As I said in the last update, I'm considering adding Elspeth, Sun's Champion to the sideboard but can't decide what to take out. I was thinking of replacing an End Hostilities since her -3 kind of overlaps with it and she is a similar mana cost, but I'd like to hear other opinions on that or the deck as a whole.

I say replace Arc Lightning. End Hostilities is too valuable when you're going walkers.

Seem reasonable. I do have plenty of cheapish removal even without Arc Lightning, plus Nyx-Fleece Ram after sideboarding.

Now I just gotta get an Elspeth

Some changes I'm going to trial at FNM tonight:

• -3 Chief of the Edge main
• +3 Raise the Alarm main
• -2 Mardu Charm main
• +2 Murderous Cut main
• -1 Lightning Strike main
• +1 Hero's Downfall main
• -2 Arc Lightning side
• +1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion side
• +1 Liliana Vess side

The Chief has been good to me for a long time, but I want to try something a little different. Raise the Alarm will give me an extra body to use with Butcher or Tymaret, and gets a card in the graveyard for the Murderous Cuts I'm adding.

About Murderous Cut, I get a fair number of things in the graveyard but don't delve at all - That's just wasted resources. Whereas I just can't make up my mind if I like Mardu Charm or not. As a removal spell it doesn't kill Stormbreath or Sarkhan, and making tokens is better done with Raise the Alarm or Hordeling Outburst. But it is still quite versatile, hence why I can't just hate it.

Similarly, Downfall is just a better removal than Lightning Strike. Later on I might even swap the Strikes for Magma Jet, as 2 vs 3 damage doesn't feel very relevant in the current meta, but Scry 2 is definitely relevant.

I've already talked about replacing an Arc Lightning with Elspeth, so I won't go into that much. One remaining Arc Lightning seems like it just won't do much, so I'll replace that with a 2nd Liliana. I could go for another Elspeth or Sarkhan, but Liliana can just tutor for either of those or anything else I need.

If it goes well I'll update the list here.

Tentatively I like the changes, but I'm going to have to give it more time to be sure. Didn't do well this weekend at all. A recurring theme is that Jeskai is a problem - I can kill creatures all day long, but there's not a lot I can do about burn spells killing my creatures and then doing 20 more to my face. I'm also not sure what to do about Temur - Their midrangey play makes me want to go walkers like I do against Abzan, but the counterspells they run completely screw that plan. It also helps considerably when I get enough land to cast my spells - Not usually a problem, but this just wasn't my week I guess.

On the plus side, I had a beautiful match against another Mardu deck. 1-1 on the aggro plan, then after going walkers I had the removal to keep the board mostly clear, then Sorin played defense while Liliana kept the opponent's hand empty and tutored up an Elspeth and End Hostilities to grind out a win.

About the card changes, Raise the Alarm and Elspeth felt great overall. Murderous Cut wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but still better than the Charm. I went ahead and tried out Magma Jet over Lightning Strike, but I'm not completely sold on that yet. Its kind of funny that I say 3 damage isn't super relevant, then suddenly half the decks I face run Mantis Rider. The extra scry is quite nice though.

Sideboard Deflecting Palm!

@orionwinterfire More than likely I will. I tried it on Saturday, though I didn't update the list here. I only had one though, so it didn't really make a difference. Caught a Butcher with it once though, which worked out pretty well for me. I'll try squeezing in a 2nd, maybe in place of a Read the Bones. Maybe even both of them and put Erase back in. I almost never want Erase, but when I do its gold.