Here's my latest list with explanations below:
Lands: 19
3 Windswept Heath
4 Savannah
1 Forest
1 Plains
3 Horizon Canopy
4 Wasteland
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Strip Mine
Additional mana: 8
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Lotus Petal
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
Creatures: 26
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Leonin Relic-Warder
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Kataki, War's Wage
Disruption: 7
4 Null Rod
3 Path to Exile
Sideboard: 6
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Leyline of Sanctity
Having played various versions of GW lately, I've found that a few things didn't work. First of all the main problem has been stopping broken starts which has been hard to do without running Null Rod or other cards stopping fast mana. The second thing I experienced was that Aether Vial isn't really as strong as some make it out to be. Sure, it's good against Workshops but in all other matchups it's one of the reasons why the deck isn't good enough at shutting the opponent down in the first two rounds. Usually it's T1: Land, Vial, go. T2: Ramp Vial, Wasteland, Vial -> Noble which simply isn't going to disrupt nearly enough and you just have to hope to survive the first two turns. The best case scenario is: T1: Wasteland, Vial, Go. T2: Ramp Vial, play another Wasteland and destroy two lands but that happens rarely.
Hence the logical solution was to drop Vial and include Null Rod and I actually think that this is a necessity. Null Rod is actually very strong right now due to the amount of Mud being played - and the rise of different variations of "Turbo Tezz" decks which includes Grim Monolith, Mox Opal, 3-4 Voltaic Key, 2-3 Sensei and maybe even Seat of Synod.
With the focus shifting to getting a 2 drop (preferably Null Rod or Leonin Arbiter) down as fast as possible from getting a 1 drop (Aether Vial) down in turn 1, I think it's necessary to play a maximum amount of fast mana which means 2 Mox, Lotus Petal, Black Lotus and a number of Elvish Spirit Guide. Although ESG is rather weak it does an important job (just as Aether Vial is pretty weak but did another job) - too bad there aren't any alternatives though (I've been thinking about testing out a single Mox Diamond but I think it's even weaker).
As for the rest of the deck:
4 Noble Hierarch: I've never been a fan of Noble Hierarch - in fact I think that it theoretically is very weak. However as it turns out it's perhaps the most important cards in the deck against Mud and especially now that Aether Vial isn't in the deck anymore, it would be impossible to create a GW deck without Noble.
One theory I've been trying to build the deck around is the same that applies to Workshop builds: (in most circumstances) you must have played at least two threads by turn 2. Aether Vial is working against this theory and while Noble Hierarch at first thought seems to work against it too as it isn't a thread by itself, it actually helps a lot as it opens up various lines of plays on turn two like: T1: Land, Hierarch, go. T2: Wasteland, [any of Null Rod, Leonin Arbiter etc.].
4 Qasali Pridemage, 4 Phyrexian Revoker, 3 Leonin Relic-Warder: These are the utility creatures which are the hardest to play in the deck. Phyrexian Revoker I really like although it's sometimes not that strong. However, the ability to shut down a large number of potent cards like Jace, Tezz 1.0 and 2.0, Metalworker, Time Vault (or Voltaic Key), Steel Hellkite etc. combined with the ability to simply act as an "sphere" by shutting down a Mox or something makes it very good. Leonin Relic-Warder isn't something you want to see immediately but it's usually good later on and is one of the maindeck answers to the likes of Fastbond and Oath. As with Revoker it can act as an "sphere effect" if needed.
4 Leonin Arbiter, 2 Aven Mindcensor: these are way stronger with Null Rod than in the Aether Vial versions for obvious reasons. I don't think much needs to be said about these inclusions really, although the number can be discussed.
3 Gaddock Teeg: This is often the card that makes the deck work against blue based decks whether it's Vault-Key or Gush decks, stopping FoW, Jace, Tezz, Gush etc. Against Mud it's not amazing but not that bad either as it stops the devastating Chalice @ 2.
2 Kataki, War's Wage: This is the latest inclusion and I'm still not sure about it as I haven't tested it that much. The reasoning is that it works as a "mini Null Rod" (though obviously worse) and is really, really good against Mud. I will be testing it some more but I like it in theory and practice so far.
3 Path to Exile: I think 3 is a nice number although I would play 4 if I found the room to do so. Path is really good when it works (with Leonin Arbiter or Aven Mindcensor) and less stellar when they get to find a land in which case it works terribly against the idea of the deck. I think I'll test out Swords again soon.
The manabase: I wanted to play atleast 7 Waste-effects, otherwise I didn't think the deck would be viable. Turns out that 7 is a number that seems to work out very well. I almost never have mana issues and I seem to draw sufficient Strip-effects. I saw a decklist using those cycling lands that comes into play tapped but surely Horizon Canopy is just strictly better?
Sideboard: I don't really have "a sideboard" before taking it to tournaments so I'm not sure what it would look like at the moment, although these are pretty safe inclusions: 4 Leyline of Sanctity and 2 Ghost Quarter. Leyline doesn't really need any explanation I think. 2 additional Ghost Quarters come in against Workshops where they are awesome, serving as additional mana aswell as two extra Strip Mines, and as a part of the plan against Dredge.
Well, this was rather long - any thoughts?
