This deck is incredibly weird, and I would bet there are very few decks like it. I will launch right into how it works.
The combo:
You may notice that all the lands tap for red. This is because, on the turn I combo off, I need 9+ red mana available, which isn't consistent enough if all my lands aren't red. How it works, is that at the end of my opponent's turn 9 and on, I play Pearl Lake Ancient. Then, it flips to my turn. Let's assume I have 9 lands out. I tap all of them for red, and then I activate PLA's ability to return 3 lands to my land. In response to the trigger, I return another 3, and another 3, and then the PLA returns to my hand. I then play Molten Vortex, paying 8 red and discarding 8 lands to deal 16 damage to my opponent.
The combo is actually quite resilient, as Pearl Lake Ancient can't be countered, and both can just continue to combo off if removaled. Here's an example: I can Pearl Lake Ancient on my end step. They cannot respond to my upkeep, after my lands have untapped. If they shoot it, I just tap out and activate the ability as usual, and it's all good.
The rest of the deck is just control and filtering a draw and lands. Here are some of my choices:
Radiant Flames: Cleans up lots of annoying little buggers. I have 13 ways to get a color other than red or blue, which I think is enough to consistently be able to flame on turn 3.
Roast: A solid piece of removal to get rid of big stuff. Doesn't hit dragons, though, which bothers me a lot.
Brutal Expulsion: A card I'm trying out. It's very nice against aggro, and can slow down midrange a bit. Also can help get their life total down into our desired range.
Disdainful Stroke: I'm not so much worried about protecting combo pieces, and Radiant Flames cleans up the little guys. Hence, the things I need to worry about are bombs. Looking at you, Siege Rhino.
Mindswipe: This is a fairly solid counterspell. It's a Clash of Wills for 1 more mana, but it deals damage as well. Most control decks wouldn't be that thrilled about this, but for a deck that needs to have their opponent at 16 or less life (unless you have 12+ lands), it's a nice bonus.
Scatter to the Winds: A nice, solid counterspell with a minor upside. For this deck, I generally won't be playing it awakened, but it's nice to have available.
Anticipate: A very nice filter spell. I'm trying to raise the number of these to 4, because they're that good.
Dig Through Time: A very solid draw spell. It can help me fetch lands, combo pieces, removal, whatever I need.
The landbase I built essentially just to be able to:
a. Provide as many red mana as I need
b. Provide enough blue mana for control spells
c. Have a 3rd color often enough for Radiant Flames
I have most of the lands, and I think the landbase should accomplish what I need right now. Obviously I will be switching out some stuff for the manland in Gatewatch.
And that's the deck! Suggestions greatly appreciated. I haven't build a sideboard yet because I'm not sure if this deck will actually get off the ground, but I can take suggestions for that too.
