It was either that or Plaguemaw Beast, so I agree with your call. Hooded Hydra needs to stay for the same reason Fertilid did, Triumph of Ferocity for Ulvenwald Mysteries is a great swap.

Blood Artist over Zulaport Cutthroat

or run both :P

id say you might be a little land heavy if you aren't using tricklands.

35/36 should be fine and it leaves more room for options.

Aerie Ouphes with zulaport or blood artist is an insta win if your commander is out. (or any persist creature and a free sac outlet Carrion Feeder, Spawning Pit, Blasting Station, etc) you can make an infinite p/t army

fun build overall

Bababad, I took out Blood Artist because it's single target and most games I play with this deck are against multiple opponents. But the persist combo is amazing. Rendclaw Trow is a cheaper persist creature, but it needs a sac outlet. Any suggestions on what I should take out?

If you like persist, here's a list of them to look at. Aerie Ouphes, Lingering Tormentor, Puppeteer Clique, Rattleblaze Scarecrow, Wingrattle Scarecrow, and Woodfall Primus. You should at least try running woodfall primus and puppeteer clique because they just work well with your commander, even without a sacrifice outlet.

Thanks for the advises. I'll see some conterspells to be cut down. Could you upvote my Brago Azorius ETB?

Cauldron of Souls?

shub, the problem with Cauldron of Souls is that since my deck is token-oriented, Persist doesn't work on them, so something that gives a lot of things Persist doesn't really help me. Note that I do run Rendclaw Trow, a Persist creature, because it goes infinite with my commander.

Then perhaps Mitotic Slime or Sifter of Skulls are more in line with your vision of the deck?

I tried both of your suggestions shub. Mitotic Slime comes down too late in the game to be of much help, especially at 5 mana. Sifter of Skulls is a more expensive Pawn of Ulamog that still doesn't help because it has the "non-token" clause. Thanks for your help though.

Looking for something to take out to put in more removal, like Maelstrom Pulse or Beast Within. Any suggestions?

Woodfall Primus goes infinite with mazirek and a sacoutlet I think it's worth considering.