I started working on JP's last list when the article came out, my new list is quite different now.  It still seems like a toy to me in playtesting (lots of cool synergies but no real "I win" combos) but it's getting better.  Myr Retriever really increases your resilience to Force of Will, however the smart opponent will counter Disciple of the Vault, without which winning is very clumsy (to the point where I now run 2 maindeck x-burn spells).

However, once the draw engine starts in proper, it's very hard to lose.  As a matter of fact, last game I played I got 2x clamp and an ironworks online turn 3, at which point I proceeded to draw my ENTIRE DECK, abuse yawgwill, and torch for the kill with 3 non-acadamy lands in play (I had over 70 mana, though I didn't use it all in case I needed to fire off the second torch after the first being countered).  That's impressive considering I started drawing with 2 available mana.

The arcbound ravagers don't fit the deck.  While they provide a second win condition outside of disciples, they're most often used to fuel the clamp, which is inefficient.  I feel thoughtcasts are a better inclusion, as they aren't dependant on clamp to dig through your deck.  The x-burn is a faster alternate win condition with less incidental inconveniences (blockers ,summoning sickness etc).  Because I don't have ravagers, the ornithopters are out in favor of shield sphere (even though thoptor can get clamped and swing for one )

Mind's Desire screams out for a slot here.  When you're generating mana, drawing cards, and dropping mana artifacts on the table, this thing is a beast.  Sometimes its dead, but when you're starting to fizzle, flipping over 8 cards almost always gaurantees you win right then (especially when you flip yawgwill, play the 6 nonland cards, drop artifacts out of your graveyard, and desire again for like 20).

Seat of the Synod > Ancient Tomb.  You need the coloured mana, and they can be fed to the ironworks.

I couldn't resist running mind twist.  When you're throwing around large amounts of off-colour/colourless mana, why would you NOT want it?



I really want to run shattering pulse.  Null rod, damping matrix, trinisphere, chalice for 1, random counter-imbued iscochron scepters all ruin my day.  I also want critter kill, as a quick fatty, goblin welder, or enemy disciple is fear.  I feel the correct way to handle this is cunning wish, but I don't know what to cut .  Despite all these vulnerablities, the real unfortunate thing is the deck requires both clamp AND ironworks in play to function.

Here's my decklist
// Lands
    4 Glimmervoid
    4 Mishra's Workshop
    1 Tolarian Academy
    4 Seat of the Synod

// Creatures
    4 Disciple of the Vault
    4 Myr Retriever
    4 Phyrexian Walker
    4 Shield Sphere

// Spells
    1 Tinker
    1 Time Walk
    1 Ancestral Recall
    1 Mind's Desire
    1 Yawgmoth's Will
    1 Memory Jar
    1 Demonic Tutor
    1 Mind Twist
    4 Thoughtcast
    1 Mox Ruby
    4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
    4 Skullclamp
    1 Mox Sapphire
    1 Mana Vault
    1 Mox Pearl
    1 Mox Jet
    1 Mox Emerald
    1 Black Lotus
    1 Sol Ring
    1 Mana Crypt
    2 Kaervek's Torch

ok, bear with me here.  I'm going to start with the utmost basics and build up, so as to make the reasoning for starting this discussion clear.  I'd like to make two factors known in advance, first is that I have no opinion as of yet, second is that just because something is currently done one way (as in Purge) doesn't mean it's neccecarily the best way.  I trust no one will cite their difference in rarity as an issue with any seriousness (cremate is an uncommon).

Right.  Now, for clarity's sake:

Coffin Purge
Instant
Remove target card in a graveyard from the game.
Flashback

Cremate
Instant
Remove target card in a graveyard from the game.
Draw a card.

The most obvious thing about these cards is how similar they are.  Both are instants and have all the benefits that implies, including synergy with Cunning Wish.  Slightly less obvious is they rely on cunning wish to be useful at all, as no compeditive deck has the amount of free sideboard slots, let alone cards to side out, that running these things as conventional sidebard hate would require.  You're going to have one or two, and you're going to use Cunning Wish to grab it if you need it.  Because this reduces the number of decks the cards are really eligible in (ones that maindeck multiple cunning wish) there are less randomness factors to consider when comparing the cards.

Another readily apparent similarity is that both cards, once cast, replace themselves with another available spell, either by cantriping or by effectively being still in your hand via flashback.  Herein lies the difference though: one spell puts a copy of itself in your hand (which is visible to your opponent), the other spell puts a random topdeck in your hand (which is not).  The question becomes which is more useful to you.

Consider context.  First of all, you are not wishing for the card unless you already need it.  Chances are, unless you wished it out to rfg a regrowth target or randomly stop 'tog from reaching lethal damage after their hand is gone, it will be useful again, whether you are dealing with a goblin welder or a worldgorger dragon.  However, unless you're playing a bad deck or very poor metamage choice, the next card in your library stands a good chance to be useful shortly as well.

Consider card slots.  If you rfg one problem card and may need to do so again, you can run just one coffin purge and buy yourself two chances to stop something very bad from happening, and by extention, need only burn a single Wish for those two chances..  This is a serious consideration against the current recursion combos, which are extremely redundant.

Consider efficiency.  While it's good to have an ohshit button should your deck fail to stop a Bad Thing, it's often stronger still to stop the real problem cards.  Obviously, removing a welder is a much better use of a card than removing a mindslaver or platinum angel.  Dragon is a bit of a different story however, the enormous redundancy of recursion spells in Dragon decks makes countering them all unlikely.  Yet in either case, Cremate provides a fair chance at doing something productive right now instead of buying you time to do something productive later should a second Bad Thing come about.

Consider dynamics.  If you stop one threat, are you likely to have need of another casting of that same spell before the game is already decided?  If not, the new spell is probably better.  With the amount of "swingy" spells in type one, crushing Dragon's attempt to go off, and to a lesser extent Slaver's attempt to combo out, should mean you have a massive, full-turn-minimum window of opportunity to kick your opponent's teeth in.  Yet this is hardly a sure thing.  Using this same logic, is stopping TWO such attempts not an even bigger window of opportunity?  Or is it just win-more?  Does the random topdeck from Cremate significantly improve your next turn to the point where having the extra card gives you more to do during your window of opportunity (it COULD be yawgwill... or a fetchland)?

Don't underestimate the cantrip, if it's tied to a useful effect it becomes extremely powerful (time walk and an active future sight are the best examples).  That's not to say you should overlook the surefire redundancy of a two for one.

Thoughts?  As I said, my jury's still out on this one.

not to hijack but I recently set out to break power artifact hehe

This is something we all need reminding of from time to time.  No serious type one player can honestly say they haven't recently spent the wee hours of the morning tweaking a new and exceedingly bad decklist for at least ten minutes before scrapping it.

While this sucks, the more major issue is the mana curve has no 4cc artifacts.  Missing the open UU second turn is tolerable if you can use all 4 mana.  The only exception is second turn gilded lotus with a mox or sol ring, which changes the equation again since it means you still have UU open on the second turn (well UUU but you'll never use all 3) and can also burn a Cunning Wish or TFK at your opponent's eot.

That being said, even in my version running 3 gilded loti, getting a workshop, a gilded lotus, and either a mox or sol ring by the second turn is not too likely, and that's the bluff-only version.  You need FOUR cards in 8-9 to be correct to have the drain ready too.  I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it's not something you count on.

edit: forgot memory jar.  Second turn jar that you use 3rd turn isn't fun when you only have 3 mana you can use on stuff that isn't an artifact though, which means you're hoping you jar into a mindslaver for use on the fourth turn.

If you're going to go add control elements into the deck, you have to realize you're slowing down your deck, in which case you have to concede that you can be raced and run removal.  I've toyed with a deck sort of like this, and I've found 4 cunning wish with a strong element of instant removal in the sideboard to be the most efficient (especially since I store my Skeletal Scrying, Fact or Fiction, Vampiric Tutor and a dose of random tech there as well).

I've mostly abandoned the deck, because it loses to 'tog and has a hard time with dedicated aggro (read: lots of creatures) while not really gaining alot in the other matchups.