kamarupa: Thanks for the comment!

I am gonna have to look into Time of Need. Initially I was going to say I can't run it because not all the creatures I look for are legendary, and I need to be able to put the creature into play with it. When I think about it more, the vast majority of creatures I try to grab are Legendary, and running 3x Eldritch Evolution MB and 1x SB has actually been too many, so I think I will playtest at least 1x ToN in place of the SB one. The idea there is if I bring in one of the SB creatures, I also bring in the tutor, rather than run 2x of that particular creature in the sideboard.

Funnily enough, I actually playtested a 1x Shalai, Voice of Plenty in the MB today in place of the Pegasus Courser, and a Thalia, Heretic Cathar in place of the Obelisk Spider and was really happy with them both. I think Shalai is definitely going to have a place in the deck, possibly in addition to the Leylines. Thalia I think is just going to be in the MB.

I tried running Slaughter the Strong a long time ago when the deck was just Abzan, but when I switched to 4+ color I stopped running it. I think it is worth revisiting again, especially since it gets in under Gaddock Teeg.

Throne of the God-Pharaoh is a strict upgrade to Raid Bombardment in here, and I wish I would have caught your comment before I went to FNM because it is a much better fit. I hardly ever lose creatures on my turn anyway, so in that sense they are equal, but the fact that Throne can proc off of tapped Birds of Paradise, and there are a few control decks in my meta that are constantly tapping Doran down, Throne definitely ends up being a better fit. On top of all of that there's no color requirement, and it's 1 mana less and smooths out the deck even more. Great suggestion.

Thanks again for commenting, that gives me a lot to think about!

I kind of went off the rails lately with cutesy interactions and stuff, and made that deck less effective overall, so back to the core of what makes the MB work!

2x Maelstrom Pulse: Moved from SB to MB.

1x Assault Formation: Going down to just two of these resulted in too many instances of not having the effect on the field. Three gets me the redundancy I need.

-1x Eldritch Evolution: Went too heavy on the creatures and didn't have enough pressure otherwise.

-1x Archetype of Aggression: I like this effect, it is just better suited for the sideboard.

Next stop: re-evaluating the sideboard!

Sat down with the deck again and made a few speed and consistency changes:

Out:

2x Spellskite - Moved to sideboard because, as amazing as they are about protecting Doran, other creatures, and myself, it doesn't help the Game 1 speed drawing into your 2nd or 3rd one.

2x Assassin's Trophy - Moved to SB or out altogether as well. 2 plus Bolts and Pulse is a good amount of Game 1 removal.

1x Obelisk Spider - Still a card I like, but I think it fits the sideboard better if at all.

1x Forest - Changing the number of manadorks makes 22 lands less necessary, but I made add this Forest back in and take out a different land due to the prevalence of Field of Ruin , Path to Exile , and Assassin's Trophy .

In:

2x Noble Hierarch - This helps increase the number of nut draws we have, as well as squeezing in a few more damage early game if it sticks. From past experience I know that I never want more than 6 total manadorks, but we'll see if I end up liking 5 more.

2x Courser of Kruphix - I ran this guy a long, long time ago, and since building the Bloodbraid Elf version and really solidifying the landbase I never gave him another chance. I don't agree with the decks that run 4, but at 2 I have always been happy to draw him, and I tend to get back 3-4 life during an average game. On top of that, it smooths out land drops, and allows me to see what I may Cascade into, which is great.

1x Graveblade Marauder - This is kind of a flex slot with Obelisk Spider , but this is a creature I've always wanted to include but never really tried before. He can get very, very scary, especially if a few creatures have already died from removal or Eldritch Evolution . I've only been using it for about a week and there have already been several times during playtesting where it is swinging for 4, plus an additional 4+. The fact that he can still deal a lot of damage even without Doran or Assault Formation out is a definite plus.

2x Rhythm of the Wild - This is a new card I am pretty excited about. I played with a few Lightning Greaves for a short time and the haste was brutal to play against, and making the creature Hexproof, especially a bird or Doran, was fantastic. I feel like Rhythm fill that same slot, but is a much better Cascade target, helps against control decks, and doesn't change the sequence of damage for most of my non-manadork-enabled combats, as they still attack on the same turn they would normally have attacked. I also like that it helps to get manadorks out of bolt range if needed, and allows new creatures to attack without Doran or Formation. Really excited to try this card out.

Other than that, still working on the sideboard some more. Trying to get a boardwipe in there that I like, but Slaughter the Strong doesn't hit much of anything that I see frequently besides Eldrazi and Wurmcoil Engine , and Anger of the Gods hits all my utility creatures unless they are buffed. It sure would be nice to cascade into when I really need the wipe, however. Also considering Cry of the Carnarium from Allegiance.

Testing some Knight of Autumn mainboard instead of sideboard, as they kind of fill the void that cutting Kolaghan's Command had left. The fact that I can tutor for it with Eldritch Evolution is great also.

Leaving one Courser of Kruphix and moving the Graveblade Marauder to the sideboard. Marauder is an absolute house, but a lot of Game 1's there isn't a lot of removal, so I would rather bring him in alongside Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and extra Spellskite s for removal heavy matches.

Your creatures assign combat damage based on their toughness rather than their power.

-3: You gain life equal to the greatest toughness among creatures you control.

This is a great new addition to the deck! I think it immediately takes the place of 2 Assault Formation at least. The fact that you can heal with it immediately makes me much happier to hit a second or third one compared to when I hit a second or third Assault Formation.

Let me know your thoughts!

Another VERY interesting spoiler. I am going to playtest with it in place of a good number of the Birds or Nobles. Cascading into a traditional dork can really suck, and it is so easy to keep us off our ramp when our dork gets bolted. This is still a good cascade target, and "ramps" immediately, so it doesn't matter if it gets removed. All of that on top of having a bigger butt for Doran AND Reach just makes this a fantastic, well rounded (butt joke) creature.