decks/tentacles-anyone/

Specters http://www.mtgvault.com/azraeltheslain/decks/haze-of-specters/

Though some don't *technically* fall into your guidelines of Tribal (20 creature minimum), they'e all uniformly of the same creature type and the other cards of course add to the overall effectiveness of the decks to not want to take them out.

I like to use this format for my RU decks as well, and I've been messing around with the Flamespeaker in various ways. The Sigiled Starfish is amazing, as is the Aqueous Form, all in combination with Flamespeaker, of course. Have you considered using Titan's Strength? (R) for +3/+1 and Scry 1 at Instant speed on the FS is insane, especially if you add the bonus from (hopefully) having Aqueous AND the Scryfish out. The biggest issue I find in running a Sniper deck is often the card disadvantage, since you often want to focus more on the "pump up in one go to decimate your surprised enemy" approach, which means if it doesn't take 'em out in the first run, you'll have to have a game plan for the next round. Dragon Mantle could help in this situation, as it lets you basically fish for a card you already know, or expect (Scry is amazing), as is the simple yet effective Divination. Sometimes you just have to have the cards. Also, in case you need more firepower, Spellheart Chimera is low cost and powerful in a spell-driven deck.

Just a little food for thought for you.

O.o
Budget?! Those occur in EDH decks? What is this word you utter?

There's only one word for what I think should be added: Gods.
If you're going to go for the god of all pros, you might as well have his godly sidekicks back him up. C'mon, rainbow without even more silly junk? Oh, and Guided Passage would be fun, as well as Signal the Clans. That should help with any tutoring needs, and if you run the gods, you can also tutor them with Plea for Guidance or Idyllic. So much craziness can be happening here.

So... No one even mentions the deck name?
First off, well done on the DF reference, that alone makes the deck worth looking at.
The only thing I think about sideboarding when I see a deck with weenie and mob control is a card that helps you take care of the really big baddies opponents will summon (such as the Eldrazi) is Boros Fury-Shield. It's underrated, in my opinion, and would do the trick in terms of STOMPy defense.

Pretty much just beat the opponent senseless with the Ox. Trying to think of another way to win, but budget with White... Might take a moment.

http://www.mtgvault.com/azraeltheslain/decks/beast-of-burden/

Defender deck utilizing Ox as its only line of offense. Considering adding in the Pillarfield Ox as well, but would have to remove a precious Defender to do so.

So... Only Instants?
Yeah, i can see why you went the route of Disperse then. Though, in all honesty, you're kind of removing a good portion of blue defense. I don't really know why Spell Blast made it to the uncommon range, seeing as you have to pump extra into it. The only reason I could ascertain is that it's for use in a multicolor format, since it's easier to pull that off in multiplayer rather than a Cancel which ties up two of the same mana color. Glimpse the Future is actually another one I would see being better for use in multicolor format, especially BU or GU since it basically gives you graveyard fodder.

Okay, I looked at it, good point. Seems they worded the Banisher specifically so that does NOT happen again.

You're welcome, let me know if there's anything I can help with by merely replying.

Hmmm, had forgotten about the Hindering Light, good idea, Itsmagic.
Actually, Azorius Charm AND Boros Charm would have an equal place in here, and I had them in my previous American deck, but somehow managed to forget them. Thanks!