Long post ahead because I wanted to cover a bunch of things. If your idea of "TL;DR" is more than a few sentences, move along ;)
Thanks for the information, Rock. Maybe I'm weird, but like I said: I find siding in to be easy, but siding out to be difficult.
I'll take a stab at some of these questions too, as I feel a little better equipped in this category.
Cavern of Souls comes in and out of my lists and ultimately I feel like it falls into the "good but not great" category. One thing I've noticed is that I almost never tutor for it. The fact that it can only situationally produce colored mana is a huge downside. Sometimes you'll only have one colored source to play with anyway, and if that colored source is Cavern it means you can't
Crop Rotation,
Show and Tell, or even
Brainstorm. If I'm tutoring, it is almost always to either ramp, gain life, or get access to colored mana. Cavern is none of those.
I may be the only one, but I maintain that
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth is just plain better than
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre for a number of reasons. First, he's cheaper. I have counted a larger-than-you'd-expect number of instances where that one mana was the difference between casting an Eldrazi and wishing I was casting an Eldrazi. Second, he's larger. While swinging with an Eldrazi usually means you've won anyway, it doesn't always, and sometimes an extra damage here or there adds up. Kozilek and Ulamog are also
Swords to Plowshares magnets, and an extra two life could even represent another upkeep payment of
Glacial Chasm. Third, the fact that Ulamog is indestructible is almost irrelevant. The only removal spell I've ever had played against me that handles Kozilek and not Ulamog is
Maelstrom Pulse. Finally, Ulamog's cast trigger, while powerful, is also redundant. With patient play,
Repeal,
Krosan Grip,
Karn Liberated,
Karakas or sweepers (if you're running any) will get rid of the problem card. There is no Legacy-viable card in all of Magic that does what Kozilek's trigger does for you. You can even cast Kozilek into a
Standstill and barely care at all.
I don't have 400+ dollars to spend on a single card, so I'm theorycrafting, but I don't think
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is necessary anymore with where the deck has been evolved. Right now, we're running lots of abilities that function as pseudo-removal as it is. While it is tutorable, all the places where Tabernacle is strong can be covered with other cards. Want to slow down the opponent by making him choose between developing his board and attacking you?
Elephant Grass does this twice as well. Fearing a large swarm of
Empty the Warrens dorks?
Mindbreak Trap and
Flusterstorm can handle them pre-emptively, and
Elephant Grass,
Ensnaring Bridge and
Moment's Peace can handle them once they're on the battlefield. You could also still run
Oblivion Stone or
All is Dust. It's still a fantastic card...but it just feels unnecessary.
I love
Venser, Shaper Savant but like 203995014 said, he's only really strong in a couple of matchups. He's actually way stronger against us than he is for us: I know Miracles is an easy matchup, but do not underestimate the power of Venser bouncing one of your lands every turn with the help of a
Karakas. Don't get cute: if you let it happen, the odds of you winning go way, way down.
Obstinate Baloth is really strong against discard and Burn, and that's about it. Even saying that, if Burn is running
Skullcrack, Baloth goes from good to "I wish this was basically anything else". Be smart with your cantrips and use
Pithing Needle on the small number of threats heavy discard decks have.
And one more time, to re-iterate: play tight. Play smart. Even against Miracles, if you're careless or if the deck craps the bed, they are very much capable of beating you.
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And on the lighter side, one last thing. I just got these yesterday and wanted to show them off. I've been telling my play group that Wastelanding one of these would be like killing a unicorn:
http://i.imgur.com/MjSgxWH.jpg
