I'll update Card Choices as I recieve more commentary and questions.
Why Not Use...?
Gilded Lotus - Too high of a CMC. There are better cards to mana fix red floating into black mana. It hinders the deck more because of the tendency to rely on ad nauseam.
Reforge the Soul - Too high of a CMC. Winds of Change is way better for our purposes. Miracle is unreliable, and we should hardly ever need wheel effects in the first place.
Toxic Deluge and other black removal/board wipe - Field wipes are only needed if the deck has failed to successfuly storm to victory. Also, we need every bit of life.
Ricochet Trap - The deck is lacking in ability to stop blue control decks; however, the 4 CMC is too high for this deck. Any cards that are 4 CMC are pretty much reserved for win conditions or cards that set up the win conditions. (Yes, it has an alternate cost, but we don't want to run into the issue of loosing life from this card's CMC) My #1 goal is staying at ~2.00CMC or less
Whipflare - This card has a few downsides for this deck. Overall, we want to be storming-off before having to deal with the field state of other players. This card hurts 2 of our only creature win conditions, has a higher CMC than Lightning Bolt, and doesn't hit artifact creatures (which are fairly common in EDH).
Burnout - In my opinion this is a slightly worse version of Pyroblast or Red Elemental Blast. We will typically need a counterspell in cases where we are casting a high mana cost draw spell, meaning that the difference of 1 mana can be gamebreaking when trying to storm off. Additionally, if the card is successfully casted, then drawing one more card will not make much of a difference. Finally, this card is completely useless when contributing towards the storm count if no one tries playing a blue instant during our turn. With Pyroblast & Red Elemental Blast we have the ability to target blue permanents to increase the storm count at will.
Why Am I Using...?
Lightning Bolt - Compared to alternative early game answers for aggro decks, I personally prefer lightning bolt. Although this card only hits 1 creature, the 3 damage is typically enough to halt the lifeloss from aggro decks I.E. "lord" creatures(Adaptive Automaton & Metallic Mimic), multipliers (The Notorious Krenko, Mob Boss & Marrow-Gnawer), and haste/attack threats(Alesha, Who Smiles at Death & Kaalia of the Vast). Additionally a fair amount of high tier commanders are killed by lightning bolt, like: Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge, Thrasios, Triton Hero, Tymna the Weaver, Animar, Soul of Elements, Arcum Dagsson, Captain Sisay, Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, and Yisan, the Wanderer Bard. Yes, there are better options for mass damage, but I prefer the lower CMC. This deck has to maintain a low mana curve if it wants to successfully storm. Also, with the influx of Planeswalker commanders, this card has become even more important.
Sideboard Cards/Cards Being Currently Play-tested
If there are any suggestions for cards that should be removed to replace with these, please let me know.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All - I love the versatility of this card. It helps the deck ensure the casting of draw power cards and finishers that do not have storm. However, I am not entirely convinced. The card has an expensive life-loss effect, and most importantly, we loose out on colored mana in the early game. Typically, the deck needs at least 1 land that produces red mana and 2-3 lands that produce black mana. In combination with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth this card would be a definite "yes". However, I will need to playtest the consistency of the deck with this card included.
Slaughter Pact - YES! 0 CMC. It contributes to storm count. It also removes annoying creatures with control abilities. The payment on the next upkeep is not too important for us, as most wins will occur during our main phase. The upkeep payment will only be relevant in cases where we might want to be casting ad nauseam at instant speed/delays the casting of ad nauseam. I am currently looking for a card to remove for this.
Abrade - This card will most likely not make it into the deck; however, I will play-test it for now. If the competitive EDH decks that I run into tend to run early game artifacts that influence my success/ability to storm, then I will probably include it.
Pyroclasm - This is a better version of Whipflare for the purposes of this deck. It is an answer for early game aggro decks, but it needs to be play-tested first.
Imp's Mischief - I love this card in Toshiro Umezawa. It is a lower mana cost alternative to dealing with control decks at the downside of loosing life equal to the CMC of the spell that is targeted. It will almost always be used to counterspell a counterspell in this deck.
Pyroblast & Red Elemental Blast - These cards will most likely make it into the deck. They are the BEST option for dealing with blue control and early game counterspells. I am currently deciding which cards must be removed to include these two. The only downside to them is that they won't be able to contribute to the storm count if no players on the table are playing blue, but most of the time we should be able to destroy a blue permanent to increase the storm count.
