@youhoo2645: Thanks for the upvote. I've played with a lot of ramp for this deck to test out what works best, BoP was definitely shortlisted as one of the best. A breakdown of the stuff I've tested:
Land Searching (Search for Tomorrow). This worked really nicely on T1 however it's overcosted when not suspended. Having more lands than our opponent though is very important so this is still worth considering
Artifact Ramp. This has one big benefit - they are ignored by Death Cloud. I've tested two directions, one as a mana fixer (Golgari Signet). Second as a creature to provide additional win conditions after the cloud (Guardian Idol, Phyrexian Totem). I liked both of these approaches, however always found them clunky as it left the deck with an absence of T1 ramp which I found to be a hinderance.
Creature Ramp. With creature ramp I found the choice of colour important and so Birds of Paradise was the best fit. It certainly worked well allowing T1 Ramp plays, and also could block if things were going badly. The biggest drawback however is that it's impossible to keep alive through a cloud. This hinders us massively when trying to close out a game after a cloud as I need the Thragtusk/Kitchen Finks in play first.
Land enchantments. This was one I didn't like on paper, it opens up the possibility that we 3-0 ourselves by death clouding an enchanted land. After several tests however I've found that it's very easy to leave yourself just an enchanted land and rebuild a board very quickly. Especially true if we have Garruk Wildspeaker out.
Birds of Paradise is definitely a possibility, and can work well - I've just had better results with Utopia Sprawl so far.
April 6, 2017 9:39 p.m.
youhoo2645 says... #3
I meant Liliana, Heretical Healer Flip does not seem necessarily the best option in comparison to Birds of Paradise since it dies to death cloud and requires 3 mana for such a small body. If her plus one was really that important then Liliana of the Veil would just be 100% better since it dodges death cloud every time.
April 6, 2017 10 p.m.
Ah yea Liliana of the Veil is a straight upgrade, however falls under the same budget constraint as the Verdant Catacombs. I had 3 Liliana, Heretical Healer Flip so included them as I've found that 8 ramp spells was all I needed. Anyone with the planeswalker - or budget to buy them - would see that as a direct upgrade
youhoo2645 says... #1
Mana dorks like birds of paradise or llanowar elves would be better than the lillies.
April 6, 2017 8:20 p.m.