Nice to see some discussion on this deck. I've been playing and changing this deck for some time now and took it to some powered and non-powered tournaments. It didn't always work too well, but lately I managed to make T8 twice (one non-powered).
Some comments on discussion points earlier in this post:
Sphere of resistance vs. Trinisphere:
Personally I prefer the Trinisphere. They will both come down the second turn with a normal hand. In that case Trinisphere probably will lock down your opponent, while Sphere of resistance will also slow yourself down (making your landdestruction cost 4 mana)
Furthermore, your opponent must have three mana to play his counters, this is one huge advantage versus FoW or Misdirection.
On the early threats:
In my deck I play 4 Tangle Wires, 3 Powder Kegs and 3 Living Wishes (for Terravore, Tabernacle or Maze of Ith). Especially the Tangle Wires are extremely usefull against aggro. When your opponent drops a turn 1 lackey or welder, you have to be praying for an elf (in case of the lackey) or a Powder Keg
Colour splashing:
Last tournament, I tried a splash for blue. I had Gilded Drake as a wish target in my sideboard vs. oath, and at first I wanted to play Chill vs. red decks. In the end I didn't play Chill and I didn't really miss it. This may come because the one goblin deck I played had to mulligan to five cards 2 times. The Gilded Drake didn't come out of the board, because I didn't play vs. oath or Darksteel Colossus.
Also the addition of Back to Basics is possible, but I haven't tried that yet.
Adding a color can be good, but it also makes your deck more vurnerable to waste lands. On the one hand this is good (you destroy one of their lands), but it also can manascrew you just enough to make your opponent stabilize enough.
Here is the latest version of my decklist:
Mainboard:
// Lands (22)
9 x Forest
2 x Tropical Island
4 x Windswept Heath
4 x Wasteland
1 x Strip Mine
1 x Dust Bowl
1 x Treetop Village
// Creatures (12)
4 x Llanowar Elves
4 x Birds of Paradise
3 x Terravore
1 x Argothian Wurm
// Land Destruction (9)
4 x Ice Storm
3 x Thermokarst
2 x Creeping Mold
// Utility (17)
4 x Tangle Wire
3 x Powder Keg
3 x Living Wish
3 x Trinisphere
2 x Crucible of Worlds
1 x Crop Rotation
1 x Sword of Fire and Ice
Sideboard:
// Wish targets (6)
1 x Terravore
1 x Caustic Wasps
1 x Gilded Drake
1 x Dust Bowl
1 x Maze of Ith
1 x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
// Other (9)
2 x Ground Seal
2 x Naturalize
2 x Chalice of the Void
3 x Null Rod
As you can see, my sideboard is heavily against artifact and powered decks. (My meta is mostely non-powered). I found out I could use some extra Ground Seals vs. Goblin Welder.
My deck also does not use Root Maze. With the addition of fetch lands and Trinisphere, you are hurting yourself a lot with that otherwise very usefull card.
The two 1-ofs in the mainboard are some random personal choices.
The Crop Rotation is very usefull with the Crucible of Worlds mainboard, you can find your Strip Mine to lock your opponent down. Even if you do not have the Crucible, it still turns one of your forests or other lands (instantly) into a Strip Mine or a Dust Bowl. In desperate situations it can also turn a land into a Treetop Village, adding an extra creature to your side of the board.
The Sword of Fire and Ice is just a cool card! It turns the elves into killing machines and gives card advantage. I managed to beat a land still deck to death with a Birds of Paradise, how nice is that
Well, these were just some of my thoughts on this deck, I hope to hear nice ideas from other peoples too.
