I think you need a way to fill the yard quickly and something like Grisly Salvage would be right up the alley. I watched videos of sidisi GPG and sidisi did squat in the deck, good for making it GB.

Thanks Boza! I added the link to that deck in my description as it was the starting point. That's a really good card to add. Four of? I feel like Evolutionary Leap is really slow and that might be a good place to cut to make room

Seems like this might be a little slow for modern and your reanimation targets don't seem impactful enough to really have the God-Pharaoh's Gift package when a dredge or Vengevine style deck would hit much, much harder and can grind if a game goes long due to creatures with built-in recursion instead of needing the artifact in play. If you're set on gpg, maybe splash red for Faithless Looting and other loot effects and have a bigger top end to get back from a live gpg. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Griselbrand and other game winning creatures in some number seem crucial. Good luck!

Thanks vomitpile! I was concerned about speed of this deck. It doesn't really start until turn 4 (at the earliest) to get GPG in play. those suggestions sound really good, the only concern for me right now is budget. This is my first time thinking about playing/ building modern and so I wanted to start with a budget deck that has some upgrade options and can do alright at FNM level.

Totally understand that, I just recently got my first big time modern deck fully fleshed out and played budget random stuff until then. The red splash would be pretty inexpensive outside of the lands which is reason enough to stay 2 color if you don't have any sitting around. My main point was having a win condition that isn't just trying to make 1 4/4 per turn. Since you have Stinkweed Imp already, adding some extra dredge and the looting effects would give you more explosive turns and cards like Prized Amalgam and Narcomoeba are pretty inexpensive, and eventually Bloodghast can slot in as probably the best recursive creature in modern. You can transition this into a full fledged dredge deck over time, which is actually one of the cheapest competitive decks out there. I suggest checking out budget dredge style decks as a great place to start, as that mechanic is so easy to exploit and will put you ahead of any deck with a good starting hand. 8-12 power on turn 2 is no joke! If you want to stay more midrange like this current list, you really want ways to get past your opponent in advantage since that becomes more important as games go long. With that in mind, you could check out GB "rock" decks and mirror their gameplan of early game discard and sticking a threat that can scale with the game and close it out. Tarmogoyf is choice #1 but other creatures can do decent impressions. Something like this: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/stones-for-peasants-budget-gb-rock/

Not to discourage trying to find a way to make this type of deck work, it just seems like its pulling in 2 different directions that aren't super well positioned compared to the rest of modern and if you want something that can compete at a modest price, focus is most important. That's why combo decks tend to be the cheapest, they have limited applications and are so focused that they avoid playing the more "goodstuff" cards in favor of a straight forward gameplan; being versatile is expensive. So either all-in graveyard combo like dredge or midrange with early game disruption in place of the toolbox nature this has are the best places to take something like this. Again, good luck! Also for testing, cockatrice is free. It's weird to use but handy for testing something beforehand, proxies against friends are another easy way to try something first.

Also just found this, it leans into the toolbox aspect and is emulating a Birthing Pod deck: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/modern-birthing-pod-gwub-gpg/

No idea on how it plays but this the most similar to your current list, worth checking out

vomitpile Thanks so much for the analysis! This is exactly what I needed. I will review the lists that you provided and change/ replace build with a more focused dredge!

vomitpile okay, I've adjusted the deck to be midrange focused with a smaller GPG package. What do you think?

oh, I forgot to ask. Is it worth running Prized Amalgam without any blue sources? I feel like I have enough discard/ dredge to put them in the yard.

Prized Amalgam as maybe a 3-of seems good, maybe in place of 3 Putrefy and have another cheap removal/discard spell instead of the 4th copy; that card is a bit overcosted compared to something like Fatal Push,which would be perfect in this deck as your main removal by the way

Blue mana shouldn't be necessary unless you decide Gifts Ungiven is worth trying out

Vengeful Pharaoh is another cool way to remove creatures that recurs, Smallpox style decks occasionally have 1 or 2 copies

Overall, looks a lot more cohesive!

Some side notes, the shocklands are confirmed to be in the next set so upgrading your mana just got a bit easier

As far as interaction, Thoughtseize can replace Duress eventually and you could try out Life from the Loam with Smallpox as a way to grind out opponents, fill your graveyard, and never miss land drops. Fatal Push is the best removal spell for decks like this since triggering revolt is pretty easy. Bloodghast is probably the first creature I would try to fit in, that card is very very good. You have your bases covered pretty well in the side deck, maybe having some amount of tron hate should be prioritized. I don't know if you've played against that deck, but man it hits hard. Damping Sphere and land destruction are your main ways to fight back, but you've really got to hit back before they can just hard cast something huge or this deck probably folds immediately. Control shouldn't be too much of an issue, and you have enough removal to slow down aggro decks. Big mana is probably going to be your hardest match-up. That is all!

vomitpile thanks so much for all the suggestions!

The deck as it is now has zero ways of triggering Prized Amalgam's ability. None. No blue mana, no recurring creatures. God-Pharoah's Gift doesn't trigger it, because the token doesn't come from the graveyard. Remove the amalgam, it doesn't go in this deck.

As for actual feedback, lose some of the bad removal spells in exchange for more creatures - most of this deck's action is based on having creatures to cast, die, and exile. Swap Go for the Throat and Duress out for... heck, Ravenous Chupacabra if you need budget removal that badly. Also consider Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, Thorn Lieutenant... cheap, value creatures, because that's what goes in a GPG deck!

If you ditch the unsynergistic removal for more creatures, you'll find yourself executing on your deck's plan more often.

Heretical_Tarp Thanks for the feedback. I just reread God-Pharoah's Gift and you are totally right! I am trying to get a few Scavenging Ooze that would be a nice swap out for the the Amalgam's. I am just starting to play test and will look at switching out some of the removal for more creature focus!

Man, I feel foolish, didn't notice that either and was thinking about it with creatures that could potentially reanimate themselves, not the GPG

This deck screams Satyr Wayfinder to me. I'd at least consider cutting the Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flips and the Go for the Throats for 4x Wayfinder.

Pieguy396 I had some in there when it was a more dedicated GPG deck! Im testing this now on Xmage and I've been playing it as a pretty much normal GB Rock deck, and then use GPG late in the game once both players are in top deck mode to try and finish it out. This seems to have worked better than all in on an early GPG plan (which I think Satyr Wayfinder is much better for.

That's fair. In that case, have you considered Grim Flayer? I assume you're sticking to a relatively small budget, so I won't suggest more expensive cards.

Pieguy396 Yeah, he is for sure on my list! I am doing my best to trade into things I am missing, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is another one on the slight-over-my-budget-to-buy list!

I am also waiting to see what Guilds of Ravnica has to offer that might slot in where these expensive cards live.

17 creatures is probably far too low a number if you want to pull off God-Pharaoh's Gift at all. Even SaffronOlive's deck ran 29 creatures or so. 17 creatures means you'll need to mill on average a third of your deck to hit 6 creatures in the yard, and if you're unlucky, about half your deck. I think those are not reliable numbers.

Of course, I see that you are only running 2 Gates and 1 Gift so activating Gift's ability may be a bonus rather than the focus for the deck. However, the fact that you are running many subpar creatures just to fill the yard (such as Stitcher's Supplier and Stinkweed Imp etc.) suggest that you are actually trying quite hard to get Gift on-line...

As far as creature suggestions go - I would get creatures with enter-the-battlefield effects that can replace your removal/discard spells. This means things like Kitesail Freebooter or Brain Maggot or Ravenous Rats (pseudo-discard), Shriekmaw or Fleshbag Marauder (pseudo-removal), or the new Plaguecrafter (could be either discard or removal).

zephyr_chang that is a really good point. I was trying to make GPG a "supplemental" package as a surprise wincon late in a grindy game. The idea was to play standard GB Rock into a later GPG. Testing has shown this is okay... I could definitely replace that whole package with more powerful creatures, which might be a better choice. I also think the Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip could become the new GRN creature that draws on creature death (forgot the name).

zephyr_chang think it would be worth running GPG without the imps/ stitchers? That could add some more of the creatures you mentioned above and still have the late game gift as a small option.

$280 is budget? Damn I'm poor

@Pokemonmaster34578 I guess this is budget for me. All of the fetches ($20+ lands) I traded into for my EDH decks months ago. The Tireless Tracker I am still looking to trade into as well! The rest isn't too expensive (say $100ish). With most competitive modern decks being $1000-$1500 this feels budget!

I feel like dropping Desecration Demons for some other fatty like Erebos's Titan, it has more protection, and self-recursion with Scavenging Ooze synergy. Triple black is a little hard to get, but easier than Phyrexian Obliterator that many lists run.