rflower

Jace's Archivist? I would also suggest some one mana cantrips as you have nothing to do on your first turn at all

Nice deck. I would suggestion taking out one Cryptolith Rite as more than one is a dead draw and they aren't essential of your strategy. Adding an extra land wouldn't hurt. :) +1

No problem :)

If I was going to cast Pyroclasm and I had a Young Wolf or Mogg War Marshall on the field, I wouldn't sacrifice them. I would instead weigh up whether it would be worth to trade their first lives for the death some opponent's creatures. Alternatively, if had enough mana, I could just sacrifice them twice.

With Pandemonium, it would greatly increase the outlook on the uses of Sylvok Lifestaff if they were going to deal the damage right to my face. Sylvok isn't that bad either. Don't overlook the power booster. Its not as high as Darksteel but will it still effect the game. Also, if I really want a creature dead I can get the last points of damage in with Barrage or Goblin Arsonist. The lower is equip cost is very important here as I want to keep switch the equipment onto a defensive creature while still keeping mana free for sacrificing. Also, I feel I still would get a lot out of it. For example, a Young Wolf and Barrage would provide a lot of value. I do realise that against some decks, Pandemonium would be suicide. But not all. Shouldn't it at least make good sideboard material?

Gutter Grime would be nice true but yeah five is high. What about Fecundity? You did say that I needed card draw. Although, do you think it gives too much to the other player as well?

Yeah your card suggestions are understandable as they are very good at keeping the pressure on your opponent in an aggressive strategy.

Its true life-gain is not very useful here. But sometimes it is more fun to win a long drawn out game than something really one sided. It might give me an edge. Actually, while that idea is a little un-logical, I think the main scenario where it extra life could be quite nice is up against another highly aggressive deck.
What do you think about overkill in Magic? I remember reading this article highlighting why Crucible of Fire is bad. Its generally overkill because if you have several dragons on the battlefield you should be winning and the +3/+3 doesn't help you very much if you don't have any dragons out. If I'm attacking with several creatures and the damage is getting through then I'm winning anyway and the extra two damage is just two damage. Then diversification of strategy is much more important as its harder to disrupt. This context, my deck, is probably a bad example/place to practice this concept as Bonesplitter and Darksteel Axe do give lots of value (nice when you can continually trade 2/2s for 4/4s) but its just interesting to think about.

Thanks for heads up about Rootbound Crag. Its just inside my price zone and I'll fit two in the deck.

The plan with Evolutionary Leap and Pyroclasm is to sacrifice my creatures that will have die anyway. I can then recast new ones onto a hopefully clearer board. Or if I have Barrage, they can help make an even clearer board by getting the last points of damage for creatures with higher toughness than 2.

Good idea about Swiftspear. Funny how I hadn't really thought about that solution. And it diversifies the deck ever more! ;) What do you know about the prices of cards coming out of Standard. I feel like I remember watching some card, I can't remember which, and waiting for it to rotate out but the price didn't seem to go down...

Also, as one last thought, do you think Pandemonium could work here? The creatures' powers aren't the highest but eight do come in as 3/3s and it would be helpful for getting the last few points of damage in. Evolutionary Leap would be much more helpful then as I could cycle through creatures while avoiding my opponent's Pandemonium procs.. ;)

*Aven Mimeomancer has a multitude of uses and reasons to be in this deck.
1. It has great synergy with Icatian Javelineers. Together they can kill any creature an opponent controls and the Javelineer itself is a great creature to upgrade later in the game.
2. It is an efficient creature by itself. 3 power flier will do a large amount of damage to my opponent if not dealt with.
3. With Spirit Bonds, it can nullify the aggressive potential of any one of your opponents creatures as they will just have to trade with your token.
4. I do realise that there are many other decks that would have many more targets for Mimeomancer but the ability is a slow one and I feel I have enough uses.
5. I initally had Thunderclap Wyvern as my flier lord, but Mimeomancer should be able to give the same amounts of power boosting in just one extra turn. The feather counters help on Faerie Impostor, Quickling, Spirit Bond tokens, and Order of the Stars.
6. The effect of this card increases with each turn the game goes. This being a defender deck can hope to wait many extra turns.
7. While having weak toughness, I have defensive potential with Spirit Bonds and bouncing creatures.
8. Last and probably least, in extreme circumstances, Mimeomancer can help to steal any creature, such as one that have nice abilities but high toughness, provided you can get 3 counters on Simic Manipulator using at least one Jeskai Barricade.

*What do you mean when you say Icatian Javelineer is outdated? I love the early game control and aggression with Quickling or Faerie Impostor. While Topplegeist is nice, he doesn't really do that much and this deck will never see Delirium enabled.

*A Wakestone Gargoyle could work but the buffing is so efficient if I get a bounce combo going with Cathars' Crusade on the field that I think the few fliers and spirit tokens should be enough to do the job.

*The sideboard at the moment is a bit of a mix in between the two. I'll try and clean it up. What are your suggestions for enchantment or artifact removal in my colours?

Thank you for your help. I fear I may have to be one of those annoying people who ask advice and then just follow their original plan anyway. I apologise for this and will try and justify my choices. I should have put information in the description before but it feels like no one on this site looks at my decks and it would hardly be worth the bother.

*I had briefly thought about adding Seal of Fire before but ending up not as I thought that the 1-mana creatures would be enough but its a good idea as redundancy always helps, and I think I'll add at least one or two.

*You are right about Rancor. Its just a bit too expensive. Do you think Bonesplitter would be a better option that Darksteel Axe in most cases? I think the reason I had Sylvok Lifestaff was because I was trying to diversify away from a simple, direct strategy of aggression, which, in my mind, is not as interesting or rewarding to play. Sylvok Lifestaff should be able to prolong games by adding efficiently adding lifegain to my creatures deaths. The one less boost to power, in my opinion when we are comparing to Darksteel, is fairly negligible as it probably would only account in 2-3 more damage. The lower equip is nice too.

*My reasons for not already including Bloodrush cards, like Ghor-Clan Rampager was actually the opposite of the reason you say I should add them. The restriction of only being able to be cast on attacking creatures essentially halves their uses. The flexibility to use as pseudo removal by casting on blocking creatures was my main example. I think this is sort of the same thing with Sylvok Lifestaff. I wasn't getting into the aggression idea enough. There definitely is a case for adding Ghor-Clan Rampagers.

*I'll keep an eye on Monastery Swiftspear and hopefully it goes down. Do you think I'd need to take out some of my other one mana creatures to add it in? If so which one, because I really want to keep the three that I have? Young Wolf is has great durability, Goblin Arsonist is fun and good to kill some creatures with and Wasteland Viper is an nice 1/2 that can prevent fatties from attacking and having Bloodrush. I might take out a couple Vipers for a couple Swiftspeares.

*It's a shame you don't think Evolutionary Leap does anything. I was really wanting to make a deck that used it. As I mentioned before, I want my deck to be more than a simple red aggro deck. Evolutionary Leap, while not being the most efficient, is interactive. It is a solid counter to almost all removal (the only downside is that I'll have to cast the creatures again but with my incredibly low mana curve this shouldn't be an issue), and in the cases of Young Wolf and Mogg-War Marshall it can net me genuine card advantage.

*About the basic lands, I was bored and trying to find ones which looked nice. I will change them back though and hopefully that will get me more views ;)
Thanks to you and your comment is appears I now have 2 likes XD ;)

*I know Pinecrest Ridge is bad but the other options are just too expensive (at least $6 dollars each). I wanted to ensure I had the correct mana to cast a Scab-Clan Marauder on my second turn, while also casting some spell on first, and it was the only budget option I could come up with.

Your statement about how what cards are best all depends on the meta is very apt. I will need to playtest to find out which cards really are best in the scenarios I play in and if I find that I am losing too much will probably have to aggressify my overall strategy as most of your suggestions imply. Thank you again for help and I will keep all your suggestions in mind.

Thank you :)

Hi Puschkin. You always have well thought out comments and advice for people's decks. If you don't mind I would really appreciate it you had a look at my two most recent decks.
http://www.mtgvault.com/rflower/decks/viridescent-haemoglobin/
http://www.mtgvault.com/rflower/decks/incremental-imposters/

Which is better? Servant of the Scale or Simic Initiate

I see you like your green decks, especially elves. They are nice decks.

I like it! Don't forget that while also having infinity mana, you'll also have a infinite power and infinite toughness creature. So any evasion could help.
That said a flavorful exit would be to use Chord of Calling instead of Commune with Nature. With infinite mana it'll allow you could put in one Emrakul and tutor/cheat him onto the battlefield with Chord. Chord is also a good search card just to find the cards for the combo. This is just a a suggestion/idea. I think what you have already is great. With eight possible combo creatures, you have fairly high chances to find one in your top five cards with Commune with Nature. :) +1

Nice! Morph + Cloudshift is a very ingenious combo.

Took me a while to figure out how you were using Mourning for board control. Nice combo. You could possibly add something like Ashiok's Adept to give it value if you happened to not draw Agent of the Fates but that is not essential.
I feel you should take out Aqueous Form for a low mana-cost, evasive creature, maybe Tormented Soul or some blue flier (which would also help your mana curve). Even though Aqueous Form does have the bonus of triggering Agent of the Fates, you cannot count of drawing both cards in every game. You also have no other good target for Aqueous Form. All your other creatures have low power or Fear. Futhermore, the great recurring problem with auras is that they can leave you two-for-oned with an opponent killing two of your permanents with one cheap spell and the risk is not particularly worth it.
I really like how you're using Hidden Strings. It can trigger Heroic and Inspired, untap your Assassins, psuedo-ramps mana and tap opponents creature to help Royal Assassin. Adding something like Tormented Soul would further increase its potential. Alternatively, to fit with your assassin theme, Thrill-Kill Assassin and Ruthless Ripper have deathtouch, giving them psuedo-evasion as they probably won't be blocked. +1

Not too bad. Shame about the price though ;) +1

I like the concept even without considering its feasibility. Maybe take out the Gift of Immortalitys. You only have 8 creatures and its a dead draw if you don't have a creature. Replace it with some removal, which you have none of.
Also 28 lands is very large mana base. Control decks can have more lands but 28 seems a bit extreme. +1 :)

I did consider it. It would be nice but it doesn't give the same of value as other defenders or etb effects. For three mana I can get things like Mimeomancer and Manipulator. Good suggestion though and thanks for commenting though :)

Do you think it would be worth it having a couple defensive creatures, say something like Perimeter Captain, for the extra value?

uh huh. Thank you. Hero of the Bladehold would be nice but they're just too expensive :)

There is nothing I can think of that would synergise with Chalice of Life in your colours and not have any other purposes. Adding more removal is the simplest thing to replace Voltaic Key with. Pacifisms and Oblivion Rings are good. I kind of feel Journey to Nowhere is better than Pacifism though if you want to change that up too.