Horde of Notions (Goodstuff Zoo) French Competitive Play
Introduction
Recently, I wrote up a quick outline of the Horde Zoo deck that I’ve been running for around the last month. I finally am happy with where the deck is currently at that I have decided to write a primer for it. The deck itself can easily be changed almost anywhere to accommodate certain play styles. Compared to a lot of the other French player’s deck it is very similar but I’ve also put my own spin on the deck making it much more removal heavy and card advantage centered that theirs. I find that with all the removal, the kill clock speeds up much faster. Besides these small differences, almost all Horde decks look the same
Why play Horde of Notions?
+ Extremely fast aggro deck with “goodstuff” creatures. The deck runs a lot of toolbox cards to help you get what you want, when you want
+ Access to every single card in the game means you get to hand pick which direction you take the deck (control, removal, overrun/little zoo, big zoo, etc.)
+ Your mana curve is small letting you spit out tons of the best creatures for cheap but having a few creatures at the top of your mana curve that will seal up games
+ Your general is extremely fast at ending games once you’re at 5 land drops
Why not play Horde of Notions?
- This deck is probably a low A tier or high B tier deck. You have bad matchups against combo and some games will be un-winnable even if you play perfectly (but that is true about every deck I suppose). The win rate is still favorable though, I have easily been in the 60% range with my deck playing against a large variety of other decks.
- You need to make sure that you don’t overextend because once you run out of gas, you will not be able to come back. The deck tries to help this by playing lots of cards that gives you card advantage over time.
- Combo decks will most likely beat you out every single time because your clock is about a turn or 2 behind theirs a majority of the time. Especially if they are running graveyard manipulation decks that involve Survival of the Fittest
- Control decks are also a major boon and you will need to play smart and conservative or try and overwhelm them with your low mana curve
I suggest you visit my submission on Tapped Out as it is a much easier way to visualize and actually scroll over the cards without having to constant click on them here
Birthing Pod - Recently started using this and its been great. Since you’re an aggro deck you could care less about your health and you’ll be constantly chaining your way up to bigger and better comes into play creatures Umezawa's Jitte - Probably the best equipment every printed. Helps against Edric matchups Sword of Feast and Famine - 2nd best equipment printed? Once you start swinging with this attached you’ve usually won Sword of Fire and Ice - This is mostly tech against Edric again and the draw is nice as well
Creatures
Bloodbraid Elf - One of the four drops that gives you great card advantage. The haste is nice too Dark Confidant - Bob is one of the best cards every printed as well. Easy card advantage Eternal Witness - Regrowth with a body Gilded Drake - Big fan of Gilded Drake. Stealing your opponents fatties or generals is game changing. You should slow play him as much as possible Qasali Pridemage - Exalted, 2/2 for 2 and can destory enchantments. Pretty great Ranger of Eos - 4 drop tutor which is nice with all the great 1 drop creatures I run Tarmogoyf - Big beatstick for 2 mana Tidehollow Sculler - Discard with a body Trygon Predator - More enchantment and artifcat hate, has flying and can be tutorable with GSZ Wild Nacatl - Always included in Zoo decks. 1 drop 3/3 Rafiq of the Many - This is one of those cards still in testing. If you drop him into play and you have Horde coming out next turn, you probably are going to win Falkenrath Aristocrat - 4 drop haste flier that evades Wrath effects. Pretty amazing. And with all the humans in the deck, saccing to her to get big fast adds up Aven Mimeomancer - All those 1 drop ramps card are sitting on your side of the board, this guy turns them into threats again. Really have enjoyed using this card since Asimov suggested it
Horde of Notions - The general and game finisher Jenara, Asura of War - Another great cost efficient card. It also allows me use spare mana that may otherwise be sitting idle at the end of turns Stoneforge Mystic - Greatest tutor and puts Swords into play cheaply Imperial Recruiter - Another toolbox tutor, especially since about 33 of the 37 creatures are below 2 Power Meddling Mage - Great card against decks that are general or combo oriented. Getting her out early and protecting her is key Mother of Runes - "Mom" is an auto-include due to one of the best abilities in the game Edric, Spymaster of Trest - Card advantage and also helps again the Edric matchup by removing their general Sygg, River Cutthroat - More card advantage and if you’re not dealing 3 damage a turn then there is something wrong Scavenging Ooze - Graveyard hate for the Karador decks and also the ability to get pumped quick with all the creatures that will be constantly hitting the GY Birds of Paradise - Standard ramp Matca Rioters - 3 drop, 5/5 beatstick Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - Great creature against control decks and it usually has no side effects towards you early on since you are powering out creatures Grim Lavamancer - Great card in general. Useful in every matchup Phantasmal Image - Another great, versatile card that toolbox’s a lot of things Gideon's Lawkeeper - Great one drop keeping treats constantly tapped Putrid Leech - 2 drop 4/4 (again the life lose doesnt matter), big fan Arbor Elf - More good mana ramp. Better than the other ramp elves Slyvan Safekeeper - Keeps all your creatures alive, especially in dire times Skyshroud Elite - This use to be Loam Lion/Kird Ape but I found that he will always pretty much be a ⅔ all the time and you’re not dependent on fetches Avacyn’s Pilgrim - More ramp though I wish he produced blue as well Lotus Cobra - More ramp, especially with all the fetchlands I run in the deck Phyrexian Metamorph - Swiss army knife that toolboxes into anything you need him to Kira, Great Glass-Spinner - One of the best creatures in the deck that protects you from spot removal and other bad effects Noble Hierarch - Best ramp in the deck, plus the exalted is always a help. Usually one of my first targets for GSZ Huntmaster of the Fells - Not only does he put tokens on the battlefield and life, his transform gets rid of threats nicely. (Ravager of the Fells)
Enchantment
Sylvan Library - Top with the option of drawing more cards in dire situations Survival of the Fittest - Cycles out your deck finding the answers you need Phyrexian Arena - Draw for 1 life sounds like a deal to me Rancor - With all the creatures you’re running you want to be getting damage through constantly. And Rancor keeps on sticking around
Instant
Swords to Plowshares - Best removal period Go for the Throat - More cheap removal Dismember - Even cheaper removal Lightning Bolt - Cost efficient spell Fire Covenant - I think this is my favorite card in the deck. It literally poops on everything on the field and lets you swing in for massive amounts of damage. Its like a KO against Edric if you resolve it Bant Charm - Great cost efficient spell, but sometimes the mana fixing is hard on it Fire // Ice - Another flexible spell that helps differently in different matchups Terminate - More cheap removal Skeletal Scrying - Card advantage when I need it
Lands
Pretty self explanatory. All the fetches, all the duals, all the pain lands. The two best 5 color producing lands, a forest in case you get a Path to Exile search, wasteland for problematic lands. The two best creature lands (my favorite being creeping tarpit) and Bojuka Bog for more hate against graveyard decks.
Planeswalker
Jace, the Mind Sculptor - One of the best cards every printed. Since I have a whole wall of creatures normally, I’m brainstorming all the time and bouncing stuff that is problematic Elspeth, Knight-Errant - Soldier producer, evasion helper and if you get to her ultimate, GG Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - This use to be Ajani but I never found him as helpful as Sorin. Giving a +1/+0 emblem along with putting out Lifelink tokens is great. I have never gotten to his ultimate though
Sorcery
Demonic Tutor - Best tutor ever printed Timetwister - Refills my hand after I run out of gas or when I have a stale hand Vindicate - Gets rid of anything thats giving me a headache (especially Maze of Ith) Wheel of Fortune - Refills my hand after I run out of gas or when I have a stale hand Green Sun's Zenith - Great toolbox finding whatever I need as sorcery speed. One of the best cards in the deck Tribal Flames - 2 mana for 5 damage sounds like a good deal to me
Strategy
You are running 36 lands and 5 ramp creatures. You should be aiming to drop Horde by turn 5 unless other circumstances or better plays present themselves. Make sure you manage your mana well so that you have all 5 colors up all the time (using your fetchlands correctly is extremely important with this deck). With the large amount of card advantage in the deck you will want to be continually trying to overwhelm your opponent, but keep in mind not to overextend too much. I often will hold onto ramp creatures mid game in case I get wrathed and need to reset. Besides that, you are all out aggro and want to finish games quickly. Every creature in the deck is cost efficient and will help you do this. Protect your fatties at all costs and try and aim to get Swords on the board as quickly as possible. Depending on matchups through, Jitte or Fire and Ice may be better (like against Edric or Clique).
With so many viable creatures in Magic, its hard fitting all my favorites in to this deck. Here are popular choices of creatures in Zoo decks that didn’t make it into mine.
[CARD]
Vendilion Clique[/CARD] - Never liked this card and I still like Aven Mimeomancer better at the 3 drop flier Goblin Guide/Loam Lion/Kird Ape - I found these underwhelming, especially for 1 drops. I’d rather see better 2 drops than these guys Fauna Shaman - A little too slow as you need to wait on summoning sickness, tapping her and that means she can’t attack. I think Survival is good enough for the deck. Knight of the Reliquary - This will probably cycle back in sometime. I think that Mancata Rioters is better though Mentor of the Meek - This spot was contested between Sygg and MotM. Since you will have to be paying a colorless on top of casting spells it might get a bit expensive where with Sygg he is basically free card draws once he hits the field. This might get tested more Etched Oracle - I run Wheel of Fortune/Time Twister instead. Still a good card though Hero Of Bladehold/Hero of Oxid Ridge - This spot was contested between Rafiq, HoB and HoOR. I like all three, and this may get changed in the future. Rafiq is nice to break locks near ends of games once your opponent has bigger creatures on the field Skullclamp - I like to keep as many creatures as I can on the field and since I’m already running so much card advantage anyway it didn’t seem necessary Black discard spells - I went more removal heavy than discard heavy. Just preference based Snapcaster Mage - Another possible addition, but I don’t think I run enough spells to make him worthwhile Geist of Saint Traft - Another great card and something that may eventually get cycled back in. Making sure hes getting damage through is the hardest part and his hexproof is great Great Stable Stag - I have been using this in my Jenara deck and I think I’ll eventually get around to including it in this deck. Its really really helpful against control decks. Thrun, the Last Troll - Another great 4 drop creature that may eventually find its way into the deck Man-O’-War - The ability to bounce creatures with “comes into play” effects is nice, but he will often be dead-weight sometimes Aven Mindscensor - Good utility card, but I have other better creatures Mulldrifter - The evoke is nice and he’s an elemental that can be resurrected by Horde, but besides that, hes expensive and I already have more than enough card draw Scrute Mob - Another “win more card”. If you have that many lands on the board you have more cost efficient creatures you should be playing Garruk, Wildspeaker - A great planeswalker that barely missed the cut. I think Sorin is better personally Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond - The card disadvantage from these guys is too much for such a quick deck. Better filled with mana rampers Hall of the Bandit Lord - Too slow and I need the colored mana a lot more than the Haste effect Kitchen Finks - Good card, but the life gain and persist just can't justifying making the cut Flametongue Kavu - Another good creature, but I like instant speed removal better
Cards that I need to test
Dauntless Escort - Mr.Cheff suggested this, I think this is a great card to test, especially to avoid wrath effects and its fetchable with GSZ Loyal Retainers and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite/Iona, Shield of Emeria - I tried this combo in an earlier version of this deck. I think its good, but you need to have Survival in play. Loyal Retainers isn't a dead draw, but hardcasting Elesh or Iona is difficult
French EDH BRGW Saskia the Unyielding BRGW GUWB Thrasios, Triton Hero // Tymna the Weaver GUWB B Braids, Cabal Minion B G Titania, Protector of Argoth G R Zurgo Bellstriker R
Founding Father of [Team Stepfathers]: We beat you and you hate us My Street Art
Not sure if anyone cares, but I made a chance to the deck. I've been testing Huntmaster of the Fells and have really liked the card as a good bomb. Not only does he put tokens on the battlefield and life, his transform gets rid of threats nicely. (Ravager of the Fells). I decided to take out Wrath of God which really wasn't helping much and only seemed to hurt my board more than my opponents.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
French EDH BRGW Saskia the Unyielding BRGW GUWB Thrasios, Triton Hero // Tymna the Weaver GUWB B Braids, Cabal Minion B G Titania, Protector of Argoth G R Zurgo Bellstriker R
Founding Father of [Team Stepfathers]: We beat you and you hate us My Street Art
i think Timetwister is banned.
No reason to play Wrath of God ><
I do not play GSZ (not enough good target), Eternal Witness and recrutor imperial (too slow), Meddling Mage (not enough good).
Ajani RW is better than Sorin.
Stormblood Berserker In
Geist UW in
Wolfbitten Captive in
edit: u should play duress, inquisition of kozilek and toughseize
Here is the introduction I wrote and a lot of what you said is covered here
Recently, I wrote up a quick outline of the Horde Zoo deck that I’ve been running for around the last month. I finally am happy with where the deck is currently at that I have decided to write a primer for it. The deck itself can easily be changed almost anywhere to accommodate certain play styles. Compared to a lot of the other French player’s deck it is very similar but I’ve also put my own spin on the deck making it much more removal heavy and card advantage centered that theirs. I find that with all the removal, the kill clock speeds up much faster. Besides these small differences, almost all Horde decks look the same
I took out Wrath of God in the first revision. As for the other cards you mentioned the only one that might get put back in is Geist. Marca Rioters has been ok. 3 drop for 5/5 is fine, but geist might be better overall. I'll re-test geist again. As for Strangleroot Geist I'll look at that too. The double green early on is hard on the deck though. I need to think about it.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
French EDH BRGW Saskia the Unyielding BRGW GUWB Thrasios, Triton Hero // Tymna the Weaver GUWB B Braids, Cabal Minion B G Titania, Protector of Argoth G R Zurgo Bellstriker R
Founding Father of [Team Stepfathers]: We beat you and you hate us My Street Art
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French Competitive Play
Introduction
Why play Horde of Notions?
+ Access to every single card in the game means you get to hand pick which direction you take the deck (control, removal, overrun/little zoo, big zoo, etc.)
+ Your mana curve is small letting you spit out tons of the best creatures for cheap but having a few creatures at the top of your mana curve that will seal up games
+ Your general is extremely fast at ending games once you’re at 5 land drops
Why not play Horde of Notions?
- You need to make sure that you don’t overextend because once you run out of gas, you will not be able to come back. The deck tries to help this by playing lots of cards that gives you card advantage over time.
- Combo decks will most likely beat you out every single time because your clock is about a turn or 2 behind theirs a majority of the time. Especially if they are running graveyard manipulation decks that involve Survival of the Fittest
- Control decks are also a major boon and you will need to play smart and conservative or try and overwhelm them with your low mana curve
I suggest you visit my submission on Tapped Out as it is a much easier way to visualize and actually scroll over the cards without having to constant click on them here
Deck list
1 Horde of Notions
Artifact
1 Birthing Pod
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Creatures
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Dark Confidant
1 Eternal Witness
1 Gilded Drake
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Trygon Predator
1 Wild Nacatl
1 Rafiq of the Many
1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
1 Aven Mimeomancer
1 Jenara, Asura of War
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Imperial Recruiter
1 Meddling Mage
1 Mother of Runes
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Sygg, River Cutthroat
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Matca Rioters
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Gideon's Lawkeeper
1 Putrid Leech
1 Arbor Elf
1 Slyvan Safekeeper
1 Skyshroud Elite
1 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Sylvan Library
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Rancor
Instant
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Go for the Throat
1 Dismember
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Fire Covenant
1 Bant Charm
1 Fire // Ice
1 Terminate
1 Skeletal Scrying
Lands
1 Arid Mesa
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Breeding Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Flooded Strand
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plateau
1 Polluted Delta
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Scrubland
1 Steam Vents
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Watery Grave
1 Raging Ravine
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Wasteland
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Command Tower
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Sorcery
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Timetwister
1 Vindicate
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Tribal Flames
Card choices
Artifacts
Umezawa's Jitte - Probably the best equipment every printed. Helps against Edric matchups
Sword of Feast and Famine - 2nd best equipment printed? Once you start swinging with this attached you’ve usually won
Sword of Fire and Ice - This is mostly tech against Edric again and the draw is nice as well
Dark Confidant - Bob is one of the best cards every printed as well. Easy card advantage
Eternal Witness - Regrowth with a body
Gilded Drake - Big fan of Gilded Drake. Stealing your opponents fatties or generals is game changing. You should slow play him as much as possible
Qasali Pridemage - Exalted, 2/2 for 2 and can destory enchantments. Pretty great
Ranger of Eos - 4 drop tutor which is nice with all the great 1 drop creatures I run
Tarmogoyf - Big beatstick for 2 mana
Tidehollow Sculler - Discard with a body
Trygon Predator - More enchantment and artifcat hate, has flying and can be tutorable with GSZ
Wild Nacatl - Always included in Zoo decks. 1 drop 3/3
Rafiq of the Many - This is one of those cards still in testing. If you drop him into play and you have Horde coming out next turn, you probably are going to win
Falkenrath Aristocrat - 4 drop haste flier that evades Wrath effects. Pretty amazing. And with all the humans in the deck, saccing to her to get big fast adds up
Aven Mimeomancer - All those 1 drop ramps card are sitting on your side of the board, this guy turns them into threats again. Really have enjoyed using this card since Asimov suggested it
Horde of Notions - The general and game finisher
Jenara, Asura of War - Another great cost efficient card. It also allows me use spare mana that may otherwise be sitting idle at the end of turns
Stoneforge Mystic - Greatest tutor and puts Swords into play cheaply
Imperial Recruiter - Another toolbox tutor, especially since about 33 of the 37 creatures are below 2 Power
Meddling Mage - Great card against decks that are general or combo oriented. Getting her out early and protecting her is key
Mother of Runes - "Mom" is an auto-include due to one of the best abilities in the game
Edric, Spymaster of Trest - Card advantage and also helps again the Edric matchup by removing their general
Sygg, River Cutthroat - More card advantage and if you’re not dealing 3 damage a turn then there is something wrong
Scavenging Ooze - Graveyard hate for the Karador decks and also the ability to get pumped quick with all the creatures that will be constantly hitting the GY
Birds of Paradise - Standard ramp
Matca Rioters - 3 drop, 5/5 beatstick
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - Great creature against control decks and it usually has no side effects towards you early on since you are powering out creatures
Grim Lavamancer - Great card in general. Useful in every matchup
Phantasmal Image - Another great, versatile card that toolbox’s a lot of things
Gideon's Lawkeeper - Great one drop keeping treats constantly tapped
Putrid Leech - 2 drop 4/4 (again the life lose doesnt matter), big fan
Arbor Elf - More good mana ramp. Better than the other ramp elves
Slyvan Safekeeper - Keeps all your creatures alive, especially in dire times
Skyshroud Elite - This use to be Loam Lion/Kird Ape but I found that he will always pretty much be a ⅔ all the time and you’re not dependent on fetches
Avacyn’s Pilgrim - More ramp though I wish he produced blue as well
Lotus Cobra - More ramp, especially with all the fetchlands I run in the deck
Phyrexian Metamorph - Swiss army knife that toolboxes into anything you need him to
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner - One of the best creatures in the deck that protects you from spot removal and other bad effects
Noble Hierarch - Best ramp in the deck, plus the exalted is always a help. Usually one of my first targets for GSZ
Huntmaster of the Fells - Not only does he put tokens on the battlefield and life, his transform gets rid of threats nicely. (Ravager of the Fells)
Enchantment
Survival of the Fittest - Cycles out your deck finding the answers you need
Phyrexian Arena - Draw for 1 life sounds like a deal to me
Rancor - With all the creatures you’re running you want to be getting damage through constantly. And Rancor keeps on sticking around
Instant
Go for the Throat - More cheap removal
Dismember - Even cheaper removal
Lightning Bolt - Cost efficient spell
Fire Covenant - I think this is my favorite card in the deck. It literally poops on everything on the field and lets you swing in for massive amounts of damage. Its like a KO against Edric if you resolve it
Bant Charm - Great cost efficient spell, but sometimes the mana fixing is hard on it
Fire // Ice - Another flexible spell that helps differently in different matchups
Terminate - More cheap removal
Skeletal Scrying - Card advantage when I need it
Lands
Planeswalker
Elspeth, Knight-Errant - Soldier producer, evasion helper and if you get to her ultimate, GG
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - This use to be Ajani but I never found him as helpful as Sorin. Giving a +1/+0 emblem along with putting out Lifelink tokens is great. I have never gotten to his ultimate though
Sorcery
Timetwister - Refills my hand after I run out of gas or when I have a stale hand
Vindicate - Gets rid of anything thats giving me a headache (especially Maze of Ith)
Wheel of Fortune - Refills my hand after I run out of gas or when I have a stale hand
Green Sun's Zenith - Great toolbox finding whatever I need as sorcery speed. One of the best cards in the deck
Tribal Flames - 2 mana for 5 damage sounds like a good deal to me
Strategy
Creatures Organized by Mana Cost
2 Drop
3 Drop
4 Drop
Notable exclusions from my deck
[CARD]
Vendilion Clique[/CARD] - Never liked this card and I still like Aven Mimeomancer better at the 3 drop flier
Goblin Guide/Loam Lion/Kird Ape - I found these underwhelming, especially for 1 drops. I’d rather see better 2 drops than these guys
Fauna Shaman - A little too slow as you need to wait on summoning sickness, tapping her and that means she can’t attack. I think Survival is good enough for the deck.
Knight of the Reliquary - This will probably cycle back in sometime. I think that Mancata Rioters is better though
Mentor of the Meek - This spot was contested between Sygg and MotM. Since you will have to be paying a colorless on top of casting spells it might get a bit expensive where with Sygg he is basically free card draws once he hits the field. This might get tested more
Etched Oracle - I run Wheel of Fortune/Time Twister instead. Still a good card though
Hero Of Bladehold/Hero of Oxid Ridge - This spot was contested between Rafiq, HoB and HoOR. I like all three, and this may get changed in the future. Rafiq is nice to break locks near ends of games once your opponent has bigger creatures on the field
Skullclamp - I like to keep as many creatures as I can on the field and since I’m already running so much card advantage anyway it didn’t seem necessary
Black discard spells - I went more removal heavy than discard heavy. Just preference based
Snapcaster Mage - Another possible addition, but I don’t think I run enough spells to make him worthwhile
Geist of Saint Traft - Another great card and something that may eventually get cycled back in. Making sure hes getting damage through is the hardest part and his hexproof is great
Great Stable Stag - I have been using this in my Jenara deck and I think I’ll eventually get around to including it in this deck. Its really really helpful against control decks.
Thrun, the Last Troll - Another great 4 drop creature that may eventually find its way into the deck
Man-O’-War - The ability to bounce creatures with “comes into play” effects is nice, but he will often be dead-weight sometimes
Aven Mindscensor - Good utility card, but I have other better creatures
Mulldrifter - The evoke is nice and he’s an elemental that can be resurrected by Horde, but besides that, hes expensive and I already have more than enough card draw
Scrute Mob - Another “win more card”. If you have that many lands on the board you have more cost efficient creatures you should be playing
Garruk, Wildspeaker - A great planeswalker that barely missed the cut. I think Sorin is better personally
Chrome Mox/Mox Diamond - The card disadvantage from these guys is too much for such a quick deck. Better filled with mana rampers
Hall of the Bandit Lord - Too slow and I need the colored mana a lot more than the Haste effect
Kitchen Finks - Good card, but the life gain and persist just can't justifying making the cut
Flametongue Kavu - Another good creature, but I like instant speed removal better
Dauntless Escort - Mr.Cheff suggested this, I think this is a great card to test, especially to avoid wrath effects and its fetchable with GSZ
Loyal Retainers and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite/Iona, Shield of Emeria - I tried this combo in an earlier version of this deck. I think its good, but you need to have Survival in play. Loyal Retainers isn't a dead draw, but hardcasting Elesh or Iona is difficult
BRGW Saskia the Unyielding BRGW
GUWB Thrasios, Triton Hero // Tymna the Weaver GUWB
B Braids, Cabal Minion B
G Titania, Protector of Argoth G
R Zurgo Bellstriker R
Founding Father of [Team Stepfathers]: We beat you and you hate us
My Street Art
BRGW Saskia the Unyielding BRGW
GUWB Thrasios, Triton Hero // Tymna the Weaver GUWB
B Braids, Cabal Minion B
G Titania, Protector of Argoth G
R Zurgo Bellstriker R
Founding Father of [Team Stepfathers]: We beat you and you hate us
My Street Art
Also, you said you took out ***, but it's still in your op list.
Here is the introduction I wrote and a lot of what you said is covered here
I took out Wrath of God in the first revision. As for the other cards you mentioned the only one that might get put back in is Geist. Marca Rioters has been ok. 3 drop for 5/5 is fine, but geist might be better overall. I'll re-test geist again. As for Strangleroot Geist I'll look at that too. The double green early on is hard on the deck though. I need to think about it.
BRGW Saskia the Unyielding BRGW
GUWB Thrasios, Triton Hero // Tymna the Weaver GUWB
B Braids, Cabal Minion B
G Titania, Protector of Argoth G
R Zurgo Bellstriker R
Founding Father of [Team Stepfathers]: We beat you and you hate us
My Street Art