Creature Feature - Rebels Anonymous

[Norm4eva]

Normally I wouldn't really post this sort of thing but I need a little help.  There's not a lot of resource online for this particular decklist (go fig!) but here's the story.  We have regular Creature Feature tournies around here, free entry, winner nets store credit.  The catch is, if you win with a type that hasn't won yet, you get twice the prize.  Rebels haven't gone all the way yet and I'm positive that with a little tinkering I can build something successful.
Basic rules of Creature Feature are as follows..
-B/R list is identical to Legacy. (see also, Plague/Extinction/Decree are 100% legal)
-Must have at least 20 creatures (or 1/3rd the deck) of the same creature type.
-Lords such as Goblin King are perfectly legal BUT they do not count towards your 1/3rd.
-Creature Cards that produce off-type guys are okay (Rotlung Reanimator in a Cleric deck, or Wirewood Hivemaster in the Elf deck).  However, cards such as Raise the Alarm or Call of the Herd would not be legal outside their respective tribes.

Anyway, here's my janky decklist.
4 Ramosian Sargeant
4 Ramosian Lieutenant
4 Whipcorder
2 Thermal Glider
2 Nightwing Glider (or whatever they're called feh)
2 Defiant Vanguard
2 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero

4 Brainstorm
4 Mana Leak
4 Absorb?
3 Armageddon
3 Swords to Plowshares

4 Lotus Petal
4 Tundra
4 Flooded Strand
2 Ancient Tomb
1 Island
1 Adarkar Wastes
8 Plains

I really don't trust FoW in any deck that isn't predominantly Blue.  The Rebel chain seems decent enough, and maybe I should test the bigger Rebels (Sky Marshall and Queen, and the off-color guy too) but my initial reaction was to write them off as unplayably expensive.  Ancient Tomb is nut as the land count's lowish to begin with and the cost of searching can be restrictive.  Petal vs Mox is all about the card in hand count; as smooth as imprinting Absorb makes the manabase I still don't care for the drawback of losing that counter.  Thought about Standstill but you have to tap out for Standstill to be truly great and Rebels don't really like that.
Worst part about this is, I never even played the game when Rebels was 'in' so I don't know what the good builds look like.  Advice on the deck would be most helpful.

[Godder]

I played Rebels for two years in Standard, so I have some idea...

Gaea's Cradle is nuts. You can flood your opponent like nothing else with it. Power Sink is a reasonable counter with Cradle as well, if you're looking for additional counters.

Some good one-ofs include Jhovall Queen, Rappelling Scouts and Ramosian Sky-Captain. Skyshroud Poacher (a Rebel) -> Deranged Hermit is also quite good. Opposition could be an interesting idea (lots of creatures!).

Anyways, are you attached to counter-Rebels?

[Norm4eva]

As opposed to something more beatdown oriented?  I did eventually find two different builds that Top 8'ed like back in 99 or 00 or something, one was Kai's Rebels and one was Counter-Rebel.  I didn't much care for Kai's take on the deck because it seemed easy to predict, less resilient.
If I understand Power Sink correctly, it basically says "either you tap out for that spell or I counter it and Mana Short you" yes?  Sounds good, especially with Ancient Tomb as a bolster.  Too bad this deck has a crazy aversion to having UU on the second turn, otherwise I'd just run Counterspell.
Oh yeah, just realized I posted a 62-card decklist.  Should be 2 Lotus Petals.
I'm also starting to rethink the number of Whipcorders.  They're good played facedown under a Plague but they break the chain.  They're also the only 4-of that I have with WW in the cost.  (they did, however, assist in random tech play of the day, when kid across from me lays down Horobi, Death's Wail in his spirit deck.  tapping to swords guys is bloody hilarious.)

[Godder]

All of them really like Gaea's Cradle if you have it. Power Sink is crappy without it, so I'd go with Leak and maybe something like Miscalculation (the counter of choice when it was available) if you don't have Cradle.

Alternatively, Rebel Bears is possible, using all the 2-drop 2/2 Rebels and Crusade/Sacrament/Anthem/Coat of Arms (possibly). I prefer Cradle Rebels because the Cradle does all the searching while everything else can be devoted to dealing with the opponent.

Poacher/Hermit is massive, and really worth considering (it gets round Engineered Plague: Rebels, for example). If you're playing W/U, Opposition is a real possibility with Poacher/Hermit.

Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors is good, Lotus Petal is terrible. You need permanent mana, not one-shot effects. Enlightened Tutor can be very good. Below is the type 2 deck I played in a field of Replenish, among other things. It generally beat creature decks, Sneak Attack, Replenish, mono-U control, and was around 50/50 against Green Control decks. Bargain and classic U/W control were bad match-ups, but they weren't common (Replenish tore strips off other U control decks and Bargain was hard to play properly).

Type 2 Rebels, 2000 (with 6E)

4 Sargeant
2 Lieutenant
2 Defiant Falcon
1 Defiant Vanguard
3 Linn Sivvi
1 Rappelling Scouts
1 Jhovall Queen
1 Thermal Glider
1 Nightwind Glider
2 Skyshroud Poacher

4 Deranged Hermit
4 Masticore

4 Enlightened Tutor
2 Glorious Anthem
4 Seal of Cleansing
1 Worship

4 Gaea's Cradle
1 Kor Haven
1 Rath's Edge
4 Rishadan Port
13 Plains

If you're keen, I'm sure that can be modified for Legacy.