Why bitter blossom? is that just the most efficient threat at the mana cost or something? and also, why therapy over thoughtseize? you have to wait until you find a blossom or cast a confidant, which you probably don't want to sac anyway, or a gatekeeper, which you probably want to kick.

I also really like the utility of diabolic edict being an instant at 2 mana. you can kill of a goyf, for example, before they lay something else. And I would want another depths, so I could rely on not needing a tutor. I would also feel better about consultation-ing with 3 in my deck.

With that said, have you thought about contamination? it is sick with blossom, and you already run urborg, why not lock them on black? and it makes for an excellent tutor target when you have a blossom but none of the depths combo.

If I was to play this, this would be my list:

Your list (ArtOvWar)

-3 therapy
-2 gatekeeper
-1 urborg
-5 swamp
-1 sadistic sacrament

+1 contamination
+3 thoughtseize
+4 fetch
+1 edict
+3 chalice of the void

3 Chalice seems strange, but I think you would love to play chalice on 0, but hate it everywhere else. You only run 3 0-mana accelerants, and wastelands. And with 3, you reduce the risk of drawing multiple useless copies. At the very least you could pitch extras to chalice on a will turn. These also interact really well with the rods in the board. And with contamination, you gain the ability to completely lock them out of non-black. Maybe 24 mana is too low (20 free sources, 4 dark rit), but the deck doesn't seem very mana intensive.

And I think thoughtseize is way better than therapy.

I know that in legacy, sligh splashed green for goyf and was much better because of it, so perhaps, that strategy could be employed here. Green would add claim to the s/b, and goyf to the main. Along with that, maybe a couple of berserks. they seem awesome with kiln fiend, and get around his main drawback, which I think is the chump block. lightning bolt, berserk means 17 damage total. and zerk on a goyf could be game-winning as well. It also has some kind of synergy with clamp if you decide to run it.

Is stifle an option? there isn't mana denial in the main, but it has synergy with pierce. and it takes care of wastes. then again there is always needle from the board, which has it's uses in other matches.

isn't it legendary?

You could potentially play clique in the adel slot, same mana, instant speed, and works well with the thoughtseize. It also swings for 1 more, which definitely could matter. Plus, I definitely think there would a time where that bounce or robot in your hand is just waiting to be shuffled away.

Good points. I kinda just wanted to see if guide was playable in fish, but it makes sense that it sucks. it is good with ninja though!

so the changes I'm thinking are:

-4 guides
-1 fire/ice
-1 null rod
-2 daze

+3 gorilla shaman
+3 ninja of the deep
+1 sprite
+1 spell pierce

I usually don't like removing the fourth rod, but shaman seems to cover that area nicely. as far as burn goes, I really only played it because it's card advantage, so I might just rely on lavamancer for removal. He may also be able to clear chump blockers for ninja. and he blocks and kills a lodestone golem. sweet.

I know that lavamancer is disynergy, but I think that if played correctly, you can avoid shrinking your goyf into oblivion. just try not to remove things that the opponent doesn't have in his/her grave.

I'm not too sure on the predator, it would seem that grudge may be as good or better, at a more convenient price. if there were a ton of workshops, I could maybe see switching one or both of the cliques for predators, but that remains to be seen.

My friend just recently opened a shop, and i've been thinking about getting back into vintage. They haven't had any tournaments yet, so there's really no way to tell what the meta will be like. There will be proxies, so budget may or may not be a concern. My deck idea i a urg fish deck. here's the decklist, first of all:

4 wasteland
5 fetch
3 volcanic
3 tropical
1 strip mine
2 basic

3 mox
1 lotus

4 goyf
4 goblin guide
3 grim lavamancer
3 spellstutter
2 clique

4 force
3 stifle
3 spell pierce
2 daze
1 fire/ice
1 ancient grudge
1 hurkyls

4 null rod

1 mystical
1 ancestral
1 time walk

there is a ton of permission, and a good aggro quality, but there is a distinct lack of a draw engine.

The most questionable card would definately be goblin guide. he is potential card advantage for the opponent, but how many lands does the average vintage deck play? 17 or 18, maybe 20 at the most? he will draw your opponent a land about 1/3 of the time, and the other times you just get to see the next card in their hand. the damage output is good as well, and along with lavamancer, gets the damage through. lavamancer also makes your goyfs bigger than their goyfs, allowing damage through.

The combination of green/red allows for ancient grudge, which is excellent against vault and shops, and is basically uncounterable. hopefully all the permission holds out for stuff like goyf and guide to get through. sprite should help, countering spells and adding damage to the race. Any ideas? I thought about curiosity, which would be awesome on lavamancer.

How does winning with shallow grave work at instant speed? I must just be missing something obvious.

29 mana seems like a lot. I agree that the tombs also look out of place. drain accellerates and protects. 3 monolith seems like 1 too many. you already have vault as well.

intuition looks great in your list, and you already run reconstruction, which is awesome. I think intuition would be better straight up in the jar and twister slots. Also, have you tried back to basics against stax? if you can get to 3 mana, you should be pretty far ahead anyway, but you can run a lot of basics.

I think that the best way to avoid hate is to have more than 1 avenue to winning. I was drawing up decklists, and I think hex-mage dragon is a great idea. you could run pirahna marsh instead of bazaar, or in conjunction with it.

With your all that mana disruption, spell pierce looks awesome. I would cut a drain and the misdirection for pierces, and maybe run a fire/ice main in place of the warrens. 5 strips and 4 drains seem to clash a little. and perhaps hurkyls in the side over rebuild. you never know, that mana could make the difference.

have you thought about bazaar? it could be good with crop rotation or something. And if I were to play this deck, goyf and coatl would both be maindeck.

most lists usually revolved around welder and animate dead (if the dragon combo was main board). the only issue i see is that graveyard hate has gotten so much stronger that this deck better have a damn good plan b.

more what I meant is instead of the full 4 esg, I'd rather have land or more quirion rangers or symbiotes or something.

do you play hivemaster main? In a shop infested meta, this my be te way to go. it doesn't seem to slow the combo very much, and the secondary beatdown plan becomes much more prominent. also, gleeful sabotage seems like a winner in this deck, and it also avoids chalice @1. and if you get dudes out, you can avoid counterspells and chalice @ 2 as well.

I like esg, but I don't really agree with 4 esg main. I think that I would max at 2. they are kind of clunky mid combo and the mana isn't terribly needed, more 1 mana elves are better. Also, they aren't permanent mana, so they could screw up mulliganing too. I really like the ability to find one at instant speed for mana, though.

how much do you find you have to board against stax? i think instead of druids, seal be played. they are good against oath. or if your really afraid of stax, what about more esg. they get through sphere effects and allow you to get your mana guys out.

i personally like the xantids vs anything control. clampable as well. and claim seems to be where it's at, great against oath and shop.

in the main, i think that esg and another pact should get squeezed in. its like having 5 esg.

but crossroads 1) isn't searchable by summoners pact, 2) isn't an elf and 3) doesnt do much on its own. I think the best build of elves the only creatures your worried about tapping for mana either come out first turn or don't need haste.

the only issue with a ton of mana elves like priest are just too slow. when you draw into them mid combo they are useless unless you have nettle or the other tap 3 elves guy. birchlore ranger gets you the colored mana you need, and ranger speeds up the deck as well. instead of bane fire, grapeshot is just as good or better. and summoners pact and skullclamp are some cards to look at as well.

undiscovered paradise and root maze seem like they are viable as well. paradise pays for stasis at the expense of land drops instead of your hand.

I think that if you really wanted to play this card, death wish and contract do not seem to be the best way to abuse it. necro, bargain, whispers, and such along with ad nauseuam seems to be a much better route. and with nauseaum you can pretty much stop wherever you want. the only real high cc cards youd have  are the nauseaums, necro, tendrils, and maybe a bargain.

Ancient Grudge seems to be needed somewhere in your 75. A lot of decks playing rod also play force of will, but you can play grudge twice. even something like 2 grudge 3 claim seems like it would cove the bases pretty well.

Why not play what I think is better than all the cards mentioned, which is tombstalker? evasion, usually cheaper, but maybe more of a midgame threat than this guy.

Enchantment 
Whenever an opponent discards a card, you may put a quest counter on Quest for the Nihil Stone.

At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, if that player has no cards in hand and Quest for the Nihil Stone
has two or more quest counters on it, you may have that player lose 5 life.

This card looks great in a pox build. It may not be strong enough, but it seems to end the game rather quickly if activated. I know people have been trying to build pox for years, and this may be a chance for at least the casual players to play pox.

the meat of the deck would  be:

4 quest
4 duress
4 thoughtseize
4 smallpox
3 pox

4 dark ritual

and maybe tombstalker for power.

raven's crime seems to be awsome in this deck, slowly eating away cards until there isn't any left.

there are still a couple glaring issues.

1) no draw engine. confidant gets eaten by poxes. is night's whisper viable?

2) winning in a timely manner might be an issue. perhaps bloodghast could make an apearance? he comes back, and enables therapy, which seems awsome in this deck.

3) you may run out of permanents, especially land. ravens crime makes this worse. maybe crucible of worlds is the solution?

I think that prospector should be run as a 3 or 4 of. not only does he accelerate your turn 2 earwig without any power, he activates it too. and in the side, I'd run ancient grudge over mutation. it is bomb against stax and time vault.

heres what i would suggest:

- 2 fanatic
- kiki jiki
- crypt
-lotus petal
-1 land
-1 ringleader
1- matron
-1 sharpshooter

+ 2-3 prospector
+ 3-4 null rod
+ 3-4 Thoughtseize

That leaves you with 24 mana, not including prospector. some more could probably be shaved off that. I'd add in vandals. Now, with rod, your mana denial plan is much stronger, and doesn't really affect you. your game against time vault also just rose dramatically. Late game, you still have ringleader and wort to search up, one for instant gratification, one for recursion. Matrons are a little mana intensive, so I don't usually run more than 3.

instead of paying 3 mana to protect a spell, you could just pay 1 and play thoughtseize.

edit:

if you wanted to play a really 1d goblins deck, what about somethin like this:

5 strip
5-6 fetch
3 badlands
2 taiga
2 mountain

3 mox
1 lotus

(21 permanent mana)

4 lackey
3 prospector
3 ssg
3 frogtosser

2 matron
1 ringleader

4 piledriver
4 earwig

2 warren weirding
2 vandal
2 mogg fanatic
1 tin-street

3 rod
3 thoughtseize
2 therapy

ssg allows for turn 2 squad, as does a turn 1 prospector. ssg also lays rod turn 1, and turn 1 frogtosser also puts turn 2 squad up. there is also lots of disruption so if turn 2 squad isn't possible, you can still do something turn 1 other that play a prospector, go.

I removed the wort because it seems real slow. you don't get anything useful back unless they have a lot of creatures and you need weirding. I guess it is good versus goyf, but not that good.

As i already said, I think that matron is really mana intensive for a card that just searches for goblins. I think some are needed, though, like to find weirdings or tin-street or something.

I have been toying around with a 4 color control deck of sorts, somewhat similar to tog decks of old.

Instead of togs, I thought tombstalker would make a great mid-to-late game bomb, being cheap and evasive. alongside that would be tinker-inkwell, both to keep blue levels up and shroud is more valuable than speed or lifegain, I think. I chose to go without timevault, because of proxy reasons and some synergy reasons.

one of those synergy reasons is pernicious deed. I think that this card is great, and none of your threats are in its range. it is rather inconvenient in face of a pridemage, having to pay all the mana up front, but still pretty good. You also have some spell snares to deal with early threats like goyf, pridemage, null rod and maybe diabolic edicts coming in at your threats.

I guess a decklist would be most useful, so here is my first version:

4-6 fetch
3 underground sea
3 tropical
2 volcanic
2-3 island
1-2 swamp

5 mox
2 lotus petal
( in some configuration of 24 sources)

3 tombstalker
2 tinkwell

4 drain
4 force of will
3 thoughtseize
2 spell snare
2 pernicious deed

3 mystical vamp demonic
2 ancestral time walk
2 brainstorm scroll
2 cunning wish
1 gifts
1 skeletal scrying
1 darkblast
1 diabolic edict
1 ancient grudge
1 yawgwill
1 regrowth

or something to that effect. it has a lot of md cards that deal with time-vault in deeds, grudge, and the plethora of counters. rather than go with confidants, I chose to go with a more traditional route of card advantage. the early game has brainstorm, and scroll for ancestral, or even  small scrying. later, scrying, gifts, and cunning wish are all good sources of CA, as well as the other bombs.

As far as answers, edict and darkblast are both good removal, and deed cleans up against a lot of decks. thoughtseize can act as pseudo removal, as well as being awesome against combo. green and red both provide great sideboard options for the deck as well, especially with the wishboard. some of my choices floating around are:

ravenous trap
mindbreak trap
misdirection
grudge
oxidize
skeletal scrying

perhaps it would turn out hat scrying is no good, and nights whisper actually belongs. Only testing will tell.

I think that repeal will do what you want usually and draw you a card. What would you need to bounce that costs more than 2 that rebuild won't catch? it seems the card advantage would be more useful than randomly being able to neuter etw.

Have you tested spell snare in spell pierces slot? It counters confidant and goyf, two cards that seem to be bad news for you.

I think that spellstutter sprite is a really good fit for this deck, seeing how light on threats it is. it is also pretty awesome card advantage. Then the factories could be changed to mutavault. that could potentially make spellstutter a lot better. I also tend to like gorilla shaman. Vendilllion clique could also be used, being instant speed and either card selection or disruption.

What is your plan against goyf? chain of vapor could be used against you, but repeal would do the trick and give you card advantage.

I would play bera's list with these changes:

-4 factory
-1 hurkyl's
-1 echoing truth
-1 stifle
-2 mana leak

+4 mutavault
+4 sprite
+1 repeal

I kind of agree that hatching plans does not do much on its own. And I think that finding a blue source != hatching plans + sac outlet. It still seems like it's huge card advantage, though. What about running 2-3? That would reduce the number of times you draw multiple. And I don't really like abjure at all. reb seems way better, coupled with all your other permission.

I still think that it is wrong to not have more rituals. they help what should be your main plan b (combo out with tendrils, or hardcast rector). I also think that necro should have a spot somewhere, allowing you to win off the back of 1 ritual, basically.