[Deck] GW Survival

[Philipp2293]

I would max out the number of Knights, even more cause you emphasize the attack on his manabase. Not sure what to cut though, maybe 1 Flickerwisp.

[conboy31]

I just wanted to thank everyone who invented, modified, and improved on GW survival over the years.

It was probably my favorite legacy deck of all time and I won my fair share of duals with it.

Thanks to everyone for helping on the deck.

cheers

[Tinefol]

I've yet to play two tournaments with the deck before the ban goes in effect. Thank you GW Survival. You were one of the best decks I've ever played. Probably too good.

4 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Misty Rainforest
4 Savannah
3 Horizon Canopy
3 Wasteland
4 Forest
1 Plains
1 Gaea's Cradle

4 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Quirion Ranger
3 Mother of Runes
3 Fauna Shaman
3 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Vengevine
1 Basking Rootwalla
1 Memnite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Loyal Retainers

4 Survival of the Fittest
4 Swords to Plowshares

Sideboard
1 Wispmare
2 Krosan Grip
3 Faerie Macabre
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Path to Exile
1 Peacekeeper

[Tao]

gg Survival. We had a fun time and many victories. GBw Rock Survival and GW Survival will always be my favorite decks. A big thanks to the guys who helped developing GW Survival like phillipp, valdez, sotw, conboy, soiber. And a special shoutout to snief and venice for being the firsts who actually took it to tournaments and stomped the Meta with it. And of course Twarpi should he read it.

For the deck:
I have not given up on on the GW part. The engine of MoR, 8 Exalted guys and KotR still exists and those guys were more important than SotF. Between GW Maverick (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...ead.php?18169-), Fauna Shaman/VV, Stoneforge Mystic, Teegs and Elspeth I think there is still a tournament winning deck somewhere. I don't think Natural Order is the right card for this deck type, because I think it needs protection and Brainstorm but I might be wrong. Maybe I or someone else will find the best version.

[Tinefol]

I've already built a post-survival version. It is sort of hybrid between GW Survival and Maverick, but it needs testing. I'm not sure Shamans are worth keeping, but I assume they're.
Iona/Retainers, I think, need to go. Too inconsistent without survival, you can't rely on Shaman as much.

[Philipp2293]

Thx to everyone who contributed to this deck, it was so much fun to play, and I've won a fair share of tourneys with it (and even reached the top spot in austrian eternal rating).

I'll for sure keep on playing some derivative of the deck with the basic skeleton Tao has mentioned, so far I've been toying with Maverick a bit, but as my new job is draining my free time I'll have to count on you other guys to build on the legacy of GW Survival.

[f|i[p]]

Thanks to tao for building up this deck, it made me finally try vengvine and realize how broken vengvine was. As compared to a more toolbox approach this was also perfect for my play style as since I used to play with Gw beatdown before. Thanks to venice and other people that I got to play with in mws.

I don't think Gw survival is entirely dead, as you can possibly replace survival with a different engine. Iona retainers can still work with fauna, but we would have to add quiron rangers to make the shamans useful enough. It will be a lot slower however. Rangers are useful with mothers, knights and almost the rest of the deck.

Traditional zoo will be back, and thats one thing Gw maverick usually lost to. I found it really hard to beat traditional zoo with gw mavericks list, too many removal . Gw lists will still end up as midrange deck. Without survival to replenish our hand, it will be hard to catch up. But I am sure a good tweak here and there might bring some hope to a GWx or gw list to tier 1.5 or even 1.

[Dzra]

This is the list I'm going to start testing from the ashes of my GW Survival. It might prove to need some sort of filter like Top or Sylvan Library, but we'll see how it goes.

Land 22
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath
3 Savannah
3 Horizon Canopy
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Karakas
1 Maze of Ith

Creatures 27
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mother of Runes
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Serra Avenger
3 Stoneforge Mystic

Other Spells 11
4 Aether Vial
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Umezawa's Jitte

[Philipp2293]

I think the discussions about GW decks without Survival should be moved to the Maverick thread or to new threads. Concerning your list: I think you could use some Scryb Rangers in there.

[Tao]

Hmm , I have no idea where to post this. It is not Maverick because there was no Aether Vial, Stoneforge Mystic, Serra Avenger, Birds, Wayfarer or (Scyrb, Qirion) Ranger in it. Oddly enough the final list looks very much like GW Survival with GSZ instead of Survival but the process how I got there was lengthy and I tried everything from Vials over Confidants to Hymn to Tourach and Natural Order.

So I think it fits best here. I went 5-2 today on the Mercadiade, a tournament with 123 participants. I did some awkward things in the tournament because of playing so few tournaments but overall I am satiesfied though I really wanted to Top8. I might post a tournament report if I find the time.

- Fauna Shaman: Got me a Witness for my Crypt vs. Dredge, multiple Vengevines twice (Goblins, Merfolk) and a critical Qasali against Staxx. I think I want four next time.
- Mother of Runes. Still awesome. Won me both games against Merfolk and one game against Goblins. Lost me the game against Dredge by not showing up.
- GSZ: Llanowar Elf, Kicker 2 Tarmogoyf, Kicker 3 KotR or Disenchant. Play 4. Not meant to tutor for Fauna Shaman, there is no time for that.
- Vengevine: Even without Survival or an active Shaman awesome in most matchups. They give a deck so much Reach. With these and GSZ and Canopies/Wastelands/KotR you just don't stop throwing stuff at the opponent forever. Maybe 3 are enough, but certainly not less than that. 4 felt good, too. I was almost never unhappy to have one.
- Elspeth: I was not 100% sure if it is her or Stoneforge Mystic as the additional heavy gun. She was good in the tournament but SFM would have probably been good, too.

This was the list I used (I would have played 1 Karakas if I or someone else had one).

// Lands
2 [M11] Forest
2 [SOM] Plains
4 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
4 [MPR] Wasteland
4 [A] Savannah
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
1 [ON] Wooded Foothills
1 [ON] Flooded Strand
1 [FUT] Dryad Arbor

// Creatures
4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
4 [UL] Mother of Runes
3 [FNM] Qasali Pridemage
4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
3 [M11] Fauna Shaman
4 [CFX] Knight of the Reliquary
1 [FNM] Eternal Witness
4 [ROE] Vengevine

// Spells
4 [IA] Swords to Plowshares
4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
2 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
SB: 2 [FNM] Krosan Grip
SB: 3 [GTW] Path to Exile
SB: 1 [FNM] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 [ZEN] Ravenous Trap
SB: 1 [SOK] Kataki, War's Wage
SB: 1 [SHM] Kitchen Finks
SB: 1 [DIS] Loaming Shaman
SB: 1 [WWK] Bojuka Bog
SB: 2 [WL] Null Rod
SB: 1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist

[jeanbathez]

@Tao : Interesting Decklist : Sadly there isn't thread for such a deck.... - i would be interested in your report.

[Tao]

First of all despite Survival being banned, the deck is still very good. It is still a blast to play and has a lot of power. High Tide is probably the worst matchup, but except for that there is really not much you have to fear.

I tested with BWg Vial/Mystic, several Rock variants and GW builds with SFM but I wasn't satisfied with any of them. They all just didn't feel right when playing and I lost a lot of games in testing because the decks were just lacking something. Either they were easy to outcontrol, too reliant on Confidant,lacked consistency or they just scooped to single cards. After playing a few awkward games against Landstill I decided to give Vengevine another chance and the list felt good from the first game.

Below is the updated list. I mainly changed the Sideboard so that it has a fighting chance against Storm Combo. Imo Mindbreak Trap is the best choice because unlike Leyline of Sanctity it does something against High Tide decks and Empty the Warrens. High Tide is still a bad matchup post board but between Wasteland, protected Hate bears and Traps you can cause a lot of trouble for ANT and TES.

GSZ is awesome. It was exactly what the deck needed after Survival was banned. It is like the glue that sticks the single pieces together. It increases the hands with one drops from 65% to 81%, acts as a Disenchant effect, fixes Mana problems against disruptive decks or awkward draws by searching for Noble Hierarch and can be every beater you need.

Vengevine is a clear 4-off, even if you have to pay Mana to play it. Just give it a try. It wins attrition wars. It doesn't care about Daze, Force, Counterbalance. It eats Jace. It attacks into Goyfs because of Exalted. It can get chained by Fauna Shaman.

The rest of the deck should be self-explanatory.

// Lands

// Lands
2 [M11] Forest (4)
1 [SOM] Plains (2)
3 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
4 [A] Savannah
1 [LG] Karakas
4 [ON] Windswept Heath
1 [ON] Wooded Foothills
1 [ON] Flooded Strand
1 [FUT] Dryad Arbor
1 [WWK] Bojuka Bog
4 [TE] Wasteland

// Creatures
4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch
4 [UL] Mother of Runes
3 [FUT] Tarmogoyf
4 [M11] Fauna Shaman
4 [CFX] Knight of the Reliquary
4 [ROE] Vengevine
4 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage

// Spells
4 [IA] Swords to Plowshares
4 [MBS] Green Sun's Zenith
2 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant

// Sideboard
SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
SB: 3 [FNM] Tormod's Crypt
SB: 1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 4 [ZEN] Mindbreak Trap
SB: 3 [TSP] Krosan Grip
SB: 3 [CFX] Path to Exile




The SB changes in the tourney report were still for the old list.

R1 Dredge

G1 He wins die roll and goes T1 Imp. I Sword it, he discards Troll and Breakthroughs into 2 more Trolls. No chance.

- 2 Elspeth
- 2 Vengevines
- 2 Qasali Pridemage
- 1 Fauna Shaman
- 1 Wasteland
+ 1 Bog
+ 1 Crypt
+ 1 Loaming Shaman
+ 1 Trap
+ 1 Kitchen Finks
+ 3 Path to Exile

G2 I happily keep 3 Lands, Hierarch, Crypt, GSZ and Loaming Shaman. I play Hierarch T1, he plays a Putrid Imp. I have to play the Crypt to stop him, but he has Nature's Claim (for the only target in my deck) in his Upkeep, then he discards Troll again, Dredges, plays second land, Discard Troll and Careful Study into another Troll, 1-2 Moebas and a Bridge. Nice draw. He Therapies and sees my Shaman so he Dread Returns and ends the turn with a 12/12 Troll, an Imp and 3 Zombies. I Shaman him and start chumpblocking. I GSZ into Witness into Crypt which leaves him without any action but I have to keep chumping and the Zombies eat my life total. I get a KotR and fight hard to stay in the game, get a second Knight going but I have to throw away one creature a turn to stay alive. At one point I make a mistake which cost me the game. I play a Noble Hierarch as a chump blocker instead of GSZ for Goyf to chump when he had Darkblast so I have to chump with a Knight. I obviously draw one of my seven removals (I didn't have a Mother of Runes either -_-) exactly one turn too late.

0-2
0-1


R2 Lands
G1 I win with 2 Goyfs that beat him to 0.

- 4 MoR
- 4 Swords
+ 4 Yard Hate
+ 2 Krosan Grip
+ 2 Null Rod

G2 his draw is a little bit too good and I don't find my basics. I should have Mulliganed the bad hand.

G3 ends awkward. I haven't played a real life tournament in half a year and I was very tired from the night before so for some reason I thought that games are decided by life total like in Grinders. He beats me with Factories to one life but I have board control and RFGed his Barbarian Ring already. So I just scoop on the fourth Extra turn for no reason when he had no chance of killing me.
1-2
0-2

I feel bad for throwing away both games but I guess that's normal when only playing so few real games.


R3 White Staxx
G1 I win the die roll so I have a Hierarch in play and her T1 Chalice doesn't affect me. A few big Knights finish things quickly.
- 4 MoR
- 4 Swords
+ 2 Null Rod
+ 2 Grips
+ 1 Kataki
+ 1 Finks
+ 1 Loaming Shaman
+ 1 Gaddock
G2 she only has a Ghostly Prison on turn 1, so I am allowed to participate in the game with Hierarch. Her draw step gives her a Trinisphere one moment too late for the party and I can play a Knight, a GSZs and other stuff. GSZ/Pridemage help me fight through 2 Prisons, Wastelands, a Pendrell Mists and some other annoyances.
2-0
1-2

R4 Merfolk
G1 he starts with Island Go, I have MoR. He plays an Adept and I have the choice between playing Fauna Shaman or keeping Sword open. I refocus and finally decide to play good and pass the turn to play around Daze because with the Vengevine in my hand the Shaman is going to be awesome and it lets me play around Daze easily for the rest of the game. He plays Reejerey and attacks with his Adept into my MoR. Maybe he thinks I am really bad and wouldn't block. He has to FoW my Sword to prevent a 2 for 1 and thus Fauna Shaman resolves. Maybe his plan was to FoW the Sword anyway. He has another Reejerey but fortunately with MoR in play he just can't attack and I overwhelm him with Vengies.

+ 3 Path to Exile
+ 1 Kitchen Finks
- 1 KotR
- 1 Pridemage
- 1 Noble Hierarch
- 1 KotR
He played with Underground Seas so I sided out some Green creatures to die a little less against Perish.

G2 he had a TON of spells because he had exactly one Vial, 2 Standstills and 3 lands in the first turns. I GSZ for Pridemage and destroy his Vial to slow him down a bit but he gets his 4th Mana and a Jitte. Fortunately MoR holds the ford. MoR is just godly versus Merfolk, though this time it was close and his Coralhelm was a bit too slow. He didn't play Perish as he showed me after the game.
2-0
2-2

R5 UGB black Thresh with Confi, Stifle and Counterbalance
G1 was a massacre. He starts with a T1 Stifle on my Fetch and a T2 Confidant. But it didn't matter. At all. I have enough lands and he can't do anything once I start playing Vengevines.

- 1 Elspeth
+ 1 Bojuka Bog
The only way I can lose is against his Mana denial so I sided in another land

G2 was just as bad. He didn't do any mistakes but still had absolutely no chance. This deck preys on CB decks and against those without Swords to Plowshares it is even worse.

2-0
3-2

By now I am extremely tired and look like a ghost but at least I started playing solid again.


R6 Goblins

G1 he draws his opening seven and tells me he has a SB card in it. He calls a judge and he gives him a warning and tells him to draw new seven. A free Mulligan to 7? Is cheating so easy nowadays or was this a mistake by the judge? Not that he cheated (he was clearly and 100% honest, a very nice opponent) but this rule is so easily abusable.
My start then is quicker and even though he has the full Engine going with 2 Warchiefs and Ringleader he just has to chump too much every round. I fight through 2 Siege-Gang Commanders and eventually win after an desperate All-In attack from him. My 2 Mother of Runes won that game for me because they negated his Incinerators and made attacking impossible for him.

+ 2 Path to Exile
+ 1 Kitchen Finks
- 2 Pridemage
- 1 Elspeth

G2 he has Vial and I have Mana problems.

G3 For game 3 I side out one Path again. They are bad vs Goblins but the Lackey solution is needed. My hand is 2 Lands, Hierarch, MoR, Fauna Shaman, Swords and Vengevine so I know I will win if there is enough time (he played EXTREMELY slow). I can kill him in the third extra turn. After the game he shows me his three Perishes in his library that would have destroyed me. Lucky.
2-1
4-2

R7 Imperial Painter
He knows me from my posts here, that is cool.

G1 I have the Sword for his Painter in response to him targeting me with Grindstone, he didn't have a Blast to defend and from then on it is easy. GSZ, Pridemages and quick beaters finish things.

+ 3 Path to Exile
+ 2 Krosan Grip
+ 2 Null Rod
+ 1 Kataki
- 4 Mother of Runes
- 2 Elspeth
- 2 Vengevine

G2 My board is nuts vs him. I keep a hand with a Sword to Plowshares and a Fauna Shaman. So T3 I have Kataki and he destroys a Mox and forces him to pay Upkeep for his Grindstone so he isn't close to play Servant and activate it. Wasteland on Tomb, Knight of the Reliquary for more Wastelands and a Pridemage just in case end the game.
2-0
5-2

[ivanpei]

BTW Tao, nice work on the deck post Survival ban! I'm confident that this deck is very playable. I'm playing a very similar deck but with Iona-Retainers instead of Venges. I also play Vials for absolute brokenness. I'll reserve my thoughts on the comparison, both are very good with different MU improvements. One suggestion I'd like to make is Scryb Ranger. I just added one to my deck lately and it is just INSANE in this deck. Here's a list of tricks a singleton can provide:

1. Turbo Fauna- Fauna Twice a turn, pretty obvious.
2. Double Mother of Runes, also obvious.
3. Double Kotr Activations, obvious.
4. With Noble Heirarch, essentially + 2 mana if you have not made a landdrop.

The complicated Stuff:
1. In response to waste on your savanna, Fauna up a Scryb, save a land.
2. Fetch a dryad arbor, block, bounce Dryad arbor back to hand. Repeat!
3. Opponent swings, flash her out, untap a goyf/KOTR, profit!
4. Fauna up a Scryb, bounce dryad arbor, untapping Fauna, Pitch dryad arbor for Venge- Engine is complete baby!

Scryb is just ridiculous in this deck. Give it a shot!

[spirit of the wretch]

I play a similar deck since Survival is banned to some decend success (2x 4/0/1 in Mannheim, 5/1/1 and 4/1/1 in Hassloch).

I didn't really like (or own ;-) Vengevines and stuck with the Iona combo. Here's my current list:

4 Fauna Shaman
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
3 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Loyal Retainers
4 Mother of Runes
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Progenitus
3 Qasali Pridemage
1 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Tarmogoyf

4 Swords to Plowshares

2 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Natural Order
2 Sensei's Divining Top

1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte

1 Dryad Arbor
4 Forest
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Karakas
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
2 Savannah
4 Wasteland
4 Windswept Heath

I really like the NO as it is just another "I win" card. I also had some Quirion Ranger in there in the beginning but cut them as they never seemed to do anything spectacular for me.

[ivanpei]

You really need to max out GSZ and Faunas to really abuse Scryb. Quirion is not as good because if you play it mainphase, your opponent can play around it. A flash Scryb can absolutely blow out games. The Pro blue and flying is extremely relevant. It owns merfolk and Vendillon Cliques/Warmonks. It also makes Fauna pump out Iona in 1 turn which is very relevant.

Here's my list for reference:

4 GSZ
4 Vial
4 STP

4 Noble
3 Mom
4 Fauna
4 Goyf
3 Pridemage
4 KOTR
1 Iona
1 Retainers
1 Teeq
1 Scryb Ranger

1 Arbor
1 Karakas
4 Wastes
2 Canopy
1 Forest
1 Plains
4 Savanna
4 Heath
2 Wooded
2 Arid

As for NO, I love the card, but I prefer having Teeq. Teeq shutting down my GSZ is pretty bad already, don't need more Dead cards. NO-Pro helps in the midrange MU where you already dominate. Teeq + 4 GSZ + 4 Fauna lets you have a chance against combo MD. Oh, and vial is Ridiculous in this deck. It draws the Force or just dominates games. Pretty good for 1 mana.

BTW why is everyone running 4-5 fetches only? I seem to want 7-8 to pump my knight.

[Tao]

Scryb is just ridiculous in this deck. Give it a shot!

I tried Scryb and it was very good. I never tutored it but when I drew it I liked it. Vigilant Knights or Knights that make Mana/Pump in first main phase and then attack are great and it had plenty of other uses during random MWS testing. Mana producers are useful and I was also blocking Stalker with MoR's help and I walked into a Faerie Stompy where it was nuts. I have added one to the main list of the moment.

BTW Tao, nice work on the deck post Survival ban! I'm confident that this deck is very playable. I'm playing a very similar deck but with Iona-Retainers instead of Venges.

I play a similar deck since Survival is banned to some decend success (2x 4/0/1 in Mannheim, 5/1/1 and 4/1/1 in Hassloch) I didn't really like (or own ;-) Vengevines and stuck with the Iona combo. Here's my current list:.

Imo Vengevines are superior to Iona/Retainers. Being able to chain them with Fauna Shaman is just a bonus, the main idea is to just cast them for 4 on top the curve. They are a big problem for many decks: Trading with them is good for us, a domintating block on them is usually impossible even for Goyf because of Exalted, countering is pointless, usually they have used up all their Swords for other creatures and repeatedly dealing with them at sorcery speed (Jace) is not enough because they have Haste.

Another question I asked myself is how many Goyfs do we need? I have the feeling that Goyf is a weaker 2-drop than Fauna Shaman and Qasali Pridemage in the majority of matchups so I reduced them to 3. Am I wrong about that?

[ivanpei]

I'm ok with both Venges and Iona. Venges are awesome vs control, we both can agree on different "engines". I prefer Iona-Retainers because it lets me abuse Vial @ 3. Being able to Vial in a Loyal Retainers and later, KOTR is ridiculous. @ Goyfs, I will always run 4, but if you are really tight, they seem cuttable. I don't think Goyf is an auto 4-off in todays meta anymore. Even AJ Sacher just runs 3 goyfs and has Fauna Shaman and Scryb Ranger over the 4th Goyf.

I've cut my scryb though. As awesome as she is, some times a simple 4th Mother of Runes is better. Mom is an awesome bomb for 1 mana against anything thats not combo, I want 4. I never ever looked for Scryb. Randomly drawing her has been good, so I'll play either 2 or Zero.

I tested against Goblins and the Rock yesterday. Absolutely smashed goblins. Iona on Red= GG. I consistently get Iona out T4 against wastelands, ports etc (Thank you Vial). The Rock is closer to 50/50. It depends on the build. The IOK ones have a better game against me compared to the other versions. More pinpoint discard at my Gas is painful. I play 12 bombs (4 Fauna, 4 KOTR, 4 GSZ) while they have 12 as well (KOTR, Bob, Top) so it's an all out slugfest. He with the last standing bomb wins. I'm pretty pleased I can go toe to toe with a deck famed for it's midrange dominance.

[spirit of the wretch]

I've cut my scryb though. As awesome as she is, some times a simple 4th Mother of Runes is better. Mom is an awesome bomb for 1 mana against anything thats not combo, I want 4. I never ever looked for Scryb. Randomly drawing her has been good, so I'll play either 2 or Zero.

That's pretty much why I cut them, too.

Imo Vengevines are superior to Iona/Retainers. Being able to chain them with Fauna Shaman is just a bonus, the main idea is to just cast them for 4 on top the curve. They are a big problem for many decks: Trading with them is good for us, a domintating block on them is usually impossible even for Goyf because of Exalted, countering is pointless, usually they have used up all their Swords for other creatures and repeatedly dealing with them at sorcery speed (Jace) is not enough because they have Haste.

Interesting, I prefer Natural Order as my „4-Mana-Bomb“ of choice. But I see how they serve very different purposes. Vengevine dominates the more control-ish MUs while NO shines in the rather combo-ish MUs presenting a fast clock.
I really feel that NO improves the MUs I would otherwise have difficulties winning. In my tournaments it single-handedly won me games against Lands, Tezzeret-Affinity and Enchantress which I feel I wouldn’t have won otherwise.
I also play 3 Choke and 3 Gaddock in the SB to improve the blue MUs.

Another question I asked myself is how many Goyfs do we need? I have the feeling that Goyf is a weaker 2-drop than Fauna Shaman and Qasali Pridemage in the majority of matchups so I reduced them to 3. Am I wrong about that?

As far as Goyfs are concerned: I always play four but mostly out of habit. But they are still the best wall you can get against aggro and a good (while cheap) win-condition against tempo decks. I’m not sure if four are needed but with my lack of Vengevines I feel I need some solid beaters.

In my opinion the Iona-package is still strong enough to warrant a slot in the deck. It absolutely dominates the mirror (which is surprisingly relevant where I play) and gives you a fighting Chance against slow combo (Tide, Enchantress, Burn) in the first game.
It’s usually better do go for the most broken options and reanimating Iona definitely is one of them.
I'd try them in the Elspeth Slots in your list.

[ivanpei]

@ spirit, I see you found space for the NO package by not running vial. I find that vial is my MVP though. Without it, I felt that I am on the defensive side against aggro and I am vulnerable to tempo decks. With vial I am sped up immensely and I dodge counterspells very well. Mother is pseudo CA against removal and vial ensures my dudes are uncountable. Though I do miss having a big bomb like natural order. The problem with NO is that you don't win the turn you cast it. Aggro can race it as you invested so much mana and resources into casting it. Combo can just go off the turn after you cast it. As for blue, if they counter the NO you are in a bad spot after investing 4 mana and a dude. As for vial, it is a must answer for blue and they will force it whenever they have the chance. 1 mana investment for 2 cards? Yes please.

[Tao]

@analyzing the three lists:
Vengevine and Natural Order in the same deck is probably a 4CC overkill. Playing both Iona and Vengevine is committing too many slots for Fauna Shaman, you probably want to decide on one. Natural Order with neither Iona nor Vengevine is not good because then you don't need Fauna Shamans and have no way to get rid of a drawn Progenitus. Aether Vial doesn't fit at all into anything with Vengevine because of the obvious anti-synergies. It might fit into the NO version but I think it fits best into versions with "just Iona" because it lets you sacrifice your KotR/Wastelands/Canopies very aggressive to fully abuse Vial and not having to reach 4 Mana.
So the possible builds with Fauna Shaman are
- Vengevine
- Iona + Vial
- Iona + NoProg
which are exactly the three versions each of us came up with. It is quite good to see such a pattern behind the lists, it means that all of them were tested and not just thrown out because they looked good. It also means that mixing these lists is tough.

@Ivanpei:
My biggest concern with Vial versions has been that they run out of gas quite fast and I had that feeling despite testing with 4 Stoneforge Mystics. I quickly emptied the hand and then it was either enough or not enough. The decks had no inevitability like Progenitus or cards that can grind out the opponent like Vengevines or Elspeths. So I had serious problems with Control decks and I got frequently dominated by cards like Engineered Explosives.

@SotW:
Your results have been great which speaks for your version. I will give it a try.

@Elspeth:
The obvious uses of her (giving a big guy like Goyf, KotR or VV with Exalted flying and +3/+3 to end the game out of nowhere or winning the attrition war with soldiers) are already pretty good and make her a good top of the curve.
But what I like most about her is that she dodges almost every problem card. Relic of Progenitus, Perish, Moat, Humility, Engineered Explosives, Pernicious Deed are very good against this deck but do nothing against Elspeth. She is also usually game against resource denial strategies like Stax, decks with Smallpox or oldschool Deadguy. Especially post board you can just play an Elspeth without having to worry about what Sideboard hate you want to play around.

@Sideboards:
What are yours?