It seems very solid in a mono-black Ichorid deck.

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Chrome Mox
1 Strip Mine
4 Tomb of Yawgmoth   
4 Bazaar of Baghdad

You while likely mulligan to a Bazaar, so if you hit another non-Bazaar land it will be like hitting two lands. Now that your Bazaar will be able to tap for mana. This could be very good in those games where you can't go all in on the dredging, and need to slow down your play and focus on disruption.

I think your math is right, but your concept of its use is wrong. You have to realize you are still going to mulligan down till you hit a Bazaar. That means Serum Powder could shorten your deck. It also means that you are going to play Bazaar as your first land drop. This means you are going to activate Bazaar at least once if not twice before you even have an opportunity to play Spoils of the Vault. In that time it is probable that your library will be significantly smaller than fifty-two cards. You could be looking at a thirty or less cards in your library, in which case you can calculate your odds from there on the fly and decide if the risk you are about to take is worth it or not. For example, if you still have four Chalices in your library of thirty then the risk is extremely minimal. At that point you can decide if taking that small risk is worth it. Remember you don’t have to cast if you don’t think the risk/reward ratio is worth it.

The problem with Gamble is by the time you cast it you hand has been reduced in size, you are playing a deck that loves to mulligan and discard cards. Because of this in many cases your success rate will only be at best thirty-three percent. To top it all off to use Gamble you will have to abandon the mono-black mana base, which partially defeats the purpose of the transformational sideboard.

I really don't think it is that big of a deal. If your spoiling for disruption then your reducing their chances of getting storm. So, it is sort of a calculated risk play. If your spoiling for your engine it is likely the loss of turns until your engine would have came online is just as or more devastating than the life loss caused by spoiling.

Pithing Needle is a potential problem. One reason I think the Rituals are required is because it allows you to play the Mask and the Naught before you opponent can play a needle and it allows you to do it turn one. This way they have to be sure of what you are doing in order to guess right and still they might not even get the opportunity to play a card before you have a 12/12 in play. Another way around this problem is to keep part of the dredge engine in so if they shut one down you have the other, or maybe running  a couple of bayous and a couple of fetchlands, or the portals so you can splash for oxidize or Ancient Grudge. I haven't run into this problem yet, probably because of the suprise factor; however, if this became common place you might need a real solution.

So, if I understand what you are saying…You are saying Loxodon Gatekeeper is good when you in a position to flashback Dread Return as a stall tactic in order to ensure your opponent can not win on their next turn? If that is the case I agree that there are times where it will be beneficial, but I am not sure if those times will come up with enough frequency to matter. If you have dredged enough cars to hit your Dread Returns and you have enough creatures in play to pay the flashback cost it is highly likely you could return a creature that would literally win the game right now. If that weren’t the case then you opponent would have to be in the position to win or crypt your grave the very next turn for it to be worthwhile. That is very specific timing for it to be relevant, Bomberman might be the exception.

I use Root Maze to help to slow really fast decks down like the Long variants in addition to protection versus decks like Bomberman. I can’t see Loxodon Gatekeeper really helping too much in those matches.


I have never had trouble with the Smokestack part of Stax, so I really don’t see Verdant Force being any better than any other big creature.

My only concern with that approach is you will have a hard time versus decks that have blockers. I haven't really tried it, so I would be intrested in how it works against things with craeture bigger than 2/2. Artifact Aggro, Bomberman, and Fish have a few cards that will dominate a 2/2 body like Juggernaught, Salvager, and Grunt, and things like Goblins could likely still out race you. However, I think that it is worth exploring just because the whole concept of not depending on the graveyard game two is that strong. I have been furthering my earlier idea of switching to a mask deck to avoid hate, and this is pretty much what I came up with.
Mono-Black Ichorid
Lands
7 Swamp
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
Creatures
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
4 Ichorid
4 Putrid Imp
4 Stinkweed Imp
3 Ashen Ghoul
Enchantments
4 Leyline of the Void
Spells
2 Darkblast
4 Spoils of the Vault
4 Cabal Therapy
2 Duress
4 Unmask
Artifacts
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Serum Powder
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
Sideboard
4 Dark Ritual
1 Demonic Consultation
2 Duress
4 Illusionary Mask
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought

The idea is pretty simple and it does have some serious advantages to it. You play a Dreadless version of Ichorid whose manabase consist of basic swamps. The stronger mana base makes returning Ghouls and casting one-mana spells much more consistent. This new mana base allows you much greater resiliency to wasteland than previous version. So, while it might be a little slower without Dread Return it has the ability to constantly return Ghouls to play.

Originally the addition of Spoils of the Vault was to have enough room to fully convert to a good mask build for game two, but then I noticed how good it was in Ichorid. It can instantly become Golgari Grave-Troll, Bazaar of Baghdad, or anything else you need at the moment, and as a little bonus it has some nice synergy with Serum Powder due to the better success rate of hitting that four of in a smaller deck.

And of course transforming the deck into a mask deck that could careless about its own graveyard is super sweet when you opponent boards in a ton of graveyard hate.

The basic idea behind the plan
-3 Ashen Ghoul
-4 Golgari Grave-Troll
-4 Ichorid
-4 Stinkweed Imp
+4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
+4 Dark Ritual
+1 Demonic Consultation
+2 Duress
+4 Illusionary Mask

Ensnaring Bridge wouldn't be what I would be scared of, it can be worked around without removing it. They have to draw it, cast it, and dump thier hand before it stops your Ichorids and Ghouls. Then they have to deal with the fact that Illusionary Mask works around Ensnaring Bridge quite easily. I declare my attack with a 0/1 and hit you with a 12/12. I don't think this will work everytime removal doesn't even do that, but if I can win game one I don't think I would be too concerned about losing two games in a row to Ensnaring Bridge, it is just not that scary.

The transformational sideboard is tempting to try for a couple of reasons. For one you get to swap you rainbow lands out for swamps, and you could really catch people off guard in hopes of stealing a game 2. If I were to try it I would probably start with the maindeck I posted earlier in this thread. The only changes I would make to the main would swaping the rainbow lands out for swamps and replacing the two Golgari Thug with two Spoils of the Vault.

My sideboard would be as follows:
4 Illusionary Mask
4 Phyrexian Dreadnought
2 Spoils of the Vault
1 Demonic Consultation
4 Dark Ritual

I would most likely side out:
1 Laquatus's Champion
1 Ashen Ghoul
3 Putrid Imp
4 Nether Shadow
2 Dread Return
Depending on the game: 4 Chalice of the Void, 4 Leyline of the Void

I think that with this type of strategy, you could maintain a fairly fast clock game two without needing the graveyard to do so. Yet you could still abuse if they allowed you too.

Gloom!

I first got into playing Magic with some friends who had a bunch of cards from unlimited to 4th edition. They had all stopped buying card for years due to real-life responsibilities, so the card pool never really changed. I was always beating them on computer games, so they figured if they convince me to play Magic they could get some revenge. Their decks were pretty pathetic knowing what we know today, but at the time they all believed their deck was the best. I watched them play a few times to learn the basics then I began to build my deck with the cards available. Due to the selection I built a White Weenie deck and started destroying everyone, that is until everyone started packing Gloom. That card completely wecked me everytime it hit play, to the point I would just quit the game on the spot when it resolved.

I was so aggravated I asked if I could print some fake cards, so I could build a different deck. They said sure, but it’s got to be a real card from Wizards nothing made up. I started doing some research on the net and showed up a couple weeks later with my new deck, TnT. Needless to say I beat everybody like a redheaded stepchild. After that everyone started doing their own research and proxying up killer decks and our meta became unlimited proxies. We don't get to play much anymore, most of my playing is online now, but Gloom is what got me playing real decks.

You might be better off trying Kuro, Pitlord. The differences are small, but they are there. With Kuro you don't lose your own Putrid Imp if you don't want to, you can kill bigger creatures if need be (Even indestructible ones), and it allows you to kill your opponent's creature when you want to. For example, you can prevent an unexpect Dread Return in the mirrorwhich is something that is not possible with Crater Hellion. If you don't use it, it is black so it can be used as payment for Ichorid. The downside is the life payment, but that shouldn't be that big of a problem in a deck like this.

I am convinced Wax/Wane is better than Emerald Charm. It cost the same to hit those Leylines as Emerald Charm does, but it also helps you slow play around crypts if needed. Everyone here keeps saying that charm lets you untap Bazaar and that is true; however, if it is game 2 or 3 you are likely not going to want to over extend anyway in fear of a Crypt, unless you absolutely know Crypt not going to be a factor. The secondary ability of Charm is pretty useless when fighting non-void hate for that reason, in fact I would say it tempts you into playing reckless. With Wax/Wane you can use it to suprise blockers or do a little extra damage, in my experiences so far this (Playing slower and more conservative) has been a better solution when your fighting graveyard hate.

I have two issues with Chain of Vapor. One it's a temporary solution, and two it can backfire in that in some cases getting your own Void bounced is just as bad as whatever you bounced in the first place. Still Dicemanx might be right in that you wouldn't risk boarding in the wrong card.

But all this is dependent on what build your playing. Everyone here is going to have strong opinions one way or the other depending on the build they are playing. I am playing a hybrid build that is a mixture of manaless and meandeck, so that is what my opinions ae based off. If I am not mistaken Dicemanx is playing a build very similar to the one I have been playing if not exactly the same. And I must say this is the build I am most happy with thus far.

// Lands
        4 Bazaar of Baghdad
        4 City of Brass
        3 Gemstone Mine
// Creatures
        4 Golgari Grave-Troll
        2 Golgari Thug
        4 Ichorid
        1 Laquatus's Champion
        3 Putrid Imp
        4 Stinkweed Imp
        3 Ashen Ghoul
        4 Nether Shadow
// Enchantments
        4 Leyline of the Void
// Spells
        4 Cabal Therapy
        2 Dread Return
        4 Unmask
// Artifacts
        4 Chalice of the Void
        4 Serum Powder
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Jet
// Sideboard
SB:  3 Ancient Grudge
SB:  1 Darkblast
SB:  3 Gemstone Caverns (This would be another enchanment destruction slot if Leyline was a serious threat most likely Rays)
SB:  1 Kuro, Pitlord (Awsome in the mirror and pretty good versus other aggro decks)
SB:  3 Root Maze
SB:  4 Wax/Wane

Perhaps we should start another thread in where we discuss a putrid imp/non-sutured version. At least this way this thread will stay more on point to its original idea, and the people who's interest or more focused to the non-sutured version could better focus thier thoughts. I would even be fine with the mods seprerating this thread if they wanted to.

The reason is you really have to only play two colors for fetchlands to work. In many games you will only get a single non-Bazaar land in play at a time, this means you will have to choose, or you opponent will get to choose what secondary color you get cut you off from too frequently.

The deck is vunerable to graveyard hate, almost every deck runs graveyard hate; therefore, the deck will never show up in top 8s in big numbers. The deck's mirror matches are pretty random, and its most difficult matches are against other budget decks, like Goblins. All this tends to make me believe it will never become a major force in the metagame, which is good for the people who play it. This should keep the amount of hate in a reasonable proportion to at least make the deck a viable choice for the diehard Ichorid player.

I think the skilless argument is nonsense though. The deck runs on auto pilot game one because most people build their deck to goldfish, so many people don't run graveyard hate in their maindeck. Is that the Ichorid player's fault? The deck is designed to evade all the common maindeck control strategies in the format, and because it does it well people feel that it might not be good for the format? If anything I think this deck shows how a format that has moved away from playing answers is vunerable. I mean I have seen it written here countless times the best answer for a problem is just to win faster. It is this optimization that has open up this hole for Ichorid to exploit. Anyway back on the topic of skill. Games 2 and 3 is where it matters. You just can't blindly dredge your deck away to have it crypted away, you will lose. It is sort of like type two match-ups between aggro and control, you can't over extend yourself and get hit by Wrath of God so you have to manage your aggression. It is here where game management skill comes in at, perhaps this lack of skill is the reason these decks haven't finished as high as you think they would.

I am just having a hard time understanding how a deck that isn't making top 8s can be bad for the format. I especially can't believe people have actually mentioned restricting cards that this deck uses? The deck hasn't done anything to warrant this kind of reaction and likely never will.

Turn 1
Me
I play Bazaar and activate it discarding a couple of trolls an a Ichorid then I pass the turn
Opponent
He plays wasteland and destroys my bazaar.
Turn 2
Me
Upkeep I can't return the Ichorid because I have no black creatures to remove.
I dredge a troll for six on my drawstep and reveal no black creatures.  I play Field and pass the turn.
Opponent
He plays a land and passes the turn.
Turn 3
Me
I once again miss dredging on my upkeep (This would not have happened if Bazaar got Stifled instead of Wasted; therefore, wastlands are worse then stifle regardless if your are running Petrified Fields or not), so I can't return the Ichorid to play. I dredge the other troll on my draw step and reveal two stinkweeds, one Ashen Ghoul, one Ichorid, and two junk cards. I sacrifice field and put bazaar into play. I activate Bazaar and dredge two stinkweeds for ten and reveal a bunch of Ghouls, Putrid Imps, and therapies.Then I discard the two trolls and a stinkweed.
Opponent
Plays another land, cast Jotun Grunt and passes the turn

Synopsis
At the end of turn three I have dredged for 22 cards and I have done 0 points of damage. My opponent has a 4/4 graveyard eater on the board, I can dredge my entire deck in the next couple of turns if I wanted to. However, I have yet to put into play a color mana source so it will be at least turn 5 before I can return a Ghoul.

Turn 1
Me
I play Bazaar and activate it discarding a couple of trolls an a Ichorid then I pass the turn
Opponent
He plays wasteland and destroys my bazaar.
Turn 2
Me
Upkeep I can't return the Ichorid because I have no black creatures to remove.
I dredge a troll for six on my drawstep and reveal no black creatures.  I play City of Brass and cast Careful Study. I dredge a troll for six in which time I reveal two stinkweeds, one Ashen Ghoul, one Ichorid, and two junk cards. I dredge for another five. I then discard two trolls and pass the turn.
Opponent
He plays a land and passes the turn.
Turn 3
Me
On my upkeep I return two Ichorid while removing two black creatures, and I return Ashen Ghoul. During my draw step I dredge for six returning a Troll to my hand. At this point my graveyard has a couple of therapies in it. I swing for 9 points of damage. In my second main phase I flashback a Cabal Therapy naming Brainstorm. It misses, but I see my opponent is holding a Jotun Grunt. I flashback another therapy naming Jotun Grunt. 
Opponent
Plays another land, cast a 2/2 creature, and passes the turn.

Synopsis
At the end of turn three I have dredged for 23 cards and I have done 9 points of damage. My opponent has a 2/2 creature on the board whose abilities likely don’t effect me, I can dredge six for at least one more turn via the drawstep, and I have black mana in play to return a Ghoul.

Obviously the careful study hand looks bad if it gets forced, but the petrified field hand looks just as bad if your opponent has a second wasteland. I think this is a good example of what I said earlier in that the fields are a little slower, but again I don't think they are bad. In fact, I thin they are the best option if you aren't running many colored sources.

I prefer studies. You can run it maindeck so you have a way to fight wastelands game one, and if you don't see wastelands the studies are still really good. LftL seems really slow, Stifle and Needles require you to play a non-bazaar land first so I am not too high on them either. Petrified Field seems like it would be slow as well, one turn to play the field then one turn to replay the wasted land; however, in a land light deck like Manaless Ichorid it is probably the best you have.

Do you realize that you can NEVER get color mana out of it when your on the play? If so how has this affected your play when going first? It just seems like having only four color producing lands would severly limit your odds of getting colored mana in your opening grip when going first. Has this not been a problem for you?

Maybe you are right, but I always feel game one is mine to lose before I start playing. I guess I look at it like this, if Control and Stax combine to be more than 50% of the meta than I am looking pretty good. Plus I don't consider combo to be any worse than 50-50 since I am running 8 discard spells, Chalice, and Leylines in the main. That really only leave creature based decks as my bad to less than good match-ups.

Not really because you forgot to finish reading that paragraph:)
Plus other than a good way to remove enchantments (Emerald’s Charm) and a good way to remove artifacts (Ancient Grudge) what else is so essential that its worth giving up a potential advantage in every game post-board on the draw?

I wasn't clear on how I was using it, that is my fault. When on the draw I am boarding out Gemstone Mines for Gemstone Caverns. So, I am not diluting my deck anymore than I otherwise would. I not going to debate the percentages of how many time I benefit from them when they are boarded in because that is hard to figure out when you likely will not keep a hand unless it has Bazaar, and your running four Serum Powder to increase mulligan efficiency. Twenty percent my be right on, perhaps someone could do the math on this and figure it out. What I do know is that if I don't draw one in my opening hand it is likely I will never draw one anyway; therefore, many of its drawbacks are a mute point. If I do have one in my opening hand and I have the ability to discard dredge cards or the ability to remove hate cards like Leyline of the Void before I play and activate my Bazaar, then I am going crazy a turn earlier than I otherwise could. This dramatically increases the likelihood of me winning in many cases.

Playing Gemstone Caverns from the board is solid in theory despite what people including myself might first think. The only time you will not get to play a game on the draw post-board is if you lose the first two games of a match. Ichorid has a relatively difficult strategy for many decks to combat game one, especially if it is on the play. The likelihood of winning the first game with Ichorid is probably higher than the average deck, so the likelihood of your next game of the match being on the draw are higher than most. Thus it makes sense to have a boarding strategy that improves your game while on the draw when you have a minimal amount of information. Now, I know most people will say that there are other cards that will do more to impact your rate of success versus various decks than this land will, and they are absolutely correct. But I bet they can’t name a card that improve you rate of success versus every deck in the format when on the draw. Half the deck you wont even be sure what they are bring in against you for hate; will it be Leyline or Crypt? See it isn’t that it is great in one or two match-ups that you might not even see in the tournament, it is that it is good in every match-up you will see in the tournament. That has to account for something. Plus other than a good way to remove enchantments (Emerald’s Charm) and a good way to remove artifacts (Ancient Grudge) what else is so essential that its worth giving up a potential advantage in every game post-board on the draw? 

Edit: When it comes to a deck that breaks all the rules of the game we have to start thinking out of the box. This is the only deck I have seen where Black Lotus is somewhat sub-par in, and Gemstone Caverns is actually playable in. Working on this deck has made me began to evaluate cards in a completely different way.

The best system I have seen on the internet for handling reporting was quite simple. Loser reports the loss. If someone doesn't report a lose the winner simply reports a complaint against them for not reporting. Once someone gets a reputation for not reporting people will quit playing them. The system I used you just look up the persons name on the reporting site, there you can see their rating and how many complaints they have for non-reporting.

A player can only post a complaint for a particular player non-reporting once in a designated time period, say three months. And the complaints aren't wriiten complants, it is just a counter for failure to report. Every six months the counter loses the first three months of complaint counts. This way people can repair their reputation yet it is not instantaneous.

With Laquatus's Champion most cases you will only need to bring back 3 creatures. In cases involving Mana Drain would be the only times in which I would be hesitant in flashing back a Dread Returns blind, and even then that would be dependent on my perception of the game state. With the Ghoul you have to sacrifice potential damage you already have on the board, so things like Force of Will, Daze, and bounce could be devastating tempo wise, so you almost always have to ensure you rip your opponent’s hand apart prior to your Dread Return. With Laquatus's Champion none of that stuff matters because you haven’t done anything that could effect your tempo in a negative fashion. You have already done the damage, your creatures were already going to leave play, and you spent no mana in your attempt at extra damage. If they do happen to have a way to survive the damage and remove it your only lose is a black creature that could have been removed to fuel an Ichorid returning to play the following turn.

If you animate one Ichorid turn three, and two Ichorids and an Ashen Ghoul turn four. You can then return the Champion on your second mainphase, which would put them at two life. I think this is a pretty conservative outcome that everyone could agree is extremely likely to happen in actual game play. Obviously leaving your opponent with two life isn’t perfect, but in most cases they will do that damage to themselves, or it is very possible you do two additional damage in the first four turns.

I still fail to see how the Champion route is significantly inferior to the Ghoul route when trying to beat a DSC on the board. I attack with a bunch of creatures DSC can only block one, and then I can do extra six points of damage to the dome if I want to with the Champion. With the Ghoul route you going to need to have played a couple of Therapies prior any way, so I think is safe to assume in most cases your opponent will be below twenty life. Three creatures swinging through and Champion is 15 damage points.

I am not saying that the Ghoul route is definitely inferior to the Champion, time, testing, and tournament data will bear that truth out over time. However, I don’t think the rare occasions you guys have pointed out so far out weighs the fact that the Ghoul route takes several more slots within the deck, which limit the decks ability to play around hate cards.

All that being said, this the best Sutured Ghoul deck I have seen. So, if it does turn out that Sutured Ghoul is the better way to go than I am sure this deck will be the foundation that it is built on. Good Job.

I am not sold on Pithing Needle not being a problem. I think you have been lucky or just haven’t run into with enough frequency to bother with it. It seems to me like it would be a major threat to this deck turn 1, especially when you are on the draw. It is going to force you to do nothing turn one so you can discard to set-up your one dredge-a-turn engine. I am not sure how fast this deck can turn this type of situation around, it seems to me like an auto-loss in most cases. With more conventional builds you had the ability to cast a draw spell and explode even if you lost the Bazaar engine. At the very least you were able to drop an Imp to give yourself a little breathing room in these situations so you could start playing your disruption as early as possible, but here you don’t. What happens on the play if you use your Bazaar to draw two and discard some dredge spells and it gets wasted or needled before you get another activation? Once again you are in a slow start situation that you don’t seem quite prepared for because you have no way to dredge more than once a turn.

My version is much closer to policehq. The difference being I am running the rainbow lands with the following changes:
-Imperial Seal
-Vampiric Tutor
-Black Lotus
-Chrome Mox
+3 Careful Study
+1 Ancestral Recall

I think that way because I have never seen a good card come off that list, while it was still good. Name the last card that came off that list that was played as a 4of soon after it was unrestricted. I know I can't. It is easy to complain to restrict something and get a ton of people to agree with you because you have evidence that it is distorting the format, it is much harder to get things off the list because you have no evidence that it would be safe. I remember people thought unrestricting Berserk would be the end of the format. That didn't pan out like many smart players thought it would, hell no one ever ran it in multiples after it came off the list. You have to fight the history of a card, which in many cases makes the card out more powerful than it really was because people make statements like nothing could beat BBS or 4Gush-Gat. Even if they were true at one time, people have a hard time realizing that it probably would not be true today. So, very few people ask, and when they do people act like they are crazy.

I think the point I was trying to make got overlooked. I caution anyone asking for things to get banned or restricted unless you are sure that you will be happy with the outcomes of such actions because it is pretty much impossible to go back. If you ban Will or ToA be sure that you will be happy with all of the consequences that those actions will bring, because you are going to be stuck with them. I am very hesitant to recommend anything for restriction because it is SO permanent.

Pyromaniac the die roll factor doesn't always increase when you bring cards off the list. Trinisphere is the only card on that list that directly attacks the storm mechanic, but there are other cards on that list that create decks just as fast as the storm decks that give other options for people. Cards like Gush and Fact or Fiction were restricted because at that time they were too dominant. It is possible they would still be, but I would rather give them parole and find out before I send other cards into the Nothing. It is possible the list of viable strategies would increase by removing cards from that list. It is just hard to say because of how much time has past since those cards were legal as 4 ofs. This to me is the one problem with the restricted list...Once a card gets on that list it has to be unplayable to get off, and even then it is gonna take a couple of years of being unplayable before it gets off that list.

If I remember correctly there were people who didn't want Trinisphere restricted because it would make Will-Storm based decks too powerful. I was one of those people, and I think I was somewhat wrong in hindsight. I don't think storm decks are too powerful, at least not yet; however, I feel I was right in that ever since Trinisphere's restriction Will-Storm based decks have just gotten stronger. This is one of the reasons why I think people should be very careful in what they ask to be restricted or banned. These decisions always have consequences, and these decisions are almost impossible to reverse. Trinisphere is now looked at my many as being so powerful it won games on its own, which is just preposterous. Lots of people won through turn one Trinispheres, but that is the problem with getting cards restricted. Once they hit that list they become legendary in the power, and people forget thier true power level.

Edit: I am not saying Triniphere should come off the list, but rather I am saying make sure what your asking for is what you want. In many cases it takes a long time before the consequences are felt, so be sure that you will be okay with consequences.

There are cards on that list that if they got off that list tomorrow no one would even play them. To me that is the biggest problem with the system, we don't give the meta time to adjust to new powerful cards before we call for their restriction. And we never parole restricted cards off the list to see if they still impact the game as much today as they did two years ago.

Ban nothing, Restrict nothing...If you think storm decks are too powerful let us look at paroling cards off the restricted list that would hurt those decks instead of trying to remove more cards from our game.

This is where I am at with Ichorid and I am fairly satisfied it.

        4 Bazaar of Baghdad
        4 City of Brass
        4 Gemstone Mine
        1 Mox Jet
        1 Mox Sapphire

        4 Ashen Ghoul
        4 Ichorid
        4 Putrid Imp

        1 Darkblast
        4 Golgari Grave-Troll
        4 Stinkweed Imp

        4 Cabal Therapy
        4 Chalice of the Void
        4 Leyline of the Void
        4 Unmask

        1 Ancestral Recall
        4 Careful Study

        4 Serum Powder

Sideboard
SB:  4 Ancient Grudge
SB:  3 Pithing Needle
SB:  4 Emerald Charm/Ray of Revelation/Chain of Vapor (Heavy Leyline/Heavy Oath-Dragon/Random Meta)
SB:  4 Root Maze

I go back and forth on replacing Unmask with Brainstorm, and I am still not sure which one is right. Unmask buys you time and Brainstorm will increase your speed, so it is a tough call. For now I am going with the Unmask because it is easier to gauge the strength of my hand with them instead of Brainstorms. I was making some mistakes on mulligan decisions when I was playing with the Brainstorms because I am so used to playing with them in decks in which they can almost always fix your hand, which is not the case with this deck.

Serum Powder has been really good to me. This deck is very dependent on its opening grip, and this card ensures that you have good opening grips. I never thought I would have like this card until I tried it. And the only reason why I tried it was because I wasn't satisified with the one mana tutors in the deck.

The maindeck Darkblast could be a Dread Return, I am still not sold on which card should be in the main. I like the utility and Dredge ability of Darkblast, but at times a big Troll would have been better.

I have one question though for everyone else here. Why is everyone running so much mana?

Children of Korlis – This will likely hurt storm based decks much more than the split-second cards because it buys time for Fish decks to build their defenses. It is somewhat useful versus agrro decks, and it is a body that can attack. Without a doubt this is the card that will see the most play because Fish is popular and this fits into it nicely.

Ancient Grudge – Top-notch sideboard card in madness or ichorid decks. This is  actually my favorite card in the set because I love the flachback mechanic when its costed aggresively and is attached to usefull card.

The split-second cards – The more I think about these cards the more I think they are only likely to be good in a severely heavy mana drain metagame. Outside of that they are just inferior to other choices. I really do like the concept though, because if anything it will help keep the format balanced in the future. I just hope they never print a non-answer card with this mechanic because that has the potential to very problematic.

Dread Return - This seems like it might be a possible sideboard card for ichorid versus other aggro decks like Goblins. I am just not sure if that demand would be big enough for it to see any real play.
 
Clockwork Hydra - It allows workshop decks to run null rod without losing the ability to ping creatures. It is probably at best a niche card, but I do think it is somewhat significant.

Everything else just seemed overhyped to me, and I doubt if any of it even sees moderate play. Heck, I only expect to see one card in this set played heavly for more than a few weeks and that is Children of Korlis. Maybe I am being negative, but nothing jumps out at me when I look at this set.

MDGifts or any Gifts deck that I have ever played wasn't dependent on casting Duress in the same turn it played ToA. Grimlong is more suited to this type of play due to running 4 Dark Rituals, Dragon is suited to it because it only cost two mana to win. My point is I have always felt Gifts deck were strong because they were almost as fast as other decks and your counters (Mana Drain, Force of Will, and to some degree Misdirection) could play double duty by slowing your opponent down while at the same time protecting your win condition when cast. All of the blue disruption is useless versus Trickbind and you don't have as much free mana to play with as other combo deck when going for the win; therefore, in many cases it will be harder to Duress the turn you combo out. In other words, if you have to fight against Trickbind frequently it seems like other decks are better suited to do so, am I wrong in this line of thought?

I am from the New Orleans area, and I am sure that probably skews my ordering and my perception of what sounds good compared to New Englanders. For example, Cod just makes me think of fish sandwiches at McDonalds, it isn’t something served down here at restaurants.

Nothing on the menu really jumped out at me, again it might just be a regional thing. So, don't take it in a negative way.
New England Clam Chowder (Well, if I go to New England I suppose I will eat what they are famous for, though the scallops do sound good)
Sweet and Sour Salmon (It is seafood that doesn’t involve Cod so I will try it, but nothing sounded really good. The chicken would have been my second choice.)
Strawberry Cheesecake (Pretty plain choices, you should try something adventurous for a dessert )
Stewarts Root Beer (Abita Rootbeer is so much better. If this is going to be real restaurant in the future I would look into this)

I haven't played very many games lately and none with the cards from Time Spiral. So, everything I am saying is based in theory and not playtesting; therefore, if you feel playtesting disproves my points feel free to bring that up. I doubt Wipe Away becomes that popular because its cost is high enough that it in many cases it is just as easy to cast plows through protection, but if I am wrong about this it will just strengthen my point so its kind of mute for this argument anyway. It seems to me that if Trickbind (possibly a format warping solution card) becomes heavily played, Tendrils of Agony will require some type of proactive protection to be effective. Having one of your only two ways to win completely nullified by one card is unacceptable. If the deck now has to play Duress immediately before storming for the kill, I have to ask myself why play this over GrimLong or Dragon? GrimLong is faster and Dragon has been developed over a long period of time to fight hate and is quite proficient at it in the hands of good players. What is the benefit of playing MDGifts if Trickbind becomes extremely popular?

Why bother with walking to avoid summoning sickness? I mean if the play presents itself, fine. But I think the better long term strategy would be to play Lava Dart main. If you play with free burn it should be easy to avoid summoning sickness all together, it builds self imunity to Null Rod, and it doubles as Welder removal.
 
The main problem I see with this deck is Guilty Conscience requires white mana. You really don't gain anything else when you splash for white, and white can't replace the utility of black or red in this deck. Overall I don't see how this could ever be stronger than the current Gifts deck. However, I am wondering if somehow a Workshop combo deck using reduncy over tutoring power could abuse this combo as it would be easy to keep it two colors. Who knows...

Not really because you have other cards that can fill the same role, Read the Ruin, Intuiton, and Cunning Wish are example of this. Needling Bazaar is an inconvience but it doesn't shut down the deck it stops one cog of the deck. Needling Magus would make any deck focused on that one card bend over and cry; therefore, I don't see any deck being able to be built that is focused soley on it (With the idea of cheating it into play). If your not cheating it into play it isn't that threating , it is just an expensive, slow, draw seven.

This thing is a creature that cost .
It is stopped by Pithing Needle, Damping Matrix, Stifle, and all creature removal. A deck based on this card would likely be hampered by Chalice of the Void, Null Rod, and Sphere of Resistance. If you tried cheating the card into play through reanimate effects you deck will be vulnerable to graveyard hate and be filled with a ton of chaff (Animate effects and discard outlets) which isn't exactly conducive to a storm deck's success. Dragon gets away with it because it wins or draw on the spot without being dependent on hoping for good draws and its combo isn't directly disrupted by cards like Pithing Needle.

Now how exactly is this going to be an unanswerable problem? Hell, I am curious if it is even going to playable in a deck that actually has a chance of winning a large tournament much less restricted.