Test Tube Babies Redux

[Pastorofmuppets]

Introduction:
This is a deck of my own design, although I'm sure I'm not the first.
Essentially it's a midrange aggro deck, in the colors of Doran (Green, White, and Black) Think of it kind of like slow Zoo.
As you guys know, I can't afford to field test anything in Legacy, so correct me if I'm wrong in the MU information or overestimating anything

The Deck
Lands (18)
4 Windswept Heath
3 Savannah
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Wasteland
3 Scrubland
1 Bayou
1 Bloodstained Mire

Spells (20)
4 AEther Vial
4 Living Wish
4 Thoughtseize
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Umezawa's Jitte/Cursed Scroll
1 Krosan Grip

Creatures (22)
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Serra Avenger
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Dark Confidant
3 Qasali Pridemage
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Doran, the Siege Tower

Sideboard
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Auriok Champion
1 Spectral Lynx
1 Gilded Drake/Mangara/Doran/Eternal Witness
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Vexing Shusher
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Krosan Grip
1 Jotun Grunt
1 Black Knight
1 Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
1 Open Slot (currently Monk Realist)

A quick primer:
The deck has a generally fair performance against a wide range of decks. You're usually fighting for survival in your opening turns. Many games are decided on turn 1 Thoughtseize vs Vial vs leaving mana open for StP.
Your wishboard is the real flavor of this deck, and there's generally a card for every situation. Staring down a 2nd turn connected Lackey-SGC? Wish up Tabernacle. Facing countermagic? Shusher-a-go-go.

MD Card Choices
Thoughtseize: Your primary Lackey/Countermagic/Combo deterrent first turn.

AEther Vial: The meat and potatoes of the deck. 20/22 of the creatures in the deck cost 2. This means 1 vial can drop 1/3 of your deck at will (barring a Krosan Grip), and 11-12/15 of your sideboard. Also, I heard it works well with Tidehollow Sculler on your opponent's draw step.

Doran: A 5/5 for 3 that shrinks random things like Confidant. If you have ever had to StP a Tombstalker, Doran is a good choice for coming back.

Pridemage: Good against the format. Almost every card that's a problem dies to him. Living Wish gives you Pridemage 4-7 in a pinch.

Serra Avenger: One of the main win conditions in the deck. It hits hard and can block for you, and it really loves to carry a Jitte for you.

Confidant: Draws cards for an average cost of something like 1.23 life per turn, with a 2 Jitte/1 Scroll split, though that figure alters when you factor in your opening hand and how many times you've fetched.

Tidehollow Sculler: It's a Thoughtseize. It's a stick. It can go off instant speed with Vial. What's not to like?

Gaddock Teeg: Stops many of the deck's problem cards. Force of Will, Humility, Moat, Elspeth, Natural Order all meet their makers in his face. I also heard he can put the good hurt on combo.

Tarmogoyf: You won't read this anyway. It's good. If you don't believe that, Lrn2 Legacy.

Swords to Plowshares: Removal. Pure and Simple.

Jitte/Scroll: Right now I run a 2/1 split in Jitte's favor. Both save your life and win you the game, maybe in the same turn.

Krosan Grip: Randomly saves your life having 1 in the MD. Against a long control game (Countertop, Landstill, Merfolk...), don't be shy to board the other two in, usually in place of your Jittes.

Sideboard Card Choices
Yixlid Jailer: You WILL see Ichorid, no matter where you go. After some testing, it's definitely the better choice over Withered Wretch

Drake/Mangara/Eternal Witness: Drake works good when you have the Vial out and at 2, but if you don't, its dead. Witness is probably the best choice

Fleshbag Marauder: Is an Edict.

Canonist: The bane of combo.

Teeg #3: Important for wishing.

Krosan Grip: The reason is in someone's signature, I don't remember whose.

Spectral Lynx: Protection from Goyf, punches through Elf armies.

Black Knight: It's useful. Against decks that don't run Red, it's also very hard to kill

Auriok Champion: Can't be burned and doesn't afraid of Lackeys. Deadly with a Jitte, too.

Tabernacle: Usually the deck has anywhere from 1-3 creatures on the field, which you can easily pay to keep alive. It's very effective crowd control.

Jotun Grunt: By its second turn alive, it's usually bigger than Goyf

Shusher: Punches through against control.

Open Slot: Don't ask me. It used to be Scryb Ranger. Advice is welcome here. It could possibly be wasteland #4.

So any opinions/thoughts/criticisms?

[Digital Devil]

I like the idea of your deck, though there are some things I don't understand.
1- 3x Confidant? Sinner. God will punish you for not playing four.
2- Same as 1.

In the open slot, I would play Flickerwisp, or Meddling Mage, though it can be a bit offcolor, and a waste of sb space, 'cause it depends on vial. Maybe Sulfur Elemental, since it helps killing Elspeth/DoJ tokens, as well as pumping Pridemages/Scullers/Teegs/Jotuns/Avengers. Sucks with Doran, though.

[Pastorofmuppets]

The deck doesn't really need that much pumping. And it works VERY poorly with Doran.

[Digital Devil]

The deck doesn't really need that much pumping. And it works VERY poorly with Doran.
Yeah, I wasn't talking seriously when I suggested Sulfur Elemental. But what about Faerie Macabre? Sometimes it is awesome. And it is an extra sb utility. Stops recursions, which says it all.

[Media314r8]

Sideboard Card Choices
Yixlid Jailer: You WILL see Ichorid, no matter where you go. After some testing, it's definitely the better choice over Withered Wretch

Have you considered Offalsnout:

2B
Elemental
Flash
When Offalsnout leaves play, exile target card in a graveyard.
Evoke B
2/2

Evoking him for a single black mana in response to the triggers from their bridge after trageting is possibly the biggest blowout ever. If they targeted a sage, you remove the target so they get nothing out the the deal. If they try for a FKZ, you let them have their 3/3 haster sans zombie army and remove an ichorid so they have trouble slow-rolling you. IMO better than jailer as reactive solutions that RFG bridges are better than obvious bears that chill on the board, as they can just wait for their bounce spell before they go off. (barring you having untapped vial at two)

Pros and cons to both, but I like the rattlesnake feel. Nobody expects the ugly pig-bug inquisition!

[(nameless one)]

Ever considered Talara's Battalion to go along with Serra Avenger as you beater? Also, I run decks that that run 4 vials but I don't consistently have them on my opening hand. For this build, ever consider running any Tutors to fetch necessary cards like Vial.

[Pastorofmuppets]

I've tried Batallion, didn't work too well. And the Vial is important, but you can win games without it. There's no room in the deck as it is. I can't fit any tutelage.

[Pastorofmuppets]

So any suggestions?

[Media314r8]

Needs less MD grip and doran (is a two-of really worth moving vial out of the range of EVERY OTHER creature in the deck. Also, WGB is difficult to hardcast with stifles and wastelands in the format), more hymn and dark confidant. I assumed the teegs are a metagame call, I wouldn't MD them. 1 Urborg, ToY will aid in supporting the hymns, but IMO any deck that can support hymn with it's mana and stratedgy, should. It will give you much better game against combo and control. You're also running M'F'in aether vial. Turn one vial followed by turn two hymn is really hard for most decks to recover from.

[Pastorofmuppets]

Needs less MD grip and doran (is a two-of really worth moving vial out of the range of EVERY OTHER creature in the deck. Also, WGB is difficult to hardcast with stifles and wastelands in the format), more hymn and dark confidant. I assumed the teegs are a metagame call, I wouldn't MD them. 1 Urborg, ToY will aid in supporting the hymns, but IMO any deck that can support hymn with it's mana and stratedgy, should. It will give you much better game against combo and control. You're also running M'F'in aether vial. Turn one vial followed by turn two hymn is really hard for most decks to recover from.

I've tried a bit more of a black-heavy approach. The turn 1 Vial, turn 2 Hymn can be recovered from, and with such a white and green hungry deck I don't think that I can support the BB very often for Hymn, though I love the card.

[Media314r8]

I wouldn't the deck is green heavy, as you don't run any creatures that cost GG, and serra comes down through the vial in at least half of the game where she's relevant, and IMO hymn is a much more damaging spell to resolve turn two than serra is to resolve turn four.

On an unrelated topic: why living wish? With two teegs in the MB, could a survival engine take those five slots and help you continually find answers while generating CA? EX:
-4 living wish
-2 doran
-1 k grip
-1 teeg
-2 pridemage

+4 SotF
+1 squee
+1 dark confidant
+4 hymn
+1 genesis (MD or SB, unsure it it warrants the slot, but you do have vial to cheat on mana)

This would give you much more explosive turn twos, with Bob, SotF, and Hymn generating CA. You could then have three dedicated SB slots for hate (cannonist, jailer, and A champ) and actually have a relevant amount of SB space for your meta. Sometimes you need to open with a relic/LLotV/crypt against ichoird, and t2 living wish into t3 jailer is hardly ever reliable enough to win games 2 and 3, as that jailer will be therapy-ed so fast (provided they even care by turn three) it'll make your head spin. Same with combo. 4x chalice in the SB and a tutorable hate bear MD is much better than a turn three wished cannonist.

It's your deck, just offering feedback, as I used to run living wish in my rock deck until I realized the format was simply too fast for it.

[Pastorofmuppets]

I wouldn't the deck is green heavy, as you don't run any creatures that cost GG, and serra comes down through the vial in at least half of the game where she's relevant, and IMO hymn is a much more damaging spell to resolve turn two than serra is to resolve turn four.

On an unrelated topic: why living wish? With two teegs in the MB, could a survival engine take those five slots and help you continually find answers while generating CA? EX:
-4 living wish
-2 doran
-1 k grip
-1 teeg
-2 pridemage

+4 SotF
+1 squee
+1 dark confidant
+4 hymn
+1 genesis (MD or SB, unsure it it warrants the slot, but you do have vial to cheat on mana)

This would give you much more explosive turn twos, with Bob, SotF, and Hymn generating CA. You could then have three dedicated SB slots for hate (cannonist, jailer, and A champ) and actually have a relevant amount of SB space for your meta. Sometimes you need to open with a relic/LLotV/crypt against ichoird, and t2 living wish into t3 jailer is hardly ever reliable enough to win games 2 and 3, as that jailer will be therapy-ed so fast (provided they even care by turn three) it'll make your head spin. Same with combo. 4x chalice in the SB and a tutorable hate bear MD is much better than a turn three wished cannonist.

It's your deck, just offering feedback, as I used to run living wish in my rock deck until I realized the format was simply too fast for it.

The deck as it is works pretty well going into an unknown meta. and Vial is what makes living wish good, though I might cut it down to 2 slots. If playing in a meta you know, what you suggested is probably best. I guess it really comes down to where you're playing. But survival would be pretty hard to pull off with a crap ton of nonbasics.