Maxing out on Hurkyl's makes a lot of sense. So probably cut one maindeck Tropical for a Volcanic, and then a sideboard package consisting of:

1 Mountain
3 Hurkyl's
4 Chewer

That seems like what I'll try.

I especially like the idea of Serenity. I was wondering why that card didn't see more play. Same with mentor in more combo-centered decks. I'd much rather mentor with fastbond and will than with swords and jace.

Last week, I won the unofficial Swedish vintage nationals with the following list:

4 Preordain
4 Gush
4 Doomsday
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Brainstorm
1 Ponder
1 Merchant Scroll
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Necropotence

1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
2 Duress
1 Thoughtseize
2 Flusterstorm

1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Tendrils of Agony
2 Gitaxian Probe
1 Fastbond
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Lotus Petal
3 Dark Ritual

4 Misty Rainforest
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Underground Sea
2 Tropical Island
1 Island


Sideboard

3 Ravenous Trap
3 Defense Grid
1 Forest
3 Trygon Predator
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Nature's Claim
1 Mindbreak Trap


36 or so players, 6 rounds and t8. Lost once against shops, won against oath, u/r pyromancer (twice), grixis control, dredge, urw mentor, bant fish, one ID (against the mentor deck I beat later in the semis).

Some quick notes:

I really like rituals #2 and #3. They contributed to a number of turn 2 kills. Also Necropotence is a messed up card.

I never missed Time Walk. Harder to say if I'd miss Imperial Seal or Sensei's Divining Top, but I'm very happy with Gitaxian Probe #2, and wouldn't mind a third.

I probably should have a 4th piece of dredge hate, either another trap or just going with leylines.

The Defense Grids were great. They dodge misstep, flusterstorm, pyroblast and misdirection, and I've seen people keep in swords against xantid swarm anyway (that it gets hit by misstep is a huge strike against it too, in my opinion). That said, maybe I could cut the third. I need something against decks where I want neither shops hate, dredge hate nor grids, that is mostly combo, and I think Mindbreak Trap is too narrow. Probably cut that and a grid for a flusterstorm or a misstep. I think I can't really spend more than 3 slots on non-dredge, non-shops hate.

The plan vs shops failed miserably, but I need to test more before suggesting any changes, I mostly just trust that the standard suite is good here. Maybe there is a case for the red splash for chewers instead of trygons?

All in all, the deck is completely busted. I didn't test much at all and most of the games were quite easy. I messed up a few piles here and there, and lost a game or two because of it, but never any matches, thankfully. It's also a complete blast to play. For me, it was the first time I cast Gush in a sanctioned tournament since the Extended Grand Prix Lisbon (Supergro) in 2002.

I have to thank emidln, Ari Lax, JD Nir and oRS who in various threads, streams, videos and articles teached me how to build and play this deck.