GWB Weenie Deck - Asking for advice

[aww1979]

Here it is...

.1861 4 Qasali Pridemage
.1723 4 Dark Confidant
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.166 1 Mox Jet
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.17 1 Black Lotus
.1741 3 Gaddock Teeg
.1510 3 Night's Whisper
.1992 4 Putrid Leech
.230 1 Sol Ring
.1733 4 Tarmogoyf
.1945 4 Tidehollow Sculler
.1257 4 Lotus Cobra
.632 1 Umezawa's Jitte
.12 4 Bayou
.216 4 Scrubland
.212 4 Savannah
.1625 2 Marsh Flats
.1473 2 Windswept Heath
.1959 2 Verdant Catacombs
.1937 4 Maelstrom Pulse
.62 1 Demonic Tutor
.1239 1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda

There are several things I am trying to do with this deck:
1) I want all the creatures to have some sort of cool ability if possible, rather than vanilla stuff like Watchwolf. Except for Isamaru, they all fit this bill.
2) I didn't want any blue :p The 3-colours are non-negotiable here.
3) I want to use Dark Confidant as the main draw engine, and hence nothing except Maelstrom Pulse costs more than 2 mana.
4) I want to make use of Lotus Cobra, since I've never used him before. He does great in this deck, especially with fetchlands.
5) I was trying to capture the rough theme of the deck on this site called 'meandeck beats' by steve menendian: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vint ... ntage.html (scroll down a bunch) I changed some things based on personal tastes, card availability, and theme.

Due to being more 'boring', the cards I'm most inclined to remove are the Putrid Leeches and Isamaru, and maybe the Night's Whispers.

All suggestions are welcome, though the Confidants, Cobras, and 3-colours chosen won't be changed, no matter what, due to theme. The deck is intended for gauntlet, not challenge mode.

[Tattooedoni]

First pass:
I would suggest trading Lotus Cobra for Noble Hierarch actually although obviously that breaks #4. It costs less so it comes out faster, and you take less from Bob. It helps exalted helps the beat down plan. Lotus probably wont help that much more. He makes one more mana on a turn with fetchlands than Hierarch can but also makes mana. I would say you could run both possibly since you dont want to lose cobra.

Also since you don't want to lose cobra you might want to run Knight of the Reliquary. It certainly does beat down and get you more lands in play. You don't really have to run the full four of either, but I would play either over Putrid Leeches. Good players (so maybe not the gauntlet) will block with their 2 power guy and then use removal when you pump, and it is not like in a "vintage like" environment the decks are slow enough (or lacking removal) to get blown out by leeches.

[aww1979]

Yeah, the Noble Hierarch and Knight of the Reliquary were amongst cards I was thinking of trying. I was a little nervous about the Knight since he costs 3, but I think he would add a lot. He's potentally fairly big, he thins the deck, and he combos with Lotus Cobra, kind of. I think I'll try 2 or 3 of him.

Noble Hierarch I'm not so sure about. It's definitely a great card, but the way the deck played, I don't think the acceleration will help in quite the same way that the Lotus Cobra did. With Cobra on turn 2 (or turn 1 with mox) then the next turn I can make two 2-mana plays if I have a second land, which is like 90% of the deck, but with the Hierarch on turn 1, unless I also got a mox, he doesn't help as quickly. I think if the mana curve were different (i.e. in most other decks) the Hierarch would be a better card overall. It just seems to be less efficient when everything costs 2. The exalted is definitely a point in its favour. I might give these a try, too, but I doubt I'll keep them unless something I didn't foresee happens.

Other cards I was thinking about are Bitterblossom, Gerrard's Verdict, Swords to Plowshares, Quirion Dryad, Rancor, Soul Warden, Spectral Lynx, Sylvan Library, Nezumi Shortfang, Zealous Persecution, and miscellaneous restricted stuff or one-drops with 2 power. I did try Gerrard's Verdict already, but I ended up cutting it for Maelstrom Pulse. It worked fairly well, but I needed removal for stuff that makes it into play, and I didn't want to cut Night's Whisper (I like card draw) though I might swap whispers for verdicts and see how it goes.

edit: 20 seconds into my first game and I see something I didn't foresee :p I played Savannah, Noble Hierarch first turn. Then, on the second turn, I can play Lotus Cobra, *then* land, then I have two mana for any of the numerous two-drops, so I can still make the two 2-mana plays.

[Tattooedoni]

Yep and your Lotus Cobra Swings for 3 now! Infact if you just want to find a neat theoretical play you can play T1 - Savanah Hirearch, Turn 2- Play cobra off what you have in play, drop a dual land and you have two mana for Pridemage. Then Cobra swings for 4......

Actually with T1 - Fetchland, Break fetchland get green dual land cast Nobel. T2 - Play Cobra off of what you have, drop fetch and break it for dual and cast a 4/4 knight. If everything is the same when you untap you will have access and you have a land in hand you can play it, tap it for mana use the knight to sac it and get a sac land, sac it and get a land, tap it, tap the other two lands, tap the Nobel....and you will have 3 from cobra for...8 mana and a 6/6 Knight... oh and you can attack with a 3/2 cobra....or much higher if your casting more Nobels or Pridemages with those 8 mana for extra exalted triggers.

Obviously this is extremely contrived, but if you want to dream up theory...there is one.