Sometimes the deck seems to ramp really well or get a quick card:Conjurer's Closet and threat onto the board, other times I mainly just draw into lands and Arbor Elf so I'm not sure what I need to do to optimize it better. I'm also considering putting 3 Oblivion Ring into the main deck and going down to 2 card:Sphinx's Revelation since it may not be as necessary.

Lose Angel of Serenity she doesn't belong in this deck, regarless of how good she is. If you're looking for "tremendous lifegain" look into Rhox Faithmender which will ETB for 10 life if trostani is out. Personally, I don't think Jace, Architect of Thought belongs in here either, but you can make that call. It's sad the land destruction isn't really a thing. I'd love to play it. I don't think you're going to be able to pull too many wins with this.

I have a RUG deck that uses Deadeye Navigator + Acidic Slime , or Sylvan Primordial , or even Tyrant of Discord . I Also run Somberwald Sage and Farseek , Clone as a back-up, for bounce i use Ghostly Flicker and a 3 of card:Conjurer's Closet, and 2x Nephalia Smuggler just as a last ditch bounce.

MTGNoobs: The reason I've liked Angel of Serenity is because she's sort of a catch-all: she can be used to return my threats that got put into my graveyard, then I can flicker her via card:Conjurer's Closet to return those cards to hand and exile some of my opponents' creatures as she re-enters. It's mostly for utility and to have another threatening body. I can see your point though that maybe if instead of the Angels I upped my threats (such as 4x Armada Wurm and 4x Acidic Slime ) it'll feel more consistent. I'll see what I can try in her place for a few games. Also I agree that Jace, Architect of Thought doesn't feel necessary, he's mostly been good to extend the game against faster creature decks or to draw cards, but I'm not sure what to replace him with. Thanks for the input!

dennisd12: That sounds awesome. If I end up not feeling the need for Jace, Architect of Thought and card:Sphinx's Revelation I may try splashing for red. Going that deep into land destruction sounds like it'd be fun. I do like some of the control elements blue is giving this so far (Detention Sphere and card:Sphinx's Revelation mostly) but I have to test it more to see how strong it is.

Your early game mana curve is not good. You need some cheap comes into play critters.

Consider in white: Azorius Arrester , Seller of Songbirds or War Priest of Thune In green: Elvish Visionary , Borderland Ranger , Gatecreeper Vine

I'd recommend Azorius Arrester or Elvish Visionary . Both are inexpensive and both could get really nasty if you flickered them a lot. Seller of Songbirds has a nice synergy with Trostani. The arrester will let you control the board some until you get ramped up. I think he could be a big help. And if you get him flickering he can shut down other critters.

Speaking of flicker, you may want to consider adding more methods to pull it off.

I'd second the opinion to drop the Jaces. They are a great card but don't seem to focus on the core concept much. The same is true with Angel of Serenity.

apt142: Thanks for the input! This deck tries to use cheap ramp to get larger things out quicker (eg a hopeful situation of Arbor Elf and Farseek early turns into turn 4 Thragtusk followed up with card:Conjurer's Closet), so essentially the early mana curve is used for ramping. I really like your suggestion of Elvish Visionary though - I'm not sure why I totally forgot about her. As weird as it sounds she's potentially a replacement for Jace, Architect of Thought though accidentally milling myself is a legitimate concern. Angel of Serenity actually works really well in the Closet theme in that she's both potentially good for me and bad for the opponent when she flickers but I'll definitely consider trying something else out in her place. Do you have an alternative? I'm not sure if just jamming Craterhoof Behemoth in her spot is optimal but I've thought about using him in here.

maybe Champion of Lambholt ? check out my deck, it's pretty similar except it's a little faster but a little weaker compared to yours deck:instant-transmission

I second Champion of Lambholt . A Cloudshift or two might not be a bad idea. That'll let you react to spot removal.

Glad I could be helpful.

JokerWx13 & apt142: Thanks again. Cloudshift was an idea too, I wasn't sure where to put them. Restoration Angel is sort of my catch-all there though she's more expensive which is why the ramping is important. She combos well with card:Conjurer's Closet because she can attack, flicker back to defend and reset something like Armada Wurm .. but she's a lot more expensive, hmm. Champion of Lambholt could be pretty hilarious - one of my other pet decks was about that card so I may try to at least see how she works. I'll be sure to check out deck:instant-transmission too!

I'm going to give you a +1 for the UHF reference, loved it, haha.

Also, I'd add Elvish Visionary

nadador913: Haha I'm glad someone got the reference =] Elvish Visionary is definitely shaping up to be a possibility after these suggestions. I'm hoping to get a chance to playtest or run this into FNM soon with trying out some of these changes.

I like Gatecreeper Vine over Farseek because for the same cost your get a creature and a land. Plus once you start flickering creatures you might chose to flicker the Gatecreeper Vine to get extra lands. Even is you don't have guildgates in the deck and you only pull out basic lands that's only slightly disadvantageous compared to getting a creature as well for your 2 mana.

I see Farseek chosen over Gatecreeper Vine in many decks, why is that?

Farseek puts a land into play. Gatecreeper Vine puts it into your hand.

Generally speaking in play > in hand. The only case this doesn't play out is if you do not have land in your hand you haven't played a land this turn. Then the vine is clearly superior for it's more general land selection.

With the revalelation, I would drop ghost quarter for a reliquary tower.

My wallet would hate this deck but I like it a lot. +1 Flicker and Fathom Mage is really sick, especially since when the Mage gets too big you can just flicker her and reset all those counters.

My only question would be if you've found Deadeye Navigator to be too ponderous/slow for this deck. Nephalia Smuggler may technically be available for a flicker earlier but I'm more a fan of the Navigator's rapid-fire flickering effects, especially once you have a large mana base.

Field wipes will make this deck cry, but all in all it seems fluid when it goes in the right direction, but suffers from what if it doesn't. It doesn't seem like it can recover, so Supreme Verdict might be an choice. Urban Evolution seemed underwhelming, and trostani would give you a tremendous amount of life if main boarded, but I wonder if that is excessive. Deadeye Navigator Might be worth looking into play testing.

Your deck is very similar to mine except I do not run any blue. If you want to check it out it's selesnya-control-suggestions-please. Maybe you can grab some ideas from it but what I can tell ya is my version is normally getting an Acidic Slime or Thragtusk out on turn 3. Once that happens its pretty much game over.

fun card to flicker the green avatar Sylvan Primordial when i played it it felt like the i had the first skill of Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker on green.

it costs alot but i get rid of something from opponent and i can fetch land.

generally its a more sturdy version of Acidic Slime with increased effects.