Local 'Invitational' formats

[Nazdakka]

Well, I've got a tournament coming up with some non-standard formats, and I'm posting here to ask for opinions on my deck choices. The tournament plan is to have 3 rounds of each format, going to a top 8 draft at the end.

Format #1 is Peasant 1.x. That means no Rares, 5 Uncommons, any number of Commons, using the 1.x banned list. My pool of commons which I can expect to have stretches back to Invasion, but anything else is a bit iffy.

Now, the obvious deck for this format is Elves. 4 Priest of Titania, 4 Timberwatch Elf, 4 Wellwhisher, Llanowar Elves, Wirewood Heralds, Birchlore Rangers, etc. Pretty much a heap of 40 Elves and 20 lands. Uncommons would be 4 * Wirewood Symbiote and one tutor target for the Heralds. You've got brokenness, consistancy and a toolbox of answers... a good start. The trouble is that on the top tables there is likely to be a lot of random creature kill, and the Elves really dislike that. Still, it's a tempting choice, for my inner Timmy.

Thought #2 was Affinity. We all know how good Cranial Plating is, but moving to Peasant means you lose Ravager, Glimmervoid, Atog and Shrapnel Blast (4 * Aether Vial would be the uncommons). You'd still have a powerful and explosive deck, but without Ravager it's got the same weakness as Elves - it risks losing to massed Shocks.

So, if lots of shocks are dangerous to many of the good decks, what about U/R Scepter? Recurring burn, countermagic to deal with fatties... it's all great apart from the reliance on Isochrons, which are a real pain due to the card disadvantage when one gets killed (And they will. I think Affinity is going to be a common choice).

Final option is my current favorite: W/U/R/b Salvagers. Trinket Mage gives a toolbox of almost any effect you could want, and the cogs have a trick for almost any occasion... Fatties? Aether Spellbomb. Weenies? Pyrite Spellbomb and Tremor on the SB. Control? Necrogen recursion is no fun to be on the recieving end of. Of course, I've been talking about lots of creature kill, and Salvagers are a good target for all that. Countermagic is only half an answer to this, so I'm a little stuck.

The other format is Block Extended... ie. any Block constructed deck back to Tempest is OK, using the 1.x banned list. The obvious decks I can see for this would be the broken ones from the past few blocks (Rebels, Madness, Mono-Black, Goblins, Vial Affinity), plus possibly the roguish Humility-Prayer. To narrow this down I'll ignore Rebels due to lack of speed and brokenness and U/G / Goblins because they lose to Ravager, while I don't have any Humilities or Orim's Prayers. That leaves MBC and Ravager, which I can't decide between. MBC will be a little unexpected, but I'm not convinced it can beat Affinity. Affinity is obviously an amazing deck, but I'm worried about hate decks and/or people boarding Meltdown, Pulverise, Kill Switch, etc.

So, what do you guys think?

[Nazdakka]

OK, some slightly more coherent questions than I asked in the previous post:

This is the deck I'm probably playing for the Peasant  part of the Tournament (Rules: 5 Uncommons, no rares, 1.x banned list):

Zebra Husks:

4 Sakura-Tribe Elder (Excellent common mana fixer, plus synergy with Vial and Husk... Harrow is another option)
4 Ember-Fist Zubera
4 Ashen-Skin Zubera
4 Dripping-Tongue Zubera
4 Floating-Dream Zubera
4 Nantuko Husk (Finisher/Combo with Zebras)

4 Aether Vial (U) (Makes the deck work)
4 Rend Flesh (Best generic common removal spell I can think of.  Could perhaps be Vendetta? 4-Life alternate cost one? Terminate, if the mana can handle it?
2 Devouring Greed (Alternate finisher)

2 Open (Carrion Feeder at the moment)

3 Island
3 Mountain
8 Swamp
9 Forest
1 Mirrodin's Core (U)

So the questions I would like to ask are:

1) Is there a better common black creature kill spell than Rend Flesh? The reason I want a black one is because direct kill is superior to burn in a potentially fattie-heavy format like this. I have thought of Terminate, I forsee the double coloured mana cost as a potential problem. Is this realistic?

2) Is the mana OK? I have not got access to Magic Workstation at the moment, so that manabase is off the top of my head. Also, could I afford to cut a land? My curve stops at 3 and I have Elders and Vials, but the coloured mana is the limiting factor.

3) What should go in the two open slots? 2 Phyrexian Ghouls as Husks 5&6? Carrion Feeders? More creature kill (ie. 2*Tremor)? Colourfixers? Carrion Feeder is the card I favour at the moment, but I'm really not sure about this one.

4) Is there any card I could add to give me some draw power at a low cost? Currently I tend to curve out nicely but run out of steam if I don't see lots of Zebras.

So, hope you guys can help

[LotusHead]

Well, Trinket Mages can fetch your Aether Vials easily enough, and they beat down for 2 or chump with the best. Perhaps for your two floating spots. (would you play with 6 vials if given a chance?)

Just a suggestion.