JRE47

I had considered that, along with Burning-Tree Emissary. The card draw from Manamorphose would be nice, and mana fixing is never a bad thing. But what would I cut for it?

You know, I had a full set in there at first, but they just didn't make the final cut. I saw the Raptors as being a much better 1-drop since you'd need something to beat the opponent with while they're locked down, and I decided to just go full-bore with the detain-then-attack mode and the Familiars got left out in the end; just didn't have much room for counters beyond Render Silent. If you have a specific recommendation on how to squeeze them in, though, I'm open to it!

Alright, I took suggestions to heart. Big difference is the addition of a full set of Bump In The Night, which is great to get the opponent's life down early and then even finish them off late game by flashing it back. How's the mana base look? Any other suggestions?

Thanks, everyone!

Yeah, just added it to the sideboard. Should I mainboard it, and if so, splash in a couple Blood Crypt/Dragonskulls?

I have a deck you may want to check out for some additional ideas. I've had pretty good success with it.

http://www.mtgvault.com/jre47/decks/scrooges-ghosts/

More of a heavy token focus, but maybe it can help. Spirits are a lot of fun and I'll miss them when Innistrad block rotates!

-4 Shriekgeist
+1 Lingering Souls
+3 Midnight Haunting

Shriekgeist just isn't a very good card unless you're going for a heavy mill strategy.

I'd also move a Keening Apparition and 2 Spectral Riders to your sideboard and pull in Intangible Virtue and/or Favorable Winds. The fist would mostly benefit the many tokens you're creating, and the second would benefit just about everyone.

Specifically:

-1 Keening Apparation (sideboard)
-2 Spectral Rider (sideboard)
-1 Drogskol Reaver (sideboard)
+2 Intangible Virtue
+2 Favorable Winds

Reaver is awesome, but pretty expensive.

Yeah, I have a playset of Smiters and thought long and hard about it, but I was really trying to stick with the budget idea. Other than the lands (and of course Stalker, who understandably costs about as much as Smiter right now!), this thing is dirt cheap.

For anyone reading the comments, if you have Smiters, toss 'em in. Highly recommended!

Only issue I see is that Verdicts will take out your own Elocuters.

Since you have green anyway, I recommend tossing in Vorel of the Hull Clade to accelerate the counters on Elocuters (and he's even a decent defender), and go heavy on Fog effects and/or mass return-to-hand cards like Ætherize and Cyclonic Rift instead of wipes to preserve your Elocuters.

Thanks! I've been tinkering with this for a while. DGM has some interesting new toys, but Tajic and Initiative seemed like the only real must-includes. I'll have to play around with the new Minotaurs, as they have some promise; for now, I just snuck Boros Battleshaper into the sideboard. His effect is great, but he's so expensive I'd like to only pull him in if I know I'm in a slower match.

No Thatcher Revolt? Seems perfect for this deck.

With these colors, this decks BEGS for Sunforger.

Didn't even know Goblin Caves existed...LOL.

I like it! If you can find them, look into Reckless One and/or Clickslither. They both fit your deck well with all those little Goblins running around, and provide you some big, beefy beaters. Not strictly necessary, but I had to come up with SOMETHING to suggest. :-)

Recommend going with Selesnya Charm over Gather the Townsfolk. More flexible, instant, and provides a beefier token to populate. Max out on Call of the Conclave, too. Also, why the Swamp, and why six copies of Growing Ranks? You can only have 4.

My suggestions:

-3 Growing Ranks (going to 3 total...it's just a bit pricy at 4CMC)
-3 Gather the Townsfolk
-1 Swamp
+1 Call of the Conclave
+4 Selesnya Charm
+1 Grove of the Guardian
+1 Centaur Healer (from your sideboard)
+1 Sundering Growth (to your sideboard)

Thanks! I've had a good time with it. It just keeps on coming from different angles and makes for fun and interesting gameplay.