In my experience play standard tournaments, Zhur-Taa Ancient had always proved to be suicide. Its great that he ramps you for the Hydra and Clan Defiance, but the fact that it ramps your opponent is deadly. I witnessed a man play that card against Bant Control and the opponent actually tried to keep his Zhur-Taa Ancient alive because it allowed him to do what ever he wanted. He would Sphinx's Revelation for 20 life, Supreme Verdict whenever he pleased, and Kessig Wolf Run a Thragtusk to 25/20 with trample. You might want to reconsider that card, for the fact that ramp is a lot more useful to your opponents...

You could put Zhur-Taa Druid instead so you can poke them every time you cast something.

@757Nightmare In MY experience in standard tournaments with this deck, Zhur-Taa Ancient got me 2nd place at FNM. I realize there are other X mana cards and removal cards that can screw me over but honestly it's never been much of a problem for the simple fact that I have more X mana cards and such that they never get the chance to get very far with a Sphinx's Revelation or a Debt to the Deathless .

Zhur-Taa Ancient is the heart of this deck, I think he's tragically underplayed, and he happens to work wonders in this deck.