First thing - This deck probably needs a better name. Trade Pod is stupid.

Introduction

While looking around TC Decks (For those of you who aren't using TC Decks, you're missing out on literally the best deck repository on the Internet) and I'm looking for something silly to build so I'm looking at the Rogue section, where I come across these lists:

http://thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.ph...3&iddeck=60518
http://thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.ph...8&iddeck=58187
http://thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.ph...1&iddeck=56182

For convenience, I've included the basic list here:

1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gilded Drake
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Masticore
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Selkie Hedge-Mage
1 Spike Feeder
1 Spike Weaver
1 Triskelion
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Wood Elves
2 Eternal Witness
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Phantasmal Image
2 Reveillark
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Tradewind Rider
4 Wall of Roots

1 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Birthing Pod

1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Savannah
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Tropical Island
4 Verdant Catacombs
7 Forest


The deck looked incredibly silly, and like it could maybe even compete, so I decided to sleeve it up, considering that I had most of the cards. I've played the deck on-and-off for the last 3 weeks and I've settled on this as a tentative list:

4 Birthing Pod
1 Green sun's Zenith

Creatures, Sorted by Mana Cost

4 Noble Hierarch
2 Birds of Paradise
1 Quirion Ranger

1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Wall of Roots
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
2 Phantasmal Image

2 Eternal Witness
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Wood Elves
1 Spike Feeder

1 Masticore
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Wickerbough Elder
3 Tradewind Rider (I can only find 3!)
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Spike Weaver

1 Reveillark
1 Murkfiend Liege

1 Sun Titan
1 Triskelion

6 Forest
4 Tropical Island
2 Savannah
1 Gaea's Cradle
7 Fetch Lands

Card Selection

Since there are so many different cards in the deck, I'll be categorizing them by type:

Birthing Pod, Green Sun's Zenith - Birthing Pod is the linchpin of the deck, while it is entirely possible to win games without the card, after only a couple of activations, you're generally so far ahead that most decks are unable to get back in the game. Green Sun's Zenith is a loose slot, but theoretically helps to increase the stability of draws, but is certainly a card that can be cut.

Tradewind Rider - By far, the most common win condition in the deck stems from concessions resulting from Tradewind Rider activations. Against Slower combo decks, any control deck and most mid-range decks, Tradewind Rider must be answered before it loses summoning sickness or it viciously takes them out of the game. I'd not hesitate to play this card as a four-of if I was able to get my hands on the last copy.

Mana Guys - The inclusion of BoP and Noble Hierarchs in the deck is somewhat obvious as the deck tends to be quite mana-hungry. Wall of Roots also falls into this category, but also lets you stave off early creatures. A plethora of one-costs allows you easy access into Phantasmal Image, which fulfills a number of uses, but also lets you hit Scavenging Oooze.

Clones - The three Clone effects in the maindeck, 2 Phantasmal Image and 1 Phyrexian Metamorph offer nearly endless utility, often copying your own Eternal Witness or other value creature, but can also be used to make an unstoppable wall of Spike Weavers or even infinite combo with Triskelion and Reveillark. The clones let you jump around mana-costs for Birthing Pod which is incredibly useful, and always return to a Lark trigger.

Utility Creatures - The number of creatures that fulfill some useful role in the deck is high, and the potential cards that can fill those roles is even higher. I've identified that you want to have at least these roles filled in the deck's 75 (76 in my case, something 77)

(Special Note about Spikes, they can allow you to remove the -1/-1 Counters from a Persisted Kitchen Finks or Glen Elendra Archmage. This is useful.)

Cards that 187, such as Uktabi Orangutan, Shriekmaw, Bone Shredder, Harmonic Sliver, Wickerbough Elder, Acidic Slime etc.
Cards that allow you to creep ahead in card advantage independent of what an opponent is doing, such as Reveillark, Eternal Witness, Wall of Blossoms, Mulldrifter, Sun Titan, Master of the Wild Hunt, etc.
Cards that keep you alive, such as Spike Feeder, Spike Weaver, Peacekeeper, Kitchen Finks, etc
Cards that can disrupt an opponent, such as Glen Elendra Archmage, Heartwood Storyteller, Ichneumon Druid, Gaddock Teeg, Ethersworn Canonist, Thalia, Linvala, Aven Mindcensor etc.
Cards that let you steal creatures, such as Sower of Temptation and Gilded Drake.
Something that allows you to reuse Tradewind Rider, such asScryb Ranger, Seedborn Muse, Murkfiend Liege, Quirion Ranger.
Something that allows you to Alpha-Stirke such as Murkfiend Liege... I can't really think of anything else.

I'm sure there are role fillers that I haven't considered and I admit that this deck is far from completed and optimized, but I wanted to present the deck to the community to discuss. I've now played the deck in roughly 6 events, with an overall record of 17-3-3 where two of the draws are IDs and most all of the wins are against other, established decks.

Two things I'd like to focus on, other than general optimization is to find an impressive 5-cost creature to go along with Lark and Murkfiend Liege, Sadly Acidic Slime is currently near the top of the list, but there has to be something better. The second is to find a very strong 3-cost creature that is able to stand alone and impact an empty field. I tried out Knight of the Reliquary but the white is just too much of a problem and his impact on the game isn't that huge, this isn't GW. On that same note, I know that Sun Titan is greedy, but It seemed like an obvious inclusion to me and I've enjoyed having him in the deck.

With all of that said, I hope that some insights can be generated about what I think is a very fun, challenging*, interesting and high potential archetype.

*Seriously, this deck's decision trees make it among the hardest decks, if not the hardest I've ever played.